Hey guys, it's been a long time since I've written/published, but here is Chapter 6. As always, please leave a review if you enjoy the story and give me any suggestions, including new pokémon and or revisions. Enjoy Tommy's battle with Misty and meeting Brock.
Chapter 6:
"Nice job Blaze," Tommy patted Blaze on the head, holding a pokéball in his other hand. He had enjoyed battling the wild Pokémon he came across in Mt. Moon, but all he could think about was his battle with Bradley. He needed to catch more powerful pokémon, and he needed to train his current pokémon. As he continued walking through Mt. Moon he squinted, struggling to see in the dim lighting of Blaze's tail. They had been walking for some time now occasionally battling zoobats, geodudes, and even a few paras. But, none of the pokémon he found truly excited him.
A glimmer in the distance brought him out of his thoughts. He approached the shining object buried in the rocks. "Blaze, give me a light over here." Blaze moved his tail closer to the rocks as Tommy examined them.
"That moon stone is mine!" Tommy turned around to see a shadowed figure standing behind him in the tunnel. A man wearing a lab coat stepped into the light with a pokéball in hand. His glasses shined in the light as he spoke. "I'll battle you for it!" He threw his pokéball into the air. The flash of light nearly blinded Tommy as a clefairy emerged from the pokéball. Tommy's hand hovered by Rio's pokéball, but at the last moment he changed his mind.
"Blaze return. Nidoran! Let's go!" Tommy chucked nidoran's pokéball into the air and the poison pin pokémon emerged. "A moonstone," Tommy murmured to himself. "That means nidoran could evolve…" His mind wandered as he imagined the possibilities. A nidoqueen was definitely a powerful pokémon; it'd be perfect to defeat a magmar. "Alright Nidoran, use poison sting!"
"Use copycat!" Both of the pokémon leaped at each other, landing blows at the same time.
"Nice try," Tommy said. "But nidoran's immune to poison. And, combined with nidoran's ability poison point, you're clefairy will almost certainly be poisoned!" Sure enough, the clefairy stumbled, clearly taking damage.
"We'll just have to win before the poison has an effect! Use pound!"
"Dodge it nidoran!" Nidoran quickly darted out of the way as clefairy leaped past and slammed into the rock wall behind Tommy, shattering the rocks in a cloud of dust.
"Use pound again!" Clefairy stumbled again before leaping towards nidoran!"
"Dodge it and use fury swipes!" Nidoran jumped away from clefairy once more, before swiping at clefairy with it's glowing claws. Nidoran landed hit after hit before slamming clefairy into the ground. When the cloud of dust finally cleared clefairy had clearly fainted.
"Clefairy, return." The pokémon vanished in the beam of red light. "Ah," the trainer sighed. "Well, good battle. I guess clefairy and I will need to find another moon stone to evolve with."
Tommy's Pokédex buzzed in his pocket. He hadn't even realized it was on, but he had won $288 in the battle.
"Nido!" Tommy turned to see nidoran behind him stomping angrily.
"What's wrong nidoran?"
"NIDO!" A flash of blue light blinded Tommy as the entire cave lit up. Nidoran glowed brilliantly, growling and hissing. Nidoran's body began to change, growing larger. Two large ears sprouted by Nidoran's head, and the spikes on nidoran's back grew larger.
"No way," Tommy gasped. "Nidoran's evolving!" In one last flash of light Tommy's Pokemon emerged. "Nidorina!"
"Nido, nidorina!" Nidorina growled, and Tommy smiled. In the corner of his eye he saw the sparkle that got him into that battle in the first place. He walked over and picked the moon stone up, then he looked at nidorina.
"Here, nidorina, take this! Then we can evolve you into nidoqueen! He held the stone our to nidorina but instead of grabbing it nidorina smacked Tommy's arm away. Nidorina shook its head and growled. "What? You don't want to evolve yet?" Nidorina growled again. "Alright, we'll become stronger, then you can evolve!" Tommy tucked the stone into his backpack, deciding to just save it for later. "Alright then, nidorina return."
Tommy walked for another five minutes before finally exiting Mt. Moon. As he walked along route four, he searched for trainers to battle but found none. So, he walked alone, thinking about his pokémon, the cerulean gym, Bradley, and the visions he'd been having. He'd need to find Brock, Forrest's brother. Maybe he could help him figure out what was going on. Where had Forrest said Brock would be again? Right. He'd need to talk to the gym leader.
It didn't take him long to arrive at Cerulean City. He was immediately struck by the theme of water throughout the city. It wasn't just a water type gym, but the entire city seemed full of water type pokémon. His first stop was the pokémon center. He walked inside, but where Nurse Joy normally stood there was nobody. Instead, a man with brown spiky hair sat at one of the tables to the right, enjoying coffee with Nurse Joy. He wore khaki pants, a green shirt, and an orange vest. As he looked at Nurse Joy, he smiled ear to ear.
"Excuse me," Tommy said. "Nurse Joy?" Nurse Joy turned around to look at him.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Would you like me to heal your pokémon?" Tommy nodded. "Right this way." She looked back at the man she sat with. "I'm so sorry to rush off-"
"No, no," he began. "It's quite alright. I need to swing by and see Misty anyway. I'll see you later, Joy." And without another word he got up and left.
Tommy waited for about thirty minutes in the Pokemon center for his pokémon to heal, and as he waited he thought about his upcoming gym match. He was definitely going to struggle in this one. Blaze had a type disadvantage, so it'd be up to Rio and Nidorina to come away with the win. Unless he wanted to use dragon breath. None of Rio's or Nidorina's moves were as strong against water types as dragon breath.
The pokémon center ding echoed through the waiting room as Nurse Joy placed Tommy's pokéballs on the counter. He decided to just choose when he got to the gym.
"Thanks Nurse Joy, I appreciate it." Tommy grabbed his pokéballs and clipped them onto his belt. "Also, would you happen to know where the Cerulean City Gym is?"
After getting directions from Nurse Joy, Tommy left the Pokémon center and walked to the Cerulean City Gym. He tried to focus on his gym battle, but instead he thought about the boy and his pikachu. He couldn't wait to talk to Forrest's brother. Maybe he'd finally get some answers.
The Cerulean City Gym towered in comparison to the Pewter Gym. The gym appeared to be a large aquatic center, and as Tommy entered the building he was surprised to hear splashing and laughing. The gym wasn't a gym at all. Instead, it was a huge pool.
"Excuse me-" Tommy tried to get the attention of a swimmer but she just continued walking past. "Hello-" He tried once more but the second swimmer ignored him as well.
"You there!" A female voice yelled loudly across the gym. Tommy looked up to see a girl he'd guess was around eighteen with spiky orange hair pointing at him. She stood on a tall platform that reminded Tommy of a lifeguard station at the other end of the gym well above the pool's surface. She wore short jean shorts and a yellow top with red suspenders. "You look like a new trainer. Are you here for a gym battle?"
"Yeah! I'm here to get my second gym badge!"
"Great! Brock, we'll have to finish catching up later. I've got a challenger."
"Don't worry about it." Tommy turned his head to see the same man that had been drinking coffee with Nurse Joy standing by the pool deck. "I'd actually love to stay and watch." He smiled. "For old times' sake." So that's Brock, Tommy thought. Maybe I should just talk to him now. But as worried as he was about the boy and his pikachu, right now, he wanted to battle.
"Alright! CLEAR THE POOL!" The swimmer's were clearly used to this sort of behavior because as bizarre as the yelling seemed to Tommy, the swimmers merely swam to the walls of the pool and climbed out. "My name's Misty, and I'm the Cerulean City Gym Leader."
"And I'm Tommy from Vermillion City!"
"Brock! Daisy, Violet, and Lily are all out of town. Would you mind serving as the referee?"
"Of course. Same rules as normal?" Misty nodded. "Alright. This will be a two on two battle. Only the challenger will be allowed to make substitutions. Are you both ready?" Tommy and Misty nodded. "Battle be-"
"Wait! I almost forgot!" Misty ran over to the wall and smacked a red button on the wall. Several platforms shot out of the water and began floating on the surface of the pool. "Alright, now we're ready! In case you didn't notice, this is a water battlefield." Tommy gulped. Using Blaze wouldn't even be an option now. He scolded himself for not catching a grass type before challenging this gym.
"No backing down now." He muttered to himself.
"Battle begin!" Brock yelled.
"Staryu, I choose you!" Misty heaved a pokéball into the air and a brown and yellow star shaped Pokémon appeared on one of the platforms in front of Tommy.
"I won't be able to get to Staryu if it goes underwater… Nidorina! Let's go! Use poison sting!" Tommy threw Nidorina's pokéball as hard as he could directly towards Staryu. As the ball flew Nidorina emerged flying directly at Staryu. Nidorina opened her mouth and began spitting purple spikes at Staryu.
"Staryu, dodge it!" Misty yelled in surprise but it was too late. The poison spikes immediately crashed into Staryu, knocking the Pokémon off the platform and into the water. "Well, that was sneaky. But you won't catch us off guard again! Staryu use water gun!" Tommy searched for the Staryu but couldn't find track it underwater. "Now!" Staryu jumped out of the water and quickly sprayed Nidorina with a steam of water. Nidorina stumbled backwards, almost falling off of the platform. As Staryu fell back into the water it twitched, grimacing.
"I think we poisoned it Nidorina, now we just need to tire it out! Find Staryu in the water and use growl!" Nidorina looked around before growling fiercely into the water.
"Staryu! Use swift!" Staryu shot out of the water again and fired a stream of stars towards Nidorina.
"Dodge it Nidorina! Into the water!" Nidorina jumped off the platform into the water, avoiding the numerous stars flying towards her.
"Big mistake! Staryu, now use water gun!" Staryu prepared to fire off a stream of water but once again grimaced from the poison.
"Out of the water Nidorina! Now!" Nidorina began climbing out of the pool but was hit with the water gun before she could fully exit. Nirodina's legs flailed but she managed to hang onto the platform and climb out. "Now, wait for Staryu to come out of the water!"
"Alright Staryu, use Swift one more time!" As Staryu jumped out of the water Tommy yelled.
"Now! Jump to the other platform and use fury swipes!" Nidorina jumped past the stars flying by onto another platform. Then, the Pokémon launched itself at Staryu and clawed viciously, finally smacking Staryu into the water.
"Staryu is unable to battle!" Brock exclaimed as Staryu floated to the surface. Misty called back her Pokémon.
"Your Nidorina is tricky, using poison and a strong defense to weaken Staryu before taking it down. But that won't work twice. Starmie! Let's win this thing!"
"Oh, boy." Tommy muttered. He had enough trouble taking Staryu down. Now he had to deal with its evolved form? This would be tough. Just stick to the plan, poison Starmie and wear it down. "Use poison sting!" Nidorina fired purple spikes towards Starmie.
"Use rapid spin!" Instead of attacking with rapid spin, Starmie just spun in place, destroying the nidorina's poison spikes.
"What? Is that even possible?"
"Starmie! Use swift!"
"Dodge it!" Nidorina barely avoided the stars that now flew even faster. "Use scratch!" Nidorina's claws began to glow as the Pokémon leaped at Starmie.
"Water pulse!" Tommy could barely even blink before Starmie fired off a massive sphere of water, sending nidorina flying into a platform.
"Nidorina is unable to battle!" Brock announced. "Both the challenger, Tommy, and the gym leader, Misty, now only have one pokémon remaining."
"Alright, Rio! I choose you!" The Poliwag emerged from its pokéball and dove straight into the water.
"A Poliwag, huh? Well this should be interesting." Misty smiled. "A duel of water types! Okay, Starmie, use tackle!"
"Swim out of the way, Rio!" Tommy struggled to see what was happening underwater, but he was pretty sure Rio had avoided the attack. "Use mud shot!" Rio and Starmie were now locked in an underwater battle. Rio fired off three mud balls. Starmie dodged the first but couldn't escape the final two. The two Pokémon traded water attacks but failed to land any of them with the other Pokémon darting away through the water.
"Use tackle Starmie!"
"Use pound Rio!" Starmie darted towards Rio but the Poliwag's pound knocked the star shaped Pokémon backwards. "Now use bubblebeam!" Rio fired a stream of bubbles towards the Starmie.
"Water pulse!" Both of the attacks landed at the same time, as Starmie was hit by the stream of bubbles and Tommy's Poliwag was knocked backwards by the zooming sphere of water. Both of the Pokémon had taken decent damage now, one more attack could decide the battle. "Use tackle Starmie!"
"Time to finish this Rio! Use Mud Shot!" Rio flung three balls of mud at the Starmie as it darted towards the Poliwag. A huge splash of water hid the Pokémon from view. Tommy squinted, desperately searching to see which attack had landed.
"Starmie is unable to battle, which means the winner is Tommy from Vermillion City!" The water vapor cleared to reveal Starmie fainted and Rio swimming back and forth through the water.
"Great job Rio! That was amazing!" Tommy beamed with pride, recalling Rio to his pokéball.
Misty recalled her Starmie and walked around the pool deck to meet him. "That was a great battle, Tommy. Well done. Here, you earned this." Misty held out a badge shaped like a tear drop towards him. "Congratulations! You earned the cascade badge!"
"Thank you so much." Tommy grabbed the badge from Misty, and tucked it away in his badge case.
"Here, take this as well." Misty reached into her pocket and pulled out a small data chip. "This is called a technical machine, or TM. It's basically a hands on guide to teaching your Pokémon a new move. If you insert this chip into your Pokédex it will show you how to teach the move Water Pulse to your pokémon."
"Wow. Thank you."
"And, I hope you'll return after you've defeated all eight gyms so we can have another battle. Maybe I'll even bring out my Gyrados." She smiled and winked at Tommy. Tommy laughed, but on the inside he was terrified. He had only seen pictures of Gyrados, and he wasn't eager to meet one.
"Definitely," he said.
"Great battle, man," Brock said as he joined them. "You've definitely got potential. I'm sure you'll do great as you continue your journey."
"Thank you. And you're Brock right? Forrest's brother?"
"So you've battle Forrest? I take it you won." Tommy nodded. "That's great."
"Yeah, well, um, I'm not really sure how to say this but, Forrest told me I should come talk to you." Brock raised his eyebrows. "You see, I've kind of been having visions."
"Visions?"
"Yeah, of a boy and a pikachu. I think his name was-"
"Ash Ketchum," Brock whispered, his face growing pale. He looked at Misty.
"Do you know him?"
"Yeah. We both do. We traveled with him for a few years."
"Yeah, anyway I've been having visions of him. I think I need to find him. Forrest said you'd know what to do." Brock sighed and returned his gaze from Misty to Tommy.
"I hate to tell you kid but I don't think I'll be able to give you the answers you're looking for."
"What? Why not?"
"Look Tommy, this is something we should talk about later, maybe sitting down." His stomach churned and his chest tightened.
"Why can't you help me? You can't even tell me where I can find him?"
"That's just it Tommy. I can't tell you where to find him. Nobody can. Ash Ketchum has been missing for nearly three years."