Misty threw her first pokemon out onto the field.
"You remember my Psyduck, right? Don't expect us to go easy like when I was training you for Brock."
I thought for a moment. I didn't have anything with an advantage over water types, so it'd come down to power. While Charmeleon was my most powerful pokemon at this point, it was of course weak to water attacks. So that was out. I wasn't sure if I could get Rattata to fight well, so that left me with one option.
"Okay Nidoran, let's do this!" I said sending it out.
"Cool," Misty said, "I'll let you make the first move, but just because I want this to be interesting."
Now let's see, what attacks could a Nidoran use?
"Okay, how about a Double Kick? Go on!"
Nidoran sprung into action, moving quicker then I'd expected. It got a couple of kicks off before Psyduck rebounded, spraying a jet of water from its mouth, knocking Nidoran back. Nidoran quickly shook it off and went in to ram it with its horn. Psyduck dodged it before charging up for its next attack.
It looked like it was focusing real hard, like it was mentally preparing itself for something. Wait, mentally? Could that mean…?
"Nidoran! Look out!" I cried, but it was too late. Psyduck had unleashed a full on super effective Confusion attack.
I had forgotten that Psyduck might know psychic moves. Nevertheless, this was bad.
"Nidoran, are you okay?" I called.
Surprisingly, Nidoran got up, though it looked heavily injured. Damn, it was a trooper.
"Time to finish you off! Okay Psyduck, go in for the final blow!" Misty called as it came running towards Nidoran. I had to think of something and fast.
I racked my brain for something, anything, as Psyduck closed in. Then it hit me.
"Nidoran! Curl up into a ball and show your quills!"
Bingo! Psyduck ran straight into Nidoran's quills, puncturing it's skin. With any luck…
Psyduck staggered a bit and that's how I knew it had worked. With Psyduck poisoned now I would just have to stall for time.
"Ooh, nice trick, kid. But it's gonna take a lot more than that to win this!" Misty looked determined to win.
"Dodge its attacks, Nidoran!"
Nidoran began running all over the arena so that Psyduck couldn't get a clear hit on it. As the poison slowly drained its energy, Psyduck's movements began to slow.
Misty looked irritated.
"Quit running around and fight!" she yelled.
"Okay! Horn Attack!" I cried and Nidoran went in and dealt the final blow.
"Okay, fine," Misty sighed, returning Psyduck to its pokeball, "But don't celebrate yet. You've still got my Starmie to deal with."
I knew Starmie would know even more powerful psychic moves then Psyduck, plus Nidoran was on its last leg, so I wasn't going to push my luck.
"You've earned a rest, buddy." I said, returning Nidoran to its pokeball.
"I guess you're up, Rattata." I threw it out.
Rattata looked up at me expectantly. Right, it would want food. I reached into my bag to get some. Then my blood ran cold.
Was I really out? How was I out? I hadn't really gotten the chance to buy more since I came straight to the gym. This was bad.
Rattata continued to look up at me, expecting me to throw it the food.
"Alright, no more playing around!" Misty said as she sent out her Starmie. "Time to finish this!"
Starmie fired a jet of water that hit Rattata head on, sending it flying into the wall. It then began pelting it with a Swift attack as Rattata wined with pain.
I couldn't take it. As much of a pain Rattata was, I couldn't bear to see it struggling that much as Starmie kept pelting it with attack after attack. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore.
"Misty, stop! You're overdoing it!" But she didn't seem to hear me.
"Stop!"
I could see she wasn't stopping, so I did the first thing that came to my head. I ran between Rattata and the ongoing jets of water. The cold spray hurt like hell, but it finally got Misty to stop.
"What are you doing, you idiot? I could have killed you!" Misty yelled from across the room.
"Well, maybe you should listen to me when I tell you to stop!" I faced toward Rattata.
"It's okay if you don't want to fight anymore, Rattata. I'll get Charmeleon to finish the fight."
It looked up at me with its big eyes, then it did something unexpected. It started licking my hand.
"There's no peanut butter. Why are you-" But it looked at me and I understood. I had finally earned Rattata's trust. It came in closer.
"Aw, come here you pain." I said as I gave it a little hug.
Then, I noticed something was…off. Rattata felt heavier in my arms. I looked down. Rattata had completely changed form. While in my arms it had evolved into a Raticate!
"Not bad, buddy." I said.
Misty came running over with a frantic look on her face.
"Oh my god, Red! I'm sorry, I got carried away. I-" She looked at the newly evolved Raticate. "Uh, am I interrupting something?"
"No, it's fine. We'll finish the battle some other time. I think Raticate just needs to-" But Raticate ran back onto the field, ready for battle.
"Are you sure?" I asked, but it seemed determined. "Alright, let's finish the battle!"
Misty got back into position.
"Alright Starmie, use Water Gun!" she yelled and Starmie followed her orders.
A jet of water came toward Raticate as it jumped into action, dodging the attack and biting down with its fangs. Starmie made some sort of noise that indicated it was effective.
"Starmie! Psywave!" Misty called frantically, but to no avail. Raticate was attacking from all directions, landing blow after blow. Finally it looked at me for confirmation. I nodded.
"Super Fang!" I screamed and Raticate's teeth grew in size as it bit down causing a crack to form in Starmie's gem. Starmie collapsed.
There was silence for a moment, then Misty spoke.
"Wow, you're really something. You and your pokemon. What did you say your name was?"
I smiled.
"Call me Red."
"Here, you've earned this Cascade Badge." Misty said as she handed me the water drop shaped badge.
"So," I said. "Where would you suggest I go next?"
"Well, if you haven't been to the cape yet it's worth a look. There's a famous pokemaniac named Bill who lives there. I'm sure he could show you his pokemon collection."
"And, what are you gonna do now?"
"I'll probably go visit Brock again. He could use some help around town."
"Oh, okay. And," I paused. "Maybe you should talk to Lorelei. She seems nice enough."
Misty sighed.
"It takes more than an 'I'm sorry' to fix the kind of relationship she and I have. Just let it go."
"Okay, well…don't push yourself too hard."
"Will do."
I exited the gym as the sunlight hit my face. The cape was too the north, so as soon as I got my pokemon healed I'd head that way. Another leg of the race done, I was ready for the rest.