Here's Number 3! Hope you enjoy!
The gym leader's voice started Justin out of his stupor, and hearing it assured him that Darius would be no walk in the park. Still, he was ready for this. It's now or never, he thought.
Justin walked right up to Darius proudly. "I could be wrong, but I'm gonna take the bait and say that you're Darius." The gym leader's eyes widened in shock. He wasn't expecting that. Justin decided to continue. "I'm here to challenge you for the gym badge."
"Very well then, I accept your challenge." As he walked across the battlefield, he explained the rules. "This will be a one-on-one battle. The winner will be declared when either trainer's Pokemon are unable to battle or the trainer forfeits. No items will be allowed midway through the battle."
Justin smirked and turned to face his friends. "Hey guys, guess you don't need to catch another Pokemon, huh? Have fun after me!" At this, both Diana and Anthony worried.
"Alright kid, don't expect this to be easy, got it? I don't exactly know how to hold back." Justin nodded in excitement as his heart started beating faster "Ok then, go Gastly! Let's teach this kid what it means to be a trainer." As he said this, a ball formed from purple gases and cackled as a mouth and two eyes formed.
Justin knew that Gastly tended to have little to no control over their corporeal forms, so a couple of well placed hits should do it. His smile widened as Blitz appeared on the field, ready as always to battle whatever threat to their reputation or lives they encountered.
As the battle started, Justin's mind instantly went to ensuring his own power. "Dragon Dance!" Justin and Darius both watched as Blitz became shrouded in Draconic energies, and the fight was on after that. "Shadow Ball!" Gastly began conjuring up a purple ball of energy.
Blitz just snorted as he correctly predicted Justin's next order. "Crunch!" Darius' eyes turned to a look of fear as Blitz bit right through the ball and chomped down on Gastly. Gastly cried out in pain as the dark energies came into contact with its body. "Ancient Power, second!" There were two forms of Ancient Power. The first form, the most common, involved the Pokemon forming a ball of energy and launching it at the foe.
But the second form was special. This form involved a ball of energy making contact with the ground and ripping away chunks of earth to throw at the opponent.
And that's exactly what Blitz did. The very Earth beneath him obeyed his will as it launched towards Blitz's opponent. Gastly was still staggered from the Crunch, and had no chance of getting away from the boulder. As Gastly's corporeal form broke into pieces and reformed itself, Justin figured it was time to finish things. Two words escaped his lips that spelled Gastly's end, and got him one step closer to becoming the next Pokemon League Champion.
"Flare Blitz."
Blitz because shrouded in flames and crashed into Gastly the second it reformed. It then reformed in front of Darius, and didn't get back up.
"Congrats, kid. I thought you were just another rookie who thought he had what it took, but you sure proved me wrong."
Justin was startled. He didn't expect the large gym leader to be upon him so quickly. Darius handed a small object to Justin, and when Justin looked he saw a small purple wind powering a purple flame, preserved in the badge.
"That Phantom Badge brings you a bit of the way to being in the conference. Also, I want you to have this." With that, he handed the disc to Justin. It was a brilliant shade of Purple, and seemed to reflect the light in different places. "That's a TM, for shadow ball. Maybe you could use it. By the way, be sure to come back for a rematch once you've gotten stronger. I'd love to see how you fare against my real team."
"Will do, sir." He turned to his buddy. "Hey Blitz, how about I give you extra Lum Berries tonight, instead of that drab Pokemon food?" Blitz happily cheered and that notion. "Ok then, I'll be sure to remember it." As he and Blitz walked over to the stands, Shawn got on his side of the arena, and released Squirtle after a white candle appeared. "Litwick's a bit new, but he should give you a challenge."
Shawn decided to start off strong, preferring he end this battle quickly so he could go to sleep. "Water Spout!" Squirtle proceeded to launch an absolutely massive blast of water at the ghostly candle.
"Heat Wave!" Darius shouted. As the Litwick cried out, massive heat erupted in waves of air, Evaporating most of the water and making the rest little more than a drizzle.
The battle dragged on, with Litwick and Squirtle only managing to score a couple of hits a piece. Blitz cheered for Squirtle from the sidelines, and Justin himself was cheering with "Get em Shawn" and "Nice one" every once in a while. Even if he was a rival, he was also still a friend, who deserved every bit of his support.
"Confuse Ray!" Litwick fired a small ball of energy and it hit Squirtle head on. Squirtle then cried out, Launching attack after attack at fake illusory phantoms around it.
Anthony grimaced at Squirtle,, feeling genuinely sorry for it. He hated Confuse Ray as well. It worked by the Pokemon firing a small ghostly energy ball at the target, which would manipulate its mind and cause it to have terrifying illusions. He hoped it would be over soon. Confuse Ray was hell on earth for a Pokemon.
Squirtle saw Litwick approach, and its mind registered it as a bigger threat, so he did what his instinct said; attack. He launched the most powerful Water Spout he'd ever mustered, and Litwick was effortlessly dispatched. As he was returned to his Pokeball, he felt nothing but gratitude towards Shawn.
Darius was surprised. He hadn't expected that. Still, he could accept defeat. He walked over to Shawn. "Here you go, kid. If you can't tell what these are, you really ought to pay more attention to your friends." Shawn proudly held up his badge, showing off to Diana as best he could. "And as for you two, come back tomorrow. I need to give my Pokemon a good rest." Diana and Anthony gratefully nodded. They felt like they needed the preparation.
Justin noticed them nodding happily and decided to give them a confidence boost. "Guys, don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll both do fine! You need to get pumped up and stop worrying about stuff that hasn't happened yet. You haven't lost the battle yet, and I know you won't lose it tomorrow."
"Thanks Justin, I needed that." Diana said.
Anthony decided to take his advice right now. "Yeah! You're right, Justin! I need to get pumped up!" With this, his face turned to the most determined look ever, although all it seemed to be able to do was make everyone else laugh.
That night, Justin decided to go out on his own. He left the Pokemon Center as quietly as he could. It was time to catch a new friend in the Grapevine Woods.
Justin trekked through the woods for what felt like hours, and he couldn't find what he was looking for. He made sure Nightcrawler was with him at all times, being sure they trained against every wild Pokemon willing to attack them, which was a lot considering they were in a forest in the middle of the night.
Justin thought he saw a small yellow object in the distance, and decided that he should see if it was what he was looking for. As it turns out, he looked around the corner and found what he had been searching for, a Pikachu. He got Blitz's ball from his pocket, and released him.
"Hey Nightcrawler, take a rest, OK? I'm gonna return you now." Nightcrawler gave him a grateful nod, as he was very tired as well.
He turned to Blitz. "Ember, OK?" He whispered. Blitz nodded and shot a small stream of fire into the yellow mouse. Its ears twitched, and within a second, the Pikachu was behind them. Justin groaned inwardly. He knew a Quick Attack when he saw it. The Pikachu then started gathering up electricity in its cheek pouches, ready to be launched at Blitz.
Now that his sneak attack failed, he decided to get serious. "Ancient Power, Second." Blitz shot Multiple energy spheres into the ground, which all lifted huge boulders. One was used to cover them from Pikachu's electric attacks, and the other ones launched towards Pikachu.
Pikachu was still doing its attack, so it had no chance of dodging the boulders. They quickly knocked Pikachu unconscious. Justin threw his Pokeball at the helpless Pikachu. Needless to say, it was an easy catch. He opened his bag and took out one of his revives. After releasing the unconscious Pikachu, he poured the yellow powder into its mouth, and Pikachu awoke with a start. Justin crouched down and tried to appear small so Pikachu wouldn't be afraid. "Hey there, little buddy. You're really something else, aren't you? That electric attack was very powerful. You probably could have finished off Blitz with that. But I caught you. I'd be willing to assume you know what that means, right?" Pikachu had soaked up the praise, but then its ears dropped and it slowly nodded. "Don't be so upset. As a matter of fact, I bet if you came along with me on my journey, you could be strong enough to beat Blitz one day. Of course, we'd train together and beat pretty much anything in our path too. What do you say, little buddy?" As soon as the words "beat" and "Blitz" came out of his mouth, Pikachu's eyes widened, and it nodded enthusiastically. Then Justin pulled out his Pokedex and scanned Pikachu.
Pikachu, the Mouse Pokemon. Male. Pikachu can use the electricity in its cheek pouches to heal other weak or injured Pikachu. This Pikachu knows the moves Tail Whip, Thunder Shock, Growl, Play Nice, Quick Attack, Disarming Voice, Thunder Punch, and Volt Tackle. It has a Hardy nature. It enjoys many kinds of food. Its ability is Static, which can sometimes Paralyze opponents on contact.
"Wow, Pikachu! You really are a tough little guy, aren't you?" Pikachu proudly backflipped at the praise. "So, how about a name?" Pikachu thoughtfully nodded. "Okay then, lets see..."
He wanted to stay away from obvious, cliche or uncreative names, so he immediately eliminated Sparky, Volt, Jolt, Bolt, and Thunder. Then, a lightbulb turned on in his head. "How about Zeus?" Excited and happy squeaks came next, and Zeus let electricity spark a little bit in his cheek pouches. Justin then yawned loudly. Pikachu looked at him with concern. Apparently, he hadn't seen anyone yawn before, only to begin yawning himself. Justin chuckled at that, then said, "You want to walk to the Pokemon Center together, or do you want me to recall you?" Zeus started walking, so Justin figured that answered his question. "How about you, Blitz?" Blitz slowly tapped the Pokeball. "Ok then, I understand." Blitz just smiled at Justin before he was returned with a flash of red light.
"Hey Zeus, did you have a family of Pikachu with you before I caught you?" Zeus shook his head sadly. Justin felt pity, but then figured his prideful friend wouldn't want his pity, so he spoke instead. "Well, don't worry about that anymore. You've got a family now, me, Blitz, and Nightcrawler." When Zeus just gave him a funny look, he realized Zeus hadn't met Nightcrawler yet. He released Nightcrawler, who looked around before setting his eyes on Zeus.
"Nightcrawler, this is Zeus. He's a new member of the family, ok? Be nice." After hearing Zeus was friendly, Nightcrawler went up to Zeus and happily greeted him. Him and Zeus had a conversation the entire way back. While they did that, Justin thought about their next destination.
Next on their journey was Glazeburn City. After getting through the Grapevine Woods, they were headed there. That city was in the tropics of the region. It didn't have a gym, but it was a great place to kick back and relax for a day or two. Justin knew that they'd be spending at least one day at the beach. He really hoped his friends would be able to have fun there. Of course, he didn't just mean Shawn, Anthony, and Diana. He'd make sure his team had the day off, and had plenty of rest and relaxation. He could only imagine what kind of trouble Blitz could start with the sun powering up his fire type moves. But that was a day to relax. He started thinking about what the day would be like, and then he wondered what Zeus and Nightcrawler were talking about as they got back to the Pokemon Center. He wasn't expecting Nurse Joy to be awake. "Well someone went out on their own tonight, eh?"
Justin just pointed at Zeus and said, "Just ask Zeus if you need... proof." He really was tired. "Zeus, Nightcrawler, does anything hurt?" They both shook their heads. "All right then, I need to recall you for a second." They nodded and disappeared in a flash of red light. He walked upstairs, then released his friends again. It was safe to release Blitz because, the flame on his tail was more of a meter that an actual fire, and couldn't actually burn anything. "Guys, pick anywhere you want to sleep, I'm going to bed." With that, he collapsed onto his bed and fell asleep in seconds.
That's Number 3! Tell me what you think, and if you've got any recommendations, please review, but no flames!