It was during his lunchtime break from training that three familiar people met with Stlix. He was sat leant against Buddy as they rested in the shadow of the nearby cliff. Merry was sat upon his lap as the others ate and rested from their first training session that day.
"Stlix." Came out the call, waking the person in question from the doze they were in. Stlix jerked his head around until it rested upon the three figures standing slightly out his campsite.
"Hey Ash, Misty, Brock. Wait Brock, what are you doing you are a gym leader?" He exclaimed looking at the trio. The older male rubbed their head slightly before answering.
"Going on a proper journey, my last one was only to collect badges to prove I could do something I needed to?" The answer trailed off slightly hesitantly but Stlix didn't pry and instead asked something else.
"So, who is Gym leader now?" Stlix asked curiously.
"My younger brother, he went on a journey two years ago and with some of the Gym Pokémon helping him is able to provide a decent Gym level. Two of my own Pokémon elected to help keep an eye on things."
"Ok, hey do you want to sit for a bit before going to Cerulean, we are just taking a break before another training session." Stlix said indicating the Pokémon around him. The trio did so before sitting down and releasing their own Pokémon, Stlix watched on interested.
Ash's pikachu was already out and sat upon his shoulder and he release a swinub that Giovanni had given him, a small pidgeotto and a dark green scyther. Stlix gave an appraising eye, the pikachu looked unassuming but confident, the swinub stood still obediently, the pidgeotto looked around challengingly and the scyther moved further into the shade and… Meditated. Stlix felt slightly bewildered but moved onto Misty's.
She had too star shaped Pokémon that moved into the pool Corsola sat in a staryu and a starmie. She also released a dopey looking Pokémon that Stlix remembered as a wooper. Misty then proceeded to look over Corsola with an admiring gaze.
Brock only released two Pokémon from the seven upon his belt, Stlix understood as a former Gym leader he would have more allowances. One was a small onix that moved closer to Buddy and the other was a gigalith. A pure rock type that was extremely uncommon in the wild due to the large energy required for a boldore's evolution. The energy needed to compress the stone immensely over very small period whilst making sure any more growth was of the same density.
The gigalith moved closer to the scyther and sat whilst keeping watch over the overs in the group. Stlix then introduced his team to the three of them. Buddy gave a small grunt under the appreciative gazes of Brock and Ash, Beda gave a small wave to ck and the others greeted them slightly coolly apart from Merry who gave a happy chirrup.
"Stlix?" Brock asked whilst looking upon Buddy and Geodude.
"Yes?" He replied following the mans gaze.
"What is with steelix, he seems to have grown bigger and I wouldn't have said that is possible?"
"Yeah, there was a couple of old ore pockets that Buddy ate, Floaty is currently at home with my uncle."
"And Geodude, he is far smaller and a wildly different colour?" Upon being described as small the rock Pokémon rumbled threateningly at Brock.
"I don't know."
"You don't?"
"No, he will be getting checked when we get to Vermillion where Uncle has arranged something." Brock nodded understandingly before sitting next to Ash who seemed ready to burst with a question.
"Stlix do you want a battle?" He asked, his mouth tripping over the words he tried to speak.
"Yeah, I am sure Buddy could warm up slightly." Stlix replied jokingly, the steelix raising his head slightly and rumbling.
"No not Buddy." Said Ash looking at the massive steelix nervously. "But your other Pokémon should be on a similar level of strength to mine." Stlix rocked his head slightly at that.
"We can have a battle, two on two. But I will warn you that having two trained Pokémon can help speed up the newer teammates training. Demonstrations and a level of understanding we won't get."
Ash looked slightly before focusing on the part he understood, Battle. He called to his Pokémon to either battle or watch. Stlix also called for Geodude and Tyrunt to battle.
Two minutes later he they had traced out a large rectangle on the sand and had Brock ready to stop the battle in case it got to dangerous. Merry stood by his side, small hands on her hips with a small frown upon her face. She didn't like her friends getting hurt and gave disapproval on non-necessary battling.
"Battle Between Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town and Stlix of Rustboro city will now commence." With that Brock stood back slightly, whilst now psychic barriers were used in lower-level Pokémon battling it could still get very dangerous and Brocks gigalith stood nearby his side. Stlix had asked Buddy to interrupt anything that would hurt any of the non-battlers.
Within the large field Stlix asked Tyrunt to go first and upon seeing the dinosaur Pokémon Ash asked Swinub to fight. Both trainers gave starting orders and Tyrunt let out a Roar, the move causing the genetic memories within Pokémon to react to the presence of a predator and whilst Swinub did not flee it tensed its leg muscles and guarded itself more.
Upon Ash's order Swinub let loose a Powder Snow, the move giving out a burst of frigid air and frosted water. The lack of any heat could severely affect dragon types whose blood ran far hotter compared to any that wasn't a fire type, it also cooled down the rock of Tyrunt's hide making it far more brittle.
In response Tyrunt Stomped upon the ground to propel herself towards Swinub before using a move that made her species feared. Bite. The move amplified the power of her incredibly powerful jaws and if Swinub had not moved slightly to the side the battle could have been over almost immediately.
As it was the strangely speedy swinub was only hit by the non-empowered tackle that hit it straight on. It was flung further away even as Ash called for a Tackle. The small Pig Pokémon hit Tyrunt's chest but was only able to slightly crack the rocky hide and move the Royal Pokémon back slightly.
Taking advantage of the closeness of the swinub Stlix called for Tyrunt to let loose with a stomp upon the Pokémon. Listening, Tyrunt slammed the Pokémon into the floor with the strength of the blow and nearly knocked it unconscious.
Seeing this Brock called a halt to the battle, anymore damage could require more care to heal. Tyrunt trotted back to Stlix's side and rumbled happily. Ash recalled Swinub with muttered thanks before asking Scyther to move onto the field.
Geodude hopped onto the field without Stlix's prompts and raised his fists happily. Brock called a start to the next battle and it began.
Immediately Ash ordered a Quick attack, hoping to push Stlix on the back foot. Scyther knocked Geodude flying, his smaller body having less mass compared to his peers. Geodude caught himself, his powerful arms digging into the sandy beach even as Stlix calmed called for a Smack down.
One powerful fist coated itself in dark earth like energy and slammed into Scyther. The bug type created a small trench under the force of the move, its wings cracking slightly. Brock raised his eyebrows, a newly caught Geodude almost never had access to such moves, many graveler didn't.
As Scyther picked itself back up and Geodude moved in with a Rollout Ash shouted for Scyther to dodge with Quick attack before hitting Geodude with Fury cutter. Stlix's voice cracked like a whip as he ordered for a Defense Curl before hitting Scyther with Rock throw.
Scyther's large scythes left deep gouges upon Geodude's rocky hide even as the rock type heaved a massive rock out of the ground to drop upon the superbly fast Pokémon's head. The heavy rock cracked the chitin of Scyther's head even as the bug type lashed out with a powerful Slash.
It caused Geodude to fly from the force even as Scyther fell unconscious from the damage to its head. Geodude hit the ground and tried to weakly rise for a moment before slumping, comatose. Even as Brock called the end of the battle Merry was running forward with the energy of Refresh glowing.
Once they had tended to their Pokémon's immediate wounds, they sat down again to recall most of their Pokémon and pack up their items before the four decided to journey to Cerulean city together. And with Cerulean City, the Gym.
