Chapter 2: Roark, the Gym leader
Josh:
We walked to the mining site with conveyer belts where rocks and mined materials are transported for further research and studying. As we entered the mine, the door way was huge as if it could fit trucks side by side. The conveyer belt kept going and ran deeply into the mines, running downhill steeply. As we ventured down we couldn't see who was in charge as people were pushing the carts on the conveyer belt up and pushing empty carts back into the mine, seemed to be efficient. There was a door to the deeper parts of the mine as we entered but when we saw people working there were 2 directions, left and right, but we didn't know which way the Gym leader was. I asked a worked "hey, excuse me, where can I find the Gym leader?" The worked looked at me with a smile and replied.
"Roark, sure thing, the mine runs on a giant circle so just walk around and look for the guy in the red helmet. You can't miss him" I thanked the worked and continued my search for the Roark with the red helmet. On both sides there were filled with people mining from the materials, they seemed happy doing what they were doing along with people collecting the materials, putting them in the carts and wheeling them away. it a nice sight to see people working and having a great time surrounded by happy cheerful people. After seeing piles of materials and boxes of tools we finally saw someone talking to Roark in a red helmet holding a big blue piece of paper, probably talking about the blueprints of the mine. We walked over to him as they finished and asked "are you Roark? The Gym leader of oreburgh City?" He turned to face me and with a smile he nodded and replied.
"yep that's me, I'm guessing you're here to challenge me to a battle" I was surprised me that he knew exactly what I was going to ask but my surprise must have been obvious as he continued "hehe, I'm a Gym leader, battling me is the reason all trainers come to visit these mines" I felt silly for not seeing that sooner. Jolteon just looked up at me and turned to the rocks that were in his line of sight, Leafeon pawed at him gently as if to keep him from getting into trouble. Roark continued "I'll happily accept your challenge if that is why you're here" with that I nodded and followed him out of the mines back to the Gym, with Jolteon and Leafeon shortly behind me.
As we entered the Oreburgh Gym, there were 3 levels which could have been reached by 2 stairs and a wooden bridge linking part of the second floor together to a bigger section of that level. At the entrance were 2 statues, as is traditional for most Gym's to have them as part of their decorations for trainers when they enter and as we entered up the stairs to the level the gym leader stands, it was a huge level where the outline of a rectangle was along with a circle in the middle with a line through it and medium sized rocks as part of the terrain. Jolteon was more excited to play in the rocky field and Leafeon shook her head as we approached, Roark was on the other side prepared and waiting for us.
Jolteon eagerly bounded into battle but I picked him up and held him in my arms as I told him "this isn't the right battle for you" I grabbed a pokeball and threw it up in the air calling out Lapras. The pokemon appear in a flash of red light and the appearance of the Lapras was like a shelled creature like a turtle with an extended neck and it let out its cry as Roark sent out Geodude and just like the Lapras, it appeared in a flash of red light and appeared a medium sized with arms floating above the ground. Roark smiled and said "looks like the type advantage is yours, so you're not just blind lucky, you know what you're doing" I was joyful seeing my skill as a trainer was recognised.
Jolteon couldn't sit still and I called out "Lapras, use start things off with mist" Lapras cried and lifted its head as a mist started to envelop the arena, it wasn't clear to Roark why I allowed such a first move to start off with. he asked "do you think a mist would be a great way to start things off?" Leafeon and Jolteon were just as confused and looked up to me as if they were wondering the same thing. I simply smiled and looked at Roark as his confusion grew, I finally told him "mist is more useful than people think, for example the mist prevents either of our pokemon from being affected by status problems" he smiled as if I made a mistake and asked "but doesn't that mean your Lapras won't be able to freeze, lower or more importantly you can increase your states?" I nodded in response to his question and siled with my eyes closed. I knew what I was doing and even more so, so did Lapras, being a team we both knew how the other thought and mist was a clear sign what I had in mind.
Roark called "since you started with this mist, Geodude, use stealth rock" Geodude shook rocks up into the air and the piece flew around in the mist, hidden from sight and turning what seemed like my advantage into a disadvantage. He continued "stealth rock as I'm sure you know; will cause damage to the pokemon you bring out" I smiled, although I didn't see this coming, dealing with the stealth rock wasn't too hard to deal with. I called to Roark "smart move, attacking in my blind spot, however the battle has just begun and it won't be long before I claim victory" Roark smiled eager while Jolteon and Leafeon couldn't be any more confused.