Chapter 51: Lucas versus Brawly

The trip to Dewford Town had not been a pleasant experience for Lucas. After gaining his second Hoenn badge in Rustboro, his original plan was to head for Verdanturf City through the Rusturf Tunnel. But the tunnel had collapsed due to some unknown reason, being investigated by a pushy reporter named Gabby. Gabby had also tried to get an interview with Lucas, but when he refused she took the 'no' as a 'maybe later' and promised to bother the Trainer again. And so the Trainer was forced to take the long way around by backtracking through the Petalburg Forest back to Petalburg City.

There was no formal ferry between Petalburg City and Dewford Town. Travelers either used Pokemon, or used the volunteer services of the friendly Mr. Briney, a sweet-tempered old man who owned a boat and helped travelers with his Wingull Peeko. However, the services were temporally suspended since the sweet old man and his Pokemon were currently gone on a world cruise, leaving Lucas to travel to his destination by Pokemon. At first this didn't bother the Trainer. He loved traversing the sea on the back of a Pokemon, and at the shores of Petalburg's small, charming beach he caught a lovable Wailmer he called Blobby Bob and taught the move Surf. Things didn't start turning bad until a few hours into his trip, when he made an unpleasant discovery: Hoenn happened to be the Tentacool capital of the world.

Lucas loved all Pokemon. He loved the small ones and big ones, the vicious ones and the cute ones. He played fetch with his Gyrados and even liked the Zubat that pestered him in every cave. But the only Pokemon he had no like for were Tentacool. As a child he was stung by one on a beach. And since then Lucas and Tentacool never became friends. The Tentacool infested waters turned the luxurious sea cruise into the two most miserable days of Lucas' life. And as an additional 'eff you' from nature, for most of the second day it rained. Rain was the only thing in the world Lucas hated more than his brother, being handcuffed, police and disrespect, combined.

So when the teen finally arrived on Dewford, he was already highly prejudiced against the town. He went to the Pokemon Center to recover his sopping, stung body and his beleaguered team, and planned to face the next Gym Leader as soon as possible, so that he could leave the town the same day he entered. The fact that leaving again and heading to the next town would require going back through the Tentacool choked waterways was not something that Lucas' rage-induced thought processes had logically deduced yet. He was still in the irrational blaming stage, and was subscribing to belief that his current batch of problems were exclusively the town's fault, common sense be damned.

Lucas sat half-dressed in one of the Center's private rooms, scrubbing his long-dried head and neck with a towel, trying to get the last of the rain from the trip he was certain still clung to his skin. He flicked through the Trainer's Guide on the Pokevice, muttering profoundly specific and eloquent swears, thankfully out of the earshot of innocent civilians. The Trainer Guide stated that the Gym specialty of tiny Dewford Town was fighting type, and was run by a guy named Brawly. Lucas had faced a fighting Gym before in Sinnoh and after months of experience knew exactly what he was in for. Fighting types were weak against psychic, ground and flying moves and monsters against normal, grass, dark, ice and rock types, but useless against ghost types. Easy enough. His current team was already fairly well set up against fighting type. He had two part-ground type Pokemon he could use, his Marshtomp and Grotle, as well as two flying Pokemon, his Beautifly and Swellow. Gizmo knew the ground move Dig and the ghost move Shadowball, leaving only Diablo the Mightyena at a disadvantage being a dark type. If he prepped with a few backup plans and some surprise attacks, at his current level he could finish off Brawly and head back to sea before sunset.

The tattooed teen pulled the rest of his dry clothing on and headed back out the Pokemon Center. Ever since the Trainer arrived there had been a huge line to get Pokemon checked out and getting a room organized. When he first arrived it had taken him almost twenty minutes before he could get his Pokemon healed and now that he was leaving again he could see the line was getting even longer.

Dewford Town was tiny, made up of only a cave, some local houses, the Pokemon Center, a Pokemart, a catch-all restaurant, inn and bar, and the Gym, so it took Lucas almost no time to travel across the small island. The only other prominent feature of the tiny town was the large beach where seemingly most of the town's population was swimming or sunning themselves, with a large group watching a team of surfers maneuver themselves between the ocean's waves. Lucas spent a minute or so watching the skilled athletes flow around and through the waves, the warm sun starting to alleviate his mood slightly before heading towards the the Gym just passed the restaurant.

As he headed walked, a group of people came out of the restaurant and headed back towards the beach, another team of surfers wanting to challenge the waves. As Lucas passed them, one of the surfers turned slightly to address his friend, the surfboard under his arm turning with him and catching the teen Trainer right in the gut, causing him to grunt, teeter off balance and have poor Gizmo fall off of his shoulder.

"Hey, watch it, asshole!" Lucas snarled as he spun around to confront the careless idiot who damaged him and almost hurt his Pokemon. Diablo stood behind his Trainer, growling at his assailant.

The man with the weaponized surfboard turned back obliviously. He seemed more surprised someone would yell at him than at the consequences of his actions. Lucas stood threateningly at the surfer while the other young man tried to put together what could possibly be upsetting this agitated person. After a second or two he realized what he had done and smiled sheepishly, "Sorry bruh, didn't see you there,"

"Pay attention, dumbass! You can't walk around with a surfboard under your arm and swing it around like you're in the goddamn Three Stooges. And you should be apologizing to my Eevee, not me," Lucas stomped forward and pointed to the Gizmo who was still sitting in the sand where he unceremoniously fell, scratching and shaking the sand out of his fluffy coat.

"Geez dude, you need to learn to chill out," the surfer frowned slightly, "Your Pokemon isn't hurt or anything. And I am trying to apologize. Accidents happen, y'know? If you keep flipping out like this you'll probably get a stroke or something,"

"Dumb, sonuva bitch Beach Bum!" Lucas snapped, "You do something like that again and I'll pound your ass!"

"Okay bruh, whatever. I've gotta go now or I'll miss the best waves. See ya!" the surfer smiled, made a 'hang loose' gesture with hand and went to join the rest of his friends that had already continued on to the shore, leaving Lucas to amplify whatever bad mood the teen had since coming to the town.

Gizmo hopped back onto Lucas' shoulder, distracting his Trainer from the thought of chasing after the idiot surfer and burying him headfirst in the sand. Lucas slowly let out a breath to calm himself down and continued to his destination. It was pointless to get into a fight with a random stranger and risk a police altercation when he was already so far along his Journey. A few weeks into coming to Hoenn and he already had two badges. He knew he still had to learn to control his wildfire temper if he was ever going to become the Champion he wanted to be, or to change people's view of him as nothing but a useless street thug. He couldn't let himself get distracted right before a Gym match. The Gym building itself looked like a proper fighting dojo, and Lucas readied himself for the encounter.

Brawly, A big wave in fighting. The sign that announced the Leader and posted previous winners. Lucas was fully prepared this time, the best he ever felt before a match. He was confident enough to believe he was well prepared, but cautious enough to know not to get cocky. He approached the Gym and prepared to open the door—until he saw a hastily made sign taped to the door: Gym closed today due to excellent waves. Come back tomorrow.

Lucas let out a scream of rage that could probably be heard across the whole island. Any shred of calm left in the boy evaporated as his temper exploded in a flood of screaming, swearing and kicking the sand.

After his tantrum the teen realized there was nothing he could do but wait. If the Gym was closed until tomorrow, so be it. Instead, Lucas tried very, very hard to make the best of his situation. Yes, the trip to Dewford Town was a disaster; yes, the Pokemon Center took forever to get healed and settled; yes, a moron whomped him and Gizmo with a surfboard; and yes, the Gym was closed. But hey, maybe Dewford Town wasn't so bad. And towards the end of the afternoon, Lucas had almost started to believe it. Lunch at the cantina/bar/hotel was actually pretty good, and in addition to the beach, Dewford actually was a hotspot for self-employed fisherman and boaters to stop and chew the fat about news from the mainland. The bartender that served the Trainer lunch told him if there was anything he ever wanted to know about Hoenn, the restaurant was the best place to learn it. Old sea dogs told tales of legendary Pokemon, hidden ruins and ancient legends about the region. Boaters passing through with cargo talked about rumors of uptick in crime.

Afterward Lucas cruised the beach. With his Tentacool aversion he avoided the water, but helped himself to scene after scene of cute girls in bikinis hanging out with their friends. Something that most certainly perked up the boy's mood completely. Just as the sun started moving towards the evening, the teen actually started feeling like was enjoying himself, and even decided to stay after his Gym match tomorrow to check out the Granite Cave on the edge of town to catch some new Pokemon. But just as he was relaxing, lying back on a blanket in the sand and feeling the warmth of the sun and the breeze from the sea, he heard a conversation that made him shoot straight up, "Brawly, bruh, the way you shredded that last wave was killer. Epic all the way,"

Lucas immediate sought out where the talking was coming from so he could see the Gym Leader for himself, and looked towards a group of surfers coming from the water. His jaw dropped in shock and outrage. The person they were addressing was the same surfer that had hit Lucas! Same tanned skin, same long, shaggy blue hair—though it was clinging to his face from the water—and the same oblivious, dopey expression as from earlier in the afternoon. Before he realized what he was doing the Trainer stomped his way towards the man, "You're Brawly?! You're the motherf%&$ing Gym Leader?!"

Once again it took the surfer a couple of seconds to put two and two together, "Oh hey, you're the dude from earlier. How's it going?"

"You run a fighting type Gym?!" Lucas continued in offended disbelief. The teen had encountered fighting type Trainers before and he could not believe that this flake was a Trainer, let alone a Leader. The Gym Leader he knew was a bit scatterbrained and shy, but she was always a disciplined fighter, as was every other Black Belt and Karate Girl he had ever encountered. They took their training and their art seriously, even if the rest of their personality was smug or obnoxious. This yokel hit Lucas because he wasn't watching how he was swinging his surfboard.

"Yup, that's me. Brawly, Leader of the Dewford Town Gym," the surfer smiled as he walked towards his pile of things on the beach and dried himself off with a towel.

"How? How is it possible that you're the Leader of a Gym? You closed the Gym to go surfing!" Lucas tiraded.

Brawly shrugged, "I don't do it all the time. Seriously bruh, you need to learn to relax, you'll live longer. The Gym will still be there tomorrow. The challenge will still exist. Peace, bruh, peace,"

"No, no, I'm not putting up with that. I'm going to challenge you right here, right now!" Lucas pulled a Pokeball off his belt and held the item threateningly in front of him.

"Sure, bruh. If challenging me right now is the only thing that'll mellow you out a bit, no problem," Brawly shrugged and grabbed a t-shirt and his Pokeball belt from his pile of things and pulled both items on. As the two made room for each other, a curious group of onlookers gathered around the two Trainers to watch the battle. The two opponents faced each other, Lucas with barely suppressed rage, Brawly with his calm, slightly vapid smile, "This is actually quite a nice change of pace from the Dojo. A battle in nature and the elements, the way Pokemon battles should really be,"

The teen confronted the other young man, "My name is Lucas and I'm from Cherrygrove City. Because of League rules I have to inform you that I am the current Champion of the Sinnoh League, and I am here to challenge you for a Gym Badge,"

Lucas' announcement of his title brought a murmur of appreciation from the crowd. Brawly himself gave a nod of approval before starting his own Leader speech, "I'm Brawly the Leader of the Dewford Town Gym. I specialize in fighting type Pokemon. While most people associate the type with brute force and hard attacks, I believe in the spiritual side of the martial arts. The finding of one's center and one's place in the universe. To move with the forces of nature like the waves that crash along the beach. I accept your challenge Lucas, and hope you learn to appreciate the power of the inner focus as much as the power of fighting,"

"Go! Swellow!" Lucas initiated the fight.

"Go! Hariyama!" Brawly's voice got louder as he announced his Pokemon, but the tone of his voice remained calm and laid back.

"Swellow, make this a quick fight! Use Wing Attack!" the punk commanded.

"Hariyama, Belly Drum, bruh," the surfing Leader ordered leisurely. The flying type careened into the larger monster, damaging it well, though the Hariyama's high defenses prevented a one-hit KO. In response the Pokemon started striking itself in the stomach, damaging it even worse than the bird Pokemon's attack had done.

"Hurry Swellow! Another Wing Attack will finish it!"

"Arm Thrust, Hariyama!" once again the bird Pokemon hit first, but despite the type advantage, and the low health of his opponent, the Swellow was unable to knock the other creature out. On the other hand, Hariyama caught the Swellow cleanly, and knocked the Pokemon out instantly.

Lucas snarled from the battle upset. By all account the Swellow should have won the round, but the teen overlooked Belly Drum's ability to max out the user's attack power. Type disadvantage meant nothing if attacks power could out calculate it. "Swellow, return! Go Bruce! Finish this round with Mud Slap!"

"Arm Thrust again, Hariyama," This time the round ended quickly as the Marshtomp knocked out the remaining health of the fighting type, but the teen knew this battle was far from over. Brawly pulled out his next Pokemon completely unfazed, "Go Machamp!"

The massive four armed Pokemon plunged into the sand and faced the ground type directly. "Mudslap again Bruce!"

"Machamp, use Focus Energy!" Brawly commanded. The fighting type took the full blow of the ground attack but responded by folding its four arms together and closing its eyes in concentration.

"Mudslap one more time Bruce!" Once again the water-and-ground Pokemon charged its opponent with a blast of dirt and water, pushing the other Pokemon closer to being knocked out, though its attack wasn't quite strong enough to deliver the final blow. This gave the opportunity the Gym Leader needed.

"Use Revenge, Machamp!" Once again one of the Leader's Pokemon wiped out one of Lucas' creatures in one move despite Lucas having the type advantage, the Machamp's attack managing to land a critical hit against the Marshtomp.

In that moment Lucas finally understand Brawly and his methods. He was so caught up with his stupid temper that he completely missed the seemingly hippy-dippy Leader's strategy. He also suddenly realized what a massive fool he had been. He could tell the blue-haired surfer's laid back attitude wasn't an act, but his mellow methods served a very significant purpose. By having such a relaxed approach to battling, he could take his time to build up his team's attack power and could play defensively, a strategy not often associated with fighting types. But because Lucas was in such a hurry to defeat Brawly and show him up for his earlier rudeness, he had fallen right into the Leader's trap. If he continued the way he was going, this man he grew to dislike so much would very soon win.

While Lucas would often let his temper and pride cloud his thinking, he was nothing if not adaptable. He would not permit the Leader to get under his skin anymore. "Go Beautifly!"

"Machamp! Inner Focus again!" Brawly ordered his Pokemon. Once again the fighting type took a meditative stance as it gathered its energy to unleash a critical hit on the following turn. This was what Lucas was waiting for.

"Beautifly! Use Encore!" Lucas ordered. For once in the battle Brawly looked mildly stunned. Now for the next few turns the Machamp would have no choice but to use Inner Focus again, losing the ability to follow up its power up attack with a physical blow. With the strategy set up Lucas unleashed the second part of his plan, "Beautifly return! Go! Grotle!"

The grass and ground turtle took its place on the field. Normally a boosted up fighting move would be devastating for the Pokemon, but with the Machamp trapped using the same move, Lucas now had time to use his Grotle to knock out his opponent. After two more moves where the fighting Pokemon helplessly repeated Inner Focus to no result, it finally careened defeated into the sand.

Now it was on to the final Pokemon. The crowd that had gathered around the fighters were roaring with cheers as some rooted for the Gym Leader while others cheered for his punk opponent. Now would be the deciding round as Lucas waited for Brawly's final Pokemon. If he had such a hard time fighting Brawly before he would have to especially pay attention now. Brawly seemed completely undisturbed by being brought down to his final Pokemon. He also didn't have that smug knowing look that many Leaders had as the brought out their secret weapon to devastate their challengers. He seemed to take all moves in stride, regarding his pitfalls and windfalls with equal ease. He pulled out his final Pokemon and summoned it to the field, "All right Medicham, let's end this and get back to the waves!"

Lucas studied the Pokemon carefully. This creature would be tricky as it not only was a fighting type, but had psychic attributes as well. And with the way Brawly battled, it was clear it would know all sorts of ways to improve its own stats before laying the hurt, "Grotle Return! Beautifly! I need you again!"

"Medicham, Calm Mind!" Brawly ordered.

"Beautifly! Encore!" Lucas responded.

"Medicham, use Detect!" Brawly immediately countered. Lucas' tactic would not pay off a second time. Just after finishing its meditation, the fighting-and-psychic type threw up its hands and created a shield of energy. Whatever moves that could have been used against it would fail for the turn. The bug Pokemon's attempt to block its attacks was blocked in return. Then the Leader switched from offense to defense, "Now use Hidden Power, Medicham!"

"Beautifly! Silverwind!" Lucas commanded his Pokemon to attack. Both monsters blasted each other with their respective powers. While the bug type managed to do some damage, the rock attribute of the other creature's Hidden Power was significant. "Silverwind again!"

"Confusion, Medicham!" The psychic move wasn't very effective against the Beautifly, but it didn't have to be. In the previous round the bug was all but knocked out, and even with the weaker move the butterfly-like creature crashed into the sand. Lucas gritted his teeth for his Pokemon's defeat but in that last move Lucas realized how he was going to win.

"Diablo! Let's finish this!" Lucas pulled the next Pokemon from his belt and summoned the snarling Mightyena to the field.

A few members of the crowd whispered in confusion as to why this Trainer would summon a clearly disadvantaged Pokemon to the field. Lucas ignored them, he knew exactly what he was doing. If Brawly seemed surprised or confused by his opponent's actions, he didn't show it, "Medicham! Calm Mind again!"

"Diablo! Sand attack!" Lucas commanded in reply. While the fighting Pokemon sat in meditation, Diablo started furiously kicking at the dunes of the beach, a cloud of particulates dissipated into the air, causing the sky to become slightly obscured.

"Medicham! Hidden Power!"

"Sand attack again!" As Diablo threw more and more sand into the air, the other creature sent the wave of rock energy towards the Mightyena, causing the wolf-like creature to go skidding across the beach. The hit had clearly been a significant one, but the Pokemon pulled himself to his feet, and shook off the damage as best it could. It looked back to his Trainer and awaited his next command, "Keep using Sand Attack, Diablo!"

"Use Calm Mind again, Medicham!"

"Sand attack!"

"Calm Mind!"

"Sand attack!"

"Hidden Power!" Once again the fighting type sent a wave of energy towards the Mightyena, but unlike the earlier attack, the wave got no where near Diablo. By now the sky was so full of sand the two Pokemon could barely see each other. Many members of the crowd were coughing, but things were going exactly like Lucas had wanted. Brawly called out for another Hidden Power attack.

"Now use Howl, Diablo!" Yet again the fighting Pokemon's move missed, which the Mightyena sat on the ground in front of his Trainer and let a haunting cry pierce the air. As the evening grew and sky was smogged over with the massive amounts of sand, it sent an eerie feeling through the crowd. Lucas and Brawly continued to exchange attacks. The Hidden Powers missing either because of the sand or the dark type's naturally high evasion while Diablo continued to cry out into the growing night. As the rounds dragged on, Lucas counted quietly to himself, Brawly continuing to command his Pokemon to hit the increasingly difficult to catch Mightyena. After several more rounds Lucas revealed the final part of his plan, "Diablo, now it's time to use Bite!"

For the first time in the match Brawly seemed genuinely taken aback. Through the cloud of sand and grit Diablo launched himself at the Medicham. Brawly called back, "Medicham, use Calm Mind, bruh!"

With that Lucas knew he had already won, the rest of the match nothing more than a formality. As Diablo chomped over and over again into the fighting Pokemon, Brawly kept calling out more Detect and Calm Mind moves. Pokemon only knew four battles moves, and after the fight with Beautifly Lucas learned what moves the Medicham knew. Balancing attacks was tricky. While knowing the two stat affecting moves let Brawly power up his Pokemon, it only left two slots for attacking moves. And with Diablo being immune to psychic types, it meant that Lucas only had to worry about Medicham's Hidden Power attack. With a limited amount of times the move could be used, once the attack was used up the Pokemon could do nothing more to damage his Mightyena.

After a few more rounds the sand finally cleared, and the Medicham lied collapsed on the beach. More whispers in the crowd and as people tried to understand what they had just seen. Brawly nodded approvingly, he seemed no more upset than he did before Lucas challenged him, "Nicely done, nicely done. You've beat me so you get the Knuckle Badge as well as the TM for Bulk Up. Like many of the other moves I've used, Bulk Up focuses on powering up the Pokemon by increasing attack and defense power," Lucas recalled his own exhausted Pokemon and went to shake his opponent's hand, "Also nice to see you've calmed down a bit, like I said before bruh, stressing yourself out that much will shorten your life,"

"Thanks for the badge, but I'm curious. How the hell can you not be the least bit upset that I beat you?" Lucas had to ask. While it was true that during the battle he had calmed down significantly, he still couldn't say he liked the flakey Leader, though he far more respected him.

"Zen, my man, zen. You can't let the little things get to you. That's what martial arts are all about, finding your center by finding your peace. I look at it this way: if I would have won, then I'd go down and surf some more of those tasty waves. I lost, so now I'm going to go down and surf more of those tasty waves. My Pokemon would have had more fun if they won, but they win more often than they lose. And it's the experience they enjoy more than anything. So now I surf, tomorrow I train and life goes on. Zen," Brawly explained.

"I don't think I could ever be as zen as you, but I still need to work on controlling my temper. Though I'm pretty proud of myself that I didn't deck you earlier today," Lucas joked.

"Nah, that was pretty uncool of me. I really am sorry about that even if my earlier apology wasn't what you wanted,"

"We're cool now, I pretty much took all my rage out during the match," with that the two men let go of each other's hands and said their goodbyes.

"Hang loose," Brawly said as he and his friends went back to surf the night waters.

"Stay metal," Lucas replied as he headed back to the Pokemon Center.