Chapter 11
"I'm back!" Felix announced as he walked through the double doors of the Pewter City Gym.
Everyone in the gym looked up from what they were doing. The boy in the glasses stopped chiseling Zane's name on a plaque and looked up. The date on the plaque indicated Zane came back and won just yesterday.
"I was afraid I was going to have to go into Viridian Forest and pull you out myself," laughed Brock. He leapt up onto a platform at the back of the gym. "Come on and face me!"
Felix made his way to the challengers box, a white rectangle painted on the ground near the entrance.
Suddenly, the kid with shaggy dark hair stepped in front of Felix. "Stop right there, kid!"
"Huh? Liam, what are you doing?" Brock shouted.
"If he wants to face you, he's got to get through me!" said the boy with dark hair, Liam. He stared at Felix with a furrowed brow and a smirk similar to Zane's. "This kid thinks he's something else. He can just pick up a Pokemon, and not only beat Brock, but take on Team Rocket all by himself!" he turned around and laughed.
The gang laughed. Brock stood with a straight face and his arms folded.
"Well, let me tell you, kid. You're still lightyears from facing Brock!" scoffed Liam. He pulled out a Pokeball and tossed it in the air. Out emerged a Pokemon that looked like a furry brown worm with a large, round nose with its body submerged in the ground. "One hundred eighty Pokedollars on this bout! Two Pokemon each!"
"I won't need two Pokemon to take care of you," said Felix cooly. "Pikachu, go!"
"Your electric Pokemon won't do anything here! This kid is a joke! Diglett, Scratch!"
"Pikachu, Double Team!"
Despite Pikachu setting up the imposters, Diglett was locked in enough to do a small amount of damage to Pikachu.
"Pikachu, Double Team again!" Pikachu reshuffled himself amongst the boulders and gravel. This time Diglett couldn't make contact with the correct Pikachu.
"Pikachu, Quick Attack!" Before Diglett could get his head around, Pikachu struck him from behind with a force so powerful and so quick, Diglett passed out immediately on impact.
Liam gritted his teeth. "Argh, Sandshrew, go!"
Sandshrew came forth, a sandy yellow rodent Pokemon, with big black eyes. The Sandshrew looked around at all the imposter Pikachus, but didn't see the fast attack of the real Pikachu coming, also falling unconscious near instantly.
Liam turned his head away. "Darn," he said softly to himself. He looked up. "Lightyears isn't time. It measures distance. I'm not the smartest guy in the world."
"You're not even the smartest kid in this room," said Daisy. Everyone turned to look at her. Daisy blushed.
Liam handed Felix what he owed him, and gestured toward the challenger's box. "You're pretty hot, but not as hot as Brock," Liam growled.
Felix stepped forward into the box. "That's a weird thing to say," he replied. He sprayed Pikachu with a Potion to restore the health he lost from Diglett's Scratch.
"That's an interesting strategy you came up with in the forest," said Brock. "It's too bad it won't help you! I believe in rock hard defense! Your pathetic rodent won't do much against my actual Rock-type Pokemon!" He looks over at Liam. Liam hangs his head.
"We'll just have to see, won't we?" said Felix with a scowl. His throat was dry and he suddenly felt cold. Although he put on a tough appearance, Felix knew what was on the line. Despite their shared feelings toward Team Rocket, Brock's trash talk revealed he was holding nothing back. They were not friends.
"Roll the cameras, fellas!" Brock commanded. A few kids ran to the cameras in each corner of the Gym. Felix didn't realize his match was about to be broadcast, but it made sense. He watched Gym battles on TV sometimes. If the pressure wasn't on before, it was now.
Daisy took a seat up in the rickety bleachers. She kept her hands clasped together in front of her face.
"Eleven hundred eighty-eight Pokedollars goes to the winner! Show me your best! Geodude, go!" cried Brock.
"Let's go, Pikachu," said Felix. He and Pikachu exchanged grins. Pikachu seemed more confident than him, but perhaps it was equally feigned. "Double Team, now!"
Pikachu created a few imposters of himself. Geodude kept a sharp eye on which one he thought was the real Pikachu. It paid off as he was able to hit Pikachu after Brock's command to Tackle him. The weight of Geodude's stone body didn't hurt as much as Pikachu expected. He didn't realize how much the Harden Metapods calloused his body.
Geodude was so stunned Pikachu was as unphased as he was, he lost track of the real Pikachu when he shot off another Double Team. He was surrounded by false Pikachus.
"Tail Whip, Pikachu!"
Pikachu darted toward Geodude and smacked him in the face with his tail. Before Geodude could open his eyes back up, Pikachu had returned amongst the imposters, continually shuffling and disorienting his foe of stone.
Geodude attempted to tackle him several times, but couldn't find the correct Pikachu.
After another Tail Whip, it was time for the showstopper.
"Pikachu! Slam!" Felix cried.
The true Pikachu bolted out from among the crowd behind Geodude. As Geodude turned to brace himself, Pikachu lifted him up and slammed him to the ground as hard as he could. Geodude fainted on impact.
Daisy let out a cheer. Things were going exactly according to plan.
"That was pretty good," said Brock. "But you still don't stand a chance against Onix!" He threw a Pokeball, and out emerged the enormous rock snake.
"Double Team, Pikachu!" Felix commanded. "It doesn't matter how good your Onix is if he can't hit me!"
"Onix, Screech!" cried Brock.
Onix let out a high pitched screech that caused everyone in the Gym, including the imposter Pikachus, to cover their ears to block out the ear shatter noise.
"That'll lower your rat's defense," chuckled Brock.
"Double Team once more, Pikachu!"
"Onix, Screech!"
Pikachu created imposters until the arena was filled with them and he couldn't make anymore. Onix screeched until Pikachu was so fatigued that he couldn't withstand the hit if Onix managed to make contact with him.
"I just have to hit you once," laughed Brock. "You best be careful how you maneuver now!"
Brock was right. There was no margin for error. His head began to spin. The rational, logical part of his brain began to shut down, and he started to run on instinct.
"Tail Whip, Pikachu!"
Pikachu popped out of the crowded pile of Pikachu and smacked Onix in the face with his tail. He disappeared into the pile as quickly as he appeared.
"Tackle, Onix!"
Onix dove into the pile of Pikachu's, but missed the real one completely. A portion of the imposters disappeared.
"Tail Whip again!" and again Pikachu appeared and disappeared, lowering Onix's defense.
"Onix, Bind!"
Onix scooped up a bunch of imposter Pikachu into his tail, but again could not find the real one as the others vanished.
Felix was running out of time. He wasn't sure how effective Pikachu's Slam attack would be on Onix's tough outer exterior. If Onix used Bide and the Slam couldn't knock it out, it was only a matter of time before Onix found the real Pikachu. That's when it hit him.
"Pikachu! It's time to Slam!"
Pikachu smiled and shot out of a crowd of Pikachus. He grabbed Onix by the bottom of the jaw and slammed him face-first into the gravel below them. Pikachu darted back in among the imposters as the dust rose from the impact.
Onix lifted and shook his head. He opened his eyes. Brock grinned from ear to ear.
"Onix, Bide."
"Oh, no. Brock's using his signature move," Daisy whispered to herself.
Onix curled himself on the ground into a defensive position. Brock's gang's eyes lit up as they watched him set up his most powerful attack. Daisy watched between her fingers. Felix smirked.
"Pikachu, Tail Whip."
Pikachu looked back over at Felix, almost in protest to go into attack mode. Felix looked back at Pikachu and nodded "trust me". Pikachu turned back toward Onix and let out a flurry of smacks with his tail, trusting Felix.
Brock's smile turned upside down. He understood immediately. "You baited me!"
Felix showed his teeth. "Tail Whip again, Pikachu!" It now dawned on Pikachu what Felix had done. He let out another flurry.
Onix was now ready to use Bide, but could do no damage because he hadn't taken any.
"Now that I was able to get a few Tail Whips in to lower Onix's defense without risking Pikachu, this next Slam attack should finish him!"
Pikachu dove at Onix and again grabbed him by the jaw. Pikachu hurled Onix into the ground creating an enormous dust cloud. The small crowd looked on in anticipation, waiting for the dust to settle. Felix was numb. He was oblivious to his dry throat, his sweaty clothes, his achy muscles. His full concentration was on Onix.
As the dust cleared, Onix lay with his eyes closed, fainted.
He did it. Felix had won.
Brock fell to his knees. "I- I don't believe it."
Daisy ran down from the bleachers and embraced Felix tightly.
"You did it! You did it! You did it!" she exclaimed quickly. "I knew you could do it!"
Brock stepped down from his platform. Daisy released Felix from the embrace and the two of them awaited Brock as he strode across the battlefield.
"I took you for granted," he said once he approached them. "I should have trusted you knew what you were doing if you were that confident in taking on Team Rocket on your own. As proof of your victory, here's the Boulder Badge."
Brock handed Felix a small gray badge, shaped like a boulder with a pin at the back.
"That's an official Pokemon League badge. You are now in a higher order of Pokemon trainer by having one of those. I'm confident you can handle the responsibility. And before I forget, here are your winnings."
"Thanks, Brock." The two boys shook hands. "Hey, Brock, you should come with us. We stand a much better chance of taking Team Rocket if we take them together."
Brock shook his head. "I can't. You are at a completely different level than me. I have a lot to learn. As much as I want to, I'm not in a place where I can go into open war with Team Rocket."
Behind Brock, his gang looked on with intense faces.
"We can do it! We can take them now, Brock, with Felix leading the charge!" cried Liam.
"No! We have a lot of training to do! Get your Pokemon ready, you pathetic lot! Geodude and Onix are about to get an ear-full when they wake up at the Pokemon Center! We're not even close to being able to compete!"
Liam, on the verge of tears, turned to the gang and said, "You heard him! Let's get a move on!" The gang immediately let their Pokemon out of their Pokeballs and began barking orders. Brock pulled out a whip and snapped it at a kid's Cubone when it failed to obey an order.
Felix and Daisy stood there with their mouths agape. They looked at each other and turned to leave. As they made their way to the door, they heard a voice behind them.
"Wait! Take this with you!" Brock exclaimed. He handed them a small disc. "This is called TM34. A TM teaches your Pokemon new moves. Once you use it, it breaks and can't be used again, so choose wisely. This one contains Bide. Hopefully, you use it more wisely than I did!"
Felix, Daisy, and Pikachu said thank you one final time and exited the gym. Felix couldn't help but remember what his mother said about Pokemon trainers the night before she died. They are brutal to their Pokemon and to each other. They walk around with such arrogance. Competition and wealth is what drives them. They'll crush you and take every last thing that you have without remorse. Felix couldn't get Brock's behavior after he lost to him out of his head. He couldn't imagine treating a Pokemon or anyone like that. He feared what he was yet to see on his journey ahead.