Last time on Pokemon EX: Mike woke up early and couldn't wait for his friends to wake up, so he went to the Pewter City gym by himself. He challenged Brock, who accepted, and battled solely with Bulbasaur. Mike pulled off the victory. Meanwhile, Amanda, who is under pressure to participate in the gym battle but doesn't want to, tries to find a way to tell the boys she will not participate in Pokemon gym battles.
Chapter Eight: A Like Wise Decision
Darkness was still painted across the sky. Inside a Pokemon Center room was a girl staring at the ceiling. It was still quite dark in the room, but she did know what she was staring at. She turned over to look out the window and managed to see the stars shining brightly. She gazed at them for a while, letting her mind get lost in their beauty. However, it was short lived as her mind wondered right back to where she was trying to avoid, the subject of just how the hell she was going to tell her friends she didn't want to compete in gym battles.
Amanda sighed, "Why is this haunting me so much? They won't get mad if I have decided I don't want to participate in gym battles."
She was really confused. Her mind would argue with itself, saying one thing and then turning around and start saying another and she didn't know which answer to believe. So much time was spent thinking about this that she didn't realize that morning had come. The sun was peaking through the window. She finally realized it when she noticed her room was lit up as if the light was on.
"Man, morning already? I barely got any sleep too," she said whining.
In the other rooms nearby, the sunlight was bright for early morning and it caused the two boys in those said rooms to wake up. The changed into their regular close and exited the room. One of the boys knocked on the girls room. She groaned as she didn't want to get up since her damn bad thouhgts kept her up half the night.
"Come on Amanda, let's go get breakfast," the boy said on the other side of the door.
"It's okay, Kevin. I'm not hungry!" she yelled through the room. The boys entered the room to check to see if she was okay, but then she was caught in a lie when her stomach groweled at her, loud enough so they could hear it.
"Not hungry, yeah right," said the other boy. He was laughing.
"Shut up, Mike," Amanda said as she got out of her bed. She was already dressed, she did so in the middle of the night just to take her mind off things for a bit.
The three trainers went into the Pokemon Center's cafeteria for their breakfast. All three ate like they hadn't eaten in days, even Amanda. After breakfest, they returned to their rooms and gathered their belongings ready to head to the Pewter City Gym one last time for Amanda's shot at the Boulder badge. Amanda sighed as she knew where they were going to head to next after they had left the Pokemon Center. She paced her room in silence, badly wanting to say screw it to herself and tell her friends of her decision but she was still so afraid that they would disapprove and kick her out of the group. Kevin and Mike were ready to go while Amanda still paced her room in a panic. She grabbed her things and left her room following Kevin and Mike. They left the Pokemon Center, waving goodbye to Nurse Joy, and headed for the center of town, where the gym was located. Amanda trailed behind her friends as they kept looking back at her with impatient faces.
"Come on Amanda, hurry up!" yelled Mike.
"Just a sec," she said hesitant. She was still trying to figure out a way to tell them. She couldn't hold it in any longer, she just had to tell them, this was now or never so she finally found the courage she had been looking for all night and stopped. However, Kevin and Mike didn't notice and kept walking.
"Hey guys," she said. Kevin and Mike stopped and turned around to see what was up.
"Yeah Amanda, what's up?" asked Kevin.
"There's something I need to tell you," she said. Fear was evident in her voice. "I've been thinking for a while, even before I met you guys."
Kevin and Mike just listened. They were both interested in what Amanda had to say.
"Well that is I've decided that I don't want to participate in gym battles," she admitted. She waited for any kind of rejecting reaction.
"Well that's fine," Kevin replied sincere, "What is it you want to do?"
Amanda felt a big crashing wave of relief just hit her after they didn't reject her decision. "I want to be a Pokemon Coordinator and participate in Pokemon Contests."
"That's fine by us," Kevin said with a smile.
Amanda smiles and was so glad her friends supported her in her decision to be a Pokemon Coodinator. As they continued walking down the street, Kevin noticed a poster on a street lamp that read 'Pokemon Contest: Pewter City Arena. First place winner will recieve the Pewter Ribbon.'
"Hey look, there's going to be a Pokemon Contest right here in Pewter," said Kevin pointing to the poster. Amanda jumped for joy after hearing what Kevin just said.
"Alright, I guess I better get to training so my Kakuna can evolve into..., well whatever he evolves into," she said.
"And I'll help," Kevin said as they turned around to head back to the Pokemon Center.
They arrived at the Pewter City Pokemon Center once again, Nurse Joy was surprised to see Kevin and his friends again so soon after they were leaving for good. They explained that Amanda wanted to participate in the Pewter City Pokemon Contest instead of battling at the gym. Nurse Joy then registered Amanda to participate in all the Pokemon Contests in Kanto so she could participate in Kanto's Grand Festival later in the year. After Amanda was registered, the trainers returned to their old rooms since they had not been checked in again and placed all their stuff back on their beds they had been sleeping in the past two days.
"Ya know, this is going to throw us back a day from our Journey," Mike said.
"Yeah but it'll be alright. Besides, I kind of wanted to see a Pokemon Contest for myself," Kevin said. "I've been hearing about them quite now since they've adventured outside of the Hoeen region."
Mike thought about it for a bit. "Yeah, I guess it would be cool to actually see one live."
"I never imagined they'd reach into the Kanto region so quickly," added Kevin. "And since they have, we can finally see one for ourselves."
"Yeah, you're right. I would like to see one as well," Mike replied.
Amanda entered Mike's room without knocking. She was so excited about competing in her very first Pokemon Contest. She grabbed Kevin by the hand and literally took him out of the room.
"Hey! What's the big idea!" Kevin shouted.
"Come on, I want to train my Kakuna so it can evolve," Amanda said with a smile.
"Um, okay," Kevin replied kind of unsure.
The two left the Pokemon Center and went out back where there was a nice open field they could practice in. Amanda stopped and pulled a Pokeball from her belt and she threw it.
"Alright, come on out Kakuna!" Amanda yelled. The Pokeball opened up releasing her yellow cocoon Pokemon.
"Pikachu, you're up!" Kevin called out. Pikachu jumped from his shoulder to the ground.
"Pikachu!" he said ready for action.
"Okay Kevin, remember this is just training to get Kakuna to evolve and since he can't move that much, nothing tremendous, okay?" Amanda asked sweetly.
"Sure, of course, I wasn't intending to anyway," replied Kevin blushing.
"Kakuna, Pin Missle!" Amanda commanded. Kakuna lit up and white pins began shooting, they're target: Pikachu.
"Pikachu, dodge it with Quick Attack!" Kevin yelled. Pikachu dodged it quickly with his Quick Attack.
"Now, use Thundershock but not a full-powered one, okay?" Kevin ordered.
"Pi-Ka," he started with full force. "'Chu," he said lightly and released off a weak, actually more like a static Thundershock.
"Kakuna, Harden!" Amanda ordered. Kakuna began to glow as it hardened up. "Great!"
Kevin was getting anxious, he really wanted to have a full ledge battle. However, he knew this training was just to get Amanda's Kakuna to evolve. "Pikachu, use Agility!"
Pikachu dashed around Kakuna in circles.
"Try to hit it with Poison Sting!" Amanda ordered. Kakuna began shooting purple poisonous darts at Pikachu. None of the darts hit Pikachu at all. This frustration started to hit Kakuna as the cocoon Pokemon began getting angry that it couldn't move nor hit the Pikachu. Finally Kakuna started to glow really bright. Pikachu stopped his Agility to see what was happening.
"I think- I think it's evolving!" Amanda yelled. She was jumping up and down in excitement, egar to know what her Pokemon was going to be. It grew larger with clear wings, three stringers, which two were his arms and one on his rear. The Pokemon stopped glowing and revelead a tall, yellow and black Pokemon.
"Hey, Kakuna evolved into Beedrill," Kevin said. He was surprised that Beedrill was the last of the Weedle's evolution trail.
"A Beedrill, huh?" Amanda asked herself, "Cool," she paused for a second and turned to Kevin. "Okay, how about a real battle this time Kevin?"
Kevin's stomach rumbled as it was getting close to lunch time. He so wanted to have a real battle but at the same time he was so damn hungry and wanted to eat badly as well. He was having a hard time making up his mind until his hunger won this round.
"How about we eat some lunch first and then have that battle?" Kevin asked. He hoped that Amanda would agree.
Amanda's stomach started to growl at her as well. "Uh, sure," she said giggling and they both headed back to the Pokemon Center.
They enetered the Pokemon Center again and entered the cafeteria where Mike was already ahead of them stuffing his face. Kevin grabbed all the food he possibly could pile ontho his plate. Amanda, on the other hand, got what she wanted and sat down last. Kevin had already reached the table and began stuffing his face as well.
'Man, those guys can eat,' Amanda noticed. 'But they're growing boys, what can you do?'
Half an hour passed in the cafeteria. Amanda was full while both Mike and Kevin were overstuffed, groaning and complaining about stomachaches so Kevin didn't feel like battling just yet.
Afternoon came just as fast as morning faded. After lunch, they took a small nap to get over the stomachaches. Now the three travelers were behind the Pokemon Center, Kevin and Amanda ready for their first Pokemon battle against each other.
"This is one on on battle between Amanda from Pallet Town and Kevin from Pallet Town will now begin! Trainers are you ready?" asked Mike, trying to sound like an official gym battle referee.
"Yes," Amanda and Kevin said exactly at the same time.
"Let the battle begin!" Mike called out.
"Beedrill, take the stage!" Amanda yelled. She elegantly threw her Pokeball as if she was already competeing in a Pokemon Contest. The Pokeball opened up, releasing her bee Pokemon. Beedrill buzzed, signalling he was ready to battle.
"Alright Pikachu, you're up buddy!" Kevin said. Pikachu jumped off his shoulder onto the field.
"Pika! Pika!" The yellow electric rodent said. He was ready for battle.
"Beedrill, use Quick Attack!" Amanda commanded. The bee Pokemon flew off quickly aiming for Pikachu.
"Agility!" Kevin yelled. Pikachu began running in circles around Beedrill at a speed in which Beedrill could not keep up with.
"Damn that Agility!" Amanda said to herself, "Use Pin Missle!"
Beedrill's arms glowed white and began shooting out lots of white pins. Pikachu just kept his speed, running around Beedrill so none of the pins made any contact on Pikachu. Amanda was begining to become frustrated which Kevin noticed.
"Now don't get frustrated. Clear your head so you can effectively call out your attacks," Kevin advised her. Amanda took in his advice and calmed herself down. At the same time, Pikachu stopped running because he could no longer keep running around Beedrill in the way he was.
"Now's your chance Beedrill! Use Horn Drill!" Amanda ordered. One of Beedrill's arms began spinning around and he aimed at Pikachu. Beedrill got close enough to Pikachu and was about to hit the electric mouse.
"Pikachu, use Quick Attack to dodge and get on top of Beedrill!" Kevin yelled. Pikachu jumped into the air with his Quick Attack's speed and landed right ontop of Beedrill's back.
"Oh no! Beedrill, try to shake him off!" Amanda yelled in panic. Beedrill started to fly around violently trying to shake off the yellow rodent that was clinging to his back. It was no use, he wasn't going anywhere any time soon.
"Alright Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Kevin yelled. Pikachu's cheeks began sparking violently.
'Well this is the end of this battle,' thought Amanda.
"Pi-Ka-Chu!" he yelled. He released his powerful electricity at close range, really giving Beedrill a shock. After Pikachu was done releasing his electricity into Beedrill, he jumped off safetly to the ground while Beedrill crash-landed into the ground, already fainted from the intial electric shock.
"Beedrill is unable to battle, Pikachu is the winner!" announced Mike.
"Alright! Good job buddy," Kevin said to Pikachu.
"Pikachu! Pi!" Pikachu said proud of himself.
"Great battle Kevin," Amanda said. She was slightly disappointed in the outcome but deep down she knew she wouldn't of won against Kevin anyway.
"Yeah, but you did great Amanda," Kevin said smiling.
Amanda smiled back, taking in Kevin's compliment.
The day had come and gone and night had fallen on Pewter City once again. They returned to their rooms after eating their dinner and were ready to call it a night. Mike drifted off to sleep before he could even get his PJs on while Kevin and Amanda were still up, waiting to get tired and fall alseep. Amanda decided to get up and walk to Kevin's room where she knocked on the door.
"Come in," he said from the other side of the door. She entered the room and sat down in the chair next to Kevin's bed.
"I wanted to ask you something," Amanda said looking over at Kevin.
"Go ahead," Kevin said waiting for the question.
"How did you become so great at battling?" Amanda asked curiously, "I mean you just started out a few days ago."
Kevin laughed. "Well for the past few months I become a total nerd and studied books and magazines on strategies and battling with Pokemon. I even watched Pokemon battles on TV to anaylze them. Everything I know, I learned from those books, magazines and TV."
"Whoa, I would of never guessed." Amanda said. She was definately surprised at this news. "What about Mike? He seems pretty good too for just starting out as well."
"He didn't go nearly as nerdy as I did," Kevin said laughing. "He did watch the Pokemon battles I watched on TV with me and learned his techniques from that."
"I see," Amanda said. "I really don't know much about strategy or even battling."
"You seemd to know enough in my opinion. To call out attacks that Beedrill knows even though you didn't even know Kakuna was going to evolve into a Beedrill," Kevin said trying to reassure the in-doubt girl.
Amanda giggled a little bit. "Thanks, I guess I do know a little more than I give myself credit for. I guess I learned it all from watching my mom getting rid of Rattata's out of her garden with her meowth ever morning."
"Oh, so those Rattata's I always saw running down the street every morning where coming from your house?" Kevin asked laughing.
Amanda giggled, "Yep, sure were." She smiled.
Kevin laughed, "I would of never guessed then." He smiled
"Well it was nice talking to you," Amanda said. "I'm going to go ahead and sleep. Goodnight Kevin."
"Goodnight, Amanda." Kevin said as he watched the girl leave his room. After she left, he layed down, covered up and soon enough he fell asleep.
Amanda entered her room and crawled into her bed. The reassuring words from Kevin flowed through her head and let her drift off into a peaceful sleep.
Morning soon came once again. Kevin and Mike helped Amanda train her Squirtle and Beedrill for the upcoming contest that was still another day away. The day of training came and gone and they all went to sleep for one more night in Pewter City. Amanda was now prepared more than ever for tomorrow's upcoming Pewter City Pokemon Contest.
Now that Amanda's Kakuna evolved and some reassuring words from her friend Kevin boosting her confidence, will she be prepared like she thinks she is for tomorrow's Pokemon Contest? Find out on the next Pokemon EX.