Return to Jotho. And you'll now see characters from Hoenn and Sinnoh.
by lord Martiya
TALE 14: VS PILOSWINE
I followed Giselle's advice, and challenged Jotho's gym leaders to not overstep in Giselle's territory and reduce at minimum the contact with TR outside missions. Besides, I still wasn't ready to take on Giovanni, so...
My first match was at Terranea City(1) against the local Earth-type gym leader. He was good, but I discovered that I knew what he was doing before he decided to do. He's still cursing Giovanni's teachings for the easyness of my victory... The second match was the funniest: Falkner, Violet City gym leader, used Flying Pokemons and was prejudiced against Earth-type and Grass-type Pokemons ability to stand against his loved birds(2), so I decided to defeat him with Federico. He took well his Skarmory's loss against Federico's Firepunch. He was a bit depressed when Federico bounded his Dodrio's legs with his three long necks (I had a very bad time at unbound him, but it was worth of). He screamed in horror and fainted when Federico used Earthquake in Viridian Style against his Pidgeot. Yes, Federico used Earthquake directly on Pidgeot's back.
Anyway, I won the various badges, sometimes with ease, sometimes with some problem (then I began to realize my real level of power), but only two times the battles were notable. Well, three, if we count Falkner's demise.
The first of those two matches was at Goldenrod City. When I arrived at the gym, I found four people arguing on who got to challenge the gym leader, who was about to depart for another region and being replaced by Whitney(3). Three of them were Jimmy with his pals from Newbark Town, Vincent Jackson (or Jackson Vincent, I still have problem in understand what's the name and what's the surname, or if he has two names(4)) and Marina, whose names I learned in that moment. The fourth was a kid from Sinnoh named Paul(5), who wanted to enter first to, I quote every word, 'make them a favor defeating the gym's most powerful Pokemon'. Obviously, it was not take well by Jimmy nor Vincent.
"Never heard of royal battle?" I asked.
"YOU!" Jimmy exclaimed.
"No, I'm his sister. Why don't we establish who will fight first with a royal battle?"
"Stay out of this." Paul said. "Or else, you'll be defeated."
"Dude, we cannot beat him toe-on-toe!" Vincent warned while Jimmy nodded.
"Yes, he's incredibly strong!" Marina added.
"Good! Now you will understand who's the best!" Paul declared unleashing his Grotle. "Solo match, with our starters!"
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Come on, Viridian boy! Don't be a coward!"
Well, after beating Terranea's gym I put my Student's Badge on the neck of my outfit to warn Terranea's trainers about who they were facing, so Paul managed to recognize me as a student of the most famous and prized Earth-Type expert. Too bad that my first was an ICE-Type with type advantage over his Grotle and fast enough to deliver him an Ice Punch in his eye passing his defence attempt and not a disadvantaged Earth-Type. One-hit KO, and Jimmy got a good laugh. He and the other three accepted the battle royal against Federico, who trumped their newly-evolved starters with a single Earthquake.
"I, Enrico Paolucci from Viridian City, challenge the leader of this gym to battle for the Plain Badge!" I declared as I stepped in.
"Like you can possibly win..." a twerp said me.
"MAX! WE HAVE TO GO SCHOOL!!!" his big sister told him before dragging him away.
"What the..." Jimmy began.
"The four-eyed twerp was Max, the littlest child of the gym leader, and the bandana girl was his big sister May." Antonio explained reading from a pamphlet.
"A TALKING POKEMON?!?!?!" Paul exclaimed.
"Well, that's inusual, but not so rare." a man said. "I'm Norman(6), the gym leader. I heard about you, and I want to warn you that I'll attack with everything I have."
"No problem."
We decided to have a three vs three match. My first Pokemon was Snyer. His was a Slaking in all his might.
"That's a problem." I said. "OK, let's prove that anti-Nidoqueen plan."
Snyer began to ran around Slaking at full speed, then tried a quick attack that Slaking dodged before trying a counterattack with a point-blank Brick Break that met a flying Ice Beam. Snyer recoiled away from the attack, and Slaking had an arm completely frozen. Then Snyer attacked with an Ice Punch. The idea was blocking the target's arm and then forcing him to chose between having the other arm frozen or receive the hit on the nose or the eye, a near-crippling injury and surely a KO hit. What I understimated was that Norman was A LOT more expert than me and the most powerful gym leader in Jotho: he had his Slaking block Snyer's hand with his, blocking the two arms linked in the ice, and then made him launch a Fire Blast. I managed to call back Snyer just before he was hit by the flame, that completely defrozen that arm.
"Scared?" he asked while I was studying him.
"Well, I'm trying to figure out how to beat you." I replied, wondering how beating a slow moving Pokemon with immense power. "I guess I have no choice other than overpower your Pokemon. Raimondo, go and beat him!"
I made Raimondo use Hydro Pump, and Norman tried to use it to break the ice on Slaking arm. Too bad that this time I was expecting something like that: while he was soaked he got Thundered first and then Hyper Beamed, winning the match. Norman was surprised that somebody managed to overpower a Pokemon almost on par with the Legendaries(7), but then grinned and sent out a Pidgeot. Well, at least I understood why his arena was so tall. Besides, I immediatly understood his plan: while Slaking can be fast, he's so lazy that rarely moves, while a Pidgeot defining trait is the combo between his speed and not being in the same spot for more than two seconds. So, my opening was a powerful Blizzard to blanket every spot, that Norman countered with a combo between Whirlwind and Air Slash, followed by an Hyper Beam.
"Too bad." I replied when Raimondo was still standing. "Thunderwave."
Raimondo paralized Pidgeot with his attack. I didn't wanted to risk having the Pidgeot running away in the split-second needed for something really hurtful like a Thunder, so I had Raimondo blocking him there. Then, he fainted, so I had Snyer try and use Pidgeot as a punching bag, but Norman retired him from the match and released a Kangaskhan. I tried a Quick Attack, but Kangaskhan replied with a barrage of Comet Punch and a Mega Kick(8), and Snyer narrowly avoided being literally kicked out of the match when he somehow improvised a Sucker Punch(9). The cross counter and Kangaskhan defeat surprised even me.
"Well, that's anticlimatic." Norman stated before handing me the Plain Badge. "So, do you want to challenge me too?"
Jimmy's group and Paul decided to wait until Whitney took over from Norman. I can understand them, I began to understand the real ability of Ash Ketchum years later when I discovered that he too defeated Norman in Hoenn, even if Norman didn't go all-out with him.
The other memorable battle was the one against Pryce of Mahogany Town. He was less powerful than Clair or Norman (who was the most powerful Jotho gym leader before going to Petalburg City), but he was way more expert than the other two and some very nasty trick in his sleeve, as I discovered battling him. I was confident about the first round of our two-on-two match because he was using a Jynx and I Snyer.
"Jynx, use Blizzard!" he ordered.
Then, the Jynx disappeared in the Blizzard, reappearing only for a Mean Look and a Dynamic Punch before disappearing again.
"Good reflexes, but still inadequate." Pryce commented chuckling. "Jynx, LOVELY KISS!"
Jynx tried his attack, but I had a counter: Swords Dance. Rotating on himself, Snyer managed to hook Jynx lips before being Kissed, then he counterattacked with a Fury Cutter swipe until she fainted. I won with superior power. But the second round ended in just one attack, a powerful Return from Pryce's Piloswine.
"Maybe I overdid that... Naa." Pryce commented. "So, continue or retire?"
"I came here to win a Glacier Badge and I can still win." I replied summoning Federico.
"A Ground-Type against an Ice-Type in an Ice Field? Well, I hope you have a plan, kid: I know that you people of Viridian City are in love with Ground-types, but sentimental preferences never won a match. Unless you uses Return!"
"I have a plan."
"Really? Well, I'll tell you a little trivia, before defeating you: a badge make the trainer more powerful."
"What?"
"I'm not a badge maker and I don't know how, but I know that if you have a Gym Badge tuned with the Ice-Type your Ice-Type Pokemons will be more powerful. The same's for the other types. Sadly, that's not cumulative, or my Ice-type Pokemons will be undefeatable."
"Why you tell me this?"
"Because I heard about you, and in a match you learn a lot about your foe. So I trust you. Now, let's beat you! Piloswine, Blizzard!"
He was trying again the disappearing trick, but this time I pulled my ace out of the sleeve. You should have seen Pryce's face when I made Federico Fire Punch his Piloswine and pointing the exact direction. The poor Piloswine was forced into the ice and burned. Pryce immediatly ordered a Rest, but I didn't wanted to take the chance, and ordered a Fire Blast.
"NO! STOP!" Pryce cried while shielding Piloswine from the Fire Blast.
"DON'T ATTACK, FEDERICO!" I cried.
I didn't make in time, and Pryce and his Piloswine were badly burned from the attack(10). At least, Federico managed to slightly redirect the attack, and Pryce wasn't incinerated.
I had just exited the Mahogany Gym with the Glacier Badge Pryce insisted I won when I received a call on the PokéGear. A private number.
"I hope for your life that you have a good reason to call me, or I'll find you." I said in the PokéGear.
"How mean, Enrico... Did you slept, last night?" Rose's familiar voice replied from the PokéGear.
"Rose?! Why hiding your number?"
"Public computers' numbers are hidden, you know, and at the moment I prefer using that. Listen, can you come at Vermillion City? There're Jesse and James disguised as schoolgirl and giving away tickets for the ship St. Anne to trainers, and I suspect they're planning something. Can you make it in three days?"
"I can reach Goldenrod with a local train and take a plane to Saffron. Then it will not be difficult-"
"Good! I'll leave a ticket for you at the Pokemon Centre, J&J gave it for my BOYFRIEND... Well, nice to have made you blush. See you!"
I'm still wondering how she knew that I would blush at that...
footnotes
(1)My invention. Terranea literally means 'Property of the Earth', so Terranea is the City of the Earth.
(2)Anime canon: he expressed this prejudice during his match with Ash when faced by Chikorita. He also dislikes the prejudice that his Flying Pokemons are helpless against Electric Pokemons.
(3)She's generally shown as relatively new at her job in both the games, the anime and the Pokemon Special manga. I went along.
(4)Retcon to the fact that in the US version of the anime he has TWO names: in his debut episode, the special The Legend of Thunder, he was named Vincent, but in his appearance in the regular series (aired before The Legend of Thunder outside Japan) he was Jackson.
(5)Yes, he's the same Paul from the Diamond and Pearl series. For now he'll act a bit different from his anime self.
(6)And that's the same Norman from the Advanced Generation series. In the games and the Pokemon Special manga he's from Jotho, like here. I'll try to make his tactics similar to the ones he used on Ash in Balance of Power, but remember, he didn't go all out with Ash, here he will.
(7)Stats wise, it's true: Slaking has stats similar to the Legendary Pokemon ones and the third highest base Attack stat, on par with Regigigas and surpassed only by Rampardos and Deoxys in Attack Forme. His problem is that he's so lazy to attack only one time every two turns, and even for this there're two solutions in the forms of Skill Swap (Norman himself uses this trick in Pokemon Emerald double battle rematches) and Gastro Acid.
(8)Kangaskhan can learn Mega Kick in Generation I games.
(9)I know, Sneasel and Weavile can't learn it in the games, even if that's the increased priority move of the Dark Type and Sneasel and Weavile are very fast Pokemon.
(10)This happened in As Cold as Pryce. In the anime, the flashback place this event in a national tournament when Pryce was young.