Chapter 16 - Ghost of a Chance!
We continued ahead towards Ecruteak City. Along the way, as always, we had several trainer battles, as well as battles with wild Pokemon. My Pokemon grew stronger with each battle! Vaporeon's and Firestorm's attacks were much more intense now that they were evolved, and Vaporeon had learned some water attacks. And Scyther was quite a powerhouse, himself! My team was getting more powerful every day. And with the surplus of pokeballs I had on hand, Professor Oak was getting quite a few Pokemon from me. I welcomed all the practice we were getting, because the next gym battle was going to be very tough. The Ecruteak Gym leader was Morty, and he used all ghost-type Pokemon. Fortunately, I was well studied in Pokemon attacks. For some reason, ghost-types were vulnerable to attacks such as dig and drill peck, which made Flamefox and Fearow good contenders. I also taught Firestorm dig, so that he would also have that advantage. There was also a theory that ghost types may be vulnerable to fire, since their nature is a gaseous state, and could be ignited, but that was never proven. Anyway, I just hoped the advantages my Pokemon DID have would be enough!
When we arrived in Ecruteak City, I went to the Pokemon center first to get my Pokemon one final checkup before the big battle. Then, Flamefox, Firestorm, and I walked to the Ecruteak Gym. Morty was inside, and I walked up to introduce myself. He was very cool and collected, and he wore his cap backwards, just like I did. I said, "I'm Joe, from Crimson Town, and I'm here to challenge you for a Fog Badge." He smiled, never losing his cool, and said, "I'd accept your challenge, but are you sure your Pokemon are up to this? I can guarantee you this will be a difficult battle." I responded, "I know it will be, but I believe in my Pokemon. I know they can win this." He said, "Okay, then I accept your challenge." Flamefox, Firestorm, and I followed him to his arena. He said, "This will be a four on four battle, no time limit. Are you ready?" I replied, "Ready!" He reached for his first pokeball, and said, "My first Pokemon will be Gastly!", and he released the round, floating ghost-like Pokemon, and it hovered into the arena. "I choose Fearow!" I shouted, releasing him from his pokeball, and he flew into the arena. "Gastly, give him a mean look!" Morty commanded. Gastly's eyes eerily glowed as he stared down my Fearow, using the attack that assured he could not possibly be switched out. "Fearow, use drill peck!" I ordered. Gastly was hit hard by the volley of pecks from Fearow's beak, which actually knocked it to the floor! "Not bad" Morty said, and then he commanded, "Use night shade, Gastly!" Gastly floated back up, and released an eerie purplish-white light that impacted Fearow, knocking him down. However, Fearow flew back up, and I commanded, "Fearow, use your drill peck once again!" He did so, and Gastly took the hits directly, and was knocked out! "Gastly, return!" Morty said. Then he said to me, "You're better at this than I anticipated. But let's see how good you do now. Go, Haunter!" I decided to stick with Fearow for now. Haunter was much bigger than Gastly, and more intimidating - I sure wouldn't want to meet one in a dark alley! Anyway, I almost jokingly ordered, "Fearow, you know the drill!" But the joke was on me when Morty shouted, "Haunter, use lick!" Fearow flew right into Haunter's large tongue, which he got in his face, and then he collapsed to the ground, paralyzed. "Fearow, return!" I shouted, recalling him to his pokeball. I decided to use Vaporeon next - Tauros was a normal type, so he wouldn't stand a chance against a ghost type, and Scyther wasn't that experienced yet. I wanted to save my big guns, Flamefox and Firestorm, until the end. "Vaporeon, use bubblebeam!" I ordered. She launched a powerful stream of bubbles from her mouth, all of which exploded upon impacting Haunter, knocking it down! "Good work, Vaporeon!" Morty ordered, "Haunter, use hypnosis!" Haunter began to hypnotize her, and she began to fall asleep. I yelled to her, "Vaporeon, look at me!" She turned her gaze from Haunter to me, and looked into my eyes. "Good. Now use bite!" Bite was a dark type attack, strong against ghost types! She did the attack, which seemed to seriously injure Haunter, but it wasn't defeated yet! "Use shadow ball, Haunter!" Morty commanded. Haunter launched a ball of dark energy at Vaporeon. "Use agility and avoid it, Vaporeon!" She tried her best, but the shadow ball hit her, and caused her to go crashing down. She stood back up, and I shouted, "Try bite again!" As she ran to Haunter, it used one more shadow ball on her. It hit her, and she crashed to the ground, defeated. "Vaporeon, return! Good try, girl!" I said to her as I recalled her. Morty then said, "You're down to 2 Pokemon and I still have 3. Are you sure you don't want to forfeit?" I was offended that he even asked, and was now even more determined to defeat him. I answered him, "I will not forfeit! Flamefox, go! Use dig!" Flamefox sprinted into the arena and burrowed under the ground, then shot up under Haunter, impacting it so hard that it was finally defeated! "Haunter, return!" Morty said, recalling it. Then he said, "For my third Pokemon, I choose... Haunter!", and he released a second Haunter from a pokeball. "Another one?" I asked. He said, "I find that it's good to try leveling up 2 at a time. I'm sure you felt the same way when you had 2 Vulpixes." Of course, he was right. I then said, "Well, Flamefox, use dig again!" He did so, and hit the Haunter so hard when he shot up from the ground, that it flipped backwards a few times in the air. Then it retaliated. "Use lick, Haunter!" Morty ordered. I commanded, "Flamefox, use agility to avoid it!" Our experience with the Lickitung a couple weeks ago proved to be very useful, as Flamefox held his ground very well. "Now use flamethrower!" I shouted. He launched the flames from his mouth, and they seemed to temporarily ignite Haunter, causing it to fall back, but once the flames dispersed, it still floated there. "Haunter, use destiny bond!" Morty ordered. "What's that?" I thought to myself. Seemingly, nothing happened, but I felt something in the air that made my skin crawl. I didn't know what it had done, but I ordered, "Flamefox, use dig one more time!" Flamefox did a very powerful dig attack, impacting Haunter so hard, it was knocked out. Suddenly, Flamefox just collapsed. "Flamefox!" I yelled, and ran over to him. He was unconscious. Morty then said, "Destiny bond makes your opponent's Pokemon faint if your Pokemon faints." I thought, "That was a dirty trick!", as I picked up Flamefox and held him in my arms. Then I turned to my Ninetales and said, "It's all up to you now, Firestorm. Make us proud!" He nodded and entered the arena. I don't think he was too happy about his brother being knocked out that way, and he was determined to win this for him. Morty then said, "My final Pokemon is Gengar!" He released the mammoth ghost-type Pokemon, and I think even Firestorm felt a little intimidated, but that didn't lower his determination. I held Flamefox, and said to Firestorm, "Just like I taught you, Firestorm! Use dig!" He did his dig attack, and hit Gengar hard when he shot up from the ground underneath it. "Gengar, use shadow ball!" Morty ordered. Try to avoid it with your agility, Firestorm!" I shouted to him. He tried, but just like with Vaporeon earlier, the ball of dark energy hit him and knocked him down, but he stood right back up again. "Again, shadow ball, Gengar!" Morty ordered. I watched as my Ninetales was hit again, and he fell to the ground. This looked really bad. He couldn't take too much more. "Gengar, use lick!" Morty commanded. "Firestorm, use your agility again, hurry!" I yelled to him, but the shadow ball attacks had taken their toll on him, and he was weakened. He got Gengar's tongue right in his face. I just stood and watched as he collapsed to the ground, paralyzed. "Firestorm, no!" I shouted. He just lay there on the floor, not moving, but still conscious. "It looks like the battle's over!" Morty said. Gengar walked over to my Ninetales, with a huge scary grin on his face. I couldn't believe it was ending this way! But then, as Gengar got close enough, Firestorm hit it with confuse ray, right in the face, which caused it to stumble backwards and fall over, onto it's back. I then watched as Firestorm painfully forced himself to stand up. Gengar fumbled around on the ground on it's back. Then Firestorm's entire body began to glow and as his eyes glowed bright red, as he released a fire attack I'd never seen before. The flames shot out of his mouth in a definite shape, like a letter "t" with legs. He'd learned fire blast! This "shape" of flames flew at Gengar, hitting it, and finally knocking it out! "I don't believe it!" Morty shouted. The feeling was mutual! Firestorm had a look of pure satisfaction on his face, and then he collapsed to the ground. "Firestorm!" I shouted, and I ran over to him, still holding Flamefox. Firestorm was still conscious. I lay Flamefox on the ground, and held Firestorm's head in my lap. "That was excellent, Firestorm! I'm very proud of you!" I exclaimed to him, stroking his fur. Morty recalled Gengar, then walked over to me. "Your Pokemon are strong! You did great! You've earned this Fog Badge!" I said, "Thanks", and took the badge. I unpacked some paralyze heal for Firestorm and Fearow, and pulled out some revive for Flamefox and Vaporeon. They were all back on their feet in no time. Afterwards, I took all of my Pokemon that battled to the Pokemon center to have their other wounds treated. Once they had all been treated, we took a few well deserved days off. My Pokemon had been through a lot, and I didn't want to overwork them. I was very proud of all of them. They'd all done very well at the gyms so far. We still had a long way to go. But for now, it was off to the park to share another ice cream cone with Flamefox and Firestorm.