Chapter 35 – The Blackthorn Challenge
"What's on your mind, Joe? You seem a little down" May asked me, as we rode our Pokemon, Fierymane and Tauros, towards Blackthorn City. "Oh, I was just thinking… Watching you battle Chuck, you seemed to defeat him so easily. I mean, your Pokemon hardly took any hits! My battle against Chuck didn't go as smoothly and I almost lost! It just seems like you'd be a better gym leader than I would." May stopped Fierymane in her tracks. "Now hold on, Joe! Don't stop believing in your dreams to become a gym leader just because I defeated a gym leader faster than you did! We're both strong trainers, but we're not undefeatable! It might help for you to know that I lost against Whitney and Morty the first time I battled each of them! I had to collect myself and train harder after each loss so I could go back and re-challenge them! Loss isn't always a bad thing, because it forces you to look at what you did wrong and not make the same mistake twice! You're very fortunate to have not lost a gym battle yet!" I knew she was right – so far, we'd won every gym badge in Johto, although in a few of the gym battles, we came pretty close to losing. But I couldn't believe that May had actually lost a couple gym matches, especially after seeing the way she battles! She continued and said, "I don't want to be a gym leader. That's your dream, and I don't want you to feel inadequate to me, okay? The battle with Chuck went so well for me because he got me a little angry and made me more aggressive than I usually am. But once I'm done with the Johto League and the Kanto League, I want to be a breeder – not a gym leader!" I said, "All right. Thanks, May." She replied, "You're welcome. Now I really think it would be a good idea for you to train Vaporeon and Lapras hard for the upcoming battle. Clair is one of the strongest and meanest gym leaders ever! She's the sister of Lance, of the Elite 4, and I hear that, like her brother, she uses dragon types. Dragon types are tough Pokemon, but they are weak to ice type attacks!" I said, "I know. I can't wait to try out Vaporeon's new ice attack! But what about you? Do you have any ice types?" She answered, "Oh, I have a couple. Blastoise knows some ice attacks, but I'll have to switch someone out for Dewgong. I'll do that once we reach Blackthorn City."
Several hours of riding, trainer battles, and wild battles later, we reached Blackthorn City. We headed straight for the Pokemon Center to have our Pokemon checked out. After that, May called Professor Elm and switched out her Golem for Dewgong, her most powerful ice type! Then she said, "Now we can train all of our Pokemon that know ice attacks together!" I said, "I'm a little concerned, May, because all of our Pokemon that know ice attacks are primarily water Pokemon. That puts them at a disadvantage to dragons." She replied, "I know, but that's exactly why we need to train hard!" We rode out of Blackthorn City until we were in a more open, wild area. Then we released our Pokemon for training. We had Vaporeon, Lapras, Blastoise, and Dewgong practice their ice beams against trees – that's because there were no dragon Pokemon to practice against! I sure wish there had been some, though, because nothing, and I mean NOTHING, that we did could have prepared us for what we had to face against Clair!
After a few days of getting our Pokemon all powered up and ready for this crucial, final gym battle, we felt we were as ready as we'd ever be to take on Clair. We entered Blackthorn City and headed for the gym, accompanied by Flamefox, Firestorm, and Amber. I thought about maybe using Flamefox or Firestorm as a last resort, but I hoped it wouldn't come to that! We opened the door to the gym, and first, there was a long hallway, illuminated by torches along the walls on either side. "Nice effect!" I commented. We walked to the other end of the hallway and reached another door. I put my hand on the door handle to open it – then quickly pulled my hand away as I yelled out in pain! The door handle was red hot! "Are you okay, Joe?" May asked me, and took my hand. "I'm okay, I think" I replied. She said, "Joe, you're palm is burned! Here, let me put something on it" and she took a little first aid kit from her backpack. She put some burn heal on my palm, then wrapped it up. "Thanks, May!" I said. "No problem. But why is the door so hot? Is there a fire?" she asked. I said, "It didn't look like it from outside! Maybe one of our fire Pokemon should open it." She said, "Fine with me!" and then she released Fierymane and instructed her, "Use stomp!" Fierymane kicked the door open with her diamond hard hooves. Inside, it was literally hot – that's because there was a moat of molten lava inside the building! "It's too hot!" May exclaimed. "Yeah, from one extreme to the other!" I commented, as the last gym we were at, Pryce's gym, was so cold! "There's another door on that side!" May said, pointing across the room. But the door was on the other side of the moat! I said, "This is insane! Where is Clair?" We crossed the room, and occasionally, the molten lava, coming up from the ground into the moat, actually made the room shake! "Be careful!" I said. Suddenly, there was a loud rumbling, and the floor shook! May fell down and rolled towards the edge, right above the moat! "May!" I shouted, running after her! "Help!" she shouted, holding onto the floor as she dangled above the molten lava moat. I grabbed her hand. "Just hang on tight!" I shouted. I kept my grip as tight as I could, but with my burned hand, I couldn't keep a firm grip! "Flamefox, come here, quick!" I shouted to my Vulpix. He ran up to me, and I instructed him, "Release Tauros from his pokeball, boy!" Flamefox got up on his hind legs, grabbed Tauros' pokeball off my belt, and opened it with his paws. Tauros materialized behind me. "Tauros, help me!" I shouted to him. He came up next to me, and lowered his head towards May. "Grab his horn, May!" I said to her. Between the 2 of us, we pulled her up! Once she was on firm ground, she hugged me and said, "Thank you, Joe!" Then she went over to Tauros, hugged him, and said, "Thank you, too, Tauros!" Amber ran up to her, jumped into her arms, and licked her face! "Thanks, Amber! Don't worry, I'm safe now!" May said to her Vulpix. Then I said, "Let's just get to that door and see if Clair is on the other side!" May asked, "Okay, but how?" I noticed two large boulders on either end of the side of the moat we were on. "Are we supposed to push these boulders into the lava to get across, like some kind of test?" I asked. May said, "Well, we haven't come all this way for nothing! Let's try it!" Tauros and I pushed one boulder, while Blastoise and May pushed on the other boulder. We pushed them into the moat, directly in front of the door, and it worked! We could now walk to the door! But the handle would be just as hot. So, Fierymaneane kicked the second door open, and inside, there was a battle arena. May recalled Fierymane and Blastoise, and I recalled Tauros. On the other side, in a dragon-shaped throne, sat a 40-some year old woman, with silver-white hair. "You are 2 very brave children! You figured out my test very well" she shouted, menacingly. I said, "Yeah, but your little lava pit nearly got us killed – and I burned my hand trying to open the door! How do you expect trainers to reach you?" She replied, "I don't! Only the bravest of trainers are allowed to battle me - those who aren't afraid of a little pain!" I angrily replied, "Well then, I challenge you to a gym battle!" She coldly answered, "I accept your challenge! This will be a 2 on 2 battle!" Suddenly, the floor started to rumble! "Now what?" May asked. The floor opened up in the center to reveal a giant water arena. Clair stood on her side of the pool, while May and I, and our fire foxes stood on the opposite side. Clair shouted, "Dragonair!" Up from the water rose the long-bodied snake-like dragon Pokemon. I took out my first pokeball, and threw it, shouting, "Go, Vaporeon!" She materialized from her pokeball, and took to the water. "Vaporeon, use ice beam!" was my first order. Clair replied, "Agility!" Vaporeon launched a stream of ice at Dragonair, but Dragonair leapt upwards into the air, and the ice beam only succeeded in freezing the water just below it! Dragonair splashed back down to the water, and Clair shouted, "Wrap!" The next thing I knew, Dragonair wrapped it's long body around Vaporeon, and she was trapped! "Vaporeon, try another ice beam, girl!" I shouted. It was no good – her body was trapped by Dragonair's body! Then Clair ordered, "Use slam!" Dragonair slightly unwrapped from Vaporeon, then hurled her at the wall, which she slammed against, then fell to the floor. As she weakly stood back up, Clair shouted, "Finish her! Use hyper beam!" I shouted, "Vaporeon, get out of the way!" She was just too worn out, and the hyper beam hit her point blank! "No!" I shouted, as I watched her fall. She was defeated. "Vaporeon, return!" I shouted, recalling her to her pokeball. Dragonair swam around, completely unharmed. "Okay, so you want to play rough? I choose Lapras!" I shouted, throwing Lapras' pokeball. She then materialized in the water. "Wrap it, Dragonair!" Clair shouted. Dragonair moved quickly, wrapping it's long body around my Lapras. I commanded, "Lapras, use thunderbolt!" Even though she was wrapped, she managed to get in a thunderbolt attack, which jolted the Dragonair off of her, and back into the water! "Quick, use ice beam, Lapras!" I shouted. She launched her icy beam at Dragonair, and it hit! But the Dragonair was so fast, that the hit did minimal damage. "Dragonair, use thunder!" Clair shouted. "Lapras, get away!" I shouted to her, but I knew that was in vain – where could she swim to? The water in the pool would just conduct the electricity! Dragonair leapt into the air above the water, and launched the lightning attack! Lapras felt the attack at full force, and she just couldn't take it! She was knocked out! "This battle is over!" Clair coldly said. Then she turned her back to me, and angrily said, "Leave, now!" I couldn't believe this was happening! May shouted to Clair, "There's no reason to be this nasty! And we still haven't had our battle!" Clair turned around to face us and said, "Very well – but I want him out of here!" referring to me. May asked, "Why? You let me watch his battle?" Clair replied, "I don't wish the presence of a weak trainer right now!" May angrily shouted back, "Why you…" And I said, "Don't worry about it, May! I'll step out. Win this one for both of us!" I walked out of the room, with my head down, followed by Flamefox and Firestorm. I kicked the door open, and I sat down in the middle of the room with the lava moat, and put my head between my knees. Flamefox and Firestorm tried to console me, but I was devestated. Clair was so cold and powerful! I could feel hot tears flowing down my face, realizing that I'd failed to win my 8th badge. All I could do was sit there, crouched to the floor, with my eyes closed, with my head between my knees.
I don't know how long I was like this, but after what seemed an eternity, I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Are you all right?" May asked me. I looked up at her. "How did you do?" I asked her. She sighed, and didn't look too happy. "That bad, huh?" I asked. She shook her head, then pulled out a Rising Badge. "But… how?!?" I asked her. She replied, "It wasn't easy, Joe. Dewgong and Raichu are in rough shape!" I asked, "Raichu? I thought you were going to use Blastoise?" She answered, "I was, but then I found out that her second Pokemon was Seadra!" I said, "It doesn't matter! I lost to her so easily!" Then I stood up and said, "You ARE a better trainer than I am!" and I ran out. "Joe, wait!" May shouted after me. She found me at the Pokemon Center, of course, where I had Vaporeon and Lapras being treated. She dropped off Raichu and Dewgong so they could be treated. May sat down next to me. "I'm sorry I acted like that, May. I was very immature about it. Congratulations on winning your 8th badge! Now you can enter the Johto League finals! You must be proud" I said to her, looking down at the floor the entire time. She said, "I'd feel better about it if you'd won, too! But I know how it is to lose a gym match! I've been there, twice! I know it feels like the end of the world now, but you'll get over it. And when you do, you will summon the courage to train harder and go re-challenge her!" I continued to look down, and asked, "Her second Pokemon is a Seadra, right?" May answered, "Yeah." I then said, "I think I need a Pokemon switch before I re-challenge her!" May smiled and said, "That's the spirit, Joe! And if Miss Mean Old Dragon Lady doesn't want me to stay, I'll refuse to leave!" I said to her, "Thanks! That means a lot to me, May!" Then I headed for the video phone so I could make a Pokemon switch. I felt bad for cutting his vacation short, but I needed Jolteon's help for this one! I switched out Fearow, once again, but it would only be a short switch.
After our Pokemon had been treated, Nurse Joy told us to let them rest for a day or 2. Once they were fully rested, and I had gotten in some more Pokemon training, we all headed back to Clair's gym. We returned to the arena room, where she sat on her dragon throne, all high and mighty. "What do you want now?" she coldly asked. "I want a re-match!" I shouted to her. She replied, "I would be happy to give you a re-match!" I said, "Then let's get started!" She answered, "But first, you must prove me your worth! Go to the Dragon's Den and bring me the Dragon Fang!" I asked, "What do you mean? I don't understand." She turned her back to me again, and said, "That is my condition! Bring me the Dragon Fang, and I will give you a re-match!" May and I looked at each other, then back at her. She didn't say another word, and walked out of the room. "Where is the Dragon's Den?" I asked May. She said, "I've only heard stories about it. It's supposed to be a dangerous place, full of wild dragon Pokemon." I said, "Well, I have to find it! My 8th badge is riding on it! But you don't have to come along if you don't want to, May. I don't want to put you in danger!" She replied, "That's very chivalrous of you, but I'm coming whether you like it or not!" I said, "I knew I could count on you, May!" We all left the gym and headed for the Pokemon Center once again. We found out the Dragon's Den was several miles north of the city, across a lake. May mounted on Fierymane and I mounted on Tauros, and they gallopped us north, in the direction of the lake that led to the Dragon's Den. I didn't know what kind of dangers faced us there, but after facing Clair, I felt I was ready for anything!