Chapter 67 – Brushfire Time!
May and I reached Celadon City, which was known for its tall buildings, late the next morning, and we decided to stop off at the Pokemon Center first, before going to Celadon Gym. While we were waiting, I noticed a poster on the wall. "Look at this, May! It says there's going to be a water Pokemon race down route 16, just outside Celadon City, in just a few days! It's being run by Cissy, one of the Orange Island gym leaders." May picked up a pamphlet that was on a table under the poster and said, "According to this, its only for large, rideable water types – you have to be able to literally stand up on their backs for the race! It says that Cissy holds a similar competition at her gym, when trainers challenge her for a badge, but then, it's only one on one. This will be a race between however many competitors she gets." I replied, "This would be the perfect contest for me to enter with Lapras! I think I'll call Professor Oak and switch out Jolteon for her." May asked, "Why Jolteon?" I answered, "Well, he won't be much help against Erika's grass types, and I think he deserves a little vacation, anyway." May said, "Good point." Then she exclaimed, "Joe, look at this other poster!" I looked, and it was advertising a Pokemon salon in Celadon City on Scissor Street, run by a Pokemon breeder named Suzy! "No way – it couldn't be…" I started to say, pleasantly surprised, when May interjected, "It has to be! It says she will feature her prize winning Vulpix!" Just then, we were paged to the front desk. Flamefox, Firestorm, Amber, Inferno, Redfur, Fiona, along with our other pokeballs, were sitting there waiting for us. Flamefox leapt onto my shoulders, and Amber onto May's. Nurse Joy said, "All of your Pokemon are in top shape, ready for battle." We both thanked her, and I said, "I'm gonna call Professor Oak right now." I sat down at a video phone and dialed his number. I caught him right in the middle of his breakfast. He greeted us, "Hi there, Joe and May! Good to hear from you again! Doing well, I presume?" I answered, "Just great, Professor! I already won 4 Kanto badges!" He replied, "Excellent work, Joe! You'll be entering the Kanto League Championship before you know it!" Then I asked him, "Can I switch out Jolteon for Lapras? I want to enter her in a water race in a few days." He answered, "A water race, eh? Very well, we'll do the switch right now." May interjected, "While we're at it, can I have my Blastoise? I think I'll enter the race, too." I looked at her and asked, "You're entering the race, too?" She answered, "Sure. Why should you have all the fun?" Then she asked Professor Oak, "Do you need me to switch out one of my Pokemon in order to do this?" He answered, "No, don't worry about it. Since you're not officially in training right now, the 6 Pokemon rule doesn't apply to you." She answered, "Oh, that's right. Thanks Professor." I put Jolteon's ball down on the transport pad and said, "Thanks for your help, Jolteon. Now you can have a nice little vacation at Professor Oak's Pokemon sanctuary." With that, his ball dematerialized, and Lapras' lure ball, the one I had gotten from Kurt way back in Azelea Town, appeared. Professor Oak said, "Received on this end!" I replied, "Same here. Thanks, Professor." He nodded, then said, "May, Blastoise is on his way now." Shortly after I picked up Lapras' ball, Blastoise's ball appeared, and May picked it up and said, "Thanks Professor!" He then asked us, "Do you two need anything else right now?" I answered, "No, I'm all set!" May said, "Same here!" He said, "Very well. Good luck to both of you! Keep up the good work!" and hung up. Then May and I took Flamefox, Amber, and Firestorm over to the poster and May said, "Look! One of your kids is in town!" Flamefox and Amber saw the picture of their son standing with Suzy, and exclaimed, "Vulpix!" and Firestorm, Suzy's Vulpix's uncle, shouted, "Ninetales!" I said, "You two should be proud of your son – it looks like he's a real winner! We'll have to visit Suzy's salon after the battle!" The fire foxes all nodded in agreement.
May and I, and our fire Pokemon, all left the Pokemon Center then, and as we walked outside, I saw a pond nearby. I opened up Lapras' lure ball and released her. "Lapras, its been a long time!" I exclaimed. She smiled and greeted me with her familiar cry. I ran over to the edge of the pond and jumped onto her back, as did Flamefox, and I hugged her large neck and said, "It's good to see you again!" May asked, "Joe, what are you doing? I thought we were heading for Erika's gym. Can't you and Lapras get reaquainted later?" I answered, "Aw, come on, May! I'm sure we have time for a little fun before the battle." May sighed and said, "I guess you're right." She released Blastoise and got onto his back. Lapras ferried Flamefox and I around the pond, and Blastoise ferried May and Amber. Our other Pokemon watched from the edge of the pond, except Vaporeon, who I also released to swim around with us. The water Pokemon all had a blast! As Lapras skimmed us along, I told her, "There's a water race in a few days, Lapras! Are you ready to win it?" She nodded and let out a happy cry, as if saying, "Of course!" We enjoyed this little diversion for most of the afternoon, before we recalled the water Pokemon and proceeded to Erika's gym, accompanied by Flamefox, Firestorm, Amber, Inferno, Redfur, and Fiona.
We soon saw a large building, built in the shape of a giant Vileplume! It had glass panels all around the diameter, and a stairs that led up to two large glass doors. We entered, and the inside looked like a botanical garden, with trees and shrubbery growing all around. "It's as beautiful as I remember it" May said. I looked at her and said, "That's right! You battled Erika before. Any advice?" She replied, "Stick with your fire types, but don't underestimate her grass types." I said, "I always try not to underestimate any gym leader." A girl at the front desk asked, "Can I help you two?" I answered, "Yes, I'm here to challenge Erika for a Rainbow Badge." A woman with shorter blue hair with a red band in it, green eyes, and wearing a green and white dress came in from the next room. "Hello, and welcome to Celadon Gym. I'm Erika, the gym leader." May said, "Hi, Erika! Its been a while." Erika said, "Yes, May, it has! You did very good in the League Finals last year." May replied, "Thanks. My friend, Joe, wants to challenge you this time." She said, "Very well, Joe, I accept your challenge. Come with me." We followed her and she asked May, "I don't suppose I can interest you in some more perfume this year?" May answered, "Of course you can! In fact, after the battle, I'd love to go to your perfume shop again!" I asked, "Perfume shop?" May answered, "Yeah, Erika runs a perfume shop, too, and sells the most wonderfully scented perfume! I bought some last year, and now that I'm here again, I intend to browse around again!" I nodded. Then Erika said, "Here we are." We entered a large room with a curved, lighted ceiling, dirt floor, glass panels lining the walls, and lots of plants and trees growing everywhere. A few of Erika's students watched from some bleachers along the battlefield. She asked, "Is a three on three battle okay?" I answered, "That's fine." She said, "Very well, let the battle begin!" and she tossed out a pokeball, and shouted, "Go, Tangela!" The vine Pokemon materialized from it's pokeball. I replied, "Go, Inferno!" My Flareon entered the battlefield. May asked me, "Are you sure about this? Flareon hasn't had as much experience as your other fire types." I answered, "I know, but she'll never get any experience if I don't use her in battle once in a while." Then I ordered, "Inferno, use flamethrower!" She released a stream of flames at Tangela, who managed to dodge most of the attack, getting only grazed. Then Erika ordered, "Tangela, use bind!" Tangela shot out two of its vines at lightning speed, and managed to grab Inferno with them! "Inferno, use your bite!" She bit and the vines that had her wrapped up, and managed to get Tangela to loosen its grip just a little. Then Erika ordered, "Tangela, stun spore!" Tangela released the spore, and Inferno became paralyzed! "Inferno!" I shouted. Erika then said, "End it with a slam!" Tangela slammed Inferno to the ground, and she was knocked out! After Tangela released it's grip, I ran in to get Inferno and said, "You did your best, girl. Thanks" and carried her off to the side. Firestorm lay down next to her, licked her face, and fell asleep. I said, "Okay, Flamefox! You're up next!" He replied, "Vulpix!" and entered the battlefield. Erika said, "Tangela, use your bind again!" I ordered, "Flamefox, agility!" The vines again shot out, but Flamefox was much faster and dodged them! Then I ordered, "Use confuse ray!" His eyes turned pitch black as he launched the hypnotic attack, which successfully confused Tangela. I said, "Good! Now use flamethrower!" His eyes grew bright white as he released the powerful stream of flames from his mouth, which engulfed the Tangela! It was knocked out! "Good job, Flamefox!" I shouted. He jumped up and down, shouting, "Vulpix! Vulpix!" Erika recalled Tangela and said, "You're good – but let's see if you have empathy with your Pokemon! Go, Gloom!" and she released the grayish-purple walking plant type with red leaves growing from its head. "Gloom, gloom" it said, then released a huge cloud of something from it's head leaves. "Is that… stun spore?" I asked. In a few seconds, my nose told me it was not – it was a horrible, dreadful smell that filled the battlefield! As soon as it hit Flamefox's nose, he was swiping at his nose, trying to make the smell go away, then just covered his nose with his paws! I was covering my own face with my hands, when I saw what Flamefox was doing, and I focused on him, and said, "You can overcome this, Flamefox! I know its tough, but you can do it! I know you can! We've been through a lot together – we'll get through this together!" He removed his paws from his nose, looked to me and nodded, and then his body began to glow. I shouted, "Do it, Flamefox, now, before that smell completely overpowers you!" His eyes and body glowed bright white as he sent a fire spin across the stench-filled arena, and it wrapped up Gloom! As soon as the flames dispersed, Gloom fell over, as did Flamefox! Gloom was knocked out, Flamefox was just overcome with the foul odor. I walked over to him, picked him up and hugged him, and said, "You did great! But I think you've had enough. We'll leave the last round to Firestorm" and I carried him off to the side, over to Amber, who nuzzled and licked him as he got his bearings. Firestorm heard me say his name, and perked his head up from sleep. As he walked over to me, Erika said, "I guess you do have empathy with your Pokemon. Most of them can't stand Gloom's smell for longer than a few seconds. But your Vulpix held out, because you believed in him. You are a very good trainer. But we still have one more round to go!" Then she took out her third pokeball and said, "Go, Vileplume!" Firestorm was already standing in front of me and I said, "Firestorm, use fire blast!" He released a t-shape of flames from his mouth which headed for Vileplume, and Erika said, "Vileplume, use endure!" The flames hit Vileplume, but more or less dispersed on contact, doing minimal damage. Erika then said, "Vileplume, use absorb!" Firestorm's body glowed, and Vileplume sucked up HP from him. I said, "Uh oh. Firestorm, try a fire spin!" His body and eyes glowed as he launched a tornado of flames at Vileplume, but it endured the attack and still stood once the flames dispersed. Erika said, "Vileplume, use giga drain!" Firestorm's body glowed once again, and even more of his HP was absobed by Vileplume, making him weaker. May said, "Joe, this is getting bad. You have to use a stronger attack!" I said, "Right! Okay, Firestorm! Time to break out the big guns! Use hyper beam!" Firestorm shot a bright beam of powerful energy from his mouth, which hit Vileplume hard and knocked it out! "Good work, Firestorm!" I exclaimed, full restore in hand, which I gave to him, and then I hugged him. Erika recalled Vileplume and said, "That was a great battle, Joe! You're an impressive trainer! Here's your Rainbow Badge!" She handed me the beautiful, multi-colored badge with crystals of entire spectrum of colors. I said, "Thanks, Erika." She then said, "I'll get you some paralyze heal for your Flareon. I keep a lot of that around here." Inferno had woken up, but was still unable to move, so I gave her the vial, and she was up and around in minutes. I was so proud of my fire Pokemon! They had all done well.
After the battle, May and I, and our fire Pokemon, followed Erika and Gloom to her perfume shop. I asked her, "So how did you get interested in becoming a grass type trainer?" She answered, "Well, it all started with Gloom. When I was a very little girl, I got lost in the city and ran into a Grimer. I was very scared. It had me cornered in an alley. I saw Gloom walking by and called out to it for help. Somehow, it knew I was scared and it came to my rescue. This is the same Gloom that rescued me – we've been friends ever since. Then I decided to specialize in grass types." May said, "Joe can relate to that story!" Erika asked, "Oh, really?" I said, "Yeah – before I began my Pokemon journey, I went out searching for a wild Vulpix to get a picture of it. The wild Vulpix I found was Flamefox. He was drinking at a pond in an open clearing in Brushfire Woods, near where I live. I snapped the picture and he heard me. He went running and I ran after him, keeping up good – that is, until I slammed into a tree with a Beedrill nest. The entire swarm came after me, and one nicked me with poison sting. Flamefox was watching me and I called out to him for help. He took on the entire swarm with his flamethrower attack! Then he stayed with me while I went into chills from the poison, kept me warm until I recovered, and after that, he followed me home. We've been friends ever since – and I owe him my life!" Erika smiled and said, "Then I guess you really do know what it's like having that special connection with a particular Pokemon." I said, "Yeah." Then Erika said, "My perfume shop is just ahead." I said, "You know, if its okay, I'd like to go off and spend a little time with my Pokemon. You go ahead, May. I'll meet up with you when you're done." May said, "Okay, Joe. I'll see you in a bit." Inferno, Redfur, Fiona and Amber went with her, and Flamefox and Firestorm walked with me. We found a nice, grassy area overlooking a lake. I let out Vaporeon and Lapras to swim in the lake, I let out Tauros to graze in the grass, and Fearow so he could fly around and perch in a tree. Flamefox and Firestorm wrestled around with each other, just like they did when they were both Vulpixes. I sat under a tree, admiring my Rainbow Badge as I held it up to the sun, and the individual crystals of color glistened in the sunlight. (You know, I believe this is where you came in!)