Chapter 71 – Soul Battle
May and I continued to ride on our Pokemon, in search of the Fuchsia City Gym. May, of course, had been to it before, and knew exactly where to go – at least, I was pretty sure. We were heading through some pretty thick woods. Anyway, I had ridden Arcanine most of the way, and was now riding Tauros, while Arcanine ran alongside us, with Firestorm, and Flamefox sat in my lap. May continued to ride Fierymane, with Amber in her lap, and Redfur, Fiona, and Inferno running alongside. I again asked May, "Are you sure this is the way to Fuchsia Gym?" She answered, "Positive!" I asked, "Why would Koga build his gym in the middle of nowhere?" May answered, "Can you think of a better place for a ninja to build a gym? Ninjas prefer to keep their whereabouts a mystery." I replied, "I guess you're right. You sure seem to know a lot about Koga for only having battled him once." She said, "That's because one of my martial arts instructors was Koga's sister, Iya." I surprisingly asked, "Really?" May answered, "Yeah. In fact, you'll get to meet her when we get to Fuchsia Gym. She trains there with her brother." Eventually, we reached a huge, oriental styled mansion, in the middle of nowhere! "Well, this is it!" May exclaimed. I asked, "This is a gym?" May answered, "It's more than that, Joe. The entire mansion was designed as a training camp. You'll see when we go inside. There are secret doors, hidden compartments, and Voltorb pits – you'll really need to keep your guard up." I replied, sarcastically, "Sounds like fun." We recalled our riding Pokemon, and left out only the fire foxes, fire dogs, and Inferno. May slid open the front door. "We can just walk in?" I asked. May answered, "Yeah." Inside, the walls and floor were all made of wood. There was a corridor ahead which we walked down. May said, "Be careful of Voltorb pits in the floor, Joe." I could see what she meant as we continued ahead, and there were openings in the wooden floor, which contained the round, red and white Pokemon. "Just jump over them" May said, and we did. Then she said, "Whatever you do, don't touch the walls – they could lead to a secret compartment, or even outside. One side of this building overlooks a deep ravine, which you could fall right into!" I replied, "That's comforting to know…" Just then, up ahead in the hallway, a Venonat appeared. May said, "Oh, there's Iya's Venonat! It should lead us right to her." At that, Venonat ran off. I shouted, "What are we waiting for? Let's go after it!" and I ran. May shouted, "Joe, watch out for the…" I slammed straight into an unseen barrier and fell backwards to the floor, and May continued, "…invisible walls." I put my hand on my head and said, "Thanks for the warning." Then I heard, "Venonat!" We looked up to see Iya's Venonat standing there, and a girl stepped out from the shadows. She had green hair with an orange bow, green eyes, and she wore a hot pink dress laced with red. "May, is that you?" she asked. May bowed and said, "Yes, Iya. It's good to see you again." Iya bowed in return, and said, "And you! You've come a long way since I last saw you. So what brings you back here again?" May answered, "Iya, I'd like you to meet my good friend, Joe. Once, a long time ago, when I lost faith in myself as a trainer, he helped me to believe in myself once again. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have come so far in my Pokemon journey. Now, he wishes to challenge your brother for a Soul Badge." Iya replied, "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Joe. Under normal circumstances, I would challenge you first, but because you are May's mentor and obviously a powerful trainer, I will take you directly to my brother." I replied, "Thank you. May told me that you were one of her martial arts instructors. Let me just say that from what I've seen, you've trained her very well!" Iya smiled and said, "Thank you. She always was one of my top students."
May and I, along with our Pokemon, followed Iya and Venonat outside, to an open lawn on the other side of the building. There was Koga, apparently in meditation. He had dark blue, spiky hair, and wore a blue ninja outfit with a red collar. I said to Iya, "Maybe we should come back later. I don't want to disturb him if…" He spoke, "No. You have come here to challenge me for a Soul Badge, and I will honor your request. But be warned – my poison types are not to be underestimated." He stood up and said, "This will be a 3 on 3 battle." I nodded, and he said, "For my first Pokemon, I choose Venonat!" He released a Venonat from a pokeball, and I replied, "You're up, Flamefox!" He exclaimed, "Vulpix!" as he stepped up to battle. "Venonat, use stun spore!" Koga ordered. I responded, "Flamefox, use your flamethrower and burn through it!" Venonat started to release the stun spore, but Flamfox launched a stream of flames from his mouth, incinerating the spore, and hitting Venonat point blank! Venonat was knocked down, but stood back up once the flames dispersed. Then Koga shouted, "Venonat, use psybeam!" I ordered, "Flamefox, evade it with your agility!" He tried, but the psybeam spread in all directions, and he was hit and knocked down. But he stood back up, and I heard Koga order, "Venonat, use sleep powder!" It began to release the powder, and I ordered, "Flamefox, use dig!" He quickly burrowed underground and the sleep powder missed him. He then shot up through the ground in a fury of dirt, directly under Venonat, and sent it flying. It then crashed to the ground, and before Koga could act, I shouted, "Fire spin, now!" His little body began to glow, and his eyes glowed bright white as he released the tornado of flames from his mouth, which wrapped around Venonat. This time, the flames dispersed, and Venonat collapsed. "Venonat, return!" Koga said, returning Venonat to it's pokeball. I exclaimed, "Good job, Flamefox!" and my Vulpix leapt into my arms for a hug. Koga said, "Not bad. For my second Pokemon, I choose Golbat!" He released the evolved form of Zubat from a pokeball, and I asked Flamefox, "Are you still up to battling?" He nodded, and re-entered the battlefield. "Golbat, use screech!" Koga ordered. The Golbat made an ear-shattering sound that I could see Flamefox couldn't handle. "Hang in there, Flamefox! Use your flamethrower!" He tried, but Golbat was able to evade the flame attacks. Then Koga ordered, "Golbat, use supersonic!" It let a different high-pitched sound, and Flamefox became confused! I shouted, "Flamefox, try to focus! Try using flamethrower again!" He tried, but just shot the flames in random direction, completely missing Golbat. Then Koga shouted, "Golbat, use wing attack!" It flapped its wings, sending powerful g-forces at Flamefox, which hit him like he was being slapped in the face! Weakened from the psybeam, and still confused, he fell backwards, and I said, "Enough!" and ran in to retrieve Flamefox. I picked him up and said, "You put up a good fight, buddy. Let's let Firestorm take it from here." Firestorm entered the battlefield, and I ordered, "Firestorm, use confuse ray!" He released the attack, effectively confusing the Golbat. It still continued to flutter around, confused, and Koga ordered, "Golbat, use supersonic!" Although confused, it was still able to make the high-pitched sound, and confused Firestorm! Now both Pokemon were confused! I ordered, "Firestorm, try flamethrower!" hoping for a random hit. He launched the attack in random directions, but only grazed the still confused Golbat, who was fluttering in circles. Koga ordered, "Golbat, use leech life!" Firestorm glowed as Golbat sucked HP from him! "It can still use leech life, even in it's confusion!" May observed. Iya replied, "Yes. My brother is a quite a great trainer." I said, "Come on, Firestorm! Shake off your confusion!" as I held Flamefox in my arms. He continued to attempt flamethrower attacks, as Golbat continued leech life, sometimes hitting, sometimes not. I finally ordered, "Firestorm, use hyper beam!" Even though confused, he released the powerful attack, and managed to spread it out enough so that it hit Golbat in the wing! Golbat fell to the ground. Firestorm's confusion began to wear off, and I said, "Use body slam!" He ran at Golbat, who hit him with one more leech life as he thrust himself onto the downed Golbat. As he weakly stood back up, the Golbat lay there, completely knocked out! I said, "Great work, Firestorm!" as I ran over to hug him with one arm, while I held Flamefox with the other. I helped him walk back to the sidelines. I left both Flamefox and Firestorm in May's capable hands, and while she treated them with hyper potions, Koga said, "For my final Pokemon, I choose Weezing!" and released the two-headed floating purple orb from it's pokeball. I responded, "Arcanine, it looks like it's up to you! This is your first gym battle with me. Do your best!" He barked, and licked my face, then entered the battlefield. "Weezing, use smoke screen!" Weezing released a black cloud from the many holes on it's body. I couldn't even see Arcanine, and shouted, "Arcanine, be careful!" Then I heard Koga say, "Now use tackle!" I saw Weezing float into the cloud, and Arcanine was knocked out of the cloud onto his side. As Arcanine started to stand back up, Weezing was coming at him with another tackle, and I shouted, "Arcanine, use headbutt!" He leapt up as Weezing came at him and their heads collided, which sent Weezing spinning backwards through the air, but soon it stopped and flew forwards again. Koga ordered, "Use poison gas!" I replied, "Arcanine, use flamethrower!" He launched a stream of flames, which ignited the poison gas, causing it to explode in Weezing's face! Weezing was knocked to the ground from the impact, but immediately levitated into the air again. Koga ordered, "Use another smoke screen!" As it began to release the smoke, I ordered, "Arcanine, hit it with fire blast!" He launched the t-shape of flames from his mouth at the Weezing, which hit it point blank and knocked it down. Just then, Weezing's body began to glow. I shouted, "Arcanine, get down!" Weezing then used explosion, creating a large blast! Arcanine fell to the ground sideways! Afterwards, I ran over to him. "Arcanine, are you all right?" I asked. He opened his eyes, raised his head and licked my face. I said, "Excellent! Way to go!" and hugged him. He stood back up and shook himself off, and my now fully restored Flamefox and Firestorm ran over to me for a group hug. "Good work, guys! Good work" I said to all of them. May ran over, accompanied by Amber, Inferno, Redfur, Fiona, and Clefairy, and she said, "Great battle, Joe!" I replied, "Thanks, May. And thanks for treating Flamefox and Firestorm." Koga recalled Weezing, and walked over to us. He said, "You have trained your Pokemon well. I am proud to present you with this Soul Badge." He unrolled a scroll, upon which the badge was attached, and I took the badge in my hand. I said, "Thank you." Iya said, "You're a very good trainer, Joe."
Afterwards, I sat in the grass with Arcanine, Flamefox, and Firestorm, and we watched while May and Iya practiced their martial arts techniques outside of Koga's mansion. Koga walked up next to us and watched them, commenting, "May is quite impressive with her skills. I can see she's been practicing well." While he was there, I asked him, "Koga, after I complete the Kanto League, I'm looking to open my own gym in Crimson Town. Do you have any advice for a prospective gym leader?" He closed his eyes and said, "Always remember, that even though you are a gym leader, you are still a student. You can still learn much from the trainers that come your way. There are always new lessons to be learned that can help you to be a stronger and better gym leader." I replied, "Thank you. I'll remember that." He nodded, and walked on. After May and Iya were done, May said, "Thanks, Iya. It was fun practicing with you again." She said, "Same here. Don't be a stranger, okay?" With that, May asked, "Are you ready to go, Joe?" I answered, "You bet!" With that, I mounted on Tauros with Flamefox, and May mounted on Fierymane with Amber. Accompanied by Arcanine, Firestorm, Inferno, Redfur, and Fiona, we headed in the direction of the Safari Zone!