"This will be a one on one battle, two pokemon each. The first to knock out both of the opponent's pokemon will be declared the winner. During this match, the challenger will be able to change pokemon at any time, but the Gym Leader's pokemon must remain on the field until either it wins or is unable to battle. Any questions?"
Chira grimly shook her head. The judge, Flint, was telling them the rules, and Chira was starting to fight anxiety. Would Cami be able to win? She hoped so. She still didn't have a clue how she was going to be able to beat the type disadvantage, and Cami knew this. But there was no way she was going to send Insight in.
"Then let the battle commence!" Flint gave the order and they both sent out there first pokemon.
"Graveler, go!" Brock threw a pokeball as Chira nodded to Cami. The ponyta jumped into the field and Brock just stared at her. "Are you crazy?" he asked. "Even the most novice trainer doesn't make the mistake of sending a fire type against a rock type."
"Don't worry about us, worry about yourself," Chira told him. "Cami, use Quick Attack!" No matter how little damage it takes, it should still take some.
"Graveler, use Rollout!" Graverler began rolling toward the incoming Cami, and she jumped out of the way at the last moment. The disturbed air hit her and threw her to the side.
"Cami!" Chira bit her lip. The horse pokemon stood up and used Agility to get close to Graveler. It responded by using Rock Throw, but she dodged it and hit it with Stomp. It stumbled back, and threw a punch at Cami. She was too slow and was hit full force.
NO! Cami! I've got to do something. There's no way she can win at this rate. I wish I had a water pokemon. Wait! That's it! All Gym's are equipped with... "Cami! Use Fire Blast on the ceiling!"
"What?" Brock stared at her, then realized what she was doing. "Graveler, stop it!"
Graveler charged it but it was too late. Chira hadn't trained Cami just to move with speed, but to execute her attacks with speed as well. A pillar of fire was shot toward the ceiling and hit the sprinklers. They immediately kicked in and sent a spray of water down on the field. Chira smiled then realized her mistake. The water was weakening Cami as well.
"No!" Way to go, Genius. "Gotta finish this fast. Cami, use Stomp as much as you can!" Cami started kicking the graveler super fast, combining it with Agility as well. Soon though, she was slowing down. But the water had done its job.
"Graveler! Return!" Brock called his pokemon back to its pokeball. The sprinklers had stopped, but Chira had called right. They had weakened it. Cami, though, was panting heavily. "Your ponyta must trust you a lot to have put itself under water just to beat my graveler. But unfortunately for you, I doubt it will survive my next choice." He threw a pokeball. "Go, Sudowoodo!"
Chira stared at the strange tree pokemon. "A Sudowoodo, huh? Well, Cami can take care of that." I hope.
"Sudowoodo, Rock Smash!" Its branch arm glowed white and it charged Cami, who dodged and responded with a Stomp attack. Sudowoodo dodged and managed to recover fast enough to hit Cami with Rock Smash, sending her flying back.
"Cami!" Chira cried. Cami shakily stood up.
"Sudowoodo, finish it! Use Rock Throw!" Sudowoodo picked up a rock and heaved it at Cami, who was too weak to dodge it in time.
"No!" The rock crashed into Cami before Chira could Return her, knocking her out immediately. "Good job, Cami. Return." Chira looked at Brock. "I can't-"
Insight bit Chira's leg. "Let me try, Chira. What harm is there in trying?"
Chira looked at her, torn between getting a badge and keeping Insight safe. "I can't do that. You're still too weak."
"I can still try. What's the worst that can happen?"
Chira closed her mouth on all the possibilities. She could see that Insight was set on battling. "Fine, but be careful."
Insight nodded. "I will." She hopped into the arena and faced the sudowoodo.
Chira immediately set to work on finding out what moves Insight knew. "Insight, Tackle." Insight charged the rock-tree pokemon. Brock laughed.
"You think an eevee can beat my sudowoodo? I'll show you. Sudowoodo, Magnitude!" It began throwing every rock it could reach at the eevee, who was doing a valiant job of dodging them. At the last moment, Sudowoodo jumped out of the way, but Insight had counted on that and still hit it. It was thrown back a couple meters, landing in the middle a puddle made in the last round. It quickly got back up and, on Brock's order, used Rock Smash, nailing eevee on a leg. She limped a couple steps, and turned to face it in a fighting stance.
"Insight, Leer!" Insight glared at the sudowoodo, who barely reacted. Chira bit her lip as it hit Insight with a Rock Throw. Insight was losing HP, and fast. "There's got to be something," Chira murmured to herself. "Insight, use Quick Attack to get close to it," Chira said, and as it was using Quick Attack, she continued giving orders. "Go into a Tackle and ram it for all it's worth! Now use Bite and Tackle it again."
Brock tried to give orders, but Insight was executing the attacks to fast for Sudowoodo to do anything about it. Her last tackle sent it into the puddle of water again, and Insight landed on it, preventing it from getting up again. Sudowoodo tried to get up, but failed, finally just collapsing.
"Insight," Chira called. "That's enough, get off of it." Insight slowly got off of Sudowoodo, and when it didn't move, Flint proclaimed, "Sudowoodo is unable to battle. The challenger Chira Tuscone is the winner!"
Chira cheered and hugged Insight. "I'm sorry for doubting you," she said. "I should have realized you were just as good as Cami."
Brock approached. "Congratulations, Chira. You've earned the Boulder Badge." He handed her a small badge in the shape of a boulder, and she carefully got out the badge case one of her friends had given her before she left. She put it in and blinked back tears. She was really living her dream now. She put the case back in her pack, noticing a couple folded pieces of paper. She grabbed them out, took a deep breath, and approached Brock.
"Brock," she said, looking down. "I want to thank you for the great match. I appreciate your taking time out that you could be packing, even if I didn't give you much of a choice." She took a deep breath. "I just have one small favor to ask." She handed him the picture of her parents. "Do you know these people? This picture was taken a while ago, but…"
He stared at the picture, then looked at her. "I'm sorry, no."
"Are you sure?" Chira asked. Though she hadn't expected it to be easy, on the contrary, she had hoped it wouldn't take all the Gym Leader's to find out who they were.
He smiled. "I think I would have remembered a dragonite trainer, and I most definitely would have remembered someone with such unusual hair. No, I truly am sorry, but I have never met them before."
She took back the picture. "Oh, alright. Thanks, I guess."
He studied her, and after a moment said, "If it helps, I can tell you where the picture was taken."
"You could?" Chira asked, hope shining in her eyes. "Really? Where?"
He smiled. "Right outside the main doors of Indigo Plateau."
She was silent, digesting this information.
"Someone there might remember them," he said helpfully.
"Thank-you," Chira said in a daze. "I guess you're right. I appreciate it. Now, I guess I am headed to the competition at Indigo Plateau as soon as my pokemon are healed."
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Yes! One badge down…