This chapter and chapter 7 will come on the same day. Hope you like it; I shrugged off reading a book for this and that may screw me over in the future xD See if you get the joke in this chapter.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own the Pokémon franchise in any way. However, the little voice in my head that told me to burn things insists that I own the First National Bank of Canada. I think he might be right o.O
Chapter Six: Going Medieval Part 1
"He really took that loss hard, huh?" Juniper sighed as she stood on the sidelines while Grey trained with his Pokémon with a renewed vigor. "In a way, I feel sorry for him, but we did tell him to train more." She turned her head back down towards her clipboard, disappointed at the already extensive amount of notes she'd taken on Grey and his Pokémon so far. Her notes spanned three pages, but for Juniper, it was never enough. She still had a long way to go in her research on how human intervention affects the rate of Pokémon evolution.
"I know," Rachel replied as Soul leaped over a Sonic Boom attack from Lucy before dodging one of Sylva's Leaf Blade attacks. "But, that's who Grey is. He's stubborn and headstrong; how do you think I ended up in the Silver Ring in the first place?" The older Thomas sibling placed her head in her hands before continuing. "It sucks that it took a loss at the Gym to get him to see how much he was lacking, but, what are you going to do?"
"Yeah, I guess so," Juniper agreed. The redhead turned her attention to Lucy, noting how she accepted Grey's commands with much less hesitation and distaste as before. Grey'd already told Juniper about how he shielded Lucy from Rhyhorn's potential Thunderbolt attack and the girl deduced that his act of reckless concern must've been what captured the Buizel's respect. This was choice information and would be a great addition to her research notes.
On the other hand, there was Soul, who already shared a strong bond with Grey. Juniper had already taken an innumerable amount of notes on everything Grey and the Charmander had gone through together, but she still wasn't able to compare Soul's strength to any wild Charmander or any other Pokémon besides Rachel's Vulpix and her own, for that matter. No matter how interesting the personalities and strengths of the Thomas siblings' Fire-types were, June needed a lot more info if she wanted to satisfy her curiosity.
The good thing was, though, that Soul looked very close to his next level of strength. This was perfect; June could research everything already documented about the wild Pokémon of the Charmander species and compare her notes on Soul to them. The very thought made her giddy.
"Lucy, aim Sonic Boom at Soul; Soul, jump over it and slam with your tail!" Grey barked, his voice ringing out and fading into the mountains above Knight City where he was training. Soul flipped out of his showboating handstand and over Lucy's incoming Sonic Boom before aiming an axe-blow to the Sea Weasel's head.
"Aqua Jet shield!" Lucy gathered the water ring at her feet and made it swirl around her protectively just before Soul strike connected. There was a hiss of steam in the air as Soul hurriedly wiped water off of his tail before Grey came and healed the wound. "Nice timing, both of you. Especially you, Luce, and the shield technique we thought up."
"Bui bui!" Lucy said with a grin. She'd taken to Grey's praising her quite well.
"Soul, we need to be faster and more powerful. Next time we see that Gligar, it's going to pay for what it did, right?" Grey asked his partner with a manic grin.
"Charmander!" Soul replied with a mirror of his trainer's expression. The flame on his tail grew once more, signaling that Soul had gotten a little stronger. Counting this time, it was about the fourth time it had happened since Grey's defeat three days earlier. There were only four days left until he could challenge the Knight City Gym and Emily again and he was going to make the most of it by training, training and even more training.
Remembering what Dexter, as he decided to call his Pokédex, had said about a Charmander's tail flame, Grey picked up a leaf from the ground and tossed it onto Soul's fire. The flame immediately gobbled up the leaf, growing in size as it did so and fueling Soul's body at the same time.
"Don't want to strain you, bud," Grey muttered. Grey looked out at the expanse of rock and gravel of the nameless mountain he was stood on as his mind raced to come up with new ways to counter Emily's strategy. He had a couple of ideas on how to counter Rhyhorn especially, remembering almost every word of the Spikes Pokémon's Pokédex entry.
"Well," Rachel said suddenly, "I'm going back into town. Want me to bring anything back, Grey?" Rachel looked at her brother, careful to keep her thoughts from showing in her eyes. Grey had lost so badly the other day and yet he still insisted on going on. Why wouldn't he just give up and go home?
"Yeah…" Grey muttered, remembering something he'd watched on the Pokémon Channel back home. He pulled some money out of his wallet and handed it to his sister, saying, "Can you go to the Mart and bring back TM32 if they have it? I've got an idea on how to beat that Rhyhorn of hers."
"Alright then," Rachel shrugged, pocketing the money. She looked back at her brother to see his back was turned to her as he commanded Soul to use Scratch on a boulder while Lucy worked on her reflexes with Water Gun by shooting rocks thrown by him out of the sky. "Vulpix, Mudkip, let's go." She descended the mountain trail into Knight City with her Pokémon and found herself oddly hoping Grey would win.
"Okay, Soul, now go into Metal Claw," Grey said evenly as he watched what he hoped to be an effective strategy. Soul grunted as his claws made the glowing transition into Metal Claw and smiled as his silvery-steel fingers left deep grooves in the rock. Both Grey and Juniper made notes on Soul's power with this attack. "Let's see her stand up to something like Metal Claw," Grey smirked.
"You've gotten better, Grey," Jasmine commented, pointing to Soul with her pen. "Normally, Scratch wouldn't do any damage against a tough-skinned Gligar, but Metal Claw should to much more damage to it."
"Yeah, but I'm not using Soul against Gligar," Grey said. This put a look of confusion on Juniper's face.
"I thought you always started battles with Soul," she said naively.
"Normally, yes, and that's how our battle style..." Grey stopped in mid-sentence thinking about how the last two words he spoke rolled off the tongue. 'Battle style,'... He could use that. Every great trainer needed a battlecry, right? "Anyway... that's how it was for a while before I caught Lucy. Now I have two Pokémon and I'm going to catch more as I go along, so my battle skills have to evolve along with my Pokémon. If I stick with the same, dried out old system, I'll keep losing as badly as I did three days ago. You know what I mean?" Grey explained.
"Yeah, I guess so," Juniper nodded. "Do you still need Sylva's help?" she asked, referring to her Grovyle who was leaned up against a tree with her eyes closed.
"Definitely; I need to work on Soul's reflexes and train Lucy's speed up, anyway. I was thinking we could have her use Fury Cutter to test Soul and use Quick Attack to race Lucy," Grey suggested. He was really getting creative with these training sessions.
"Okay, then. Sylva, Fury Cutter on Soul!" June shouted, startling Grey with her loud voice.
"Dodge it!" he cried.
Juniper's Grovyle immediately leapt into action, her forearms glowing with a yellowish-green energy as she repeatedly swiped at Soul's body, head and feet trying to trip him up with each assault. Soul jumped, twisted and dodged each swipe of the Bug-type move showing that his training was well worth the time spent. As Soul flipped over a particularly close call, Grey made the call for action.
"Flare your tail up and slam her with it!" he grinned madly, knowing this method of attack would work.
Soul concentrated the energy from his inner fire into his tail flame and mirrored Grey's grin as it increased in size threefold. Soul then whirled around and brought the flame swiping across Sylva, engulfing her in the blaze. The Grass-type let out a pained shout at the feel of fire against her skin and jumped back before charging in with Quick Attack and sending Soul bouncing across the ground like a skipping stone.
"Sylva!" June admonished, shaking her pen at her Grovyle.
"Gro Grovyle-vyle!" The little punk burned me! Sylva shouted back as she nursed her arm.
"Well, at least we know that works," Grey laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry about that, Sylva." He tossed June a Burn Heal so Sylva wouldn't be mad anymore and then turned to Lucy.
"Okay, Luce. We're going to work on your speed and reaction time so we'll be able to at least counter Gligar's. You think you're up for it?"
"Bui!" Lucy said enthusiastically, pumping her arms and cracking her tails together.
"Okay, then. Sylva, you mind coming over here so we can test this out? Those three days of prep better be worth it," Grey said, clenching and opening his fists. The Grovyle nodded slightly and took her place across from Lucy.
"Right," June began. "So, you're going to have them race, right?"
"Something like that," Grey said deviously. "When I give the order, Lucy and Sylva will use Quick Attack to race to that tree," Grey explained, pointing to the tree furthest from where they stood. "Then, once they reach that, they'll jump and use surrounding trees as springboards to go in and clash with each other."
"Oh, I get it now," Juniper said as she clapped her hands together. "Okay, then let's get started. Sylva!"
"Lucy!"
"Use Quick Attack!" they both shouted. Both Sea Weasel and Wood Gecko pushed off the ground hard with shouts of their names leaving white streaks of light trailing behind them. They rocketed towards the tree with Lucy trailing slightly behind the faster Sylva and sped up the vertical surface when they reached it, going at breakneck speeds. The two Pokémon finally flew above the treetops and seemed to float there for a moment before the order was given.
"Now, Lucy!" Grey shouted to his Buizel. "Aqua Jet into a tree and bounce off with Quick Attack!"
"Bui bui!" she shouted, spinning her propeller tails in a cloak of water and pushing off against the tree once her feet touched it with Quick Attack. Sylva did the same, speeding towards Lucy with her own Quick Attack and the two slammed into each other in midair with Lucy coming off a bit worse due to being a bit slower.
"Up the speed, Luce!" Grey called, cupping his hands around his mouth. An idea suddenly came to him: Lucy got much faster when it rained the first time he attempted to catch her. If Buizel get faster in the presence of water, then using Aqua Jet to counter Quick Attack would be much more effective. A feral grin spread across his face as he put his plan into action, hoping it'd work.
"Lucy, forget Quick Attack; go into Aqua Jet instead!" Lucy questioned Grey's judgement for all of a second before she spun her tails and transitioned from Quick Attack into Aqua Jet, her velocity increasing greatly due to the two speed attacks combining. The Buizel sped at Sylva like a watery arrow as she clashed once more with and knocked the Grovyle away like she was batting away a fly.
Again, Lucy pushed off against a tree with Quick Attack and went into an Aqua Jet, her improvised combination once again coming out on top. Grey immediately thanked whatever gods existed that his Buizel could act so quickly. This combination would definitely win against Emily and her Gligar.
"Char char! Charmander!" All right! Go Lucy! Soul shouted in congratulations to Lucy as she landed.
"Bui bui," the Water-type said sheepishly as she landed next to Sylva.
"Wow, Grey, that's amazing! How'd you think that up, anyway?" June asked. Her eyes shone with curiosity and her pen quivered above her clipboard, ready to write away.
"Buizel get faster when they're in the water, right?" Grey asked, unsure if he was right or not. "I just used that information and thought that Lucy would move faster if she were using Aqua Jet instead of a normal Quick Attack."
"No, that's only in the rain," June corrected. "But I guess you lucked out with combining two speed attacks to get faster."
"So what's Lucy's ability called anyway?"
"Swift Swim. All Pokémon have abilities that help them in battle. For example," she said, turning to Soul, "Charmander's ability is Blaze, which powers up their Fire-type attacks when they get tired."
"He can do that?" Grey asked, tilting his head.
You can do that? Lucy asked her teammate.
Apparently, I can do that, Soul shrugged.
"Yeah, he can do that," Juniper giggled. "You really have to learn a lot more, huh, Grey?"
"I guess so," Grey laughed.
"So, what are you going to do next? More training, right?" June asked. She put her hands and clipboard behind her back and tilted her head slightly as she looked at Grey.
"There's only four days until I can challenge Emily again. So, I'll train until the second to last day and rest on the last day," Grey counted on his fingers. "But, I still plan to catch one more Pokémon so I can at least last a bit longer. I've got a feeling she's got at least one more Pokémon up her sleeve."
"Charmander." We'll win this time, Soul said assuredly. This time, he wasn't going to get destroyed like the last time.
"Buizeru. Bui bui!" Lucy added. She was so ready to wreak havoc on that brute of a Rhyhorn and get her revenge for that Rock Blast she suffered.
Grey shared his Pokémon's feelings. His eyes burned with determination and fury. Emily had shown him that his way of rushing blindly into battle was going to get him and his Pokémon hurt, but she'd also humiliated him. And Grey would not stand around and just let that happen without a fight.
"Well, you just keep at it, Mr. Challenger," Juniper giggled. "I'm heading back into town, okay? We need to stock up on supplies and since Rachel went off to make some money --"
"Wait, what? Since when did Rae start making money?" Grey cut in.
"She's a Pokémon Ranger, right? She accepted a bunch of jobs just two days ago around this area and she's been getting paid for them," June explained.
"That makes sense, I guess. Well, you go on ahead. The three of us will hang out here a bit longer," Grey said.
"Bui bui," Bye-bye, Lucy waved goodbye to Juniper and Sylva as they headed back to Knight City.
"Alright, guys. Let's keep it up. It's target practice time: Soul, Ember! Lucy, Water Gun!" Soul commanded.
"Charmander!"
"Bui!"
"Okay, we're totally lost… Again," Jameson groaned.
"Scy~ther," Sniper sighed. The sad part was, the Bug-type was beginning to get used to being lost. It just came with the territory of being James's first Pokémon, he guessed. Shishi, however was not so patient. The Duskull groaned loudly whenever he could like a disgruntled old man and wanted nothing more than to just phase through the walls of the cave and get into the fresh air… If Ghost-types even had to breathe in the first place.
"Yeah, I know, Shishi," James said tiredly after one such ghostly moan. "We're lost and you want to leave. Do you have to be so conspicuous about it? Jeez, man…"
"Duskull!" Shishi countered angrily.
"Scy Scyther! Ther-scy!" Sniper hyperactively pointed a scythe at a small circle of light that looked to be the end of the cave, jumping up and down in excitement.
"Oh, no way! Nice job, Sniper!" James said happily, immediately dashing towards the light with Sniper frantically flapping his wings for speed behind him while Shishi floated above. James stopped just short of the cave opening to see that he was indeed headed towards Knight City. "Oh, thank God," Jameson breathed. "Looks like there was some construction work here a bit earlier, huh?"
Jameson looked around to see that the occasional shovel or shattered boulders were present and attested to the fact that this tunnel was dug recently. "Wonder when this tunnel was finished, anyway. Oh, well, it's not important."
James continued forward, happy that he was finally out of that dark, dank tunnel and out into the sunlight. When he didn't notice his Pokémon's presence behind him, he turned around to see Sniper fiddling with something thin and red that looked like a candlestick.
"Sniper, where'd you find that?" he asked unsurely.
"Scy," Sniper said simply, attempting to point at the ground with one scythe and hold onto the candlestick with the other. Shishi looked at the red candle curiously before doing anything. It didn't make sense for a candle to not be lit, right? So, with that logic, Shishi conjured up a Will-o-wisp and used the spectral blue flames to light the candle. The wick hissed angrily as it rapidly burned down to the base. James's eyes widened to dinner plates and he screamed,
"Dynamite!!!" He tackled his Scyther to the ground behind a boulder leaving a confused Shishi holding the dynamite. The explosive detonated with a loud blast of sound that reverberated all over the cave walls and left a black ring on the ground. Shishi stood at ground zero of the blast completely unaffected while Jameson and Sniper's ears rang like crazy.
"Shishi, don't ever light strange candles again, okay?" James said as he plunged his finger into his ear to try and get rid of the ringing.
"Dus-kull," the Requiem Pokémon shrugged.
"Let's just get out of here before something else happens. For all we know, that blast could've woken up something huge," James said, shakily getting to his feet.
Almost on cue, the ground began to viciously shake and rumble. As the rocks began to rain down, James cursed his horrible luck and wished he'd never opened his mouth. Then, out of the ground appeared an Onix who roared angrily and stared down the Scyther, Duskull and human standing before him.
"Oh, come on!" James screamed before he turned tail and ran out of the cave with his Pokémon in tow.
"Scy~!" Sniper screamed in fear, buzzing his wings to propel himself faster and away from the Onix. Onix followed them doggedly, raking his tail through the ground and sending a Rock Throw attack James's way. The large rocks landed a bit too close for comfort, almost falling onto the Mantis Pokémon's head. Onix roared again and coiled his body like a spring before launching his rocky skull forward like a javelin. James and his Pokémon got away just in time and Onix's Headbutt attack went wide and leveled a few surrounding trees, snapping them like toothpicks.
"Roooooooohn!" Onix called again, chasing after its prey with fervor. James didn't even look back before calling Sniper and Shishi back into their Pokéballs and hightailing it down the mountain with Onix in hot pursuit.
"Why does this always happen to me?!" the poor boy shouted.
Back on Grey's end of the mountain, he, Lucy and Soul stopped in the middle of their training when they heard Onix's roar accompanied by James's scream of terror.
"Char char?"
"Yeah, what the hell was that?" Grey wondered as he looked towards the path he took down the mountain. At once, he saw James hurriedly turn a corner from inside the trees and make a mad dash towards him just before Onix burst out from underground like a massive serpent spraying dirt and rocks all over the place. The Rock Snake Pokémon roared again, lowering his head and letting out an earsplitting Screech attack. The sound waves literally threw Jameson forward and he rolled down the hill, stopping at Grey's feet.
"What happened to you, man?" Grey asked, completely ignoring Onix's impending arrival. Jameson hurriedly got to his feet and screamed,
"That Onix! It came out of nowhere when I came through the cave!"
"Well, why didn't you fight it off?" Grey wondered. Onix furiously launched another Rock Throw barrage, causing Grey to tackle James out of its path while Soul danced out of the way and Lucy Aqua Jetted to avoid the boulders. Knowing none of his Pokémon could beat a Rock-type, James searched around frantically for something that could or at least a chance at escape. Noticing Lucy the Buizel, he shouted,
"You have a Water-type! Quick, beat that thing; catch it; something!" Grey's mouth split open in a wild grin at the concept of catching a Pokémon like Onix. If he caught that, his chances of beating Emily would skyrocket.
"Soul, Lucy! Time for some real battle training," Grey said deviously. Onix noticed the Buizel and Charmander on the ground before him and relished the opportunity to take his anger out on something. He coiled his body up once more and launched forward in another Headbutt.
"Both of you, jump!" Grey commanded. Grey's Pokémon jumped as Onix crashed his rock-hard skull into the ground, sending up large portions of the earth into the air as his attack missed the two Pokémon. The rocky behemoth turned around again and used Screech, the low pitched, rumbling sound waves of his voice rooting Soul and Lucy to the ground while they held their ears in pain. Next, Onix lunged out, true to its snake-like appearance, and wrapped himself around Soul, putting pressure on the little Charmander with every boulder-like section of his body. The Bind attack was slowly crushing Soul's bones, so Grey had to act fast to avoid any heavy damage.
"Lucy! Get him with your Water Gun!" Grey shouted, punching the air for emphasis. The Water Gun came with all the power of a fire hose and crashed into Onix's face. The water felt like weathering bullets of pain to the Rock/Ground-type as his body convulsed and caused him to release Soul. "Now, Soul! Ember attack!"
"Charmander!" Soul roared. His tail flame flared up to twice its size and he flung a powerful ball of flames at Onix's midsection. Even with the type advantage, Onix were not known for their defense against special attacks as the burn was felt even through Onix's tough hide.
"Second round!" Grey called enthusiastically. His eyes glinted with a fervor that made Jameson think him a man possessed. Soul's tail flame grew again, this time turning a bright, white-hot color as his eyes flashed white.
The tiny salamander opened his mouth to reveal not an Ember forming in his mouth, but a raging ball of gold-orange flames that crackled with energy sparks threatening to explode with sheer power. When the power became too much for Soul to handle, he blasted the projectile out of his mouth and into Onix's massive body. Surprisingly, the Rock Snake roared out in agony. The ethereal flames licked at his body like it were tinder to feed their power.
"Sweet!" Grey shouted. He pulled out his Pokédex to gain more information on the attack.
Dragon Rage, the machine chimed. Dexter's mechanical voice seemed to carry some interest as it explained the attack. A basic Dragon-type attack available to only a handful of Pokémon, including Charmander. This attack will deal a heavy amount of damage to the opposing party each time with rare variations in strength. Dragon Rage is executed through a concentration of the Pokémon's raw emotions mixed with energy from deep within the Pokémon's body.
"You rock, Soul!" Grey laughed. Soul gave his trainer a thumbs up as his flame returned to normal size.
"You're good at this," James noted, having calmed down considerably.
"Thanks," Grey smiled. Onix took this time to attack while Grey's Pokémon weren't being given any orders. He used Headbutt once more to slam his skull into Soul and drive the Charmander into the ground. Grey cursed under his breath and turned to Lucy.
"Sonic Boom where Soul hit then full on Aqua Jet!"
"Bui!" Lucy cried as she produced small bursts out sound with her twin tails, watching as the crashed into Onix's injured spot. The Rock Snake grunted with annoyance at the Normal-type attack before grunting again in pain at the super-effective Aqua Jet he sustained thereafter.
"Now, Metal Claw," Grey called to Soul, who was currently pulling himself out of the small crater Onix created. The Charmander concentrated his power and turned his fingertips into sword-like silver claws. He jumped up and swiped at Onix's head but the raging behemoth dodged and used his head to slam Soul into the ground once more.
Having had enough, Onix swiped Soul and Lucy away with his tail and roared louder than ever before as his eyes and body took on a regal white glow. The glow around his body condensed into a large silvery ball of energy in front of Onix's mouth that he launched forward with all the power he could muster. The energy crashed into Soul's body, causing the Fire-type great pain. Soul grunted through the throbbing pain that covered every inch of his body which was now nearing its limit so many blows. Onix then used Slam attack to strike Lucy and launch her into a tree, causing it to splinter slightly with a sickening crack. Grey really hoped that wasn't Lucy's spine.
AncientPower, Dexter chimed once more. An attack that uses an unexplained, primeval energy that is launched at the foe. This attack is confirmed to of the Rock-type. AncientPower may also have the effect of raising all of the user's abilities.
That explains why it hurt so much, Soul grunted. At least he could take solace in the fact that Onix was hurting just as much as he was. The Rock Snake was breathing heavily and his posture sunk with fatigue after using AncientPower.
"Char char!" Soul panted, signaling Grey that this was their chance.
"Gotcha, Soul," Grey said as his pulled and empty Pokéball out of his pocket. He pressed the button in the middle, making it grow to four times its size and took aim.
"You're catching that thing?" James asked incredulously.
"Of course I am," Grey said cockily. James's opinion quickly formed: this kid was one cocky punk. "Now stand back; we need one more shot. Lucy, Water Gun!"
Lucy's Water Gun blast struck Onix square in the chest region with the force of a fire hose and the Rock Snake finally started to give. For all of Onix's power, he couldn't stand up to their combined power after taking so many super-effective attacks and keeled over with one last rumbling groan.
Onix tried to lift his head back up in vain but Soul was there in a flash to exact revenge and Metal Claw him across the face. Onix finally keeled over unconscious.
"Right there! Pokéball, capture on!" Grey shouted, his former ranger training coming into play for a second. Despite hating being a ranger, he liked how the battle cry sounded, deciding to use it from now on.
The Pokéball clunked against Onix's body with a hollow, metallic sound before engulfing the massive Rock Snake in red light. Onix was vacuumed into the Pokéball, which landed on the ground and shook twice before giving off a soft ping. Onix was officially caught.
"Oh yeah!" Grey said ecstatically. He ran up to the Pokéball and picked it up, wondering how such a small device was able to contain a giant Pokémon like Onix. "You guys were awesome out there," he said to Lucy and Soul.
"Charmander," Soul said tiredly but still managing to give Grey a thumbs up.
"Bu~i" Lucy panted as she rested her hands on her knees.
"Thanks for the save, man," James said. "But I pity you now that you have to deal with that monster of a Pokémon."
"It won't be a problem. I'm sure I'll be able to connect with Onix just fine, so don't worry about me," Grey replied confidently. James let out a silent groan. If he stuck around any longer, this kid would get on his nerves.
"Well, thanks again. Later," the boy in blue said waving at Grey over his shoulder and walking back down the mountain.
"Wonder what his problem was," Grey said obliviously. He shrugged it off and bent down to recall Lucy and Soul into their balls. He grinned happily at Onix's Pokéball and pocketed it. Now that Grey had a new Pokémon, his spirits were on cloud nine and he felt like there was no possible way he could lose to Emily a second time.
--
"You caught a new Pokémon? Already?" Rachel asked the next day in the plains land west of Knight City a few miles away from the farms. As usual, June was there and their Pokémon were all out of their balls, save for Grey's.
"Yeah; an Onix that came raging out of the tunnel we took to get here," Grey replied, getting the necessary equipment for this day's training.
"Oh, wow!" June exclaimed. "An Onix? You mean the same one we saw the other day?"
Rosewood's face scrunched up in disgust as she flashed back to the day her Iron Tail crushed Onix's Rock Throw and got her fur all covered in filth. Sylva saw the look on her face and laughed, immediately knowing what the Furret was thinking. The Grovyle had to admit: Rosewood had major entertainment value.
"I think so," Grey said. He dug out his Pokédex and Onix's ball, putting away the TM Rachel had bought for him the day before. After scanning the ball, Dexter announced the results of the data.
Onix, the Rock Snake Pokémon.
Gender: Male
Known Attacks: Screech, Bind, Tackle, Harden, Slam, Dig, AncientPower, Rock Throw, Headbutt
Miscellaneous notes: This Onix was encountered before capture four (4) days ago
"Well, that answers it," Grey said. "Man, that was one fun battle. Soul even learned Dragon Rage and I met this one kid. Didn't catch his name, but he seemed like kind of a downer."
"Dragon Rage, huh? I can't wait to compare notes on that," Juniper said with a glint in her eye.
"Okay, okay," Grey laughed. "You're a crazy person; we get it. But, first things first. I didn't give Onix a name yet."
"Why do you nickname your Pokémon?" Rachel asked. "I'm just fine with calling mine by their species names and they don't seem to mind."
"For me, it feels like the Pokémon takes to you better if you give it a name instead of just calling it 'Charmander' or 'Buizel'," Grey explained. "Besides, thinking up their names is fun." Rachel shrugged and didn't attempt to delve any further on the topic. It was one of those things she'd never understand about her brother.
"Okay, then," Grey said, having taken everything he needed out of his bag. There were only three days left until his rematch and he was going to have to work harder now with Onix on his team. He pulled the three Pokéballs out of his pockets and tossed them into the air where they exploded with large bursts of silver light. When the lights hit the ground, they formed into the three Pokémon Grey now had with him: Soul, his Charmander, Lucy his Buizel, and now Onix.
"Charmander," Soul yawned as he stretched out.
"Buizeru!" Lucy barked, immediately darting towards Grey's bag and taking out an apple.
"Rooooh…" Onix rumbled. He lowered his giant head so he could face Grey at eyelevel. So this was the human that had bested and captured him. Onix never normally doled out respect, but anyone who could train two pipsqueaks like that Charmander and Buizel to beat him deserved his praise.
"Hey, Onix. How's it going?" Grey asked the Rock Snake as if they'd been old friends. By comparison, Onix was much, much calmer than yesterday. He slithered around Grey's body, examining the tiny human under his gaze and Grey felt an aura of wisdom and power exude from the stone Pokémon. "You have a name yet?" Grey asked his newest capture. Onix nodded.
"How's he do that? Last time, Lucy hated his guts," Rachel muttered.
"I don't know, but it's really fascinating," June mumbled, scrawling down notes like mad.
"So, what is your name?" Grey asked as he rapped his knuckles on Onix's snout.
"Roh-nix." Maverick, the dual-type said simply. Grey picked it up and grinned broadly. The name was perfect for an Onix. His species were known to attack for no apparent reason and disrupt the relatively quiet lives of cave and mountain Pokémon. Onix were rule-breaking Pokémon and a name like Maverick suited them perfectly.
"Okay, so you're Maverick. Nice to meet you," Grey said. Grew was sure to show the Onix respect. He knew he should; Maverick could crush him in an instant if he said one wrong thing.
Maverick turned his gaze away from Grey and towards Soul and Lucy, who was munching on the apple she took from Grey's bag.
That was a good fight yesterday, kid, he said with a deep laugh. I never expected to lose to a pipsqueak like you.
Hey, I'm no pipsqueak! Soul shouted at the Onix while readying a Metal Claw. Maverick scowled at this display of audacity and lifted his tail to show this impudent fire lizard some respect. Oh, bring it on, old man, Soul challenged.
Old man?! You'll pay for that, punk! Maverick rumbled.
Will you two calm down already?! Lucy shouted, spraying them both with water. Man, at this rate, you'll kill each other off before our rematch.
"Muuuud," Mudkip gawked as he looked at Onix. Never in his life had he seen a Pokémon so huge. Can I play on you? the youngling asked.
Mudkip, don't be rude, Vulpix said, placing her paw on the Mud Fish Pokémon's head. It's very nice to meet you, Mr. Maverick.
Has she always been so polite? Maverick asked, pleased that someone was finally showing him respect.
From what I can remember, she's always been uptight, Soul said offhandedly, earning himself a Confuse Ray from Vulpix. Grey, why is there a giant pickle talking to a crazy water pixie mouse? he slurred.
"Giant pickle?" Grey wondered. "The heck are you talking about?"
"Nice Confuse Ray, Vulpix," Rachel sang.
"Okay, Soul, snap of it," Grey laughed. "We've got some serious work to do." Grey took the TM from earlier out of his bag and placed it into a Teachy TV that came with Rachel's purchase. The disk spun and spun and spun, bringing up the image of a Rattata onscreen.
"TM32. Please bring the Pokémon you wish to learn TM32 to the Teachy TV and press START," the miniature television chimed.
"Lucy, come here," Grey said. Lucy padded over and stared curiously at the Teachy TV.
"Bui?" she asked, pointing to the screen.
"Just keep watching it. If we learn this in time, Rhyhorn's going down," Grey said. He clenched his fist and grinned at Lucy, assuring her that this would work. Lucy looked at him for a second before biting onto his wrist and nodding. Through the pain, Grey gave her the thumbs up.
---
Three days later, Grey stood in front of the Knight City Gym with a stone face. Juniper and Rachel stood behind him for moral support; he had his three Pokémon ready and a bag of tricks up his sleeve. He had June to thank for that. Grey shoved his hands in his pockets and went over his strategy one last time. If everything went his way, then the match would be his. If not, he'd have to wing it and hope for the best.
"Don't look so tense, bro," Rachel said soothingly. "If you're too focused, you may panic and start losing that focus. Then you'll lose just as badly as you did last time." Grey nodded and took a calming breath.
"I know. Thanks, sis," he said with a small smile. Grey was definitely not his usual, crazy self. He was calm, focused and extremely nervous. He didn't know if a week's worth of training would be enough to beat Emily his second time around, but he desperately hoped it would be.
"You'll be fine, Grey. You've trained for this for a long time now," June grinned.
"Only for a week… Maybe I should take another week off just to be sure," Grey muttered. He was thinking into things too much. Grey tended to do that whenever he was nervous.
"Well, if you lose, there's always Pokémon Ranger School," Rachel sang and wagged a finger. Grey scowled.
"Hey, shut up; I'm not giving in, remember?" he retorted. Just then, the doors of the Gym opened up and out walked the boy Grey had seen running away from Maverick. "Hey, it's you."
Jameson looked up from his hand to face Grey and Grey noticed he was holding a brown piece of metal in his hand. He reasoned it must be Knight City's Gym Badge.
"Huh? Oh, it's you." Jameson's face fell as he set eyes on Grey. This cocky punk again? "Yeah, I just won the Gym Badge. You going for it next?" Grey nodded tensely.
"Yeah. I'm going to win this time with Onix -- I mean, Maverick on my side," Grey grinned. There it was again, Jameson noted. That cocky smile Grey wore that suggested he was the greatest at everything. Suppressing a scoff, Jameson walked off.
"Well, good luck to you," he said over his shoulder.
"He didn't seem to like you all that much," Juniper noted. "Was it something you said?"
"I dunno," Grey shrugged. "But we've got bigger fish to fry. Come on!" Grey walked through the doors of the Gym to see the rough terrain of the battlefield and none other than Emily standing on the end of it.
"Well, well, well," she smirked. "Look who's back."
---
And done! This chapter's going to be my first two-parter. I think that all my Gym Battles will be like that. It ups the suspense.
So, Grey caught an Onix and gained his respect by beating the ever-loving snot out of it. Guess he got lucky it wasn't anything like Lucy was or else he might've ended up in the hospital.
On a side note, it'll be a while until Grey catches his next Pokémon. Probably not until he gets to the third Gym town. I know new trainers tend to catch their Pokémon really quickly (Heaven knows Ash did in the first season) but I think giving him the next three Pokémon I have in mind for him at an early stage is extremely Mary Sue-ish.
Third Gym is also where things are going to get a lot fancier in terms of battles. It tends to do that in the anime and the games so why fix what's not broken?
Well, that's all the post-chapter notes for now. Read and review or else I send Maverick, Lucy and Soul to terrorize you! -- I mean, bake you cookies… Yeah, that's it…