Chapter 7: Going Medieval Part 2
Grey walked into the Knight City Gym for the second time in a week, this time with Juniper and Rachel in tow. This time, Grey was completely focused and he took everything in. He especially paid attention to the terrain of the battlefield and the stalagmites and boulders scattered across the mid-length grass Grey failed to notice his first time there. He'd have to use the terrain to his advantage some how. All in all, Grey felt good and he felt confident now that he had Maverick on his side.
"Well, look who's back," Emily called out. Her voice snapped Grey right out of his thoughts. "And you brought friends. Hope you brought some skill with you, too." Grey grit his teeth together.
"Of course I did. I'm not losing to you this time," Grey said. He smiled to himself, a plan forming in his head.
"If you say so," Emily shrugged with a playful demeanor.
"All non-combatants must please take a seat in the stands," the referee announced looking as haggard as ever and still holding his red and green flags. This was the second successive match Emily had had that day and he was really ready to take a break. He cursed whatever forces there were that gave the girl a seemingly unending amount of sarcasm and energy.
"Good luck, little bro," Rachel waved as she dragged Juniper over to the stands.
"Good luck," June echoed, waving like a child. Grey nodded and took his place in the challenger's area on the battlefield.
"Let's make this three on three," Grey said as he took a battle stance. The atmosphere instantly thickened and pressed its weight down on both challenger and Gym Leader, increasing their energies and making them itch for the start of the fight.
"Whatever's fine with you," Emily replied as she did the same. "Ref?" The referee took his place and started to recite the words he's most likely said countless times.
"This rematch between challenger Grey Thomas of Puel Town and Emily Vega of the Knight City Pokémon Gym will be a three on three Pokémon battle with both sides allowed to make substitutions. The match ends when all three of one trainer's Pokémon have been knocked out. Trainers, choose your first Pokémon."
"Gligar, let's show them how it's done!" Emily cried as she sent out Gligar.
Grey pulled a ball out of his pocket and enlarged it, staring down Emily with steely eyes. Gligar was an incredibly fast Pokémon, so he'd have to put it in a situation where its speed did it no favors. Grey had just the Pokémon for the job. As he lobbed the ball into the air, a phrase from his training as a ranger took over.
"Lucy, battle style!" The Pokéball split open and Lucy appeared in a flash of silver.
"Bui bui!" she barked, cracking her tails menacingly and narrowing her eyes.
"Gligar vs. Buizel. Let the battle begin!" the ref shouted, sending the flags at his sides down.
"We'll go first, Gligar," Emily said, switching into her serious mode. "Fury Cutter, and don't let up."
"Gli!" the Ground-type cackled as her claws glowed green. She pushed off the ground with her tail and flapped her wings, becoming a purple blur as she clicked her pincers threateningly.
"Lucy, dodge now and counter with Water Gun!" Grey shouted. He quickly lowered his voice, however. It wasn't the time to let the adrenaline rush carry him off. Forcing himself to focus, he watched as Lucy dodged three Fury Cutter swipes and retaliated with a powerful burst of water that struck Gligar hard in her back. "Yes," he hissed under his breath.
Lucy's speed was the perfect counter for Gligar. Emily might still be able to attack, but Lucy could parry the FlyScorpion's attacks just as fast. "Keep going, Lucy. Follow up with Sonic Boom!"
Lucy leapt into the air and cracked her tails twice. The miniature sound blasts she created careened towards Gligar with a killer intent but the Fly Scorpion got up and raced away, turning into a purple blur once more that stopped at Emily's side of the field.
"You've gotten better," Emily remarked. "But not good enough. Gligar, Faint Attack and make it hurt!" Gligar nodded before cackling and faded into the shadows like a cruel phantom. Appearing behind Lucy with her pincers outstretched and glowing with a dark purple aura, Gligar slashed her claws against Lucy's back simultaneously and then knocked the Sea Weasel away using her tail. Lucy straightened up from her beating in midair and waited for further commands from Grey.
"Water Gun once more," Grey said clearly. Lucy fired the blast of water out of her mouth with great force but Emily wasn't about to let the same trick work twice.
"Gligar, Sand Tomb!" she shouted. Gligar responded by pumping her wings once with immense power behind them, kicking up a small dust devil that absorbed the incoming attack. The Water Gun hit Gligar's counter, spiraling into the dust devil. Sand and water mixed and merged within the powerful winds of the Sand Tomb before eventually becoming mud and falling out of the air.
"Lucy, Quick Attack, now!" Lucy raced across the field, parting the grass with her speed with just one push off the ground leaving a white light trail behind her. Gligar jumped into the air with a beat of her wings and Emily gave the order to retaliate with her own Quick Attack. The Fly Scorpion Pokémon copied Lucy's attack aiming to actually land the attack, which was when Grey saw his chance. Going for a gamble, he decided to put Lucy's newest combo to work.
"Lucy, head for a stalagmite. Push off it and go into Aqua Jet!" he grinned. Lucy nodded with a grin of her own. Gligar was going down. Still using Quick Attack, she made a sharp turn to the right towards a stone spike jutting out of the ground and landed on it with her feet before she crashed headfirst. The Water-type pushed off the rocky feature leaving another white trail behind her before summoning a water cloak and spinning her tails like boat propellers and transitioning into Aqua Jet.
Gligar didn't have the time to dodge the sped-up Aqua Jet and cried out in pain as the water from Aqua Jet burst and crashed into her like a ton of bricks. Gligar fell to the ground just as Grey gave the order to strike with Sonic Boom.
"Get up and dodge!" Emily shouted. Gligar rolled out of the way just in time as the sound wave landed where her head was seconds before and shattered the surrounding grass.
"Fury Cutter attack!" This time, Gligar's strikes hit their mark, becoming stronger each time thanks to the nature of Fury Cutter. She ended her vicious combination of slashes with one final strike that sent Lucy reeling backwards, the grass ticking her back and feet.
"You alright, Lucy?" Grey asked concernedly.
"Bui." Lucy grunted an affirmative and shook off the impact of the attacks. Grey smirked in the back of his mind. His plan was working; against an opponent just as fast as she was, Gligar's advantage was gone and the playing field was leveled.
"Gligar, speed up and use Sand Tomb," Emily ordered. Her Gligar used Quick Attack to get into the air and glide just above the grass while sending multiple dust devils racing in Lucy's direction with every powerful beat of her wings. Gligar decided to show off a bit during her rush by executing flips in time with her attacks
"Keep up with her and Aqua Jet through them," Grey said. Lucy didn't need to be told twice as she sped after Gligar covered in her water cloak. As she burst through each Sand Tomb created and turned it into mud, she also managed to cut the grass behind her with her spinning tails, leaving a twisting, turning path in the foliage.
"Now, Gligar!" Emily shouted suddenly. As Grey's Buizel shot down the last Sand Tomb, Gligar rocketed forward with Quick Attack only to stop short of tackling Lucy and blasting a close range Sand Tomb into the Sea Weasel Pokémon. Lucy was now trapped inside the dust devil as tiny grains of sand cut into her skin with each passing second.
"She used Sand Tomb as a cover so she could get in close," June pointed out. "I wonder how Grey will get out of this one."
"If he gets out of it," Rachel said tensely. The Pokémon Ranger found herself watching this battle with keen interest while asking herself why she was in the first place.
"Crap!" Grey muttered. His temper was flaring and he forced himself to calm down before going on to think of a good counter to Sand Tomb.
"Gotcha now, kid," Emily taunted. Her Gligar pulled her bottom eyelid down and blew raspberries at Grey, adding further insult.
"Damn it, what can I do?" Grey muttered as he blocked out Emily's mental warfare. "That's it! Lucy, Aqua Jet shield!"
"Bu~i!" Lucy cried as she conjured up an Aqua Jet within the confines of Sand Tomb. As the water merged with the dirt, it fell around Lucy as a ring of mud. Grey could now see that Lucy had a few cuts on her body thanks to Fury Cutter and Sand Tomb, but it was nothing she couldn't handle. Grey was thankful that she at least didn't have any bruises.
"Water Gun!"
"Gligar, Dig!"
"Gli-gar!" Emily's Pokémon grunted as she dove into the ground as if it were water just as Lucy's attack sped by overhead. The Buizel stood stock still as she waited for the attack. She'd need to be on her guard if she wanted to counter at just the right moment.
Gligar suddenly burst out of the ground, pincers poised to slam into Lucy but the Sea Weasel Pokémon was too fast. Lucy jumped into the air just in time to fire a full-power Water Gun attack into Gligar's face. Gligar was forced down and pinned to the ground by the intensity of the water as it drained her strength with each gallon that was pumped into her body. Emily cursed under her breath and brought up Gligar's Pokéball to call her back but Grey still had an ace up his sleeve.
"Gligar, return!"
"As if we'd let you! Pursuit!" he commanded with a victorious smirk. Lucy's body took up a dark aura just as the red beam from the Pokéball hit Gligar's body. Right as Gligar herself became a mass of red energy, Lucy cracked her tails once more, sending the aura from her body crashing into Gligar and turning the Ground-type solid again. Emily's Pokémon fell to the ground, dazed and defeated, securing the first round win for Grey.
"Yes!" Juniper shouted. "He won! I knew he was going to win!" The red-head jumped up and down in her seat and cheered for Grey down below. Surprisingly, Rachel was cheering for her brother as well even though she disapproved of Pokémon battles.
"Yeah! Go, little bro! That was perfect! You and Lucy rocked!" Juniper turned her head to the side confusedly.
"But I thought you didn't like when Grey battled," she pointed out. Rachel rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.
"I got carried away?" she said uncertainly. "Eheheh… anyway, let's just keep watching, shall we?"
"Gligar is unable to battle!" the ref said, filling Grey with a sense of accomplishment and elation as the ref rose the green flag in Grey's direction. "Buizel is the winner!"
"Yes!" Grey shouted and he punched the air.
"Bui! Bui bui!" Lucy said. She danced around on the spot, completely ignoring the fact that she was now almost completely out of breath from keeping up with Gligar. Emily smiled and returned Gligar to her ball.
"You did great out there, Gligar," she congratulated. Readying another Pokéball, she said, "Okay, so you upped your game and thought up a strategy. You're starting to learn."
"Thanks," Grey smiled. "Now, get on with it. I can't wait to see the look on your face when you lose."
"If you say so." Emily threw the ball into the ring with an underhand toss where it split open, releasing the Pokémon inside with a blinding light. "Let's go, Baltoy!" When the light died down, a small Pokémon stood on Emily's half of the field. It was a light yellow-brown color with pink designs on its stomach and over what looked to be its closed eyes. Baltoy had long arms but no hands or feet; instead its lower body ended in a point on which it teetered from side to side like a pendulum. Intrigued, Grey pulled out his Pokédex.
Baltoy, the Clay Doll Pokémon. Baltoy are a desert-dwelling species that are a peculiar combination of the Ground and Psychic types. Baltoy are able to levitate and spin due to their psychic powers which they also use to attack, defend, or locate others of its kind. Baltoy are peculiar Pokémon in the fact that they do not need to eat to survive.
"Will challenger Grey be continuing this battle with Buizel?" the referee asked, snapping Grey out of his thoughts.
"Huh? Oh, yeah," Grey muttered. He lifted up Lucy's Pokéball and pointed it at her. "Lucy, return." Lucy was struck by the light beam and sucked back into her Pokéball for a good rest. "Thanks for that, Luce. Now we've got a bit of an advantage out here." He turned to Emily and pulled Soul's Pokéball from his pocket, confident in his decision. He tossed it into the ring, shouting,
"Soul! Battle style!" The ball split open with a loud *pop!* sound and Soul materialized out of the light. His tail flame burned brightly, setting some stray blades of grass on fire, and he flexed his claws out of habit in anticipation of battle.
"Char!" he growled with a feral grin. Soul took a look at Baltoy and had to resist the urge to laugh. This was going to be a cakewalk.
"Soul, don't get overconfident. That's how we lost last time, remember?" Grey admonished after sensing Soul's feelings. Soul calmed down but still kept his grin plastered onto his face.
"Baltoy vs. Charmander!" the ref shouted, throwing his flags into the air to signal the start of battle. "Start the battle!"
"Soul, Ember attack!" Grey said, wanting to get the jump on Baltoy. Soul answered immediately with a fireball that rocketed through the grass and setting it ablaze before crashing into Baltoy with a small explosion. Baltoy spun on the spot from Ember's impact but showed no signs of damage besides that.
"Baltoy, use your Psybeam," Emily ordered. Baltoy spun rapidly on the spot while emitting an odd sort of clacking noise before it came to a stop and fired a beam of rainbow-colored energy at Soul. The beam struck Soul and seemed to attack his mind more than his body. Psybeam felt as it were ripping his mind apart, leaving Soul with a pounding headache and what Soul guessed to be a burn on his stomach. Being a Fire-type, Soul never learned what burns felt like.
"Now use Rapid Spin!" Baltoy spun around like a gyroscope and launched itself at Soul while kicking up dust in its wake. Baltoy's high speed rotations stopped abruptly as it finally slammed into its Charmander opponent and threw him forward, leaving a bruise on Soul's chin.
"Rock Tomb!" Emily barked. Baltoy's 'eyes' glowed once more and it formed a purple energy ball in its 'hands'. Baltoy threw the sphere at the spot just behind Soul where it landed and caused a stalagmite to burst out of the ground and rudely stop Soul's flight. Instead of groaning in pain like normal Pokémon, Soul just grinned and forced himself to bear the pain. This battle was getting really enjoyable.
"That's the way, buddy. Now what say we show them Smokescreen?" Soul grimaced slightly before he sucked in a lungful of air and combined it with his inner fire, creating an acrid smoke. Soul belched said smoke out of his lungs so it covered he entirety of the field, obscuring Baltoy's view, if it had one to begin with.
"Too easy," Emil smirked. "Blow it away with another Rapid Spin." Baltoy made the clacking noise again and the sound grew in volume with each rotation. Eventually, Baltoy spun fast enough that the Smokescreen began to disperse revealing a charging Soul with his claws pulled back.
"Gotcha," Grey grinned as Soul dragged his claws along Baltoy's body with Metal Claw, leaving three deep grooves in the once pristine pink pattern. Emily grit her teeth angrily and glared at Soul who only stuck his flaming tongue out at her.
"What's the matter? Getting a bit angry?" Grey taunted. If she was going to use mental warfare, then so was he. "I thought Gym Leaders were supposed to be stronger than this."
"Shut up!" Emily shot back with a small smirk. "You lost the first time, anyway."
"Touché," Grey said offhandedly. "Now for my retort: Soul, Dragon Rage!" Emily was completely caught off guard and couldn't issue a command in time. Soul's tail flame flared up to three times its usual size and burned white hot as his eyes flashed white. The little salamander opened his mouth to reveal the gold-orange ball of crackling draconic energy before he threw his head forward and sent the attack smashing into Baltoy. The Clay Doll Pokémon let out loud sound like radio static, which Grey took to be a sound of pain.
"That was kind of a dirty trick," Rachel frowned, looking down at Grey in disdain because of his trickery towards Emily. She crossed her arms and looked to Juniper for an answer.
"Well, Emily tried it, too, remember? Grey's just fighting fire with fire, so to speak," Juniper replied.
"Seriously? So trainers will trash talk each other during battle?"
"It's so that the other trainer loses focus and leaves themselves open. Mental warfare, you know?" Rachel's frown deepened. If trainers employed such dirty tactics, then the upstanding moral code of the Pokémon Rangers appealed to her much more.
Jameson happily traveled out of Knight City with his bag over his shoulder and his Gym Badge in hand. He smiled to himself, thinking about how hard he had to work to get the badge. If it weren't for Shishi's final Shadow Ball attack, Jameson was sure he would've lost. Good thing he had taught Sniper Vacuum Wave in order to pose some kind of threat against Emily's Larvitar. And that Trapinch of hers was a real bother as well. Well, James was just glad it was all over.
As Jameson finally neared the tunnel Emily had told him about, he saw a couple of oddly dressed men standing in front of it. They wore green military uniforms with white feathers on the arms and a small pair of white wings on the back with helmets of the same color emblazoned with a gold S on their heads. He decided to ignore them for the most part but found that impossible when one man threw his hand out in front of James's path.
"Hey, what's going on?" James asked unsurely.
"This area's been restricted for the moment, young man," the first soldier said. "You'll have to come back later."
"How long is later? I sort of want to get to the next town without any trouble," Jameson said. He couldn't help but wonder what was really going on.
"Hey, we said come back later, brat!" the second man spat. He pulled a Pokéball of his belt and pointed it at Jameson threateningly. "Unless you want to make a big deal about it, I suggest you leave." Jameson looked at this man with the utmost contempt in his eyes. He spat at the man's feet and the first soldier laughed out loud at James's show of guts.
"Why you --!" the agressive man roared.
"If you didn't want me to spit at you, you shouldn't have sprayed spit all over my face," James growled. He stalked off; he really didn't want to deal with this right after a Gym battle. He supposed he'd just come back tomorrow, then.
Back on the battlefield, Soul was swiping away at Baltoy with Scratch attack while his opponent teetered and tottered on its point to avoid being hit. Soul attempted to flare his tail flame up and slam Baltoy with it. The grass around Baltoy caught fire and the heat began to make it wither, leaving itself open to a tail slam to the side of the head. Baltoy was send reeling and this made Emily grit her teeth harder. Forcing herself to calm down, the Gym Leader quickly came up with a counter. Grey was doing well, but lets see how he did after an attack like this.
"Baltoy, Psybeam attack!" she commanded. Baltoy shot the rainbow light out of its eyes again which Soul leapt over to dodge. Seeing her chance, Emily leapt at it without a moment's hesitation. "Charge Beam!"
Baltoy nodded an affirmative and started collecting static out of the air with its psychic power. It condensed the electricity into a ball between its hands and fired it with a savage sounding series of clacks. The electrical beam cut through the air like a knife and crashed into Soul, making his muscles heave and spasm. The attack left a large electrical burn on Soul's left shoulder, making the Charmander clench his fangs in pain and wince heavily. He really hated Electric-types and their damned attacks.
"Char! Charmander!" Grey! Let's get her! Soul growled after the effects of Charge Beam went away.
"You got it! Use your Ember!" Grey marshaled as he pointed a finger at Baltoy. The Clay Doll Pokémon suddenly let out a victorious cry, which was oddly the only normal sound it made the entire fight. Ember attack met its mark, however, and left a large black spot and a burn on the clay doll.
"Ba~al!" Baltoy said mysteriously. Baltoy's exclamation sent a slight chill of fear up Rachel's spine and a chill of excitement up Juniper's. For Emily, this cry meant that the tables had turned in her favor for the moment, even with the burn Baltoy sustained showing itself as it suddenly burst into flames for a split second.
"Baltoy, AncientPower," she grinned. Baltoy began to spin once more as a white aura surrounded its body. Its eyes shone with the same power and it stopped suddenly. The aura around its body condensed into a silvery ball which it shot forward at Soul with a burning anger. Knowing the nature of the primeval attack, Grey desperately shouted for Soul to dodge. AncientPower missed Soul as the Lizard Pokémon jumped to the side to avoid it, but Soul was too slow to avoid a second barrage of the attack. AncientPower exploded in a shower of silver sparks that mingled with the shattered turf it blasted into the air.
Soul fell to his knees in pain. AncientPower was super effective against his type and he knew he couldn't afford to be hit by another blast like that. Despite all that, Soul was pumped full of adrenaline and greatly enjoying this battle.
"Soul, that's enough," Grey said, immediately cutting Soul's fun short.
"Char?!" Soul said incredulously.
"I know, buddy; I know. But you've taken a lot of damage. You need to rest, alright?" Soul sighed as he was sucked back into his Pokéball by the red energy beam. He'd be out again, however. He just knew it.
Grey let go of a breath he had no clue he was holding. He was doing great; much better than last time. Calling back Soul may have upset the Charmander but it was the smartest course of action at the moment. Grey inwardly praised himself. He was learning quickly, which was a skill every trainer had to possess if they wanted to improve.
"But," he thought, "I can let the adrenaline lead me for just a little while." Coming out of his thoughts, he faced Emily with a question.
"If you don't mind answering, that AncientPower looked a lot stronger from the one I've seen. How come?"
"Charge Beam is an attack that has a really high chance of increasing the strength of a Pokémon's special-based attacks like AncientPower or Psybeam. It did just that for Baltoy, which resulted in the AncientPower you saw," Emily explained. "By the way, you burned my Baltoy."
Grey only grinned as he watched Baltoy. The effects of the burn showed once more; Baltoy spontaneously combusted before the flames died as quick as they appeared, making the Clay Doll Pokémon cry out in pain.
"Let me introduce you to my newest Pokémon," Grey said, preparing to wing it. Special attacks seemed to be Baltoy's forte, but Grey reasoned most Pokémon like that could be overpowered by brute force. He plucked out a Pokéball from his jacket pocket and made it grow in one swift motion before tossing it into the ring with a powerful over-arm lob. "Maverick, battle style!" In a flash of light, Grey's Onix materialized and roared proudly.
"Rooooooooh!"
"An Onix," Emily breathed. "It looks like it's the same one from Geo Path last week."
"That he is. And he's gotten much stronger, right, Maverick?"
"Rooooooh…" the behemoth Pokémon rumbled. Maverick looked down on Baltoy with disdain. Such a small enemy, he complained. You won't even be worth the effort. Baltoy stared at Maverick for a while before it turned its head to the left.
Big blowhard, it said in a slightly emotionless voice. Maverick let out a low, menacing growl that would send even Soul into a fit of fearful shivers. This thing just showed him disrespect. Now it was going to get it.
"Onix vs. Baltoy. Start the fight!" the ref shouted.
"Baltoy, use Confusion. Shoot it into the air!" Emily yelled, throwing her arm out as she spoke. Baltoy let out a long, drawn out call of the first half of its name before its eyes glowed with a mystic blue glow and it slowly began to raise its arms to the sky. Maverick's body became enveloped in the same blue glow as he started to be lifted off the ground by Baltoy's mental energy. Baltoy struggled a bit before it finally threw its arms into the air, sending Maverick up with that one motion.
The Onix rapidly rose towards the ceiling before he abruptly stopped and was slammed back into the ground. Maverick let out a series of gravelly laughs as he rose up to full height, having taken no damage from the attack. He did, however, leave behind a crater shaped like his body.
"Come on; you should know that an Onix's body protects him from attacks like that," Grey taunted. "Now, Maverick, use Headbutt!" Maverick roared proudly and coiled his body up like a spring before launching himself forward headfirst and smashing his skull into Baltoy's body. The little clay doll was launched forward with all the speed of a tossed discus and crashed through one of the bigger stalagmites. Emily's eyes widened and closed in shock all in one smooth motion as Baltoy took heavy damage from Onix's Headbutt.
"Maverick, how about using Rock Throw?" Grey suggested. Out of respect for his new trainer, Maverick raked his tail through the ground, catching one of the boulders on the field and flicked it upwards, sending a rain of rocks toppling onto the dazed Baltoy who had yet to pick itself up.
"Baltoy, quick; Rock Polish!" Emily cried frantically. The patterns on Baltoy's stomach and above its eyes glowed a bright red before it suddenly sped up and spun out of the way of every last falling boulder. Emily breathed a sigh of relief before shouting, "Confusion! Send a stalagmite at him!"
Baltoy let out a ghostly cry of its name as it forcibly uprooted a stalagmite with its mind and launched it at Maverick with a burning fury. The stalagmite hit Maverick at the base of his body, causing him to trip over and land flat on his face. The Onix roared at the indignity inflicted upon him and used Screech to root Baltoy in place.
"Didn't call for that, but okay," Grey shrugged. "Maverick, Slam it into the ground." His Onix happily obliged and brought his tail down on Baltoy's head in a powerful hammer blow of a Slam attack that literally drove Baltoy into the ground on its point. The Clay Doll Pokémon was obviously knocked out, securing Grey's second-round win.
"Baltoy is unable to battle." The referee rose the green flag in Grey's direction for the second time that match. "Onix is the winner."
"Oh, yeah!" Grey shouted ecstatically. This was going much better than he'd hoped it would. He was on top of his game and on top of the world. The adrenaline pumped through him in gallons as he jumped up and down like a madman. Emily returned Baltoy to its ball solemnly, giving it words of thanks before replacing it with another Pokéball.
"You're doing great, kid. But this is where I draw the line. I can't have two losses in a row, so I'm stopping you with my last Pokémon," she said seriously. Grey made no attempts at sobering himself instead opting to goad Emily on by shouting in victory. Gritting her teeth, Emily launched the ball into the ring, shouting,
"Rhyhorn, let's run them down!" Rhyhorn materialized in midair and landed with a heavy thud that shook the ground.
"Rhyhorn vs. Onix," the referee said dramatically. "Start the battle!"
"Rhyhorn, Take Down!" Emily barked. Rhyhorn let out a savage bellow and thundered across the simulated plains land before ramming his down into Maverick's hide. The impact jarringly stopped Rhyhorn's charge and pushed his Onix opponent against the field, creating a large gouge in the earth. Maverick groaned in discomfort; the attack had actually caused some damage and that, to him and to anyone, was a threat.
"No way!" Grey shouted in disbelief, immediately refocusing. "Maverick, strike back with Slam!" Maverick roared indignantly and struck another hammer blow to Rhyhorn's side, dragging the Spikes Pokémon through the dirt and grass. "Now use Screech and soften him up!" Again, Maverick opened up his gaping maw and let out a low-pitched screech that grated at Rhyhorn's ears and lowered its ability to take physical blows. As Rhyhorn winced, Grey took the time to order Maverick to use Headbutt. Maverick's skull crashed into Rhyhorn and he used his horn to fling the Spikes Pokémon up into the air.
Rhyhorn came back down with a deafening crash and a massive dust cloud but was miraculously able to get himself back up with minimal damage, pawing at the ground in rage. "Rhyhorn, use Rock Blast!" Emily shouted having gotten back into the groove. Rhyhorn grunted as he dug his horn into the ground and produced a boulder before he sent it flying at Maverick's head.
"Maverick, Harden!" Grey commanded. Maverick stood stock still and tightened every muscle in his body in order to weather the impact of the repetitive attack. With every boulder launched, however, Grey noticed that Rhyhorn flung the boulders with accuracy and speed but the lag time between each launching increased, leaving Emily's Pokémon open for just a little while. Grey thought he could use this to his advantage with Maverick, until Emily pulled a trick out of her bag.
"Rhyhorn, Ice Beam!" Grey's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
"What?!" Grey screamed.
"Rhyhorn can use Ice Beam?!" Juniper screeched as she rapidly scrawled across her clipboard faster than any typewriter.
Rhyhorn's mouth wrenched open to reveal an orb of cyan blue energy charging in it. The Spikes Pokémon fired the beam, which began freezing water molecules in the air at an alarming rate, and it crashed into Maverick's body, rapidly freezing it and causing double damage. The ice spread like wildfire and Grey knew he had to do something fast; Maverick was already looking worse for wear after that one attack.
"Maverick, get out of there! Use Dig!" he cried frantically. Maverick roared weakly and dove headfirst into the ground to avoid damage, but Rhyhorn still had one last trick.
"Rhyhorn, Magnitude," Emily smirked. Rhyhorn seemed to have a sadistic grin on its face as it reared up on its hind legs and slammed them back into the ground, sending devastating shockwaves of Ground-type energy underground where they crashed into Maverick and did an enormous amount of damage. Maverick was literally shot back out of the hole he created like a cannonball and landed with an even heavier thud and a larger dust clouth than any Rhyhorn could've created. Running up to his Onix's head, Grey saw Maverick was completely unconscious.
"Onix is unable to battle; Rhyhorn is the winner," the referee declared as he rose the red flag towards Emily.
"No way," Grey breathed. He'd let his ego get ahead of him and now his powerhouse Pokémon was unable to keep going. He kicked the ground angrily and tapped Maverick's eyelid to wake him. The Onix's eyelid fluttered open and he looked at Grey with a mournful gaze as if apologizing. Grey wondered exactly when he'd gotten that much respect out of a Pokémon as proud as his Onix for it to apologize for losing.
Not…apologizing, Maverick said through the pain. Angry that I lost… But still… Sorry for losing… Grey picked it up and nodded, returning Maverick to his Pokéball in a flash of red light and leaving another Onix-shaped crater behind.
"I'm sorry, Maverick. I should've stayed focused," Grey muttered angrily. "You don't need to apologize; just sleep."
"Don't ever underestimate a Gym Leader, or any opponent for that matter," Emily said in a mocking tone. "I guess when it comes to powerhouses, your Onix has a very long way to go, huh? Sorry I had to rough him up like that, but you did demolish my Baltoy."
"Yeah, and we're about to demolish Rhyhorn, too," Grey growled. He took a quick look at the once-whole field now littered with holes, massive craters, a groove from Rhyhorn's smashing into Maverick, several burnt spots from Soul and most of the grass either cut down or burned. It was definately a place where a Gym battle had taken place. Grey took another Pokéball out of his pocket and desperately willed his plan to work. If Lucy couldn't do this, then Soul was in for one hell of a ride. "Lucy, back on!" Once more, Lucy materialized onto the battlefield after a burst of light.
"Bui!" she barked, staring down Rhyhorn with an intense burning glare. Rhyhorn let out a laugh.
You again, girlie? he snorted. Won't even be a challenge.
I'll make you eat those words, numbskull, Lucy spat. Her fur stood on end. She was going to either beat Rhyhorn into the ground or cause as much damage as she could before she went down herself.
"Rhyhorn vs. Buizel. Start the match!" the referee declared, throwing his flags into the air.
"Lucy, let's wear him down first," Grey suggested, knowing only Lucy's Water-type moves and maybe Pursuit would work on Rhyhorn. "Use Aqua Jet!" Lucy bounded into the air with a shout and covered herself in water before jetting forward and slamming herself into Rhyhorn's thick hide. The water around her also crashed into Rhyhorn like an ocean wave, begetting a groan of pain from the dull-witted rhino.
"I told you: Rhyhorn takes Water-type attacks like a man. Now let's show them Fury Attack, Rhyhorn," Emily grinned. Rhyhorn bellowed and slammed his horn into Lucy's fragile body repetitively while she was in close range. Rhyhorn came very close to rending paths of skin right off of Lucy's body but only left large bruises behind, to his disappointment.
"Crap," Grey muttered.
"After Onix got knocked out so easily, what chance does his Buizel have against that thing?" Rachel asked worriedly as she wrung her hands together.
"Onix took two super-effective hits in a row, so it's no wonder he went down so fast. I think Grey can get himself out of this mess, though," Juniper said positively. "We just have to wait and see how."
"Think!" Grey mumbled to himself. "If there were a time to use the battlefield, it's now. I just have to figure out a way." Grey's eyes set upon the crater that Maverick left behind after his defeat, sparking an idea just in time.
"Rhyhorn, let's give Buizel another taste of your Rock Blast!" Emily shouted now that she was fully back in her groove. Rhyhorn groaned before once more digging up a boulder and launching it at Lucy.
"Lucy, into the trench!" Grey called. With amazing speed, Lucy dashed into the trench left behind by Maverick's fall and lay down flat on her stomach. Grey grinned as Rhyhorn's Rock Blasts flew by over head and was glad for noticing Rock Blast couldn't be fired at a downward angle. "Water Gun!" he commanded as soon as Rhyhorn's assault was finished. Lucy fired her water blast and it sped toward Rhyhorn like an arrow before it pummeled him with second after second of painful water.
"That's it," Emily sighed. "I'm ending this. Rhyhorn, Thunderbolt and make it hurt." Rhyhorn let out an enraged bellow that resonated within the confines of the Gym and collected electricity around his horn before releasing it as a powerful electric whip that threatened to cause Lucy immeasurable pain.
"Time for our secret weapon," Grey said to himself. "Lucy! Double Team!"
"Bui!" Lucy grunted as she sped out of Thunderbolt's path and circled around Rhyhorn so fast, she created afterimages of herself. Rhyhorn frantically looked from one Buizel to the other, trying to determine which one was real and confusing himself in the process. Rhyhorn's efforts gave him a pounding headache which made it impossible to concentrate on the battle.
"Rhyhorn, snap out of it!" Emily cried to her Pokémon, but her pleas were in vain. Rhyhorn just couldn't focus.
"Good thing I got that TM beforehand. I remembered that Rhyhorn are only able to concentrate on one thing at a time, so using Double Team to confuse it was a foolproof strategy," Grey grinned. "Lucy, Sonic Boom and aim for the horn!"
"Bui Bui!" Lucy grunted as she snapped her tails. The two mini-sonic booms she created hit Rhyhorn straight in the horn and caused the Spikes Pokémon great discomfort. The vibrations that started at his horn quickly spread to his head, making his pounding headache worse. Lucy took the opportunity to combine Quick Attack and Aqua Jet as Grey had commanded and send the water from her attack barreling into the Spikes Pokémon like a tidal wave.
"Yes!" Grey shouted. He was going to win!
"Rhyhorn, if you can hear me, Magnitude, now!" Emily shouted. Rhyhorn raged through his headache and stomped on the ground furiously. The ground shook like it was a boat caught in a tropical storm and Lucy lost her balance, causing all her Double Team clones to disappear. When she fell over, Emily gave the command for Stomp attack and Rhyhorn happily obeyed, rushing forward, slamming Lucy with his horn and bringing the whole of his weight down on Lucy through his one foot.
"Finish her with Thunderbolt!" Emily roared, stomping her foot for emphasis. Rhyhorn cackled as the electricity gathered around his horn and he directed it downwards into Lucy. The Buizel screamed in agony as the electrical blast was forcibly pumped through her system, draining her power and making her muscles go out of control. When Rhyhorn was finished, Lucy's body relaxed and her head slumped to the floor. She was down and out.
"Buizel is unable to battle," the referee said emotionlessly as he again showed Emily the red flag. Grey stood stock still in shock. Lucy had been beaten again. "Rhyhorn is the victor." Grey rushed onto the battlefield through the waist-high grass and picked Lucy up tenderly.
"Luce, wake up! Are you okay?" he asked. His Buizel's eyes fluttered open and she gave a weak cough. "Thank goodness."
"B-bui…" Lucy coughed. I lost…
"Maybe, but look," Grey said. Lucy weakly turned her head in Rhyhorn's direction. The Spikes Pokémon was nearing his limit after the attacks Lucy flung at him -- especially the water ones. That put a small smile on Lucy's face. The bastard was sure to go down after Soul gave him a good thrashing. "You did great, Lucy. I couldn't have done this without you." Lucy filled with pride before she finally closed her eyes and fell into sleep's warm embrace.
Grey recalled her into her Pokéball before taking Soul's out. This was it; if Soul didn't win here, then they'd have to come back again in another week. And, being the stubborn, impatient person he was, Grey was not going to let that happen. Not after seeing how hard all of his Pokémon fought. He took one last look at the battlefield; the dried-up mud pools, the Onix trench, the hold Maverick dug, the boulders, rock spires and grass. All of it could be used somehow. With no plans coming to mind, Grey finally decided to make it up as he went along.
"Soul, battle style!" Grey cried. Soul appeared on the field for the second time that day, took one look at Rhyhorn and grinned. As far as cakewalks went, the battle about to unfold was definitely in that category. "Soul, get ready. We're going all out."
"Char!" Soul said, flexing his claws out of habit.
"Your Charmander against my Rhyhorn. There can really only be one winner," Emily smirked. Grey gave her a smirk of his own.
"Yeah, and that winner's gonna be Soul."
"Last battle: Rhyhorn vs. Charmander. Let the battle begin!" the referee shouted. He threw his flags down to signal the start of the match and Grey was the first to react.
"Soul, Ember attack!" he shouted. Soul was just as quick as Grey as he fired two concussive fireballs in Rhyhorn's direction. The fireballs were right on target and hit Rhyhorn, exploding into tiny sparks. The sparks fell out of the air and set the grass at Rhyhorn's feet on fire. The Spikes Pokémon stomped on the fires before turning to Soul with a blazing glare.
"Rhyhorn, don't take that sitting down. Strike back with Horn Attack," Emily said coolly. After seeing that a Fire-type was Grey's last option, she fell into the assumption that her Rhyhorn was the only true victor. Rhyhorn charged across the faux-plains and bent his head down so his horn was poised at Soul's gut. He just grazed the fire lizard, however, having missed when Soul jumped out of the way. Skidding to a stop, the Spikes Pokémon turned to glare at the Lizard Pokémon, who seemed to not mind his various injuries.
What's the matter, tubby? Getting tired? Soul taunted.
Shut up! Rhyhorn bellowed.
"Rock Blast!" Emily called. Again, Rhyhorn lifted boulders out of the ground to throw at Grey's Pokémon like stone cannonballs. Remembering the lag time between Rock Blasts, Grey thought on the fly and came up with a plan of action.
"Soul, wait until he starts lifting a boulder and fire Ember from a distance," Grey said. Soul nodded and dodged one, two, three, four Rock Blasts, firing one or two Embers depending on the lag time between shots. Rhyhorn's fifth and strongest Rock Blast found its mark and sent Soul bouncing across the ground like a skipping stone for what the Charmander guessed to be the ninth time in a week.
"Char Charmander," I really hate that, Soul groaned as he got back up.
"Looks like poor Charmander's getting tired," Emily noted. "Well, that just makes our job easier, huh, Rhyhorn?" Rhyhorn grunted an affirmative as he stopped to catch his breath.
"We're not going down yet. Rhyhorn's much more tired than we are," Grey shot back. Soul nodded and took deep breaths to try and get his energy back.
"We'll see about that. We're ending this with one last attack, Rhyhorn. Magnitude; full power and make sure he doesn't get back up!" Rhyhorn bellowed louder than ever before and slammed the ground with his forelegs. The ground ripped open due to the shockwaves the Spikes Pokémon emitted, making it seem as if a torpedo was headed for Soul.
"Dodge and use Metal Claw!" Grey shouted, finally letting the adrenaline take full control. But Soul was unable to dodge and Rhyhorn's attack hit dead on, ripping the ground around him apart and flinging him into the air. Soul landed hard on his back and breathed heavily; it looked like this was the end for Grey. Emily smirked and crossed her arms.
"Well, looks like that's that," she said. "Ref, call it."
"Soul! Get back up!" Grey pleaded with his Charmander, clenching his fists so tightly, his nails dug into his palms. Soul grunted and put all his power behind his arms, somehow managing to get back up. Grey punched the air victoriously and let out a yell of joy. "You rule, Soul!"
"Char," Soul said, giving Grey a thumbs up.
"How'd he get back up?" Emily wondered in astonishment.
"Yeah, how did he?" Rachel asked. "How'd little Soul get back up after Onix was knocked out in one shot?"
"Hm…" Juniper hummed. "It was probably because Magnitude is an attack that varies in strength. The one that Maverick got hit by was most likely a strong one and it hit a lot harder because the target was underground. The one that hit Soul must've been pretty weak," she reasoned.
"Soul, set the grass on fire! Use your tail!" Grey barked suddenly, scaring even Emily.
"Are you crazy?!" she screamed. "Your Pokémon will be hurt, too!" A manic grin broke out across Grey's face as he nodded at Soul to execute the attack. Soul flared his tail flame up and swiped it across the grass, instantly setting it on fire. He ran around Rhyhorn, creating a ring of fire that trapped the confused Spikes Pokémon in it. The bright light coming from the fire quickly captured Rhyhorn's attention and dragged it away from the battle. It actually started to walk towards the fire in a daze to look closer at the distracting substance. Grey's improvised strategy had worked.
"Rhyhorn, focus!" Emily shouted desperately.
"Soul, Dragon Rage!" Grey roared, the adrenaline flowing in full force. By now, he seemed to be spouting off random commands. His Charmander's eyes glowed a startling white as he built up the draconic energy in his mouth and flung it at Rhyhorn through the flames. Dragon Rage hit, enticing a bellow out of Rhyhorn who was now very close to passing out due to the heat.
"Rhyhorn!" Emily shouted.
"Soul, Metal Claw!" Grey roared. Soul let out a loud battle cry as his claws became empowered with Steel-type energy and leapt through the flames. He brought his claws crashing down onto Rhyhorn's face and the powerhouse let himself fall to the ground like a ton of bricks. The giant had fallen and Grey officially won his first Gym battle.
"Yes, yes, yes!" he shouted ecstatically. He jumped in the air and did a victory dance as Soul tackled him in a hug. "Soul, you rule! Lucy rules; Maverick rules; you all rule! We won our first Gym Badge!"
"Char char Charmander!" Soul cried. He was bruised and he still had a headache from taking a Psybeam but he couldn't care less. He'd been in some great fights today and that's all that mattered to him.
"He won; he won!" June said jumping up and down in her seat.
"Why are you so happy about this!?" Rachel shouted even though she felt happy, too. She didn't like it, but Grey had won and she was happy for him.
Emily sighed in defeat as she returned Rhyhorn to his Pokéball. She lost and that was all there was to it. Maybe she had been a bit too cocky in the fight and that's what made her lose but she wasn't going to reflect on that now; it was neither the time nor the place.
"Grey!" she called over to him.
"What is it?" Grey grinned, Soul riding on his shoulder and feeling like a king.
"Go get your Pokémon healed and come back in a half hour. I'll have your badge then
After the fire had been put out and the Pokémon had been healed, Grey reported to the Gym again. All three of his Pokémon were out of their Pokéballs and Grey had thanked them all for a hard-fought Gym battle. Emily's Pokémon -- Gligar, Baltoy and Rhyhorn were also outside of their Pokéballs. All of them had grudging smiles on their faces after losing, but they were proud of their skills either way.
"You learned," Emily said simply. "That's what every trainer has to do; they learn and they grow and they change with their Pokémon. You were the better trainer today and that won you this." Emily took a small brown piece of metal out of her pocket and handed it to Grey. It was polished to a shine and appeared to be a rock with a purple crack in it that glimmered in the midmorning sunlight. It reminded Grey of a geode.
"The Geo Badge," Emily said. She pressed it into Grey's hand and the boy stared at it in disbelief. "You earned it."
"My first badge…" Grey breathed. "No; our first badge. There's no way I could've won this without the three of you." Grey turned to his Pokémon with a smile on his face. "Maverick, Soul, Lucy; thank you. You guys rock!"
"Rooooh-nix!"
"Buizeru!"
"Cha~rmander!"
"Thanks, Emily," Grey said, still smiling.
"Don't mention it," Emily said offhandedly. "Seriously, don't. I can't have people knowing I lost, so don't even show that Gym Badge," she joked.
"In your dreams. Now, where's the next Gym?" Grey asked eagerly. He calmed himself, however. What was the harm in taking the scenic route?
"If you go through the farmland west of here and keep going north, there should be an older tunnel that was dug before Geo Path," Emily explained. "That'll take you into the Melange Woods and from there, follow the signs. Little word of advice: the Gym Leader there, Kory, uses Fighting-types. You'll have a hard time winning the Combat Badge from him."
"I wouldn't like it if it were easy, anyway," Grey smiled. "Next stop, the Combat Badge."
So, combined with the first half of this two-parter, you've read 28 pages. New record for me :D
I hope the Gym battle wasn't rushed in any way. I think I could've done with a bit more detail here and there but there really weren't any outside events for me to write about.
Jameson's already headed out of town and ran into Simurgh Grunts along the way but not without showing them a whole lot of disrespect. Gotta admire his guts.
Lawl, "aim for the horn." That never gets old.
And Grey's got his first Gym Badge under his belt. Ooh, shiny…