Chapter 9
"Here we are, Inferno: Oreburgh City Gym."
The Gym wasn't very large, but the large hill that enveloped the space made it seem huge. Large, weathered rocks dotted the incline, and at the top, John could see Roark from the mine standing at the top, looking down at him with a look of excitement, as if he couldn't wait to battle him. John glanced down at his buddy, who simply clenched his fists.
"Monfer..."
"Ok, good luck, John," said Rebecca.
"Pip, pip!"
"Thanks, guys. Let's do this, Inferno!"
Rebecca and her Piplup climbed the nearby stairs towards the observation deck, and stood at the railing about halfway up, giving him a thumbs-up. An older man with soft brown eyes walked up to him.
"You challenging the Gym? What's your name, kid?"
"The name's John. John Parker."
"Is this your first Gym fight?"
"That's right."
In response, the older man walked over to the Pokemon statue and pushed the League symbol on the base. Eight segments of the base lit up in a soft yellow glow, arranged in a two-by-four arrangement. Pressing the first one signaled two kid Trainers to walk out of secret doors in the sides, each one with a special pair of cleats that prevented them from slipping on the steep slope. For a small second, John kind of envied their ability to avoid falling.
"First Badge challenge, against Roark of Oreburgh. Challenger: John Parker. Let the challenge...begin!"
Rebecca couldn't help but admire his endurance.
John and his newly-evolved Monferno bolted up the slope, and John almost immediately began sliding downwards. The effort he exerted to remain in place was remarkable. Luckily, when he reached the first trainer, he was near a large rock, and was able to lean against it as Inferno laid waste to the first Geodude.
As he watched his progression, though, she couldn't help but let her thoughts drift to that man from earlier.
Everyone knows that the mine doesn't have anything in it of value, she pondered. That's why they chose to build the mine there instead of Eterna. Something bigger is going on here, something he's hiding...
"Pip..." purred her Piplup, concerned. Rebecca forced a small grin.
"Don't worry about it, Penguin. I'm fine."
What could he be, though? I have a bad feeling he's related to the incident with Hoenn a few months back... She looked up in time to see Inferno smash the boy's final Geodude into the ground like it was nothing, and he and his Trainer continued their hike towards the next Trainer. Well, whatever it is, I can't really do anything about it right now. If I see him again, though, I'll find the truth...
"Piplup!" Penguin was cheering on as Inferno defeated the boy's Onix, and the duo reached the plateau in the incline, and John immediately bent down with his hands on his knees, catching his breath. The true battle was about to begin.
He stopped at the top of the hill, trying to catch his breath. His curly black hair, coated in sweat, was beginning to stick out of the sides of his slightly lopsided hat, and his sneakers were coated in dirt. Inferno looked significantly better, though his fists were slightly bruised from punching so many rocks, and the flame on his long tail wasn't as tall as it was earlier, signaling his fatigue.
"The things I do for Diamond..." he muttered under his breath.
"This Gym battle isn't for anyone but you, John," Roark replied. "This is a test to see how well YOU have bonded with YOUR Pokémon. You ready for it?"
His response was to twist his hat back into place.
"Bring it, Roark!"
"Monferno!"
"Come on out, Geodude!" He tossed his Poke Ball into the air, and another Geodude appeared in front of them, ready for battle. John side-stepped slightly so that he could elongate the distance between the two of them, to make it a bit easier. "Start off with Tackle!"
"Counter it with a Mach Punch, Inferno!"
The little chimp made a lunge towards the advancing Geodude, but the Rock Pokémon saw the blow coming and jumped, landing square on Inferno's foot. He recoiled in pain, not expecting its finesse.
Shoot, I should have known… he thought bitterly. Roark probably spends most of his time dealing with Trainers with Machop and other Fighting types. He would know how to counter them… I bet he hasn't dealt with anyone brave enough to use Fire… "Inferno, coat the battlefield with Ember!"
"Monferno!" Snapping back into focus, Inferno kicked the Geodude away and twirled in the air, spewing out a good bit of fire as he did so, peppering the nearby ground in fire, which rose about a foot high each. Bewildered, Geodude glanced around it, suddenly terrified by the new and unfamiliar sight. Suddenly, a long arm shot out of the flames, Inferno's Mach Punch, sending it flying out of the circle of short-lived flames. It landed at Roark's feet, eyes swirling.
"Good try, man…" Returning it to its Ball, Roark pulled out another one. "Your turn, Onix!" As the giant rock snake appeared in a flash of light, Inferno was already in the air, ready to slam its face. Unfortunately for him, the Onix had other plans.
"Onix!" It simply swatted its tail, smashing the unsuspecting Monferno to the ground hard. He rose to its feet slowly, clutching his side in pain.
What to do… That tail's gonna wipe him out if I don't do something… Wait… No, that's risky… He glanced at his partner, who could feel John's uncertainty. He clenched his fists at his sides once more, the pain seemingly gone. That's my boy… "You know what to do, Inferno!"
"Counter it with the tail, Onix!"
Inferno lunged forward, but instead of going for another punch, Inferno grabbed onto the rock snake's tail as it went to counter the expected leap. The tail got about half-way up the distance to its head before it realized that Inferno wasn't in the air, but on its head. A half-second click registered in everyone's minds as the Pokémon assessed the situation.
"Ragh!" The Onix quickly made to slap Inferno off of its head, but Inferno managed to leap off barely in time, causing the tail to smash into Onix instead. While in the air, Inferno raised his fist, and brought it down on the weakened Pokémon.
It didn't stand a chance. The rock snake crumpled to the ground, eyes swirling like Geodude's before it, and the Monferno back-flipped away from the defeated Pokémon, eyes ablaze.
"Yeah! Great job, Inferno!" John cried.
"Two down, one to go!" Roark announced. "Finish it, Cranidos!"
In the usual flash of light, a dark-grey Pokémon with a baby-blue back and skull stood in front of Roark. It focused its beady red eyes at its target, waiting for orders.
Cranidos…? I've heard of that Pokémon. John remembered. Cranidos and Shieldon are two ancient Pokémon whose fossils have been recently discovered in Sinnoh. Cranidos and its evolution are the offensive ones. Better be careful… Almost immediately after he thought that, the Cranidos was charging for an attack.
"Finish that Monferno with Headbutt!"
"Cra!"
"Dodge it, Inferno!"
The chimp Pokémon made a leap into the air, but the Cranidos saw it coming, and simply jumped to pursue it, ramming his stomach with its skull.
"Fer…!" Both Pokémon crashed into the ground. Cranidos rose to its feet, but Inferno did not.
"Nice job, buddy. You did great…" Returning his friend to its Poke Ball, he pondered his next move.
Crap! His strongest Pokémon is here, and I just lost mine! Who should I use? No one else can deal with a shot that powerful! Unless… He turned one of his Poke Balls in his hand. This might work, but only for an instant… "Let's do this, X-Ray!" His Shinx stood ready for battle. Realizing who her opponent was, however, she turned to him with fear in and confusion in her eyes.
"You can do this, X-Ray. I have faith in you."
"Shi…?"
"Headbutt again, Cranidos!" Roark called out. "Let's go!"
"Cra!" The little rock Pokémon began another charge, but as it approached the Shinx, her head whirled to face her opponent, glaring with truly hateful eyes. Startled, Cranidos hesitated for a brief instant, which caused it to trip on its own feet and crash to the ground.
Yes! Intimidate! "Get'em, X-Ray!"
"Shinx!" Wasting little time, the blue electric Pokémon ran forward, tucked his head, and rammed into Cranidos, who immediately rose to its feet again and began charging. Shinx, however, knew this would happen, and happened to be near the edge of the plateau when her attach finished. A simple dodge allowed Cranidos to run right off the edge, tumbling all the way down the slope, eventually stopping at the entrance to the Gym itself. The Gym person at the bottom studied the injured Pokémon.
"It's down!" he called out. "Roark has been defeated!"
"Yes!" John pumped his fist in the air. "We did it, X-Ray!"
"Shinx!" The blue Pokémon began a happy dance around the room, and John glanced at the Poke Ball containing his Monferno.
"You did awesome, too, Inferno…"
"Well, that was an unexpected ending!" Roark returned Cranidos to its Ball and faced John. "Truly, an impressive win that was." He held out his hand. "Here is your prize: the Coal Badge." In his hand was a metal pin about the size of John's thumb. It looked like a brown and silver Poke Ball in appearance, except it was slightly hexagonal in shape. In his other hand, he pulled out a black box. He handed both to John, who opened the box and discovered eight small holes in which to stick his new Badge. He pushed his Coal Badge through the top left slot, and closed and pocketed the case.
"Thank you, Roark."
"Don't thank me. This is only recognition of the abilities you already possess." He cleared his throat. "I should warn you, however, the rest of the Leaders in Sinnoh will all be tougher than me, so I suggest you be prepared."
"Don't worry about me. Right, X-Ray?"
"Shi." After that, John returned his Shinx to her Ball and slid down the slope towards the main door. Rebecca was already there waiting on him.
"Wow, that was really impressive how Shinx won that one. I don't think I saw that one coming."
"Thanks, Rebecca. It was a hard-fought win." He pocketed X-Ray's Ball. "We should go heal up. When we're done, let's figure out where we should go next."
The city was alive as ever. People were bustling through the streets, in and out of the department stores and Game Corner, even few strong Trainers were coming in and out of the Veilstone Gym. The older man with spiky, electric-blue hair observed all the commotion with apathy.
Soon, he thought. Soon, the time will come to change everything. To bring about a new world… But first… He reached into his white coat pocket and pulled out a handheld mic.
"Numbers Twenty-Four and Twenty-Five," he said blankly.
"Yes, sir," replied two voices on the other end.
"Our plan hinges on the ability to avoid interference. I suggest we…persuade men like Prof. Rowan that our actions are to be met with absolutely zero resistance. I trust I can count on you…?"
"Of course, sir! It will be done! All glory to Team Galactic!"
A small smile managed to escape his expressionless demeanor and he returned the mic to his pocket.
At last, we can begin.
Wow, I owe you guys a HUGE apology... I have been swamped with everything school and friend related and even though I've had Chapters 9 and 10 typed up, I never got around to posting them here. Anyway, here they are! Keep reviewing! This lets me know that people actually care about what I have going here!