Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters

Chapter 11:through electric fences

After breakfast we left the Pokémon center again. When we got to the area with the tree I cut down, I noticed it had regrown.

"I thought we cut the tree down already" Aqua said, confused.

"I did, I guess I'll have to do it again" I said, letting out Paras "Paras, use cut!"

The Paras swung his arm again, slicing the tree into dust. I then returned Paras as we headed into the gym. I expected it to be like the last few gyms, empty except for a straight path to the leader, but instead there seemed to be several rows of containers with an electric fence blocking the gateway. This time, there was a guide at the door way.

"Welcome to the Vermilion city gym" he said "the trainers here use electric Pokémon"

"Uh…trainers?" Aqua asked, looking for any hidden people

"Oh…I'm not really sure where they went." The guide said, scratching his head "I guess the gym leader is still in the back though, or he would have told me"

"Should we come back another time?" I asked

"No, no. the leader will still battle you" he said "to turn off the fence, you have to press two switches, one for each fence. Just be careful, press the wrong switch and you have to start over"

"Thanks" I said.

We went over and looked in the containers "oh, these are the switches!" Aqua said, pressing one. Nothing happened "huh…must be the wrong one…"

It took several tries, and at least fifty presses, but we finally managed to open the fence. Before we went in, Aqua stopped me "Alex, what's good against electric?" she asked.

I had completely forgotten none of our Pokémon were suited against electric Pokémon…at least, none of mines were. She could use Clefairy or Charmander, all of my Pokémon were weak against it "ground and rock, I think" I said

"So, like Geodude?" she asked.

I looked at her "how do you know about Geodude?" I asked

"Red gave me one, knowing I'd need it" she said, taking out a poke ball "here, you'll probably need it more"

I took the poke ball from her and put it in my pocket "thanks Aqua" I said, hugging her.

At this point, the leader noticed us "so, you two are my next challengers?" he asked

"Yep, I'll face you first" I said

He nodded "I'm Lt. Surge" he said

"I'm Alex and this is Aqua" I said

"Nice to meet you, ready to battle?" he asked

"Ready when you are" I said, grabbing a poke ball.

He threw his first "go Voltorb!" he called

"Voltorb!"

"Go Geodude!" I said, throwing the poke ball I had grabbed.

"Geodude!"

"Voltorb, explosion!" he called. The Voltorb blew up, knocking everyone back, and knocking itself out. "Ok, not the smartest move" he said, getting up.

"It's fine" I said, getting up as well.

He threw another poke ball "go Pikachu!" he called

"Pikachu!"

"Geodude, rock tomb!" I called, hoping he knew the move, I was in luck, and the Pikachu fainted

"Go Raichu!" the leader called, throwing another Pokémon.

"Raichu!"

"Raichu, thunder bolt!" he called

"Geodude, dig!" I called. Geodude was faster, and dug underground. I barely got out of the way of Raichus attack, though. The Geodude came up underneath Raichu, knocking it out.

"Congratulations" Surge said, returning his Pokémon "here, you earned it" he gave me the thunder badge.

"Thanks" I said, returning Geodude.

"Give me a moment and I'll be ready for you, Aqua" he said, walking off. After a few minutes, he came back "ok, ready to battle?"

"Ok" Aqua said, switching places with me

Surge threw a poke ball "go Voltorb"

"Voltorb"

Aqua hesitated "I thought you were ready?" he said, more concern in his voice than contempt.

"I am" Aqua said, throwing a poke ball "go Charmander!"

"Charmander!"

"Voltorb, use Explode!" Surge called. I honestly don't know what he was thinking this time, as the same thing happened as before.

"I really should have thought that through…" he said. He threw another poke ball "go Pikachu!"

"Pikachu!"

"Charmander, scratch!" Aqua called. Charmander ignored her, and used ember instead. Luckily, it worked just as well.

"Go Raichu!" Surge said, throwing another poke ball.

"Raichu!"

"Charmander, Ember!" Aqua called. Instead of using Ember, the Charmander shot out a line of Flames. In other words, he used Flame thrower. "Whoa"

The Raichu rolled out of the way "Raichu, thunder wave" Surge called

I could see the sparks as Charmander became paralyzed

"Charmander, Flamethrower!" Aqua called. Charmander somehow was able to pull it off, causing Raichu to faint.

"Wow, that was amazing" Surge said, returning his Pokémon

"Thanks" Aqua replied. But before she could return Charmander, he began to glow "whoa"

After a little bit, the glowing stopped, and now there was a Charmeleon where the Charmander was before. "Charmeleon!"

"Cool!" Aqua said. She returned him after a few minutes.

"Here, you've more than earned it" Surge said, giving Aqua the Thunder badge. He pulled out a disk "a gift from me" he gave it to Aqua "its Shock wave, it paralyzes the opposing Pokémon. It's my favorite move. I only have one though, so you'll have to share."

"Thanks" she said, giving it to me to put away.

"Oh, just so you know, there's a Snorlax blocking the way to the next route. But you could go through Digletts cave if you want" Surge said

"Thanks for the tip" I said "bye"

"Bye" he replied as we headed out.

We didn't get very far before we saw the cave that was Digletts cave, unfortunately it was also getting very dark, so we decided to set up the tent we had and sleep in there that night. Not much happened, and I went to sleep with a pretty blank mind. The only thing was, I kept dreaming about a bird-like figure, which I assumed was a Pokémon. There was no way to be sure, but I had a bad feeling about it.

Yay, another chapter done! Digletts cave is pretty straight forward, so I'm not really going to go into it. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!