Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters
Chapter 29: the last gym
Bill was outside by the time we were done with breakfast. "Good morning" he said sleepily.
"Morning" I replied back.
"If you'd like, you can take the ferry back to the main land now" Bill said
"Actually, we were going to go after Moltres" Sarah said
"Normally, I'd encourage that…but I'm going to have to say no" Bill replied
"Why not?" Leaf asked "just because we're kids, doesn't mean we can't handle Moltres. In fact, Alex has prof otherwise"
"I know" Bill replied "and again, normally I'd encourage you. Unfortunately, there are others who need proof of your strength, and Ceil says their impossible to battle"
"Well, what proof do we need?" Red asked
"Beat the elite four, then you can take on Moltres" he said
I sighed "ok, come on guys" I said.
We went back to the main land, then flew to Vermillion city, whose gym was now open. We saw strange looking tiles with arrows on them scattered. "Well, this is the last gym" I said
"I'll stay out here with Zain, you guys can go on ahead" Sarah said "oh, and just to warn you, the tiles with arrows are spinning tiles, they'll spin you out of control in the direction they face until you hit a wall, or a mat." She immediately walked out.
We walked up to a matt, and I stepped on it. I immediately lost complete control as I was thrown across the slippery floor, spinning like a tornado. I stumbled as I was caught on a matt, and was knocked over as Aqua spun into me. We barely moved out of the way before Leaf and red came as well. This went on for at least an hour as we tried to move around the gym. Finally, we tumbled onto the area in front of the gym leader…to find it was Giovanni.
"Well, I was wondering when you would come" he said with a smile.
"You're the gym leader?" Leaf asked, surprise obvious in her voice.
"I sure am" he replied "now, which one of you wants to try to get the badge first?"
"I will" I said, stepping up.
"Are you sure?" Giovanni asked.
I nodded "I'm ready when you are" I said
"Good luck then" he said, throwing a poke ball "go Rhyhorn!"
"Rhyhorn!"
I threw a poke ball of my own "go Blastoise!"
"Blastoise!"
"Rhyhorn, Rock tomb!" Giovanni called. Blastoise barely dodged it
"Blastoise, Surf!" I called. Rhyhorn was out in a moment
"Go Dugtrio!" Giovanni called throwing another poke ball
"Dugtrio!"
"Dugtrio, dig!" he called. The Dugtrio disappeared underground.
A moment later, he came up and tried to attack, but Blastoise dodged it.
"Blastoise, Surf!" I called. Dugtrio was out.
"Go Nidoking!" Giovanni called, throwing another poke ball
"Nidoking!"
"Nidoking, Poison point!" Giovanni called. Blastoise was knocked back, but retaliated before I said anything. Nidoking was out in a heartbeat.
"Go Nidoqueen!" Giovanni called, throwing his last poke ball
"Nidoqueen!"
"Nidoqueen, poison sting!" he called
"Counter with slash!" I called quickly. The attacks collided, and both Pokémon were out.
"Congratulations" Giovanni said, returning his Pokémon
"Thanks" I said, returning mine.
He gave me a badge and a disk "the Earth badge and Fissure" he said
"Thanks" I said. I headed out, trusting the others to be quick.
After healing my Pokémon, Sarah and Zain came up to me "good job Alex" Zain said
"Thanks" I replied "I feel like it was too easy"
"Probably because it was" Zain replied "anyways, I'm going berry picking, be back soon" he walked off before I could say anything.
"Sorry Alex, Zain is a bit upset" Sarah said
"What happened?" I asked
"Well…he started thinking about how you've defeated every trainer with ease" Sarah said
"Ok, what about it?" I asked
"He thinks it's coming too easily…as if someone wants you to win" Sarah replied
"Well, you guys want me to win, don't you?" I said, not fully grasping what she was saying
She smiled "of course, but we think someone is letting you win your battles" she said
"What do you mean?" I asked
She sighed "I don't know" she said "I'm out of my element here, and I don't know what to think. If I had to guess, I'd say you had a Pokémon who was really powerful"
"Thanks, I think" I said
She looked at Pikachu "you know, how come you never have this guy in a poke ball?" she asked
"Because she doesn't have one" I replied
"Then why does she stay around?" Sarah asked
"Because, despite not being caught with a poke ball, she still wants to be with me" I replied
"And you never thought of making sure no one could take her?" Sarah asked
"I'm positive" I said.
Before she could respond, the others came back. Once they were healed, we went towards victory road. I expected Grey to stop me, but he never showed up…which I thought was a bit strange, but ignored. We didn't have a problem…until we got to the gate.
"Wait" the guard said "this is the first gym badge checkpoint"
"Oh, so you need to see our badge?" Leaf asked
"That's right" the guard said
Leaf, Red, and Aqua showed there badge first, then I showed mine "is this good?" I asked
"Perfect" the guard said "now the adults"
"Uh…we don't have badges" Zain said
"You can't go through without badges" the guard said
"Not even if we leave our Pokémon here?" Sarah asked
"I can't let you pass without the badge" the guard said "it's the rules"
"There's no way they can get past?" Leaf asked
"Not without the Boulder badge" the guard said
"Come on, there has to be some way!" Aqua insisted
The guard looked at her "either go through, or don't" the guard said
"Let's just wait until morning" Red said. We went outside the gate and set up camp.
After dinner, I went to bed. Not many thoughts crossed my mind as I fell asleep.
Yay! Another chapter! Sorry I haven't been updating as frequently as usual, I've been really busy lately. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!