A Berry Important Battle

"We're here!" I shouted with relief. "Nacerene City!"

After a couple of weeks of traveling from Striaton City, we finally reached civilization. Now was the time Evelyn and I battled for our second badges at the local gym, but there were several problems to attend to.

"Kyle," Evelyn started, "while I battle with Munna and Monferno, can you keep Axew entretained with you?"

"Yeah," I replied. "I could train it with Gible, so they could get used to battling."

"Perfect!" she replied. "Can you get us a room at the nearest hotel?"

"Yep," I replied.

"How about some food?"

"I'll order it from the restaurant right here."

"And where will we meet off after my battle?"

"At the Pokemon Center."

"What should I do afterwards?"

"Train Gible and Axew together to strengthen their moves and battling techniques."

"Perfect!"

"Alright, Gible, use Bite!"

Gible performed a powerful Bite attack on Servine who swiftly dodged it.

"Axew, use Scratch!"

Axew went in to claw at Herdier, but Herdier rolled away before the move made ontact.

"You guys, you got to be faster with your attacks!" I told them frustratedly. They had awesome strength, but they couldn't land the moves because they were too slow. Then again, Servine and Herdier had more experience.

"Alright, Gible use Bite on Axew, and Axew, use Scratch on Gible!"

The two collided while attempting to use their moves, and they successfully made direct contact.

"Perfect, you guys. Again!"

"Well, well, welll," said the gym leader, Lenora. "Your Munna is incredible! But how will it fare against my next Pokemon?"

Oh my goodness, Evelyn thought. Munna barely beat Lenora's first Pokemon and it was already tired. How would it do against her second one? Lenora dfinitely would NOT be described as a pushover. If she wanted this badge, she would have to work for it.

After we finished training, we all met up with Evelyn at the Pokemon Center.

"Evelyn," I asked, "how did it go?"

She looked at me, panting. "I barely won with Monferno. They both did awesome, though. I'm going to warn you... do NOT underestimate her Pokemon. Especially her second one."

After listening to her advice, I left for the gym with Servine and Herdier for our battle. When we reached it, we walked inside and headed to the battlefield. There, Lenora was waiting for us.

"Welcome, challenger," she said. "I'm Lenora, and today you'll be facing the power of my Normal-type Pokemon. Think you can handle it?"

I walked to the challenger position and responded, "Of course!"

The referee explained the rules: two Pokemon per Trainer, only the challenger could make substitutions, etc. "Battle...begin!"

Lenora sent out her Herdier, so I decided to send out mine. She started out with the move Bite, which Herdier quickly rolled away from. But then, when we least expected it, her Herdier rolled towrads mine and carried out the Bite attack! Herdier flinched with pain and backed away.

My Herdier then used Take Down on Lenora's, but the attack missed and Herdier crashed into the wall of the gym! This Pokemon was super quick!

Then, I had an idea. I told Herdier to use Tackle attack on Lenora's Herdier, which it avoided, but just as it missed the attack, it followed the Herdier and carried out its attack, just like Lenora did with my Herdier! B(Lenora's Herdier) flew into the air, and A(my Herdier) carried out a Take Down attack, nocking it into the air once more. Right before B fell to the ground, A attempted to use Bite and catch B, but B used Tackle on it just before that happened.

Lenora's Pokemon was tough! But I hung in there. A then went in for another Bite, so B jumped back, and that is when A used Tackle on B while it was landing, knocking it back and damaging it. Then both A and B charged at each other with a Take Down, causing dirt to hide the contact between the two Pokemon.

The cloud cleared. Both A and B were panting heavily, and suddenly, B fell to the ground.

"Lenora's Herdier is unable to battle! Kyle's Herdier is the winner!"

Just as I was about to congratulate my Herdier, it fell to the ground and passed out.

"Kyle's Herdier is alos unable to battle. This match is a draw!"

Oh god. Now it was a one on one, and from what Evelyn told me, she barely beat Lenora's second Pokemon with two of her own! How was I going to be able to succeed?

"Kyle!" Lenora shouted. "That was a marvelous display of the strength of Normal-types! But can you handle my next Pokemon? Watchog, I choose you!"

"Servine!" I shouted, "come on out!"

This was the final battle: Servine vs. Watchog.

Watchog started off with using Super Fang, but Servine ducked and used Leaf Tornado to blow Watchog away. Watchog was blown into the air, but it landed gracefully nto its feet and acted as if the attack hadn't done a thing.

Then, as Servine went in to use Wrap, Watchog used Hypnosis on Servine, making it stop in its tracks and... fall asleep! Then, Watchog used Super Fang on Servine, and it couldn't even do a thing. This was why Lenora was so strong: her Watchog's Hypnosis! I couldn't switch to Herdier now that it fainted, so I had to cross my fingers and hope Servine woke up...

Wait a minute! Mom had packed me a Lum Berry before I left home. Lum Berries had the ability to cure any status condition, including sleeping. While Watchog was continuing its attacks on Servine, I rolled it the Lum Berry, and thankfully, it rolled near its mouth. Servine unconciouslly swallowe it and woke up!

All of a sudden, Watchog used Hypnosis on Servine again! I didn't have any Lum Berries to wake it up again, so I decided to counter it with Leaf Tornado. The move blew the Hypnosis back to Watchog and even made it fall asleep. Servine used Vine Whip to grab Watchog, used Wrap to choke it, jumped into the air, and used Leaf Tornado to throw it to the ground.

But Watchog woke up! It had barely any strength, but it was still up! This wasn't so good. Servine didn't have much health left either.

Watchog ran at Servine with a Bite, and Servine used Vine Whip to defend itself. watchog grabbed the Vine Whip with its teeth and threw Servine into the air, and then used Hypnosis on it. It looked like it was going to make contact, but Servine spun around the Hypnosis and used Leaf Tornado on Watchog, but it lost its balance and plummeted to the ground, causing another cloud of dust to appear. Perfect timing!

When the dust cleared, my heart sank. Servine was on the floor, and Watchog was up, panting.

"Servine!" I yelled. "Get up!"

"Servine is unable to..."

And that was when the miracle happened. Servine stood up just before the referee called it out, and then, too tired to stand, Watchog collapsed to the floor.

"Watchog is unable to battle! Servine is the winner, which means the victory goes to the challenger, Kyle of Nuvema Town!"

I won! Servine had overcome Hypnosis and toughed the battle out to beat Watchog.

"Servine!" I yelled, running to my hurt Pokemon. "You did a spectacular job! You got up, and you were amazing!"

"Ser, Servine," it said weakly.

"Herdier," I said, turning to my other Pokemon resting on the ground next to me. "Even though you got knocked out, you did incredible. You may have gotten knocked out, but you made servine's job easier by knocking the other Herdier out. Don't beat yourself over it!"

"Her, Dier!" it barked, licking my face.

"Kyle," Lenora said, walking over to me. "You have showed me your potential as a Trainer. You and your Pokemon overcame an obstacle that others would have stumbled on. Although it was a close battle, I would definitely say you were the winner. The compassion you show fpr your Pokemon, the strength you provide them with... I would like to see some more out of you!"

"Thanks," I said.

"Here you go," she said, holding her hand out for me. "This us the Plain Badge, which proves that you have successfully defeated me."

"Awesome, Lenora!" I said joyfully. "Look, you two, I got this badge because of you. Thank you again, Lenora."

"No problem," responded the gym leader. "Now, have you decided where you were going to go for your next gym battle?"

"Ermmmm..." I thought. "I was considering heading to Castelia City with my friend Evelyn, but..."

"No, no, no!" Lenora said abruptly. "You absolutely HAVE to go there! It is a wonderful city. Plus, the gym leader there will give you and your friend quite a challenge."

"Alright then," I said. "Castelia City it is."

When I got back to our hotel room, I showed Evelyn the badge and described to her the battle.

"Yep," she said. "That's basically the troubles I had, although your Servine had the speed and the moves to overcome it. For me, I just switched Pokemon."

"Yeah," I responded, "but I gotta thank my mom for that berry. So, how did the training go?"

"Perfect!" Evelyn said. "They both learned new moves. Watch. Axew, use Assurance!"

Axew extended its hand and gave a, basically, super-powered slap to Gible! Gible flinched from the attack.

"Nice!" I said.

"That's not all. Gible, use Dragon Rage!"

Gible breathed a sort of flame out of its mouth and aimed it at Axew. Axew was blasted with it and got knocked over.

"Awesome!" I said jubilantly. "Gible, I'm super proud of you!"

"Gib, Gib!" it said as it jumped into my arms.

"Yeah," said Evelyn. "Same goes for you, Axew!"

"Ew, ew!" it said, ramming Evelyn.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Evelyn ran to get it, and then suprised, she yelled, "ZACH?!"