Of course I wait for the last minute again. It shouldn't be that bad since this is a Gym Battle. Those are easy and fun to do. Can't really think of anything else, so I'll just get to it.
"Voltorb! Go!" Lt. Surge called out his first Pokémon, the same spherical creature that the Gym Trainer from before used. It was hard to tell if it was any stronger given that it was a ball with eyes, but Red assumed the Gym Leader's Pokémon would be a cut above the others.
Red tossed his Pokéball, revealing his Diglett. He knew from his first Gym experience that ground-type Pokémon didn't mix well with electric-types. "Diglett, Scratch."
"Voltorb, use Sonic Boom!" The foe's Voltorb unleashed the now familiar sonic wave at Diglett with stunning speed. The attack managed to hit Diglett, stalling her long enough for the Voltorb to roll out of the way of her Scratch attack. "Do you really think I wouldn't have a way to deal with a Diglett with their cave right outside of town?! You're going to have to do better than that if you want to beat me!"
Red wasn't that surprised that Lt. Surge had a way of dealing with ground Pokémon. What was worrying him was that Voltorb's speed. It was faster than Diglett? Nothing Red had seen was that fast, Charmeleon only managed to look faster with all his hard training. This Voltorb was definitely stronger than the other one he had just fought. "Diglett, Dig!" In a flash, Diglett vanished underground.
"My Voltorb can handle that hit," Surge boasted, "When it comes up, hit it with Rollout!" Diglett popped up under Voltorb, throwing it up in the air. Voltorb started spinning in mid air and rocketed back down, slamming into Diglett. Surge laughed as Diglett staggered underground, "A squishy little thing like a Diglett won't be able to handle the next hit! That's what you get for picking on type alone." Readying the next hit, the speed of Voltorb's spin visibly increased. Surge was probably right about Diglett not surviving the next hit.
Red smiled, though. "And this is what you get for underestimating your opponent. Diglett, Fury Swipes." Diglett rushed forward unleashing a flurry of invisibly fast claw attacks. Voltorb, too busy spinning up its Rollout attack to avoid Diglett, was knocked out of its attack and out of the fight all at once. "I didn't just pick Diglett because she's ground-type. I picked her because I have faith in her strength."
Surge couldn't help but chuckle as he recalled his Voltorb. "Okay, kid. Maybe you do have guts. You still ain't gonna win, though." Surge threw another Pokéball, this time sending out a Pikachu. It was hard to tell if Red's Pikachu was any stronger or weaker without a side by side comparison, but what was abundantly clear was that Surge's was no pushover. "See if you can handle this! Pikachu, use Mega Punch!"
"Diglett, return!" Red declared as Diglett vanished back into her Pokéball. Trainer etiquette dictated that Red send out his next Pokémon before his opponent's attack was wasted. Red did so, sending out his Charmeleon. Charmeleon took the hit right on the chin, grinning down at the smaller Pokémon at the insignificant damage it dealt. "Let's return the favor." Charmeleon gladly did, socking Pikachu across the jaw. The mouse Pokémon was thrown to the ground, but got up after a moment. Red didn't give Surge or his Pikachu a moment to rest, "Charmeleon, Slash." Charmeleon took a step toward the barely recovered mouse and swiped at it with his claws. Surge's Pikachu barely ducked away from the attack and hopped back, away from its bigger foe.
"Ya like living fast?" Surge grinned, "How about you try this?! Pikachu, use Quick Attack!" Charmeleon followed through with another Slash attack, but Pikachu disappeared with speed Red's would be hard pressed to match. It reappeared when it slammed into Charmeleon from behind. Charmeleon turned to face it but it vanished again, reappearing to crash into Charmeleon's side.
Charmeleon was clearly starting to lose his temper at his speedy foe and Red could see it. "Don't try to follow it with your eyes and trip it! Charmeleon, Ember!" Charmeleon closed his eyes and waited a second. He felt the rush of a breeze blow past him and swung his tail just ahead of it, catching Pikachu in the legs and sending it tumbling to the ground. A ghostly, barely visible flame appeared around Pikachu as it barely staggered back up.
"You burned my Pikachu?" Surge noted, "Well, let's see how you like getting paralyzed! Pikachu, Thunder Wave!" Charmeleon turned and was about to finish his opponent, but was stopped by a strange jolt of electricity. It didn't hurt him, but it caused all of his muscles to seize up. It was enough to bring him to his knees, but at least he fared better than Surge's Pikachu. The ghostly flame brightened for a second, sapping the last of Pikachu's strength and knocking it out. "Not bad, kid. You and your friends are the only people in a good long while to defeat my Pikachu." He recalled his Pikachu and sent out a new Pokémon. It was about double the size of Pikachu, approaching Charmeleon's height. It was dark orange with a white belly and large ears. It's short, but strong limbs ended in brown fur and had yellow cheeks. Its long black tail was tipped with a large, yellow lightning bolt pattern. "Now let's see if you can beat Pikachu's evolved form; Raichu!"
Red was in a spot once again. Pidgeotto wouldn't mix well with a powerful electric-type like Raichu, Diglett was still beat up from his fight with Voltorb, and Abra didn't know any offensive moves yet. But Charmeleon was in no condition to battle like this. Charmeleon did his best to rise and meet his foe. He wasn't ready to give up. Red steeled himself. No way they couldn't do it!
"Charmeleon, Flamethrower!" Charmeleon tried to unleash his powerful fire attack, but he seized up before he could complete the attack.
"Yeah, that's what I thought! Raichu, use Thunderbolt!" Raichu's body burst with a powerful electric aura. Lightning descended on Charmeleon, who barely leaped out of the way. "Slippery, ain'tcha? Bet you can't dodge Shock Wave!"
Charmeleon was still suffering from the paralysis, he had no way of dodging the speedy Shock Wave. The electricity wracked Charmeleon with pain, but he remained standing, unwilling to yield without landing even a single hit. "You have to finish it in one hit! Charmeleon, Flamethrower!" Charmeleon powered through the tightness in his muscles and roared, blasting a surprisingly massive wall of flames at the foe. Raichu was too surprised to even try to dodge. After the fire had washed over Raichu and dissipated, it was left knocked out on its feet. It face planted a second later.
"Holy cow!" Surge breathed as he recalled his Raichu. "Well, all I can say is that I'm shocked. You've got more guts than I gave you credit for. You earned this Thunderbadge! And take this TM for Shock Wave too. It's a powerful electric move that is so fast it never misses!" Red closed the distance between them and accepted his prize.
Red next walked over to his Charmeleon, who hadn't moved since the end of the battle. "That was amazing work, Charmeleon!" Red complimented. Charmeleon only nodded dumbly. Apparently he was as surprised by his last attack as anyone else. Red was curious about this, but decided to drop it when Charmeleon seized up again. "Let's get you to the Pokémon Center and get rid of that." The muscle spasm seemed to pull the fire Pokémon out of his stupor and he nodded. Red recalled his Pokémon and departed the Gym with pride.
As much as I liked it, this was weirdly hard to write. I kept getting distracted for some reason, so there may be mistakes here or there. Once again, a Pokémon's poor learnset caused me problems, this time Voltorb's. Also, it occurred to me when I was writing about Voltorb's speed that it isn't the fastest Pokémon Red's seen. That would actually be Starmie, believe it or not. I was recently training a Starmie and looked up its base stats to find it's actually quite a bit stronger than I thought it was and surprisingly fast! I may have to tinker with Red vs. Misty when I get back around to it.