As the sun's rays began to spread across the quiet town, the two boys made their way from the hotel room that Chance had gotten them to the pokémon center to meet up with Adam, who had wanted to watch his younger brother's gym battle. The three met up for a quick breakfast before Adam led the boys across town to the gym, where the Fog Badge awaited them.
The trio, and Snivy from her usual perch on Chance's backpack, made their final approach up the stone steps that led to the older looking building that houses the Ecruteak City gym. The building was modeled, much like the rest of the town, off ancient times, being very simple and made of wood, though it was much larger than many buildings in the town. Once the three trainers reached the large wooden doors, Adrian reached up to knock gently, but before his hand made contact the doors slid open, revealing the large interior of the building.
"I guess we were expected." Adrian laughed lightly as he stepped through the threshold and glanced across the large battlefield.
"Indeed you were." Came a voice from the other side of the room. "A few of my gym trainers were out training and saw you three climbing the steps up to my gym, so they let me know of your arrival."
The two younger boys looked over to the origin of the voice, now noticing the blonde man who stood at one end of the battlefield. The man wore a black sweatshirt, white pants, and a purple scarf and headband. He stood with his arms crossed before his chest, staring at the three trainers. A young girl with black hair stood several feet behind him, mirroring his stance.
"Welcome, trainers, to the Ecruteak City gym! I am Morty, the leader here." He called across the room. "How may I help you boys?"
"We have come to challenge you." Adrian said, stepping forward.
"Ah, both of you? My day will be starting off with a bang indeed." He said with a laugh while approaching the trio. "What are your names?" He asked when he neared them, offering his hand.
"I'm Adrian." The blonde replied, taking the offered hand.
"Chance." The redhead said with a nod.
"And I am Adam." The older male answered with a nod. "We have actually met before, when I earned the Fog Badge for myself."
"Ah, very nice to meet you two, and to see you again, Adam. I hope you are both prepared for a difficult match." He said with a grin.
"Our friend, Blake, told us about your type specialty, so we have been preparing. We won't be so easy either." The blonde replied as Morty began to walk away, causing the leader to stop in his tracks.
"Blake, you say?" He asked.
"You know Blake?!" The girl yelled out suddenly, quickly running to the two boys, getting a nod of confirmation from each of them. "Oh! He is my big brother!" She shouted as she reached them.
"Really? He didn't tell us we would be meeting any of his family here…" Chance replied slowly, caught off guard by the outburst from the girl.
"Yeah! I am training under Morty!" She said proudly. "He offered to help train me and my Missy because he and my brother are—"
"Good friends." The gym leader said, cutting her off with a smile and a hand on her shoulder. "Blake giving you pointers will definitely make things more interesting. Most people aren't prepared for my ghost-types. Let's see how you fare. Brenna, would you mind being the judge for these battles?" He asked the black-haired girl, who nodded and quickly trotted to the side of the battlefield, taking her place. Morty did the same, making his way back to the far end of the battlefield.
"These matches will be three-on-three. Is that agreeable to you both?" Morty called out, receiving two nods. "Good. Who will be challenging me first?"
"I'll go first." The redhead offered to his friend. The two shared a look for a moment before Adrian nodded, conceding to his friend.
"Perfect! Let's get this started then! Gastly, let's go!" Morty called out, summoning a pokémon that looked like a black head with a large mouth and eyes. The floating sphere was surrounded by a cloud of purple smoke that seemed to be emitted from the body, but quickly dissipated into the air.
"Staryu, I choose you!" Chance called out, throwing his lure ball high into the air and releasing the Star Shape Pokémon.
"Gastly, start us off with mean look!" Morty ordered the Gas Pokémon. Gastly's eyes glowed a dark purple before a beam of energy shot out and struck Staryu, though Chance was unable to see any damage that the attack had done.
"Looks like Morty is still using the same old tricks to test new trainers." Adam muttered. "I hope Chance figures out how to counter this quickly."
"Staryu, fight back with a water gun!" Chance ordered, still confused at the first attack from the gym leader.
"Night shade!" Morty called out.
Staryu released a stream of water from the top point of its body at the ghost-type, who retaliated with two black beams of energy from its eyes. The two attacks met in a stalemate halfway between the two pokémon, causing a small explosion. Before the smoke cleared a stream of bubbles launched through the smoke and slammed into Gastly, sending it crashing to the ground. Gastly slowly started to hover up from the ground, but Staryu came spinning in the air beside it before launching another water gun attack, taking Gastly down once more.
"Gastly is unable to battle!" Brenna called out from the sidelines. "Leader Morty will now send out his second pokémon!"
"Well, that was faster than I expected." Morty chuckled, recalling his Gastly. "You are much more fierce than I thought you would be. Let's see how you handle my next pokémon. Haunter, show them what a ghost pokémon can do!" From the pokéball emerged a purple gaseous pokémon with two hands floating beside it. The pokémon opened its wide mouth and flailed its tongue around at Staryu for a moment before laughing hysterically at its own antics. "Haunter, mean look then shadow punch!" Morty ordered.
"Staryu, dodge it and use bubble beam!" The redhead countered.
Staryu used rapid spin to try and avoid the dark tendrils that emerged from Haunter's eyes, but the ceaseless tendrils soon caught up to the water-type and left Chance confused as to the purpose of the attack once more. Once the mean look made contact Haunter began laughing while its two hands began to glow a dark purple before it threw them forward at Staryu, who released a torrent of bubbles to try to repel the attack. The stream of bubbles stopped several glowing fists, but Staryu failed to notice Haunter maneuver one hand to the side and slam into Staryu's flank, sending it sliding across the dirt battlefield.
"Staryu, get up and use water gun, quick!" Chance shouted out.
"Night shade." Morty said calmly.
Haunter blocked the water gun with a two black beams, much like Gastly did before it, however, Haunter was able to launch a second night shade right after the first one caused an explosion to stop the water gun. The attack slammed into Staryu, slamming it back into the ground and creating a small crater around it.
"This isn't good…" Chance muttered to himself. "Staryu, return!" He called out, raising the lure ball to recall his pokémon. The red beam hit Staryu, but much to Chance's surprise, dissipated without recalling the Star Shape Pokémon. "What? What's going on? Staryu, return!" Chance called out once more.
"It won't work." Morty said, arms crossed in front of his chest once more. "Mean look makes it so you can't switch out unless the user is knocked out or recalled. Your Staryu is here to finish its fight." The gym leader explained. "Now, Haunter, finish it off! Use lick to throw it in the air and slam it back down with shadow punch!"
Haunter's tongue snaked out and stretched several yards across the battlefield before wrapping around the injured water-type and throwing it up into the air. Chance called for Staryu to use rapid spin to get out of the way, but it was too slow. Haunter created a large purple fist above the Star Shape Pokémon and slammed it back down into the dirt. The dust cloud that was created slowly cleared, revealing an unmoving Staryu.
"Staryu is unable to battle! Chance will now use his second pokémon!" Brenna called out.
"You did a great job, Staryu." Chance muttered to his pokémon while recalling it. 'He still has one more Pokémon… I have to keep Noctowl fresh for that, but Scyther and Snivy both are at a huge disadvantage here, and Blake said I really shouldn't use Onix until I have at least five badges…' He thought to himself while running his fingers across his remaining pokéballs. "Let's do this, Snivy!" He called out, summoning his starter pokémon.
"Ah, a rare sight to see way out in Johto. Where did you manage to get one of those?" Morty asked, eyes wide with surprise.
"Professor Juniper gave her to me when I started my journey back in the Unova region." Chance explained.
"Hm. So you're from another region? Guess I should expect a few more surprises from you then. But a grass-type still won't do much here. Haunter, mean look then night shade!"
"Try and block it with a leaf tornado!" Chance shouted out to Snivy.
The Grass Snake Pokémon immediately jumped a few feet into the air and began to spin, calling forth a vortex of razor sharp leaves around it. The barrier of leaves looked like they would stop the mean look from hitting Snivy, but Haunter quickly levitated above the vortex and fired another mean look at its foe, hitting Snivy and once more making it so Chance would be unable to swap pokémon. Immediately following the successful attack, Haunter launched a black beam from each eye, which slammed into Snivy and drove her into the ground below where she had been spinning.
"Damn. Snivy, get up and use energy ball, quick!"
"Dodge it and use lick." Morty commanded, his tone growing even more calm.
Snivy conjured a glowing ball of green energy, which she promptly fired at the ghost-type, who floated to the left, barely dodging the attack. Haunter then moved towards its foe and allowed its long tongue to stretch out towards its opponent once more, hoping to hit Snivy with its lick attack.
"This Haunter is just too quick…" Chance muttered quietly as he watched Snivy evading successive lick attempts. "Wait a minute… Snivy, use vine whip to grab Haunter's tongue!" The redhead called out.
Snivy, unsure of her trainer's plan, jumped over another attempt of the long tongue to lick her, and upon landing she sent two vines shooting out of her neck area and wrapped them around the giant tongue.
"Good! Now that it can't get away use energy ball again!"
Snivy began to form a ball of energy in front of her once more, but this time before releasing it she gave a sharp tug on the struggling tongue, bringing Haunter plummeting towards her as she launched her assault. Haunter and the orb of energy slammed against each other several feet above Snivy, causing a small cloud of smoke to obscure Haunter.
"Great job, Snivy!" Chance praised from behind his starter pokémon, but he and Snivy were both caught off guard when a dark purple fist slammed into the Grass Snake's side, sending her rolling across the field. "Snivy! Are you okay?" He called out to her.
"Don't give any ground, Haunter. Night shade."
Before Snivy made it back to her feet, the dark beams hit her once more, driving her into the ground. Haunter didn't let up the attack and held the two beams on Snivy's back for several agonizing seconds before its trainer called for it to stop, leaving Snivy unable to battle.
"Snivy is unable to battle!" Brenna called out. "Chance will now use his final pokémon!"
"Damn. This isn't looking good for your friend." Adam whispered to his younger brother.
"Shut up. He's got this." The blonde replied, agitation at the comment evident in his voice.
"You did great." Chance muttered to Snivy as he recalled her. "Only one pokémon left. You've got this, Noctowl!"
"Not a bad choice for your final pokémon, it's typing really limits our options, but it better be strong if you want to defeat Haunter and my last pokémon." Morty said with confidence.
"Noctowl has what it takes, don'tcha buddy?" The Owl Pokémon replied with a loud cry before taking off into the air. "Noctowl, let's show him what we are made of! Use air slash!"
"Dodge and use confuse ray!" Morty commanded his pokémon.
Haunter faded to the left as a light blue blade of air rocketed past it, but before it could counterattack a second blade slammed into it, throwing it several feet backwards. Haunter slowly started to recover before it found itself unable to move. Its body was surrounded by a psychic aura that had completely immobilized it.
"Great job, Noctowl! Let's finish this up. Throw Haunter and hit it with another air slash!" Chance called out, a renewed confidence in his voice.
Haunter struggled to break free, but quickly found itself hurled towards the ground. As it neared the ground the psychic energy faded from its body, but before it could recover it was slammed with another powerful blade of air, taking it out of the match.
"Haunter is unable to battle! Leader Morty will now use his final pokémon!" Brenna called out, giving a slightly nervous look towards her mentor.
"Not bad. I see you have been saving Noctowl to counter my ghost-types. Not a bad strategy." Morty complimented. "But, as impressive as that round was, my last pokémon is much more prepared to handle this. Gengar, let's go!" He called out, summoning a more humanoid looking ghost-type. Gengar was another purple ghost, but rather than being a floating head, it had a full body with short arms and legs, though its head and body were a single mass.
"Be careful, Noctowl. Gengar is going to be his best pokémon." Chance warned the Owl Pokémon.
"Right you are. Gengar, sludge bomb!" Morty yelled out, throwing his hand out towards Noctowl as he commanded the attack.
"Use confusion to throw it right back at Gengar!"
Gengar opened its large mouth and began firing a barrage of dark purple orbs of poison that rocketed towards Noctowl, whose eyes began to glow a bright blue as each orb stopped a few short feet before him. Noctowl then shouted out, launching the barrage back at Gengar.
"Shadow ball to stop it!" Morty commanded.
Gengar conjured a dark purple and black sphere and launched it at the approaching balls of poison, causing a small explosion. Gengar then hovered up above the smoke, revealing no damage had been done.
"Damn. Noctowl, air slash!" Chance yelled out.
"Shadow ball to defend and then sludge bomb!"
The two pokémon engaged in a frantic aerial battle, trading attacks for several tense minutes. Most of Noctowl's air slashes were blocked by shadow balls, while most sludge bombs were stopped and sent back by confusion. Each pokémon was quickly tiring and allowing more and more attacks to bypass their defenses and hit their mark.
"You've got this!" Chance called out to an exhausted Noctowl, who was now struggling to maintain altitude.
"Gengar, it's time to finish this up!" Morty called to the injured ghost pokémon. "Use sludge bomb one last time!"
Gengar launched a large barrage of sludge bombs at Noctowl, with the first wave hitting their mark and causing Noctowl to fall several feet. The second barrage, however, was dissipated when Noctowl let out a loud cry as his eyes glowed a bright gold. From his opened beak shot a rainbow beam of energy that spread out more the further it got from Noctowl. The beam struck Gengar, who cried out in pain before falling to the ground.
"What was that?" Chance muttered to himself as Brenna ran over to inspect Gengar.
"Gengar is unable to battle! Noctowl and Chance win the match!" She called out.
"You and your pokémon performed admirably." Morty said to Chance after he recalled his pokémon.
"Thanks, but honestly, I am not sure how we won that. I don't know what Noctowl just did." The redhead said sheepishly as he stroked his exhausted pokémon's back.
"That would be extrasensory. It's a psychic-type move, which is why it hit Gengar so hard." The gym leader explained.
"Wow, Noctowl, you really pulled through." Chance complimented the flying-type, pulling him close into a hug, much to the Owl's delight.
"Well, give me a moment to heal up a few of my pokémon and it will be Adrian's turn to see if he can beat me." Morty said, turning to walk towards a small machine in the corner of the gym.
"Those were some close battles!" Adrian said to the redhead as he approached the two spectators. "Noctowl's normal typing really seemed to make things hard for Morty though."
"Yeah, being immune to most of his attacks really helped us come back into it." Chance said with a smile. "Too bad you won't be able to use that strategy…"
"Yeah… Even Nidorino won't be too much help here. I hope Elekid is ready for this." The blonde replied, looking down at a pokéball in his hand.
"You should be fine." Adam said from beside his younger brother. "You even got an advantage by seeing how Morty battles."
"Yeah, I hope you're right." The blonde replied nervously before taking his position at one end of the battlefield, Morty returning and doing the same.
"This will be a three-on-three battle between the Ecruteak City Gym Leader Morty and Adrian. Ready? Begin!" Brenna called out loudly.
"Gastly, let's go!" Morty called out, summoning Gastly once more.
"Tentacool, I choose you!" Adrian called out, summoning the Jellyfish Pokémon.
"Gastly, mean look then night shade!" The gym leader called out.
"Let it hit, Tentacool. Retaliate with bubble beam!" Adrian ordered the water-type.
The mean look easily hit Tentacool as it stood still, launching a barrage of bubbles at Gastly, who took the brunt of the attack as it focused on landing its own. It tried to hit back with a night shade, but Tentacool refused to let up and give it a moment to recover. However, Tentacool couldn't keep up the assault for too long, and Gastly eventually was able to return a single night shade attack that struck Tentacool, though Gastly took the worse end of the trade.
"Great job, Tentacool. Let's keep up the pressure with another bubble beam!"
"Dodge and confuse ray!"
Gastly was able to dodge the first wave of bubbles and launch a circle of yellow energy from its eyes at its opponent, however, as the confuse ray hit, a second wave of bubbles struck Gastly, sending it crashing to the gym floor.
"Gastly is unable to battle! Leader Morty will now send out his second pokémon!" Brenna called out.
"You did a fine job, Gastly. Misdreavus, you're up!" Morty called out, summoning a dark blue ghost pokémon with flowing blue hair with lilac tips. The pokémon also had a necklace of red gems around its neck.
"That one's new." Adrian muttered to himself as the small ghost-type took the field. "Careful, Tentacool. We don't know this one's strategy."
"Exactly why I chose her." Morty replied with a smile. "Misdreavus, mean look then psywave!"
"Use bubble beam!"
The mean look hit its mark, as did the bubble beam. However, Misdreavus seemed to take the attack much better than Gastly did and retaliated by launching a wave of rainbow energy that struck Tentacool, doing a large amount of damage to the poison-type.
"Don't let up! Shadow ball!" The gym leader commanded.
Tentacool launched a second barrage of bubbles while Misdreavus was summoning a dark sphere of energy, but despite the damage, Misdreavus was able to launch a shadow ball and take Tentacool out of the battle.
"Tentacool, you did a great job." Adrian complimented the Jellyfish pokémon as he recalled him. "Elekid, let's go!" He called out, summoning the baby Electric Pokémon.
"Misdreavus, end this quick. Shadow ball!" Morty commanded the Screech Pokémon.
Misdreavus conjured an orb of shadow energy once more and launched it at Elekid, who, much to his trainer's surprise, took initiative and used quick attack to dodge the incoming attack and retaliated with a thunder shock on the ghost-type.
"Good job, Elekid!" Adrian praised his pokémon. "Let's keep this up! Thunder shock again!"
"Psywave!"
The two pokémon traded a blows, Misdreavus taking another zap from Elekid's thunder shock, while Elekid was thrown back from a direct hit of psywave.
"You can do this!" Adrian called to his pokémon, who struggled to get back to his feet.
"Misdreavus, finish it with another shadow ball!" Morty called out.
Misdreavus launched another shadow ball at the baby pokémon, who was unable to stand up in time to avoid the incoming attack. Once the smoke cleared, Elekid was revealed to be motionless where the attack struck him.
"Elekid is unable to battle! Challenger Adrian will send out his final pokémon!" Brenna shouted out.
"Not bad for your first gym battle." Adrian commented to Elekid as he recalled him. "Quilava, time to bring us back in this." He said, summoning his starter.
"Ah, your Quilava looks strong. But it's too late for this match. Misdreavus, shadow ball!" Morty commanded.
"Quilava smokescreen!"
In the second it took Misdreavus to conjure her shadow ball, Quilava released a cloud of smoke to cover half the field, much to the chagrin of Misdreavus, who launched her attack at where she knew Quilava was the last time she saw him. However, after the attack impacted, Misdreavus was caught off guard as a spinning ball of fire erupted from the smoke and slammed into her, sending her crashing to the ground.
"Don't let up! Ember!" Adrian ordered the Volcano Pokémon.
Misdreavus slowly began to get back into the air, but was immediately peppered by a barrage of small fireballs from Quilava, forcing her back down. Misdreavus appeared to be defeated, but before the barrage of fire finished her off she let out an ear-piercing scream, causing Quilava to stop his attack as well as every trainer in the building to cover their ears in pain.
"What the hell was that?" Adrian wondered aloud, his ears ringing in pain.
"Misdreavus isn't called the Screech Pokémon for nothing." Morty replied, his hands also on his head from the unexpected outburst. "Misdreavus, psywave!" He called out.
A beam of psychic energy slammed into Quilava, throwing him back a few yards, but he quickly jumped in the air and rolled into another flame wheel, sending himself charging towards his foe. Misdreavus was able to dodge the attack at first, but Quilava spun around and hit her from behind, ending the battle.
"Misdreavus is unable to battle! Leader Morty will now use his final pokémon!" Brenna shouted from the sidelines.
"Not bad, kid. Gengar, let's wrap this up." Morty said, an aura of calm emanated from him as he summoned his final pokémon.
"Get ready for this, Quilava. Gengar is powerful." Adrian warned his pokémon.
"Gengar, start this off with a sludge bomb!"
"Ember to block it and flame wheel!"
The two pokémon launched their respective attacks at each other, but much to Adrian's dismay, ember was not strong enough to block the barrage of sludge bombs. The flames were able to stop several of the orbs of sludge, but Gengar's assault quickly broke through and slammed into Quilava, doing a decent amount of damage.
"Can you keep going?" Adrian asked the Volcano pokémon that rolled to a stop a few feet in front of him. Quilava nodded as he quickly got back to his feet. "Good. Let's fire back with a flame wheel!" Adrian called out loudly, throwing his hand out towards Gengar.
"Stop it with a shadow ball!"
Gengar quickly conjured and launched a shadow ball at the speeding ball of fire that was currently rolling towards it, but Quilava was able to dodge to the right and continue its approach, slamming into the ghost-type and sending it crashing across the field.
"Great job, Quilava!" Adrian cheered from behind his starter. "Keep it up! Come around and hit it again!"
Gengar was slow to recover from the direct hit, and the moment it got back to its feet it was struck by a second flame wheel, followed quickly by a third. The Shadow Pokémon was being tossed back and forth across the field as Quilava picked up speed and continued rolling about.
"You got this, Gengar!" Morty called to his now injured ace. "Fade into the ground, quick!"
Upon hearing its trainer's words, Gengar quickly sunk into the battlefield, disappearing from sight.
"What? What do we do now?" Adrian muttered to himself, his eyes darting quickly around the field for signs of the ghost-type. Quilava, equally confused, stopped his attack and stood in the center of the field, searching.
"Now, Gengar!" Morty called out, causing Gengar to emerge a few feet behind Quilava and launch a shadow ball at the fire-types back. The attack slammed into the Volcano Pokémon and rocketed him across the battlefield, leaving a trail of dust flying through the air.
"Looks like it's over…" Adam commented sadly to the redhead beside him.
"Come on, Quilava." The blonde said quietly to his pokémon, taking a knee beside the injured fire-type. "Gengar is just as exhausted as you. If you think you can keep going, we got this." As he spoke to his pokémon, Brenna ran closer to inspect the fallen pokémon and determine if he could still continue.
"Quilava is un-" She started to yell out before being cut off.
Quilava slowly stood up once more and let out a loud yell, the flames on its back erupting into an inferno like never before. Quilava turned to face his foe once more, a red aura building around his body.
"Blaze. Just like last time. Quilava really doesn't give up." Chance commented softly to Adam, whose eyes were focused on his brother.
"Alright, Quilava. Let's give it one more attack, alright?" Quilava gave a quick nod, the flames on his body growing even larger. "Flame wheel!" The blonde commanded, once more throwing his hand out towards Gengar, but to his surprise a stream of fire erupted out towards Gengar instead.
"Dodge and shadow ball, now!" Morty called out, shocked at the turn of events.
Gengar was able to dodge to the left of the fire and launch an orb of shadow energy, but the orb was quickly met with a second blast of flames that send it flying back towards the ghost-type, being pushed by the torrent of fire. The combined attacks hit their mark, causing a massive explosion. Quilava let the flames erupting from his mouth die down and stared at the spot where the attack impacted, waiting for a sign of movement. Several tense moments passed as the smoke began to clear, revealing an unmoving Gengar.
"Gengar is unable to battle." Brenna started almost sadly, before realizing her duties and picking herself back up for the remainder of her speech. "That means the victory goes to Adrian and his Quilava!" She shouted out.
"You did amazing, Quilava." The blonde whispered to his starter, whose head he was now cradling, as the pokémon quickly collapsed after the match was declared. "Take a nice long rest, alright?" He smiled at his pokémon as he recalled him.
"You fought admirably. Your Quilava has a fighting spirit that just can't be beat, and that flamethrower was very impressive." Morty said happily, offering a hand to help Adrian to his feet once more.
"Thanks. He and I train a lot." The blonde replied lamely, a broad smile crossing his face. Suddenly a hand slapped between his shoulders, startling him slightly.
"Not too shabby. You had me nervous for a moment." Adam beamed down at his younger brother.
"Nah, totally under control the entire time." Adrian replied with a light laugh.
"Nice job." Chance smiled past Adam, extending his fist, which Adrian bumped with his own.
"You too."
"You both did well, and you have both earned yourselves the Fog Badge." Morty said with a broad smile, producing two round purple badges with two smaller silver ovals, making the badge look like a ghost. "I haven't had battles like that in a long time. I am glad Blake sent you my way. I am sure he will be happy to hear how well you two performed. Ghost pokémon really are tricky to beat" The gym leader smiled once more as the two boys took their new badges.
"You can say that again…" Chance let out a soft sigh now that the frustration and nervousness of fighting such an odd type had left his body. The group shared a light laugh at this before saying their goodbyes and leaving the gym, heading straight for the pokémon center.
"You two kids really did well today, you should be proud." Adam praised the two younger trainers. "You know where you are headed next?"
"Not really…" Chance said slowly, not knowing the region as well as the other two.
"Olivine City." Adrian piped in. We want to go there next because if we head to Mahogany Town next we will have to backtrack to Olivine, but if we go to Olivine City first we can get the Cianwood City badge as well."
"Not a bad plan. Olivine is a great city. I think you two will like it."
"Not gonna come with us?" Chance asked the older boy.
"Nah. After seeing you two battle I have some training to do before meeting you guys at the Silver Conference." He replied with a grin, which wasn't shared by the younger boys. "Don't worry so much. You two will be much stronger by then if you keep on this track." As he spoke, he withdrew a pokéball and called forth his Skarmory. "Keep me updated with your progress and if you need anything, okay?" His younger brother nodded at this before getting pulled into a tight hug. "Be safe, see ya soon." Adam said as he mounted the Armor Bird Pokémon and took to the air.
"Well, your brother is certainly interesting." Chance laughed as the older trainer faded into the horizon.
"Something like that." Adrian chuckled as he turned to continue towards the pokémon center.
Several hours later, after their pokémon were healed and they had eaten, the boys were sitting with their pokémon by the pond in the northern section of Ecruteak City once more. The duo had elected to leave the following morning, giving their team the afternoon to rest after the hard fought gym battle. Dusk was now starting to fade towards night and the boys were leaned against a tree, while most of the pokémon that had been used at the gym today napped in various places nearby. The calm and quiet night air was suddenly disrupted by the sounds of a large explosion followed by a column of smoke that rose high into the air.
"What the hell was that?!" Adrian asked, scrambling to his feet, accidentally knocking the sleeping Quilava off his leg.