"I must admit, that was a very interesting battle." Finally Brock said his word, clapping to both of us.
"It was indeed." I had to agree with him. But for me it was not only interesting battle, but very useful too. First evolution for Reaper, nice experience for Dumpling and some self-confidence for me. We managed to achieve victory despite the type disadvantage, and that means a LOT.
I returned Reaper back to his pokeball and stood straight, looking at Brock himself.
"So… May I… use one of your healing machines?"
"Of course. I do not want to start battle with your pokemon not at their full strength."
I nodded to him and directed to the nearest machine. It was right in the corner of the stadium, and to reach it I had to cross the ground field, now messed with rock pieces, ashes of string shots and cracks on the ground. Who knows how this view will change after our battle with Brock… I wonder how do they clean this place after battles?
I found this machine quite easy to operate. Put pokeballs – Press button – Wait - ? – Profit!
As I waited for finishing the process, I could hear the dialogue of Brock and the kid.
"As you live, you always learn, my friend." Brock lectured the little one.
"Yeah, but you always said that rock pokemon are strong against fire ones! So why did I lose?" The boy was almost crying.
"I never said that rock pokemon are stronger than fire ones. It`s all about type. Rock-type is strong, but when you talk about pokemon, it can be completely opposite. You see, he defeated you because of smart use of moves. If your Geodude wasn`t constrained by string, it could defeat Weedle in two or even one rock-type moves. Sandshrew could defeat Charmander too. But working as a team, they helped each other to win."
"You see, it`s not all about the pokemon…" I joined their conversation. "Trainer is important too, I guess."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I think, you noticed that my strategy was not about overpowering your pokemon, but confusing YOU, force you to lose courage, make mistakes. My main target wasn`t the pokemon. My main target was the trainer."
"But… why? Why would you do that?"
"I had disadvantage in types, that`s all. So I tried to gain some advantage somewhere else. And, as you could see, this worked out pretty well."
The boy stared at the floor for a moment. This type of battle was really new for him. Judging the Brock`s interested face, that was new to him too.
"Is that allowed by the rules?" The kid asked Brock.
"As I remember, it is not forbidden." The leader said in reply. "I do not like the idea of pressure on opposing trainer in battle, but I have to admit, this type of battle looks very interesting."
"This is how I used to live." I spread my hands. "End justifies the means. That`s how life taught me."
"I can`t say I have the same opinion." Brock crossed his hands on chest.
As we were talking, the device continued work. My team wasn`t beaten that much, so machine did its thing in some minutes. My pokemon were to ready to battle again. I took pokeballs out of the machine and turned back to Brock.
"I am ready."
"Glad to hear that." Brock turned back and headed to the stand behind him. "Mikey, operate the screen."
"Yes, sir!" The boy saluted and rushed to the side room, where, I guess, all screen controls were.
I headed back to the challenger`s side, preparing my pokeballs and mind to what`s coming. Until this moment Brock impressed me as an experienced and wise man, his pokemon must be tough too.
"So… How many badges do you have?" Brock asked me.
"Actually, you`re the first one."
"Interesting… And yet you look very confident in your strength. I think I can find the way to give you a proper challenge." He took two pokeballs from the stand and followed to the trainer`s point.
"This is going to be a one-on-one battle." Mikey declared through the speaker. "Each side has two pokemon, and only the challenger can substitute."
"What`s your name, challenger?" Brock wondered. It`s the best time, I guess.
"Call me Vengeance."
"Challenger Vengeance…" Mikey`s voice spread through all the gym. "The gym leader Brock accepts your challenge. Let the battle begin!"
Brock looked at me and nodded in understanding. I knew this is going to be an interesting battle. So did he.
"Go, Geodude!" He sent out his first pokemon. Another Geodude… I wasn`t surprised at all, but this pokemon will be definitely harder than the last one.
"In that case… I`ll start with Reaper!" I sent out my pokemon on the battlefield. In his new form of evolution he had a real disadvantage in mobility, but, I guess, we can use his skills in another way.
I looked up on the screen. For that moment it was showing our pokemon faces as symbols together with some strange bars. I heard that Gyms have the technology to control pokemon health condition in battle and show that on screen so every could see how close he is to fainting. Well, this is going to be interesting. And useful.
"Not bad. But still you have a disadvantage. This Geodude of mine is leveled for beginners, and still he can give you some hard time. Start with Tackle!" Brock finally started the battle.
"Fear nothing… And use Harden!" Reaper was glad to give a try to his new move. The guidebook was right – as he evolved, he learned it at once. The body of my pokemon show a little of light, and he strained all muscles, literally hardening. Reaper did not even try to dodge opponent`s attack as it hit right in the spot. But hardened shell absorbed much of the damage.
"A defense all of sudden?" Brock was surprised. After all that my cunning sweeping tactics it was really unusual to switch to defense. "Interesting. But I will continue, Tackle!"
"And so do I. Harden again!" Another Reaper`s attempt to strengthen his shell resulted in shining light and another foe`s attack successfully hit. This time it looked like do absolutely no damage, so little it was.
"I guess it is enough." I said to Reaper. "Let`s use your awesome Poison Sting!"
In the form of Kakuna Reaper was very slow, as he made pretty clumsy jumps toward the opponent.
"Attack again? We have an answer to this. Defense Curl!"
This time the sides changed, Geodude blocked our attack with his rock hands, and got almost no damage. This time we were not lucky.
"Reaper, repeat the Poison Sting!"
"Defense strategy isn`t my thing actually…" Brock said. "Hit it hard with Tackle!"
Two pokemon crushed into each other, hitting with all their might. Even the hardened Reaper`s shell could not withstand the power of a well-trained Geodude, while the foe had only two scratches.
"Bad luck again. Come on, Reaper, I need that Poison Sting!"
After my command Brock seemed to understand my strategy.
"Is that really what you want? Well, we will try to finish you faster! Tackle it!"
Another powerful hit from the opposing Geodude… And with each new hit Reaper`s shell cracks more and more, lowering his defense. I wasn`t sure this will work, but at least we need to try. And finally next try was a success! Poison Sting dealt almost no damage to hard and defended Geodude, but I wanted to see another thing – Poison him!
"Is that what you wanted, right? Well, I can`t use Full Heal in a battle for the first badge, so the end is just a matter of time. And still we stand, we fight! Tackle!"
My strategy worked, at last. I knew Reaper will not be able to deal with this Geodude, but he definitely can deal some damage through the poison ailment. Now we can hold as much as we can so poison will hurt him badly enough.
"Use Harden, Reaper! Your mission is to hold as long as you can!"
Reaper really did his best to hold all these Tackles that came to him next. One after another, move after move. I could really feel his pain, despite of all these Harden moves. Poison was slowly damaging Geodude every move, but also every move this rock-head bastard damaged my Reaper even stronger. The final of this fight was predicted long ago. Reaper fainted first.
"Kakuna is unable to battle! Geodude wins!" Mikey declared.
"You did a great job here, Reaper. Come back and have a rest." I returned my pokemon back to pokeball and sighed. Our first loss of pokemon… But not the loss of battle.
"Dumpling, come on out!" In a blaze of fire, spectacularly and cool, Dumpling appeared on the battlefield.
"Let`s see… Your… Dumpling is pretty tough, I should say. Maybe he will defeat my Geodude. But you have one down already. I still have two."
"Do you really think I came here unprepared?" I couldn`t keep myself from smiling cunningly. "Dumpling, show them a new move from yesterday. Metal Claw!"
"Let`s hit him as hard as we can, Geodude. Tackle!"
Dumpling raised his hand high above, and silver light appeared. The mystical powers of steel type filled his hand, making its hard as the steel itself, sharpening his claw even more than usually. As two pokemon collided, of course, my Dumpling was the first to land a hit.
A super effective hit.
After such damage from Reaper`s poison and a Metal Claw our opponent could fight no more. Geodude fainted.
"Geodude is unable to battle! Charmander is the winner! Each side has only one pokemon left!" Mikey declared through the speakers.
"Not bad for a beginner." Brock said, returning his pokemon back to capsule. "You was tough, Geodude. Tougher than ever. Have a good rest." He gave me a challenging look. He was really sure this will end soon. "But your next opponent will be much stronger. Onix, let`s do this!"
And a tall figure appeared from the thrown pokeball… A large stone snake pokemon. Almost as high as the gym`s ceiling itself, this monster was really fearsome and dangerous. My Dumpling was so small compared to him… Bug Catcher wasn`t lying about that.
"I hope the size does not scare you." Brock shout to me with confidence.
"You know what they say? The bigger they are – the harder they fall." I tried to stay calm and confident too, not for Brock, but for my Dumpling. If he will see me worried – he will be worried too. That`s unacceptable.
"We will see about that. Onix, start with your best head Tackle!"
"Okay, Dumpling, hit his head hard with that Metal Claw!"
Onix smashed his head hard into the ground, where my Dumpling was a second ago, but a little Charmander was a bit faster and managed to dodge it and hit on return. Metal Claw was super effective, but opponent was tough, and one super effective move definitely could not finish him.
"Let`s skip this to the best part! Use Rock Tomb!"
No way… Suddenly the situation became gravely dangerous to us. Rock Tomb from this powerful Onix could deal a really huge if not fatal damage to my Dumpling.
"Run away, Dumpling! Run as fast as you can!"
Onix stared to throw rocks from his mouth right into Dumpling. Caught by surprise, my pokemon barely dodged it and jumped to the side. Only after that he ran away from Onix, but the rain of sharp stones was following him each step. One after another they thrust into the ground, like a minigun with rocks.
"You can`t just escape from my Onix! Come on, catch him up and Tackle!"
Finally. Maybe this is our chance.
"Dumpling, continue running around him! Do our trick as I say!"
On the run Dumpling looked at me and nodded. Onix was chasing him, and on the surface of ground he was definitely faster. But all we need now is just to wait for the right moment, when Onix will position correct angle.
I looked at Brock. He was so pumped up, but surprised and interested in the events. I was sure I will not disappoint him.
"Do it now, dumpling! Rush to the right, jump up, go full left!"
In the second before Onix could hit my Dumpling with Tackle, my partner suddenly changed the direction. For a moment Onix was surprised, but followed him afterwards. Dumpling jumped high up and landed on the lower rock in opponent`s body. The head of Onix followed him, avoiding the collision with his own body. Finally, as the ending of our trick, Dumpling rushed to the left side, right under the bent neck of Onix. Our foe almost reached his goal to hit Charmander, but suddenly stopped.
As Charmander jumped off the Onix`s body, all could clearly see what happened.
We have tied Onix in the knot.
From this very moment he could do absolutely nothing to us, immobilized by his own body.
"Nice job, Dumpling! Now give him the taste of your Metal Claw!"
"No way…" Brock was really shocked. We have caught him by surprise. "Untie yourself, Onix!"
But any attempt to do this just tightened the "knot", hurting Onix even more. Dumpling could easily come close and land some more super effective Metal Claws. Even if Onix can untie himself, I hope we will have enough time to deal good damage to him. I guess, after returning him back to pokeball he will be okay, but Brock can`t do that right in the middle of battle.
For a moment I wasn`t sure if Onix in trying to untie his body hurts himself more than Dumpling with his super effective Metal Claw. Anyway that was our advantage.
"Stop! Stand still, Onix!" Suddenly Brock commanded. "Just Tackle him with your head when he`s close by!"
"Oh, that won`t work!" I replied to him. "Dumpling, get away from his head, continue hitting him in the middle!"
That final move could be countered by nothing. In the center of his body he can`t hit us with his head, but he can`t use his tail too. Dumpling was absolutely safe there.
Brock was confused and had nothing more to say. Just some more hits in the weakest spot were separating us from our victory. Onix tried so hard to reach Dumpling by his head, and tail, or at least throw him off his body, but all that was useless. With each hit from our side Onix was weaker and weaker, until his limit was finally reached.
Onix has fainted.
"Unbelievable! Onix is unable to battle, and Charmander is the winner! Victory goes to challenger!" Speakers loudly declared. I couldn`t believe in this too. We have defeated Brock the gym leader. And we did it in style!
Dumpling happily rushed back to me to get a hug. I`m not a hug person, but… I think, this time I`ll let him get it. He deserved it, after all.
"Raise your hand, Dumpling." I said to him. Pokemon was a bit confused, but followed the command. In the sign of victory I gave him a high five.
"Good job. You look tired after all, have a rest." I returned him back to pokeball.
"This is unbelievable indeed." The voice of Brock reached me. "I could never expect such a move."
"So do I, man, so do I…" I sighed and began the descent to Brock`s level. I could see Mikey running to him from the control room on my way. As I came closer to Brock, one particular question appeared in my mind.
"Tell me, Brock… How is it? To be a gym leader?"
This question made him smile.
"This is a tough thing. You always must be ready to take the challenge. Your pokemon must be ready to battle anyone and anytime. In the end, you must always have the time to train, become better…"
"No, that`s not what I meant." I interrupted him. "How is it… when your job is to lose?"
This wording of question caught him off guard. From his face I couldn`t tell whether he is insulted or confused. Maybe, both.
"You see, we don`t always have to lose. In each battle we must give everything we`ve got."
"So… You`re kind of… Qualifiers? So only the worthy trainers can overcome you and proceed to the next stage?"
"Well, sort of. Following you comparison, the whole Pokemon League system is like a huge school for trainers. On their journey everything: other trainers, wild pokemon, the nature itself are their teacher. And we take the exams. Even the exam can teach you something. It is normal to pass it, otherwise what`s the point?"
"I see… And you`re right about that. I actually have learned one thing… All this your battle system has one huge weakness." This statement surprised both Brock and Mikey very much.
"What do you mean by that?"
"As I understand, in a pokemon battle the strategy is a very important thing. Maybe my pokemon were not trained enough to win with the use of brute force, but we have defeated you with the use of strategy."
"Yes. And what`s wrong with it?"
"There`s nothing wrong with it. The wrong this is with the commands you give to your pokemon."
Mikey made a few steps back and lowered his head. I guess, he understood me.
"If you managed to come up with a good strategy, isn`t it wiser to keep it secret from your opponent?" I asked Brock. He didn`t reply. He still had no idea. "Look, Mikey tried to lure my Reaper closer to his immobilized Geodude so he can get him. But this didn`t work, because I HEARD that and found another way to strike – with Dumpling, using his Embers from distance."
Now Brock understood me and nodded in agreement.
"But what do you suggest? We need to tell our pokemon our commands. There`s no other way. I heard there are some people with psychic powers that can give orders telepathically, but the League is going to forbid that."
"My idea is simple. We use some keywords that only we can understand. For example… String Strategy, Phase One! And my Reaper knows exactly what move he is needed to use on each Phase. If we have invented this strategy, perfected it, made some sort of algorithm of our actions if something will go not according to plan, we can use just these commands in battle! Our opponent will have no idea what we are going to do, and he can`t find how to counter that."
"Interesting, very interesting…" Brock was really interested in that idea. "Looks like you have invented your own style of battle."
"Indeed. And, as I can see, this is not forbidden by the rules. But gives us a huge advantage."
"Yeah, this is not forbidden… But, maybe, will. Anyway, I wish you luck to perfect your style on your journey and present you this Boulder Badge!" Brock took a small badge in the form of flat rock and handed it to me. I have seen already trainers having these badges in the Pokemon Center, and now I am one of them.
"I`ve got… A Boulder Badge!" With a huge excitement I shouted and jumped in place, raising badge high above. But the moment of my triumph ended very quickly, and all I had next were the judging looks of Brock and Mikey.
"Okay, that was embarrassing. I will not do that again." I looked again at my badge from different sides.
"And also take this TM. "Brock handed over a small box with a disk inside. "This TM contains Rock Tomb. As you could see, this is pretty powerful move, and also it can slow down your opponent. You can teach this move to your pokemon."
I took the box and looked it from different sides.
"A disk? What I`m supposed to do with it? Show them a video training?"
"No, this is a special technology. You can insert this disk inside a pokeball, and the data will be recorded right in pokemon`s memory. Also, every Pokemon Center has a machine that lets you check your pokemon`s memory and moves."
"What a strange technology, I have to say… Manipulations with pokemon`s memory? I don`t like it."
"This is the only way to teach them some powerful moves that they can`t learn by themselves."
"I will think about it." I put the box inside my greatcoat and looked at badge one more time. "Now, where should I put this…?"
"Your badge case, of course." Brock replied obviously.
"What is a badge case?" I asked him.
"Erm… you had to get it at the very start of your trainer career, together with the trainer license."
"What is a trainer license?"
"You don`t have a trainer license?" I managed to shock Brock again.
"Nope. I guess, professor Oak had to give me that?"
"Well, he gives this to trainers that start their journey at his lab. Other trainers can get it at the department… But this can be a long process."
This time Brock shocked me.
"According to the rules, I had no right to fight a trainer without a license. But, as I already did, I have to help you before this will be uncovered."
"Can you help me in this?" I asked him with some hope.
"Actually, he will help you more than me." Brock pointed at Mikey. "Mike, go tell your father to meet me today at the café at 1 P.M."
"Okay!" Mike saluted to Brock, then to me and ran away.
"As you can see, I have some friends in the department. Tomorrow Mikey will bring you your licence and case, until then be quiet, okay? Keep this a secret for a while, otherwise both of us will have problems."
"Thanks a lot, Brock!" I shook his hand and nodded in agreement. "Tell Mike that I will be in my room in pokemon center, number 14."
"That`s a deal."
I turned back from Brock. And followed the exit. I couldn`t make order in my thoughts, so many things happened today… I defeated the gym leader himself and earned a Boulder Badge. Well, right now it is illegal, but tomorrow will be okay. All I need to do is to get to my room and quietly wait for tomorrow.
With that in mind I left Pewter City gym and headed to the Pokemon Center. Soon we all will have a good rest…