I still remember this creature being very strong and tough. Lieutenant Surge had been through a lot of things together with this pokemon. I don`t know the whole story of how they met, but this was actually very strong couple. As tough and cold as his master, Raicher was merciless and fierce on the battleground. Both of them are the real veterans, forged by the fights and loss. And the one thing that keeps their spirit alive is the battle. The never-ending battle.
This evolution of Pikachu looks much stronger now. A lot of changed in his form –from the color to the shape of long and thin tail. And, I have to say, Raicher looks enough menacing to make me worry.
"So, soldier, you have just one pokemon left. What it will be?" Lieutenant sarcastically questioned me. Of course, he knows who it will be – he saw my ace Dumpling during the first challenge near the gates. Surge knows that we have nothing against him, and that amuses him a lot.
"It will be the victor himself. The proud and mighty Dumpling! I choose you!"
My Charmeleon was menacing enough too. Long and sharp claws, teeth, dark angry look and tough burning tail… Maybe it`s better that he haven`t evolve into Charizard yet because he would be weak to electric attacks then. So we have to use all we`ve got to finish this Raichu here and now.
"Let the battle begin!" Baily loudly announced the beginning as I noticed colorful performance on the screen. Just now I thought that the imaginary health bar that measures the rough percentage of battlers` current health. I never actually looked at it before, but now this could be useful.
"Raicher, are you ready?" Lieutenant asked his pokemon and got a determined nod in reply. "Good then. Let`s start with Shock Wave!"
Well, it starts actually very predictable. I have to find out what the foe is capable of and think of strategy, quickly.
"Dumpling, dodge that and use Smokescreen!"
The shocking charge from opposing Raichu reached my pokemon pretty quickly as he hardly dodged the attack. And after a successful maneuver he exhaled a huge and dark cloud of smoke, directing it into the opponent and covering the space around him in black vale.
Okay, now it`s time to attack. Scratch will be not the most powerful move in our arsenal. Ember? It will be powered by the natural type of Dumlping, some people call this S.T.A.B., but this definitely won`t be super effective against Raicher. Are steel-type moves strong against electric? I forgot that moment. Let`s check it out.
"Now, Dumpling, use Metal Claw…"
"Not so fast… Raicher, Double Team!" Lieutenant Surge interrupted me for his own command. Another new unfamiliar command.
My Dumlping was already very close to the dark silhouette of Raichu to launch an attack as the opponent started to move, and he started to move very fast. The blurred form of Raichu through the smoke divided into two, and then – into four, and even more. Dumlping hit the target before him, but it literary dissolved into the atmosphere of his own smokescreen.
Damn it! Lieutenant used some sort of move that helps pokemon to dodge attacks, and under our cloud it turned against us! Now it is literally impossible to find that Raicher under the cloud, where more than ten of dark silhouettes dance mockingly.
"Okay, Dumlping, let`s try our luck! Ember all the copies you see!"
"Now way. Raicher, Quick attack!"
One of silhouettes rushed toward my pokemon and in a second approached him hitting in the back. Dumlping was thrown out of the smoke cloud, while Raichu jumped back under our veil and hid among the other dark images.
Seems like the idea of Smokescreen wasn`t that good after all. We will count that in.
"Dumlping, continue burning it from outside!" My pokemon quickly stood up after a hit and continued executing my order – outside the smokescreen he could see other images of Raicher even better. Ember after ember – Dumlping quickly got rid of the fake images of Raicher, but just then the real one jumped right out of the smoke and hit with Quick attack again. At least, the smokescreen slowly disappeared and took away the coverage for Raicher.
The opponent is very tough. Not just he is strong – he uses our best tactics against us! Everything is lost if we continue like this.
"Raicher, give them the best Shock wave you have!" Lieutenant gave another command. The opposing pokemon lowered his head a bit and began the charging.
"Stand still, Dumlping, we can do this! Swipe your Metal Claw exactly when I say!"
Surge`s face changed as he noticed my cunning move. He definitely wonders what we are up to. Actually, even I don`t know this.
Raicher hopped on place quickly to speed up the electric charge and then released a powerful jolt at us. There`s no point in even trying to dodge it, as we already know. That means we have to withstand the damage, or…
"NOW!" I shouted to Dumlping as the electric charge approached too close. He hit this formless energy with his steel-powered claw exactly when it was very close to collision and sent it back to the source. The opponent was so surprised he even didn`t dodge that. Of course, the damage from electric attack for electric-type pokemon wasn`t very big, but we took the initiative into our hands now.
"Okay, Dumlping… Now use… Dig!"
The eyes of lieutenant Surge gone wide from the surprise. He definitely didn`t expect this from a Charmeleon, but at the same time he believed this is possible.
"Damn it. Raicher! Jump high and dodge that Dig!"
Raichu immediately tensed and jumped high in the air. Exactly where we needed it.
"Gotcha."
My Dumpling rushed to the opponent and jumped as high as he was, approaching quickly.
"And now… Skyrage!"
He powered-up his steel claws again and smashed the opponent hard, sending him back to the ground. Judging by the screen, the damage from our Metal claw was massive, and the damage from the falling was even bigger. Just a couple of hits – and the victory is ours.
Dumpling landed nearby the crater with lying Raichu. We can finish him with just one accurate hit.
"Metal Claw, Dumpling!" I loudly ordered.
Charmeleon gladly raised his hand to launch the final strike…
"Double Team!"
The Raichu immediately disappeared before us, and the attack hit just the ground before him. But when Dumlping turned away and realized what`s happened, he was surrounded by faded images of Raicher. The real one was hidden somewhere among them.
"You dare confuse me with fake moves?" Lieutenant Surge crossed his hands on chest and closed his eyes with a grin on face. "We`ll teach you a lesson. Raicher, Thunder Wave!"
Oh crap, it`s this again. His pokemon executed the order right in a second, jumped from the shadow images, launched an electric jolt into Dumlping and returned back, leaving my pokemon startled and paralyzed.
A couple of second changed everything – lieutenant Surge took back the initiative from us and made much, much worse taking the victory far away from us… And I can`t even think about any maneuver that could help us right now.
"Dumlping, wait for the opponent`s attack and try to hit him with Metal Claw!"
"Raicher, Quick attack!"
My partner raised his hand preparing it for the counterattack, but the paralysis suddenly made him twitch so badly he lost the concentration. Raicher didn`t waste time and strike at once with a really bad damage throwing my Dumpling back.
"Come on, you can do it! Try the attack once more!" I tried to cheer up and inspire my pokemon just a bit. But the paralysis was plaguing his body nullifying all my efforts.
Lieutenant Surge and his damned Raicher repeated one Quick attack after another and paralysis gave us no chance to counterattack. Each time Dumpling tries to do something, his body stops listening. He tried very hard, but had absolutely no luck.
"You are weak!" Lieutenant Surge mocked at me. "You have always been! You almost failed me back then, and now you will fail your pokemon."
And I was standing there, looking at my pokemon getting beaten, again and again. The mind went blank as I lost hope. I don`t know what to do now…
"I still don`t believe you survived everything. You could never do the right decision! And you weakness almost cost us all lives!"
I realized that the real paralysis fell not on Dumpling, but on me. I could do absolutely nothing, with panic and fear slowly growing inside my mind. I could even feel… tears… coming up to my dry eyes. This never happened before…
"And you will again and again, soldier! But the next time you will endanger your pokemon. Just because you. Are. WEAK! And this is why all your pokemon are weak too!" He shouted at me as he could.
The images of long-forgotten events started to appear. How it all began… How it made worse… And how it ended. The events that I tried so hard to forget. This swarmed my mind, distracting from the real events that took place right here and right now.
My Dumpling was standing right before me. He didn`t try to dodge the attacks, didn`t try to counter it. I didn`t give a new command. But he was waiting for one. He trusted me and did his best to withstand everything coming at him.
Lieutenant Surge is right about two things. I never could do the right choice. And my weakness can endanger everything. But he is talking not about the exact one weakness, but the fact that I allowed myself to have at least one. Soldier can`t have that. I can`t have that.
"You`re right, lieutenant." I lowered my head and closed my eyes. "But you`re wrong. I WAS weak. But I WILL NO MORE! And my decisions – right or wrong – always bring the result. Whatever it is. I do stupid things. And this makes me who I am!"
I raised my eyesight back to lieutenant Surge. I could let him insult me, but not my pokemon. This bastard came too far and angered me a lot.
"My pokemon are not weak. I. Am not weak. And I`ll show you!"
The deadly rage was burning inside me and rushing outside. Lieutenant Surge did well in making me mad… Really, really mad.
"Dumpling! Use Scratch… On your face!"
I was staring at Surge`s facial expression as he was changing from the greatest determination to the deepest confusion. My Dumpling turned back for a second to look at me, but I didn`t need to repeat twice. He knows that I have a plan.
Through the pain from previous attacks and the paralysis he managed to raise his hand and scratch his own face. Quiet cry sounded from him, but despite that he repeated the attack.
Both Surge and Raicher were immobilized by this strange and even shocking sight.
One Scratch after another, my Dumpling continued to damage himself, and didn`t even dared to turn back once more to question my command.
I raised my sight to the screen. I could see how the imaginary health bar of my Dumpling slowly shortens and changes the color to red.
And finally, it came. The moment that I was waiting for. The flame on Dumpling`s tail burned wider and lighter, his eyes, full of pain and anger, stared at the opponent. The whole body of his was so hot it even started to emit vapor from him.
And then a loud and fierce roar shook the walls of gym.
THIS is our ability.
This is the thing I`ve noticed during our last training. I still wonder how I didn`t notice this before. When he is very hurt and tired, it`s like the second breath – he just becomes stronger that before and fights fiercely until the very end.
"So, you activated his Blaze ability? Interesting… Raicher, give him the best and strongest Quick attack you can!"
It doesn`t matter now. Nothing matters now. Now my Dumpling will defeat the paralysis and finish the opponent or we lose.
"Dumpling! Use… EMBER!"
He looked back at me with a cunning smile on his face. Actually, that surprised me a bit as I didn`t expect him to have something on his mind. But then he turned back to face the approaching Raicher. He awerted his right hand a bit back and opened his mouth wide. The shiny red light appeared in it as all of fangs started… to burn!
Raicher rammed my Dumpling with his head, and made him step back a little, but this just helped my pokemon to make a larger swing of his head, taking a deep breath, and launched a very bright and hot pack of embers. For a second I thought the flame was blue. This was actually the strongest, the biggest and the most powerful Ember I have ever seen.
These small burning particles were not just burning hot. They were very sharp like small blades. The fire sparks coming out of them are also very hot and hurtful. Maybe this is the weakest fire-type attack, right now this looks much more impressive than I could imagine.
Raicher cried loudly as the fire slowly burned his body. In the finale my Dumpling launched another powerful attack, this time with his Metal Claw, throwing the Raichu back from him.
After receiving this huge damage the veteran pokemon couldn`t do anything more than cry from the pain once more and fall on the ground in defeat.
"Raicher is unable to battle! Charmeleon is the winner, and the victory goes to the challenger Vengeance!" The loud voice of Baily announced from the control room.
I raised my head up to look at the screen. Dumpling`s health is very weak now, according to it. He wouldn`t withstand another attack from our opponent. And just at this moment he fell on knees and exhaled loudly.
I rushed to my pokemon, crouched before him and touched his body. He was very hot, and still twitching from the paralysis. He raised his eyesight at me with confidence; I could see the mix of feelings in his eyes. The pain, the fatigue and remains of rage. But also the great pride of what he did.
"You did well, partner. You did well." I scratched his hot head and raised my other hand. He barked and gave me a high-five. "Now have a rest, pal." I returned him back to pokeball and then stood up with a serious look, facing the Surge.
Lieutenant has already returned his partner back to pokeball and now was standing with his head lowered and eyes closed. Even after the defeat he was still unshakable, as always. I headed to him with a determined look.
"Don`t you dare to start with this yours 'I said this to test your will, to push you over your limits' shit! You know this won`t work on me!"
"I will not." He replied arrogantly. "I actually think that you and your pokemon are weak."
"So, you`re still old grumpy asshole, lieutenant."
"Yes, I am, soldier. Yes, I am. But I also want to say that your pokemon do not need to change. I see that you learned a few tricks from me that compensate the pure strength." He said a bit friendlier than I expected. Surge even lowered his arms and made a step back.
"What do you want to say?" I questioned him suspiciously.
"You do not need to win just by brute force, that`s what I want to say. You know me, I think that a smart tactic is always better. This will defeat any foe – just find his weak spot. Your pokemon do not need to be too strong physically to do this."
I raised my eyebrow to show my real surprise. Does he… compliment me?
"But their will is very strong. Your will is really strong. Maybe I had some doubts in you, I now have no more."
This time lieutenant surprised me. This is actually the first time he complimented me and my actions. This never happened before, never! The moment when he congratulated all our battlegroup after the fight doesn't count.
I closed my eyes and sighed. This personal war with lieutenant is finally over.
"I value intelligence over power. And that is why I`m proud of you. You earned this Thunder Badge, soldier!"
Lieutenant personally took a small badge from the inside of his pocket. Thunder badge looked like a small sun with a red glass in the center. I gladly accepted the earned gift and hurried to place it near with other two badges I already have. Hope soon there will be more.
"Congratulations, soldier!" Lieutenant made a step back and saluted to me. I nodded in reply and saluted too.
"Okay now, let`s talk seriously." Surge suddenly changed the tone. "What are you going to do now?"
"You know what, lieutenant? I have never been in Lavender town. Going to visit it soon." I decided not to tell him the whole story of my misadventures in Kanto and just give a small hint.
"You know stories of Lavender, right?" He questioned me mysteriously. "About ghosts and all that?"
"Ghosts? You mean, ghost-type pokemon? Yeah, of course I know. More than that – I think it would be great to catch one for me."
Just now I realized how cool this idea is. Actually, I never thought about it earlier.
"Well then… Before I wish you good luck and give the permission to leave, I want you to have this." Surge handed me the small case with disk inside."
"Another TM?"
"Yes, this is a TM for Shock wave. You have experienced it pretty well, and maybe it will be useful on your path."
"Well, thank you, lieutenant…" I took the disk and put it into a pocket with other two TMs I still didn`t use. "And good luck to you too. I was glad to see you alive, man."
"Yes… Man." He said nothing more, only adjusted his glasses and walked away from me to his office. A quick thought flashed in my mind…
"Permission to leave, sir?" I playfully asked him and saluted again.
"Permission granted, soldier." He replied without turning back. I let myself have a small smile and headed to the exit from gym.
I knew that this gym will be tough. I knew this won`t be a pushover. But what I experienced here is much larger than anything I could imagine. The crazy challenges, dangerous traps, additional rules… I realized that lieutenant Surge is a bit… out of mind, but this… And he said that League doesn`t control this. What madness could wait for me in the next gyms?
Eh, it`s not time for this. I have to visit the Pokemon Center, give my team for treatment and have some rest myself. I think I won`t give my pokemon for a full check-up, just for a healing, and then move on to Lavender town. In a few hours I will find a map, define the route to my next point and visit a PokeMart for some supplies. Until then my pokemon will be ready to go.
Yep, that`s a good plan. At least, it looked good until I realized it`s almost dark night already. No PokeMarts work now. Well, looks like I have to wait until morning and just then move on. Although, I will spend some more hours on just getting back to the Pokemon Center on the south of Vermillion.
And after that I finally defined the plan for today and headed to the main street that must lead me to Pokemon Center.