In this chapter, our heroes are going to visit Cianwood City. Hopefully they can get some medicine so that they can challenge the Gym Leader. There's no point of continuing their Pokemon League journey if they can't fight her.
Oh, and Ned is going to fight Morty. He's finally mustered off the courage.
Sarah is going to visit Cianwood City as well. Why you ask? She also needs some medicine.
I figure I'll also have Jake battle Chuck while he's at it. But will it turn out well for him?
Chapter 26: Medicine Run
After evolving into Noctowl, it seemed that the owl Pokemon had a much easier time fighting Hitmonchan.
Using Confusion, Hitmonchan fell.
"Hitmonchan..." said the fighting Pokemon.
However, Karate Master Kiyo then sent out Hitmonlee.
"Hitmon hitmon!" shouted the fighting Pokemon, stretching out his long legs.
Though he didn't have the elemental attacks of Hitmonchan, his strong legs were effective against fighting Noctowl.
However, Noctowl still managed to get some hits in.
"Hitmonlee!" exclaimed the fighting type.
Nonetheless, Noctowl ended up fainting.
"Noctowl..." said the owl Pokemon.
"Well, at least you managed to take down one of them before you fell..." noted Ned.
Noctowl nodded. It would be a shame if she didn't.
Ned wondered which Pokemon he should send out next.
He then remembered his new Pokemon.
He was wary about using her on account of her being a ghost type, but he decided to do so anyway.
"You can go fight the Hitmonlee, I guess." said Ned.
"Misdreavus!" shouted the ghost Pokemon.
Unfortunately for Hitmonlee, this was pretty much the worst type of Pokemon that he could go up against.
His fighting attacks didn't hurt Misdreavus at all.
"Misdreavus?" asked Misdreavus. She wasn't feeling Hitmonlee's attacks at all.
On the other hand, Misdreavus's Psybeam attack was working wonders.
"Hitmonlee!" exclaimed the fighting Pokemon. Psychic attacks really hurt him.
Unsurprisingly, Hitmonlee eventually ended up fainting.
"That was pretty impressive." noted Kiyo. Using a ghost Pokemon against him was rather smart. Though he specialized in fighting types, he knew there was more to battling than brute strength.
Sarah decided to use her Slugma. Perhaps her new fire type would be useful against the police officers.
"You're going downtown!" exclaimed one of the police officers.
He sent out his Tangela.
Unfortunately for him, Tangela was not an ideal Pokemon to send out against a fire type. There were several types of Pokemon that would work well against a fire type...but a grass type was not one of them.
Tangela used Wrap...
...and ended up being burned.
"Tangela!" exclaimed the grass Pokemon.
"That probably wasn't such a good idea." remarked Sarah.
The police officer sweatdropped.
Slugma then hit Tangela with Ember.
Tangela fainted.
The police officer panicked and ran away.
Another police officer pulled out a Pokeball.
Meanwhile, Lucy and Jake were wondering how they were going to get medicine for the unfortunate Ampharos that was supposed to be lighting up the lighthouse.
"It seems that there's a harbor...you think we can use it to get across the sea?" asked Lucy.
"It's closed." answered Jake.
Clefairy frowned.
This wasn't good for them, because as long as the lighthouse wasn't intact, the harbor wasn't willing to send out ships.
However, they could probably still use their Pokemon to get across the sea.
It seemed like their heightened senses would allow them to avoid crashing into things, such as rocks.
And even if they crashed into rocks, they would probably be able to endure it. Most water Pokemon were actually effective against rock Pokemon, after all.
Together, the two of them set out towards Cianwood City.
Meanwhile...
"Let's go, Pikachu!" exclaimed the police officer.
"Pika pi!" shouted the Pikachu.
Sarah realized that sending out Totodile was a bad idea. Chances are he would get zapped if she tried sending him out.
So, she decided to send out Oddish. Grass Pokemon were resistant to electrical attacks, though they weren't super effective against electric types. As far as she knew the only Pokemon that were super effective against electric types were ground types.
Oddish used Absorb.
"Pikachu!" shouted the police officer's Pikachu.
Pikachu used Thundershock, but Oddish resisted it.
Oddish then used Sleep Powder on Pikachu.
"Pika pika..." murmured the sleeping Pokemon.
"Wake up!" bellowed the police officer.
Unfortunately, it was too late.
Oddish used Absorb again, and Pikachu fainted.
"We're losing!" exclaimed one of the police officers.
Yet another police officer sent out Geodude.
"Geodude!" exclaimed the rock Pokemon.
Unfortunately, this was a very bad choice against Totodile.
The moment Totodile squirted him, Geodude fainted.
"Geodude..." said the unfortunate rock Pokemon. Why did he have to have such a crippling weakness to water attacks? Now that he thought of it, he also had a crippling weakness to grass types as well.
The police officers decided to retreat. They were clearly outmatched.
After successfully repelling the police officers, Sarah realized she had a problem.
Her Totodile had a cold.
"Ah-choo!" exclaimed Totodile.
"Uh-oh..." said Sarah.
He was going to have a hard time battling while he was feeling ill.
Fortunately, she heard there was medicine at Cianwood City. Perhaps going to the pharmacy there would be a good idea.
Problem was, Cianwood City was across the sea.
And unfortunately, Totodile wasn't up for a swim.
The crocodile Pokemon coughed.
She tried using Slowpoke, but he was just that, a slowpoke.
What was she going to do?
"Do you need a ride?" asked Jake.
Sarah nodded. How was she going to cure her Totodile?
"Are you sure we should be helping her out?" asked Lucy. She was a member of Team Shadow, who of course weren't exactly friends of theirs.
"Have you taken a look at her Totodile?" inquired Jake.
"Oh yeah. Good point." nodded the girl.
Fortunately, Sarah was able to make it towards Cianwood City.
She decided to look around to see where the medicine shop was.
However, she ended up stumbling across someone's house instead.
That person happened to be Kirk.
As soon as he realized that there was a Shadow Grunt inside his house, he promptly panicked. He wasn't expecting a Team Shadow Grunt to show up in such a quiet city.
"Ahhhhh!" screamed the Pokemaniac.
Sarah lost her balance once again.
"Don't hurt me, please! I'll do anything!" he exclaimed, who was now on his knees.
She raised an eyebrow.
"Here, take this Sneasel! It was causing trouble in my house anyway!" shouted Kirk.
Kirk handed Sarah the Sneasel.
"Um, thanks?" asked Sarah.
Sarah left the house, confused as to what had just happened.
Shortly after that incident, Morgiana approached her.
"Hi!" exclaimed Sarah.
"Greetings. What brings you here?" asked Morgiana.
"I was hoping to get some medicine for my Totodile..." said Sarah.
Totodile coughed.
"I see..." nodded Morgiana.
"Did you come here for a reason? There doesn't seem to be many attractions aside from the Safari Zone." noted Sarah.
Now that she thought of it, maybe catching Pokemon there would be fun.
"Have you ever heard of the legendary Pokemon Lugia?" asked Morgiana.
"Lugia?" inquired Sarah.
"I figured I would investigate the rumors..." said the lady. Rumor had it that the legendary Pokemon was located somewhere in the Whirl Islands.
But since it was surrounded by whirlpools, sailors had a hard time approaching it. They didn't want to get sucked in.
Sarah nodded. That seemed reasonable.
"Well, good luck with your task." spoke the woman.
Morgiana left.
Suddenly, Togepi began to cry.
"What's wrong? Did you catch Totodile's cold?" asked Sarah. He hadn't been near Togepi ever since he had fallen ill.
Togepi shook her head.
"Then what's the matter?" inquired the Shadow Grunt.
"To togepi!" exclaimed Togepi.
Sarah couldn't seem to understand Togepi.
Fortunately, she realized that the medicine shop was nearby.
"Hi! Are you here for medicine?" asked the pharmacy clerk.
Sarah nodded.
"Sure, here you go!" exclaimed the clerk.
He noticed that Sarah was a Team Shadow Grunt...but he figured she couldn't be a bad person if she was getting medicine for her Pokemon.
Still, she wondered what a Team Shadow Grunt was doing in a quiet city. It didn't seem like there was anything valuable to pilfer.
Sarah gave Totodile some medicine and he was cured.
"Totodile!" cheered Sarah's Totodile.
She then knew that the next thing to do was to head to the Team Shadow Hideout in Mahogany Town.
However, she was curious about the Safari Zone. Perhaps she could catch a Pokemon there.
Meanwhile...
"Did you get the Rainbow Wing?" asked Horace.
Violet nodded.
"Good, the Rainbow Wing is certainly a valuable treasure." noted the man.
Of course, there was another legendary Pokemon with a similarly valuable wing. It was a very different Pokemon from the legendary Pokemon located at the Twin Tower, however.
Having said that, it had its own trio of legendary Pokemon. They seemed to prefer residing in Kanto than they did in Johto, however.
He wasn't quite sure why.
"Dressing up as a monk was rather easy." noted Violet.
She decided that she would head back to the hideout.
She heard that Team Shadow was planning something bad.
Nearby, Ned was planning to get his fourth Johto badge.
With his new ghost Pokemon, Ned decided to try battling Morty again.
"Are you ready to challenge me?" asked Morty. He knew that he had been frightened the last time they had fought.
Ned nodded.
Morty sent out his Gastly.
Ned sent out his Misdreavus.
Gastly attempted to scare Misdreavus, but Misdreavus beat him to the punch.
"Gastly!" exclaimed the ghost Pokemon.
Misdreavus then hit Gastly with Psybeam.
It was a critical hit.
Gastly fainted.
"Gastly..." said the unfortunate ghost Pokemon.
"That was pretty impressive..." noted Morty.
However, his next Pokemon was going to be stronger.
This time, he sent out Haunter.
"Haunter!" shouted the ghost Pokemon.
Haunter scared Misdreavus, which unnerved her somewhat.
However, she kept focused.
She hit Haunter with Psybeam, which was super effective.
"Haunter!" exclaimed the Ghost Pokemon.
However, Haunter hit Misdreavus with Shadow Punch.
"Misdreavus!" shouted the ghost Pokemon. That punch packed a wallop.
Personally Ned considered it ironic that Ghost Pokemon were weak against themselves.
He commanded Misdreavus to hit Haunter again.
"Haunter!" shouted the ghost Pokemon.
Haunter attempted to Shadow Punch again, but Misdreavus dodged it this time.
Misdreavus then hit Haunter with Psybeam.
Haunter fainted.
"Haunter..." said Haunter.
Now that both Gastly and Haunter had been defeated, all that was left was to send out Gengar.
However, Gengar was not going to go down easily.
"Gengar!" shouted the ghost Pokemon as he was sent out.
Ned wasn't sure if Misdreavus could take him.
Still, it couldn't hurt to try.
Misdreavus hit Gengar with Psybeam, causing him to stagger.
"Gengar!" exclaimed the ghost Pokemon.
However, Gengar hit Misdreavus with Shadow Ball.
"Misdreavus!" shouted the ghost Pokemon.
Misdreavus was feeling rather dizzy.
However, she managed to hit Gengar with another Psybeam.
"Gengar..." said the ghost Pokemon. He was feeling kind of tired.
However, he managed to hit Misdreavus with another Shadow Ball.
"Misdreavus..." said the now fainted ghost Pokemon.
"Well, you did pretty well." noted Ned. He was probably asking too much for Misdreavus to sweep through Morty's entire team.
However, he figured that Noctowl would be handy, since normal Pokemon were immune to ghost attacks.
This worked both ways...but Noctowl also had psychic abilities.
"Let's go, Noctowl!" exclaimed Ned.
"Noctowl!" shouted the bird Pokemon.
Noctowl opened up by using Confusion.
"Gengar!" exclaimed the ghost Pokemon.
Unfortunately, he was feeling rather weakened from his battle with Misdreavus.
And to make matters worse, he couldn't use Shadow Ball.
Gengar decided to hit Noctowl with Sucker Punch.
However, Noctowl ducked underneath it.
She then pecked Gengar.
"Gengar!" shouted the ghost Pokemon.
Noctowl then hit Gengar with another Confusion, and Gengar fainted.
"Good job. You are one brave Pokemon trainer." noted Morty.
Ned smiled.
Morty handed Ned his Fog Badge.
"Want to head to Cianwood City next? I heard that the Olivine Gym Leader is busy at the moment." noted Chris. Something about a sick Pokemon?
Ned shrugged.
Meanwhile...
Sarah wondered what Pokemon she would find in the Safari Zone. It seemed like there would be a lot of Pokemon she could catch.
Suddenly, a wild Phanpy approached her.
"Hmm?" asked Sarah.
Sarah scanned the elephant Pokemon with her Pokedex. It certainly didn't look threatening...but was it threatening? Some Pokemon were more powerful than they appeared. She knew for one that her Totodile had a very strong bite.
"Phanpy, the Long Nose Pokemon. It swings its long nose around playfully, but because it is so strong, that can be dangerous." explained Sarah's Pokedex.
This Phanpy was male.
"Huh?" asked Sarah.
The wild Phanpy knocked her down with his trunk.
"Whoa!" shouted the female Pokemon trainer.
Despite his young age, it seemed that Phanpy was one strong Pokemon.
It seemed that this wild Pokemon was interested in her.
Perhaps she should try to catch it.
She threw a Safari Ball at it.
Apparently, she hit her mark pretty well, because Phanpy was caught instantly.
However, he burst out of his Pokeball shortly afterwards.
Unfortunately, he ended up knocking down Sarah with his trunk once again.
"Phanpy?" asked the ground Pokemon.
"It's OK, I fall down all the time." noted Sarah.
It was good that he was with a Pokemon Trainer that understood him. Up until now, people had been afraid of him. He didn't mean anyone any harm...though unfortunately he ended up causing people to collapse on the ground whenever he bumped them with his trunk.
After her trip to the Safari Zone, Sarah decided to head to the Team Shadow Hideout.
Her employer was waiting for her.
Meanwhile...
"Did you see a girl come in here that was holding onto a Togepi?" asked Jake.
The clerk nodded.
"I just wanted to make sure someone got their medicine for their Pokemon." said the former criminal. She may be a Team Shadow Grunt...be he used to be a Team Rocket Grunt. He probably shouldn't judge her too harshly.
Although, it seemed that she had been a Team Shadow Grunt a bit longer than he had been a Team Rocket Grunt.
Now that they had the medicine, it wouldn't be difficult curing Ampharos of his disease.
"Should we go to Olivine City and deliver the medicine?" asked Lucy.
"I was thinking we should challenge the Gym Leader first...it was kind of a long trip to get here..." noted Jake.
"I suppose you have a good point...we should really get that Ampharos cured though." answered the girl.
Clefairy nodded.
"Are you here to challenge my husband?" asked the wife of Chuck. Though Cianwood City didn't get a lot of visitors, they had decided to build a gym here. Fortunately, it had made the city more popular.
Jake nodded.
"His gym is right over there." said the lady.
Sure enough, it was nearby.
Jake decided to check the title of the gym leader. It would give him a hint as to what type of Pokemon he specialized in.
Apparently, Chuck's roaring fists did the talking.
"It looks like we're up against a fighting type Gym Leader." noted Jake.
Lucy noted perhaps it would be best not to use Clefairy against him. She was a normal type Pokemon.
Rock type Pokemon likely wouldn't do well either. Though to be fair, rock Pokemon had a tendency to have rather high defense.
However, psychic Pokemon would most likely work well.
Perhaps it would be best if she tried that.
Sure enough, Chuck was currently training. He was standing underneath a waterfall.
"Excuse me, hello?" asked Jake.
Unfortunately, Chuck didn't seem to hear them. Of course, it was hard to hear people over the loud sound of a roaring waterfall.
Lucy wondered what to do.
Suddenly, Clefairy noticed a lever.
She decided to pull it.
This turned off the waterfall.
This made Chuck angry.
"What was that for?!" exclaimed Chuck.
"We wanted to challenge you to a Gym Battle?" asked Lucy.
"Oh, I see. Well, I suppose that would be a good workout for my Pokemon...though it's not necessarily a good workout for me, now is it?" inquired Chuck.
Lucy shrugged.
"Which one of you want to go first?" asked the Gym Leader.
"I guess I'll do it." nodded Jake.
Chuck decided to send out Primeape for his first Pokemon.
"Primeape!" shouted the ape Pokemon.
"I seem to recall having one of those." noted Jake.
For his first Pokemon, Jake decided to send out Golbat.
"Golbat!" exclaimed the bat Pokemon.
However, Chuck had a counter for that.
"Primeape, use Rock Slide!" ordered Chuck.
Primeape nodded. That seemed like the best bet against a flying type.
"Golbat!" screamed the bat Pokemon as he was pelted by rocks.
"Oh no! Golbat!" shouted Jake.
Things were not looking good for him.
Jake had Golbat use Air Cutter...but Primeape had fast reflexes and he avoided it.
He then hit Golbat with another Rock Slide.
Golbat fainted.
Jake sighed. He was off to a bad start.
But it would be a shame to give up so easily.
He recalled his Golbat and sent out his Grimer.
I figured that I would have Sarah visit Cianwood City...but I had to come up for a reason for that. Fortunately, I did come up with a reason.
It looks like they won't be able to battle Jasmine just yet. Jerry sure was disappointed. They could battle Chuck at Cianwood City though. Considering that's where they can find the medicine to cure Ampharos, that's where they'll be heading anyway.
I also figured it would be appropriate for Sarah to have a Phanpy since he causes people to fall down with his trunk.