Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 6: The Iron Tail of Pikachu.
Since she already knew the way to the Gym, Blue walked slightly in front, skipping happily while humming some melody unknown to Red. She glanced at him from time to time, to look at his focused expression, caused by him trying to come up with a tactic to use in the upcoming battle. When he finally seemed to reach a decision, he looked up and his eyes met with the girl's, as she quickly turned her gaze forward, while trying not to seem embarrassed by being caught.
"Say, Red..."
"Yeah?"
"Why did you become a Pokemon trainer?"
That question struck him a kind of odd so he answered unsure "I mean... to catch Pokemon and collect badges... That's mostly what trainers do, right?"
"That's not really what I meant. You know that if you collect badges you get a chance to participate in Pokemon League, right?"
"Yeah."
"Aside from the four best trainers getting prize money and becoming famous for their abilities, the Pokemon League is also a stage for people to say whatever they want. You have the possibility to reach the biggest audience you ever could and convince them to support you, since it's easier for people to get behind a person who they already see as capable."
Red wondered if he had anything he would want so many people to hear about "I guess I just haven't given it much though. I'm just going as far as my abilities and my Pokemon will allow me. Don't get me wrong. It would be cool to become the master, but there can only be one. Even the two of us... I mean, if we get into the League it's possible that we will have to face each other."
"I suppose..." Blue seemed to get lost in her thoughts
"Do you have anything?"
"What's that?"
"Do you have anything that you would want everyone to hear about?"
The girl stopped and spun around to point a finger at the boy.
"Have you ever heard of Sevii Archipelago?"
"Sevii..." Red tried to search for the name in his mind "...I feel like I did but I'm drawing a blank at the moment."
"No surprise there. Even though Sevii Islands are so close to Kanto, many people here haven't ever heard about them. I come from one of those islands and I feel that they would be more appreciated if just more people knew about them. We have great agriculture and many good fishmen but there are no established trade routes between Sevii and the mainland. I have family and friends there whose business would surely bloom if it was just easier to reach more clients. My hope is to win the Pokemon League and tell everybody what a great place it is."
"Wow!" Red yelled as he subconsciously grabbed both of Blue's hands "That's such a great dream!"
Since his face was getting a little too close to hers, without the boy himself realizing, she decided to comment on that politely "Red? Could you back off a little?"
When he noticed what he was doing, he let go of her and jumped back with a blush on his face. The girl felt reassured whenever she saw that he got embarrassed by these types of situations easier than herself.
"It's just..." Red spoke up again "...I don't really have a great dream. I worked hard towards becoming a Pokemon trainer but I'm still not sure if it was worth it. I just kinda want to enjoy myself and if I win, I win. If I lose, I lose."
"There's nothing wrong with that." the girl started chuckling "Actually, this type of attitude suits you much more."
"Hey! Are you making fun of me again?"
"No way~!" she said with an intentionally condescending tone "Come on! We're almost at the Gym!" she continued with a happy voice as she started running forward.
. . .
The Gym looked very similar to the one Red saw at Viridian City, although with a couple differences. It was located in an open area at the edge of the town, it's roof was grey instead of yellow, it was in an overall better state and the words next to the entrance read "Pewter City Pokemon Gym". There also wasn't anyone there to try to drive the trainers away.
The automatic doors opened and Blue allowed the boy to pass in front of her. Inside, he looked around with curiosity. It seemed like the Gym was separated into at least two rooms as the one they arrived in was rather small and contained only a receptionist desk and what seemed to be a waiting area. A middle aged man, in a blue suit and glasses, looked up from the computer he was using and stood up with a smile after seeing the trainers.
"Welcome to the Pewter City Pokemon Gym." he declared.
"Oh. Good afternoon." Red responded, while struggling with whether to bow during that.
"You're here again Miss Blue?" the man asked while adjusting his glasses as if to make sure that he didn't make a mistake in recognizing her.
"I'm just here to see this guy lose." she responded while pointing at Red with her thumb.
"Oy."
"I meant "win". Of course." Blue added quickly, hoping that she didn't cross a line in teasing Red.
"Oh. I see. The leader didn't have any appointments for a battle and no one came here since you left, so he should be free right now. I'll give him a call." after saying that, the receptionist clicked a button near the computer and spoke through some kind of intercom "There is a trainer here who wishes to fight you. Should I let him in?"
The teenagers were too far to hear the answer, but the man stood up after a couple seconds and pointed with his right hand to the doors leading to the next room. They understood what he meant, and started walking in that direction. The automatic doors opened, and after a couple meters of walking through a small corridor they reached a massive room which clearly was the place where Red was to fight for the badge.
About eighty percent of the floor was missing and replaced with ground and several boulders to create a fighting arena in the middle of the room. On opposite sides of the arena were two slightly elevated platforms. To the right and left of the opening through which the trainers came in, there were two sets of stairs, leading to a balcony which Red deduced to be an area for spectators.
"I'm gonna go up there." declared Blue.
Red nodded and himself decided to stand on the platform which was on this side of the room. Soon, a set of automatic doors opened in the corridor which was the other entrance to this place.
A young man with dark skin and very thin eyes, wearing only brown pants held up by a belt, entered the room. After arriving on the platform opposite of Red's, he seemed as he was about to say something, but after noticing Blue, he changed his attention to her for a short while. He waved slowly and she responded, but slightly more energetic. Then, he turned to Red.
"I'm Brock. The leader of the Pewter City Pokemon Gym! Sta..."
"I know." Red interrupted him.
"What?"
"I'm in the Pewter City Pokemon Gym. Unless I stumbled in here by mistake, you can safely assume that I'm here to challenge this Gym in a battle for a badge. And since the receptionist informed the leader that I'm here and the leader agreed to fight me, and we're both standing here, it would be weird if you were anyone besides the leader."
"Oh no. He started again." Blue said to herself, too quietly for any of the other two to hear her.
"I get where you come from..." Brock started "...but that was kind of rude."
"Not my intention. I just wanna get over all the useless chit-chat and get right to the fight."
"You seem to exude confidence! I like that! Still, it would be nice to at least know your name before we fight."
"I'm Red. Red from Viridian City."
"Why... Why would I care about where you're from?"
"Hmm... I'm not sure. I just watched that one cartoon when I was a kid and the main character always said where he was from, even when he was in another region and no one could have any idea where his hometown was. I just wanted to try it out. Now, when I'm introducing myself to somebody, I will know better."
"Oh-kaaay. How many badges have you collected so far?"
"None. Does that matter?"
"Yes. Each Gym leader has to use a certain number of Pokemon based on how many badges the challenger has in his possession. Since you have none, I will be using two of my Pokemon. Meanwhile, you can use however many Pokemon you want to."
"What?!" Red was seriously surprised.
"Uh... Are you okay?"
"That's not fair. I don't want to win because of an advantage."
"Well... It's assumed that the Gym leader's advantage is that they know the layout of their arenas."
"I don't care about that!" Red yelled with anger.
Blue whistled to show her surprise. Because of how petty Red could sometimes be, she never expected him to get so fired up over something in a serious manner.
"I will also use two Pokemon! Is there a problem?!"
Brock was astounded, but he responded with a faint smile. It was a long time since someone so passionate challenged him to a fight.
"No. No problem. Just one more thing."
"What is it?" Red was thrown out of his mood.
"You can't use your Pokemon to turn on the sprinklers."
Red looked up to see the devices which he didn't notice before, because of how high the ceiling was.
"Why would I... Did... Did someone seriously do that in the past?"
"Yes. And it was a pain to clean up and refill them. But this time it's seriously all I had to say. Are you ready?"
"Sure am!"
"Let's begin! I choose Geodude!"
Brock threw his pokeball and a Pokemon which looked like boulder with arms and a face, appeared on the area.
"Let's go, Eevee!"
Red released the Pokemon who has been in his pokeball ever since being healed at the Pokemon Center. The dog went up to his trainer and stood up on his hind legs while propping himself on the boy's leg. Red recognized that as the pose he would do whenever he missed him.
He gave the Pokemon a pat on the head and then pointed in the direction of the opponent. Understanding that it was his time to fight, Eevee went back onto the arena.
Red quickly checked the Pokedex before the fight. True to Blue's words, Geodude was a rock type Pokemon, but he also was a ground type, which Red had not taken into consideration when thinking about the tactics for this fight. Since Blue's Bellsprout was effective against both, the girl must have not noticed the difference.
After seeing that both Red and his Pokemon were ready for the battle, Brock gave his first command "Geodude, let's see what they have to show. Use Defense Curl."
The boulder brought up his arms to his body, covering his face and giving him a more evenly spherical shape.
"Is he underestimating us? Use Quick Attack!"
Eevee fired off like a bullet in the direction of his opponent.
"Turn!" Red instructed him when, the dog was close enough to his target.
Eevee changed the direction right in front of Geodude and veered a little to the right. Brock was surprised as he saw the Pokemon run past him, jump off the wall and come right back in a fluid sequence of moves which allowed him to deliver a blow to Geodude's back.
The rock Pokemon unfolded its arms and stopped itself from hitting the ground, avoiding any further damage.
"Dodge!" Brock yelled.
Geodude looked up to see that Eevee was continuing his attack and managed to use one of his arms to propel himself in the air.
"Counterattack!" ordered the leader.
Knowing what was expected of him in this types of situations, after facing many a challenger before, the boulder used its other hand to punch the dog in the head, with a force so great, that he completely stopped it in place. Geodude landed on the ground and quickly grabbed Eevee by the neck.
"It's over now" Brock declared triumphally.
Geodude held up Eevee above him and proceeded to repeatedly punch him with his free hand. The dog was struggling to get out of the enemy's grasp but was the grip was too strong. Although the Pokemon itself felt completely helpless, his trainer was quick to come up with a solution to the situation.
"Use Sand Attack with your tail!"
The Dog didn't notice until then that he could reach the ground and since he usually used that move with his legs, the command came as unexpected. He listened to it nevertheless. Sand flying into Geodude's eyes caused it to instinctively try to cover them, giving the dog a chance to escape. He ran to a safe distance and used the couple seconds, during which Geodude cleaned his eyes, to regain breath.
"A normal Quick Attack is too risky. If Eevee takes a couple more punches, the fight could be over..." Red muttered to himself during this time, but decided to speak up after coming up with what to do next "Eevee! Time for our signature move! Quick Attack Version B!"
"What?" Blue and Brock said simultaneously.
Eevee began using Quick Attack to run around the opponent who seemed just as confused by what was happening as his trainer.
"Mirror Room!"
Multiple afterimages of Eevee surrounded Geodude, and soon he started being attacked from every possible direction.
"Tackle!" Brock yelled for nothing, as his Pokemon was unable of any movement with Eevee closing in on him.
Finally, the rock Pokemon couldn't be even seen as he was encircled by a brown blur.
"Okay. That's enough." Red commanded.
The dog stopped in the best way he could, but his speed was still so great that he turned in such a way as to fall into Red's hands. The boy caught him, this way almost falling off the platform.
"Return." Brock said while pointing the pokeball in Geodude's direction.
He turned his gaze to Red, and after putting down his Pokemon, the challenger responded with a confident smile.
"It seems you are stronger than I thought. Still, I usually use Geodude to test the water before I use this guy. Go, Onix!"
Red didn't immediately realize what he was faced with since a big shadow suddenly obscured his vision. After a second, he looked up to see that it was caused by an enormous snake made up of boulders. Eevee backed up, visibly afraid of fighting this new foe.
"Eevee, don't worry. Such a big thing is probably really slow. Let's keep using Quick Attack and we'll win."
Reassured by his trainer, the dog started running at the enemy.
"Bide!" ordered Brock.
Although Onix remained in the same place, he was keenly observing Eevee's movement, while the normal Pokemon run around him to hit the part of the snake's body which was touching the ground. The first attack hit and didn't seem to bother the opponent at all. Not giving up, Eevee repeated it two more times. Brock noticed that after the third attack, his Pokemon closed his eye for a second as an expression of pain.
"It's ready! Time to unleash it!" the leader announced.
A white ball of light formed in Onix's mouth and shot out in Eevee's direction. The Pokemon jumped up to avoid it when it got too close for comfort, but when he glanced backward, the ball changed direction and like a homing missile followed the Pokemon. He tried to avoid it a couple more times, but was too focused on it and ran straight into one of the boulders covering the arena, allowing the attack to reach him.
"Eevee!" Red yelled hopelessly.
The Pokemon fainted and the boy had to use its pokeball to call it back. As she noticed his sad expression, Blue felt kind of ashamed. All the time they were together, Red didn't lose his confidence so seeing him like that and her not being able to help in any way, put her in an uncomfortable mood. Red's response to the loss was brought about by the fact that it was the first time it happened to him and Eevee.
He put away the pokeball and grabbed onto the other two in which he carried his partners. Looking at them for a while, he was analyzing which Pokemon to choose next, but also remembering that he wasn't alone. Eevee was his oldest companions but he still could count on these new ones. He finally reached the decision and looked up at Brock with a smile.
"Let's go, Pikachu!"
Red threw the pokeball into air causing Pikachu to be released at the height of Onix's face. The mouse shoot out a couple small sparks from its cheeks as it somersaulted. Onix moved slightly while looking at this acrobatic feat. He noticed as mischievous smile at Pikachu's face which to his surprise turned to a more pleasant one while the electric Pokemon landed on the ground. This, for some reason even he was unsure of, caused him to be more wary than he was previously.
"Why did he choose Pikachu?" Blue said under the nose.
She looked at Red. Even though his usual confidence returned, she suspected that it could be a facade. It seemed illogical to her that he would choose electricity over fire. While both of his Pokemon would be less effective against Onix, at least Charmander would have a bigger pool of moves to choose from. But Red thought this over and was sure that he made the right choice so she also decided to have faith in him.
"Before we continue, can I ask for one thing?"
Red's question surprised Brock but he was curious to see if this was part of some plan "Uuh, yeah. What is it?"
"Can you show us the badge that we are fighting for?"
"I know you're not trying to trick me, but I don't really see the point." answered the leader.
Nevertheless, he reached into his pocket, grabbed one of the couple of badges he always had prepared for the victorious challengers and showed it off to Red, making sure that the boy could see the front of it.
"How about it, Pikachu?"
"What?" Brock said in surprise.
After looking at the mouse Pokemon to understand what was happening, he felt shivers run through his body. Seeing the prize he was about to fight for, caused the electric Pokemon to show off a sinister expression, even more unsettling than the one he had shown to Onix. One would not expect to feel such a strong sense of greed from any being.
Brock quickly hid the badge as if he hoped that it would cause Pikachu to return to his cheery expression. It seemed to work to an extent. What was now painted on the Pokemon's face, resembled the same confidence that his trainer was exuding for a while.
"You saw that, Pikachu? Not only was that thing pretty, but it's also not something that just anybody can get. We agreed that you wouldn't steal anymore, but I'll let you touch it any time you want if we win this battle."
The Pokemon turned his head so that he could see his trainer with one eye and nodded while maintaining his confident smile.
"Okay. We have to be careful about that Bide move."
"Don't think that's the only tactic we have. Rock Tomb!"
Onix opened its mouth which shot out a boulder which grew in size as it was getting further from the Pokemon, and when it was about 2 meters in diameter it split into several smaller ones and they began to rain down on the arena.
"Avoid it with Quick Attack!"
Pikachu began zigzagging through the field, barely avoiding some of the boulders, not realizing that he was being led into a trap.
When the mouse was efficiently close to Onix's tail, Brock yelled out "Bind!"
The rock snake ensnared Pikachu with the end of his tail and began to tighten the grip when suddenly he stopped and his eyes became blank for a while. Pikachu took that chance to wiggle out and ran off to a safe distance.
"What happened?!" Brock was in shock.
Onix came back to his senses, and his trainer noticed that after a couple second, small traces of electricity flashed through the stone body.
"I guess you never met a trainer who thought about using an electric Pokemon against you. I got this device from Professor Oak..." Red said as he showed Brock the Pokedex "...and one of its useful functions is that it can tell you about a Pokemon's ability. Although electric attacks won't work on Onix, my Pikachu has an ability called "Static" which has a chance of paralyzing the opponent, even if it's a ground Pokemon."
"Is that why he chose Pikachu instead of Charmander?" pondered Blue.
"You're definitely one of the most interesting trainers I've faced."
"He didn't say that to me." the girl grumbled, unheard by the others.
"I didn't mention it before, but I also used Eevee's ability to my advantage." added Red.
"Don't think that this will stop us! Onix, use Screech!"
The rock Pokemon opened its mouth again, but this time instead of a boulder, he let out an agonizing sound which for a moment deafened both everyone besides itself and its trainer who covered his ears in time. Pikachu felt weaker after getting hit with this sound. He looked at his paws with a puzzled look, which gave Onix a chance to attack again.
"Rock Tomb!"
This time, the mouse Pokemon didn't manage to dodge the first of the falling boulders, which landed right next to him while hitting his face and knocking him into another one that just landed. The rest scattered around without damaging him, but now there was almost nowhere to move to. The spaces between boulders were too tight to fit and using Quick Attack on top of them could cause the loss of balance.
"Get on top of him!" ordered Red.
Pikachu listened to the command, and before the foe had a chance to react, he jumped onto his body and ran up it till he reached the head. Onix looked up in confusion.
"Play Nice!"
Pikachu smiled cheerfully at his opponent, and while the move lowered Onix's offensive abilities it also caused him discomfort instead of pleasure, since he already had preconceptions about the electric Pokemon's personality. Afraid of what hid behind that fake expression, Onix started to flail around in hope of throwing it off. Pikachu looked in his trainers direction while holding onto Onix's horn and after receiving a thumbs up gesture, he let go and smoothly landed on the railing of the balcony opposite of the one Blue was on.
"This is our chance! Use Rock Tomb!"
Onix shoot out a boulder at Pikachu. Since the target was closer, it didn't have time to split before hitting but the giant rock missed and indented itself into the railing, while Pikachu dodged to the side.
"Again! More to the left!"
Onix repeated the attack, and although the electric Pokemon managed to also avoid this one, he was now stuck between two rocks and a hard place. He still had a little of space to move but not enough to dodge the next attack.
"Rock Tomb one last time!"
"Iron Tail!"
Pikachu jumped towards the approaching attack and caused his tail to be covered in steel which allowed him to counterattack. The boulder was hit back straight into Onix's face. Parts of it were crushed but most reached the face of the rock Pokemon, causing him harm. While Onix wasn't overly hurt damaged by that reversal, he lost sight of his foe as the crushed boulder produced a cloud of dust. Brock was staring up, trying to figure out what happened to Pikachu but when he finally managed to do it, it was too late.
"Iron Tail!"
The mouse Pokemon hitting the boulder was not only meant to cause damage to the opponent, but also to launch him even higher so that he could grab onto one of the sprinklers mentioned previously by the leader. When the first attack was done, Pikachu dove down while spinning to add more impetus to his attack. It was so strong that Onix's head plummeted to the ground, causing him to be hurt even more by the boulders already scattered on the field. Before he could realize what was happening, Pikachu jumped up and spun around to deliver a second blow with his tail. He was preparing to continue but was stopped by Brock's shout.
"Enough!"
Pikachu looked at Red and when the trainer nodded, he traversed the boulders to reach him. Brock used that time to walk over to Onix and caress his head.
"You did good, buddy." he praised him while returning him to the pokeball.
Next, the leader walked over to the challenger. Blue also left the balcony and was standing a little behind Red.
"I want to congratulate you and your Pokemon on winning this battle. As a reward, the Boulder badge is yours." Brock said as he handed over the proof of victory.
Red looked at it for a while before kneeling down so that Pikachu could also take it into its hands and feel the result of his hard work.
"I know that you will go on to achieve great things. Meanwhile, I will have to contact my cleaning crew and get this place cleaned up before the next challenger arrives."
Hearing those words, Red realized that there was no time to waste so he quickly said "Could you explain one thing before we leave?"
"Sure. What is it?"
Hi. I'm back with another chapter. This... this was kind of tiring. But it was still fun at the same time. I'm really glad that I made the Pikachu capture its own chapter since this one is the longest yet, and I still didn't get to do all I wanted.
One of the things Red wanted to achieve at the end of chapter 5 was to get answers about the Viridian City Gym and I just felt like I had to end this one on a cliffhanger. Otherwise, it could be another 500 to 1000 words. I want to post new chapters fairy regularly and if I tried to write about that in this one, it could very well come out a week later. But that may be a good thing, since the next chapter felt kind of fillery before that stuff was moved to it.
There are a couple of things I wanted to comment on regarding this chapter though. First off, the jokes. I put a couple of dumb references in this one. It wasn't on purpose. Aside from having an outline of what should happen in a given chapter, I just mostly make it up on the spot. But I have a couple explanations if somebody didn't catch the references:
1. The title is a pun on the manga Electric Tale of Pikachu.
2. There are two references to the Pokemon anime. One is poking fun at how Ash always says that he's from Pallet Town, and the other at how he won against Brock. Still, I decided to bring back the sprinklers later in the chapter and use them in a different way.
3. Red calling out his Pokemon with the phrases "Let's go, Eevee!" and "Let's go, Pikachu!" is a reference to the upcoming Pokemon games. Red having both of these Pokemon is in no way influenced by the announcement of these games and was planned long ago. I just give him Pokemon that I like and ones that fit a protagonist.
There are two other things I wanted to mention. First is Blue's development. It barely began, but what I mean is the beginning of this chapter where she talked about why she wants to win the Pokemon League. Blue feels very much like a female Red. They have similar personalities and that's part of why they get along so well while still making fun of one another, but I felt like I had to make her more dinstinct.
In the original plans for this story, her coming from Sevii Islands wasn't mentioned until much later and I feel that having this established from the beginning works better, especially with what I have planned for her down the line(eeeh, maybe, I'm not sure).
The other thing is, I worked on making at least each of Red's Pokemon have a different personality. It's kinda harder to do it for animals than for people but I hope you can see it through the desciptions in this and previous chapters. By that I mean, Eevee acts pretty much like any stereotypical dog, who is happy whenever his with his owner and likes to play around, Charmander is very prideful and eager to get into fights, which I guess is also a stereotype for fire Pokemon, and lastly Pikachu, who although he stopped his thieving ways, still retains a mischievous nature and can be easily convinced into anything as long as there is something to gain from it.
That's all I had to say about this chapter. Man... Not only is this the longest chapter so far, but this also feels like the longest explanation. I feel like I should get ahold of myself and write more cohesive stuff.
EDIT: I forgot to mention two other quick things. I decided to make Brock's Onix a composite of his Gen 1 and Gen 3 Onix to make the fight more interesting. And lastly, I never gave a description of Blue's clothes since in her first appearance she wore pajamas but I guess she just looks like Leaf/the female character from FireRed and LeafGreen.
