Excalibur – Charcadett (f)
Cú – Hisuian Growlithe (m)
Fatalis – Charmander (m)
Cookie – Butterfree (f)

Chapter 17:

Wasting no time, Arthur made the first move. "Cookie, advance and Gust!"

Brock looked confused, probably asking himself why he would want to get closer with such a fragile pokemon? One that would easily fall if hit by a Rock type attack? "Geodude, Rock Throw! Target its wings!"

But while that was true, the damage wouldn't matter if Cookie didn't get hit. She steadily approached, expertly weaving around the incoming projectiles while chipping away at her opponent. The closer she got the slower she advanced, but she was unhurt the time she got where Arthur wanted her to be. She clearly didn't endure days of dodge training for nothing.

"Sleep Powder!"

Brock's eyes widened. At least Arthur assumed they did since it wasn't really all that easy to tell. "Geodude, back off! Get on a boulder, quick!"

Geodude stopped its attacks and slammed its muscular arms into the ground below to catapult itself onto a nearby boulder. It was fast enough to evade the initial attack, but not the quickly following up Butterfree. She followed the moment it moved, and cloaked it in the green powder. While Geodude tried to swipe her away, it couldn't resist the sleep-inducing effect of her attack and slumped on the boulder.

"No! Geodude, wake up!"

"Cookie, tie it up with String Shot and let it fly!"

Since Cookie hadn't yet learned to use Confusion, she didn't have any effective moves to deal damage. Which was why Arthur came up with this idea instead. Cookie tied the Geodude's arms behind its head, reinforced her thread so it wouldn't tear easily, and began gathering momentum in the air, dragging the poor Geodude behind her. It hit several boulders before it woke up, at which point Cookie had built up enough speed to turn a whole 360 degrees, flinging her opponent into the barrier that surrounded the arena.

"Geodude, Defense Curl!"

Brock's Geodude ripped through the thread holding its arms together, but by the time it tried to brace itself it was already too late. It hit the barrier with a loud thud, slumped down to the ground and stayed there, unconscious.

"Geodude is unable to battle!" The referee announced with a wave of his flag. "The challenger wins this round! Gym trainer, release your next pokemon!" Some cheers accompanied the referee's call.

Arthur saw Brock return his pokemon and mutter something to it before he unclipped his next pokeball. Cookie had returned to his side of the field in the meantime, chirping happily. She looked a bit tired, but he was sure she'd pull through. "Great job out there, Cookie! Ready for another?" He praised his little butterfly, who flapped her wings excitedly in return.

"Let's go, Onix!" Brock shouted from the other side, releasing his large boulder snake, which let out a gravely moan. It looked for its opponent for a moment, only to snort loudly when it realized what it was.

Arthur had only seen an Onix once before from a challenger on his way to battle Blaine. And while that one had been bigger, it seemed to him that Brock's looked sharper. It had a surprisingly clean grey color and the edges of its boulder didn't look damaged or used at all.

"Ready … begin!"

This time, it was Brock who made the first move. "Onix, stay low and Rock Polish!" The large pokemon lowered its body, hiding parts of it behind the boulders, and began to glow. The surface of its body smoothened as it moved around the arena, quickly circling the flying Butterfree.

"Cookie, throw up some cover! Gust at the ground!"

Knowing that he couldn't repeat the strategy from last round, Arthur opted for a stealthier approach this time. There was only one way Cookie could beat her new opponent, and the later Brock realized what was going on, the better.

"Rock Throw, Onix! Hit them from all sides!"

While Cookie hit the ground with a strong blast of wind, the first rocks began shooting towards her. True to its trainer's call, Onix managed to throw its projectiles from all around its body, which by now had completely surrounded Cookie on the ground. Rocks whirred threw the air, dispersing the dust-cover bit by bit.

"Cookie, hit it with everything you got!" Arthur called out. He'd told her his plan beforehand, so they opted for a phrase that wouldn't expose their strategy. A strong gust of air hit Onix in the face, throwing some dust into its eyes as well. It groaned and momentarily stopped it bombardment, which was all the time it took to throw up more cover and executing the plan.

By the time Onix had regained its balance, Arthur could see purple spot on the parts of its body facing him. Now all Cookie had to do was stay safe and-

"Screech!"

Brock's command made Arthur pause. A bellowing screech echoed through the arena, so strong it not only blew away the dust, but also put Cookie off-balance. Arthur clicked his tongue. While they'd trained to dodge projectiles and even push them away with Gust, they hadn't accounted for sound-based attacks. To make matters worse, it seemed his pokemons delicate wings couldn't stand up to one coming from such a massive opponent.

"Brace with Harden!" Arthur ordered when he saw Onix move in. There was no way she could escape the way she was, especially not against a sped-up Onix. She was caught in a matter of seconds as Onix wrapped its body around the small bug.

"Hold it tight, Onix!"

Cookie cried out, her thin shell barely holding back against the force, even empowered by her Harden.

"Cookie, String Shot at its eyes!" There wasn't much else to do, other than hope the poison would take the Onix down first, but maybe a hit like that would loosen its grip. Perhaps it would've but Cookie only managed to hit parts of her opponent's upper body.

But a loud groan drew Arthurs eyes away from his struggling pokemon, as Brock's Onix released its hold and fell down to the ground after a few long seconds, breathing heavily. For all she had endured, Cookie quickly made distance, barely able to hold herself in the air.

"Onix, what's wrong?" Brock cried out. He looked at his partner in panic, before he found the cause of its distress. "Poison? But when did you-"

"The moment we put up cover the second time." Arthur answered. "All the dust and boulders did wonders to hide a bit of Poison Powder."

Brock frowned, and seeing that his Onix wouldn't put up much of a fight going forward, he conceded. "I withdraw Onix."

"Gym trainer Brock has decided to withdraw his last pokemon, so the challenger wins this battle!" The referee announced while Brock moved into the arena, an antidote in hand. The audience cheered once more, with James being the loudest. Arthur caught his exhausted Butterfree in his arms, handing her a jelly cube she quickly began snacking.

"Amazing performance out there, Cookie. Rest up well." He said and pet her head before he returned her to her ball once she was done. He then jogged over to Brock. "Got another bottle? The fast we cover all the spots the better."

Brock looked up at him and nodded, handing him a second spray. Together, they quickly had the poison under control and Onix moaned lightly. "Good job, Onix. You earned a nice sand bath later." Brock said, returning his pokemon to its ball now that it the poison wasn't an issue any more. "That was one good strategy, I got to admit."

"Thanks." Arthur replied with a smile. "The way you had your Onix surround us was pretty scary to be honest. Any non-flyer wouldn't been in quite a bind."

"That's the reason I came up with it. It works wonders putting the other trainer under stress. And a trainer that can't handle that has no business battling my dad." Brock explained with a sense of pride. "The usual flyers can't do much to us, but I guess your Butterfree isn't the usual opponent. Didn't it evolve only recently?"

"She did, which is why she had to train dodging for hours ever since." Arthur chuckled. It wasn't the only reason; the faster his other pokemon learned how to hit flying targets the better.

"It certainly paid off. Good luck against my father." Brock said and held his hand out. "And thanks for helping me with the poison."

Arthur shook it with a smile. "You're welcome. Thanks for the great battle."

They nodded to each other before making their ways out of the arena. Arthur looked for his friends and waved at them with a cheeky grin. So far, everything was going as planned. Now he'd just have to see if the training Fatalis had gotten in with his new moves had been enough.

With Brock gone, Flint slowly made his entrance, every step he took calm and heavy. He took his place where Brock had stood moments prior, his rough arms bare and crossed in front of his chest. "Quite the performance, kid. I believe that was the first time a challenger managed to beat one of my gym trainers with just a Bug type." He said, cracking his neck as he did. "But don't think I'll make it easy for you. If you want to earn my badge, you'll first have to face this mountain, and my pokemon will crush you like a landslide."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Arthur replied. "But I think it's time to turn up the heat."

"This is a battle for the Boulder Badge between Gym Leader Flint of Pewter City and Challenger Arthur Anderson of Cinnabar Island." The referee announced once both trainers looked ready. "As this is the final match of the gym's gauntlet, the challenging trainer is allowed to use all of his carried pokemon that are still able to battle. The challenger may switch out his pokemon once, with no switches allowed for the Gym Leader. Trainers, release your pokemon!"

"Geodude!" "Fatalis, you're up!"

Like his son before him, Flint released his own Geodude. This one had quite the number of cuts and cracks, with its body looking rougher over all. It gazed sternly at its opponent, who let out a small flame into the air as he appeared. Fatalis looked at their audience and then his trainer, before he pumped his arms and let out a challenging roar.

"The battle … begins!"

"Geodude, Rock Tomb!" Flint barked. Geodude acted without hesitation, slamming its arms into the ground and summoning a couple of rocks almost the size of its opponent before throwing them all at once.

"Metal Claw, bat them away!" Arthur countered and his pokemon got to work. All the training seemed to have paid off as Fatalis managed to destroy or evade the rocks. It was then both of them noticed how Geodude had curled in on itself, its skin appearing even tougher than before.

Flint shot his fist forward. "Rollout!"

Arthur was taken aback for a moment, knowing full well how devastating the combo of Defense Curl and Rollout was. But to his surprise, their opponent didn't go for an attack straight away, instead opting to gather momentum by rolling all around the field.

Knowing that he couldn't let Fatalis get hit by a powered-up attack like that, Arthur continued the defense. "Smoke Screen, then get the high ground!"

Fatalis quickly filled their part of the arena with smoke and hopped onto a nearby boulder, looking for the speeding Geodude. It shot out of the smoke in an instant, causing Fatalis to stumble in surprise before grazing it with its attack and vanishing back into the smoke.

Arthur soon realized this had been a bad idea, much like how the Smoke Screen had backfired in his battle with Cissy. His Charmander was a sitting Psyduck, with little space to dodge and no way to see the next attack coming. If things continued like this, he doubted he'd manage to beat Flint with just Fatalis, so he decided on a daring move.

"Fatalis, brace yourself! Listen to the sound!" He ordered. His pokemon relied too much on his eyes, which was only natural given his level of battle experience. Fatalis tightened its stance and closed its eyes, its head swinging with the movement of the rolling Geodude.

When it burst out of the smoke once more, he was more than ready. "Metal Claw!"

Fatalis's claws turned steely, smashing his claw into the side of the spinning Geodude just before getting hit himself. Geodude flew off-course, crashing into another boulder with a loud bang. The smoke dispersed from the impact, revealing it to be hurt but slowly getting up.

"Dragon Breath!"

Geodude was soon bathed in draconic flames, which in combination with the damage it had taken from both the Metal Claw and the crash was enough to knock it out.

Not wasting any time, the referee raised his flag. "Geodude is unable to battle! The round goes to the challenger!"

Arthur saw Flint nod at him out of the corner of his eye as he returned his beaten pokemon, but he was more concerned about his own. Fatalis waved happily at the audience's cheers, with a visible bruise on his side where he's hit by the Rollout. Aside from that and a bit of sweat, he looked well enough to continue. Unlike Cookie before, he wouldn't have an easy time getting away from Onix's bind tho-

"Rhyhorn, get ready!"

Arthur did a double take on that. Flint's second pokemon was no Onix, but a Rhyhorn that was surely bigger than average. The grey tank on legs stomped its front legs, scratching against the floor with its eyes set on its opponent. That might complicate matters. Rhyhorn were way more offensive than Onix by nature, and while this one couldn't wrap and choke its opponent, getting hit by it at all would deal way more damage.

Seeing as he had no time to waste, Arthur acted once the next round started. "Dragon Breath and circle it!" Thinking that Rhyhorn should have trouble turning once it charged at them, he decided to battle of range. Fatalis quickly continued what it had done to its prior opponent and unleashed violet flames once more.

"Rock Tomb, trap it." Instead of dodging, or moving anywhere in general, Flint had Rhyhorn create a set of even bigger rocks than Geodude before it, with all of them as large or even larger than the boulders in the arena. Rhyhorn took the Dragon Breath head on and shot forth its own attack.

Before Fatalis could dodge it was encircled and roughed up by rocks, with the only opening facing towards its opponent. Rhyhorn didn't wait as it charged forward, its horn glowing white as Flint called for a Horn Attack.

"Keep it up, Fatalis! Slow it down!"

Rhyhorn was hit with another Dragon Breath, but didn't slow down at all. It looked hurt, but that didn't stop it from quickly crossing the distance with thundering steps and crashed into its target, sending the Fire type flying and crashing down hard.

"Look like your Charmander is as good as down." Flint stated with an observing look. "Rhyhorn, Horn Attack once more."

Seeing how his pokemon could barely get back up on his knees, Arthur understood why Flint didn't call for another Rock Tomb. But they could still make it work.

"Roll to the side and fire again!"

Fatalis barely managed to dodge the brunt of the attack, although he got chipped by Rhyhorn's tough hide as it narrowly passed it. A visibly weaker burst of dragon flames hit its target in the side. Arthur saw that Rhyhorn had begun breathing heavily, so it couldn't be that healthy anymore either. There was no sign of paralysis however, something he'd hoped would happen sooner rather than later.

By now his own pokemon had gotten back on its legs, caught between a boulder to its back and a charging Rhyhorn in front. Seeing as how Fatalis didn't seem to be able to keep dodging for much longer, Arthur decided to try something new.

"Wait until its near, then use the boulder to jump on top of Rhyhorn!"

He saw Flint look at him neutrally, but not making any call himself. Not that he could stop Rhyhorn's charge by now. Using what strength he'd left in his legs, Fatalis pushed himself off the boulder just in time and landed on Rhyhorn's back before they both broke through the boulder. He instinctually held onto the rock-rhino.

"Metal Claw, dig into it!"

"Rhyhorn, shake it off!"

Both trainers yelled and watched their pokemon turn the battle into a rodeo. Fatalis managed to tighten its grip with its metallic claws while Rhyhorn tossed and turned. After all the shaking and turning didn't throw it off, Rhyhorn charged headfirst into and through the next boulder. And the next. And the next.

By the fourth boulder, its rider couldn't hold on any longer and was thrown off, not far from Rhyhorn. The rocky beast slowly turned, clearly on its last legs as well, before stomping its feet with a heavy breath and charging once more. Fatalis tried to stand up but fell flat on its back, its tail glowing with a bright red flame but no chance to get out of the way.

Seeing as there weren't many options, it took Arthur a moment before he noticed his pokemons scales having a light metallic sheen. The continued use of Metal Claw must've boosted its defense, and if that was the case then maybe …

"Fatalis, Metal Claw with your feet! Stop it!"

The exhausted fire type looked at its trainer, courtesy off laying on his back, and nodded. He raised his legs with a deep breath and cloaked them Steel type energy. The equally out-of-breath Rhyhorn arrived with its much slower charge, bashing against its opponent and slowly shoving it over the ground as it just kept walking.

Both of them winced but defiantly stared into each other's eyes as they tried to push the other away. But unlike Rhyhorn, Fatalis could still attack with just its mouth. And with its tail flame being on an all-time high, Arthur made the call.

"Ember, give it everything you got!" He shouted and punched forward.

His pokemon opened its mouth, shooting out one big ember projectile that hit Rhyhorn right in the face. Its movement came to a halt. Without braking eye-contact, both pokemon stared defiantly, battered, and bruised. Then Rhyhorn's legs finally gave out and it slumped to the floor. Both breathed heavily, their bodies covered in sweat and dirt.

Their stares broke off when Fatalis began to grow brightly, which apparently gave him enough energy to get back on his feet. His body grew to almost double his previous size and received a horn-like protrusion on the back of his head. He now reached up to Arthur's hip rather than his knees, and his orange scales had turned into a dark red. Invigorated by his evolution, he let out a proud roar along with some flames into the air.

Seeing its opponent stand even strong once more, Rhyhorn seemingly decided it had battled enough and closed its eyes in defeat. The referee waited for just a moment, looking to Flint who nodded in return, before he raised his flag. "Rhyhorn is unable to battle. The challenger wins!"

Arthur, accompanied by thunderous applause, made his way into the arena. His pokemon was more than happy and didn't wait a second to show off his matured body. "You were amazing." Arthur told him and affectionately patted his head and horn. He noticed his newly evolved partner shaking a bit, no doubt exhausted from the tough fight.

A cough made him turn to an already waiting Flint, his Rhyhorn already gone from the arena. "It'd seems science isn't your only strong suit, kid. That was a good fight."

"Thank you. We made sure to train extra hard for this." Arthur returned with a smile.

"I hope so, I'd feel bad for getting beaten despite having the advantage otherwise." The man laughed and clapped Arthur's shoulder before he held out his hand, which held a badge in form of a simple grey octagon with a rocky-looking surface. "You sure earned your Boulder Badge."

Arthur shook his hand, taking the badge in the process. He took Fatalis' hand and together they held the badge up so that it twinkled in the arena's lights. Sporting a big grin, he turned to the stands, where his friends and companions cheered loudly once more. He'd made his first real step towards his goal of becoming Champion, but he knew he didn't achieve this alone.