Introduction:
Hey everyone so here it is my second gym battle. I really wanna know how I did on this so please feedback and reviews are appreciated. Sorry for the late upload somethings came up so the chapter was pushed back a day but we should be back on schedule now. I wanna give a shout out to a story I was recommended called Of Sand and Shadows by HelloYellow17. It is a Pokemon Colosseum novelization and it's great. It's about how Wes is trying to get out of Orre but gets sucked into trying to save the region. It's very in-depth and very well written. Head on over and show em some love! Anyway without further ado here is Chapter 9 and I hope everyone has a great day and don't forget to smile!
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon in any way, this is just a fanfiction. Please support the creators by playing Pokemon Platinum Version wherever sold in your respective area.
AND. HERE. WE. GO.
Guide:
Bolded Italics: Speaking to Audience or Out of Time
Regular Italics: Thoughts
COF: Character(s) of Focus
Chapter 9: Lucas vs Gardenia
COF: Lucas Diamond
Lucas looked up at the gym with a knot in his stomach, after battling Roark and seeing how hard gym leaders could be there was always this thought in his head. Was he good enough? As Lucas approached the entrance he saw the set of rules that are plastered to every gym. Gym battles in Sinnoh and even in other regions are taken very seriously and there are three simple rules all challengers and gym leaders must abide by.
One: No healing items or stat-boosting items are allowed in battle.
Two: No sudden switches, you must wait until your current pokemon faints to use another one.
Three: If you lose a gym battle you must wait one week for another battle.
While these rules are only enforced in gym battles, pokemon league battles, and battle frontier battles everyone lived by them in normal battles.
If anyone broke these rules they would be banned from collecting badges and the badges they did collect would get taken away. The only rule Lucas was ever nervous about was the third one, waiting a whole week for another chance at the badge was a scary thought. A lot of trainers get discouraged due to the wait and give up, this made getting all eight badges even more impressive but Lucas wondered if he was part of that majority.
He walked into the Eterna City Gym to find an interesting sight. It was bright green with leaves painted on the wall. The floor was replaced with grass that gave the building this earthy scent. It was bright and vibrant very different then Roark's gym. This change of scenery was nice for Lucas, most of Sinnoh was filled with dark colors. This building would be hell for Luxio as he seemed to have an allergy to pollen and Lucas could tell this place was filled with it. There was what looked to be a giant hole in the middle of the building On the other side was Eterna City's gym leader, Gardenia.
"There she is, your badge is mine," Lucas said to himself with a serious look on his face.
"Although, how the hell am I supposed to get there," Lucas said.
"You have to beat the trainers," A man said.
"Huh?" Lucas asked.
Lucas turned around to see a man in a suit at the entrance. He had seen someone like this at Roark's gym but never interacted with him.
"You see the giant circle in the middle?" The man asked.
"Yes," Lucas said.
"Well, it's like a clock, the hands move and that's your way of getting to the gym leader. You see the four trainers around the clock?" The man asked.
"Yeah, I assume that when I beat one it moves and once I beat all four I can challenge Gardenia," Lucas said.
"Look at you, someone's bright, but yes once you beat all four the clock arms will lead you to Gardenia," The man confirmed.
"You sure those "clock hands" are stable for me to walk on?" Lucas asked.
"Absolutely….I think," The man said.
"Great," Lucas said, walking up to the clock.
Lucas walked across the grass blade hands until he met a trainer. Monferno easily went through the trainers due to the type advantage. Every time he beat someone the clock handles would move to the next trainer and before long he beat all four and was onto Gardenia. Lucas walked on up to her with some nerves in his stomach but not as much as when he faced Roark.
"You must be Lucas," Gardenia greeted.
"Yeah….how did you know?" Lucas asked.
"Your friend told me you would be coming by soon, his name was Barry, he said you were going to be the second-best trainer in the world," Gardenia said with a chuckle.
"Of course he did, yeah that's Barry...I love him though," Lucas said rolling his eyes.
"You two are….lovers?" Gardenia said with a raised brow.
"NO NO NO I mean in a friend type way," Lucas said with a face flustered.
"Oh, I'm sure," Gardenia said laughing.
"It's really not like that," Lucas said.
Great now Lucas had a gym leader thinking he was gay, not that there was anything wrong with that but Lucas most definitely was not gay.
"I also read about you, you freed Floaroma Town, very impressive and noble of you," Gardenia commented.
"Thanks, those assholes had it coming," Lucas said.
"It's not every day you see a trainer do something like that," Gardenia said.
"It's about time someone stood up to those criminals," Lucas said.
"I agree, so what's your next move," Gardenia grinned.
"I came for your badge. I need it to kick Team Galactic out of this city," Lucas said.
Gardenia smiled. It was the first time she had heard a trainer wanting to get rid of Team Galactic, someone who didn't just want her badge. She has tried many times to get rid of Team Galactic but failed, she could only take on so many grunts. Whether or not Lucas could do it, she didn't know but Lucas automatically received her respect for that. First Floaroma Town and now here, it was clear to Gardenia that this kid had guts.
GYM BATTLE: Lucas Diamond vs Gardenia (4 on 3)
"Well, then I won't keep you waiting anymore, Turtwig come on out!" Gardenia shouted.
"Wait, what?" Lucas said.
How did she get a Turtwig, Lucas thought there was only one Turtwig in the Sinnoh region and it belonged to Dawn. It threw him off guard for a second but came back to reality.
"Staravia, let's win this," Lucas said as he released Staravia.
"Your friend had one of those too, let's see if yours is just as good," Gardenia said.
"Oh, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised," Lucas said confidently.
"Turtwig, use Razor Leaf," Gardenia commanded.
Turtwig launched a bunch of sharp leaves towards Staravia. Luckily Lucas thought about this type of move and knew Staravia could dodge it, and he was right Staravia dodged most of them but one lucky leaf scratched Staravia right in the face leaving a cut.
"Shit, you okay Star," Lucas asked.
Staravia looked back at him and nodded.
"Alright, retaliate with an Aerial Ace," Lucas shouted.
Staravia slashed Turtwig with a razor-sharp blade of air inflicting a good amount of damage due to the type.
"Using a move that never misses, most people do not rely on this move even though it never misses," Gardenia said.
"That's because Aerial Ace leaves most pokemon open but I've trained Staravia to keep her defenses up while using it," Lucas said.
"Interesting, Turtwig use Reflect," Gardenia ordered.
Lucas cursed at himself, although the move was not physical it was going to make things a little harder for him because of the defense boost Gardenia's team had. Lucas knew he couldn't run down the reflect effect cause it would take a toll on his team so he was forced to try to end this asap.
"Star, use Wing Attack," Lucas shouted.
"Counter with another Razor Leaf," Gardenia shouted almost instantly.
Staravia flew right at Turtwig and smacked him hard with a wing but in return was met with sharp leaves that sent her back. Due to the defense boost, Turtwig survived but was weak.
"Staravia, end this with another Aerial Ace," Lucas ordered.
"Turtwig, another Razor Leaf," Gardenia yelled.
The two pokemon clashed and Turtwig was down and Staravia was barely still able to fight but she didn't faint.
"Your Staravia is very tough, it's nice to see you have the same amount of skill as your lover," Gardenia said with a grin.
"Yeah, I…..WE ARE NOT LOVERS," Lucas shouted.
"Uh-huh, Cherim, come on out," Gardenia said as she sent out Cherim.
"Alright Star, you're doing great hang in there girl," Lucas said.
Staravia weakly nodded.
"Star, use Aerial Ace again quickly," Lucas shouted.
Staravia raced towards Cherim and slashed it with another sharp blade of air but was hit with a Leech Seed in return, Staravia was down but took some of Cherim's health with it.
"Good work Cherim," Gardenia said, petting Cherim.
"You did great Star, take a little rest you'll get a treat after this," Lucas said returning Staravia to her ball.
"Okay time for my ace in the hole," Lucas thought to himself.
"Monferno, come on out," Lucas shouted.
Monferno came out and looked around the grassy building and looked back at Lucas.
"No, you can not light this building on fire, I need you to focus buddy okay," Lucas said.
Monferno rolled his eyes and looked back at Cherim and got into a battle position.
"Interesting, if you had a fire type this whole time why didn't you start with it?" Gardenia asked.
"Because I didn't want to wear down my biggest advantage so early," Lucas said.
"Looks like he planned this, nice to see someone with some brains, still that Monferno shouldn't be able to outspeed Cherim," Gardenia thought to herself.
At that exact moment almost instantly Monferno rushed right behind Cherim and hit it in the back with a Flame Wheel.
"Shit….how the hell," Gardenia was shocked. Before she couldn't even get a word out the Monferno attacked with speed that Gardenia was even impressed by.
"Monferno, keep it up, don't get him a chance to attack another Flame Wheel," Lucas ordered.
"Cherim, dodge that watch out," Gardenia said with a little concern.
Monferno was too fast and with another Flame Wheel Cherim was down.
"Looks like I underestimated him, I should know better after his friend beat me," Gardenia said to herself.
"Nicely done, Mon like we practiced, keep that accuracy and speed up," Lucas shouted.
Everything was going according to Lucas' plan, he had taken out two of her pokemon with one remaining. As long as he had everything under his control the badge was his and he could get Team Galactic out of Eterna City. There is one problem, Monferno, if Monferno was taken out the battle was over, none of Lucas' team could handle a grass type, Bibarel was super weak to them and while Luxio could surely put up a fight, he still would have trouble so Luxio was more of a last resort in this battle.
"Roserade, it's up to you," Gardenia shouted, sending Roserade out.
Lucas pulled out his Pokedex to see if it had anything on Roserade and he learned that it's a grass type and a poison type which was bad. He had hoped it was all grass types but deep down he knew that there was going to be one that wasn't so straightforward, like Roark with Cranidos. The Pokedex told Lucas that the mix of poison and grass made it extremely formidable. Lucas loved the Pokedex for this reason, he used it all the time to assess pokemon and find out how to catch them and beat them.
"Monferno, use Flame Wheel from a distance," Lucas shouted.
Monferno launches a wheel of fire towards Roserade but it dodged. It was obviously Gardenia's strongest pokemon.
"Roserade, get in close and use Razor Leaf for increased accuracy," Gardenia shouted.
"Let's see how good you really are Lucas," Gardenia said with a grin.
"Bring it," Lucas confidently grinned back.
"Monferno, counter with a Mach Punch," Lucas ordered.
Just as Roserade was about to attack Monferno jumped behind her and punched her in the back of the head. Lucas smiled, he thought he had this in the bag until he saw that Roserade had reached behind her and gripped onto Monferno's arm after the punch.
"Roserade release a Stun Spore," Gardenia shouted.
Roserade released a yellow spore of dust around her hitting Monferno and doing what Lucas thought was the worst possible outcome, paralyzing him. Even with the impact of the Mach Punch Roserade shrugged it off like it was nothing.
"Fuck," Lucas said to himself.
After seeing what happened last time with paralysis, Lucas was starting to get worried he tried to look for an opening to develop a halfway solid plan.
"Roserade, Headbutt," Gardenia yelled.
"SHIT, MON GET OUT OF THERE," Lucas yelled.
Monferno couldn't move, Roserade headbutted Monferno into the ground. A couple of turns went by as Roserade kept hitting Monferno hard, the end was in sight for him. Monferno kept struggling but couldn't get anything moving, he was ashamed he let Lucas down again. The man who took him in and gave him a good way of life and all he could do was sit there and watch.
"COME ON MONFERNO YOU CAN DO IT, I BELIEVE IN YOU," Lucas yelled.
As Monferno was fading he heard those words over and over again echoing to himself. He thought about his life up until this point. The battles, his teammates, how good of a trainer Lucas is to him. He kept trying to muster the energy to move. More and more he felt this small burst of energy go through him. Slowly and slowly it was building and Monferno grabbed onto all of it as his trainers' words kept echoing.
"Roserade, another Headbutt, this time really hit him," Gardenia yelled.
Roserade rushed in, Lucas looked away and he couldn't watch. This was it once Monferno went down the battle was certainly over.
WHAM! Is all Lucas and Gardenia heard as Roserade was sent flying back to Gardenia with intense force. Lucas looked back and saw Monferno weak but he was up, he hit the hardest Roserade with one of the hardest Mach Punch of his life. Monferno had broken the paralysis effect.
"How the hell….," Gardenia said, shocked.
She had never seen a pokemon break paralysis so quickly and to be able to hit with even harder force than before was baffling to her.
Lucas on the other hand had the biggest smile on his face. Monferno looked back and winked while breathing heavily, he was hurt but okay.
Roserade slowly got up that Mach Punch had taken a lot of her.
Gardenia knew she couldn't go for another Stun Spore she needed to attack and end this.
"Roserade, use Razor Leaf and stay away from Monferno," Gardenia ordered.
"Monferno, us-" Lucas was about to say but saw Monferno hand telling him to stop.
Monferno looked back and nodded saying to Lucas, Trust Me. Lucas was nervous if Monferno went down, that was it for him but he knew Monferno and he knew that he could do this.
"Your call dude," Lucas said.
Monferno ran right towards the razor leaves. Lucas was in disbelief, what was he doing! Gardenia grinned, she knew that despite the typing if those leaves hit Monferno he was done. Monferno breathed and lit his fists on fire and focused. He had one shot at this and one shot alone, he took it. With a swift movement, Monferno burnt all the leaves rushing at him.
"WHAT," Gardenia shouted in disbelief.
"Holy shit," Lucas said wide-eyed.
Monferno jumped and with the last bit of energy, he had left and launched a new move he created, the Burning Mach Punch. The punch connected with Roserade and along with the sheer force of the fighting move it burned Roserade with fire sending it crashing on the wall. Roserade fell and was not getting back up.
Gardenia was wide-eyed, she had lost before but she had never seen a pokemon like Lucas' Monferno and the trust Lucas had for him. Lucas was smart for sure but in addition to his battle intelligence, he had pokemon that was equally as resourceful. Staravia gave Turtwig a run for his money and even weakened Cherim. Monferno destroyed Cherim and even broke out of paralysis. It was clear to Gardenia, Lucas didn't get here because of luck.
Lucas ran over to Monferno and hugged him.
"You did it, buddy, you really did," Lucas said hugging.
Monferno hugged back and collapsed into his arms exhausted.
"Take a rest buddy, you earned it," Lucas said, returning Monferno to his ball.
"Excellent battle, Lucas I see why you're Barry's lover," Gardenia said laughing and walking over to Lucas.
"You aren't gonna let that down are ya," Lucas said laughing.
"Nope, seriously that was a really good battle, you're gonna go far," Gardenia said presenting Lucas with the Forest Badge.
"Awesome, now to deal with those Team Galactic degenerates," Lucas said.
"I have to warn you, Lucas, that building is heavily guarded. I have tried multiple times to stop them but it just seems to get more populated," Gardenia said.
"I have to try, otherwise I won't be able to live with myself," Lucas said.
"Good luck and I hope you kick those criminals out of our city," Gardenia said.
"Thanks, I am going to try everything in my power to make sure they never hurt anyone again," Lucas said.
"It's good to have someone with your determination and courage on the good side, if there is anything I can do to help please let me know," Gardenia said.
"Actually, there might be something I could use your help with," Lucas said.
Outro:
Alright so this new schedule to me is going well I have more time to think about ideas for chapters and that really helps, even thought this chapter was late I am proud of it. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and let me know what you liked, disliked, etc. PM with any questions or if you wanna tell me that Jason Voorhees has a better creative mind than me hmu! Until then I will see you in the next chapter!
Have a great day and don't forget to smile,
-Shocker
Question of the Chapter: What is Lucas's best attribute? Also, what was your favorite moment of the chapter?
For me, I like how Lucas tries to help anyone in need despite putting himself in harm's way to me self sacrifice is an amazing quality of a hero! As for my favorite moment I like how Lucas' words encouraged Monferno to break out of paralysis. The Burning Mach Punch was fun as well. Plus making Gardenia think Lucas was gay was funny!
Important Events:
-Lucas beats Gardenia to get his second badge.
Lucas' Current Team: 4/6
-Monferno: Ember, Mach Punch, Flame Wheel, Cut, Leer
-Luxio: Spark, Charge, Tackle, Bite, Flash
-Bibarel: Water Gun, Headbutt, Rock Smash, Yawn
-Staravia: Wing Attack, Aerial Ace, Quick Attack, Tackle
Next Chapter: Becoming a Target
As Lucas continues his fight against Team Galactic, he starts to become more popular in their eyes!