Chapter 17: Fire vs. Rock

From the very day I arrived in the laboratory was the day I knew that it would only be a matter of time before I was picked to go on my very own journey with a human trainer. I have read and learned much of the human world when I was but a small kit, so I was far ready for the day I was captured to wait for my human trainer to pick me out. The only problem with being a Kanto starter was that the first two gyms that all trainers went to were the only gyms that I would have no effect on. Rock and water. I mean what's the purpose in having a fire type as a starter if the two gyms are going to be a great disadvantage? You may as well just leave us back at the lab where we feel left out of the fun and eventually- no. Can't think about things like that. Got to stay positive.

"There's something I don't get," Zack said, causing me to turn my attention to him. "Why doesn't our master just use me for the entire battle if we're going up against rock type pokemon? I can easily knock them all out."

"Humans are like that I suppose," I told him. "Or at least some are. Others want to use pokemon that have a disadvantage to try and make them stronger."

"So then which one are you?" Zack asked. "I mean if you were a trainer?"

"I'd probably go for the latter," I answered him nonchantaly. "It's more of a challenge for me if I try and learn a pokemon's weakness that has an advantage over me. You can only get a little stronger that way and remember the weak spot on other pokemon of the same type next time you come across one."

"Please stop hurting my head," Zack said. "I don't need to be confused before our battle."

"Chill out bro," Ted said, hands behind his head as he stared partially up into the sky. "You need to be like the sky and clear your mind of such confusion."

"If it helps me concentrate for the battle," Zack said as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath while trying to clear his mind. I'm not quite sure what it was about Zack, but ever since he joined up on the team I've been feeling a little uncomfortable with his never ending thirst for adventure. Call me crazy, but wandering off and finding danger around every corner seemed a little too extreme. Something I would never want, which is why I stuck to learning my opponent's strengths and weaknesses.

Speaking of opponents, we were slowing to a stop as we all turned and looked at a rather large boulder in front of us. And I mean it was bigger than any human or normal looking boulder. We had arrived at the gym at long last. I needn't not ever worry about how I would take down my opponent. I never had to worry. Whenever I entered a battle, only then would I be looking for a way to take down my opponent.

"It's so big and grey and so... boring looking," Skitty suddenly said, her ears and tail dropping. "Grey depresses me so."

"Whoa!" Zack said. "This gym is so big! But then again, every building looks big, so there's really no difference. But still, I can't wait to get into battle." I guess this is something I was going to have to get used to one way or another. I don't really know why Zack always looked forward to a challenge. I could go avoiding most of the battles if I could help it.

"You have to keep your head level like a bird in the sky," Ted said. "Listen and obey the commands given to you."

"Right," Zack said with a nod of his head, his ears flopping against his head. He looked kind of funny like that.

"All right guys," my trainer said. "This is where all pokemon trainers come to start their trek to become champions. The Pewter City Gym Badge awaits us. Let's go."

"So cool!" Zack said, his entire body shaking with anticipation. I've never seen anyone this excited in my entire life. His shaking soon became like a quake or a nonstop vibrator as we entered the gym. He looked like he could go explode from the inside with all that excitement at any moment.

"Zack," I said, his head vibrating its way to look at me. I couldn't even tell wher his face was. "Uh, you might want to calm yourself. You look like you could die at any second."

"I-I-I-I-I c-c-can't," Zack said. "I-I-I-I'm t-t-too e-excited!"

"Be like dandelion in the summer breeze," Ted said. "Calm thyself and collect your thoughts on teh situation around you." It was at this point Skitty turned her head sideways as she looked at the jittering Umbreon. It amused me how sometimes her curiosity would get the best of her and she'd do something random. Even as I spoke, she lifted a paw and lightly touched Zack's jittering leg. Doing so caused her entire body to jitter as well.

"Nya-a-a-a-a!" was all she said as everyone turned and stared.

"Hmm," was all Ted said as he stared curiously at her.

"Zack," my trainer said. "Calm down. I don't need you straining yourself before the battle."

"The same goes for you, Skitty," Laura said as she scooped down and picked Skitty up.

"I must do it again!" she said before looking around and becoming depressed once more. "And now I'm depressed again."

I looked at Ted as he followed Laura off to the side. "She's Skitty," he said, answering my thoughts. Like that made any sense. I turned my attention back to the battle field before us as Zack and I followed our trainer up to where trainers stood and gave their pokemon orders. Across from where we stood, a tall, bulky man stood on the opposite end with spiked up hair.

"So you wish to do battle with me, do you?" the guy asked.

"Yes sir," my trainer said. "I plan on beating every single gym and becoming the Pokemon Champion of the Pokemon League."

"Is that your goal in life?" the man asked with a hearty laugh.

"Since I was a child," my trainer replied.

"Very well," the man said, reaching down at his waist before picking up a pokeball. "Let's see what you've got for the league then, shall we? Geodude, you're up first!"

Tossing the ball up into the air, a flash of light burst forth, forming into the shape of a boulder with arms. "I'm ready to rock and roll!" he yelled. That was a bad pun right off the spot.

"All right Charcoal," my trainer said. "You ready to battle?"

"Even though it'd be easier for Zack to take him out in no time flat, yeah, I am ready," I said as I walked out onto the field.

"Huh?" the gym leader said. "A Charmander? You sure you want to use him in this fight?"

"Wouldn't be fair to just use one pokemon all the time," my trainer said.

"Suit yourself," the gym leader said. "Geodude, use Mud Slap."

"No offense to your trainer, but he's kind of an idiot," Geodude said as he slapped some mud up from the ground at me.

"No offense taken," I said as I dodged the attack.

"Use Growl!" I reluctantly began growling at the Geodude, knowing that it wouldn't do anything. The Geodude only winded up laughing at teh pitiful attempt I was putting up.

"You're trainer really is clueless when it comes to battles," he said. "Sending a Charmander out to defeat a rock type."

"You have to remember that he's only a beginner," I said. "So back off."

"Oh! So now I'm being threatened eh?"

"Use Ember!" About time he called out the fire. No pun intended. I inhaled deeply and spat out a small volley of fire at the Geodude.

"Defense Curl!" the gym leader said. I watched as the Geodude crossed his arms as my attack hit him. Being that I didn't have much fighting experience, I knew that this wasn't going to absolutely have any effect. "Are you quite done playing around with fire? Because as much as I like to stay here all day and keep this up, I have things I have to get done. Now Geodude, Pound!"

I ceased my attack and watched as the Geodude began doing his own version of bouncing as he came towards me. With each bounce he rose just a little higher. It wasn't until he was right in front of me that he bounced high up. And I knew with the way a Geodude was that the landing was going to do a lot of damage. "Dodge it Charcoal!" my trainer yelled. Could he delay my almost impending defeat? Really. Why don't he just tell me to stand here and take the attack?

But since I didn't feel like being crushed, I simply walked a few paces to the side, but it wasn't enough when the Geodude landed. The aftereffects of his landing sent cracks spreading everywhere, me getting caught with the cracks. I stumbled and tripped, falling to the ground. "And now use Roll Out!"

That wasn't a really good move for pokemon who were fighting against a pokemon who knew Roll Out. Roll Out was a move that no one would be able to stop. Maybe a pokemon of high power might be able to stop such an attack, if the pokemon who knew the move wasn't high in power itself, but as for the rest of the pokemon, we had a twenty-five percent chance of stopping the attack.

I staggered back to my feet as the Geodude curled up like a ball and rolled away from me, turning around in a loop and coming straight towards me. "All right Charcoal, do your thing," my trainer said. It was about time he allowed me to do what I needed to do. Being that I had barely any time to think about what to do, I did the only thing I saw Zack do back when we met. Looking down at the ground, I launched a fireball at it, sending me soaring into the air.

"Nice trick," the gym leader said as the Geodude passed right under me. Upon my descent, I stuck my paws out as I turned myself upside down. My paws hit the ground and as my body was following I suddenly pushed myself off, doing a semi-flip and landing back on my feet. How many pokemon would be able to do that?

"Your Charmander is quite interesting," the gym leader said. "He's the first pokemon I've ever seen have style in battle."

"Charcoal's one of a kind," my trainer said. I smiled, feeling happy about being praised by my own trainer.

"Well, I'd love to see what other tricks your Charmander has, but it's time to wrap this up," the gym leader said. "Geodude, Roll Out again!" The Geodude curled up in his ball and came straight at me again. And once more I launched a fireball at the ground, sending me straight up into the air. But my ascent stopped quickly as I felt a pair of hands suddenly grab one of my legs. I looked down and saw the Geodude looking up at me, smirking.

"Not pulling the same rick twice on me you won't," he said. My eyes widened at what was about to come as the gym leader shouted out his next attack.

"Seismic Toss!" I felt myself being twirled around in the air the very next second, everything around me nothing but a blur. I don't even remember my foot being let go. All I remember was flying through the air and smashing into something rocky hard, breaking it before landing in the pile of rubble. I lied there for just a second to process what happened when something heavy like an anvil suddenly dropped on me. I could feel all the breath leave me as I slipped into a semi conscious state.

It's kind of funny how you learn about something and then experience it. Reading about what you will one day come to face may seem like a piece of cake, but when you're actually out there doing it, it turns out to be a lot harder than you expect. And as I lied there, slowly slipping into full unconsciousness, I began reflecting on how I spent all my life up until the day I left on my journey. Sometimes I wondered what my life would have been like if I hadn't decided to read up on the human world. Would I have been in the predicament now? Would I have come to befriend the little group of friends I wounded up being friends with now?

"You are weak," a voice from within my head said. A voice that I was familiar with, but one I wish I would never hear. "You'll never be strong. You'll always just be a small weakling who will always depend on others to help you in battles. You'll mean nothing!"

I shot open my eyes, regaining full consciousness as I breathed in deep, ignoring the now crushed ribs I had earned. "Hey Charcoal!" I heard Zack yell out to me. "You all right?"

"I'm fine," I said angrily. "Nothing I can't handle."

"I'm amazed you're still standing after being pounded like that," the Geodude said. "So it seems you can endure more than what others think you can handle."

"You have no idea," I said, flexing my claws before clenching them into fists.

"Well, I don't think you'd be able to handle another attack," the Geodude said. "I will admit though you are a bit of a good battler, but this match is over." With another order, the Geodude curled up back in his ball and began coming at me once more, gaining more speed as he neared.

"Charcoal," my trainer yelled. "Just dodge the attack. We'll figure some way to beat it sooner or later." I refused to listen though. I wasn't going to run away and rely on Zack to take care of things for me.

"Hey Charcoal," Zack said. "Get out of there. You're going to be run over." But still I refused to listen as the Geodude rolled closer. There was no way I was going to back out of this now. And there was definitely no way I was going ot lose without making a mark on the Geodude. I could feel power surging through my body, concentrating all the power into my right paw.

The Geodude was practically right in front of me when I quickly lifted my paw, reeled it back, flattened it, and jabbed it forward. The sheer force of the jab stopped the Geodude's Roll Out attack as he yelled in pain, both his hands coming up and grabbing onto my paw to remove them, but he just didn't have the strength that I had to do so. It was then that I noticed that my paw was glowing silver. I had never had this attack before, had I?

"Geodude!" the gym leader yelled in surprise.

"Oh cool!" I heard Zack say. "You totally stopped that Geodude in his tracks. How'd you do it?"

"Looks like Charcoal's learned Metal Claw," I could hear Ted say. Metal Claw. Of course. Metal is a harder substance than rock, therefore it was able to stop Geodude's Roll Out.

"I think Charcoal just learned how to use Metal Claw," Laura said.

"Oh cool!" my trainer said happily. "Charcoal, you rock!"

"You know it," I said, looking back at him and giving him a thumbs up. However, all attention was once again diverted to the gym leader as he began chuckling.

"Hey!" my trainer said. "What's so funny?"

"Oh just a little something to make this an even battle," the gym leader replied.

"What do you mean?" my trainer asked as I saw the Geodude smirk. Not a good sign.

"I'll show you then what I mean," the gym leader said. "All right Geodude. Use Self-Destruct." My brain seemed to have frozen right when he said that, for self-destruct meant that the pokemon who knew the attack would instantly KO themselves, but also do some serious damage to the opponent pokemon depending how close they were when they blew. And unfortunately for me, I was in a very bad predicament.

"If I'm going down, at least I'm taking you with me," the Geodude said as he began glowing. My eyes widened in shock as I went to pull my paw back, but it was held firm by the Geodude's hands.

"Charcoal's trapped!" Laura cried out. "The Geodude's got a good grip on him."

"Quick Charcoal!" my trainer yelled. "Use your other paw and use Metal Claw to get free." But by this time, it was already too late.

"Oh," was all I could say right before the Geodude blew up, a loud banging noise going through my ears as my vision blurred into blackness.