This chapter took me quite a while to plan out. I knew how it was going to happen, I just needed to find the right wordings to make this as good a chapter for reading. It's quite a long one too, surprisingly. I didn't think it was going to be this long! And it took me the months of April, May, and June just to finally finish this. Of course, the reason why I didn't post this chapter up afterward is due to the fact that I had wanted to try and write a few chapters ahead before doing so. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be working out for me so well so I'll have to work on that chapter.

In the meantime, we finally get around to the Cerulean City Gym battle at last. Hope ya'll enjoy!

Chapter 34: Victory Over Fear

"Hey Charcoal, you sure you're all right?" Zack had asked me for the umpteenth time that morning as we headed for the Cerulean Gym. Technically, this was the second time he had asked me, the first time being when everyone else had woken up that morning and I had to at least play the part as well. I just didn't want him to continuously become annoying asking that question. I was already irritable as it was. The pain in my arms had flared greatly throughout the night, preventing any sleep from coming. On top of that, I worried myself sick about the upcoming battle, trying to strategize on how I would be able to take down a water Pokèmon, let alone battle on water. All it had done was turn my brain into mush. So yeah, I had no plan, no sleep, just a losing battle to look forward to.

"I'll be fine, Zack," I replied to him. "It's not like I'm fighting for my life or anything." He remained quiet, as did Ted. I wasn't dumb enough to know that they knew I was hiding the real truth from them, they just didn't want to go about admitting it. Skitty, on the other hand, probably wasn't even aware of the situation, being that she kept trying to pounce my trainer's loose shoe lace.

Before long, we found ourselves standing before the gym. Unlike the last one, which was nothing but a big, gray building in the shape of a boulder, this one looked a little more classier. The building itself was small compared to how huge the roof was. It looked like an over-sized dome or perhaps one of those umbrella things due to the fact it was a striped pattern of yellow and a dark shade of pink perhaps? No matter what it looked like, the roof was indeed bigger than the lower section of the gym. A very huge Dewgong hung above with waves on either side, circling around the gym.

"Whoa!" Zack said. "That gym's huge!"

"You're looking at the roof, Zack," I stated. "Look below the Dewgong."

"I've never seen a Dewgong that huge either," Zack said right before doing as I told him to. "Oh wait. That's the gym? Why is it so small compared to the top?"

"Apparently the designers had no idea what they were doing when they built this," I said.

"Well guys," my trainer said as I looked down at his shoe, Skitty sitting there with his shoelace in her mouth. "What say we get our second badge today?"

"I don't care about no badge," Zack said, wagging his tail. "I just want to battle. Who do you think I'll be fighting against?"

"We'll be finding out real soon," I said as my trainer took a step forward, only to start falling due to Skitty still holding onto his shoelace. However, as he fell, Skitty suddenly yawned, the shoelace snapping back and sending my trainer rolling down the small hill instead.

"What's he doing?" Zack asked as we all just stood there watching our trainer roll down. "Looks fun!" I had to resist the urge to face palm myself.

A couple minutes later, after taking a nasty spill down the little path leading to the gym, we were actually inside it, walking to the very center where our battle was to take place. My heart was racing a mile a minute as, with each footstep, I drew closer to what I hated the most. I could feel Zack's stare upon me, knowing what was going through his mind. I wasn't that dumb. I knew he knew I wasn't up for this. He just wasn't going to say that out loud since all I'd do is deny that fact. It took every fiber in my being to keep calm as we walked into a large room that had a pool in the very center, a very long, long, long, long, long, long…

"It's so blue!" Skitty said, snapping me out of my incoming panic attack. "I must marvel it for all the blueness it is worth!" She sounded like she was in a trance as he slowly moved towards it, never taking her eyes off it. Luckily, Ted had managed to grab her by the tail and keep her from moving forward any further.

"Great," I sighed mentally to myself. "Water. Just what I always wanted to battle on."

"So you made it," a voice spoke out. Taking my eyes off the pool, they now rested upon the gym leader, who stood before said pool. "To be honest, I was hoping you'd treat your Charmander before coming here, but I guess that was only wishful thinking."

"Don't think I'm an irresponsible trainer," my trainer said. "Of course I'm worried about Charcoal's wounds, but I'd rather have him fight first before he gets patched up. And Charcoal just so happens to agree with me. Right, Charcoal?"

"Let's get this over with, please," I said.

"You're so stubborn," the gym leader said. "But maybe that's why I feel compelled to battle you. So, if you're ready, then we shall begin."

"Oh I'm ready," my trainer said as he walked towards the pool, Zack following from behind.

"Well," I said with a sigh. "Here goes."

As I went to move to follow, a paw was suddenly placed gently upon my shoulder, causing me to stop and look back at Ted who was smiling softly. "Now worries, Charc. bro," he said. "You'll do fine." He's one to talk. He wasn't the one in my position. Without a word, I followed after, fear threatening to overtake me with each step drew closer to the pool. Before I knew it, I found myself standing next to my trainer, staring at the gym leader standing across from us.

"This will be a two-on-two match," she called over to us. "The first to have both Pokèmon knocked out loses."

"That's fine by me," my trainer said before looking down at me. "All right, Charcoal. You ready for this?"

"Might as well be," I said. I was so going to hate this. I also noticed that Zack hadn't spoken since we got here. I didn't dare turn to look at him, for I had a feeling he was looking right back at me, watching my every move. Taking a deep breath, I forced my legs to move toward the pool. Reaching the edge, I jumped, landing upon one of those floatation platforms. I had to practically kneel down to try and keep balance as the platform sunk beneath me, but managed to keep its floatation. Almost instantly my stomach cramped up. "I don't think I can do this."

"All right, Staryu," the gym leader said, throwing a pokeball onto the platform on her side of the field. "You're up." With a burst of light, the Staryu that saved my life yesterday appeared.

"So we meet again, Charmander," he said. "Only this time, the circumstances are different."

"Yeah," I said, trying hard not to panic. "Because I'm going to knock you out before this battle even begins."

The Staryu laughed, or I guess what I could come close to call laughing as the gem in the middle flashed multiple times. "You are a crack up!" he said. "The outcome of this battle is imminent for me. Fire types can only do so much on a field of water."

As much as I hated to admit it, he had a point. I was completely at a disadvantage in this battle and it hadn't even begun yet. However, all attention was shifted suddenly to the stands where Laura and Ted sat. The attention was not upon them, but rather upon Skitty who was walking over to them and sat down next to Ted, whose attention was still focused upon the Staryu and I. After about a half second went by, Ted slowly turned his head at a downward angle, his eyes widening in surprise before regaining their usual composure.

"Skitty," he said.

"Yeah?" Skitty asked, turning her head to look at him.

"You do realize your paws are on fire, right?"

Skitty just stared blankly at Ted for about a minute before looking down at her paws which were engulfed by flame. It made me wonder how she hadn't managed to fully catch fire. "Huh, what do you know," she said. "They are." Skitty continued sitting there after that, staring at her two flaming paws for another minute before taking a deep breath and letting out an ear-piercing screech. "My paws are on fire! My paws are on fire! Put me out!"

Skitty ran about, continuing to scream all the while her paws continued to burn. All I kept thinking about the entire time was how she was able to function properly, let alone function at all. Eventually, after rushing around like a lunatic, Ted finally managed to grab her at one point upon her passing him and threw her straight into the pool.

All she could do was scream up until the last second when she looked down at the pool and said, "Blue?" She went headfirst in, the fire being doused as her head came back above water with her singed paws flailing about. "Help! I can't swim! The blueness of all that is blue is drowning me! Blue, why have you betrayed me?" All I could do was watch her flail about as a mixture of emotions swirled about. At this point, I wasn't sure whether to be afraid, amused, cry, or do all at the same time.

Skitty, meanwhile, was rescued by a large, white Pokemon with a horn upon its head, the regular size a Dewgong was supposed to look like. "Skitty, return!" I heard Laura call out before Skitty was called back into her ball. "I'm very sorry about her. You know how Skitty tend to be."

"Yeah," the gym leader said with a hint of annoyance. "Unfortunately. As a trainer, you should at least maintain proper control of your Pokèmon." Laura fell silent, her face completely beat red as my attention was turned back to the situation at hand. "In any case, what say we start this battle?"

"Now you're talking," my trainer said as he gave out his first command. "Charcoal, use Ember!"

"Here goes," I said once again as I took a deep breath, keeping my attention on the Staryu as I fired out a small stream of fire.

"Staryu, use Water Gun!" the gym leader ordered. The Staryu launched an attack of his own, his water easily negating my Ember.

"Charcoal, throw him a fireball," my trainer ordered. I did as I was told, launching a fireball at the Staryu.

"You just don't learn, do you?" the gym leader said. "Water Gun again!" The Staryu fired out another stream of water, waiting until the last second to divert my fireball into the pool. Obviously this wasn't working, yet it was the only thing I could think of.

I was pretty much brain dead, having to follow my trainer's orders and- "Now use Swift!" Wait. What was going on? Who was using Swift now? I was snapped out of my thoughts upon hearing that command, just in time for a volley of yellow stars to make contact upon my body.

"Dodge it!" I heard my trainer yell, but my brain was not complying. All I could do was stand there and take the hit, grimacing with pain. It felt like an eternity before the Swift attack ended. I had to practically fall to my knees to keep myself from falling over. I could feel my eyes droop, my head starting to burn feverishly. The pain in my shoulders flared slightly as my breathing became a bit difficult. This battle barely got started and I was already ready to tag out.

I looked back up at where the Staryu stood, or rather was standing. He wasn't recalled, was he? If that was the case, then- "Charcoal!" my trainer suddenly yelled. "Get out of there! He's underwater!"

"Huh?" I asked, looking back at him. Before I could even register what he said, the entire platform I was on suddenly began tipping over with me sliding down to the water below. Panic ensued me and instinct for survival kicked in at that last, precise moment. Reacting on instinct, I leapt off the platform, aiming for the next one. I was practically on my stomach as I landed, feeling the chilled water beneath me as the platform sunk a little. It really didn't help with how I was feeling at the moment.

"I'm surprised your Charmander managed to get out of that," I heard the gym leader say as I struggled to get up. "But I'm not going to drag this battle on forever. Staryu, let's wrap this up quickly. Knock him out."

I turned my head as the Staryu shot up from under water and began spinning around in the air, gaining speed and momentum. I could tell what was about to happen and could only think of one thing to say as he came spinning down at me. "Oh noodle sauce!" I wasn't exactly sure what happened after that. I didn't even register being hit. All I knew was that when I was next aware of what was going on, I was flying through the air. Everything around me was nothing but a blur. Everything fell silent as I flew through the air. Everything about me was empty inside. I felt nothing, heard nothing, not my trainer ordering for me to do something, not the pain I was supposed to have felt or rather feel, not the fear of battling on top of the water, nothing, not even when I plunged head first into the water below.

A cold chill made its way through my body as the fire on my tail was instantly snuffed out, yet I hadn't seemed to care. Nor have I even bothered to make the attempt to swim back up. I couldn't even tell which way was up or down at this point. All I knew was that I felt very relaxed upon that point, feeling like I was floating in mid-air. It was a calming feeling, a feeling that I liked and accepted as I continued to float freely, shutting my eyes and allowing the darkness to seep in.

Bits and pieces of my past flashed through my mind, my memories being the only thing left for me to reflect on as I began to slip away. I remembered every detail of my life, all the books I read as I studied up on humans, the many trinkets in life they bought to keep themselves entertained, all the times I spent strategizing many a battle, finding a weak spot upon Pokèmon I could use as as an advantage. I never had much time to socialize except the times I practiced what I studied upon the few Pokèmon I came across in my life. But all that no longer seemed to have mattered as I allowed myself to give in and accept-

"So you 're giving up, just like that?" someone had suddenly spoke up, interrupting my thoughts once again. I opened my eyes, or at least I think I did. I wasn t exactly sure where I was, but as I looked around to see who spoke, my eyes rested upon the one Pokèmon I wouldn t have thought I d see here, wherever here was.

"Zack?" I questioned out loud. "What are you doing here? And how are we speaking?"

"We 're inside your mind," Zack said. "But the better question to ask is what do you think you re doing?"

"What are you talking abou-" I began to say, only to be slapped across the face by Zack himself. The sudden, stinging slap completely caught me by surprise. All I could do was stand there, not believing what had just happened..

"So this is how you accept defeat?" Zack questioned. "By giving into your fear? By giving up before the battle even begins?" I remained silent, still surprised from the slap I had received. "It 's no wonder you re so weak. I m beginning to think that having me captured was just a fluke."

I blinked, my attention shifting upon him as he spoke. He dare think that his capture was just a fluke? That I was below him in strength and power? "What did you say?" I growled.

"What do I need to repeat myself?" he asked. "There 's no way you could have been strong enough to take me down to have our master capture me. It was nothing more than a fluke. There s no room on the team for weak creatures like you." All the meanwhile as he spoke, my anger continued to build. "In fact, if I were you, I would just leave. It must be embarrassing for you to be so weak out of all of us combined. Heck, even Skitty s stronger than you."

"Shut up!" I said angrily. "I won 't let you down talk me like this so you just shut up!"

"And what are you going to do about it?" Zack asked. "Go running home to mommy? Oh wait! You re far away from home! You have no place to go. You ll always be a weak-"

"Stop it!"

"-pathetic-"

"I said enough!"

"-no good-"

" Be quiet!"

" -fluke winning-"

"SHUT UP!" I screamed out as I lashed out a fist, smashing Zack directly in the face as hard as I could. I breathed rather heavy, surprising myself for that kind of out lash. But I was so sick and tired of being called weak among all other things. Zack got up as I stood there, a small chuckle being let loose. "What s so funny?"

"That s the Charcoal I know," Zack said, wiping a small trickle of blood coming from his nose. "I was beginning to wonder if you were going to snap out of it."

"Huh?" I asked confused. What the heck was going on?

"Listen Charcoal," Zack said. "I know you may not believe this when I tell you, but you actually have the potential to beat this guy. You re strong, Charcoal. So show me what you ve got."

"How can you say that I am?" I asked. "I'm fighting a losing battle. Water types are stronger than fire."

"Then do what you do best," Zack said. "You managed to weaken me for capture. Use those same tactics to beat this star thing. Of course, if you can t manage it, then what use do you have being on the team?" I glared up angrily at Zack, angry at the fact that he would dare mock my spot on the team. I d show him how wrong he was. Maybe then he 'd show some respect towards me.

I instantly opened my eyes, fighting away the darkness as it threatened to overtake me. I immediately noticed that I was still sinking inside the pool though my thoughts were scattered about at the moment. Once I determined my whereabouts and the position I was in, I righted myself, looking right up at where the surface was. Knowing that I had limited air, I gritted my teeth as I raised up my arms to propel myself upward, the excruciating pain shooting throughout my entire body.

"Pain? What pain? I don't feel any pain!" I thought as I swam my way up, breaking through the surface. I took in a deep breath of fresh air, hacking and coughing as I swam over to one of those platforms and climbed up on it.

"Hey look!" I could hear a female s voice yell out. "He s all right!" I lied there upon my back, regulating my breathing as the pain in my shoulders throbbed. My eyes were closed due to the room spinning on me. Apparently my shoulders weren t the only thing throbbing. My head was warm and my entire body was chilled.

"Hey Charcoal!" I heard Zack yell out. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I answered after about a minute. "Just needed a breather."

"Ok," he said. "I was only asking because your tail flame is kind of out." That s right! That s why my body felt cold. I had almost forgotten that my flame was put out the moment I entered the water. Opening my eyes, I turned myself about, pushing myself up, ignoring the pain my shoulders.

"I have to admit," I heard the Staryu say as my legs wobbled. "Very few fire types wouldn t be able to stand, let alone any. Though I admire your ability for wanting to fight, all good things-" He stopped suddenly as I raised up a paw in the motion of him to cease talking though in my case, it was a completely different reason.

"Listen up," I said, my breathing coming out short and fast. "Five minutes. Five minutes is all I have. And within that time, I will beat you." Silence spread around, all eyes staring upon me, though the humans hadn t a clue as to what I had said. After a minute or so of silence, the Staryu began to laugh, the jewel piece in the center flashing as he did.

"You are such a crack up, Charmander," he said. I am rather amused by your determination to beat me, no matter how serious you are.

"Four minutes," I said, causing the Staryu to fall silent.

"Very well, he said. If you want to be beaten that badly, then I shall grant you that request. With that, he fired off a rather powerful Water Gun, aimed straight for me.

"Charcoal!" I heard my trainer say. " Do your thing!" About time he allowed me to. As the Water Gun was about to hit, I raised up my paws, crossing them in front of me in an X-shape as I activated my Metal Claw. The attack hit, my shield managing to keep the Water Gun at bay, though it pushed me back towards the edge of the platform. Time was short as my vision blurred. Mustering what strength I had, I forced my paws outward and spread them out wide, dispelling the attack while gritting my teeth from the pain.

"What?" the Staryu said, surprised. "There's no possible way. You shouldn't be able to have much strength left."

"That's what you get for underestimating me," I growled.

"There's just no way!" the Staryu said as he fired of another volley of Swift. Once again I crossed my arms in front of me to act as a shield, and once again I ceased the attack upon spreading my paws outward, batting some of the stars back at him.

"Wh-what's going on?" the gym leader asked. "How's your Charmander doing that?"

"When push comes to shove, Charcoal goes all out till the very end," my trainer said.

"Three minutes bub," I said. "And yet all your weak lame attacks aren't doing you good. In fact, I almost find this battle boring."

"Boring?" the Staryu questioned. "You find me, boring?"

"Well if the shoe fits," I replied, scratching an itch.

"Fine," the Staryu said. "I'll finish this battle up in one minute and give you a reason not to view this boring." With that, the Staryu leapt into the air and began spinning around, gaining speed and momentum before coming down at me. Waiting until the last possible second, I leaned myself back, shooting up a leg just as the Staryu passed over me. The sudden under kick caused him to wobble before landing in the pool while I used my grounded leg to push off and back flipped back onto both feet.

"Two minutes."

"That was so awesome!" I heard Zack say, causing me to look back just as the Staryu shot out of the water, spinning straight for me. A sneak attack eh? I had to thank Zack for saying something, otherwise the battle would have been over within the next instant. As the Staryu spun closer, I turned about, swinging a Metal Claw right at him. The attack met him dead on, but due to the fact that the Staryu was spinning, my arm swung back, the attack deflecting off. Excruciating pain shot through my entire body and I couldn't hold back the scream that followed. I fell to my knees, clutching at my shoulder.

"Come on," I thought. "Get it together. I can beat this guy. There's no greater pain than having to lose in my situation." Now that I had mentioned it, my head was feeling very woozy and the entire room was spinning. I had to support myself with my left paw to keep myself from falling over. I slowly craned my neck back, my eyes scanning the place for the Staryu. My head drooped, my vision too blurred to even see. I didn't have any time left, so I quickly thought about the Staryu himself and what possible weak spots it had. Five arms. It had five arms and the gem piece in the center, which I'm pretty sure was the ultimate weak spot and his face. Why I was thinking that must have been due to the fever. But it had to be nonetheless.

However, that proved to be a problem due to the fact that he spun around, making hitting him that much harder. Not to mention the fact that his arms acted like blades when he spun. Almost tore my arm off just trying to whack him. If only I could get in between those blade arms of his- That's it! There was a possible weak spot! No one, not one single Pokèmon in this world would be able to discover that weak spot in their lifetime. The only problem with that was the fact that the Staryu spun too fast to even get to it. One would actually need to freeze time in order to make a successful hit, that or have Psychic, an attack I could do without.

Getting back to the matter at hand, I raised my head up, shaking off the blurriness that threatened to overtake me just in time to spot the Staryu coming straight for me. "This match is as good as over!" he yelled out as he spun near. I focused my vision, studying the spin of his blades, matching the rhythm of how he spun. Merely inches from my face, I suddenly closed my eyes, relaxing my entire body, and swayed gently to the left, raising up my paws and grabbing hold of the next blade that came, tensing my body in the next instant as I felt myself begin to spin.

"Hey!" the Staryu yelled as I held on tight. "What do you think you're doing? Let go!"

"I will let go!" I yelled back, my stomach ready to- Ugh! Didn't want to think about it. "Because this match is over!" Holding on tight with my left paw, I raised up my right one, activating a Metal Claw once more.

"Don't!" the Staryu cried out as I raised my paw in the air and, with my eyes still closed, rammed it down in front of me, hoping to have hit his center. I must have done so too, for the Staryu screamed out in excruciating pain the next moment. Taking a Metal Claw to the face wasn't pleasant at all. Fighting with two punctured shoulders, a fever, and an upset stomach was even less pleasant.

The Staryu's spinning slowed as we began to descend. I smiled a little, content with the fact that I had beaten the Staryu even though I was going down with it. "And that's five minutes," I mumbled as I slipped off into unconsciousness long before I hit the ground.