Disclaimer: I do not own anything, I make no money or profit from this.
Chapter 44: Onwards To Dark City
[Route 16]
The trio of trainers were currently walking down the forest-like route, onto their next destination. Clyde and Ronnie Anne were looking a little depressed as they walked.
"Are you guys still sad that Mina went back to school?" Lynn asked, looking over her shoulder at her students.
"Maybe a little," Clyde started to reply. "But mostly it's because-".
"Did we deserve the Rainbow Badge?" Ronnie Anne said, interrupting Clyde. "Erika was so out of shape, that it wasn't a challenge! It just doesn't feel like we earned it."
Lynn looked at them for a second, before looking back in front of her. "I get how you feel," she started saying. "Look, no matter what, you earned that badge. However I feel the same. There's no glory in beating an already defeated opponent. Which is why we're going to Dark City."
Both of her students gave her confused looks. "Is that where we're going?" Ronnie Anne asked. "When we left Celadon, you just told us you got this."
"Why is it called Dark City?" Clyde asked.
"I don't know why it's called that," the older girl started to reply. "You see, after our first meeting with Erika, I thought we wouldn't be able to challenge her. So I asked Nurse Joy about any other gyms that were close. She then told me that there was a gym in Dark City. So I already planned a route to get there, thinking we weren't going to face Erika."
"So we're going to take on that gym next?" The younger girl asked, excitement starting to fill her voice.
"What can you tell us about the gym and gym leader?" The young boy asked in curiosity.
"Yeah, I want another badge to replace my Rainbow Badge," Lynn replied. "You two don't need to take on this gym if you don't want to, but I want to. As for the gym, I was told it was a Bug Type Gym. The Gym Leader is some young and new girl. The gym and her just started this season. That's all I was told."
"Will she even be any good?" Ronnie Anne asked with a raised eyebrow.
"She can't be worse than Erika," Lynn replied, which both of her students nodded in agreement. "I was also told the gym almost never happened because of an incident."
"Incident?" Both younger teens in unison.
"Yeah," Lynn started to tell the story. "When it was announced that Dark City was nominated to get an official gym, two individuals wanted their place to be the gym. They, along with their students, started a war with each other. Any trainers that were passing through were forcibly drafted into one of the two factions. Their many battles had destroyed much of the city, unsettling and angering many of the local citizens. A league inspector went there undercover, to see if the rumors were true. They were and the inspector threatened to cancel the gym. Both leaders quickly put aside their differences and claimed they would work together for the gym. They were shocked when they were told that neither one of them could ever be the Gym Leader, because neither one was qualified to be one."
"Wait, why did they think one of them was going to be the Gym Leader anyways?" Ronnie Anne asked, confused.
"They both ran a dojo or something in the town," Lynn replied with a shrug.
"I guess they didn't know that to be a Gym Leader, you have to go through a written and practical test just for the league to consider you an applicant?" Clyde asked. Lynn nodded, confirming his suspicions.
"Wait! Really?!" Ronnie Anne asked, shocked.
"Yes, I learned about it while studying," Clyde replied to her. "Once they consider you, you then have to do several more tests. You might even get sent somewhere else for more training."
"Wow," she said in awe. "Since there's a gym there, what happened?" She asked the older girl.
"According to Nurse Joy, the people of the town chased the leaders out for everything they did," Lynn replied. "They closed their places and left. The trainers were disciplined slightly for participating in the public destruction, but didn't have their trainer licenses revoked. The gym was built and a qualified person is now running it."
"Okay! Now I want to challenge it!" Ronnie Anne said with excitement.
"Yeah! Me too!" Clyde said with equal excitement.
"Then it settled," Lynn said before something hit her in the head. "Ow! What the heck?!" She shouted looking down to see what hit her. All three trainers saw it was a Tamato Berry. They then looked up and saw 3 Mankeys' laughing in a tree above them.
"Hey! Why'd you do that?!" Ronnie Anne shouted angrily at the laughing Pokemon. They continue laughing, while one throws a Tamato Berry at her. "Stop that!" She shouted, dodging the berry.
"We should be careful," Clyde said in a cautious tone. "Mankeys can become hostile quickly."
"Any other time I would've agreed with you Clyde," Lynn started to say, a smirk appearing on her face. "However, I've been wanting to catch a Mankey for a long time. I just never had any luck coming across one in my journeys. I'm not going to miss this opportunity."
"Let's do this Infernape!" Lynn said, sending out her Pokemon. "Use Flamethrower!" She ordered. Infernape shot out a stream of fire, hitting one of the Mankeys'.
The other two stopped laughing and glared at the three trainers, before jumping down and got ready to fight.
"This isn't good," Clyde said nervously, seeing one of the Pokemon approaching him. "Go Gloom! Use Stun Spores!" He shouted, sending out his starter.
"Fine with me! Go Houndour!" Ronnie Anne said, sending out the Dark Pokemon. "Use Thunder Fang!"
The Mankey facing Gloom charged into the Stun Spore without a second thought, becoming paralyzed. The Mankey facing Houndour used Low Kick, only for Houndour to dodge it. She then bit onto one of its limbs with an electric covered mouth.
"Hit it with Magical Leaf!" Clyde commanded.
"Now use Flamethrower!" Ronnie Anne commanded.
Both Houndour and Gloom used their attacks, hitting their opponents and knocking them out. Both young trainers grabbed an empty pokeball and tossed them at the unconscious Pokemon. The balls shook a little before they stopped, indicating the Pokemon were caught.
"Did we just catch them?" Clyde asked, slightly confused.
"Yeah, did you want to?" Ronnie Anne asked, which he shook his head no. "I didn't either, it was like my body did it on its own."
Before they could ponder why they instinctively caught the Mankeys', Houndour started to glow. Both trainers' eyes widened, knowing what was happening. When the glow faded, it showed Houndour had evolved into Houndoom. Ronnie Anne immediately ran to her and started to hug her while congratulating her. Clyde joined in, forgetting about the last Mankey and Lynn.
The Mankey fighting Infernape saw its friends be caught and got even angrier. It started to pound on the ground in fury, before it started to glow as well. This caught the younger trainers' attention, while Lynn's smirk grew. When the glow faded it was shown it had evolved into a Primeape.
"Now that's what I wanted," Lynn said happily. "I'm definitely catching you! Infernape use Flame Wheel!"
The Flame Pokemon rolled up into a ball, covered himself in fire, and rolled toward his opponent. Primeape stood its ground and took the hit, so it could grab a hold of it and hit it with a Seismic Toss.
"This one's a fighter, good!" Lynn said, enjoying this battle. "Hit it with some Drain Punches!"
Infernape's fists glowed brown as he punched the Pig Monkey Pokemon. Primeape took every hit, while hitting its opponent with Thunder Punches. However, Infernape was healing everything she was receiving thanks to Drain Punch.
"Finish this with Close Combat!" Lynn shouted.
Infernape then unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks. Once he was done, Primeape fell to the ground.
"Great! Now to catch- huh?!" Lynn said surprised, seeing Primeape slowly getting back to its feet. As it did, it stared at Infernape, while Infernape stared right back. However, Primeape just gave him a nod, before fainting. Lynn then threw the pokeball, it shook a few times, before it stopped and then disappeared.
"Finally!" Lynn shouted happily,while laughing and doing a victory dance. "I finally caught a Primeape!"
"Congrats Lynn," Clyde said, walking up to her with Ronnie Anne, Gloom, and Houndoom.
"Thanks," she said with a smile, finished dancing. "And Congrats to you as well Ronnie Anne, Houndour finally evolved."
"Yeah, I'm happy for her," Ronnie Anne said while hugging Houndoom. "We also caught the other Mankeys', although we didn't plan too." Clyde nodded as if to say the same thing.
"That's just you both developing more trainer instincts," Lynn told them with a smile. "So what are you going to do with them?"
"I'm not sure," Clyde said looking at the pokeball that had his Mankey.
"Now that I caught it, I'm thinking of Wonder trading it," Ronnie Anne said, looking at her own Mankey's pokeball. "I don't think they like us very much. They might listen to people who didn't catch them."
"Not a bad idea," Lynn said with a smile, before putting on a serious expression. "Just remember you have to take care of it until then." Clyde and Ronnie Anne nodded that they understood. "Now let's get going, I want to get to a pokecenter so I can get Lincoln from Professor Juniper."
"Lincoln?" Both of her students asked, confused.
"Yeah, I'm naming Primeape after Linc," Lynn replied with a shit-eating smile. "It's only fair, he named his after me."
"What if it's a girl?" Clyde asked.
"All the more reason to do so," Lynn said with a chuckle, as she started walking. Her students looked at each other, before shrugging and following her.