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Gym Battle in Grey Town (by Michael Keens/ Exodus)  

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I’ve had a hectic week.  
After Burnt Town, I headed back to the Day Care Centre to pick up my Magikarp.  
I knew how pathetic they were at this stage, but its evolved form, Gyarados, 
was apparently the most dependable Pokémon around.  
I needed a Pokémon that held a record like that but first it’d need experience, 
and I’d hoped that the Caretaker had raised it a few levels.  
I had planned to collect my Pokémon before heading off to the southern islands, 
and arrived there days later, only to find out that the Caretaker of the Day 
Care Centre isn’t very reliable.  
He had only managed to let my Pokémon be stolen by two gangs of Team Rocket, a 
trainer had rescued my Magikarp but not my Butterfree.  
He wasn’t very powerful or skilful enough to come along with me anyway.  
I only had six spaces and no sponsor to take care of other Pokémon so I had 
planned to give it to another trainer, perhaps for a little money in return.  
It turned out that the Screwloose Brothers stole Flutter on purpose to get back 
at me, but thanks to the efforts of myself and two other trainers, I managed to 
set free some other captured Pokémon.  
One of the trainers, I gave Flutter to, as he proved to truly care for him.  
It was my gift to him and possibly my trump card for later.  
Okay, he had a name, Tetsubo, I think, and unfortunately his friend Emily (who 
I refer to as ‘Green’) was with him also and managed to even the score in a 
small battle.  
All in all, things worked out, and I kinda hope to see him again.  
He’s the only one that treats me like an adult and not a young child.  

I got off another ship, as a stowaway, and arrived in Grey Town, a normal town 
that had a Pokémon Gym.  
I got some lunch from the spare change I had found, and the cook felt sorry for 
me and gave me a little extra food so that I wouldn’t waste away.  
After that, I went straight to the Gym.  

“Come on in girl, I’ll use my weaker Pokémon to give you a chance.” said the 
Gym Leader, a man with white hair and glasses.  
This was getting repetitive but it was one of the perks of having the mind of a 
mature lady in the body of a child.  

“Three-on-three battle.  Go, Jigglypuff!”  
“Go, Armour.”  
“Rhhhyyy!!!”  
“Jiggly! Puff?!...”  
“Why you...”  
He had just learned not to judge on appearances.  
“You’ve got a Rhyhorn, you must be very experienced! I’ll be sure not to 
underestimate you again.  Jigglypuff, Sing!”  
“Charge forward.”  
“RHY!”  
He ran forward, but slowly and surely was looking more and more drowsy the 
closer he got.  
“Now, Psychic attack!”  
“Jiggly!!!”  
Armour fell back, awakened but a little hurt.  
“Armour, don’t let her show you up, use your Stomp attack.”  
“Rhyyy!!!” he shouted slamming his feet on the floor, the little balloon 
Pokémon stood no chance and was shaken by the force.  
“Finish it up Armour, Take Down.”  
He slammed into the Jigglypuff, it sunk to the floor after the hit.  
“Very good, considering you virtually cheated.  This’ll be more than a match 
for your Rock-type.”  
“Hoooaarrrgghhh!!!”  
A Tauros.  
I had brought out Armour to exploit the advantage he had over Normal-types, his 
tough rocky skin prevented Normal-type attacks from hitting hard.  
“Tauros, Fissure.”  
“What?” I exclaimed, though quietly.  
It was surprising that I let out my emotions like that, looks like I really did 
have the ability to use them, except I felt an urge not to.  
Unfortunately, Armour couldn’t move in time and was hit hard by the tremor.  
When the dust cleared, the arena had a deep crack in it and Armour was 
struggling to stay above ground.  
I recalled him.  
His Rock-type weakness had been spotted long ago by the Gym Leader.  
“I need a different sort of power now.” I pondered, “Nightmare, Go.”  
“Drowsee...” he chanted.  
“Tauros, another Fissure!”  
“Confusion.”  
The Tauros stomped its feet down, but didn’t hit the ground on account of the 
fact that Nightmare had lifted him into the air.  
He then threw him back, into the wall.  
The Tauros snorted and scrapped its feet on the floor, preparing to attack 
again.  
“Take Down!”  
“Poison Gas.”  
The Tauros didn’t breathe in and hit Nightmare hard.  
“Drow!” he said a little angrily.  
“Stomp it down!” shouted the Gym Leader.  
“Disable.”  
The Tauros was frozen in the air.  
“Head Butt.”  
“Drow!”  
He leaped up and whacked his head against the Tauros.  
“Haaaooorrgghh!!!”  
“Finish it Nightmare, Confusion.”  
The Tauros was flung backwards and lay in a heap.  
“Perhaps you’re not as much of a cheat as I thought, you’re a competent 
trainer.  
But this Pokémon is my newest and most dangerous...  Lickitung!”  
“Licki!!!”  
“You know what to do, Lickitung.”  
“Nightmare, Pound it.”  
He charged forward raising his arms.  
I had to power on through before whatever the Pokémon’s strength was, shined.  
The long tongue stretched back, then shot forward, twice the length of its 
body, towards Nightmare and knocked him to the floor.  
“Nightmare, Confusion.”  
The Lickitung was already shooting its tongue again, but Nightmare stopped it 
and shot it back into its mouth.  
“Bite your tongue.” I said darkly, “Nightmare, Head Butt it quickly.”  
Though its tongue was aching a little, the Lickitung had other moves.  
“Supersonic!”  
“Lickkkk!!!” it shouted, emitting the waves that caused Nightmare some internal 
hurt.  
“Body Slam!”  
The Lickitung barged into Nightmare, then leaped into the air.  
“Slam!”  
It landed on Nightmare, crushing it with its weight.  
“Nightmare, Return.”  
I had no more Pokémon of a large size, I needed to use the little ones, but 
which one?  
The Lickitung had a lot of power but would probably sacrifice some of its 
special stat for it.  
Pixie had many defensive attacks but her only real offence in this fight would 
be the Metronome, but it was too unreliable for this battle.  
Sparky hadn’t been in a Gym Battle before but I knew the next town over was a 
Water Gym and so, would use him there.  
I had thought I had taught him everything he needed to know, until Green pulled 
off a lucky victory, and so decided that now was not the time for him.  
My Magikarp wouldn’t stand a chance in heck of winning.  
But there was one Pokémon I had never tried:  Foxfire.  
I had trained her early on and raised her to learn all her moves.  
I didn’t evolve her though, whoever I used to be might not have wanted to 
evolve her or Pixie or Sparky, and I decided to respect that wish, at least, 
until I regained some personality of my former self.  
“I choose Foxfire.”  
“Vulpix!” she yelped, happy to be out of her ball, she hadn’t fought in a 
while.  
“That little fox won’t beat my big Lickitung.”  
“Foxfire, Ember.”  
“Vul!!!”  
The Lickitung stood aside and the fireball blasted the wall.  
“Fire Spin.”  
It wasn’t avoiding that attack as easily, it got surrounded in the flames but 
not pulled up due to its weight.  
It came out burnt but not defeated.  
“Licki...” it grumbled.  
“Lickitung, Lick.”  
The tongue flew forward, I had to stop it.  
“Confuse Ray.”  
“Vuuullll!!!”  
Her eyes glowed and the Lickitung’s did also, but then were left in a daze.  
It shook its head around to rid itself of confusion.  
I had a little time to try out something.  
“Roar.”  
Foxfire breathed heavy, then let out as scary a scream as she could, 
“VUUULLLL!!!”  
“Liiiccckkkkiiiccckkk!!!...” moaned the Lickitung nervously.  
It stepped backwards, then jumped into the Gym Leader’s arms.  
He nearly fell over with the heavy Pokémon.  
No backing down now, “Flamethrower.” I said darkly.  
“Crud!” screamed the Gym Leader dropping the Lickitung and making a dash for 
it.  
The Lickitung was too fat to run away quick enough and was hit hard, an 
explosion surrounded the Lickitung and faded.  
The Lickitung fell to the floor, every inch of its body burnt, including its 
tongue.  
“My ‘little fox’ too spicy for you?...” I asked in a non joking tone.  

“Lickitung...  I underestimated you so much, but a win is a win.”  
He handed me the badge, plain, grey and flat like a coin.  
“I award you the Basic Badge.  You’re more mature than you look.  Keep it 
up.”  
I wasn’t sure if he meant my training skills or my deception, but I didn’t let 
it bother me.  

I left the Gym, proud of my Pokémon and one badge richer, if they could be seen 
that way.  
I snuck onto the next boat and onwards towards the next Gym.  

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Emily's Second Gym Battle
Rick's Third Gym Battle
Back to the Side Stories
Back to the Pokézone