Hiya to all that have chosen to read about my battles, I’m Emily Whyte and I travel with Tetsubo. A lot of people have asked and no, Tetsubo is not my guy, he’s a really good friend and that’s it... I guess... Well, I’m not sure, he’s always been there for me, especially recently. While Bianca and the other jerks I thought to be my friends, dumped me because of that incident with Sebastian, Tetsubo let me join him right away and we’ve been doing great together. I was asked to talk about my Gym Battles but like most people, I keep a diary so I decided to make certain pages public reading material instead. Enjoy. --- Emily's First Gym Battle: Pewter City (by Michael Keens/ Exodus) --- I had put behind my first loss last night with that red head in the beret, I still don’t see how she could get that Rhyhorn to listen to her. She made me so mad... Tetsubo had gotten up early and left his Pokémon in our room so I promised them I’d get him to come back, Tetsubo was finished with breakfast by the time I entered the Pokémon Centre dining room, I figured I’d get a snack later and fight the Gym Leader now. Tetsubo and I caught up on old times over the past few days, and he had refreshed my head with some Pokémon type advantages to help me along. I had asked Tetsubo if I could train by myself today, and I think he got the wrong impression. “I sure hope he waits up.” I thought, after my so-called friends ditched me, he was there to catch me when I fell, the only friend left that I knew from years ago. My true friend (I don’t know why, but I get this lovely feeling inside when I talk about him, but I don’t think its love). Anyway, there I was at the Gym, all grey and square-like, it was boring yet scary. When I entered, the main arena was very dark and the floor was all mud and rock-like. I was surprised when a gruff man spoke out. “So, another challenger... Why don’t we skip the talking and get down to a two-on-two battle.” he said. The man had spiky brown hair and he looked like he had something in his eyes. We both threw our Pokéballs, he had a Graveler, and I had my Oddish. Taking type difference into account, I had the type advantage but he probably had a level advantage. “Graveler! Use your Rock Throw!” “Blossom! Run away!” “Hah ha ha!” he laughed, “I see you brought a Grass-type hoping for an easy victory!” “No sir, it was just luck.” “Well your luck is about to run out. Graveler, Dig!” It burrowed into the ground, Blossom looked absolutely terrified and ran side to side nervously. “Wait Blossom, try to feel the ground and strike with Acid!” Blossom was brave and stayed where she was, it was in her hands now, so to speak. Listening carefully, she put her petals on the ground, then practically laid on her side to hear the sounds from below, there was a crash and Blossom leaped backwards spitting the poison into the Graveler’s eyes, the Graveler was blinded now. “Okay! Good job! Now finish it by absorbing its strength!” “Ooooooddish!!!” Blossom screamed drawing out the greenish light. The Graveler fell to the floor defeated, Blossom looked very pleased with herself and so she should be, beating that Graveler looked a little daunting at first, but we handled it together. “So you’re not just a pretty face... Now I’ll use... Rhyhorn!!!” “RHY!!!” My mouth dropped, that was the Pokémon the red-head finished the match with yesterday, the one who shattered my little Discharge, it took Joy some time before she could repair it. I wished Tetsubo was here now, he’d tell me what to do, you could always depend on him to point out all your Pokémon-related mistakes, but I knew he wasn’t coming, this was my fight, as would be the other seven Gym Battles, I had to act on my own, face my fears, that sort of thing. Blossom was also a little shaky. “Rhyhorn! Use Take Down!” It was fast and Blossom fell down hurt, she turned to me and tried to pick herself back up but I wouldn’t let her go on and recalled her. The ball shook a little but I held on tight until it stopped. The only other Pokémon that would stand a chance was someone that wasn’t limited to the ground. “Buzzer! Go!” “Bee!” “A Bug Pokémon, don’t you know they’re weak against Rock-types? And the Poison side is equally useless.” “Fury Attack!” “Rhyhorn! Take Down!” “Buzzer! Fly into the air!” Buzzer dealt the blow but quickly retreated before the Rhyhorn came crashing down. “Why not try a Twineedle?” Buzzer flew up high and shot out its hand needles which hit the Rhyhorn but bounced right off and returned to Buzzer. “Twineedle’s not working, retreat into the air and Focus Energy!” “Now’s our chance Rhyhorn, use your Horn Attack!” It shot its horn into the air, Buzzer stopped meditating and dodged it, but barely. “Again! Rhyhorn! Keep using Horn Attack!” “RHYY!!!” The horns were coming in faster. “Buzzer! Try your Agility!” “Beeeee- Bee!” It wasn’t ready for its last attack and was damaged by a horn. The others were coming in fast. “Okay then, fly around them and try Poison Sting!” “Poison isn’t going to work either, Ground Pokémon’s shells protect them against Poison, you made the wrong choice!” said the Gym Leader. I quickly studied the Rhyhorn while Buzzer made his descent, saw the intricate features of Rhyhorn’s tough armour, and looked at the joints. “Buzzer! Go for the neck!” “Bee? Beebee!” Charging down, Buzzer jabbed it where the small gap was. “RHY!” It shook around and Buzzer came off. “Stomp!” “Oh no!” Buzzer was crushed under the feet of the Rhyhorn, when it moved away, Buzzer was in no condition to fight. “Buzzer, Return.” “You still have your other Pokémon, or do you wish to forfeit?” “No, I won’t give up, and neither will Blossom.” “So be it.” “Oddish!” “Blossom, this Rhyhorn is too powerful for you, so use Sleep Powder and then finish it off.” “Oddish...” I was expecting a lot from Blossom, but she was my only Grass-type Pokémon. “Oddddiiissshh!” she shouted running forward. “Fury Attack! Meet it head on!” “Blossom! Watch out!” Luckily for me, the poison Buzzer put in earlier was taking effect, and the Rhyhorn looked ill and couldn’t use its Fury Attack. “Fine... I’m sure you can still use Stomp, since there’s not much effort needed.” “Rhhyy...” “Rhyhorn, Stomp the floor, that Oddish is too small to withstand your strength.” “Blossom! Look out!” “Oddish?” The Rhyhorn brought its foot down, the quake caused Blossom to land upside down. “Now, Stomp it for real...” said the Gym Leader. “Blossom!” I screamed. The dusty ground flooded the air with mist and I could only see Blossom’s leaves sinking down before a huge crashing sound could be heard. “Sorry girl, its not enough to bring a Grass Pokémon in here, if it doesn’t have the body to withstand a Ground and Rock Pokémon’s powerful Normal attacks... What?!” “Odddd!!!” Blossom was in the air, I thought about how she could get so high, the leaves, she used them as a fan to push herself off the floor and used the winds from Rhyhorn’s attack to glide in the air. “You the ‘Mon, Blossom! Sleep Powder!” “Odddd!” “Rhy...” It couldn’t avoid the inevitable sleep that followed. “Absorb its energy Blossom, take your time and make it good!” “Odddd... Dish!” “Rhyyy...” It collapsed to the floor. “Alright!” I shouted, unable to contain myself. I ran forward and gave her a good hug. “Oddish! Oddish!” “I’m very proud of you. Buzzer too...” “You did very good, girl, you proved that your Grass Pokémon has a lot of strength, I can’t wait to see how strong it will be when it evolves.” said the Gym Leader. “Thank you sir.” “We weren’t properly introduced. I’m Flint.” “Emily Whyte, from Fuchsia City.” “Well then Emily, I confer to you, the Boulder Badge.” “Alright!” I shouted holding my first badge, a grey boulder-shaped gem. I spent the rest of the day battling some trainers on the outskirts of Viridian Forest. Boy, were they surprised when Blossom beat their Bug-types. I kinda lost track of time, but managed to catch up with Tetsubo, I couldn’t let him think I stood him up, we sorted out that we’d be okay at giving each other some space once in a while. He managed to get a Boulder Badge too but had battled one of the Fossil Pokémon, and had battled more of the elusive Rockets in the museum. He got all the breaks, still I couldn’t have a better travelling companion and we went on our way down Route 3. --- Chad's Third Gym Battle Rick's First Gym Battle Back to the Side Stories Back to the Pokézone