--- Emily's Eighth Gym Battle: Burnt Town (by Michael Keens/ Exodus) --- I recently visited the Seafoam Islands, there I caught a Shellder and encountered an Articuno, a very rare and legendary Pokémon. I was lucky to escape, I don’t have a great deal of proof of the experience, except for my Pokédex entry. The experience made me realise how much I miss having human company around, namely Tetsubo, and how much I appreciated him, even if he did hide things from me. I arrived in a wasteland settlement called Burnt Town, a bustling city... before the famous fire. The people were so sad and had probably lost their loved ones, I sure felt alone, but it was by choice on some levels, and other levels concerning fate playing a big joke on me. No matter what I do, I can’t stop thinking of Tetsubo, and now that I’ve had plenty of time alone to think things through, although he hurt me with his lies, I feel some respect for trying his hardest to protect me and everyone else. He always jumped at the chance to help out when anyone needed it, that was genuine, there was no mistaking that, and the affections and respect he had for me, that was also true, in fact the only thing wrong was that lie, and it wasn’t as if he had asked for it to happen. My head was all mixed up and I needed more time to think, I’d have my last Gym Battle and then make up my mind, seeing as by winning the final Gym badge, I’d have to return to him, in order to honour my promise to Poisoness. “Oh, another challenger. Can we make this quick?” asked the Gym Leader calmly, she was wearing yellow clothing that was virtually rags, and she had spiky red hair, her attitude resembled someone from my past, though I couldn’t put a lid on it. “I don’t particularly want to, but if that’s the only choice I get. Why so moody? Lighten up.” “I can’t lighten up, every day is full of stress, rebuilding this town and finding the strength to carry on despite our losses, but still, I am a Gym Leader and I can’t let my mood get in the way of my job, that’s how Gyms get shut down.” she muttered, I think she was referring to the Cerulean Gym by that remark. “We shall both use two Pokémon. Go... Flareon.” “Flare! Flare! Flaaare!” “I choose you Shelly!” “Shell-Der!” squealed my newest Pokémon, he was tricky, but I just couldn’t be cross with him, because he was so darn cute. “Use your Water Gun!” “Shell!!!” “Use your Leer.” The Flareon’s eyes glowed yellow, but Shelly was shooting so much water from a small area, its eyes didn’t see the fear-inducing stare. The water splashed all over the Flareon and damaged it. “Use your Fire Blast.” “Shelly! Dodge and use your Supersonic!” Unfortunately the huge star of fire was too big to dodge, but I didn’t have to worry, Shelly stayed strong and screamed out, sending the Flareon into a confused state. “Now Tackle!” Shelly flew forward, but was on fire, he slammed into the Flareon, and then sprayed water into the air to rain down on him, and put out the fire, but he was still sore and came down with the Burn status every so often, a condition that hurt Shelly when it was moving around. “Use your Smog attack.” said the Gym Leader, probably trying to make sure that Shelly was hindered, but he jumped through and clamped onto the Flareon’s tail, causing it to scream out. “Use your Flamethrower.” “No!” I screamed, as the Flareon turned to Shelly, and flames were growing in its mouth. “Shell!!!” panicked Shelly, before being blasted off by the flames. “No...” I groaned, surely Shelly couldn’t take this much damage, the Gym Leader had obviously been training this Pokémon recently, because the Flareon had a lot of skills that it must have practised lately. Shelly lay inside its shell, I could only see the blackness inside of it. I sighed, “Return.” But as the recall laser shot out, the shell rolled to the side, I tried again, and it rolled right out of the way, towards the Flareon. “Withdraw...” I smiled, “That's the only way it could have withstood that Flamethrower.” “Flare?” questioned the Flareon, as Shelly rolled closer and closer. “Leer!” I shouted, and two red evil eyes shocked the Flareon into petrification. “Its frozen up, technically, let’s make it literal. Shelly! Ice Beam!” “Sheeeell!!!” A dazzling ray of beams shot out and trapped the Flareon in ice. “Finish it, Tackle!” The Shellder slammed its side on the Flareon, the ice shattered, and the Flareon fell down defeated. “You did it Shelly!” “Shellder! Shellder! Shell-” cheered Shelly, before succumbing to the pain of the burn. “Return.” I smiled. “I have to try harder, too many trainers have been winning recently, and if that happens, the Pokémon League might lower the budget on this Gym...” muttered the Gym Leader. “Oh, I’m sorry.” I apologised. “Why are you apologising for something that doesn’t concern you?” questioned the Gym Leader calmly, and then it hit me, that mood, those expressions, those actions, she had a similar likeness to Abby, a girl I despised for her supreme lack of emotions and stubborn attitude, but this girl was different, she showed a shred of affection and care for her Pokémon, and her clothes were more worn out than Abby’s. Since they were so much alike, maybe I could deal with the Gym Leader in the way that I should have with Abby, whatever that actually was... “I have to win too, my Pokémon are counting on me to fulfil a promise, and that means winning my final badge.” “I understand... Go Magmar.” “Go Tails!” “MAGGG!!!” “Nine!!!” “Magmar, use your Fire Blast.” “Fire Spin!” The two Fire-type attacks hit each other and exploded, sending flames and embers all over the arena, and leaving them there to grow, Fire Pokémon received little damage from fire, but were damaged none the less. “Use your Leer.” “Roar.” “MAGGG!!!” “NINE!!!” Both Pokémon were unaffected by the scare tactics, and charged forward to meet each other. “Use your Quick Attack!” “Use your Mega Kick.” Tails shot past the Magmar, sending it into a dizzy spin, but it stuck its leg out and caught the Ninetales as it spun, causing her more damage than it, she was hurt, but stable. “Confuse Ray!” The Magmar stopped spinning, and then went into a confused state, it must have been feeling ill by this point. “Use your Dig.” Tails burrowed underground, more suited to the tactic than when she was a Vulpix, and with the Magmar stumbling around, it didn’t take much to sneak up on it and bury it in dirt. “Now use your Tail Whip!” “Smog.” Before Tails could shoot past the Magmar and hit it with her tails (all nine of them), black gas seeped through the cracks of the small molehill of soil, and she ended up inhaling some of it. The Magmar roared as it broke loose, and spat out some Ember flames to burn up the dark poison cloud. Flickers of flames rained down on Tails, and she retreated by burrowing underground once more. One more Dig, and surely we’d win this one. But then a high pitched coughing could be heard, and the Magmar locked on and punched the ground with a Fire Punch, sending Tails falling out, her fur immersed in flames. “Use Smog attack.” said the Gym Leader, and the Magmar was about to cloud the area, while adding to Tails’s illness. “Tail Whip!” I shouted, getting a fix of creative inspiration. The many tails flung forward, and they fanned the poisonous air towards the Magmar, who was dumbfounded as the black cloud swept over it. It jumped out, and then it started coughing. I smiled, we could pull this back now. “Use your Fire Spin, but don’t concentrate on getting it accurate, just shoot it off and prepare for my next command.” I ordered gently, with Tails nodding, trusting my strategy. A blast of fire shot out and surrounded the Magmar, and between its loud coughing, and the crackling and burning of flames all around it, it would be pretty hard to hear Tails when she initiated the next attack. “Dig.” The Magmar was so busy trying to wave away the flames, and coughing regularly, that it didn’t even hear my Ninetales going underground, or the sound of the Gym Leader’s quiet voice. I knew I’d use a trait of Abby to my advantage at some point of the battle. The Magmar didn’t know what hit it, as an explosion of dirt sent it spiralling out of the ring of flames, and rolling into another fairly large blaze. “Good job Tails.” I smiled, but then the Magmar leapt up, and stood in a menacing stance, staring at my Pokémon intently, and then with a final cough, the poison finished the job, and sent the Magmar falling face first onto the floor. “Very good performance.” the Gym Leader said calmly, “May I ask you your name?” “Its Emily, and you?” “Why do you care? I’m just a Gym Leader to you.” “Well, I’d like to know...” I said kindly. “Blaze Harley.” she said after some hesitation, in a rather shy way, maybe she wasn’t totally like Abby, no one could be that cold and irritating. “That’s very sad.” I said, “That your name is a reminder of what destroyed the town.” “Don’t you think that’s crossed my mind time and time again? I’m working hard to rebuild the town, I really am, and I don’t need trainers like you getting me down, I’m already depressed.” “Actually, I’m really proud, you’re very strong, and compassionate, don’t let things get you down, you’re a nice person behind all that coldness, I see that, people hide a lot of things because they’re frightened or unsure, sometimes life forces you to... I’ve been stubborn about my feelings lately, I’ve let my hurt consume me and make me bitter, I should let go of it all and forgive him, and return to the lifestyle I love, travelling side by side, with my guy...” I rambled on, thinking of Tetsubo. With that, I left the Gym with my final badge (the Burn Badge) and had things properly thought out now, I had four months to train until the Pokémon League, and I should probably return home, where I would undoubtedly run into Tetsubo. After all this time, I was truly thinking about what he had done. But like always, he was looking out for my best interests, I saw that clearly after so long. Had Bryan’s threats been true, and Tetsubo had told of him, he could have done much worse than the simple beating I received... I shed some tears at the thought of it, but then cleared them after thinking of Tetsubo’s heroic rescue. I wondered what he was doing now, maybe he was surrounded by girls who had seen the goodness inside him, but on the other hand, he could have been all alone, and holding out for me, waiting for me to get over this, and return to him. I had to know how he felt about me, and by deciding that, I had finally reached my decision. I was time to see him again, I had to, I know it’d be tricky to repair our friendship, and our relationship, but now, I was willing to give it a try. The first step would be to give him a peace offering that I was pretty sure he’d appreciate, and return to the only place he’d be sure to come back to... I just hoped I was doing the right thing... --- Rick's Seventh Gym Battle Chad's Seventh Gym Battle Back to the Side Stories Back to the Pokézone