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Rick’s Saffron City Gym Win (by Michael Keens/ Exodus)  

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Well, these few weeks have been interesting, I’ve been around a few places, and 
then returned to Fuchsia City, only the Gym there was closed, according to 
Blossom, but at least the trip wasn’t totally uneventful, I went to the Safari 
Zone and caught me a Pinsir, but also, there were a couple of scientists from 
Team Rocket doing some tests on a Dratini, she was totally at their mercy and 
was too scared to fight back, so my Pokémon beat everyone that the two brothers 
had, and sent them back to where they came from, actually they were flung into 
the air by Crusher and I don’t care where they landed.  
I invited the Dratini to come with me, with the promise of helping it with its 
self confidence and to help her get stronger, and now she’s slowly regaining 
her courage and becoming more powerful.  

When I visited Blossom’s place, she gave my Pokémon a good check-up and 
organised dinner for me, I asked about her other sponsored trainers just to 
make conversation and she had a lot to say, it was finally revealed that the 
Growlithe had been stolen by a powerful Rocket, a large bully by the name of 
Bryan, but she wasn’t particularly upset, I guess this Rocket was at least 
taking care of the Pokémon even though he was raising it for evil.  
And the trainer that picked the Staryu was a prodigy in the making called 
Tetsubo Capture, he’d dealt with many Rockets and accomplished a lot, though he 
was facing some hard times it seemed.  

Later, I rode on Ostrio along a narrow forest path towards my home, Saffron 
City, but I got ambushed by a lesser known Rocket group by the name of the 
Lunar Crew, I did surprisingly well considering there were five of them, but a 
sixth member made herself known and beat my Pokémon with her very advanced 
ones, and then they captured me, I’m not ashamed of that, there were six of 
them.  
I was taken to the Silph Co building, though I didn’t know it at the time, and 
Vertigo, the leader of the Lunar Crew had the nerve to ask me to join them, she 
let me out anyway and proved that she had some good in her, in return, I told 
her to leave, and I really hope she listens to my advice.  

I kind of took advantage of her generosity, but I had to, Rockets had seized 
control of Silph Co and kidnapped a lot of the workers, Silph Co belonged to my 
uncle and I couldn’t let them use his work for evil.  
I swiped a Rocket’s Key Cards and freed a couple of able trainers, and 
together, we beat those Rockets, but it was my quick thinking that led the 
group to many arrests.  
I simply hid in my uncle’s office while the boss of Team Rocket ordered him 
around, he told the operator exactly where we were, and what he was after, and 
the police put two and two together and arrived in time to handicap the Rocket 
group by imprisoning most of their members.  

I stayed with my uncle for a while and was given some Hyper Balls even though I 
asked not to be given a reward, but uncle was a persistent man, he had to be, 
when creeps like the Boss were after his products.  
There was a celebratory party the next day which I felt obligated to stay 
through, and that night, I went to the Saffron Gym for my forth Gym Battle at 
last.  
I’d never been here as a challenger, but as a guest, the Gym Leader, Sabrina 
wasn’t one of my closer friends, but we were still friends, ever since a year 
ago, after a Haunter broke her calm dark nature and made her laugh, for the 
first time in years.  
She became a much better person after that, and though remained the same 
towards challengers, she was quite open with friends.  
Sabrina had long dark green hair, a red uniform and skirt with black boots.  

“Come on in challenger, oh, its you Rick.  What do you want? No wait, let me 
see...  Ah...  You’re here as a challenger this time.”  
“Uh huh.” I smiled, though I was a little hesitant to ask in the first place 
because she was a good Pokémon Trainer.  
“I don’t know whether to act nasty or polite with a challenger that’s a 
friend.” smiled Sabrina.  
“You don’t have to be nice on my account.” I replied.  
“Okay then, I won’t.” I said quickly.  
“I was being polite you know.” I frowned.  
“Pokémon Battles are never challenging if the challengers care about each 
other, so for the next ten minutes or so, we’re enemies.  We’ll each use two 
Pokémon.  Go, Hypno.” explained Sabrina.  
“Go Wyvern!” I shouted.  
“Tini...” said Wyvern a little nervously.  
“Don’t be scared, Wyvern, I know your diverse range of attacks will be of use 
here, and she won’t be able to target a weakness.” I said to motivate her.  
“Maybe so, but I’ve never needed to rely on types, because Psychic Pokémon are 
the most deadly types around.” explained Sabrina.  
“Go!” we both shouted.  

“Wyvern! Use your Leer.” I said.  
“Pound it.” said Sabrina.  
The Hypno shot forward but stopped itself and backed away from Wyvern’s 
intimidating eyes, she smiled at being able to scare away the opponent and 
lunged forward.  
“Use your Wrap attack!” I shouted.  
“Tini!” she wailed, and curled around the Hypno and squeezed.  
“Use your Confusion.” said Sabrina.  
“No!” I shouted.  
“Tini!” said Wyvern decisively, and tightened around the Hypno’s arms so that 
it couldn’t shoot the Psychic-type attack and seriously hurt her at such a 
close range.  
“Poison Gas.” said Sabrina.  
“Tini...” said Wyvern nervously.  
“Hypno!” said the Hypno as it coughed up some purple gas that overwhelmed 
Wyvern.  
“Meditate...” said Sabrina.  
“Hypno...”  
“Use your Agility!” I shouted.  
“Tini...” growled Wyvern.  
“Use your Head Butt.” said Sabrina.  
The Hypno dived forward and Wyvern swayed its body to the side, the Hypno 
crashed down on the floor.  
“Slam attack!” I shouted.  
“Tini!” she yelled as she threw her weight down on the Hypno, which wasn’t a 
great deal, but she was trying her best.  
“Use your Confusion.” said Sabrina.  
“Tini!” wailed Wyvern as she was thrown into the ceiling, she glared at the 
Hypno with a fierce expression and scared it, and then came down on it, 
wrapping her tail around it and using Thunder Wave on it, I was glad she was 
showing initiative but not in the way that would make her unruly.  
She flew forward for another Slam, but then started coughing, she was being 
affected by poison.  
“Now use your Disable.”  
Wyvern was frozen on the spot.  
“Pound it, and then use Psychic.”  
Wyvern was totally helpless to do anything to save herself, and was hit by the 
double-fisted attack and then lifted into the air and crushed by the psychic 
waves.  
“... Wyvern! Use your Dragon Rage!”  
She hadn’t been able to initiate this attack before, but sometimes moments of 
need, or trouble could speed up a Pokémon’s learning rate.  
“Dra... Ti... Ni!!!” she squealed, and a spinning beam of blue flames were 
blown from her mouth, which surrounded the Hypno and collapsed on it.  
“Hypno!!!” it wailed as the flames burnt it.  
“Dra... Ti... Ni...” panted Wyvern, and then flew forward, but as she did, she 
glowed with a marvellous light.  
Her body grew longer and her tail had some additions to it, and Wyvern’s head 
sprouted two angelic wings around the ears.  
“Nair!!!” she cried out happily, and slammed down on the Hypno after finishing 
her evolution.  
“Alright Wyvern!” I cheered.  
“Return.  I’m going to need more power for this, much more.  Go, Alakazam.” 
said Sabrina.  
“Ala!” it shouted.  
I was in for it now, Alakazam was one of the most powerful Psychic Pokémon 
around, but I had a chance, if we could fight through the special attacks and 
beat it with strength.  
“Wyvern, use your Slam attack!”  
“Nair!!!” she wailed and rammed the Psychic Pokémon into the wall.  
“Psybeam.”  
“Kazam!”  
“Naaaaiiirrr!!!”  
Wyvern was thrown back by the rainbow beam and travelled across the entire 
arena, before crashing into the wall.  
Even after evolving, she was totally out of strength now.  
“Return Wyvern.  I guess the only way to win now, is to use a little of my 
schooling.  The only sure-fire way to beat a Psychic Pokémon, would be to use a 
type advantage that can’t be targeted by a Psychic weakness.  I choose you 
Crusher!”  
“PINSIR!!!” screamed the enraged beetle.  
“Crusher, use your Vice Grip attack!”  
“Confusion.”  
“PINSIR!”  
He charged forward and the Confusion couldn’t lock down on it.  
“What?” questioned Sabrina.  
“You don’t get a lot of Bug Trainers in here, do you?” I smiled, “Otherwise 
you’d be more prepared for a Psychic Pokémon’s greatest weakness.”  
“But... Pinsirs don’t have any Bug-type attacks.”  
“Who needs ‘em? As long as he can resist your attacks, his brute strength can 
take care of the rest.  Strike it down!”  
“PINSIR!!!”  
Crusher first charged into the Alakazam and kept on running until it crashed 
into the wall, and then tightened its front claws around the Pokémon and 
crushed it, hence the nickname.  
“Teleport.”  
The Alakazam vanished from Crusher’s grip and reappeared behind it.  
“I don’t usually resort to a type I hate so much but, Seismic Toss!” said 
Sabrina.  
The Alakazam picked up Crusher and jumped into the air, turned upside down and 
spun, until Crusher’s front claws were buried a little into the ground and the 
Alakazam landed upright and safely.  
“Crusher, use your claws! Get out of there!”  
“Its very much stuck, let’s see just how much Psychic your bug can take.”  
The Alakazam directed an ongoing Psybeam that ploughed into Crusher and didn’t 
stop, even with his advantage, he was vulnerable and powerless, and would lose 
at this rate.  
“Crusher! Use your Vice Grip to claw the ground!”  
His claws moved around until the floor was weakened, he leapt right back up and 
came down on the Alakazam while spinning fiercely:  Submission.  
The Alakazam fell back but not so much damaged by the Fighting-type move.  
I had to use physical attacks, and this would help.  
“Focus Energy!”  
“Kazam!” shouted the Psychic Pokémon teleporting constantly to get close.  
“Swords Dance!”  
The Alakazam tried to grab Crusher but he spun out of the way while charging 
his attack power.  
He was as charged as he was going to get now.  
“Use your Slash attack!”  
“PINSIR!”  
“Psychic.”  
A powerful force that rippled the area around Crusher surrounded him and tried 
to push him back, usually this would crush a Pokémon but Crusher was strong, he 
had a hard time pushing through, but slowly stepped forward, the Alakazam 
looked scared now and Crusher broke through the force and flew forward.  
The beetle ploughed his claws across the Pokémon as it charged past him, and 
then rolled back and trapped the Alakazam between his claws for a Bind attack.  
“Teleport.”  
The Alakazam vanished again, reappeared, then vanished, Sabrina was trying to 
catch me out, to use Crusher’s attacks and miss, so as to wear him out.  
He was growing tired and started walking towards the Alakazam, jumped, and 
missed, and again and again.  
“Crusher! Stop!” I shouted.  
“PINSIR!” he retaliated.  
“No, you shut up, and calm down!” I yelled.  
“Pin?” he questioned, surprisingly quiet since I’d never shouted at him 
before.  
“Use your Guillotine, but concentrate on the Alakazam, as a Bug Pokémon, you 
should be able to sense where its teleporting to.”  
“... Pinsir.” he nodded, and leapt into the air.  
From his point of view, the Alakazam was below, and teleported left, right, and 
then rose in height, and teleported under, around and over.  
Crusher had touched down on a wall, and clung to it while he actually thought 
about the situation.  
I never thought shouting at Crusher would be the method for calming it.  
The Alakazam teleported above Crusher and disappeared, and then Crusher leapt 
and pointed down and dived.  
The Alakazam appeared right where he had sensed, and Crusher came down with the 
force of a killing blade.  
He scrapped down the Alakazam, and both fell to the floor, the Alakazam failing 
to rise up.  

“Well friend, I can safely say you’ll go far as a trainer, don’t be too cocky 
when you win your first trophy...  Oop!” spluttered Sabrina.  
My eyes widened and my mouth hung.  
“You’re saying I’m going to win, and you’re psychic so its going to come 
true!” I cheered.  
“Not with that attitude.  I may have spilled a future secret but it can still 
be altered, when one knows the future, they can change things, and sometimes 
it’s not for the better.”  
“I’ll keep that in mind Sabrina.  Thanks for your support.”  
“You’d better come and visit me, you know all about my darker side.”  
“Of course.”  

I left Saffron City with my Marsh Badge and more hope than ever, it might not 
happen at all, or right away, but it was possible for me to win a League, if I 
just remembered that and trained hard, I could make that scenario a reality.  
I smiled as I once again left my hometown, and remembered the turquoise-headed 
trainer I’d worked with, his Pokémon was very able and his views and 
compassion were similar to mine, I know he’ll be in the Kanto Pokémon League, 
and maybe then I’ll introduce myself properly to him.  

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Emily's Fifth Gym Battle
Emily's Sixth Gym Battle
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