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

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Its been a few days of travelling for me, and I felt that my Pokémon were 
coming along, we’d taken on every trainer and won most of the battles.  

We arrived in Vandyke City, a mountain town full of minerals, though a great 
deal was buried underground.  
After a lot of talking, I was finally pointed towards the Gym, which was in one 
specific underground cavern.  

There were a couple of tracks, and one with a small mine cart on it, Serena was 
currently out of her Pokéball, and so we both stepped into it and held on 
tight, it didn’t look too safe but it was the only way to go, the cart took off 
at a blinding speed and Serena gripped me to make sure I wouldn’t fall out.  
We went down a hill in a straight line for a while and then came something 
different, the tracks were newer and less rusted than the ones we’d been on, 
and the switch had us going along that track, the switch on the other side, out 
of our reach.  
The cart swerved to the side and down several sharp turns, so sharp that the 
cart nearly came off the tracks.  
“Oh no...  No no no no no...” I moaned as up ahead was a loop-the-loop, this 
bucket of bolts barely stayed on the track, but there wasn’t really any safe 
ground to escape to.  
“Stay still Serena, let’s hope whoever built this knew what they were doing.”  
I shut my eyes as the cart rolled upwards, and the speed pushed us up, but it 
wasn’t holding.  
“Serena!”  
“Jynx!”  
With that, she raised her hands and the lower part of the loop was filled with 
ice and snow, the cart crashed down and landed in the pile of snow.  
“I am not leaving this Gym down this way!” I complained, and Serena and I 
lifted the cart and placed it on the tracks opposite, and I pushed it a little 
way and jumped in, and the path ahead was a straight line.  
We crashed into the buffers and I, not being in the cart properly, fell out and 
onto the hard floor.  
“Ow...” I moaned.  
“Hey, what aire ye doin’, goin’ aloan’ det path, lad?” asked a man wearing a 
blue uniform and yellow hard hat, he had a spiky black moustache and beard that 
covered a great deal of his face.  
“It was the only one available!” I replied.  
“Ooch, sorry, wee kids must have been muckin’ airoon’ wi’ Doog’s cairts again, 
usually trainers tek de left one, eets a seemple ride down a hill.”  
“And you would be Doug?” I asked, he nodded in reply, and then remembered I was 
still mad at him, “That loop-the-loop was uncalled for, we were nearly 
killed!”  
“Well det’ll teach ye tae have yir Pokey-moan oot, ye’d have made eet nae 
problem eef ye were oan yir oon.”  
I groaned, and angrily drew a Pokéball.  
“Ye must be frustraeted, sae Ah’ll nae waste anymore time, Ah’ll beat ye een a 
queeck three-oan-three bettle, an’ den ye an’ yir Pokey-moan kin be oan yir 
way.”  

“Poli-Wag!”  
“Trio Trio Trio...”  
“Vortex! Use your Water Gun!”  
“Poliwag!”  
“Dugtreeo, use yir San’ Ettack.”  
The sand and water splashed and combined to make a ball of hard dirt.  
“Try again!” I yelled.  
“Ye too Dugtreeo.”  
“Poli!”  
“Trio!”  
A second ball was created, Doug was pretty smart it seemed, to use the sand to 
cancel out Water attacks cut his problems by a third.  
“I’ve got it! Vortex! Use your Doubleslap on the sand!”  
“What?”  
“Poli!”  
He used his tail to send the balls flying into the Dugtrio and explode on it.  
“Tr’ Tr’ Trio!” it coughed.  
When the dust cleared, the Dugtrio had its eyes closed, we’d sent its own 
attack back at it and blinded it.  
“We’ve got this match in the bag, use your Bubble attack!”  
“Trio!” moaned the Dugtrio as the bubbles popped and splashed against it.  
“Dugtreeo! Use yir Growl!”  
“TRIO!!!”  
“Poli...  Poli...” moaned Vortex as it backed away.  
“Don’t be scared!”  
“Poli...”  
“Now use Deeg!”  
“Trio Trio Trio...” said a muffled voice as the Dugtrio buried its three heads 
into the ground and a quiet rumbling was heard.  
“Poli...”  
“Vortex, stop! Its homing in on the sound of your voice!”  
But it was too late, and Vortex was blasted into the air, heavily damaged.  
“Use your Water Gun!”  
“Poli!!!”  
The water splashed down on Dugtrio before it had a chance to retaliate, and the 
water filled the passageway of the Dugtrio from its location and back to its 
original position.  
Vortex fell down, tired from the size of its attack and collapsed, but the 
Dugtrio was in deeper water, literally.  
It tried to burrow, but the water prevented it from doing so, and it tried to 
move through the earth, but the water only followed it, damaging it 
constantly.  
“Finish it Vortex! Doubleslap!”  
“Poli...  POLI!!!” it wailed, and flew into the Dugtrio, not only whipping it, 
but scooping water in its tail and dousing down the Dugtrio until it was 
recalled.  
“Ah cannae believe eet, ye beat mah anti-Water stretegy...  Well Ah doot yir 
wee Stage 1 kin tek much more, Go San’slash!”  
“Slash!!!” it wailed, and clashed its claws together and scraped them to the 
sides and into a battle stance.  
“Return!” I said decisively, but I didn’t use a Pokéball, I was unsure about 
Vortex’s condition, so this way I could check on him.  
“I choose you Serena.”  
“Jynx...”  
“I’m sorry, but I need Ice attacks, and Leafer can handle the next one if 
you’re tired, that’s okay isn’t-”  
“Jynx.” she said decisively.  
“Thank you Serena...”  
“Slash!!!”  
“Okay San’slash, use yir Scretch ettack oan de lady Pokey-moan.”  
“Block it with Ice Punch!”  
She tried, but the Sandslash was simply too fast and didn’t lay a hand on hers, 
charged with cold ice, but he managed to scratch her around her body and avoid 
her punches.  
“Use your Blizzard!” I said.  
“Jynx!”  
“Defense Curl!” said Doug.  
“Sandslash!”  
It rolled up as the ice hit, and formed around it.  
“Now Meditate!”  
“Uh uh uh.” smiled Doug, “Slash ettack.”  
The ice shattered after a couple of swift movements, the Sandslash had taken 
little damage by curling, and slashed what was left of the ice and leapt 
forward.  
“Body Slam!” I yelled.  
“Jynx!” shouted Serena as she leapt forward and slammed into the Sandslash.  
It screamed out and bounced on Serena to a higher position and swung its claw 
down on her.  
“Jynx!” she wailed, and fell down at an alarming speed, with the Sandslash 
following.  
There was an explosion of dust as Serena slammed down on the floor, the 
Sandslash scraped its claws against each other as it descended.  
“Blizzard!” I shouted.  
“Jynnnx!” said Serena, raising her hands and aiming at the descending 
Sandslash.  
A storm of cold air blasted the Sandslash, but it braced the force and 
continued to fall down, its claws in an attacking stance, Blizzard was the most 
powerful Ice attack, but it was of a wide range, that’s how the Sandslash got 
by, because it either defended or was quick enough to move around, we needed a 
more immediate attack.  
“Use your Ice Punch!”  
“Slash?!”  
“Jynx!”  
With a blinding light, Serena’s fist flew forward towards the surprised 
Sandslash, and through the opening between its claws.  
“SLASH!!!”  
It went flying into the air, shattered ice falling everywhere from the 
Sandslash.  
“Finish it off with Psychic attack!”  
The Sandslash reached its highest point before falling, but it fell into the 
blue rippling area, and became trapped.  
Instead of crushing it, Serena put it out of its misery, and caused an 
immediate explosion that defeated the Sandslash.  
“Nae...  Det Jynx ees much more powerful dun yir first Pokey-moan.  Still, Ah 
cannae back doon, Go Mairowak!”  
“Maro!”  
“Mairowak! Boane Club!”  
The Marowak was quick and smacked down on Serena, she fell back hurt, and 
growing tired.  
“Pound it!” I yelled.  
“Boanemeran’.” said Doug.  
The bone picked her off and hit her face, Serena leapt forward and brought both 
fists down on the Marowak, before the bone came back and knocked her to the 
floor.  
“Focus Energy...”  
“Use your Lovely Kiss!”  
Serena got close, but the Marowak charged itself up quickly, and used its 
Thrash attack, with the focusing of its energy empowering the attack further.  
Serena was battered and whacked and clubbed until I could take no more.  
“Stop it!” I yelled, “Return Serena!”  
As the owner of her Pokéball, I could recall her, though I’d never done it 
without her permission before, but I honestly had to get Serena out of there.  
“I’m sorry Serena, I never wanted to treat you like a Pokémon, but I had no 
choice.” I said, looking at the Pokéball but knowing she could hear me.  
“Oanly one an’ a half Pokey-moan left.” commented Doug.  
“And I’ll need type advantage to be the force, since I only have effective 
Stage 1 Pokémon left.  Go Leafer!”  
“Bell!”  
“Wipe de floor wit’ de gairden plant.” said Doug, and the Marowak leapt into 
action.  
The bone came flying forward again, but Leafer was ready, and bent itself so 
that the bone flew by harmlessly.  
“Now use Razor Leaf!”  
“Dodge eet!”  
The Marowak leapt up as the leaves flew by and stuck into the cavern wall.  
“Bell...” muttered Leafer, “Bell!!!”  
It was distracted and the bone caught up to it, worse still was Leafer’s Poison 
side, Ground attacks worked well on it and I’d forgotten about it, even after 
all my lessons.  
Leafer wouldn’t last long, as long as the Marowak had that bone, it would have 
the advantage.  
“Leafer, Vine Whip!”  
“Bell!” he shouted, aiming for the bone.  
The vines tangled around the bone, but the Marowak wasn’t giving up without a 
fight.  
“Reel eet een Mairowak.”  
“Bell!” panicked Leafer as the Marowak swung back and forced Leafer towards 
it.  
“Boane Club.”  
“Quickly Stun Spore!”  
“Sprout!”  
A green dust surrounded the Bellsprout, and the Marowak thought twice and swung 
the bone around to remove the vines.  
Leafer continued flying forward, immersed in dust, and slammed down on the 
Marowak’s location, but nothing connected, instead the Marowak came flying 
upwards and over the cloud, and brought the bone down on Leafer, who came 
spiralling back to me.  
“Return Leafer, let’s call it a-”  
“Bell!” he shouted, refusing to give up.  
“But you can’t beat that Marowak by yourself...  Yes! Vortex Go!”  
“Bell?”  
“Poli!” said Vortex, nervously stepping forward from behind me.  
“You can do it Vortex, and you’re not alone, Leafer is going to be your 
partner.”  
“Poli?...”  
“Bell.” nodded Leafer.  
“Poli!” yelled Vortex, feeling a little more confident.  
“Boane Club.”  
“Water Gun!”  
The water splashed all over the Marowak and overwhelmed it, but the bone came 
splashing out of the shower and smacked Vortex on the head.  
“Leer.”  
“Wak!!! Maro!!!”  
“Poli...” groaned Vortex, backing away.  
“Now Growl, det’ll scare de wee squirt.”  
“Marowak...”  
“Poli!”  
“Now use Boanemeran’!”  
The bone came flying towards my scared Water-type, but he jumped over it, the 
bone spun over and straight down and sent Vortex into a dizzy spin.  
“Return.” I said.  
I thought to myself, “I guess we’ll need to work closer together, Leafer’s 
confident but his attacks are too predictable, and Vortex’s attacks are 
effective but he gets scared easily.”  
“Aire ye goin’ te bettle me or ferfeit?”  
“Okay! Leafer, Go!”  
“Boane Club!”  
“Maro!”  
The Marowak leapt up high and came down on Leafer.  
“Vine Whip!”  
The vines constricted around the bone and pulled to the side, he released his 
grip and sent the Marowak crashing down, but it retaliated with Bonemerang.  
“Again!”  
The vines caught the bone and held it in place, but Marowaks could sometimes be 
fiercer without their bone than with one.  
“Quickly, throw it into the air and Return!”  
He did so, and Vortex leapt in.  
“Water Gun!”  
“POLI!!!” he wailed and went into maximum volume, and drenched the Marowak.  
It crawled out, looking weakened and crawled until it retrieved its bone.  
“Switch!”  
“Bellsprout.”  
“Use your Vine Whip!”  
The Marowak had already thrown its bone, and Leafer quickly caught it and 
flung it back at him, smashing against his skull.  
“Switch again, Vortex, use Hypnosis!”  
The Marowak was giving off a powerful Leer, but I’d anticipated that, he was a 
sitting duck for the Hypnosis move, which sent him to sleep.  
“Finish it Leafer, Mega Drain!”  
“Bellsprout Beeell!”  
“Maro... Wak!” wailed the Ground-type as it finally ran out of strength and 
collapsed.  
“Poli?” questioned Vortex.  
“Bell!” cheered Leafer, slapping a leaf against Vortex’s tail.  
A glowing light occurred and both Pokémon turned totally white before their 
evolution transformed them.  
I stared in awe, that two of my Pokémon, two well matched buddies that worked 
so well together, were evolving together.  
“Poliwhirl!”  
“Weepin-Bell!”  
“You guys were great!” I yelled, and scooped them up and hugged them, I felt 
so proud of them, they persevered and proved their strength, and were rewarded 
for their efforts.  

“Ah commen’ ye fer how well ye’ve trained dose Pokey-moan, Stage 1 or not, dey 
perfermed extremely well egainst mah Stage 2’s.  Dis ees de Discovery Badge, 
eet geeves me pleasure te han’ oover even a rare gem tae a great trainer like 
yirself.”  
“Thank you sir.”  
“Tek de other cairt dis time, eets much safer an’ yir Pokey-moan airen’t heavy 
enough tae cause trouble.”  

The ride back was much less troublesome and much more enjoyable, there was 
nothing left to do here so Vortex, Leafer and I started walking towards the 
long mountain path, and towards the next Kanto League Gym.  

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Emily's Sixth Gym Battle
Abby's Seventh Gym Battle
Back to the Side Stories
Back to the Pokézone