--- Rick’s Crimson City Gym Win (by Michael Keens/ Exodus) --- Well, its been a while since my last Gym Challenge, and its been real uneventful, apart from my catching a Machop, and its close to evolving. I know this because it took the full team to defeat this Pokémon so that it could be captured. When I say uneventful, I don’t mean that I haven’t been training, I’ve been winning a lot, and building up the strength of my Pokémon, I’m just planning on winning Gym Badges from the south east isle, and then I was thinking of visiting Blossom, it had been a few months, and I needed the rest stop. Me and the Pokémon arrived at Crimson City, a desert town, with tents serving as homes, it was an easy bet for the Gym to be held at the biggest tent at the end of town. I entered the Gym, and was stopped by two men dressed in robes, with cloths covering their mouths. “You may not enter, Mistress Resta is sleeping right now.” “But... she’s a Gym Leader, what’s she doing sleeping at this early in the afternoon?!” I questioned. “Mistress Resta does not sleep well, so keep your voice down or else-” “-Yawn...- She’ll wake up...” groaned a young girl, she had greasy pink hair that draped over her forehead, and she wore white robes, with long sleeves and a hood. “Well I’m awake now so -Yawn...- we may as well battle.” said the Gym Leader as we walked into our places on the arena, black stones placed in the sand to form the Pokémon arena symbol. “Cool, I’m Rick Zane. And you?” “Sandy -Yawn...- Resta, and because you woke me up, you’ll have to use three Pokémon...” “What’s the big deal?” I asked, “Can’t you just count Mareep or something?” “Its not that simple, you don’t know of the term ‘insomniac’, do you?” “Oh... You have a Lot of trouble sleeping... Anything I can do?” “You can wear me out by being a challenge, -Yawn...- are you capable of that?” “I’ll do my best.” “Go... -Yawn...- Wigglytuff.” “Go Fortress!” “Wiggly!” “Maaa-Chop!” “Okay Fortress, let’s begin with Focus Energy, then you’ll surely win with power and type.” I called out. “Sing...” muttered Sandy, and the Wigglytuff breathed in. “Wiggg... Ga... Lyyy... Tuff...” I turned back to Fortress, who had fallen asleep standing up. “Fortress!” I yelled, but the Wigglytuff quickly rammed her weight into him with a Body Slam. He tumbled back and bounced off the tight tent, before picking himself back up, still looking powered up, at least she didn’t take that away from him. “Go for it! Use your Seismic Toss!” The Wigglytuff tried to curl up, but that only made it easier to pick her up, but as my Machop did, she glowed with a blue aura, its defense was rising, Fortress threw her down like a basketball, and she tumbled onto the floor. “Don’t give her any chances, or she’ll soup up her defense, use your Karate Chop.” I explained. “Maaa-Chop!” he yelled, he was quite energetic for a Machop. The Wigglytuff growled, and just after the fist came down on her head, she struck back, slapping and slapping at Fortress with its Doubleslap. Fortress must have been winning, because Sandy had resorted to healing moves. “Rest up Wigglytuff, but be prepared to be rudely awakened, just like myself...” “I’m sorry, O-kay?” I frowned, and then pointed at the snoozing Wigglytuff, and shouted: “Use your Primary attacks, Fortress!” He knew what I meant, Karate Chops and Low Kicks, usually in a combo, if there was one flaw in this Pokémon, it was that he liked to draw out matches, just to keep on fighting, he’d done that the first time we met with my Pokémon, using them like training dummies, and he’d sometimes cost himself matches by not finishing the opponent, but rather, by using small attacks like Karate Chop and Low Kick. Today however, he was looking to finish the match, and get onto another opponent, since he had the advantage, and provided he won this quickly, I’d let him continue battling. The Wigglytuff was awakened by a severe beating: Punch, kick, Punch, kick, punch, punch, kick, kick, punch, kick, punch, kick, kick, punch. It was hard to keep track of it all in order to write it here. The only reason he stopped, was because his fist was frozen, as was his body. The bruised Wigglytuff, having used Disable, was ticked off, and body slammed Fortress, it was about to do so again, but Fortress’s eyes glowed white: Leer attack. As she backed off, Fortress pulled its arm back, just waiting for my command. “Mega Punch!” The Wigglytuff fell backwards, and spun on the floor. “Chop!” And then Fortress evolved, growing to twice its original size, with more muscles, and a cool gold belt and black underpants. “Maaaa-CHOKE!” he bellowed, psyched up that he had evolved. The Wigglytuff shouted out, as she had unexpectedly got up. “No!” I shouted. “Wigglytuff... Use Sing.” “Karate Chop!” Fortress knew to put power into it, if he fell asleep, it would lessen his chances of being picked for another battle, he knew that. The Wigglytuff was pushed back by the hit, but she unfortunately had already begun to sing the soothing melody. “Wiggg... Ga... Lyyy- Tuff!” She squealed at the end and flopped over. I turned back to Fortress, on the floor snoozing away. “I won’t recall him just yet, he’s got a lot of health in him, and Sandy might use a Pokémon I can exploit, by switching when I know the opposition.” I thought to myself slyly. “-Yawn...- Aren’t you going to change? You should know that -Yawn...- I specialise in sleeping techniques. Go... Parasect.” “Return Fortress, Go!” I grinned, recalling Fortress and throwing another Pokéball before the Parasect had even appeared, Sandy frowned a little, before yawning again. “Para-Secta!” “Waaaak!!!” Only one problem, I’d been so hasty about calling out a Pokémon with an advantage, that I’d thrown the wrong Pokéball, I’d meant to call Blazer, and wound up with my Doduo. Yes, Ostrio did do double damage, having the advantage over Grass and Bug- types, but the heads were arguing more than ever nowadays. “Oh well, you’re out now, use your Peck attack!” “Waaaak!!!” they yelled, and both shot their heads forward. The Parasect shuddered, until it realised that the two heads had collided with each other. For the first time today, I saw Sandy smile, but it was at my expense, “You’d rather have type advantage and that personal flaw rather than no type advantage at all?... -Yawn...- Seems like a gamble. Parasect, -Yawn...- use your Spore.” “SECT!!!” Yellow smoke blasted out of the mushroom bug and overwhelmed Ostrio, but miraculously, one of the heads had withstood it. Sandy gasped, and I smiled, “Use your-” I stopped talking because the awake head woke up the other by bashing it, the other one bashed back, and the two were fighting some more, until the Doduo fell back from a severe Slash attack. “Drill Peck, quickly!” I shouted, and then slapped myself in disbelief. Both heads were damaged by the other, and the whole body tumbled over. “Stun Spore. -Yawn...- ” “Agility!” Now this, the heads could do, since both had a part to play in moving their body, they picked themselves up, and cleared the area before the dust did. “Growl!” They did so without problems, and the Parasect froze up, giving me time to think. The heads both wanted to win this, there were no doubt about that, but they were so eager to attack, they weren’t watching out for the other head. “Guys, you have to work together, you can both attack, you just have to take turns, if you can do that, then you’ll both be able to contribute to the win, if you don’t, then you’re screwed. Do you understand?” “Waaak!!!” they shouted. “Ostrio, I want the left head to go first, then the right, in all of the attacks that require you to use your beaks, okay?...” They looked at each other, and smiled, before nodding, and turning to the opponent. “Leech Life...” “Leap up, and use your Fury Attack!” With a huge jump, the Doduo flew over the light sphere, and came down on the Parasect, each head taking their turn, and damaging the Parasect six times rather than the usual five. “Slash attack...” “Leap up, and use Tri Attack!” The Parasect swung its claw down, but my Doduo was up, and a triangle of red, yellow and blue was being powered by the two heads, circling them both, Doduos could only use this attack when they were in sync’. The random blast of fire, ice and electricity hit the Parasect, and left it with the Burn ailment: Perfect. “Now try Drill Peck.” The Parasect was hindered by its sore body, and was hurt badly by the spinning beaks. “Scratch attack...” said Sandy, and the Parasect fought back. Ostrio performed well, but the Parasect was hitting them more, using both its claws. “Rage attack!” I shouted, and the birds concentrated, taking in all the rage of the Parasect, to fuel their own. The Parasect dealt a final blow, and Ostrio landed and charged forward, dealing a double header Peck attack, one to its mushroom, and one to its face. The Parasect tumbled onto the floor, its heavy mushroom too much weight for its tired legs, they fell to the sides, and the Parasect was down. “Yes!” I cheered, more happy that my Doduo had finally overcome its flaw, but that wasn’t the only bonus I was receiving. Ostrio glowed, and grew taller, with one last head added to the mix, finally my name of choice would make sense now, with Ostrio representing its ostrich shape and three heads. “Waaaak!!!” they shouted out, while Sandy drew out another Pokémon. “Its not -Yawn...- over, I can pull this back. Go...” The Pokéball opened, and so did my mouth, as I saw how big the last opponent was. Big, black and fat, Sandy had released the mother of ‘sleeping’ Pokémon: Snorlax! “Ostrio, use your Drill Peck!” The bird charged forward, and then my gift became a curse. The third central head was ruthless and charged forward, hitting the two other heads with its drill and attacking the Snorlax on its own. It did little damage, and the Snorlax moved its foot forward for a simple Mega Kick. That and the damage of the Drill Peck caused Ostrio to fall down, its two heads first, and the new head collapsing last. After all the effort to help the heads work together, it was its third head that would cause problems now, there wasn’t any time or strength left in me to work at this right now though, two thirds of the Dodrio had earned a good rest. “I should save Fortress until this Snorlax goes to sleep, its going to happen.” I told myself, the only Pokémon that might do some damage to the bulky Pokémon, was one with sharp weaponry. “PINSIR!!!” wailed Crusher. “Use your Focus Energy.” I said, aware of the Snorlax’s low speed. “Body Slam...” said Sandy, and I became worried, I’d read all about the extreme strength of Snorlax’s, and how much of a defense they could put up. “Crusher! Slash attack!” I said, a little aggressively, as with this Pinsir, you had to show it who was boss, no other way around it. Crusher leapt out and tore across the Snorlax’s stomach before it could land on him, instead, falling back and rolling onto the floor. “Laxxx...” “Use your Rest...” said Sandy, I should probably have chosen Fortress, but that would lower Crusher’s spirits, and I didn’t want to spoil a good thing I currently had. “Use Seismic Toss!” I probably shouldn’t have even bothered with this, but I was panicking, it was a type advantage attack, but it required the Pokémon to lift up the opponent, something Crusher soon failed at, especially since the Snorlax was to big to lift with its claws. The Snorlax simply snored away, regaining health to cover the damage of the lucky critical hit we’d dealt. “Use your Submission!” I shouted, and Crusher tried to tear into the Snorlax’s stomach with its claws. The blow was lowered by the body fat, and Crusher was repelled. “Guillotine!” If I could get this attack to work, it would end the match immediately, usually it wouldn’t be used because the opponents were given enough notice to avoid it. Crusher leapt into the air, and got its claws in position for the drop, but the Snorlax was up, and raised its fist to Mega Punch the beetle. “LAX!!!” “Harden! Harden!” I shouted, and Crusher quickly upped his defense in time before being thrown back. “Slash attack!” “Hyper Beam...” “Uh oh.” “SNOR-LAX!” Too late to divert Crusher, I stared as the golden energy beam shot out of the Snorlax, and caused a big explosion around Crusher, who fell upside down, claws stuck in the sand. “Return. I choose you Fortress.” He was still sleeping, and apparently dreaming of fighting since he was smiling, it was a good thing he wasn’t a sleepwalker, or I’d be in trouble, but maybe I could use this to wake him up. “Snorlax, Rest again...” Obviously Crusher had dealt some damage for her not to be taking full advantage of Fortress’s condition. “Do you want a real challenge?! Pinch yourself!” I yelled, and I was heard in Fortress’s mind, and he brought himself back to reality. “Ma-ach?...” “Focus Energy!” He shook himself a little, and powered up, we needed critical hits if we were going to beat a Snorlax from scratch. “Karate Chop!” I yelled, and Fortress threw his fist down, and got it stuck in Snorlax’s stomach. “Low Kick!” I added, and his kicked at its foot, and woke the Snorlax up, it looked dizzy, so it had obviously been interrupted, Fortress was pushed away by a light waving of its arms. “Body Slam. -Yawn...- “ said Sandy decisively, and the Snorlax was up, and charging forward. “Seismic Toss!” I yelled, and Fortress stood still, the Snorlax leapt up and came down on him, only to be caught. “Maaa-Choke!!!” Fortress groaned, before throwing the Snorlax into the air, it landed on the sand and caused a dust cloud to cover my Machoke. Sandy didn’t speak a word, since the Snorlax took initiative, while Fortress couldn’t see him, it had picked itself up, and charged forward for a Double Edge attack, I had little time to react, and my Machoke was buried. The Snorlax picked itself up, looking proud of itself, until Fortress pulled himself out, the sand had cushioned the blow, a hard ground would have crushed him between it and Snorlax’s belly. Using the surprise, Fortress spun into his new attack, and Sandy shouted out the last command. “Head Butt!” “Submission.” I smiled, and before the Snorlax could whack Fortress with its head, he rose into the air, fist outstretched, and a powerful uppercut was performed, sending the Snorlax rolling and tumbling to the floor. “Snor... Lax!...” it groaned, falling into the unconscious sleep. Soon after, Sandy approached me, handing me a round badge, a line cutting across it horizontally, separating the colours of black and orange, with a yellow half circle on the orange side. “You... passed... Here is your gift, the Awakening Badge, and thank you for giving me mine...” The monks were here, and picked up Sandy who had drifted to sleep, I guess I wore her out. I left Crimson City as the sun disappeared under the mountains, thinking of today’s events, not only had a received my seventh badge, but I’d gained two evolutions in my Pokémon. As for Sandy, I guess I gave her the best gift she could ask for: A good night’s sleep. --- Abby's Eighth Gym Battle Emily's Eighth Gym Battle Back to the Side Stories Back to the Pokézone