--- My Victory of Pewter City Gym (by Michael Keens/ Exodus) --- Recently I picked up a new member for the team, a Magmar called Kindle. With this Fire-type, my team was a little more prepared for all competition. Today, I battled a group of bug catching kids and won a lot of money from a mini-tournament, this would help the funds a lot, except some kid with turquoise hair thought I was mugging them and shouted at me. He wasn’t special enough to know the real reason, so I just passed him by. There were no trainers in Pewter, anyone who wanted to battle me had already lost. I was getting more confident now, and would be sure to make the money I needed. There was a Gym in Pewter, so I decided to pay a quick visit, then use the cave on my map to get to another Gym. Inside was a murky grey stone arena, a spiky haired man sat on an altar with his eyes shut. “Um, Mr Flint, are you awake?” “Of course I am! Are you making fun of my eyes?!” I realised that he wasn’t sleeping and that his eyes were naturally... lines. “Sorry, I’m here for my third Gym Badge!” “You’re so sure you’ll get it?” “Uh huh, some people outside told me you were developing a losing streak.” “Why those-” He stopped and coughed. “Three-on-three battle, Go!” “Go, Kindle!” “Graveler!” “Magmar!” “Heh.” “Uh oh.” “In case you haven’t noticed, this is a Rock Pokémon Gym. You’ve made a great error that shall cost you dearly. Graveler, Rock Throw!” “Kindle, Leer!” It dropped the rocks on the floor but quickly shook off the fear effect. “Hah, Graveler, roll up and Tackle!” "Try Leer again!" He curled up and rolled towards Kindle with no care or interest in his attack. “Dodge it, Kin’!” “Mag...” he said toughly, moving aside as the big ball crashed into the wall and uncurled. “Graveler, Rock Throw!” “Kindle... Um, Smog.” I hesitated. I should have checked out what sort of Pokémon this guy trained before releasing my Pokémon, why didn’t I see that Rock was the theme here? The poisonous cloud surrounded the Graveler but did no damage, the rocks showered on Kindle. “Mag... Mar...” “Kindle, Smokescreen!” “Graveler, Rock Slide!” The black cloud surrounded the battlefield, but it didn’t matter, the rocks flew in all directions and weakened Kindle. “Finish it with Mega Punch!” “Confuse Ray!” I could see it was over but Kindle’s sacrifice needn’t have been in vain. Kindle fell to the floor while the Graveler looked confused. “Kindle, Return, Go, Squirt!” “Poli!” “So tiny, Graveler, crush that midget." said Flint. “Grav... av... av...” it said with spirals in its eyes. “Its confused, Flint, Squirt, go all out on a Water Gun!” “Poli!!!” it squealed dousing it down with its powers. “Graveler, Return...” Flint looked strong, he was a little better off than me. “You’re a smart one, but smarts won’t cut it, Go! Rhyhorn!” “RHHHYYY!!!” “Squirt, do your best. Hypnosis.” “Rhyhorn, don’t look at it, Take Down!” “Poli... POLI!!!” he wailed as he fell back. “Stomp it down!” “Hypnosis, now!” “Rhy-” It fell back before bringing its feet down on Squirt. “Water Gun!” “Poli!!!” The water splashed around, but it didn’t last as long as the last one, Squirt was getting overworked and exhausted. “Okay then, try Body Slam instead." “Poli!” “RHY!” It was up again, though barely. “Horn Attack!” Of course, the rock-hard Rhyhorn won that little encounter and Squirt fell down. “One last chance... Shard!” “OONNIXXX!!!” He saw the opponent and charged. “What?!” “Tackle!” “ONNNN!!!” There were a mighty explosion and Shard finished off the Rhyhorn. “So you’ve got an Onix, we’ll see how it fares against mine!” “ONIX!!!” This would be a great battle. “Shard, use Tackle!” “Onix! Slam it down!” Shard made the first hit, but the enemy buried him under its weight. “Bind it!” Shard was trapped and yelled a little. “Rage!” I shouted. Shard’s eyes glowed and he took the next few squeezes. “Onix, stop that and use your Rage too!” Shard was released, and released the pent up rage in a heavy attack. “OONNNIIXXX!!!” shouted the opponent, attacking back with its now pent-up rage. “Keep up the Rage, Onix, play them at their own game.” “Ooonnnn...” groaned Shard. Countering Rage with Rage was an good move. I had to outsmart him. In all the time I had used Rage, I had never thought about the perfect counter-attack, since no one had stopped Shard like that. “Every time I use Rage, so will he, and when Shard hits that Onix, it pays back his Rage doubled...” I had a plan. “Shard, another Rage attack!” I said in a less than outgoing tone. He adopted an angry pose. “Rage again, Onix.” “Shard, Screech!” “What?!” A terrible high pitch wail was emitted, and the enemy Onix was unable to defend itself in its Rage stance. “Keep it up!” I yelled covering my ears. “That Onix... and the trainer...” Flint groaned, “They were bluffing... They never used Rage.” “Alright that should have lowered its defense, Shard, finish it with Slam attack!” He came down on the probably-deaf Onix and crushed him with all his weight. We’d pulled it off and won our third Gym Challenge. Later on, Flint presented me with my badge, a grey gem. “You’re a sneaky one, working with your Pokémon to bluff your way into winning. Still I fell for it and you won. I admire you for training that Onix, they’re hard to raise.” “Not mine, Sir, we’ve been friends for some time.” “You go out there, and beat the competition. You have what it takes.” “Thank you.” To hear someone cheer me on was rare. I thought about this, as I held up my brand new Boulder Badge, and left to my next Gym Challenge. --- Rick's First Gym Battle Scott’s Forth Gym Battle Back to the Side Stories Back to the Pokézone