Chapter Three: Don’t Nip it in the Bud
With Pika and Suar healed, I set out at sunrise. It was a beautiful start to what I hoped to be a beautiful day. The pink sun stained all the clouds the same color, and the rays illuminated them as the came over the mountains that populated Route 2. Not wanting my partners to miss out on the sunrise and the peace that it seemed to bring, I let them out of their Pokéballs to share it with me. After a couple a flashes of light that momentarily blinded me, I saw that Pika and Saur were gazing intently at me and were completely ignoring the sunrise. First off, I addressed Pika.
“Pika, are you okay? I’m really sorry that you got Poisoned. I made a rash decision and struck a deal with Green. This deal entitled that neither of us would use healing items of any kind, no matter what. It was stupid, and I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to go back to the forest. I won’t force you to stay here, so you can leave if you want to.”
Pika looked like he was considering my offer. I know that if I was him, I would already have left. But apparently, Pika was made of stronger stuff than I was. He jumped onto my shoulder and turned my head towards the Pewter City Gym; apparently he knew the area outside of Viridian Forest as well as he knew the area inside.
“Well then,” I said while shouldering my backpack. “Let’s go beat Brock then, shall we?”
So with a Pikachu on my shoulder and a Bulbasaur at my feet, I walked the short distance to the Gym where I knew Brock awaited all challenges, mine included.
Even though the walk was short, by the time I entered the Gym it felt like an eternity had passed during the time it took to walk through the automatic sliding glass door. I had recalled my two Pokémon into their Pokéballs at the entrance to the Gym. I didn’t want to give my opponents the advantage. It looked like the Gym was wasting a lot of space. There was a long, narrow path that lead to Brock, but the rest of it was sand and rocks. Shaking my head in disgust, I felt my opinion of Brock soar towards rock-bottom; nobody would appreciate that pun except for me, so I will never share it. I couldn’t tell Brock what I thought of his Gym, complaining was against the rules, and I knew the rules of the Pokémon League well since I had studied them only a few years ago in preparation for challenging it with Poli.
Just the thought of my former partner brought tears to my eyes, but I soon wiped them away angrily. I would do this with my new partners, and I would do it to honor Poli’s memory. I could not lose. So quickly tallying the opponents I would have to face before I got to Brock, I ran towards the first one. But just before I reached him, I skidded to a halt. One? That was it? Where were all the other trainers? Oh well, this would just make it easier.
I walked up to my first and only opponent before Brock, a boy about two years younger than me, dressed in blue shorts and a yellow T-shirt, and met his gaze, even though he seemed determined not to meet mine until I stood right in front of him?
“Is there a problem?” I asked in what I hoped was a voice that simply radiated annoyance. To my great pleasure, it seemed to have the intended effect and the boy stared at his sneakers and mumbled something. “What was that?”
“Brock said that I could only stare straight ahead and only challenge someone if they passed in front of me.” He mumbled again, but this time I caught it.
My opinion of Brock hit rock-bottom and still tried to go farther, and it succeeded. I thought about commenting on how stupid this was, but the boy’s face was bright red from embarrassment, so I decided to same him further humiliation.
“You’re ten-thousand light-years from facing Brock, you should just leave now.”
“What?”
“I have to say that to every challenger, please don’t say anything about it.”
Once again, I shook my head in disgust about what Brock has his apprentices do and I sent out Saur. The boy sent out a Geodude that looked none too happy to see a Grass Type Pokémon as its opponent.
“Saur, use Vine Whip and smash it into the ceiling!”
My Bulbasaur was eager to obey this command and did so with great pleasure. The Geodude was soon wrapped up by Saur’s vines and embedded in the ceiling, unable to come down. It was obvious from the look on the boy’s face that the damage done to his Pokémon was bad and it would probably have to go to the ER. When the boy sent out his second Pokémon, a Sandshrew that looked even less eager than Geodude now that it had seen what Saur could do, I took pity on it.
“Suar,
gently use Vine Whip and pick up the Sandshrew.” Saur did this, although he looked a little confused. “Now
gently place it down outside of the battle field.”
Saur shot me a look that could kill a smaller Pokémon from a distance, and for a second I thought that he would disobey my order, but he did as he was told and disqualified his opponent without hurting him.
“Darn, light-years isn’t distance, it a measure of time!”
But this time I ignored what he was saying and only took in his look of gratitude; I would have some words to say to Brock after our match was over. I had no need to heal my Pokémon before the next battle, my battle with the Gym Leader, so I walked straight up to him.
“Well it’s about time that another challenger showed up; I was beginning to think that all young trainers went right to Team Rocket when they were old enough, and sometimes when they weren’t. As you probably know, I’m Brock, master of the…” he started to say. His voice was scratchy and rough, almost like he had inhaled smoke every day for years, and it annoyed me to no end. So I cut him off.
“Stow it, Brock. I disapprove of your methods and what you force your apprentices to do. All I want is my battle with you, and then I won’t even have to look at you again.”
Rather than being annoyed by my disgusted tone and my criticism, Brock just laughed. This just made me even more annoyed than before. Didn’t he take my challenge seriously? It was almost like that this was just a game to him.
“And what if you lose, oh ferocious one? If you intend on challenging the Pokémon League, you’re going to have to beat me for my badge.”
I had no reply for this, but I didn’t need one. Grinning like the maniac he must be, Brock sent out his first Pokémon; it was a Geodude.
“Saur, send the Geodude flying into Brock with your Vine Whip!” I called as I sent out my own Pokémon. Saur wasted no time and grabbed onto the opposing Pokémon with Vine Whip. After giving it a few spins, he sent it flying towards Brock, who narrowly avoided losing a body part.
“So that’s the way you want to play, huh?” Brock said, apparently mad now. “Now face my ultimate Pokémon. Go, Onix!”
Out came the giant Rock type Pokémon. Onix just looked like a trail of roundish, grey rocks the started at about fist size and progressed to boulder size. Its head was a massive boulder that was mostly mouth with a long, thin protrusion on top.
Where does all the food go? It’s just solid rock all the way through, isn’t it?
I shook my head to clear it of random thoughts. I needed to concentrate here. Onix was certainly more lethal than a Geodude. And then a brilliant idea struck me like a Thunderbolt from a Pikachu. A way to end the battle without killing another Pokémon and still claim victory for myself,
and it wouldn’t be too hard for Saur to pull off. Literally.
“Saur, use Vine Whip and dismantle Onix. Leave only its head and the rock right after it alone, pull everything else off.”
Suar realized what I wanted to do and quickly put my plan into action, not even leaving Onix time to defend itself, much less attack. In less than a minute, Onix was spread across the arena, and its head was unable to move itself. Brock called back what remained of what used to be a rock snake, recognizing defeat.
“I must say, I’m impressed. I’ve never seen such skill before.” he commented while handing me my prize money and the Boulder Badge. “How would you like to stay here at the Gym and become my number one apprentice?”
“No thanks,” I coolly replied. I didn’t want anything else to do with Brock, this Gym or any part of Pewter City.
“Here, why don’t you take this TM? It’s Rock Tomb, and you can only get them at this Gym.”
I was shocked. He was actually trying to bribe me to join his Gym? Would the other Gym Leaders attempt stuff like this? Maybe I should quit now and save the other Gym Leaders whatever dignity that they had left. Instead of replying, I took the TM- no point in refusing free stuff, right? - and left the building, Saur happily bouncing after me. Next stop was Mount Moon, and then Cerulean City.
