CHAPTER 56 – ROCK TOWN

In the previous chapter we see how our heroes arrive in Kanto after a stay of two weeks in Alto Mare, since they arrive soon they decide to challenge Sabrina in order to obtain her sixth gym medal, unfortunately, Sabrina had decided to go to Lavender Town to have fun there or so she thought her referee, after weighing it, our heroes decide to go to Lavender Town to look for her, but not before resting today, also after taking a walk with Latias in the Shopping Mall, she put on the direct of e-Nigma and won her contest, so within a week, our heroes will spend a 3-day vacation at expenses paid in Paldea but in the meantime, they have to continue their journey to Lavender Town.

With Ash.

We woke up the next morning quite tired, luckily, today we did not have to get up early, so we only had the typical tiredness of when you just got up.

After getting dressed, we picked up breakfast at the Pokémon Center and went to the picnic area to enjoy breakfast with everyone.

Today was sunny, completely devoid of any clouds, in other words, an ideal day to go outside an eat together with calmly and quitly.

Luckily, it was so late that there was no trainers in the area, so Mew was able to enjoy with the others without problems.

After a nutritious breakfast, we set off for Lavender Town, by the way, Latias accompanied us in the form of Bianca because apparently she did not want to miss the landscape or at least I assumed that.

Honestly, I'm glad that poor Latias had her brother still alive and came with us unlike the anime, her ending seemed very sad and I did not like it, luckily, with me here the same thing did not happen, although technically I did nothing and I have no idea what happened, but i don't mind that, I am happy anyway.

Well, back to topic, we continued walking in the direction where the GPS of the Rotom-Dex marked us, much better than going through a dense forest, to tell the truth, we walked for about 5 hours or so, we only rest to eat, I must say that, even if we do this, it will still take two days to arrive.

A couple of hours after walking, we finally arrive at Rock Town, a town of about 3000 inhabitants, it is something small but not so small.

"Please i need to go to the Pokémon Center, I can't walk one step further" - Nancy said.

Verity and Koharu looked very tired too, as for Latias she didn't seem tired, but since even I am tired, we went straight to the Pokémon Center to rest.

"Excuse me, since you are challenging, can you do me a favor?" – said nurse Joy suddenly.

It's rare for Nurse Joy to ask for favors, they don't normally intervene in trainers' plans, so I was curious.

"What kind of favor?" – I asked.

"I'll explain, It turns out that in this town there are two gyms" – she began to explain.

"Two Pokémon gyms? In the Rotom Dex did not indicate that here there was a gym to start" - said Verity.

"That's because they are relatively recent, but returning to the TOPIC, it turns out that only one of them can obtain the official certificate of the Indigo League to be considered official gyms with valid badges, but there is a problem" - she explained.

"What's the problem?" - asked Nancy.

"You see, if they were of two different types, the Indigo League would choose the one they liked the most, the problem is that both want to be a Wrestling type gym and the Indigo League does not give them the certificate for that very reason, since there cannot be two gyms in the same town and neither of them is willing to give in, the Indigo League does not give them the certificate, so they have been fighting for more than a year to see who is worthy of obtaining the title of official gym" – she continued explaining.

"I understand, but what does that have to do with us?" – I asked.

"That's where I want to go, you see, since neither of them is willing to give in to the other and all their fights have resulted in a draw, the Indigo League has said that if within two months this has not been solved, there will be no gym in this town, so I thought that if you challenge both leaders and decide which is the best maybe the other will be agree I know it's a bad idea and I shouldn't be asking for this, but I don't know what to do anymore and this town can't afford to miss this opportunity" - said Nurse Joy.

It sounded pretty desperate, but I dare speculate, that having a Pokémon gym could help the town grow and if they miss the opportunity it just wouldn't grow or even disappear.

Seeing his tone of supplication everyone looked at me with pity and even Latias and Pikachu too, hey seriously, I am not the only one who decides, everyone has an opinion here, this is a democracy, not a dictatorship, although anyway I was not going to ignore this, it is something cruel.

"Okay, we'll help, just tell me where the gyms are and we'll go" – I nodded.

"Thank you very much, the gym would be a very good way for people to be interested in the town and generate tourism and its inhabitants could grow!" – said nurse Joy.

I was supposed to be something like that.

After that, we healed our Pokémon and headed to the address marked by Nurse Joy.

It was a relatively small town so it did not cost us much to arrive, the only thing that was not what we expected, to start both gyms were next to each other, literally five steps away, so far everything normal, more or less, the problem is that both gyms looked quite old and their paint had even come off.

"How to say this without sounding cruel... but aren't they like ruins?" said Nancy.

"It seems like no one was here in years, are you sure this is the place?" – asked Koharu.

Again I looked at the map because I also found it strange, but there was no doubt, this was the right place.

"I'm afraid it's the place... Anyway let's go in, maybe inside it's not so bad" – I said walking towards the entrance.

We tried to knock on the door, but it was already open and it was not even automatic as was normal in gyms, but a large wooden door, and at first this does not look good.

And when we entered this did not improve because the gym seemed even more demolished on the outside, besides being extremely simple, neither reception, nor door that leads to the battlefield, literally as soon as we entered the field and better not talk about a referee.

We kept walking until very close to the place we heard two people arguing.

"The Indigo League has given us only two months, it's time for you to give up and let me be the official leader of Rock Town!" – said one man.

"Ha, believe it, everyone here knows I'm best suited to be Rock Town's gym leader!" – said the other.

They were two middle-aged men, one wore a white douji and black belt, black hair with a headband and barefoot, while the other was brown and wore a black douji with a white belt and also barefoot.

"Believe it, here, the strongest is me and I am the only one who deserves to be the gym leader!" – said the one in the black uniform.

"Do you want to fight, do you want me to remind you of your crushing defeat?" – said the one with the white douji.

"Crushing? Only you believe that, plus I beat you last time, actually we are 100-100, tied" – said the other.

But before they could say anything else, I had no choice but to intervene or we would be here all day.

"Excuse me" - I said.

Both men turned and looked at us curiously.

"Don't tell me... are you a challenger?" - asked the one with the black douji.

"Well, to tell you the truth, yes, but we came here at the request of Nurse Joy" – I nodded.

"Because of her request? That's weird, normally she doesn't get into trainers matters" - said the white douji.

"He actually sent us here to decide which of you is the best to be the gym leader" - Nancy interjected.

"Oh, I see, it's a very good idea!, What better way to check who is the most worthy than to fight challengers?" – said the one with the white douji.

"It seems perfect to me, whoever wins will be the gym leader and we will solve this once and for all!" – said the one with the black douji.

"It's okay with me! But what happens if you lose?" – asked the one with the white douji.

"Ha, more you would like, my victory is more than assured!" – said the other.

"Excuse me, we'd better start now instead of fight between you" - I interjected.

"Perfect! Who is the first and how many medals do they have?" – said the one with the white douji.

They all looked at me, damn, these girls just want to know if those guys are strong or not and find out at my expense.

"Okay, I'll be the first" - I sighed.

"How many badges do you have, boy?" - asked the one in the white uniform.

"5 badges so far" – I replied.

"Hahaha, then I won't have to hold back, let's go!" – said the one with the white douji.

I looked at Latias and nodded, I want to try to fight with her, it will be our first battle.

We both stood at both corners of the battlefield.

"The rules are simple, 1 vs 1, whoever wins will be the winner, you can start!" – said the one with the black douji.

I was surprised that he agreed to fight the last one, to tell the truth.

"Wait a minute, that girl will have to wait with the others, only you can fight!" – said the one with the white douji.

"Oh, right, you'll see she's not an ordinary girl, but a Pokémon" - I said.

It's not like I'm hiding Latias, I just wasn't going to go around teaching everyone that I was a Pokémon disguised as a human.

"A Pokémon, is that possible?" – asked the puzzled man.

"Of course, come on Latias I choose you!" – I said.

"Lat!" – Latias nodded.

Then it was transformed and went out onto the battlefield in its original form.

Both men stared at her for a few moments in surprise.

"Hahaha, this is amazing, my first battle against a challenger and it will be against a Latias, learn Carlos, I will show you an amazing battle!" – said the man.

"Damn, don't believe the big deal Manuel!" – said Carlos.

At least now we know their names.

"We'll see, well, now let's start, Tauros I choose you!" – said Manuel.

To tell the truth, I was surprised to see Tauros here, after all he was a normal type, but I soon knew that I was wrong, he was actually a Paldea Tauros, specifically the Water type.

"Let's not drag this on any longer than necessary, Tauros uses Raging Bull!"

Taurus charged his attack and rammed straight towards Latias.

"Dodge it and use Psychic!"

Despite being young, Latias was already a very fast Pokémon, so he was able to dodge the attack of Tauros with ease and hit a powerful Psychic attack on Tauros that sent him flying.

"Compose yourself and ram it!"

Taurus recomposed himself as best he could and threw himself straight towards Latias.

"Use Psychic again!"

But it seems that Manuel was already expecting that move.

"Now, use Protect!"

Taurus managed to use Protect while still charging at Latias, causing his attack to have no effect.

"Now, use Raging Bull!"

She wanted to order Latias to dodge, but Tauros was too close and failed to dodge the blow and was sent flying by his attack.

"Are you okay Latias?" – I asked worriedly.

"Tias!" - she nodded.

"Perfect, then let's show what we are capable of, go ahead, use Psychic!"

"It won't work for you, use Protect and charge against it again using Raging Bull!"

As I thought, Manuel used exactly the same strategy as before, but this time he was not going to fall for that trick.

Latias used his attack which was stopped by the Tauros Protect and this directed towards Latias quickly.

"Now, use Dragon Pulse!"

"No, doge him!" - said Manuel.

But it was too late and the Dragon Pulse hit Tauros squarely sending him flying.