Chapter 14: Pewter City Gym

.[General POV]

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Eli woke up as he got ready to challenge Brock for his first gym badge, which had been long overdue. Most trainers probably had 2-3 badges by now, but most trainers didn't train as much as he did either. As he made his way inside the Pewter gym, he saw the gym leader, Brock, having a chat with the gym trainers. He looked surprised to see a challenger this late into the new league year. "Oh? A challenger, that's a surprise. I think I remember you from the rookie tournament; there's little to no data on your Kubfu in the alliance records; they seem to be nonexistent due to Galar adamantly not wanting to share info on the Pokémon in their islands; hell, even their own elite trainers aren't allowed on those islands." Brock started a mini-rant before brushing it off. "Ah whatever, don't stress on my ramblings; you want a gym battle, right? Please scan your Pokédex on the podium so I can gauge your strength. As he inserted his Pokédex into the podium, it showed the data of his Pokémon on a large screen.

"Huh, lvl 31s and a 32 already huh, you really are quite the rookie, let's go then, a 2 on 2 battle, where I'll only use Pokémon with the level average of 31.5. Forrest referee for me, please." As he got ready to battle, a tiny version of Brock took on the role of referee. "This is an official gym battle between Gym Leader Brock and Challenger. Eli, Challenger, send out your first Pokémon." Forrest is acting as the referee announced. As Eli threw his Poké Ball, Kubfu emerged from it, striking a fighting stance as Brock threw his Poké Ball, which materialised into a large, dark-grey, dinosaur-like Pokémon with a pearl-like crown crowning its head. 'Rampardos' Eli thought as he scanned the Pokémon.

Pokémon: Rampardos

Lvl: 31

Type: Rock

Ability: Mold Breaker

Gender: Male

Potential: Shallow Gold

Moves: Headbutt, Leer, Focus Energy, Endeavor , Take Down

(Innate Talent) Head Smash [E] (Innate Talent) Earthquake [E]

(TM) Heavy Slam [E], (TM) Stone Edge [E]

What it lacked in its learn set, Rampardos made up for in its innate talent moves. 'Gotta watch out for head smash.' Eli thought as Forrest began the match, and right after that, he instructed Kubfu. "Don't forget your training, Kubfu; start us off with Bulk Up." The little fighter's nodding glowed with a red aura as he used the move. "Rampardos, Stone Edge into Earthquake make the stones fly high." As the dinosaur-like Pokémon stomped its feet simultaneously, tremors started shaking the field and stone protrusions started rising from the ground. Kubfu, however, remained unfazed as he jumped from protrusion to protrusion as Brock commanded "Head Smash!" Kubfu, without needing to know what Eli wanted from him, used a Brick Break, As fist met head both were blown away by the impact, Kubfu more so as he was very light.

"Rampardos, jump, then Heavy Slam, pin it down." Brock wanted Kubfu to be out of the match fast, as he was a hard counter to Brock's whole team. "Endure; you know what to do after that." Eli countered. Kubfu could have dodged the attack, but Eli wanted the Rampardos out of the field as they had shown superb control of the environment around them, something Eli's team lacked. As such, he was prepared to make a gambit as he had confidence Kirlia could take on anything that came next. As Rampardos slammed into Kubfu, he glowed with a whitish outline before being surrounded by a blood-red aura, putting everything he had into one last punch. Kubfu sent the 226-pound dinosaur flying across the field. Kubfu, however, even on the brink of fainting, could still fight; in fact, he glared at Eli for trying to return him, forfeiting him for the match.

"Good work with defeating Rampardos there, but we're only just beginning. Onix go!" As Brock threw his last Poké Ball, a familiar yet different Stone Serpent materialised.

Pokémon: Onix

Lvl:32

Type: Rock Ground

Ability: Rock Head

Gender: Male

Potential: Deep Silver

Moves: Rock Slide, Rock Polish [E], Tackle,

(Innate Talent) Stone Edge [E] (Innate Talent) Head Smash [E]

Onix's status looked pretty bare, but he was level 32 and had a good combo with Head Smash and Rock Head. Kubfu did try to put up a fight, but he was just knocked out by a tackle from Onix. Recalling his faithful starter, he sent out his final Pokémon, the one that just two days ago toppled a Stone Serpent like this one, Kirlia. 'Is my assistance required in toppling another Serpent Friend Trainer?' Kirlia asked telepathically as he looked at the stone serpent head-on. 'Indeed, it is; for now, Kirlia start off with Flash Bang before using Magical Leaf.' Kirlia nodded at Eli's instructions as he readied a Dazzling gleam, and before using it, Teleported right in front of Onix's eyes, effectively blinding it for a moment before he launched a Magical Leaf at it, exploiting its four-time weakness to grass.

Onix roared in pain as he flailed around, but Kirlia, being the ever so stone cold killer, used Confuse Ray on it, making it thrash around even more, not being able to see such brutality. Brock called back his Onix, forfeiting the battle as he glared at Eli. "What's wrong with your Pokémon? Why is he so brutal?" To which Eli shrugged, "He knows the hardships of life, so he knows he can't be merciful; that's just it." Brock didn't stop glaring before sighing and giving Eli a pebble-shaped badge. "This is the Pewter badge; you will need it to participate in the Indigo League. Also, here's a TM for Stone Edge. Usually, we would give out Rock Tombs, but The League decided to let trainers get stronger moves from gyms so they have more reason to beat them. I wish you luck on your adventures, young trainer." Eli nodded as he left the gym and made his way to Route 2.

Eli had decided that he would make it to Cerulean today; at the very least, if he did not get the Cascade badge too, the SS Anne would be leaving in a week or so, and if he won against Lt. Surge, he would get a ticket onto the ship. 'No time to waste; daylights burning.' Eli thought as he headed onto Route 2. There was nothing to be said about Eli's adventures in Route 2. Everyone on his team was much higher level in comparison to the trainers looking for battles, excluding Fuecoco, but the Bronze to Silver Pokémon the no-name trainers had wouldn't even serve as good training for the crocodilian. That did remind Eli that Fuecoco was nearing evolution, just 4 levels away; at his potential, it should be a matter of days.

After rushing past Route 2, he quickly entered Mount Moon, deciding to play it safe. Eli sent out Kirlia to sense out any people or Pokémon as they made their way deeper, fighting the occasional hiker. Everything was going smoothly until Kirlia gave a disturbing report. 'Half a dozen life signatures like the one whose life I took; I believe his name was Brandon, Friend Trainer.' 'Sh*t' Eli realised that he had stumbled upon a Team Rocket operation. He opened his Pokédex; the signal was barely there, but it was more than enough to send a message to the authorities. He tried to quietly sneak away, but as luck would have it, one of the grunt's Zubat sensed him and alerted everyone there. 'God damn it.' Eli cursed as he sent out all his Pokémon, returning Fuecoco, who definitely was not ready for such a battle.

"That's the brat that killed Admin Adam's son; if the Admin wasn't busy overlooking Project Two, he would have personally killed the brat, but it looks like he won't get the chance to. Boys, send your Pokémon out; this kid is dead meat. " A Team Rocket member wearing a different outfit than the grunts came in front of the grunts, probably the captain, smirking as he sent out a Raticate and Golbat, both level 28. While he was confident in beating the captain, the sheer numbers advantage would be quite hard to overcome. 'None the less, it's do or die.' Eli sighed and resigned. "Tailwind into Drill Pecks and Air Slashes, Corvisquire; Kubfu, go nuts; take as many of them as you can; Kirlia, run interference with Teleport." As Eli grabbed the gun he had stored in the cube, while he wasn't an expert at dealing with firearms, he did know a thing or two.

I just hope the league comes before I am just a corpse.' Eli thought morbidly as he aimed the pistol and fired straight at one of the grunts head, instantly killing him. And then chaos soon began. Everyone was panicking at how the kid had a gun as the Captain shouted, "BE CALM YOU IDIOTS, HE'S JUST A CHILD THERE STILL 10 OF US!!" Amidst the chaos, Eli hid in the cover of the darkness, staying ever so still, praying the Rocket's Zubats and Golbats didn't find him. His team, however, as soon as the shot was fired, began making their moves. Corvisquire dominated the air, ripping apart any poor Zubat or Golbat standing in his way. Kubfu took on multiple Pokémon at once; he Brick Breaked a Raticate before Mega Kicking its body straight at another foe, his body and him seemed to work in harmony, as any attack sent towards him was deflected perfectly by him without there being an ounce of loss of focus seen from the bear. Even some of the attacks that did manage to slip through were covered by Kirlia, who was being a menace. Teleporting around everywhere, blinding foes with Dazzling Gleam, slamming them into each other with Psychic, and showing them pain and agony with Confuse Ray.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!!!" The rocket captain cursed repeatedly as he frantically searched for Eli. "Golbat, forget these numbskulls; find the brat and kill him." Golbat nodded as he began using his echolocation to find where Eli was. 'Sh*t, I will have to kill him myself before I get killed by that overgrown bat.' Eli knew he couldn't hide; he had to risk it. 'Here goes nothing' Eli steeled himself with resolve as he ran out of his hiding spot. He was thankful that the Golbat had gone the other way. "I mean this in the nicest way possible, Rocket, You f*cked up." Eli glared coldly at the captain shooting at him. The captain, not like the grunts, tried evading the shot, but it still hit his foot. "Any last words?" Eli put his foot on the man's chest as he trained his gun straight at the captain's head. "Yeah, Golbat poison can kill you in 5 minutes if not given immediate medical care, JOIN ME IN HELL BRAT!!" The captain grabbed his foot, not letting Eli escape as he heard a swooshing sound from behind him. Eli quickly fired the shot, nailing the captain straight on the head as he felt a searing pain on his back. His vision became blurry as he heard many voices, one of which he distinctly heard saying "Dragonite, Hyper Beam." before he passed out.

{After an unknown period of time}

Eli woke up in a hospital bed with an IV drip feeding him some sort of liquid. He frantically searched for his Pokémon, not finding them on his belt, as he heard a voice say, "Whoa whoa whoa, calm down, kiddo, your Pokémon are fine. You are in the Cerulean Poké Centre, Nurse Joy has them; they were relatively unharmed, but you? You took the full force of a Golbat's Poison Fang on the Elite rank no less; its a miracle your up; you should have been passed out for 2 days, not just 3 hours." As he turned his head to see who it was, his eyes widened, seeing the champion of both Kanto and Jhoto standing in front of him, Dragon Master Lance. "I guess I need no introduction. I would sign an autograph, but I have some serious questions for you: first, what the hell were you thinking taking on 12 rockets, a whole squad of them by yourself and second, where the hell did you even get a gun and as far as I've checked, you didn't even have a license for it?" Lance began seriously asking questions as Eli answered truthfully. "I had been meaning to get to Cerulean City from Mount Moon and as my luck would have it, came across a Team Rocket operation, and as I sent a message to the authorities about to flee, a Zubat belonging to one of the rockets spotted me, and I couldn't escape, so I had to fight.As for the fire arm, I picked it from one of the grunts dead bodies before using it in self-defense." Eli lied, not telling Lance about Brandon, as he didn't want to be kept on a close eye by the champion himself.

Hearing the recollection of the tale, Lance ran a hand over his head, exhausted. "We did get your message; if it weren't for me being quite near Mount Moon on an errand, you would have been dead. Your Pokémon are fine; however, don't worry, Nurse Joy will bring them in after I'm done. You are going to be discharged sometime tomorrow; just don't do anything strenuous for 2-3 days and you'll be fine." Lance gravely said before moving onto more lighthearted topics. "Thank you for helping us thwart a Rocket operation, though young trainer; those rats have grown some spines in the past year; we'll have to do something soon; goodbye for now, Eli; I hope we meet again." As Lance left, Eli breathed a gigantic sigh of relief. Something about being next to the champion and lying straight to his face didn't invoke a lot of confidence in him.

Soon after, Nurse Joy came into the room with Eli's Pokémon, who jumped at him, piling on top of him. 'We were all worried, Friend Trainer, when that fanged monstrosity injected its poison into you. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. Forgive me, Friend Trainer, I have failed.' Kirlia spoke with guilt. Seeing the atmosphere in the room, Eli brought everyone closer for a hug. "It's not your fault; I knew full well what I was getting myself into; don't blame my carelessness on yourself, you guys."

This continued on for a while as Eli spoke comforting words to his Pokémon, reassuring them that he would be fine, that it wasn't their fault, and that they had finally calmed down. Eli sighed, exhausted, as he quickly passed out, not before he heard Kirlia's voice. 'Rest well, friend trainer, you have earned it.'