Ch.11

The lunch that Brock made was actually extremely good, like a professional cook from a restaurant good. Everyone ate to their full before, we all relaxed for a bit talking more, and then once everyone was ready we decided to have a two-on-two Pokémon battle. As we both only had two Pokémon, though I knew Mankey could easily handle both of his Pokémon. 

"Leo, Mankey will be taking this one," I say as Leo nods his head, but I can tell is upset he didn't get to battle again. 

"Don't worry, next gym will be all you," I say to Leo petting his head as he looks happier hearing that while Mankey is just excited for the battle happening now. 

"Graveler, you got this!" Brock says with the same seriousness and enthusiasm as his father. 

"Mankey, show them what you can do," I say to Mankey who jumps into the area ready for the battle to start. Brock and I only bet five hundred Pokédollars as this wasn't a 'serious' battle, but still an official one. 

Mankey and Graveler stood on the field staring at one another as they waited for our commands, with Brock and I giving one last nod signaling we were ready. 

"Mankey, use the intro!" I say as Mankey uses Leer and Focus Energy. 

"Graveler, use our intro!" Brock says as Graveler uses what appears to be Iron Defense and Rock Polish. 

"Mankey, use Low Kick!" 'Then follow up with a Cross Chop immediately,' I say to Mankey who rushes Graveler right after my command. 

"Graveler, use Rollout to avoid Mankey, and then use Bulldoze!" Brock says knowing Mankey has a huge type advantage over him. 

Graveler begins running away from Mankey who becomes infuriated at Graveler rolling around to avoid him. Until he puts enough distance between himself and Mankey stopping and almost immediately using Bulldoze. 

"Mankey, use Acrobatics to avoid it, and then use Cross Chop!" I say to Mankey right as I notice Graveler stopping. 

Mankey then jumps into the air and onto a tree nearby, before launching himself at Graveler. 

"Graveler, use Rock Throw and then Smack Down!" Brock says seeing Mankey avoid his Bulldoze. 

Mankey avoids the Rock Throw while using his pure strength to break through Smack Down. Mankey then lands his Cross Chop onto Graveler who cries in pain while smashing into the ground head first. Mankey then jumps back as Graveler pushes himself to his feet very slowly. It appears his ability is 'Sturdy' making it impossible to one hit KO him. 

"Graveler come back, you did good buddy," Brock says withdrawing Graveler knowing he it was a lost battle. 

"Ok, Onix! Let's show them what we can do!" Brock says while Onix goes out into the battle area while giving a battle cry agreeing with his trainer. 

"Mankey, use Low Kick!" I say since that should definitely be a KO on a hit. Mankey then rushes Onix. 

"Onix, use Dig! Then use Iron Defense and Rock Polish!" Brock says right as I commanded Mankey. 

Onix just barely avoided Mankey who Kicked the Ground at the spot Onix just was. Mankey then looks around waiting for Onix to appear. 

"Mankey, stick to the trees!" I say as Mankey then jumps to a nearby tree while watching the ground.

"Onix, use Heavy Slam!" Brock says as Onix then breaks through the ground near the tree Mankey is on. 

"Mankey, use Acrobatics to dodge and then Cross Chop!" I say as Mankey jumps off the tree just as Onix crushes it under its immense weight. 

Mankey then lands his Cross Chop on Onix sending it back a few feet as it cries in pain, though it appears to be hardier than Graveler. As Onix appears very hurt, but not on it's last leg hurt. 

"Onix, use Payback!" Brock says that this move could KO Mankey on hit, especially after the hit Onix just received. 

"Mankey, dodge it!" I say as Mankey tries to move out of the way but is still mid-air from its last hit and gets hit with Payback. Mankey is thrown back crashing into a new tree, as Mankey cries in pain. Though thankfully Mankey is not KO and gets up with an extremely pissed-off face. 

"Mankey, use Acrobatics!" 'Use it jumping from tree to tree, until your Focus Punch is ready,' I say to Mankey who complies and begins jumping from tree to tree while preparing his Focus Punch. 

"Onix, use Protect and then Rest!" Brock says that Onix creates a barely visible force field around itself before falling asleep. 

In this world, Protect can last for a minimum of two seconds to over two minutes if the Pokémon is proficient enough in the move. However, they can not attack while using the move as they have to focus on using Protect. From the looks of it, Onix knows Sleep Talk making him able to keep Protect up. 

"Mankey, use Focus Energy!" 'Then hold your Focus Punch until Onix drops Protect," I say to Mankey who stops and waits on a nearby tree. 

After almost thirty seconds Onix's Protect finally falls, with Onix still not awake yet. Mankey then launches himself at Onix seeing Protect finally disappear. 

"Onix, use Heavy Slam!" Brock says as Onix still asleep, grunts and swings wildly in Mankey's direction. 

Mankey is easily able to dodge this as Onix is not that proficient in Sleep Talk and is slower. Mankey then lands his Focus Punch on Onix which is a critical hit from the looks of it. As Onix is punched so hard he wakes up before slamming to the ground extremely hard. With a huge crashing sound from the hit, as the dust settles Onix is unconscious and Mankey is jumping around celebrating his victory. 

"Great try buddy," Brock says after withdrawing Onix. 

"You did great Mankey," I say while giving him his favorite food, dried bananas and I heal up his wounds. 

"That was a great battle! I can see why now my Dad expects you to be going places!" Brock says to me shaking my hand as I return it. 

"Thanks, you did really well too. Especially, since you were at a huge disadvantage," I say while shaking his hand and having finished healing up Mankey who is dancing while eating his dried bananas. 

"I appreciate that," Brock says to me while smiling like his father. 

We then traded phone numbers to keep in contact as we just became good acquaintances. Maybe not friends just yet, but I can see Brock now views me in a new light. Like I am the next obstacle he needs to overcome. Afterward, we part ways, as my Pokémon and I head further into the forest to finish up training and exploring before our next gym battle. 

I wanted to get Leo and Mankey as close as I could to the next rank before challenging the next gym. However, I knew the higher they leveled up, the harder it would be to level up. Which is true as by the time we finished traveling through the forest, both only leveled up one more time. 

I did see that the training, battling, and general experience my Pokémon were getting slowly improved their stats too. Leo and Mankey both finally reached B Rank for their attack stats, while Leo's remaining stats stayed in C Rank with Mankey's entering mostly C Rank and a few remaining in the D rank. 

"Depending on how quickly you guys raise your stats, I might want you to evolve soon," I say to them as we enter Saffron City and look over their stats again. 

"Growlithe! Mankey!" both say excited at the prospect of evolving. 

Like usual I scheduled a gym battle the day after we arrived in the city. Then we spend our first day exploring it and eating various foods. The largest city I've seen was Viridian City, which reminded me of New York from my past life just much larger. While Saffron reminds me of Tyoko just not as large, though still a very populated city. 

People and Pokémon roamed the city going about their business, with street food vendors, trinkets, and other random vendors littering the side of the roads. As major businesses were inside large buildings. The tallest building is the Silph Corporation Head Office, they are the leading manufacturer of Pokémon technology in the world and produce a variety of goods for Trainers, such as the Pokéballs, boosters, TMs, and other items like the Silph Scope.

There was another famous place inside the city, called the Fighting Dojo which was a place where they trained people in marital arts, along with Fighting Type Pokémon. They held events that people could take part in to win an exclusive fighting type Pokémon called Tyrogue. 

As for trainers, they could challenge some of the teachers of the Fighting Dojo and then challenge the Dojo Master. Kind of like a gym, if you beat the Master of the Dojo you get money, a TM, and a special Pokémon, which I am sure is just a Tyrogue but maybe of better potential. 

I was curious about challenging the Dojo, but I wanted to first beat the gym here. I did stop by the Dojo just to check it out and ask about the challenge for trainers. My guess was correct as a trainer could receive a better potential ranked Tyrogue. Leaving the Dojo, I could see Mankey was extremely interested in it. 

"Mankey after the gym, we can come back here. You can fight this place and Leo will be fighting the gym," I say as both Pokémon agree with that.

As the next day came, we headed to the gym and I was luckily the first person to battle the gym. Though I did notice in the stands watching my fight were a lot more people than usual, along with Brock who waved at me and I noticed Sabrina who was watching this with an intense look. 

'Oh, yeah her Dad is the gym leader here and she later takes control of the gym,' I think to myself seeing her watching me with an intense stare. 

Coming out is the referee and a middle-aged man who slightly resembles Sabrina. I can feel that this man also has psychic abilities like his daughter and me. He seems to have sensed me as well, as he gives me a new look over with more interest in his eyes than before. His gaze then scans the crowd as the referee introduces us to the people here. 

At spotting his daughter a small smile forms on his face, but he notices her intense stare at me. His face turns confused, then it seems several thoughts flash through his head. As he turns back to me with an even more intense stare than his daughter. This confuses me as I now feel like he wants to hurt me physically himself. 

'What did I do?' I think as he glares at me. 

"Please send out your first Pokémon," the referee says to us as Sabrina's father glares at me still. 

I send out Leo who jumps into the arena with a battle cry, as Sabrina's father sends out Mr. Mime. The two Pokémon stare at each other with challenging gazes, though it seems Mr. Mime senses his trainer's dislike for me. Mr. Mime then has this even harder look now, like he wants to kill us. Leo growls in response to the change of emotions showing his anger towards them for the extra hostility. 

"Gym Leader Solomon are you ready? Trainer Lucas are you ready?" the referee says as we both nod our heads, with Solomon not taking his glare off of me. 

"Begin!" the referee says seeing us both ready.