CHAPTER - 15 { Second Gym Battle }

Azalea Town, a small, isolated town located on the southern peninsula of the Johto region. The town is best known for being the residence of Kurt, a custom pokeball creator who makes rare pokeball out of apricorns.

The sun blazed brightly, no clouds could be seen in the sky and no bird pokemon flew.

Kota walked on the uneven road with a frustrated expression. His body was all sweaty and his limbs were like extra weight.

As for why he didn't use Charizard to fly, it was purely because he wanted to truly experience it himself.

Like it's said, the journey was more important than the destination itself.

"Ariya, how far is Azalea Town? I think I already traveled quite a distance now."

Asked Kota, he decided to stop near a huge boulder and drink some water.

"Sir, it's about 3 kilometers away from your current position towards the south."

Ariya's male voice sounded from the six earrings that Kota wore on his right ear.

"Hm… I see some small pokemon around."

Kota raised his left hand, where he wore a platinum bracelet, with the Key Stone fixed in it.

A hologram of his surroundings lit up from the bracelet, he was the red dot in the center.

Looking around him, there were tens of tiny green dots indicating unevolved pokemon. Such as Rattata, Geodude, etc.

There were also blue dots, indicating second evolved stages, such as Graveler, Raticate, etc.

After resting, Kota continued on the road until he started seeing trees and bushes appear on the path.

Half an hour later he finally reached Azalea Town. It wasn't that big, just enough to be called a proper town with sunny weather.

"Sloww~poke!"

A pink colored pokemon was lying on the roadside, it yawned and looked at Kota with lazy eyes.

Slowpoke, a water/psychic type pokemon. It is known as the 'Dopey Pokemon'. It could be said to be the laziest pokemon in the world.

Kota inspected this Slowpoke with his special bracelet and found it to be very healthy.

"Sloww~poke!"

"Sloww~poke!"

Not just one, but in hundreds, these Slowpoke just laid anywhere they found a good spot to rest.

"Fuu, how can these guys keep themselves cool in this hot weather?"

Kota wiped his forehead and kept on walking towards the nearest shop.

He looked around and saw that the long river in the town was almost about to go dry. The water flowing there was only a few inch in depth.

* * *

After finding a restaurant, Kota ate his lunch and headed towards Kurt's residence.

He didn't have a single pokeball with specialty, and Birkang was still busy trying to hatch the giant green pokemon egg.

The egg's size reached about 1 meter in height, and was very large. If Kota wanted, he could actually fit inside the egg shell.

"Hello? Anyone there?"

Kota called out, but he didn't get an immediate response from the house.

After waiting for almost a minute, the front door finally opened and a head peeked out.

"Who are you?"

It was a little girl, likely the granddaughter of Kurt, Kota couldn't remember the name.

"Hey, is Kurt there? The pokeball maker. I am talking about him."

Explained Kota while maintaining a smile on his face to appear good and kind. That's what normal people look though.

"You mean my grandpa? He is there, making some pokeball, come in!"

The little girl opened the door and welcomed Kota. They had lots of apricorn trees in the yard and garden.

Soon they reached the backyard, where a separate shed was built and the metal hitting sounds were coming from.

"He is kind of busy, you can wait inside."

The little girl took Kota inside and let him wait in the living room while Kurt was completing his work.

* * *

Later, Kota walked out of Kurt's residence with four new pokeballs of two designs.

One blue with a red portion on the top, and another one black with blue spots.

Lure Ball, and Heavy Ball. Lure Ball is used when catching water type pokemon in fishing, and Heavy Ball is used catching wild pokemon.

"It's about time I challenge the gym leader here."

Kota then advanced towards the Azalea Gym, it was going to be his second gym match in Johto Region.

As he neared the building, the more Kota was impressed by the way the gym leader created his gym.

It was a huge greenhouse. Tens of trees were inside, and many bug pokemon stuck to them.

"Are you a challenger?"

Suddenly, a voice was heard from behind the bushes in front of Kota.

"Ya…"

Replied Kota, his eyes narrowed and focused on his front. A figure revealed itself to him.

Slightly shorter in height to Kota, a boy wearing clothes with many pockets, the gym leader.

Bugsy. Speciality, bug type pokemon.

'All I need is to use Charizard and the gym badge is mine to take. Before that, I must train some of my pokemon and let them have a chance to show their potential.'

Coming before Kota, Bugsy smiled and shook hands with each other.

"I was about to let my pokemon exercise anyways, how about we battle now? Will that be alright?"

Asked Bugsy, Kota agreed quickly and the two then headed towards the battleground.

"Challenging the Azalea Gym this time, is Trainer Kota. Both the Gym Leader and Trainer will use three pokemon each, the first one to have all his pokemon unable to continue, will be the loser."

"Now, Gym Leader Bugsy, please bring out your first pokemon."

The referee said in a serious tone. Bugsy glanced at Kota and then threw out a pokeball in the air.

Tuff!

With a flash of bright white light, a green spider pokemon was visible on the battleground.

Spinarak, a bug/poison type pokemon. It is known as the 'String Spit Pokemon'.

"Now Challenger, please bring out your pokemon."

Kota thought for a split moment before throwing a pokeball on the battleground.

Tuff!

Opposite to Spinarak, a brown pokemon with a larger tail than the body appeared.

"Sentret!"

Sentret saw Spinarak and took on a more cautious position. She glared towards Spinarak, and waited for Kota's command.

"Begin!"

With the referee's shout, the match officially began. Bugsy was a little surprised because he had not seen someone use a Sentret to battle against him.

'Is he serious?'

Thought Bugsy. He ordered Spinarak to keep a good distance from Sentret.

Kota brought out a hologram from his bracelet, showing the battleground before him in a miniature version.

He looked through the list of moves that Sentret could use, and formulated a plan.

"Sentret, Work Up."

Ordered Kota. Immediately, Sentret started heating up her body and her aura increased.

"Spinarak, spit webs on the ground! Cover the entire ground with your webs!"

Spinarak quickly started spitting out sticky as well as non-sticky webs on the ground. Half of the ground soon was covered.

The other half, however, Spinarak didn't cover because Sentret was present.

"Don't get distracted, I will warn you when needed. Use, Focus Energy."

Said Kota. Sentret nodded her head then closed her eyes and concentrated on her energy.

Her body glowed with a faint blue light, and her aura also increased further.

"Spinarak, we mustn't give them time! Pin Missile!"

Shouted Bugsy, Spinarak raised its head and its horn started shining. Then, multiple flashes of light shot out of it towards Sentret.

"Defense Curl."

Sentret heard Kota, so she curled up in a ball with her tail covering most of her body. The Pin Missile couldn't deal much damage.

"Spinarak, use Megahorn!"

Spinarak leaped forward with his horn that grew larger while giving out red light.

Defense Curl was useful when the moves weren't that powerful, but Megahorn was different. It's a powerful move, one that deals lots of damage.

"Jump!"

The battle turned fast, Kota ordered fast. Spinarak had almost hit Sentret when it found that Sentret jumped using the large tail.

Now, she was just above it. Bugsy wanted Spinarak to get away but he was slightly late.

"Iron Tail."

Sentret swung her body and slammed her tail, at Spinarak, directly pinning it on the ground.

Boom!

With the use of Focus Energy and Work Up, Sentret's attack power had skyrocketed, and a perfect Iron Tail.

"Spinarak is unable to continue, Sentret has won the battle! Gym Leader Bugsy, bring out your next pokemon."

Bugsy sighed, then took spinarak back to its pokeball.

"A good battle. It's been a long time since I fought against a strong trainer.", Muttered Bugsy as he smiled at Kota.