Chapter 53: Battling Brock! (III)

"So you do have an advantageous Pokemon...", Brock uttered to himself.

"Very well. Since the sunlight has faded, let's bring it to my own turf. Onix, use Sandstorm!"

"Roar!!!", Onix roared out. It then slapped its tail onto the hard rock, smashing it up a bit. A pale brown light leaked from its body. In the next moment. The wind whipped up around Onix, stirring the ground like crazy. Before we realized it, the whole battle field was engulfed in a sand storm. Everyone watching went from shielding their eyes from harsh sunlight to making sure they wouldn't get sand in their eyes.

"Raph, be careful of any sand that comes your way. Set up a veil against yourself. Use Aqua Ring.", I revealed my first move.

Healing move, regardless of which, are not to be underestimated. Aqua Ring was one of those that fell into the category where health recovered over time.

"Squirtle!", Squirtle yelled out. Onix then saw Squirtle take aim, only to see Squirtle raise its mouth over its head. It shot out a jet of water, letting it twirl around Squirtle. The constant water stream converged into several luminescent rings of water, which began to rotate around Squirtle. It was a veil of water rings. Overall it was quite pretty.

Until switched out, these rings would permanently stay around Squirtle, healing Squirtle.

"A set up move, huh? You aren't the only one who can use them. Onix, power up with Dragon Dance!", Brock revealed his next move.

Seeing Brock reveal his next move, it did bring me some shock.

One would think Onix wouldn't be able to learn such a move, right?

Well, all of the regions I knew of in my past life have been re-created here, and they've already been explored. And with more regions come more diversity. I am not sure if there are still unknown regions out there, but I do hope there are.

But with enough diversity, Pokemon like Onix can learn Dragon Dance. Looks like Brock picked up some TMs from Galar. One of Galar's boons was its vast collections of TMs, far more abundant compared to other regions.

Concluding that thought, I saw Onix wrap itself with orange energy. It vanished shortly after.

"Raph, close the gap. Aim at the ground in front of you, Water Gun!", I said to Squirtle.

Squirtle did so, spitting out a huge stream of water before it. Ignoring the sand flying around, Squirtle retreated into its shell, and glided along the water.

""That is definitely one way to maneuver. Onix slow Squirtle down with Rock Tomb."

Onix roared out again. It would create a huge boulder, slamming it down next to Squirtle as Squirtle closed in, trying to trap Squirtle. Thankfully Squirtle reacted quickly enough for each boulder slamming down, and dodged. Squirtle would then shoot more water.

In no time at all, Squirtle reached the base of Onix.

"Now Raph use Aqua Jet and latch onto Onix!"

"Onix, grab Squirtle with your tail, use Bind.", Brock stayed calm, trying to counter Squirtle.

Unfortunately for him, Aqua Jet is a very fast move. And in the games, it was a priority move, meaning it would always land first before the opposing Pokemon could move. And Squirtle did as such.

A huge stream of water gushed forth from beneath Squirtle, covering Squirtle entirely. Squirtle then launched itself as if Squirtle became a flowing upward river. A loud bang struck our ears, and Squirtle hit Onix hard. Onix roared out in pain. Squirtle also took this time to wedge its shell into a gap of Onix's body.

"Onix, shake Squirtle off with a repeated Body Press. ", Brock gave his next move.

Despite taking good damage there being weak to water by four times, Onix still held on. In the next moment, Onix slapped its tail onto the rocky field beneath, leaping up into the air. After that, Onix used the force of its body, slamming down hard into the field. Onix would do this repeatedly., crating large holes, flinging stones and debris upward. Combined with this, I saw Squirtle get pelted pretty hard each time Onix moved, causing me to frown.

In a a scenario like this, Squirtle actually started to take more damage than what Aqua Ring could heal. Was Brock aiming for this?

I looked back at Brock again, only to see him remain with a serious look. Brock saw this and spoke out to me.

"Having second thoughts of challenging me now, Itsuki? I know my ways to handle type effectiveness. I'm not a Gym Leader for nothing.", Brock said, only for Onix to slam down hard once again, pelting Squirtle more.

"Haha, this is what I was wanting. I plan to reach high in Kanto, and other regions. The first step to that is defeating you, Brock.", I responded with a laugh, which also caused Brock to reveal a rare smile.

"Then show me how you will beat my Onix. Your Squirtle is starting to struggle."

"I will. Raph, get out of there with Rapid Spin!", I said my next move.

"Squirtle!", Squirtle listened. It then started to spin around rapidly after retreating into its shell. Getting faster and faster, Squirtle started to slightly damage Onix. In the next moment, Squirtle used enough force, launching itself into the air.

Both Brock and I saw Squirtle come out of its shell, in the air.

"Now Raph, take aim and use Water Gun!", I said. Onix now had nowhere else to hide, except downward. It was a rock and ground type, so it very likely knew how to use dig.

Squirtle heard my next move, and shot out a large stream of water. This water spread out, and in no time, it arrived at Onix Onix started to get blasted with water, causing more damage and it roared out.

"Quick, Onix hide into the ground. Use dig.", Brock said its next move. Sure enough, he had Dig available.

Onix quickly shook off the blasting water, struggling to Dig itself into the ground, but this was what I wanted. Squirtle then landed onto the field next to the big hole Onix created. I acted quickly before Onix could appear again.

"Now Raph, use Water Gun into the hole Onix created. Its time to blast Onix out of there!"

"Squirtle", Squirtle said.

In the next moment, Squirtle shot out a huge stream of water from its mouth, shooting directly into the hole.

A couple moments passed in silence, but after that we started to hear a muffled roar. This roar started to sound as if it was in pain.

Not too far away we saw the ground shake. It then split apart, creating another hole. Onix shot out of it, letting out a roar of pain. We saw a huge stream of water blast Onix from underneath.

"Onix!", Brock saw this, only to see his Onix get flung into the air.

After the water stream vanished, Onix fell down hard onto the ground.

It took a moment for Onix to struggle getting up, but then it couldn't. Faint circles appeared in Onix's eyes.

The female Trainer was stunned once again seeing Onix get defeated, but was still able to speak out.

'O-Onix is unable to battle, Squirtle is the winner! Gym Leader Brock has lost the battle, and Itsuki is the victor!", the female Trainer said, announcing the result of the battle.

"That was a good battle, Itsuki. Take a nice rest, Onix.", Brock said, recalling his Onix.

"You did well too, Raph.", I responded to Squirtle while nodding at Brock.

"Squirtle!", Squirtle said, returning to my side. Squirtle then gave me a V sign which caused me to smile. In my past life, I was Japanese, and the V sign had a different meaning. It didn't mean peace, and actually meant victory. Does it have such a meaning here?

Unexpectedly, however, after Squirtle did that, we all saw Squirtle's body light up. It was then consumed by this white light.

In the next moment, Squirtle's body got larger and changed shape. The light then vanished.

"Wartortle!", Wartortle revealed itself to us for the first time. Squirtle had evolved into Wartortle!

"Guess your Squirtle was due to evolve as well. Congratulations.", Brock said, approaching me.

"Thank you. I had a lot of fun this battle.", I replied.

"Haha, me too.", Brock responded, only for him to reach his hand into his outfit. He took it back out, only to reveal a silver badge.

"Take this Boulder Badge. This is proof of beating my gym. This also marks your first step into the rest of Kanto."

"Thank you.", I responded, happily receiving the Boulder Badge. "Are you always the first Gym Leader people come to on a journey?"

"Not always. Trainers do often start from Viridian City but they can also start from other cities beyond Mount Moon. That's why we have different difficulty settings as Gym Leaders. I saw you have no badges, so I chose accordingly.", Brock answered me.

So that was indeed how Gyms work here eh? I like that. Makes it more fun, letting people choose to go out of order. I don't actually need to make Cerulean Gym my next Gym, but I probably will still go in order. We shall see.

With the Boulder Badge now in hand, no way in hell I'm not going to shout it out like Ash does. That's Ash, and I'm me. I calmly put the Boulder Badge away in my badge case.

I took this time to observe Wartortle, and recalled it. I'm glad Raph was able to evolve in this battle.

With that said, I thanked Brock. He dismissed us three, letting him return to his Gym. He said he would be ready for Serena the next day and Lillie the day after. According to Brock, besides healing his Pokemon up again, Gyms apparently have devices to auto repair the battle field, which I found neat. We did destroy the field quite a bit, but now I see why we don't have to wait as long.

Serena and Lillie of course congratulated me too and before we knew it the next day came, we cuddled together as we slept.

However unbeknownst to me, a certain old man watched my battle that day from afar, and he would do the same for Serena's and Lillie's battle.

Serena had a lot of fun battling Brock. He used Geodude and Onix like he did with me, but Serena was able to sweep Geodude away with Pinsir and use Froakie's speed to dodge Onix's attacks, securing her Boulder Badge. Froakie gave us a surprise too, and evolved into Frogadier! She refrained from using Popplio this battle.

As for Lillie, she struggled. Brock found it a surprise that her Nidoran was able to use Water Pulse and turned the tide in her favor by getting a fast ko on Geodude, but in the end she struggled with Onix. Onix easily fainted her Nidoran. Butterfree was able to do some damage as did Litten, but she clutched the battle with Snowy, turning Onix into a big popsicle. She earned her Boulder Badge as did I and Serena.

And that's how our gym battles in Pewter Gym came to a close. By the time we finished our three battle I noticed Flint had been observing us, but it seems he hadn't had enough guts to reveal himself yet.

Brock did express his dream of becoming a Pokemon Breeder to us as well. I only responded that he will have a better opportunity to let him realize his dream by joining the journey of another trainer later on this year. And yes, I am indeed referring to Ash here. He accepted my response and since Brock couldn't join us on our journey, he decided something else instead.

He gave us an Old Amber!

We graciously thanked him. I wasn't planning to drop by the Museum at this point in time, but with the Old Amber, let us see if they have any fossil restoration devices.

After bidding Brock our farewell for now, we headed off to the Pewter Museum of Science!

*

End of Pewter Gym.

Enjoy the battles?

And it is time for Aerodactyl?

Don't forget to keep dropping those power stones!