Chapter 12

After a ludicrous amount of sprays, the team was fully healed.

So, with a bag full of fired-up pokémon, Bob continued the stroll.

Though, Bob was able to enter a massive room with a huge arena in the middle.

At one end was the door he walked through.

The other was a man.

The one and only Falkner.

'So this is the guy in the flesh?' Bob thought, walking towards him, 'Finally, I can get my first gym badge,'

The Gym leader, Falkner, noticed Bob.

"So, a challenger appears?" He asks.

Bob nodded in response.

"I'll shall engage with my father's legendary birds," He said, signalling Bob to walk to the other side of the battleground, "they may be shocked to the core, but that won't stop their determination,"

The two trainers stood opposite one another, but one grew anxious.

'Why am I acting like this?!' Bob thought, gripping his hands, shaking a little, 'it is just another pokémon battle,'

He tried to think this, but it could not work. It was like a soccer match, all the other trainer battles were like practice drills for Bob, but a Gym battle? He could compare it to playing with hundreds if not thousands of spectators watching.

The referee walked onto one side of the area.

"This will be a 3 on 3 match," He said holding a flag, "The challenger is the only one allowed to switch out pokémon if needed, that is all. Let the battle begin."

Bob gulped hard. His chest was battered by his heart, but his hand was able to take out a pokéball.

"Go, Hoothoot!" Falkner shouted, flinging his pokéball forward.

"Hoot! Hoot!" It shouted, its eyebrows lowered and tilted.

'Alright,' Bob let out his pokémon.

"Geodude!" Geodude screeched, ready to fight.

"Not bad," The Gym Leader said, looking at the rock type, "but a type advantage won't stop the beasts of the sky, Hoothoot, Extrasensory!"

The flying-type stood, its face lacking emotion.

'Extrasensory?' Bob was thinking of this move, but spoke away, "Geodude, Rock Throw,"

"Geo!" The rock-type grabbed the ground from the battlefield and lifted a giant boulder, ready to swing it.

He felt a sharp pain just then.

It was like an attack on his life force, as if a rope he was hanging onto was cut, letting Geodude fall into an abyss.

In reality, it compelled him to drop the rock, and recoil from the damage.

Bob was surprised but then retaliated.

"Rollout,"

Quickly, Geodude began to roll.

However, Falkner was on the case.

"Reflect, now!"

BASH!

The rock-type hit something, but not Hoothoot.

Recovering, he looked at his opponent and found a pink transparent barrier in front of the flying-type.

'Strange, I thought Reflect reduced damage, not completely block it,' Bob thought, eyeing the barrier 'Either way, it appears that Geodude will be stuck in Rollout,'

"Dude!" Geodude lunged at Hoothoot, gaining momentum in his roll.

"Seems like free shots," Falkner spoke, "Hoothoot, Tackle!"

After Geodude smashed into the barrier, Hoothoot slammed into the rock-type, cussing a cry of pain.

However, it was not enough.

Falkner was determined to try and finish off the Geodude before the barrier went off. The truth was that it was a chance that a block would happen, and luck was a play to this.

It had to go the gym leader's way if two blocks went off.

At that, Geodude went into his third Rollout, and it was taken again by the barrier.

A third time.

"Hoothoot, Echoed Voice," The flying-type let out a screech, which affected the rock-type, but didn't end its Rollout streak.

Speaking of which,

"Hoot!" Hoothoot shouted, being finally pummeled by the rock-type with a fourth Rollout.

'So it must be random? Fascinating,' Bob thought, feeling his heartbeat, 'this is getting intense for some reason!'

Falkner cursed under his breath. Hoothoot stood up but looked beat up. It probably would fall again soon. He had to take the chance.

"Come on, Hoothoot, end it with Extrasensory," He was not talking about fainting Geodude, but about Geodude fainting Hoothoot.

So the flying-type had an emotionless stare, and Geodude went into his fifth and most powerful Rollout.

The attack was successful, as Geodude was brought out of his Rollout.

Although, it was not able to save Hoothoot from the fifth blast, including the barrier.

The flying-type laid unconscious, giving Bob the advantage.

"Damn, not one of my father's pokémon," Falkner muttered, returning Hoothoot.

When the next enemy came out, Bob was talking with Geodude.

"Want to continue?"

Despite being shaken by the attacks, Geodude showed a thumbs up.

"Notify me if you are too weak to go further, I wouldn't want to put a loss on your record," Bob said, looking at the next pokémon.

"Pidgeotto!" It squawked, flapping its wings.

Geodude kept his mean grin.

"Pidgeotto hit with Wing Attack!"

"Geotto!" It zoomed at the rock-type, its wings glowing.

Bob didn't need to say anything, as Geodude yeeted a rock at the flying-type.

However, the Wing Attack still hit.

"Use Sand Attack, Pidgeotto!"

Pidgeotto began to fling sand in Geodude's face, making him cover his eyes.

"Geodude, Tackle,"

The blind rock lumbered forward and missed the flying-type by a smidgen.

"Hit 'em back with Tackle!"

Bob spoke as well, "Defense curl,"

Geodude, though eyes closed, was able to defend himself, tucking his arms in, letting the flying-type bash into him.

What shook him was the fact that after Pidgeotto stopped its onslaught, his rock-hard arms ached with pain.

"G-Geodude!" He spoke, getting Bob's attention.

He, in fact, gave a signal that Bob told him to give.

'I understand,' He thought, returning Geodude, and taking out another pokémon, 'If Guts gets this, Geodude will have the first assist,'

"Cyndaquil!" Guts cried, his closed eyes focused on Pidgeotto.

"No fire will stop this bird!" Falkner exclaimed, "Pidgeotto, Wing Attack!"

"Pidgeotto!" It went straight for Guts, wanting to pulverise him with its wings.

"Guts, Smokescreen,'

The fire-type coughed out a black cloud, causing Pidgeotto to stop.

On instinct, it used gust, flapping away the smoke.

But, a ball of fire was hidden in the smoke and hit the flying-type head-on.

This was another thing that Bob told Guts during that time of healing.

It was a way for him to learn if he wanted to beat stronger opponents.

As Pidgeotto came flying down, it recovered and hit with a Wing Attack.

"Cynda!" Guts cried but immediately froze.

The attack was strong, too strong for Guts to think, but his anger began to boil at this. His back was spluttering with flames.

He wanted to beat the crap out of this pokémon, but Bob's advice came in clutch, and Guts thought twice about doing this.

"Pidgeotto, use Sand Attack!"

"Quick attack,"

In a flash, the fire-type blew through the sand and hit the flying-type unexpectedly.

"Flame Wheel,"

At that moment, Guts used all of his anger in his attack.

BOOM!

"Squawk!" Pidgeotto could not take the flames, and fainted, falling to the ground.

"Cyndaquil," Guts breathed out, smoke exiting his nostrils. He felt good.

"Much better, right?" Bob asked him, which received a nod, "Want to continue?"

Guts was keen on fighting more, but after those losses, he shook his head.

"Darn it," Falkner was devastated that another one of his pokémon was taken out, "Come on, don't fail me now,"

The next pokémon let out a cry and weirded out Bob.

"Dodrio," It said, its three heads, each showing a different emotion, all confident.

'Must be his ace,' Bob thought, switching out Guts for a more... Flamboyant candidate.

"Pidgey!" Dio cried, confused at his opponents' three heads.

"So you do know the power of the flying-type?" Falkner spoke upon glancing at Dio, "I'm pleased,"

"Dio, Quick Attack,"

It was not long before Dio smashed into one of Dodrio's heads, sending it back.

This was surprising for Dio, as he thought the pokémon was stronger. Perhaps he was better?

"Dodrio, Tri Attack,"

It came as an ambush as the three heads shot a concentrated beam from their mouths that hit Dio without warning.

The flying-type fell down.

Dio had never fallen down before, and this was a flaw that Bob knew. The flying-type had never fought a challenging opponent yet. Guys had a lot, Geodude had a few, but Dio? None.

So, once he began getting up again, his legs were wobbly. He couldn't get up.

"Pidgey," Dio couldn't hear everything while he was in his pokéball, but it was obvious that Guts fell down a lot, and got back up again.

This was a taste of what Guts had to do, and it hit the flying-type like a bullet.

If he wanted to be stronger than Guts, he needed to get up.

With a lot of strain, Dio was able to stand.

However, he flew forward. He thought he didn't need Bob's orders.

Bob stayed silent.

"Hit it with Tri Attack!"

Dio flew up, avoiding the beam.

He couldn't react to Dodrio appearing in front of him.

Next thing, it went dark.

His head went up.

Dio felt as if he was diving into a pool. A dark, cold space of water. He could not breathe, yet he didn't drown.

The feeling was safe. Comforting. He did not want to leave it. It was too hard to anyway.

As he sunk deeper and deeper, his eyes began to shut.

Why would anyone leave this safe haven?

...

Dio had fainted.

His body was sprawled out on the floor, his eyes closed.

Falkner sighed, "That's to be expected from my powerful birds,"

Bob breathed in, 'His first loss. The streak has ended,'

He returned Dio, and breathed out, 'Geodude is weak. Don't want to use him. Let's use Guts,'

With that, Bob brought out the fire-type.

"Cynda-quil," Guts' back was spluttering again.

He knew very well what happened, and was pissed off at that.

"Tri Attack!"

"Ember!"

The fire-type was able to dodge the beam and let off a blast of fire on the bird.

It screamed in pain.

"This won't end!" Falkner shouted, "Dodrio, Double Hit!"

The flying-type charged at Guts, and swing itself around.

"Guts, Flame Wheel,"

Though, before this could happen, Dodrio's tail slapped Guts in the face. Hard.

The fire-type fell. He felt that but got back up again.

"Guts, Quick Attack, then Ember,"

Guts heard this, then dashed forward, hitting the flying-type,

"Dodrio, start with Quick Attack!"

As the blast of fire spewed forward, Dodrio zipped out of the way and bashed into Guts.

Then, out of nowhere, it swung its tail twice at him, sending the fire type to the floor.

Guts bounced up again. Dodrio was ready.

"Finish this," Falkner spoke, "Tri Attack"

Bob watched as the beam pulverised the mouse, sending him back.

However, Bob smirked.

He saw, despite a bruised and swollen body, Guts was getting back up again.

But his blazing back caught Bob off guard.

A car sound was there, more like a hot rod, but Bob also heard some sort of motorbike mixing in.

It was weird, but the noises mixed so well together with the roaring fire.

"Cynda!" Guts was standing up, the flames twice the size of the fire-type once again.

"Let's end this," Dodrio knew what to do, and began to charge.

"Guts, Flame Wheel,"

The already massive fire consumed him. Then, with a hefty step, Guts marched forward.

Soon, he was on a run, leaving a small trail of fire on the battlefield.

'This scene,' Bob thought, watching the little guy sprint, 'maybe it was too appropriate to name him Guts,'

But, at the other end, Dodrio had finished charging.

"This Cyndaquil is already done," Falkner said, looking away, "Dodrio, finish this, now,"

Just before the flying-type had unleashed the beam of death, Bob noticed something too. Something he didn't a moment ago.

Guts' body had a slight glow to it.

___

A\N: Not gonna lie, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter.

If you enjoyed it as much as I did, even just a little, you're a GOAT.

Either way, hope you enjoyed.