Ch.17

"Primeape you know the drill," I say as Primeape uses Focus Energy and Leer like normal. 

"Charmeleon, use the intro cover," Lance says as Charmeleon uses Grow and Smokescreen. Though instead of lowering Primeape's attack it only boosted it instead. 

"Charmeleon burn the monkey!" Lance says right after the Smokescreen covers Charmeleon. 

"Primeape, use Acrobatics to dodge whatever is coming," 'Then Charge up a Focus Punch until you can see Charmeleon again' I say to Primeape just as a jet of extremely hot Fire comes out of the smokescreen. 

Primeape jumps from his position and leaps around the open battlefield while charging up a Focus Punch. Charmeleon somehow knows where Primeape is at all times throwing Flamethrower after Flamethrower where Primeape lands. Then again Primeape is not the quietest of Pokémon. 

"Charmeleon blast the whole place!" Lance says seeing Primeape dodging the last few Flamethrowers and the Smokescreen is starting to dissipate finally. 

"Primeape, don't wait! Strike now!" I say since Primeape and I have a fairly good idea where Charmeleon is inside the Smokescreen.

Primeape then stops jumping around landing on the ground with a thud and charges into the Smokescreen. We hear a loud bang as Charmeleon is thrown out of the Smokescreen with a broken arm. Seems it tried to block Primeape which was a very bad idea considering Primeape's stats. 

"Primeape, Crosschop!" I say seeing Lance has no intention of pulling Charmeleon. 

Primeape then runs out of the now-disappearing Smokescreen with his fists glowing with energy charging at Charmeleon. Just as Primeape is a few feet away from Charmeleon, Charmeleon releases a huge burst of Fire all around itself. Which blasts Primeape away and makes him cry in pain as it lands on the ground. 

Primeape catches himself before he slams into the invisible barrier, but I can see that it was a critical one against Primeape and burned him severely. However, at the same time, Primeape is now extremely enraged. He begins stomping the ground in a full rage. Charmeleon looks out of breath and in pain from the last strike of Primeape and using Overheat which took a lot of Energy from it. 

"Primeape, use your rage!" I say seeing Primeape using Stomping Tantrum automatically in his rage. 

"Charmeleon use Fire Fang, but jump over Primeape first!" Lance says right after hearing me. 

Primeape begins running toward Charmeleon in a complete rage and stomps heavily on his way over making the ground shake with each step. While Charmeleon has flames slowly building inside its mouth. Charmeleon then uses its tail to push itself in the air over the charging Primeape. Charmeleon successfully dodged the attack and landed right behind Primeape. 

Charmeleon then bites toward Primeape's shoulder with very hot fire pouring out of its mouth. However, Primeape turns around and grabs Charmeleon's face closing its mouth with his one hand canceling the Fire Fang. Charmeleon in a panic begins using Slash on Primeape to get Primeape to drop him. 

Primeape is just tanking the Slashes as his rage is continuing to build in him, with a move that this world hasn't seen yet form in his hand. Rage Fist begins to build in his hand as Ghost Energy forms in Primeape's free hand. By the time Charmeleon lands his third Slash and Primeape is bleeding profusely, he drops Charmeleon and punches him in the face a second later. 

With a resounding bang, Charmeleon is sent flying and smashes into the invisible barrier. Charmeleon lands on the ground unmoving showing it is unconscious, while Primeape is breathing heavily trying to control the rage that is threatening to make it attack anything in sight. 

"Primeape, sit down and breathe like I showed you!" I say seeing Primeape trying not to lose control. At the same time, Lance withdraws Charmeleon while looking at Primeape with a slightly worried face. 

Primeape nods his head to me sitting down on the ground cross-legged before taking deep breaths with his eyes closed. Primeape is slowly gaining control of his rage again, while the crowd is already commenting about what just happened. It seems now after this battle, I will become one of the most well-known Rookie Trainers in our region. Rookie in terms of how long I've started my journey, not actual rank in the Pokémon League. 

"Here I thought your Growlithe was the strongest of your Pokémon, but it seems Primeape has taken that place," Lance says walking over to me and shaking my hand while glancing over at Primeape who is meditating. Leo barks at Lance taking offense to the statement, making Lance give Leo a look of sorry. 

"Sorry, not saying you are weak. You are very strong too," Lance says as Leo nods his head while still glaring at Lance, no longer liking him as much. 

"Lucas you just keep getting stronger faster… I'm never gonna catch up at this rate," Brock says with a sigh as Lance and I both laugh hearing him. 

"It's not funny! Shut up!" Brock says as we all decide to grab lunch together.

First, we stopped by the Pokémon Center, so Lance could get Charmeleon checked out and I could sell the Pokémon that I caught too. I dropped them off at the counter where one of the nurse Joys could check the Pokémons' health. Then once considered healthy they would be scanned for all the info they could gather from them. Once all that was done, they would send the amount each Pokémon is worth to my account before selling them to whoever. 

This world uses Pokémon for everything from food, manual labor, fighting, and friendship. So catching wild Pokémon to sell is one of the main jobs of trainers since many people can't catch their own or don't want to risk going out in the wild to get one. The main three Pokémon of each region are bred by the League itself and only given to the top three candidates of each year's graduating class who want to become trainers. 

I could have gotten one too, but I had no interest in any of them. I'd rather explore and find a Pokémon I know I want on my team. Sure I know I am missing out on a very good Pokémon, but I'd rather do my own thing. For my generation, it appears Lance was the top graduate and his pick was obviously Charmander, as for who the other two are. I am not sure, but once I see someone my age using the other two region starters I will know. 

Once we all did what we needed at the Pokémon Center we got lunch with people thankfully not bothering us while we were eating. Afterward, we exchanged numbers to keep in contact with one another. Brock made a group chat with the three of us inside it too. Lance was heading back west to get the next gym badge with Brock tagging along. I told them I was going to keep going east as I wanted to see Lavender Town before going back to battling gyms. Biding goodbye to them, we went our separate ways. 

I was interested in this before leaving, though now I was very excited about Lavender Town since we might find something to help Primeape possibly reach his next evolution eventually. I do believe him unlocking Rage Fist was the first step, though it seems there is more to it than just using it a bunch. I then stood outside the Battle Arena first before leaving Silver Town. 

Walking inside I see another receptionist who is sitting at her desk typing away. I approach her and greet her asking about the place. She told me that a match in the Battle Arena pits two Pokémon against one another for three rounds. If both Pokémon last all three rounds, they are rated on how they battled in three aspects, and the Pokémon with the higher score wins, and the losing Pokémon leaves the battle. If they somehow tie, both Pokémon leave the battle. A knockout results in an automatic win for the Pokémon that is still standing. Trainers are not allowed to switch out their Pokémon, and they must be sent out in the order they were entered.

Pokémon are scored on their mind, skill, and body. The Pokémon with the better rating in each category scores two points, while a tie will award one point to each Pokémon. The Mind judges Pokémon on their offensive style. One point is awarded if a move that deals damage is chosen for use except Counter, Mirror Coat, and Bide, which do not award points, and Fake Out, which deducts one point, and one point is deducted if Protect, Detect, or Endure is chosen. 

All other moves do not award points. Only the move selection matters; even if the Pokémon does not actually use the move due to an effect such as paralysis, it will still score in this category. The Pokémon with the higher number of points wins the two points in the overall judgment.

The Skill judges Pokémon on accuracy. One point is awarded if any move is used successfully, while two points are deducted if the move misses, fails, or is prevented from executing due to an effect such as paralysis. If the move was caused to fail by Protect, Detect, or flinching from Fake Out, however, no points are deducted. Hitting a move super effectively rewards two points rather than one, but dealing not-very-effective damage instead deducts one point. The Pokémon with the higher number of points wins the two points in the overall judgment.

The Body judges the appearance of health (HP) remaining at the end of the third round compared to the amount at the start of the first. The Pokémon with the better ratio wins the two points in the overall judgment. I also learned there are similar places across the Pokémon League, just with different names. You get a 'Symbol' for beating the challenge and winning, much like the gym badges. Though this is not officially endorsed by the Pokémon League, so really it is just for bragging rights it sounds like. 

"So other than a Symbol, do you get anything else for winning?" I ask her after she explains the basics. 

"Ten thousand Pokédollars or an item of equal value," the receptionist says to me as I nod my head. 

"How do I enter?" I ask her next as she gives me a somewhat surprised look, since so far it seems not as many people are interested in this. 

I can understand why since gyms are considered the standard by the Pokémon League. Plus the winnings don't seem that great, along with the fact that this Symbol is really only for bragging rights so far.

"I can place you in right now if you want," the receptionist says as I nod my head. 

"You can enter here. Ms. Greta will be out shortly to accept your challenge," the receptionist says while gesturing to the door nearby. 

"Thank you," I say walking inside with Leo and Primeape right behind me. I registered Leo as first and Primeape as second since I wanted Primeape to better prepare himself instead of losing himself to the rage like he almost did a few hours ago. 

"Hey! Howdy! ...Wait, are you the challenger?" I hear a young woman say as she enters the room which has a large battlefield and a small area for the judges who now enter too. 

Looking over I see a bob-cut blonde-haired blue-eyed woman in her twenties wearing tight light blue yoga pants and pink sneakers. She also had a back and purple gi for her top with a silver belt tied in a bow behind her back keeping her gi in place. Her voice also made it sound like she was disappointed that I was the challenger. 

"I am," I say to her as Leo is giving her the sink eye and Primeape looks at her with a disinterested look. 

"Is this right? Hmm... Hmhm..." Greta says while walking to the opposite side of the battlefield. 

"I don't know how to say it, but... To put it bluntly, you look pretty weak. Are you sure you're up for me?... We'll take things easy to start with! Okay!" Greta says to me as I just give her an incredulous look at hearing her bluntness. Leo and Primeape now giving her a very angry look at her looking down on us.