The Glistening Emerald

Fiery Flannery

I walked into the gym. I was surrounded by steam, hot water, and a few tropical plants. "Wow!" I looked around.

"This is cool!" Julian agreed.

"I'm going to go to the sitting area. I'll see you guys there!" Jordan explained.

"Bye, man." Julian said.

"I can't really see." I squinted my eyes. Suddenly the floor disappeared. We fell through the floor, below the water.

"Ow." Julian dusted off his shirt.

"Who is that?" I asked. I pushed some of the red flowers out of my face to find the gym leader standing on a large boulder surrounded by lava.

Julian and I looked at each other and nodded. We ran through the plants and up the stairs on the cracked boulder.

The gym leader stumbled back, looking intimidated.

"Oh, um." She tugged on her black halter top tied above her belly button. She then reached for a pokeball off of her belt attached to her light blue jeans.

"We are here to challenge you!"Julian boldly stated.

"Well, um, I really only do single battles... Well alright. I'll do a double. I'm Flannery. I am kinda new here. My grandfather owned this gym, and its hard to live up to him... Oh, uh never mind, I'm really strong!" She seemed to have a flighty and nervous personality.

"Are you ready?" I asked Julian. He smiled and laughed. I could tell that meant yes.

"Prepare to be burned! Go Torkoal and Slugma!" She threw out two pokeballs. One revealed a turtle blowing out steam and the other was a pile of lava that was somehow being held together.

"Go Wingull!" My little seagull pokemon popped out, ready to battle.

"Go Golem!" Julian called out a pokemon that looked like a big rock with limbs and a head.

"Both of you, use Flamethrower!" Wingull flew around the flame while Golem took it, taking almost no damage.

"Water gun!" Wingull spit water onto Torkoal. It could barely hold on.

"Magnitude!" Julian screamed. The ground began to shake, and rubble hit the two pokemon. Both wailed as they fainted. Flannery bit her lip.

"I only have one left... Go Magcargo. Slugma's evolved form came out. It looked similar but was bigger with a rock resembling a shell on its back. "Solarbeam!" The tropical plants helped to charge up the attack. It directly hit Golem causing it to faint.

"No!" Julian cried.

"Wingull, Water Pulse!" Wingull shot a huge blob of water at Magcargo. Magcargo wasn't hurt much.

"Solarbeam!" The green light shot Wingull. She was weak. Sweat dripped down my face. I began to panic. Suddenly, Wingull's body erupted into light.

"Its..." Flannery gasped.

Wingull's body grew bigger, it's wings larger.

"Evolving!" Julian completed.

Her beak grew almost three times her size. The light shattered revealing my evolved pokemon.

"It evolved into Pelliper!" Julian screamed from the sidelines.

"Pelliper, use Water Pulse!" The move was much stronger. Magcargo couldn't handle it. It's lava body began to spread out as it fell down.

"No! I told him I wasn't good enough!" Flannery cried.

I looked at Julian, flustered. He returned my look.

"Its fine." She sighed. "That was a great battle. It was an honor, and you guys really deserve these. Volcano badges. She held out to badges shaped like a little flame. I clutched it and put it in my bag.

"Thank you!" We exited the gym. The girls were waiting outside.

"Lets go home, honey." Jess hugged Jordan.

"How'd it go?" May asked.

"We won in a double battle!"

"I wish I could have seen that!" May exclaimed.

"Hey, um, will you go on a journey with me?" Sandra looked at the ground. Julian blushed and took her hand.

"Of course I will. They hugged.

"Bye, guys!" Jess and Jordan waved heading back to Fallabor.

"Bye!" We answered.

"Can we go to Petalberg with you guys? I think we will start from there and go to Slateport!" Sandra had already planned it out.

"And Dewford! They have a gym there!"

"Of course, lets get going!" May exclaimed.

We all headed towards the boat to Oldale Town through the sunset.