With a flap of her beautiful wings, Butterfree rose to challenge Venomoth. Colorful sparkles came off her body after emerging from the Poké Ball, inciting looks of awe from everyone present.
"My, what a beautiful specimen of Butterfree."
"Thank you. Much appreciated." I felt confident with Butterfree's wide variety of attacks at her disposal and selected one suitable for fighting a Venomoth. "Butterfree use Gust!" She whipped up a gust of wind with a few flaps of her wings.
"Deflect it with Silver Wind!" Venomoth's wings glowed white, and upon flapping them, a wind with silver crescents in it was released, shooting right at Butterfree's Gust. The two attacks rivaled each other in power and canceled out. "Now, Psybeam!"
"You use Psybeam, too!"
The energies collided, creating a cloud of smoke.
"Zen Headbutt!" Charging through the smoke with its head covered by a light-blue reflective shield, Venomoth slammed its head straight into Butterfree to send her crashing into the floor.
"Butterfree, are you alright?" She nodded her head and rose into the air. "Let's go ahead and raise your defense a little with Harden."
"It's a waste of time. Venomoth use Toxic!" Venomoth fired a stream of purple liquid.
Upon coming into contact, purple bubbles emanated from Butterfree's face. She cried out in pain as the poison quickly got to work, draining her health. "You've got to hang in there, Butterfree!"
Not this again!
"Now, you're battling against me and the clock—my signature strategy. Let's see how well you fare against it. Venomoth use Zen Headbutt, again!"
I grit my teeth. "We won't let him win! Stay strong, and let's use Bug Buzz!" Butterfree cried loudly to create an annoying buzzing sound and release red sound waves from her body that spread out towards her opponent.
"Gust!" The two attacks collided.
"Again! Bug Buzz!" Despite the poison taking its toll, Butterfree repeated her attack with just as much strength.
"Silver Wind!" Venomoth fought back once again. However, this time, Venomoth started to show signs of fatigue, which allowed bits of our Bug Buzz to get through and score a hit. This concerned its Trainer. "Venomoth, are you alright?!"
"It's starting to affect him! Gust, Butterfree!" She quickly attacked.
"Silver Wind!" So did Venomoth, but Gust bulldozed through its Silver Wind.
"It's getting through! We can do this! Just hang on a little longer!" Despite hurting from the pain of Toxic, she strived to remain strong.
"Venomoth use Supersonic!" Venomoth began screeching, hoping to confuse us.
"Bug Buzz!" Butterfree's Bug Buzz outmatched Supersonic and scored a clean hit.
"Shake it off and use Zen Headbutt!" Venomoth took a moment to concentrate, packed as much power into its head as possible, and charged.
"Meet them halfway with Aerial Ace!" She somersaulted before charging as well.
They met in the middle, immense power colliding with immense power. Neither bug refused to give an inch. I needed to provide Butterfree with the chance to overpower Venomoth and defeat it before Toxic took her out.
"Psybeam from right there!" Butterfree attacked at point-blank range. The combined energy from her attack and Venomoth's Zen Headbutt resulted in a chain reaction ending with another massive explosion.
When the smoke cleared, both Pokémon had collapsed on the floor.
"A draw?!" Koga and I gasped in shock.
We recalled our Pokémon quickly. Then, I met Koga's eyes for a moment and bared my teeth, understanding the suddenly high stakes for me. From his pockets, Koga retrieved his fourth and final Poké Ball.
"You've proven yourself so far, Rosa. You're an excellent battler and strategizer. You have one Pokémon left to defeat, and if you do," he revealed a scroll from his pocket. Pinned to the parchment was a pink heart, "then this Soul Badge will be yours."
I swallowed hard, growing more determined than ever to win this final round.
"And this is your final opponent, my last Pokémon, and my number one partner. I've been counting on this one since the very beginning of my journey all those years ago. I sincerely wish you the best of luck!" He chucked the ball outward.
A bipedal, green Pokémon appeared before us. It had large, white scythes for arms, an intimidating glare, and a pair of wings on its back beating furiously. It roared at us and brandished its sharp arms, preparing to give its all.
The Pokédex only made me more intimidated: "Scyther the Mantis Pokémon. Scyther is blindingly fast as it moves around like a ninja. Its blazing speed enhances the effectiveness of its attacks. The twin scythes on Scyther's forearms can slice through logs in one stroke."
"Who the hell should fight that?" I muttered, trying not to imagine my Pokémon getting sliced in half.
"Well, who will be my final opponent?" asked Koga with the slightest smirk.
I took a deep breath and chose a Pokémon.
"Go, Charmander!"
She emerged from her Poké Ball with a vicious growl. However, her voice dwindled to a whimper upon seeing her opponent. She also feared getting sliced in half by Scyther's bladed forearms.
"Charmander!"
She turned back and locked eyes with me.
I held out my fist. "I know you can do it! Let's win that badge together!"
Nodding, she faced Scyther and released a powerful stream of fire into the air.
"Quite a feisty Charmander," said Koga.
"You have no idea. Charmander use Flamethrower!" Charmander blasted Scyther with a powerful Flamethrower. "That's it!" However, it remained standing after the attack. "Now, use Slash!" Charmander raced forward and slashed Scyther with glowing claws. The attack pushed the Mantis Pokémon back a considerable distance, but it stayed on its feet. "Flamethrower, again!"
"Razor Wind!" Scyther crossed its scythes, made them glow, and brought them forward. Multiple white, crescent-shaped energy beams fly at Charmander, overpowering her Flamethrower and sending her flying backward.
"Charmander!" I screamed as she flopped onto the floorboards.
"Now, we shall use Slash as well!" Scyther darted forward.
"You can still get up, right, Charmander?" She strained to return to her feet, only to look on as Scyther came in from nowhere and attacked. The fire-lizard collapsed in front of me once more, trembling from the damage. "Come on! You've still got some energy left! Let's get back in there!"
"While they're at it, use Swords Dance!" Scyther crossed its bladed arms in front of its body in the form of an "X." Then, it struck a pose, causing the scythes to glow a faint red.
My heart rate increased at the same time as Scyther's attack power. "We've got to hurry and shut Scyther down before it can land a hit. Fire Fang!" Red-orange fire covered Charmander's mouth, and with fangs bared, she charged for Scyther.
"Slash, again!" This time, Scyther moved too fast to see, leaving a trail of red light in its wake as it prepared to strike.
Charmander collided with Scyther at the last second, biting down on one of its glowing forearms to halt the attack and inflict some super-effective damage. I had hoped it'd be enough to knock Scyther out of the match due to its rather low defense stats, or get lucky and burn the Pokémon at least.
But things worked out far worse than I imagined.
With her teeth locked on Scyther's arm, Charmander got stuck in place, and Scyther would overpower her if she let up even a little. Meanwhile, Scyther had one of its arms free, and I failed to account for that.
"Scyther! Slash!"
The second Slash attempt landed directly on Charmander's head, sending her flying backward thanks to the astonishing boost in power.
"Charmander! You okay?!"
She had to put everything into standing, and she did, refusing to give up.
I reminded myself not to forget my Pokémon's incredible willpower. "Right. Of course, you can go on. You're super strong. As long as you can still fight, we can win. If we can slow Scyther down even a little, or combat those scythes with a strong-enough attack, we might have a shot. Slash, again!" She growled and charged again.
"Dodge and use Swords Dance!" Scyther jumped far away from Charmander and then powered up again.
"We have to end this quickly! Fire Spin!" Charmander launched the attack.
"Razor Wind!" Razor Wind deflected our Fire Spin. "Now, Slash!"
"Use Smokescreen!" Charmander blanketed the room in smoke to obstruct Scyther's vision and protect herself from the incoming attack.
"It's a waste of time. Scyther use X-Scissor!"
To my horror, Charmander hurtled out of the smoke cloud. It billowed away in her wake, revealing our opponent with glowing forearms and wings beating rapidly to keep itself hovering above the floor.
Once again, Charmander ended up at my feet. With all the damage taken so far, it became clear that she wouldn't last much longer if she received another heavy blow, with or without a potential third usage of Swords Dance.
"Charmander, you can do it! I believe in you! No matter what way you look at it, Scyther is getting tired, which means your attacks are getting through. If we can hold on, we'll win. This is an endurance match, so, please! Endure it with me!"
Growling, she stood up straight.
And the flame on her tail started to grow!
"Scyther use X-Scissor!"
It proved itself not very effective against Scyther, but I still called the only move that provided Charmander with a way to safely intercept her opponent's attack. "Counter with Slash!" Crouching, my fire-lizard took off with glowing claws.
Clang!
The sound of clashing metal reverberated throughout the room. Scyther's blades connected with Charmander's claws—which glowed silver?!
With Scyther held back, I took advantage of the shock on Koga's face.
"Fire Spin!"
Charmander blasted Scyther with a point-blank vortex of fire.
Scyther fell back in front of its Trainer. It managed to get up with plenty of energy for the battle, but third-degree burns now adorned its lithe body. The Pokémon panted heavily with sweat running down its temple.
On the other hand, Charmander got her second wind. She emitted a howl that shook the floorboards beneath my feet. I would've been more startled, but I was still trying to wrap my head around the unexpected new move.
"Was that Metal Claw? Where... When did you...?"
She gazed back at me and held out a thumbs-up, before beginning to glow!
Everyone watched in amazement as Charmander doubled in size. Her orange scales darkened to a striking shade of red, but she retained her cream underbelly, claws, green eyes, and the roaring flame on her tail's tip.
When the light faded, she roared louder than ever before.
"You've evolved into Charmeleon!"
"Marvelous!" gasped Koga.
Charmeleon launched a massive Flamethrower into the air to demonstrate her new power. Her flame for battle reignited, which in turn reignited my own will to fight. It was as I predicted: if I believe in my Pokémon, they'll believe in me, and we'll win.
"I hear you loud and clear. Let's win this thing, Charmeleon!" She growled menacingly and took a stance. "Fire Spin!" She attacked, possessing far more power than in her previous form.
"Razor Wind!" The attacks collided, but Fire Spin managed to overpower Razor Wind just enough to knock Scyther off-balance.
"Now, Metal Claw!" She zipped forward.
"X-Scissor!" The two attacks clashed, and again, Scyther got overpowered.
"Fire Fang!" She enveloped her fangs in fire and went in for a finishing blow.
"End this with Hyper Beam!" The Hyper Beam sounded like a missile as it attempted to finish up the match quickly.
"Dodge!" Charmeleon leaped high over the immense attack. We both smirked at the fact that Scyther was now nothing more than a sitting duck. "Finish with Metal Claw!" My Pokémon came down with glowing claws, struck Scyther on the head, and pushed it right into the floor, getting payback for being attacked in the same manner earlier.
And just like that, Charmeleon finally managed to take Scyther down.
Koga was speechless as his Pokémon collapsed in front of him, unable to get back up.
"And four," he announced with a defeated tone.
"That's four?!" The excitement spread through my body like wildfire. "That means we won! We won! We actually won! Alright!!"
Luxio, Pikachu, and Dratini all cheered together.
The Gym Leader took a knee as he recalled Scyther. "Ah. Thank you for a great battle, old friend."
Charmeleon stood on the battlefield, completely exhausted. She tried to walk back over to us, but lost her balance and tipped over. I caught her in my arms and lifted her into the air with a huge smile. "You did it, Charmeleon! You were fantastic! Thank you so much!" She grinned as I enveloped her in a bone-crushing squeeze.
"I subjected you to everything I could muster," Koga said as he stepped over to us. "But my efforts failed, and I must work to hone my skills. You, Rosa, have proven yours. Please accept this Soul Badge, and go on to put your abilities to the test even further."
The pink heart badge sat in his hand, reflecting the sunlight from the windows.
"Thank you so much, Koga." I bowed before accepting the badge and admiring the small metal piece in all its glory. "It's our fifth one, you guys. We're officially more than halfway there."
All the Pokémon exchanged happy smiles.
"You are a fine Trainer, Rosa," continued the man standing before me. "It was a privilege to battle you. I hope you continue on this path together with your Pokémon, and go all the way to the Pokémon League."
"I promise I will. I plan to become the first-ever Pokémon World Champion, and I'm going to work hard to get there."
He nodded with a smile. "Hmm. With an attitude like that, you'd make a fine ninja, too."
I laughed. "Really? I always thought that'd be pretty neat."
Koga gave a light chuckle. "Now, I'll have someone escort you back outside. The maze is only to test the challengers who haven't proven themselves. You have definitely proven yourself, and I'd hate for you to be attacked by a Voltorb."
"I wouldn't mind that too bad. So, who's going to be my—?"
Poof!
"I am!"
I shrieked and fell on the floor. "D-Don't do... Don't do that anymore... Please...!"
Janine giggled like a child. "Fufufu. Sorry for scaring you again, Rosa. I'm here to lead you back to the front gate."
Releasing a breath, I sheepishly grinned. "Ah... I see. Please. Lead the way, then!"
Unsurprisingly, a secret door sat on the wall behind the shrine. Janine opened it up and stepped through, gesturing for us to follow. Her dad bid me a farewell before using a Voltorb to vanish without a trace.
"A true ninja," I muttered to my Pokémon, before hurrying after our guide.
In no time at all, we exited the main building through a side entrance hidden by a combination of trees, bushes, and natural viewing angles. Then, we went down a secret pathway, and suddenly we stood at the front gate. Janine hit a button on a remote to open it.
"So, did you have fun battling my dad?" asked Janine. "He's strong, isn't he? I wanna be just like him!"
I nodded. "Well, you sure have a lot of work to do. He was really tough, especially since he challenges people to a four-on-four. We barely won, and it was only because of my Pokémon."
"Ah, speaking of Pokémon, I have to extend a favor from my father. We ask that you don't tell anyone of anything that happened inside the Gym. You can't mention the Pokémon that my father used, or the maze. Got it?"
"Seriously?"
She winked. "Well, if everyone knew our secret, we wouldn't be very good ninjas. Would we?"
Looking away, I made a face. "No. I suppose not."
"Great. Thanks!" She suddenly grabbed my shoulders and pushed me through the open gate. "Now, you should go enjoy the few precious moments with your cute boyfriend before I take him away."
My face burst into flames. "Boyfriend?! That's not... Wait. Take him away? What do you mean—?!"
She cut into my sentence with, "Yoohoo! Paulie!"
I cringed. Paulie?!
Up ahead, Paul sat on a bench with Eevee. The two gazed at a handful of Poké Balls and spoke quietly to each other. A vein throbbed on Paul's forehead when he registered Janine's name for him.
"Didn't I already tell you once to knock it off with the...?" Rising to his feet, he turned to lash at her in his usual grumpiness but went dead silent when his eyes fell upon me. His wide-eyed stare froze me in place. "O-Oh, Rosa. You're back."
The way he stared at me made my skin crawl—in an oddly warm and fuzzy way. With a shaky grin, I waved. "Yeah. I'm back, and I got my badge." I brought out my badge case and opened it up. "See?"
The Soul Badge twinkled under the light of the morning sun.
"Nice going. So, will you tell me what Pokémon the Gym Leader used?"
"Uhh..." I awkwardly glanced at my shadow.
She grinned and replied for me, "Sorry. We've politely asked Rosa to keep her lips sealed as we do with all the challengers. It keeps the challenge fresh. Otherwise, it wouldn't be much of a challenge, would it?"
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense."
"Good. Well then, Paul, it's your turn now. Just go on in whenever you're ready."
"Sounds good." With a nod, he turned to me. "You gonna stick around and wait? Or you can head back to the Pokémon Center if you want. I can't imagine I'll be too long if you finished up so quickly, and your Pokémon probably need to be treated anyway—"
"No, I'll wait for you."
Everyone stared at me, alarmed at how fast I responded.
Realizing that my lips had moved for me, I shuddered and shielded my embarrassed face from everyone's gaze—especially Paul's, the only one that seemed to matter at the moment. "I-I-I mean, m-my Pokémon do need some treatment, but it's nothing I can't handle by myself. W-We'll wait for you to come back, okay?"
He seemed oddly happy to hear it. "I'll accept that as your way of saying good luck."
"U-Uhh... Uh..." I forgot how to talk. Janine's muffled giggling made it worse.
What the HELL is wrong with me? Am I sick? Stand up and talk straight, dammit!
Not at all noticing my rampant blush or my nervous body language, Paul approached me and gently tapped a fist against my head. "Then, wait for me to come back, you dope."
I glared. "Who are you calling a dope, dope?"
He moved around me and headed for the gates, waving over his shoulder.
Janine hit the button to close the gates, causing Paul to disappear once again.
"Good luck..." I wished I'd said it out loud.
And then, the moment we heard the gates lock up...
Janine, Luxio, Pikachu, and even Dratini burst with laughter!!
They all rolled on the ground, not a care in the world about the dirt collecting on their bodies. They had waited too long. They covered their mouths and stifled their laughter for as long as possible, and it reached a breaking point. They needed to laugh—the kind of laugh that makes tears stream down your face—and they needed to laugh at me.
"Quit getting funny ideas, you guys!!!"
I huffed and went to sit on the bench, distracting myself with all the Pokémon on my team that needed medical attention.
Janine is just putting weird thoughts into my head. I have to ignore them. I have to!
Unfortunately, my eyes kept moving back to the wooden gate like a pair of magnets.
They're just weird thoughts. They're just weird thoughts... Aren't they?
After finishing her laughing fit, Janine teased me for a while about Paul. I denied all accusations of us dating or me having a crush, but she wouldn't give it a rest. At least until she suddenly hurried off to the Gym, climbing over the walls like a trained acrobat.
"She really is a ninja," I said, relieved that she finally left me alone.
Pikachu and Dratini eventually fell asleep, considering we woke up so early.
Luxio remained awake, however, and continued Janine's work.
"You're kidding me, right? Of course not! In the first place, I'm still not totally over what happened between us. You know that."
He gave a halfhearted nod.
"And besides," I gazed at the ground, "you should know I can't handle it..."
Silence fell between us.
★
After about half an hour, the gates opened up again. I stirred from my nap just as Paul stepped through them. Eevee perched on his shoulder, cheerfully wagging her tail back and forth.
"Hey, Paul's back," I announced to the others.
They spotted us and made a beeline over to our bench. "There you are."
My head tilted. "What do you mean? We're right where you left us, right? Did you get your badge?"
"Don't tell me you underestimated me." He revealed an identical Soul Badge.
"Yay! That means we both have our fifth badges now!" Eevee nodded with a broad smile before tackling Luxio with a tight hug, much to his annoyance. It made me laugh. "We weren't separated for that long. You must've missed him, huh?"
Paul suddenly rubbed his head with a painful groan.
"Let me guess. You ran into a few roadblocks?"
"A few? I was crashing into invisible walls every other second, and then those Voltorb kept popping out of nowhere."
"Weren't they awesome?!"
"No, not really. All I remember is getting zapped over and over."
"Exactly! Oh, but sorry that I couldn't warn you. Janine made me swear not to tell you or any others about Koga's Pokémon or the funhouse maze."
"Nah, that's alright. After going through that, I get it."
"Where is Janine, anyways? She didn't follow you out?"
"She did for part of the way, but then she disappeared." He glanced back at the gate. "I think she said she was going to take care of the other challengers soon to arrive and help her dad with tending his Pokémon. They sure went through some intense battling."
I agreed with a smile. "Sure did. They certainly put us through the wringer. You want to head back to the Pokémon Center to give our teams a proper rest?"
"Sounds good. Oh, but I wanted to show you something first." He shuffled through his belt of Poké Balls and selected one.
"What is it?"
A Pokémon emerged from the ball, a monstrous green and brown tortoise with a tree plastered to its back. It turned its head towards me, and with red eyes piercing my soul, it howled loud enough to cause tremors.
In my excitement, I nearly forgot how to breathe. "Grotle evolved?!"
"Sure did. We had a few practice battles while waiting for you, and he evolved after one of his wins. I used him against Koga's Muk, and he didn't even break a sweat." He placed a hand on Torterra's side, who responded with a confident roar.
I took a moment to look up Torterra on my Pokédex.
"Torterra the Continent Pokémon, and the evolved form of Grotle. Torterra is the final evolved form of Turtwig. Occasionally, small Pokémon gather and build their nests on Torterra's unmoving back. In ancient times, people imagined a giant Torterra dwelling beneath the ground."
"That's so cool!" Putting away the device, I crouched in front of Torterra's face. "I bet you feel all sorts of powerful, huh?"
After bellowing in agreement, he used two green vines to pick me up by the waist and sit me on his back. I ran a hand through the grass on Torterra's back, amazed how it resembled the real stuff.
"I never thought I'd be on a Torterra's back before. I can't believe this is real grass!"
The other Pokémon quickly joined me.
The giant turtle seemed completely unbothered by us trampling on him.
Paul sure did, though.
"Hey! This isn't playtime!" he snapped. "And I can't keep Torterra out in the middle of the road like this."
"Quit whining and join us up here. And we can easily move Torterra out to the fields somewhere. Just think! Now, we don't have to sleep on the ground anymore! Would you be alright if we slept in sleeping bags on your back from now on, Torterra?"
He calmly nodded his head.
"Yay!"
"Torterra, don't encourage her. Now, return."
Once Torterra disappeared, my bottom smacked against the ground. "Ow. That's twice today."
"Don't act like such a kid." He held out his hand to help me up.
"Still, that's great news. I have a new evolution to show you, too." I grabbed Charmeleon's Poké Ball and summoned her. Upon materializing in front of Paul, she struck a pose. "Introducing my new and improved fire-lizard! She evolved during our gym battle."
"Congrats. Any new attacks?"
"Metal Claw, which we used to carve a path to victory. Right?"
Charmeleon responded with an enthusiastic high-five.
"And even better, you're one step closer to Charizard. Ooh, I can't wait till then. You'll have huge wings, and you'll be able to fly. It'll make going from town to town much easier, for sure."
Turning his head, Paul went silent to ponder something for a moment.
"What's wrong?"
"Speaking of towns, I was just wondering where we should head next."
"Well, before anything, we're going to the Safari Zone to take Dratini home." I took a moment to recall Charmeleon.
"I know that. I meant afterward. We should set a course for another gym."
"Okay. But, where else are there gyms in Kanto?"
"Well, we know that there's one in Saffron City, which is the closest. There's one on Cinnabar Island as well. That one requires heading south of here until we reach the ocean and then taking multiple ferries.
I put a hand to my chin. "I think that's a week-long journey involving a two-day pit stop at the Seafoam Islands. The entire way there and then back to the mainland will take a few weeks."
"Well, there's also a gym in Viridian City."
"Is there?"
He nodded. "Some other Trainers were talking about it the other day. But, like Cinnabar, it's pretty far from here."
"What do you suggest then? Make our way back to Saffron?"
He shrugged. "It couldn't hurt. It'll take a while to get back there since we have to either cross this mountain range or go around it. Maybe by the time we return, Sabrina will return to her Gym, and we can challenge her."
"Yeah, I bet she will have returned within that time. We're talking two weeks, at least."
"So, we agree on Saffron City?"
I vigorously nodded. "Saffron City, here we come! After the Safari Zone, of course."
Paul laughed at my quick remark. "Right."
We talked about Saffron the rest of the evening over bowls of spicy curry that made our tongues numb. I loved it and ate thirds! Paul barely had the stomach for one helping, so I carried his weight by finishing his meal.
"How the heck do you eat so much, Girlie?" he asked, hands stuffed in his pockets as we headed back to the Pokémon Center for the night. "You're so puny."
"I'm not puny!" I barked, threatening to kick him. I would have succeeded if he didn't move out of the way. "I'm an inch shorter than an Empoleon and weigh as much as a Hippopotas."
He held back a smirk. "How much does a Hippopotas weigh?"
The self-restraint required to not kick him was astounding. "It's only 109 lbs, you jerk!! And for the last time, don't call me that!"
"Whatever. So, tomorrow we're hitting the Safari Zone, right?"
I nodded, eyeing Dratini as she rested her head on my shoulder. "Yep. At this time tomorrow, Dratini will be in her proper home and live a life of luxury. I'm sure of it, and I'll see to it no matter what happens. Okay?"
She calmly mewled before retracting herself into my bag and falling asleep.