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It was hard to say what surprised James more. The fact that training pokemon was surprisingly easy compared to what he expected it to be, or the fact that he had witnessed not one but two evolutions in the same week, the same day practically. It all happened on a clear full-moon night in the Viridian Forest. Around the second day of his training with Red and Spike, the kakuna had once again changed shape, this time to a more aggressive form. James was rather relieved to see this transformation become more natural, as a simple opening of the now-shining-white cocoon to reveal a new creature emerge from it. James' approval was evident on his wide-grinning face by the sight of the four veiny oval-shaped wings connected to a lean insectoid body with four arms. Two of the arms were like the tips of spears, huge and grey compared to his weedy black legs which had a huge black-and-yellow rear hanging down between them, tipped with a poisonous yellow end. Spike stared at his trainer through emotionless red eyes, testing his new wings as James smiled up at him. "Awhawhawhaw hell YES! You're a fucking bee monster now Spike!" Perhaps you should check your pokedex again. "OH, right!" Taking Kirie's advice, the raptor dug out his device and scanned Spike's new form. Red was rolling his eyes nearby, feeling that this insect had stolen the show by being such a fast grower. Kirie reassured him however that this wasn't the case, as FG's pokedex read: "Beedrill, a poison bee pokemon, number fifteen. Possesses the ability "Swarm". Flies at high speed and attacks using its large venomous stingers on its forelegs and tail." "Huh...niiiiiice. Well then, time to see what you two are made of! Teeeeen-SHUN!" As if on cue, both Red and Spike stepped up in front of James and stood proudly like soldiers. James walked in front of them without his disguise, back and forth like a military commander, taking his hammer sticks from his satchel and wielding them behind his back with both hands. "Now listen up kids, we got a long ways to go. Pewter City is up ahead and at least one of you already knows what lies in there. Red, gimme a sitrep!" "Char?" "You're the only one out of us who's been in there, tell us all what kinda punks we're dealing with." "Char, char!"

Even James understood a "yes, sir!" from any creature, as Red saluted and explained through Kirie that there were only two people actually in the gym itself. One who was a professional junior trainer that acted as a warm-up battle, and the main master himself, who wielded two particularly sturdy pokemon in the form of a living rock, and a gigantic rock snake. James noted all this down, replying with: "Well, in my experience when you can't break a rock, you get strong enough until you do! Now we're not gonna push ourselves too hard, we're already at a pretty decent level. Spike you're what, level ten?" "Bzzz-zz-zzzt." "Red, you're like level nine, which is fine because you're a pretty tough kid anyway. But we gotta make damn well sure we can kick ass like nobody's business! ...in other words, beating around a bunch of bugs, rats and pidgeons ain't gonna be enough. Instead...I...will fight the two of you." "CHAR?!" "Bzzzzt?!" "Now don't you two worry, I'm a lot tougher than any human round these parts. I've been shot, stabbed, strangled and a hell of a lot of other things you don't wanna know about. Here's what we'll do. One of you steps up and faces me with all you got. The longer you can stand fighting until you either knock me down OR you can't fight any further, the tougher you guys'll get. And I wanna make you two into the most badass bee and fire lizard the world has ever seen! You with me?!" "BZZZZT!" "Ch-chaaarrrr...char-charmander..." "Something wrong Red?" He is worried about hurting you. He would much rather feel comfortable fighting another pokemon rather than his own trainer. "Whysat?" I believe he is worried about the reciprocations for if he harms you. Perhaps there are still trust issues to overcome. "What, does he think I'm gonna get mad at him and beat him for it like his original trainer did? Red, listen to me, I know your first trainer was an asshole, and yanno what, I used to be that kind of asshole too...a long time ago. But I'm grown up, I learned a lot of things, and trust me, no matter what you do, I'll never be mad at you." He bent down towards the uncertain charmander and gently petted his shoulder. "All I ask is that you give every fight your very best. No holding back unless I tell you to. If you do that, I got no reason to be mad at you. I'll get mad at the guy who kicks your ass sure, but not you...long as you fight with every reason to. Okay?" "Char. Char-char." "Good, alright then!" Walking away from his two younger pokemon, he turned with a gleeful glimmer in his eye, smiling like the Ripper. "Who's up first?"

Without even hesitating, Spike hopped forwards first with a small flutter of his wings, readily punching out his spear-tipped limbs like they were boxing gloves. FG brought out both hammersticks with outstretched arms, readily getting into a fighting stance. The first thing Spike did was charge forwards with a leap into the air, spearing down on FG with his poisonous stinger. The raptor leapt back and swiftly clonked the beedrill straight across the head, but only lightly. Not deterred, he tried again, once more leaping up into the air with his wings and spearing the ground once more, before yet again receiving another bap to the head. Spike was starting to get angry, trying yet again to sting his training opponent. "Too slow Spike!" cautioned FG. "Don't be too obvious, you're stabbing a guy, not doing ballet!" While he did learn to make the leap a little less obvious, doing a small twirling feint and stabbing down, FG was too quick to hit and smacked the beedrill over the head. Spike however had anticipated this and shot out his string silk all over James' hand, making him cringe and smirk at the same time as the wasp pokemon dodged away in time. "AWWW GOD AUUUGH! Hahaha, not bad! Still won't save ya if you're too slow trying to sting me Spike!" Red would like to inform you that you now have to call Spike a cab home so he doesn't stay overnight. "Wha-shut up Red!" Despite the charmander's childish cackling nearby, the beedrill buzzed without understanding the joke as he tried once more to sting the raptor. Still trying to be faster with the venomous sting, he failed once again to hit FG who simply striked the abdomen of the wasp firmly. Now Spike was mad, not taking anymore as he began to jab with both spear-shaped limbs, punching out at the raptor. James was surprised by the sudden fury, the boxing-like stabs coming out hard and fast, but the raptor was swift enough to block all of them with his bare hammer handles as the bee's sharp limbs glanced off of them from every angle. The spurious buzzing of the beedrill went in sync with the swish of his forelegs, punching left and right in straight plunging stabbing motions. Now and again James would try to attack back, and usually he was successful. However this only further antagonised Spike more, as he kept on jabbing with fury. Sometimes he made three jabs at once, other times only two. One time he even did five, which despite James' tremendous reflexes in blocking each and every blow with his hammersticks, was still quite the challenge for him, as he eventually asked out loud: "Woah woah woah, where did that come from Spike?!" Ahhhh, I believe he has learnt a new move, the Fury Attack. "Wha-how come nobody tells me these things?!" Would you like me to notify you next time? "Uh, SURE, thanks, take a fucking memo why dontcha?!" I am not your secretary, James. If I was, you would pay me...or blackmail me into performing illicit favours, hmhmhmhm! "Wha-stop distracting me, come on this is serious!"

Kirie giggled as James tried to focus, nearly getting jabbed in his good shoulder by the beedrill before he was jabbed even moreso in his upper left arm. Wincing from the blow, this opened up another quick-stab from Spike around the side of his waist, not deep enough to bleed but certainly bruising him with a puncture. Eventually James had enough, and saw when Spike began to overreach with powerful thrusts before going on the offensive. Suddenly he felt his muscle memory come kicking into high gear at recognising such a mistake he had once done himself before. Swinging out his dual sticks left and right, he smashed away the beedrill's limbs before smacking him across his face, back and forth twice before a third strike came down from on top of his head. Spike backed off once things started getting hot, readily leaping up into the air before coming down hard with a fearsome sting attack. James almost didn't make it, dodging just in time to only receive a non-poisonous scrape in his leg, causing him to limp. "Nnngh! ...hah...not bad...see, THAT'S how ya do it! You gotta focus that anger, but don't let it control you. Trust me, I know the feeling." "Bzzzzt?" "You wanna guide that anger like you would any weapon, no matter what. Those limbs of yours? You swing it as far as YOU want to, as hard as YOU wanna make it. But you gotta control it, don't let it stab all the way, just as far as you need to. You start just thrusting out and going all-HYAH, HUH, HRAH, you're gonna tire yourself out faster, you're gonna overreach and leave yourself wide open like you just did, and then you're gonna lose. You still up for more?" "Bzzzz-zzzzt." "Heh, alright, let's get a few more jabs in, but remember, control them this time." Practicing a few more times with the beedrill's two only offensive moves, James kept blocking and advising on his moves until he was satisfied with a few new scratches on his face and arms. Soon he had Red come forward, the little lizard rather nervous in battling his new master. "Alright li'l guy, let's grind you up a little. Now you got scratching and you got fire, that's gonna make you a hell of a lot more dangerous than Spike. But let's make sure you have it focused just right, alright?" "Char." "Alright, first off try and scratch me." The first little fight between raptor and charmander went rather awkwardly, as Red tried to scratch at James' legs but remained hesitant at doing so. Because of this, his claws would never connect, and the raptor always managed to pull away in time before bopping Red on the head with his sticks. "Come on, that all you got!? You kicked that rat's ass before, now show me that again!" Red tried once again, striking a little more bravely with his claws as he scratched away, but this time James blocked his little strikes with his sticks down low. The claws scraped along his hammersticks and glided off with nary a scratch, as the charmander received another bop on the head.

"CHAR!" "Getting there Red, getting there, but you gotta be braver than that, come on! I wanna feel your claws scratch across my knees now make it happen!" Summoning a stronger will, Red charged forwards faster than before, swiping away but still getting blocked by FG. The hammer handles would just appear in front of Red, stopping his claws and tapping his tiny arms away. But eventually he learned to avoid being hit, realising when an attack failed and dodging away in time before trying again. Over and over he would strike, scratching hard and forwards as he slowly but surely built up a three-hit combo for himself, striking out hard towards FG's knees. "Char-char-char!" "There ya go, almost got it, come on!" "Char-char-CHAR!" "GUH!" That one swipe of his claws went across James' shin, making him buckle slightly as he smacked away Red lightly with a tap of his sticks. But the charmander felt a newfound surge of confidence in him as he ran straight towards his slightly wounded trainer. One two three he striked, scraping across the legs before slashing higher up at the thigh. "CHAR-CHAR-CHAR!" "ARGH! Hhhh...hah, not bad kid! Not bad at all!" "Ch-ch-char?!" The charmander flinched back when he saw what he had done, newly formed scrapes now appearing as thin scars upon James' scaled legs. "Hahaha hey don't worry, that's why we're doing this, we wanna make you strong. Now I know you two are holding back a little not to hurt me, but I hope neither of you do that when you fight against other pokemon, alrighty?" "Ch-char...char." "Alright, now let's test that fire of yours." This time, the raptor was more serious, putting away his sticks and bringing out his huge four-feet-long scissors. Red was intimidated, backing away fearfully before James said: "S'alright, I'm not gonna cut you, I'm just gonna defend myself against your fire. Now if you can burn me at least a little, then we'll call you good enough. You wanna be good enough to take on the Pewter Gym dontcha?" "Char...ch-charrrmander." "Aw come on Red, you just had a shitty trainer before. I'm here to help you win, I'm here to make you strong and I'm gonna make you all the best. Got that?" "Char...char-char!" "That's the spirit, now come on, hit me with your best shot, Ember!" Guarding himself from any flames that would approach, James watched his charmander ready himself into a spinning dance. Swinging his tail out towards the raptor, small popping sparks streaked across his diagonal-guarding scissorblades, harmlessly so but with all the focus of a dandelion seed in the breeze. Pretty to watch, but not good enough for offensive tactics the way it was. "Alright not bad, but you gotta focus it, your fire's spreading out all over the place, you gotta make it hit ME, like me singled out. Now, try again."

Spike and Kirie watched from the side as Red readied himself for another ember-burning attack, spinning once more to make the sparks of his flame tail strike out towards James. Yet again they streaked across his blades, not even harming him as the sparks dispersed too much. Red tried again, then again, the spinning move starting to tire him out. "What's with this ballet shit you're doing Red?" "Char?" "This is meant to be an attack right? You wanna burn someone GOOD dontcha?! You need to SLAM me with this fire, not spin like a little girl! You want all those embers to come right down on me in single-file, not make even ONE little spark miss. And if you keep doing this little spinning shit, that's not gonna work! Now again! Come on, lemme feel that anger, lemme BURN with your anger little bitch!" "Char!" Red started rushing forwards with a strike of his claws, feeling insulted as he tried to strike at the raptor's scissors, before he was simply shoved backwards by a guarding push from FG. "That ain't gonna work kid, you wanna get past this, you gotta burn me! Now show me what you got!" "Ch-charrrrr!" "What?! Are you weak after all? You don't wanna prove the last trainer you had right do ya? Are you weak?! A little BITCH!? You know what that guy said before he left you with me?! He wanted a SQUIRTLE! ARE YOU BETTER THAN A SQUIRTLE, WHATEVER THE FUCK THAT IS?!" "CHAR!" "THEN PROVE IT TO ME RED! BURN MY FUCKING FACE!" With a sudden fury rising within the charmander, he charged towards the raptor and leapt as high as he could, which surprised even him as he shrieked and spun sideways with his little legs out. With one swift spin-kick in the air, swinging his tail downwards as his body turned once before landing on his feet, the embers sparked from his tail and shattered across FG's scissors, breaking through his guard in a tiny explosion and pockmarking his skin with hot popping bites of flames as he stumbled back onto one knee. "CHAAAAAAAA_AAAAAAR!_" "ARGH! ...huh...auugh my face...fuck." "...ch-char? Charmander?" "Heh...hehehe...not bad." The raptor chuckled to himself as he got up, smiling down at the worried yet tired charmander. The burning embers were not major, and only hurt him as much as having a burning piece of paper waved in front of his face. But it was enough for him to know that had he felt the full force of the charmander's tail strike down on his body, it would have surely hurt a lot more. "Not bad at all." "Charrrr?" "You did good Red. That's what I wanna see from ya. Wield that anger like a sword, because you want to win. But don't let it burn outta control alright? You got to keep it under check so nothing too crazy happens. But that...that was good. Good job Red." Rubbing the charmander's head who blushed up at him happily, they decided to get some sleep with a small campfire for James, whilst Spike and Red returned to their pokeballs. James slept out under the stars for the first time in this world, smiling as the fire kept any wild pokemon away as he slept off. Kirie stayed on guard, enjoying the night air with a tender smile upon her lipless features. She was pleased to see how eager James was to ingrain himself into this world, fearing it would have been much more difficult than she expected. But soon the first true obstacle to test his spirit would come up the next day, when the four of them would travel towards the Pewter City Gym. His first steps into being a pokemon trainer, for however long Kirie needed him to, would start there like many others before him.

Pewter City Gym's interior was more akin to its element than James expected it to be. He was expecting a proper school gymnasium, a huge basketball court of some sort. Instead, he found a craggy passageway of huge rocks, pointed menhirs that jutted out from the hard deadened soil. A passageway weaved widely through the miniature canyon, rocks piled up on all sides around James and Kirie. The only other thing of note were the two statues, one on either side of him of a gold-plated pokemon, with the names of victorious trainers written down beneath upon plaques. Seeing a sizeable amount of names gave him encouragement, wanting to have his name amongst them. Working his way through the rock-clad gymnasium, he found a single person at the other end, standing within a large clearing where white chalk had been placed, marking out the shape of a pokeball. The only other person there was a dusty-skinned man, with thin eyes and black hair cresting into spikes. He wore the clothes of a mountain hiker, a black-and-orange jacket with several pockets and a loose yet fitting pair of green slacks. Kirie remained beside the raptor keep up the human appearance, as the man waved politely before saying: "Hi there, can I help ya?" "Uh yeah," said James, "I'm uh here to fight in the Pewter City Gym...I heard there was a gym leader around?" "Heh, well you're lookin' at him. Name's Brock, I run the Pewter Gym." "James Campbell, pleased to meetcha." The two shook hands politely before Brock crossed his arms softly. "So you're just starting out as a pokemon trainer huh?" "Heh yeah I know, kinda old to be one but-" "Oh no, you're never too old to be a pokemon trainer, what matters is if you got the heart for it. Anyone who can lead pokemon with confidence can be a trainer." "Well, glad to hear." "I see you got a haunter too. Not the best idea to show your pokemon before a gym leader yanno." "Why's that?" "Gives 'em a heads-up so they know what they're up against." "Hah, nah uh Kirie's a special case. She's really high-levelled and she's just here to bail me out of any bad situations, plus I promised my grandma I'd look after her. I got other pokemon here that are more uh...suited to this level." "Ahhh. Alright, ready when you are then James, just stand on the other side of the arena and we'll see what you're made of. I see you have only two other pokemon on ya...that'll be interesting." "Uhhh why's that?" "Cuz I only got two as well. Ready when you are." Once he was ready, James stood on the other side of the clearing, his back against the large rocky crags as the battle began. Brock went first to give the new uncertain trainer a chance, while FG followed quickly after. "Geodude, GO!" "Spike, GO!"

Hurling a pokeball out onto the ground, Brock's first choice synthesised into the world, popping out in a mesh of strange light to become a solid spherical form with two jutting arm-like projections. A small boulder with arms, eyes gazing up at James' beedrill with a fighting urge. Both shouted out their commands, with FG starting off. "Alright Spike, soften him up a bit, Poison Sting!" "Geodude, Tackle!" The beedrill swung in low to the ground before striking out at the boulder, stabbing at its head. Yet the stinger barely pierced the stone, annoying Spike who tried to plunge it further before being tackle-slammed by the geodude. The bug flitted back, wings constantly in motion as FG commanded: "Poison him again!" Spike tried once more, aiming for the same place and stabbing straight down with the stinger. The geodude didn't see it coming surprisingly, but it was still of little use when the wasp's stinging proboscis barely chiselled into the rocky flesh. It was punished for such transgression with another tackle, punched back by a wiry fist of stone. "Dammit," murmured FG, "that barely did anything!" But of course, how can you poison a rock? "...whatever, I can still break one, SPIKE! Work up that fury, Fury Attack!" "Geodude," said Brock, "Defence Curl! Guard yourself!" Spike stung in low and managed to get in some good hits before the geodude could cover itself up. With furious spear-like limbs, the bee jabbed and stabbed relentlessly up to three times, punching into the hard firm rock before flying away with some frustration. He was certain he was doing damage, but the boulder-shaped pokemon wasn't showing much of it as it curled itself up and flexed its striatic muscles. "Fury Attack again! You keep it up and he'll break soon enough!" Spike tried yet again, not wanting to give up as he buzzed with unmitigated fury rising up in him, punching over and over again. Four furious thrusts this time, yet the geodude wasn't even registering the hits enough to show any signs of distress. As the waspy limbs scraped against rock, not even able to stab straight before sliding off of the contours within the stone flesh, the geodude grinned with a single tackle-punch, slamming into the beedrill and knocking him back hard. The bee stumbled in mid-air, sputtering from pain as exhaustion seemed evident upon his erratic movements. He charged in once more at FG's command, furiously stabbing away in the hopes of getting a good hit. Despite one particularly strong thrust out of two fury jabs into a craggly niche of the geodude's body, Spike was simply slammed back once again, making him feel wounded even more. "Keep it up Spike, come on, you can break him!" "Defence Curl again Geodude," said Brock sternly, "don't let him in, keep yourself covered up!"

Spike surged with an almighty fury as he charged straight in, not wanting to give his opponent a chance to protect before slamming his furious tips of rage straight into the geodude's body. Now the rocky creature was starting to feel the pain, wincing and flinching with each strike that came down upon it as Spike pulled out five tremendously strong jabs. But despite his swiftness, he was still not hurting the geodude enough who simply smashed a lean rocky elbow into the beedrill's face. "SPIKE, HOLD ON!" Knowing he had to cost a chance to attack, FG quickly pulled out a potion from his satchel, a small healing spray that was good for a one-time use only. He hurried over towards Spike, who was flying low and clearly badly bruised all over from such strong attacks. But with a cautious administering of the first-aid spray, Spike shook his head clear of the wounding pain, feeling rejuvenated enough to try again. Even when he got punched in the face and knocked down again, hovering just above the floor in struggling to stay up. The beedrill however was not unbowed, as he charged ahead once more with a fury attack once again, stabbing wildly with as much force as he could muster. Somehow, his repeated attacks had scored enough deepening wounds on the geodude to tire it out, the small rocky boulder rolling about rather wearily. A lucky chance had come, as Spike dodged one slow tackle before stabbing straight down onto its head at FG's command. One. Two. Three. The rock slumped its arms and collapsed with a small groan. Round 1 to FG. "YEAH, THASSIT SPIKE, YOU GOT THIS!" "Not bad!" said Brock. "Geodude, return!" Summoning his KO'd pokemon back into its ball, the gym leader smiled humbly before bringing out his second and last monster. "But are your pokemon good enough to handle an Onix?" "Bring it on rock-boy, we can take it!" "Alright, ONIX GO!" The biggest creature James had ever seen in this world was a machoke, which were at least of human height. Yet from a tiny little ball came the most horrendous-looking monster of this island. A huge serpent of at least 28 feet tall, made entirely of stone. Its head was like a brachiosaur's with a rocky crest pointing upwards, eyes huge and glaring down towards tiny little beedrill. Spike, for the first time in his short life, knew fear. While James had felt fear many times before in his life, against monsters just as tall as this one, it did not stop him from leaving his mouth rather dry with anxiety. "Wh-wh-whut the fuck." Do not falter. "What?" Fear is our greatest enemy in this world and the next. Do not let size make a monster greater than it already is. "R-right...Spike! Snap out of it, that fuckin' snake is gonna be an avalanche after we're done with it, right?!" "Bz-bzz...BZZZT!" A nervous start but the beedrill was eager, flying high with a rage induced by fear. "YEAH, thassit, now stab him with Fury Attack!"

Spike charged straight in, violently striking for the eyes to see if he could get a critical hit. The stone serpent stood there, its large rocky head unmoving as it watched its opponent hurry in for a stinging blow. Yet the moment the spear-limb touched the Onix's eye, a sharp clink could be heard. Spike hovered with shock, the eye unblinking as his spear-tipped arm poked pathetically at it, sharpened point scraping upon hardened lens. With a confusing turn of events, it was the perfect time for the onix to swing its immense tail with the force of a hurricane, to come crashing down onto Spike from the side. The beedrill slammed into a wall like a meteorite, its piercing cry like a field of crickets being burned alive. "SPIKE!" The beedrill stumbled from the wall, flapping weakly from pain and disorientation. "DON'T GIVE UP, JUST FOCUS AND STAB HIM AGAIN! HE'S JUST A ROCK, YOU CAN BREAK HIM!" Spike hovered towards the onix and tried once more to stab again, but the onix was surprisingly swift, dodging backwards before hardening its stone form. A glinting of reflective light covered its craggy carapace, and Spike only found it even more difficult to stab at it. Trying to hit while in a weakened state only made the beast even more able to keep out of range. "DAMMIT, alright! Spike, String Shot, slow him down a little!" The bee raised his stinger and began to shoot out a thick silken goo all over the onix, releasing its string that he had not done for quite a few days. Thankfully the webbing was quite strong, strong enough even to inhibit a giant stone serpent's body. But it still did not stop the onix from moving around the weakened wasp, circling its prey, slowly coiling its body around the much smaller insect. "Wh-what's it doing now?!" cried out FG. "This," said Brock. "Onix, Bind!" With that single command, the many-cragged coils of the stone monster suddenly clamped down around the helpless beedrill, who struggled and squirmed to try and get out of its grasp. But no such luck. The onix's grip was powerfully tight, and being made of rock only made things harder for Spike who shrieked and shivered his wings desperately for help. James didn't know what to do, and neither did Spike who couldn't even fight back. His movements turned weaker and weaker, before his head started to fall onto his chest. "STOP IT!" he cried. "LET HIM FIGHT BACK FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" But it was too late. The already-weakened beedrill was soon released from the onix's grip, and fell to the floor. He was not dead, but severely weakened beyond the point of a simple healing spray to do any good. He flapped his wings pathetically, trying to plead either forgiveness or another chance. James didn't care. He didn't want to make Spike suffer any longer. "Spike...return."

Calling back the beedrill to rest safely within his ball, the onix stood waiting for the next opponent. He wished that Spike had been able to soften up the monster a little more before he had to call out his second pokemon. Or rather, his last pokemon considering Kirie would be unable to fight without losing the disguise he had on. "...I don't wanna do this but...Red, come on out!" Hurling his ball onto the battlefield, the charmander soon popped out as eager a stance as he could into getting ready to fight. The moment he saw the colossus before him however, all confidence drained from him. He started to step back, before his foot couldn't even do that, frozen upon the rocky soil as his eyes began to water. "Ch-ch-...ch-ch-cha...chaaaaaarrrrr..." "Red, don't! Don't you dare step back one inch!" "CH-CHAR!" "NO! You have this chance now, to defeat this guy, you're stronger now, you can do this! You got me now, just listen to me and give him everything you got!" "CH-CHAR CHAR! CHARMANDER CHAR!" Despite the fear shaking within the little lizard, his screams of refusal and trying not to look at the beast, James continued to urge him, wanting to make him face it. The two argued briefly before a deep rumble made the charmander turn at last. The onix began to speak in its own tongue, growling down onto little Red who meekly quivered. "Wh-what's it doing?!" asked James. He is speaking to Red. He recognises him from before. "Wh-what?!" He asks why he is afraid when he knows that defeat is inevitable. Why come back only to once again suffer the same crushing blow to his existence. Red struggles to answer, he is not even sure why he is here. ...now the onix claims that Red is just a puppet, dragged along by another young human so he becomes another scapegoat for their own failures. He asks if that is what Red truly desires to be for the rest of his life, as the difficult choice that trainers will always regret. "...Red." "Char?" "You came here because I needed you here. I need you Red. Spike couldn't hold up, but you can. You're stronger than him, stronger than you think. I had no one else who could help me but you, Kirie here can't fight and you know why she can't. But you can. I need you to do this, but I cannot make you if you don't want to." "Char, cha-" "No, listen. I don't care what that huge-ass THING is telling you, you could have said no anytime during all this. You went through the training with me KNOWING that you had to fight him again. You don't need to do this. But if you don't, then you're gonna spend your entire life regretting the day you never stood up for yourself and fought back. Don't do this to yourself. If you don't wanna fight, it's totally up to you...but I thought you should know what might happen if you choose not to. I won't be mad if you refuse to fight him. I promise." "Char?" "I swear on my mother's grave."

With such an earnest response from his own trainer, Red's eyes flickered with a glimmer of hope. He pondered quietly for a moment, before turning back towards the onix and standing up proudly, proclaiming something in his own words. "What's he saying?" ...I may not be the strongest, but my new trainer needs me to help him. And because he saved me from my former master, I owe my debt to him. For so long as I am with him, and so long as he loves and respects me like a human should with a pokemon truly, I will never stop fighting to protect him. And I will defeat you, here and now. That is my oath. "...wow. Li'l guy's got one hell of a speech." Well, to be fair, I was paraphrasing a little. "Doesn't matter, Red, let's finish this! EMBER!" "CHAR!" As the charmander rushed towards the huge stone snake, Brock, who had been patiently observing this entire strange spectacle, simply commanded: "Onix, Tackle!" The colossus roared a deafening cry as it readily slammed its head down onto Red, who swiftly leapt up before spinning his body hard. Striking his burning tail hard onto the onix's head, hot ember sparks scorched across the stone face. They were not as effective as they would be on flesh itself, but the burning scars still remained of a greater degree than Spike's attacks had been. This did not dissuade the onix however from attacking once more, slamming its head down and clocking Red on the body with a blow backwards. The charmander stumbled and rolled back slightly, but hurriedly ran into the fray once more to slam down with his ember attack. A spinning smackdown with his firey tailtip, he scarred even deeper across the onix's face, causing it to roar with a sudden inflicting pain. Kirie grinned with encouragement for Red, the charmander ready for his next command. He burned the onix! He's not badly hurt but he's suffering a burn! "YES!" cried FG. "THASSIT RED, YOU GOT HIM NOW, BURN HIM TO THE GROUND WITH EMBER!" "CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!" "ONIX, BIND!" With tiny fangs out and roaring, the charmander charged towards the onix, who readied to coil himself at Brock's command. It seemed to do the trick still, the burn turning deeper as the onix roared and swung its body around Red. Luckily, the charmander hopped and scrabbled his way out of the deadly grasp before it could close on him, his little feet scraping harmlessly at the stone body as he climbed. Heading towards the onix's head, he used his ember once more, swinging his tail down hard yet again. The burning pain turned stronger, but the beast was undeterred as it slammed its head into Red's body and sent him flying down hard onto the ground. With a stumbling roll and a bruised belly, the charmander winced and tried to get up, faltering slightly with a shortness of breath. Red tried once more to use ember, which did not slow down the onix any quicker despite a blackening scar across its head that smashed into Red once again. Squeaking out in pain as he rolled hard across the floor, he saw James nearby readily grabbing a potion.

The raptor in disguise swiftly sprayed him down with some healing aid, before Red had to take yet another hit for a brutal tackle smashing him to the side. The onix was in full force, as Brock decided to up the ante. "Onix, time to end this! Rock Tomb." A dark glimmer came into the monster's eyes, as it swung its mighty tail from above and slammed down hard onto the ground beside Red. It had missed him by a few inches, intentionally so. The rocks that came falling did not. "RED WATCH OUT!" Despite James' crying out, Red barely turned his body up before seeing a huge pile of rocks come flying up from beside him, dislodged by the force of the onix's tail. Gravity soon brought them back down, straight on top of Red. His vision was blacked out within seconds, a crushing pain suddenly enveloping his entire body. Darkness first took his sight, before taking his consciousness. "RED! NOOOOOOOOO!" A large mound of rocks marked the end of the battle, the sight of wispy smoke signifying the weakened state of the charmander buried within. James was shocked, struggling not to fall to his knees as his hands shook with outrage. Kirie however put a hand on his shoulder, and warned him with: Do not let anger control you...you have lost this battle. Red is merely unconscious, he is not dead. "You...know that...for sure?" Yes. This was a battle of strength and skill. You lost. Now let us leave and nurse our wounds. "...fine. F-fine I...I really hoped he could-" Wait. Look. Turning his head towards the rocky mound once more, he saw the smoke had somehow started to turn black, intensifying in thickness from its wispy grey. Brock and his own pokemon looked towards it too, a fire starting to burn even more to the point of casting a reddened glare from within. Suddenly, the topmost rock shattered into pieces, as a violent orange light sliced its way out before landing hard on top of the rocks. "R-RED?!" "Char. CharrrrrMANDER!" Red stood with body low, snarling furiously with claws fully out at the onix, who stood surprised alongside Brock. The gym leader however simply smiled at this development and proclaimed: "Well then, looks like the battle is still on! Onix, tackle him!" "RED! JU-" "CHAR!" "Huh?!" "CharmanDER!" "Wh-what did he say?!" ...he said "leave it to me."

The charmander rushed straight ahead towards the stone serpent, who readily came in for a tackling slalom. Right as the two clashed however, Red shrieked with a vehement fury as his claws suddenly glinted a silver light, slicing across the stone surface as he leapt past the beast's forehead. "ChaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAA_AAAAAAAAAR!" What followed after his battle cry was even more amazing. The onix roared with anguish, flinching back suddenly with the look of pain in its eyes. Brock was even more amazed, as well as James when they saw the deep wounding cuts within the onix's head. "Wh-what?!" "WHAT?! WHAT DID HE DO?!" _...hah...he learnt it. "H-HUH?!" He found a new power within himself...the strength of the Steel Claw. "S-steel claw?! ....RED! DON'T GIVE UP, KEEP DOING THAT ATTACK AND FUCK HIS FACE UP!" "CHAR!" With no intention of stopping as his adrenaline ran wild, the charmander quickly anticipated his next attack, his claws sharpened to deadly points as the onix was commanded to try and tackle once again. Despite taking another hard tackle to the body, he braced his legs against the blow and sprung forwards before slashing straight up, screaming with fury as his claws raked deep into the onix's face. Another roar of anguish from the colossus, who tried to swing its tail down hard upon the charmander. Red dodged swiftly before stumbling in a panic, receiving the tip of the stone tail across his face like a bullwhip as he cried out. His face was stinging hard, his eye a wincing bruise of purple along with a streak of red across his stubby snout. But he was not defeated, staring with his good eye as he made a final assault. Brock sternly commanded: "Onix, Bind!" Red knew what this meant, waiting for the moment the onix would try to circle and ensnare him within its vice-like grip. As the creature moved with the speed and force of an avalanche, Red waited for the trap to shut. He leapt and dug his claws hard into the onix's side, the serpent of stone growling with frustration at the stinging claws. Climbing hard, the charmander scrabbled up to the top and cried his final proclamation straight before the onix's eyes, striking once, twice, thrice with his steel-hard strikes. "CHAR! MAN! DAAAAAAAAAR!" With these three strikes, the onix was slammed backwards by the sheer power of its growing anguish, its head falling like a pillar onto the hard battlefield beneath them. The weight of its fall shook the very foundations of the gym, a mighty tremble that deafened their ears, dust thrown into the air as one tremendous cloud that blinded all who watched. Both trainers could only wait for their senses to return. Standing on top of the fallen onix, breathing weakly with tears streaking from his eyes, was a little charmander of only 2 feet tall. He stared dumbly at his opponent, murmuring to himself: "Char...charman...der..." "...holy shit," said James softly. "...wow," said Brock. "Hah...that was...some battle!" "Huh?" "You're good at this James. Onix, return!" Bringing out a pokeball, Brock had his fallen beast return safely back to its lair, pocketing before beckoning James to come forwards. But not before he could also put Red away safely. "Red. Return." He had nothing to say, struck between pride and shock, the realisation having not sunk in yet as he stepped up towards Brock, who proclaimed firmly: "You're already on the first step of your journey within the Indigo League, James. For your victory over the Pewter City Gym, I give you the Boulder Badge." Brock brought out a small silver octagon, shaped as its namesake. James took it before putting it in his satchel, not even sure what he could say. But before he could even think beyond that, the gym leader also brought out a small disc. "You also get this too, so you can grow stronger." "...huh?" "That's TM39, also known as Rock Tomb. You teach that to your pokemon, and your foes'll be crushed before you. You uh, know how to use those right?" "Uhhhhh...what's a TM?" "Hah, no worries, I got a bunch of these for new trainers." James was also given lastly a strange machine. To the ordinary eye it resembled a large cylindrical flashlight, until one opened the top like a briefcase to reveal the inside, resembling a CD-rack. "This is a Technical Machine Case. You hold Technical Machines in here, and you can then select a TM you have available in order to teach that move to a pokemon. There are two kinds out there in the world, Technical Machines and Hidden Machines. TMs are a one-time use only before they're wiped. HMs can be used always but are much more rare." "Ah huh...so it's a movie projector to teach pokemon moves?" "Sure, that sounds right. Alright then, James, I hope you go far and become even stronger. Good luck." With a pat on the shoulder and a knowing nod, Brock sent FG off and out back into the world of pokemon, the raptor still dumbfounded as his human face blinked continuously. Kirie clicked her fingers before him to try and stir him out of his reverie. Hello? "Huh?" You ARE still in there, aren't you? "Um...y-yeah, I am." Good, because I'm rather surprised you haven't been crowing your victory over your first gym leader like a child on the first day of summer. "I...just...need to let it sink in...Red...really beat him. But he did it in such an AWESOME WAY!" Ahhh there he is. "WHOOOOO! HOLY FUCK, DID YOU SEE THAT!? I-oh shit hold on we better heal up our guys here first so we can whoop it up with them. Awhawhawhaw helllll YES! YES! AWWWWWWW YEAH RED! YEAH YOU FUCKIN' ROCK! GET IT?! CUZ HE ROCKED THEIR SHIT, HAHAHAHAAAAAAAA YEAH!" ...why did I not just enjoy the silence instead? As James and Kirie headed back to the Pokemon Center, Spike and Red would join them fully recovered in celebrating their victory triumphantly. Kirie was immensely pleased, glad that her friend had the spirit and leadership to be able to guide a team through the first gauntlet without fail. It only made her more confident, yet also more urgent, in her own personal mission in this world.