~|~|~|~|~|~
Ethan and his pokémon hurried along to the exit, managing to take a lot of wrong turns and dead end. Before they could reach the exit, night had fallen. They were close, very close indeed, but near the exit was a tough looking bug trainer. Unfortunately, Gale was severely beaten up in the battle hours before, but at least he managed to get them as close to the end of the forest as possible. “Well, you guys.” Ethan began, with a deep sigh and a wry smile coming before his next sentence. “Looks like we’ll have to set up camp here.”
All three pokémon slumped next to a tree, followed shortly by Ethan. Soon, all of them began to feel hungry, but Ethan had brought along a little bit of food for the journey, knowing that they might need some in case this situation arose. The young trainer fiddled through his bag, pulling out a foil-wrapped package of food. There was just enough to tide them over, but not enough to call a suitable meal. Ethan separated the package out for each of his pokémon first, a fine morsel of lettuce for Weedle, a chicken drumstick for Eevee and a small fish for Gale.
He handed each pokémon their meals, but when Ethan noticed Gale was not tucking in, like the others, Ethan knew that Gale felt very poorly. With a sympathetic hand, he petted the little bird, hoping to coax her into eating, but it did not work. He sat back, expressing his sadness with a sombre frown. Remembering the potion he had acquired, he fumbled around, taking out two. He reached over, taking Gale in his hands and moving her to his lap. The night grew cold, and the group needed to set up their tent soon, but Ethan’s concern was on his injured bird.
He sprayed a couple of potions, and after taking his thermal coat from the bag, adorned himself in it and pulled her closer, zipping her up in the soft and furry innards of the coat to keep her warm. Leaving part of it open, it allowed her to pop her head up under his chin, overseeing the satisfied companions after they gratefully consumed meal. It soon became clear that the others were getting cold too.
Ethan decided to get the group under some shelter, taking some time to make a tent by throwing some of his towels onto the washing line, which he tied around a group of trees, forming a triangle between the cosily clustered trunks. To finish it off, Ethan knotted a corner of each towel to the other, before finding a tall enough stick to hold the knotted ends up to make a slanting roof. Satisfied, he crawled in and sat his bag and some sturdy items around the stick to hold it upright, though he had already plunged it in a foot or so deep, Eevee aiding in creating the hollow for it to rest in. By the time he had finished, the night air drew in and darkness had fully presented itself.
The group saw it as the perfect time to sleep, all crawling into the makeshift tent with relief. The wind whistled and wafted under the towels, which made it cold inside. Everyone had made themselves as comfortable as they could, but with the cold creeping in, they all found it difficult to sleep. Gale, however, slept soundly; still smothered in the soft, sleek coat that Ethan laid her down in. All he had to do was find a way to keep Weedle and Eevee warm on this cold night.
“I tell ya what...” Ethan said cheerfully, crawling closer so that he could soften his voice so not to walk Gale. “I’ll gather some twigs, and make a fire in here for us. You two wait in my warm sleeping bag.” He added, pointing at his neatly placed bed before gesturing an air of silence in their movements. While Ethan trekked around in the dark, his pokémon nestled into the bag and overwhelmed by warmth, drifted into a peacefully deep sleep. By the time Ethan had returned with the firewood, Weedle and Eevee were out for the count.
“Well bang goes my idea of kipping in with you two.” Ethan chuckled quietly. He tossed the pile, consisting of twigs and dry leaves, into a sizeable area of the tent, lighting it promptly with a match he produced from his pocket. He then gathered his thinner sleeping bag, and slipped slowly into it, making his resting place neatly next to the fire to keep him and everyone else warm. They all slept soundly into the early hours of the morning.
The next morning, the sun glistened throughout the forest brush, scattering onto the little shelter that Ethan and this pack had set up last night. It was very early, and only a few twitters and rustling branches filled the otherwise tranquil atmosphere. Light breached through a slit in the make-shift tent, which occupied the companions in their peaceful slumber. Within the tent, the soft sounds of snoring chimed almost in unison as Ethan, Eevee and Weedle all slept soundly. However, one pokémon brought the additional ambience of rustling foil and the distinct, yet faint chomping and swallowing noises that accompanied the task of eating. That pokémon was Pidgey.
Eevee’s ears pricked up as crinkling of the foil roused him. Slowly he began to wake, head turning towards the origin of such distracting noises. Opening a single teary eye, Eevee could make out a blur on the other side of the tent, and upon blinking twice, realised that Gale was tucking in to the fish she refused the night before. Eevee decided to alert Ethan, who was lost in the oblivion of his slumber. Eevee managed to duck away clumsily from a limp, flailing hand, knocking his chin on the grass with a soft groan. He nudged the trainer, licking his face until his heavy eyes began to open. Immediately, he heard the noise and peered over at the ravenous Pidgey, a short smile curling his lips. “I guess all that sleep and illness made you hungry this morning, huh?” He joked.
The noises outside rose in volume, and as it did, so did the noise and level of activity within the tent. All of them had begun to eat their breakfast, and Gale was given second helpings after the eventful day she had the day before. After a quick breakfast, they all bundled the towels and accessories into Ethan’s backpack again, and looked to the bug catcher who emerged from the entrance up ahead. The trainer seemed intent on battling them, the focussed look in his eye proof of this, and the swagger he moved with meant that he was either very skilled, or very arrogant. It was clear, however, that this trainer was not going to give them a hassle-free end to their journey to Pewter.
“Let me guess, you wanna get past me and go into Pewter City, right?” the bug catcher said, grinning. Ethan shrugged, “That really just depends on what you mean by ‘get past you’, to be honest.”
The trainer then pulled a pokéball from his belt and pressed the latch button, releasing the pokémon inside. Ethan already knew what kind of pokémon it was going to be, and stood scanning Gale’s pokéball. Her vitals were fine and he had realised a growth in her development, she had learned another move. Lazily, Ethan looked up after doing his checks to find a Weedle, stepping back to toss Gale’s pokéball into the air. “I really don’t want to be kept any longer than necessary. I would have fought you last night, but my Pidgey here had a long day.” Ethan said calmly, almost disinterested. This angered the bug catcher, who called for Weedle to use Poison Sting. Weedle opened a barrage of poison pins on Gale, who without command, strafed from the stream of spikes. Not only that, but immediately after dodging, Gale swooped in and delivered a nasty Tackle attack.
Ethan cleared his throat, preparing to give the youngster a speech. “If you haven’t realised it by now, Viridian Forest is full of bug pokémon and bug catchers. It has gotten to the point where I can trust Gale and Eevee to move and attack on their own, since they know that all bugs in this area can do is harden, tackle, throw stingers, and snare with sticky thread.”
After another damaging Tackle on the bug trainer’s Weedle, Ethan sighed. Suddenly, the Bug trainer aggressively ordered an attack, and Weedle struck back by grabbing at Gale’s leg with String Shot. It took Ethan somewhat by surprise, especially when the bug began to reel her in. “So what now big shot?” He kid smirked, but remembering what he had analysed, Ethan merely glanced up at Gale with a proud glint in his eye. “Gale!” He hollered, addressing the Pidgey by her nickname, as he always did. “How about we give your newly acquired move a try now?” He said with glee in his voice. Gale nodded, and prepared for orders whilst still struggling against the pull of the thread.
“Finish this battle in two moves, Gale. Use Gust, and then Tackle straight after, go!”
Gale’s wings began to spread wide, and her keen eyes focussed upon the Weedle with conviction. Her chest puffed outward as she pulled her wings back a little more, as if trying to store as much kinetic energy as possible into the upcoming attack. With a resounding shriek, Gale threw her wings forward, and a blast of powerful wind erupted from the motion her wings took. The force of the attack broke the viscous string, and the speed made dodging near impossible given that they had to consider the repercussions of the string shot snapping suddenly. As the thread snapped, Gale shot backward, but soon gained her stability and shot after Weedle, who took the crushing force of the gust in full. The battle ended with Gale ferociously thrusting Weedle into a tree, who had been all but devastated by Gust anyway. The bug catcher stood in awe as Ethan calmly sealed Gale away in her pokéball after the quick encounter, and silently gave him some money in a pouch as a reward. Ethan thanked the kid, placing a firm hand on his head before walking away with Eevee leaping onto his shoulder.
“Today was not your day, it seems.” Ethan remarked, with a soft and sympathetic tone. With that, he left through the large checkpoint house at the exit to Viridian Forest.
As they exited the rest hut for the exit to the Viridian Forest, Ethan and Eevee saw a sign which noted that the patch of grass nearby was also part of Route Two. Ethan decided to let Eevee battle for a little while, and began searching for Pokémon in the long grass. They spotted a Rattata, whom they quickly took down with little incident, although the plucky little critter did land a convincing hit on Ethan’s little fox. They came across a Caterpie a few minutes later, and scrapped with it for a while, eventually overpowering that opponent too. Satisfied, Ethan and Eevee decided to take the short walk into the City, and immediately sought after three main areas in Pewter; The PokéCentre, the PokéMart, and lastly, the Pewter Gym.
Surprisingly, all three of them were quite close to one another, the PokéCentre being the first large building they saw, and the PokéMart being just minutes from the Pewter Gym. It was quite handy that way, seeing as though he could easily drop his Pokémon into the trusted care of the resident Nurse Joy, travel to the clerk’s store while they healed, come back to collect them after a spot of shopping, before heading out to check the Pewter Gym. That was the initial plan for the day, at least. With the day’s events set in his mind, Ethan wandered into the Pokémon Centre and deposited his Pokémon. As always, he took great care in telling Nurse Joy not to try and place Eevee in a pokéball, to which Eevee would always nod strongly with an unmistakeably disdainful expression in the fox cub’s eyes.
Ethan made his way to the PokéMart leisurely, until his pace was slowed by the imposing figure of the gym to his left, which he gazed at cautiously. It was a cold looking building, and it sent that cold feeling through the trainer’s body. It dawned on him how difficult his battle at the Gym was going to be, with three Pokémon with ill-effective attacks, while out of those three there were two who had a weakness to Rock-type moves. It was frustrating to think about, and despite remaining calm on the outside, his eyes would occasionally give away the apprehension inside. After stopping by the Mart for a while, Ethan re-emerged from the store with no extra travelling medicines, although he did get a rough idea of what he may need to buy when his wallet was a little fuller.
Ten minutes later, Ethan sat patiently in the lobby for his Pokémon to finish receiving thorough examination and treatment. Thankfully, he did not have to wait long, and all of his Pokémon made a full recovery from their travelling and battling. He thanked Nurse Joy kindly, and took his Pokémon back, glad to know that they were well treated. He clipped Gale and Weedle’s capsules to his belt and allowed Eevee to jump on his shoulders from the front desk. He requested a sleeping quarters from the nurse too; to make sure he had somewhere cosy to sleep, as the Pokémon Centre was pretty busy. “So, want to see if we’re ready for the Gym?” Ethan said enthusiastically to his unsealed partner, who yapped and tickled Ethan with his thick, soft tail. Ethan chuckled, pointing towards the door. “In that case then, let’s get a move one!”
----
Soon, Ethan found himself directly in front of the stony doors of the Pewter Gym, and tried very hard not to turn and walk away. He had heard from his mother that many of the Gyms have a trainer that acts as a taster to what the actual Gym Battle would be like. This meant that whoever had to be beaten before challenging Brock was tougher than any of the Bug Trainers he had come across. With a quick, calming gasp of breath, Ethan pushed open one of the doors. Inside, he could see the stadium he would fight Brock on, but glanced ahead at the youngster who resided in the Gym awaiting challengers. “So you’re here to face Brock?” The kid asked with a stern look upon his face. It was almost as if he was scorning Ethan for coming here.
“That’s correct.” Ethan replied, nonchalant as ever in his tone of response. As soon as he entered, there was no going back until he had assessed how difficult this battle would be. Even if he took the trainer’s confidence as a warning, he was determined to find out the gap in power between himself and Brock. “Well we better get started then.” He trainer said, rubbing his nose. Flicking the open jacket behind him, the kid threw out his first pokémon without hesitation. The pokémon that formed was a Geodude, and not seeing one of those before, Ethan instantly sought after data on his pokédex, as proof of seeing it.
“So it’s a Rock-type and a Ground-type, just like what Brock will use. Well Weedle, guess you ought to test the waters for me.” Ethan said, knowing that if Weedle could hold some kind of resistance against them, then Eevee and Gale could fair better against them. Weedle struck first using Poison Sting, although the attacks did little to harm the rock pokémon. Geodude was ordered to tackle, and did so with a fair amount of damage, although a little less than anticipated. Weedle remained steadfast, shooting off another flurry of poisonous barbs. This time, the barbs managed to poison Geodude, who had foolishly been told to take the hits and ram through. After his mistake though, the trainer quickly changed tactics. “Rock Polish and then use Defence Curl” he said confidently. Geodude shuffled around, increasing in speed dramatically in comparison to previously, and then curled into a ball to stop the poisonous attacks completely.
“Slow it down with String Shot, and then continue to use Poison Sting!” Ethan commanded, Weedle shooting a viscous thread at the rock type in reaction to the command. However, Geodude speed boost meant that it darted wide of the manoeuvre and pummelled Weedle continuously with tackles. Seeing the obvious mismatch, Ethan quickly pulled Weedle out, while sending in Eevee as a replacement. The trainer laughed, “Your Eevee won’t fair much better. Tackle now, Geodude!”
“Dodge and use Tackle.” Ethan responded. Geodude came in fast, but the little cub out sped it with a nimble dodge, followed by an equally impressive Tackle. Geodude skidded back, and with the effects of the poison mounting up, began to look weak. “If not for the poison effect, I understand that Eevee would have a hard time beating a Rock-type. But thanks to his little trait, Eevee packs a bigger punch than other Normal-types.” Ethan stated proudly. Eevee remained poised, a serious look in his eyes. With another Tackle, Geodude almost sank in defeat, but with a swift command, it avoided the attack and tackled Eevee onto his side. It was not long before a third Tackle eventually hit the mark and knocked out the sturdy rock pokémon, forcing the trainer to switch.
The next foe was a Sandshrew, and with information Ethan gathered from the Pokédex, quickly decided to stick with his trusted and beloved Eevee. The Sandshrew struck first, a spray of poison doing a fair amount of initial damage, followed by a nasty scratch which the tricky Ground-type landed while Eevee reeled from the barb barrage. Impressively, however, Eevee did land a frightfully powerful Tackle on Sandshrew, a blow that made the trainer step back in shock. “I never realised an Eevee could hit that hard...” He mumbled, making Ethan smile for a moment. “Grr, all right then, use Poison Sting and then rush in with Scratch!” The trainer ordered.
The quick toxic barrage caught Eevee and Ethan off-guard, and it became clear that Eevee had been poisoned. “Karma... that’s all...” Ethan calmly remarked, although his panic meant that he swung open his back and readied an antidote for after the match. Just before Sandshrew could follow up, Ethan planned his next tactic. “Throw up some sand and trip it up with Tail Whip. Tackle it until it falls.” Ethan instructed, putting faith in Eevee’s resilience. Thankfully for him, Eevee determination did not waver, and despite the poison hindering the fox’s actions, Eevee pulled off an amazing display of cunning, agility and power, winning by a whisker.
Ethan rushed over to his afflicted companion, injecting the antidote into Eevee’s hind leg. Eevee was barely able to walk around by the end of the match, so Ethan hoisted the cub into his hands and looked up at the trainer. The kid threw a money pouch to Ethan and shrugged, “Yeah I admit you and that Eevee of yours are good, and you did get unlucky with being poisoned. I have to say this though; you have a lot more training to do before you can give Brock a challenge.”
“I know that now. Thanks for the match.” Ethan said humbly, staring sadly at his Eevee’s current condition. He turned, exiting the Gym in a hurried fashion. His worst fear was answered, now that he had finished a gruelling battle. All Ethan and his group could do now was rethink their approach, train hard, and hope that they can come away with a win. With thoughts of what had just occurred and ways in which to overcome this obstacle at a severe disadvantage, Ethan made his way over to the PokéCentre. He dropped off Eevee and Weedle, keeping Gale with him as he waited in the main lobby nervously.
Ethan and his pokémon hurried along to the exit, managing to take a lot of wrong turns and dead end. Before they could reach the exit, night had fallen. They were close, very close indeed, but near the exit was a tough looking bug trainer. Unfortunately, Gale was severely beaten up in the battle hours before, but at least he managed to get them as close to the end of the forest as possible. “Well, you guys.” Ethan began, with a deep sigh and a wry smile coming before his next sentence. “Looks like we’ll have to set up camp here.”
All three pokémon slumped next to a tree, followed shortly by Ethan. Soon, all of them began to feel hungry, but Ethan had brought along a little bit of food for the journey, knowing that they might need some in case this situation arose. The young trainer fiddled through his bag, pulling out a foil-wrapped package of food. There was just enough to tide them over, but not enough to call a suitable meal. Ethan separated the package out for each of his pokémon first, a fine morsel of lettuce for Weedle, a chicken drumstick for Eevee and a small fish for Gale.
He handed each pokémon their meals, but when Ethan noticed Gale was not tucking in, like the others, Ethan knew that Gale felt very poorly. With a sympathetic hand, he petted the little bird, hoping to coax her into eating, but it did not work. He sat back, expressing his sadness with a sombre frown. Remembering the potion he had acquired, he fumbled around, taking out two. He reached over, taking Gale in his hands and moving her to his lap. The night grew cold, and the group needed to set up their tent soon, but Ethan’s concern was on his injured bird.
He sprayed a couple of potions, and after taking his thermal coat from the bag, adorned himself in it and pulled her closer, zipping her up in the soft and furry innards of the coat to keep her warm. Leaving part of it open, it allowed her to pop her head up under his chin, overseeing the satisfied companions after they gratefully consumed meal. It soon became clear that the others were getting cold too.
Ethan decided to get the group under some shelter, taking some time to make a tent by throwing some of his towels onto the washing line, which he tied around a group of trees, forming a triangle between the cosily clustered trunks. To finish it off, Ethan knotted a corner of each towel to the other, before finding a tall enough stick to hold the knotted ends up to make a slanting roof. Satisfied, he crawled in and sat his bag and some sturdy items around the stick to hold it upright, though he had already plunged it in a foot or so deep, Eevee aiding in creating the hollow for it to rest in. By the time he had finished, the night air drew in and darkness had fully presented itself.
The group saw it as the perfect time to sleep, all crawling into the makeshift tent with relief. The wind whistled and wafted under the towels, which made it cold inside. Everyone had made themselves as comfortable as they could, but with the cold creeping in, they all found it difficult to sleep. Gale, however, slept soundly; still smothered in the soft, sleek coat that Ethan laid her down in. All he had to do was find a way to keep Weedle and Eevee warm on this cold night.
“I tell ya what...” Ethan said cheerfully, crawling closer so that he could soften his voice so not to walk Gale. “I’ll gather some twigs, and make a fire in here for us. You two wait in my warm sleeping bag.” He added, pointing at his neatly placed bed before gesturing an air of silence in their movements. While Ethan trekked around in the dark, his pokémon nestled into the bag and overwhelmed by warmth, drifted into a peacefully deep sleep. By the time Ethan had returned with the firewood, Weedle and Eevee were out for the count.
“Well bang goes my idea of kipping in with you two.” Ethan chuckled quietly. He tossed the pile, consisting of twigs and dry leaves, into a sizeable area of the tent, lighting it promptly with a match he produced from his pocket. He then gathered his thinner sleeping bag, and slipped slowly into it, making his resting place neatly next to the fire to keep him and everyone else warm. They all slept soundly into the early hours of the morning.
The next morning, the sun glistened throughout the forest brush, scattering onto the little shelter that Ethan and this pack had set up last night. It was very early, and only a few twitters and rustling branches filled the otherwise tranquil atmosphere. Light breached through a slit in the make-shift tent, which occupied the companions in their peaceful slumber. Within the tent, the soft sounds of snoring chimed almost in unison as Ethan, Eevee and Weedle all slept soundly. However, one pokémon brought the additional ambience of rustling foil and the distinct, yet faint chomping and swallowing noises that accompanied the task of eating. That pokémon was Pidgey.
Eevee’s ears pricked up as crinkling of the foil roused him. Slowly he began to wake, head turning towards the origin of such distracting noises. Opening a single teary eye, Eevee could make out a blur on the other side of the tent, and upon blinking twice, realised that Gale was tucking in to the fish she refused the night before. Eevee decided to alert Ethan, who was lost in the oblivion of his slumber. Eevee managed to duck away clumsily from a limp, flailing hand, knocking his chin on the grass with a soft groan. He nudged the trainer, licking his face until his heavy eyes began to open. Immediately, he heard the noise and peered over at the ravenous Pidgey, a short smile curling his lips. “I guess all that sleep and illness made you hungry this morning, huh?” He joked.
The noises outside rose in volume, and as it did, so did the noise and level of activity within the tent. All of them had begun to eat their breakfast, and Gale was given second helpings after the eventful day she had the day before. After a quick breakfast, they all bundled the towels and accessories into Ethan’s backpack again, and looked to the bug catcher who emerged from the entrance up ahead. The trainer seemed intent on battling them, the focussed look in his eye proof of this, and the swagger he moved with meant that he was either very skilled, or very arrogant. It was clear, however, that this trainer was not going to give them a hassle-free end to their journey to Pewter.
“Let me guess, you wanna get past me and go into Pewter City, right?” the bug catcher said, grinning. Ethan shrugged, “That really just depends on what you mean by ‘get past you’, to be honest.”
The trainer then pulled a pokéball from his belt and pressed the latch button, releasing the pokémon inside. Ethan already knew what kind of pokémon it was going to be, and stood scanning Gale’s pokéball. Her vitals were fine and he had realised a growth in her development, she had learned another move. Lazily, Ethan looked up after doing his checks to find a Weedle, stepping back to toss Gale’s pokéball into the air. “I really don’t want to be kept any longer than necessary. I would have fought you last night, but my Pidgey here had a long day.” Ethan said calmly, almost disinterested. This angered the bug catcher, who called for Weedle to use Poison Sting. Weedle opened a barrage of poison pins on Gale, who without command, strafed from the stream of spikes. Not only that, but immediately after dodging, Gale swooped in and delivered a nasty Tackle attack.
Ethan cleared his throat, preparing to give the youngster a speech. “If you haven’t realised it by now, Viridian Forest is full of bug pokémon and bug catchers. It has gotten to the point where I can trust Gale and Eevee to move and attack on their own, since they know that all bugs in this area can do is harden, tackle, throw stingers, and snare with sticky thread.”
After another damaging Tackle on the bug trainer’s Weedle, Ethan sighed. Suddenly, the Bug trainer aggressively ordered an attack, and Weedle struck back by grabbing at Gale’s leg with String Shot. It took Ethan somewhat by surprise, especially when the bug began to reel her in. “So what now big shot?” He kid smirked, but remembering what he had analysed, Ethan merely glanced up at Gale with a proud glint in his eye. “Gale!” He hollered, addressing the Pidgey by her nickname, as he always did. “How about we give your newly acquired move a try now?” He said with glee in his voice. Gale nodded, and prepared for orders whilst still struggling against the pull of the thread.
“Finish this battle in two moves, Gale. Use Gust, and then Tackle straight after, go!”
Gale’s wings began to spread wide, and her keen eyes focussed upon the Weedle with conviction. Her chest puffed outward as she pulled her wings back a little more, as if trying to store as much kinetic energy as possible into the upcoming attack. With a resounding shriek, Gale threw her wings forward, and a blast of powerful wind erupted from the motion her wings took. The force of the attack broke the viscous string, and the speed made dodging near impossible given that they had to consider the repercussions of the string shot snapping suddenly. As the thread snapped, Gale shot backward, but soon gained her stability and shot after Weedle, who took the crushing force of the gust in full. The battle ended with Gale ferociously thrusting Weedle into a tree, who had been all but devastated by Gust anyway. The bug catcher stood in awe as Ethan calmly sealed Gale away in her pokéball after the quick encounter, and silently gave him some money in a pouch as a reward. Ethan thanked the kid, placing a firm hand on his head before walking away with Eevee leaping onto his shoulder.
“Today was not your day, it seems.” Ethan remarked, with a soft and sympathetic tone. With that, he left through the large checkpoint house at the exit to Viridian Forest.
As they exited the rest hut for the exit to the Viridian Forest, Ethan and Eevee saw a sign which noted that the patch of grass nearby was also part of Route Two. Ethan decided to let Eevee battle for a little while, and began searching for Pokémon in the long grass. They spotted a Rattata, whom they quickly took down with little incident, although the plucky little critter did land a convincing hit on Ethan’s little fox. They came across a Caterpie a few minutes later, and scrapped with it for a while, eventually overpowering that opponent too. Satisfied, Ethan and Eevee decided to take the short walk into the City, and immediately sought after three main areas in Pewter; The PokéCentre, the PokéMart, and lastly, the Pewter Gym.
Surprisingly, all three of them were quite close to one another, the PokéCentre being the first large building they saw, and the PokéMart being just minutes from the Pewter Gym. It was quite handy that way, seeing as though he could easily drop his Pokémon into the trusted care of the resident Nurse Joy, travel to the clerk’s store while they healed, come back to collect them after a spot of shopping, before heading out to check the Pewter Gym. That was the initial plan for the day, at least. With the day’s events set in his mind, Ethan wandered into the Pokémon Centre and deposited his Pokémon. As always, he took great care in telling Nurse Joy not to try and place Eevee in a pokéball, to which Eevee would always nod strongly with an unmistakeably disdainful expression in the fox cub’s eyes.
Ethan made his way to the PokéMart leisurely, until his pace was slowed by the imposing figure of the gym to his left, which he gazed at cautiously. It was a cold looking building, and it sent that cold feeling through the trainer’s body. It dawned on him how difficult his battle at the Gym was going to be, with three Pokémon with ill-effective attacks, while out of those three there were two who had a weakness to Rock-type moves. It was frustrating to think about, and despite remaining calm on the outside, his eyes would occasionally give away the apprehension inside. After stopping by the Mart for a while, Ethan re-emerged from the store with no extra travelling medicines, although he did get a rough idea of what he may need to buy when his wallet was a little fuller.
Ten minutes later, Ethan sat patiently in the lobby for his Pokémon to finish receiving thorough examination and treatment. Thankfully, he did not have to wait long, and all of his Pokémon made a full recovery from their travelling and battling. He thanked Nurse Joy kindly, and took his Pokémon back, glad to know that they were well treated. He clipped Gale and Weedle’s capsules to his belt and allowed Eevee to jump on his shoulders from the front desk. He requested a sleeping quarters from the nurse too; to make sure he had somewhere cosy to sleep, as the Pokémon Centre was pretty busy. “So, want to see if we’re ready for the Gym?” Ethan said enthusiastically to his unsealed partner, who yapped and tickled Ethan with his thick, soft tail. Ethan chuckled, pointing towards the door. “In that case then, let’s get a move one!”
----
Soon, Ethan found himself directly in front of the stony doors of the Pewter Gym, and tried very hard not to turn and walk away. He had heard from his mother that many of the Gyms have a trainer that acts as a taster to what the actual Gym Battle would be like. This meant that whoever had to be beaten before challenging Brock was tougher than any of the Bug Trainers he had come across. With a quick, calming gasp of breath, Ethan pushed open one of the doors. Inside, he could see the stadium he would fight Brock on, but glanced ahead at the youngster who resided in the Gym awaiting challengers. “So you’re here to face Brock?” The kid asked with a stern look upon his face. It was almost as if he was scorning Ethan for coming here.
“That’s correct.” Ethan replied, nonchalant as ever in his tone of response. As soon as he entered, there was no going back until he had assessed how difficult this battle would be. Even if he took the trainer’s confidence as a warning, he was determined to find out the gap in power between himself and Brock. “Well we better get started then.” He trainer said, rubbing his nose. Flicking the open jacket behind him, the kid threw out his first pokémon without hesitation. The pokémon that formed was a Geodude, and not seeing one of those before, Ethan instantly sought after data on his pokédex, as proof of seeing it.
“So it’s a Rock-type and a Ground-type, just like what Brock will use. Well Weedle, guess you ought to test the waters for me.” Ethan said, knowing that if Weedle could hold some kind of resistance against them, then Eevee and Gale could fair better against them. Weedle struck first using Poison Sting, although the attacks did little to harm the rock pokémon. Geodude was ordered to tackle, and did so with a fair amount of damage, although a little less than anticipated. Weedle remained steadfast, shooting off another flurry of poisonous barbs. This time, the barbs managed to poison Geodude, who had foolishly been told to take the hits and ram through. After his mistake though, the trainer quickly changed tactics. “Rock Polish and then use Defence Curl” he said confidently. Geodude shuffled around, increasing in speed dramatically in comparison to previously, and then curled into a ball to stop the poisonous attacks completely.
“Slow it down with String Shot, and then continue to use Poison Sting!” Ethan commanded, Weedle shooting a viscous thread at the rock type in reaction to the command. However, Geodude speed boost meant that it darted wide of the manoeuvre and pummelled Weedle continuously with tackles. Seeing the obvious mismatch, Ethan quickly pulled Weedle out, while sending in Eevee as a replacement. The trainer laughed, “Your Eevee won’t fair much better. Tackle now, Geodude!”
“Dodge and use Tackle.” Ethan responded. Geodude came in fast, but the little cub out sped it with a nimble dodge, followed by an equally impressive Tackle. Geodude skidded back, and with the effects of the poison mounting up, began to look weak. “If not for the poison effect, I understand that Eevee would have a hard time beating a Rock-type. But thanks to his little trait, Eevee packs a bigger punch than other Normal-types.” Ethan stated proudly. Eevee remained poised, a serious look in his eyes. With another Tackle, Geodude almost sank in defeat, but with a swift command, it avoided the attack and tackled Eevee onto his side. It was not long before a third Tackle eventually hit the mark and knocked out the sturdy rock pokémon, forcing the trainer to switch.
The next foe was a Sandshrew, and with information Ethan gathered from the Pokédex, quickly decided to stick with his trusted and beloved Eevee. The Sandshrew struck first, a spray of poison doing a fair amount of initial damage, followed by a nasty scratch which the tricky Ground-type landed while Eevee reeled from the barb barrage. Impressively, however, Eevee did land a frightfully powerful Tackle on Sandshrew, a blow that made the trainer step back in shock. “I never realised an Eevee could hit that hard...” He mumbled, making Ethan smile for a moment. “Grr, all right then, use Poison Sting and then rush in with Scratch!” The trainer ordered.
The quick toxic barrage caught Eevee and Ethan off-guard, and it became clear that Eevee had been poisoned. “Karma... that’s all...” Ethan calmly remarked, although his panic meant that he swung open his back and readied an antidote for after the match. Just before Sandshrew could follow up, Ethan planned his next tactic. “Throw up some sand and trip it up with Tail Whip. Tackle it until it falls.” Ethan instructed, putting faith in Eevee’s resilience. Thankfully for him, Eevee determination did not waver, and despite the poison hindering the fox’s actions, Eevee pulled off an amazing display of cunning, agility and power, winning by a whisker.
Ethan rushed over to his afflicted companion, injecting the antidote into Eevee’s hind leg. Eevee was barely able to walk around by the end of the match, so Ethan hoisted the cub into his hands and looked up at the trainer. The kid threw a money pouch to Ethan and shrugged, “Yeah I admit you and that Eevee of yours are good, and you did get unlucky with being poisoned. I have to say this though; you have a lot more training to do before you can give Brock a challenge.”
“I know that now. Thanks for the match.” Ethan said humbly, staring sadly at his Eevee’s current condition. He turned, exiting the Gym in a hurried fashion. His worst fear was answered, now that he had finished a gruelling battle. All Ethan and his group could do now was rethink their approach, train hard, and hope that they can come away with a win. With thoughts of what had just occurred and ways in which to overcome this obstacle at a severe disadvantage, Ethan made his way over to the PokéCentre. He dropped off Eevee and Weedle, keeping Gale with him as he waited in the main lobby nervously.
