The Plainbadge
I heard some voices nearby before I woke up the next morning. After a while I realized it was Mark and Jenny talking about me, assuming I was still asleep.
"Well Master Blue asked me and Dimrill to get all the badges. If he goes home I don't want to let Dimrill or Blue down. I'm not sure which way I should go," Mark said.
"Well if our journey ends here I'm not sure what I'll do," Jenny said.
"Suppose he decides to keep going. Will you stay with us through our journey?" Mark asked her.
"Of course. I begged my parents to let me go, it would be silly to go home now," she responded. "Should we wake him up?"
I opened my eyes. "Never mind, he's awake now," Jenny chuckled. I sat up and rubbed my eyes.
I sat there for a minute or so staring at the wall. "Were you listening to us the whole time?" Jenny asked.
"Just the last part," I responded. I took a breath. "Okay. I've decided what I'm going to do. I'm going to continue on my journey. Even though I now know who I was supposed to be, I will still face Team Moon when the time comes. We just have to make sure they don't know who I really am."
Mark and Jenny looked pleased with my decision, so we proceeded to get ready for the morning. Unfortunately we didn't have enough money to stay another night at the hotel so we packed up our belongings and headed out of the hotel with our packs.
Mark, Jenny, and I looked at each other. "Well, what should we do first?" Jenny asked me.
"Well," I said. "There's a Pokemon Gym somewhere in the city. Why don't we try to find it?"
So that's what we did. Lucky for us, the gym was about three blocks north from the hotel so we found it pretty quickly. I released Luxio out of his Pokeball. "You ready for another gym Luxio?" I asked him. He let out a battle cry to confirm that he was ready. We opened the door and walked inside.
Inside the gym was a large flower garden set up like a maze. My first thought was a Grass-Type gym, but I remembered that this was a Normal-Type gym. Which meant Riolu was my best bet in terms of battle advantage. But I also heard that some of the Pokemon used in the gym were Fairy-Types. So I would have to be careful. There was a security guard near the door who waved us over to him. After approaching him, he began to speak to us.
"Greetings trainers. Are you here to challenge the gym?" We nodded. "Very well. This gym is set up like a maze in case you haven't noticed. The gym leader is waiting at the end of the maze, ready for a battle. However, there are a few trainers scattered around the maze who will challenge you to battle. Be ready, and good luck."
We proceeded into the maze. Immediately we were given three choices for paths. Mark, Jenny, and I looked at each other. "Should we split up?" Jenny asked.
"Hmmm, I don't think so," Mark answered. "If we stick together we can have a better chance in battle." We both agreed, so we walked into the middle path. After a few more turns we were provided with another choice. We chose the left path, and we came across a gym trainer. She noticed us come around the corner and told us that her job as a gym trainer was to battle us, however only one of us were allowed to battle her as she only had one Pokemon. I stepped forward and challenged her. She sent out a Raticate, and I decided to go with Riolu.
Riolu started the fight by letting out a Screech sound, which lowered Raticate's defense. Raticate charged at Riolu to go for a Hyper Fang, which I knew would deal a lot of damage. Raticate launched itself at Riolu, but Riolu leaped over Raticate and kicked Raticate in the face on the way up. Riolu landed on his feet, while Raticate crashed to the floor. But the fight wasn't over Raticate Growled at Riolu to lower his attack to counteract Raticate's lowered defense. Raticate charged again at Riolu. Riolu did the same, but when they clashed Raticate bit Riolu with a Hyper Fang, but Riolu let out a blast of energy around it, which was known as his Counter attack. Because Hyper Fang made physical contact with Riolu, Riolu dealt double damage back to Raticate, knocking it out. Riolu was low on health, so I sprayed some Super Potion on his bite, causing it to heal.
The gym trainer recalled her Raticate and bowed to me. The five of us (Mark, Jenny, Luxio, Riolu, and I) continued through the maze, eventually hitting a dead end. "Well, time to turn back," Mark groaned, and we turned around and went to the other path before the first trainer.
The maze turned around a few more times and we were presented with two more choices. "Ugh so many choices," Jenny complained.
I thought for a few seconds. "Jenny," I said. "Why don't you have Pidgeotto get a bird's eye view of the maze and tell us which way to go?"
Jenny hesitated. "Isn't that kinda cheating?" she asked.
"Not if they didn't say we couldn't," I concluded.
So Jenny sent out her Pidgeotto and told him to fly above us and guide us in the right direction. Pidgeotto flew above the maze and out of sight. Within a few seconds he came back and told us in his language the paths to take to get to the gym leader. We took two rights and a left at the next path splits and we at last reached a door. The windows were tinted but I could tell the lights were on inside. I turned the handle and opened the door, holding it open for everyone else.
As I walked inside I noticed the large empty stadium. On the other side of the room was a large bronze throne with a woman sitting in it, obviously way to small for the giant throne. She was too far away so I couldn't make out much of her appearance. But she leaped off the throne and walked towards us. She was wearing a glittering white cape, a white vest with pink outlines, and blue jean shorts. Her hair was unmistakably bright pink, flowing over her cape.
She spoke in a high-pitched voice, "Hello trainers. Are you here to challenge the gym leader?" We nodded and she continued to speak. "Very well. As the Goldenrod City Gym Leader, I, Whitney, accept your challenge!" She pulled out three Pokeballs and tossed them all in front of her. From those Pokeballs emerged a Wigglytuff, Chansey, and a Miltank. Mark, Jenny, and I came to an agreement to split the job. I would take on the Miltank with my Pokemon, Jenny would go up against the Chansey, and Mark would have his Pokemon fight the Wigglytuff. Mark sent out his Shiny Zubat, which sparkled at its release from its ball. Jenny sent her Pidgeotto into battle, and I chose Riolu, knowing that he was probably my best bet. The three of our Pokemon charged at Whitney's Pokemon, and they returned the gesture by letting them approach.
Our strategy was for Mark to take on Wigglytuff with Zubat's Poison attacks, which would be super-effective, Riolu would fight Miltank because we knew Miltank was the biggest threat, and Jenny would stall Chansey until the other two Pokemon were down, knowing fully well that Chansey is known to be able to take a lot of hits and to be able to heal herself. But this is how the battle went.
Riolu let out a high pitched Screech, then ran towards Miltank at top speed. Miltank curled up in a ball and rolled towards Riolu, gradually gathering speed. Whe they collided, Riolu attempted to drop kick Miltank, but unfortunately it had too much momentum and the Rollout attack knocked Riolu back and onto the ground. He got up, a little weak, so I sprayed his injury on his foot with some Super Potion, relieving him of his pain. He then tried the same tactic again, Miltank using Rollout towards Riolu. This time he pinned himself against a wall, and as Miltank rolled at him at top speed, he leaped over it at the last second and Miltank crashed into the wall, making a cave-in where it hit. Miltank got up a little dizzy, so Riolu took this opportunity and Arm Thrusted Miltank in the face, nearly knocking it out. But Miltank leaped back and summoned a ball of milk. I thought it was going to blast Riolu with it, but it instead drank it and restored some of its health. Riolu was stumped on what to do.
"Riolu, try some more Screeches, then go for some physical attacks," I commanded, and Riolu nodded. He let out two more Screeches, minimizing Miltank's originally high defense. Riolu then chraged at Miltank, and it responded by using Swift, sending yellow stars towards Riolu. Thanks to Riolu's agility, he was only hit twice and he Force Palmed Miltank in the belly, sending it across the room into the wall, knocking it out. Miltank was down, but there were still more Pokemon to defeat.
Zubat had a little trouble against Wigglytuff, even with his type advantage. Zubat didn't know how to use any Poison type attacks, so he was basically a Fairy type resistance. Zubat sent a purple ray at Wigglytuff, causing confusion. Wigglytuff waggled its finger to use Metrenome, and summoned a wave of water, a Surf attack, and it crashed onto Zubat, dealing quite a bit of damage. Zubat quickly recovered from the water and used Leech Life to drain away some of its health. But due to Wigglytuff's ability Cute Charm, Zubat stopped attacking Wigglytuff and got closer to it. I then realized that Cute Charm made Zubat infatuated with Wigglytuff. Wigglytuff began to sing a lullaby to Zubat, causing him to fall asleep on the floor. Wigglytuff leisurely approached him and waggled its finger once more. This time pink wings emerged from Wigglytuff's sides and they struck Zubat for a Wing Attack. The wings disappeared as Zubat woke up, weak from the damage. Mark sprayed some Super Potion of his own on Zubat, which caused Zubat to turn into a white glowing orb of light. The ball rose into the air as everyone watched in awe. Suddenly the light burst away and a Green Shiny Golbat emerged and let out a deeper louder battle cry. Once again ready to battle, Golbat flew at Wigglytuff for a physical attack, but Wigglytuff set up Reflect and Golbat's Wing Attack did less damage. Golbat turned around and coated his wings with Poison, then slashed Wigglytuff with a Cross Poison, knocking out Wigglytuff.
Chansey was a much bigger threat than we had anticipated. Pidgeotto flew at Chansey for a Tackle but Chansey shrunk in size a few times to Pidgeotto couldn't see her anymore. Pidgeotto sent Gusts of wind around the room hoping to hit Chansey, but Chansey was underneath Pidgeotto apparently and poisoned Pidgeotto with Toxic. Finally Pidgeotto hit Chansey with Gust, and I could barely see a tiny Chansey floating around the room from the wind. Eventually poison hurt Pidgeotto too much and he fainted. Jenny returned Pidgeotto and sent out her ice Vulpix. At this point Miltank and Wigglytuff were already down, so Riolu and Golbat joined Vulpix in taking down Whitney's last Pokemon. Unfortunatey for us Chansey was just too small for our Pokemon to hit. After some struggling and all three of our Pokemon getting knocked out from poison I had an idea. We returned out Pokemon I let Luxio into battle, Jenny entered Bulbasaur, and Mark added Pikachu to the fray.
Bulbasaur began spreading Sweet Scent around, enlarging Chansey, but as this was happening Luxio used Shock Wave a few times to give Chansey some damage. As this took place Pikachu charged up a Thunderbolt attack, and once Chansey was normal size again Pikachu struck Chansey down with Thunderbolt. Before Chansey could Minimize again all three of our Pokemon used their most powerful attacks, Luxio's being Spark, Pikachu used Thunderbolt again, and Bulbasaur used Razor Leaf. The combination of the attacks was too much for Chansey and she was KO'd.
Whitney returned Chansey to her Pokeball and walked up to us. She then placed a metal badge in each of our hands. "Congradulations trainers. As I have been defeated in battle I now present you with the Plainbadge. As you probably already know, this badge is required to enter the Pokemon League."
I looked down at the new badge in my hand. It was a yellow steel diamond with a outlined gray border. The three of us shook her hand and as we walked out another trainer entered the room, ready to challenge the Goldenrod City Gym Leader. Luckily for us there was a shortcut hallway on the way out so we didn't have to go through the maze again.
We opened the doors of the gym and took a deep breath of fresh air. Mark and I placed our new gym badges in our badge cases along with our other two badges. We went to the Pokemon Center to heal our Pokemon. "Well," I said. "What should we do next? The sun is beginning to set."
Mark and Jenny both, at the same time, said, "Let's get some dinner." So that's what we did. We found a cool restaurant known as Ludicolo's Dancing Tacos and were served our beef and chicken tacos by, you guessed it, dancing Ludicolos. The food was amazing and we all had a blast.
"What should we do tomorrow?" Mark asked between bites.
"Well," Jenny said. She swallowed her bite. "There the Pokeathlon Dome in the northern part of Goldenrod City. I've seen a lot of shows of the contests they hold there. I was thinking we could try it out or at least take a look."
"I'm down," I agreed. "I've heard they give out prizes and stuff for the winners. If we win an event or so we could probably get some cool stuff for our journey."
"Okay, then it's decided then," Mark concluded.
After dinner we went to the south campground because all the other Goldenrod City campgrounds were filled up. We made our tents, climbed inside and went to sleep. I again let out all my Pokemon in the tent and all my Pokemon cuddled up with me, making me super warm. It was good for me that it was a cold night, so I was very comfortable.
I heard some voices nearby before I woke up the next morning. After a while I realized it was Mark and Jenny talking about me, assuming I was still asleep.
"Well Master Blue asked me and Dimrill to get all the badges. If he goes home I don't want to let Dimrill or Blue down. I'm not sure which way I should go," Mark said.
"Well if our journey ends here I'm not sure what I'll do," Jenny said.
"Suppose he decides to keep going. Will you stay with us through our journey?" Mark asked her.
"Of course. I begged my parents to let me go, it would be silly to go home now," she responded. "Should we wake him up?"
I opened my eyes. "Never mind, he's awake now," Jenny chuckled. I sat up and rubbed my eyes.
I sat there for a minute or so staring at the wall. "Were you listening to us the whole time?" Jenny asked.
"Just the last part," I responded. I took a breath. "Okay. I've decided what I'm going to do. I'm going to continue on my journey. Even though I now know who I was supposed to be, I will still face Team Moon when the time comes. We just have to make sure they don't know who I really am."
Mark and Jenny looked pleased with my decision, so we proceeded to get ready for the morning. Unfortunately we didn't have enough money to stay another night at the hotel so we packed up our belongings and headed out of the hotel with our packs.
Mark, Jenny, and I looked at each other. "Well, what should we do first?" Jenny asked me.
"Well," I said. "There's a Pokemon Gym somewhere in the city. Why don't we try to find it?"
So that's what we did. Lucky for us, the gym was about three blocks north from the hotel so we found it pretty quickly. I released Luxio out of his Pokeball. "You ready for another gym Luxio?" I asked him. He let out a battle cry to confirm that he was ready. We opened the door and walked inside.
Inside the gym was a large flower garden set up like a maze. My first thought was a Grass-Type gym, but I remembered that this was a Normal-Type gym. Which meant Riolu was my best bet in terms of battle advantage. But I also heard that some of the Pokemon used in the gym were Fairy-Types. So I would have to be careful. There was a security guard near the door who waved us over to him. After approaching him, he began to speak to us.
"Greetings trainers. Are you here to challenge the gym?" We nodded. "Very well. This gym is set up like a maze in case you haven't noticed. The gym leader is waiting at the end of the maze, ready for a battle. However, there are a few trainers scattered around the maze who will challenge you to battle. Be ready, and good luck."
We proceeded into the maze. Immediately we were given three choices for paths. Mark, Jenny, and I looked at each other. "Should we split up?" Jenny asked.
"Hmmm, I don't think so," Mark answered. "If we stick together we can have a better chance in battle." We both agreed, so we walked into the middle path. After a few more turns we were provided with another choice. We chose the left path, and we came across a gym trainer. She noticed us come around the corner and told us that her job as a gym trainer was to battle us, however only one of us were allowed to battle her as she only had one Pokemon. I stepped forward and challenged her. She sent out a Raticate, and I decided to go with Riolu.
Riolu started the fight by letting out a Screech sound, which lowered Raticate's defense. Raticate charged at Riolu to go for a Hyper Fang, which I knew would deal a lot of damage. Raticate launched itself at Riolu, but Riolu leaped over Raticate and kicked Raticate in the face on the way up. Riolu landed on his feet, while Raticate crashed to the floor. But the fight wasn't over Raticate Growled at Riolu to lower his attack to counteract Raticate's lowered defense. Raticate charged again at Riolu. Riolu did the same, but when they clashed Raticate bit Riolu with a Hyper Fang, but Riolu let out a blast of energy around it, which was known as his Counter attack. Because Hyper Fang made physical contact with Riolu, Riolu dealt double damage back to Raticate, knocking it out. Riolu was low on health, so I sprayed some Super Potion on his bite, causing it to heal.
The gym trainer recalled her Raticate and bowed to me. The five of us (Mark, Jenny, Luxio, Riolu, and I) continued through the maze, eventually hitting a dead end. "Well, time to turn back," Mark groaned, and we turned around and went to the other path before the first trainer.
The maze turned around a few more times and we were presented with two more choices. "Ugh so many choices," Jenny complained.
I thought for a few seconds. "Jenny," I said. "Why don't you have Pidgeotto get a bird's eye view of the maze and tell us which way to go?"
Jenny hesitated. "Isn't that kinda cheating?" she asked.
"Not if they didn't say we couldn't," I concluded.
So Jenny sent out her Pidgeotto and told him to fly above us and guide us in the right direction. Pidgeotto flew above the maze and out of sight. Within a few seconds he came back and told us in his language the paths to take to get to the gym leader. We took two rights and a left at the next path splits and we at last reached a door. The windows were tinted but I could tell the lights were on inside. I turned the handle and opened the door, holding it open for everyone else.
As I walked inside I noticed the large empty stadium. On the other side of the room was a large bronze throne with a woman sitting in it, obviously way to small for the giant throne. She was too far away so I couldn't make out much of her appearance. But she leaped off the throne and walked towards us. She was wearing a glittering white cape, a white vest with pink outlines, and blue jean shorts. Her hair was unmistakably bright pink, flowing over her cape.
She spoke in a high-pitched voice, "Hello trainers. Are you here to challenge the gym leader?" We nodded and she continued to speak. "Very well. As the Goldenrod City Gym Leader, I, Whitney, accept your challenge!" She pulled out three Pokeballs and tossed them all in front of her. From those Pokeballs emerged a Wigglytuff, Chansey, and a Miltank. Mark, Jenny, and I came to an agreement to split the job. I would take on the Miltank with my Pokemon, Jenny would go up against the Chansey, and Mark would have his Pokemon fight the Wigglytuff. Mark sent out his Shiny Zubat, which sparkled at its release from its ball. Jenny sent her Pidgeotto into battle, and I chose Riolu, knowing that he was probably my best bet. The three of our Pokemon charged at Whitney's Pokemon, and they returned the gesture by letting them approach.
Our strategy was for Mark to take on Wigglytuff with Zubat's Poison attacks, which would be super-effective, Riolu would fight Miltank because we knew Miltank was the biggest threat, and Jenny would stall Chansey until the other two Pokemon were down, knowing fully well that Chansey is known to be able to take a lot of hits and to be able to heal herself. But this is how the battle went.
Riolu let out a high pitched Screech, then ran towards Miltank at top speed. Miltank curled up in a ball and rolled towards Riolu, gradually gathering speed. Whe they collided, Riolu attempted to drop kick Miltank, but unfortunately it had too much momentum and the Rollout attack knocked Riolu back and onto the ground. He got up, a little weak, so I sprayed his injury on his foot with some Super Potion, relieving him of his pain. He then tried the same tactic again, Miltank using Rollout towards Riolu. This time he pinned himself against a wall, and as Miltank rolled at him at top speed, he leaped over it at the last second and Miltank crashed into the wall, making a cave-in where it hit. Miltank got up a little dizzy, so Riolu took this opportunity and Arm Thrusted Miltank in the face, nearly knocking it out. But Miltank leaped back and summoned a ball of milk. I thought it was going to blast Riolu with it, but it instead drank it and restored some of its health. Riolu was stumped on what to do.
"Riolu, try some more Screeches, then go for some physical attacks," I commanded, and Riolu nodded. He let out two more Screeches, minimizing Miltank's originally high defense. Riolu then chraged at Miltank, and it responded by using Swift, sending yellow stars towards Riolu. Thanks to Riolu's agility, he was only hit twice and he Force Palmed Miltank in the belly, sending it across the room into the wall, knocking it out. Miltank was down, but there were still more Pokemon to defeat.
Zubat had a little trouble against Wigglytuff, even with his type advantage. Zubat didn't know how to use any Poison type attacks, so he was basically a Fairy type resistance. Zubat sent a purple ray at Wigglytuff, causing confusion. Wigglytuff waggled its finger to use Metrenome, and summoned a wave of water, a Surf attack, and it crashed onto Zubat, dealing quite a bit of damage. Zubat quickly recovered from the water and used Leech Life to drain away some of its health. But due to Wigglytuff's ability Cute Charm, Zubat stopped attacking Wigglytuff and got closer to it. I then realized that Cute Charm made Zubat infatuated with Wigglytuff. Wigglytuff began to sing a lullaby to Zubat, causing him to fall asleep on the floor. Wigglytuff leisurely approached him and waggled its finger once more. This time pink wings emerged from Wigglytuff's sides and they struck Zubat for a Wing Attack. The wings disappeared as Zubat woke up, weak from the damage. Mark sprayed some Super Potion of his own on Zubat, which caused Zubat to turn into a white glowing orb of light. The ball rose into the air as everyone watched in awe. Suddenly the light burst away and a Green Shiny Golbat emerged and let out a deeper louder battle cry. Once again ready to battle, Golbat flew at Wigglytuff for a physical attack, but Wigglytuff set up Reflect and Golbat's Wing Attack did less damage. Golbat turned around and coated his wings with Poison, then slashed Wigglytuff with a Cross Poison, knocking out Wigglytuff.
Chansey was a much bigger threat than we had anticipated. Pidgeotto flew at Chansey for a Tackle but Chansey shrunk in size a few times to Pidgeotto couldn't see her anymore. Pidgeotto sent Gusts of wind around the room hoping to hit Chansey, but Chansey was underneath Pidgeotto apparently and poisoned Pidgeotto with Toxic. Finally Pidgeotto hit Chansey with Gust, and I could barely see a tiny Chansey floating around the room from the wind. Eventually poison hurt Pidgeotto too much and he fainted. Jenny returned Pidgeotto and sent out her ice Vulpix. At this point Miltank and Wigglytuff were already down, so Riolu and Golbat joined Vulpix in taking down Whitney's last Pokemon. Unfortunatey for us Chansey was just too small for our Pokemon to hit. After some struggling and all three of our Pokemon getting knocked out from poison I had an idea. We returned out Pokemon I let Luxio into battle, Jenny entered Bulbasaur, and Mark added Pikachu to the fray.
Bulbasaur began spreading Sweet Scent around, enlarging Chansey, but as this was happening Luxio used Shock Wave a few times to give Chansey some damage. As this took place Pikachu charged up a Thunderbolt attack, and once Chansey was normal size again Pikachu struck Chansey down with Thunderbolt. Before Chansey could Minimize again all three of our Pokemon used their most powerful attacks, Luxio's being Spark, Pikachu used Thunderbolt again, and Bulbasaur used Razor Leaf. The combination of the attacks was too much for Chansey and she was KO'd.
Whitney returned Chansey to her Pokeball and walked up to us. She then placed a metal badge in each of our hands. "Congradulations trainers. As I have been defeated in battle I now present you with the Plainbadge. As you probably already know, this badge is required to enter the Pokemon League."
I looked down at the new badge in my hand. It was a yellow steel diamond with a outlined gray border. The three of us shook her hand and as we walked out another trainer entered the room, ready to challenge the Goldenrod City Gym Leader. Luckily for us there was a shortcut hallway on the way out so we didn't have to go through the maze again.
We opened the doors of the gym and took a deep breath of fresh air. Mark and I placed our new gym badges in our badge cases along with our other two badges. We went to the Pokemon Center to heal our Pokemon. "Well," I said. "What should we do next? The sun is beginning to set."
Mark and Jenny both, at the same time, said, "Let's get some dinner." So that's what we did. We found a cool restaurant known as Ludicolo's Dancing Tacos and were served our beef and chicken tacos by, you guessed it, dancing Ludicolos. The food was amazing and we all had a blast.
"What should we do tomorrow?" Mark asked between bites.
"Well," Jenny said. She swallowed her bite. "There the Pokeathlon Dome in the northern part of Goldenrod City. I've seen a lot of shows of the contests they hold there. I was thinking we could try it out or at least take a look."
"I'm down," I agreed. "I've heard they give out prizes and stuff for the winners. If we win an event or so we could probably get some cool stuff for our journey."
"Okay, then it's decided then," Mark concluded.
After dinner we went to the south campground because all the other Goldenrod City campgrounds were filled up. We made our tents, climbed inside and went to sleep. I again let out all my Pokemon in the tent and all my Pokemon cuddled up with me, making me super warm. It was good for me that it was a cold night, so I was very comfortable.