Poké Eight: Welcome to the Big Town
Red entered Pewter City. It was so great! There was a garden patch! There were some houses! There was even a museum, called the Pewter City Museum.................and up on top of a tree'd hill stood the Pewter City Pokémon Gymnasium, or Gym for style. The entire area looked to have been originally cleared out from a forest. How scenic.
"Wow," Red marveled, "what a big town. There must be, like, twenty people here!" He trekked to the Pokémon Center, which sadly, was just like in the games, and had the nice nurse lady make his Pokémon feel better.
Upon stepping back out, a random boy stared into Red's eyes. "Ugh."
"Hey! Have you been to the Museum yet??" they shrieked.
"No, I just got here—" The boy took him by the arm, carried him over his shoulder across the town, and threw him in front of the famous museum. Then he waked all the way back into the center of town, where he started. Red shook his head and willed the sudden attack out of his memory. Disregarding the museum, he walked in front of the Gym and stepped through the famous gym doors.
The interior was mountainous, rocky, and earth-like. One boy stood proudly in front of a boulder; a bookish-looking man stood next to the double generic monster statues at the head of the Gym. "Hey, kid," the man greeted. "Check it out, yo. This be the Pokémon GYM, son. In here, you gotta beat every single guy you see and take home the glory of earnin' a Gym Badge. And they you're one outta eight steps closer to makin' the Pokemon League dream come true, diggity dog. Y'know it? Y'know what I'm feelin', dude?"
"Who ARE you?" asked Red.
"Just keepin' it interestin', that's all it is..." The guy then backed off into the shadows, behind the boulders, and disappeared from view; perhaps from reality itself. "Also, the Trainers here all use Rock-Type Pokémon," he helpfully added.
"Thanks. For something, I guess." Red turned his attention to the Poké statues and glared at the placards. A doodle of Green, labeled 'It's all fer da money$$$' was placed on each one. "I gotta catch up," Red huffed.
"Keeee-yah!" screeched a young boy scout Picnicker, diving from above. Holding out twin Poke Balls, he cried "Fight me! You're LIGHT-YEARS from being able to face Brock!" Red looked over the Picnicker's shoulder, and spotted Brock, the close-eyed spiny-haired Gym Leader, punching a punching bag softly. "I meant it figuratively!"
"Well, riddle me this: why are you the only other Trainer in this Gym?" riddled Red.
"Rock Pokemon aren't very popular," the Picknicker admitted shamefully. "Schmandshrew the Sandshrew, I choose you!"
A heavy-duty armadillo thing appeared on the dusty floor! "SCHMEW," Schmandshrew shouted.
"THAT THING THERE'S A SANDSHREW," P'Oak explained. "THAT'S NOT EVEN A REAL ROCK TYPE! POSER."
"Hey," the Picknicker sniffled. "Your computer is AWFUL."
"I know. Rockabilly, let's win this!"
"AAAAAAAAAUUUUUGHHH!!" Rockabilly howled, diving into the thick of the action.
"Let's do a scratch attack!" The Schmandshrew waddled over slowly, brandishing wicked claws.
"Rockabilly, dazzle them with your amazing speed!" Red explicated!
"NERRRRRD!"
"You aren't even using a Rock-Type! Just do Quick Attack!" Rockabilly dove into Schmandshrew's stomach like a drill-like missile. Sparks flew.
"Okay now, do a Rollout, just like that!" strategized the Picnicker.
"Foosh," the Sandshrew obeyed. He folded inward, smashing Rockabilly into his chest, and slowly rolled into a helpful boulder. Rockabilly was surely injured for massive damage!
"Nosh him!"
"NAOWM," Rockabilly noshed, Hyper Fanging the nearby belly for even MORE massive damage. Schmandshrew cried seven tears and fell on his belly. Rockabilly jumped out into free air and did a little tap dance. It was great to watch.
"SNEAK ATTACK!!" the Picnicker hollered, tossing a rock with arms at Rockabilly. Massive twist: it was Geodude.
"DUUUUDE," Geodude said, winning.
"OH NO!" Red cried, recalling his fallen friend. "Veronica! Showtime!" Veronica took the stage with a stylish swagger. "Karate Chop that freak of nature!"
"Dude," Geodude sobbed, hurt.
"CHICHAH!" shouted Veronica, hurting him with her dangerous chop. The dude was down. Red lifted his and Veronica's fists into the air, victorious.
"Wow dawg," said the guy from the front of the Gym.
Red pushed the Picnicker out of the way and stared right into Brock's closed-off eyes. "YOU," Red began, without really doing anything with it.
"So, you defeated my ONE follower," Brock chuckled like a brick. "INTERESTING!" The dust on the floor around him picked up in his invisible battle aura and swirled around in a tiny twister. "COME, KID! I, GYM LEADER BROCK OF PEWTER CITY, ACCEPT YOUR CHALLENGE!"
"COME AT ME, YOU SANDSHREW OF A MAN! VERONICA IS MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR THE LIKES OF YOU!" Veronica did two front flips and shook her arms around. She was more than ready.
"GEODUDE, COME ON IN!" Brock ordered. A gigantic rock fell from the ceiling, about the side of two cars stacked on top of each other, except circular; plot twist, it was a very, very large Geodude. "UUUUUUSE ROOOOCK TOOOOOOOOMB!!"
"Do-dude!" the geology dude accepted, picking up two boulders and placing them around Veronica so as to impede her progress.
"Ignore them!" Red coached. "Give 'im a Low Kick!"
"PIGYAAAH!" Veronica yowled, sliding between the rocks like she was sliding into home plate. She smacked into the base of the rock monster, flipping it through the air like he'd been rolled gently, in mid-air, and landed flat on his face. His arms shook around helplessly for a few moments.
"Oh, crap, that's lethal," Brock realized. "OKAY, COME BACK!" He whipped out a Poke Ball and recalled him via laser beam. Then he took out a blue-colored Great Ball. "ONIX! LET'S ROCK!"
"Heh heh," laughed Red secretly. But he wasn't laughing a second later, and that's because a giant snake made out of rocks appeared, and even had a horn!
"BURAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH," Onix belched. He really was ready to rock.
"ROCK THROW!" commanded Brock. Onix tapped the ground with his tail, loosing several of the large stones from the ground, and then whipping the tail around into them, smacked a barrage Veronica's way.
"The bigger they are, the harder Low Kick hits for!" Red factoided! "Reach hiiiiiiiiiiiim!"
The rocks fell like rain if it could maim. Veronica tapped that crap out of her personal airspace and zipped around at fluffy monkey speed. A second later, she was almost floating, behind the tip of Onix's tail. "Fufuah," Veronica one-lined presumably. With a single hard, low air-kick, a shock ran all the way up from the tip of the tail to the end of his horn, somehow flipping the whole snake over like a cow. The landing was almost deafening. Onix was so totally out.
"Interesting," Brock congratulated. "VEEEERY INTERESTIIIIING..." Brock's hair flowed upward. Flames almost spurted out from where his eyes should have been. His muscles bulged and et cetera. "RETURN, MY FRIEND." The Onix beamed back into the Great Ball. Then...Brock took out a yellow Ultra Ball. "TAKE THIS, MY ONE, MY ONLY, MY EVERYTHING! COME, MY GREATEST FRIEND! BILLY, COME TO ME!"
A giant metal snake Steelix came out.
"HE'S TOTALLY CHEATING," P'Oak interjected. "THAT GUY'S NOT PART OF THE WHOLE KANTO GANG. HAX, HAX, HAX!"
"But it's INTERESTING...!" Brock insisted, as Billy the Steelix flattened Veronica non-lethally.
"Oh no," Red gulped. He recaptured his Veronica...and turned to his last Poke Ball. "Guntroll. Make. My. Day," he commanded, full of nothing but love for his friend. He was all set to exploit Brock for his greatest folly: everybody in his Gym was horribly weak to all water and grass Pokémon. Hey, of course. That's how Green won so fast. How cheap. I bet he didn't even Pidgey it up or anything.
Guntroll was on the scene. "Chupapa," Guntroll muttered confidently. Perhaps ignorantly.
"MUrgUR," Billy exhaled, eyeing Guntroll, unimpressed.
Oh no, Brock thought.
This is the decider.
"One move," Red guided. "Bubble." Guntroll leaped atop a boulder, and from that one to a slightly larger one, and from there, right to the height of Billy's face, which was like two meters big or something.
"BLREHREKJHRJEKBKJBBBB" Guntroll spat, launching a barrage of bursting bubbles into Billy's eyes.
"BWAAAAAUGH!" cried Billy!
If only...Rock-type Pokemon....didn't have really awful Special Defenses, Brock lamented. Guntroll landed on the forehead of the beast as it craned upward in a death throe. The whole beast started coming down, metal-covered rock and all. An expert tactician, Guntroll took a mad dash down its neck.
"SQUIRTLE DIRTLE DIIIIIRT!" he screamed, sliding down the Steelix's entire tail like some sort of Fred Flintstone aficionado. You had to be there. He slid all the way to the bottom, flew off and landed on Red's head. Guntroll shrugged and winked at the viewing audience. What a card!
"You...have bested my Pokemon," Brock conceded, cutting off all supernatural powers.
"Yes, I did it...with my friends," Red boasted friendily.
"Take this," Brock called, tossing a fancy brown disk and fancy brown rock-styled badge for your clothing at Red. "That disk is the Technical Machine to teach my Rock Tomb technique, and that badge is the Boulder Badge. It's something you'll need on your road to Indigo Plateau."
"Aww," Red cried as they missed and clattered on the floor behind him.
"Oh. I'm sorry about that."
"It's okay." Red awkwardly headed back and picked them up, then stowed them away in his backpack he always had with him. He turned back to Brock. They both knew the moment was ruined. "...Bye!"
"Um, yeah. Buh-bye now." They both waved. Red kept waving as he walked absentmindedly to the door. He bumped into it. Guntroll shrugged again, and the viewers went wild. What a guy!