Chapter 8: Stone Cold
"Good afternoon, sir. Welcome to Pewter City! How may I help you today?" Said the beautiful Nurse Joy at the Pewter City Pokémon Centre.
I had done it! I got out of the forest! Hallelujah, that damn place hadn't beaten me… "Wait, I made it? I am actually in Pewter City?"
The Pokémon Centre was little more than a large house on a hill, it was slightly separated from the rest of the city, which I hadn't seem much of yet. I wanted to get to the Centre as quickly as possible. I had never felt more relieved when the sliding glass doors of the Pokémon Centre welcomed me in.
Inside the building the air had a perfumed scent and every surface was dustless and shined a brilliant white. So much better than the grimy forest floor I had been dealing with lately. I saw a couple of nurses moving with a serene grace and purposefulness around the large open space lobby of the Pokémon Centre. There were vases of flowers and beautiful framed pieces of art on the walls. In the corner was a water dispenser, clearly for tired trainers coming in after a long stretch in the wild.
Just like me! I had made my way to the front desk and was currently trying (and failing) not to act like a weirdo in front the Nurse Joy.
She laughed, "Yes, sir, you're here. We get that a lot, I presume you came through the Viridian Forest?"
"Yes, yes, I did. It was not easy." Understatement of the century! "Could you look after my Pokémon? I think my Metapod is in need of assistance."
She smiled. "Well, congratulations on getting out of there with minimal damage, it is an amazing feat for new Trainers. And yes, of course we can look after your Metapod."
"Thank you, thank you… You know I was in that forest for, well, I don't even know how long. It felt like forever! I'm telling you, it almost beat me." I think it had taken me around another day to get out of Viridian Forest, I had manage to avoid any other kinds of major danger since I stole that guy's egg though, so at least that was a blessing.
"Well, it didn't beat you! And now you are here, you can rest and relax. If you would like to hand me your Pokémon so I can sort out your Metapod's care. Also, if you give me your Pokédex I can set you up with a room here in the Pokémon Centre so you can rest up." She informed nicely.
"Oh really? That would be most helpful." I said as I handed her Metapod's Poké Ball and my old broken Pokédex, which still wasn't working properly.
"It is no trouble." She said as she took my Pokédex and swiped it across her computer. Swiftly, all of my personal information came up on her computer screen, my name, date of birth, height, weight and it even had a little picture of a Metapod under the 'My Pokémon' section. With the way my Pokédex has been acting lately I was just glad that it didn't identify me as a Ditto or something. "Is it just Metapod that needs out assistance or do you have any other Pokémon we could help?"
"Well, yes, I f-found this egg in the forest. I'm not quite sure of the best way to safely look after it." As of now it was rattling around inside my backpack. I had tried to cushion it by wrapping my sleeping bag and other stuff around it inside my bag. I hoped that was enough. I carefully pulled the cream-coloured spotted egg out of my bag and showed it to Nurse Joy.
Her eyes lit up. "Oh, a Pokémon egg? Wow, how fascinating! Do you know what Pokémon is inside?"
"Afraid not, no." Not to say I hadn't been daydreaming about what was inside ever since I got it.
"Ahh, how mysterious." She bent down curiously to examine the egg more closely. By the way she was acting I wondered if they didn't get many of them coming through this Pokémon Centre. "Well, we have special cases for eggs here to keep them protected, I am sure we can loan you one. And I'll set up a scan to see if the little guy is ok in there..." She said with a smile as she punched out a few buttons on her computer.
"Wow, thank you, you are being very helpful." I hadn't had that much lately.
"It is no problem. If you would like to take a seat in our waiting room while we look after your Pokémon, and I'll sort out the rest of your details." She directed me to the rather large waiting room to the left side of the building. To the right side, among other things, there was a set of hospital double doors with people in white lab coats intermittently coming in and out. One of them came by and picked up a tray that Nurse Joy had placed my egg and Metapod's Poké Ball on and took it behind the doors. It seems like they had everything taken care of.
"Right, thank you." I said as I was just about to follow her directions to the waiting room.
"Oh, by the way," She peaked at her computer and got my name, "Ritchie, are you thinking of challenging the Pewter Gym at some point?"
"Yes, that's the idea. I might need some time before I'll be ready though. Why?" They must have this kind of conversation with every Tom, Dick and Harry that enters this place. How do they stay so nice and interested? They must have the patience of a saint.
"Well," She put her elbows down on the desk and brought her hands together, "There has been a bit of controversy about our Gym Leader recently, it's all over the newspapers."
That peaked my interest. "Controversy? How do you mean?" I didn't have Nurse Joy down as a gossip, but any information on the Gym Leader would be helpful to me.
Just as she was about to answer the big glass double doors of the Pokémon Centre behind me slide open to a cacophony of noise and a group of four Trainers came running through shouting in distress. Two nurses appeared from seemingly thin air to aid the four Trainers in an instant. They were all carrying a pretty large Nidorino between them. The Pokémon had clearly suffered a major injury and was wailing in pain and dripping blood all over the clean white floors of the Pokémon Centre. It was a pretty gruesome sight to see.
"Oh, I'm afraid you'll have to excuse me," Nurse Joy said as she left her post and started running toward the group, who were quickly trying to tell the nurses what had happened.
"Oh yes, of course, go help them." I wonder why they didn't return Nidorino to its Poké Ball.
The ruckus had caused quite a bit of attention as people had started coming out into the lobby to see what the fuss was all about. Doctors appeared with a stretcher and, with difficulty, they all tried to get the Pokémon on the stretcher without injuring it further. Once it was on safely, it was wheeled out into the double doors, followed by all four of the Trainers, and was assumedly off to get medical attention. I hoped it would be ok.
Seeing as there was nothing I could do, I picked up my Pokédex, which Nurse Joy had left on the desk, and made my way to the waiting room. Before I could go inside, a girl came out of the door, clearly coming to see what all the noise in the lobby was all about, once she spotted the blood splatters on the floor she came up to me. "Hey, what's going on?" She was taller than me but she didn't seem that much older. She was dressed in all black, jeans and a tank top with a black beanie covering her super long dark hair.
"Er, a Nidorino was injured somehow." I answered the tall girl.
"Wow…" She walked closer to the blood splattered all over the floor. "Flint must have gotten carried away again."
Why was she going closer to the blood? "Flint?" I asked.
"You know, the Pewter City Gym Leader."
The Gym Leader? No, surely not. "You think the Gym Leader did this?" I gesturing to the puddles of blood on the floor. "No, that can't be right. Why would he be so brutal?"
"He has been on fire lately…" She knelt down and started rooting around in her large black handbag.
Surely a Gym Leader wouldn't deliver such horrific injuries. "Even so, this would be a little overboard."
"This is fantastic!" She was clearly fascinated by the blood. She was kneeling down right next to it, as if she was trying to see her reflection in the puddle.
She was excited about this? "Err, what is fantastic?"
"The blood." She said as if it was obvious. "Oh, I didn't tell you? I'm Gwen, I collect blood samples." She held out her hand for me to shake.
Against my better instincts I shook her hand and introduced myself. "B-blood samples? You collect blood samples?" Creepy! So creepy. I shouldn't talk to her. I should leave.
"Sure! I plan to get a blood sample of all 150 Pokémon." She pulled out a clear plastic bag filled with what looked like medical equipment out from her handbag.
I quickly looked around the room, trying to think of a reason for me to leave this conversation. "Huh, wow, well, that's err, kind of-" Insane! Freaky! Grotesque! "-Interesting!"
"I know, right! And now…" She paused as she pulled a giant swap out of the little plastic baggie and scraped it across the puddle of Nidorino's blood, "I can cross Nidorino off my list! 4 Pokémon down, 146 to go." She stood up and looked exceedingly proud of herself.
"Umm, you know, that's kind of an outdated theory, studies show that there are a lot more than a 150 Pokémon now." Why? Why was I making conversation with this girl?
"Really?" She literally glowed with excitement. "Then I have a lot more work to do than I thought! Hey, what kind of Pokémon do you have?"
She was going nowhere near my Pokémon! "They're being looked after at the moment."
She seemed momentarily disappointed. "Oh, well, maybe I can get them later?"
No! Absolutely not! "Yeah, maybe." No! No! What was I saying?
"Awesome! I have to go right now. I'll see you later, ok?"
"Aha, I'll look forward to it." No I wouldn't. Why did I say that?
"Bye, Ritchie." She shouted before running off through the front doors.
Alright… I think my conversational skills need some work.
---
The waiting room was pretty large, almost as big as the lobby, this building was definitely bigger than it looked from outside, it didn't even look like a hospital from the outside. There must have been times when there are dozens of people waiting in this place for their Pokémon. It was pretty quiet right now, there were a few Pokémon Trainers lounging about. You could always tell a Trainer from their baseball caps. Theirs weren't as cool as my blue and yellow one though…
I stepped into the waiting room and saw more paintings sprawled on each wall, each depicting beautiful scenery. Nice calming imagery, just what you need if you are nervously waiting for updates on your Pokémon's help. In theory of course, I doubt it actually helps in anyway. In the middle of the room was a large black wooden coffee table holding a collection of newspapers and Trainer magazines. Underneath it was a bright blue carpet that covered the whole room. A television hung in one corner showing adverts for Pokémon health and whatnot.
It actually felt quit nice to be in a relatively quiet, sleepy town. Just what I needed. It seems like from day one of this journey that I hadn't really had a chance to relax. I was always on the move or looking over my shoulder to see what catastrophe would happen next. The safety of the Pokémon Centre was quite welcome.
I made my way to the newspapers and magazines. I wasn't going to challenge it for a while but it could never hurt scout the Gym Leader and see what Nurse Joy was talking about. Also, I had been thinking about this all day, I wanted to see if there was any news on those explosions I had heard in Viridian Forest. I didn't even know where to begin looking for such information though. I sat down on one of the sofas, isolated from the other Trainers in the room, and did a quick scan of most of the magazines but none of them mentioned anything about Viridian Forest. Maybe it really was nothing. Maybe that kind of thing happened all the time, with powerful Trainers having battles and what not. It just struck me as odd seeing all those Pokémon in the forest so freaked out.
Seeing that I wasn't going to find anything, I decided to move on to the article on Flint. To my surprise he was plastered across the front page of every newspaper on the desk! What on earth had he done?
Before I could even start reading though I was interrupted by a noise from the lobby. Though this time it didn't seem like a noise of distress, it sounded celebratory. In fact, it sounded familiar…
Eden.
I entered reception and saw the girl with the long red hair. She was speaking to the Nurse Joy and handing her a Poké Ball. It had gotten busy all of a sudden in the Pokémon Centre and there was now a line of people standing behind her waiting to see Nurse Joy.
Had Eden just reached Pewter City? Later than me? Had I actually beaten her at something? "Eden?"
She glanced across the room and as soon as she saw me she literally jumped with excitement, getting some inquisitive glances from the people behind her in line and ran right up to me, "Hey! Look, look, Ritchie, I just won the Boulder Badge!" She screamed as she shoved the shiny badge right in my face.
Huh, I guess she didn't just get in town then…
C'mon, Ritchie, be happy for her. Please be happy for her. We did kind become friends in the forest, though why have to be so damn smug all the time? "Oh, wow, congratulations!"
"Why thank you. Zippo swept both his Pokémon single handed."
My eyebrows shot up. "What? Seriously? A Fire type taking out two Rock type Pokémon? That's really impressive." I had to admit.
"I know." She said dreamily… She just couldn't be humble, could she? "Have you faced him yet?"
"Oh, no, not yet. I just got in town. Plus, I'm gonna need to train for a while to even be ready for him."
She crossed her arms. "I don't think you do." She said very matter-of-factly.
"I'm sorry?"
"I bet you could beat him with Caterpie. The Gym Leader is an absolute no mark! He is only the Gym Leader because his son abandoned him. The Pokémon League doesn't even want him to be in charge."
Was that what Nurse Joy was trying to say to me? "What are you talking about?"
"Haven't you heard? It's all over the city! The guy left his whole family to take on the Kanto League. And he failed, badly."
"He left his family?"
"Yep! And it is a big family as well, they watched my match this morning, there must have been about 10 children in the stands. But Flint never cared about them. The lure of becoming a Pokémon Master was obviously more important to him than his children. Apparently he left his eldest son, Brock, to take control of the Gym and all those children. What a jackass…"
That didn't sound very honorable. "But he's back now?"
"Yeah, only because he failed. He couldn't hack in on the road and realized he wasn't good enough, he didn't even get a single Gym Badge! Then he hid away in shame and let his family go to hell. When he came back he kicked his son out of the house and took control again, of out embarrassment at his own failure. Read the newspapers, all the gossip is in there." She laughed.
Surely they wouldn't let somebody like that be in control of a Gym. "You believe all that? The papers can exaggerate sometimes."
"They are right this time. I looked into his eyes, he's a feeble mess. Even a Caterpie could beat him…"
An announcement came over the speaker system throughout the building. "Calling Ritchie to the desk, could Ritchie please report to the desk."
What would they want with me? I raced through the lobby and ran to the desk. "Is everything alright?"
The nurse I was talking to before was back on reception. "Oh, yes, everything is fine. Your Metapod is in full health." She handed me her Poké Ball. "We have also taken your Pokémon Egg to our incubator and that seem to be in perfect health as well. Your stay in the Viridian Forest clearly wasn't as damaging as you first feared."
I sighed in relief at my Pokémon's health while Eden spoke. "Caterpie evolved? Score! You should go fight the Gym Leader!"
I was bemused. "What? Now?"
"Yeah, why not? A Metapod could totally destroy Flint."
There were a hundred reasons why I should battle the Gym Leader. "I just got in town. I don't even have a room here yet. Plus, I wasn't planning of fighting the Gym for a while yet, a Metapod couldn't beat a Gym Leader singled handedly, even a weak Gym Leader." I was sure I was no matchup for a Gym Leader in my current state. Maybe after another capture or two.
"Actually, sir," Nurse Joy seemed to have been listening to our conversation. "I have sorted out your accommodation for this evening, you will be staying in room 21, on the second floor. The room is yours as long as you want it." The nurse handed me a key card.
Wow, they really were on top of everything. "Oh, thank you, again. Nurse Joy, you have been most helpful."
"Aha, you have got your room, now quit stalling and lets go get you a Gym Badge." She punched me on the arm.
"Why do you want me to face the Gym Leader so badly?" She was acting very strangely, even for her.
She spoke animatedly. "The Gym Leader needs to be put in his place! Can you imagine his face when he gets beaten by a Metapod? It would be the funniest thing ever!"
"I don't know, Eden." I really wasn't sure. Then again, getting a Gym Badge on my first day in town would be quite an accomplishment, and my luck was due to change at some point. "I suppose I could go now…"
"Yes! Let's go!" The moment the words left my lips, she had grabbed my hand and was literally dragged me out of the sliding doors of the Pokémon Centre and assumedly right towards the Pewter City Pokémon Gym.
---
On our way to the Gym she had spoken at length about the Gym Leader, and his Pokémon, apparently he had two young Geodudes. She gave long detailed explanations about how she and Zippo had outsmarted them and destroyed the Flint's confidence irrevocably. Honestly, I was only half listening. I had no intentions of facing the Gym Leader today, it was all a little overwhelming.
The Gym actually wasn't too hard to find, all throughout the city there were signs directing people towards the large stone building. I guess that the Gym was the main reason this and most cities in the Kanto region got so many visitors. If all the Gyms in the region are so well marked out I was in no dangers of not finding any of them.
It took us about an hour's walk from the Pokémon Centre to the Pewter City Gym. Once I saw the large stone building in the distance I broke out of my stroll and started running full speed towards it. I left Eden and her incessant yammering in the dust and ran as fast as I could until stood in front of the Pewter Gym and just looked at the immense building.
The front of the Gym was a giant stone wall, it was so big! I hadn't imagined them being so big before. Are they all this big? The front wall, which seemed to be made from pure solid rock had the words 'Pewter Gym' chiselled coarsely across the top left hand corner of the wall. The Gym looked tough and rugged. Rough and ready. Clearly not a lot of thought had gone into the Gyms appearance. Then again with Rock Pokémon I guess appearance didn't really mean much to the Gym Leader. I had to admit, I was a little in awe. "I have never been inside a Pokémon Gym before."
Eden looked to have caught up to me after I had left her behind when I started running. "You have nothing to worry about, Zippo took out his whole team single handed." She put her hand on my shoulder.
I looked her in the eyes. "You really think I could win?"
"Of course!" She said with a wink. "He is such a pitiful little man. Honestly, it was the easiest Pokémon battle I ever had! Hell, he was even easier than you!"
Thankfully, her little digs were starting to roll off my back now. "Oh, thank you…"
"Then let's go." She tried to drag me into the building, but I stopped her and walked up to the building of my own volition. I took a deep breath and pushed open the heavy stone doors and tried to peer inside.
It was dark. My eyes couldn't quite adjust to the dim lighting inside the building. I took a couple of steps inside and the big stone doors slammed shut behind me. It made me jump actually, Eden snickered at that.
I took a few steps forward and watched as the inside of the building started to come into focus.
I saw him. He was the first thing I saw. The man from the newspaper. The whole battlefield was shrouded in darkness and I saw the shadow of the man called Flint stood on top of a stone pedestal on the opposite side of the building.
The battlefield in front of him was littered with jagged rocks and boulders, and a balcony stretched out along the right hand side of the room provided spectators a place to watch Gym battles. On Flint's side of the room I saw a group of children coming to light in the darkness and they were all looking directly at me, I seemed to have gotten their attention.
I heard Eden loudly ascending the stairs and she took her place on the balcony on my side of the room. She looked down on me and the battlefield and said nothing. Nobody said anything. There had been an unnerving silence ever since I had entered the Gym.
A few feet in from of me I saw the Trainer's podium, a crudely marked square with white chalk on the edge of the rocky arena, the white chalk lines rolled out along the whole floor of the building marking out the huge rectangular battlefield in front of me. I stepped into the Trainer's podium and ended the silence. "My name is Ritchie. I challenge you to a Gym Battle!" I tried not to let my voice crack. This whole environment was so eerie. Nerves were racing through my body as I tried my best to show Flint that I belonged here.
"Very well." Came the voice from the stone podium. I still couldn't see Flint properly, only his silhouette, his spikey hair made his head seem much larger than he actually was and it looked like he had his arms folded across his chest. "Ritchie. How many Gym Badges do you have so far?"
I took a deep breath. "I-I have none, sir. This is my first Gym Battle." Wow, I wonder if Eden was this nervous when she was talking to him.
"I see." His outline was starting to become clearer, but I still couldn't make out his features very well. And his voice wasn't giving anything away to determine his emotions. I had heard a few of the children in the balcony laugh when I said I had no Gym Badges.
His voice boomed throughout the building as he shouted, "This is a Gym Battle for the Pewter City's Boulder Badge. It will be a two on two battle and only the challenger may substitute." He paused and then called forth my biggest nightmare. "Onix, I choose you!"
I was speechless. I didn't know what to do. An Onix? Eden had never said anything about that! The Poké Ball broke open and from it emerged a goliath. I had read about Onix before, I had seen photographs of them but my god seeing them in person was a real spectacle to behold.
A giant chain of grey boulders ascended up and up and up. I was starting to breathe heavily, my nerves had just multiplied tenfold. My neck craned upwards and I could only barely see its giant head, with the dark eyes looking menacingly down on me. It must have been 30 feet tall, and it wasn't even at full stretch! Even one of the boulders in his body was bigger than I was…
I pulled out my Pokédex in my shaking hands.
"Onix, the Rock Snake Pokémon. Its large body is over 26 feet long. Despite its size, it can squirm its way through the ground at 50 mph."
My god, Flint's one was even bigger than the one in the Pokédex.
"Choose your Pokémon, son."
I was just numbly staring at the huge Pokémon. "Huh? W-what?" I heard the children laughing again as I struggled to cope with what was happening. I wasn't in a good place. Looking at the Onix, I knew I wasn't ready for this. I couldn't go through with it.
"I said choose you Pokémon, Ritchie!" He sounded impatient. He was getting annoyed at me.
I swallowed and tried to think of what to do. I couldn't really send Metapod out there against Onix could I? I suddenly realised I had her Poké Ball in my right hand.
"Send out your Pokémon!" Flint shouted across the battlefield. His shout made me jump and I made a huge mistake.
"Metapod, go!" I threw her Poké Ball into the rocky battlefield.
The children bust out laughing and childish giggles filled the Gym as they all laughed at my pitiful attempt to challenge a Gym Leader.
After that I was just paralysed in fear. Crippled.
I just stood there. The nerves had me scared stiff and I had no idea what I was doing. Flint was staring daggers at me from across the room. Onix was looking down darkly at both me and Metapod. I couldn't even see the look in Metapod's eyes as she was face to face with her giant opponent. She must have been as terrified as I was.
"Onix," Flint shouted and silenced the children's laughter. "Use Tackle on that useless insect!"
The huge rock snake seemed to snort smugly, clearly pleased with facing such a smaller opponent.
I didn't even have time to give an order; Metapod was clearly too terrified to move after coming face to face with the frightening Onix. The huge Rock Pokémon was already slithering towards Metapod with alarming speed. My small, Bug Pokémon barely had time to register that Onix was actually jumping up, lifting all that size and weight high into the air and before I could even say anything, and Onix came crashing down with its full weight hard on my Metapod with a vicious thud.
A Metapod shaped hole in the floor held my defeated Pokémon as my first gym Battle was over before it begun. The sounds of the children's cruel laughter rang through my ears as I could do nothing but look on and stand there, defeated.
Seeing my beaten Pokémon, the Flint ended the match. "Your Metapod is defeated, Ritchie. Return it." I did as I was told and silently pointed Metapod's Poké Ball at her and returned her to safety. "Send out your next Pokémon, son."
I could barely answer. "I don't have one…" I said softly.
"What did you say?" Flint said loudly. I wasn't sure if he didn't actually hear me or if he was asking in disbelief.
I swallowed and tried to stand up straight. "I don't have another Pokémon, sir. Metapod is all I have."
More laughter from the stands. Flint, though, was silent for a moment. "I appreciate your courage, Ritchie. Challenging a Gym in itself is not an easy thing to do. But this isn't Little League anymore, son. You're playing with the big boys now and you can't expect to challenge, never the less, beat a Gym Leader with such a weak Pokémon."
I fought back my humiliation and tried to look him in the eyes. I knew he was right, of course he was right. I stood no chance. I knew I didn't. Why did I let Eden talk me into this?
"This match is over. Please leave and get medical attention for your Pokémon."
And that was that. My first Gym battle was over before I could even order an attack. Even the first Gym was looking beyond my reach at this point.
"I am sorry for wasting your time, sir. I promise I'll come back when I am ready…" I gave a quick bow and turned around to walk out the Gym, to try and get away from this whole embarrassing situation as quickly as possible.
---
I heaved open the big stone doors and was flooded by bright sunlight. The brightness engulfed me and I dropped to my knees. That was pathetic! I was completely useless. I knew I wasn't ready. Why? Why did I ever decide to fight the Gym?
And then I knew. I realised it as soon as she came though the stone doors after me. She was looked down at the floor, she looked as shocked as I was when I first saw that Onix.
I got off my knees and raced up to her and started shouting. "What the hell did you do!? You made Flint out to be some weak willed idiot! Why did you put me in that position! I had no chance of winning!"
She was looking down and fiddling with the sleeve of her red jumper and she just mumbled, "Oh, you know…"
"Know what? What the hell are you talking about?"
She eventually grew a backbone and shouted back. "You deserved to be humiliated! You made me feel bad, you made me feel really guilty for what Zippo did to Caterpie! It wasn't my fault she got injured! I was just doing what any Trainer would have done. It was your fault for putting her in a battle against a fire type!"
The battle when Caterpie got burned… "What? You humiliated me because of that? I already apologised! You embarrassed me in front of a Gym Leader just because of something I said in the heat of the moment?" I just couldn't believe she had done that to me. That battle felt like a million years ago to me. "I'll never live this down! My first Gym battle ever was a disgrace! If word of this gets out nobody will ever take me seriously again!"
"An apology wasn't enough. You're too headstrong and naïve! Even with a little goading did you really think you could take down a leader with a Metapod? Seriously?"
"I trusted you. I thought we were friends!"
"Friends? You think I want to be friends with you? Look at you! You have nothing. You have been a Trainer for over a week and you have nothing to show for it."
"So you decided to push me down even more?" It was just cruel.
"I didn't think it would go that badly." She said quietly and appeared to shrink into herself. "It was just a prank."
A prank. I was so glad my life amused her. "Whatever, dude. I'm gonna leave." I just couldn't stand to look at her anymore.
"Fine, leave. Keep trying at being a Trainer, you will never succeed! You will be stuck in this city for a long time." She shouted and kept on spewing insult after insult until I couldn't take it anymore.
I turned my back on her and stormed off in the opposite direction. I kept on walking and walking down the road back to the Pokémon Centre until her yelling slowly started too faded away.
And that was the last time I saw Eden for a long time…
---
After my humiliating defeat at the hands of Flint I found myself lounging around the rocky beach of Pewter City. I wasn't quite sure how I found myself on the beach, I didn't even know they had a beach. I had delivered Metapod to the Pokémon Centre to get him treated as quickly as I could, but I didn't feel like I could stay inside the Pokémon Centre. I didn't deserve it, I didn't deserve to be that kind of environment with other admirable Pokémon Trainers after what I did to my Pokémon. What kind of trainer seriously think they could take on a Gym with just Metapod?
I did manage to read the newspaper report on Flint though. Eden's skewed analysis of him was completely opposite to what it said in the papers. The newspapers gave him glowing reviews, with the people of Pewter welcoming Flint back into the city with open arms. Tales were told of how he returned from his quest to be a Pokémon Master to look after his family, and of how he had nobly sacrificed his own dreams and taken back responsibility of the Gym, letting his son travel to world with one of his friends, just like he had always dreamed of.
A far cry from the tyrant Eden had painted him as…
How I could be so stupid as to believe that I was a match for a Gym Leader I will never know. I was never going to let anybody influence my decisions like that again. I guess my quest to be a Pokémon Master got in the way of the logical part of my brain.
I sat down on the soft sand and faced the vast ocean and let the sound of the wind and the waves wash over me. I hadn't noticed that it was so windy earlier today. I guess after surviving in the forest for as long as I did a little wind didn't really bother me. But now I was really feeling it as I looked around and saw huge rock pillars standing tall sporadically along the beach front. The wind seemed to rush through the rocks and whistle.
I had closed my eyes and was trying to think of my next move when I was interrupted.
"Hey, its Ritchie, isn't it?"
I looked up to see a boy. One of the boys from the Gym. One of the children who laughed at me. Though he didn't seem that young now I got a good look at him, maybe just a year or two younger than I was. He looked quite a bit like his father actually, I had finally gotten a good look at Flint from the photographs I had seen in the newspapers. Same spikey hair and dark skin. But I wasn't really in the mood for talking. "Yeah. That's me." I didn't hold his gaze for very long, I just kept staring into the sea.
"Hi, I'm Forrest. The Gym Leader's son." He sat down next to me in the sand.
"Yeah, I saw you in there. Laughing at me…"
He shook his head. "No, no, I wasn't laughing. That was all my brothers and sisters."
I tried to smile and be nice, I wasn't too sure if I was being successful. "What do you want?"
"I just wanted to apologise. For my father. He shouldn't have been so harsh. He has been in some kind of mood lately."
"Really?"
"Yeah, he has only recently come back in town. We have the Pokémon Inspection Agency coming to the Gym soon, he is just trying to prove a point. To prove that he is worthy, you know."
"If it's worth anything, I think he'll be alright." No way will they take the Gym away from him after one look at that Onix.
"Don't feel too bad about losing. You know, you're not the first person to come into our Gym with just Bug Pokémon."
I snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure I'm not. I just always thought I was smarter than that." Ha, guess not…
He smiled. "I have watched all of my father's Gym battles since he took over, I saw a lot of Brock's battles as well. From what I have learned about new trainers, they always think they are different. That they are going to be the one to take on the world singled handed. When they fail, some come back and try again, and some give it up."
"I'm not giving up." I would never give up. I just wasn't sure what to do now. Moping around on this windy beach seemed as good a place as any. "Wait… Did you say you'd seen all of your father's Gym battles?"
"Every single one." He had a look of pride in his eyes. "I hope to take his place one day. It'd be cool to be a Gym Leader, wouldn't it?"
"Oh, yeah." I would love to be a Gym Leader too. "One day, maybe you will… Anyway, did you see Eden's Gym battle? The red haired girl I was with, did you see her battle earlier? She had a match before me."
He looked confused. "Today? No, that's not right. You were the first challenger of the day. Why?"
I jumped to my feet, "What? She didn't battle Flint? Are you sure?"
"No, she hasn't battle my Dad, I had never seen her before."
She was lying! "She said she won the Boulder Badge today! She shoved a badge in my face. She goaded me into taking a match before I was ready. I don't understand."
"Why would she do that?" He seemed surprised at such deception. Hell, I was surprised, she had gone to further lengths than I first thought just to humiliate me. Did she really show me a fake badge? Now that I think about it, I didn't really get a good look at it.
I started pacing back and forth on the soft sand below my feet. "I don't know. She has had it in for me since day one. She thinks I'm not ready to be a Trainer. I thought we had buried the hatchet but then she pulled that stunt just to humiliate me in front of a Gym Leader…"
"That's a pretty cruel thing to do, just for thinking you're not ready."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you know what this means? She hasn't won a Gym Badge! She has zero badges. Just like me. Since the start of this journey it has felt like she has been one step ahead of me every single time. It turns out she isn't as far ahead of me as I thought!"
Forrest got up to his feet also, my new found energy seemed to be catching. "You could still catch her. She can't have left the city already."
I started laughing openly. "Yeah, maybe not, but I can't do anything to her right now. I can let her go this time. We're both travelling trainers, I'm bound to run into her around Kanto one day, and when I do… BANG!"
"What?"
I didn't even hear him. I was just talking to myself at this point. "Oh, one day, Eden, one day I will make your stunt to me here seem like child's play… You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna travel and I'm gonna get stronger. And if I ever see her again in Kanto, I'm gonna take her down. I'll embarrass her and I'll make her little Charmander think he deserves better than a spoiled little brat like her as a Trainer."
"How?"
He had me there. "I dunno, I'll think of something."
Forrest seemed a little taken aback at my sudden revenge speech. "Heh, well, good look with that. You look like you're in a better mood already." He patted me on the shoulder. "I think I better get home." He turned to head back across the beach.
He was right. I was almost ready to give up five minute ago, but now I was literally bouncing with energy. I can't give up on my journey, I need to take Eden down. "Wait, Forrest, don't go, stay here with me for a while. I want to thank you for the little pep talk. I feel like I owe you. Hey, if there is anything I can do for you, let me know."
"Oh, that's no problem." He laughed. "Actually, it's getting late and I really need to get home. It was really nice to meet you, Ritchie." He held out his hand.
I shook it. "No problem. I guess I'll just owe you a favour then."
"Ha, yeah, maybe. I'll see ya." I said my goodbyes and watched him walking off into the distance.
Sweeping declarations of revenge was alright in theory but thinking about it, I had no idea where to begin. I had one egg and one weak battered Pokémon. Where do I begin? Do I stay in Pewter City and keep trying to get the Boulder Badge or do I move on and train for the next town? If I stay in Pewter I think Metapod would benefit from having a lighter trainer schedule than the harsher environment on the road. But then if I did go on the road I would have more opportunities to catch more Pokémon and come back to Pewter all guns blazing with a whole new team of Pokémon.
Hmm… What to do?
"About that favour…" Forrest sneaked up from behind me.
I stood up and turned to see him. "Forrest, hey, what's up?" I wasn't expecting to see him again.
"Well, err, I could use your help for one thing…" He seemed a little nervous just for asking.
"Name it." I wasn't kidding, I really did want to help him. Without him I never would have known of Eden's deception.
"Well, I have been bugging my dad, and Brock before him, to let me go and check out the Rock Pokémon in Mt Moon."
"Oh, yeah? That mountain is huge! There's sure to be some awesome Rock Pokémon around there!" I knew of Mt Moon. I had always loved hearing stories about that fabled mountain. It was always in the news because of the frequent meteor showers, UFO sightings and even rumours of extra-terrestrial activity. I even read one time that there were fossils in there. Fossils that can be brought back to life! Aliens from space, monsters from the past. What a fascinating place!
"Exactly! But both of them were always been too busy to take me, and since I'm kind of underage I can't really travel by myself. But if I tag along with you, I can go!"
"You want to go to Mt Moon with me? I'd love to go! That sounds awesome."
"Really? You don't mind me tagging along? It's stupid really, I don't need a chaperone! I can handle myself. But I'm not 10 yet so…" He scratched the back of his head, seemingly embarrassed that he couldn't go by himself. He did seem quite mature for his age, I'm sure he'd be fine if he went on his own.
"Alright then, it is no problem at all. It sounds like a perfect plan. Mt Moon, Rock Pokémon, let's do it!"
"Awesome! I'll meet you tomorrow morning at the Pokémon Centre, ok? That's where you are staying right? This is so great! I have been trying to go to Mt Moon for months!" He spontaneously hugged me before skipping off back down to where he came from.
Ok, he didn't seem as mature right there…
But no matter! It seems like I have a new travelling buddy. At least temporarily. And a trip to Mt Moon seems like a good way to forget that this day ever happened.
Mt Moon, here I come.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Authors Note: Alright, I promise, this is the last chapter we see Ritchie being so weak Pokémon-wise. From now on, we start kicking a** and taking names! Starting with the next chapter: The Clefairy Invasion of Earth.
Reviews are appreciated