Epilogue
Giselle and Vivienne traveled westward from Canalave City toward Oreburgh City. Along the way they finally hit the colorful high tech wonderland that was Jubilife City. It was beyond amazing and even larger than Veilstone City. They didn't stay long, but both girls had eventually picked up phones there. Giselle and Vivienne agreed to return after Giselle's gym battle which Giselle thought was a win-win situation. If she lost her gym battle, it would cheer her up. If she won, it would be a nice victory treat. When they got to Oreburgh City, they found it was different than the fast paced world of Jubilife.
Oreburgh City was a mining town, but was a lot different that Giselle's idea of one. She expected mining towns to be grimy and gritty and the people would be bitter, but in Oreburgh's case that couldn't be further from the truth. The city had its grimy places but was for the most part very clean. Oreburgh's citizens were very pleasant, welcoming, and very energetic. They were enthusiastic in explaining everything about their city and the town's pride and joy which was the mine. Like the rest of Sinnoh, the mine was technologically advanced. Giselle and Vivienne were having a good time there, but the time had finally arrived. They were heading toward the Oreburgh Gym for Giselle's gym battle and she was slightly nervous in an excited kind of way.
"You'll be fine," said Vivienne soothingly. "We've been training for this for a while now. I think you're more than ready for this battle, Giselle."
"I hope so," Giselle said quietly. She adjusted the yellow hard hat that both she and Vivienne had bought from the gift shop at the museum. It seemed to be a fashion item among the people in Oreburgh City and Giselle and Vivienne wore them for fun. She'd actually met the gym leader earlier that day as he was leaving the mine. When she mentioned that she wanted a gym battle, Roark enthusiastically agreed to it. He said he'd be back at the gym later that day. Giselle already knew that he specialized in Rock types like Brock of Kanto so she prepared carefully…
It wasn't at all hard to find the gym. It was as famous as the mine was because Roark was also the mine's supervisor. Signs and people eagerly pointed out the gym which greatly resembled the rest of the buildings in town. Giselle had walked through the doors of the Pewter City gym more times that she would have liked but she didn't let herself think about all those failures. After all it was a new day, a new region, and a new gym. Giselle took a deep breath and entered the gym. Just as she had expected, Roark was waiting.
The large interior of the gym reminded Giselle of the mine only without the darkness. It had rock walls and the floor of the gym resembled the ground inside the mine. There were boulders here and there and the high ceiling's beams were exposed. Vivienne immediately went to sit in the stands that surrounded the arena. Roark, who had red hair, a bright red hardhat, glasses, and a modified version of the uniform the workers wore, was at the other end of the gym smiling.
"Finally," he said eagerly. "I was wondering when you'd get here! I'm not one for a lot of talk before a battle, which will be a three on three. Shall we start?"
He was nearly as to the point as Carmen was. "Yeah, we should," replied Giselle. She pulled out a Pokéball. "Go, Sneasel!"
Sneasel came out of his Pokéball with a somersault and landed gracefully on his feet, displaying his claws which glinted in the light. Sneasel had a weakness to Rock type attacks but there was a chance that Roark's Pokémon might have a Ground subtype.
Roark looked in mild interest as he pulled out his own Pokéball and sent out Geodude. It was total déjà vu for Giselle. She remembered facing down a Geodude in the Pewter City Gym but things were going to be different this time. Giselle took a deep breath as Roark made the first move. "Use Rock Throw!"
Geodude raised its arms and as it did so numerous rocks seemed to rise out of the ground under its command control. The Rock Pokémon made one fluid throwing motion and the rocks began to hurl themselves at Sneasel who was now on the run. All of the training in the mine had paid off. He jumped, ducked, and dodged all the rocks with amazing speed that came to him, but Giselle knew they couldn't dodge forever. Sooner or later Sneasel would be hit and potentially knocked out. Suddenly she noticed the large boulder right behind Sneasel.
"Sneasel, jump behind that boulder and then climb on top of it!" Giselle had learned that Sneasel could hook his claws into just about anything and climb on. Sneasel hoisted himself onto of the boulder so he could look down on Geodude. "Now use Icy Wind!" Even though Sneasel liked using physical attacks more, he wasn't bad at using long range ones. Geodude cowered as it was hit by the subzero winds of the attack. Giselle could hardly believe she was doing so well when her last gym battle ended so badly. The thought of that calmed her down more than anything.
Not to be outdone, Roark had a way to bring Sneasel back down to earth. "Geodude, unleash an Earthquake attack!"
"Uh, oh," said Giselle under her breath.
Geodude, who was fairly close to Sneasel's rock, rose straight into the air and then slammed to the ground creating an intense shockwave. The boulder Sneasel was standing on started to morph before it cracked on its bottom and began to fall to pieces. Sneasel had to jump again to avoid the dust and debris from the falling boulder and Roark seized the opportunity.
"You won't beat me that easily! Use Rock Throw again, Geodude!"
As Sneasel was in mid air, it was very difficult to evade. Giselle once again used the technique of attacking to defend.
"Sneasel, use Icy Wind again!"
Sneasel took a huge breath and exhaled frigid air again. While it was effective at deflected the worst of the attack, Sneasel still took damage. He hit the ground hard but was able to get to his feet. Geodude, unnoticed by Giselle or Sneasel, had drawn up very close to Sneasel. Giselle clenched her teeth: Geodude was a lot faster than she thought.
Roark smiled. "Geodude use Brick Break!" Geodude balled its fists in an attempt to slug Sneasel.
Giselle caught it in the nick of time. "Sneasel dodge and then use Ice Punch!" Sneasel loved using this attack. His claws were enveloped by a layer of ice. With Geodude so close, Sneasel had no trouble punching Geodude and sending it flying. Gleeful that Ice Punch worked so well Giselle called out, "Go after it Sneasel, and use Metal Claw!"
Sneasel had finally perfected this attack by watching Charmander. His claws went metallic as it charged at Geodude. Roark smiled mischievously and both Giselle and Vivienne knew she had made a huge mistake.
"Geodude, Self Destruct!"
Everything seemed to move in slow motion before Giselle's widened eyes. Geodude began to glow white and it exploded with a huge bang. Sneasel had no time to stop and took the full brunt of the attack. Giselle hoped against hope that Sneasel had somehow managed to make it out of that, but she knew it was futile. And sure enough, when the smoke cleared, Geodude and Sneasel were both blackened and knocked out. Giselle sighed. She had battled enough Geodude to know that they could explode but it was a blow none the less. Giselle closed her eyes for a second. We both just lost one Pokémon so we're still even. Don't give up, Giselle thought to herself.
The next match up was Budew and her pink scarf versus Onix. At first, Giselle was a little concerned that Onix would have the upper hand just because its sheer size. It was a lot bigger than a normal Onix. Somehow, Giselle had never realized just how small Budew was until now, but it turned out that size didn't matter at all. Onix had managed to use Bind on Budew, but her Poison Point ability took effect and Onix was poisoned. One Extrasensory and a Mega Drain later, the mighty rock snake crashed to ground like a ton of bricks, brought down by something that was just a foot tall.
"I'm really surprised," said Roark as he recalled Onix. "Most trainers generally go with Budew that have the Natural Cure ability. I really should've exercised more caution."
Budew was overjoyed at her victory and did a little dance, making Giselle laugh which broke some of the tension of the battle. Giselle took a deep breath. She had the upper hand—for now anyway.
"Time for my strongest Pokémon," said Roark. "Go, Cranidos!"
Giselle wondered if it would be rude to pull out her Pokédex in the middle of a battle, so she decided against it. She had read about Cranidos anyway. The Pokémon had a gray body, short arms, and the top of its head, its back, and its tail were blue. Spikes protruded out of the back of its head. Giselle knew it was a pure rock type but wasn't sure what was in store for her, but she didn't have to wait long to find out.
"Cranidos, use Zen Headbutt!" Roark called out.
"Oh dear." Giselle remembered Carmen saying that a variety of Pokémon could use Psychic attacks but for some reason she didn't expect it from a pure rock type.
The top of Cranidos's head began to glow with a pinkish color as it began to charge at Budew. Giselle immediately learned how strong Cranidos was. It only took one attack and Budew was knocked out cold. As she recalled it, Giselle realized that she was down one Pokémon. If she lost this, this gym battle was lost. In the stands, Vivienne crossed her fingers. Truthfully, she wanted desperately for Giselle to win this because losing would be a huge hit to her confidence…
Giselle took a Pokéball from her waist. It was a massive gamble but something in her told her to do it.
"Go, Charmander!" Roark looked puzzled while Vivienne simply looked dumbfounded. Giselle couldn't even explain to herself exactly why she did it. Maybe it was because Charmander had been with her throughout everything she'd gone through and deep down wanted to win her first gym battle with him. And after all, Charmander had learned some new tricks.
"Well that certainly is interesting," said Roark. "I know type matching isn't everything but that's a huge risk. Let's see how well your Charmander stands up to Stone Edge!"
A giant stone with a lethal pointed tip rose out the ground and Charmander was forced quickly dodge to keep from being gored. Both Giselle and Charmander were slightly unnerved by the strength of that attack but she quickly regained composure. But before either of them could do a thing, Roark and Cranidos had sent another Stone Edge at them and took to using the attack repeatedly.
"Now it's your turn to use Brick Break! Try to destroy the rocks as the come!" Charmander's fists glowed white as he aimed precise punches to the rocks that rose out of the ground while making sure not to remain in one place to long to become an easy target.
"While we have it occupied, use Take Down, Cranidos!"
Giselle took action. Charmander didn't have much time to dodge the attack, but she had to do something. "INCOMING! Charmander use Metal Claw on Cranidos!"
Charmander's claws glowed with a metallic sheen as he broke into a run toward the charging Pokémon. He slashed Cranidos across the chest as Cranidos slammed into him. Both Pokémon were dealt heavy damage and both flew backward a few feet. However, to Giselle's horror, it was Cranidos that rose first to its advantage.
"This is it!" Roark called out. "Finish this with Zen Headbutt!"
Charmander was still down when the attack hit…and after Cranidos head butted Charmander in the stomach, he didn't move at all. Giselle held her breath, not daring to breathe. Was it? Could it really the end?
"Well," said Roark. "It looks like this is ov—
Suddenly Charmander began to struggle to his feet, determination etched into his face. Then something odd happened: Charmander began to glow bright red. Giselle first thought that it was just his Blaze ability, which wouldn't be much help against the rock typed Cranidos, but this glow was a much more vivid red than Giselle remembered. Suddenly, the red glow was replaced as Charmander began to glow bright white, so bright that the gym was illuminated. His extremities and tail began to grow longer as he grew taller. Then the white light dissipated…
"Charmeleon…" he said in a low voice.
Giselle put her hands over her mouth to stifle the squeal. Charmander evolved! Her Charmander actually evolved! Charmeleon was a rich crimson color and his claws were far more pronounced now. The look in Charmeleon's eyes was as fiery as his now bigger tail flame. Giselle was so overcome with happiness that she almost forgot she was in the middle of a gym battle. Roark brought her back to the situation at hand.
"Looks like things have gotten interesting," he said. "But is it enough to help you win this? Cranidos, use Stone Edge!"
Charmeleon was now faintly glowing red again indicating that Blaze was still in affect. Giselle was eager to see how much more powerful Charmeleon was than his pre-evolution. "Dodge the attack and use Brick Break!"
Charmeleon evaded the sharpened stone and lunged for Cranidos. He was much faster than he was as a Charmander, so the attack missed Cranidos, who was miraculously able to dodge, by mere millimeters. But then Giselle had just remembered she had used a TM on Charmeleon the day before. She realized it would be perfect with all she'd read about Charmeleon all those years ago…
"Charmeleon use Iron Tail!"
Charmeleon's tail turned to steel and he slammed Cranidos with one ferocious swing of his tail. Cranidos was sent backwards and it smashed into a boulder that was behind it before falling to the ground, knocked out. Charmeleon didn't need to utilize Blaze after all.
It took a few seconds for it to sink in. She had won. After all her failures, she had finally won, and Giselle was as far beyond elated as a person could possibly get.
"You did well Cranidos," said Roark. "Take a good rest." He looked up at Giselle. "I have to hand it to you, Giselle. You did well this battle. You have a loyal Pokémon there, so take care of it."
I will," said Giselle as she high fived Charmeleon. "Charmander, I mean Charmeleon, you were awesome."
"Char," said Charmeleon as thanks. The look in his eyes was different than when he was a Charmander. The sweetness was gone and was replaced by toughness, but he still had the same loyalty that Charmander had.
"As your price for defeating the Oreburgh Gym Leader, here's an official Coal Badge," said Roark, holding it out to Giselle. "There's a computer chip in Sinnoh badges so if you have a Pokédex, you can scan that badge and it'll be recorded there. And thanks for the battle by the way."
She took her first gym badge ever with shaking hands. "I should be thanking you, Roark."
"You're welcome then," he replied. "The road to the Sinnoh League only gets tougher from here. You're going to have to train much harder."
"I will," said Giselle as she tipped her yellow hardhat. She looked around and saw that Vivienne had already left the stands to join her.
"Is it time for us to get going once more?" asked Vivienne.
"Yeah," said Giselle. "Thanks again Roark!"
"Anytime," he said. "And say hi to my father. He's the gym leader in Canalave."
"All right," Giselle said happily.
After they were outside the gym, Giselle was still in disbelief. Charmander evolved and she got a gym badge. She once again felt as though she were in a dream or someone else's life. But there was one thing that bugged her. "Vivienne, do you know why the red glow that Charmander had when the Blaze ability activated was so, well, red?"
"I think it was because it was so close to evolution," she said slowly. "Blaze was feeding on the extra energy that Charmander's body was building up for evolution. As I've never seen it happen before, that's my only guess."
"Wow," said Giselle. She looked down at Charmeleon, whom she still hadn't recalled. "Hey, Charmeleon, why don't we get to the Pokémon Center to give you and the rest of the team a rest? You can have all the Pecha Berries you want when we get there."
"Char," said Charmeleon eagerly.
"And I can't wait to call Reina, Carmen, and Luz to tell them the good news!" said Giselle enthusiastically. She thought of all of them and wondered what they were doing right at that very moment.
"Well, Giselle, all I can say is that I'm proud of you," said Vivienne warmly.
"Thanks," Giselle answered. At that moment she had the same warm feeling that she had when she and Charmander had connected for the first time in the woods that day. With that Coal Badge she had already exceeded the expectation of her parents and everyone else in Pallet Town. But whenever Giselle thought about Kanto it was as though it were a part of a different lifetime. Reina seemed sure that she would return someday, but that was still up in the air. For now she just enjoyed being in the present with Vivienne, Charmeleon and the rest of her Pokémon by her side. The road ahead really would be hard, but with friends both near to her physically and the friends that were with her in spirit, Giselle knew she'd be all right just like Reina and Carmen had always said.
OOC: And so ends my very first fanfic! Thanks to everyone who read it, made comments about it, and were forgiving of all the mistakes and typos (which I will fix). I may also do edits to it as well. I enjoyed writing it and I hope everyone else enjoyed it, too Grin A I'm not really sure who my next fanfic will be about, but I have all kinds of ideas in my head. Since things will start getting hectic again, it may be a while before I post a fanfic again. I apologize for being so overly dramatic but I just wanted to say thanks again.
Giselle and Vivienne traveled westward from Canalave City toward Oreburgh City. Along the way they finally hit the colorful high tech wonderland that was Jubilife City. It was beyond amazing and even larger than Veilstone City. They didn't stay long, but both girls had eventually picked up phones there. Giselle and Vivienne agreed to return after Giselle's gym battle which Giselle thought was a win-win situation. If she lost her gym battle, it would cheer her up. If she won, it would be a nice victory treat. When they got to Oreburgh City, they found it was different than the fast paced world of Jubilife.
Oreburgh City was a mining town, but was a lot different that Giselle's idea of one. She expected mining towns to be grimy and gritty and the people would be bitter, but in Oreburgh's case that couldn't be further from the truth. The city had its grimy places but was for the most part very clean. Oreburgh's citizens were very pleasant, welcoming, and very energetic. They were enthusiastic in explaining everything about their city and the town's pride and joy which was the mine. Like the rest of Sinnoh, the mine was technologically advanced. Giselle and Vivienne were having a good time there, but the time had finally arrived. They were heading toward the Oreburgh Gym for Giselle's gym battle and she was slightly nervous in an excited kind of way.
"You'll be fine," said Vivienne soothingly. "We've been training for this for a while now. I think you're more than ready for this battle, Giselle."
"I hope so," Giselle said quietly. She adjusted the yellow hard hat that both she and Vivienne had bought from the gift shop at the museum. It seemed to be a fashion item among the people in Oreburgh City and Giselle and Vivienne wore them for fun. She'd actually met the gym leader earlier that day as he was leaving the mine. When she mentioned that she wanted a gym battle, Roark enthusiastically agreed to it. He said he'd be back at the gym later that day. Giselle already knew that he specialized in Rock types like Brock of Kanto so she prepared carefully…
It wasn't at all hard to find the gym. It was as famous as the mine was because Roark was also the mine's supervisor. Signs and people eagerly pointed out the gym which greatly resembled the rest of the buildings in town. Giselle had walked through the doors of the Pewter City gym more times that she would have liked but she didn't let herself think about all those failures. After all it was a new day, a new region, and a new gym. Giselle took a deep breath and entered the gym. Just as she had expected, Roark was waiting.
The large interior of the gym reminded Giselle of the mine only without the darkness. It had rock walls and the floor of the gym resembled the ground inside the mine. There were boulders here and there and the high ceiling's beams were exposed. Vivienne immediately went to sit in the stands that surrounded the arena. Roark, who had red hair, a bright red hardhat, glasses, and a modified version of the uniform the workers wore, was at the other end of the gym smiling.
"Finally," he said eagerly. "I was wondering when you'd get here! I'm not one for a lot of talk before a battle, which will be a three on three. Shall we start?"
He was nearly as to the point as Carmen was. "Yeah, we should," replied Giselle. She pulled out a Pokéball. "Go, Sneasel!"
Sneasel came out of his Pokéball with a somersault and landed gracefully on his feet, displaying his claws which glinted in the light. Sneasel had a weakness to Rock type attacks but there was a chance that Roark's Pokémon might have a Ground subtype.
Roark looked in mild interest as he pulled out his own Pokéball and sent out Geodude. It was total déjà vu for Giselle. She remembered facing down a Geodude in the Pewter City Gym but things were going to be different this time. Giselle took a deep breath as Roark made the first move. "Use Rock Throw!"
Geodude raised its arms and as it did so numerous rocks seemed to rise out of the ground under its command control. The Rock Pokémon made one fluid throwing motion and the rocks began to hurl themselves at Sneasel who was now on the run. All of the training in the mine had paid off. He jumped, ducked, and dodged all the rocks with amazing speed that came to him, but Giselle knew they couldn't dodge forever. Sooner or later Sneasel would be hit and potentially knocked out. Suddenly she noticed the large boulder right behind Sneasel.
"Sneasel, jump behind that boulder and then climb on top of it!" Giselle had learned that Sneasel could hook his claws into just about anything and climb on. Sneasel hoisted himself onto of the boulder so he could look down on Geodude. "Now use Icy Wind!" Even though Sneasel liked using physical attacks more, he wasn't bad at using long range ones. Geodude cowered as it was hit by the subzero winds of the attack. Giselle could hardly believe she was doing so well when her last gym battle ended so badly. The thought of that calmed her down more than anything.
Not to be outdone, Roark had a way to bring Sneasel back down to earth. "Geodude, unleash an Earthquake attack!"
"Uh, oh," said Giselle under her breath.
Geodude, who was fairly close to Sneasel's rock, rose straight into the air and then slammed to the ground creating an intense shockwave. The boulder Sneasel was standing on started to morph before it cracked on its bottom and began to fall to pieces. Sneasel had to jump again to avoid the dust and debris from the falling boulder and Roark seized the opportunity.
"You won't beat me that easily! Use Rock Throw again, Geodude!"
As Sneasel was in mid air, it was very difficult to evade. Giselle once again used the technique of attacking to defend.
"Sneasel, use Icy Wind again!"
Sneasel took a huge breath and exhaled frigid air again. While it was effective at deflected the worst of the attack, Sneasel still took damage. He hit the ground hard but was able to get to his feet. Geodude, unnoticed by Giselle or Sneasel, had drawn up very close to Sneasel. Giselle clenched her teeth: Geodude was a lot faster than she thought.
Roark smiled. "Geodude use Brick Break!" Geodude balled its fists in an attempt to slug Sneasel.
Giselle caught it in the nick of time. "Sneasel dodge and then use Ice Punch!" Sneasel loved using this attack. His claws were enveloped by a layer of ice. With Geodude so close, Sneasel had no trouble punching Geodude and sending it flying. Gleeful that Ice Punch worked so well Giselle called out, "Go after it Sneasel, and use Metal Claw!"
Sneasel had finally perfected this attack by watching Charmander. His claws went metallic as it charged at Geodude. Roark smiled mischievously and both Giselle and Vivienne knew she had made a huge mistake.
"Geodude, Self Destruct!"
Everything seemed to move in slow motion before Giselle's widened eyes. Geodude began to glow white and it exploded with a huge bang. Sneasel had no time to stop and took the full brunt of the attack. Giselle hoped against hope that Sneasel had somehow managed to make it out of that, but she knew it was futile. And sure enough, when the smoke cleared, Geodude and Sneasel were both blackened and knocked out. Giselle sighed. She had battled enough Geodude to know that they could explode but it was a blow none the less. Giselle closed her eyes for a second. We both just lost one Pokémon so we're still even. Don't give up, Giselle thought to herself.
The next match up was Budew and her pink scarf versus Onix. At first, Giselle was a little concerned that Onix would have the upper hand just because its sheer size. It was a lot bigger than a normal Onix. Somehow, Giselle had never realized just how small Budew was until now, but it turned out that size didn't matter at all. Onix had managed to use Bind on Budew, but her Poison Point ability took effect and Onix was poisoned. One Extrasensory and a Mega Drain later, the mighty rock snake crashed to ground like a ton of bricks, brought down by something that was just a foot tall.
"I'm really surprised," said Roark as he recalled Onix. "Most trainers generally go with Budew that have the Natural Cure ability. I really should've exercised more caution."
Budew was overjoyed at her victory and did a little dance, making Giselle laugh which broke some of the tension of the battle. Giselle took a deep breath. She had the upper hand—for now anyway.
"Time for my strongest Pokémon," said Roark. "Go, Cranidos!"
Giselle wondered if it would be rude to pull out her Pokédex in the middle of a battle, so she decided against it. She had read about Cranidos anyway. The Pokémon had a gray body, short arms, and the top of its head, its back, and its tail were blue. Spikes protruded out of the back of its head. Giselle knew it was a pure rock type but wasn't sure what was in store for her, but she didn't have to wait long to find out.
"Cranidos, use Zen Headbutt!" Roark called out.
"Oh dear." Giselle remembered Carmen saying that a variety of Pokémon could use Psychic attacks but for some reason she didn't expect it from a pure rock type.
The top of Cranidos's head began to glow with a pinkish color as it began to charge at Budew. Giselle immediately learned how strong Cranidos was. It only took one attack and Budew was knocked out cold. As she recalled it, Giselle realized that she was down one Pokémon. If she lost this, this gym battle was lost. In the stands, Vivienne crossed her fingers. Truthfully, she wanted desperately for Giselle to win this because losing would be a huge hit to her confidence…
Giselle took a Pokéball from her waist. It was a massive gamble but something in her told her to do it.
"Go, Charmander!" Roark looked puzzled while Vivienne simply looked dumbfounded. Giselle couldn't even explain to herself exactly why she did it. Maybe it was because Charmander had been with her throughout everything she'd gone through and deep down wanted to win her first gym battle with him. And after all, Charmander had learned some new tricks.
"Well that certainly is interesting," said Roark. "I know type matching isn't everything but that's a huge risk. Let's see how well your Charmander stands up to Stone Edge!"
A giant stone with a lethal pointed tip rose out the ground and Charmander was forced quickly dodge to keep from being gored. Both Giselle and Charmander were slightly unnerved by the strength of that attack but she quickly regained composure. But before either of them could do a thing, Roark and Cranidos had sent another Stone Edge at them and took to using the attack repeatedly.
"Now it's your turn to use Brick Break! Try to destroy the rocks as the come!" Charmander's fists glowed white as he aimed precise punches to the rocks that rose out of the ground while making sure not to remain in one place to long to become an easy target.
"While we have it occupied, use Take Down, Cranidos!"
Giselle took action. Charmander didn't have much time to dodge the attack, but she had to do something. "INCOMING! Charmander use Metal Claw on Cranidos!"
Charmander's claws glowed with a metallic sheen as he broke into a run toward the charging Pokémon. He slashed Cranidos across the chest as Cranidos slammed into him. Both Pokémon were dealt heavy damage and both flew backward a few feet. However, to Giselle's horror, it was Cranidos that rose first to its advantage.
"This is it!" Roark called out. "Finish this with Zen Headbutt!"
Charmander was still down when the attack hit…and after Cranidos head butted Charmander in the stomach, he didn't move at all. Giselle held her breath, not daring to breathe. Was it? Could it really the end?
"Well," said Roark. "It looks like this is ov—
Suddenly Charmander began to struggle to his feet, determination etched into his face. Then something odd happened: Charmander began to glow bright red. Giselle first thought that it was just his Blaze ability, which wouldn't be much help against the rock typed Cranidos, but this glow was a much more vivid red than Giselle remembered. Suddenly, the red glow was replaced as Charmander began to glow bright white, so bright that the gym was illuminated. His extremities and tail began to grow longer as he grew taller. Then the white light dissipated…
"Charmeleon…" he said in a low voice.
Giselle put her hands over her mouth to stifle the squeal. Charmander evolved! Her Charmander actually evolved! Charmeleon was a rich crimson color and his claws were far more pronounced now. The look in Charmeleon's eyes was as fiery as his now bigger tail flame. Giselle was so overcome with happiness that she almost forgot she was in the middle of a gym battle. Roark brought her back to the situation at hand.
"Looks like things have gotten interesting," he said. "But is it enough to help you win this? Cranidos, use Stone Edge!"
Charmeleon was now faintly glowing red again indicating that Blaze was still in affect. Giselle was eager to see how much more powerful Charmeleon was than his pre-evolution. "Dodge the attack and use Brick Break!"
Charmeleon evaded the sharpened stone and lunged for Cranidos. He was much faster than he was as a Charmander, so the attack missed Cranidos, who was miraculously able to dodge, by mere millimeters. But then Giselle had just remembered she had used a TM on Charmeleon the day before. She realized it would be perfect with all she'd read about Charmeleon all those years ago…
"Charmeleon use Iron Tail!"
Charmeleon's tail turned to steel and he slammed Cranidos with one ferocious swing of his tail. Cranidos was sent backwards and it smashed into a boulder that was behind it before falling to the ground, knocked out. Charmeleon didn't need to utilize Blaze after all.
It took a few seconds for it to sink in. She had won. After all her failures, she had finally won, and Giselle was as far beyond elated as a person could possibly get.
"You did well Cranidos," said Roark. "Take a good rest." He looked up at Giselle. "I have to hand it to you, Giselle. You did well this battle. You have a loyal Pokémon there, so take care of it."
I will," said Giselle as she high fived Charmeleon. "Charmander, I mean Charmeleon, you were awesome."
"Char," said Charmeleon as thanks. The look in his eyes was different than when he was a Charmander. The sweetness was gone and was replaced by toughness, but he still had the same loyalty that Charmander had.
"As your price for defeating the Oreburgh Gym Leader, here's an official Coal Badge," said Roark, holding it out to Giselle. "There's a computer chip in Sinnoh badges so if you have a Pokédex, you can scan that badge and it'll be recorded there. And thanks for the battle by the way."
She took her first gym badge ever with shaking hands. "I should be thanking you, Roark."
"You're welcome then," he replied. "The road to the Sinnoh League only gets tougher from here. You're going to have to train much harder."
"I will," said Giselle as she tipped her yellow hardhat. She looked around and saw that Vivienne had already left the stands to join her.
"Is it time for us to get going once more?" asked Vivienne.
"Yeah," said Giselle. "Thanks again Roark!"
"Anytime," he said. "And say hi to my father. He's the gym leader in Canalave."
"All right," Giselle said happily.
After they were outside the gym, Giselle was still in disbelief. Charmander evolved and she got a gym badge. She once again felt as though she were in a dream or someone else's life. But there was one thing that bugged her. "Vivienne, do you know why the red glow that Charmander had when the Blaze ability activated was so, well, red?"
"I think it was because it was so close to evolution," she said slowly. "Blaze was feeding on the extra energy that Charmander's body was building up for evolution. As I've never seen it happen before, that's my only guess."
"Wow," said Giselle. She looked down at Charmeleon, whom she still hadn't recalled. "Hey, Charmeleon, why don't we get to the Pokémon Center to give you and the rest of the team a rest? You can have all the Pecha Berries you want when we get there."
"Char," said Charmeleon eagerly.
"And I can't wait to call Reina, Carmen, and Luz to tell them the good news!" said Giselle enthusiastically. She thought of all of them and wondered what they were doing right at that very moment.
"Well, Giselle, all I can say is that I'm proud of you," said Vivienne warmly.
"Thanks," Giselle answered. At that moment she had the same warm feeling that she had when she and Charmander had connected for the first time in the woods that day. With that Coal Badge she had already exceeded the expectation of her parents and everyone else in Pallet Town. But whenever Giselle thought about Kanto it was as though it were a part of a different lifetime. Reina seemed sure that she would return someday, but that was still up in the air. For now she just enjoyed being in the present with Vivienne, Charmeleon and the rest of her Pokémon by her side. The road ahead really would be hard, but with friends both near to her physically and the friends that were with her in spirit, Giselle knew she'd be all right just like Reina and Carmen had always said.
OOC: And so ends my very first fanfic! Thanks to everyone who read it, made comments about it, and were forgiving of all the mistakes and typos (which I will fix). I may also do edits to it as well. I enjoyed writing it and I hope everyone else enjoyed it, too Grin A I'm not really sure who my next fanfic will be about, but I have all kinds of ideas in my head. Since things will start getting hectic again, it may be a while before I post a fanfic again. I apologize for being so overly dramatic but I just wanted to say thanks again.
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