บท 99: Brock's Regret

On his way to the gym, Julian was wondering what pokemon he will battle as Roxanne has more than just two pokemons shown in the anime and there is not much information about her other pokemons on the internet either so Julian was a little curious about his battle today.

When he reached there he saw a building made out of huge rocks, just by looking at the structure one would tell that this is a rock type gym.

Julian walked inside to find Ash and his friends there talking to Roxanne, Julian covered his head with the hood of his coat and proceeded forward, a student of Roxanne noticed Julian and came forward to talk to him.

Student "Sir how may I help you?"

Julian "I am here for a gym battle"

Student "A Gym battle?"

The student was surprised as he turned towards Roxanne to inform her.

Student "Teacher looks like you have another challenger today"

Roxanne who was speaking to May looked towards the student and noticed Julian behind him, Ash, Max, May, and Brock also noticed him but due to his head being covered they couldn't see his face clearly.

Roxanne "Oh another challenger, but I have to battle Ash"

Julian "I can wait"

Roxanne "Ah, if you can wait then it's fine"

Julian nodded and went towards the spectator area and took his seat, Ash didn't think much about it and went towards the battlefield to start his battle.

Brock, on the other hand, was on to Julian as he felt he had seen this young man somewhere.

The battle started as Ash sent out his Treecko against Roxanne's Geodude.

Max "Based on type Treecko's got the advantage"

Brock "That's true but there is a small problem Treecko doesn't know how to use any Grass-Type moves yet"

May "Then that's a big problem"

Max "That's what makes it more exciting, I can't wait to see what Ash strategy is"

Brock looks at Julian once again and this time he notices the crimson red eyes of Julian and finally figures out that this is indeed Julian and he was right all along.

Brock "What do you think Julian?"

Julian who was watching the battle heard his name being called, he turned around and saw Brock so he lifted his hood, he already had a hunch that Brock must have noticed him so he wasn't surprised at all.

Julian "Oh, you recognized me"

Brock "Actually I saw you yesterday at school but I thought I was seeing things but seeing you here proved that I was right"

Max and May looked at Julian, May noticed Julian and felt that she had seen him somewhere then she remembered the handsome young man she saw at Professor Birch's lab, Max, on the other hand, was stunned by seeing Julian.

Max "I...It...It can't b...be"

May "Max what happened"

May is now worried about seeing her brother turned into a statue.

Brock realized Julian's status and felt that he made a mistake, he had completely forgotten that Julian was once a champion, he laughed awkwardly seeing Max in this state, traveling with Max these few days Brock came to know Max admired many people from Kanto and one of them is Julian the undefeated champion.

May "Max what's wrong?"

May shook Max as he snapped out of it, as he was about to scream in excitement Brock suddenly covered his mouth.

Brock "Not now, Ash is having a battle"

Max soon calmed down but he couldn't hide his excitement, Julian just ignored them and looked back at the battlefield.

Max saw Julian looking at the battlefield so he also started to look at the battlefield, the battle had already started and Ash called out a Quick Attack and Geodude stopped it and were now having a pushing battle, Geodude landed a punch and sent Treecko flying up but Treecko used the momentum of its fall and landed a Pound on Geodude.

Brock "Julian, who do you think is gonna win?"

Julian "This round will be Geodude's"

Max and May were surprised by his firm answer but they didn't talk and looked at the battle as soon the battle came to an end, Geodude finished the battle with a Mega Punch, Treecko tried to stand up but failed and fainted.

Max and May were shocked and looked at Julian again they couldn't believe he called out the result before the match even ended.

Max was really excited to see his Idol and now seeing him in person was more exciting for him.

The next pokemon Ash sent is Pikachu.

Julian "Looks like Pikachu had grown weak"

Brock "It has indeed, It cannot use the moves it previously learned"

Max "What do you mean?"

Brock "Pikachu knew many moved before they came to Hoenn, but due to Team rocket exposing Pikachu to strong electric magnet Professor Birch had to absorb all of Pikachu's stored electricity so Pikachu lost most of his moveset"

Max was shocked after hearing this, May also remembered the incident that happened in the forest with Team Rocket trying to steal Pikachu.

The battle went on and Pikachu defeated Geodude with a close-range Thunder, then it even defeated Nosepass after a tiring battle.

Ash joined the group and saw Julian there.

Ash "Julian are you here to challenge the gym as well?"

Julian nodded and proceeded towards the battlefield.

Max was on the edge of his seat.

Max "I can't believe I am able to see a Champion battle right in front of my eyes"

May "Champion?"

Max "You don't know? how can you be such an idiot you don't know who Julian is, I am ashamed to call you my sister"

May "Hey, hold your Horsea what do you mean by you being ashamed by me"

Brock "May, Julian was actually a Champion of Kanto"

May was shocked by this sudden info dump.

Max "Not just any Champion, the Undefeated Champion, he has never lost a battle and all his pokemons are monsters among monsters"

Ash "Now that I think about it I completely forgot that Julian was a champion as we are friends"

Max "What you are friends with the champion, introduce me to him"

Brock "Max stay still they are about to start their battle"

Max sat down and looked at the battlefield.

Max "Which pokemon will he use, will he use his Gyarados or Infernape or Venusaur"

Brock "I don't know, just stay still"

Brock was now getting annoyed by Max, he regretted calling out Julian while he was minding his own business.

This was certainly got noticed by Roxanne who was also shocked by getting to know the Identity of the person in front of her.

Julian "You don't have to worry I won't use my old pokemons"

Roxanne sighed in relief as she knew what a pokemon that is at a champion level could do.

Roxanne "I am honored to battle the champion of Kanto, please go easy on me"

Julian "I am not a champion anymore so don't mind the formalities, and let's begin"

Roxanne nodded her head, she was also excited as she was battling against a champion, not many trainers are privileged enough to actually have a battle with a trainer who has a champion level status.

The student came forward and acted as the referee.

Referee "This will be a two on two battle, as per rules only the challenger is allowed to substitute his pokemon in middle of the battle, whoever doesn't have any Pokemon left at the end of the battle loses"

Roxanne was determined and wanted to give a full-on battle to Julian.

Roxanne "Go Graveler".