บท 16: The New Guy
"So… this is it?" Yoake said as he looks at the building in front of them. Beside him was Kirlia, who was also looking at the building with a mesmerizing stare. The building overshadows the two as Yoake once remembered that this gym used to have an army-themed stye but now, it has that 80's night clubs.
"Right, let's go to the Pokemon center so you three are in perfect condition while I might ask some information about this new gym- I mean, specialist." Yoake corrected himself before he utters the word 'gym leader since Erika already told him about the change, and he has to adapt to this term more often than the old calling.
Kirlia agreed with his statement, the two went to the nearby center, which was a few blocks away from the gym. Upon entering, they were greeted by the lavishness and grandness of the Pokemon center. It was big as an average hospital for humans, but since there were many residents in Vermillion city, it is a no-brainer on why this hospital is big. He walked up to the counter, where a nurse was on standby. She quickly noticed him as he walked to the counter, and greeted him as she does to others.
"Guten Tag, Welcome to the Pokemon center, how may I help you?" The nurse greeted the usual memo. She noticed that Kirlia was outside of her Pokeball and was clinging to the trainer's shoulder.
"Hi, I'm here to heal my Pokemon please," Yoake said.
"Okay, here please put your Pokeballs on this tray." She instructed the trainer as she takes out a tray with six holes that can hold variations of Pokeballs. Yoake followed her instructions, took the three Pokeballs from his belt, and placed them in the tray.
"Hmm, may I ask why is your Kirlia not on her Pokeball?" The curious Nurse asked him.
"Oh, well, she pretty much insisted that she wanted to stay outside of her Pokeball." Yoake briefly explained to the nurse, Kirlia nodded to his explanation.
"I see, that's a very rare case, but oh well." While she was talking to the trainer, a Chansey appeared and she was pushing a platform trolley towards her.
"Here, your Kirlia should sit on this trolley." She said as the Chansey rotates a gear, and slowly, the platform rises from the floor to a more reasonable height for Kirlia, a height that is enough for her to look around.
"Okay then," Yoake said as Kirlia hopped to the platform, the nurse puts the tray on the platform, and Chansey pushed the cart to the nearby door, where she and the rest of Yoake's Pokemon can be healed.
"Hmm… Can I ask something?" Yoake asked the nurse.
"Sure." The nurse allowed the trainer to ask.
"So, I was told that there's a new specialist for the gym, and I am wondering if there is any information about them? So I can do some preparation?" Yoake asked her. She quickly noticed that she was talking to a new Pokemon trainer, and it seems that he's new to the entire thing even though he took on two gyms earlier.
"You must be the new trainer that the other nurses are talking about." The nurse stated.
"Well, I'm not the only new trainer to say," Yoake said since he knows that he wasn't the only trainer that is competing in the league. For now, he only knows that Ren is the other trainer, while it is pretty unclear if there are still trainers out there.
"Huh? Are you sure? I've heard that you're the only trainer that is registered for the entire Indigo League. Must be pretty lonely to be the only one." The nurse stated this cause some confusion to the trainer. He is pretty aware that Ren is also a trainer since she showed her training card, but it shocked him the words from the nurse.
"What do you mean? There's two of us." Yoake said in disbelief.
"Hmm, maybe I'm too late from the news since I rarely talk to other nurses but anyway. Here is a card number where we will call you once your Pokemon are fully healed, you can ask the guy on the counter for some gym assistance." The Nurse said as she hands a card to the trainer with the number 0825, and pointed to a man on the near counter with the word "Assistance' on top.
"Okay, thanks." Yoake thanked the nurse as he took the card and walked to the man to ask for some information.
'That's weird.' Yoake thought as he walked to the counter.
'I'm just gonna hope that Ren has some explanation regarding this.' Yoake thought to himself as he was in disbelief from the nurse but from what she said, being late to the news can pass on some misinformation, so he rest assure to himself that he wasn't the only trainer out there.
"Hi, I was told that I can ask for some assistance or information about the new specialist in the Vermillon gym." Yoake formally said to the man.
"I see, you've come to the right place, what kind of info do you want, tips? Background? Specialty? Or the usual gossips?" The man asked as he gives some choices to the trainer.
"I think I'll go with the tips, background, and specialty." Yoake chose his options to the man, he wasn't keen on gossips but he chose the background just to get some idea of the changes in the gym.
"Okay then. You see, this gym used to be run by Lieutenant Surge, a proud soldier of Kanto. The gym used to have military-themed and focuses more on the strength of the Pokemon with his Raichu but as time goes on, the downfall of Pokemon training was inevitable with the rise of Video games." The man stated.
"Well, he decided to retire and focus more on the military, you may never if we'll a get a war, so yeah, he prepared for that." The man continued. Yoake was confused with the man's assumption of war but he brushed it off and asked.
"I see, so who's the new guy then?" Yoake asked him.
"The new specialist or Gym leader is his nephew from Unova, he also uses electric-based Pokemon but the key difference is this bad boy." The man looks down, took something from a shelf, and places it on top of the counter. It was a disk with a tape on top of it labeled as 'Earthquake'
"Earthquake?" Yoake uttered the words from the label.
"Yup. This bad boy is one of the most powerful and effective Ground-type moves against electric and fire types. Surge and his Pokemon is no match to this, but his nephew though, He can brush this thing off like the move Splash from Magikarp." He said. Yoake began to think about the reason and he decided to assume that the Pokemon are either a combination of an electric and flying type or an ability of some sort.
"Ever heard of Emolgas? Those flying squirrels can drive any trainer nuts since ground-type moves are ineffective to it." The man began describing the said variant of Pikachu, Yoake was familiar with the Pokemon since he played a lot of games regarding them, but has never fought on in real life.
"He and his Emolga are enough to tarnish the new trainers that tried to fight him a year ago. Many were culturally shocked due to the big change in mechanics in the battle, and some, can't even pass his Emolga. Since he has two more Pokemon under his belt, we aren't sure what Pokemon does he have."
"Due to many trainers failed to fight him, the Indigo league decided to open up some assistance desk for trainers who want to be prepared for the gyms they're gonna face. So you're pretty much lucky that the failure of the trainers before you is a tone of advice." The man complimented him after explaining about the specialist he will face later on.
"I see, what tips do you have for me then?" Yoake asked him after listening to the background about the gym.
"Right, a Tank Rock-type Pokemon is probably what you need, and do you have a Pokemon like that?" The man asked him if he has the suggested Pokemon, but knowing he only has a psychic, grass, and flying, he knows things would come in very badly.
"No..." Yoake answered. The man sighed and look into the shelves below the desk.
"Here, you might need this." The man said as he hands a pointy rock with different edges to the trainer. Yoake noticed how familiar this rock is, and realized that he was given a max revive.
"A max revive?" Yoake stated the name of the rock as he looked at the man with utter confusion.
"Yup. I may not know what Pokemon you have but you might use it along with your battle or journey." The man said. Yoake smiled and thanked the man.
"Danke." He said as he walks to the nurse's counter and waited for his Pokemon to be healed and be prepared for the later battle.
After waiting, the Chansey showed up from the door, pushing the silver cart back to the counter. On top of the cart was an active Kirlia, and three Pokeballs on top of a holder. The nurse then showed the number 0825 on the screen, Yoake noticed the number and headed to the counter to take the Pokemon.
"Here you go, we hope we see you again." The nurse chanted as Yoake took the Pokeballs and places them on his belt. Kirlia on the other hand quickly went to his shoulder, clung there, and waited for the Yoake to leave.
"Thanks." Yoake thanked the nurse as he leaves the center and went ahead to the gym.
As soon as he looked at the building in front of him, he gulped in fear. He knows that he is far from prepared, in his standards. Without a ground-type or something effective against electric-type, this battle would be a bumpy one and probably drain his patience and resources in the battle later on.
He took a deep breath and calmed down his mind. He was getting a bit distressed and feels something wrong was rushing in his veins, something that bothers him the most, he continues to pacify himself before the battle, and when he is ready, he can walk into the gym's doors and challenge the specialist.
"I can do this, two of my strategies worked against Misty and Brock, and I might win this here as well," Yoake said to himself as he challenges himself to ensure a victory for later. He looked at Kirlia with full confidence, she notices the determination of the trainer, knowing that he is unequip for the challenge ahead, he was still steaded strong.
She gave a quick signal, and so, it begins.
"Right, Let's do this." He ushered as he walks to the doors of the gym.
To be continued in, Shock
A/N: Hello everyone, long time no update. I noticed how bad I ended this chapter, so I decided to do some tweaking to it and improve. In the meantime, I will be releasing a new chapter next week, probably on Monday, (August 16) so watch out! I was busy for the past few days, so, apologize for the lack of a chapter but don't worry, things are now getting good, and I might fix my schedule soon. Thanks for reading and the support, see you all in the next chapter.
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