บท 42: Chapter 41
As Arthur battled more and more, a rumour about a strong Pokemon trainer with a monstrous Charmander began to make rounds in the Pewter city Pokemon center.
He was already famous due to the TM he had tried to sell and this just added more to his reputation.
Cause of this, he also needed to stop challenging rookie trainers. As his reputation grew, more experienced trainers came out to battle him.
It was still fine at first, but soon, he was getting challenged by trainers with over level 30 Pokemon. It was not something that he could win against in his current state.
Moreover, there was also a chance of injuries if Arthur really decided to be reckless.
That's why, he stopped his training and moved back to his room. He decided to give Charmander a rest as his starter Pokemon was also tired after battling the whole day.
The next day, Arthur holed himself up in his room.
He didn't go out looking for a battle which was a great disappointment for the trainers who had specifically come to challenge him and for those who had just come to spectate his Charmander.
Even knowing this, Arthur can do nothing.
The reason he was even holed up in his room was because he was checking every data on Brock he could find.
Thanks to the internet, there were many clips of Brock battling against other trainers. Some of the clips were even about his battles with other gym leaders.
Those proved really helpful to Arthur.
He was even able to find trainers that had previously battled Brock and had left the summary of their battle on trainer forums. It was widely popular and there were already hundreds of thousands of reads on it.
This was the magic of the internet which had also engulfed the Pokemon world. Arthur was obviously thankful for it cause he was able to prepare for his battle easily.
The whole day, he watched the clips of Brock's battles with Mankey and Charmander — The two Pokemon which he would be using in his gym battle.
Charmander was an obvious choice and he had chosen Mankey because of the type advantage a fighting type has over a rock type.
As Mankey liked taking part in high intensity battles, a gym battle was just the perfect opportunity for him.
He had also become quite tame after losing to Samurai's Metapod and he wanted to redeem himself against Brock. That's why, he watched all the clips silently, taking in the usual battle style of Brock.
The three of them spent the whole day like that, watching clips after clips.
Thinking of the battle style of Brock which was more of an attacking style, Arthur made several tactics and strategies.
He wasn't able to curb the excitement of his first gym battle and ended up sleeping at midnight. Then, the next day, he made his way towards the gym early in the morning.
It was finally the time for his first official gym battle.
* * *
"It's nice to meet you. My name is Brock, the gym leader of Pewter city."
Brock said his courtesy gym leader introduction as he eyed the young trainer standing in front of him.
Unlike in the anime, this Brock had more of a mature face and his hair was also longer. At the same time, he was also taller than Arthur and looked to be exercising regularly, as his body didn't have an ounce of fat.
It was his usual job to meet young, rookie trainers who would often challenge him to a battle and he could immediately recognize that the trainer before him had a peculiar aura surrounding him.
He was obviously Arthur.
"It's nice to meet you too. It's an honour to have a battle with you." Arthur said, looking up at Brock who was a head taller than him.
"You flatter me."
Brock said and laughed.
Both of them made their way inside where a battlefield was already ready. Several gym trainers were doing a last minute inspection to make sure that the field was ready for a battle.
Arthur recognised one of them.
It was the same guy who had helped him to register two days ago. He seemed to have also noticed Arthur and was glancing at him.
"Is it your first gym battle? Do you have badges?" Brock asked.
"No, I don't have any badges and yes, it's my first gym battle. It had only been a month since I had become a trainer."
Arthur replied and Brock raised his eyebrow. He hadn't checked Arthur's official information before, so he didn't know that Arthur was this much of a rookie.
He wondered if he would even be able to defeat one of his Pokemon?
"It's not been a long time since you became a trainer. Are you sure you want to challenge a gym leader?"
Brock asked, giving Arthur a chance to forfeit, but he shook his head.
"Yes, I'm sure that I would be able to win."
In the first place, Arthur wouldn't have challenged Brock if he didn't have confidence to win. Brock also liked that confidence and nodded his head.
"Okay, let's see how much of a challenge you can be. I will explain to you the rules of an official battle."
With that, Brock started explaining the rules.
They were mostly the same as an ordinary trainer battle. Just there was one difference — A challenger can change his Pokemon in the middle of a battle, but a gym leader can't.
It was a small rule, but it was made to give challengers a more favourable chance to win.
Other than that, everything was the same and Arthur already knew most of the rules, so he just nodded his head.
"The battlefield is ready. We can start any moment."
The gym trainer who had helped Arthur register was also acting as the referee of the battle and he came to them after the inspection had finished.
"Let's don't waste any more time then and start the battle!"
Brock said and the prelude to his first gym battle was over.
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