Chapter 3
Rustboro's Rocky Roxanne


Roxanne turned to Andrew.  "Then I accept," she replied.  She threw out a Pokéball.  "Go, my Geodude!"
Andrew smiled.  "Poochyena, go!  Bite attack!" he yelled.  The Dark Pokémon Poochyena raced at Geodude, but missed.
"Geodude, Rock Throw, now!" Roxanne commanded.  After Geodude dodged the attack, he hurled rocks at Poochyena, striking him in his midsection.  Poochyena returned the favor with Bite, this time striking his opponent.  Geodude flinched.
"All right, good work so far!  Now, another Bite!"
"Cheap," Roxanne retorted.  "Geodude, Mega Punch!"  Geodude swung its fist around, and then punched Poochyena in the jaw.  He was knocked out.
"Well, I have no other choice but to use Treecko!  Vine Whip!" said Andrew.  Vines lashed out at Geodude, making him faint.
"Nice choice," Roxanne said.  "Nosepass is second!  Go!"  Roxanne told Nosepass to use Rock Tomb, causing severe damage to Treecko.
"Treecko, Absorb!"  Treecko sucked life out from Nosepass, recovering some health.
"Your Tackle attack," said Roxanne.  Nosepass rammed into Treecko, but he came back with Bullet Seed.  Seeds were fired out at Nosepass, doing continuously more damage.  Nosepass was pushed backwards and finally collapsed.
"Yeah!" Andrew shouted.  He leapt into the air.  His Treecko ran back to him and jumped into his arms.  "We did it!"
"You and your Pokémon share a special bond," Roxanne told Andrew.  "You are deserving of this: The Stone Badge.  Take in, in exchange for one thing: I want to know your name."
"My name?" Andrew questioned.
"Yes.  I want to know the name of the person who beat me, so that if we ever cross paths again, we should be sure to battle," Roxanne responded.
"My name is Andrew Anderson," Andrew replied.
"Oh…the son of Drew.  Well, it's no wonder why I lost, right?" Roxanne chuckled.
"Yeah…right…" Andrew replied.
"Well, keep it up, and good luck."
"Thanks."
As Andrew walked away with the Stone Badge, Julia stepped up.  "Can I battle now?" she asked.
"Of course.  Rhyhorn, go!"  Roxanne sent out another Pokémon: her rocky rhino, Rhyhorn.
"Mudkip, go!  Water Gun!" Julia said.
Thus far, Andrew really hadn't seen his sister battle.  She didn't battle against the Poochyena outside Littleroot and she didn't fight Luke from Team Magma.  Andrew felt that she might not have been strong enough the face Roxanne, especially since her only other Pokémon was a Taillow.
However, Julia was no amateur.  She knew exactly what she was doing.  Her Mudkip could use Water attacks against Rhyhorn, doing four times the normal amount of damage.  Any other Rock Pokémon would also be weak against Ground attacks, such as Mud-Slap.
"Rhyhorn, Horn Attack," Roxanne commanded.  Rhyhorn thrust his horn into Mudkip, sending her into the air.
"Water Gun again!" Julia shouted.  As Mudkip fell back to the earth, she fired a stream of water at Rhyhorn, knocking him out.  "All right, Mudkip!  One down, one to go."
"Aron, come out and use Dig!" Roxanne said, throwing out her fourth Pokéball.  The small Steel Pokémon burrowed its way underground.
"Then Mudkip, you use Dig, too," said Julia.  Mudkip also dug a hole in the ground.
Aron rose up from the ground, missing Mudkip.  Consequently, Mudkip struck Aron from beneath him.  Since Aron was Rock-and-Steel-type, and Ground is super-effective against both, Aron was knocked out in one hit.
She…she did better than me! Andrew thought.
"You, too, show promise as a Trainer," Roxanne said.  "Take the Stone Badge…"
"Julia," she answered.
"Ah, yes…well, farewell to you both!"
Andrew and Julia left the Gym and walked into the Pokécenter to heal their Pokémon.
"How did you do that?" Andrew exclaimed.
"What?" Julia inquired.
"You beat Roxanne with only one Pokémon.  Incredible!"
"I'm sure you could have, too, if you used Treecko the entire time," Julia replied.  She took her Pokémon back from the nurse.  Andrew did likewise.
"Well, maybe," Andrew said.  "But it seems like you haven't battled at all, and you…you did better than me."
"I didn't do 'better' than you!" Julia reassured him.  "We both beat the leader, and that's all that counts.  Now, where do we go next?"
"Uh…we can't go north, because of a mountain…" Andrew said while looking over a map in the Pokécenter.  "Anywhere else we would need Surf.  We're kinda…stuck."
An old man walked over to them.  "Pardon me," he started, "but I couldn't help but to overhear your conversation.  If you are collecting badges, you should go to Dewford.  It's this little island down here."
"We can't get there," Andrew answered.
"I can take you there in my boat!  Come on!"  Andrew and Julia followed the man out of the Pokécenter and to his small ship.  "Climb aboard, and we'll be off!"
"All right!" said Andrew.  Andrew's and Julia's quest was finally starting to roll.