Chapter 6
Payback
"Another battle?" Brawly sighed. "All right, send out your Pokémon."
"You first."
"Ah. Well, then. I guess I'll use Machop." Brawly tossed a Pokéball into the gym arena, unleashing his Pokémon.
"Treecko, go!" Andrew shouted. "Bullet Seed!" Machop was struck with several rounds of seeds, but quickly returned the favor with Seismic Toss. "All right, Treecko, Razor Leaf attack!" Petals sliced at Machop like daggers-critical hit-and knocking him out. "Great job!"
"Then Meditite, I wish for you to battle. Attack with Confusion!"
Tricky, thought Andrew. Because he is using a Psychic-and-Fighting-type Pokémon, he can easily perform both types of attacks, giving him an instant advantage against most people.
"Treecko, Leech Seed!" Seeds were embedded into Meditite, sapping away health and giving it to Treecko.
"Meditite," Brawly began, "use your High Jump Kick!" Meditite rose from the meditation position and leapt up into the air. A foot crossed Treecko's face, making him fall. He didn't get back up.
"That's all right, because I still have my Torchic! Use Peck!" Torchic rapidly Pecked away at Meditite, doing an extreme amount of damage and brining him down to only a sliver of health. However, with a Mega Punch, Torchic was in the same position.
"Isn't this quite interesting?" Brawly observed. "We were in the same position yesterday. We were using the same Pokémon, and were down to about the same amount of HP as we are now. Andrew, please, remind me: how does this end, again?" Brawly smiled.
"Just watch," Andrew retorted. He pointed to Meditite. Brawly's smile quickly faded as the last of Meditite's HP was sucked away by Leech Seed. Brawly had fallen and Andrew had won the Knuckle Badge.
"Most impressive," said Brawly. "You have earned this from me: the Knuckle Badge. Also, because of the fantastic way you battled and overcame me, I want you to have this TM: Bulk-Up. You should teach it to your Torchic. He eventually evolves into a Fighting Pokémon; one of my favorites. Anyway, good luck on your Pokémon quest."
Andrew thanked him and left the Gym. After healing his Pokémon, he and Julia went back to Dewford Town Dock. The old man, Mr. Briney, was waiting for them.
"How'd you two do?" he asked. He chuckled as he saw both of their Badges. "Wonderful! Now, where to now? Slateport?"
"Is there a Gym there?" Andrew asked.
"Nah, but it should be your next stop. It's a busy city, and besides-the city north of Slateport, Mauville, has a Gym. Electric-type, as I recall. Anyway, want to hop on board?"
"Of course," said Julia. Mr. Briney's ship skipped across the ocean, and eventually landed on Slateport's beach.
Julia and Andrew headed into the city, where they saw shops of all sorts-flower shops, Pokémon shops, shops with dolls, and more. It was not, as they expected, a huge city, like Goldenrod or Celedon back home. In fact, while it was big, it had average-sized buildings and was rather open.
"Let's take a break from battling," Julia offered, "and instead go sight-seeing." Julia directed him to a museum filled with aquatic artifacts and such.
"There's nothing interesting in here…" Andrew said, disappointed.
"Of course there is," Julia objected. "Look, you have all sorts of fossils from ancient Water Pokémon, like Kabuto and Omanyte. You also have submarines…and, look-the S. S. Anne! Remember that from back in Kanto? It sailed from Vermilion City to almost anywhere in the world."
"True," Andrew replied, feeling a little homesick. They continued to the second floor.
Suddenly, they heard a crash coming from the ground floor. They rushed downstairs, and saw several Team Magma grunts in the lobby. Luke was one of them.
"Luke!" Andrew shouted, immediately recognizing his foe. "What are you doing here?"
"Ah…my little friend, Andrew Anderson…" said Luke. He walked over to Andrew. "So, has daddy given you any more Pokémon, or have you caught some yourself?"
Andrew scowled at him, and clenched his fist. Julia held him back. "Why don't you see for yourself?" Andrew replied through gritted teeth.
"Be my guest. But be warned-you see how many other members there are in here? If you mess with me…" Luke motioned to the Magma grunts behind him. "You mess with all of them."
"Bring it on." Andrew sent out his Corphish. Luke sent out Absol. "Fury Cutter!"
"Quick Attack!" Luke commanded.
"Stop this!" someone shouted. Andrew and Luke turned around to see someone with red hair combed back, wearing a red-black-suit with black boots. "Luke, why are you wasting time with this…trainer?"
"I'm am sorry, Maxie, but this trainer was opposing me. He is the one who defeated me in Petalburg Woods," Luke quickly apologized. Maxie was, apparently, Luke's master.
"Well, then…" Maxie continued, looking to Andrew. "So you're the infamous Andrew Anderson. I have heard much from you. You know, you would be so great in Team Magma-"
"I don't want to join your stupid team," Andrew shot back. "Now, I suggest you leave before I have to use my full power."
"You…" said Maxie, "take on all of us?" The dozen Magma grunts crowded around.
Julia stepped in. "I'll fight, too."
"Oh, my. Two on 14? Most interesting. I would love to see this."
"Make that three on 14!"
Everyone turned around to see who said that. Standing at the doorway was Steven Stone.
"Steven, what are you doing here?" Andrew asked.
"I heard about some suspicious activity here," said Steven. "I stopped by to see what was going on. It doesn't surprise me that Team Magma is here."
"So what!" shouted Maxie. "Now it's three-on-fourteen. I still don't see what's so great."
Steven sent out a Pokémon: it was blue and had four legs, and much resembled a spider or crab. In the middle of its face was a silver "X."
"Go ahead and send out as many Pokémon as you like. Metagross and I will take care of them," Steven responded.
All of the Team Magma Grunts sent out two Pokémon: a Poochyena and a Numel or a Slugma. Maxie sent out a Golbat, and Luke kept his grey Absol out.
"Metagross," Steven called, readying his Pokémon for the immediate bout, "Meteor Mash!" Metagross summoned metal asteroids to crash down onto all of the opposing Pokémon, knocking most of them, with the exception of Absol and Golbat, out. "Now, Psychic Golbat, and Metal Claw Absol!" Within 30 seconds, all of Team Magma was defeated.
"Not so fast, whoever you are," Maxie said. "I still have two more Pokémon, and Luke has several more to use." Maxie sent out a Mightyena and a Torkoal. Luke sent out an Anorith, Numel, and Zubat.
"Are you trying to make this easy? Earthquake." Steven's highly trained Pokémon stomped on the ground, making parts of the ceiling crumble. All of the Pokémon, except Zubat, were knocked out. However, when Zubat tried to fight Metagross, Steven's Pokémon simply used Psybeam to make it faint. "Now, I suggest all of you leave before I actually do some damage."
"You haven't heard the last of me," Maxie whispered into Steven's ear.
"I'm sure."
After all of the Grunts had left, Steven recalled his Pokémon and turned to Andrew. "Nice work trying to hold them back."
"Steven," Andrew started. "You said that you came over here when you heard about 'suspicious activity.' "
"Yeah…"
"Well, Team Magma was only here for like, five minutes. How could you have gotten over here so fast?"
Steven just smiled and walked out of the museum. He was swept away by his Skarmory.
"There's something odd about him," Andrew said to his sister. Julia laughed.
They left the museum, and started to travel north, to confront bigger and better challenges.