“All right, then,” Amber said as she threw one of her pokeballs. “I choose Pidgey!”

“Golem, go!” Flint said as he flung his pokeball.

The two pokemon appeared before Amber. The ‘Golem’ looked like a large boulder with a head, arms and feet poking out of it. This was going to be tough.

“You can do it, Amber!” Ash hollered from the side lines.

“Pidgey, use gust!”

Pidgey beat its wings at Golem, causing a wind to pick up. Golem was only knocked backwards a bit.

“Golem!”

“It hardly did anything!” Amber gasped.

“Use rock blast!” Flint ordered with a smug smile.

“Dodge!”

Pidgey couldn’t get out of the way quickly enough. Many rocks hit it in succession.

“Pidgey! Use sand attack!” Amber called.

Pidgey swooped to the ground and kicked some sand into Golem’s face. It swiped at its eyes. There was sand covering them!

“Yeah! Way to go, Amber!” Brock called.

“Use quick attack,” Amber ordered.

Faster than the eye could see, Pidgey flew toward Golem. That training Amber had given it in the forest was really paying off. It hit Golem with tremendous force.

“Golem!” Flint said, impressed. “Double edge!”

“Dodge it and use tackle.”

This time Pidgey managed to do it, thanks to the sand in Golem’s eyes. Pidgey then followed up with a tackle attack, sending Golem backwards.

Flint merely smiled.

“All right then,” he said. “I can’t see you, but that will not stop me. Golem, explosion!”

Amber’s eyes widened. The Golem glowed white, then exploded. The battlefield was covered in a black cloud. It seemed that everyone in the room held their breath for a moment, then. . .

“Both pokemon are unable to battle! Choose your next pokemon!” the squinty eyed kid said.

Amber and Flint recalled their pokemon in a flash of red light.

“You are really good,” Amber said.

“As are you,” Flint said. “You have passed my first pokemon. Quite an achievement.”

With that Flint threw his next pokeball into the air, and in a flash of red, another pokemon appeared.

“Rhydon!” it growled.

“A ‘Rhydon’ huh? Then I choose you, Charmander!” Amber said as she threw Charmander’s ball.

“Charmander!”

“Charmander use smokescreen!” Amber said.

A cloud of smoke escaped from Charmander’s mouth. It surrounded the field. Amber smiled.

“Just like we practiced, Charmander,” Amber said. “Wait for it. . .”

“We don’t have to see them, Rhydon,” Flint said. “Use earthquake.”

“Now!”

“Char. . . mander!!!”

Amber heard Charmander use growl through the smoke, clearing the smoke and making Rhydon cringe with the noise. The special training Amber had given her pokemon was really paying off.

“It’s vulnerable; grab its horn and use ember!”

“Avoid it!” Flint called.

Rhydon tried to get away, but was caught so off guard that Charmander grabbed onto Rhydon’s horn with its jaws and used ember point blank on Rhydon’s weak spot. Even this beast couldn’t survive this assault. Rhydon collapsed onto the ground.

“Rhydon is unable to battle; Amber of Viridian City wins!”

“Great job, Amber,” Brock said.

“Wow! That was an awesome battle!” Ash exclaimed as he approached.

“An exhilarating match, Amber,” the squinty eyed gym leader said. “You deserve this.”

Flint handed her a badge in the shape of a stone: the boulder badge!

“It’s getting late now, Amber,” Brock said. “You should stay the night with us. We can start bright and early in the morning.”

Amber looked up, confused.

“We?”

“Yeah, I’m coming with you and Ash,” Brock said.

“Oh,” Amber said quietly. Two would be harder to protect.