Chapter Fourteen: Explosion "What did the nurse want?" Leah asked when Uiru got back. "Hitmonchan got shocked a few too many times," Uiru replied. Across the room, Eric and Allison were shouting at each other. "Psychic types are NOT the ultimate power!" Allison declared. "They have weaknesses just like everything else!" "Yeah, themselves!" Eric responded. "The only thing their attacks don't beat the living crap out of is their own type." "Their defence sucks," Allison stated, "and their offence in most cases is pathetic." "Guys, guys, guys," Pittman inturrupted. "There's only one way to solve this argument, right?" "Right," Allison said, brandishing a Poké Ball. "Outside." "Five on five!" Eric shouted, drawing a Poké Ball. "Works for me!" Allison replied. "Kabutops, attack!" "Kadabra, go!" The other trainers from Cinnibar gasped. Weren't Kabutops extinct? Eric was so riled up he didn't even notice. "PSY Sword, now!" he shouted. Kadabra copied Alakazam's energy blade attack, but instead of twin short swords, Kadabra produced a long katana. "Kabutops, Swords Dance!" Kabutops already had it's weapons- the giant scythes on it's arms. The two Pokémon charged at each other. Although Kadabra was faster then Kabutops, it didn't have the training Uiru's Alakazam had. It fought a good fight but Eric could see it couldn't take much more. "Kadabra, Reflect!" Eric ordered. "Recover!" Kadabra glowed yellow, during which time Kabutops' blades bounced right off it. Then it glowed blue, and recovered most of it's health. "Kadabra will be hard to beat with powers like that," Uiru declared. "Kabutops, Fury Swipes!" Kabutops' savage slashing salvo knocked Kadabra's sword from it's hand, causing it to revert back to a spoon. Kadabra took heavy damage from the attack. "Recover!" Eric shouted again. Kadabra picked up it's spoon, but before it could finish healing itself, Kabutops charged with a Skull Bash. Kadabra flew. "Return! Mr. Mime, attack!" Mr. Mime just stood there. Kabutops attacked with Fury Swipes again, but the attacks bounced off an invisible barrier. Mr. Mime reached out and Doubleslapped Kabutops. Although it barely damaged it, the attack enraged the fossil Pokémon. It continued to hammer at the invisible wall while Mr. Mime calmly powered up a Psychic blast and sent Kabutops into orbit. Landing with a crash, Kabutops had had it. Allison recalled it and sent Dugtrio. "Dig attack, Dugtrio!" Tunneling under the streets of Vermillion was easy, since fifty billion Dig attacks had already passed through that way. Mr. Mime never saw it coming and Dugtrio struck it with Dig, then Slashed it from behind. That was it for Mr. Mime. "Return! Butterfree, go! Mega Drain!" Now Dugtrio was in big trouble. It tried to dodge the blast of Grass energy but couldn't. It couldn't reach Butterfree to attack it, so the next Mega Drain did it in. "Arcanine, go!" Allison summoned her giant fire puppy. "Fire Spin, now!" Butterfree evaded the tornado of flame and shot Arcanine with a PSY Beam. However, the attack struck it when it paused to fire the Psychic energy and quickly pounded it to a pulp. "Porygon, attack!" Eric called his new cybernetic Pokémon. "Conversion!" Porygon glowed white, and a bright flash signified the attack was over. "Flamethrower!" Allison ordered. Arcanine fired beams of flame at the odd crystalline beast but it took no damage from the flames. Porygon was now a Fire type, impervious to flame attacks. It then glowed brown, signifying the use of Harden, and finally glowed a bright red. "What is that thing doing?" Geoff asked. Patrick shrugged. "Sharpen," Eric answered. "Tackle attack!" Arcanine got slammed by the razor sharp edges of Porygon. If it couldn't flame it and couldn't touch it, Arcanine would never win. "Return! Beedrill, go! Poison Sting attack!" Although it was a Fire type, Porygon couldn't attack with Fire. It also had trouble aiming it's PSY Beams, since Beedrill was incredibly evasive. Beedrill cocked it's stingers and sent dozens of purple spines flying at Porygon. It was easy to see Porygon was poisoned. It slammed Beedrill with a PSY Beam but the attack didn't do much damage since Porygon wasn't a Psychic type. "Go, Staryu!" Eric was getting annoyed now. He was down to his last Pokémon. Allison laughed. "Okay, time to finish this. Beedrill, return! Magneton, go!" "Oh crap!" Eric cursed. "Magneton, Thunderbolt!" "Staryu, Light Screen!" Incredibly, Staryu managed to block out Magneton's thunder. However, Magneton Body Slammed Staryu, and Thundershocked it while it was still reeling from the attack. Eric cursed and recalled it. "Ah, damn!" Eric shouted. "Hey, don't worry about it. Uiru used to lose to me all the time." Allison laughed. "What?! I beat you almost every time we fought!" Uiru shouted. "Did not!" "Did too!" Matt laughed. "Let's go inside," he said to the others. "Before this does one of those 'Did not' 'Did too' jobs." "Shut up," Uiru and Allison said at once. Nick got back later that night. It was decided that the next day they would fly up to Celadon and try to recruit the Biker's help, then attack Fuchsia. Most of the trainers headed off for bed. Jessica was heading down the hall when she saw Uiru outside. What's he doing? she thought. Uiru was leaning on the railing of the porch, staring off into space. "Uiru?" she asked. "What are you doing out here? It's freezing." It was unnaturally cold in Vermillion tonight. "Oh, Jessica... I'm just, um, thinking." She had surprised him. "About what?" "Oh... nothing." "Oh, come on, it's something," she stated. She went over to him. "What is it?" "Well... I was thinking about what the ghosts said. About me only caring about the mission. Am I like that?" "No, of course not. You're dedicated, no doubt about that. But... I know what else you care about." She moved in and hugged him. He returned the embrace. He grinned and blushed slightly. "Good. Load off my mind." His feigned indifference struck Jessica as funny. "Can we go inside now? I'm freezing," Jessica stated. They headed inside, and went to the dorms. Uiru noticed her arm. "Hey, you took off the brace." "Yeah, it was bugging me. My arm's okay, as long as I don't jerk it. The nurse gave it another dose of Super Potion." "You know what that means." Nick's voice drifted over to them from the bunks. "Gotta take it easy Uiru." The two gave him the finger in the darkness. Jessica whispered, "Why is he always awake at times like this?" Erin, accompanied by Uiru and Eric, headed to Route 16 to find the Bikers. Actually, they found them first and things were about to get ugly, but Uiru calmly said they were recruiting 'brave warriors' to attack Fuchsia. Appealing to the ego of the mob usually works wonders, and in no time at all Uiru had enlisted their aid. "We're heading down to Route 18 right now," Uiru announced. "Just follow the helicopter and attack when we do." The Bikers cheered and tore down Route 17 to get ready. Uiru, Eric and Erin headed back to the guard station where the others were waiting. "Let's hurry," Eric suggested. "I hope Fuchsia's citizens are all inside." "You're quite the orator, Uiru," Erin stated on the way. Uiru shrugged. "The mob exists to be manipulated." "The mob... I hope they don't hear that," Eric laughed. Uiru looked around. "Nope! No Bikers here." Night was falling in Fuchsia City when the Sunder Force soldiers in the Fuchsia guard station saw an army of Bikers headed their way. Worse yet, the Fire Strike chopper was leading the charge. One of the guards grabbed the speakerphone. "Attention soldiers! Evacuate the city, now! Fire Strike and the Cycling Road Bikers are on their way from Route 18!" Then the soldiers tore out of the building and headed for Route 15, on the eastern side of Fuchsia. Fire Strike landed in the middle of the city, and the Biker leaders drove up to them. "What the hell?!" he shouted. "You said we'd get to fight them!" "Looks like we scared them away," Uiru stated. "We can't let them go though. You all got bikes, go after them!" "All right!" the biker boss shouted. "After them!" Cheering and hooting, the Bikers thrashed through the city and onto the normally peaceful Route 15. Before Fire Strike could decide where they were going next, a man hailed them. "You there. There's a group of soldiers on their way back to Fuchsia from Seafoam Islands." "All right, thanks," Uiru stated. "They'll show up on the beach," he told them. "The canyon south of here is the only way off Route 19 and into Fuchsia. It would be the best spot to stop them." Uiru nodded, and the group headed down to the canyon. They could see the soldiers on their way back. "What'll we use?" Matt asked. "If they're coming back from Seafoam, they'll probably have lots of Water and Ice Pokémon." "But if they're Fuchsia guards, they'll have Grass Pokémon," Leah stated. "Maybe they'll have both," Allison suggested. "Either way, Fire seems like a good way to go. Arcanine, come out!" The soldiers returning from the Islands now recognized Fire Strike. "Oh geez! We're dead!" some of them were heard shouting. Erin stepped forward. "Let me try something," she stated. "Weezing, Muk, Arbok, Hypno!" Her four Poison using Pokémon appeared before her. "All right, Muk, Hypno! Poison Gas attack!" The two spewed a cloud of noxious fumes over the enemy party. "Arbok, Screech!" The deafening roar from the cobra Pokémon caused most of the trainers to fall to the ground, covering their ears. Unfortunately, so did Fire Strike. "Weezing! Explosion!" Weezing flew straight into the cloud, and a gigantic blast of Poison power eminated from within, knocking out most of the trainers and the few Pokémon already summoned. "Everybody, return!" Erin ordered. Muk, Arbok, Hypno and the fainted Weezing returned to their Poké Balls. "And that's how you take care of a bunch of soldiers," Erin declared. The others couldn't help but applaud. "That was great!" Geoff declared. "You beat them all with three attacks!" "Never underestimate the power of Poison Pokémon," Erin announced. "Eh, Uiru?" It was well known that Uiru wasn't especially fond of Poison types. "Hey, I get it," he laughed. "Weezing might get annoyed if you do it too often though." "Speaking of which, you better cure it," Allison stated. A slow clapping was heard. "Very good," came the voice of the man. "Skillful use of the Poison element." "Thank you, sir," Erin replied. "My name is Koga, of the Fuchsia City Gym. I'd like to speak to you, young lady. If you all could spare a few minutes..." Everyone looked at Uiru. "Well it's too late to fly to Cinnibar now," he stated. Koga laughed. "I take it you are the leader of this group?" Uiru nodded. "Good, good. Anyway, please come with me." Koga took them to his Gym- a very fancy, traditional-looking place that Matt described as a 'Japanese restaurant'. "How many other cities have Gym Leaders?" Uiru asked Koga. "We've been all over the place and we havn't seen any until now." "I saw one in Cerulean," Nick stated. "Didn't meet the leader though." Koga nodded. "This country has become a strange place. Each city, except Lavender Town and Pallet Town, have Gyms. But the Leaders are becoming as corrupt as the League themselves. Many are actually considering passing a law that will allow Gym Leaders to charge money for the chance to fight them." "That's stupid!" Leah inturrupted. "The point of Pokémon training is to test skill, not make a profit!" Koga nodded. "In addition, many Gym Leaders seem to be amassing their strongest warriors. Members of Gyms who cannot keep up with the Leader are kicked out. I sense drastic changes in the wind..." "That doesn't happen here, does it?" Allison asked. "No, of course not. The building isn't the only traditional thing about the Fuchsia Gym. Not many keep the old ways, however." Koga opened a screen and the party entered what looked like a training room. "Enough of this. Young lady, your name is...?" "Erin," Erin stated. "Ah. Erin, I would like to challenge you to a match with me." Koga stepped to one end of the room. "Usually it is the trainer who challenges the Gym Leader, but I believe you'll put up a very good fight." "Well... I have to cure my Pokémon." Koga let her use the healing unit in the Gym. Then, it was time for battle in the courtyard of the Gym. The sun had gone down, and the moon was rising. There was just enough light to see. "How many Pokémon do you have?" Koga asked. "Six," Erin replied. "Then we shall battle six on six. Are you ready?" Koga drew a Poké Ball. "Sure am! Nidorino, I choose you!" "Golbat, I choose you! Wing Attack!" Golbat swooped down on Nidorino and swung at it, but Nidorino struck it with Double Kick. The attack didn't faze Golbat very much, and it swooped down with a Leech Life attack. "Watch it! Bug moves are strong on Poison Pokémon!" Patrick warned. "Got it! Nidorino, Horn Attack!" Nidorino shook off Golbat and jumped into the air, flailing wildly with it's horn. Then in midair, it Tackled Golbat, sending it to the floor. "Golbat, return! Beedrill, attack!" "Nidorino, Horn Drill!" Nidorino's horn glowed and began to spun as it charged at Beedrill. Beedrill zipped out of the way at the last second and opened fire with Pin Missile, another Bug attack. This time Nidorino couldn't take any more, and fainted. "Return! Arbok, go!" Arbok leapt up at Beedrill and tried to Bite it, but it responded with Fury Attack. The move knocked Arbok away from it but with a fantasitc Tail Whip as it fell, Arbok took out Beedrill. Calling back Beedrill, Koga now sent out Haunter. "Hypnosis!" Koga ordered. "Dream Eater!" Arbok was put to sleep, and Haunter drained most of it's energy away. "Return!" Erin wasn't sure which Pokémon to send out next. Poison wouldn't work and her Pokémon's physical attacks wouldn't touch Haunter. Then she remembered the best way to deal with Ghost Pokémon. "Hypno, attack! PSY Yoyo, now!" "PSY Yoyo?" Uiru asked. Hypno's pendulum suddenly glowed a very deep purple as Psychic energy flowed through it. With a snap of the wrist, Hypno had it in it's hand like a yoyo. "I sense copyright infringement," Uiru laughed. "Alakazam's not going to like this." "Consider it a compliment," Allison stated. "Imitation is the highest form of flattery." And Hypno's attack seemed to be working. Haunter was taking quite the pounding from the Psychic type weapon. To finish it off, Hypno used it's Sleeper attack, which put Haunter to sleep as well as damaged it greatly, then slammed it with Dream Eater. The few Night Shades Haunter had gotten in were cured. Koga clapped. "Very interesting," he stated. "Haunter, return. Venomoth, go! Stun Spore, now!" Hypno's PSY Yoyo attack dissapated when it became Paralyzed. It shot a PSY Beam at Venomoth but it easily dodged it, then used Disable to lock out Hypno's Psychic powers. "Ah, damn," Erin complained. "Hypno, return. Nidorina, go! Body Slam!" Although Venomoth dodged the first tackle, the second time it got crushed. Venomoth tried to Tackle Nidorina after it got off but it fainted. "Tentacruel, go! Wrap Nidorina!" Koga's next Pokémon was the giant squid, Tentacruel. It Wrapped Nidorina up and started pounding it. Nidorina managed to strike it with a few Horn Attacks but Erin called it back. "Go, Muk! Rage attack, now!" Tentacruel tried to Wrap and Slam Muk but they just slid right off it and made Muk even angrier. It charged Tentacruel in a rage, slamming it's giant sludgy hands against Tentacruel's weak body. "Return!" Koga was down to his last Pokémon. "Arbok, go!" Koga also had an Arbok. Muk's Rage kept up and for a while Arbok had trouble scoring hits. Koga finally slowed it down with a Glare, then Arbok Skull Bashed the pile of sludge until it fainted. "All right, Weezing! Tackle attack!" Weezing slammed into Arbok, sending it flying. It bounced right back with a Bite move, drawing black poisonous blood. Weezing shot it with Sludge and used Double Edge. Arbok had had it. Fire Strike cheered. Koga recalled his Arbok and laughed. "Congradulations," he stated. "You've earned this." He pulled something from his pocket and tossed it to Erin. "This is the Soulbadge. Only a select few who have defeated me can have this." Erin took it. She pinned the heart-shaped badge to her jacket. "Cool!" The nurse scolded them when they entered the Pokémon Center. "What are you trainers doing out so late?" she asked. "I was about to lock up." "We were driving Sunder Force away," Patrick stated. "And then Koga invited us to his Gym." The nurse noticed Erin's badge. "Oh, congradulations," she said. "Koga doesn't invite people to his Gym very often. I guess I can excuse you this time, but get straight to bed!" The trainers handed over their Pokémon to be healed, then went to sleep.