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Chapter 8: Second Gym! VS. The Battling Nurse Joy!
Opening.
Gary and Leaf arrived at the Two Island Gym. They looked at each other.
“Ready?” Gary asked Leaf.
“When you are,” she replied.
Gary pushed open the door. A familiar tune began to play when they entered, but Gary couldn’t quite put his finger on where he’d heard it before. The floor of the gym was made of polished marble, and there was an earthen battlefield in its middle, with bleachers on either side of it. Standing in the middle of the battlefield was a pink-haired woman in a nurse’s outfit. Seeing her reminded Gary where he’d heard the music before – in a Pokémon Center.
“Nurse Joy!” he exclaimed, walking towards her. “What are you doing here?”
“Are you Gary Ketchum?” she asked in her bubbly voice.
“That’s me,” he admitted.
She smiled. “I assume you’re here to challenge me?”
Gary stopped in his tracks. “What?”
“Oh, I guess there really aren’t that many battling Nurse Joys,” Joy sighed. “Pity. I am one of the few Joys that has adopted Pokémon battling as their profession. I used to be a nurse, but just healing other people’s Pokémon was just so boring, so I took up battling. Eventually, I was hired by the Sevii League. I am its second Gym Leader: the battling Nurse Joy!”
“Yeahbuwha?” Gary babbled in astonishment.
“Well, are you going to challenge me or what?” Joy demanded.
Gary regained his composure. “Um, yeah,” he said. “I challenge you, battling Nurse Joy!”
She unclipped a Poké Ball from her belt. “Good,” she said. “Then we can begin.”
She threw her Poké Ball. “Go, Blaziken!”
The large, half-chicken, half-human-looking Pokémon appeared and punched the air three times.
“Blaze! Blaze!” it shouted.
Gary chose his first Pokémon. “Go, Aerodactyl!” the pterosaur-like Pokémon burst from its Poké Ball and flapped its wings to raise itself into the air.
“Daaaaaaa!” it screeched.
“Let’s start this off!” Gary ordered. “Aerodactyl, use Wing Attack!”
Aerodactyl’s wings glowed white. It charged at Blaziken and rammed its wings into Blaziken’s body, causing Joy’s Pokémon to stumble back. The battle had begun.
ΩΩΩ
Jaz Erummo stepped forward. An official-looking tribesman stepped forth to greet him. The tribesman had tan skin with green-and-white markings patterned after a skeleton painted around his body, brown eyes, and black hair. He wore some maroon robes loosely, not bothering to tie it up using the buttons and ribbons on it. To prevent immodesty, he wore a maroon loincloth.
“Chee-la toh lin bachh pid’jo lin?” the tribesman asked.
“I… can’t understand what you’re saying,” the captain said.
“Ahhhhhh,” the tribesman said. “Ya, fitto tik tik clok bass,” he added in a reassuring tone of voice. He suddenly took out a dagger and pricked Jaz in the shoulder.
Upon witnessing this, Jaz’s crewman drew their weapons and stepped forward. However, Jaz, held out his arm to keep them back.
“Stand down, crewmen,” he said. “I don’t think this one means us any harm.”
“But he…” the helmsman began.
“If he wanted to kill me,” the captain said, “he would’ve gone for either my chest or my neck.” He looked up at the tribesman.
“So, why did you do that?”
The tribesman smiled. He licked Jaz’s blood from the dagger.
“Why did I stab you?” he repeated. “So that I could taste your blood. I can learn any language by tasting the blood of a native speaker of it. My name is Kameil. I am high priest of this tribe. Welcome to our island. I hope you enjoy your time here.”
ΩΩΩ
“Sky Uppercut!” Joy ordered. Blaziken’s hands glowed blue, and it leapt up and uppercut Aerodactyl in the stomach. Gary’s Pokémon screamed in pain, but then secretly winked at Gary. Gary nodded.
“Now!” he yelled. Aerodactyl’s wings glowed white again, and it performed a surprise Wing Attack. The attack caught Blaziken off-guard, and it plummeted to the ground, defeated.
“Well played,” Joy complimented Gary, recalling her Pokémon.
“Now, let’s see you stand up to this! Gyarados, I choose you!”
The serpentine Pokémon slithered out of its Poké Ball and roared at Gary and Aerodactyl.
“If you can beat this, you’ll win,” said Joy, “since I only carry two Pokémon. However… that’s only if you can beat Gyarados. This big lug is the most powerful Pokémon I’ve ever owned.”
Gary gulped. “W-we can take him,” he stammered. “R-right, Aerodactyl?”
“Aero,” Aerodactyl agreed nervously, nodding its head.
"Giga Impact, Aerodactyl!” Gary ordered. Aerodactyl rocketed towards Gyarados, becoming surrounded in an orange aura as it did so. Aerodactyl slammed into Gyarados, knocking the titanic Pokémon back. However, the attack did not knock Gyarados out. Joy grinned wickedly.
“Your turn, Gyarados,” she said. “Giga Impact!”
Gyarados replicated Aerodactyl’s attack. Gary knew that the attack was unavoidable by the time he registered that it was happening, so he simply shielded his eyes and waited for the inevitable shriek of anguish and defeat that Aerodactyl was sure to create.
ΩΩΩ
“I am Jaz Erummo,” the captain said, introducing himself to the islanders. He gestured towards his companions. “This is my crew. We have come here on a peaceful mission for exploration and riches.”
“What sort of riches?” Kameil asked.
“Oh, the usual things,” said Jaz. “Silver, gold, jewels…”
Kameil laughed. “Well why didn’t you say so?!” he said. “We have those things in abundance! They are not riches to us, merely trinkets! You may take however much you like; we have natural deposits, so they will return to us in due time.”
“That is very generous of you,” said Jaz with a bow.
“Captain?” the helmsman asked him. Jaz looked at the boy. His eyes were shining brightly with anticipation.
“What is it, lad?” Jaz questioned him.
“Will… will each of the crew get a cut of the treasure?”
“Well, sure, if there’s enough.”
“How many are in your crew?” Kameil asked.
“Around fifty,” Jaz replied.
Kameil tsk-tsked. “That is a lot of men,” he said. “Are you going to travel to the end of this island chain?”
Jaz’s eyes widened. “This island is part of a chain?!” he exclaimed.
“Indeed,” Kameil confirmed.
Jaz smiled. “In that case,” he said, “yes. That’s an adventure no man could turn down!”
ΩΩΩ
Luck was not on Gary Ketchum’s side. Joy hadn’t been kidding when she’d said that Gyarados was her strongest Pokémon: it had taken out, in addition to Aerodactyl, four of Gary’s other Pokémon, leaving him with only Dragonair.
“Here goes nothing,” said Gary, tossing a Poké Ball. “Dragonair, come on out!”
The blue snakelike Pokémon burst from the ball and faced Gyarados, prepared for battle.
“Draco Meteor, Dragonair!” Gary shouted. The jewel on
Dragonair’s neck glowed orange, and scarlet meteorites appeared out of nowhere, bombarding Gyarados and knocking it down.
“Show that caecilian what you’re made of, Gyarados!” yelled Joy.
“Use your Ice Fang attack!”
Gyarados’ fangs glowed a sickly bluish-white color. It scooped Dragonair into its mouth and bit down hard. Dragonair squealed in pain as ice began to cover its body. But then, underneath the ice, a white glow began to appear, a glow that enveloped Dragonair’s entire body. Gary gasped when he realized what was happening: Dragonair was evolving.
Dragonair became stout, and wings sprouted from its back; and antennae sprouted on its head. It grew arms, legs, and a tail, and when the light faded, there was very little to suggest that it had once been a blue, snakelike Dragon.
“Draaaaa!” Dragonite bellowed in triumph, using its newfound arms to wrench Gyarados’ jaws open. It slid out of the gaping maw, and held its arms up in the air. A tiny spark appeared over Gyarados’ head, a spark that grew into a gigantic bolt of lightning that struck Gyarados and, at last, knocked the behemoth out.
Joy recalled her Pokémon. “Well done,” she said. “You’ve fully earned this – the Emergency Badge.” She handed Gary a badge that looked like a red lowercase ‘T.’
“Have a safe and fun journey,” she told Gary and Leaf as they exited the Gym.
“You were great in there,” he said to Dragonite as he returned it to its Poké Ball. “Great work.”
“You weren’t so bad yourself,” Leaf said to him.
He smiled at her. “Let’s meet back up with Silv,” he said. She nodded.
“That’d be best,” she agreed.
And so the two of them returned to the hotel, ready to depart for Three Island in the morning.
ΩΩΩ
The white-haired man stepped into the airplane, his old rucksack around his back. He took a seat, and waited for the plane to take off.
Brendan Birch sat, praying that he could get to the Sevii Islands before his daughter slipped away from him yet again.
///////////////////////////////////////////////
Next Time: Gary and his pals arrive on Three Island! After receiving a strange gift, Gary and the others are thrust into the middle of a mystery – can they help find Lostelle, the missing child? Plus, Brendan arrives in the Seviis, and the tale of Jaz Erummo continues! See what happens in chapter 9: “Three Island! An Egg for a Favor!”
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