Two gyms, a death, and a pizza place

Starting Pokemon:
Izze the Charizard
Claire the Pidgeotto
Allie the Mankey
Sykes the Jolteon
Nessa the Lapras
Lump the Snorlax


My graveyard (R.I.P.):
Blossom the Vileplume
Doug the Dugtrio
Kingsly the Butterfree




Week 37:


With Giovanni and Rocket vanquished, the city of Saffron was safe again. Time for another badge.


--Saffron City--
Sabrina and the Marsh Badge


So this place is less of a Gym and more of a cult. Seriously. The people in this gym all walk around with their eyes half glazed-over murmuring about how wonderful and powerful Sabrina is. I feel bad for dojo next door. At least they weren't trying to convert me to anything. All business over there.


I decide to send out Sykes for the first gauntlet against Sabrina. Her Kadabra is powerful, but Sykes's Pin Missiles are pretty deadly for Psychic types. Before Kadabra goes down, he shoots off a Future Sight and collapses. After he faints, Sykes takes the damage and has to battle, weakened, against a Mr. Mime. He puts up a Barrier and Baton Passes to a Venemoth.


Charizard time.


Izze comes out, and a roar fills the cold, tiled gym. In one move, Izze has the Venemoth lying in a smoldering heap. Even a Hyper Potion-healed Mr. Mime goes down in two shots.


Sabrina sends out her final hope: a Lv43 Alakazam with whiskers down to his knees.


Izze shoots a white-hot jet of flame toward the creature, singing its long whiskers. Alakazam is burned. Alakazam uses Psychic and drains Izze's health to less than 50%. Wasting a costly turn, Sabrina uses a Burn Heal.


Too late.


WIth a final blast, Izze takes down the Alakazam and earns us our fifth badge. 


This Marsh Badge is for you guys: Blossom, Doug, Kingsly… You helped get us here.

But for some reason, I'm still going to accept your challenge.

Week 38:


--Fuschia City--
Koga and the Soul Badge


There are some battles where everything just seems to go right. It's like after all the effort and pain the team went through to take down Rocket in Saffron, we gelled into a cohesive unit ready for anything. Everyone has their role, everyone knows their place.


As Koga rambled on about strategy and crippling poisons, I calmly sent out my Snorlax, Lump, and watched as he absorbed hit after hit… He even withstood a Selfdestruct. It was with a tinge of bittersweet memory that I saw the Koffing explode before my eyes, the familiar flame and shrapnel flying in chaotic arcs around the room while junior trainers ran for cover. I was stricken by the ferocity of the attack and tormented with the memory of Blossom's fateful demise. And yet even as these emotions flooded my consciousness, I stood proud as Lump shrugged it off and took a bite out of his Leftovers.


Strong though he is, I pulled Lump and sent out my closer to finish the battle. With a confident ease, Izze burned his way through Koga's remaining Pokemon and gave me a gigantic, toothy smile. We were doing it. Two gyms in two weeks and here I was holding onto our sixth badge.


Koga handed us the badge along with TM06 - Toxic. I don't have a use for it yet, but I'm gonna hold onto this. This could come in real handy later on.

"I used to be a magician, but I came here to train as a ninja instead!"
So... That makes you a juggler?

Week 39:


The Soul Badge is considered a license to Surf in Kanto -- why they allow you Fly before you can Surf is beyond me -- but I'm not quite ready to head for Cinnibar. I've been hearing complaints about a tweaked out Power Plant outside of Cerulean for a couple months now, and I think I owe it to Misty and the rest of Cerulean to check it out before I leave. The trip to Cinnabar could last for a long time and I don't want to let anyone down.


The Power Plant is massive. A bunch of discarded Item Balls lay scattered about the floor, but it seems like every other one is just a Voltorb in disguise. I've got Allie out in front for this one. The Magnemites in this building are incredibly aggressive and she already helped us catch the first one (Magnum the Magnemite, sent straight to the PC).


I keep her out of her Pokeball to help me explore the hallways. She doesn't like it. Brave though she may be, the air around here is quite literally charged. Her fur is standing on end and I can feel the rivets on my jeans start to pull away as Magnemites race about the building.


She's the lowest level in my team right now by one, and I promise her that as soon as she gains one level, I'll switch to someone else. We don't have a Ground-type on the team right now, so her Fighting-type is as good as anything else to take care of these Steel pests.


It happens in a flash.


As I peek down another deserted hallway, I hear Allie's shouts from behind me. I whirl around to see a massive Electabuzz let fly with a bristling Thunder Punch. He stands a good four inches taller than Allie and I yell for her to duck. Too late. The punch connects but Allie bounces out of it, a glancing blow. She lands a Karate Chop square on his head and knocks him backwards. 


I smile. That's my Allie. The prize fighter.


The wild Electabuzz lets fly with another Thunder Punch. Allie tries to dip out of the way but something is wrong. The punch connects with a sickening crunch, arcs of electricity bouncing from the wild Pokemon's outstretched fist.


It's a critical hit. 


Izze emerges from his Pokeball without my needing to call him. With a fearsome howl, he tears into the Electabuzz… But it is already too late.

...

Allie lay still at my feet, her fists still clenched and ready for the fight, while her heart simply stops beating.


Izze places a claw on my shoulder as a giant tear falls from his scaly eyes, landing on the floor with a hiss of electricity. I gather Allie up in my arms and Izze uses Dig to take us to the front of the entrance.

You could float like a Butterfree and sting like a Beedrill.
Thanks for the memories.

---IN MEMORIAM--
Allie - Lv39 - The Brave Primeape I met along Route 3 as a tiny Mankey. May your death serve as a reminder that sometimes, there is no meaning in loss other than to remember the joy we once had as two living creatures.
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