Basically the Scariest Pokemon Out There, and He's My Sanity
Chapter 10
We arrived at Pewter City that afternoon and stayed at the Pokémon center. That night I couldn’t sleep. I just stared at the ceiling above me with my hands behind my head and a comfy blanket on my stomach.
I kept thinking about how the gym would look and how strong the gym leader would be.
“I wonder what kind of Pokémon they have?” I asked out loud. Gastly stirred and floated to my side. He had been sleeping/floating above me.
“Gast?” he asked. I smiled at him and put my hand on the top of his head/body.
“Don’t worry, Gastly. I’m just a little nervous about tomorrow,” I said. Gastly started speaking but I couldn’t figure out what he was saying. Usually I could just guess and I seemed right most of the time, but this time I couldn’t even guess. “Sorry, Gastly. I can’t understand you.” Gastly sighed and snuggled up to me.
“Gastly, gast gastly,” he said. I still didn’t understand him but I just hugged him anyway.
“Don’t worry Gastly. No matter what, we will try our hardest tomorrow. If we can’t beat the gym leader, then we’ll just train hard after the match and challenge him again!” I said. Gastly nodded and soon fell asleep. I held him close and tried to fall asleep as well. “Goodnight, Gastly. Tomorrow is the first step of our Kanto journey.”
We woke up early the next day. I had Nurse Joy heal all of my Pokémon.
“Here you go, Hannah. Good luck on your gym challenge,” Nurse Joy said as she handed me my Pokémon.
“Thank you, Nurse Joy! Um, where is the gym anyway?” I asked. She laughed and pulled out a town map. She showed me a route that led me straight to the gym. “Thanks again! Well, I’ll be going!” I waved at her as I left the Pokémon Center and followed the route she showed me.
When Gastly and I arrived we had stopped in front of a huge building that was surrounded by boulders.
“Whoa,” I whispered, gazing up at the gym. Gastly nudged me and I got out of my trance. I looked at Gastly and smiled with determination. “Okay Gastly! Let’s do this!” Gastly nodded and we walked into the gym.
“Hello!” I yelled. My voice echoed off the tall, cave-like walls. “Is anyone here? I would like to challenge the gym leader to a Pokémon match!”
“I am the leader of this gym!” a voice ahead of me said. I jumped at the intensity of the voice as it jumped off the walls. I looked down the hallway and noticed that the voice came from a man who was standing in front of double doors. “Who wishes to challenge me?” I ran up to him and bowed.
“I wish to,” I stated.
“You? A little girl?” he asked, skeptic al.
“Yes. I am Hannah Ketchum. I’m from Pallet Town. And I may be small but that doesn’t mean my Pokémon and I can’t give a good Pokémon match!” I said. I glanced up at him and he was waving his hands around crazily.
“Whoa, whoa there. I never said you wouldn’t put up a good fight. Okay, I accept your challenge! Shall we get started right away?” he said. I stood up straight and nodded. He opened the doors behind him and showed me into the arena.
It. Was. HUGE! Not only was the arena area itself big, but it was surrounded with many rows of seats above us.
“Wow,” I muttered. The man laughed.
“Yeah, it’s pretty big isn’t it?” he said over his shoulder. I nodded. Gastly floated ahead of me and waited for me in the challenger’s box. When the gym leader arrived at his box he grabbed out a pokeball. “Are you ready?” I nodded and was about to send out Gastly when the double doors burst open. Gastly, the gym leader, and I all turned around to see a boy a little older than me standing in the doorway with his arms spread out. His hair was brown and spikey and it looked like his eyes were closed.
“Brock? What’s wrong? Is one of your siblings hurt?” the gym leader asked. Brock lowered his arms and tilted his head to the side.
“Huh? Why would they be hurt? No, we just heard that a challenger came and wanted to watch the match,” Brock said.
“Oh, I see. Very well then. Hey, Brock? Would you like to be the referee this time?” the gym leader said. Brock’s face lit up and he eagerly accepted as he ran to the middle of the arena on the sidelines. But not before telling his siblings, who had been behind him the entire time, to go up to the bleachers and watch from up there.
“Okay! The match will now begin! The rules are 3 against 3! Only the challenger may change Pokémon! Um, challenger, what is your name?” Brock said, rubbing his head as he asked me my name.
“My name is Hannah Ketchum,” I answered. He nodded and began again.
“The challenger is Hannah Ketchum. Let the match…BEGIN!” Brock yelled, chopping his hands down and signaling the beginning of the match.
“You may go first,” the gym leader said. I nodded and looked at Gastly.
“I choose Gastly!” I said. Gastly nodded and floated out in front of me. I took out my pokedex, ready to look for a move in case I needed to.
“Very well. I choose, Geodude!” he yelled. He tossed a pokeball and a small rock with a face and arms came out.
“Geodude!” it yelled.
“What’s that?” I asked. I pointed my pokedex at it.
“Geodude. The rock Pokémon. It climbs mountain paths using only the power of its arms,” the pokedex said.
“I see. So it has really strong arms. Okay Gastly! Use Hypnosis!” I yelled.
“Gastly!” Gastly said. Then hypo beams went out of his eyes and were just about to hit Geodude when the gym leader ordered Geodude to get out of the way.
“Geodude! Use Rock Throw!” the gym leader yelled.
“Geodude!” Geodude said. It raised its arms and rocks started to fall down.
“Gastly! Dodge the rocks!” I yelled. Gastly did as I said. Once the rock fall was over Geodude was open. “Now, use Toxic!”
Gastly spat toxic at Geodude and it hit the Geodude. Geodude cringed from the poison.
“Now, use Hypnosis!” I yelled. Gastly once again aimed the hypno beams at Geodude. This time Geodude couldn’t get out of the way and it fell asleep instantly.
“Great job, Gastly! Okay, now use Lick!” I said. Gastly pulled out his hug3e tongue and licked the Geodude, causing it to roll backwards. When we could see its face again, its eyes were like swirling circles.
“Geodude is unable to battle. Gastly wins the round!” Brock yelled. I cheered and hugged Gastly.
“Great job, Gastly! Do it just like that with his other Pokémon!” I said hugging him tightly. Gastly laughed and nodded.
“Don’t think you be able to do that again, kid. Cause this time I choose Diglett!” the gym leader said. He tossed another pokeball into the air and out came a little brown thing. I held up my pokedex.
“Diglett. The mole Pokémon. Diglett burrows through the ground at a shallow depth and leaves raised earth in its wake, making it easy to spot,” the pokedex said.
“Okay, Gastly! Let’s start off with a hypnosis!” I yelled.
“Gastly!” Gastly said as he once again shot hypno beams from his eyes.
“Diglett! Burry underground!” the gym leader yelled. The Diglett did as the gym leader said and got out of the way of Gastly hypnosis.
“Darn!” I muttered. I bit my nail and tried to think of something before Diglett could come up.
“Diglett! Come up and use Magnitude!” the gym leader yelled.
“Magnitude? What’s that?” I muttered.
“Heh, you will see!” the gym leader said. Diglett came up from the ground and started to shake up the ground. Gastly wasn’t affected by it but I was since I was on the ground. I fell backwards onto my butt.
“Ow!” I c complained.
“I don’t get it. Why wasn’t Gastly affected?” he muttered.
“Dad! Gastly’s a ghost Pokémon! Their type isn’t affected by ground and solid attacks!” Brock yelled.
“I see. Then this is a very troubling situation,” he muttered. I smirked as I thought of something. I stood up.
“Gastly! Use Toxic!” I yelled. Gastly used Toxic on Diglett and Diglett got poisoned and fainted.
“Diglett is unable to battle! Gastly wins the round!” Brock yelled. I once again cheered for Gastly.
“Way to go, Gastly!” I said. The gym leader growled and Gastly and I got serious again.
“Okay! You may have beaten my first two Pokémon, but I still have one more! Go, Onix!” the gym leader yelled. A huge snake-like rock Pokémon appeared and roared. I held up my pokedex to it.
“Onix. The rock snake Pokémon. It usually lives underground. It searches for food while boring its way through the ground at 50 miles per hour,” the pokedex said.
“I see. It’s fast huh? Well we’ll see who’s faster! Gastly or Onix,” I said. “Gastly! Hypnosis!”
“Dodge it, Onix! Then use rock throw!”
“Dodge the rocks, Gastly!” I yelled. Unfortunately Gastly wasn’t fast enough to dodge all of them. Some of them hit him and he fell down. His eyes turned into swirly circles just like Geodude and Diglett.
“Gastly is unable to battle! Onix wins the round!” Brock yelled.
“Gastly!” I ran up to him and held him. “Are you okay?” Gastly nodded and I picked him up and let him down next to me. “You did a great job, Gastly. Now take a good rest.” I turned my attention back towards the gym leader. “Okay, here goes my second Pokémon! Go, PIkach-” a red light suddenly came from my hip, and it wasn’t from Pikachu’s pokeball. Suddenly Ratata appeared before me and was ready to fight.
“Ratata!” it yelled. I blinked.
“Ratata? You want to fight Onix?” I said. Ratata looked over her shoulder and nodded. “Okay! Ratata! Let’s start off with a Tackle attack!” Ratata ran at Onix and hit it as hard as she could.
“Onix! Show this pipsqueak your bind attack!” the gym leader said like he was bored. Onix squeezed Ratata in its tail and Ratata cried out.
“Ratata!” I yelled. Suddenly the pokedex beeped and when I looked at it I saw Ratata’s current attacks. “I see. Ratata! Try hyper fang!” Ratata’s fangs started to glow yellow and then she bit down into Onix’s rocky skin. Onix cried out in pain and let go of Ratata. She landed in front of me and faced Onix, ready for my next command.
“Okay! Now use quick attack!” I yelled. Ratata quickly ran at the Onix and somehow got it to fall backwards and land on its back. Now Onix’s eyes were swirly circles.
“Onix is unable to battle! The challenger Hannah Ketchum has won the match!” Brock announced. The kids in the bleachers cheered and the gym leader summoned his Pokémon back. Then he walked towards me as I picked up Ratata and swung her around.
“Great job, Ratata! You did great! You too, Gastly!” I said, smiling at them both.
“Congratulations, young trainer. You may be younger than the rest of the challengers, but you put up a better fight than any of them. Good job, and here is your reward. The Boulder Badge,” the gym leader said. He handed me a badge that looked just like a mini polished boulder. I smiled as I took it.
“Thank you so much!” I said. He nodded. “Look guys! We got the Boulder Badge!” I held the badge up high and Gastly and Ratata cheered.
One badge down, seven to go. And a whole lot more training to go to defeat Team Magma!
I kept thinking about how the gym would look and how strong the gym leader would be.
“I wonder what kind of Pokémon they have?” I asked out loud. Gastly stirred and floated to my side. He had been sleeping/floating above me.
“Gast?” he asked. I smiled at him and put my hand on the top of his head/body.
“Don’t worry, Gastly. I’m just a little nervous about tomorrow,” I said. Gastly started speaking but I couldn’t figure out what he was saying. Usually I could just guess and I seemed right most of the time, but this time I couldn’t even guess. “Sorry, Gastly. I can’t understand you.” Gastly sighed and snuggled up to me.
“Gastly, gast gastly,” he said. I still didn’t understand him but I just hugged him anyway.
“Don’t worry Gastly. No matter what, we will try our hardest tomorrow. If we can’t beat the gym leader, then we’ll just train hard after the match and challenge him again!” I said. Gastly nodded and soon fell asleep. I held him close and tried to fall asleep as well. “Goodnight, Gastly. Tomorrow is the first step of our Kanto journey.”
We woke up early the next day. I had Nurse Joy heal all of my Pokémon.
“Here you go, Hannah. Good luck on your gym challenge,” Nurse Joy said as she handed me my Pokémon.
“Thank you, Nurse Joy! Um, where is the gym anyway?” I asked. She laughed and pulled out a town map. She showed me a route that led me straight to the gym. “Thanks again! Well, I’ll be going!” I waved at her as I left the Pokémon Center and followed the route she showed me.
When Gastly and I arrived we had stopped in front of a huge building that was surrounded by boulders.
“Whoa,” I whispered, gazing up at the gym. Gastly nudged me and I got out of my trance. I looked at Gastly and smiled with determination. “Okay Gastly! Let’s do this!” Gastly nodded and we walked into the gym.
“Hello!” I yelled. My voice echoed off the tall, cave-like walls. “Is anyone here? I would like to challenge the gym leader to a Pokémon match!”
“I am the leader of this gym!” a voice ahead of me said. I jumped at the intensity of the voice as it jumped off the walls. I looked down the hallway and noticed that the voice came from a man who was standing in front of double doors. “Who wishes to challenge me?” I ran up to him and bowed.
“I wish to,” I stated.
“You? A little girl?” he asked, skeptic al.
“Yes. I am Hannah Ketchum. I’m from Pallet Town. And I may be small but that doesn’t mean my Pokémon and I can’t give a good Pokémon match!” I said. I glanced up at him and he was waving his hands around crazily.
“Whoa, whoa there. I never said you wouldn’t put up a good fight. Okay, I accept your challenge! Shall we get started right away?” he said. I stood up straight and nodded. He opened the doors behind him and showed me into the arena.
It. Was. HUGE! Not only was the arena area itself big, but it was surrounded with many rows of seats above us.
“Wow,” I muttered. The man laughed.
“Yeah, it’s pretty big isn’t it?” he said over his shoulder. I nodded. Gastly floated ahead of me and waited for me in the challenger’s box. When the gym leader arrived at his box he grabbed out a pokeball. “Are you ready?” I nodded and was about to send out Gastly when the double doors burst open. Gastly, the gym leader, and I all turned around to see a boy a little older than me standing in the doorway with his arms spread out. His hair was brown and spikey and it looked like his eyes were closed.
“Brock? What’s wrong? Is one of your siblings hurt?” the gym leader asked. Brock lowered his arms and tilted his head to the side.
“Huh? Why would they be hurt? No, we just heard that a challenger came and wanted to watch the match,” Brock said.
“Oh, I see. Very well then. Hey, Brock? Would you like to be the referee this time?” the gym leader said. Brock’s face lit up and he eagerly accepted as he ran to the middle of the arena on the sidelines. But not before telling his siblings, who had been behind him the entire time, to go up to the bleachers and watch from up there.
“Okay! The match will now begin! The rules are 3 against 3! Only the challenger may change Pokémon! Um, challenger, what is your name?” Brock said, rubbing his head as he asked me my name.
“My name is Hannah Ketchum,” I answered. He nodded and began again.
“The challenger is Hannah Ketchum. Let the match…BEGIN!” Brock yelled, chopping his hands down and signaling the beginning of the match.
“You may go first,” the gym leader said. I nodded and looked at Gastly.
“I choose Gastly!” I said. Gastly nodded and floated out in front of me. I took out my pokedex, ready to look for a move in case I needed to.
“Very well. I choose, Geodude!” he yelled. He tossed a pokeball and a small rock with a face and arms came out.
“Geodude!” it yelled.
“What’s that?” I asked. I pointed my pokedex at it.
“Geodude. The rock Pokémon. It climbs mountain paths using only the power of its arms,” the pokedex said.
“I see. So it has really strong arms. Okay Gastly! Use Hypnosis!” I yelled.
“Gastly!” Gastly said. Then hypo beams went out of his eyes and were just about to hit Geodude when the gym leader ordered Geodude to get out of the way.
“Geodude! Use Rock Throw!” the gym leader yelled.
“Geodude!” Geodude said. It raised its arms and rocks started to fall down.
“Gastly! Dodge the rocks!” I yelled. Gastly did as I said. Once the rock fall was over Geodude was open. “Now, use Toxic!”
Gastly spat toxic at Geodude and it hit the Geodude. Geodude cringed from the poison.
“Now, use Hypnosis!” I yelled. Gastly once again aimed the hypno beams at Geodude. This time Geodude couldn’t get out of the way and it fell asleep instantly.
“Great job, Gastly! Okay, now use Lick!” I said. Gastly pulled out his hug3e tongue and licked the Geodude, causing it to roll backwards. When we could see its face again, its eyes were like swirling circles.
“Geodude is unable to battle. Gastly wins the round!” Brock yelled. I cheered and hugged Gastly.
“Great job, Gastly! Do it just like that with his other Pokémon!” I said hugging him tightly. Gastly laughed and nodded.
“Don’t think you be able to do that again, kid. Cause this time I choose Diglett!” the gym leader said. He tossed another pokeball into the air and out came a little brown thing. I held up my pokedex.
“Diglett. The mole Pokémon. Diglett burrows through the ground at a shallow depth and leaves raised earth in its wake, making it easy to spot,” the pokedex said.
“Okay, Gastly! Let’s start off with a hypnosis!” I yelled.
“Gastly!” Gastly said as he once again shot hypno beams from his eyes.
“Diglett! Burry underground!” the gym leader yelled. The Diglett did as the gym leader said and got out of the way of Gastly hypnosis.
“Darn!” I muttered. I bit my nail and tried to think of something before Diglett could come up.
“Diglett! Come up and use Magnitude!” the gym leader yelled.
“Magnitude? What’s that?” I muttered.
“Heh, you will see!” the gym leader said. Diglett came up from the ground and started to shake up the ground. Gastly wasn’t affected by it but I was since I was on the ground. I fell backwards onto my butt.
“Ow!” I c complained.
“I don’t get it. Why wasn’t Gastly affected?” he muttered.
“Dad! Gastly’s a ghost Pokémon! Their type isn’t affected by ground and solid attacks!” Brock yelled.
“I see. Then this is a very troubling situation,” he muttered. I smirked as I thought of something. I stood up.
“Gastly! Use Toxic!” I yelled. Gastly used Toxic on Diglett and Diglett got poisoned and fainted.
“Diglett is unable to battle! Gastly wins the round!” Brock yelled. I once again cheered for Gastly.
“Way to go, Gastly!” I said. The gym leader growled and Gastly and I got serious again.
“Okay! You may have beaten my first two Pokémon, but I still have one more! Go, Onix!” the gym leader yelled. A huge snake-like rock Pokémon appeared and roared. I held up my pokedex to it.
“Onix. The rock snake Pokémon. It usually lives underground. It searches for food while boring its way through the ground at 50 miles per hour,” the pokedex said.
“I see. It’s fast huh? Well we’ll see who’s faster! Gastly or Onix,” I said. “Gastly! Hypnosis!”
“Dodge it, Onix! Then use rock throw!”
“Dodge the rocks, Gastly!” I yelled. Unfortunately Gastly wasn’t fast enough to dodge all of them. Some of them hit him and he fell down. His eyes turned into swirly circles just like Geodude and Diglett.
“Gastly is unable to battle! Onix wins the round!” Brock yelled.
“Gastly!” I ran up to him and held him. “Are you okay?” Gastly nodded and I picked him up and let him down next to me. “You did a great job, Gastly. Now take a good rest.” I turned my attention back towards the gym leader. “Okay, here goes my second Pokémon! Go, PIkach-” a red light suddenly came from my hip, and it wasn’t from Pikachu’s pokeball. Suddenly Ratata appeared before me and was ready to fight.
“Ratata!” it yelled. I blinked.
“Ratata? You want to fight Onix?” I said. Ratata looked over her shoulder and nodded. “Okay! Ratata! Let’s start off with a Tackle attack!” Ratata ran at Onix and hit it as hard as she could.
“Onix! Show this pipsqueak your bind attack!” the gym leader said like he was bored. Onix squeezed Ratata in its tail and Ratata cried out.
“Ratata!” I yelled. Suddenly the pokedex beeped and when I looked at it I saw Ratata’s current attacks. “I see. Ratata! Try hyper fang!” Ratata’s fangs started to glow yellow and then she bit down into Onix’s rocky skin. Onix cried out in pain and let go of Ratata. She landed in front of me and faced Onix, ready for my next command.
“Okay! Now use quick attack!” I yelled. Ratata quickly ran at the Onix and somehow got it to fall backwards and land on its back. Now Onix’s eyes were swirly circles.
“Onix is unable to battle! The challenger Hannah Ketchum has won the match!” Brock announced. The kids in the bleachers cheered and the gym leader summoned his Pokémon back. Then he walked towards me as I picked up Ratata and swung her around.
“Great job, Ratata! You did great! You too, Gastly!” I said, smiling at them both.
“Congratulations, young trainer. You may be younger than the rest of the challengers, but you put up a better fight than any of them. Good job, and here is your reward. The Boulder Badge,” the gym leader said. He handed me a badge that looked just like a mini polished boulder. I smiled as I took it.
“Thank you so much!” I said. He nodded. “Look guys! We got the Boulder Badge!” I held the badge up high and Gastly and Ratata cheered.
One badge down, seven to go. And a whole lot more training to go to defeat Team Magma!