Through the Mountain to Cerulean City

"Tch! You're so annoying!" The girl pout and stomped as the Mega Punch did nothing. "I'll show you a punch! Focus Punch! Go go go!" Nidoking's fist drew back, glaring down at the small, feeble mouse as its fist glowed white before aiming the punch right at it.

While the battle is going on Zapdos starts to take off, attempting to break through the Power Plant and flee. The girl looked up and gasped. "Oh no you dont! You get back here this instant!"

"I knew it was a bad idea letting you take control of this mission..."

Her eyes widen as the Zapdos was staring at an older male. It shrieked before letting loose a Thunder attack towards him. Suddenly, the Thunder averted to the pokemon behind him as it step forward.

"Lightning Rod with a ground pokemon is a must when dealing with Zapdos...You should have known this, Meladii." he simply stated as Zapdos backed away. "Rock Tomb!" Rhydon punched the ground beneath him, sending pieaces of stone from the ceiling tumbling down at Zapdos and trapping it as well as injuring it. "Why dodn't you focus on the mission rather than getting your butt kicked by this kid?"

The Focus Punch hit Pikachu, causing it to fall back in defeat. Akio grabbed onto the electric mouse and looked up as he saw Zapdos begin captured. "Ah, no! You won't get Zapdos! Ferrow, Squirtle, let's go!" he called out as the Turtle Pokemon and the giant bird both appeared. Riding the bird, the turtle glared at Rhydon and fired a beam of bubbles directly at it. "Do whatever it takes to get Zapdos out of that Rock Tomb!"

Rhydon used its arm to block the bubbles, which didn't even do noticable damage to the pokemon. "You're annoying. Rock Blast." Picking up some fallen debris, Rhydon started to chuck it at Fearow with an inhuman strength, the rock before seeming to get stronger than the last. At the same time, Zapdos was struggling to move the rock tomb off of it, glancing up to see Akio's pokemon helping.

"Use Mirror Move, Ferrow!" Akio exclaimed as Ferrow turned its talons to the oncoming rock. As it was hit, it kicked the rock back, using it as another Rock blast. It wasn't heading for Rhydon, however. The target was the Rock Tomb holding Zapdos. Of course, Ferrow was hit by the blast, causing it to plummet to the ground. "Ferrow! Damn, this guy is unreal. How can anyone be that strong?"

The attack connected, breaking Zapdos free enough for him to break the Rock Tomb. It shout Thunder straight up, blowing up the ceiling before taking off and flying away.

"Tch! Fearow, let's go!" The man said, releasing his fearow (which, mind you, looks much bigger and MUCH meaner than Akio's), getting on it, and flying off to chase after Zapdos.

The girl was left behind, glaring at Akio. "Ohhhh....now look what you've done, you jerk! This isn't the last time we'll meet!" With that said, she threw something at the ground, causing smoke to appear. As it started to disperse, she was gone as well as the pokemon.

Akio panted as he looked down to his Pokemon. They were all badly hurt except for Squirtle. He fell to his knees as he said, "It's my fault you guys were hurt so much... Fearow... Pikachu... I'm sorry! I swear I'll get better for the next time we meet those two." He then looked down to Pidgey which was still in his arms. He turned back to where he left Zeiro and said, "He didn't follow me, and Pidgey can't fly on its own right now. I'll take it back..." He stood up and began to walk back to where Zeiro was.

Zeiro was sitting up right next to Max and his Bulbasaur who refused to leave his side. He sgared at teh ground, not even looking up as Akio walked up to him. His Pidgey, injured and weak, struggled out of Akios arms before flying painfully over to Zeiro's. The boy merely stared at the bird pokemon before wrapping his arms gently around it, slowing healing it up. "...We've done what we came to do...Let's go..." he mumbled as he stood up and walked away with Bulbasaur trailing behind him.

Brooke thought it seemed a bit more like starfish and fox than cat and mouse, but rolled her eyes good-naturedly and did not comment. If he wanted to try and end it, let him try, and she would try as well. “Davie, use Surf!” The Gym Leader called out.

Walls of water rose from the pool, towering over all and almost reaching the ceiling. Quickly, they began to fall, falling in a circle around the Vulpix. The water itself seemed less like waves, and more like a giant tsunami.

Brooke blinked. “Pardon the overkill...” She muttered. Davie must be having more fun than she thought...

"Wait for it, Vulpix!" Ty yelled out as the waves began to fall in a circle away form the ceiling, the opening at the top quickly closing in, falling in closer and closer. "Now, Jump!" With the full force of it's legs, Vulpix passed through the opening, it's tails being caught by the waves with just enough room to pass through. It was a thing of beauty and grace. using the ceiling itself, Vulpix bounced off, landing away from the attack.

"Nice attack, Brooke!" he called out "Would be nice if I could fight back. I guess just tiring Davie out will have to do."

Brooke simply tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. "Y'know, if you wanted Davie to come out of the water, you could have just asked." She said before shrugging. People never seemed to ask when they wanted things nowadays. As long as it was asked nicely, she usually didn't mind.

But then again, people were strange.

"Davie, come on out!" She called to her Starmie, who followed her orders promptly, using its tentacles to hover in the air. "And Water Pulse!" Rings of water were sent towards the little fox.

The Gym Leader grinned. They had no intention on letting them win easily.

Or win at all.

"I love that about you Brooke, so quick to give others what the want." He appreciated the fair play that his apparent friend was competing. It was very honorable.

and very stupid.

"Vulpix, use the pulse to amplify a Confuse Ray!" The eyes of the fox began to glow with a purple light even stronger than what it had done before. A beam fo the energy connected directly with the Water Pulse, the light acting like glass, spreading out the spectrum to increase the radius of the blast until it consumed a large portion of the Gym's space near Davie.

"Now use Firespin in defense!" The vulpix waited for the Ray to take it's toll, taking in a deep breath and unleashing a vortex of fire around its own body, rising up like a wal of fire. The pulses connected, resulting in large amounts of steam, but Vulpix was relatively unharmed.

"Really? That's a first. Most people call it weird. Or overconfident. Or reckless. Or some variation of stupid. Or a combination of those. Honorable is new." Said Brooke, though her voice sounded somewhat skeptical from him compliment. "There's just no point in a one-sided battle to me. It's not fair or fun." She added with a shrug.

The Confuse Ray hit Davie full on, and its core began to flash wildly. The water in the pool began to swirl as Davie created a vortex of sorts in the water with Psychic. Thunder struck at random from the rain clouds, and the Starmie itself began to Rapid Spin and Bubblebeam as it moved towards the Vulpix, a spinning wall of bubble surrounding it.

Its trainer sighed. "And this is why I tried so hard to have Davie avoid that..." Davie usually panicked whenever it got confused. She'd just have to wait and hope it calmed down.

"Well, that kinda sucks" Ty said wide-eyed. Never expected his confusion to produced a total chaotic event. Wasn't really much of a chance to do anything else, just watch as the Starmie grew closer.

He looked to the Vulpix who started to shudder, then looked to her trainer. Ty nodded to it, then pointed at the Starmie.

"Only one shot! Hit it with everything you got, Vulpix! FLAMETHROWER!" It was a thing of beauty. As Ty pulled back his fist, his Vulpix inhaled as muchair as it could possibly contain in it's small diaphragm. Ty let out a roar of pure adrenaline and hope as he threw his fist forward, copied by the rumbling call of the small fox's name as it thrusted it's head and opened it's mouth. Embers scattered from it's mouth, it's fur stood on end, and it's eyes. Oh, it's eyes, the lit up like the sky in the setting sun, a light red. Then destruction unfolded. A torrent of flame the magnitude of nothing attempted in this fight. The very water underneath it bowed out of it's way in a crater, the force even pushing the Vulpix back. Something had to give as the elements clashed, flames from the very bowels of hell smashing into a wall of water.

Ty could only hope.

The overpowered Flamethrower made contact with the Starmie, hitting it straight in its core. Everything stopped around the Pokemon, the rain ceasing as well as the random Thunder. Davie stopped spinning abruptly, blinking weakly once before falling into the water and sinking.

“Crap.” Whispered Brooke, before continuing on. “Crap crap crap.” As abruptly as the chaos caused by her Starmie had stopped and started, Brooke dived into the pool. “I forfeit!” She called before she hit the water.

The Gym Leader quickly recalled Davie and swam to the other side, not even pausing to talk as she got back out of the pool, simply talking as she did so. “I’ll be back in five.” She told Ty before dashing off out of the gym at a pace that would put an Olympic sprinter to shame, not even bothering to put on her sandals.

She’d explain when she got back.

Ty let out a deep sigh as he bowed over, shaking off the intensity of the fight. He shot up, giving Vulpix a large thumbs up. "Great job, Vulpix! your Mother would eb so proud!" The Vulpix gave what appeared to be a smile to her trainer, but it was obvious she had felt the fatigue of the flamethrower. "You deserve a good rest. Return." He held out the Vulpix's pokeball, a red beam of light engulfing it before absorbing the fox back into it's container. He shrunk the ball, placing it back on his belt.

"I'll be right here." He said to Brooke as she ran by, whistling at the speed she took off at. "Gee, hope I didn't hurt Davie too bad."

True to her word, Brooke was indeed back in 5 minutes.

She smiled sheepishly as she walked up to Ty. "Sorry about that. Davie has a very...very...very very very weak core. If a move that's too powerful hits it, it's been said that the core will shatter and Davie will die." The girl sighed and tugged on the end of her ponytail. "It'll be fine since it was a Flamethrower, albeit a very strong one...what the heck have you been feeding that thing anyway...? But it'll be fine."

Brooke shook her head as if to dispel her worries and put a big grin on her face. "But you won! Congrats! You two were great, it was a fun battle."

A finger tapped on her shoulder without a word, an adjustment of glasses following. Favian stood next to a rather bored looking Pokemon, one that looked more like a warped-fox beast than anything. Abra. It arched a single finger and was sucked into a single dark Pokeball, spinning back into his green coat as the male looked at the female Gym Leader with piercing blue eyes that seemed to be trying to stare deep into her battle ready soul. Before the girl could reply he scratched his pale cheek and spoke, white hair parting to reveal his chillingly calm features,

"Shall we?"

Those two words seemed to freeze the waters of the Gym itself, his expanding smile gaining a wanton edge that just could not be denied. He had been looking forward to this the entire time he had been observing that battle, his fingers twitching at the thought of getting such a thrill. He had captured many a Pokemon and knew how to weaken those of her nature, but never had he seen such a true display of skill that such a battle had revealed. A part of him actually purred at the thought. Still, that gave him thought. Would this Gym Leader need a rest? He wanted to fight her at full strength, something that would leave him truly satisfied.

Brooke smiled and nodded at the next challenger. There sure were a lot of them today. "Just let me set up the pool again." With that, she walked over to the wall with the mechanical stuff and set everything as it was before, the aquariums in the walls once more being hidden behind said walls and the Pokemon inside of them coming out into the water.

The Gym Leader nodded to herself and walked back over to Favian and Ty, looking at the former. "Alright, I'm hoping you remember the rules? If so, go on ahead." She gestured to the water, wondering if he really did have a Pokemon with Teleport.

Well, time to find out.

"Calamity, Teleport."

Favian barely blinked, holding up the oddly colored Pokeball once more with a flicker of moment. The air was filled with a bright light before the same bipedal-fox creature formed and sat down, never once moving. His white hair parted and he gave a glance to his beast before adjusting his glasses, a simple nod following. It happened in an instant, both of them becoming a flicker before phasing alive in direction the Gym Leader asked. He basically skipped any test that she hoped to give him, leaving him more annoyed than anything as he returned the Abra.

He merely adjusted his glasses once more, blue eyes meeting her own,

"Skip the warm up, my dear."

His lips twitched and his free hand dug into his jacket once more, obviously reaching for his first Pokemon of the battle...

Brooke smiled and clapped her hands together. "So I was right! It was Teleport! Smart choice!" The girl laughed and shook her head. "It's so weird how few people think of that solution! They go through it with their brawns rather than their brains. A nice change."

With that, she skipped off to undo the changes she had made to the pool. She finished quickly, then skipped back, snatching a Pokemon from her jacket as she did. The Gym Leader threw the Pokeball into the air. "Let's go, Kammy!" She called out as she did.

A Golduck appeared from the red light onto one of the rock platforms. She stretched before noticing the opponent, after which she stared before shrugging and stretching again. When she was done, Kammy stood straight with her arms crossed, looking ready, confident, and lazy all at the same time.

Brooke laughed. That was Kammy for you.

"Such a lovely Pokemon you have. Kammy, was it? Well, allow me to introduce Sovereign."

Favian held up an oddly colored Pokeball once more and flicked it through the air, expanding it without another word and releasing the obviously nicknamed beast. A scowling creature flared alive from the light and clenched two gloved fists, a glare shot straight towards the opponent that it needed to defeat. It didn't seem to be angry, no, just the way said creature seemed to have been crafted. The muscular Pokemon stepped up towards Golduck with the peering stare and slammed each fist together hungrily, warming itself up with a cracking noise.

Then, it spoke

"Poliwrath."

His trainer smiled and brought up his hand, adjusting his glasses once again with a chuckle. The white haired male seemed unusally pleased by the appearance of her Golduck, his green coat flickering within a sudden updraft of cold wind within the gym. Suddenly his arm snapped out and his hand twitched, his sickeningly sweet voice sharp. The Golduck would only have several seconds to react to what came next, a single fist lashing outwards with intense force,

"Crush it, DynamicPunch."

"Protect."

A clear shield surrounded Kammy instantly, preventing the attack from reaching her, let alone harming her. The Golduck tilted her head questioningly at Sovereign, as if asking what the point of that was.

"Hail."

The Pokemon's eyes glowed white for a moment, before clouds began to form overhead. Snow fell down, followed quickly by hail, luckily only covering the pool so that it would not hit the trainers. However, the hail bounced harmlessly off Kammy herself, due to her ability.

"Confusion."

Kammy's eyes now glowed blue, and the Poliwrath was surrounded in an aura of the same color, and was quickly pushed away, most likely feeling great pain as it was.

Sovereign blinked. The energy unleashed by the attack wrapped around the muscular Poliwrath and pushed it backwards, only the creature didn't seem all that bothered by it, even when the hail hit it straight on. Favian brought up a single arm and placed two fingers on his glasses, pushing them up on his nose with a sly grin that couldn't help but burn with mocking and chilling amusement. "DynamicPunch, a very basic physical attack that requires very little effort to follow up on. I have to thank you for creating that Hail, it gave my Pokemon enough time to do so," His words made very little sense, until the Poliwrath exploded into watery image of itself.

Substitute.

"We're not battlers."

The little earth the gym had exploded up with a shattering clenched fist, eyes glaring before fingers stretched out. It stood there, the swirl on the mass glowing with each second that passed. Poliwrath didn't exactly look pleased, but instead looked downright angry. Saying that, such a thing didn't mean much of a change considering what Pokemon it was. A faint chime that neither human would be able to hear echoed through the building, a tantalizing motion whipping through the air and undetected by their eyes.

It was aimed directly at Kammy, the Golduck.

"We're capture experts."

Favian smiled,

"Hypnosis."

"Dive!" Called out Brooke, and Kammy swiftly followed the order, jumping into the water and avoiding the Hypnosis. The trainer wondered how the battle would play out in the water, considering that both Pokemon were Water-types.

"Okay, now Calm Mind." Under the water, Kammy took a meditative looking position and her body began to glow. She and Brooke would both wait to see what the opponent's next move would be before making a move of their own.

So the trainer was a capture expert? Just full of surprises, this day and these people were. "Should make for an interesting battle then, won't it? I don't think I've really faced a capture expert before..." The girl mused aloud.

Calm Mind? Interesting. Favian shifted lightly on his feet and stared at the watery depths for a few moments, seemingly annoyed having missed with the stunning attack. Finally, he reacted. His body jumped back and he snapped his gaze from the strands of falling hail still within the air. Sovereign didn't even need to be given the order, fists clenching and stretching out with a echoing roar of the gruff name. The air shifted and wind picked up, a torrent of thick rain lashing down upon the gym with a updraft of raw force. Rain Dance.

"Sovereign, she has no choice but to use a Psychic or Ice attack against you."

His Pokemon nodded. It was obviously a rather odd order, as the Poliwrath gave what could be called a battle cry and brought both gloved hands together, a orb of blue forming in an instant. Parts of the newly crafted rain was sucked towards the combined hands and began to gather into a collection of bubbles. Yes, bubbles. Not exactly threatening, until you look closely at it. Each bubble backed the force of a steel pipe to the face and there was quite a build up of them, gaining even more strength thanks to the new set up of weather that had followed before,

"Blast her out of there. BubbleBeam."