Through the Mountain to Cerulean City

"Dive!" Brooke called out. Nessie did, going under the water and moving quickly away from the Thunder Wave. The electricity was weak enough in that attack that if it hit the water the effects would be minimal. Nessie resurfaced a good deal away from the opponents.

"Water Pulse now." The Transport Pokemon lowered her head, her horn glowing a lighter blue for a moment, before rings of water shot out at high speeds towards the Pikachu, its power doubled with the rain.

Pikachu was hit by the Water Pulse, being knocked away. Akio was having great trouble seeing in the mist so it wasn't easy for him to give commands. He took a breath, trying to calm himself as he remember the main reason for choosing Pikachu. He wanted to be sure that Pikachu could handle it, see as he was the last Pokemon he had captured.

"Pikachu, Thundershock! Squirtle, Withdraw!" Akio called out. As he said this, Squirtle moved its body completely into its shell. As soon as it did, Pikachu attacked, sending a powerful electrical shock through the water. "I know that Squirtle will still take some damage, but I know that he can take it, just like when we first brought Pikachu along with us."

The Lapras squealed again in pain from the electric attack.

Brooke frowned in thought. She had an idea, but she wasn't sure just how well it would work out. It would help with the electric attacks, but would be best in the long run.

The teen shook her head. She'd take a page from her brother's book; act now, think later.

"Nessie, jump out of the water!" Brooke called out. The Pokemon obeyed without hesitation, leaping surprisingly high into the air for a creature of her size. "Now, Ice Beam!"

Catching on to what her trainer wanted, Nessie aimed her glowing horn as she fired an Ice Beam. But not at where the opponents were. Nessie aimed under her, freezing the water on one side of the pool completely. It didn't even crack when the Lapras landed on it.

Brooke cheered. Electric shocks through the water wouldn't effect her so long as she stayed on the ice. "Yes! It worked! Okay, now Sing!"

Nessie sang her haunting lullaby again.

Pikachu and Squirtle immediately jumped out of the water. Akio grinned slightly and picked up his Pokeball, calling back Squirtle. "I had a feeling you would get rid of the water if I hit you with an attack like that. Speed is Pikachu's specialty!"

With that said, the Sing began. This time, Pikachu was within earshot and couldn't stop it. It was going to work. "Thunder Wave, quickly!" Akio called out. Before the lullaby took full effect, the Pokemon fired another wave of Electricity, meant to all but stop his foe's movements. Whether it worked or not would be decided later, for now Pikachu could no longer stay awake and it fell asleep.

"Oooooooh" Ty cringed at the move choices. "Lapras moves faster on ice than it does in water..." he looked to the Pikachu, going out to Nessie's Song. "The suicide attack was pretty brave, I'll give ya that, kid. Not too great a plan, but really brave."

More reflex than anything else, the Lapras slid out of the way with a surprising amount of speed. It was true, after all, that Lapras were faster on ice than they were in water.

Brooke called out to her Pokemon. "Alright now, Body Slam!" Nessie nodded and slid forward with that surprising speed of hers, fully intending to ram into the sleeping Pikachu.

Akio looked on as Pikachu was hit by the body of Lapras, but he gave a small grin as he noticed something as well. The Pokemon's body started to spark lightly and Akio said, "I knew it'd work! I knew you'd come in for a direct attack so you wouldn't break the Ice. I used Thunder Wave before so Pikachu could fall asleep. It didn't stop the attack when it fell asleep, so its whole body became a close range Thunder Wave."

As Pikachu was hit with the attack, he was sent into the side of the pool with water, falling inside. As it did, the sudden water woke it up, allowing it to jump out of the water. "Okay, Pikachu, Thundershock! No need to hold back!" The Pokemon was tired, but refused to give up. It charged its power and sent a bolt of electricity at Lapras once again.

"S-Sorry!" he said as his Bulbasaur lightly put him down. Zeiro scratched the back of his head as he stared at this....thing in front of him. "So what do you want me to do, Max?" He asked in confusion. "Do I put you back in the transporter and flip the switch?"

The Lapras shrieked from the Thundershock, the Thunder Wave, making it so she was unable to dodge.

Brooke frowned. Nessie was probably on her last legs, so to speak, and she doubted that the Pikachu was doing much better. This battle would probably end soon, whatever the outcome.

"Okay, Water Pulse, one more time!" The Pokemon complied, the attack still strengthened with the rain, and the trainer wondered who would win.

Max shook his head lightly and said, "Actually, I need some new supplies... When the system fried, some of my equipment became useless. I got a lot of my stuff from an abandoned Power Plant South of the Rock Tunnel. If you don't have a way there, ask the Gym Leader here to help you. Her Pokemon can Surf to that place."

Akio knew that Pikachu couldn't take another attack. His energy was low and another Electric attack might not be best. If Lapras was slowed down by Paralysis, then there was still a chance. "Quick Attack to dodge!" Akio called out as Pikachu started to move in a bolt of speed. He bounced across the ice to make up for the lack of friction. He then jumped up in front of Lapras and Akio called out, "Mega Punch!" With that, the Pikachu curled his hand into a fist and thrusted it forward at Nessie's face, hoping this would be the final blow.

Nessie, still not being able to move, simply squeaked when the punch hit her face. With that, she was spent, collapsing on the ice and not moving anymore, blinking tiredly at the yellow Pokemon.

The rain and mist all cleared with the defeat of the Lapras. Brooke recalled Nessie into her Pokeball, kissing it after she did. "You did a great job, Nessie, I'm proud of you."

With that, Brooke dove into the pool and swam to the other side, climbing up into the ice and then sliding over to Akio. "Great job, that was a lot of fun." The teen told him, grinning. She held out a blue, teardrop-shaped badge to him. "I think you've more than earned this."

A green coat flashed wildly in the unsettling wind as two blue eyes snapped to the sky, a small blue and black striped orb forming within a ready hand. A smooth Net Ball set for use. The orb expanded with a brief whine and was tossed within the air, exploding into a pitch of light before a small flying form phased alive with a stab of movement. The trainer that had let loose the Pokemon brought up his left hand and fixed his glasses, giving a glance to the creature with a weary nod,

"I've not been back here in awhile. Seek out the Gym for me."

The Pokemon gave what little could be seen as a salute and shot off through the air in a speedy motion before reaching the pitch of the sky, sharp red eyes blinking down upon the city slowly. Safe to say, the flying creature found what was needed in a matter of moments and then gave a gesture North to his trainer, hurriedly zooming back down without a word. A red light hit its form and sucked it back into the Net Ball, turning back into the smaller item size before the glasses-wearing male placed it back within his dark green coat.

Favian Alexander moved.

His arrival at the gym entrance didn't take long, white hair parting as he entered with a slight skip in his step, the coat fluttering behind him with a slight strain. He rarely battled gym leaders, but this could be quite interesting, considering it was his hometown before he moved. He had been born here, but had rarely visited for more than a traveling glance, so he couldn't wait to see if the one who owned this gym had some interesting Pokemon at their command. Either way, he couldn't allow himself to lose focus.

Akio placed his hand on the badge lightly, smiling as he took it and said, "Thank you. This was a difficult battle, and I..." As he spoke, Pikachu collapsed onto the ice, passing out from exhaustion. Akio rushed over to his Pokemon and lifted it up. "Oh no, Pikachu!" he called out as he checked the condition of his Pokemon. "You did your best and it was amazing... You need to rest now." He returned the mouse to its Pokeball, then turned to Brooke and said, "Thank you for the badge, and the battle. But I can't help but feel lucky. I need to get stronger if those creeps from Team Rocket come back."

Zeiro blinks. "A few parts from the old Power Plant? It sounds like a simple task...but....I don't have a water pokemon..." His expression soon had purple, ghastly lines over it, showing he sort of didn't want to go. "Are you sure we couldn't just go out and buy some parts or something?"

"Those parts were customized and used for sophisticated machinery!" Max called out. (Translation: He isn't suppose to have them in the first place) "Its the only place we can go. I'm sure Brooke can help you. She's the one who helped me gather the parts in the first place. I'd go myself, but I can't really carry anything like this, can I?"

A small, near non-audible groan could be heard as Zeiro look rather ill. "I...Guess not...Although...water and I don't do too well together." He gulped, shaking his head as he snapped himself back together. "A-All right, I'll go. Are there any specifics on the parts?"

"You're welcome!" Brooke said to Akio. "You should probably get your Pokemon off to the center quickly. Here, I doubt you want to swim across all that water again..." She said that as she threw a Pokeball into the air over the water. "Come out, Timmy!"

Timmy was a Gyarados.

"Here, get on his head and he'll just move you over to the other side of the pool." The Gym Leader told Akio as she followed her own advice. She held out a hand to him in case he needed help getting on. "He won't bite, I promise." The teen grinned.

A round of applause was offered by the red clad Ty. Applause for the victory of the young kid and his gutsy Pikachu and for the brilliance of the Gym Leader. He always liked Brooke's style, so this time was no surprise to him. "Well done guys! Very well done. Great show." He removed his hat, scratching the back of his head before placing it back onto his head. "Soooooooo.....can I trouble the mighty Cerulean City Gym Leader to a battle, now?"

So, a trainer was already taking a challenge to the Gym Leader, eh? Interesting. Favian kept his blue eyes on the unknown males and the woman holding out the rather overpowered Gyarados of doom. He let a hand flash up to his slipping glasses and adjust them slightly, his form fading into what little shadows the gym had as he observed silently. The beast wasn't exactly a rare Pokemon, but very few trainers he could name could control it. Catching one wasn't easy, even with a certain water-based Pokeball and numerous focusing Pokemon.

Fighting one upon a ship was suicide and they rarely came close to land. Evolving one would be a better bet, but even that was rather difficult. Hm. Maybe a certain sleeping companion of his could help in containing such a beast, but her usage of the watery monster made him want to ask the Gym Leader how she came of it. He was always interested in new ways to catch the tricky creatures. Fay paid little attention to the odd way he ran over these words, becoming lost in images of battle,

That Gyarados would eliminate two out of my five Pokemon upon release alone. Hopefully it isn't used.

Max moved to Zeiro's pant leg, climbing up as he said, "Don't worry about me saying it now. I'll go with you so you can be sure to get what I need. Don't worry. I'll just stay close to you. The Electric Pokemon there are a problem anyway."

Akio nodded and said, "Alright, then I'll be right back. After Pikachu is better I wanna talk some more." As he jumped onto the Gyrados, he stayed close and held on as he was unfamiliar to Surfing on Pokemon. As he was riding, he saw someone walking into the Gym. He looked down at the figure wondering if it was a trainer that wanted to battle. Usually he would stay to see the fight, but Pikachu was his first priority.

Zeiro nodded as he started to walk, only to quickly stop and turn to Max. "Actually...do you happen to have any healing items? My Pidgey got poisoned by those traienrs earlier and I don't have a bag wit hme, so I don't buy too many items..."

Max pointed to his desk and said, "There's a pack there that has an Antidote in it. You can keep the bag if you want, as thanks for helping me. As soon as your Pidgey is healed, we can go to see Brooke."

It took the Gyarados mere seconds to cross the pool, even with the low speed. It was a very large Pokemon after all. When she got off, Brooke pet her giant friend. "Thanks Timmy. Hey, could you go melt the ice over there?"

Timmy nodded, and after he set Akio down (surprisingly gently, especially for his species), we went over and unleashed a giant Flamethrower on the ice. It melted quickly and Timmy came back over, looking rather pleased with himself.

"Thanks Timmy! Return." The Gyarados disappeared into the Pokeball with a flash of red. With that, Brooke turned to Akio. "Would you mind bringing Nessie to the Center as well? Just say it's Nessie and they'll understand."

Brooke then waved to the newcomer before turning to Ty with a laugh. "Sure, I'm hoping you remember the rules considering I just explained them."

"Thank you very much." Zeiro said as he dug into the pack, finding the Antidote. He released Pidgey from its ball and quickly administer it, relieving the pokemon from the illness. After petting the bird pokemon on the head, he returns it to its pokeball, throws the bag over his shoulder, and heads off.

Soon, he arrives at Cerulean City once again. Without too much trouble, he finds the Gym and enters. He shuddered as he saw the inside of the Gym was just basically one giant pool before blinking as he saw Brooke and Akio as well as the two mystery boys.

"Umm...you're Brooke, right?" He said to her, scratching his head.

"Hey Timmy, good seeing ya!" Ty waved to the Gyarados. It had been awhile since he had seen him, they evolve so fast. He stepped up to the side of the pool, stretching out his neck and getting into the right mindset. "Brooke, ya know this ain't my first rodeo. I know the rules, deary." He gave her a smile. "You sure I can't get me one of those really nifty Badges? Would make a nice trinket to show Gramps when I get home."

He reached to his belt, one of three PokeBalls coming into his grasp off of the side. It widened into a larger orb in his hand. Ty tossed it into the air twice, catching it each time. "So I don't have the normal crew with me, so you won't have to be so worried after last time." He smiled wider "Professor Oak has me training a few of the local breeds........buuuuuuuut I brought a new friend for this one!"