Chapter 7 – Battle For The Boulder Badge
“Finally!” Misty cheered as they left the final narrow tunnel of tree that was the exit of the Viridian Forest. Since his battle with Samurai, the pair had been forced to camp out in the forest twice, making this the fourth day of Ash’s journey.
He was anxious to get into the city that lay this side of the Viridian Forest. Pewter City was one of the first places he needed to be on his journey. Here, he could sign himself up for the Pokémon League and battle for his very first badge.
Misty had refused to tell him anything about the first gym leader, although she still spoke very highly of the gym leader in Cerulean City.
“This place is really…dim,” Ash said, looking at the buildings. They were all made of a thick grey stone, with little to no decoration, making the town extremely plain looking.
“It’s nice enough for the people who live here, I guess,” she commented, stretching her limbs as if she had been sitting down for a while. “I’m never going in that forest again, I swear.”
Ash took no notice, immediately scanning the town for the building he knew to be there. Even in a city with buildings matching in style, Ash discovered the Gym easily. Near the back, surrounded by a large group of mountains, the gym was shaped like a boulder.
The doorway consisted of a hollowed out archway with two long stone pillars, which were weighed down by a stone of similar size placed horizontally. Above this was a sign, simply stating ‘Gym’.
“I guess you’re headed there as soon as, right?” Misty asked, not needing to wait for the answer. “You should head to the Pokémon Centre first.”
He agreed. The Pokémon Centre was also easily recognisable in the valley-like town, being topped off with a bright red roof, as was the conformity for all official Pokémon Centres. They headed there at a swift pace, making sure to dodge the unusually large amount of hikers along the way.
“Why are there so many people here with hiking equipment?” Ash asked Misty as they waited at a table for their Pokémon to be healed. Misty grunted.
“We’re close to Mt. Moon,” she told him, in a voice that told him he should already know. “People trek up there to train their bodies and their Pokémon. It’s got an amazing view to Cerulean City. We’ll have to go that way to get there, anyway.”
“Do you think it will take long to get through?” Ash asked, stabbing the oran-berry pie on his plate. Misty nodded, but didn’t take any time to explain better. “Are you sure you don’t know anything about the gym leader here?”
“I’m sure I’m not going to give you an advantage over other trainers,” she remarked, taking a bite out of the sitrus berry-flavoured health bar she had bought from the counter.
The joyful tune played from the speaker at the edge of the table, letting them know their five Pokémon were ready to be collected.
“That was really fast,” Ash said, complimenting the nurse behind the counter, who was too busy staring at Misty.
“I suppose they just needed a rest,” the redhead decided, ignoring his stares and turning away, leaving the building with Ash. Outside, they felt the cold wind of the town. Ash felt like it was blowing through his bones.
“It’s cold here,” he said to Misty, who was shivering in her two-piece bikini.
“Can we just get to the gym as soon as possible,” she grunted, holding her arms close to her chest and crouching as she walked in the direction of the boulder-like building at the back of the town.
***
“I’m here to challenge the gym leader!” Ash called out as he entered the main battlefield in the gym. It hadn’t been hard to find; the gym only had a few rooms coming off from the main corridor.
The battlefield looked nothing like the one Ash had seen in the league battle he watched the night before his journey began. The floor looked identical to the ground of a cave, complete with jutting pillars of stone and various sized boulders.
“What’s your name?” asked a man, speaking as soon as the door he came through began to open. As he came out, Ash saw the man properly. He wore a baggy t-shirt, which was completely light blue apart from the Pokéball design under his left shoulder. He also wore a pair of black shorts and matching shoes.
“I’m Ash Ketchum, and I’m from Pallet Town,” Ash answered, smiling confidently. He had already decided that his training in the Viridian Forest had made him strong enough to defeat the leader.
“You’re the green flag, okay?” the man asked, showing a pair of flags, one red, and one green. Ash nodded, and stood in the box-shaped stand at the edge, encased by three stone walls coming to his waist. “Are you challenging the leader as well?”
Ash looked over to see the man was talking to Misty, who was busy finding a stone bench along the side wall to sit down on.
“I’m just travelling with him to Cerulean City,” she commented, not attempting to make contact with the referee.
“Very well then,” the man said, taking his place at the edge of the battlefield to Ash’s right. “Challenger!” He called towards the still open door. There was a rustle and lots of thudding before another man came through the door.
This man had much darker skin than Ash and Misty, and even the referee, who had at first seemed to Ash to have a skin a shade darker. From what Ash saw as he walked to his own side of the battlefield, he wore a pair of green trousers and an orange sweatshirt. He wore a dark grey vest underneath the sweatshirt.
“How many badges do you have so far?” he asked, while Ash was having difficulty making out his hair colour.
“None at the moment,” Ash admitted, shifting his weight onto his left foot. He heard Misty chuckle from her place at the wall and tried to ignore her.
“Must be the fourth new trainer in the past few days,” Ash heard the trainer muttering to himself before he spoke louder. “Do you have more than one Pokémon?”
“I have three,” Ash answered, moving his fingers over the three shrunken Pokéballs attached to his magnetic strip.
“Then let’s start.”
“This is an official gym battle between the gym leader Brock Harrison and the challenger Ash Ketchum,” the referee called out, holding both the green and red flags up in the air. “It will be a two on two battle! The challenger may switch Pokémon, but the gym leader cannot.”
Both trainers nodded in agreement, but Ash already had the Pokéball he wished to use in his hand, enlarged and ready to throw.
“Begin!”
“Come on out, Geodude!” Brock called, throwing a Pokéball of a different colour to the normal kind. When Ash saw it hit the ground and open up, he noticed the top half was blue and sported most of a red ring around it, with a gap at the front.
The Pokémon the oddly coloured Pokéball left behind looked similar to a small boulder, and for a moment, Ash couldn’t find it properly on the rocky battlefield. Then the Geodude stretched out its long rocky arms, which were lean and muscular.
“Gee! Geodude!” the Pokémon shouted, opening its eyes and flashing a stone-filled grin at Ash. Without even thinking, Ash pulled out his Pokédex and heard Misty sigh to his right.
“Geodude,” the Pokédex spoke, “classified as the rock Pokémon and recognised as both a rock-type and a ground-type. When at rest, Geodude are indistinguishable from normal boulders and will swing their arms around wildly if stepped upon. When more than one of these meet, they will smash into each other as a test of power and endurance.”
“This had better work,” Ash mumbled, lifting the hand holding Butterfree’s Pokéball. “Come on out, Butterfree!” Butterfree emerged from the bright light fluttering his wings and circling the space over Ash’s head.
“Geodude, show that bug-type what you’re made of! Use Rock Smash on the ground!” Brock ordered. Geodude nodded with an identical grin on his stony face. His right hand balled up into a fist looking like a giant stone, and it began to glow with a faded brown energy.
“Butterfree, you don’t need to do anything for now,” Ash told his Pokémon with a carefree voice. “Just watch what he does.”
Geodude swung his hand around, smashing it into the stony floor. Shards of stone were sent speeding at Ash’s end of the battlefield, spraying Butterfree and Ash with their sharp points. Ash covered his eyes with his arm to block them from his face.
When he moved it, he saw Butterfree standing on the rocky floor with his blue feet and breathing heavily. Geodude had stopped Butterfree from properly defending himself with his attack.
“Now, Geodude hit it with a Tackle!” Brock ordered, his whole body leaning slightly forward, as if he were ready to fall over.
The rock-type ran forward, using its strong hands as feet.
“Quick, Butterfree, stop him in his tracks with String Shot!” Ash called out, hoping his Pokémon still knew the attack. Butterfree proved him right, sending a long sticky stream of silk across the battlefield at the oncoming Pokémon. The silk managed to stick Geodude’s hands to the rocky floor, tripping it up so that its face hit the floor.
“Geodude, are you okay?” Brock asked, almost stepping out of his marked box.
“Geeeo!” the Pokémon called, pulling at the sticky restraints. Butterfree chuckled, fluttering over the Pokémon’s head and dropping down towards it.
“Free-eeee-eee!” he chuckled, and his big eyes began to glow an eerie pink.
“What’s happening?” Ash asked himself out loud, seeing Misty and the referee stare it him as the same pink aura appeared around the stuck Geodude, and the rock-type began to levitate in the air. The aura became thinner and thinner until only a small lining of pink energy surrounded the Pokémon, while Butterfree still muttered under his breath over and over again, obviously concentrating.
“Gee!” the gym leader’s Pokémon cried, feeling pain from the attack. Butterfree quickly lost focus and the Geodude dropped to the floor with a crash. When he got up, Geodude’s eyes were filled with the same pink energy.
“Geodude, use Tackle again!” Brock ordered, his voice wavering as he worried about his Pokémon’s condition. Ash had seen this before, however, while watching the league battles. Geodude was confused. It happened as an added effect with some Pokémon techniques, making the Pokémon dazed and sometimes unable to follow commands from the correct trainer.
Geodude proved Ash right when he began to slap himself in the face rather than use the attack Brock had called for. This battle was over.
“Geodude is unable to battle,” the referee called out, holding the green flag towards Ash, “Butterfree wins the round!”
“Geodude, return to your Great Ball,” Brock ordered, pulling the staggered red energy into the blue and white sphere. “Well done, challenger. I don’t usually give praise to trainers who have no idea of the attacks their Pokémon are using, but I have to say that it was nice to see your Pokémon so shocked at his own technique as well.”
“Wait, how did you know Butterfree was a boy?” Ash asked, hearing Misty sigh loudly from his side.
“You can tell by the markings on their upper wings,” he answered, shrinking Geodude’s Great Ball and pulling out an ordinary Pokéball while he spoke, “and also by the length of their antenna. A female Butterfree has shorter antenna and a slightly more exaggerated pattern on her upper wings. Now, shall we get on with the battle?”
“Yeah,” Ash agreed, looking to Butterfree. “Are you ready, Butterfree?”
“Free!” the bug-type called, smirking slightly with his maw. Brock threw his Pokéball as high in the large room as he could get it, narrowly missing the ceiling. The ball opened and the energy that came out was much more than Ash had seen before.
It formed into a huge serpent which looked like it was made completely of stone. Each stone grew bigger from tail to head, up until the head being the size of Ash’s whole bathroom at home.
“Ii-ooooooooooo!” it roared, rearing back to show Butterfree the horn on its head, which was almost as long as Ash’s body.
“Ash Ketchum, I’d like you to meet Onix,” Brock said, causing Onix to roar again, staring at Ash with its large eyes.
“Hi, Onix,” Ash mumbled, waving to the giant grey serpent.
“Onix, use Screech!” Brock shouted, smiling slightly. Onix put its head closer down to Butterfree’s height and let a scream erupt from its gaping jaw. The sound hurt Ash’s ears, and he could see it doing the same to Butterfree, who had crumpled to the floor, cringing. Ash could see the waves of sound in the air, moving quicker and quicker until abruptly ending.
With his ears ringing, Ash couldn’t hear much, but he saw Brock’s lips moving, ordering an attack.
Onix lifted its head higher up, although it was still hunched with the size of the room. Opening its jaw again and roaring, Ash saw a ball of brown energy appear and slowly form into a large boulder the height of Ash.
“Butterfree, get back into the air!” he called out, but he couldn’t hear his own voice, and he could see that Butterfree hadn’t heard him either. Onix threw the now fully formed boulder at the crumpled Butterfree, who didn’t even notice it coming.
The boulder crashed onto Butterfree, and although Ash couldn’t hear the noise emanating from it, he felt the vibration it made on the ground around him. The boulder crumbled to dust, and Butterfree was barely moving. He was unconscious.
“Butterfree is unable to battle,” the referee shouted after squinting for a while to see the effects of the attack, “Onix wins the round!”
Ash pulled Butterfree back into his Pokéball, feeling guilty for his injuries. He decided to apologise later. His next choice had been Pidgey, but the boulder would defeat him as well. Ash decided to use Pichu instead.
“I choose you, Pichu!” he yelled, throwing the ball in front of Onix. Pichu came out facing Misty, and smiled, waving to her. She waved back quickly before pointing behind him at Onix. The electric-type turned to look and then fell over in horror, crawling back to Ash at speed to get away.
“Chu!” the Pokémon cried, obviously scared and wishing to trade places with Pidgey. He climbed Ash’s trousers and tried to grab Pidgey’s Pokéball off Ash’s magnetic strip, but Ash picked him off and placed him on the ground.
“It’s time to battle, Pichu,” he told the tiny rodent Pokémon. It took a little convincing, but Pichu finally resigned to battling the giant Pokémon. “That’s the spirit, buddy. Now, let’s see.”
He pulled his Pokédex from his jacket pocket once more to find out any information that could help Pichu.
“Onix, classified as the rock serpent Pokémon, and recognised as both a rock-type and a ground-type. Onix can burrow underground at speeds of up to 50mph, causing tremors and plate movement as they do. They mainly feed on boulders and mountainsides.”
“Pichu, your electric-type attacks won’t work here, so we’ll have to use Charm for now!”
Pichu shuddered at a thought, and then ran on all fours, closer to Onix than he wished to be. He clicked his small fingers together and winked at the towering rock-type, but nothing happened.
“Onix, use Screech again!” Brock called, making Ash grimace; he had only just regained his hearing properly. The same sound of long metal nails scratching down a sheet of steel came from the cavernous insides of Onix’s jaw, forcing Pichu onto his knees, covering up his large yellow and black ears.
Ash made a point this time to stare at Brock and see what he would do next. Pichu more than likely wouldn’t be able to hear Ash, but at least he could be prepared. Brock shouted something that seemed to end in ‘-am’, but Ash couldn’t make it out clearly enough.
Before he could react, Onix had lifted his tail with tremendous speed for his size and was thrusting it down at Pichu, gaining a slight trace of white glimmering energy on the bumpy stones. Pichu was thrown across the room behind Ash, crashing into a wall. Ash didn’t have to look.
“Pichu is unable to battle,” the referee said, the noise of his voice coming faintly through to Ash’s ears now, “Onix wins the round, which means Brock wins the battle!”
Before he could return Pichu to his Pokéball, all three people in the room were at his side. Misty telling him not to worry about it, the referee telling him he could have a rematch the next day and Brock telling him he had done a good job for a beginner trainer.
He barely noticed Brock had already withdrawn Onix from the battlefield.
“You did well, Ash,” Misty murmured into his ear when she hugged him, “now get Pichu back into his ball and let’s get to the Pokémon Centre.”
“Forget the Pokémon Centre,” Brock told them both, “you can stay here the night. I have herbs and potions for healing. Butterfree and Pichu will be fine in no time.”
Ash agreed. It could be good to get a nice rest.
***
Ash woke up in the sleeping bag he had rolled out for himself next to Misty’s. He looked to his right and saw she was no longer there. Looking to his left, he saw Pichu and Butterfree’s Pokéballs shrunken and still; they were sleeping too.
The sun was beginning to rise, sending light through the window. Ash suddenly felt that he needed to use the bathroom, and ran from the room without his Pokéballs, not worrying that he didn’t know where it was situated.
After finding it within the third door he tried, Ash emerged feeling refreshed. He heard voices from one of the rooms on his way back.
“-doesn’t know who I am, and I want to keep it that way for now,” he heard Misty say. The second voice belonged to Brock.
“I won’t say anything if you promise to agree. I need to get out of here and see the world,” he told her, before pausing. Ash heard someone walk towards the door and tried to move away, but fell to the floor.
The door opened and Brock stared down at Ash with bemusement in his eyes.
“Are you okay?” He asked Ash with a smile still on his face.
“I’m okay,” Ash told him, grabbing Brock’s outstretched hand to pull himself up. Brushing chunks of dirt from the plant he had fell into off his black t-shirt, he looked at a confused Misty behind the gym leader.
“Did you hit your head or something?” she asked him, looking away quickly.
“When can we have our rematch?” Ash asked Brock, ignoring Misty’s strange behaviour in the room behind him, twitching slightly at the sound of his words.
“Later,” Brock told him, laughing, “we’ll have to wait for Phillip to come in to officiate it. For now, we’ll talk. I’ll show you around the town if you’d like.”
“I’d rather be here when Phillip gets here,” he admitted, before finding himself confused, “who’s Phillip?”
“Phillip is the referee for my gym,” the darker-skinned boy told him. “Come in and sit down, won’t you?”
Ash followed him into the room and sat down at a small wooden chair. The room looked a lot like the room Ash and Misty had slept in, except with different furnishing. This was obviously Brock’s living room.
“So, tell me about yourself, Ash.”
Ash couldn’t think of much to start with, so he went with the easier option.
“You tell me about yourself first,” he said, feeling slightly uncomfortable on the chair. Brock laughed, but seemed to be going along with the suggestion.
“Well, I’m thirteen years old and one of the younger gym leaders in Kanto,” he began, not telling Misty, who Ash assumed had already heard all of this, “and I live here with my brother, Forrest. He turns ten tomorrow, so he’ll be able to take over the gym for a little while. I have a proposal before I go on, though Ash.”
“What is it?” Ash asked, expecting exactly what he had already heard him say to Misty.
“If I win the battle again, I get to travel around the world with you and Misty,” he suggested, staring deep into Ash’s eyes with his own chocolate brown spheres.
“And if I win?” Ash asked, wondering what the other half of the bargain could be.
“If you win, I give you the badge. As a gift to me for giving you the badge, you let me travel with you. What do you say?”
Ash almost laughed at the obvious attempt to trick him into accepting another travelling companion. Manners taught him not to, and he thought about the offer for a moment. Brock had been handy, healing Butterfree and Pichu instead of letting Ash go to the Pokémon Centre, and it would probably be helpful having him around to keep them healed.
“Win or lose, you can travel with us,” Ash agreed, smiling and shaking hands with a grateful Brock, “now continue your life story.”
“Well, I don’t really see my father that much anymore, and my mother passed away, so that’s about it for the family department,” he continued, now much more sombre but calm, “but it’s my mother than I get my darker skin from. She was born on the Sevii Islands, where it’s much hotter.”
“Where is your father?” Ash asked, but looking to his left told him Misty had already asked the same thing.
“I have no idea, and I’d rather not know where he is,” Brock retorted, turning his face away from Ash. Regardless, Ash could see Brock was hurting, and decided against pursuing the topic.
“Did you start your journey as a trainer with Geodude?” Ash asked, recalling Geodude’s use of terrain against Onix’s brute strength tactic.
“Actually, my father gave me Onix three and a half years ago when I turned ten,” Brock told him sourly; as if that was the reason he used Geodude more effectively. “You know, I might get Forrest to come and watch our rematch to get him more prepared for battling.”
“Hasn’t he already been taught?” Ash asked, remembering the years he spent learning from Professor Oak.
“Not everyone has a renowned Professor living next door, Ash,” Misty said, making Ash jump.
“I didn’t mean it like-”
“Ah, here you are, Brock,” a voice interrupted from the door. Turning, Ash saw Phillip, returned to the gym early. “And so is everyone. Sleep over?
“We sure did,” Ash said, nodding with excitement, “and now I’m ready for a rematch against you, Brock!” Brock nodded, standing up.
“You go and get your Pokémon then, and I’ll get Forrest.”
***
Ash waited at his side of the battlefield, watching Misty yawn on the sidelines. They had already been in the room for over ten minutes, wondering why Brock was taking so long.
Finally, two people walked through the door. The first was Brock, still smiling and happy at the prospect of travelling with Ash and Misty. The second was a similar height to Ash, but dark skinned like Brock. In many ways, he was identical to Brock.
They both had the same dark honey coloured hair, and the same tight eyelids. The brothers even wore similar colours, with Forrest sporting a dark and light green striped t-shirt and Brock once more wearing his olive green jacket.
The younger brother walked to Phillip and whispered something into his ear, prompting the referee to shout out and congratulate the boy. Brock must have told Forrest he was going to be the new gym leader after Brock left.
“This is a two-on-two battle between the gym leader Brock Harrison and the challenger Ash Ketchum!” Phillip shouted, holding up the red and green flags again. “The challenger may switch, but the leader cannot. There is no time limit. Begin!”
“Geodude, I choose you!” Brock called, throwing the Great Ball into the air. The white energy from within came crashing down to the ground without a sound, splashing around before forming into the grey Geodude, ready for battle.
“Come on out, Pichu!” Ash shouted, throwing his own Pokéball into the battle. Pichu came out more confident than he had last time, smirking at Geodude with a hint of mischief.
“Geodude, use Double Edge!” Brock ordered. Immediately, Geodude was sprinting across the rocky field, using his hands to move himself faster. A white glow overtook his body, stopping Pichu from looking directly at it.
The attack hit Pichu, knocking him over, but Ash knew it would hurt Geodude as well.
“You’ve injured your own Pokémon now, Brock!” He called over confidently, “Double Edge is going to give your Pokémon recoil damage!”
“I’m afraid not, Ash,” Brock told him, smiling harder than Ash was, “because Geodude have a special ability they’re born with that the experts call Rock Head. They don’t get any recoil damage from their attacks.”
The smoke surrounding the attack had cleared, but a familiar array of small yellow sparks were rippling their way over Geodude’s stony body.
“Did you use Thunder Wave, Pichu?” Ash asked his Pokémon, who simply shrugged, standing up with slight strain.
“Pichu have a special ability too, Ash!” Misty shouted over to him. “It’s called Static. When a Pokémon makes physical contact with yours, there is a chance they’ll become paralysed!”
“Brock, you should switch Pokémon!” Forrest called out, only to be silenced by Phillip.
“Didn’t you hear the rules at the start? If you’re going to be the gym leader, you had better start learning them!”
“Enough! Geodude, use Rock Climb!” Brock shouted, his right foot coming outside of his box with his strong movement. Geodude copied him, working through the electricity that pulsed through his stone muscles in an attempt to stop him moving.
His fingers gained a similar glow to Rock Smash, but with a plain white colour instead. Quicker than Ash expected, Geodude was using the ground and the boulders to rush over to Pichu with strength and momentum.
“Pichu, use Charm!” Ash ordered. Pichu winked at the oncoming Geodude, making cute faces. Tiny glitter came from his eyelids and sprayed over Geodude, who was more than close now. It hit the rock-type at the last minute, just managing to reduce the intensity of the attack.
There was another crash, sending smoke around Ash, who the battle was nearer. Coughing, he heard Pichu cry out in pain.
“Geodude, find Pichu and use Tackle!” Ash heard Brock order. There was another cry from Pichu, and Ash could tell the attack must have found its target.
“Follow my voice, Pichu! Get out of that smoke!” Ash called. Moments later, Pichu came limping out of the dissipating smoke. He looked exhausted. “Would you like me to use Butterfree?”
“Chu!” the electric-type shouted, shaking his head. There was a familiar white glint to his paws.
“Okay! Pichu, use Double Slap!” Ash told his Pokémon. Pichu ran at Geodude on all fours, his two front paws gaining more and more energy as he ran.
“Geodude, hit back with a Rock Smash!” Brock called over to his own Pokémon. Geodude’s fist gained a pale brown glow before he swung it round to meet Pichu. Then, however, he abruptly stopped, his body finally giving in to the paralysis.
Pichu began thwacking away, more and more aggressively each time. Geodude winced from the attack now that it was becoming too much.
“Try Rock Smash again, Geodude!” Brock cried, and Ash could tell from the look on his face that Geodude wouldn’t be able to take much more. Geodude tried another attack, pulling it off. His fist swung around, meeting both of Pichu’s paws at once.
There was a struggle, but Pichu began gaining the upper hand. Geodude was becoming tired, while Pichu was getting a second wind.
Pichu pushed one paw forward with more strength than Geodude, giving him the chance to use his other hand to unleash more Double Slap on Geodude’s body.
“Geodude, hang in there!” Brock yelled, but Geodude had already passed out on the ground in front of Pichu. Before Ash could cheer his Pokémon on, Pichu had passed out on top of the rock-type from exhaustion.
“Geodude is unable to battle! Pichu wins the round!” Phillip called out, holding the green flag towards Ash’s box.
“But Pichu fainted, too!” Forrest called out, with a sour look on his face. Phillip only had to turn towards him to stop him moaning.
“You’re here to learn,” he reminded the boy as Ash and Brock both returned their Pokémon to their respective Pokéballs, “not to teach. Pay attention!”
“It’s your turn, Onix!” Brock shouted, throwing the red and white sphere onto the ground, releasing the behemoth of stone.
“Come on out, Butterfree!” Ash called, sending out his bug-type. Butterfree saw Onix and shuddered, small particles of glitter and dust falling from his large wings.
“Onix, finish this quickly with Rock Throw!” Brock ordered, a sly smirk crossing his face. Onix reared his head back, opening his jaw wide. Just as he had yesterday, he began to form a boulder in between his top and bottom jaws.
Ash heard the noise this time. It sounded like two boulders being crushed together. It made Ash’s stomach churn, but stopped quickly when Onix flung the fully-formed boulder down at Butterfree.
“Butterfree, grab it and throw it back with Confusion!” Ash ordered, thinking back to the attack’s effect on Geodude the previous day. Butterfree’s eyes gained a glowing pink lining, which formed around the moving boulder, slowing it until it stopped.
“Free!” Butterfree grunted as he used all of his mental focus to hurl the boulder back at Onix at a greater speed.
“Onix, get rid of it with Slam!” Brock ordered, now looking worried. Onix obeyed quickly, his tail smashing the moving boulder to pieces, which scattered over Onix’s long body and the ground.
“Butterfree, use Confusion on Onix!” Ash ordered, hoping the bug-type could handle the size of the creature with his power so new. Butterfree took charge of the falling shards of stone, moving them out of the way with his mind as his mental focus reached out to grab around Onix’s body with a faint pink glow.
“Onix, fight against it and use Bind!” Brock called out. Onix’s tail rose up towards Butterfree, who tried his hardest to hold the rock-type back. Onix broke free and wrapped his tail around Butterfree, twisting and curling until only Butterfree’s head could be seen.
“Butterfree, use Bug Bite!”
Butterfree’s slightly smaller, turquoise snout gained an olive glow, and he bit down onto Onix’s stone flesh, taking out any nutrients he could.
“Ooooooon!” the serpent cried, but kept its grip strong.
“Use Confusion!” Ash called, seeing that there was a gap for exposure. Butterfree obeyed, his eyes glowing pink as he unravelled Onix’s tail to let himself free. “Now, use Iron Defence and then hit him with Tackle!”
As Onix tried to compose himself from being sprung apart, Butterfree gained the silver lining Ash had quickly become used to using, becoming hard as metal, and then quickly rammed himself into Onix, sending the serpent crashing to the ground.
“Can you still battle Onix?” Brock asked, Onix’s head laying next to him and still making him look tiny in comparison. The rock-type made no sound.
“Onix is unable to battle! Butterfree wins the round!” Phillip shouted over Misty’s cheers, “The challenger wins the battle!”
Ash felt elated. Butterfree flew straight to him and the two hugged; Ash even felt as if he were lifted slightly into the air by the bug-type. Brock and Misty ran over to him, and it was only now that Ash noticed Onix had been returned to his Pokéball already.
“Congratulations Ash,” Misty said hugging him when Butterfree moved aside.
“Well done, Ash,” Brock told him, shaking his hand, “I had a feeling you’d be able to do it this time round.”
Ash looked around. Phillip was smiling and nodding at Ash, while Forrest was shaking his head in disgust, obviously not appreciating his brother’s loss. Ash didn’t care what he thought; his mind was consumed with the small metal badge Brock was now handing to him.
It was hexagonal, and completely grey, but it shined with the glimmer of diamonds.
“You’ve earned that Boulder Badge, Ash,” Brock told him, patting him on the back once more.
***
“If you forget where the badges are kept, you can ask Phillip, or leave me a message at a Pokémon Centre,” Brock told Forrest as he put his overly large backpack onto his shoulders.
His brother had insisted that he already had his own Pokémon and didn’t need to use Brock’s Geodude, no matter how much Brock tried to lend him out.
With the three ready to travel again, Ash eagerly anticipated his next battle in Cerulean City, even though Brock and Misty still refused to tell them anything about the gym leader.
Ash stared at his Boulder Badge as they walked towards the valley leaving Pewter City, paying no attention to his two companion’s attempts to talk to him.