The Kanto Challenge: Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Luna was the first to wake up the next morning - she always was. The sun had been in the sky for a good portion of time already, and its golden rays seemed to make her six pokemon sparkle magically before her (especially on Cygnus with his metallic sheen). She could think back to her first night away from home so long ago when she just had Carina as a young Chikorita. She had woken up just as she did this morning, and her loyal first pokemon was peacefully and soundly asleep under her arm. She couldn't imagine waking up in the middle of a strange place outside without her pokemon with her. Just the thought of being all alone scared her to no end.
She stood up and stretched her muscles a bit before taking one last look at her sleeping team of champions.
"Wake up guys! We've got our first gym leader to beat today."
Almost as if they were dormant robots that just received a jolt of energy, the team stirred from her voice and began their morning stretches and yawns to accompany hers. Eventually all of the team was up and ready to go... except for Cygnus who was still perched on the ground, soundly asleep. Luna noticed this and spoke loudly to try to rouse him.
"Hey sleepy bird, it's time to get a move on."
He didn't move in the slightest. She sighed and turned to her Vaporeon, "Titan, give him a small dose of water to wake him up. Be gentle though, we all know you're tough."
He responded (even though she couldn't understand him, the others could), "Gladly." He turned toward the steel flyer and let loose a steady stream of water directly at his face. The light attack hit its mark and immediately Cygnus was awake and coughing. He leaned away from the cold onslaught and shook his head to get the water off before glaring at his attacker.
His irked stare was met by smiles and chuckles from the group. He stared directly at Titan and squinted his eyes a bit to show his frustration at the rude awakening. Titan answered his gaze by saying, "Hey, don't get mad at me. I just did what Luna told me. Believe me, that attack could have been a lot stronger."
Cygnus snorted once to further show his slight anger before he slowly walked over to join the rest of the group. When he had joined them, Luna spoke to the whole group.
"Alrighty guys. Based on this map that Professor Oak gave me, we should be really close to Pewter City. Apparently the gym leader there is named Brock, and according to the book, he specializes in rock pokemon. I've been thinking about a strategy for this, and I've got a plan; it's a little crazy, but just trust me on this. We'll kick Brock's butt and be one badge closer to being able to face the champion. Are you guys ready?"
Her question was met by a diversity of joyous calls from them, and in no time, they were on their way again. It only took about an hour before they arrived in the city, and once they were there, she got out her six pokeballs and called back her dream team before heading to the gym. She had learned a lot from her fight with Lance, and one thing that she realized was that she couldn't always rely on a type advantage.
So, she decided to use Brock as a guinea pig so to speak to strengthen some of her team's weaknesses. She walked through the gym doors proudly, and just as she expected, she saw Brock sitting down near the back, awaiting challengers. She shouted confidently, "Brock! I'm here to challenge you to a pokemon battle."
Brock smiled and stood up before asking, "What's your name and where are you from?"
"The name's Luna, and I'm from Newbark Town."
"Ah, a Johto trainer. I haven't fought a non-Kanto trainer in a while. This should be a fun battle."
All of a sudden, the floor began shaking which caught her off guard, eliciting a tiny scream of surprise. Right before her eyes, the once-solid gym floor opened and was replaced by a large fighting arena, complete with massive boulders in various places. She hadn't expected a field that would help his rock pokemon, but she wasn't going to let a little thing like that stop her from getting her victory.
When the floor had finished its transformation, Brock spoke up again, "This will be a two on two battle. I hope you're ready for this. Go Onix!"
Brock pulled out a pokeball from his belt and threw it into the arena. In a large flash of light, a massive Onix appeared, roaring out loudly as it was released.
Luna smiled. She knew that he would send out a rock type first, and with an Onix, she would be able to get the most training in. She reached onto her belt and pressed the button on the front of one of her pokeballs. She whispered to it, "Just give it your all; we'll be fine." She threw the pokeball in front of her and yelled, "Go Gamma!"
In a similar flash of light, her Raichu appeared in front of her. When she glanced up at the massive rock pokemon, most of the feeling went out of her body, and she couldn't help but look back at Luna with a puzzled look on her face. Gamma thought to herself, "Why in the hell would she send me out to face a rock type? She knows that I can't do anything to them..."
Brock spoke up, "Interesting. You must either be very confident or very stupid sending an electric type against a rock type. Needless to say, this does bring back some memories. The last electric type that I lost to was a Pikachu from him. I hope you don't disappoint. Onix, dig!"
In surprisingly quick movements, the massive rock snake shook the whole building seemingly as it dove down, disappearing in a flash. Luna wasn't expecting that, but it didn't deter her from the strategy that she had worked up in her mind. Even though she knew that electric attacks were useless against rock types, she could still damage them with physical attacks. As she was pondering, the ground began to shake again, and she knew what was about to happen.
"Gamma, dodge it with agility!" She got down on all fours and began sprinting back and forth at a surprisingly quick rate. However, she wasn't quite fast enough as the Onix shot out of the ground, tossing her through the air and causing her to land painfully next to one of the massive boulders.
"Gamma! Are you ok?" She picked herself up and took a battle stance, and electricity could be seen coming from her cheeks as she prepared herself for what was not shaping up to be a pleasant battle, but needless to say, she would give it her all.
"Surprising. You obviously have raised your Raichu well for it to know agility. Most trainers go for pure power and use Thunder Stones too early on their Pikachus. I'm impressed, but you'll have to work harder if you want to win this match. Onix, bind it."
With the same quickness displayed earlier, the Onix dove its body toward the electric rat, and Luna knew if she didn't think of something quickly, then things would turn out very badly. Her mind raced with ideas, and just before it was too late, a thought arose, and she articulated it. "Gamma, jump in the air and use iron tail."
Right before Onix's attack hit its target, Gamma leapt into the air and did a quick summersault. Her tail glowed white, and as her body rotated, it made direct contact with Onix's face with a sickening crack. Onix roared out in pain as its body slammed into the ground due to the force of the blow. She landed on his body before jumping backwards to await further instructions from her trainer. As Onix rose up again, Brock spoke up again.
"Nice little trick. You've definitely got some skills defensively. I'm curious if you can take advantage of the situation."
He was right. If she wanted to win this, she would have to go on the offensive, and with an attack that worked, her confidence was growing. She smiled and said, "Good work Gamma, now go give that Onix another dose of iron tail."
She dashed forward and her tail glowed white as before. As she neared her target, she jumped high into the air and aimed for the same place that she had struck with her previous attack.
Surprisingly to Luna, while Gamma was initiating her attack, he didn't give any order to Onix. But what slightly worried her was that he was standing confidently, almost as if he wanted his Onix to get hit. As Gamma spun her body in the air again, preparing for the inevitable collision, Brock screamed, "Screech!"
Just before the iron tail hit its mark, Onix roared out in an extremely high-pitched and loud sound. The sound was horrible, and it was enough to shake the building and make Luna cover her ears. She looked on with slight fear as Gamma's tail returned to normal and she began falling through the air helplessly, clutching her own ears in pain.
With her defenses sharply lowered, Brock took his opportunity to strike. "Bind it Onix."
Onix curled his massive body around and caught the freefalling rat before she could land. He began flexing his body, squeezing her painfully.
Luna yelled, "Try to hang on Gamma!" She screamed out in pain as she felt her body essentially becoming crushed between the massive rocks. Electricity shot from her cheeks in desperation before she fell limp in his grasp.
"That's enough Onix." Hearing his words, Onix relaxed its body, letting the tiny rat fall to the ground. She lay unmoving on the arena floor.
"Gamma, return." Luna pulled out the same pokeball from earlier and a red beam shot out of the front of it, and then her Raichu was gone. She pulled the pokeball close and said to it, "You did good Gamma. Don't worry, I'll get you to the Pokemon Center when this match is over."
Brock spoke up loudly, "I will say that I'm impressed that your Raichu lasted as long as it did, but it was a mistake to use the same attack twice. You caught me and my Onix off guard, but once I knew what your Raichu was capable of, I was able to figure out a counter for it."
She mentally kicked herself for being so predictable. Regardless, she still had no intension of losing this battle. She returned Gamma's pokeball to her belt and pulled another one out to replace it. She tossed it forward saying, "Go Titan!" Her Vaporeon appeared before her and took his battle stance as he surveyed his opponent. Before Brock could say anything, she shouted, "Water pulse."
Titan inhaled deeply and shot a large ball of water through the air. As the attack traveled its course, Brock yelled, "Onix, go under ground now!"
Onix aimed its head for the ground and tried to get out of the way, but as it dove for the soil, the attack connected, and it roared out in pain before disappearing again. Titan stood his ground and awaited Luna's command as the giant rock snake prepared its attack. The ground shook violently again and before Onix could reemerge, she shouted, "Titan, use double team."
In a flash, what was one Vaporeon turned into a plethora of them just as Onix burst out of the ground. The apparitions that had been there vanished instantly and before Onix could recover from his attack, Luna said, "Water gun."
Brock yelled for Onix to dodge, but it was too late as the powerful stream of water crashed directly into Onix's face. It roared out in pain before it collapsed onto the ground and lay motionless. Brock called Onix back and said, "That was smart to use double team that way, but let's see if you can adapt to this. Go Crobat."
"Wait... what!?" Luna couldn't help but say out loud as he said that. The book that Professor Oak gave her never said anything about Brock having a non-rock type. Her entire strategy to give Gamma some experience against a difficult disadvantage and then blow through the remainder of Brock's pokemon with Titan's water advantage was in jeopardy because of this Crobat that just appeared before her.
As the poisonous bat came onto the field, Titan took another battle stance. He hadn't fought a Crobat before, so he wasn't entirely sure what to expect. Nevertheless, he was confident in his strength.
"Crobat, supersonic the entire arena."
"Crap..." she said under her breath. That means he can't avoid it with double team like last time. She was running out of time, and she was in no way prepared to deal with a Crobat in this gym match. In a last-second decision, she said, "Titan, just stand there and take it. I believe in you."
As he was told, he braced himself as the attack hit him dead on. As the attack impacted, he immediately began to feel dizzy and disoriented. He almost felt like he was going to be sick, and all the sounds that entered his mind seemed distorted and foreign. He heard what sounded like Luna's voice, but he couldn't understand what she was saying. He swayed uneasily as he struggled to regain control of his vision.
Before he could figure out where he was, he felt a sharp pain in his side as he was knocked off his feet. Part of his brain didn't even care that he was just attacked. Now he just wanted to lie on the ground and regain his composure. He vaguely heard Luna's voice again, but he paid it no mind. The next thing he felt was a sharp pain in his leg. The pain was enough to snap him back to reality, and he looked down to see the purple bat with its teeth sunk into his flesh.
He managed to shake the Crobat off his limb, leaving two red blood stains where its teeth had been. He shook his head roughly and managed to get back to his feet. He was in a lot of pain, but he was willing to endure whatever he had to. Brock said, "You put up a good fight, but this ends now. Wing attack Crobat."
"Dodge it Titan!" He was about to jump out of the way, but as he went to place his weight on his leg, it gave out due to the previous attack. He crumpled down right as Crobat crashed into him, knocking him backwards directly into one of the gigantic rocks on the battle field. As his head slammed into the hard surface, he immediately blacked out.
Luna couldn't believe it. She fell to her knees and called Titan back making sure to tell him that she was proud of him. As she stay there kneeling, she didn't notice that Brock had walked over to her. He extended his hand toward her in a kind gesture. She looked up at him hesitantly before returning the gesture. He pulled her to her feet and shook her hand before speaking up.
"I have to say that I admire your ingenuity greatly. I'm fairly certain that if you come back to face me, you'll be victorious as long as you don't send out your Raichu against my Onyx. Why did you do that? By sending out your Vaporeon, you obviously know what types are strong and weak against others."
She was still trying to get over the fact that she just lost her first gym match. The realization that she wasn't unbeatable hit her like a sludge bomb to the face. She wasn't one to cry after losing a match, but she knew that it would be hard whenever she tried to go to sleep. Nevertheless, she answered him truthfully.
"Well, I beat Lance a few days ago, and in our match, I had to have Gamma face his Tyranitaur, so I was trying to get some experience with rough match ups."
"Ah, I see. Well, a gym battle is not the place for that sort of thing."
"Yeah... I know, but I just thought that Titan..."
"You thought I only had rock pokemon?"
She nodded in response.
"Well, as you're well aware, rock pokemon have a very difficult time beating water pokemon. I can't just have every trainer walk in here with say a Squirtle that they got a day before and decimate me. I may specialize in rock pokemon, but I have an out for just that case. Keep that in mind in your travels. Do you know where the Pokemon Center is?"
"Yeah... I saw it as I got into the city."
"Go there and they'll fix your pokemon up nicely, and they will let you stay there for the night. I'm sure you will be back here tomorrow, so I await our battle, and I will be thrilled to give you a badge when you beat me."
"Thank you..."
With that, she turned around and left, defeated. It was a long walk to the Pokemon Center. It wasn't that it was far away. In fact, she could see it from the gym doors. She just couldn't believe that after beating Lance, she would lose to the first gym leader all because she got careless.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful for her. She left all of her pokemon with Nurse Joy. She was confident that only Titan and Gamma needed medical care, but she figured it was better to be safe and just heal all of them a hundred percent. While they were in Nurse Joy's care, Luna took the opportunity to see the city.
She found a Pokemart and stocked up on some food for when she was outside of the city. She also found a small restaurant where she got a nice meal. She had wished that her pokemon liked the kind of food that the restaurant served because she would have saved some for them. But she also knew that every Pokemon Center took care of things like that and her pokemon would be well fed.
There wasn't much to do honestly in the city. It wasn't as big as say Goldenrod City, but nevertheless, before she knew it, it was getting dark. She headed back to the Pokemon Center and gathered up her pokemon from Nurse Joy and went into one of the rooms in the back. The Pokemon Centers were blessings to trainers because they provided free food for the pokemon, and they allowed trainers to stay in rooms for no cost.
When Luna arrived at her single room, she sat on the lone bed and let all of her pokemon out. When the flashes of light dissipated and the six figures appeared before her, she couldn't bare to look at them from sheer disappointment not in them, but in herself. She hunched over, putting her head into her hands and her elbows on her knees.
The four who hadn't been in the battle (and Gamma since she didn't see the ending), took one look at Luna, and they instantly knew what had happened. It didn't need to be said. Carina was the first to act, and she went over and nuzzled her arm affectionately. When she didn't take any notice, the other five got closer and all gave her a very uncoordinated and awkward-looking hug.
She couldn't help but shed a tear, not because she was disappointed in herself or frustrated with the loss, but because she knew her team... her friends... her only friends in the world would always stick by her no matter what. She had been arrogant, overzealous, and just downright ignorant to do what she did in that gym battle. She made Gamma fight virtually an impossible match up, and even she was showing her support and love for her. Even Cygnus who typically shied away from the group's activities had his silver wing on her back, comforting her with the others.
She wiped away her tear and raised her head up, smiling at the group. "Thanks guys. I don't know what I would ever do without all of you. You mean more to me than anything in the world and I'm sorry I was stupid."
She reached down and picked up Gamma and brought her in for a hug before pulling away and saying, "You fought great out there, but I should have never made you go up against that Onix. Will you ever forgive me?"
"Rai! Rai!"
She had no clue what that meant, but she took it as a yes, and she gave her another hug before setting her back down on the ground.
"Alrighty guys, I think it's time for bed. We've got a badge to earn tomorrow, and believe me, we'll get it. It's kind of cramped in here, but do you guys wanna stay outside your pokeballs anyway?"
After receiving numerous nods and happy replies from the group, she got up and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. Since they wouldn't be able to talk to each other once she went to sleep, the group took the opportunity to chat for a bit.
Gamma spoke up first, "What happened Titan? How did you lose?"
Before he had a chance to explain, Sirius cut in, "Wait, the mighty Titan lost to a rock pokemon? You either were not yourself or your opponent was really strong."
Titan wasn't really in the mood to talk about the fight honestly. He was frustrated at himself for losing. It had been quite a long time since they had lost a match, and now that they had and he was the last one sent out, he felt as though it were all his fault. He looked down at his front two paws and said, "I don't know what happened, can we please just not talk about it?"
Comet chimed in, "Geeze dude, I've never seen you this upset. Are you sure you're alright?"
Without looking up he responded, "I'll live; can we please just change the subject?"
Normally the group would have respected his wish, but this was a different matter and Sirius pressed the issue even further, "Sorry, but I can't let this go. If you were beaten by a rock type, then we need to know everything about it or else we won't ever win. Now come on and spill your guts."
"It was a Crobat alright? A tiny damn bat. There, now you know, and we can drop the issue."
Without waiting for a reply, he sauntered into the corner sulking, and plopped himself down on the floor, curling up so that his back was to the group. Silence permeated the room for a while as the others stared at him, wondering if he was going to look back or not. When he lay there motionless, Cygnus, to everyone's surprise, broke the silence, "Are you upset because you lost?"
He waited for some sort of reply, but seeing none, he continued, "I've lost every fight I've ever been in and you don't see me giving up on my life the way you are right now."
That struck a nerve because in a flash, Titan jumped to his feet and turned toward him, anger clearly showing in his eyes. He practically shouted back, "You're a hypocrite. We try to be nice to you and include you in everything we do, and all you do is shun us away like we're annoying pests to you. Maybe if you won a few matches then you'd be more like the rest of us."
"So I should be like you and pretend like the world is ending whenever I do lose?"
"Shut up! You don't realize how embarrassing that fight was for me."
"It figures. You always tell me I should be more outspoken, and when I am, you tell me to stop talking. Fine, I'll be brief: you lost, get over it, we'll win tomorrow."
Cygnus turned away and started to head over to the other corner of the room in order to claim a spot for the night. However, before he took as much as one step, he was hit hard in the back of the neck by an extremely cold blast. It knocked him off balance and pained him greatly, but he managed to stay on his feet before pivoting to face his assailant.
He saw Titan in a battle stance, practically fuming with anger. Under normal circumstances, he would have let this behavior go, but he was still irked from the morning's rude awakening, and he was frustrated with the water canine's attitude, and he flapped his massive steel wings, causing them to glow white and send out a strong, light blue gust of energy that cut through the air with lightning speed, connecting with Titan's side and shoving him backwards into the wall.
When he regained his composure, he opened his mouth as he prepared another ice beam. He shot it at the giant bird, but before it could get very far, Sirius intervened and shot a flamethrower to intercept the attack. When the attacks were over, he said, "Enough you two! Titan, save your anger for the match tomorrow and get some sleep, and Cygnus... just don't piss him off anymore."
The two glared at each other before both snorting out in frustration, but they obeyed the fire dog and turned away from each other: Titan plopping himself back down on the ground and Cygnus practically stomping over to the other corner where he perched himself. Before the rest of the group could talk anymore, Luna came out of the bathroom.
"What's going on out here? I can't leave you guys alone for two minutes without all of you getting antsy." She glanced over to the two corners and saw the two (now completely silent) noise-makers seemingly asleep and she said, "See? Why can't you guys get some sleep like Titan and Cygnus here? We've got a big day tomorrow and you all need your rest for it so we can nab ourselves a badge."
The rest of them sighed, but they kept their mouths shut. As if the movements were already choreographed, Carina jumped up onto the bed and waited for Luna to get under the covers before snuggling up next to her. Sirius lay himself down in the middle of the room, and Comet took his usual spot of lying on his back, his head resting on the fire type's side. Gamma, who usually slept with Titan, decided to let him be for this night, and she curled up with the other two guys. In no time, the steady breathing turned into snores as they drifted off to sleep one by one.
As morning came, Luna woke up, got herself ready, and rounded up the team into the pokeballs before heading out of the pokemon center and back to Brock. When she arrived at the doors to the gym, she took a deep breath before pushing them open, flooding the building with light. When she stepped inside, she didn't have to say anything before Brock's voice permeated the room.
"I was waiting for you. I've already got the arena set up and everything."
Sure enough, the playing field from the day before was already out, complete with the four giant holes from Onix's dig attack. She took her place on her end of the battlefield and waited to see which pokemon he would send out first. Much to her surprise, the first pokemon that Brock sent out was none other than the same Crobat. She didn't know why he would lead off with it, but now was the time for her decision, and after giving it a lot of thought over the day before, she had made up her mind on what to do.
She pulled out one of her pokeballs and tossed it forward saying, "I believe in you Comet." Her Scyther appeared before her and took his battle stance as usual.
Brock said, "Let's see if you've learned from yesterday. Crobat, supersonic the whole stadium again."
While his Crobat prepared its attack, Luna called out, "Comet, use agility and hide in one of the holes." Before the bat's attack could be launched, Comet was sprinting across the playing field and successfully dove into one of the massive craters from the day before. As he waited there, the supersonic filled the room, but he remained unaffected underground.
Brock said, "Clever; very clever, but what are you gonna do under there?"
Luna smiled broadly and called out, "Alright Comet, stay hidden down there and use swords dance; and go ahead and use it twice more while you're at it."
He was honestly speechless. He had no clue what to do in this situation. His Crobat couldn't combat another pokemon underground; its entire strength came from being able to maneuver around in the air. While he and his Crobat waited for what was to come, she gave more commands.
"Use agility again to come out of that hole and follow it up with a slash attack."
The room was eerily silent for a moment until suddenly the quick bug pokemon shot out of one of the craters, flying through the air directly at Crobat. The second Brock saw it, he shouted as quickly as he could, "Crobat, behind you!" The poor bat pokemon didn't even get a chance to face his assailant before an extremely powerful scythe crashed into it, sending it flying through the air and crashing onto the wall; it was passed out before it made it to the ground.
As Brock called back his pokemon, Luna praised Comet for a job well done and awaited to see if Brock was going to send out his Onix again. Sure enough, the massive rock snake appeared ready to battle. Luna was confident in her Scyther, but with such a terrible disadvantage type wise, she didn't want to risk hurting him.
"Alright Comet, I won't make you fight this one; return." She knew what she had to do to obtain that gym badge, and she grabbed the pokeball she needed, tossing it onto the arena saying, "Just like yesterday Titan, let's get this."
When he came out and saw that he was battling the Onix again from the previous battle, he was relieved. He didn't know what he would have done if he had to face that Crobat again, and even though he was still feeling upset from yesterday, he had the confidence he needed to take this opponent down.
Brock started things off again by saying, "Screech it Onix."
Before either of them could react, the loud, piercing sound from the day before returned and shook the entire building. Titan stood his ground, trembling from the vibrations and also the horrible noise. When the attack was finally over, Luna yelled, "Shake it off Titan and use water gun."
He shook his head vigorously trying to rid himself of the awful ringing the permeated his ears. It still wasn't completely gone, but he launched his attack anyway. As the steady stream of water traveled its path through the air, Brock shouted, "Sandstorm and hurry!"
In a flash, Onix rotated its body with lightning speed and a column of sand appeared between them just as the water gun connected with it. The water combined with the sand which simply sprinkled little droplets of pseudo mud onto his giant body. It significantly reduced the effectiveness of the attack, and when the sand had dissipated, he stood there, completely unfazed.
Thinking quickly, she said, "Get closer to him and use the rocks on the field for cover if you need to." He wasn't sure what she was planning, but he knew that he had to stay on the defensive and wait for his chance to strike or he would never beat the strong water dog. Once Luna was happy with how close he was, she said, "Alright, now use double team to surround it and follow it up with an ice beam."
Onix looked around confused as one Vaporeon turned into a dozen or more, and all of them had their mouths glowing as they prepared to attack. It was then that Brock realized what she had done. Earlier he had time to prepare his Onix for the attack with sandstorm, but with an ice beam coming from such close range, there would be no way to prevent it from hitting like earlier.
Seeing no other option, he said, "Go underground Onix; it's your only chance." However, it was too late. Before Onix could move, he was hit hard by the freezing beam, and it did just that: it froze him on the spot. Not wanting his pokemon to suffer any useless pummeling when he was defenseless, Brock counted his losses and called Onix back.
Luna couldn't help but run out onto the rocky arena and give her Vaporeon a loving hug before returning him to his pokeball. When the two of them were finally alone in the room, Brock reached into his pocket and pulled out a white octagonal badge. He said, "You are a wonderful trainer, and it was an honor to lose to you. Take this Boulder Badge; you've definitely earned it."
She accepted it gratefully, putting it into her own pocket and shook his hand in appreciation. He continued, "You really impressed me with how well you adapted in such a short amount of time. I hope to battle you again some day, and I wish you luck in your other matches."
"Thank you! I've taken that loss yesterday to heart, and I'll learn from my mistakes."
"I think you've already proven that with our match today. I was the one who didn't know what to do and needs to learn. Now you get out of here and go show the other gym leaders what you're made of."
"Thanks again, and I won't let you down!" She shook hands with him once more and headed out of the gym. Once she was outside, she took a big breath of the fresh air and pulled out her newly acquired badge, holding it up to the sunlight and inspecting it. She smiled at it and returned it to her pocket before she walked away from the gym. Before she knew it, she was leaving the city and was heading for the next place on her map and the next gym leader to face.