Chapter 19: Castelia City Gym
After having a romantic dinner at Café Sonata, Harper and Pedro did a polite bow to everyone else and thanked the manager for the free dinner. They decided that it was about the right time to leave. Everyone was extremely sad that they had to go since they were the best costumers the restaurant had ever had and were truly awesomely entertaining – even the jazz band agreed. So, they casually left the café after paying and as they walked out – just after Brandon had battled the dancer - some guy walked up to them. He was a rather tall person, with light blond hair. He wore a t-shirt that said, “Go Iceland!”
"Hi, the name’s Randle," he said, "but my friends call me Rand. I Challenge you to a Pokémon battle! Larvitar and Porygon, come out and show them who's boss!"
"Yes, I’ll accept your challenge!" said Harper, standing up to the encounter, appearing tremendously courageous and valiant. She was always up for a Pokémon battle. "Pansage and Timburr, do your best!"
The Larvitar was some mirky-lime green reptile Pokémon that had an upright backbone on the top of its head. It had red eyes and a red diamond patch on its chest. The Porygon was some digitalized Pokémon that was light pink with a light pale blue nose. Both looked very powerful, and Harper wondered if she was able to defeat them. She decided to not let her nerves kick in or else she would lose the Pokémon battle. She knew she couldn’t overthink things.
Harper's Pokémon stared at Rand's ones, giving out scary looking yes at each other. The Porygon floated towards the Pansage and started to flash like a strobe light – this was by using Psybeam – which gave the Pansage an epileptic fit. The Pansage started to run around uncontrollably before becoming paralyzed. The Timburr swung its massive metal bar at Larvitar, which knocked it out. With the same swing, it hit the Porygon making it lose lots of health. The Porygon used Recover which brought it make to full strength. It then went up to the Pansage and zapped it using Discharge, knocking the Pokémon out. It looked unlikely that Harper would win, but with another mighty swing of the metal bar, the Timburr knocked the Porygon out.
"You are pretty good," said Rand, after shaking Harper's hand in congratulation – they were on Narrow Street still, "you should take on the gym leader in this city. His name is called Burgh. If you battle like that against him, you will surely win! I wish you good luck!"
"Thank you for suggesting that!" said Harper. She felt very excited and well prepared to go and take on the gym leader. She was eager to see what type of Pokémon the gym leader used. "I'm sure not to disappoint you."
So, they went back to the Pokémon centre and decided to have their Pokémon healed first. Since it was getting rather late – the sky was getting dark with the moon freshly out in the cloudless sky – Harper decided she should take on the gym leader tomorrow. That way they would be more awake ready to take on Burgh – or whoever the gym leader was. Rand spoke so fast that they couldn’t pick the name as well as they could have had.
Brandon came back. He seemed very excited. He had just won three battles against a group of dancers. Harper was very extremely proud of him. She knew he had a crush on her, but she saw him like a smaller brother which made things rather awkward at times. After getting their Pokéballs healed, they went to bed early.
Harper was exceptionally excited that she found it extremely difficult to fall asleep. She kept turning sides while trying to sleep – from left to right – and at no point did she find the bed remotely comfortable at all. She eventually gave up trying to get to bed and read a book. She scanned through an interesting novel of a guy from Kanto who stopped Team Rocket from stealing lots of Pokémon. The book was an autobiography and she found it very thought provoking and enlightening. She wondered if she would ever meet this guy. He seemed like a fascinating person and would surely teach her a lot if she ever had to battle against him. Apparently, his main Pokémon was a Pikachu. She had seen pictures of this Pokémon before, an electric mouse-type. She found its yellow fur to look very cute. She always wanted one but didn’t know where to catch one. She’d heard it wasn’t possible to catch on in Unova, since the region didn’t have Pikachu. Harper decided if she was ever going to get a Pikachu, she was going to call it Ryan-chu.
Eventually, she decided she had enough of reading. Her eyes were becoming tired. So, she laid down on the bed, and finally feel asleep. She managed to sleep for a few hours at least, before Pedro awoke her. His friendly voice made her smile and giggle. She was crossed to begin with since she could have had another hour or so of sleep, but once she saw his big grin as he held out a plate containing a bagel with bacon, cheese and plenty of ketchup, she felt happy and decided to give him a hug – after he put the plate down first, of course. After a long hug, she moved towards the plate and eagerly started eating it. The food felt extremely yummy. It was even better than the dinner the night before. He’d even made sure there weren't any eggs – Harper hated eggs; the rotten smell and the disgusting taste revolted her. She was extremely happy and felt very much prepared for the battle ahead. She stared at Pedro.
"It's time to show this town how we rock and roll!" she announced.
After inspecting the artwork at Studio Castelia, they wandered towards the gym, which was conveniently on Gym Street. It was the on the right side of the street the nearest to the pier. There were plenty of trainers waiting outside ready to take on the gym leader. A few of them looked like they had already taken on the gym leader – or at least one of the other trainers that trained at the gym – and were unfortunately defeated. Harper decided to not let their sad faces put her off. She was going to go into the gym and defeat whoever was in there. She was extremely determined to do so. She one and truly believed in herself.
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"I hope you're ready," queried Brandon. He looked quite nervous, wondering whether she was strong enough to defeat the gym leader.
"I'm sure you can be able to overcome that," said Pedro. "You haven't come this far just to give up. Are you a coward or are you someone that can get things done?" Pedro's motivational speech strengthened Harper's heart and gave her enough kick – much stronger than the energy drink that Brandon loved to drink – to walked into the gym and give it everything she had. She had to win – she had not choice!
She opened the door to the gym. A breeze of warm air knocked her back, as if it was trying to put her off going any further. The smell of gone off honey made her want to throw up. Luckily enough, that didn't happen. But the look on Brandon's face showed that he might’ve been tempted to do so too – but she was too scared to ask him. She simply did not want to know. Asking Brandon questions might’ve made her lose her courage.
As she entered the gym, she noticed that it was like a massive beehive, with the room being in a hexagonal shape. There was a gate on the other side, stopping those that wanted to go further from advancing. Facing Harper was some clown-like person. He looked at her and laughed. He did some juggling – with pins lit aflame – before eventually speaking to her. While his trick was impressive, Harper wanted him to hurry so that they could battle.
"I’m harlequin Jack – me nickname's Hungry Jack since I’m always hungry for a challenge," he announced. "If you want to take on my master, the gym leader of this city – the mighty Burgh – and claim the Insect Badge, then you'll have to take on me first! I'm not an easy opponent. You won't be able to walk over me effortlessly at all. I’m hopeful that you're ready for the real deal, cause I’m about to make you into a meal."
"I'm not an easy person to walk over either," Harper said, in a cocky and confident – not too much though – manner. "Tepig and Boldore - let us show them who the superior is! That's me alright!"
"Then let it be," he said, taking out his Pokéballs. "Sewaddle and Venipede – let us bug them with errors! We sure will catch their attention!" Out came two bug-type Pokémon. Sewaddle was a caterpillar that had covered itself with a green leaf. Harper had seen a Venipede before. Harper knew it was time to prove herself against this overconfident guy.
Tepig started charge around the Venipede in circles while the Boldore distracted it by throwing rocks at it. Venipede suddenly shot a poisonous darts at Boldore, but it didn't poison it since Boldore was a rock-type Pokémon. One of the rocks hit the Venipede, causing it to feel a lot of pain, slowing the Pokémon down. Tepig had managed to sneak behind the Venipede, and swiped it, knocking the enemy Pokemon out. Tepig then moved onto the Sewaddle, which was hiding in the corner. All Tepig had to do was flame it and it was knocked out.
"I might have gone easy on you," said the clown trainer, "but Burgh is much, much stronger. You better be careful or else you’ll come back to the Pokémon Centre disappointed."
"I'm sure not trainer is a match for me!" Harper said, leaning on Pedro, who was very proud of her and that she had won that battle. "Even if I get defeated by him, I’ll simply come back and defeat him again, but this time levelled up more, being more dangerous and powerful than before. I’m determined so that’ll make me champion one day."
So, as the clown trainer went to the corner to cry and morn his loss, the door to the next room opened, allowing Harper to enter. The next room was much bigger, but still had its beehive-like features. On the other side of the room was the gym leader. He wore tight skinny stripy pants with an even tighter green t-shirt and a pink scarf. He also had long messy curly hair. He looked like a fool – just a little bit. He was what Harper imagined Brandon to look like when he eventually grows up.
"I’m Harper Grace Thompson, and I challenge you to a Pokémon battle. This will be my third badge – the insect badge," she announced, standing extremely bravely. "Tepig, Audino, and Timburr - out you all come. Let's earn this badge!"
"You’ve a lot of guts taking me on, but it's time for me to crush that. It's time to destroy your dreams of becoming a champion!" said Burge, staring veraciously at Harper. "Whirlipede, Dwebble, and Leavanny – let us rip this little girl apart! Not literally through. Metaphorically."
The Whirlipede was a grey shell-like pokemon that crawled up into a ball, with spikes coming out from it. Reddish purple rings were found across its shell. The Dwebble was an orange crab that had a grey shell. And finally, the Leavanny was the final evolvement of Sewaddle, which finally grew into it leaf-like body.
The Timburr tried to swing its massive metal bar at the Whirlipede, but the other Pokémon performed Protect. This allowed the Pokémon to reflect the metal bar, which hit straight back at the Timburr, knocking the Pokémon out. Harper was one Pokémon down so she couldn’t risk losing another one. Tepig charge up at the Dwebble and the Pokémon blasted a burst of Ember at it, which caused the Pokémon to be knocked out. But while it was doing that, the Whirlipede shot a dart of poison at the Tepig, causing it to be poison. Because of this, it was slowly losing health. Every now and then, the Audino would heal the Tepig so that it didn't lose too much health. The Tepig then spat out a fireball at the Leavanny, causing it to be knocked out. The Tepig tried to flame the Whirlipede, but its shell was fireproof. Suddenly, the Whirldipede performed slash, which knocked the Tepig out. It looked like Harper was going to lose the battle. But at the last moment, her Audino performed Last Resort, which started to slash at the other Pokémon crazily. Although it looked messy, it was extremely effective. This caused the Whirlipede to be knocked out. Harper had won her third gym badge.
"Well done," said Burgh. "This is your badge as reward."
Harper was handed the badge, which she accepted. Then she and her friends left the gym. As they walked out of the gym, they noticed some girl crying. They walked up to the girl and asked her what was wrong.
"Team Plasma has stolen my beloved Pokémon!" she cried, moaning over her lost Pokémon. Harper knew right away that something had to be done about this. It was clear Team Rocket was in the city terrorising people and getting up to no darn good.