Chapter 7: Striaton City

By the time they had got to the next town, the sun had started to drop into the earth, lighting up the sky in a romantic red and orange colour. Harper had not seen a more beautiful sight ever before in her life, except the one time when she went to see Niagara Falls. The power that was caused by the water pumping down in the lake before her like a heart beating when fear has struck and amazed Harper to no end. What was even more astounding was seeing the Niagara Falls during the night-time, with the falls lighted up with many colours. It was an astonishing, marvellous, and miraculous sight. But the current sight of the sunset was close.

Since it was too late to challenge the gym leader, they headed to the centre to rest. They handed their balls to the nurse to heal them. And then they went to bed. Like the previous centre, there was a section in it to cater for travellers. That night, Harper couldn’t go to sleep. She was worried about that battle with the gym leader the next day. She didn't want to fail since she was doing so well already. She was on a winning streak and didn't want things to sudden stop simply because she had lost a single match.

"Are you still awake?" Brandon yawned.

"Yes, regrettably," she said sadly. "I want to sleep but at the moment the stakes are too high. I need to win tomorrow's battle. If I lose it will be a disappointment to all the people that I know. I wouldn't be able to go back to my hometown if I lost even one single match. My friends and family would ridicule me in all forms of extremism. I don't think I could live with myself if something like that happened. No! I will win. It is the only thing I’m good at."

"I am sure you’ll win," said Brandon. "You’re clever and you’re smart. You can do anything if you put your mind to it. You should learn from me. When I first came here, I wasn't at all good at what I was going. Heck, I didn't even know what I was doing. But now I've done a few battles with other trainers and now I’m getting better. I know I lost a few, but all you have to do is get back up and continue. If you decide not to battle someone just because you fear that you will lose that match then it is worse than battling and losing. You would be treated as a coward. Go and battle them and if you lose you can always come back and battle them again. No one would condemn you. Just keep training and you would do alright."

"Sure. I think you're right. I will battle them and if I lose, I will take it gracefully. I will train harder and then I will return and defeat the gym leader. I’m sure my friends and family would understand that. We’re all improving. And no one is the best at something," Harper said.

"It’s great that you’re looking at things more positively. Just go at it and I’m sure you’ll succeed," Brandon concluded. After saying this, they went to bed.

The next day, Harper got up early. She looked around the town. Most of the buildings were like the town she went to previously, with old-style brick buildings. There was a school that looked pretty cool as well. There was a Pokémon academy there but she decided to go there later. She wanted to train up her Tepig and Roggenrola before they went into battle against the gym leader.

She pondered for a while wondering what type the gym leader would use and whether she would be able to defeat them. Pedro had said that the gym leader in Striaton City didn't deal with rock types. She remembered someone telling her that in the Johto region the first gym leader people faced was a flying-type gym leader. They claimed that it didn't matter what type you choose as a starter (besides the grass-type, obviously) since it would be really easy to defeat the gym leader. She was hoping that Unova had the same type as the Johto since she didn't know if she could defeat a rock-type since she didn't have any water-types, which are the best type to go against rock types. The worse to up against the rock-type was electric but only Pedro’s Pokémon were mostly electric-type, besides that Mudkip which would make up the other Pokémon’s weakness.

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After battling a few wild Patrat and Purrloin – she wasn't in the mood to catch anything today – she returned to the centre where she got her Tepig healed back to full health. She stopped for a moment just to think. She had to defeat this gym leader or else her family and friend will be very disappointed in her for losing.

"Are you ready," asked Brandon.

"Of course, I am," Harper replied, with a smile on her face. "It's time to teach this gym leader how we do things back in Kanto!"

"Make sure you're healed," said Pedro.

"Already done that," said Harper.

"Cool, let's go!"

They walked swiftly to the gym, which was an old restaurant. As they entered, Harper wondered if she had gone to the wrong place, and that the gym was in some other building. Even worse, this town might not even have a gym. A waiter walked up to her. He was wearing a red bow tie with bright red hair.

"What Pokémon was your starter?" he asked her as they entered.

"My first Pokémon is a Tepig which is a fire-type," she answered.

"Then you will be facing my brother Cress," he replied.

"Wait a minute! What do you mean I have to face Cress?" she said with a sign of surprise.

"Here in this gym, you have to face a trainer that specializes in the type of Pokémon your starter is weak against. It's to see if you know what you are doing," he replied.

"Ok, let's go," she said.

"Not so fast," he paused her. "I want to know what your friend's starter Pokémon was too." He pointed towards Pedro.

"Nah," he replied. "I'm not interested in gaining badges. I have already got some in another region." He showed off his badges and everyone was shocked.

"That looks like a cool collection," said the waiter. "What about you?" he pointed towards Brandon.

"Mine was a Sandshrew, but I also have a Bulbasaur," Brandon said.

"Then you will be facing me, Chili, the oldest brother of course," he said.

"I'll battle you first then," he said, bringing out his Pokémon balls. "Sandshrew and Bulbasaur, I choose you!"

"Lillipup and Pansear, show them whose boss!" said Chilli.

Bulbasaur stood pause while Sandshrew rolled towards Pansear. The Pansear was able to dodge the oncoming Sandshrew and then charged towards Bulbasaur. While it had the chance, Sandshrew swiped at Lillipup, knocking it out. Sandshrew rolled out of the way from the Pansear's ember attack. Bulbasaur tried to move as quickly, but Pansear busted a huge flame from its mouth and hitting Bulbasaur, it knocked Brandon's Pokémon out. Sandshrew used its rolling ability to dodge the Pansear. It rolled around the other Pokémon with each circle coming closer and closer. Sandshrew was about to strike, but Pansear leapt out from where it was and darted to the other side of the gym, Sandshrew chased after it and tackled it and then used its swipe attack knocked Pansear out.

"Well done!" Chilli congratulated. "You have won a Trio Badge."

"Thank you," Brandon said as he accepted the badge.

"Now it's my turn," said Cress, Chilli's brother, pointing to Harper. He was also wearing a waiter’s uniform, but unlike his brother, he had a blue bowtie and blue spiky hair. "Out you come, Panpour and Lillipup!"

"Tepig and Roggenrola, do it your best!" Harper said, thronging her balls into the arena.

The Lillipup charged right up to the Tepig and Roggenrola, which gave them a chance to swipe at it. But it was able to dodge them. It was then able to bite Roggenrola, but it didn't affect the other Pokémon since it was a rock type. Roggenrola countered with a rock smash, knocking the Lillipup out. By that point, the Panpour had moved across the arena towards Harper's Pokémon. It used its Water Gun on Roggenrola, knocking it out. Tepig started to charge away, but the other Pokémon was too quick. Panpour used water gun on that as well, knocking the Tepig out as well.

Harper had lost her first Pokémon battle.