From: "Saint Paul" <saint84_98@yahoo.com> Subject: [PW!] Leaving At Last Date: Thursday, January 08, 2004 2:53 AM "PRIMEAPE!" John watched intently as Savage his newly evolved Primeape dashed towards Chuck's Hitmonchan. The pigmonkey Pokemon was covered in bruises and burn marks from his opponent's earlier, extremely brutal onslaught of Fire, Thunder, and Mega punches. It seemed as if, once again, John would taste bitter defeat at the hands of his master, and once again be denied his chance to explore the world. Even Savage himself seemed to realize this and was only doggedly keeping up the fight to save some semblance of pride. "Savage!" John called out "Use Submission now!" Savage leaped at Hitmonchan, flying through the air, arms outstretched to tackle it to the ground. But to no avail. The Punching Pokemon quickly, almost casually, stepped out of the way of the attack. John cringed at the thud that was his pokemon hitting the mat of the gym. "I'm sorry John." Chuck said, and he looked it too. "But it's time to end this. Hitmonchan Comet Punch! Now!" Hitmonchan lept and literally flew towards Savage it's boxing gloves glowing with unimaginable power. John refused to give up though. There was one thing that might provide him with a victory, if Savage timed the move just right. "Savage! Quick, Reversal!" the next few moments seemed to pass in slow motion for everyone involved. They saw Hitmonchan rocketing towards Savage, but at the last possible second Savage twisted to the side and grabbed Hitmonchan's arm with both of his, then rolled onto his back and kicked at the piston pokemon, using both their combined momentums to hurl the boxer pokemon into the wall of the gym with such force as to leave a sizeable dent in the wall. "Hitmon...chan!" And with that final gasping wheeze the Piston Punching pokemon fell to the gym floor completely and utterly knocked out. The gym was absolutely silent as the dust settled. No one breathed. It was if the air itself had stopped moving in sheer disbelief. John had won. His mouth hung open, his eyes as wide as they could possibly get. For a moment a few of the fellow students who'd been watching thought maybe his mind had snapped. Then slowly, a small, grin started to form on his face. Though his eyes flatly refused to get any smaller at this point. Everyone jumped out of surprise when a sound shattered the stillness. Not just any sound either, a sound that was loud and booming in a noisy street but in a completely silent room such as this it was almost defeaning. Chuck let out a booming laugh, like the sound of a cannon. "John!" He shouted. "You did it! You finally beat me!" The fighting gym leader recalled his fainted pokemon and swiftly crossed the mat over to his pupil. John snapped out of his stupor, with a sheepish grin. He didn't really like the sound of that 'finally,' but he had to admit it wasn't undeserved. After all, it had taken him nine years to accomplish this task. He didn't have anymore time for that train of thought because he was quickly enveloped in a bone-shattering bear hug. He heard his spine crack so many times it sounded like a machine gun. "I knew you could do it!" Chuck barked ruffling the teens shaggy brown hair in a fatherly sort of way. "I didn't." John muttered to himself as he was swamped over by the other students of Chuck, all cheering and laughing in an incredulous way. When they all cleared away John was approached by Chuck, who was bearing three items with him. A small metal pin, and two cloth items. The first he strapped around the Primeape's midsection. "A blackbelt, to increase your pokemon's strength." The second, a red bandana with he tied about John's head. "To signify the end to your training with me." Then he offered the third item to his former student. "A... A storm badge?" John asked. "You defeated me didn't you? According to the rules, that means you get the storm badge." He placed the badge into John's palm and the teen pinned it to the knuckle of his right hand glove. "I finally did it." He muttered to himself. "Yes, you did. So where are you off to now John, now that your training is over?" John looked up in surprise as the though hit him. Good Question. It was a few hours later and John was sitting on his bunk with Savage's pokeball in his hand. Where was he going to go now. The entire world was open to him. But it was so BIG. A light tap on the door snapped him out of his ruminations he turned to see Chuck standing in his doorway. John quickly jumped to his feet and gave a small respectful bow towards his master. well, former master. "Given anymore thought as to where you want to go after you leave here?" The burly man asked, eyebrow cocked inquisitively. "Yes sir, I have. And I have no idea." Chuck nodded. "Well, I don't know if you'd be interested, but I hear in Hoenn they have several interesting fighting species we don't normally see here in Johto. There's one in particular I'm interested in, it's called a Meditite, it's half psychic." John stared in surprise. A pokemon that was both fighting and psychic type? Such a thing, as far as he'd thought, was unheard of. Such a pokemon that was master of both mind and body, would be powerful indeed. "I've always wanted to see one," Chuck continued as if he hadn't noticed John's reaction. "But unfortunatly I'm a bit tied down with the gym. Or I'd go find one myself." "I'd be thrilled to be able to train a pokemon like that." John exclaimed. "Excellent!" Chuck boomed. "There's a plane that leaves for littleroot tomorrow morning. I'll go tell Professor Birch you're coming. He'll be able to point you in the right direction. Well, you'd best pack your bags and get some sleep the plane leaves early tomorrow." And just like that, Chuck was gone. And John was left wondering dumbly what the heck he'd just gotten into.