From: Andrusi <andyvvv@aol.com.edu.gov> Subject: [PW!] Finally!! Date: Saturday, November 20, 1999 3:29 AM PW!: The Uncreatively Titled Andy-Gets-A-Boulderbadge Story by Andrusi (andyvvv@aol.com) The teenager approached the building, planning a strategy. Andy had heard of the leader of the Pewter City gym, and knew what to do. Using the Vaporeon he had acquired before starting his journey, he would exploit Brock's weakness, and have victory in a short time. Of course, there was no guarantee that he would be successful, but he had not lost a battle since he left home. In fact, he hadn't even FOUGHT a battle since he left home. He had gotten his Magnemite, Electron, to become reasonably strong by battling it against the local trainers and some wild Pokémon on Routes 1 and 2, but it probably wasn't strong enough to take on a Gym Leader on its own. His Vaporeon, Osiris, had been trained even less. And his Pidgey, Flicky, hadn't even been out of the Pokéball since he captured it. Andy had virtually flown through Viridian Forest, missing all kinds of bug Pokémon that he could have used, and he was still angry at himself about it. Of course, he had fought some wild Pokémon here and there, but in his mind that didn't really count as battling. Andy opened the door. To the left, he saw a statue with hundreds of names; an identical statue was on the right. *Winning trainers, maybe?* Andy thought. *This won't exactly be an amazing victory, then.* Ahead, he saw the leader. "What are you doing here?" Brock said, hiding the comic book he had been reading by stuffing it under the cushion on a chair. "No, wait, don't tell me, you want a Boulderbadge. Well, then, let's have a 2-on-2 Pokémon match." Andy stared, then nodded. Electron waited for the command to enter the fighting area, but Andy motioned toward the wall. "No, Electron. This is Osiris's place to fight." Electron sighed. "Mag..." Then it "sat" near the sideline, ready to watch. Brock carefully selected a Pokéball. "Go, Vulpix!!" "Vul!!!" *Vulpix?* Andy thought. *But the Unofficial Guide to Pokémon League Gyms says he's a rock-type trainer... Oh, well.* "Go, Osiris!" "Por!!!" "Vulpix, Confuse Ray!" "Osiris, Tackle!" The room seemed to become dark as Vulpix fired an energy beam at Osiris. Osiris charged at Vulpix, missed, and collided with one of many rocks on the floor. "Vulpix, Fire Spin!" "Osiris, Bubble!" Osiris's small stream of bubbles was just barely enough to catch Vulpix off-guard. Surprised, the fox fired its Fire Spin to Osiris's left, missing him completely--and burning Andy. Brock grimaced. "Er, sorry about that. Vulpix, Quick Attack!" Vulpix rammed into Osiris before Andy could react. Dazed, the Vaporeon fell to the ground, fainted. Andy recalled Osiris. "Your Vulpix sure is strong," he said. "This will take a little more effort than I thought." Brock responded, "It'll take more than type weaknesses to bring down my Pokémon. Trainers also need skill." Andy frowned. "I guess that's not a compliment. But I'll win this battle anyway. Go, Electron!" Seeing his chance, Electron proudly floated out into the arena, using a specialized magnetic field to create sparks around him, giving the appearance of fireworks. "Magnemite magnemite." "Electron, Thundershock!" The poor fox tried to dodge the attack, but it was no use. The author, having decided that continuing the battle with Vulpix would be extremely boring, had chosen to end it quickly and get to the next part. Brock saw this. Without even hinting at being surprised (because he wasn't), he recalled Vulpix. "Go, Geodude!" "Geo dude." "Geodude, Tackle! "Electron, Thundershock!" The electricity simply bounced off of the Geodude. Geodude then rammed Electron full-force. Andy pulled out his Pokédex and checked the entry for Geodude. Sure enought, the thing was part ground-type. Andy saw that Electron had recovered from the impact and was ready to continue fighting. "Electron, Tackle!" Electron prepared to execute the attack--but at the last minute, he changed his mind. The Magnemite moved backward a bit, then zoomed forward at an ultra-high speed. The resulting sonic boom knocked Geodude directly into the opposite wall. The impact knocked it out instantly, despite the resiliance for which its type was known. "Geodude, return!" Brock turned to Andy. "That was an excellent match. You show great talent as a trainer." "Really?" Andy asked, surprised. "No, not really. I always say something along those lines when I lose." Brock walked over to Andy and handed him two objects. "Here's your Boulderbadge, and here's the supposedly rare Bide TM." "Thanks. Hmm... Bide... maybe I should save this..." Andy stuck the TM in his beltpack. "By the way, I couldn't help but notice that you raised your Magnemite well. It's a very smart Pokémon." "Huh?" "Geodude is strong against normal attacks and immune to electric attacks. Your Magnemite realized this when the Thundershock didn't work, and it realized that Tackle wouldn't do much, either. That's why it decided to use Sonicboom instead. Sonicboom does a set amount of damage, no matter what the enemy's strengths and weaknesses are." "Uh... thanks, I'll keep that in mind." Andy left the Gym and walked to the Pokémon Center. He entered, returned Electron, and handed the three Pokéballs to the nurse. Joy placed them in the healing machine thingy, and switched it on. Nothing happened. Both of them just stood there, staring at the machine, each waiting for the other to say something. Joy finally broke the silence. "It doesn't seem to be working." Andy thought, going through all his technical knowledge. *Nope, nothing about healing machine thingies. Time to try the universal electronics problem.* "Um... is it plugged in?" Joy thought about that. "I think so. I'll check to make sure." She found the power cord attatched to the machine. Then she crawled around, following the cord to see if it led to an electric outlet. This led her around the counter three times, then around a corner and into unseen locations. While he waited, Andy checked a nearby map. *Mount Moon?* he thought. *Sounds interesting. Well, that's where I'm headed... as soon as the nurse runs out of power cord.* <| To Be Continued (How'd I do? Is this any good? And is anyone in Pewter or at Mt. Moon, or in between? Anyone?) -Andy && Andrusi, prisoner of AOL DON'T visit the Flying Battery Zone at http://members.aol.com/andyvvv. The ultimate combo of Pokemon moves is ---, ---, ---, and ---. Remove ".edu.gov" from e-mail to reply.