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As Joey's one-month anniversary on Cinnabar neared, the town slowly started calming down.
There had been an initial rush to challenge Blaine, but as most who wished to challenge the retired Elite Four member did so, the interest tapered off.
Joey was sure that Cinnabar would remain one of the more popular gyms in the regions for several years to come, but as he made his way to the large structure, he thanked the heavens it wasn't popular enough to steal all the oxygen on the street anymore.
Sure, there was a crowd, but it was manageable.
"Aren't you nervous, like at all?" Jessie asked him as he calmly went to the counter to announce that he'd arrived for his battle.
Joey tilted his head as the duo went to stand at the in-between point between the audience stands and the waiting room for challengers.
He knew intellectually that this battle was going to be more difficult than his battle in Pewter.
But…
Pewter had been ridiculously easy; maybe it had granted him a fake level of confidence, but he wasn't that worried about the sixth badge, especially now that he'd trained for one additional month.
Rattata had been pushing the boundaries into seventh badge territory, primarily held back by his limited move-set. Misdreavus, doubtlessly, was stronger than him, considering that he almost never won a spar against the friendly ghost.
Diglett was a bit weaker than Rattata, firmly in mid-sixth-badge territory, but an absolute type-advantage pumped his chances up.
In essence, he was as ready as he was ever going to be, to the point that if he lost today, he wouldn't even know what else to work on.
"Even if I was nervous," Joey replied calmly after considering those factors. "Letting that control your actions just increases the likelihood of losing." He shook his head. "I'll save those anxieties for Koga and King. No real type advantages there, traditional gyms at the seventh and eighth level being considered some of the hardest… I'll have enough opportunities to be nervous in the future."
"Alright," Jessie said with a nod. "I'll be cheering you on." She reminded him, clapped him awkwardly on the shoulder, before going into the stands.
Joey watched her leave, noting that for all that she wasn't that good at cheering people up, she'd kept Happiny in her Pokeball today so as to not add an audience member that was cheering against him.
He put his hands in the pockets of his hoodie and went into the waiting room, where he joined a very old woman, seemingly halfway into the grave, and the youngster with the Caterpie that he'd beaten with Houndour about three weeks ago.
"I had a crush on Blaine when I was younger," the older woman said unprompted and shot Joey a wrinkly smirk. She was wearing a rather risque red kimono that showcased the rather prodigious decollete that usually came with being a grandmother. "You think I have a chance if I beat him in a battle?"
Joey stared at her blankly, not knowing what to say. The youngster with the Caterpie interrupted the awkwardness by adding his own.
"You may have beaten my Pipi last time, but he's growing larger and stronger every day; next time it will be you going down on your knees," the boy said angrily.
The old woman blushed at that, pulling out a yellow paper fan to cover her reddening face. "Hoho, the youth of today, so forward," she muttered.
Joey decided to ignore both of them, put on a blank expression and sit down on one of the benches, as far away from the other two challengers as he could go.
He propped his elbows on his knees and steepled his fingers together. He rested his chin on the impromptu bridge and started running the possible scenarios of the battle in his head.
He was actually the first challenger to battle Blaine for the sixth badge. Everyone else had either come for the first or to rechallenge for the eighth.
That's why he'd had to create a strategy for all the fire-types in the region instead of knowing exactly what he'd be facing.
The old woman was called up and returned just as fast in an angry huff, storming out of the waiting room with a signed kimono.
The youngster was next, and he too came back less than a minute later, clutching his enormous Pipi to his chest as it weakly spurted out white goo onto the boy with swirls in its eyes.
Joey stood up as he was called and adjusted his white cap, dusted himself off.
He went through the corridor and into the bright light at the end of the tunnel to emerge into… crickets.
He looked to the left, he looked to the right.
Empty stands greeted him.
Jessie was the only spectator.
The only other people present were the referee and Blaine himself, dressed in a red Hawaiian shirt and cargo pants as he was.
"People stopped coming to watch after the first week of only first-badge challengers. Most of the eighth badge ones requested a private bout so as to not show their cards to other aces," Blaine explained gruffly with dark bags under his eyes, having correctly interpreted the confusion on Joey's face.
"Well, not that it matters," Joey replied after a moment of thought before stepping up to his side of the rather simple arena. He glanced to the announcement booth, only to see it similarly empty.
"The announcer quit; he sells ice cream on the beach now," Blaine said as he pulled a Pokeball off his belt. "Can't blame him."
"It seems you had a pretty difficult month," Joey eventually told the man.
"Thanks," the gym leader grumbled. "Sixth badge, right?"
"Yeah," Joey replied, the conversation echoed weirdly in the loud but empty building.
"Last battle of the day, boys," the referee said rather informally. He also looked tired. "Let's get this over with." He raised his flags. "This will be a three on three between Jonathan Joestar of Saffron against Blaine, gym leader of Cinnabar. The challenger will be allowed one substitution. Release your first Pokemon!"
"No preamble, huh?" Joey muttered before shrugging and tapping one of the buttons on his belt.
"Rapidash!" a horse-like Pokemon proclaimed on Blaine's side of the dirt arena.
Diglett simply stood there menacingly and glared at the fire-type.
He'd gotten quite used to fire-types at this point. The training on the volcano had paid off.
"Sandstorm and down," Joey ordered idly at the same time as Blaine shouted his own command.
"Sunny Day!"
The two moves coalesced into existence at the same time. A large ball of sun energy emerged above the arena and started to turn the air scorching hot. A sandstorm picked up, and soon the gym became a desert.
"Magnitude!" Joey shouted, feeling that he had a rather clear advantage over the Rapidash, which didn't necessitate using Earthquake, which cost more stamina.
As the ground started shaking, he could just about make out the rather unmistakable fire-horse, which glowed through even the sandstorm, jumping high into the air.
"Fire Blast, flame mode!" Blaine shouted from the other side of the Sandstorm.
"Mud Bomb into the air!" Joey replied, at which the ground abruptly stopped shaking.
A bright orange glow gathered at what must have been the mouth of the airborne Rapidash before an inferno of flames erupted downwards, flickering in the air and turning it hazy.
An absolute deluge of mud flew up to meet the flames in mid-air. It almost looked like it wouldn't be enough, but the type advantage prevailed, and the two attacks cancelled each other out, the mud extinguishing the flames but losing its upwards momentum.
"Wide spiral down in a Flame Wheel!" Blaine shouted, at which the Rapidash spun in place and wound itself in fire before gently descending in a downward spiral around the edges of the arena.
Joey ordered a Mud Bomb to catch the horse, but whenever an attack came, the Rapidash either accelerated its fall or slowed down to avoid the attack.
The Sandstorm was set ablaze by the trailing flames of the fire-type attack, and just as the horse was set to reach the ground again, Joey ordered Earthquake so as to not miss the opportunity. "Earthquake!"
What came out, instead, was more of a weak Magnitude that barely even shook the ground.
The Rapidash stumbled, yes, but it didn't seem to take any significant damage, or at least any significant damage that Joey could see through the fire tornado.
Joey furrowed his brows.
"Running out of air in there?" Blaine questioned from the other side of the arena in a joking tone. "One of the problems with Sandstorm. It's all fun and games when the flying particles block half your oxygen intake. Not as fun when the flames eat up the other half!"
Joey almost fell for the trap before thinking about the issue from a different perspective. "Rapidash is larger and thus consumes more oxygen that Diglett, the match-up is especially in our favour when one additionally considers that the Diglett line has a biology better suited for recycling carbon dioxide into oxygen. I can't help but notice that you haven't ordered another attack but instead are trying to trick me into wasting my switch!" he replied right back.
"Bah, you got me brat, of course I got the one trainer that didn't sleep through Pokemon biology 101," the old man grumbled. "Whatever, Baton Pass!"
"Tsk," Joey grumbled as Rapidash dematerialised and returned to Blaine, quickly being replaced by a much smaller, but still glowing form.
"Lucky!" the old man shouted. "Slugma, the floor is lava!" he shouted.
"Slug!" the opposing Pokemon shouted from inside the Sandstorm that was not quite on fire anymore.
"Hard counter," Joey complained before promptly recalling Diglett as the first Lava Plume exploded at the center of the Sandstorm.
"Amnesia!" Blaine shouted as Joey released Misdreavus, using his one free move to raise the lava slug's special defense.
The Sandstorm settled as the ghost appeared, floating over the now very, very hot floor.
"Shadow Ball," Joey ordered, wondering if he could defeat the Slugma without revealing his combo. Misdreavus hadn't suffered any damage yet, so she wouldn't benefit from the regenerative part of the move yet.
"Amnesia," Blaine ordered calmly, not needing to shout through a fire tornado anymore.
The Shadow Ball slammed into Slugma right after the Pokemon had glowed with the pink energy of a physic move once again. The fire-type flinched, but seemed relatively unbothered.
"Don't touch it, it probably has Flame Body, Ominous Wind instead if he'll let you set up like that," Joey told Misdreavus as he realised that if Slugma was vulnerable to physical attacks, it wouldn't be tanking hits to the face to raise its special defence.
"Observant, aren't you?" Blaine commented with a frown. "Smog, let the wind carry it around," he then ordered, at which Slugma belched out a cloud of poison that was immediately picked up by the Ominous Wind swirling around the arena and barely damaging the fire-type.
Joey wasn't in it for the damage, though. Ominous Wind had a low chance of raising Misdreavus' stats, so, if he used it often enough, maybe she could wipe out the rest of Blaine's team with her combo.
"Continue using Ominous Wind," he ordered. "Blow the Smog away from you."
"Continue releasing it," Blaine ordered, seemingly sure of his strategy.
Purple poison fog covered half the battlefield and swirled in the dark, twisting winds used by Misdreavus.
Joey knew that Blaine simply wanted to explode the Smog, but the man didn't know that unless the move knocked out Misdreavus, the ghost would simply regenerate herself with Dream Eater. Every time Ominous Wind was used and increased Misdreavus' special attack by one, which should have happened at least twice now, the chances of Slugma getting one-shot were higher.
As expected, once the arena was completely covered by Smog, the only spot not touched was the area around Misdreavus. Blaine ordered a very simple.
"Ember!"
The world disappeared in flames. Joey let it.
Once the fire had set, he critically looked at the two Pokemon left on the now absolutely scorched field.
They both looked battered. Slugma from the countless Ominous Winds it had taken, and Misdreavus from the explosion.
She was levitating lower than usual, suggesting that she was really battered. Joey's heart dropped when he suddenly saw her flinch, purple veins unwinding over her body.
Poisoned.
"She's a goner," Blaine said in a bored tone. "Recover."
Slugma suddenly glowed a bright white, seemingly set on recovering at least some of its health.
"Combo, don't touch it!" Joey ordered as his last chance to win the round.
Misdreavus suddenly dropped into the ground, into her own shadow and appeared right in front of the recovering Slugma with glowing eyes.
This is what they'd spent months training for now, so it was an absolutely instantaneous sequence.
"Tackle!" Blaine shouted, Slugma breaking away from the Recover just in time to lurch forward before falling down fast asleep, sliding to a step at Misdreavus' non-existent feet.
It was just as Misdreavus initiated Dream Eater that Blaine recalled Slugma.
"Retiring him," the old man said to the referee with a frown before putting a hand to his black sunglasses and peeking over with watery brown eyes. "Nasty little brat, aren't you?" he asked.
"Stop stalling," Joey said with a deadpan expression, at which the gym leader laughed.
"I guess you're right, I'll reserve it for eight badge challengers," the gym leader agreed before sending out his next Pokemon.
Rapidash appeared on the field, looking beat up and dusty, but still in a better condition than Misdreavus, who was on her last metaphorical legs.
"Close your eyes and Agility around the arena," Blaine ordered simply as Misdreavus appeared in front of the Rapidash to attempt the same thing she had done to Slugma.
Before the Hypnosis could work, the Rapidash was already galloping away while glowing pink and increasing in speed.
"Ominous Wind," Joey ordered, at which Misdreavus strained and sent out the twentieth or so ghostly wind at the arena, disrupting the physic gallop and making Rapidash flinch, but then promptly falling over and slumping to the ground.
Joey recalled his Pokemon and tried to quickly make a decision.
Rapidash had stacked one Agility. If he released Diglett to repeat the first match-up of the battle, Blaine would simply Baton Pass the agility to what was probably a Growlithe or maybe a Magmar. If it was a Magmar Diglett was screwed as the Pokemon could learn Lava Plume relatively early. If it was Growlithe, Rapidash would still benefit as it could avoid the bad match-up.
The only solution was then to send out… "Rattata, annihilate!" Joey shouted as he released his starter. If Rapidash used Baton Pass and the Pokemon it replaced itself with did a double-knock-out with Rattata, then Rapidash was stuck with Diglett again.
Which meant that Blaine was sort of forced to let his fresh Rattata fight his wounded Rapidash, which might result in a relatively fresh Rattata coming out to fight his third team member. With Diglett still waiting for his battle, that would essentially finish the gym challenge.
To his credit, Blaine didn't comment how he'd likely seen thousands of Rattata and that he'd thought this was a sixth-badge challenge, not a first-badge one. He simply ordered another "Agility!"
"Rattata, catch up and slam it," Joey said calmly, at which Rattata blurred from his position and reappeared in front of the Rapidash with his fist cocked back.
A second later, the horse had been slammed into the ground and Rattata descended onto it with a flurry of punches.
"ARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARA!"
"Baton Pass!" Blaine screamed in a panicked voice, at which the Rapidash promptly dematerialised once again, and a Growlithe took its place.
"ROooww," the puppy Pokemon growled.
"Flame Wheel," Blaine ordered urgently, at which the Growlithe jumped towards Rattata in a violent spin, its body engulfed in fire.
"Dig," Joey ordered calmly, at which his starter disappeared underground.
"Flamethrower into the hole," Blaine ordered.
The spinning Growlithe scratched to a step next to the hole Rattata had disappeared into and promptly belchen a concentrated cone of fire into the hole.
"Out and Rock Smash!" Joey ordered loudly, at which Rattata erupted from right beneath Growlithe and smashed a fist into the Pokemon's stomach.
"Flame Wheel!" Blaine ordered, fire once again surrounding his Pokemon.
"Hyper Fang!" Joey shouted, at which Rattata dutifully bit down on the Growlithe's nape and shook the bigger Pokemon.
"Fire Fang!" Blaine responded angrily, at which both the Pokemon started tearing each other apart at close range.
Joey watched critically as both the Pokemon slowly but surely depleted their energy and health.
He could have won more elegantly, potentially keeping Rattata for Rapidash, but a one-for-one brawl suited his needs just fine. It removed his tactical manoeuvrability, but it also removed Blaine's. The former Elite Four member was wily and experienced; it was better not to let him breathe.
"Flame Wheel up and slam it!" the man shouted desperately, at which Growtlithe tensed his agility-enhanced muscles and shot both himself and Rattata into the air. They were spinning, burning, it was like watching a shooting star.
"Get in-between and Counter!" Joey ordered loudly. He saw a tussle commence inside the ball of fire, a repositioning. The star slammed into the ground, and Joey could just about make out that Rattata had won the battle of positioning.
A violent fist slammed into the Growlithe's skull and rattled the brain.
The fire laid itself to rest, and the fire-type was revealed to be unconscious.
Rattata, similarly, was out for the count with severe burns to go alongside it.
Joey recalled his starter. "Good job," he told his Pokeball as he watched Blaine similarly recall his Pokemon. He seemed to be considering something. He looked at Joey, the referee, and shook his head.
"Rapidash is out for the count," he determined. "Diglett is too hard of a counter, and what you've shown me so far already merits the badge. No need to stack additional pain on top of the healing our teams will already need."
The referee raised a flag towards Joey.
"The challenger wins!" he announced happily.
"Wait!" Joey suddenly spoke up, freezing everyone in place.
Blaine and the referee exchanged a glance before the former turned to Joey.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Well," Joey started. "I recently got a Houndour who's at maybe the second, third badge level. I sort of wanted to ask if it would be possible to have a mock match for him so he can feel included. I only have Koga and King left, so he won't really have much of a chance to show his mettle in a gym when it comes to the actual badge challenge," he quickly explained.
The referee raised a hand into the air. "I don't do overtime!" he announced, shaking his head. "Especially not after the month I've had!" He then promptly left.
Blaine, for his part, twirled his grey moustache and hummed thoughtfully before shrugging. "I usually wouldn't, but a Houndour… Allright, but only if you'll consider helping me with something in return," he replied.
The trainer considered the words, then shrugged. "A favour for a favour, the most normal deal in the world," he replied.
The gym leader nodded and pulled out a Pokeball from his pocket. "One of the previous challengers didn't even get past the first Pokemon. Didn't even have to use the little guy." He promptly hit the release button, materialising a Charmander onto the arena.
"Char, char," the small orange lizard complained while stretching.
Joey looked at the regional starter before promptly releasing Houndour.
"Houndour, time for battle," he announced, at which the dark type threw back its head and howled, excited to be part of the fun.
"Let's just start when the rock hits the ground," Blaine suggested from the other side of the battlefield and picked up a stone, which he unceremoniously threw straight at the ground in front of him. "Charmander, Smokescreen!"
"For a gym leader, you have no decorum," Joey muttered as smoke belched out of the Charmander's mouth and slowly covered the arena. "Houndour, start running around, don't let it pinpoint your location. If it gets close, Bite."
The Smokescreen was relatively weak, much weaker than the Sandstorm and fire tornado, which had been obfuscating the field earlier. Joey could just about make out as Houndour and Charmander clashed inside the smoke before circling each other once again.
"Ember," Joey suddenly ordered when the smoke settled a bit, enough to try some ranged moves.
Houndour obediently opened his mouth and spat out a series of small fireballs.
"Flamethrower," Blaine ordered from the other side, at which Charmander unhinged its jaw and spat out a torrent of flames.
Joey sighed as he saw Houndour's Embers being swallowed up by the Flamethrower.
The difference in firepower was harsh.
"Dodge," he ordered, causing Houndour to abort his attack and run to the side, getting nicked in the tail by the attack but escaping mostly unscatched. Still, it must have hurt, which was why Joey was surprised to not hear a yowl. Houndour wasn't the most… rugged fighter out there and certainly expressed it when he experienced pain.
His mind ran before a suspicion formed.
"Ember, again," he ordered, at which point the dark Pokemon stopped, opened his mouth, and spat out a much larger array of fireballs which careened towards Charmander at decent speed.
"Flamethrower, again," Blaine ordered, curiosity evident in his voice.
The two attacks met in mid-air, Ember overpowering the Flamethrower after some difficulty.
Houndour's flames were darker, almost smoky, and Charmander yelped in pain as they broke through and peppered its body.
"Crash through and Bite," Joey ordered, at which point Houndour jumped through the lingering flames without fear and bit the Charmander's arm, which the opposing Pokemon had raised up in defence.
A small scuffle ensued, at the end of which Charmander started belching more powerful flames before it fell unconscious, leaving a victorious Houndour standing over its body.
Blaine recalled his Pokemon and twirled his moustache.
"Flash Fire," the gym leader immediately diagnosed.
"Good job Houndour," Joey said warmly as he recalled the dark Pokemon, looking curiously at the Pokeball in his hand before clipping it to his belt.
"Interesting Pokemon," Blaine suddenly said from in front of Joey.
"New acquisition," Joey replied calmly as the man handed him the fire-stylised volcano badge.
"His fire wasn't very strong before the ability activated," Blaine commented. "I could help with that."
Joey jerked his head up and raised an eyebrow. "You would?" he asked, surprised.
"Of course," the man said with a laugh. "My passion for fire types is burning red hot." He paused. "Also, well, if I had a gym trainer, they could filter those one-badge challenges for me…" he muttered. He tilted his sunglasses down. "Flash Fire is a rare and powerful ability to have. It opens up a whole new dimension of battling for any fire type blessed enough to have it."
"If you really needed a gym trainer, couldn't you have found one by now?" Joey asked curiously.
Blaine hummed thoughtfully. "Your battling style… It reminds me of my own. I'd appreciate the help, but I still have standards. What do you think?"
Joey thought about it for a few seconds. The season had just started last month. He still had nine months to collect two badges. "I think we'll have to discuss remuneration, obligations, timetables and expectations, but otherwise I'd say we have a deal." He extended a hand.
The gym leader took it.
They shook.
Jessie suddenly appeared next to them with wide eyes and put a hand on Joey's shoulder.
"That battle," she said excitedly, "was awesome!"
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AN: Alright allright alrite alright. Hiatus till september. I'll keep updating on Patreon. Till then, have a great summer