Chapter 16 - Gan vs Brock Part-2 Final!

Gan felt a wave of confidence rise in his heart, but he knew this was a Gym Battle so he would have to tread cautiously. Brock had just noticed that his Geodude was poisoned by that last attack Sandshrew had landed on it.

Geodude and Sandshrew stared each other down for a moment.

"Geodude, use Rock Polish, we need to end this fast!" Brock was aware that Geodude was on a timer, so it was best to take Sandshrew down with it.

Geodude crossed its arms together and started to boost its speed.

"Attack it! Roll out!" Gan wasn't going to sit by either and quickly ordered. Sandshrew, in standard fashion, took its ball form and rushed over to attack Geodude.

Since Geodude's speed stat would raise by 2 stages instead of 1, it would take a bit longer for this move to fully complete. Sandshrew was literally the size of Geodude, it came crashing directly at Geodude at full force.

Geodude was hit and knocked back slightly, Sandshrew followed it up with a Rapid spin to damage Geodude further, but all of these moves were weak against Geodude. Unfortunately for Geodude, the poison was causing greater harm to it over time.

Both parties received a speed boost, but Geodude was faster at this point.

"Good! Tackle attack, deal as has much harm as you can!" Brock quickly gave the order.

Sandshrew moved away fast, but Geodude was faster, it appeared next to Sandshrew and tackle it to the ground.

"Sand~!" Sandshrew was stunned seeing Geodude's speed. Sandshrew didn't take much damage because it had great defense naturally and its defense was up by 1 stage currently.

"Rapid Spin it off of you, get him away!" Gan hurriedly said, he would also get a Speed boost.

"Don't let it go, hold it at all cost and smash it over the face!" Brock saw this coming, so he hoped that Geodude could hold onto Sandshrew to hurt a bit more.

Geodude struggled, this poison was weighing it down, but it listened and tried to keep Sandshrew at bay.

"Sandshrew, it's poisoned, it can't contain you, don't give in to it!" Gan rejoiced seeing Geodude's grave expression, it wasn't going to last long.

"Shrew!" Sandshrew burned with confidence and increased its rapid spin speed! Geodude was knocked away, but further than before; the was poison was too much.

Geodude struggled to get it up with its sweaty face.

"Poison Sting for the win!" Gan pointed at Geodude, ordering Sandshrew to finish it.

Sandshrew lunged through the air and flipped, landing a direct blow on Geodude's head/body!

"D-Du.." Geodude collapsed with strange swirls in its eyes.

"Yeah, let's go Sandshrew, you're the MVP!" Gan cheered seeing Geodude go down.

"Sigh." Brock sighed with a smile and recalled Geodude.

"That was a really good round, but I wonder if you can do the same for round 2?" Brock's smile deepened. He handed the PokeBall with Geodude in it to the Old man to have it healed quickly.

Pulling out another PokeBall, Gan knew what was next.

"Go, Onix, it's all on you now!" Tossing his PokeBall; the Giant Snake that Onix was, appeared. Onix gave a loud cry once it appeared, then it scanned the battlefield for its opponent.

|Name: Onix

|Type: Ground/Rock

|Gender: Male

|Ability: Sturdy

|Potential: ★★

|Nature: Impish

|Moves: Harden| Tackle| Rock Throw| Rock Tomb| Bind| (Egg)Rock Blast|

One had to admit that even though Onix didn't have the ability Intimidate, it was still an intimidating figure to gaze upon. Gan couldn't help but think of getting himself a Steeliix in the future if possible.

A Metal Coat was quite expensive, he didn't even see any in Team Rocket's Merit Hall.

"Sandshrew, don't be Intimidated. Use the combo from before; try to at least poison it." Sandshrew seemed intimidated at first but calmed down, it was a mouse type Pokemon, after all.

Sandshrew rolled out, its speed was fast; Gan needed Onix to at least get poisoned if possible.

"Onix, you know what we do to balls around here, get it out of here!" Brock waved his hand and commanded.

Onix focused on the little Sandshrew approaching it; it waved its tail and missed Sandshrew because of its high speed.

"Poison Sting! Get him!" Sandshrew bounced like a ball towards Onix's head; just as he was about to hit Onix, the tail of Onix came flinging over quickly.

Onix's tail flung Sandshrew like a ball, it went crash through the mounds of rock on the battlefield. Sandshrew stood up, it seemed dizzy as it was nearing its limit in this battle.

"Rock Tomb, then follow it up with a Rock Blast!" Brock noticed that Sandshrew was dizzy and ordered immediately.

"Snap out of it, he attacking!" Gan warned, but Sandshew fell on its buŧŧ in response.

Rocks came crushing over at Sandshrew, sealing it up in rocks. At that moment, Onix opened its mouth a shot 3 big rocks at Sandshrew. Sandshrew was hit through the tomb of rocks, as it was sent sliding across the field with swirly eyes.

It finally fainted.

Gan sighed lightly and recalled Sandshrew, commending that it had done a really good job. However, Gan really wished he could have landed that Poison Sting; this would have put Onix on the verge if it had gotten poisoned.

Gan pulled out his last Pokeball.

"It looks like we're both on our last legs, let's see who'll fall first." Brock smirked.

Gan didn't say anything in reply and tossed his PokeBall with a serious expression.

"Mankey, it's all on you, it time to shine!" Mankey emerged from its PokeBall with a serious gleam in its eyes. Gan had used his own Onix to show Mankey what it may be facing and what attacks it may have to go through.

Technically, Mankey had the overall advantage against this Onix. However, things could get bad if Mankey was caught in a bind or wrap attack. This would be okay if its arm weren't bound since it would be able to attack, but if anything, it wasn't something good.

"Hahaha! You really came to my Gym prepared. The last trainer I fought came with a Pidgey and a Pikachu, and he was handled accordingly. Unfortunately, he never came back; I really hope the fella didn't give up." Brock recalled.

"I don't give up so easily, so even if I lose I will be back." Gan said with confidence.

With that, Brock gave the order.

Onix opened its mouth and shot some pretty decently sized rocks from it. Without words, Mankey dodged the rocks by hitting several acrobatic flips.

"Mankey, close in and attack!" Gan had to find the time to get an Inner Focus in. He was worried that Mankey might end getting bounded by Onix.

Mankey leaped and ran over towards Onix at great speed, its speed stat was pretty good. Unfortunately, Mankey and Onix had the same amount of base speed, so they would only break even when it came to this stat.

"Don't let those hit you!" Gan called out, his voice grave. He needed to win this Gym Battle!

"Meh Meh!" Mankey also called out, it quickly dodged the rocks descended on it. This wasn't a very effective move against Mankey anyway, but why get hit because of that? The main reason for dodging was because of what this move's effects were.

Mankey easily dodged, as it jumped over and under each of these attacks.

"Onix, don't let it hit you, wrapped him up, and squeeze him into submission!" Brock was aware of what a fighting type could do to his Onix; mainly ones with dangerous abilities. He wasn't sure what Mankey's ability was, but if it was what he was thinking then it was best to take this Mankey down fast!

Onix came over from its place just as fast as Mankey and swung its tail to wrap him up.

"Remember what we went over!" Gan's eyes went wide, as he called out to Mankey. Onix's tail flung over, it was fast but not as fast as Gan was expecting.

Mankey dodged the tail wrap, but Onix's tail came back again; this time it was faster than before.

"Now!" Gan said with a sweaty face. Onix's tail was just about to close together to lock Mankey down. However, just as it was, Mankey used its tail like a spring against the walls of Onix's tail; that was closing shut on it.

Mankey bounced out, as Onix's tail smashed close. Brock was stunned, but at that moment, Mankey had already used Onix's tail as leverage to get to its large head.

"Karate Chop it at full Power! Tear into it!" Gan roared. Mankey's hand crushed over toward Onix's head; this was a weak point for a Pokemon like this unless it had Rock Head. Most Pokemon could never reach its head to hit it, so it had its weakness, it was also a snake-like Pokemon.

Mankey's chop connected and a red light flashed over that spot! Onix's eyes went wide from shock until the pupils in its eyes disappeared. Onix couldn't even yell before its towering body came crashing down! It hadn't fainted but all it needed was one more attack to take it out.

This attack was wrapped in Fighting Energy/Aura of a fighting type Pokemon.

Brock was stunned as well and so was the audience, who all started to stand up at this point. Brock quickly recalled Onix before it crashed to the ground, it was finished!

The Gym was silent for about 10 seconds. Gan couldn't believe it himself, he had actually won his first Gym Battle on the first try!

"Hehe, I won, we won!" Gan picked up Maneky and started dancing with Mankey for its victory.

"H-he... hmph! He got lucky!" The Tomboy from before scoffed, but she also felt stunned about this revelation.

"*Sigh* That was a really good battle, are you sure you're just a rookie?" Brock found it hard to believe that Gan was a rookie, there was no way.

Gan had seen the Pokemon show several times before, so he knew a few combos from that.

"I am, I just remembered watching a few tournaments as a kid, so I know a little more than usual." Gan said with a smile.

"This is good, you study others and learn. This in itself shows your determination to get stronger, so I would like to reward you with these two gifts of victory and proof." Brock smiled and pulled out the Boulder Badge from his vest pocket.

Gan honestly felt that he was lucky that Mankey had landed that Critical Hit. If not, the battle would have been drawn out a bit more.

He may have even lost as an end result.

Gan took the Badge, he stared at it for a moment before closing his hands with joy. The old man from before came over and handed him a disc, it was the TM Rocktomb.

"Thank you, but can I give you some advice, Brock?" Gan smiled mischievously and said. Everyone from the crowd listened, he wanted to give a Gym Leader advice!?

"Oh? And what advice would you like to give me?" Brock's eyebrows raised curiously.

"See, there is a reason I won, and that's because I have fans." Gan nodded and said.

"Fans?" Brock seemed confused.

Gan pointed towards the crowd, to be exact, the 2 women that came to watch him be defeated.

"Those 2 girls there are my fans, they came here to cheer for me, but the battle was so intense that they never spoke a word." Gan grinned at the 2 and their expressions turned desolate.

Brock looked at the 2 and his face sparkled.

"What beauties! I need Cheerleaders to give me a burning drive, it's no wonder you won!" Brock looked at the 2 in amazement, he loved him some women!

"Who the heck is your Cheer Leaders, goto..." The Tomboy wanted to curse Gan, but her mouth was quickly covered by the blonde.

"My lovely Cheer Leaders, didn't you two promise to reward me with a kiss on each cheek if I won?" Gan sneered in his heart, he didn't like people who lavished in another's misfortune.

The two quickly stood up with angry flushed faces and ran out.

"Huh? They left." Brock wanted to watch and see.

"They're just shy, they might do it later when no one is watching." Gan concluded.

"Ah, how unfortunate." Brock sighed, but this caused everyone in the crowd to have a twitch to their faces.

"Anyway, I was wondering, could you possibly give me a map of Viridian Forest." Gan wanted to explore Viridian Forest a bit; this was mainly to catch Pokemon for his Dex.

"I do, but I must warn you about a few things. I can't stress this warning any further.." Brock's tone turned serious, it'd be a shame if a talented trainer died.