Journey to Pewter City and the First Gym

Matt, Latios, and Squirtle arrived on the Route to Pewter City shortly. Everyone had been quiet. Matt was admiring how large Latios was. Squirtle was acting like he was surfing on Latios back. And Latios just focused on gliding along the ground. Matt broke the silence by saying, "No need to rush through this area. We can get in some training with wild Pokemon or random trainers through here. We could use a little practice before we get to the gym in Pewter City." Without saying anything in reply, Latios slowed his glide down.

At that moment, a stray pokemon came into view. It was rather large too, almost blending in with the tree line based on it's body shade and looks. The pokemon in question revealing itself to be a Tropius. It was probably an odd thing to sight in the Kanto region but it was here none the less. He seemed to offer a challenge to the passing trainer as he stepped into his path and lowered his head.

A wild Tropius (male, level 12) appeared

Latios slowed to a halt and landed a few yards from the Tropius. "Shall I handle this, master?" "No, no I'll let Growlithe battle him. He would have an advantage, but I would also like to see if I could add Tropius to our team." "That would be wise. A Grass type could aid us against the Gym Leader in Pewter City." "Go Growlithe!" Growlithe appeared out of his Pokeball and let out a howl. "GROOOWWWLithe!" "Ok, Growlithe! Hit Tropius with an Ember!" Growlithe spat flames towards Tropius' direction.

Tropius looked at the puppy pokemon in all it's tiny being and it almost looked like it was smirking. When he was so big, it should be easy to squash such a small thing. The ember was nearly unavoidable due to his large size, but while it stung and seemed to leave a burn he used the large leaves on his back to send a strong gust of wind at his opponent.

Growlithe was hit by the strong wind and did a full back flip before landing on his belly. He then got up and began glare at Tropius. Growlithe, being the loyal Pokemon that he is, didn't care how large Tropius was. Growlithe could still bring the Tropius low despite his size. "Growlithe hit him with another Ember!" This time, Growlithe began running around Tropius shooting flames out of his mouth as he went.

Tropius did his best to avoid the flames , countering by catching the balls of flame with razor leaves so they took the hits instead of himself as well as possibly getting some damage in. Though the growlithe's speed seemed to prove too much for his larger body to keep up with and he took another hit to one of his back legs. Now suffering from two ember attacks and a slight burn, Tropius was quickly feeling the effects.

Matt was starting to see that the Tropius wasn't going to be as much of a challenge as he had first let on. A spare Razor Leaf had landed near Growlithe while he was jolting around, shooting flames, but it never hit him. Matt was waiting for the right moment to throw his Pokeball. Tropius didn't seem quite weak enough yet, but Matt also didn't want to harm Tropius too much. "Growlithe! I think Tropius might have had enough!" Growlithe halted his assault and ran back to Matt's side. Matt then threw a Pokeball at Tropius and hoped for the best. "I don't want to harm you any further Tropius!"

Tropius seemed about ready to make another move when he felt something make contact with his body. He didn't have much time to react as he was drawn into the pokeball. The large pokemon seemed to be putting in an effort this time around to break free of the pokeball. It shook once, no change. Twice, the ball rolled a bit from the shaking. Three times, the ball stopped moving and a click was heard. It appeared he was worn down just enough to where he didn't break free.

Tropius has joined your team!

"Yes!" Matt was delighted to have a Grass-type on his team. "Now we'll have an even greater advantage at the Pewter City Gym!" "Let's not forgo training your Pokemon, just because you have a few type advantages." "Of course I wouldn't skip training! What good is having an advantage if my Pokemon don't know how to use it. Besides, Squirtle has been looking rather powerful after the past few battles he's been in. I think he might be close to evolving!" Squirtle looked up at the mention of his name. Since he wasn't really paying attention to what Matt and Latios were saying, he just smirked and went back to day dreaming. "Well, I've caught my 6th Pokemon! That means I've got a full team! Time to train and maybe add to my collection of Pokemon!" Latios floated off the ground a little and then began moving forward.

As the group moved forward, a trainer stepped out into their path and stopped them. "Hmph, you want to keep going you'll have to battle me. I don't let weak punks get through here as a favor to a friend in town." The trainer looked to be in his late teens and had an almost dark appearance. He had four visible pokeballs on his belt, the first of which he grabbed and sent out. The pokemon that came out of the pokeball happened to be a male Pawniard that appeared to be quite aggressive.


Nate has challenged you to a battle. He sent out Pawniard (male, level 13).

Latios, seeing the trainer reveal himself, slowed to a halt and allowed Matt to climb down off of his back. Matt began by saying, "Hey! I'm Matt! I'd be glad to have a battle with someone. I could use some training. That's a cool looking Pokemon you have by the way! I'll use my Growlithe!" Growlithe came out and howled before looking at the Pawniard and growling. "Growlithe! Use Ember!" Growlithe blew a blast of heat towards Pawniard and then paused waiting for his enemies reaction.

Nate shrugged, not really bothering to speak as much as battle. That was more or less his style of things. His Pawniard was already charging full force at the growlithe. "Pawniard, 360 degree jump turn straight into a Fury Cutter." Nate said boringly. Pawniard lept into the air, twisting himself around once in midair to avoid the flames and lashing out with his scythe like hands as he drew close to Growlithe.

Matt wasn't impressed with Nate's battle style. He was taking everything so seriously. Matt decided to forget about him for now though. Growlithe was getting ready to get hit by an attack and Matt needed to decide how to counter. "Growlithe, stand your ground and use Ember again!" Growlithe didn't move aside from his mouth which opened again and released a blast a flames right at the oncoming Pawniard. Growlithe stood ready to embrace Pawniard's attack as long as his met Pawniard too.

Pawniard took the ember, weakening his oncoming attack and barely grazing the Growlithe. Nate seemed displeased as he knew Pawniard had to have taken that pretty hard with his type disadvantage. Nate seemed keen on keeping at it though. "Pawniard, go at it from the side with a scratch." Pawniard charged in head first, aiming to do more damage this time.

Matt enjoyed seeing Pawniard take Growlithe's Ember. "Way to go Growlithe!" Since Growlithe came out of that unscathed, things were looking in his favor. Suddenly, both Matt and Growlithe noticed Pawniard was incoming with a Scratch attack from Growlithe's side. "Quick! Turn and Bite Pawniard's arm before it reaches you!" Growlithe's head turned and his mouth opened with his fangs exposed. There was no telling if his attack would be enough.

Pawniard felt the clamping of Growlithe's jaws on his arm and it didn't harm him near as much as the ember yet still caused a bit of damage as his teetch scraped against the blades. Nate shrugged, not even caring his pokemon was taking damage. "Pawniard, Fury Swipes in close range." Pawniard tried to wrench his arm from Growlithe's mouth so that he could put more effort behind each strike of the fury swipes.

"We're right where we want him Growlithe! Don't let go! Use Ember directly on Pawniard while you're clamped on! It's ok if you take a few hits from his attack just don't let go while you're using Ember!" Matt was pleased with Growlithe's loyalty. Growlithe was taking hits and attacking when Matt said so without even faltering once in his confidence in Matt. Once this was over, win or lose, Matt was going to try to reward Growlithe. While the battling was going on, Matt was trying to think of something great to reward Growlithe with.

Pawniard hacked with what little strength he felt he had left. The burns were almost too much but as he tried to pry himself free he was met with the resistance of the Growlithe's jaws. With a final few attempts at injuring the Growlithe, the Pawniard sank to the ground. Nate saw this and let out a grumble of disappointment. "That was pathetic. Let's get a real pokemon to fight." Nate then sent out a Sableye that stood there, grinning wickedly with it's sharp teeth as it waited for Nate's order.

Pawniard has fainted. Growlithe gained 13xp. Growlithe advanced to Level 12.
Nate sent out a Sableye (female, level 11).

Having no visible type-advantage over Sableye, Matt decided to use a Pokemon he would be needing to use against the coming Gym Leader. This would be an opportunity to train him for the oncoming battle. Matt sent out his new Tropius! Tropius came out and flew around a brief moment before landing and looking at the small Sableye. "Trop!" Tropius' cocky personality came out as he snidely turned his head in confidence. "Alright, start things off with a Gust attack Tropius!" Tropius flapped his wings until they had built up enough momentum, and then he sent a giant Gust of wind at the enemy Sableye!

OOC: I really am sorry about the slow responses. I've had alot going on recently.

Nate smirked at the large being and went for a tactic that would hopefully pay off in the end. After all, his Sableye was his favorite for a reason. "Sableye, endure it and retaliate quickly with Night Shade. You know what to do." Sableye grinned and crossed it's arms in front of it's face as it braced itself from the intense wind. A slight amount of damage was done as the wind passed but quickly after Sableye threw it's arms down and it's eyes glowed a bright red before sending two dark beams outlined in red at the Tropius. If hit, the fake image that theTropius would be that of being surrounded by quickly spreading flames.