Pokemon The Novel: Next Generation

Chapter 13: Crystal's Biggest Challenge

The group has finally made their way to Cinnabar Island for their following badge to get there. They ride on Crystal's Red Gyarados, but the sisters also argue about who is going next for this badge. Amy and Zola can't help but laugh at their argument, which is like a drama show to them, but they stop laughing when Mizu glares at them, making them sweat drop and keep to themselves during the trip. The group landed on the Island and rested on its Pokemon Centre before heading for the gym. "I finally figured out who's next," says Amy, startling the group and breaking the silence; the others recollect themselves after the sudden outburst. "O...Okay, who's next, Zola?." says a shocked Yellow, then Zola points to Crystal. "It's Crystal's turn," she says with a big smile. "Sure, I'll go next," says Crystal with a smile, then leads the others.

As the group entered the gym, they were greeted not by the gym leader, Blaine, but by the new gym leader, Kaen. "HELLO...And welcome to my gym challengers," she yelled with a big, happy smiling face afterwards. The group looked confused, and then Crystal spoke up with a question. "Um...What happened to Blaine?." she asked as the others walked up to their stadium seats. Looking nervous, Kaen quickly explained that after her first battle against him a year ago, he pointed her as his successor and retired whether she won the League. With the group now understanding why there's a new gym leader, Both Crystal and Kaen stand on either side of the battlefield to get ready to start their battle, "Now let's go, Ninetales." yells Kaen, who throws her ball to bring out her first Pokemon for a three vs three battle match but then Crystal brings out her first Pokemon. "Come on out, Golduck." She throws her ball, bringing out her Pokemon, and the match can now begin and see who wins today's battle.

Kaen took the first charge of the battle. "Ninetales, use Flamecharge," she yelled as Ninetales formed itself into a fireball and charged at Golduck, but Crystal used her quick thinking. Crystal countered the attack, "Golduck, use Quick Attack, then Water Punch." She yelled as Golduck dodged the attack and punched Ninetales away. Ninetales skidded across the battlefield, only to finally stop at the edge. "Quick, use Flamethrower Ninetales," Kaen yelled, seeing Golduck charging at Ninetales, hoping to knock it off the field for a win. Ninetales fired its attack, hitting and blinding Golduck. "Quick, now use Quick Attack," Kaen yelled as Ninetales used its move to tackle Golduck, headbutting it and knocking Golduck out cold. As the battle continues, the others in their seats are cheering, but Mizu notices something isn't right with this volcano. Mizu excuses herself to the corner of the stadium. As she reached there, the other saw her, but it was slightly too late. The side of the stadium burst and cracked apart, surprising Mizu but scaring the others.

Kaen and Crystal stopped in their tracks as they both looked to see what was the problem, their eyes wide open and their mouths open in surprise. What burst out from the volcano was a Lava Onix that had its slumber disturbed by the girl's battle. The Onix attacked everyone, and the group quickly jumped and ducked out of the way, but Crystal brought out her Red Gyarados to fight it. She even brought out Lapras. "Gyarados, Lapras, use Double Hydro Pump," she yells as her Pokemon attacks the Onix, trying to cool it down. Kaen quickly studied the Lava Onix and noticed it was twice the size of two regular Onix and twice as wide. The Onix used its tail to almost flatten Kaen. But with Crystal's quick thinking, she lunges towards Kaen, who is tackling her and getting her out of the way while her water Pokemon takes on the Lava Onix. "Gyarados use Super Ice Beam," Crystal says while trying to get back on her feet after the Onix slammed its tail into the ground to make a quake. Gyarados Ice Beam barely made any dent into the Onix. Still, then it gets hit by a Nova Fireball by Kaen's Charizard as it is sleeping at the top of the volcano and gets pissed off at the Onix for waking him up and attacking its partner.

Kaen and Crystal returned their Pokemon except for Charizard and Gyarados, who make a good team. "Hurry, Charizard, use Seismic Toss," Kaen yells, wanting to stop this Onix before it causes any more damage. Charizard flies behind the Onix and uses all of its strength. It takes the Onix into the air and spins it in a reversal spiral, then Charizard flies back down to the battlefield and lets go of the Onix to try and knock it out, but it gets back up and roars so much that it fires another Lava Beam at Charizard hitting its wing. With quick thinking, Crystal brings Golduck back out. "Quick, use Water Gun to save Charizard," she yells as Golduck fires its Water Gun, hitting Charizard and giving it a softer landing instead of crashing. The others try to help but are quickly whacked away by the Onix's tail. Kaen rushes over to her Charizard but is also worried for the others once she sees how much damage the Onix has done, but they get hit by two Water Guns, which only annoys it.

Crystal's sisters Mizu and Yellow also bring their own water Pokemon to help. Mizu brings out Lapras, and Yellow brings out Poliwrath. Pokemon fire their Water Guns to cool off the Onix, but it uses its tail to whack them away. Crystal takes this opportunity. "Quick, Gyarados use Hyper Beam," she yells as her Gyarados open fire at the Onix, knocking it out cold after they finally defeat the Onix, Crystal falls on her butt, taking a hiatus from the tense battle. She looks to her left and notices Kaen walking up to the Onix. "Kaen, what are you doing?" she yells, getting her attention. Kaen then faces Crystal as she stops in front of the Onix. "Oh, I'm just going to capture it," she says, throwing her ball at it and waiting to see if it stays in it. With the ball stopped twitching, Kaen was happy that she had caught a fire-type Onix. She smiled and picked up the ball; then she hunched over just as she saw how much of her stadium had turned into a giant lava mess. Kaen facepalmed herself. "Oh man, it's going to take a long break to fix up this place," she says while squats and pouts. Crystal comes up next to her, squats, and then pats Kaen on the back. "Don't worry. I'm sure your gym will be back up and running in no time," she says, smiling warmly. Kaen looks a bit surprised but then smiles and nods in agreement. "Yeah, just need to wait. But until then," she says, getting Crystal curious and watching her.

Kaen pulled out three badges from her pocket. "Here, this is for helping me to stop that Onix," she said with a smile, passing on a badge each for the three sisters. She had a big cheesy smile on Crystal's face. She couldn't help it and hugged Kaen, "Oh, thank you, Kaen," she said while giving her a tight hug, causing Kaen's face to turn blue. "Crystal...Let up...The hugs." she says, trying to breathe. Crystal blushes and lets go of Kaen. "Whoops...Sorry," she says, rubbing her head and giggling sheepishly; the next day, the group is all packed up and ready for their next trip and badge. While back on their boat, they waved to Kaen and talked about what to do when they finally got into the Indigo League. "I hope we get to face each other in the finals," says Crystal, her eyes sparking with each of them now having seven badges. "I hope so, too. I want to see who's stronger, me or Mizu," says Yellow with a massive grin on her face, looking at her sister, "Oh really, Yellow, I shall take you up on that challenge," says Mizu standing face to face with Yellow with static coming to their eyes and zapping each other's, while the others side beside them shaking in fear. "Um...Maybe you two should cool down, " says a nervous Zola, standing between the two sisters, trying to separate them.