Weathering The Storm... (A Pokemon OC Story)

Chapter 86: A Brawl in the Dewford Gym!

"Another Rock Smash!", Ellie cried as Marshtomp dove head first into a rock with a hearty cry, splitting the small rock wide open, with a small Star Piece appearing from inside to be quickly snagged by Ellie. Then, another fell to Marshtomp's Rock Smash. Then another. Lucas ended up giving up the attempt and just settled to resting against a rock, watching Ellie reap all the rewards from the rocks, whether it be Star Pieces, nuggets or whatever. It had been a good haul, and it improved Marshtomp's strength and stamina to keep continuously smashing the boulders. Seijo was also keen to smash some rocks, but his Slaking seemed the opposite. It would smash a rock with the power to overthrow a small government, then promptly fall asleep straight after. Then, every 5 minutes, the cycle repeated. He still didn't mind it though, he knew that Slaking wasn't exactly the most energetic worker like some of his other Pokémon. Still, after a while of watching Ellie find mounds and mounds of treasure, while Lucas stood at the sidelines, he got a little bored of just watching.

Sure, going through the town has been super fun, probably more so because he could recount the differences between the Dewford of the present and the Dewford that stood 10 years ago. Sure enough, nothing much had changed at all. The coffee shop was still there. The gym still stood loud and proud, being a gym not only for Pokémon but for the trainers. Lucas was in awe of how some of the people coming out of the gym looked, being just as muscular as the very Pokémon that they fought alongside. Then, after a light bite to eat at the coffee shop and dropping Combusken off at the Pokémon Centre to be healed up, they headed into Granite Cave. Except, it was more like they stumbled into there.

The place was extremely dark. Like, eerily dark. Not a single person had even thought of placing a single torch in that cave for some reason. The path was exclusively illuminated by the bright glow from the Rotom Phone as they scavenged through the cave, looking for any different Pokémon or items along the way. All they found got the majority of the journey was hordes upon hordes of Zubats and Makuhitas. However, they did end up finding a mural painted onto the wall, depicting the battle of two legendary beasts. It was oddly beautiful in a way. The crude paint and line work. You could tell it was painted in a time long gone. But, it was still recognizable, as the two titans, the one that controlled the land mass, while the other ruled the oceans. Then, above the battle, there were clouds, with a green scorpion-like tail poking out of the horizon. The titan to bring balance to them both. Then, a triangle was hidden, shooting across the clouds.

"It's beautiful.", Lucas recalled himself saying as he gazed upon the mural. Then, he was suddenly awoken from his thoughts by Seijo snapping his fingers in his face. He laughed as Lucas looked dopey at him,

"Finally awake? Well, we're gonna be heading to the gym since Ellie's satisfied with her pool of treasure."

Lucas looked to Ellie, who had just about managed to zip up her duffel bag, which was almost bursting at the seams with all sorts of stuff. Then, once she'd gone through that trouble, she got up and gestured for Lucas to get up. He did so almost immediately after, shooting to his feet. They had to make a detour to the Pokémon Centre to grab Lucas' Combusken, but after that, it was only 10 minutes before they were in the gym, both booked in for a gym battle. But, the first to take their shot at a 5th gym badge was Ellie. She locked in Taillow, Kirlia and Marshtomp as her picks for the gym battle, much to Electrike's annoyance. But, she insisted it would get its turn to battle in due time, and that seemed to satisfy it for the time being. Now, all she had to do was take the gym badge.

She walked into the gym, finding it to be a long stretch of abandoned gym equipment dug underneath the actual gym, with the lights flickering dimly above. It was like she was stepping into some sort of underground ring for Pokémon battling. But, eventually, she reached a part where the light grew and shone brighter. It revealed the tattered battlefield, the Dewford Gym logo stamped on it like a boxing ring. Then, at the other side, under a flickering light, stood Brawly, his arms crossed with a bright smile on his face that shone even through the dark. He flexed his muscles for only a second, before clasping his hands together with a Pokeball kept in one of his hands,