pokemon adventure

chapter seventy two

Chapter 72

Lavaridge Gym,

The Phantom and

The Verdanturf Contest

Today the gang made it to Lavaridge Town where Ash could earn his fourth gym badge. "Ah finally we are at a town" smiled May. Brock pointed out from the guide that Lavaridge Town was famous for its hot springs. Of course May wanted to go to them right away, and everyone agreed to the idea. "We have been through a lot on our way here, so we do deserve a good rest for today" said Brock. "Yeah and I'll have my gym battle tomorrow" said Ash. So the gang spent the day with no training, having their  pokemon checked at the  pokemon center and relaxing at the hot springs. The gang had gone through a lot on their way to Lavaridge Town; they battled trainers, met new pokemon and went to different places. But they did run into trouble too; they met Team Aqua and Magma again. Team Aqua and Magma fought to steal a meteorite from a place called Mt Chimney because they believed that the meteorite would help them in finding Groudon or Kyogre. But they failed because the gang was able to protect it. Apart from all that, some of the gang's pokemon evolved; Ash's Seedot evolved into a Nuzleaf, Tomo's Nincada evolved into a Ninjask and he also got a Shedinja and May's Azuril evolved into a Marill. So some good things did happen on their travels.

Next day the gang headed for the Lavaridge Gym. The Lavaridge Gym looked like a hotel. Ash was just about to call out for a gym battle, but then a red haired girl came up to the gang. "Hi there are all you here to challenge the Lavaridge gym?" she said. Ash introduced himself and told the girl that he was the challenger. The girl became excited. "Finally someone for me to challenge, oh and my name is Flannery" she said. Flannery explained that her grandfather was the gym leader but she had now taken his place as the new gym leader. "Well Flannery, I am honored to be the first challenger of the Lavaridge Gym leader" said Ash.

Flannery led the gang to the gym's battlefield, which was a normal ground battlefield. Flannery's grandfather, Mr Moore, was in the gym too. "Found yourself a challenger Flannery?" he asked. "Yes grandfather I have" answered Flannery. She introduced the gang to Mr Moore. "Flannery told us that you were the previous gym leader of Lavaridge Gym" said Brock. "That's correct," said Mr Moore "ah those days being the gym leader were fun. I and my Typhlosion faced many challengers and I loved showing them the power of fire  pokemon. But now I'm getting too old for this and I wish to now just sit back and relax. And that's why my granddaughter is now the gym leader". Ash and Flannery got ready for their match and Tomo, Brock, May and Max took their place on a bench. Pikachu sat with them too as he wasn't chosen to battle in this challenge. Mr Moore offered to be the referee, especially since this would be his granddaughter's first gym challenge. He also explained that the challenge was a three on three  pokemon battle.

Flannery sent out her first pokemon, a Slugma who she called Meg. Ash smiled and sent out Corphish. As the Lavaridge Gym was a fire type gym, Ash had his Corphish, Milotic and Marshtomp on his team. "Don't think I will lose just because you have a water type Ash" said Flannery. "I like a good challenge Flannery" said Ash. Flannery ordered Meg to use flamethrower and Ash ordered Corphish to use bubble beam. The flamethrower and bubble beam attacks collided with each other. "Okay Meg use smog attack" said Flannery. Meg blew some very thick smoke from the mouth and made it-self unseen. "Oh-oh that smog attack will mean trouble" said Max. "There's nothing to worry about" smiled Brock. Brock was right; Ash ordered Corphish to blow away the smog attack with metal claw, and Corphish blew the smog away with his claws. May and Max were surprised by Ash's move. "Ash has dealt with handling attacks like that before" explained Tomo. Ash ordered Corphish to use bubble beam and this time Meg got hit by the bubbles. "Don't give in Meg, use yawn" said Flannery. Ash knew that the move yawn had the ability to put an opponent to sleep. He quickly told Corphish to use bubble beam again. Meg got hit by the bubble beam and fainted from that water type attack, but it succeeded of hitting Corphish with yawn attack and Corphish ended up asleep. So Ash got a first win, even if his Corphish had fallen asleep.