Pokémon : The Journey of Travis Tedford

Chapter 13: The Angry Rhyhorn

  Traveling with Adam was strange at first, especially since he was the guy who had put me in the coma I was in. However, the more I got to hang out with him, the more I realized he really wasn't a bad guy. He tasked himself with being in charge of the meals we would eat when we camped out, and I was surprised by how good of a cook he was. "I had heard that the Celadon City Gym Leader Erika was pretty hot. She's also a very strong Grass-type trainer," said Adam. "Grass-type gym? I guess now that I know that, I know which Pokémon I'm gonna use now," I said. I reached onto my belt and released Togetic, Bagon, and Tepig from their Pokéballs. "Alright, you three, it's up to you for this upcoming battle. Tepig, this will be your first gym battle so I hope you're ready," I said with a smile. Tepig breathed out a bit of fire from its nose to show its excitement. Suddenly, the ground underneath us began to shake as we felt something not too far from us that was making the ground shake. "Togetic, can you find out what that is?" I asked. Togetic nodded and flew high into the air. Bagon watched Togetic fly away and began to feel sad. I noticed its sadness and picked it up from the ground. "It's okay, Bagon, you're going to fly one day. You just have to be patient," I said. Bagon nodded, and a few moments later, Togetic flew back and told us to follow it. When we arrived, we learned that it was a Rhyhorn that was making all of that noise. It kept tackling a nearby tree. "It's a Rhyhorn! Oh man, I've always wanted one since I was a little kid!" said Adam excitedly. He reached into his bag and threw out Machop's Pokéball. Rhyhorn noticed us and then began to flare at us. Something about its glare made me feel a bit uneasy. "Machop, use Power-Up Punch!" called out Adam. Machop ran toward Rhyhorn with its fist glowing. Rhyhorn quickly dug a hole into the ground and vanished. Machop quickly looked around its surroundings but didn't notice in time when Rhyhorn emerged from underneath it and hit it. Rhyhorn then surrounded itself with stones and launched them at Machop, knocking it out. "That was a powerful Stone Edge attack," I said. Adam recalled Machop to its Pokéball. Before Adam could reach for his next Pokéball, Rhyhorn came charging at us angrily. "Run!" I yelled out as we all turned around and ran. For a big, heavy Pokémon, Rhyhorn was pretty fast and stayed close to us the entire time. That's when I knew running from it wasn't really an option. "Bagon, use Hydro Pump now!" I yelled at Bagon, who was running close to me. Bagon turned around and fired a powerful blast of water that hit Rhyhorn directly. Since Rhyhorn was a rock and ground type Pokémon, Bagon's attack did quite a lot of damage, which resulted in slowing Rhyhorn down. Rhyhorn got even angrier and then suddenly began to glow. It had evolved into Rhydon, which looked even more terrifying than Rhyhorn did. "Yeah, we're screwed," I said. Adam then stepped in front of me. "No, I'm going to do whatever I can to catch this Pokémon. I don't care how much stronger it is," he said. He reached in his bag and threw out his next Pokéball, which had a Poliwhirl emerge from it. "Poliwhirl, use Hydro Pump!" called out Adam. Poliwhirl shot out a powerful blast of water towards Rhydon, but Rhydon intercepted the attack with a Hyper Beam. "So much power," he said. He then turned to me. "I hate to admit it, but I might need your help if I plan on beating this thing," said Adam. I nodded. I recalled Tepig and Togetic into their Pokéballs and then called out Snivy.

Rhydon fired another Hyper Beam attack at us. "Snivy, use Solar Beam!" I called out. "Poliwhirl, use Hydro Pump!" called out Adam. Our attacks combined into one and canceled out Rhydon's powerful attack. I looked at Adam's Poliwhirl and then remembered the gift that Efren gave me back in Cerulean City. "Adam, use this!" I said as I handed him my Water Stone. "A Water Stone?! That can only be used once. Are you sure you want to use it on someone else's Pokémon?" he asked, surprised. "Well, we're friends, right? Think of it as my gift to you," I said. Adam smiled and nodded. "Poliwhirl, here!" he called out as he threw the stone toward its direction. Poliwhirl jumped up, caught the stone, and then began to evolve. "Poliwrath!" it said, embracing its new form. Rhydon came charging at them with a Mega Horn attack. Poliwrath ran up to it and hit it hard with a Focus Punch. "Awesome! You learned a new move! Now finish it off with Hydro Pump!" called out Adam. Poliwrath fired a powerful blast of water directly at Rhydon, which resulted in it fainting. Adam then threw a Pokéball at it and managed to catch it. "Congrats, man. Now you have a new powerhouse on your team," I said. "Yeah, but let's hope that it accepts me as its trainer. It kind of freaked me out how strong it is when it's mad," said Adam. It was at that moment when I had gotten an idea. "I have an idea. How about we have a Pokémon battle? The two of us never had a match against each other, and I need to train a bit more before we reach Celadon City," I said. "That's fine with me. Let's do it," said Adam. We found an open field to use as our battlefield. "We'll use three Pokémon each. Best two of three wins," I said. Adam nodded, and then he sent out his first Pokémon, which turned out to be a Growlithe. "Alright, Bagon, I choose you!" I called out as it emerged from its Pokéball. "Growlithe, use Flamethrower!" called out Adam. Growlithe fired its attack, but Bagon dodged it quickly enough. "Counterattack with Headbutt!" I called out. Bagon launched itself and hit Growlithe on its side. Adam smirked. "Counterattack with Fire Fang!" he called out. Growlithe bit Bagon and left it with a burn. I knew the burn would continue to inflict Bagon with damage as the battle went on, so I would need to end it quickly. "Quick, use Hydro Pump!" I called out as it hit Growlithe directly and resulted in it fainting. "Great work, Bagon! Take a long rest!" I said as I called it back to its Pokéball. I then threw out my next Pokémon. "Tepig, I choose you!" I called out. Tepig emerged happy and ready for battle. "Poliwrath, I choose you!" called out Adam as his newly evolved Poliwrath appeared. "Tepig, use Flame Charge!" I called out. Tepig began charging toward Poliwrath shrouded in flames. "Counterattack with Focus Punch!" called out Adam. Poliwrath's focus punch overpowered Tepig's Flame Charge and knocked it to the ground. "Remember, we trained in case we were to come up against Water types! Use Wild Charge!" I called out. Tepig charged at Poliwrath with electricity shrouding its body and tackled into it. Adam was shocked; he wasn't expecting Tepig to know an Electric-type move.

"Alright, let's wrap this up with Hydro Pump!" called out Adam. "Counterattack with Flamethrower!" I called out. The attacks collided but the Hydro Pump easily overpowered Tepig's Flamethrower and knocked it out. I recalled it to its Pokéball. "You were great, Tepig; take a long rest," I said. Adam recalled his Poliwrath and then threw out his next Pokéball, which turned out to be Rhydon. There was only one Pokémon I knew I had that could possibly take it out. I threw out my Pokéball and Marshtomp emerged. "Rhydon, use Megahorn!" Rhydon's sharp horn began to glow and it came charging at Marshtomp. "Quick, use Dig!" I called out. Marshtomp dug a hole into the ground to hide itself. "Now, use Hydro Pump!" I called out next. Marshtomp emerged from a hole it made from behind Rhydon and fired a Hydro Pump attack at it. "Use Stone Edge!" called out Adam. Rhydon fired multiple stones at Marshtomp. "Marshtomp, quick, use Dig again!" I called out. Marshtomp used Dig again and managed to get away in time. "Enough running away! Rhydon, fire Hyper Beam into that hole!" called out Adam. Rhydon went over to the hole Marshtomp went into and fired a powerful Hyper Beam into it. The attack was so powerful that it sent Marshtomp flying from underground. "Finish it off with Hammer Arm!" called out Adam. "Counter with Ice Punch!" I called out. Both Marshtomp and Rhydon's attacks collided, with both sides giving it their all, but ultimately Rhydon's attack overpowered Marshtomp's and knocked it out. "Whoo! Looks like I win!" cheered Adam as he ran over to Rhydon. "Rhydon, you were awesome out there! What do you say we work together to become even stronger?" said Adam. Rhydon looked the other way but then held out its hand and shook Adam's. Though I was a bit disappointed that I lost, I was happy to see my friend starting to bond with his new Pokémon. We continued on our journey and eventually arrived at Celadon City. We went straight to the Pokémon Center and then, after leaving our recently battled Pokémon with Nurse Joy, Adam and I went to grab a bite to eat. "Your Pokémon are all pretty powerful; how come you aren't taking the gym challenge?" I asked Adam while stuffing a cheeseburger into my mouth. "I thought about it, but I'm not sure if I'm ready for that yet. I want to take a bit more time to try and figure out what kind of trainer I want to be. If entering the Kanto League ends up being part of that, then I'd rather that happen naturally. Plus, I feel like I'll learn a lot by traveling with you for a while longer," said Adam. I looked on the wall and noticed that there was a poster mentioning something about a tournament. I immediately ran over to it, grabbed it, and brought it over to Adam. "Looks like I found something for us to do after my gym battle! They're hosting a tag battle tournament! We should totally enter it together!" I said excitedly. Adam looked at the poster and then nodded. "Sounds like just what I need to get stronger. I better get to training then," said Adam as he got up and left. I immediately ran to the nearest computer to email each of my friends to tell them about the tournament. What surprised me was that I had received an email from Efren.