My Little Pokemon Silver Spoon Version

by Fashionably Late

Chapter 4: Showdown in Pewter City

Author's Note:

Fashionably Late here, and the end times are over! We have finally left Viridian Forest and shall never have to go to that wretched place again. Also Pewter City and our protagonists first gym badge. While Brock ain't as tough as some other gym leaders a gym battle is a gym battle and they make for some of the most interesting battles in the series...except Wattson, but what ya gonna do about an overcharged Pikachu? Anyway, enjoy the show.

One day…it took one day to leave Viridian Forest.

The Beedrill forced us into the weirdo’s cabin. Misty had apparently ran into the weirdo, named Samurai of all things, who lost against the other three Pallet Town Trainers and challenged Ash to a battle. Of course the interruption let Weedle escape and Ash, rightfully so I thought, blamed Samurai for Weedle’s escape and the two battled. Ash had to have been playing around with Weedle since Pidgeotto “fainted” after one Tackle from Samurai’s Pinsir. Metapod, oddly enough, did better despite being unable to move by using Harden and breaking Pinsir’s pincers. The Metapod versus Metapod bit was something I was having trouble believing.

That ended when the Beedrill swarmed in and kidnapped Metapod. Samurai had the gall to say that Ash abandoned Metapod. Ash was brash, impulsive and an idiot, but I could not believe that Ash would abandon his pokemon. We literally jumped off a cliff to protect Pikachu from Spearow and Ash…borrowed Misty’s bike to get Pikachu to the Pokemon Center. Needless to say, I did not like Samurai.

We spent the night in his cabin and found Ash gone in the morning. Obviously, there was only one place where he could be and we found him there, having gone off to rescue Metapod on his own…correction rescue Butterfree on his own who then followed Ash’s command and used Sleep Powder on the Beedrill.

That impressed Samurai who then showed us the path out of Viridian Forest and to Pewter City. I think Misty’s glad she doesn’t have to worry about bugs so much anymore. I can see the constant stress has worn on her.

Oh, and Ash mentioned that Team Rocket woke up the swarm. He didn’t see what happened to them afterwards. Honestly, I hope they got away. They might be pokemon thieves but I don’t think they deserve to be eaten by Beedrill.

It actually took longer to walk to Pewter City from Viridian Forest than it took to walk through Viridian Forest. In that amount of time Flora not only taught Bulbasaur Bullet Seed but also gave me a Technical Machine case and the TM for Bullet Seed. Apparently Technical Machines could teach pokemon moves instantly, but Flora stated that they weren’t “widespread” yet and “advised” that I don’t promote its existence. After she taught Bulbasaur I tried questioning her. Who was she, how much did she know and why was she working with Discord? She was vague about it and I decided to drop the issue.

---

We had been walking down a rocky trail for a few days now when we saw a city off in the distance.

“Yay, Pewter City!” Misty cheered as Ash ran off to stand on a stone overlooking the city.

I had to shake my head.

I’m glad everything turned out alright. We can stop by the Pokemon Center and get all our pokemon checked out and then head to the gym there. Ash is excited about getting his first gym badge.

I wonder what kind of place Pewter City is. I wonder what sort of pokemon train at the gym. We’ll see soon enough.

“For a while there, I thought I was going to be in this forest for the rest of my life.” Ash said while sitting on the stone.

“Pewter City is gray, the color of stone.” Who said that? “This town has always been famous
for stone.” Was Pewter City a rock farm like Pinkie Pie’s home? And how did you farm rocks?

We looked down the ledge to see a man sitting on the ground next to a staircase of rocks.

“Huh? What the...?” Ash started. “Who's this old guy?”

“Never met him.” Misty replied while I shrugged my shoulders and Flora twirled her finger around her head.

“The name's Flint. And you're sitting on some of my merchandise, young man.” He said without turning his head to look at us.

“Oh, sorry!” Ash apologized, standing up and jumping down the ledge to the stranger’s level. “Uh, you mean you sell rocks?”

The rest of us walked down the staircase and I noted that all of the rocks had a price tag on them.

“They're Pewter City souvenirs. Want to buy some?”

“No, thanks. I'm traveling, trying to become a pokemon trainer.” Ash declared while Flora looked intently at the rocks.

That got Flint’s attention as he turned to look over Pikachu.

“Well, your Pokémon sure looks worn out.” Flint stood up. “Why don't you follow me? I'll show you to the Pokémon Center.” He offered, walking towards Pewter City.

“See, looks can be deceiving. He's a nice guy.” Ash said, looking over to us.

“Are you sure?” Misty doubted.

“By the way, that'll be a $2 charge for resting on my rocks.”

---

As Flint promised he took us directly to the Pokemon Center. We left our pokemon with Nurse Joy, the Pewter City Nurse Joy was the older sister of the Viridian City, who directed our attention to a poster promoting the Pokemon League Regional League Championships.

“The Pokémon League Regional Championships! All right!”

“Ha!” Misty walked up to Ash and laughed.

“Huh? What's the matter?”

“To compete in the regional championships, you need to beat Gym Trainers from different towns and get their badges as proof.” Misty stated, ignoring Flora correcting her by saying Gym Leaders instead of trainers. “Can you do that?”

“Of course I can!” Ash responded.

“Don't tell me you plan on challenging Brock, the Pewter City Gym Leader.” Flint walked up to us laughing.

“Of course I do. As soon as Pikachu and my other Pokémon are better, I'll have no problem. Take me to this Brock's Gym. I’ll beat him.”

That set off Flint who started laughing at Ash.

“You’ll beat him, heh.” Flint walked away still laughing.

“So, who’s up for lunch?” Flora spoke up.

---

“Ooh, that Flint, trying to make a fool out of me.”
“Don’t talk with your mouth full, Ash, that's rude.” I chastised Ash as he shoveled rice into his mouth.

At Flora’s insistence we went out to get lunch at a nearby diner.

“Do you really think you can win?” Misty pointed a fork with noodles swirled around it. “Gym leaders are different from your everyday pokemon trainer. They're much, much tougher.”

“Eh, Brock ain’t that tough.” Flora chimed in gaining everyone’s attention. “He’s one of the weakest amongst both the Kanto Gym circuit and rock type specialists worldwide.”

“How do you know that?” I had to ask.

“A serious pokemon trainer ought to know the regional pokemon Gyms that they’re going to be competing in.” Flora pointed out.

Huh, why couldn’t she be so cavalier about what Discord was up to?

“I'll tell you what, Ash, if you ask me really nicely, I'll help you out.” Misty teased.

“I don't need any help.” Ash flat out refused while still shoveling rice into his mouth.

“Huh? Is that so?” Misty stood up. “Fine with me. There's no way you'll beat Brock in the Pewter City Gym. Huh!” With her piece said Misty walked off.

“Hey, you can't leave me with the bill!” Ash quickly stood up. “Come back here!” And ran off to chase Misty.

…

“They left us with…”

“They left us with the bill, yes.” Flora finished.

---

“So this is Pewter Gym?”

After Flora paid for the bill we met up with Ash at the Pokemon Center and picked up our pokemon. We would’ve asked Nurse Joy where the Pewter City Gym was, but Flora mentioned she knew where it was and, with Nurse Joy confirming Flora’s directions, we shortly made our way to the gym.

It was…certainly unique, the front looked like a giant boulder held up by human sized rocks with a set of metal doors in the middle.

“All right, then.” Ash walked up and opened the doors with me and Flora following. “Hello!”

The inside of the gym was dark, whatever lights that were inside hadn’t been turned on.

Ash kept walking further inside the gym and while I would’ve followed Ash, Flora stopped me and led me up a staircase to a spectator’s box. As soon as we got there, a light shined down on a dark skinned teenager, Brock.

What happened next was kind of a blur. Ash challenged Brock to a match and with a snap of his fingers Brock turned the gym into a rocky field and the lights came on.

“Are Gym Leaders this dramatic?” I asked Flora.

“Girl, you haven’t seen anything yet.” She answered.

In the Pewter Gym, battles are two against two, which I guess explains why Flora wanted a two on two battle.

Ash sent out Pikachu while Brock sent out Onix. I checked out Onix’s entry in the pokedex on our way here, but I never realized how big the Rock Snake pokemon really was. A picture really doesn’t capture the magnitude of Onix’s size.

Like Pikachu I was worried about our chances of earning the Pewter Badge.

“Don’t be, Onix is a paper tiger. Weak to grass type moves like all rock types.” Flora reassured me with barely a glance.

“And Ash?”

“Better luck next time.”

It…it was a short match.

Pikachu’s ThunderShock had no effect on Onix who just used Bind on Pikachu. Without the ability to recall Pikachu, Ash forfeited the match, picked up Pikachu and left the gym. I climbed down the staircase intent on following Ash, but Flora had other plans.

“Sarah’s turn!”

Wait, what?

I turned around to see Flora grinning wildly while pointing at me while Brock looked on intently.

“You wish to challenge me?”

“Er…yeah, but…”

“Kick his but Sarah! Avenge your man!”

What!?

“Very well, I accept your challenge. Onix is still ready to battle. Now, send out your pokemon.”

Glaring at Flora, I walked up to the challenger’s box and thought out my options.

During our training Flora stated that pokemon had one or two types, and each type was strong or weak against other types. Grass pokemon were strong against water type pokemon, water type pokemon were strong against fire type pokemon and fire type pokemon were strong against grass type pokemon. And as Flora just stated, rock type pokemon were weak against grass type pokemon. Ergo, Bulbasaur was my best chance at winning the Pewter Badge.

“Go Bulbasaur!” I threw out Bulbasaur’s pokeball and Bulbasaur stood tall before Onix.

“Hm, you have raised Bulbasaur well unlike your friend.” Brock complemented.

“You haven’t seen what we can do yet! Bulbasaur, Bullet Seed!”

Bulbasaur immediately began launching seeds at Onix and unlike Pikachu’s ThunderShock Bulbasaur’s Bullet Seed had a definite effect on Onix.

“Hm, very well. Onix, Tackle attack!”

“Dodge it Bulbasaur! And watch out for Onix’s tail!”

Despite Onix’s deceptively fast attack Bulbasaur managed to dodge the Tackle and maintain a good distance from Onix’s tail.

“Good job Bulbasaur! Now keep using Bullet Seed!”

“Onix! Keep using Tackle!”

Unfortunately, Onix was quicker on the draw this time and slammed into Bulbasaur.

“Bulbasaur!” I could only watch as Bulbasaur slowly stood back up.

“Your Bulbasaur is certainly tough, but is it tough enough to handle another Tackle attack.”

“Bulbasaur, run underneath Onix!”

Thankfully Bulbasaur caught on to my idea and ran underneath Onix as it tackled the spot where Bulbasaur was.

“Good, now use Bullet Seed again!”

While Onix turned to Bulbasaur, Bulbasaur managed another round of Bullet Seed at Onix’s face.

“Onix Tackle attack!”

This is getting repetitive.

“Bulbasaur underneath Onix again!”

“Onix Rock Throw!”

What?

As soon as Bulbasaur was past Onix’s main body, Onix slammed its tail into Bulbasaur.

This time Bulbasaur could only launch a single seed at Onix before fainting.

“Bulbasaur.” I returned him and stared sadly at his pokeball.

Roar!

I was shocked out of it by a roar and looked up to see Onix restrained by thin vines.

“Impressive, before fainting your Bulbasaur managed to land Leech Seed on Onix.”

Leech Seed.

If I remember correctly Leech Seed was supposed to suck energy from whatever it hit. And considering the red glow coming from the vines, it was working.

That meant I just had to drag the battle on for long enough and Onix would be unable to battle.

That…that I could work with.

“Onix return.”

…what?

I couldn’t help but gawk as Brock returned Onix.

“Why are you returning Onix? He could have kept battling!” I couldn’t help but ask.

“There’s no point in going on. All you would have done is lead Onix on until he was unable to battle and I still have one more pokemon.”

That…he was right of course. I would have just led him on and we both had one more pokemon left. It could go in either direction.

“Go, Geodude!” Brock released a floating rock with a face and pair of arms attached to it.

“Let’s go Eevee!” Like Bulbasaur before Eevee stood firm.

“Eevee, Tackle!

“Stop them.”

Geodude managed to stop Eevee with one hand.

Looks like I won’t be able to beat Geodude head to head.

“Geodude Tackle!”

With his other hand Geodude landed an uppercut against Eevee and launched him into the air.

Chance!

“Eevee, use Double Kick!”

Geodude tried to block the attack with his hands, but because Eevee was falling towards Geodude, Double Kick landed with more power than Geodude had expected and embedded it in the floor.

“That’s the way, good job.” I congratulated. “How’s that Brock?”

“That was a brilliant maneuver, using the speed of Eevee’s fall.” Brock acknowledged with a nod.

“Geodude!” Geodude launched itself out of the floor looking no worse for wear.

“Now Geodude Tackle!”

“Jump and dodge it.”

Eevee jumped backwards as Geodude crashed into the floor.

“Tackle again!”

“Jump on Geodude and use Double Kick.”

This time Eevee jumped on top of Geodude and landed another Double Kick while Geodude was recovering from tackling the floor again.

This time Geodude did not rise again.

“Geodude is unable to battle.” Brock returned Geodude. “As I have no pokemon left, that means you are the winner.”

…

I won?

…

I won!

“Eevee we won!” I raced down towards Eevee and pick him up in my arms cheering all the way.

“Vee! Eevee!”

“Congratulations, you did better than Ash and just as well as the other three Pallet Town Trainers.” Flora complemented from the stairwell.

“You have shown your dedication to being a pokemon trainer.” Brock walked up to me. “You have truly earned the Boulder Badge.” He held out his hand holding a badge in the shape of a gray octagon.

The Boulder Badge.

…

And I’ve been calling it the Pewter Badge…oops.

“Thank you Brock.” I took the badge.

My first badge.

The first step towards going home.

For such a tiny thing, it had a certain weight to it.

---

I and Flora immediately went to the Pokemon Center to heal my pokemon and check on Ash. He wasn’t there, but Misty was and she knew where Ash was. While we were heading towards wherever Ash was, Flora handed me some more TMs as a reward for beating Brock. Bide, Rock Tomb, Rock Slide, and Headbutt.

It was getting late when we arrived, but we found Ash at the old water mill. Walking on the water wheel like it was a treadmill.

“Hey, Ash. Wouldn't it be a lot better to just ask me for help instead of going with this crazy power plan of yours?” Misty offered again.

“Forget it! I'll win without your help.”

“Huh! What do I care?” Misty fumed.

Ok, Ash may have been rude about it, but he might be right to refuse. If Misty is just offering to lend Ash her pokemon then it wouldn’t really be Ash’s victory, it would be Misty’s.

“I'm going to get a badge all by myself using the Pokémon I'm training!”

“Stubborn. It'd be a lot easier if he used some of mine too.”

So I was right, she was just offering up her pokemon.

“That sounds like cheating.” Flora thought out loud.

“It’s not cheating.” Misty argued.

“You're right. It’s like cheating, but cheating.” Flora said sarcastically.

Better put a stop to this.

“They have a point, you know.” I smiled nervously. “If he wins with someone else’s pokemon, then he didn’t really win at all.”

“Even so, there’s no way he could win with the pokemon he has now!” She argued.

“He can.” I disagreed. “Ash just needs to keep in mind every pokemon’s individual strength. For instance, Butterfree has a very strong sleep powder. Onix can’t fight if it's sleeping.”

“I told ya.” I ignored Flora.

“But that’s strategy, and to use strategy Ash would need a brain.” She huffed.

While we were distracted by our debate, Ash and Pikachu blew up the water mill…what was their plan again?

---

We all spent a restless night in the Pokemon Center, but bright early the next day we were once again stepping inside the Pewter City Gym.

“Haven't you learned your lesson yet?” Brock tiredly asked Ash.

“We're ready for you this time, Brock!”

I, Flora and Misty were cheering for him from the spectator box. Hopefully he’d been listening when we were talking by the water mill. Hopefully this fight will go better.

“Geodude, center stage!” Brock’s first pokemon was called out. It looked good, like it hadn’t hit the floor multiple times yesterday.

“Pidgeotto, I choose you!”

“Gah!” Flora banged her head against the railing.

“Bad strategy?” I asked.

“Flying pokemon are weak against rock types and I doubt Pidgeotto knows any good moves.” Flora groaned.

Oh, guess Ash hadn’t been listening then.

Ash shortly returned a fainted Pidgeotto who had done no damage to Geodude.

“Pikachu, now's our chance to show him how weak we are!”

Was…was that supposed to be reassuring?

What was reassuring was Pikachu’s attack blowing up Geodude who then promptly fell to the ground knocked out.

“How!?” Flora screeched. “How did Pikachu knock out Geodude with an electric attack!? That shouldn’t be possible!”

“It looks like you've trained it better. But still, it's no match for Onix!” Brock released Onix and it stared down Pikachu.

I guess Pikachu got spooked because it filled the gym with lighting, so much so that I was blinking away stars.

“Onix, bind it!” Brock ordered, soundling less confident.

All the while Pikachu was releasing more lightning that was doing something to Onix if the roars were anything.

“Gah! Is he trying to blind us!?”

Eventually Pikachu ran out of steam and the light show stopped.

“Onix, stop!”

Huh?

Onix released Pikachu who looked like he fainted.

“No, Brock, I want to play this match to the end.”

Ash! What was he saying!? Pikachu was clearly in no condition to battle anymore!

“There's no point in going on. I really don't want to hurt your Pokémon.”

Apparently Pikachu had set something on fire as the sprinkler system was set off and began dousing everyone in water. Onix let out a roar of pain, but I didn’t know what was hurting it.

“Ash!” Misty got Ash’s attention. “Rock pokemon are weakened by water!”

Oh, so that’s why Onix was in pain.

Pikachu, apparently still up, let loose another electric attack that, with the water weakening Onix, sent Onix crashing down to the ground.

“Pikachu, finish it off!” Ash lifted his arm to call one last attack.

Ash! What are you…doing?

A bunch of kids had crowded around Ash, begging him to stop.

Who were they and where did they come from?

“My conscience is holding me back. I can't bring myself to beat Brock. I'm imagining his little
brothers and sisters stopping me from beating the one person they love.”

…are…are you serious?

“Ash, I think you'd better open your eyes.” That was Misty, Flora was off in the corner laughing.

“You leave Onix alone! Our brother worked hard to raise him, you big bully.” I didn’t know which one of the kids was talking.

“Believe me, kid, I'm no bully.”

…Ash, Onix was literally on the ground unconscious and you were going to order Pikachu to keep attacking it! How was that no being a bully? And I should know, considering…

“Stop it. Get off, all of you! This is an official match and we're going to finish it no matter what!”

Brock?

“But, Brock, we know that you love your Pokémon so much.”

“That's why we can't watch Onix suffer from another attack!”

Just call the match Brock. Why was this any different from yesterday?

“Pikachu, return!”

Oh thank Celestia.

“What do you think you're doing? This match isn't over yet, Ash.”

“Those sprinklers going off was just an accident.” Ash had finally gotten himself free from Brock’s…siblings, oh jeez. How many are there? Two, four, six, eight, nine? Oh jeez, was Brock’s family a long lost branch of the Apple family?

“Winning the match because of that wouldn't have proved anything. Next time we meet, I'll beat you my way, fair and square.” Ash walked out of the gym.

“Just when he finally gets a lucky break, he decides to be a nice guy too.” Misty said disappointedly.

…Misty…Ash already had Onix on the ground. He won. There was no need for that last attack. Why was he going for that last attack when Onix clearly was unable to battle?

---

“I'm sorry if I was too tough on you, Pikachu. But you really did a great job.”

I had just caught up to Ash walking along the river with Pikachu.

“Ash!”

“Sarah?” Ash turned around to face me. “Brock?” What?

Turning around myself, I saw Brock running up to catch up to both of us.

“Ash, you forgot this.” He held out a Boulder Badge to Ash.

“A badge for defeating a Gym Trainer. I can't accept that. I didn't beat you. I gave up.”

“Nah. I lost to you. You beat me in battle and in being kind to all Pokémon.”

That…was he watching the same battle I saw? I mean yes, he had Onix on the ground and beaten, but he was going to have Pikachu attack anyway. He only stopped because…

“To tell you the truth, I get more pleasure from raising Pokémon than from making them battle.” Brock turned to face the river. “I don't care about being a great Pokémon trainer. I want to become the world's best breeder but I can't leave here because I have to look after my brothers and sisters.” He turned back to face Ash. “Ash, I want you to take this and fulfill my dream.” He held out the Boulder Badge. “Will you do that for me?”

Huh, I wonder if any of the Apples felt that way from time to time.

“I will.” Ash nodded “And I'll do my best to deserve this too!” He took the Boulder Badge.

“Brock, you go follow your own dreams.” We all turned to the voice.

“Flint!”

Flint took off his beard and hat revealing a startling familiar face.

“My father.” Brock’s voice hardened.

“You mean you're the good-for-nothing father who left home and never came back?” Ash gaped.

Wait, what? I have a feeling I may have missed something when I was battling Brock myself.

“That's right. It was me. I couldn't become the great pokemon trainer I wanted to be and because I was such a failure, I was too embarrassed and ashamed to go back to my family.”

“But why did you help me instead of Brock?”

“You reminded me of myself.” Flint admitted. “You didn't seem to have a chance.” He looked to Brock. “It's time I started taking care of my family. You go fulfill your dreams and mine.”

“First, I’ve got a few things I’d like to say to you.” My heart jumped at his tone. Cautiously, I edged back.

“After all these years, I understand how you must feel about me so I want you to get everything off your chest.”

“Here.” Brock handed Flint a sewing needle and a spool.

Brock fired off a fast-paced list of his siblings’ likes, dislikes, health issues, school problems, hobbies, habits, friends, favorite cartoons, it was a very detailed dossier. I couldn’t keep more than one or two names straight, and Flint was scribbling it all down on some sticky notes as fast as he could.

---

“Hey, Ash, are you sure it's okay if I go with you on your Pokémon journey?”

It was night out and Brock was only asking about it now.

“Sure I'm sure. The more the merrier.”

“Well, what about that girl who keeps following you?” We looked back at Misty.

“Don't forget about my bike, Ash Ketchum! I'm going to follow you till you pay me back!”

“I know, I know! Pikachu, let's try to lose her.” Ash and Pikachu began to run for it.

“Wait up, Ash! You won't get away!” Misty began running.

“And what about the blonde girl?” Brock turned to me as we ran to follow Ash.

“She said she was going to stay in Pewter till tomorrow and maybe meet back with us eventually.”

Honestly, I wasn’t sure if she would meet back with us. Kanto was a large region and as far as I knew she didn’t have a way to track us. Then again, since she was working for Discord she had to have some way of appearing whenever she wanted.