"Are you ready, Jim?" the gym leader asked of the other trainer.

"Yep," he replied. "How many pokemon?" he asked, showing a full belt of pokéballs.

"I dunno, how about two?" she asked.

"OK then, Allison, let’s get this battle going."

The challenging trainer selected a pokéball and threw it out into the middle of his side of the arena. The pokéball opened, and a Machop emerged from within.

"Machop!" the pokemon cried.

"A Machop? That’s fighting type. Then go, Pidgeotto!" the gym leader ordered. Nick whispered to Keith,

"This could be interesting. That challenger looks pretty good; he’s sure confident. Do you think he’ll win?"

"I don’t know," Keith replied. "You see that Pidgeotto? Flying pokemon have an advantage over most fighting types in battle because the fighting types sometimes rely on attacks like Seismic Toss that throw the opponent into the air. That doesn’t work too well on birds. I still don’t know who’ll win though."

"Let’s get started!" cried Allison. "Pidgeotto, use Gust attack." The bird pokemon flew up into the air towards the Machop and started flapping its wings rapidly, creating a strong current of air that threatened to knock the nearby Machop off its feet.

"Machop, hang in there. Use a Jump Kick!" the other trainer ordered. The muscular Machop jumped into the air toward the hovering Pidgeotto, leg bent in to kick, but as it approached the bird, the gust became so strong that the air knocked the Machop backward, causing it to tumble on the ground. The Pidgeotto shouted something that sounded like,

"Pidge-wo-wohwo-hwo-ho-oooo!" and stopped Gusting, starting to fly around the arena as the Machop got back to its fight, dizzy.

"Don’t worry about that, Machop," the challenger encouraged. "Get in there and give it another Jump Kick!" The Machop ran across the arena and jumped in the air toward the flying Pidgeotto, only to have its target fly up a little higher and completely avoid the attack.

"This is pointless," whispered Keith from the sidelines. "That Machop can’t do a thing to Pidgeotto, and the trainer obviously hasn’t heard of a High Jump Kick."

"How do you know about that?" asked Nick.

"It was in the trainers guide," Keith replied and continued watching the battle. The Machop was fruitlessly trying to Jump Kick the Pidgeotto that easily dodged all blows. The challenger’s temper was starting to flare, and the gym leader was enjoying herself.

"Pidgeotto," she said. "Enough. Use Wing Attack." As the Machop jumped up yet again, the Pidgeotto quickly turned in midair and smacked the Machop across the face forcefully with its wing. The Machop fell to the ground, winded. It was only a little hurt, but was completely discouraged and looked at its trainer pleadingly.

"Come on, Machop! Hit that thing!" the trainer shouted. The Machop sighed and began to look around for the flying Pidgeotto just as it swooped in from behind and struck in the back, knocking it to the ground on its face.

"Grr… OK, return, Machop," the frustrated trainer commanded, pointing a pokéball at his pokemon. A beam of red light shot from the ball, hit the Machop, which dematerialized and returned to the ball. "That wasn’t fair!" the challenger declared.

"I’m sorry it wasn’t much of a battle, Jim," the gym leader said. "But your Machop is just no match for Pidgeotto. Now come on, this is an official match. Are you gonna’ send out your second pokemon or forfeit?"

"Forfeit? Never," the trainer answered, starting to grin as some of his previous vigor returned. "Go, Charmeleon! Beat that with your Pidgeotto, Allison!"

The Pidgeotto had landed on the ground and watched as the bright red lizard pokemon entered the arena. The gym leader motioned to attack, so the Pidgeotto flew into the air and swooped at the awaiting Charmeleon.

"Slash!" cried the challenger. As the bird swooped in, the Charmeleon exposed its sharp claws and struck at the bird. The attack made contact, and the Pidgeotto quickly flew up high screeching,

"Jeoooo!"

"Yowch," the gym leader winced for her pokemon. "Pidgeotto, use gust."

"Ha ha ha," the challenger laughed. "Oh no you don’t." The bird flew into position and started flapping it’s wings as the challenger ordered,

"Fire Blast."

"What?!" cried Allison, surprised at the use of such an advanced skill. The Charmeleon fired a burst of flames shaped like a five pointed star at the bird. The bird barely managed to move from the path of the speeding fire, and the heat scorched its side. The bird shouted its name and started circling downward.

"Your better than I thought," the gym leader said as she recalled her Pidgeotto.

"Come on, send out your next pokemon," the challenger replied confidently.

"OK… You asked for it. Go, Rhyhorn!" the gym leader released a large stone-plated pokemon, like an armored Rhinoceros covered in thick rock armor. "You know what to do," Allison said.

The heavy-weight pokemon quickly charged at the Charmeleon, lowering its head. The other trainer immediately commanded,

"Use Flamethrower, now!" A stream of red-hot fire shot from the Charmeleon’s mouth and engulfed the charging pokemon. The ball of flames charged on.

"It’s .. still .. charging!!! What!??!?" shouted the trainer in amazement as the Rhyhorn rammed into the Charmeleon. The Charmeleon was blasted back, flying out of the arena and over its trainer’s head. The challenger ran backwards, trying to catch his pokemon, but just to cushion its fall by diving and extending his arms. "Down in one blow!" the trainer said bewildered.

Nick looked to Keith.

"You said we might be able to beat this trainer! Did you see that? That huge rock thing, whatever it is, just leveled that lizard thing in one tackle! That’s insane!" he exclaimed. Keith was a little unsure of what to say, but replied,

"Uh, well, Nick, I did say that we ‘might’ be able to beat her. Besides the Rhyhorn used Take Down, I think, not just Tackle." Nick sighed,

"OK, well, we may as well try anyway, but if my pokemon are getting attacked like that, then I’m going to recall them before they get so hurt!" The challenging trainer had composed himself, shaken hands with the gym leader, and left.

"I’ll be back," he had said. The gym leader petted her huge Rhyhorn for a moment, then turned to the watching boys.

"So you want to battle me to?" she asked. "I’m new here. It’ll only be my fourteenth or fifteenth fight." Nick and Keith looked at one another, and Keith motioned for Nick to go first. Nick stepped forward uneasily.

"Oh, don’t worry about it," the gym leader smiled. "I’m sure you’ll do well. Now, do you know the rules?"

"No," answered Nick.

"OK, you have to stand here. We’re going to battle with two pokemon each. Whenever one of your pokemon is unable to fight, its out. If both are out, you lose, OK?"

"OK," said Nick as he walked to the place where he was supposed to stand. "I guess I’m ready."

"Good," the other trainer grinned. She walked back to her side of the arena. The barely scathed Rhyhorn still stood on the battling area, ready for action. "I’ll be starting with Rhyhorn."

"Oh great," thought Nick. "I was afraid of that." Nick turned to Keith helplessly. Keith was motioning something, but Nick couldn’t decipher. Keith was pantomiming drinking a cola or something. Nick shook his head, not understanding.

"Are you going to start?" asked the gym leader.

"Yes," asked Nick, trying to decide what pokemon to begin with. Then he remembered. When he was young, one of his teachers had once told him that rock pokemon were weak to water! The Rhyhorn sure looked like a rock-type. Nick swallowed and said, "I choose Staryu."

He threw out his pokéball, and the small starfish came out standing in the arena.

"Staryu?" Nick said. "This is an important fight. That Rhyhorn over there is pretty good. Can you handle it?"

"Hyah!" answered the fearless Staryu, sizing up his dwarfing opponent.

"You ready?" asked Allison again.

"Just a minute," he replied. "Now, Staryu," he said lowering his tone. "Just shoot you Water Gun as hard as you can! You can do it! Let’s go!"

Staryu stepped away from Nick into the arena.

"Ah, time to start," said the girl. "Rhyhorn, do it." The massive rock creature charged at the tiny Staryu.

"Now!" shouted Nick. The Staryu blasted a jet of water immediately that hit the Rhyhorn across the arena. The Rhyhorn kept charging, rapidly approaching Staryu. Staryu kept firing.

"Keep it up… Keep it up… Staryu! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Nick yelled as the Rhyhorn almost trampled Staryu. Nick’s pokemon reacted quickly and jumped, flying out of the way. The Rhyhorn charged on. It dashed past Staryu and kept going, full force. Finally, it stumbled and fell to ground. It’s great momentum caused it to tumble repeatedly and eventually land on its back.

"Yahoo!" cried Nick exuberantly. "I should have known that water would work. Good job, Staryu! You beat it!"

"It’s not over yet," the gym leader said calmly, recalling her defeated Rhyhorn. "I get to fight with one more pokemon. Go, Ditto." Keith stood on the sidelines, asking his pokédex about the ameba-like pokemon, as Nick stared.

"That little thing?" he asked, then caught himself.

"Looks can be deceiving," Allison smiled. Nick glanced again, and, to his amazement, the pink blob-like Ditto had transformed into a perfect copy of Staryu. "Now, let’s continue. Ditto, let’s see a Water Gun!"

Nick’s Staryu managed to dodge the jet.

"Use Swift!" Nick commanded.

"Light Screen, Ditto," the gym leader responded.

"Huh? What’s that?" wondered Nick as an small, eight-sided, seemingly metallic disk appeared from within the gem of Allison’s pokemon, quickly grew to a large size as it moved forward, and hovered in the air in front of the morphed Ditto, deflecting all of Staryu’s projectiles. "Man, Staryu can’t hit it with Swift."

"Ditto," the gym leader ordered. "Use Hydro Pump." Nick’s view of the Ditto was blocked, as it started shaking, braced itself, and blasted a spurt of pressurized water at an enormous speed, breaking right through the back of the Light Screen, tearing it to bits, and nearly instantaneously colliding with Staryu. Nick’s pokemon was picked up by the speeding water and carried for a split second, until the water crashed to the ground, right in front of Nick, at the edge of the arena.

"What in the world?!" cried Nick. Staryu struggled up, trying to maintain balance. "Are you OK?" asked Nick. At that moment the Staryu-shaped Ditto collided with Staryu, startling Nick and knocking his pokemon to the ground. Nick shot a look at the gym leader.

"Staryu, good try. Return," he said, recalling Staryu to its pokéball. The Ditto, still shaped as Staryu, walked back to its side of the arena. Nick wondered what he could do against it. If he could only beat that Staryu – Nick corrected himself – Ditto, then he would win the match. But would Eevee or Mankey stand a chance against it? Nick remembered the last battle he had fought, in the forest, and decided,

"Mankey, I choose you." He threw the pokéball a long way in front of him, hoping to cause the monkey to become enraged at the Ditto, not him. The Mankey emerged and looked around confused, wondering where it was. As it sat looking around, the Ditto, as Staryu, flew in with a Tackle attack. Mankey turned its head just in time to see the Staryu crash into it, knocking to the floor. Nick’s new pokemon jumped up, enraged, and immediately charged at the morphed Ditto. Caught off guard, the Ditto was pummeled by Mankey’s swift blows. Mankey punched and kicked, flailing its arms, its opponent.

"Water Gun," ordered the gym leader. The close proximity attack knocked Mankey far away. It stood up, slightly stunned. Nick felt a little hope; the Staryu was hurt, tired. Mankey had fought hard, and his blows had been felt. He was just about to try to get his Mankey to go back to Thrashing when the heard the voice of Allison,

"Ditto, Recover." Starting from the bottom, and quickly moving upward, each part of the Staryu-shaped pokemon regained perfect health. It was as if it had never been attacked.

"What?" Nick cried. "What’s going on?"

"Ditto, finish it with another Water Gun." The Ditto fired, knocking Mankey again to the ground. Mankey got up, screaming,

"MAANKEEY!" and charged at the Ditto, only to be knocked back again. Nick saw that it was no use. He recalled his Mankey, (which was startled at being hit by the beam of the pokéball, having been oblivious of the trainers throughout the fight), and forfeited the match.

"I give. You win," Nick admitted. "Man," he thought. "If I could only have beaten that Staryu or Ditto or whatever it was! But the gym leader is too good."

"OK, return, Ditto," the gym leader responded. "Come back and try again later," she said. "There’s no limit to the number of times you can challenge me."

"I will," Nick replied as he walked away from the arena. He approached Keith, who encouraged him,

"You did well, Nick."

"Thanks," Nick replied. "But she’s just too good."

"Don’t worry about it. Did you hear what she said? You can come back. Next time, maybe you can beat her."

"I’ll try," Nick said doubtfully. "But her Ditto has all those good moves. Didn’t you see? It healed itself."

"No, Nick, actually," Keith said. "A Ditto can only use the moves of a pokemon that it Transforms into." Nick looked at Keith questioningly.

"You mean," he said slowly. "That my Staryu can use all those attacks too?"

"Must be." Nick walked to a bench on the side of the battling room and sat down. "So, are you going to battle her?" he asked of Keith, who was already walking toward the arena.

"Yep," he replied. Nick shook his head. Keith certainly didn’t give up easily, he thought. I mean, after what he had seen the gym leader do to Staryu and that Charmeleon, he should know he couldn’t win. But he was going to try anyway. Nick liked that. Too bad he couldn’t have won, though…

The gym leader was waiting.

"You, too?" she asked.

"Yes," the larger Keith said, taking his place on one side of the arena.

"OK," Allison replied. "Golly, this’ll be three battles in a row. I need a break. So do you want to do a two-on-two?" Keith nodded his head quickly, realizing that he only had two pokemon. That would have put him at a distinct disadvantage in a three-on-three match.

"Let’s get going," he said. Keith selected his pokéball and threw it into the arena. Eddie emerged.

"A water type? OK, then, go, Bulbasaur!" the gym leader commanded. As the pokemon appeared, Keith started to realize that he was at quite a disadvantage. Grass against water? That wasn’t good.

"Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip," the gym leader commanded. Two long, green vines shot out from the Bulbasaur, approaching Eddie.

"Eddie, hit them with Water Guns!" Keith commanded. The vines tried to hit Eddie like whips, but Eddie constantly shot quick bursts of water to stop their onslaught. Eddie’s aim was perfect; he kept the Bulbasaur’s vines at bay. Nick watched, wondering at how well "Squirtle" was doing.

"Eddie, get in their and Tackle it," ordered Keith. The Bulbasaur had walked up close to Keith’s Squirtle, so Eddie reached it quickly. Dodging the vines, Keith’s pokemon Tackled the Bulbasaur.

"Watch out!" the gym leader shouted, as Eddie opened his mouth. A water jet rushed out, pushing the Bulbasaur backward, eventually causing it to lose control and fly up then hit the ground.

"Bulba!" the creature shouted.

"Not bad," said the gym leader. "But dodge this! Razor Leaf!" The Bulbasaur hopped to its feet and a small swarm of needle sharp leaves shot from its body to Eddie. Eddie withdrew into its shell, and tried to roll out of the way, but several leaves hit him still, hurting Eddie even through the shell. The attack over, Eddie struggled up.

"Come on, Eddie. Do it now," Keith said quietly and tensely, hoping Allison didn’t hear.

"So are you going to forf –" she started to say just as Eddie blasted forward from the ground in a Skull Bash attack, hitting the Bulbasaur dead on, causing it to recoil to the edge of the arena.

"Yes! Get it!" shouted Keith. Eddie ran across the area, invigorated, and began to punch and kick the Bulbasaur who still lay on the ground. Eddie continued to pummel it, as it flew around helplessly. The gym leader was surprised. She recalled her Bulbasaur and said,

"I didn’t really think you were going to be able to beat my Bulbasaur. She doesn’t usually lose against water types." Eddie shouted,

"Squiiiirtle!" triumphantly, and Keith called out,

"Good job, Eddie. But it’s not over yet. We have to beat one more. You ready?"

"Squirtle!" Eddie replied to the affirmative.

"OK," the gym leader laughed. "Here you go." Allison threw out her second pokéball and, to Nick’s surprise, a Mankey appeared. "Mankey, use Rage." The monkey just stood there staring at Eddie. Keith was a little confused, for Mankey did nothing, but commanded anyway,

"Uh, OK. Eddie, Water Gun." Keith’s Squirtle unleashed a blast of water that hit the Mankey perfectly, for it didn’t even try to move. When the monkey landed though, a change was immediately evident. The Mankey jumped up, eyes glowing red and charged at high speed at Eddie. He was caught off guard as the Mankey did a handspring over the Squirtle’s head, landed on the other side, turned, and did a sweep kick. Eddie was knocked forward, and landed – and tumbled – to the ground. He was not only hurt but very surprised. The Mankey charged again and leveled the Squirtle with a blow across the face. Eddie stood up once more shakily and managed to pound his opponent with another powerful water jet, but the Mankey again charged, ignoring, perhaps not even feeling, the pain. This time, the monkey grabbed Keith’s Squirtle by the legs and started twirling him around.

"Seismic Toss," commanded the gym leader. Her pokemon released Eddie who flew across the arena and landed belly-up in front of Keith. Eddie cast a look at the Mankey then at Keith, and withdrew is head and limbs into his shell, knocked out.

Keith was a little stunned. The Mankey’s whole barrage of attacks had only taken a few seconds. Keith shook his head to regain his senses then recalled Eddie to his pokéball. He looked up at the Mankey. It was strong, but Keith knew that Eddie’s two Water Gun attacks, one dealt at close proximity, must have weakened it. He wasn’t giving up. Keith threw out his only other pokéball from which emerged Nidoran.

"OK, are you ready?" Keith asked. This would be the third time he had used Nidoran. The pokemon looked at the opposition, which perhaps was indeed tiring, and awaited orders from Keith.

"Nidoran," Keith ordered. "Use Poison Sting."

"Thrash, Mankey," the gym leader responded, sufficiently used to battle to not hesitate. The Mankey started to charge at Nidoran. Nidoran just stood still. He waited, but right when Mankey was about to strike him, Nidoran jumped straight at the monkey. The Mankey could not stop because of its momentum, and Nidoran’s horn jabbed into it, secreting poison. The monkey stopped dizzily, feeling woozy, and started to lose its balance. Mankey was knocked out, and fell forward to the ground.

"Man, he’s out," Allison said. "OK, Mankey, return." Keith had won. Nick was stunned. Wow, he thought to himself. Keith exclaimed,

"Yes! Thank you, Nidoran!" Nidoran was also surprised. It was the first fight in which he had actually been victorious. The Nidoran looked slowly around as if wondering if there was something he was still supposed to do, then trotted to Keith and sat down on the ground beside him. Keith smiled at his pokemon.

"What’s your name?" asked the gym leader walking toward Keith.

"Keith," he replied.

"Well, congratulations, Keith," she smiled. "You’re the first person to win the Clarkesville Gym’s Tornado Badge from me." She held out a small pin, shaped like a windmill. Keith took the pin smiling, attached it to his shirt.

"Thank you, Allison," he replied.

"You earned it," she responded. "But there goes my perfect victory streak!" Keith said goodbye and walked back over to Nick.

"You know what?" he asked when he reached him, then exclaimed, "I won!"

"I know," Nick answered. "That was a very good fight."

Nick was truly glad that Keith had won, but felt let down that he hadn’t too. He wasn’t jealous, Nick told himself. Well, maybe he was, but Nick realized that Keith had earned his badge. Keith knew what his pokémon’s abilities were and knew how to use them. He had even come up from a disadvantage. For some reason, it didn’t seem quite fair to Nick that he had lost, but he realized there had been no foul play. Nick put on a good face and decided that he would try again and win the next time. After all, since Keith was the first person to win out of fifteen or so trainers, it wasn’t all that bad that he had lost.