A Long Way to the League
❇ Title: A Long Way to the League for cairistiona
❇ Pairing: very vague hints of Suho/Kai and onesided Suho/Chen
❇ Rating: PG
❇ Length: 3,039 words
❇ Warnings: pokemon battles
❇ Author note: This went through so many revisions wow. First time writing for an exchange! I hope you enjoy it. Sorry about the lack of much pairing stuff.
❇ Summary: Jongin is a very determined beginning trainer who sleeps too late and trains too long. Also there's a Gym battle.
"Bulbasaur? Really?"
The Professor shrugs, giving Jongin a half smile.
"Maybe if you had been here a little earlier, you would've had more luck. A girl named Zitao just walked out of here with Squirtle."
"And Charmander?" Jongin asks, though he's fairly sure of the answer.
"Oh Sehun. He seemed fairly pleased with himself. Said to say hello when you got here."
"Just say hello?"
"Well, not in so many words."
"What did he say, exactly?"
"’Tell that loser good luck; he'll need it.’ Something along those lines. Sorry." Jongin groans.
"Don't you have a Pikachu or something?"
The professor shakes his head. "If you really want one, try Viridian Forest. But if you want to start your journey today, you're going to have to take Bulbasaur."
Jongin sighs. It could be worse. He could have no starter, and be stuck in Pallet while Sehun went and challenged all the Gym leaders. He sighs, and takes the pokeball.
"Well then, Bulbasaur," Jongin says to the red and white ball. "Looks like we're going to be spending a bit of time in Viridian Forest."
Several days and an absurd number of pokeballs later, Jongin reaches the end of Route 2. A new pokeball hangs on his belt, and his freshly evolved starter stands by his side.
“Welcome to Pewter, the city between rugged mountains,” Jongin reads the welcome sign aloud, and his Ivysaur blinks curiously up at him. The city is smaller than Viridian, the ever popular path to the Elite four, but bigger than Pallet. There’s a piece of paper taped to the sign, clean and unwrinkled, so Jongin assumes it was put there recently -- hopes it was put there recently. He reads this aloud too, in a much more annoyed tone.
“Oh Sehun was here; Jongin’s a loser,” He tears the piece of paper from the sign, scowling and ripping it into tiny pieces. “That jerk think he’s so damn great just because he got a Charmander.”
Ivysaur butts his head against Jongin’s leg like an affectionate cat, and Jongin smiles.
“I’ll admit, you are a lot better than I expected. Man, you're gonna kick ass at the Gym.” His train of thought is interrupted by his stomach growling, probably loud enough to be heard back in Pallet. “First things first though: food.”
It doesn’t take too much wandering through the city to find a place that looks like it’d be happy to serve a starving beginning trainer. The sign above the door reads "PokeMunch Cafe," next to a picture of a grinning Snorlax. Outside, there are tables set up, with trainers relaxing and eating with their Pokemon outside their balls. There are mostly local Pokemon, but Jongin also sees one trainer eating with her Ninetales, and another cooing as he offers bites of food to his Sandslash. They’re probably passing through on their way to the Gym in Viridian. When Jongin gets closer, he can see an unsubtle sign on the door that reads "Please dine with Pokemon OUTSIDE."
As he approaches, he notices something going on at one of the outside tables. There’s a girl sitting down with her food with a guy leaning into her personal space. He’s smiling, acting friendly, but the girl is leaning away from him, scowling.
“Just leave me alone; I’m trying to eat,” the woman says as Jongin is walking by, and then that he decides to do something stupid.
“Hey, you jerk,” Jongin shouts, and both of them turn to stare at him, startled. A few other trainers turn to look as well, and Jongin fights the urge to turn and run from all these eyes. "You heard her, just leave her alone.”
“And who are you?” Now that the man doesn’t look startled, he looks faintly amused; his eyes are thin crescents and his mouth turns up at the corners. Whether he’s entertained by Jongin trying to be chivalrous or his face is just normally like that, Jongin isn’t sure.
“I’m Kim Jongin,” He says, trying to stand up tall and look impressive. Beside him, Ivysaur puffs himself up as well. “I’m a trainer from Pallet Town.”
"You're new in town, right?"
“What does that have to do with anything?” Jongin asks, frowning.
“I’m the Gym Leader here.” He offers his hand to shake with an easygoing grin. “Call me Chen.”
Stepping backwards, Jongin stares at his hand in horror. Chen shrugs and lets it fall back to his side.
“It’s pretty surprising that you already have an Ivysaur,” the Gym Leader says conversationally. “Color me impressed.”
“We spent a lot of time in Viridian.” Jongin shuffles from foot to foot, feeling somewhat as though he’s been left out of a joke. The other trainers have stopped paying attention, and the woman doesn’t look so uncomfortable anymore. She’s watching Jongin with interest. “Hey, shouldn’t you be leaving the lady alone?”
Chen laughs.
“Of course. How rude of me. Come challenge me sometime though,” he says, and starts to walk off. "I'd like to see how strong you are.”
Jongin stares after him, not sure if he should be pleased with himself for getting him to leave so quickly, or worried about what he’s gotten himself into. Would he use overly strong pokemon? Or just not give him the badge? Jongin jumps when the girl speaks, jolted out of his thoughts.
“I’m sorry about that,” she says with a sigh. “Jongdae is a pest.”
“Jongdae?”
“That’s his real name. He calls himself Chen because he thinks it’s a much better name for a Gym Leader. I’m Suho.” She smiles. “You really did him a favor -- I would’ve punched him in the ear if you hadn’t come along when you did.”
“Ah.” Jongin rubs the back of his neck, feeling awkward. “Is this something that happens often?”
“We actually go pretty far back. Feel free to sit down.”
Jongin sits, and Ivysaur flops down next to him.
“I’m--” he starts to introduce himself again, but Suho cuts him off.
“You said who you were already.” Suho says with a laugh. “And where you’re from. I’m from Cerulean. I’m the Gym Leader there, actually.”
Two Gym Leaders in one day. Well, he seems to have made a good impression on one at least.
“Am I gonna be able to get the badge here?”
“Most likely. If you challenge him to an official Gym battle, he is obligated to use his official team and give you the badge if you defeat him.”
“Thank god,” Jongin sighs, sagging with relief. His stomach takes the opportunity to remind him about how hungry he is. Suho giggles, and he blushes.
“I’m just gonna go get something to eat,” Jongin says, standing, but Suho stands as well and motions for him to sit back down.
“I’ll treat you. What do you want?”
“Literally anything.” Suho raises her eyebrows, and Jongin shrugs. “I do not object to any free food.”
“I could get you what I got.”
Jongin looks at the food sitting at Suho’s place. Distressingly, the sandwich seems more lettuce than bread, and more bread than meat. Jongin doesn’t see any meat.
“Maybe something a little less… Vegetable-y? If that’s okay with you.”
Laughing, Suho promises to find him something with a bit more substance, and walks off between the tables. Left alone, Jongin isn’t quite sure what to do with himself. He watches the other trainers relaxing with their Pokemon, and wonders how many of them have met two Gym Leaders in one day without knowing either of them were Gym Leaders. Not many. Maybe not any. Jongin hopes that means he’s lucky. One of them is buying him food, that seems fairly lucky. It’s probably a good sign.
When Suho comes back with a sub and chips, definitely more meat than vegetables, Jongin digs in with a ravenous hunger. There’s a comfortable silence as both of them eat.
“So, do you think you need any help preparing for the battle?” Suho asks.
“Probably not,” Jongin mumbles around a mouthful of sandwich. “Ivysaur can one-shot pretty much anything around here.”
“He looks very strong,” she says, and Ivysaur puffs up proudly.
“We caught a Pikachu. It took a lot longer than it should have.” Jongin scowls. “There’s this girl, right, and she thinks just because she sees a Pokemon before the trainer trying to catch it means there’s nobody already going after it.”
“Even so, it might not be a whole lot of help against Jongdae.”
Jongin shrugs. “He at least knows quick attack. Not much, but if Ivysaur gets knocked out it might be enough.”
“When are you going to challenge him?”
“As soon as I’m done eating.” Jongin swallows his bite of sandwich, trying not to inhale it all at once. “I’ve got someone I need to catch up with.”
“A rival?”
“Also a friend. But he’s being an ass, leaving stupid messages around. I haven’t even battled him yet.”
“What’s his name?”
“Oh Sehun. He hasn’t battled you yet, has he?”
“No, I haven’t heard of him.”
“Good. Maybe I will be able to catch up to him.”
Jongin frowns down at his food, and Suho smiles at him, putting a reassuring hand on his arm.
"I'm sure you will. After all, you've got an evolved pokemon at the first gym that isn't a Metapod or Kakuna. That's pretty impressive."
Jongin brightens up. "Yeah, it is! I still gotta work hard to get ahead of him, though."
"You definitely seem very determined. It's cute."
Jongin offers a muffled thank you through the last of his food. He stands up, and Ivysaur leaps as well, looking eager to go. Suho looks up, startled.
"Where are you going now?"
"To the gym," Jongin says, confused by the question. "I said i was going as soon as I was finished eating."
"Don't you think that's a bit rude?" Suho gestures to the half sandwich still sitting on her plate.
Jongin considers this.
"Thank you for the food. It was very good."
"No, I meant it’d be nice if you waited for me to finish. I'd like to see you kick Jongdae's ass."
Jongin grins.
"Sounds good to me."
Pewter Gym looks like it was carved out of one enormous boulder. Jongin wonders if the first gym leader had dragged a rock down from Mt. Moon and carved out the inside and gotten his reputation for training rock types. It seemed plausible. The "GYM" carved into the rock face is faint, the stone worn down by the elements.
"You ready for this?" Suho asks.
"You're the one who said you wanted to see me kick his ass."
"Just checking. You seem to like to rush into things."
“I can take him.”
“Your confidence is inspiring,” Suho says with a smile, and pushes open the Gym door.
"So good of you to come!" Jongdae says jovially as they enter.
Inside, the Gym feels like a strange castle, with high stone walls and a vaulted ceiling. Steel pillars line the walls and hold up the stone roof. Lights hang down, lighting up the battlefield that stretches along the middle of the huge room, and casts the corners in shadow. Bleachers line the walls, ready to hold a ridiculous amount of people in the event of a noteworthy match. They stand empty today.
All in all, it’s a building with one purpose. Gym battles.
Jongdae is already standing on the opposite side of the battlefield. "I'm always glad to greet a new challenger."
"Nice to see you again," Jongin mutters. "Are you gonna use two Pokemon?"
"Is this your first gym battle?" Jongin reaches into his bag to grab his badge case, and shows off the empty inside to Jongdae. He nods and takes out two pokeballs.
“The battle will end when all of the Pokemon from either party are no longer able to fight. Sound good to you?”
“Bring it on,” Jongin says. Jongdae smirks.
"Go, Geodude!"
"Ivysaur, you're up for battle."
Ivysaur runs out onto the battlefield, and Geodude emerges from its ball. Jongdae doesn't hesitate to make the first move.
"Geodude, use tackle!"
"Ivysaur, vine whip!"
Geodude charges across the battlefield straight into Ivysaur’s vines, only to be swatted back towards Jondae like a rocky ping pong ball. It slides into the ground, leaving a skid mark in the dirt, and lays still. Jongin and Jongdae stand staring silently.
"That was it?" Jongin asks. "I was kinda expecting more."
"That's not my only Pokemon." Jongdae growls. "I'm just getting warmed up. Go, Graveler!"
Graveler hits the battlefield with a thump, and Suho gasps.
"I knew you would pull something like this!” She shouts. “You know you're not allowed to use your personal pokemon in official matches."
“Okay, look,” Jongdae says, raising his hands up defensively. “Let’s get something straight. I’m not mad at the kid for stealing your attention.”
“Then what are you using Graveler for?”
“He’s got an Ivysaur.” Jongdae gestures dramatically at the offending plant. “Who the hell has an Ivysaur by the first Gym? Give me a bit of a chance.”
“Fine, I’ll grant you that,”
“You better give me my badge at the end of this.” Jongin chimes in.
“Of course. If you manage to win. Graveler, use rollout!”
Graveler pulls its arms in close to its body, and rolls into Ivysaur. Ivysaur butts it away, but it rolls back around, picking up momentum.
“Sleep powder!”
As Graveler rolls towards it, Ivysaur releases a cloud of green spores from its back. They settle over Graveler’s rocky skin, and it slows, stopping and sprawling out when it bumps into Ivysaur.
“Hey, no fair,” Jongdae whines.
“Now use leech seed.”
A pair of seeds shoot from Ivysaur’s back, planting themselves in Graveler’s rocky hide and bursting into vines which wrap around it. Graveler twitches in its sleep.
“Come on, why don’t you face me head on?”
“I am facing you head on,” Jongin says, glaring at Jongdae. “You’re using a powerful Pokemon; I’m gonna have a hard time if it’s awake.”
“But this is so boring,” Jongdae complains. “How am I supposed to show off for Suho?”
“Who’s watching you battle?” Suho chimes in. “I came to watch Jongin. You’ve hardly landed one hit, even with Graveler.”
“Fine then,” Jongdae growls. “Graveler, use Selfdestruct!”
Jongin and Suho take a step back. Graveler snores.
“Selfdestruct!”
“Vine whip!”
Ivysaur lashes with its vines again, and Graveler blearily opens its eyes.
“Come on! Use Selfdestruct already!”
“Ivysaur, lift it up with your vines.”
Ivysaur wraps its vines around Graveler, growling as it struggles to lift the living hunk of rock into the air. Graveler begins to glow a worrying white.
“Toss it!”
Ivysaur tries, whipping its vines forward as hard as it can, but it’s already too late. Graveler explodes midair, sending a shock wave that knocks Ivysaur back almost all the way to Jongin, and nearly knocks Jongin off his feet. Both pokemon lie still.
“Take that!” Jongdae whoops. “Suho, wasn’t that awesome? Sorry you couldn’t get your badge today, Jongin. Try again soon. ”
Jongin recalls Ivysaur without saying a word, then takes another ball from his belt.
“You said you would only use two pokemon at the start of the battle, right?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“I have a second pokemon I didn’t use.”
“What?” Jongdae stares at him. Jongin releases Pikachu onto the field. Pikachu looks around, and scampers over to where Graveler is still lying. It considers the larger pokemon for a moment before jumping onto it and sitting there, looking smug.
“I thought you were one of those dumb pokemon rights trainers who kept all their pokemon out of their balls,” Jondae says.
“Nope. Just Ivysaur.”
“Why on earth do you even have an Ivysaur?”
“We spent a really long time in Viridian Forest.” Pikachu waves its butt at Jongdae.
Jongdae starts to take another pokeball of his belt, but he’s stopped by a glare from Suho.
“Two pokemon, Jongdae,” she says. “You already broke the rules once using one of your own pokemon.”
“Fine,” Jongdae groans, dragging the word out so long it becomes its own exasperated entity. Suho rolls her eyes at him. “I’ll give you the badge.”
He returns Graveler to its ball, making the still-mocking electric mouse tumble to the ground, and pulls out the badge. Jongin does not jump up and down in excitement, as much as he would like to. That would be undignified. He settles for wiggling slightly in excitement.
“I don’t mind giving him the badge, I just don’t like doing the dumb speech. Do I have to give the dumb speech?” Jongdae asks. Suho glare is enough of an answer. “Okay, fine.”
“I hereby bestow the Boulder Badge onto you, Kid Jongin,”
“Kim Jongin.”
“For your impressive display of battle skill at the Pewter City Gym,” Jongdae continues, ignoring him. “With this, you have taken your first step into the pokemon league, and are now truly on your way to becoming a Pokemon Master. Why do we even give that speech?”
Jongin takes the badge reverently, eyes sparkling.
“I’m gonna become the Champion,” he says to the badge.
“Good luck with that,” Jongdae says, not entirely unkind. “You heading to Cerulean next?”
Jongin snaps out of his mini trance.
“Oh yeah,” he says. “I gotta battle Suho next.”
“Wait til you get to my gym.” Suho laughs, slinging an arm over Jongin’s shoulder. “I have to head back too. How about we go through Mount Moon together?”
“Sure, that sounds good. Better to go in a group, right?”
“Something like that, yes.”
“Hey, how about I come along to?” Jongdae says, coming to Jongins other side and slinging his arm over Suho’s. “The more the merrier, right?”
“You want to travel with me?” Jongin asks. Jongdae laughs.
“You really showed me, man. I think I need to do more training. So how about it? Can I travel with Suho too? Please?”
“A group of three is pretty good, isn’t it?” Jongin asks
“I suppose so,” Suho says, sounding disappointed.
“Definitely!” Jongdae says.
A trio is good, Jongin thinks. A rock Gym Leader, a water Gym Leader, and the next Pokemon Champion. Nothing will be able to stand in our way.
❇ Pairing: very vague hints of Suho/Kai and onesided Suho/Chen
❇ Rating: PG
❇ Length: 3,039 words
❇ Warnings: pokemon battles
❇ Author note: This went through so many revisions wow. First time writing for an exchange! I hope you enjoy it. Sorry about the lack of much pairing stuff.
❇ Summary: Jongin is a very determined beginning trainer who sleeps too late and trains too long. Also there's a Gym battle.
"Bulbasaur? Really?"
The Professor shrugs, giving Jongin a half smile.
"Maybe if you had been here a little earlier, you would've had more luck. A girl named Zitao just walked out of here with Squirtle."
"And Charmander?" Jongin asks, though he's fairly sure of the answer.
"Oh Sehun. He seemed fairly pleased with himself. Said to say hello when you got here."
"Just say hello?"
"Well, not in so many words."
"What did he say, exactly?"
"’Tell that loser good luck; he'll need it.’ Something along those lines. Sorry." Jongin groans.
"Don't you have a Pikachu or something?"
The professor shakes his head. "If you really want one, try Viridian Forest. But if you want to start your journey today, you're going to have to take Bulbasaur."
Jongin sighs. It could be worse. He could have no starter, and be stuck in Pallet while Sehun went and challenged all the Gym leaders. He sighs, and takes the pokeball.
"Well then, Bulbasaur," Jongin says to the red and white ball. "Looks like we're going to be spending a bit of time in Viridian Forest."
Several days and an absurd number of pokeballs later, Jongin reaches the end of Route 2. A new pokeball hangs on his belt, and his freshly evolved starter stands by his side.
“Welcome to Pewter, the city between rugged mountains,” Jongin reads the welcome sign aloud, and his Ivysaur blinks curiously up at him. The city is smaller than Viridian, the ever popular path to the Elite four, but bigger than Pallet. There’s a piece of paper taped to the sign, clean and unwrinkled, so Jongin assumes it was put there recently -- hopes it was put there recently. He reads this aloud too, in a much more annoyed tone.
“Oh Sehun was here; Jongin’s a loser,” He tears the piece of paper from the sign, scowling and ripping it into tiny pieces. “That jerk think he’s so damn great just because he got a Charmander.”
Ivysaur butts his head against Jongin’s leg like an affectionate cat, and Jongin smiles.
“I’ll admit, you are a lot better than I expected. Man, you're gonna kick ass at the Gym.” His train of thought is interrupted by his stomach growling, probably loud enough to be heard back in Pallet. “First things first though: food.”
It doesn’t take too much wandering through the city to find a place that looks like it’d be happy to serve a starving beginning trainer. The sign above the door reads "PokeMunch Cafe," next to a picture of a grinning Snorlax. Outside, there are tables set up, with trainers relaxing and eating with their Pokemon outside their balls. There are mostly local Pokemon, but Jongin also sees one trainer eating with her Ninetales, and another cooing as he offers bites of food to his Sandslash. They’re probably passing through on their way to the Gym in Viridian. When Jongin gets closer, he can see an unsubtle sign on the door that reads "Please dine with Pokemon OUTSIDE."
As he approaches, he notices something going on at one of the outside tables. There’s a girl sitting down with her food with a guy leaning into her personal space. He’s smiling, acting friendly, but the girl is leaning away from him, scowling.
“Just leave me alone; I’m trying to eat,” the woman says as Jongin is walking by, and then that he decides to do something stupid.
“Hey, you jerk,” Jongin shouts, and both of them turn to stare at him, startled. A few other trainers turn to look as well, and Jongin fights the urge to turn and run from all these eyes. "You heard her, just leave her alone.”
“And who are you?” Now that the man doesn’t look startled, he looks faintly amused; his eyes are thin crescents and his mouth turns up at the corners. Whether he’s entertained by Jongin trying to be chivalrous or his face is just normally like that, Jongin isn’t sure.
“I’m Kim Jongin,” He says, trying to stand up tall and look impressive. Beside him, Ivysaur puffs himself up as well. “I’m a trainer from Pallet Town.”
"You're new in town, right?"
“What does that have to do with anything?” Jongin asks, frowning.
“I’m the Gym Leader here.” He offers his hand to shake with an easygoing grin. “Call me Chen.”
Stepping backwards, Jongin stares at his hand in horror. Chen shrugs and lets it fall back to his side.
“It’s pretty surprising that you already have an Ivysaur,” the Gym Leader says conversationally. “Color me impressed.”
“We spent a lot of time in Viridian.” Jongin shuffles from foot to foot, feeling somewhat as though he’s been left out of a joke. The other trainers have stopped paying attention, and the woman doesn’t look so uncomfortable anymore. She’s watching Jongin with interest. “Hey, shouldn’t you be leaving the lady alone?”
Chen laughs.
“Of course. How rude of me. Come challenge me sometime though,” he says, and starts to walk off. "I'd like to see how strong you are.”
Jongin stares after him, not sure if he should be pleased with himself for getting him to leave so quickly, or worried about what he’s gotten himself into. Would he use overly strong pokemon? Or just not give him the badge? Jongin jumps when the girl speaks, jolted out of his thoughts.
“I’m sorry about that,” she says with a sigh. “Jongdae is a pest.”
“Jongdae?”
“That’s his real name. He calls himself Chen because he thinks it’s a much better name for a Gym Leader. I’m Suho.” She smiles. “You really did him a favor -- I would’ve punched him in the ear if you hadn’t come along when you did.”
“Ah.” Jongin rubs the back of his neck, feeling awkward. “Is this something that happens often?”
“We actually go pretty far back. Feel free to sit down.”
Jongin sits, and Ivysaur flops down next to him.
“I’m--” he starts to introduce himself again, but Suho cuts him off.
“You said who you were already.” Suho says with a laugh. “And where you’re from. I’m from Cerulean. I’m the Gym Leader there, actually.”
Two Gym Leaders in one day. Well, he seems to have made a good impression on one at least.
“Am I gonna be able to get the badge here?”
“Most likely. If you challenge him to an official Gym battle, he is obligated to use his official team and give you the badge if you defeat him.”
“Thank god,” Jongin sighs, sagging with relief. His stomach takes the opportunity to remind him about how hungry he is. Suho giggles, and he blushes.
“I’m just gonna go get something to eat,” Jongin says, standing, but Suho stands as well and motions for him to sit back down.
“I’ll treat you. What do you want?”
“Literally anything.” Suho raises her eyebrows, and Jongin shrugs. “I do not object to any free food.”
“I could get you what I got.”
Jongin looks at the food sitting at Suho’s place. Distressingly, the sandwich seems more lettuce than bread, and more bread than meat. Jongin doesn’t see any meat.
“Maybe something a little less… Vegetable-y? If that’s okay with you.”
Laughing, Suho promises to find him something with a bit more substance, and walks off between the tables. Left alone, Jongin isn’t quite sure what to do with himself. He watches the other trainers relaxing with their Pokemon, and wonders how many of them have met two Gym Leaders in one day without knowing either of them were Gym Leaders. Not many. Maybe not any. Jongin hopes that means he’s lucky. One of them is buying him food, that seems fairly lucky. It’s probably a good sign.
When Suho comes back with a sub and chips, definitely more meat than vegetables, Jongin digs in with a ravenous hunger. There’s a comfortable silence as both of them eat.
“So, do you think you need any help preparing for the battle?” Suho asks.
“Probably not,” Jongin mumbles around a mouthful of sandwich. “Ivysaur can one-shot pretty much anything around here.”
“He looks very strong,” she says, and Ivysaur puffs up proudly.
“We caught a Pikachu. It took a lot longer than it should have.” Jongin scowls. “There’s this girl, right, and she thinks just because she sees a Pokemon before the trainer trying to catch it means there’s nobody already going after it.”
“Even so, it might not be a whole lot of help against Jongdae.”
Jongin shrugs. “He at least knows quick attack. Not much, but if Ivysaur gets knocked out it might be enough.”
“When are you going to challenge him?”
“As soon as I’m done eating.” Jongin swallows his bite of sandwich, trying not to inhale it all at once. “I’ve got someone I need to catch up with.”
“A rival?”
“Also a friend. But he’s being an ass, leaving stupid messages around. I haven’t even battled him yet.”
“What’s his name?”
“Oh Sehun. He hasn’t battled you yet, has he?”
“No, I haven’t heard of him.”
“Good. Maybe I will be able to catch up to him.”
Jongin frowns down at his food, and Suho smiles at him, putting a reassuring hand on his arm.
"I'm sure you will. After all, you've got an evolved pokemon at the first gym that isn't a Metapod or Kakuna. That's pretty impressive."
Jongin brightens up. "Yeah, it is! I still gotta work hard to get ahead of him, though."
"You definitely seem very determined. It's cute."
Jongin offers a muffled thank you through the last of his food. He stands up, and Ivysaur leaps as well, looking eager to go. Suho looks up, startled.
"Where are you going now?"
"To the gym," Jongin says, confused by the question. "I said i was going as soon as I was finished eating."
"Don't you think that's a bit rude?" Suho gestures to the half sandwich still sitting on her plate.
Jongin considers this.
"Thank you for the food. It was very good."
"No, I meant it’d be nice if you waited for me to finish. I'd like to see you kick Jongdae's ass."
Jongin grins.
"Sounds good to me."
Pewter Gym looks like it was carved out of one enormous boulder. Jongin wonders if the first gym leader had dragged a rock down from Mt. Moon and carved out the inside and gotten his reputation for training rock types. It seemed plausible. The "GYM" carved into the rock face is faint, the stone worn down by the elements.
"You ready for this?" Suho asks.
"You're the one who said you wanted to see me kick his ass."
"Just checking. You seem to like to rush into things."
“I can take him.”
“Your confidence is inspiring,” Suho says with a smile, and pushes open the Gym door.
"So good of you to come!" Jongdae says jovially as they enter.
Inside, the Gym feels like a strange castle, with high stone walls and a vaulted ceiling. Steel pillars line the walls and hold up the stone roof. Lights hang down, lighting up the battlefield that stretches along the middle of the huge room, and casts the corners in shadow. Bleachers line the walls, ready to hold a ridiculous amount of people in the event of a noteworthy match. They stand empty today.
All in all, it’s a building with one purpose. Gym battles.
Jongdae is already standing on the opposite side of the battlefield. "I'm always glad to greet a new challenger."
"Nice to see you again," Jongin mutters. "Are you gonna use two Pokemon?"
"Is this your first gym battle?" Jongin reaches into his bag to grab his badge case, and shows off the empty inside to Jongdae. He nods and takes out two pokeballs.
“The battle will end when all of the Pokemon from either party are no longer able to fight. Sound good to you?”
“Bring it on,” Jongin says. Jongdae smirks.
"Go, Geodude!"
"Ivysaur, you're up for battle."
Ivysaur runs out onto the battlefield, and Geodude emerges from its ball. Jongdae doesn't hesitate to make the first move.
"Geodude, use tackle!"
"Ivysaur, vine whip!"
Geodude charges across the battlefield straight into Ivysaur’s vines, only to be swatted back towards Jondae like a rocky ping pong ball. It slides into the ground, leaving a skid mark in the dirt, and lays still. Jongin and Jongdae stand staring silently.
"That was it?" Jongin asks. "I was kinda expecting more."
"That's not my only Pokemon." Jongdae growls. "I'm just getting warmed up. Go, Graveler!"
Graveler hits the battlefield with a thump, and Suho gasps.
"I knew you would pull something like this!” She shouts. “You know you're not allowed to use your personal pokemon in official matches."
“Okay, look,” Jongdae says, raising his hands up defensively. “Let’s get something straight. I’m not mad at the kid for stealing your attention.”
“Then what are you using Graveler for?”
“He’s got an Ivysaur.” Jongdae gestures dramatically at the offending plant. “Who the hell has an Ivysaur by the first Gym? Give me a bit of a chance.”
“Fine, I’ll grant you that,”
“You better give me my badge at the end of this.” Jongin chimes in.
“Of course. If you manage to win. Graveler, use rollout!”
Graveler pulls its arms in close to its body, and rolls into Ivysaur. Ivysaur butts it away, but it rolls back around, picking up momentum.
“Sleep powder!”
As Graveler rolls towards it, Ivysaur releases a cloud of green spores from its back. They settle over Graveler’s rocky skin, and it slows, stopping and sprawling out when it bumps into Ivysaur.
“Hey, no fair,” Jongdae whines.
“Now use leech seed.”
A pair of seeds shoot from Ivysaur’s back, planting themselves in Graveler’s rocky hide and bursting into vines which wrap around it. Graveler twitches in its sleep.
“Come on, why don’t you face me head on?”
“I am facing you head on,” Jongin says, glaring at Jongdae. “You’re using a powerful Pokemon; I’m gonna have a hard time if it’s awake.”
“But this is so boring,” Jongdae complains. “How am I supposed to show off for Suho?”
“Who’s watching you battle?” Suho chimes in. “I came to watch Jongin. You’ve hardly landed one hit, even with Graveler.”
“Fine then,” Jongdae growls. “Graveler, use Selfdestruct!”
Jongin and Suho take a step back. Graveler snores.
“Selfdestruct!”
“Vine whip!”
Ivysaur lashes with its vines again, and Graveler blearily opens its eyes.
“Come on! Use Selfdestruct already!”
“Ivysaur, lift it up with your vines.”
Ivysaur wraps its vines around Graveler, growling as it struggles to lift the living hunk of rock into the air. Graveler begins to glow a worrying white.
“Toss it!”
Ivysaur tries, whipping its vines forward as hard as it can, but it’s already too late. Graveler explodes midair, sending a shock wave that knocks Ivysaur back almost all the way to Jongin, and nearly knocks Jongin off his feet. Both pokemon lie still.
“Take that!” Jongdae whoops. “Suho, wasn’t that awesome? Sorry you couldn’t get your badge today, Jongin. Try again soon. ”
Jongin recalls Ivysaur without saying a word, then takes another ball from his belt.
“You said you would only use two pokemon at the start of the battle, right?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“I have a second pokemon I didn’t use.”
“What?” Jongdae stares at him. Jongin releases Pikachu onto the field. Pikachu looks around, and scampers over to where Graveler is still lying. It considers the larger pokemon for a moment before jumping onto it and sitting there, looking smug.
“I thought you were one of those dumb pokemon rights trainers who kept all their pokemon out of their balls,” Jondae says.
“Nope. Just Ivysaur.”
“Why on earth do you even have an Ivysaur?”
“We spent a really long time in Viridian Forest.” Pikachu waves its butt at Jongdae.
Jongdae starts to take another pokeball of his belt, but he’s stopped by a glare from Suho.
“Two pokemon, Jongdae,” she says. “You already broke the rules once using one of your own pokemon.”
“Fine,” Jongdae groans, dragging the word out so long it becomes its own exasperated entity. Suho rolls her eyes at him. “I’ll give you the badge.”
He returns Graveler to its ball, making the still-mocking electric mouse tumble to the ground, and pulls out the badge. Jongin does not jump up and down in excitement, as much as he would like to. That would be undignified. He settles for wiggling slightly in excitement.
“I don’t mind giving him the badge, I just don’t like doing the dumb speech. Do I have to give the dumb speech?” Jongdae asks. Suho glare is enough of an answer. “Okay, fine.”
“I hereby bestow the Boulder Badge onto you, Kid Jongin,”
“Kim Jongin.”
“For your impressive display of battle skill at the Pewter City Gym,” Jongdae continues, ignoring him. “With this, you have taken your first step into the pokemon league, and are now truly on your way to becoming a Pokemon Master. Why do we even give that speech?”
Jongin takes the badge reverently, eyes sparkling.
“I’m gonna become the Champion,” he says to the badge.
“Good luck with that,” Jongdae says, not entirely unkind. “You heading to Cerulean next?”
Jongin snaps out of his mini trance.
“Oh yeah,” he says. “I gotta battle Suho next.”
“Wait til you get to my gym.” Suho laughs, slinging an arm over Jongin’s shoulder. “I have to head back too. How about we go through Mount Moon together?”
“Sure, that sounds good. Better to go in a group, right?”
“Something like that, yes.”
“Hey, how about I come along to?” Jongdae says, coming to Jongins other side and slinging his arm over Suho’s. “The more the merrier, right?”
“You want to travel with me?” Jongin asks. Jongdae laughs.
“You really showed me, man. I think I need to do more training. So how about it? Can I travel with Suho too? Please?”
“A group of three is pretty good, isn’t it?” Jongin asks
“I suppose so,” Suho says, sounding disappointed.
“Definitely!” Jongdae says.
A trio is good, Jongin thinks. A rock Gym Leader, a water Gym Leader, and the next Pokemon Champion. Nothing will be able to stand in our way.