Weathering The Storm... (A Pokemon OC Story)

Chapter 36: Stairway to Heaven!

Lucas was standing in the lobby, with Seijo, waiting for Ellie to arrive after her win in the stadium. There did look like there were going to be a few interesting matches, but really they were only there to watch Ellie. And, it seemed like no other match that would play out could compare to that one, at least for Lucas and Seijo.

Lucas' eyes then spotted Ellie, who appeared from a door and looked around, as Lucas rushed over to give her a giant hug.

"You did it!", he cried as he hugged her tight for a second, then released what he had done and stepped back, saying cooly, "Good job."

"Thank you, uh, do we have anything we're doing for the rest of the day?"

"Well, me and Lucas have been talking.", Seijo started as he cut into the conversation, "We think that he should take his gym battle now while he can."

"Yeah, watching you got me fired up!", Lucas said excitedly, which caused Ellie to blush.

"I wasn't that good. But, yeah, I'd love to be able to watch you."

"Alright, then I guess I'll see you on the other side.", Lucas said as he approached the reception, then dipped down into the back room for his next match.

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Lucas emerged from the left side of the stadium, taking a deep breath before facing the crowd. He didn't have that unshakable confidence before, but he had hope that he would be able to get through this together. Torchic sat perched on his shoulder, although it wasn't able to battle. It had been a bit of a nightmare to convince the guard in the tunnel to allow Torchic through, but eventually, Lucas managed to get his partner to be able to watch at the sidelines. The crowd's eyes fixed on him, but Lucas remained focused on what was in front of him rather than whatever the strangers in the crowd thought.

Roxanne appeared from the other side, waving to the crowd and then fixing her eyes upon Lucas. Then, her expression turned into a bored one, as if she was annoyed that Lucas had come back for a rematch. However, it just made Lucas more determined to try his absolute best with his Pokemon together. The referee came in and looked at both of them, then declared.

"Both participants will use two Pokemon! The gym leader is not allowed to make substitutions but the challenger may. Now, Roxanne, please throw out your first Pokemon!"

"Geodude, let's do this!"

Geodude popped out and let out a cry, then let out an earth-splitting punch onto the ground. Lucas looked at both of the Pokeballs sat in his hand, each labelled with a black pen for which. He juggled them as he contemplated which Pokemon to pick, but eventually found one that he was sure would work.

"I choose you, Shroomish!"

The Pokeball opened, revealing Shroomish who looked forwards toward Geodude. It took a deep breath then smiled as it waited for the match to start. The referee looked to both sides yet again and yelled,

"Battle begin!"

"Geodude, lets start off with a Tackle!"

Quite unexpectedly, Roxanne made the first move. Maybe she was trying to end it early, but either way, Lucas had to deal with Geodude rushing down with an elbow barge. Lucas quickly yelled,

"Dodge!"

Shroomish looked to jump out of the way, but Geodude pushed forwards a bit faster and managed to knock Shroomish back with its arms. But, Lucas quickly replied,

"Headbutt back!"

Shroomish shook off the blow and rushed forwards towards Geodude, knocking it on the4 head then falling back. Geodude took a couple paces back to recompose itself, then slammed the ground again with its fists. Then, Lucas yelled out to Shroomish,