Paul's Gym Battle

Some exciting things happened after the gang left Jubilife City. First Ash had his Swellow train his Starly and Tomo's Natu. In the midst of that Starly evolved into Staravia and Natu evolved into Xatu. Second Brock's Bonsly evolved into Sudowoodo after it learned the move Mimic. The gang ended up learning that some Pokemon evolve after learning a special move. For example, a Yanma could evolve into Yanmega after learning Ancient Power, a Bonsly could evolve into Sudowoodo after learning Mimic, a Lickitung could evolve into Licklicky after learning Rollout and a Aipom could evolve into Ambipom after learning Double Hit. Finally Brock caught a Nuzleaf that became fast friends with Sudowoodo.

Now the gang had made it to Oreburgh City where Ash and Tomo can obtain their first gym badge. Oreburgh City was like a factorial town because it had a big coal mine called Oreburgh Mine and the big chimneys would help control the air in the mine and out.

"Tomo this is where we begin collecting gym badges." Ash said.

"Ash, is it alright if I battle the gym leader first?" Tomo asked.

He wanted to go first because he was excited about his first gym battle. Ash agreed to let him battle first.

"You ready for this Tomo?" Brock asked.

"I'm ready as I'll ever be and so are my Pokemon." Tomo answered.

The gang made it to the gym; the outside of the gym was like a huge stone cave.

"This is impressive." Tomo said.

"Hmm from the design of this gym I would think that this gym's specialty is rock type Pokemon." Ash said.

"I think you may be right Ash." Brock agreed.

Suddenly Paul came out of the building.

"You defeated the gym leader already?" Ash asked.

Paul replied that he hadn't because the gym leader wasn't present at the moment. Just then a man with long green hair came out. His name was Ian and he was the gym leader's assistant.

"Excuse me Ian, but does the gym leader here use rock type Pokemon?" Ash asked.

"Yes he does." Ian replied.

This surprised Paul; he didn't have a water type Pokemon on his team.

"I'll wait at the Pokemon Center until the gym leader gets back." Paul said.

He then left. His plan was to capture a water type Pokemon before challenging the gym leader.

Ash explained to Ian that he and Tomo wished to challenge the Oreburgh Gym. Since Paul asked for a gym battle first, the brothers had to wait for their turn. They didn't mind it. Ian gave both Ash and Tomo a lavender-blue colored gym badge case that had a Poke Ball design on the lid. Ian explained that the gym leader, who's name is Roark, was working at the Oreburgh Mine.

"I heard that it's famous for it's coal." Brock said.

"Not only does Roark dig for coal, he also digs for treasure." Ian said.

The gang was curious about that and decided to visit the Oreburgh Mine to see Roark themselves.

At the Oreburgh Mine, it was very busy; lots of miners were digging and there were lots of fighting type Pokemon helping out with carrying the heavy stuff.

"Is Roark here?" Ash asked some miners.

They were just about to answer when two miners came out of a mine, pushing a big cart that had a giant stone in it. A man wearing a red helmet came out of the mine.

"That's Roark, the foreman of the Oreburgh Mine." The miners said.

Roark was smiling at the stone; it was actually the fossil of a ancient Pokemon. The gang then walked up to Roark.

"My name's Ash." Ash introduced himself to Roark.

"My brother Tomo and I wish to challenge you to a gym battle, and there is another person who wishes to challenge you." He said.

After hearing that he had three challengers, Roark decided to go back to his gym immediately.

Once Roark and the gang returned to the gym, Paul came back too ready to face Roark. Dawn had never seen a gym battle and had never been inside a gym.

"Can I watch the battle?" She asked.

Roark agreed to let the gang watch the battle, and surprisingly Paul didn't mind either. To Ash this meant that he would not only find out what Pokemon Roark had, he could also see how Paul and his Pokemon fight in gym battles.

The battlefield of the Oreburgh Gym had rocks on it, just like the Pewter Gym. The gang sat down in the seats to watch, and Paul and Roark took their positions on the battlefield. Ian was the referee.

"This battle is a three on three Pokemon battle." He explained.

Dawn felt a bit excited as this was the first time she watched a gym battle.

"Make sure to pay attention to this Dawn." Brock advised. "You will learn a lot from this gym battle."

The battle then started and Roark sent out a Geodude. Dawn looked it up on her Pokedex.