Storm Badge

The gang now made their way to the Cianwood Gym.

"I can't wait to battle at this gym." Ash said.

Soon they reached a sort of fighting dojo.

"Is this the gym?" Misty asked.

Before her question was answered, a woman came up to the gang.

"Hello there." The woman greeted them. "I take it you are here to battle my husband."

"Your husband?" Ash asked.

"That's right." The woman nodded. "My husband Chuck is the leader of this gym."

"So this fighting dojo is the Cianwood Gym." Misty said.

"Yes." Chuck's wife said. "And my husband also teaches people how to become strong fighters and great fighting type Pokemon trainers, so this is both a gym and a fighting dojo."

Chuck's wife led the gang to where he was. Chuck was a big muscular man and right now he was doing some training with a Machoke.

"My husband loves to practice fighting with his Pokemon." His wife said. "It also gets him into shape. The truth is he looks flabby most of the time, so training does him some good."

"Do you own any Pokemon too?" Ash asked.

"Yes I own a few Tyrouge." Chuck's wife answered. "And they are very good helpers around the house."

Chuck then noticed his wife with the gang and went up to them.

"Who are these children, my dear?" Chuck asked.

His wife introduced him to Ash.

"He wishes to battle you for a Storm Badge hey." She said.

When Chuck heard that Ash wanted to battle, he started to show off his muscles.

"Listen well son." He said. "When me and my Pokemon battle, we love to put up a really good fight. So there will be no mercy in our battle."

"That's fine with me Chuck." Ash replied. "I like a good challenge in Pokemon battles."

Ash and Chuck got ready to battle on the gym floor. Chuck's Machoke stood behind him to wait for it's turn to fight.

Tomo, Misty and Brock stood on the sidelines to watch Ash.

"I think Ash may have some trouble with this gym battle." Brock said. "Chuck seems to be no pushover."

"But Ash has battled fighting type Pokemon before." Misty said. "So he would know what he's up against."

"Yeah big brother can win this." Tomo said.

The referee, who was one of Chuck's students, explained the gym rules and that it was a two on two Pokemon battle. Then he declared it to begin.

Chuck sent out a Poliwrath to battle first. Ash sent out Bayleef to battle. Since Bayleef is a grass type Pokemon, she would have an advantage over Poliwrath a water type.

"All right Poliwrath use Water Gun." Chuck said.

Poliwrath fired a stream of water at Bayleef.

"Dodge it Bayleef." Ash said.

Bayleef jumped to avoid the Water Gun.

"Now use Magical Leaf Bayleef." Ash said.

Bayleef flung some glowing light green leaves at Poliwrath and did some serious damage.

"Follow it up with Vine Whip." Bayleef wrapped her vines around Poliwrath, held it up and then slammed it down on the floor.

Poliwrath started to look weak.

"Focus Poliwrath." Chuck said.

"Finish this with Body Slam Bayleef." Ash ordered.

Bayleef jumped up into the air and then slammed Poliwrath deeper into the floor. Poliwrath fainted, gaining Ash the first victory. Chuck returned Poliwrath to it's Poke Ball.

"You put up a good fight out there Poliwrath." He said.

"Bayleef certainly gave Poliwrath a good beating." Misty noted.

"Well don't forget, Bayleef's not a pushover either Misty." Brock replied.

Chuck turned to his Machoke.

"You're up now." He said.

Machoke ran onto the battlefield, ready to fight.

"I think this battle may turn out to be a tough one." Brock said.

"All right let's start this off with Karate Chop." Chuck said.

Machoke repeatedly struck Bayleef with the sides of it's hands.

"Hang in there Bayleef." Ash said.

"Now give it a Cross Chop attack Machoke." Chuck said.

Machoke got it's arms ready to perform the attack.

"Quick Bayleef, use Vine Whip." Ash said.

Bayleef wrapped her vines around one of Machoke's arms. The Vine Whip interrupted Machoke's Cross Chop attack.

"Now use Cut Bayleef." Bayleef's leaf turned white and then she sliced Machoke.

"That was a good strategy." Brock said. "The Vine Whip distracted Machoke while Bayleef used Cut."

"I told you that Ash knew how to handle fighting type Pokemon." Misty said.

"All right Machoke." Chuck said. "Use Submission now."

Machoke grabbed Bayleef, rolling around while holding her in full-body mode and then tossed her onto the floor.

"Oh no Bayleef." Ash said. "Are you okay?"

Bayleef was injured by the submission, but she wasn't out yet.

"All right use Magical Leaf." Bayleef flung her glowing light green leaves at Machoke, hitting it directly.

"Now finish it with Body Slam." Bayleef roughly slammed Machoke down.

"No Machoke!" Chuck exclaimed. Machoke fainted on the spot.

"Machoke is unable to battle." The referee said. "The winner of this gym battle is Ash."

Bayleef ran up to Ash and he hugged her.

"You are one brilliant fighter for a grass type Pokemon Bayleef." Ash said.

Bayleef nuzzled Ash for that kind compliment.

"Bayleef was amazing." Misty said.

"Yeah and what's more amazing is that Ash won the gym battle with a single Pokemon." Brock added.

Tomo cheered for Ash and Bayleef. Chuck walked up to Ash.

"You are one great trainer Ash." He said. "I have never had a Pokemon battle like this one. I could also see that you and your Pokemon really work hard together. Now take this Storm Badge, you definitely earned it congratulations."

The Storm Badge was a brown badge in the shape of a fist. Ash happily accepted it.

That evening, Ash spoke to Janina on the phone and told her all about his victory in the Cianwood Gym.

"That's great Ash." Janina said. "But I'm afraid you still won't be able to battle Jasmine. You see Sparkle has received the medicine, but it's still not fully recovered yet. So I don't think Jasmine will be up for battling until Sparkle has fully recovered from it's illness. I am really sorry."

"Don't worry about it Janina." Ash said kindly. "I'll battle her some other time and I will call you again later. Goodbye."

He put the phone down and turned to the others.

"I wonder what we'll do now; I mean the battle with Jasmine is going to be delayed for a while."

Chuck and his wife had the answer.

"You can visit the Whirl Islands for the time being." Chuck's wife said.

Chuck explained that the Whirl Islands were a collection of islands that were between Cianwood and Olivine City.

"They are also home to many, many Pokemon." Chuck said. "And they are the home of many myths and legends."

"That sounds interesting." Misty said. "I bet they have a lot of water type Pokemon that I want to catch."

"Yeah, we should check it out." Brock said.

"I agree." Ash added. "Besides it will be a great adventure. And I am very interested in myths and legends and I would like to see the Pokemon that live in the Whirl Islands so let's do it."

Tomo, Brock and Misty agreed; their next destination would be the Whirl Islands.

So the next morning Ash, Tomo, Misty and Brock jumped onto a boat that would take them to the Whirl Islands. Chuck and his wife paid for their tickets to say thank you to Ash for the amazing gym battle and they saw them off. The gang was excited and could not wait to start exploring the Whirl Islands.

"This journey in the Whirl Islands is going to be great." Ash said.

Tomo, Misty and Brock nodded in agreement.