Chapter 9: Blazing Inferno
Stepping out of the Fiery Path, Zipo looked over to the cable car station. The grunts appeared to be gone, so Zipo headed for the station. Climbing onto the rickety cable car, it swayed slightly before embarking towards the peak. Remarking at the sight before him, Zipo couldn't help but think, this is an amazing view. Exiting the car, Zipo stepped onto the peak and was covered by a thin veil of soot raining down. Peering across the landscape, he could see members from both Team Aqua and Magma having battles and being locked in a standstill. Still gazing around, he saw Archie locked into combat with a few Magma grunts.
"Ah Zipo I see you've finally arrived," shouted Archie.
"Y-yeah! I'm here now," Zipo replied reaching for his Pokemon.
"You don't need to worry about me," Archie said not breaking his concentration from the battle at hand. "The guy you need to worry about is over there by the edge of the volcano. Take him out and these grunts will crumble!"
"Alright Archie, thanks for the tip, you just keep holding off these guards," Zipo said passing Archie by.
"Will do kid, just don't let me down," Archie replied with a hearty chuckle.
Quickly blowing through the few grunts the Magma leader had protecting him, Zipo soon stood face to face with the leader. "Stop right there," Zipo commanded him.
Slowly turning around, he scoffed at this youngster trying to tell him who's boss. "Who do you think you are trying to command me? My name is Maxie and if you talk so tough then prove it."
"Alright then Maxie, my name is Zipo and I'll show you what I can do," Zipo shouted readying a Pokeball.
The battle soon commenced with Maxie sending out a Mightyena, and Zipo following up by sending out Rez. Snarling fiercely at Rez, the Mightyena lunged at him snapping its jaws at him. Quickly sidestepping the attack, Rez powerfully kicked the ferocious dog in the jaw sending it sliding back to its trainer.
"Tch. Seems there's more to you then meets the eye, but lets see how your chicken does when the ground is sunken from beneath him" Maxie said sending out a Camerupt.
Worried about this comment Maxie made, Zipo recalled Rez back and tossed Poseidon out onto the field. "MORTAL, THIS SHALL BE OVER QUICKLY," Poseidon said in a booming voice. Harnessing the power of the nature around him, Poseidon unleashed a volley of rocks upon the unsuspecting Pokemon knocking it out instantly.
Returning his fainted Pokemon, Maxie sent out a Zubat. Zipo responded by sending out Tobi, to deal with the small bat. Simply batting it away with a gust of wind, Tobi was victorious over the frail Zubat.
"Seems like I took you for granted," Maxie said recalling his Pokemon. "You win this time, but mark my words I will be back." With that he departed leaving Zipo next to the mouth of the volcano.
Archie then made his way up to Zipo with a grin on his face. "Zipo! Nice going, with your help we sent them running!"
"It was nothing really," Zipo replied scratching his head.
"Yeah, I guess it was nothing," Archie said with a chuckle. "But I have to ask you, whose side are you on?" Looking away and then turning back, Archie just shrugged. "It doesn't really matter though I guess, we had better go. I'll be seeing you Zipo!" Team Aqua departed soon after leaving Zipo alone on the volcano.
Carefully removing the meteorite from the device situated on top of the volcano, Zipo deactivated it. Pocketing the meteorite he then began his long hike back down the mountain, onwards towards the next town.
For some odd reason, Zipo thought it was a good idea to bike down the volcano. Unfortunately for him, there were many ledges along the way and he lost control. Face-planting in the ground, a Pokeball flew out of his bag capturing a Machop. Climbing to his feet and dusting himself off, Zipo jumped down the final ledge and strolled into Lavaridge Town.
From what Zipo could see, this town was similar to most other towns except for the fact that this one had a hot spring. Walking over to it, Zipo could feel the heat radiating from the springs. An old woman gently tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. "Excuse me young man, but I happened to notice that you were a trainer. So would you mind taking this Pokemon egg?" She asked him holding out the egg.
"S-sure thing ma'am," he replied taking the egg. "What Pokemon will hatch from it?" He asked the woman.
"I don't know, but you'll find out when it hatches," she said smiling.
Carefully putting the egg in his pack to protect it from harm, Zipo turned his sights on the Gym and entered. He quickly noticed the change in temperature since it went from warm to blisteringly hot in a few seconds. He deduced from the heat that this environment would suit Fire types well, so his logical choice would be to choose Poseidon.
Easily breezing through the trainers in the Gym, Zipo was soon faced with the person who could only be the gym leader, Flannery. "Welcome," she said to Zipo. Turning away she quickly reconsidered her choice of words. "No wait... that's not right." Pondering for a moment she turned back to Zipo, "Puny trainer! How good to see you've made it here!"
"Uh are you alright?" Zipo asked the Gym leader. "You seem a bit flustered."
"Ohhh," she said putting a hand to her head. "I'm kinda new at this so I don't know if I should be intimidating or not."
"Hmmm, well I think you should just be yourself," Zipo said. "I don't see why you should be anyone other then who you really are."
"Alright then! My name is Flannery and I'm the fire type Gym leader!" Quickly reaching for a Pokeball on her belt, she snatched it up and released a Numel to the floor. "Get ready to get scorched," she said with a fire in her eyes.
Tossing his own Pokeball in the air, Zipo released Poseidon. Swatting the small Pokemon with his tail, Poseidon knocked it out by launching it into the Gym wall with his tail and finishing it with a large fireball. Sending out a Slugma next, Poseidon simply swatted it away with his tail without much resistance.
"This isn't looking good, but lets see how you fare against a much tougher opponent," she said sending out a Camerupt. Firmly rooting itself in the ground and bracing itself against attacks, her Camerupt released a fiery attack straight at Poseidon. Dodging the fire easily, Poseidon turned to the Camerupt unscathed.
"What was an attack like that going to do?" Zipo asked Flannery. "Poseidon is way faster then a slow moving attack like that!"
Grinning she responded by pointing to the ceiling above the battlefield, "Maybe I wasn't aiming for your Gyarados!" Whipping his head upwards, he was just in time to see the fire explode upon impact with the ceiling leaving a large gap in the roof. This gap allowed the sunlight to stream through uninterrupted. Charging up a large ball of fire, Poseidon released it again hitting the Camerupt square in the chest knocking it back to its trainer. "Well done getting this far," she called out, "but this battle isn't over yet!"
Sending out her Torkoal, it stood strong in the sunlight seeming to command authority and gain power. Retracting into its shell, the Torkoal quickly spun in place gaining speed until launching itself at Poseidon. Not expecting such speed from a slow moving Pokemon, Poseidon was struck off guards head on and crashed to the ground. Slowly getting up from the hit, Poseidon became enrage and spewed fireball after fireball at the Pokemon earning direct hits each time. The Torkoal seemed to be slowing down, and with great fury, Poseidon swung fiercely at the opposing Pokemon with his tail. Just as Poseidon was about to make contact, his tail stopped and his body twitched. This was due to the shock of the attack earlier. The Torkoal took this opportunity to charge up what could only be a last resort move. Engulfing itself in flames, the Torkoal was charging up power to deal with Poseidon. Regaining mobility, Poseidon swung down at the Torkoal with great force driving it into the ground leaving a small crater.
"Aww... I lost," Flannery said sadly returning her unconscious Pokemon.
"Don't beat yourself up," Zipo said grinning, "I had a great time."
Perking up a bit at this comment, Flannery grinned a bit. "Well I'm glad you enjoyed it, I had a good time too. Since you beat me you can have the Heat Badge!"
Gently taking the badge from her, Zipo thanked her. "Thank you Flannery. Just one more thing before I go, remember to always be yourself when you're battling. It doesn't make sense to be someone you're not. Now I had better go, good luck with being a Gym Leader Flannery!"
Turning around ready to leave, he was suddenly hugged from behind. "Thank you Zipo, you're a really nice guy. Do you think maybe... you could stay a little longer?" Flannery asked him still hugging him.