The Battle For The Badge

The gang were back in Viridian City and were now walking towards the Viridian Gym.

Ashlyn stopped and stared up at the entrance of the gym, "The Viridian Gym."

"Inside is an Earth Badge with your name on it, Ashlyn." Brock said.

Ashlyn nodded with a smile, "Oh yeah."

They walked up to the front, seeing two guards in front of the doors. But then Ashlyn stopped before going up the steps. She felt a shiver go down her spine.

"Ashlyn, what's wrong?" Volkner asked.

"I don't know. But somehow I feel uneasy." Ashlyn replied.

"What do you mean?" Flint asked.

Just then the gang heard a noise and turned to see Gary and his cheerleaders had arrived.

"Oh great." Ashlyn muttered.

The car stopped right next to them.

"Still playing with your little Poképals, aye Ashy?" Gary taunted.

"Hello Gary. Not surprised to see you here." Ashlyn said, dryly.

Volkner glared at Gary.

"I thought you finally gave up on catching and training Pokémon. I figure you went back to Pallet. But here you are, still at it." Gary insulted, cockily.

Ashlyn's friends glared dangerously at Prof. Oak's grandson.

"So what are you here for?" Gary asked.

"My eighth badge." Ashlyn replied.

Gary smirked and showed them his ten badges, "Beat this."

"You still think you have what it takes to be a Pokémon Master?" He taunted.

"Ashlyn is a hardworking trainer who deeply cares about her Pokémon. She earned those badges with hard work, team work, and determination from her and her Pokémon." Volkner stated, glaring heatedly at Gary which slightly flinched at his glare.

"Yeah, she managed to beat all seven gym leaders." Misty added.

Gary scoffed, "Whatever, I'm battling this gym first."

Then Gary walked past them and entered the gym with his cheerleaders. Knowing that they won't allow the others in, Ashlyn suggested that they head to the Pokémon center for a break.

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So the gang were at the Pokémon Center, taking a break while having a few snacks.

"I can't believe it's been a year since we all meet." Misty said.

"Well, it was only a couple of months for me and Volkner though." Flint pointed out.

"True. But we're glad that you guys joined us on our journey." Ashlyn said.

Brock chuckled, "That's normal, because it's easy to ignore the fact that time flies by so quickly when you're enjoying your good life."

Volkner smiled, "I have to admit that that's true."

They all chuckled at that.

Ashlyn gasped, "I just remembered something; My birthday is coming up soon as well."

"Really?" Misty asked.

"Yeah, would you guys like to celebrate it with me, my mom, and Prof. Oak?" Ashlyn asked.

"Sure, we would love to." Volkner replied.

"No way we're going to miss it." Misty added.

"Well we should head to the gym now. Gary should be done with his battle by now." Ashlyn said.

"You're probably right." Brock said.

So the gang headed towards the Viridian Gym.

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But when the gang got back to the gym, they noticed that the guards weren't around. Ashlyn knew that the gym leader was now gone and that he left the Team Rocket trio in charge of the gym.

"Something doesn't seem right." Flint said.

"You're right. We need to get in and fast." Brock added.

They opened the doors and looked inside in surprise to see Gary and his cheerleaders were on the floor, unconscious.

"Gary!" Ashlyn called and the gang ran inside. Ashlyn and Volkner ran toward Gary while Brock, Misty, and Flint turned to the girls.

"Gary, are you alright?" Ashlyn gently shook him and he opened his eyes.

"It's here." he said.

"What happened? What's here?" Ashlyn questioned.

"A Pokémon that we've never seen, did this," Gary answered, "There's something different about this one. This Pokémon not just powerful, it's evil."

"Evil?" Ashlyn repeated.

She knew that Gary was talking about Mewtwo, the Pokémon made from the DNA of Mew, the Mystical Pokémon.

"I can't believe Gary lost." one of the girls said and then the cheerleaders started crying.

Ashlyn gave them a look, "Hey! Put a sock in it, would ya?"

The girls stopped crying and looked at her.

"One things for sure, no one can ever beat that Pokémon." Gary stated.

Right then, there was a laugh, a familiar one, as Ashlyn and Volkner helped Gary up to his feet. The lights turned on from the other side of the battlefield.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"Make it double!"

Team Rocket appeared from the other side on a red platform.

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all people's within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extended our reaches to the stars above."

"It's them." Ashlyn said in annoyance.

"Again." Volkner and Brock grumbled.

Jessie and James looked insulted as they anime fell on the ground.

"Why are you always interrupting us before we get to finish?" Jessie asked.

"Because we know what you're going to say." Flint replied.

"Yeah, it's never any different." Misty agreed, waved off.

Jessie smirked, "But today it's very different." she said.

"Something happened that it's going to make you very jealous." James said.

"Yeah, right." Ashlyn muttered.

Meowth appeared, "Let's celebrate! We just got a big promotion! Now we're gonna get the respect we deserve." he said.

"That's right Meowth, 'cause the new Gym Leaders of this Gym are..." James trailed off.

"The three of us." Jessie finished.

"Huh?" Misty, Ashlyn, Volkner, Flint, and Brock asked together in shock, while Gary and the cheerleaders looked at Team Rocket in confusion.

"You guys are Gym leaders?!" Ashlyn exclaimed.

"Pika? (What?)" Levina asked.

"Raichi Rai? (Are they for real?)" Tesla and Raichu asked.

Jessie smirked, "That's right, just moments ago we were put in charge on this Gym." She held out the Earth Badge which was a leaf-like badge, "And the Earth Badge."

"The Earth Badge." Ashlyn said.

"You mean this Gym is controlled by Team Rocket?" Misty asked, shocked.

Ashlyn gasped, "Then that means that the Viridian Gym leader is the leader of Team Rocket!"

"How clever, little twerp." Jessie taunted, "Now if you want the Earth badge, you'll have to battle me for it."

Ashlyn narrowed her eyes at Jessie, "I accept."

"Ashlyn, be careful. You know how Team Rocket battles." Volkner warned.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Ashlyn assured him.

Then two platforms appeared on the battlefield.

"The trainers will stand on these platforms." James announced.

Ashlyn knew that the platforms will shock her if Jessie hits one of her Pokémon. So she got onto the green platform while Jessie got onto the red one.

"We'll use three Pokémon each, no time limits." James stated.

"Machamp! Rhydon! Kingler!" Jessie sent out the Gym leader's Pokémon to battle.

"Tesla! Pidgeot! Lucario!" Ashlyn sent out her Electric Rodent Pokémon, Bird Pokémon, and Aura Pokémon to battle.

The three cried out as they were readied for battle.

Gary was surprised to see Ashlyn's Pidgeot. He had never seen one so big before.

"Go Machamp, Karate Chop!" Jessie ordered.

"Dodge! Then Blaze Kick!" Ashlyn commanded.

Lucario jumped out of the way which caused Machamp to miss. Flames surrounded Lucario's right leg and kicked his leg into Machamp's face. Suddenly Jessie's body was shocked.

"Aaahhh!" Jessie screamed in pain.

The others were confused at this. But Volkner figured it out.

"I get it. If the Pokémon receives damage from an attack, no matter how small or big the trainer will also feel it." Volkner explained.

"Unbelievable." Flint growled.

Jessie growled, "Lucky shot! Rhydon use Drill Run!"

"Pidgeot, Brave Edge! Lucario, use Thunder Ice Punch! Tesla, use Iron Spark!" Ashlyn countered.

Pidgeot slammed into Rhydon with the combo of Brave Bird and Double Edge which sent Rhydon crashing into the wall behind Team Rocket. Lucario used both Thunder Punch and Ice Punch on Machamp and sent it flying into the wall. Tesla's tail glowed a metallic color as electricity covered her body as she rammed into Kingler and then slammed her tail onto its face which sent it flying into the wall. All of them were powerful attacks and the three Pokémon were knocked out. That caused Jessie to get shocked again with a powerful amount of electricity.

"What are you doing making me get all the shock?! Turn it off! Turn it off!" Jessie called.

"I didn't think it would do that." James stated.

Meowth held up a device, "Lucky, I made this little remote control in case we would lose, all I do is hit the button and it's 'goodbye competition'."

During that time, Levina and Raichu snuck around behind James and Meowth and knocked them out.

"Tesla, Levina, Thunder Shock! Lucario, Aura Sphere! Pidgeot, Hyper Beam!" Ashlyn ordered.

"Raichu, Thunder Shock as well!" Volkner called out.

All the attacks hit all three members of Team Rocket, sending them flying out of the gym via the roof.

"TEAM ROCKET'S BLASTING OFF AGAIN!" The trio screamed as they disappeared into the sky.

Pidgeot flew up into the sky as she caught something in her beak and flew back down.

Ashlyn saw what Pidgeot had caught in her beak and smiled, "Thanks Pidgeot."

"Pidgeoo." Pidgeot dropped the leaf-like badge into Ashlyn's hand.

"Alright, finally my eighth badge." Ashlyn smiled as she posed with her Pokémon.

Suddenly, they all heard a rumble and saw parts of the ceiling were coming down. Everyone quickly exited the gym.

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Soon afterwards, everyone watched the Viridian gym crumble down into pieces.

"I'm still trying to get over the fact that the Viridian Gym leader is the leader of Team Rocket." Flint said.

Misty nodded, "Yeah."

"No one would suspect that the leader of Team Rocket is a Gym Leader." Ashlyn concluded.

"The perfect cover." Volkner stated.

"I can't believe that he fooled us all." Brock growled.

"Hey I wonder what mysterious Pokémon that Gary saw? It was powerful enough that he didn't stand a chance." Flint said, changing the subject.

Ashlyn sighed, "I have the strangest feeling that one day we'll meet that mysterious Pokémon."

The gang thought about it.

"By the Ashlyn, do you where the Indigo League is gonna be held?" Misty questioned.

"The Indigo Plateau. However, I don't know where it is. But I'm sure that Prof. Oak knows." Ashlyn answered.

"So we're off to Pallet Town?" Volkner asked.

"Yeah, it will be great to see my mom again. I know she's going to like you guys." Ashlyn replied smiling.

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Now that Ashlyn has her eighth badge, Ashlyn and her friends set off to Pallet Town, home of where Ashlyn first started her Pokémon journey.

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Pokémon on hand: Raichu (Tesla)(F), Lucario (M), Pidgeot (F), Ivysaur (M), Shiny Charizard (Natsu)(M), Shiny Gyarados (Rory)(M), Wartortle (M), Pikachu (Levina)(F), Dragonair (F), Eevee (F), Tauros (M), Vulpix (F), Shiny Farfetch'd (F), Rockruff (M), Pokémon Egg

Prof. Oak's Lab:

Mienfoo (F), Jolteon (F), Flareon (M), Vaporeon (F), Sandslash (M), Butterfree (M), Pink Butterfree (Momo)(F), Gengar (M), Raboot (M), Braixen (F), Kingler (M), Magnemite (Genderless), Muk (M), Nidorina (M), Nidorino (F), Cubone (M), Kangaskhan (F), Tauros (8), Porygon (Genderless), Shiny Suicune (Azure)(F), Shiny Entei (Searius)(M), Primeape (M), Scyther (F), Clefable (F), Jigglypuff (F), Aerodactyl (F), Boltund (M), Shiny Rapidash (Comet)(M), Shiny Raikou (Thor)(M), Shiny Umbreon (Mani)(M), Espeon (F), Glaceon (F), Leafeon (F), Shiny Sylveon (Parisa)(F), Shiny Farfetch'd (F), Amaura (Aurelius)(M), Amaura (Istas)(F), Kadabra (M), Persian (F), Seadra (F), Dewgong (M), Marowak (F), Growlithe (F)