"Dongshu. My name is Dongshu."
"From the looks of you, this isn't your first time challenging a Gym. In that case, I won't explain the rules in detail."
Brock leaped down from his stone seat and walked to the front of the battlefield.
"This is Pewter Gym. Each side may use only two Pokémon. The match begins!"
Brock was the first to take out a Poké Ball.
A flash of white light appeared, and a massive Pokémon whose entire body was made of enormous rocks emerged onto the battlefield.
Onix!
Onix crashed down onto the ground, its enormous body sending dust flying across Pewter Gym's rocky arena. It looked overwhelmingly imposing.
Fire Emperor was already prepared.
But Dongshu stopped him.
"Dad, let Squirtle take this battle!"
Fire Emperor nodded and stepped back to Dongshu's side.
Dongshu took out Squirtle's Poké Ball. A flash of white light appeared, and Squirtle's tiny body materialized before Onix.
At the sight of the enormous creature before it, Squirtle was badly startled. Its eyes filled with fear, and it instinctively wanted to retreat and run back to its Trainer.
But...
The moment Squirtle turned around, it suddenly thought that if it did that, Dongshu would definitely be very disappointed in it, wouldn't he?
He might even abandon it, just as some Trainers abandoned weak Pokémon.
It didn't want that.
Squirtle worked hard to muster its courage.
"Squirtle, believe in yourself—and believe in me!" Dongshu's voice rang out from behind it.
"Squirtle!" Squirtle shouted back, trying to bolster its courage.
Brock was somewhat surprised by the sight.
But the battle had already begun. This was not the time for conversation.
"Onix, use Tackle!" Brock's voice boomed like thunder.
Onix's huge body charged toward Squirtle. For a moment, even the ground seemed to tremble with its advance.