Austin sighed and returned her. "You did great Rattata."

"I'm impressed." Brock said as Geodude was panting. "You're a lot better than I first thought you would be, especially using Pokemon that aren't normally strong against Rock Types like that in your first Gym Battle."

"Thanks, but the match isn't over yet." Austin said feeling relieved that he was allowed to use the rest of the team considering the strength that Brock was showing.

"No, it isn't." Brock agreed as Austin tossed out his third Pokemon, Spearow. "Another flying type?"

"Aerial Wing!" Austin ordered, confusing Brock before Spearow became a blur as his wings glowed slamming into Geodude, the speed adding to the strength causing Geodude to finally fall unconscious. "Alright."

Spearow landed on the ground, feeling proud of himself despite the fact he only finished off the Pokemon after it was weakened by the others.

"That speed… You combined Aerial Ace and Steel Wing?" Brock asked in surprise as Austin grinned.

"Yeah while training Spearow to learn Steel Wing, he ended up learning Aerial Ace as well." Austin explained as Spearow held his head high. "So I figured why not put those two together to add some real damage."

"Some trainers don't think of doing that until much later." Brock pulled out another Pokeball. "But you're about to deal with my strongest Onix!"

"Grooo!" A giant snake Pokemon made completely out of rocks emerged as it gave a roar that shook the building.

"Whoa." Yellow said as Kitty cowered a bit at the much larger Pokemon.

Pikachu shivered at seeing the sheer size of the Pokemon as Spearow took a small step back, not expecting that.

Austin meanwhile was showing some slight fear due to how much bigger Onix was than he was expecting.

"Rock Throw!" Brock didn't waste any time as that snapped Austin out of his stupor.

"Use Aerial Ace to dodge." Austin ordered as Spearow took to the sky, dodging the many rock projectiles that Onix was launching at him. 'If just one of those hit it'll be bad.'

"Use your tail to knock it out of the air." Brock said.

As Onix raised its tail, Austin thought . 'Now.'

Austin gave an order. "Spearow, Steel Wing to knock the tail away."

"Spear!" Spearow's wings glowed as it knocked the tail away to keep on flying.

"Now Aerial Wing." Austin wanted to finish this quickly but Brock had another trick up his sleeve.

"Rock Tomb."

Onix roared as it slammed the tail on the ground causing rocks to fly up, knocking Spearow off course before its tail wrapped around the small bird.

"Bind it."

Spearow cried out as Onix put the pressure on him.

"Stop, Spearow has had enough." Austin said not wanting anything to happen to him.

Brock gave a nod as Onix let Spearow go and the bird was stumbling as he hit the ground before Austin returned him. "You know the limits of your Pokemon pretty well." He remembered how Austin called Pidgeotto back earlier. "That shows how much you care for them."

"Oh poor Spearow." Yellow said as before she saw Brock's siblings in the gym now, watching the fight.

"Choose your next Pokemon." Brock said as Onix roared, his tail sore but he was still raring to go.

"Metapod go!" Austin said sending the Cocoon Pokemon out.

Kitty looked surprised at the fact that Caterpie evolved while Yellow looked confused.

Now Brock looked really confused. "You're sending a Metapod out?" He asked wondering if Austin only trained the other three of those special moves.

Austin however just gave an order. "Harden." He said as Metapod

Brock looked a bit skeptical, wondering what Austin was planning as he gave an order. "Rock Tomb."

Now Austin was grinning. "Use String Shot on the roof."

Metapod quickly did so and shot into the air as rocks slammed right where he was catching Brock off guard.

"What?!"

"Harden while you swing around." Austin said as Metapod was swinging on the String Shot like a comic character that Austin read about. 'Honestly I didn't think that would work.'

"Onix use Rock Throw." Brock said as he was surprised by the new strategy that Austin was using as Metapod kept dodging the rocks, his defense increasing every few seconds. 'What are you doing?'

After a few more close calls, Austin whispered "Okay that should be enough." Austin grinned. "Use String Shot to swing above Onix and give a Tackle Attack!"

Metapod did so as he let go before letting gravity take effect.

It clicked into Brock's head what Austin was doing as Metapod collided head-on with Onix causing the rock snake to roar in pain.

Austin used Harden to make Metapod's shell as hard as steel before going as high as he could and then he used gravity to add to the Hardened Tackle and cause a lot of damage.

Metapod didn't escape unscathed though as he took some damage from the blow as well but he was using String Shot to zip away before Onix slammed a tail into him causing him to roll across the field.

"I have to say, I never had anyone use that type of strategy against me before." Brock said looking at Austin with some respect. "You've given me trouble without using any Pokemon that have a type advantage against me like other Rookie Trainers would do."

Austin grinned. "I pride myself in doing things differently."

"I can see, but it'll take more than that to stop Onix." Brock got back into the fight. "Bind it."

Metapod didn't have enough time to get away as Onix began squeezing the Cocoon Pokemon.

Thankfully, due to Harden he could barely feel the squeeze.

"String Shot its face." Austin ordered as Metapod began to do so, covering Onix's eyes as Onix threw Metapod across the field in retaliation as he was blind.

When Metapod slammed into a rock it was enough to pierce the Cocoon.

"Metapod!" Austin shouted in horror before a bright light filled the air, coming from Metapod's Cocoon.

In the light, wings began to sprout out of the Cocoon before the rest of the body came out.

The light died down to show that the creature was now a butterfly-like creature with a purple body, light-blue hands and feet along with circular red eyes.

"Fweh." Butterfree cried out as he took to the sky in excitement.

He did it. He achieved his dream.

"Pika." Pikachu looked amazed at how Butterfree evolved again so soon as Austin looked relieved with Butterfree flying around him.

"Amazing Meta-Er I mean, Butterfree." Austin said as Brock smiled at the friendship that was being shown there.

Yellow meanwhile was blinking in shock, wondering what just happened while Kitty was looking at the Butterfree in amazement.

Taking the Pokedex out, Austin scanned Butterfree. "Butterfree the Butterfly Pokemon and the evolved form of Metapod. The wings are protected by rain-repellent dust. As a result, this Pokémon can fly about even in rain." The Pokedex beeped. "This Pokemon's Ability has changed to Tinted Lens and has learned the moves Confusion, Poison Powder, Sleep Powder and Stun Spore."

Austin grinned because he knew the ability Tinted Lens and it would come in handy for this fight.

"Congrats on your Pokemon evolving, but this is still a match." Brock said as Onix managed to get enough of the String Shot off to see.

"I know." Austin said as he focused. "Butterfree use Stun Spore!"

"Fweh!" Butterfree flew quickly due to how String Shot slowed the Onix down and began to spray the Pollen everywhere.

Onix roared in pain as the pollen began to take effect. "Onix!" Brock cried out in worry.

"Now use Bug Bite!" Austin said as Butterfree dove in his mouth glowing as it bit Onix and due to the ability Tinted Lens, moves that aren't very effective got a boost in dealing damage as Onix roared in pain again before he fell over onto the ground.

Austin stared before he slowly grinned. "Alright!" He cheered as Butterfree flew over to him and he held out his arm for the Bug to land on as Pikachu looked relieved at not having to fight the snake, but he looked happy for Butterfree as well.

"Fweh."

Ash." Yellow was running up to him with a smile. "That was amazing."

Brock returned Onix and smiled at the Pokeball. "You did great Onix." He said as he looked back at Austin. "I'm impressed Ash, you overcame all the odds using Pokemon many people never did in my Gym. Not only that but despite the fact that your Butterfree just evolved you handled him as if he was a Butterfree for weeks and you were the first one I've seen to use him in this battle as a Metapod the way you did."

As he was saying that, Brock was approaching him as he pulled something out of his pocket.

"With that said, you deserve this." Brock said holding out a small gray circular badge. "The Boulder Badge is only the first step however, the other gyms are a lot stronger than me."

.....