Her letting loose? For some reason, the hairs on his neck were standing up."Oh, um, yeah sure. I thought that would be the normal difficulty." Funnily enough, he never really thought about the really dumb kids that went straight to a gym after getting their starter. Would he have done it if he was ten-years-old? He would like to think he wasn't that stupid as a kid? He would like to think he was a bit more sensible at that age, but even now Lorette was giving him way too much credit; he only challenged her because he was too anxious to disappoint Lorette and Anise.

Three on three would have been the most sensible choice; half of his mons could resist or were neutral so it would have been logical to pick the Pokemon that were most equipped to battle for a higher chance of victory. It made sense and yet, something kept nagging him. He knew what he had to do. "Six on six. I know the gap is wide, but it's time for me to experience it myself." Perhaps that all or nothing mentality was a detriment, but after meeting such powerful trainers and later a legendary Pokemon, he needed to know how far from his goal he truly was.

A fully evolved Pokemon right off the bat? Not to mention that this thing was a speedster capable of out maneuvering most of his team. Not to mention that if she was 'letting lose' then that Accelgor probably would know moves that countered its weaknesses so throwing in Cecil and Roxanne was a no go. Well, there was only one thing he could do; fight speed with speed! "Show them what you've got, Glory!" Basil called out, throwing a Pokeball where his Hawlucha came out flexing its muscles and striking a pose.

So this was what a proper stage for battle was like? How exhilarating! "Haw!" The Pokemon let out a battle cry, a declaration of challenge.

@hatakekuro

Glory came out, and Accelgor glared at her opponent. The battle had commenced.

‘Alright. You got a champion out. Is your whole team a counter to mine, or did you send out the one most suited to the opponent?’ Lorette asked, smirking a bit. ‘Because yes, I’ll likely lose this first encounter, but he’s not going to be able to take my whole team on his own. And ninjas don’t fight fair.’

‘Accelgor, Double Team!’ she commanded, and Accelgor spontaneously split into five, a team of five speedy ninjas of which only one was real were coming running at Glory. Accelgor being Accelgor, this was unpreventable due to the ninja Pokémon's ridiculous speed.

‘aaaaaaaand Acid Spray!’ … is going to be Lorette’s second command, unless something happens in the first turn that prevents that from happening. Those are two moves, so of course Basil can have Glory make an equal amount of moves. With that command, though, the Accelgors would pull a purple ball of poisonous acid to throw upon Glory, should the Pokémon be in a state to do that at the time.

What will Basil and Glory do?

"Eh, it's more that this is how my team turned out, but yes, I did send the most suited to battle your Pokemon." He responded with a sheepish smile. Was it just him or was Lorette oddly aggressive for someone so young?

And she was first to make the first move! The Accellgor split into five afterimages and charged at a speed that made it impossible to widen the distance. It then was preparing to lob blobs of poison at his Pokemon, but neither he nor Glory could figure out which was the real one and which was a fake.

"Glory, Detect and then follow up with Wing Attack!" So the idea was that Detect would allow the Hawlucha to sense the location of the real attack, which then meant that he would be able to locate the real Accelgor to attack it. Since it was the first use of Detect, it was likely that it would succeed, but it was more of a question if it could sense which was real and which was fake though if it worked, that bug-type was going to eat a lot of damage.

@hatakekuro

There was a momentary break as Accelgor was allowed to split into five copies and then dash towards Glory. The five copies each lifted its own Acid Spray, and prepared to launch it at the Hawlucha…!

A line of light flashed by Glory’s eyes, a flash of insight and understanding. He flawlessly stepped aside, the real Acid Spray passing him by with no chance to hit his enlightened self, numerous false ones passing through his body as the fake attacks could not hit him. With that, Glory’s eyes could lock onto the true Accelgor, who winced a little at the realization she was found.

Glory dashed in for a Wing Attack. Accelgor, actually not being all that much faster than the very fast Hawlucha, has a moment of panic before-

‘It’s fine! Trade!’ Lorette commanded, and Accelgor quickly summoned another Acid Spray. At this close range, there was no way for Glory to escape being hit straight-on by the purple ball of acid… but on account of Accelgor not being a poison-type, it didn’t do that much damage and Glory continued on to hit a powerful Super-Effective Wing Attack onto the Accelgor, who was sent flying back across the room!

It was too much! Accelgor fainted!

However, the acid seeped through Glory’s defenses. Special Defense harshly fell!

‘Good job, Accelgor!’ Lorette said, beaming her Pokémon back before smirking over at Glory and Basil. ‘Haha, maybe level 12 was a little too low for this challenge? Eh, we’ll see!’ she shrugged as she took out another Pokéball. ‘Butterfree, go!’

She cast another Pokéball, and with a flash of red light a large purple butterfly with red eyes carried by white and black wings fluttered in front of Glory, preparing to attempt to dodge or otherwise.



The next cause of action by the Gym Leader was going to be…

‘Butterfree, Confusion!’ she commanded, and Butterfree rose into the air, preparing to summon Psychic power at Glory!

Basil and Glory’s next move?

---

---

IMMEDIATELY as Skylar woke up, he went over to the PC Box and boxed Jeebs. Nothing against Jeebs, but if this next gym was a Rock Type gym like he figured, then the 4x weakness wasn't great. He'd have a chance to shine later, certainly, but right now there was another team member on the way.

He left the Pokemon Center, heading towards the lab once again to go and finally pick up his new friend. Resurrection dude was a little over-the-top, but that was fine. Skylar held out his hands for the ancient bird, and smiled. "Howdy, bud. Welcome to the te-" cronch

The smile was interrupted by Skylar being bitten on the dome by the Archen. Seabreeze and Mac were watching on in disbelief.

"... oddly enough, you don't hurt that ba-
cronch monch
"O-Okay yeah, when you bite my glasses into my forehead it hurts, please sto-."
cronch
"And in the ball you go!" Skylar pulled out a Pokeball and put the Archen in it, rubbing his head. He finally looked at the resurrection guy and nodded. "Y-yeah. Sorry, I guess the new kid is a little interested in seeing what he can eat."

Skylar handed the Old Amber over to the Resurrection Guy. Assuming the same thing would happen, Skylar having to leave, he would leave after saying a quick thank you.

Once outside, Skylar went to go buy a quick snack of something to feed his new pal. Once he had procured a few sandwiches (for a ridiculously cheap price), he gave one to Seabreeze and one to Mac for them to snack on, and then he let out the Archen one more time.

"Arrrchen?!" The bird looked around before gleaming at Skylar and running over to bite his head once again. He was, however, interrupted by Skylar holding out a sandwich, and the bird instead chomped down half of it before Skylar sat down beside him and waited.

"Look, buddy, I think you're adorable but you can't bite random people, so... don't do that." Skylar took a bite out of his own sandwich as he watched Archen finish his. "Bet you're excited to see the world, though. We can definitely do that, for sure. Before we do, though, I need you to get a little stronger so if we get in a bind you can help bail us out."

Skylar put his hand down to the Archen. "Can I count on you, Pretzlcoatl?"

The Archen took a moment to finish eating the sandwich, before he brushed his head against Skylar's hand.

"Heheh, perfect. Let's get goin to the mines, then. We may be able to do a little more training and get you on par with the rest of the group." Skylar offered his head for Seabreeze to nest, who took it affectionately, and he coaxed Pretzl to climb into his arms from the ground (losing the lsat sandwich, but that was fine.)

With Mac running behind, the trainer and his team left off towards the mines once again to train.

"Good job, Glory!" In response to Basil's praise, Glory struck a pose and flexed its wings as it let out another war cry. One down, five more to go! Just one clean hit was enough to take that Accelgor down, but the bug got a hit in before it went down. The attack didn't do much damage to Glory though from what Basil could tell that attack brought down his Hawlucha's special defense. That could potentially pose a problem, but right now they had the lead.

As expected of a gym leader, Lorette wasn't phased at all. In fact, she seemed to be quite enjoying it. There had to be a level of confidence that she had as a trainer that she was assured a victory. She already moved on from the first round to the next with a Butterfree and was preparing to hit Glory with a psychic-type attack! Would Basil keep his Hawlucha in?

Nope!

"Glory, return!" He stretched his arm out with its Pokeball in hand and absorbed it in a beam of red light and then grabbed another Pokeball from his belt. "Come on, Roxanne!" He tossed it and out came Roxanne the Nosepass.

"Passsssss." She just stood there, motionless as it was most likely going to have to eat a hit.

@Gardevoiran

Skylar headed off to the Desert Mines to train. 

Very frankly, most of his Pokémon were pretty high level for the higher levels of the Desert Mines, but here's 15 levels for your troubles. Just keep away from Rollouting Geodudes and Sandshrews, mind the Biting Samdiles and make a living on Mud-Slapping Digletts and Drilburs, and you should be fine.

 

What will Skylar do now?





Connected areas:

Route 7. Right behind you.



__________________________



@hatakekuro

Basil chose to switch Pokémon, eliciting a smile from Lorette. 

‘Teh-heh, nice choice,’ she said, and Roxanne took Butterfree’s Confusion… and got very unlucky! It struck some nerve, and did more damage than it should have! Critical Hit! Still did less than half her health, though.

‘In fact, I think I’ll do something similar. Butterfree! U-Turn!’

Now, Butterfree is WAY faster than the statue known as Nosepass, and as such blasted forth first and hit into Roxanne… for basically no damage, and then flew back into its Pokéball. Lorette smirked at Basil, before taking out another Pokéball and throwing it out.

‘Escavalier, it’s all yours!’

 



… And it immediately got caught in Magnet Pull, making it unable to escape! In any case, free turn for Roxanne, kinda.

What does Basil and Roxanne do?

Amelia sighed before she moved over to the shore to take a seat on some drier land so she could get off her feet. Once she was comfortable, she rubbed her forehead, trying to get her thoughts in place. It was exceptionally frustrating, dealing with people. If this was a Pokémon only problem, it would probably be much easier to resolve. But once people where in the mix, all bets were off, as she just didn't get them as well as Pokémon. Worse of all, she felt like she was miss a piece to puzzle and she just couldn't fathom what it might be.

As she mulled over the problem, she looked around at the three trainers in front of her, Palpitoad, and her pokemon, all of whom stayed close to her. Her eyes fell on Honedge, who was studying her intently, and she took a deep breath to calm herself. She knew Honedge was still judging her and she needed she was worthy of it's respect. She was going to see this through, no matter how long it took. Once you give your word to do something, you had to finish it, no matter the results.

Amelia closed her eyes and went through everything that had been said and presented to her. She even took the time to scan each of the pokemon they had presented with her Pokedex to check what information the device might give her on them. Several thoughts ran through her head and she picked one or two to pursue before getting back up and moving back over to everyone. She then turned her attention to the Backpacker and ask a very simple question.
"What moves does your Barboach know?" She asked. She found it odd that only Leila didn't bring up the earthquake. On top of that, Barboach was a Water/Ground type and she knew Ground-type pokemon had access to several moves that involved phenomena similar to earthquakes. Route 1, as far as she could tell, never had such disasters naturally. So, maybe a pokemon had caused it.

Oh bloody hell! The instant he threw Roxanne in she instantly got hit with a crit and sending her in proved to be almost pointless now that Lorette had switched her Butterfree in for an Escavalier, a Pokemon with a steel typing. Should he switch out again? If Basil did then his opponent would just get a free hit in so for now it would be better for his Nosepass to stay in if only to wear that bug down.

Right now her Pokemon had only just entered the fray so it was still open for attacks. This was an opportunity that he could not let slip by.Roxanne, use Rock Throw and then follow up with Harden! He ordered with as much conviction he had despite he was uncertain if this was even the right course of action.

"Pass!" The statue Pokemon would throw rocks of questionable origin at the Escavilier, hopefully it would land and still would give her enough time to use Harden.

@Joshua Tamashii
_{appropriate music}
Amelia got some odd looks from the gathered humans as she pondered the matter. Finally, she asked a pretty simple question to Leila, who…

utterly froze up.

‘Uh. I mean. Er. Mud Bomb. Muddy Water. Aqua Tail. And, uh…’ Leila said, visibly sweating.

‘Waaaaaaaait,’ Eric suddenly remarked, raising an eyebrow at her. ‘When we had that practice battle before, didn’t you command it to use Ear-’

‘I’M SORRY!!!’ Leila called out, and was suddenly lying on the ground in front of Amelia. ‘I was- I wanted to complete my team, because I wanted to have a Vaporeon on my team, so I sent Barboach to cause that earthquake… which successfully distracted the Palpitoad…’ She then took a deep breath.

‘B-but I chickened out! Annica was right behind me, after all! If I went to pick it up, it’d be inevitable that at least one of the four of them saw! I didn’t even dare to look back at her a single time, just in case I looked suspicious! I swear, I didn’t actually steal it, I only, uh, I only plotted to do it! I’m so sorry…!’ she cried, on her knees and seemingly telling the truth.

Are there any new revelations to me made from this?









Or she could leave.



Connected areas:
Pureplain City. You can get back without complication.
Infested Woods. You’re right next to it.
Wet Caverns. May need to cross a bridge or two to get there.



__________________________


@hatakekuro

Roxanne picked up and chucked a rock into Escavalier, the armoured bug recoiling by the impact! It didn’t do a lot of damage, due to Escavalier’s significant defense.

‘You can take that, right, Escavalier? Go! Twineedle!’ Lorette commanded, and the cavalry bug took off towards Roxanne! … REALLY slowly, it bounced over towards her, more than slowly enough for her to successfully get off a Harden! Still, arrive Escavalier eventually did, and chucked both of its lances at her, and-

It basically didn’t do damage at all, Roxanne’s formidable defense and Harden combined. However, a secondary effect of the two lances came into effect, and…

Roxanne was poisoned!

‘Excellent job, Escavalier! Now, just stay alive!’ Lorette commanded, and Escavalier fell back… really slowly. Pulled by Magnet Pull, too. Roxanne’s health would be slowly decreasing…

What will Basil do now?

If the setting allowed for swearing, Basil would have used an expletive language. Roxanne getting poisoned was something that he did not even consider as a possibility so she would have to be switched out or she would have to deal damage faster to the Escavalier faster than the poison could act if to at least wear it down for someone else on his team to take it down. If he did switch then it was possible that Lorette would do the same to give herself the advantage again.

"Darn it." He grumbled to himself, cursing himself for his indecisiveness, but he would soon come to a decision. In the end, it came down to a simple numbers game; the more Pokemon that he had that were still standing even if they were inflicted with a status effect was still better than keeping them in a losing fight. "Roxanne, return!" He called out as the rock-type was absorbed back into her Pokeball.

Basil needed a better plan that just use type-advantages against her. Sending out Cecil would seem like the logical step, but would that actually be the best course of action? Would her weak fire-attacks be enough to beat an Escavilier even if it was quad weak to such attacks? That thing was a bloody tank so it could definitely eat a hit though it was slower than the Darumaka so there was a speed advantage, but overall that thing was superior in just about every way being an evolved Pokemon this early in Basil's career as a trainer. Brute force wasn't going to cut it.

If raw strength wasn't going to be his friend then perhaps it was time for a different approach. "Come on out, Crocus!" Basil threw the Pokeball high into the air and with a flash of white light a Bulbasaur came out.

"Bulba!" It cried out and stared down its opponent.

@hatakekuro

Our ratings-board appreciates the lack of use of expletives.

Basil switched to Crocus! And this is where Excalavier would have gotten its free attack move…

If Lorette had given it one. Turns out, her only order was “stay alive”.

‘Oh, um,’ Lorette made a light noise at the fact she may or may not have made a mistake in not ordering an attack.

‘Eh, we can manage this! You have a high attack stat! Twineedle it! You should be able to take it down even if it’s part poison-type…!’ Lorette commanded, and the knighted bug on a stick started skipping to stab Crocus on its lances! … Extremely slowly!

What will Basil and Crocus do?

Amelia almost sighed in relief once her hunch was confirmed and Leila confessed to causing the earthquake with her Barboach. However, that did not answer where the water stone was, as Leila also confessed to chickening out in taking the water stone. So, they still had to figure out who had taken it. Once again, Amelia closed her eyes and tried her best to organize her thoughts again. She mentally went over everything they knew and something occurred to her that she hadn't asked yet. Opening her eyes again, she turned towards Eric.
"You mentioned someone named Amy earlier. Am I to assume that's the girl in the picture you have? If she is, what is her relationship to you and Annica? Why would she be in need of a Water Stone?" She asked him.

@Joshua Tamashii
_{appropriate music}

‘Wait, you have a picture of…?’ Annica asked, and raised an eyebrow at Eric, who blushed a bit.

‘Er, sure!’ Eric said, more than happy to be of service. ‘Amy is my friend and Annica’s little sister. She has a cute little Staryu! So, I figured that a Water Stone could have been a perfect gift! Though, I wouldn’t try to steal one for it,’ Eric said, his enthusiasm suddenly dying down for that last sentence because it sounded like he had an excellent motive there.

‘… And before you claim I have a motive due to that, I think a Staryu suits her just fine. She’s tiny, she can have a tiny Pokémon,’ Annica said, ending with a little smile. ‘She can evolve it into a Starmie when she’s, like, twice as old. Not now. It’s perfect for her as it is.’

‘Aw, but Starmie’s cool…’ Eric mumbled, looking down into the ground.

‘On an unrelated note, can I have that Sun Stone back? It belongs to me. Palpitoad took it when he raided our camp before overflowing the route because he couldn’t find the Water Stone…’ Annica asked, sighing a little as she asked that of Amelia.

What now?









Or she could leave.



Connected areas:
Pureplain City. You can get back without complication.
Infested Woods. You’re right next to it.
Wet Caverns. May need to cross a bridge or two to get there.

Oh, well, he wasn't expecting a free switch in though he takes those!

For as much overwhelming strength it had, it was useless if it couldn't even reach Crocus, which was odd actually. Couldn't Lorette just order the Escavlier to use its strength to launch itself towards them instead of skipping along at a snail's pace? Eh, better to not question it.

"Crocus, stay out of range and use leech seed!" The strategy was pretty obvious; drain it of its health points instead of trying to break through its impregnable defense with brute force. Even if that armored bug somehow found a way to hit the Bulbasaur, Basil's Pokemon would simply heal off a decent portion of the damage taken.

@hatakekuro

Crocus successfully skipped back and shot out some Leech Seeds at Escavalier, which gripped onto the slow Pokémon and starting to leech life from it! Lorette smiled back there.

‘Yeah, no, I can see that’s not working. Escavalier, back!,’ the Gym Leader said, calling her Pokémon back with a swirl of light back into a Pokéball. Instead, she threw out something else, a new entity forming. It also had giant lances, but it flew on great wings, had a giant stinger, a yellow Pokémon that was synonymous with aggression!



‘Beedrill, go! Fury Attack!’ Lorette commanded, and bee would go forth to hunt after Crocus! … After he got a free move due to Lorette switching Pokémon, and then another simultaneous move that would be made at the same time as the Fury Attack, at any rate.

What will Basil and Crocus do?

Continuation of Erika’s story, last left of here: The Archie Gym Battle



It was time to make things count. The gym leader battle was going to be her first real test of her abilities. It was thought that was quite overwhelming and growing stronger with each stair she ascended. Following the butler up, she finally crested the stairs with her head to the startling glare of a very bright sun. Erika had to cover her eyes as she finally stepped onto the roof of this tree house but she managed to finally get a glimpse of the arena.

Barren was the ironic way to describe it as treetops extended about as far as the eye could see. Among those tree tops and guided by the butler's attention, a boy was seen jumping around. There was a certain intimidation to his playfulness despite the risk of falling. That feeling washed away as the small figure approached and finally spoke. Instead, a bit of shame crept in as Erika realized despite her appearance and honest preference, she only had one Ice type. Yet Erika didn't betray her inward feelings as the boy spoke. He went on and on about the Sun and Ice. What might have been filler information had it not been for Erika's training experience.

Archie was absolutely right. That Harsh Sun would do significant things for fire types and grass types, a power-up of sorts. There was a scary thought. She couldn't quite remember everything that could take advantage of the environment but it was obvious that all three of Archie's Pokemon were carefully experienced in this condition. Of course there appeared to be far more surprises as Archie released his first Pokemon. Lilligiant, indeed. It was obvious that Erika was going to need to start strong and her first choice was easy. "Ah, sorry to not be the Ice Queen yet. Still need to take a trip back home before that." Saying that as she casted out her first Pokemon, she remained covering her eyes. The light of Pokeball barely brightened the area revealing....

"Gib! Gib!" The Gible cried out, flexing heroically. The first move was obvious to her, at least. Game on. "Gibs! Sandstorm!"

‘Ooooo dragon-!’ Archie commented with a wide grin as Gibs came out, and then…

‘Sleep Powder!’ the young Gym Leader commanded almost simultaneously to Erika’s command, and all of a sudden the giant plant before her took off. There was a glow in her leaves as the plant moved what almost felt supernaturally fast, boasted by some innate ability in the sun, and Lilligiant arrived right next to Gibs way too fast, and spread her cloud of Sleeping Powder…!

Except, the sandstorm came from Gibs, didn’t it?

The Sleep Powder took a bit to actually fall down, far slower than Lilligiant herself, and as such Gibs had time to suddenly blow out this massive Sandstorm from his _{wherever he sandstorms from}, the original impact of the Sandstorm blowing right up into Lilligiant’s face and taking the Sleep Powder with it! Lilligiant stumbled back, suddenly not as fast anymore, as Gibs’ Sandstorm covered the arena, and more importantly, covered that harsh sun that was supposed to be storming down.

‘Ahahahaha! You came prepared! You came prepared! Or was it a happy coincidence?’ Archie laughed out loud. ‘Still, that dragon will have to go! Lilligiant, Mega Drain!’

Gibs being a Gible, Lilligiant was STILL faster than him, even without the speed boost. This meant the Mega Drain came out first, a decently powerful Grass-type move of draining health just plucking from him and draining for decently heavy neutral damage, healing the slight Sandstorm damage to Lilligiant… Two more of those Mega Drains and Gibs would faint. However, the next move was his.

Erika was glad that sleep powder had proved to be ineffective but now she had another concern. Lilligiant was tough, at least it seemed that way with Gibs staggering after that Mega Drain. “Hang in there, Gibs!” She called out to him. It was clear that he needed to avoid being hit at any cost because she could only suspect that the sun would be dangerous.

“Gibs! Move with the thickest parts of the storm and get in close. Then I want you to blast as much sand in Lilligiant’s face as you can.” With Sand Veil providing evasiveness, she hoped that by further impairing her opponent’s vision with Sand-Attack would really make it difficult to land any attack. She doubted that rushing down Lilligiant was an option right now.

‘Woah! Sand! Sand everywhere!’ Archie laughed in the back as Lilligiant had more sand thrown in her face, the large flower sputtering a bit in the midst of the sandstorm. She tried to make another Mega Drain… and it failed to hit! It didn’t catch through this vicious storm that Gibs had created! Mega Drain missed!

‘Eeeey, the weather was supposed to be MY ally! Hahaha!’ Archie kept laughing, like this was somehow hilarious to him. Gibs turn.

Gibs would sink back into his sandy veil, retreating before Lilligiant’s attempted attack. It wouldn’t make sense to make that easy by standing right next to it or anything. Once the whiff of the attack happened, Gibs remerged, his jaw flapping as he charged forward. Again he balled up a clump of sand and looked to throw it in the eyes of Lilligiant to make sure it couldn’t see anything.

The next clump of sand hit Lilligiant, too, the great Lilligant stumbling and reaching with her leaf-arms to rub the sand out of her eyes, and then faced forward looking offended at this treatment and trying to see.

‘Oooh… isn’t that bad? It’s bad, isn’t it?’ Archie said with a wide smile as Lilligiant had been blinded further. ‘… Eh! I’m not gonna switch! Go for it, Lilligiant! Mega Drain!’ Archie called, waving his hands out on his sides. ‘I believe in our luck!’

Lilligiant tried once again to Mega Drain into the sandstorm, reaching leaf-hands forward…! … And thoroughly missed again! Archie did not look bothered!
Gibs once again, sank back into the cover of the sandstorm. He retreated just within earshot of mumbled command as Erika, who was covering her face to protect from the sand, suggested a new maneuver. “Alright Gibs. Dragon Rage and knock that giant out!” Gibs, nodded vigorously as a fire raged around him and he charged forward looking to bash (or whatever Dragon Rage actually is) Lilligant!

Lilligiant was hit by the purple dragon-fire (and maybe Gibs, because why not turn a special move into a physical one), going a large amount of damage and staggering the giant plant.

‘There it is! Fire!’ Archie commanded, and Lilligiant turned and attempted to use Mega Drain on around where Gibs was. Through a stroke of luck, Lilligiant hit, Gibs feeling how a considerable amount of health was leached out by the Gym Leader’s Pokémon… but not enough to be taken out, and not enough to heal Lilligiant back to any condition of health. Gibs may go at it again!

Erika winced as she saw Gibs hit. “Woah, you okay there Gibs?” She called out to the little Dragon who staggered a little but quickly recovered. He raised his head and without turning his attention away from Lilligiant, he flexed his little arms offering a gesture that was supposed to reassure Erika. She frowned, feeling like he was just trying to act tough but she didn’t have it in her to crush her Pokemon’s heart. “Alright Gibs stay in there and let’s keep going. Dragon Rage!”

Dragon Rage was fired and Lilligiant could but blink a bit before the purple flame struck her oversized body and the great Pokémon gave a similarly giant cry as she stumbled back and then toppled over, the great plant crashing down onto the platform where they were all standing. Lilligiant fainted!



‘Dragons… You’re pretty amazing!’ Archie called happily to Erika. ‘You’ve completely outdone my first Pokémon! I’m down one to your none! VERY few do that on the first try! You’re good!’ Archie praised her happily as Lilligiant was returned to her Pokéball.

‘Now, here’s the second one! Let’s go, Sunfloorall!’ Archie happily called as he threw out a new one… and a new, giant Pokémon took shape in the ongoing sandstorm. A huge, great, yellow flower that danced in the middle of the giant stage and smiled so happily at Erika, it’s face in the middle of the flower…



The giant Pokémon sounded out in a playful tone.

What the Pokédex shows…



No sun right now. Just a sandstorm.

‘Alright, I can’t bring out the sun yet as long as Gib here’s out, so, MEGA DRAIN!’ Archie looked so happy as he pointed forward and the giant Sunflora directed its great face forward to attempt to drain out the last of Gibs’ energy!

Erika felt like she could finally breathe again watching Gibs succeed in befalling that giant. What’s more is that she couldn’t quite help but feel a little rosy after Archie’s praise, curling her lips to prevent herself from grinning like a goof. She bit her tongue for now and tried to pay more attention to what was coming next.

A Sunflora as Erika discovered by her Pokedex giving the profile a once over. No doubt it was another Pokemon that could take full advantage of the sun, especially judging from that Pokedex entry. Although Gibs was pumped, Erika had to consider her strategy moving forward and she knew she couldn’t hide from the sun forever. Gibs was going to go down sooner rather than later… However that didn’t mean they both had to accept that!

“Gibs! Sand-Attack but boost your veil to dodge!” Thinking a bit unconventional, Erika thought to use Gib’s Sand Veil ability and raise the stage of his evasiveness by having Sand-Attack intensify the sand shrouding around Gibs, just enough that could help him dodge. She wanted one more attack and there was no doubt Gibs could agree with this. If this all worked, Gibs would charge out from the sandy shroud in an attempt to use Take Down on Sunflora!

Gibs threw out the sand and covered the area around him, making the whole place more sandy and with Sand Veil it was harder in general to see him… and on the other side, Archie smiled so widely.

‘Sunfloorall, fall!’ Archie commanded, and the giant flower… did just that. Specifically, the giant flower took numerous steps forward and just fell into the place with the concentrated Sandstorm, the sheer size of the sunflower Pokémon pressing the sand and wind out of the way as the giant face of Sunfloorall pressed itself in right next to Gibs.



… The giant flower called in his face. This was just about the time Sunfloorall started its Mega Drain attack… which Gibs probably can’t dodge, but he might be able to give a going-away present.

With Sunfloorall so close it was almost guaranteeing Gibs a chance to go out swinging. “Dragon Rage,” Erika called out to her Pokemon to try and blast that smiling face. Assuming this did KO Gibs, her next Pokemon would carefully considered but she believed that Sno was the best choice.

Gibs shot off one last Dragon Rage and it struck the giant sunflower in the face! … But it didn’t stop the damaged Sunfloorall from triggering Mega Drain and draining the last of Gibs health from him! After one impressive performance against the Gym Leader, Gibs fainted!

‘Yay, we got the dragon!’ Archie called, bouncing a little on the other side of the battlefield while his butler stood steady next to him. ‘And now… is about that time, now isn’t it?’ Archie asked, and held a hand upwards. Just then, the sands started to die down, and instead a ray of powerful light cracked through the sandstorm, hitting the giant sunflower and invigorating it, Sunfloorall taking a deep (breath?) of sunlight and started to positively glow where he stood.

The sandstorm subsided. The battlefield is once again under the effects of Harsh Sunlight!

‘We’re at a heavy disadvantage, so… let’s see if we can’t even the odds a little, ey, Sunfloorall?’ Archie asked with a grin.



Sunfloorall replied.

Then, here’s where Erika sends in her next Pokémon… and if it indeed is Sno, then Archie smiles a bit. ‘We should be able to take that one in one shot, right, Sunfloorall? Time to charge your cannon~!’ Archie sang a bit, and Sunfloorall started to glow…

‘Sunfloorall, So-Lar-Ge Beeaam~!’

Sunfloorall is about to unleash an immediate and super-powered Solar Beam. Erika’s reaction?

Erika clenched her fists as heard Archie’s excitement for the sandstorm to pass. Sure enough without Gibs, it did so. Judging by the gym leader’s reaction, it certainly came at a great advantage to him, supporting her earlier fears that the location of this battle was not chance or simply aesthetic. His grass types truly had some nasty tricks now.

Maybe if Erika had prepared more. Gibs could have been trained and evolved and Sno could have learned Hail. Could Poli have learned Rainy Day if so maybe she could have… No! Erika slapped both of her cheeks shaking her head. Her mother told her that you can’t be prepared for everything and learn to adapt to the battle. She shouldn’t beat herself up, there is still a lot of battling to be done and her team was ready.

“Alright Sno…” Erika snapped herself out from thinking about it too much. What mattered now was that solar beam. Just from the name, it sounded like the sun was helping and obvious logic dictated that avoiding this was of the utmost priority. “Use double team and make as many copies as you can! Spread out and have Sunfloorall choose which Sno is the real Sno!”

The fact Erika couldn’t have known Archie’d abuse weather effects against her before the battle aside, she still came up with the swift plan to have Sno Double Team to avoid the incoming blast…!

Fortunately for Erika and Sno, Sunflora are exceedingly slow, so Sno managed to get off Double Team! … However, Sunfloorall still aimed roughly in the right direction! Sno could dodge aside, but still took a massive amount of damage, even from the beam just passing him by! A couple of the clones were also taken out by just the beam flying through the battleground, scorching the whole platform in the heat of the awesome Grass-type move. … But Sno did not faint!

Sunfloorall was damaged by Solar Power!

‘… And once more!’ Archie called, and Sunfloorall retracted its giant head-flower to charge up another fast Solar Beam!

Aaand that was bad. Erika had to cover her eyes as a bright beam that came from Sunfloral. When she peeked her eyes over her arm, she saw that most of the fake Snos were gone and the real Sno, one of the remaining ones, was looking worse for wear. Well all the mirror images were. “Oh man…” She sighed. Despite how Erika wanted to react defensively, it appears that wasn’t quite the best strategy. “Sno use Ice Shard.” Poor Sno didn’t have many other choices.

As Sunfloorall was charging, Sno threw a fast priority-move Ice Shard into the giant flower! A shiver went through the Grass-type as the shards hit and did considerable Super Effective damage…! … But the plant still stood!

With that, Sunfloorall lowered its head-cannon, and another blindingly fast Solar Beam fired straight at Sno! He was unable to avoid, and… it was far too much power for Erika’s starter to manage right about now. When the blinding light of the blast faded… Sno fainted!

Sunfloorall then gasped. He’d been damaged by Solar Power! …

And then Sunfloorall collapsed, having spent all his energy in that last Solar Beam, fainting due to Solar Power damage! One Dragon Rage, one Ice Shard and two Solar Power drains had been more than the plant could manage! Sunfloorall fainted!



‘Hahahaha! One for one! Which’s bad for me, because I only have one Pokémon left!’ Archie laughed over there, before he had his final Pokéball handed to him by Ramsey. The kid smiled so widely. ‘But, my final Pokémon… my final Pokémon might just be so powerful that she can take on all four of your remaining Pokémon on her own!’ he boasted, before throwing the Pokéball into the air, and…

‘Go, Bellawesome!’

The ball hit the wooden platform to crash open. A green creature with a green leaf skirt and two red flowers on its head and a happy smile emerged, looking forth towards Erika.

‘Bellossom~’





While not as giant as the other Pokémon Archie had presented, Bellawesome was certainly bigger than the average Bellossom. Compared to a normal 40 cm / 1 feet 4 inches Bellossom, Bellawesome was more than twice the height at a full meter / 3 feet 3 inches tall. And, while both trainer and Pokémon were smiling…

‘Bellawesome. Prepare your blade,’ Archie told.

‘Bellossom~’ the Pokémon called again, and then… petals emerged. Bellawesome spun in place, and green leaves spun into the around it, joining together one by one. A flower sprouted which the Bellossom grabbed with both little green hands, directing it forward. The leaves spinning in the air joined into one long string of leaves, before suddenly freezing in place, hardened on top of the flower that acted like the handle. Bellawesome had drawn her blade, turned one shoulder towards Erika, and she held the sword in a trained stance.



‘Do you have any close-combat fighters? Bellawesome loves to test her skills!’ Archie asked, looking super-excited.

Again Erika had to shield her eyes as the blinding light consumed the battlefield and once again, she peeked to see a surprising scene. Sno had dropped, bless her heart, but she had managed to get her attack off which was something Erika had missed. It had turned out to be enough, as Erika was still unaware or unobservant to the Solar Power attribute of her opponent’s Pokemon. Still though, it was better to think Sno was deserving of all that praise.

“Nice work, Sno, you did very good and I’m proud of you.” She muttered, knowing that her poor Pokemon couldn’t hear her as she was fainted but later she’ll have to treat her to something. She recalled Sno into her Pokeball. All of them, honestly, as this battle still seemed difficult despite how well it was technically going.

The battle was done to this, Erika’s remaining four Pokemon against Archie’s last but judging from the way he was hyping it up, this certainly felt like only the halfway point. The next challenge was....

Bellossom. A third stage evolution was scary enough, Archie’s command to ‘prepare your blade’ had certainly not helped. What had even meant the moment Erika heard it, was an absolute mystery but as the Pokemon soon revealed, it made a leaf blade of some sort.

Erika had an aghast expression recoiling from this revelation. “That’s so scary, why a sword?!” She uttered in shock, not really expecting this.

‘Because it’s awesome!’ Archie replied without missing a beat, grinning happily at Erika.

On a more serious matter, she had to contend with this. Who was her next Pokemon? The sword made it seemed like Bellossom knew Sword Dance which was a complete unknown but that might work out to her advantage if she played it underhanded with Kay. Very well, she’d take on Archie’s request with really the only close fighter she had…
“This is the fight you want so here we go, Chic!” Erika threw out her Pokeball and the little Torchic chirped in excitement. “Torchic!” It was time to nudge the fight in her direction. “Sand-Attack when Bellossom comes close, Chic.” With the sand storm that came through, there was a lot of sand on the arena and a simple kick was all Chic needed.

‘Alright, go get the bird, Bellawesome!’ Archie told his sword-wielding plant, and Bellawesome nodded before darting forward. Chic made ready, kicking sand at the incoming foe… and Bellawesome jumped, making a pirouette in the air so that her back was towards the sand as it hit her before she finished the spin turning towards Chic with her sword drawn and ready, smirking.

This was going to be a different kind of battle. Bellawesome was far too experienced for that kind of attack to hit if she wasn’t distracted somehow…!

Erika nodded to herself as she realized something. Her mother told her that occasionally you’ll find yourself in these battles that will feel more real compared to the usual trainer battle. In cases like that, your Pokemon tend to fight on their own, kind of like an instinct. At times like that, you go from the coach to the cheerleader in a way. This appeared like it was happening as Erika glanced down at her little Torchic.

Chic was steady, glaring at her opponent as she took in this new information. She could feel that this was her chance to prove herself, remembering all those Pokemon in the Ice Cavern that powered through mining. It was her turn now to power through.

Torchic shot a burst of fire from her ember attack yet it was just a screen to serve as a distraction while she ran towards Bellawesome prepared to stab her beak into the grass type’s side!

Bellawesome ducked under the blast of fire, the plant looking surprisingly agile for its shape, and that’s when Chic dashed to Peck into the side of the-

There was a glow, a glow in Bellawesome’s flowers as they took in sunlight, and then there was a blur as the Leaf Blade spun around and then struck Chic’s beak from underneath just before it hit, sending the chick Pokémon tumbling backwards. Bellawesome, ever graceful in her movements, smiled and readjusted her stance towards Chic again.

There was a significant level-disparity between the two, and Bellawesome just revealed her ability to be Chlorophyll, boosting her speed in harsh sunlight. Stat-wise, she was just plain superior at this moment. To Chic’s advantage, however, Bellawesome was just enjoying the tussle, and wasn’t actually aiming to knock her out yet!

‘Ooooh, Bellawesome, you’re so awesome!’ Archie called in excited support.

Erika sighed, noting that Chic just didn’t have it in her to keep going. What’s more, she seemed to be quite outmatched.

“Chic!” Erika called out to her with the little Torchic quickly standing up to attention. “Come on back, we can watch how the rest of our team does.” Yet despite the confidence in her voice, she was beginning to doubt she had the strength in her team to match a third evolution Pokemon, but there wasn’t any sense in not trying.

Chic hurried back and hopped up on Erika’s shoulder as she cast out her next Pokemon. Chu emerged and both Erika and Chic made a fierce face. “Alright let’s try to match speed with speed. Chu, Quick Attack!” With that command, her Pikachu bolted right at Bellawesome!

‘Teh-heh, yeah, that’s a good call, let’s see what you’ve got!’ Archie chuckled over there and then looked interested in the next Pokémon, and… ‘Ooooh, a Pikachu! Classic! But electricity isn’t effective against grass…’ Archie commented… and then Erika’s plan came out. ‘Oh.’

Didn’t matter how fast Bellawesome was with the sun shining down at her Quick Attack was literally the speed attack. Through simply and only sheer experience Bellawesome was able to swing the flat side of her Leaf Blade forward to meet Chu’s Quick Attack, resulting in a strong little clang of sound, but under the assumption that Chu wasn’t about to stop Quick Attacking he could jump around her and successfully hit her from behind!

‘Quick little mouse! Like lightning! Quick like lightning! Haha!’ Archie laughed. ‘But we have a strategy against quick things, don’t we, Bellawesome?’

‘Bellos…!’ Bellawesome called, swinging around to try to hit the quick Pikachu, but not being able to quite keep up. Bellawesome was struck by another Quick Attack… when a burst of yellow powder blasted off her body, striking the parts of Chu that had come into contact with her! Chu had done damage to the sword-wielding plant, but gotten himself Stun Spored in turn! As he landed some bit away, it took effect! Chu was paralyzed!

Intent on taking advantage of this, Bellawesome spun to chase Chu down with Leaf Blade!

Chu’s success did encourage Erika but again, it was clear that this final battle was going to take everything she and her team had left. “Chu, growl!” She shouted, watching Bellawesome approach swiftly. A thought for another time, but how did Chu’s growl intimidate such a higher level Pokemon? It was anyone’s guess but Chu did just that crouching on all fours and growling, “Chhuuuu….” trying to sound intimidating. But he was far too slow to evade the incoming leaf blade, though he did try to get out of the way. He might have had one more growl in him but if not, it was time for her next Pokemon.

Chu had enough time to get off a Growl, reducing Bellawesome’s Attack just before she struck him with the Leaf Blade, sending him tumbling back from the damage! … But he just precisely wasn’t out! Because of his Growl, the grass-type’s attack had been reduced JUST enough that he wasn’t taken out in one shot! He forced himself through paralyzation yet again and called out another Growl, reducing Bellawesome’s attack further before Bellawesome struck down a second slice, fainting him!

‘Reducing our attack, eh? Nice! We didn’t want to faint our foes too quickly, this will be a big help! Thank you!’ Archie called out so happily, and Bellawesome also looked happy looking to the next Pokémon.

Calling for Kay, the little squid-like Pokemon floated in the air spinning upside down. “Kaaaay…” She sounded annoyed but knew what she had to do. Erika was quick to try and get her defenses up, however. “Kay, Reflect and use it to bombard Bellawesome with Psywave!”

So, Kay got her Reflect up… and not even a second later Bellawesome slammed her Leaf Blade into the Reflective barrier and still did damage to Kay, even if it was only a fourth as much damage as it would have been at full power!

‘Aaaah, it’s a cute little squid! Combo it!’ Archie called excitedly. Now, Bellawesome got a bit reckless, she was going to simply slam into Kay’s Reflect, doing considerable damage over time. If she only focused on Psywaving, she’d get off two Psywaves before fainting. Would she?

Yes, she would. Kay was only interested in making Bellawesome pay even if that meant going down herself!

Bellawesome was struck with two Psywaves, but it felt like they were both weaker than they could have been, some bad luck on Kay's part happening before Bellawesome finally struck through the Reflect and Kay fell. ‘You're awesome, Bellawesome! This might be our victory yet!’ Archie enthusiastically called, and Bellawesome breathed out in satisfaction, damaged but happy, waiting for the next Pokémon.

With Kay finally dropping to the sadistic kid and his sword wielding Pokemon, Erika recalled her own fallen Pokemon and took a moment. She lifted her head gazing at the blue sky and sighed, “Oh man, this is even a minor league battle, too. I can’t imagine what the majors look like.” Erika shot air through her mouth before focusing back on Archie.

“Hey, so how would you place yourself compared to other minor gym leaders, Archie? I hear each leader is different.” She’d wait to hear the young gym leader’s response, nodding, before continuing, “I built my whole team to counter grass types as best as I could and this is still looking close. Well let’s see how it ends up, I’ve still got one left!” Erika rallied, drawing Tara’s Pokeball and giving a toss to reveal the cloudy bird. Chic, still on Erika’s shoulder chipped excitedly as if cheering them on.

‘Eeeeh… I’m supposed to be kinda low, and I don’t break the level limit, but I picked Pokémon that could evolve early and gave them powerful little tricks~! So far, nobody of note has complained~!’ Archie said with a little giggle, spinning a bit in place just because. ‘My team isn’t made to be beaten on the first try, you know~!’ he added, as if to say it was okay to lose, but Erika proceeded nonetheless!

Tara drifted lazily above the arena letting the wind carry her a bit so she didn’t even have to flap her wings. “Alright Tara, Bellawesome has to be hurting a bit and is tough to hit so pummel away with your disarming voice!” It really was a desperate situation. If Tara couldn’t hang in there, Chic was technically her last Pokemon but could she really hang in there?

‘-Oh that’s bad,’ Archie suddenly commented as Tara started her Disarming Voice, a move that could not miss. Archie leaned forward, fists clenched, sudden urgency in his voice. ‘Bellawesome, Sword Dance!’ he commanded, and Bellawesome immediately did an entrancing, swift dance that involved swinging her sword around her, and her Attack raised sharply! … After which she was struck by the Disarming Voice and took some damage, the sound-waves hunting her down and striking her no matter how she’d try to avoid.

She then bolted to leap and cut into Tara with the Leaf Blade, but Kay’s reflect was still active for one last turn, blocking some of the damage and Kay got in one more Disarming Voice. Then Bellawesome jumped and cut again, finally without any Reflect in the way, but as Leaf Blade was not-very-effective Tara precisely managed to hold on to strike with one more Disarming Voice…! … But a Swablu’s Special Attack was just too low, and a Bellossom’s Special Defense far too high! Tara fainted to one last Leaf Blade swipe, and Bellawesome landed victorious before her, breathing heavily and damaged all over, but still staying standing.

‘Awesome job, Bellawesome!’ Archie laughed in relief over there. ‘Sorry, but it’s a matter of pride we don’t lose our first match against someone! We’re giving this all we got! Taking it easy can wait for later! There’s only the chicken left! You proved yourself to her better earlier, this time, no holding back! She doesn’t stand a chance against you, Bellawesome!’ Archie called, and Bellawesome spun her sword around a couple of times, finally directing it towards Chic with a proud smile.

‘Bellos~!’ Bellawesome challenged.

Tara did her best but as that beam of light washed over her, Erika couldn’t help but feel like she just didn’t prepare her team enough. Either that or her strategy was all wrong. The fault lies with her as she put the pokeball away and grimly lowered herself to let Chic hop off with ease.

Chic shook her head psyching herself up as she suddenly grew fierce. It looked like she was determined to fight. “Hey, Chic.” Erika mumbled as she ran her hand across the little chic’s head. “You’re one of the toughest I know wanting to go back out there. You’re going to win because of that… but in case you don’t, we can always try again, yea?” She smiled and her Pokemon ended up getting a bit awestruck.

This was the time to prove she was the toughest and well deserving to have been with Erika. Chic turned and gave Bellawesome a fierce glare. Bitter about being shrugged off as weak earlier, she wasn’t going to be discounted like that again! With that her feathers began to glow until she was consumed by a light. What? Chic was evolving!

Erika gasped as her first team member was finally evolving and such at a cinematic time as well! Chic was no longer a Torchic but as the light faded her new form, Combusken was now in full view.

“Cooom-busken!” Chic beckoned Bellawesome with her talon, now feeling like she was strong enough for this fight…





Bellawesome’s gaze sharpened as she witnessed the evolution taking place before her eyes, a realization that she was being faced off against a worthy fighter going through her and her raised blade.

‘Oooooooooooooh man. That is… awesome…!’ Archie said, eyes practically shining as he watched Chic evolve right before his eyes to take on the stronger opponent. ‘Ahahahaha! You’ve got a challenger, Bellawesome!’ Archie sighed out, and then leaned forward, just looking like he was on cloud 9. ‘Go on… enjoy yourself!’

‘Bellossom!’ Bellawesome called, a glow of yellow going through her as her speed was boosted by the harsh sunlight, and she boosted off towards Chic, Leaf Blade ready to slice…!

Yet again, Archie was proving to be quite unnerving but maybe that was because Erika hadn’t yet come to realize that she could trust her Pokemon in a battle. After all, she still felt the need to protect them. Although Chic looked poised, her trainer wasn’t quite sure. “Oooh you evolved just for this fight, Chic? Well… alright show that, erm… punk of a Pokemon that you mean business!”

Chic honed in her fighting instinct, tapping into that secondary nature like it was always there for her. When Bellawesome charged, Chic swept her leg out, kicking up a lot of sand. It was a double kick but the first kick was not intended on catching the opponent but rather using the hardened talon to deflect the leaf blade. The second kick came from a spinning airbourne motion poised to lash out with the other talon to strike the opponent and finally inflict some damage!

Both Chic and Bellawesome swung their weapons at each other at the same moment, leg against sword, sand scattered by both of their motions, and with an epic CLANG talons and blade meeting one another for a fierce deflecting impact, the expression on Bellawesome’s face one of enjoyment… all the way until Chic’s second leg spun past the deflected Leaf Blade and struck the grass-type from the side. Bellawesome was hit cleanly, sent flying numerous meters, but managed to right herself in the air to land on the ground. The flower Pokémon smiled, delighted by an opponent able to hit her.

With Chlorophyll boosting her speed, Bellawesome was still the faster fighter as she sped towards Chic. Now armed with the knowledge of the two kicks, she tried to bait out the first kick with varied swiping of her sword at Chic so that she could dodge the next kick and slice towards her main body…!

Even though the thrill of this battle was pumping through the newly evolved Combusken, Chic maintained a certain focus like she was already a martial artist (at least trying to be one!). She slid her talons across the platform, sand grinding beneath those claws as she readied for another clash.

She was far slower than her opponent but Bellawesome’s aggression made it easier to be defensive, or so Chic believed to be the case. Speaking of that aggression, her opponent was coming in again and a repeat of before was planned. Talon meeting blade and then, a whiff as that second kick swung through the air narrowly missing her opponent.

Landing back onto both feet, Chic managed to sink her talons into the platform as that leaf blade swung around. It impacted her side and hit hard but it didn’t quite knock her off her feet. She stood strong and wrapped her wing (arm?) around the blade trying to catch her opponent. She’d bring her head back and then knock it forward like she was going to headbutt Bellawesome right in the face, except she had a beak and that sharp point lead in so it was going to be one the fiercest pecks she could muster!

Bellawesome was more than happy to strike Chic for default damage with the Leaf Blade, except then Chic trapped the blade under her wing/arm. The Bellossom blinked a bit when she realized that her weapon was trapped, and then Chic went in for a Peck-!

Bellawesome let go of her blade, jumping to the right, and the Leaf Blade dissolved. Yet, Bellawesome held out her little arm, and a new Leaf Blade was manifesting… but Chic was free to act while her opponent was disarmed!

Not wanting to see her opponent get another blade, Chic rushed Bellawesome as soon as she could. Closing the distance, she’d reach out with her arm and swat aside the partially manifested Leaf Blade. Then using the proximity she’d shake her feathers and send out a flurry of embers to try and burn Bellawesome!

Bellawesome smirked as Chic closed in the distance, and a natural fighter’s instinct suddenly informed her to keep her distance. Just in time, too, because a cloud of Stun Spore suddenly pulsed off Bellawesome’s body, preventing Chic’s attack on Bellawesome’s newly formed blade! … Yet just as she avoided this cloud of yellow spores, Chic blasted out Ember at a clearly unprepared Bellawesome, who took the Ember Super-Effective damage to the face! Bellawesome recoiled from the significant damage! Critical Hit! Bellawesome was burned!

‘Bellawesome…!’ Archie called out, alarmed at this development.

The cloud scattered, and Bellawesome locked her eyes on Chic. They were far more focused than before. All the time until now, there’d been something playful in the eyes, just enjoying the fight. The time for playing around was over. Chic had proven herself. Now, Bellawesome wanted to win.

Bellawesome’s flowers glowed once more, Chlorophyll active, and Bellawesome blasted off towards Chic at WAY too fast speeds, intending to cut her vertically from below…!

“Coombusk!” Chic jeered as she shifted back managing to get a nasty burn off on her opponent, looking pretty proud of herself. Now, however, was the time to prove she was a true fighter and that look from Bellawesome certainly looked like this was going to escalate. Her talons dug into the partially sand-covered platform readying herself.

When Bellawesome move, like really fast too, Chic couldn’t hide her surprise and a bit of instinct took over. She moved to leap back but as she did so came up with the clever move of swiping right leg up, kicking a lot of sand from Gib’s early sandstorm to try and blast a sand-attack at the quickly moving Bellawesome with the hope that the movement backwards and the sand will help create a miss!

The sand was kicked up, and with the leap she was able to dodge the upwards swipe of the Leaf Blade. Bellawesome didn’t even bother shielding herself from the Sand Attack, breaching through it to advance on Chic and attempt to cut at her again! Bellawesome was much faster, this next one would be hard to dodge as she got into REALLY close-combat range to cut from the side…!

Chic would choose to embrace this proximity, opting to move herself in close. Maybe the thinking was that the blade wouldn’t do damage or maybe she could catch Bellawesome’s arm? Regardless, Chic moved in close and looked to tangle up with her opponent so that there wasn’t an easy escape. Full hit or no, Chic would rustle her feathers and attempt to get a point-blank ember off!

Bellawesome flew in, Chic preparing to counter. However, with a flash of speed Bellawesome’s arm was just far too fast for Chic to catch! Bellawesome moved back, keeping an optimum range between them so that Chic was in the range of the blade but not able to grab the green swordswoman. Chic felt herself be cut in numerous places by the grass-sword, but, it didn’t do that much damage.

Chic approached from the front, limiting Bellawesome’s escape routes to backwards, which wouldn’t help because Chic was charging an Ember that would hit even if she dodged back. Bellawesome simply grinned, deciding to bet it all and pulled the sword back and stabbing with ferocious speed, aiming to stick the blade up Chic’s beak to make her blast her own face with the flaming discharge while also dealing enough blade damage to end the battle, and-!

BOOSH!

The scene came to a sudden stop. Chic was still standing, as was Bellawesome, staring one another down, with Bellawesome holding the handle of the Leaf Blade at Chic’s beak… and the sword fell as ash, and there was a wide, black burn-mark over Bellawesome’s surprised face. The blast of Ember had been more powerful than the previous Embers and gone straight through the Leaf Blade and into Bellawesome.

Blaze: Boosts power of Fire-type moves when heavily damaged.

‘Bell… os…’ Bellawesome gently chuckled, praising her opponent, before running out of energy and promptly falling over. Bellawesome fainted.



Throughout the whole battle, Erika had basically been leaning heavily on Chic’s battle instinct. The two combatants were moving at such a pace that it was almost impossible to keep track and certainly impossible to tell who was winning. Blade strikes here, fire and kicks there. It was all leading up to this very moment where Chic had her opponent cornered and then… Boom

Erika jumped in shock. She wasn’t sure what just happened. But when the fire and smoke cleared, there was just a Chic left standing. ”Ah wait! Chic?” Erika asked, sounding in partial disbelief and awe.

Her Combusken merely turned and cracked a huge smile, or at least as much of one as you could with a beak. ”Oooh gosh! Chic you did so good!” Erika exclaimed, rushing over to her Pokemon to embrace her.

”I think it is fair to say I wouldn’t have won without you today, Chic. Once we get everyone back to healthy, we’ll go somewhere for all of us to relax, okay?” Erika had almost forgotten about Archie until he chimed in.

‘Aw, man…’ Archie smiled so brilliantly. ‘Bellawesome had so much fun today. You’re a really great trainer. To think you beat me on the first try…’ he chuckled a bit. ‘I’d say you deserve this!’ he said, the smiling child skipping forward to hand something over to Erika.



‘And this, too! Because you deserve the best!’ Archie said, handing over something more.



‘It’s Solar Beam! I give it to everyone who beats me. So if you see someone having their grass-type using a way too powerful move at low level, that’s why! Isn’t it so much more fun that way!?’ Archie asked, chuckling so excitedly. ‘Thank you… so much for giving my Bellawesome such a good fight! You’re the best!’



”Thanks, Archie! Bellawesome was certainly strong that it took almost everything me and my team had!” She gave Chic a bit of a wink before gladly accepting the badge and the T’M. She pinned the badge to the inside of her coat.

With that, she felt like she could take a breath but bringing both of her hands up to lightly slap her cheeks, she refocused and was ready. ”Alright, Chic. Let’s get you healed up. We’ve got plenty more to do and this was just the first hill to climb. Let’s go!”

Erika and Chic gave one last farewell to Archie and departed for the Pokemon Center.

@Pirouette

‘Come back and fight me again sometime! Bellawesome would be sad if she couldn’t fight you again!’ Archie called after her as she left.

She went down the significant amount of stairs, and came back out to Stillwood Village.



However, there was something going on in the village square. There appeared to be multiple Pokémon battles going on! And the combatants were people she recognized.





‘You… comprised your whole team with Fire-types?’ Ewan asked, raising his eyebrow as his Psyduck shot another Water Gun after Tepig, who had to dodge aside with heavy breathing.

‘I-I was prepared to take on the Grass-type gym! Of course I would!’ Maple defended herself.

‘You don’t think they’d have Lombres or something to cover the weakness?’ Ewan asked.

‘I’d adapt, like I will now! Tepig, Tackle!’ and so the battle continued.





‘Woo! You’re shaping up to becoming a pretty decent trainer!’ Joshua complimented his opponent.

‘… Less talking, more fighting…’ Ellyn muttered with a frown. ‘It’s too fast. Sheep, Thunder Wave!’

‘Avoid it with Quick Attack!’ Joshua commanded, and a bolt of lightning was then dodged, and that battle continued, too.

So that was going on.

Then, as she was on the way to the Pokémon Center, another boy she might recognize walked by.



‘Oh, you’re done with the Gym? My turn, then,’ Rodger said with a smirk as he went past her towards the Grass-type Gym.

All that aside, Erika could go to the Pokémon Center without issue.



When she was done, the battles were still going on outside. She could wait for them to end, or move on. What would she do?



Connected areas:
Route 4. Forest route at the base of Mt. Strength leading west to Rainrock City.
Route 5. A grassy incline connecting mountains, forests, plains, Stillwood and Lakewatch.
Route 14. The waters of Dragon Lake are also known as Route 14. It connects Lakewatch Town, Highhill Town and Stillwood Village.
Mountain Valley. A passage between Mt. Strength and Mt. Chill, a shortcut to Worldedge City.

At her request for the Sun Stone back, Amelia couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at Annica before responding.
"I will hand it back once we find the Water Stone. I have no need for a Sun Stone now or in the future, so it won't do me any good." She said, her tone kind and polite, as she wasn't trying to be rude. "Now, another question, this one for you Miss Annica and maybe Miss Leila can help me with this one. Mister Eric said he was out battle at the time of the theft and his pokemon show signs of battle, so this seems to be a good alibi for him and his pokemon. Miss Leila has admitted to causing the earthquake with her Barboach. but chickening out on taking the Water Stone and you mentioned watching her the entire time. Yet no one can confirm that since Miss Leila wasn't looking at you at the time and Mister Eric was away. Now, assuming all you did was indeed watch Miss Leila, what were your pokemon doing at the time?"

❄Erika Olson❄

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Stillwood Village had become quite lively during Erika's run at the gym leader, Archie, it seemed. It had felt like more of a quiet, meditative place but all these battles occurring had certainly provided a lot of surprising energy to the village. Of course that wasn't the most surprising scene because to Erika, she was more surprised to recognize a great number of the trainers present here. Ewan and Joshua were nice to see again! Facing off against them were a pair that Erika only vaguely recalled, but they never really spoke to one another. Maple was definitely memorable with her eccentricity but Ellyn... Erika could barely remember the name!

While they were focused, she skipped by them overhearing a bit of their battle and watching with a curiosity as how they battled. If they were still there when she recovered her Pokemon, she'd make sure to check up on them.

Speaking of barely remembering... A boy who seemed familiar acknowledged her gym challenge by claiming to be taking the next turn. "Oh. Sorry for the wait... You might... well I'm sure you'll be fine. Good luck!" Erika stammered as the boy seem to come and go. Surely Erika wasn't the type to be giving advice to other trainers yet. She only had one gym badge after all.

She proceeded onward to the Pokecenter. She nodded as she handed over her Pokemon. It was always funny back home because people told her she might be related to the Nurse at the Pokecenter there. If that was the case, she certainly looked related to this one, too. "Thanks!" Erika said, mirroring the bow and friendly smile.

With that she returned to the battling trainers. The difference however was that she had her full team out of their Pokeballs, walking with her! She figured some time out in the relaxing air of Stillwood would refill their spirits a bit after such a tough battle. Gibs lead the group back, Chic and Snorunt hung to Erika's sides, Tara drifted airly overhead from more than a few lengths, Kay floated around the group without really paying attention, and poor Eep waddled up from the rear.

The whole group made their way back to the battles, although Erika and the team made a slight detour to buy snacks, and they picnicked while viewing the battles.

When the battles concluded, Erika did not hesitate as she walked over to them. "Hey guys! Nice battles and did you all come here to face Archie as well? I just wrapped up my challenge and I-" She took a deep breath almost playing up the drama of her answer a tiny bit before she opened her coat to flash her badge pinned in there. "Won! Archie is very tricky but I'm wondering if all the gym leaders are going to be like that."

She'd let the conversation flow a bit naturally after that. Letting everyone be friendly before she pried to see just what everyone was planning. "So what's next for you guys? I was thinking about setting out for Mount Strength or even Worldedge City to try and find a Dawn Stone for Sno here." She gestured her head over to her right side where Sno continued to munch on her treat. "Maybe if you guys want to head out we can do that? Oh! If you're waiting to challenge Archie, I can wait a bit, too. I wanted to give my team a little break and I've got to arrange for a guide to help me find evolution stones in Mount Strength. I did have a number for someone.." She trailed off but quickly snapped out of her thoughts to see what her potential companions might say.