CHAPTER 118

“Feeling nervous?”

Pauline flicked her hair back and looked at her teacher with a smug smile. “Of course not. I’ve trained for this, why would I feel nervous? I’ll win.”

Her other friends had already gone to the stands to watch her battle. Cecilia, however, had stayed back to offer her words of encouragement and last-minute advice. Time was running out, though, and Pauline was just about to go into the waiting room.

“I was just making sure,” her teacher shrugged. “Nervousness isn’t always bad. Grace says it can sharpen your wits and keep you attentive.”

“Nervousness isn’t the way I roll,” Pauline answered.

“Well, good luck then,” Cecilia smiled.

“I don’t deal in luck, Cece, I deal in violence.”

Pauline grinned, and they hugged each other. Cecilia waved as she left toward the stands. Hopefully the others would have saved a seat for her. She gave her ticket to the gym trainer that stood at the waiting room’s door at all times to let trainers pass through, and she was finally let in. In minutes, she would be fighting a gym battle, and by Arceus, it had been too long since her last. She had missed it terribly, and the anticipation was keeping her from standing still. The trainer that had just battled barrelled through the waiting room with tears in her eyes, but she shrugged and kept fiddling with her Pokeball.

“Pauline King?” A gym trainer called out. She nodded, and he outfitted her with the usual microphone. “Fantina’s break is over, so you’re up. Good luck.”

“Don’t wish me luck, I find that insulting.”

The gym trainer frowned, but paid her no mind. He probably dealt with much stranger characters than she. Before going, Pauline made sure that her clothes were all in order. There couldn’t even be a wrinkle out of place. She represented her mother’s fashion brand, after all, and she was wearing a dress that the company had created.

Pauline’s fingers trembled in excitement as she stepped into the platform. Fantina did the same, and it was the girl’s first time seeing her purple theme and strange haircut in all of its glory. Her arena was dim and gloomy— so much so, in fact that Pauline had to squint to properly see some areas. The most disturbing thing about it, though, was that it was completely barren. There were no spots to hide in, no trees, no hills, no rocks. It was just a smooth, flat, earthen surface. There was just a singular lake for challengers to dump their water types into if needed.

“Welcome, challenger. This will be a three-on-three battle with one switch-in allowed. I reserve the right to use any Pokemon in battle, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t kill my ghosts. Now, send out your Pokemon,” the gym leader said with a thick Kalosian accent.

Pauline smiled at the fact that Fantina would just appreciate it if she didn’t kill her ghosts, and she grabbed her first Pokeball. She had followed Cecilia’s path, but the two had started to diverge, and that split was widening the more Pauline discovered how she wanted to battle. Emulating was well and good, but finding what differentiated her from her teacher as a trainer had been wonderful for her growth.

Cecilia dealt in power. She wanted to blow past her enemies so easily that they wouldn’t have a chance to even fight back, and she wanted her battles to be perfect— just like Grace, although they obviously had different views on what constituted a perfect battle. Pauline didn’t need any of that. She now knew why she hadn’t really enjoyed the gauntlets Cecilia had made her go through, which consisted of beating as many trainers as possible without getting hit. Pauline dealt in violence, and she would let her Pokemon get in the thick of it, clawing and tearing their opponents apart. So what if her Pokemon took damage in the process? At the end of the day, they’d be the ones left standing.

Pauline released her Rufflet, who announced her presence with a defiant, loud squawk that permeated throughout the arena. Fantina sent out a Sableye, and at the behest of the referee, the battle finally began.

“Hone Claws!” Pauline yelled.

“Fake out.”

Before Rufflet even had a chance to sharpen her claws, Sableye sunk into the floor with a loud, gurgling laugh, reappearing behind her in barely a second and clapping its hands around her face. The flying type looked on, completely stunned as Sableye wreathed its hand in a dark aura and slammed her away toward Fantina’s side of the field. There was a surprising amount of power behind the dark type’s tiny body.

“Hone Claws,” Pauline repeated as soon as Rufflet composed herself. The bird’s claws shone as they grew to a vicious size. “Now, Crush Claw!”

Sableye was not a true ghost, and therefore, normal type attacks would work against it. Pauline smirked as Rufflet flew toward the dark type. She wasn’t the fastest flier, but she certainly packed a punch when her attacks connected.

“Dodge with Shadow Sneak,” Fantina said.

Sableye sunk into the shadows, narrowly avoiding Rufflet’s attack, and reappeared a few feet away.

“Keep going!”

“Sucker Punch.”

The ghost type grinned, exposing its sharp, yellow teeth that shone like gold, and instantly blurred next to Rufflet. Pauline smirked.

“Crush Claw.”

The order had come just as Sableye hurled another darkened fist toward. Rufflet took the hit but anchored herself to the ground by hooking her claws into the hardened earth. Even Sableye looked on in surprise, and that was all Rufflet needed. She wrapped a claw around Sableye’s neck, digging deep, and she squeezed. Sableye cried out in pain and flailed, which sounded more like a nasty, mocking laugh than a scream of distress.

“Knock Off, then escape with Shadow Sneak,” Fantina ordered.

A dark aura covered Sableye’s hand, and Pauline recognized it as the move it had used at the start of the battle.

“Stand strong,” she told her Rufflet.

With one foot wrapped around Sableye’s neck, and another anchoring her to the ground, Rufflet stood there, taking hit after hit as she kept crushing the ghost type under her claws.

Ah, there it is, Pauline thought to herself as she practically shivered in satisfaction. Violence.

The referee looked on at Rufflet with a disturbed stare. “Sableye is unable to battle. Leader Fantina, send out your second Pokemon.”

After thirty seconds of this complete beatdown, Sableye had gone limp, and Fantina recalled it. It had taken even less time than Pauline had thought, and that was probably thanks to Rufflet’s Sheer Force, which boosted Crush Claws’ power even further. The flying type cried triumphantly and beat her wings, ignoring her bloodied bruises and wounds.

Fantina’s expression didn’t change as she sent out a Golett. At first, it just stood there like a statue, but then the golem-like Pokemon’s eyes and rune on its chest came alive with a pale yellow light, and it let out a low rumbling sound that reminded Pauline of an engine starting up, and strangely enough, rubbing stones together. Or maybe clay?

Another trainer probably would have switched, believing that Golett’s strong armor would prove too much for Rufflet to overcome. Pauline wasn’t that trainer.

“Aerial Ace!” She yelled.

Rufflet jumped into the sky, taking flight. Her beak elongated, and streaks of air surrounded her as she flew toward the Golett.

“Iron Defense,” Fantina said, then she muttered something else that Pauline didn’t catch even with the microphone. She wouldn’t hesitate. It was too late to back down now.

The ground type’s body shimmered like armor, but Rufflet wasn’t intimidated. She spun around, turning into a drill as she approached Golett, and the Aerial Ace staggered her opponent. The golem wasted no time, though, and as if it wasn’t affected by the pain, Golett simply grabbed Rufflet with both of its hands, keeping her completely still.

“Thunder Punch,” the gym leader coolly said.

Pauline clicked her tongue, but it wasn’t over yet. Golett slowly and methodically lifted a first, opting to hold onto Rufflet by holding her under its armpit instead, and that was what they needed. Rufflet wasn’t in a position to hit the ghost type with Crush Claw or Aerial Ace, but they still had Wing Attack.

“Fight your way out!” She yelled.

Rufflet squirmed, and her wings turned completely white, but she struggled to actually get them to hit anything. Golett was holding onto her too tightly, so the attacks only dealt superficial damage.

It had taken ten seconds for Golett to gather the electricity on its fist, but they had all the time in the world. The ground type slammed it against Rufflet’s face multiple times, shocking her, and its face or body wasn’t even moving. The Pokemon’s movements were mechanical, as if Golett wasn’t actually alive, but a robot going through the motions.

There was nothing they could do. Rufflet fainted in Golett’s arm.

“Rufflet is unable to battle. Challenger, send out your second Pokemon.”

“That was great,” Pauline whispered as she recalled Rufflet. “You showed everyone how tough you were.”

She grabbed Charmeleon’s Pokeball and released her. The fire type roared, spitting out a stream of flames into the sky that illuminated the entire arena.

A fire type against a ground type might have seemed foolish. Pauline could have used Gothorita to whittle Golett down as much as possible before doing so, but Pauline enjoyed the thrill that she felt throughout her body. Living on the edge was what she chased, and her strategy was the definition of living on the edge.

“Flamethrower!”

“Get close,” Fantina said.

Charmeleon screamed out her attack, and a spear of flames completely engulfed Golett’s body. The ground type didn’t seem to care whatsoever, and it slowly and methodically advanced toward Charmeleon. After ten seconds, the fire type had to take a break, and her opponent’s body was charred, but seemingly unaffected by the flames, and it kept walking forward.

Ghost typing aside, was this thing even alive?

Probably not.

“Again,” Pauline said.

The whole process repeated itself four times until Golett was close enough to pose a threat. Even Fantina seemed somewhat confused by the fact that Pauline was just letting her Charmeleon stand there when it was bound to get hit by an attack.

“Stomping Tantrum,” Fantina said.

Golett stopped in its tracks, ignoring the fifth Flamethrower as it methodically lifted a foot and slammed it against the floor. This wasn’t like the previous Stomping Tantrums Pauline had ever seen. Shockwaves traveled below the floor, lifting rocks and earth high into the sky and fracturing the entire arena. The smoke, dirt, and debris prevented Pauline from seeing if her Pokemon was fine or not, and Golett was still going.

She chuckled slightly when the entire arena lit up, forcing her to cover her eyes. Charmeleon was releasing a continuous stream of white-hot flames that was so powerful it cleared enough dust for Pauline to see what was happening. Golett’s body had somehow caught on fire, and the light in its rune and eyes was flickering. Its movement turned from deliberate and methodical to sudden and jittery, like it was glitching out. The wooden straps wrapping around its body had been charred completely black.

One Stomping Tantrum had been enough to trigger Blaze. Pauline breathed out a sigh of relief as Golett’s eyes turned off while the rune on its chest continued to flicker and Charmeleon continued using Flamethrower all around the arena.

“Calm down,” she told her Pokemon.

The fire type’s head whirred toward her trainer, showing her bloodshot eyes. Constant, hot smoke was coming out of her mouth with every breath. Charmeleon nodded tightly, but Pauline could tell she was itching to fight. Pauline could only dream of what she would be capable of when she reached Turtonator’s level. She had gambled, and it had almost not worked out. That Stomping Tantrum had probably been a few seconds from taking Charmeleon out.

But life was about results, not what could have happened. Who cared if it had been completely reckless? Golett’s rune at the center of its chest finally turned off, and even though it still stood, that meant it had fainted.

“Golett is unable to battle,” the referee said. “Leader Fantina, send out your final Pokemon.”

Fantina let out a relieved sigh as she released a Misdreavus. The dim lights above the gyms flickered as the ghost rose high into the sky. Its form was loose, and it was barely kept together. Its hair looked like wispy blue flames, and its red necklace shone in the darkness. The ghost grinned at its opponent creepily and spoke, letting out a voice that bordered on their language, yet was disturbingly indiscernible.

It was exactly like her encounter with Mismagius. Pauline felt her throat tighten and felt a sudden chill.

Pauline inhaled and swept her arm. She was no girl. “Charmeleon, Dragon Rage!”

“Disappear.”

A stream of blue flames flew toward Misdreavus, who simply dissolved into thin air. Charmeleon lashed out, slammed its tail against the floor, which was still uneven and fractured from the Stomping Tantrum. Her mobility would be restricted, but so long as they got more hits in than their opponent, Pauline would be satisfied.

“Watch out! It’s going to appear—”

Charmeleon’s eyes flickered, and she shot out a Flamethrower toward the sky where Misdreavus had just been. Cecilia had warned her about this. This was an illusion. Misdreavus rematerialized right above the fire type’s head, and smoke began to emanate from Charmeleon body as she convulsed. Pauline recognized a Hex when she saw it, especially with how much Grace used the move.

Charmeleon was at the end of her rope.

“Above you!”

Somehow, Charmeleon managed to make out her words. The fire type’s head snapped up, and she jumped as dark energy gathered in her mouth. She had bought the Crunch TM for her, and it was time to put the move to work. Misdreavus screamed as a part of her body was snatched away and dissolved in Charmeleon’s mouth, and it started to leak ghostly energy.

“Flamethrower!”

The closer Charmeleon got to fainting, the more powerful her fire type attacks would get. The Flamethrower came out faster this time, and it consumed Misdreavus’ entire body before the ghost had a chance to slip out and disappear again. Its shape was outlined with flames as it fled, still burning from the attack.

Pauline grinned. “You can see it! Flamethrower!”

Her smile disappeared when Charmeleon collapsed on the floor.

“Charmeleon is unable to battle. Challenger, send out your last Pokemon.”

She had been pushed far, but Charmeleon had done a wonderful job. As long as they could extend how long she could be under Blaze’s power, then Pauline knew she’d become nigh impossible to beat when under its influence. She recalled her Pokemon and congratulated her.

It was Gothorita’s turn now. Pauline released the psychic type, who looked exasperated— probably at the fact that they hadn’t won yet. Pauline had started letting Gothorita speak to her in small doses, and she had a very fun, yet exigent outlook on things.

“Disappear and Shadow Ball,” Fantina calmly ordered.

“Get ready,” Pauline exhaled.

Gothoria had the type disadvantage, but it was nothing a little bit of elbow grease couldn’t fix. Stopping the attack with Confusion wasn’t feasible either— Ghost type attacks didn’t work like that. Their path couldn’t be altered by psychic powers.

This time, Misdreavus appeared to her Pokemon’s left, having already gathered a huge Shadow Ball.

“Psyshock!”

Balls of psychic energy gathered around Misdreavus, who released her Shadow Ball. The ghost type attack hit, but the Psyshock also did, and the balls all converged onto Misdreavus’ body.

“Pain Split,” Fantina continued.

Both Gothorita and Misdreavus glowed with a pale, gray light, and some of the damage the ghost type had suffered throughout the battle was transferred onto Gothorita. Pauline clicked her tongue. Dirty tactics like that were annoying, but she had a trick up her sleeve as well.

“Payback!”

Payback was the other TM she had bought before the battle, and Gothorita had just been hit. Dark energy surrounded both of her hands, allowing her to hold onto Misdreavus’ ghostly form, and she gripped it by the neck.

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“Beat the shit out of it,” Pauline said. There was a nice finality to those words.

She smirked as her Pokemon executed her order to a tee, completely bludgeoning Misdreavus until there was only a speck left. Fantina recalled it, giving up on the battle. Gothorita stared at her trainer with an annoyed expression.

How weak. You should have been able to deal with that ghostly thing without me, Pauline.

Pauline bit her lip and barely managed not to pass out. Before Gothorita could even say anything else, she recalled her and made her way toward Fantina to pick up her money, TM, but most importantly, her third badge.

Yes, Pauline mused as her head still pounded. Violence would do just fine.

——

“Don’t forget, Justin. You’re a good trainer. You’ve trained for this, now go and win.”

Those were the last words Grace in the stands had spoken to Justin before sending him off. Pauline had just won her battle, showcasing what she and her Pokemon had learned these past few weeks under Cecilia’s tutelage, and now it was his turn to do the same. His teacher had full faith in him, which did more for Justin’s confidence than any strategizing or training he had done to prepare for this battle. Just knowing that someone believed in his skills as a trainer made his heart swell with pride that he never thought he would have felt regarding anything Pokemon-battling related.

And yet, here he was. Excited but also incredibly nervous about the battle that was to come.

He came across Pauline when stepped into the waiting room. The girl grinned at him and held out her fist.

“A fistbump?” Justin muttered. “How simple.”

Still, he couldn’t help but smile and return the favor. He was even more surprised when Pauline pulled him into a hug.

“Kick ass out there, Justin. I won’t tolerate anything else,” she said.

“I’ll certainly try,” he answered her. “You should have seen Grace and Cecilia up in the stands.”

“Really? What’d they say?”

“Cecilia was proud of you, although she disapproved of your… unsophisticated methods, she called it. She was giddy when she saw how far you had come with Blaze, though.”

“I knew that’d win her over,” she smirked smugly. “What about the gremlin?”

“Grace was completely beside herself,” Justin explained. “She could barely look at the battle. She asked me to tell you that if Fantina hadn’t held back and used more illusionary tactics, then you possibly would have lost, and that you should stop taking so many risks.”

“Ugh, she’s such a killjoy,” the girl rolled her eyes. “At the end of the day, I won. I know I have things to iron out, but I won’t be following her path like you are.”

Justin shrugged. “You’ve already diverged quite far from Cece.”

“I wonder what you have in store,” she said. “Remember this, Justin. We’re rivals, you and I. We’ll push each other forward until we no longer have to stand in our teachers’ shadows.”

Justin felt goosebumps all along his skin.

“Now go and win this,” Pauline said as she left.

“Our teachers’ shadow, huh?” Justin whispered to himself as he sat down to wait for Fantina’s break to finish.

He had the pieces all assembled in his head. A path to victory, he called it. Unlike Grace, who attempted to plan everything down to every, meticulous detail, Justin wasn’t good enough to do it, and it wasn’t for a lack of trying. Sometimes, he still wondered how she managed to pack so much information in her brain so quickly. Then, there was also the fact that she continuously tracked a trainer’s body language during the battle, which she had tried to get him to do. Justin was an introvert. He wasn’t good enough to figure out what people were thinking just by looking at them, and even if he could, it would be way too much to keep track of. Grace was simply on another level, but that did not mean that the situation was lost.

And it did not mean that he would have to be weak forever.

A gym trainer readied Justin for his battle, and the boy stepped onto the platform, rolling his shoulders to loosen his nerves. Justin could not know every single quirk of every possible Pokemon Fantina would use against him. Grace looked at every powerful opponent with a microscope, and Justin had decided to broaden the scale. A microscope would overwhelm him with details, so why not use a magnifying glass instead?

He had a set of conditions to follow. Conditions that would lead him to victory, if everything worked out as he had hoped.

Fantina took a deep breath before starting her speech. The battle would be a four-on-four with two switch-ins allowed. Two switches were suitable. That meant that Audino could be used as a pivot twice. Justin grabbed Lombre’s Pokeball and sent him out. The grass type let out a small, gentle croak. Even after having evolved, he was still a soft-spoken, aloof Pokemon that Justin struggled to understand sometimes, but they had come far since his battle in Gardenia’s gym battle.

Fantina released a Drifloon, who took to the skies. It sounded like a man’s voice, but strange, distorted, and having inhaled a boatload of helium.

“Rain Dance,” Justin ordered.

Lombre clapped his hands, and thin, transparent clouds gathered high up on the battlefield. Small droplets of rain began to fall down. A pitiful Rain Dance, all things considered, especially when compared to what Gardenia’s Lombre were capable of, but so long as it was capable of triggering Swift Swim, Justin’s first condition would have been fulfilled.

“Use Gust,” Fantina said.

Drifloon’s strings shook wildly in the air, and a small tornado appeared below the flying type. With an echoing, high-pitched scream, it sent the wind toward Lombre.

“Dodge and Bubblebeam!” Justin yelled.

Lombre rammed a foot against the floor and then pushed. The water type ran faster than Justin had ever seen him in training, using his knuckles and feet to propel himself. He skirted left, easily avoiding the bulk of the Gust, and angled his head upward, aiming directly at Drifloon.

“Stockpile,” Fantina calmly said.

Drifloon sharply inhaled, growing slightly in size as the first half of the Bubblebeam hit. Justin had already known about Stockpile, just like he knew all of Drifloon’s moves, courtesy of Grace’s help. What he also knew was that the ghost type employed one main strategy against opponents more powerful than itself, which Lombre clearly was.

“Keep attacking!” Justin yelled again.

Fantina said nothing, but even without her orders, Drifloon gathered a Shadow Ball in front of its mouth, quickly sending it forward. The bubbles caused it to explode mid-air, creating a plume of ghostly, purple smoke. Justin was holding back. He was waiting for his second condition to appear, and then he would—

The trainer gasped as Drifloon flew forward, emerging from the smoke and rushing toward Lombre.

“Run away!” He stammered. Even though he had expected it, it had still caught him off-guard.

To compensate for its mediocre attack, that Drifloon knew Explosion, and its goal was to suicide charge into opponents stronger than itself to take them down with it. Even if he somehow managed to take it down before it could use it, its ability Aftermath meant that it would almost always trade one for one.

“Knock it away! Bubblebeam!”

“Minimize,” Fantina ordered.

Drifloon shrunk, narrowly avoiding the next stream of bubbles that certainly would have hit just seconds prior.

Lombre was faster in the rain, but Drifloon was slowly catching up. The boy’s leg began to bounce, and he chewed on his thumb nail. The condition had been met, but doubt was starting to creep in. What if it didn’t work?

What should I do?

The question rung out in his mind dozens of times in seconds, overwhelming his entire thought process. Stalling was well and good— and he was currently wasting time by running and forcing Drifloon to avoid Bubblebeams and Leech Seeds, but he needed to win. He wanted to win.

“You took too long to make a decision.”

Justin heard Grace’s voice as if she was standing behind him, and his leg stood still. Enough with the indecisiveness! That was Justin’s biggest weakness, and he had always struggled to stimmy it. He was tired of pausing before every decision, wondering if it was the correct or wrong one. He just needed to act.

“Lombre, stop!”

The grass type was on the opposite side of the arena now, and he stopped, sliding across the wet earth.

“Drifloon, Explode.”

For every action the enemy took, a cost should be inflicted. Grace had etched the lesson into his mind time and time again. He might have wasted too much time, but his winning condition was still open. He just needed to put his foot in the door before it closed.

“Two Knock Offs! Use both of your hands!”

Justin held his breath. He hadn’t even known if the order he had just issued was possible. Lombre had never used two Knock Offs as once, and yet it was his only path. Drifloon’s body started to swell and expand as darkness surrounded Lombre’s hands. The water type clapped its hands against the exploding Drifloon, and Justin shut his eyes when he heard the detonation that made his ears ring.

After a few seconds, he half-opened one eye and saw that he still couldn’t discern any shapes in the smoke. There were two possibilities. Either the Explosion had gone off, and Lombre would be down for the count.

Or the Knock Offs had been enough, and only Aftermath had gone into effect, meaning that Lombre would have made it.

Justin squinted, desperately trying to figure out if he was having to deal with the former, or the latter, and he exhaled as he felt the weight of a mountain drop off his shoulders.

Lombre was bruised, burned, battered.

But he was standing.

“Drifloon is unable to battle. Leader Fantina, send out your second Pokemon.”

Fantina returned the popped balloon and sent out a golden mask that dropped to the ground with a loud thud. A thin shadow grew from the mask, forming into a head and two small fists, along with two red beady eyes that appeared to be crying. The Pokemon was constantly screaming with a voice of a child. As if it was in constant agony.

It was a Yamask.

And it sounded like a child being tortured.

Justin snapped out of his stupor. It was only the third time in his life seeing a real ghost, and the second time had been right before this, during Pauline’s battle.

Ghosts couldn’t cry. Disturbing as it may have been, it wasn’t real.

“Lombre, keep it up,” he praised. He considered switching to pivot, but that would mean that he would only be able to do it once. No, Lombre would need to finish his work here. “Razor Leaf!”

“Dodge, then Will-O-Wisp.”

Yamask phased out of existence, reappearing a few feet to the left as he dodged Lombre’s Razor Leaf. The ghost type summoned a series of small purple flaming orbs, each screeching as loud as Pauline’s Rufflet, and they rushed toward Lombre.

“Hit and run!”

The floor was now so wet that Lombre could skid across it, and he was getting faster as the rain kept accumulating. The grass type skated across the ground, sending out Razor Leaves and Bubblebeams to hit Yamask, but only a fraction of them did. Ghosts were simply too good at dodging attacks. Yamask retaliated with the occasional Night Shade or Shadow Ball, but Lombre was too quick now. Stalling was working exactly like Justin had envisioned it. It wasn’t just about having bulky Pokemon that could take hits and survive. Speed could work as well.

Unfortunately, Justin’s joy was short-lived. The Will-O-Wisps followed him like they had a mind of their own, and they even tried to cooperate to trap him.

Lombre was getting cornered.

“Water Gun! Extinguish them!”

Water Gun was weaker than Bubblebeam, but it’d be better at stopping fires. Lombre drifted across the ground, clawing the floor to reposition himself, and shot out a high-pressure jet of water toward the purple flames—

It didn’t work. The Will-O-Wisps giggled at him, and they all entered Lombre’s body, creating a cold, purple flame that would permanently burn him and lower his attack power.

That was one of Justin’s weaknesses. What good was it to know the Pokemons’ moves if he didn’t know how if a particular attack would counter them or not as Grace could? Justin clicked his tongue, lifting his arm.

“Start picking up speed again and attack!”

The path was narrowing, but it was still there. Lombre croaked, started to run, and then skate. Yamask disappeared like he knew it would, and then it reappeared on the floor, anchored to its golden mask.

“Now, Lombre!”

The bubbles rammed past the ghost, exploding inside of its body and scattering its form. Justin awaited its reappearance again with bated breath and—

A Shadow Ball buried itself into Lombre’s side, and the water type fell to the ground. Justin inhaled sharply. Where had it even come from?

“Lombre is unable to battle. Challenger, send out your second Pokemon.”

Justin recalled his Lombre. It was time to go through the first pivot, and he needed to buy him time so he could figure out how Yamask had just used Shadow Ball while being invisible. “Audino.”

The beige and pink Pokemon squealed and twirled in place, blinking and striking a pose when he was done. This was a perfect situation for Justin. Other than Will-O-Wisp, Yamask only knew ghost type moves, meaning that Audino would be invulnerable. Plus, her being burned wouldn’t matter. She wasn’t a damage dealer, she was a pivot, and Regenerator and Life Dew would keep her healthy.

“Disarming Voice!” Justin said after swallowing nervously.

The normal type inhaled and let out a harrowing scream. Normally, it would affect a Pokemon and stop them from attacking, but Yamask seemingly didn’t care. Another thing Justin could have picked up on if his researching skills had been up to par.

“Will-O-Wisp,” Fantina smoothly ordered.

At least he had dealt a minimal amount of damage. Yamask released the screaming flames once more, and they rushed toward Audino.

“Don’t bother dodging.”

The flames entered Audino’s body, and he was lit ablaze with purple fire. What would Fantina do now? Justin couldn’t think as quickly as Grace did, which was why he had sent Audino out in the first place. Audino was a pivot, but he was also his main counter against true ghosts that usually lacked any move variety at his level. He had studied every single one, and their movesets. Yamask could do nothing to him, leaving Justin enough time to try to figure out what had happened to Lombre.

But he knew that the gym leader would eventually switch out, and she did, sending out a Honedge instead. Justin sighed. A Honedge wasn’t someone Audino could stall against, and Disarming Voice would deal pitiful damage. Even if it wasn’t a true ghost, and normal type attacks would land, its steel typing meant that those would be useless as well.

She had truly countered him with one switch. Buying time to figure out how to counter Yamask was no longer an option.

“Get in there and Slash,” the gym leader said.

“Disarming Voice!” Justin screamed out. He wanted to test out one more effect, and Audino’s Regenerator meant that he could afford to be reckless. The normal type yelled again, and just as Justin expected, Honedge was affected by the attack. It Slashed across Audino’s belly, drawing blood, but didn’t go as deep as it otherwise would have.

True ghosts and ghost types were fundamentally different, it seemed. That meant that he could do this.

“Play Nice!”

Audino smiled as his eyes glittered slightly, entrancing Honedge and making it lose its will to fight for a few short seconds. The effect Justin was after, though, was that it would lower its attack for the foreseeable future. The boy recalled his Audino and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Go, Sandile!” He yelled out. The ground type immediately sunk into the ground with Dig.

The conditions had been met for Sandile to take down Honedge. Justin was sure of it. Now all he needed to do was implement their new strategy against levitating or flying Pokemon.

“Fly up,” Fantina said.

“Sand Tomb.”

Far below Honedge, the earth began to turn and twist like a whirlpool. Fantina stared at Justin as she awaited his next move. It wasn’t like Honedge could do anything until Sandile was out of the ground. Grace had, however warned him that true ghosts could slip underground and attack. The trainer waited for the Sand Tomb to reach its maximum size and velocity…

“Now!”

Sandile’s head popped out in the middle of the Sand Tomb, and the crocodile screamed, lifting the sand into the air like a tornado and toward Honedge.

“Autotomize and dodge.”

Honedge’s body became sleek, and the sword sped up drastically. It narrowly avoided the flying Sand Tomb and flew toward the center of the arena.

“Slash it.”

Justin’s eyes widened. He had believed that Fantina would just escape, but it seemed that she wanted to take advantage of the fact that Sandile needed to unbury to manipulate the earth above ground. He had no choice, then. It would cancel out Audino’s Play Nice, but if he could get Honedge to land in the Sand Tomb and get stuck in the sand…

“Swagger!”

With a provoking cry, Sandile confused Honedge, but also infuriated the steel type. The sword blurred, rushing toward the Sand Tomb, but Fantina stayed silent, not bothering to call out in hope of snapping it out of its confusion.

Unfortunately, the Slash hit before Sandile could retreat back into the ground. Honedge had flown past the flying Sand Tomb without a care about the damage it was taking. Sandile screamed as Honedge continued to attack, forcefully dragging the ground type back up with its attacks every time it tried to sink deeper into the ground, but it also had no regards for its own health, not caring about hitting itself or being hit by the Sand Tomb. Justin grabbed his Pokeball. Without Sandile, his path to victory would collapse. Even if he was creating a cost like Grace had taught him, he wasn’t willing to take a risk that large.

But he did not recall his Sandile. Instead, light covered the dark type’s body, and he grew, turning into a bipedal Pokemon. Krokorok grabbed Honedge with its newly formed hands and Crunched without Justin’s command.

Honedge collapsed into the Sand Tomb.

“Honedge is unable to battle. Leader Fantina, send out your third Pokemon.”

Justin could barely contain his excitement. An evolution, right when he had needed one? That was incredibly lucky. His path remained open.

Fantina released a Bramblin next. It was a jagged, thorny tumbleweed with two ghastly eyes floating at its hollow center. Justin averted his gaze away from them. Looking into those hateful eyes sent shivers down his spine. Fantina wasted no time issuing her next command.

“Leech Seed.”

“Burrow!”

What Justin had failed to realize, however, was that due to Krokorok’s new form and height, the ground type was slow to get underground. The seeds hit Krokorok in the neck before he managed to slip underground.

“Sand Tomb again!”

No matter what Justin did, Krokorok would slowly weaken until he fainted, so he could only deal as much damage as possible. The ground below Bramblin liquefied and spun, trapping it—

“Rollout out of there,” Fantina said.

With the sound of crackling branches, Bramblin acquiesced and started rolling out of the Sand Tomb as it slowly but surely gained speed. Justin clenched a fist. He could either have Krokorok keep harassing from underground or—

No! He couldn’t think as fast as Grace, so he had to act now.

“Crunch!” He bellowed.

Krokorok burst from his Sand Tomb, sending sand high into the sky, and bit into one of Bramblin’s branches. Fantina ordered the ghost type to use Bullet Seed, and they all hit, but Krokorok wouldn’t let go. He slammed the tumbleweed-like Pokemon into the Sand Tomb, burying it into the liquid sand until it fainted.

“Bramblin is unable to battle. Leader Fantina, send out your last Pokemon.”

It was back to Yamask, and Justin still hadn’t figured anything out. His path was still wide open, and he had three—

Two Pokemon left.

“Krokorok is unable to battle. Challenger, send out your third Pokemon.”

The abuse from Honedge, the Leech Seed, and the Bullet Seed had been too much for Krokorok to handle, even with his evolution. Justin recalled him and sighed. He was exhausted, both mentally and physically, but he knew that the battle was won.

He sent out Audino again, whose wound from Slash and the burn had almost completely recovered. Of course, he was still on fire, but that was fine.

Justin smiled.

In the end, it didn’t matter if he hadn’t figured out how Yamask’s illusion worked, didn’t it? It couldn’t hit Audino.

It almost took the entire length of the match, but Justin took down Yamask by continuously using Disarming Voice, while healing any damage from the burns with Life Dew. There were complaints and grumbles in the audience. This was the boring way to finish the battle, but it was the safe way. The way he had deemed his path would take him.

And just like that, Justin had won his third badge.