Three days.
Three days in the grand scale is a miniscule amount of time. Three days isn't enough to build a house or a rocket. And three days certainly aren't enough to learn how to decently play the guitar.
But in the small scale it is a fairly huge amount of time. Three days are more than enough to learn how to bake cookies or learn how to ride a bike. And three days are enough to competently play shoji with your grandpa.
For me, three days was on the latter scale.
"Alright Ralts, just like we practiced. Use Baton Pass." I said to the psychic type, having set up a couple Calm Mind's.
Like when she uses Ally Switch, Ralts began gathering purple energy around herself, with the only difference being that she's slowly doing it right now to make zero mistakes. Having already used the move successfully, she followed along with whatever step she needed to do to make the purple around herself a little lighter before she was automatically recalled over to her pokeball in my hand, the pinkish purple energy stayed there for a bit before heading into the second pokeball in my other hand.
A pop hiss occurred, and Pearl came out to do an immediate Brine on the field, turning the salready broken ground into more of a wet and torn up place than she usually would with her newest move.
In total, the time it took for the move to be used is a whopping seven seconds if you discount the time it took for Pearl to actually do anything. A death sentence in a battle if Ralts doesn't get off a Confuse Ray or something but it's the best we can work with right now.
The battlefield itself was set aside into two areas, one where the Pokemon that would fight Surge would practice and one where the ones who wouldn't would practice... try saying that five times fast.
Anyway, for me, three days was more than enough to upgrade a move for Ralts, teach Toxic Spikes through a TM for Tabitha, and finally to perfect Pearl's new showstopping finishing move.
Three days was also enough for me to study the Pokemon that Surge would use for the third and fourth gym badge and see how he uses powerful moves like Thunder and Discharge fairly often. The list of all the Pokemon that Surge uses that don't have fur are simply the Magnemite, Magneton, Voltorb, and Electrode that he uses, Pokemon that have fur on the other hand are Raichu, Jolteon, Electabuzz, Manectric, Flaffy, and a Luxio.
I just have to hope that he won't use four outta the ten Pokemon he has available since all his options that have fur will be practically crippled of their electric capabilities when he faces me, or more precisely when they face Pearl.
Unfortunately, I don't really have a good option against Magneton, due to its electric and steel typing alongside the fact that it can levitate, which is why I posted in that job board that regular trainers use to get money to have battles against the Magnemite line which led to a lot of battles against opponents weak and strong. That kind of cut into the money that I got from helping capture those Pokemon hunters, because apparently bad people can have bounties put on them.
Being a Pokemon hunter's hunter is apparently a real profession. Though most call them bounty trainers because they go after people with league approved bounties.
An added bonus was that three days was enough to find a place that had a deep sea scale for sale... but I wouldn't be able to buy it just yet because it's fairly costly and unless I get a pretty big win like against a certain gym leader or by doing a whole ton of battles like I do in towns when I'm not preparing for a gym battle.
...But I did get a special item for Pearl thanks to a quick catch request that involved getting a Seadra.
Though the only negative that I've got about my prepping is the schedule. Wake up, eat, train, rest, battle, rest/lunch, train, eat, sleep. The harsh training regimen being one that I typically adopt for a tough fight, like back in Pewter and Celadon, or when I cram for exams.
Taking a brief moment to look past Pearl I see that the three Pokemon who won't be doing the gym battle are diligently training.
Since Flame Charge with Leaf was such a success, I thought 'why not do the same process but with Rain Dance combining with Trailblaze instead of using Sunny Day.' Sort of like a water type Flame Charge... a Water Charge? Waveblaze? Oh, what about a Splash Dash?
Yeeaaah, that last one sounds a bit right, and it leads to me making a note on my gear in case the move actually works.
So far, it's still in the conceptual phase.
Dee-Dee decided to also learn Safeguard for some reason so she's practicing how to use the non-damaging move from whatever research I could do online to collect the learning steps for the move. She's got all the time in the world and since she doesn't really need to do any dangerous stuff or move around a lot she's mainly been as close to the gym training side as possible to give words of advice to Ralts on how to use the normal type switching move.
Marshmallow on the other hand was kind of a unique experience. I couldn't teach him anything from Pearl since she's too busy prepping against Surge and I don't have anyone to train him otherwise on ground moves that Wooper typically know. So, my first order of business was to teach Marshmallow the type chart and what interactions that some typing's have with water, ground, and fighting moves. After that I wanted him to learn his very first ground type move.
So, I enlisted some help. Specifically, the help of the local battlefield fixers.
Marshmallow is shadowing a Graveller whose main job is to patch up any breaks and tears that happen to the battlefield. And by shadowing I literally mean following the rock and ground type around in their comparatively massive shadow and watching them fix the ground using the move Bulldoze, listening to the sage advice of the rock and ground type while they were on another field that needed fixing.
It took a bit of back and forth before Marshmallow showed me how well he can use his move pool, with Power-Up Punch being the quickest he could do as it took five seconds to ready up while Guard Swap and Recover took the longest using a whopping seventeen seconds for each move.
That was gonna be a problem until we got to the point where Marshmallow could actually shrug off powerful attacks as if they were pin pricks or a light slap.
For now, his training consisted of trying to increase his reaction time and move speed while trying to learn Bulldoze.
I clap to get everyone present's attention, sending out Tabitha and Ralts as well.
"Alright folks, that's enough for today." I say, to the disappointment of Dee-Dee of all Pokemon "Ralts, Tabs, and Pearl will be having their gym battle in about four hours so the rest of you get the day off. We're stopping here because Surge is known for not pulling his punches, so I want the team at their full power and ready for a slugfest. This means that I expect the one's about to battle to take a nap and recharge." The three protested a bit, with one particular grouchypuss spraying me with water, but they eventually agreed and returned to their balls, but not before Pearl sprayed me with water again.
Wiping the HO2 off my face and run a hand through my hair, I address the rest of the team. "Who wants steamed broccoli and asparagus?"
Cheers fill the air from Leaf and Dee-Dee and before long Marshmallow goes with the flow.
And that was how I spent the rest of my time while waiting, munching on fruits and veggies while relaxing with half the team. I even brought Beedrill for the break just to catchup with him and see how he's doing with his new item.
It was amazing how fast four hours could fly by when one's relaxing.
I already knew where the Vermillion gym was, on account of visiting it last time I was here, so it wasn't really a surprise for me when I arrived twenty minutes early.
I welcomed the cold embrace of the air conditioning, since the heat coming from the midday sunlight was making me work up a sweat, and promptly headed over to the receptionist who was nice enough to send me into the trainer waiting room while Surge finished up with his latest challenger.
Everybody was in either in groups discussing their battle plan or by themselves trying to ease their nerves, so I opted to be by myself to make sure I don't disturb anyone.
I revised the battle plan over and over while I was waiting. Let Tabs run the show and set the field, switch to Ralts against any Voltorb or Electrode to use Disable on their Rapid Spin, stall and set up even more, Baton Pass into Pearl to mop up the battle.
A boom of cheers jolted me out of my thinking and a gym trainer called my name out in the waiting room before he escorted me to the challenge area.
The most notable thing were the levers placed around the room which had areas fenced off by electricity, with the fences themselves only being as high as my chest. The second most were the Pikachu and the de-evolved version of Luxio that were on podiums on the right and left side of the room. The third most notable thing being the closed door at the end with an electric clock right above it.
A quick scan from the pokedex shows that the other Pokemon is a Shinx.
The gym trainer didn't even wait before explaining the rules.
"'Kay kid, pull the levers to drop the electric fences. Dodge the electric attacks from the Pokemon on the side or block 'em if you want. You gotta pull all five levers before the timer ends and not get tagged once by the Pokemon or the fences else you lose. Capiche?" He didn't even wait before leaving back the way we came from, the door closing behind him.
He said electric attacks, right?
Without a second thought, I send out Marshmallow and Dee-Dee.
"Listen up guys, I'm gonna need you to guard me while I pull the levers around the room. Dee-Dee," I start while looking at Marshmallow apologetically "since you don't really have much practice with grabbing moves from the air, I was hoping you would instead use Psychic to pick up Marshmallow and... use him to block the electric attacks." Okay now that I'm saying it out loud it's clear to that it's a ridiculous and slightly inhuman solution.
"Okay, now that I'm saying it out loud, I realize how crazy that sounds so we should probably find another way tmmph-" Dee-Dee smooshes a finger against my lips to probably tell me to shut up before she and Marshmallow start nodding. She takes her finger off my lips so that I can speak. "You guys are okay with it?" They nod again.
Huh. Sweet.
The time for chitchat was over though since the ceiling lights shifted from white to red before turning yellow.
I take a deep breath and motion to first lever, which was on our right and near the Shinx.
Green light fills the room, and we run.
A Thunder Shock from the Pikachu comes straight at me only to be blocked by my blue ground type before he was quickly swished over to my right to block the random electric attack from the Shinx.
That attack that the feline Pokemon used was probably really powerful since the electric type then spent some time regaining energy while the Pikachu was still peppering us with Thunder Shock after Thunder Shock that were taking longer and longer to reach us as we went further away from it. This meant that I could quickly pass between some fences, shimmy along a couple other fences, and smack down the first lever without too much hassle.
Immediately, a quarter of the electric fences in the room shut off and I took a sec before running over to a lever that was still on the Shinx side of the room.
I was really lucky that Dee-Dee used Psychic to shove my body left, that electric laser that Shinx used came out of nowhere. Jumping left to dodge an electric fence and moving in a zig zag formation due to the placement of the fences led to the second lever.
Another quarter of the fences became disabled and we three were off once more.
After that we went into an unintended rhythm where Dee-Dee would use her mastery of Psychic to use Marshmallow as a shield against the Pikachu while I would duck and weave the electric laser move that the Shinx would use since they came so randomly that Dee-Dee couldn't get a rhythm on them.
Getting the third and fourth levers was a cinch at that point.
It was also really helpful that the fences were only chest high, so you'd be safe from any electric attacks if you were crawling, but it would kill a lot of time if you were going the careful route.
Once you combined all those factors with the fact that all the fences were now disabled, it meant that the fifth lever reavealed itself and soon became mine for the pulling down.
A loud bzzt noise sounded out and the closed door from before opened up for me to pass through.
It also meant that the Pikachu began firing its attack with renewed gusto and even the Shinx was shilling out more laser attacks then when we started. I couldn't actually head to the door with the clock ticking down because the attacks were coming in too frequently for Dee-Dee to entirely block while running.
Thats when I had probably the dumbest idea in the history of ideas.
"Dee-Dee! Throw me to the door using Psychic!" I yelled, since the sound of a running current and laser beam were going off so close to us.
Dee-Dee, to her credit, only looked at me like I was crazy for all of two seconds before dropping Marshmallow on the floor to then cover me in purple energy.
She took a pitchers pose and then threw me straight at the door, faster than anything the electric types could send out.
I reached the door.
Still under her control, I suddenly stopped the second I passed through the doorframe, my stomach begging for a bathroom right as I was gently lowered to the ground. I leaned onto a wall to slow my heart from the aftereffects of running as fast as possible and barely managed to return the two of them and thank them for their service before a gym trainer came to me.
"...hmm." And that was basically his only vocabulary as he motioned me towards a second waiting room, different from the first one mainly because there weren't any decorations and the people waiting were all different, minus a couple people.
I sat down only to jolt back up when a loud buzzer sound filled the room; the sound was probably some motioning thing since three trainers headed off while one came back only to leave from the door with an exit sign.
Slowly, the room filtered with people entering and leaving as time passed, and before I knew it, I was called up to take my battle.
Going along with a couple other people that were also called out, we caught the tail end of a battle between Surge and one of the guys who left before we did. The trainers Rhydon dodged a Flash Cannon and managed to make a Stone-Edge to cover up a last-minute move which made its horn start spinning like a drill but it was all for nought when the opposing Magnezone used a steel move that's apparently called Magnet Bomb, that last attack circumventing the Stone-Edge entirely and hitting with unerring accuracy and was too much for the ground and rock type to withstand. The cheer from the crowd making it clear that this was the final matchup, and that Surge had won.
Somebody beside me gulped at the monstrous display. I wasn't about to lie and say that it didn't scare me a bit either.
My picture from my trainer id popped up on the side of the wall so I said bye to the other two before heading up.
I know that the trial that I took wasn't something they gave to the three-badge level so I was definitely gonna fight Surge's four-star team.
And if that was the case then my next gym battle 'll be the five-star level.
Even as I headed towards Surge, I saw the look of recognition which meant that he personally knows about me, and if he knows me then it wouldn't be too big of a stretch to assume that other gym leaders probably know me as well. Which meant that the real fight... starts now.
----------------------------------------
Surge was having a fantastic day.
He woke at o five hundred and ran through all the channels that Team Rocket would regularly use to send him covert messages and found nothin' from the boss, just some namby pamby admins beggin' him to come back into the organization.
He then ran through a series of exercises with his Pokemon, did a perimeter sweep of Vermillion to flush out a gang member or two, instructed his private crew to do some digging on the info he got about the bosses' potential whereabouts, and then had a morning coffee.
He then enjoyed his favorite pastime that just happened to be his job.
Crushing the hopes of every little kid that entered the doors of his gym.
Thats not to say he was a sadist, though he kind of was just a little teensy bit thanks to the persona he puts on, but there was something refreshing seeing the broken looks of a thousand kids and finding that one that would look at him with defiance: coming back stronger and better in every single goddamn way just to beat the electric type gym leaders' ass.
It was why he was still a gym leader, why he wore metaphorical shackles instead of physical ones. Because he was the best in molding the right mindset out of future geniuses with a level of skill that no gym leader in the entire history of Indigo had managed since its conception.
A soldier always knows the look of a soldier, and Surge was one of the best.
Which was why he couldn't stop the smirk on his face when he saw his latest victim challenger.
He sized up the latest kid in his path, judging the boy to be around 130-135 centimeters, which was a normal height for a kid even if he was a little bit on the smaller side, but that number would shoot up as he grew older. His hair was starting to grow to his ears but it looked decently clean, so the boy had been staying in Vermillion since otherwise there would be knots or a fleck or two of dirt or leaves on his head. His shirt, a regular brown tee with pictures of different trees on it, was perfectly clean and ironed so Surge would wager that he'd been wearing a different shirt before he came to the gym and that the kid spent less than a week in the city considering the boy was previously in Fuchsia.
Internally, Surge chuckled as the kid's eyes sharpened when the boy stared at him; one of those eyes having a horizontal line going through it in the middle of his right pupil, in between his scar that touched his nose. He could understand why weaklings would be freaked out by those eyes that looked at you as if you were prey, but all Surge could see was the baby fat that lingered on the kid's cheeks. From what he's seen and heard, the kid would be a perfect soldier with the right training as he grew up, maybe if Surge was nice then he could foster a relationship with the kid to be his mentor and make a true monster.
Alas, Surge would sooner cut off an arm than play nice with a kid that didn't earn his respect.
"So," Surge started "you're the little hotshot lab rookie looking to get a smackdown, huh."
Falling into the bait, the young boy introduced himself "I'm Evandros from Pallet Town, and I'm gonna beat you."
The crowd loved the fighting words from the boy but everybody knew that a comeback was coming.
"Pfeh, you and what Pokemon. Is it 'gonna' be that weak ass fairy you got or that little pinecone you call a battler," Surge had maybe broken a few rules to see what Pokemon the kid would field today but he knew he was hitting the right buttons as the kid clenched his teeth, though Surge wanted more. He wanted a specific Pokemon called out and used in the battle. "In case you haven't heard kid, I'm invoking a star up which means instead of a three badge four v four challenge, this'll be four badge five v five. And I don't want you crying home to mama about the asswhooping you and your pathetic Pokemon are about to get. You wouldn't be able to stop me even if you brought that little cig lighter you call a starter."
"Oh yeah!" Evandros nearly, not quite just yet, yelled "Well I know you're only saying this to get in my head and I don't need to listen to you." He straightened up a bit as he spoke.
It was a weak rebuttal all things considered.
God, Surge was going to love blowing his fuse.
"Heh you might be right kid," Surge said leadingly "but I wouldn't say anythin' I don't believe. After all, I know you went and completed that little ninja challenge over in Fuchsia which would have been perfect timing for you to challenge Janine for your third badge instead of me. But you didn't, instead you came here and the only difference between a fight from me and her is that you won't have to use that little Leafeon you got in your back pocket against me."
Evandros stilled, so Surge continued "I've seen those little clips of you, saw how you used type disadvantaged and neutral Pokemon against Brock but you still used your rock types because, by your definition in the comments 'Brock had a near equal amount of ground types as he does rock types'. But by that same definition you should've used that little kit you call a Leafeon against Erika since she has a 'near equal amount of poison types as she does grass types' but you didn't. So, it got me thinking."
The mountain of a man made a show of it, pacing and moving his hand as he spoke. He noticed that the boy he was trying to get a rise out of was clenching his jaw and hadn't noticed the buzzing pokegear, which had only started buzzing as Surge had started his monologue so it was clearly someone watching right now, that was above his quickly whitening knuckles. He had a pleading expression upon him, his face nearly begging Surge to stop his train of thought and just continue with the battle.
Surge continued "Now it took me a bit but obviously, things were starting to get clearer and clearer with every image. You didn't use your Leafeon against Brock but considering your current self-imposed challenge that was a warranted decision, then you didn't use the grass type again in a setting where most of her powerful moves would have near zero effect which came off as strange, then you beeline over to Fuchsia and you don't even challenge the poison type gym leader and instead ran over here with your tail between your legs. So, I got a little theory outta it.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
The theory that you're scared of using that little kit, that you don't want the world to know just how weak she is, just how useless she is."
Those eyes that look at you like a predators' were gone, replaced by low eyebrows and wide pupils that promised pain.
'Bingo' Surge thought
A near imperceptible nod over to his referee made the young man pick up his flags and begin saying the regular spiel that pertains a fourth badge challenge from Surge. Surge knew that the kid would, in most cases, send out his Pineco first since it would be the smart play. Outside of a gym battle, Surge would have sent out Electrode to nip that problem in the bud, but, alas, he wasn't outside of a gym battle, so he opted for a less-than-optimal choice.
''Least kid gets brownie points for not completely losin' it' Surge thought
Just as he predicted, his latest challenger sent out a Pineco against the gym leader's own Luxio and if looks could kill then Surge would've been dead at least a dozen times over. It was also nice to note that the Pokemon were listening in from their balls; that meant that he could pull off mind games on them to force a Pokemon out if he needed.
"Charge" Surge ordered automatically, having to make sure he didn't put too much thought into the fight, otherwise he would accidently make too many right calls.
"Field" The kid ordered
Both Pokemon took their time setting themselves up, one using a boosting move while the other reluctantly placed traps onto the field. Luxio then automatically decided to use Shock Wave while the bug type he was facing took the attack and barely lost their concentration at throwing out the second set of Spikes.
"Now use Rollout!"
"Move and use Swift"
The field traps would hurt like hell for a later Pokemon but for now they were useless. A fact that Surge capitalized on by making Luxio mobile so that he wouldn't get hit. The Swift was merely to piss off the Pineco even further.
It worked... a little too well.
The normal type move was only barely causing any damage, but it somehow made the bug type even faster than it was beforehand. What was an even chase of cat and mouse, or in this case pinecone and cub, became more like Rapidash and Slowpoke as the electric type couldn't move himself fast enough for the bludgeoning strike that tossed him into the air, even with the power of a quick Trailblaze to boost his speed.
Said Pineco moved as fast as it could to take a U-turn and come back in for another hit.
"Volt-Switch, get yourself out." Surge demanded and it was only through sheer discipline that the feline picked himself up as fast as he did.
Body sparking, Luxio ran to collide with the rapidly approaching bug type, only to side-step and hit the Pineco from the left.
The bug type's attack destabilized as the electric type returned himself for an Electrode that was almost out onto the field.
"Return, Tabitha" Evandros said before sending out his Ralts close to Electrode
Deciding to hit two Pidgey with one stone Surge went with the obvious move.
"Rapid-Sp-" "Disable" And all Surge could do was click his teeth at the outplay.
Electrode tried to use Rapid Spin to take out the field, but it didn't work thanks to the rapid use of Disable hitting his second electric type in the chest. To the electric types credit, it immediately tried to use Thunderbolt but the psychic type merely teleported to Electrode's back and blasted it with a powerful yell that created pink soundwaves which crashed onto the ball Pokemon.
Surge could do nothing but send Electrode back, maybe for a minute or two considering that the Disable might last a fair bit. Though there were a couple of ways that he could use to destroy the field traps, keeping this specific Pokemon around was crucial in making sure that the field was definitely taken care of, the second most being to take out that Ralts.
Said Ralts capitalized on the empty field by using Calm Mind.
Wordlessly, Surge sent out the best counter he had to the psychic and fairy type.
Three eyes looked down onto their opponent, its magnets whirring in confusion just like how his personal one used to do when it saw itself sent out against a weakling.
"Magneton, use Thunderbolt"
"Double Team into Confuse Ray"
Surge didn't quite care about the interaction that was about to take place since he was too busy watching the kid rationalize something in his head. He just needed a light push over that last ledge.
Surge was going to give him a kick.
"Ya know, if you wanna call it quits then you better do it quick before I mutilate the rest of your Pokemon." He spared a glance and was mildly disappointed that the Ralts only had a minor burn mark from getting shocked while Magneton was clearly confused.
The kid nodded, looking as if he wasn't paying attention at Surge's words but the clenched jaw and the quick raising of two balls was answer enough.
"Baton Pass"
Surge's mood soured as the psychic type took its time returning itself. The stat buff on special defense and attack would be perfect for a Charmeleon or a Clamperl but it would be practically useless for-
A quadrupedal Pokemon touched the field, looking around in confusion as it knew that it very much was not meant to be used here.
"You said you wanted Leaf in a gym battle, well she's in one now." The ki- Evandros quietly said, his voice almost not loud enough under the roar of the crowd and the rapid whirring of the Magneton.
"Stay still and use Magnet Bomb Magneton"
"Use duo 2 Leaf"
It took a second for the whirring noises of Magneton to cease and a second longer for it to understand the command. This gave ample time for Leafeon to move with a burst of green and purple energy and collide with the opposing steel type; the attack doing nothing more than giving a scratch and putting Magneton in a tailspin.
"Sunny Day into Flame Charge, let's go!"
That line made Surge snort even as the Leafeon used Sunny Day, the only fire type move that was available to all grass types, and the gym leader wondered what his rendition of 'Flame Charge' would be. This Leafeon is known for using two attacks at the same time so maybe she could use Quick Attack and at the last second charge its Type Energy with Sunny Day for a proto-Flame Charge. Or was it a code word for another move like how some trainers did to make their next attack a surpri-
Surge's eyes widened into saucers as he stared at the Leafeon on fire. He was a seasoned vet who saw more battles than any other gym leader aside from Blaine and Pryce, of course he'd seen the move used enough times to know that this was the real deal.
Apparently, so did the crowd judging by their stunned silence and a few shocked gasps.
Surge shook his head as he considered what to do next. Magneton would no longer be confused if he got hit by the next attack, but odds were that it was going to do a shit ton of damage.
Lo and behold, Magneton went into the ground like a sack of potatoes while the Leafeon was still zipping around here or there. The good news was that the steel type was no longer confused, the bad news being that the steel type's opponent was too fast for Magneton to do anything other than wide ranged attacks or setting the field.
Surge opted for the latter.
"Use Electric Terrain"
"Finish it off!"
Magneton would go down, but he still had Electrode in case the Leafeon became too much of a problem and needed an explosive exit.
All in all, Surge wasn't too worried when the Leafeon pushed through the wide ranged electric field that was being set and slammed into Magneton one final time. The added momentum of the attack through the boosted speed combined with the inherent physical power that the Leafeon line has made it too much for Magneton to continue.
But... if Evandros evolved the grass type with a stone then it most likely would have hit its threshold a long time ago, by all rights it shouldn't be able to handle a fight like this even if its moves were super effective. The only other method to help it along would be rare candies but those were strictly kept under League supervision or in the black markets and the kid was way too serious to ever buy illegal stuff.
Surge was already willing to hand over a badge from the showing he'd seen. But he wanted more out of Evandros so he sent out his Raichu onto the field.
Immediately, Surge knew something was wrong with the field. Sure, it had Spikes strewn about but the flinch that Raichu gave was not something that a little bit of damage would cause. So there had to be another factor.
His eyes, so used to finding weak points in a battalion's formation, spotted a hint of purple and Surge could do nothing but smile ruefully at the schadenfreude. The Pineco had set both Spikes and Toxic Spikes at the same time, taking great care to layer the purple spikes with motes of earthy brown that mixed with the battlefield, and considering that its focus didn't break too much when it was doing it meant that Evandros probably trained his Pokemon to not flinch from electric attacks too much.
If he was going to be played like that, then he could ramp things up a bit.
"Rain Dance into Thunder"
"Keep moving and use Duo 1"
This specific Raichu was trained in being able to dodge speedy opponents, so it wasn't a surprise that she backflipped over the attacking Leafeon as she swirled her arm to set up a Rain Dance. Her grass typed opponent opted for a Swift as she moved with the speed of what Surge could tell was Quick Attack, but it wouldn't help.
Thunder rained down at blistering speeds, blowing up patches of ground where Raichu's opponent previously had been or might go, and it was only going to be a matter of time before the Leafeon would make a mistake in judgment.
Surge was fine with making that mistake for her.
"Grass Knot"
"Sunny Day! And use it whenever Raichu uses Rain Dance"
Though Surge had said his order first, it was Evandros' Pokemon that made the first move. Sending a ball of fire up into the air just as she finally tripped from the rapid blades of grass that snagged her foot. Raichu didn't even need the extra power and speed boost that came from using Rain Dance to fire off a perfect Electric Terrain boosted Thunder onto the Leafeon, the attack not doing as much damage as Surge would have liked due to the boosted special defense that was a byproduct of the Calm Mind used by Ralts, alongside the natural resistance that grass types had against electric attacks.
Leafeon burst into flames once more and ripped herself free from the Grass Knot to continue speeding and evading, which was bad for Raichu since she was still poisoned, hit by two layers of Spikes, and got hit by a boosted Swift. All in all, it was probably best to finish the Leafeon off now before Evandros got even more momentum.
"Leaf, Duo 5"
"Raichu use DV"
Surge knew that he couldn't bet on getting the right counter for the right combo moves that the Leafeon might use so he opted for a coverage move instead.
Pink soundwaves emanated from Raichu as she sang the fairy type attack against a combination of Swift and a ground type move. Though, that wasn't the real attack.
"HP, seven 'o' clock."
Though the Leafeon was fast, she wasn't able to dodge the rapidly approaching Hidden Power Ice.
She was blown back onto the other side of the field, closer to Surge and away from her trainer, but the grass type shrugged off the super effective hit to dig into the ground-
"Swift"
-right where Raichu could get a few hits in without worrying about damage, the electric type also automatically setting up another Rain Dance due to the fact that the Electric Terrain had nearly fizzled out. It probably wasn't going to do a lot of damage, especially because the electric type on the field was starting to flag due to the poison coursing in her veins.
Surge made sure to keep an eye both on the field and on the trainer. The kid was pretty wound up and his knuckles were still fairly white, his body tense, and his eyes were still promising pain, but he wasn't looking at where his Pokemon might erupt from the field which was good since that would be a rookie mistake and easy read for the high-level trainers like Surge himself.
A slight tremor behind the electric type occurred and she jumped away, firing off another Hidden Power at the epicenter of the tremors. Hitting-
-nothing but Swift stars and a Sunny Day, destroying the distraction and leaving herself wide open.
Raichu's eyes widened as Leafeon came out right underneath the electric type who was stuck in the air unable to dodge, and it was only her quick reflexes that Raichu used Iron Tail to block the super effective Dig... but with momentum against her and with little time to actually prepare for the counterattack Raichu was blasted even higher into the air; her descent leading her to Surge who could do nothing but return his knocked out Pokemon before she got hurt from the fall. He would rather keep the last Pokemon as a surprise, so he sent out Luxio.
Due to Raichu using Thunder all willy nilly, the field traps had been destroyed so Luxio didn't get hurt by any Spikes or Poison Spikes.
That said, it just meant that Surge only had one poisoned Pokemon, one lightly injured Pokemon, and one fresh Pokemon.
Evandros on the other hand had two lightly injured Pokemon, one heavily injured Pokemon, and two fresh Pokemon.
All that meant that Surge was going to have to push a little deeper for any further plays, maybe use a five-star Pokemon at the end.
But for now, that Leafeon was too fast for the rest of Surge's team.
"Duo 1"
"Roar"
Even with the rapidly sleeping Leafeon being on the other side of the field, Luxio managed to roar so loud that the grass type was blown back and returned into her pokeball. One of the other pokeballs on Evandros' waist opened and out came the Clamperl, just as Surge thought it eventually would.
Clamperl was one of the kids' newer catches, but Surge had at least an idea of its capabilities. It would be just like when he would protect the beaches of Kanto against the navy that Johto had used, facing off Shellder and Cloyster and Slowbro's with the occasional Slowking and Octillery.
There was a genuine reason as to why Surge never faced off against water types nowadays.
"Do you want us to use everything we've got?" Evandros asked
Surge gave a chuckle that was both amused and mocking "Kid, I'm a gym leader. Ask the Joy's what happens when some punk gives a statement like that."
A cursory glance at the stands showed that the viewers were starting to get heavily invested in the battle, considering that it was fuller than when the kid first came out of the entry way; that normally should've been impossible since the last match was against a guy wanting his seventh badge.
Another glance onto the Pokemon in front of him showed that this Clamperl had a pristine shell, nuggets of knowledge from talking with Misty helping with that analysis.
The boy merely nodded, as if he was expecting that reaction.
"Alright then, Pearl use Shell Smash!"
Surge's mind buggered for a second, memories of that cursed move used by Misty and Blaine against him, before he snapped back into reality and ordered a retaliatory "Trailblaze!"
'Oy vey,' Surge lamented in his mind 'if it's not one thing with this kid then it's another.'
Luxio gathered speed as it used the grass type move to try and hit the Clamperl who dissolved a white feather-like thing while it was finishing up its move. And Surge called it 'it' because he didn't really have a good understanding of what differentiates a male clamperl from a female one due to the unintended scarcity of them being used in general but especially in his gym.
"Dodge and use B"
"Hit it with Charge Beam instead."
The Clamperl moved as fast as it could to jump up and over Luxio as it was readying up its water type attack. Luxio dug his claws into the dirt to stop his momentum as he began readying Charge Beam.
Shell Smash was a move that boosted the speed of a Pokemon way higher than a Trailblaze but due to Luxio's innate speed and the training Surge would subject his Pokemon to, alongside the general slowness of a Clamperl that most clam-attributed Pokemon generally had, both attacks met in the middle.
The obvious conclusion would be that the water type move would be pummeled by the electric type move, even with the rain helping boost the attack.
'Nothing is obvious with this kid' Surge mused
What should have been a quick and easy one hit ko for his Luxio was instead a mind-boggling clash between an electric attack and a water attack struggling for dominance, mainly due to the fact that electric type moves should always beat water type ones. The tie only lasted for a few seconds before the water move began travelling upwards the electric current, the salt water initially only moving at a snail's pace before turning into an avalanche of power rushing to meet its electric aggressor; even though Luxio's attack would be a critical hit.
'Wait, salt water?' Surge thought
Then it hit him... but at that point it was too late.
Luxio was blasted back, only barely clinging to consciousness as he roared in both pain and anger at the disrespect that he'd received from a water type.
"Luxio don't use electric moves! Go for a Swift instead!"
Of course, discipline was put to the wayside when a person or Pokemon was too angry at something.
Luxio squared his shoulders in the way he normally would, to use Charge, but his fur didn't get up in the regular way that it should. That was because the salt water in his fur was preventing him from using electricity.
The Clamperl that Surge saw in a new light decided to use another Shell Smash before shifting to the beginnings of Iron Defense and Surge could do nothing but return Luxio and motion to the referee that the electric type wouldn't battle.
'Screw what everyone else might think,' Surge thought 'this Clamperl is the most dangerous one in the kids' team.'
He needed to take out this Clamperl as fast as possible with Electrode otherwise he would be forced into using a fifth star Magneton or Electrode, one would be countered by Evandros' Leafeon but both would be helpless against that Ralts.
With a quick chuck, Surge tossed his Electrode as far away from the water type as possible.
"Agility into Light Screen" Surge ordered, noting how the white top of the electric type had a light purple shading.
"Confuse Ray"
A fact about Electrode is that they are one of the fastest battlers in the entire world, they might not have the speed of a Rapidash or an Arcanine but they are feared when one of the circular electric types is in a field due to not only their explosive tendencies but also their speed and rapid turning that allows them to dodge attacks near instantaneously.
All of that combined meant that Electrode got off the Agility first, rolled to the left to dodge the ball of ghostly energy that was Confuse Ray, and set up a Light Screen as its final act.
"Now, use Rollout"
"Tch, focus on dodging," Evandros said "once you get a clear shot then use Brine."
What came next was yet another game of cat and mouse, but now both trainers were on the opposite sides of the game.
Electrode would bull one way, only for the Clamperl to jump the other way.
If the Clamperl saw a shot at getting Electrode and took it then the ball Pokemon would retaliate by letting the water type move contest with the Light Screen as he struck the water type with Rollout, the attack not doing as much as it could due to the prior Iron Defence set up.
Round and round the battle would go, who would drop? Nobody knows.
...
...Well, not nobody.
Surge saw the frustration clear on his opponents' face, the kid was trying to find a way that he could win this match up easily and was finding some difficulty. It probably didn't help that the electric type would randomly stop and fire a massive Thunder that the Clamperl could only barely dodge.
Surge smirked as the kid picked up the water types pokeball and returned her, he capitalized on it by ordering an Electric Terrain.
Mind made up, the kid unclipped a new ball from his belt and sent out his Beedrill.
Surge had the pleasure of battling this species and knew that the kid was going to try a status move first. So, he went for the easiest choice to use.
"Agility" Evandros ordered
"Discharge" Surge barked aloud
The electric type move, strengthened by the Electric Terrain, damaged the bug type and left a few parts of his body black and burnt. Though, those same burns were already being healed so the kid probably gave a berry or that leftovers item.
"Discharge again"
"Get through while using Harden and punish with Twineedle"
Yet another boom of electrical energy being fired occurred but this time the Beedrill was covering itself with the hard sheen of the defensive normal type move as it advanced, shaving off minute amounts of damage to come to the perfect position of striking with deadly accuracy.
Surge knew he could do nothing more, Electrode had been slowly chipped away by the poison and had gotten scrapes from Brine strikes that they couldn't fully dodge and now the electric type would be battered and faint by the next attack.
So, Surge at least made sure he finished one of the kids' Pokemon off.
A whistle was all he needed.
Somehow the kid knew a mere second before the Explosion would occur and tried to warn his Beedrill about it... but it was too little, too late.
A massive 'BOOM' occurred, and it was only thanks to the soundproofing of the barriers that nobody lost their sense of hearing. It took a couple seconds for the dust to settle, showing blackened bodies unconscious and on the floor.
Surge gave a nod of respect to Electrode and returned them easily enough.
He took a second to glance at the kid and noticed that he had already returned Beedrill and was now holding up four different pokeballs. Seems like he was debating on who he should send out next, and Surge would let him choose this time because if the kid went overtime with his decision than Surge would get to use a move free of charge.
The rain had stopped falling by the time Electrode had used Explosion but the Electric Terrain was still up and running.
That Clamperl was still kicking but as he just saw, the water type didn't do too well against speedy opponents so he could use another Electrode or a Jolteon to counter it. The Pineco could move fast but it didn't have quick enough reflexes to dodge a Pokemon around its speed level, so Surge would have to use an Electrode or a Jolteon. The Ralts had quick enough reflexes and teleportation on its side, so a counter would be a Pokemon with super effective moves like a Magneton or a Jolteon. Finally, that Leafeon was extremely damaged and could become extremely fast while having quick reflexes, so he needed a Pokemon that similarly had fast reflexes to counter it like an Electabuzz or a Jolteon.
Surge went with the surprising choice.
He picked Jolteon.
On the field the two opposing Pokemon took a second to look at each other. Both were eyeing the other up in curiosity and a hint of wariness.
Why wouldn't they?
Afterall, both Eeveelutions must have had their own reasons and circumstances to evolve into different forms.
"Heh, even I can admit you've done good kid. But this is the end of the line for you and your Pokemon."
"... We'll see about that." Surge's grin widened from those fighting words.
Both Jolteon and Leafeon acted without any words from their trainers. They paced around in a circle while using Agility, Jolteon clearly faster than Evandros' Leafeon although the gap wasn't too far apart that the gym leader could rest on his laurels.
Ultimately, someone had to break the silence.
"On the offensive Leaf, use Flame Charge."
Like the crack of whip, the pacing in circles cease as the Leafeon bursts into flames and lunges at her opponent who just barely turned the full blow attack into a little nick on his side. The electric type then stopped being stunned from the fiery display of the grass type long enough to fire off a retaliatory Thunderbolt that the Leafeon dodged through the quick use of Double Team.
"Discharge"
Jolteon fired a giant omni-directional wave of electricity only for Leafeon to use Dig to dodge the attack, the grass type popping right back out and harrying the electric type with Swift as she moved closer for another strike. The lightning Pokemon simply countered with his own Swift which was a much stronger version of the ranged attack and forced the grass type to fall back and use what was most likely Mud Slap in conjunction with Swift.
The next minute continued in similar manner.
When Jolteon fired off a Shadow Ball then Leafeon would punt it back with Iron Tail leaving Jolteon exposed for a strike from Quick Attack. When Leafeon tried to strike using Dig then Jolteon would fire an Electroweb on the ground that Leafeon would have to spend precious moments breaking through only to find that Jolteon had repositioned elsewhere and had used Thunderbolt once more.
Unfortunately, despite the evenness in skill there was one clear difference between the two. One was an extremely injured and tired Pokemon while the other was fresh and ready to battle.
The deciding factor wasn't when both clashed in a battle strength or even when one got hit by an attack.
It ended when Leafeon was too tired to move, she looked back at her trainer and he simply nodded as he returned her into the pokeball to rest giving words of thanks and retiring her from the match.
This gave time for Surge to think even more on the Pokemon used. Every Pokemon he used were firmly on the four star level and every Pokemon that Evandros sent out were all clearly at the four star level but if he had been challenged maybe a week or two earlier they would be around the high three star level... but that was supposed to be impossible for the Leafeon, an evolution before a Pokemon is strong enough to meet the prerequisites that most its species have to go through find themselves having a lower power ceiling than others and that was doubly true for stone evolution Pokemon; but a non factor for Pokemon who evolve through friendship or love.
Leafeon don't evolve through friendship and there weren't any mossy rocks in cities so it couldn't have been through that, which has to mean that the grass type evolved through a stone.
But that didn't make sense to Surge. If that was true then that Leafeon should have been having a hard time reaching past the third star level but it was clearly at around the mid-high four star level and didn't really show any signs of stopping anytime soon.
His head was trying to wrap around the walking abnormality that was Leafeon just as his gut took action and ordered Jolteon to use Calm Mind as the Electric terrain had nearly fizzled out, the Light Screen gone completely.
This time, the Pineco came out onto the field. Evandros taking a couple seconds to use his pokedex to probably recheck all the moves that the bug type had learnt.
"Reflect then your newest move Automize."
Surge ignored the phrasing of the last part of the order and simply said "Thunderbolt"
Pineco couldn't dodge or defend against the electric type attack and simply took the punishment as she used Reflect, placing weirdly shaped versions of the barrier onto the field but it most likely were made to deflect attacks like Pin Missile for Ralts. She the only thing that didn't let her faint was the Sturdy ability that most Pineco had. She then rolled aside from the second Thunderbolt and used Automize which was definitely how she managed to become faster than Luxio.
She didn't become faster than Jolteon but when she rolled it became a battle of around even speed. Of course, Jolteon is an electric type and electric types are mainly known for their speed and special attacking power.
Another game of cat and mouse occured, and Surge was willing to let it play out. He might regularly beat the snot out of a kid with more thoroughness and aggression than most other gym leaders, but even he knew when he needed to be a lesson or a stepping stone for a trainer and when he just needed to be a dumb heel.
Jolteon was racing ahead, curving this way and that to dodge the bug type's advance, taking care not to bumb onto the weirdly placed Reflect barriers all around the field. Surge was fine with the current impasse.
The bug type, evidently, was not.
Just as Jolteon took a right turn, the Pineco immediately went full speed onto a Reflect screen and its weird curve allowed the bagworm Pokemon to end up right on Jolteon's left side. It rammed right into the electric type with as much as it could gather from Rollout and managed to push the lightning Pokemon off of his feet.
Sparing no expense, as the bug types rage hadn't dissipated when she was returned, Pineco immediately fired a Struggle Bug attack to slam into the side of the electric type; the attack had a sheen to it that made it clear that it was a critical hit.
"Swift and Dig" Surge said calmly
"Self-Destruct" Evandros said with a tone of finality
Shit.
Before Jolteon could even begin firing the honing stars, Pineco didn't even hesitate to begin glowing a bright white.
Surge could admit that his less than kind words were biting him in the ass in the eleventh hour.
Again for the second time today, a massive 'BOOM' occured and obscured the battlefield from all watchers.
The crowd waited in baited breath as everyone watched the smoke and dust dissipate.
Evandros simply pointed his pokeball onto the battlefield and managed to return Pineco back into her ball before saying some quick words to her and clipping her pokeball back onto his belt.
The smoke was gone, and the only thing left on the broken and charred battlefield was a fainted Jolteon. Surge didn't wait for his referee to motion that the kid won before he returned the electric type and began walking over to the kid, the ten year old unphased and walking to meet Surge in the middle.
The mountain of a man loomed over the pipsqueak, neither saying anything for a bit as both sized the other up.
Slowly, Surge held his hand out with the Thunder Badge, the TM for Shockwave, and a slip of paper.
Surge internally chuckled when he saw the look of confusion on Evandros's face as put the first two items into his pocket before opening the folded paper.
In it was Surge's signature and the words 'Good Luck'.
"Hehehe," Surge chuckled "that was a damn fine showing you did there, kid. That slip has my signature and it'll grant you an automatic automatic pass into the safari zone of Indigo."
Surge wouldn't ever apologise to anyone, it just wasn't in his programming to apologise. So he gave the closest thing to an apology.
Surge didn't bother hiding his cackle as the kid held the paper closer and snapped his head up in a mixture of surprise and confusion.
Deciding to cut to the chase, Surge asked "By the way, how did your Leafeon even evolve?"
Flummoxed, the kid replied with "Oh, uh, Leaf evolved kinda strange. For a second she was gonna be a Sylveon then she randomly became a Leafeon."
Now Surge was perplexed "Huh? You sure you didn't hand her a Leaf stone." Evandros shook his head "Well then, were you and Leaf near a mossy rock?"
"Mossy what?"
"Come on, a mossy rock. I don't really get how but there's some moss that gathers in forests thats just chock full of grass TE- er Type Energy. Type Energy is like the energy that a Pokemon uses to use moves."
"... So a move like Grassy Terrain-" "Would be full of grass TE or like how Electric Terrain is filled with electric TE."
Surge noticed how the kid had a lightbulb turn on in his head and proceeded to begin jogging away.
The gym leader huffed in amusement and heading back onto his trainer box to wait for the field to be repaired once more, sending his fainted Pokemon through the transfer system to be looked after by Nurse Joy.
He waited patiently for the next victim.