0-3 Rising Gym

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Red's Venusaur hit the field with a roar, one leg stomping on the ground and cratering it, tendrils of Ground power snaking across the field in anticipation of an attack. He immediately began channeling Fire Aura into the sky above them, filtering the dawn sunlight until it was many times more powerful.

Lance's Dragonair had begun its Dragon Dance before the red light had faded and it fully manifested from stasis. The gorgeous blue serpent looked especially stunning as it soared through the air with regal movements, a cooing cry like bells ringing.

Neither trainer shouted a command; micro-managing Pokémon is a trademark of the weak and inexperienced. Venusaur fired off a potent Solar Beam as soon as he had strengthened the sunlight enough with Sunny Day to skip the charge time, and hid a package of Poison Aura within the ray as they had practiced all those months ago, before Saffron. Dragonair was able to dodge, already so much faster thanks to Dragon Dance, but the Solar Beam was never intended to hit: the Poison energies detonated mid-air a meter away from Dragonair's body, and the corrosive poison of Toxic was splattered on its flesh.

To Red's consternation, he saw the Aura in Dragonair's scales suddenly spike in strength. He recognized Marvel Scale when he saw it: he saw Leader Misty's Milotic in action back in Cerulean, though he was too weak to challenge it at the time. His research hadn't revealed that Dragonair could develop that ability, too! Now Dragonair had the defenses to match its increased speed and power, and there was no saying how long the Toxic would last before it could Shed its Skin. He would have had Venusaur open with Worry Seed if he knew.

Actually, I can use this, he realized, and commanded, "Keep applying Leech Seed and Toxic. Its Shed Skin will cure it."

Lance saw no need to interrupt his enemy while he's making a mistake. Dragonair used Dragon Dance twice more, Marvel Scale activating twice more to Leech Seed and a second Toxic, until Lance spoke his first command of the battle: "Outrage."

Dragonair had been in the late Fourth Realm when it was released. Buffed by three Dragon Dances and three applications of Marvel Scale, it had power befitting a Pokémon in the mid Sixth Realm as it flashed across the battlefield with speed and power rarely seen outside the Indigo Plateau. If Red closed his eyes and saw with his Aura, it looked only a Realm shy of Champion Oak's prized Dragonite's Draco Meteor.

Venusaur fainted in a single hit.

His hat's brim covered his face in shadow and he smiled. It was considered disreputable, but he waited out the full thirty seconds he was allotted to let Outrage end and for confusion to set in Dragonair's battle-crazed mind. As soon as he saw the waves of emanating Dragon-type power end, he released Espeon.

Maybe she read his mind, maybe she saw the power before her and drew her own conclusions; it didn't matter. As Dragonair blitzed in for a sudden Dragon Rush and struck the ground in its confusion, shaking the earth like a full-power Magnitude, Espeon used Trick Room.

Psychic power snapped out and thickened into walls, a cube fifty meters wide, and in that space a headache-inducing effect warped time. Dragonair moved faster – Red saw that, Lance did too – but Espeon somehow acted first.

Power Swap stole all of Dragonair's boosted physical might, then Guard Swap, learned from Blue's Umbreon, stole all of Marvel Scale's defenses. The second Dragon Rush hit, and though Espeon was knocked back a handful of meters by the raw kinetic force, she was unharmed. Hardly scuffed, even. And then, to tie a neat little bow on the unfair combo: Stored Power.

The Psychic move drew extra oomph from the stockpiled boosts, and Dragonair, already weakened from Leech Seed and Toxic, let out a shriek of pain as it writhed and fell unconscious.

Lance recalled Dragonair with a nod of acknowledgement, and Espeon took the opportunity to dispel Trick Room, now that she had the Dragon Dance speed boost.

"I usually save Dragonite for last, in battles such as these," Lance said, voice resonating through the psychic barriers on the battlefield. "Consider this a sign of respect. I trained this dragon myself."

Red's adrenaline spiked at those words. He expected every foe he faced today to belong to a Gym Trainer, or perhaps the Blackthorn clan as a whole; to face one of the sixteen Pokémon a Fifth Realm trainer has bonded with is a compliment and threat both.

Dragonite arrived with a roar and a flap of wings that summoned a small Hurricane. The most legendary species in Indigo emanated a potent Pressure that almost put Red on his knees. He still remembered his first encounter with a creature such as this, seeing Champion Oak battle Elite Four Agatha for the throne over ten years ago, and he knew he would remember this just as long.

The dragon was Fifth Realm, like his own team, but he could see with his Aura that it was faster, more powerful, better trained. Some of that was due to birthright as a Dragonite, but not all of it. The realization stung like alcohol on a wound.

"No tricks, go for the throat," Red ordered, and Espeon obeyed.

The might of a twelve-times-boosted Stored Power lashed out like a Psychic whipcrack, and it broke against some kind of barrier on Dragonite's scales, failing to so much as draw blood. An ability he doesn't know about?

Extreme Speed saw Dragonite cross the battlefield in the blink of an eye, then Espeon was crushed between the rock floor and hundreds of pounds of dragon. There was no time to use Protect. She gave a yowl of pain that made Red grit his teeth, then she fled into the earth with a reflexive Dig.

Dragonite took to the skies, already buffing with Dragon Dance.

Red could see the Aura in the air distort, slightly, and slowly untensed. He recognized the flow of Morning Sun in action; better yet, Venusaur's Sunny Day was still active, though fading.

Lance could see it, too. "It's healing. Flush it out."

Once more Dragonite corkscrewed into the earth, a ruinous Bulldoze shaking the ground. Then, it rose- and came down again. And again.

"Espeon is unable to battle," the referee called. She's linked to the Psychics maintaining the barriers, so Red didn't doubt the call.

Focused, Red attempted to peer into the earth with his Aura sight. Was Espeon able to use their contingency? He couldn't tell. If he was wrong, then he'd be making a terrible mistake, and he'd almost certainly throw the whole match.

He'd have to trust.

"Pikachu, Pick Up." A nonsense order, but his starter would understand the in-joke.

The Electric mouse, tiny and adorable and not at all common on the competitive scene, dashed into the Dug warrens with Agility-enhanced speed.

Blue and him had spent weeks exploring the nuances of Power Swap, Guard Swap, Psych Up, and Stored Power. Pokémon have Auras not at all unlike the Aura of humans, and one of the most common expressions of that power is with so-called 'boosting moves.' The mechanics of such moves are, on the surface, simple: Pokémon have large capacity for Aura but only so much throughput, and can thus only call upon a fraction of their power at once. Instead of an offensive move that is a simple, damaging expression of that power, they can shape that spent power into a kind of second Aura, or battery, and then draw upon that power and their own power simultaneously, not unlike harnessing a held item. In theory, this then doubles their throughput at the cost of needing set-up time. In practice, it's a lot easier and more convenient to make specialized boosts that enhance speed, power, or defenses then it is to make a wide-ranging boost, like the prototypical Ancient Power, the move from which all boost moves originate.

But when a Pokémon faints, where do the boosts go? Without a mind and soul to hold onto it, the package of Aura power dissolves into the ambient Aura flow. What if a Pokémon was able to stabilize this boost before letting go, by protecting it in a membrane of sturdier Aura?

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Red and Blue called it Baton Pass.

"Whatever it's planning, stop it," Lance commanded, and Dragonite came crashing down for another Bulldoze.

Pikachu leapt from the tunnels with triple his already ludicrous speed, cloaked himself in the Electric cage of Volt Tackle, and struck Dragonite with Dragon Dance-boosted strength. Dragon is resistant to Electric, but Flying isn't.

Lance's beast was flying straight downwards when it was struck; Pikachu's might arrested its momentum entirely, and both mouse and dragon crashed against the eastern wall and the Psychic barriers reinforcing it. An ominous cracking sound reverberated in the air.

"Hold nothing back!" Lance shouted in a rush, voice tight.

Red felt as if he could take a step onto air and fly. To take the premier Dragon Master of Indigo so off guard by a move of his own creation- he was going to ride this high for the rest of his life.

Dragonite grabbed the mouse on its back and began to Outrage. Pikachu was smashed against the wall, the floor, gripped and torn between claws and battered by powerful Dragon-type energies, but half that Baton Pass was Marvel Scale's steel-like defense, and Pikachu held on. More, Pikachu unleashed a long, point-blank Thunder, the infamous booming sound that accompanied the move deafening all commands either he or Lance could have made.

It went on for a long time. In the end, Dragonite gave first.

Vindication! Red had rarely felt such triumph. Going to mock my starter, are you, Blue? Going to doubt our potential again, Old Man? Pikachu is going to sweep the Indigo Conference. All will know our power.

Lance recalled Dragonite, then paused, as if to say something. The moment passed.

The dragon he had seen last night appeared, blue-scaled with a jagged, red head. He still didn't know what it was called and he didn't know what it would do, but that didn't change their strategy at all. Overwhelming power was Red's forte.

Pikachu blitzed across the battlefield in a Volt Tackle, and the dragon stood to receive it, opening its maw wide in a Scary Face. Pikachu slowed to a mere blur as he smashed into it.

Thanks to the tiny opening provided by Scary Face, the dragon softened the rock at its feet with Dig or some other expression of Ground Aura, transforming a solid hit into a glancing blow. Pikachu skid across the battlefield as the dragon fell on its back with a roar of anger.

Pikachu's immense speed worked against him here; he wasn't yet accustomed to maneuvering at such insane speeds, and his agility suffered for it. In the time it took for Pikachu to differentiate up from down, turn, and break out into another run, the dragon was back on its feet and… throwing a tantrum?

It was a Fifth Realm dragon and trained by the Blackthorns, so Red assumed it was a real move, and he could see the Ground-type power rolling off it in waves, but he didn't recognize it.

Pikachu lost his footing, picked up speed again, then leapt in another Volt Tackle. This time, he was wise to the dragon's Ground-type tricks.

To Red's surprise, the unknown Pokémon made no move to dodge or deflect this second Volt Tackle. Shrieking in rage and pain, the dragon grabbed onto Pikachu in a move shockingly reminiscent of Dragonite's Outrage and continued its tantrum.

Between the Outrage earlier, the recoil from the three Volt Tackles, and now this strange Ground-type onslaught, Pikachu was being pushed precariously close to the edge. Only the stolen Marvel Scale toughness kept him in the battle. Worse, the spikes and jagged edges to the unknown Pokémon were doing surprising damage. Rough Skin, maybe?

Pikachu wasn't using Nuzzle, just maintaining his maximum electrical discharge while in the dragon's clawed grip, but his Static should have paralyzed it by now. Did the thing have Mold Breaker, too? Or was it actually Ground-type, and not just specialized in it?

Red hated battling foreign Pokémon. The Pokémon World League was the worst thing ever. If he had known, he would've ordered a Thunder Wave, then a slower strategy of using the enhanced speed from Dragon Dance and Agility to space the thing and wear it down over time with Discharge and Thunderbolts.

It was too late for that, but not too late to switch to a different track.

"Electric Terrain, then take it with you," he shouted. Pikachu was moving too quickly and chaotically earlier for Electric Terrain to be useful, but it was time to look ahead.

Pikachu was too much of a team player to mind making suicide plays. Holding nothing back, he blinded everyone in the Gym with a flash of lightning that knocked out both him and the foreign dragon while electrifying the earth in a ten-meter radius.

Both him and Lance were down three Pokémon, neither using their switch. The good news was that the terrain was in his favor. The bad news is he's pretty sure Lance has a Kingdra, a Gyarados, or both, and he's down his Electric-type.

Red stared Lance down as the thirty seconds trickled by, the only sound the crackling static of the Electric Terrain. Since both Pokémon fainted at the same time and both trainers are allowed thirty seconds before sending out their next team member, the only way for one side not to get an advantage over the other is if both wait out the timer. This fact was in Lance's favor as Pikachu's set-up wouldn't persist forever; already, it was getting weaker.

That didn't matter. He only needed it for a moment.

"Five seconds remaining!"

"Dragonair, the floor is yours."

"Snorlax! Pikachu left you a present!"

Red expected the second Dragonair; Lance wouldn't send out a Kingdra or Gyarados if he thought the Electric Terrain signaled a second Electric-type waiting in the wings. Red wanted the terrain for its second purpose, though.

Snorlax gave a pleased laugh that was so deep, the earth shook. With slow, laborious movements, the gargantuan Pokémon smacked her hands against her stomach in a Belly Drum- once, twice, thrice, the echo like the strike of a gong. The recoil allowed much more power to be channeled much quicker than usual, and Snorlax was soon carrying a boost with twice the offensive might that Espeon and Pikachu had been abusing, though it lacked any speed or defenses.

"Quickly!" Lance shouted, and Dragonair began using what was obviously the Blackthorn clan's favorite move, Outrage. No time was wasted on Dragon Dance or a Thunder Wave or any other kind of set-up; Lance knew the danger he was in.

To its credit, the Fifth Realm dragon was more powerful than the Dragonair he had fought at the beginning of the battle. It must be close to evolution. It didn't make a difference. Red had trained Snorlax on defense above and beyond anything else. Its superior speed let it get in one Outrage strike, then two-

Then Snorlax fell asleep.

Now, Red knows the Electric Terrain plus Rest combo isn't supposed to work. If the Pokémon is prevented from falling asleep, such as from Worry Seed giving it Insomnia or from electrified current, the powerful restorative effect of Rest won't activate.

Snorlax is simply so gargantuan that she can be sitting down, fall asleep, land flat on her face, and lay spread eagled on the Electric Terrain. Then she wakes up, fully healed.

Red let out a childish giggle.

"Sap it," Lance ordered, and a confused Dragonair began firing Thunder Waves every which way. Snorlax's immense size meant it was hit entirely by happenstance.

"Amnesia, then let loose."

Snorlax took a few seconds to create the elemental defense boost, losing the control required due to the current in her body. It was the right call, but it gave Dragonair enough time to snap out of her confusion and use Agility.

Red had honestly expected yet another Dragon Dance. For a battle of attrition, however, Agility made more sense.

Snorlax was well-rested, boasting incredible power, and was sturdy enough to shake off most hits. However, she was painfully, agonizingly slow, and Dragonair could fly.

This next phase of the battle took longer than the entire rest of the battle preceding it. Snorlax stomped around with a playful menace, every swipe a Hammer Arm, every step a Body Slam, every pratfall a Giga Impact, and if Dragonair was struck once that'd be it, one-hit knockout.

Dragonair didn't get hit.

Fire Spin and strafing runs of Dragonbreath slowly whittled away at Snorlax's health, and when she got low, Yawned, popped her Chesto Berry in her mouth, and prepared to Rest, Lance called for a variant Safeguard. Neither Snorlax nor Dragonair fell asleep, and the battle of attrition wore on.

Dragonair exhausted itself of energy before its Fire and Dragon-type attacks exhausted Snorlax of health. It went for a strafing run, was a hair too slow, and Snorlax fell on top of it in a Giga Impact that boomed like thunder.

It took Lance a few seconds to recall Dragonair from underneath her bulk, but when he did, he immediately sent out a Kingdra. From the glow on the referee's face, the blue, man-sized seahorse Pokémon was hers.

Kingdra had the first move as Snorlax was still recovering from Giga Impact. Cloud cover shrouded the battlefield in darkness, grey and heavy with rain that began to fall in thick sheets. Kingdra began to move and harness its power much more quickly – Swift Swim? – and used a bizarre utility move that Red had, again, never seen before. The Aura flow was Normal-dominant and seemed almost like Focus Energy, but much more potent. The power concentrated in its cannon-like mouth.

Snorlax was a clever girl. She knew that move, whatever it was, spelled her doom. She compressed the Belly Drum boost into a sphere of raw power in her mouth, then used Spit Up.

Kingdra's Hydro Pump was far more impressive than anything he'd seen from Blastoise, empowered as it was by that strange move, and Snorlax was knocked cold. So focused was it, though, that it took Snorlax's final surprise right to its center mass.

We have the tempo. He sent out Blastoise immediately, and commanded her own Hydro Pump.

Red had just Charizard left, and Lance had what was almost assuredly a Gyarados. That was a bad matchup for him, but if he sent Charizard out in this rain, he was doomed. With luck, Blastoise's Rain Dish would see her with enough strength left to make the difference in that final fight.

Blastoise must have thought herself in the perfect scenario. Released into a heavy rainstorm, her target flung into a wall and off-balance, and the move she had just learned was the only one in her repertoire that wouldn't be resisted or have a nasty side effect. An Ice Beam was launched as if from a cannon, freezing every rain drop in its path.

Icicles from the Beam's path broke against the floor in a shattering sound drowned out only by Kingdra's cry of pain. The battle was Blastoise's.

Then, a flash of light, and a familiar, echoing boom: Thunder. Kingdra can't learn that move!

Unerringly accurate in the rain, Blastoise writhed in pain. Her only saving grace was her Shell Armor, transforming a one-hit knockout into merely a crippling blow and- yes, paralysis too.

"I'm using my recall," Lance announced, and out came the Gyarados. "Hurricane."

Impossibly, this Gyarados wasn't blue; its scales were a brilliant red like the dawn. Red didn't believe that the Blackthorn clan would have a mutant Gyarados and not have it be raised by the Dragon Master Lance himself. How lucky was he, to face two of Lance's own Pokémon, even if neither were yet past the Fifth Realm?

As the Hurricane buffeted the heavy downpour, its accuracy raised in much the same way as Thunder had been, Red wondered how he could turn this all around.

He had no ideas.

He had rarely felt so alive.

Back on her feet due to her Rain Dish, in her preferred weather, and desperate enough to grasp onto the hysterical strength of Torrent, Blastoise launched the fastest, most powerful Hydro Pump he had ever seen from her. It wounded the red Gyarados but did nothing to stave off the Hurricane. And-

Red saw Gyarados siphon power from Blastoise as she fell unconscious. Moxie. He should have used his recall; the resisted damage of even an empowered Hydro Pump isn't worth giving a Gyarados a power boost.

He tossed Charizard's Pokéball in the air and caught it, once, then twice, three times. He mulled over strategies in his head. Nothing clever came to mind.

Oh, well.

"Charizard! Give it all you've got."

His own dragon roared with all the fury and pride of a tyrant who found his reign contested by another. The Gyarados roared back. Charizard dispelled the rain with a Sunny Day, then Gyarados began its own Rain Dance, the two fighting over control of the skies. The result was something bizarre: patches of black cloud belching rain while spears of hot sunlight slipped between, creating steam in the air.

Red believed that a trainer's purpose was to bring out a Pokémon's inner potential. This meant training a Pokémon how they wanted to be trained. He wanted Charizard to have at least moderately sturdy defenses, but all Charizard cared for was power, speed, and flame, and so that is what he trained.

Charizard burned with a Flare Blitz, his unique Reckless ability supercharging the move. Gyarados flew to meet him, the Waterfall echo trailing behind it. When they clashed in the air, Charizard's flames seared Gyarados' serpentine scales and his claws gouged trenches in its flesh. The water trail hit a moment later. At those speeds, the water was as solid as earth, and where it found fire it created steam that burned them both.

Charizard was a Fire-type, though; he could handle a burn. Gyarados couldn't.

A crackle of lightning, and Charizard's Thunder Punch was countered by a wicked Crunch. Gyarados Flailed wildly, its length lashing against Charizard's wings in an Aqua Tail, and Charizard tore it apart, lightning in one clawed hand and Dragon-type energy in the other.

It was short, and brutal, and inelegant. Red was entranced.

Both Pokémon fell to the floor, unconscious before they hit the ground.

"Both Pokémon are unable to battle! Master Lance is the victor!"

As both Pokémon were recalled, support Pokémon dealt with the weather and cleared the battlefield, and Lance walked over to shake his hand, Red found he didn't mind losing, if it was in a battle like that.