After arriving back at my room at the Pokemon Center I took a deep breath and called out all my Pokemon. They all emerged from their Pokeballs and looked at me with expectations.

“Alright, so I reserved a battle with Brawly. It will happen in two day at 12 pm, but things did not go according to plan.” I started to explain to my Pokemon. “Brawly decided to ‘reward’ me for my dedicated training in the gym and will be facing me with a tier three team, that includes a tier four ace.”

My Pokemon narrowed their eyes at that. “Yeah, we will face a tougher battle than we planned for until now. I will do some research online, but I doubt that the Pokemon will change much on his tier three teams. I’m more concerned about the tier four ace. Which I think will be either a young Hariyama or a Breloom, both totally different fighters. Or I think that at least, I doubt Brawly would not make use of Brelooms speed and powder attacks. So rest up, I will have to make a plan.” My Pokemon nodded and left me to it.

The research on the forums revealed what I thought, tiers two and three are mostly separated by the experience the Pokemon has. Tier four revealed to have featured the rare Combuskin or the Hitmon Pokemon, not really something I can do about. In the end I prepared as much as I could and walked up to the gym two days later with determination. If they want a spectacle, we would show them what dark types are about.

After entering the gym I was ushered into a waiting room, where I was fitted with a clip on microphone. ‘So the 12 pm slot really is a big deal, huh?’ I thought while the clock was ticking away. The attendant came in shortly afterward.

“Please follow me and move into the arena when I motion you to.” the attendant said and gestured to the door.

“Alright, lead the way.” I answered and stood up from the waiting bench. We arrived in a small tunnel that ended in the big arena, where I could see the battlefield. The attendant spoke up once again.

“Please wait here, the announcer will call you.” I just nodded.

The light in the arena dimmed and a voice spoke up. “Greetings people of Dewford. Today we have something special in our 12 pm slot, a badge two challenge. Brawly will face the challenger with a tier three team, with a tier four ace. Now give it up for our local surfer, the one that remains steady when everyone else falls. Please welcome our gym leader Brawly!” shouted the announcer and a spotlight lit up, aiming at another tunnel across the arena. From which Brawly emerged, clad in his usual surfer clothes. He waved to the crowd and took place on his side of the battlefield.

“Now for our challenger! He is a lab trainer under Professor Birch, please welcome Iruni Inei!” the announcer shouted my shorter introduction.

I pulled myself up, squared my shoulders and walked into the spotlight. I stoically moved towards the battlefield, ignoring the crowd. I came to a stop in the trainer box on my side of the battlefield and squared my arms. From across the battlefield Brawly was grinning towards me, but I just nodded once.

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A referee spoke up from the side. “This will be a four versus four fight. The challenger is allowed two substitutions, while the gym leader is not allowed to switch out his Pokemon. Trainers are you ready?”

“I sure am. Let’s get this party started!” called out Brawly.

“I’m ready.” I just called out in a calm voice. Brawly raised an eyebrow at that.

“Trainers please release your first Pokemon on three.” The referee spoke up again.

“One.” called out the referee, the crowd shouting alongside him.

“Two.”

“Three.”

“Go Meditite!” called Brawly and a Meditite emerged on his side of the field.

“Shut them down Poochyena!” I stated and Poochyena emerged from his Pokeball, taking a ready stance on my side of the field.

“Meditite versus Poochyena! Start!”

“Get close Meditite and Force Palm the Poochyena!” Shouted Brawly as soon, as the match started.

I just looked on as Poochyena executed the standard opening of Taunt and Torment, something we worked on extensively. I went over the plan with Poochyena the day before, so I did not need to give Poochyena the command to stay at a distance.

The Meditite moved across the battlefield with a determined face, quickly clearing the distance. Poochyena just looked back with equal amounts of determination and snarled as dark type energy rippled briefly, signifying that his moves were used.

Poochyena managed to stay at a distance, being the clearly faster of the two. Brawly also saw that and decided to switch things up.

“If you want to stay away, fine. Meditite, Work Up!” Meditite responded with its name and stopped the chase of Poochyena, dispersing the energy on his palm.

Seeing that I narrowed my eyes. “Now Poochyena!” Poochyena yipped in acceptance and rushed the Meditite, glowing faintly white.

Brawly smirked at that, not noticing that nothing was happening on Meditite’s end. “Meditite, Force Palm when in range!” Meditite called back with a slightly confused voice, causing Brawly to focus on his Pokemon.

What he saw was a Poochyena, with an evil glint in his eyes, closing the distance and barrelling into the Meditite with a text book Take Down attack. “Force Palm the dog!” Brawly called out once again.

Meditite was looking really stressed now and managed to gather some energy on its palm. Poochyena just bit down hard on the shoulder that arm was attached to. I saw the smirk in his eyes and called out another command.

“Prey, Poochyena!” this caused my little dog to bite even harder down on the Meditite. Brawly still was flustered and scrambled for something to do. “Swagger Meditite, we need to get the Poochyena of from you!” called out Brawly, not having seen the Taunt.

Meditite did not use Swagger and just hit Poochyena with normal swings, without any type energy behind them. Poochyena responded by stubbornly still biting down on the shoulder, not letting go.

I narrowed my eyes when I saw blood leaking down Meditite’s shoulder. I called out to Brawly. “Meditite is bleeding.” He looked alarmed at that. “What? Then call of your Pokemon Iruni!” he shouted back.

I scoffed. “Only if you forfeit Meditite, I won’t get into this position again if I just let him retreat from your Pokemon.”

The referee spoke up. “Please make your decision Brawly.”

Brawly ground his teeth and nodded in the end. “I retire Meditite.” he ground out annoyed.

The referee nodded and looked to me, I just nodded and called out. “Poochyena, you won. You can let go now.” Poochyena let got of Meditite, looked back at me with a proud smirk on his lips. I smirked back. “That was a perfect round Poochyena.”

“Poochyena!” he barked back and he began to glow. You know evolution never fails to amaze me, it is just that cool. After a few moments my little Poochyena was gone and in his place stood a smirking Mightyena.

“Might! Mightyena!” he barked at me. I just laughed. “I doubt you will win against her, but you are welcome to try in a few days.”

“Leader Brawly please send out your next Pokemon.” called out the referee to Brawly. He must have recalled Meditite in the meantime.