‘Great entrance, Valerie!’ Larry cheered from inside his Pokeball, ‘She really is a fast learner, I know I would’ve thrown up by the first and then been dry-heaving by the second spin tile. How’d she manage to learn to ride them so quickly?’
His musings were cut short when the commentators' incessant droning and the roar of the crowd were suddenly stopped by the Gym Leader himself, “Silence.”
All eyes fell on the man, standing above even the bleachers in what seemed like a throne box. While the ground was composed of compacted dirt, probably for repairability after multiple gym battles. The walls of the gym arena still held the same opulent air the labyrinths had. Massive pillars of white marble, inlaid with intricate, flowing golden pieces of trim, were built along each side of the battlefield, with the walls in between painted in various shades of golden colors and trim pieces of a lattice pattern built over the top.
It reminded Larry of the utter opulence of Middle Eastern and oriental architecture, there was even a domed roof with intricate carvings on it. If Giovanni himself didn’t exude as much confidence as he did standing on his inlaid balcony, he might’ve called it gaudy, especially compared to the simpler, classical architecture of the buildings outside of the gym.
And yet, Giovanni seemed to give credence to the design of the gym. His demeanor, the smug, yet commanding quirk of his lip, and the almost imperceptible furrow of his brow, underlined the man's ever-present stern glare. Larry almost couldn’t believe his eyes from inside his Pokeball, ‘How did people not think this guy looked seedy? He looks like a textbook crook in a suit! He screams Mob boss! The dude literally has his own throne!’
After a solid ten or so seconds of silence, Giovanni finally spoke again, one hand on the railing of his balcony and the other swirling his glass of wine, “Valerie Riston, it seems you’ve managed to brave the labyrinth.”
Their trainer nodded, “Yes, and now I’ve come to challenge you for the Earth Badge.” She had been mic’d up when they’d started the gym challenge, but only now had her microphone been turned on, probably to keep the amount of swearing to a minimum during the gym challenge.
The man's quirked grin rose a smidge at the challenge. If Larry didn’t have his knowledge, he would’ve simply assumed the man to be the final, cocky gym leader, and not a literal crime lord, “Confident, aren’t you? Alright. I’ll accept your challenge.”
Next to him, a pedestal rose, with three Pokeballs set in small divots on its top. He picked one of the three balls before announcing the rules, “Three Pokemon, no time limit.”
“But I only have two Pokemon.” Valerie countered, and Giovanni turned his glare back towards her, the white of his teeth peeking out of his grin.
“Then I hope you’re ready for quite the challenge, Miss Riston.”
It was his gym battle, so whatever Pokemon he decided to challenge Valerie with would be allowed. There was no way for them to beat even one of his Pokemon without a lot of tomfoolery to make it possible, so Valerie simply nodded back, “I am.”
…
A Psychic-Type at the edge of the battling court walked forward, creating a translucent psychic barrier around the field. Pokemon fights could get pretty wild, so gyms kept an array of Psychic-Types to shield crowds and trainers from the battles.
On the other side of the court, a referee, wearing a gaudy set of armor, somewhere between a Roman soldier and a gladiator, appeared. He held up a hand as he announced the full rule-set for everyone to hear, “This gym battle will be fought between Gym Leader Giovanni and Challenger Valerie Riston. Both parties can use three Pokemon, and there is no time limit, one substitution is allowed.”
Looking between both of them, their referee finally asked, “Are both parties ready?”
“Ready.” Giovanni spun his Pokeball between his fingers.
“Ready!” Picking Larry’s Pokeball from her belt and expanding it, Valerie nodded towards the referee.
“Alright. Trainers, send out your first Pokemon!”
Valerie put Larry’s Pokeball close to her face and whispered to it, “Just like we planned, Larry.”
Larry’s ball flew, and with the signature POP! he appeared in the field. After a quick nod back towards Valerie, he cried out with a loud squeak. “LET’S DO THIS!”
Just like his, Giovanni's Pokeball landed on the other side of the court, releasing a Rhyhorn with a loud growl, “Rhy-horn!” “Beat you!”
Larry almost hadn’t caught it, but from his viewpoint below, he could see Giovanni's brow crease and his grin lower into a frown at the sight of the Pokemon, ‘What? Why’s he mad that he released his Pokemon?’
Their training chats came back to him, and Larry realized what was off, ‘Oh wait, this is a Rhyhorn, not a Rhydon! Why’d he release a weak Pokemon? I thought the Gym didn’t fight at lower badge levels.’
Before Larry could turn back to see what Valerie thought of Giovanni's Pokemon, the referee called out again, “Let the battle - BEGIN!”
It was now or never, so Larry immediately began with the preparations for their plan, coaxing Rock-TE into an invisible appendage to drum up a localized Sandstrom around himself while scratching away the excess rocky skin on his body with Rock Polish. With an unexpected Pokemon in front of them, they needed to take every precaution they could, so Larry took slow and measured steps to the side inside of his Sandstorm, expecting the Rhyhorn to come barreling through any second. ‘Rhyhorn only charge forward, it's bound to come charging through any second.’
Over the din of the sandstorm, Larry couldn’t hear Giovanni's commands, but with a Pokemon like Rhyhorn, it was bound to be a physical attack. So when Larry finished up his Rock Polish around ten or so seconds into the match, he took the precaution of erecting a simple wall of stone in front of where they’d assume him to be standing before beginning with his Dragon Dances.
His precaution proved useful when, twenty seconds into the match, he finally felt the Rock-Type charge into his sandstorm before shortly crashing head-first into his rocky wall. Where Larry had predicted the Pokemon to be stopped by the wall, though, it wasn’t, instead simply crashing through it and out beyond it as it barreled out of his sandstorm.
Through the sand and dust kicked up by his storm, Larry caught a glimpse of Rhyhorn, charging past him just a few meters away. As he spun in his Dragon Dance, he felt himself begin to sweat metaphorically, ‘Whew, too close for comfort...I don’t know what move that was, but going by the boulder, I think it would hurt…’
Muscles tensing, bulging with energy, Larry finally got started on his second Dragon Dance. He gave the sandstrom another few whirls and simply prayed that his location in the storm was still safe, ‘I just have to get this one off and then I’m in the clear!’
Thrity second or so into the match, Larry was almost finished with his second Dragon Dance and the entirety of their setup, when a giant volley of boulders, far bigger than any he’d ever created, suddenly appeared in his vision of the sandstorm. ‘Whoa?!’ He almost lost his focus, but managed to catch hold of the Dragon-TE inside of him before it could dissipate. Seeing their trajectory, he kept his Dragon Dance up and hoped for the best.
WHIZZ!
BOOM!
ZOOM!
CRASH!
The boulders hurled just past his head and side, exploding uselessly against the ground and adding more dust and sand particles to his sandstorm. Larry almost wanted to cry out in response, ‘Is he trying to kill me or something?!’
Finally, Larry felt his body bulge up a second time, muscles pulling tightly underneath his skin.
‘Ok! Now we’ve got it!’ He stopped pushing against the sandstorm, and the particles naturally began to dissipate as he rolled his shoulder and flexed his arm.
As the curtain of sand fell, Larry's eye fell on Giovanni above for a moment before locking eyes with his opponent. Both Giovanni and his Rhyhorn looked irritated, likely angry to not have landed a hit yet, but Larry would have to make them wait to do that a little longer.
“Sorry, Giovanni. Now, we sweep.”
…
Giovanni
Truly, he had been sabotaged, ‘What a sham…And in front of the champion too, no less…’
An eighth badge gym like his prided itself on the powerful Pokemon one needed to face and defeat to attain one of his badges, but this Ryhorn in front of him wasn’t one of these prided Pokemon. It was a Gym Pokemon in training, trained by Gym Trainers and himself to replace his current Pokemon once their age caught up to them.
The same was true for the other Pokemon on the pedestal, all of which were registered to other Pokemon in training.
Still, it could be worse. Ryhorn was at the power level of a Pokemon ready for use in a second or third Gym, with the others at similarly high levels. Perhaps not on the level of an eighth badge, but still more than enough to wipe the floor with a lowly trainer like Valerie Riston, whose Pokemon hadn’t even seen a single Gym battle yet.
‘And yet…Why have we not managed to land a hit yet?’ His jaw was pressed tightly and his brow firmly creased by now. Both Drill Run and Rock Throw had failed to hit their target.
He thought his Pokemon to be more talented at hitting their target, although that sandstorm does make it quite a bit harder for them, ‘And the Riston girl hasn’t uttered a single command to her Pokemon…What is her goal here?’
Just as Giovanni was about to try another attack, the sandstorm finally ceased, and the Larvitar appeared before him. It was logical that it had done something inside the storm, yet he couldn’t be sure what it was. Had it set traps, used status-moves, or something else entirely?
“Larvi-Tar-Lar.” It cried out as it came into view, its gaze turned towards him.
Its trainer's anxious face turned gleeful as she clenched her fists in celebration, “You got it, Larry! Show ‘em what we can do!”
‘Is she not going to instruct her Pokemon to use any specific move? Let’s just end this farce-’ “Rhyhor-” Before Giovanni could even utter a command for his Pokemon to follow, Larvitar disappeared into the earth. Thinking quickly, Giovanni changed his command on the fly, “-n, Earthquake!”
“Rhy!” Rhyhorn lifted its foot to begin channeling the attack, but before it could even start, the Larvitar launched itself out of the earth from directly underneath the Rock-Type. Smashing into its soft underbelly with the speed of a cannonball, “Ruuh-Guh!”
‘How?’ Giovanni internally balked at the speed on display by the small Rock-Type, but the answer to his previous question was obvious now, ‘...So it was Status-Moves…’
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The hit lifted the Pokemon off its feet, launching it over into a backflip it couldn’t recover from. With a loud CRASH! Rhyhorn landed on its back, helplessly pawing at the air as it slowly attempted to roll itself over back onto its feet.
“Rhyhorn! Get up!” The Larvitar was still airborne as it adjusted itself for landing, but Giovanni saw its trajectory and could already tell what its goal was, “Roll to the side!”
Gritting his teeth now, Giovanni could only watch helplessly as the Larvitar came down on top of Rhyhorn's defenseless stomach with a violent Stomping Tantrum, kicking angered stomps of Ground-TE straight into its guts, a super effective attack. His Pokemon was well and truly fainted by the second stomp.
Their referee raised a hand towards his side as he blew a whistle, “Gym Leaders Giovanni's Pokemon is unable to battle! Please bring out your next Pokemon.”
The crowd roared in amazement as Giovanni set down his glass of wine and schooled his expression down into something more measured as he wrenched the railing of his throne box in anger, ‘Whoever swapped my Rhydon out, will die. Tonight.’
…
Larry
“You did, Larry!” Valerie cried out with a giddy grin, “Let’s keep this up!”
Larry dismounted from the Rhyhorn as it disappeared back into its Pokeball within a flash of light. This had been far too easy for his tastes. ‘Something is up…With how absolutely steaming mad Giovanni sounded up there. I think there’s more to it…’
Looking towards the bleachers, Larry couldn’t help but wave towards the crowd of people who were watching the match. Valerie's family stood out from the crowd as they gave her a standing ovation. Matt sat close to the champion, giving a similarly measured applause to the Blackthorn man himself.
Giovanni took the second ball from the pedestal and chucked it into the field, still with a conflicted expression on his face. Larry returned his focus to the fight. A large blue and cream-colored bipedal beast appeared, a Nidoqueen. The Pokemon was far smaller than Larry expected, probably only reaching towards Valerie's shoulder if standing side-by-side, ‘I expected Nidoqueen to be at least six feet tall…Weird…’ Larry mused to himself as the referee went to resume the match, ‘And Giovanni still doesn’t look any happier, something must’ve gone wrong…’
“Both trainers ready?” After a nod from both parties, the referee resumed their battle, “The fight may now continue!”
“You know what to do, Larry!” Valerie called out.
Nidoqueen didn’t act on its own, so Larry took the initiative as he took to the underground once again, ‘I need to stay careful, I might be super powerful right now, but my defenses haven’t gotten that same boost. I’m a glass cannon.’
Larry was over and underneath Nidoqueen before anyone might’ve been able to recognize, his newfound speed aiding him not just aboveground. He launched up from beneath the earth, expecting to give the Nidoqueen an uppercut, only to find nothing to punch. Only when he looked behind himself did he finally see the Gym Leader Pokemon lunge towards him.
“Crunch!” Giovanni called out to his Nidoqueen, “Get that little nuisance!” The Pokemon snapped up into the air with a jaw of razor-sharp Dark-TE teeth, catching Larry by his lower torso as he descended,
CHOMP!
“Ack!”
Channeling Normal-TE into his throat, Larry released an ear-shattering Screech right into the Poison/Ground-Types' face, “EEEEEEEKH!”
Everyone in the arena simultaneously covered their ears, but it had the desired effect of making Nidoqueen release its Crunch just enough to allow Larry to wrench himself free. Angered, Larry took the initiative and jumped right back at the Pokemon, biting into its scaly leg in an attempt to slow the Pokemon.
“Ni!” The attack hit well and had the desired effect, as Nidoqueen cried out in pain in response. Larry released just a short moment later, uninterested in letting the larger Pokemon take another bite out of him or worse.
‘Now's the moment, Nidoqueens still disoriented!’ He pulled more Ground-TE into his legs and launched into another Stomping Tantrum. Kicking up shards of Ground-TE-infused compacted earth, the shards exploded outwards and crashed into the Nidoqueens' scales.
“Nii!” It cried out once again as the attack cut into the scales, and the crowd gasped in surprise.
“Double Kick!” Giovanni commanded, and Nidoqueen followed, taking a long stride. Nidoqueen jumped as its legs became enhanced in the bronze color of Fighting-TE, “Hold it!”
‘Don’t wanna be hit by that!’ Larry backpedaled, hoping to get a hit in when Nidoqueen is finished, but the Nidoqueen didn’t attack. Instead, when it landed, it launched into another jump.
“Larry! Get away! Down!” Valerie cried out, as Larry realized just the same thing. Since he was faster right now, Nidoqueen was planning on holding the attack back until Larry decided to engage, approaching him until he took the bait.
‘Nice try, I’m not that stupid!’ More Ground-TE empowered his arms and mouth, and Larry used Dig another time. If Nidoqueen was gonna attack when he got close, then he would just make sure Nidoqueen wouldn’t know when he’d attack.
Pausing for a moment underground, Larry launched himself upwards to where the Nidoqueen had stood, ‘Can’t wait forever or Nidoqueen will use Earthquake. I need to go now!’
Shooting upwards like a bullet, Larry punched the Poison and Ground-Type in the side of its torso, much to its displeasure, “Quee!”
But Nidoqueen didn’t take the attack sitting down, in a desperate attempt, it kicked towards him with one of its legs as it flew backwards, managing to nick Larry with the Fighting-Type attack.
“Gah!” The Fighting-Type TE hurt like hell, and as Larry landed, he launched after the Nidoqueen, intending to hit it with a Payback, ‘You’re not getting away!’
Nidoqueens face quirked into a grin as it raised another foot, still coated in Fighting-TE. ‘Oh god! I fell for it.’ Realizing the error in his ways, Larry tried to abort his attack, but couldn’t stop in time before the Nidoqueen engaged him, ‘This one’ll hurt!’
Its kick released and connected to Larry's face. He was launched backwards by the attack, and skidded across the court until he was sprawled out on the ground before Valerie on the other side of the court.
“Larry!” She cried out in panic as the crowd cheered at the counter.
Rising back up, Larry nursed his bruised cheek with a hiss as he caught his breath, “Gah!” Glass cannon that he was, the super effective attack had done serious damage, and he wasn’t feeling well anymore, he was still standing, though.
He shot a vengeful glare back over to the other side of the battling court. Nidoqueen only stared back proudly as it smacked its knuckles together, “Nido-Queen!” “You weakling!”
If he wasn’t feeling the influence of the Dragon-TE inside his body, he was feeling it now, ‘That overgrown Sugimori concept art is going to get it now…But how?’
They were in a standoff. He’d already pretty much played every card that would damage the Poison/Ground-Type Pokemon. Nidoqueen herself also seemed far more powerful than the Rhyhorn before her. The only reason he was still in the fight in any way was because he had those boosts on himself.
Nidoqueen wasn’t looking healthy anymore, but looked to be in better shape than him. ‘It's already taken a powered-up Crunch, Stomping Tantrum, AND Dig. How much of a beast is this Nidoqueen?!’
“Larry!“ Valerie called out from behind him in a loud whisper, “I want to see you beat his entire team as well, but leave someone over for Sybil! She’s probably super excited to show off her growth as well.” When she realized she was mic’d up, she blushed in embarrassment, “Oops…”
The crowd laughed and Giovanni frowned at the display, so Valerie quickly schooled her expression back down to normalcy, “Phew…Ok! One final engagement!” She pointed at Giovanni challengingly, “Let’s see who comes out on top!”
Seeing the girl's gumption, Giovanni grinned back his usual sleazy grin. He didn’t intend to give her a chance. “Very well. Nidoqueen! Earthquake!”
“Not fair!” Valerie immediately cried out in response.
‘Oh crap!’ Nowhere close to Nidoqueen on the other side of the court, Larry could only watch as the Ground-Type attack was charged successfully and Nidoqueen stamped her feet down onto the ground.
The earthquake itself wasn’t the most dangerous thing imaginable, what made the attack so devastating was the field-wide glow of Ground-TE, which emanated from the cracks in the ground when it was used. It meant that if you were standing on the ground while the move went off, you would receive painful levels of Ground-TE radiating into your body, regardless of any other factor, like falling into newly created crevices.
‘But where do I go?’ In a frantic panic, Larry could only watch as the ground began to rumble ominously, the earth beginning to vibrate underneath him in real time. Just when the earth was about to split open, a light bulb went off in Larry's head.
He summoned Rock-TE above him, materializing the energy into large flat boulders as the first smidgens of Ground-TE burned into his lower torso, “K-Kuh…”
‘If I can’t find a place to stand on, I’ll just make my own!’ Rock-Type attacks wouldn’t be very effective against Nidoqueen, making them practically useless in the fight as it was, ‘But I don’t need to attack with them! I can use the rocks as a place to stand on instead!’
Launching the first boulder in front of him, Larry jumped up onto it and away from the dangerous haze of Ground-TE materializing below. Everyone watched as Nidoqueen continued to stamp its feet, intent on creating enough destruction in the arena, entirely oblivious to the fact that Larry wasn’t even being hit by the attack.
He continued to throw boulders in front of him before using his heightened agility and strength to leap from boulder to boulder as he quickly made his way over towards Nidoqueen.
“Nidoqueen! Abort! Use Double Kick instead!” Giovanni quickly instructed, and Nidoqueen obliged.
“Go, Larry!” Valerie called out similarly.
‘Now’s the moment!’ Larry bounded down from the boulders, Ground-TE at the ready, he dug back underground and swam underneath Nidoqueen with agility, ‘I’ll show that blue thing a super effective move!’
“Gah!” The freshly Ground-TE infused ground burned on and inside of his skin, but he simply had to bear it to deliver his attack.
Something sparked in the back of his mind, he’d felt this before, but it was far clearer now. He felt the excitement, the energy of the arena above, even underground, everyone was waiting for him, watching him fight. He’d have to make this one count.
Putting everything he has into the attack, Larry launches aboveground and strikes true at the exhausted Nidoqueen, managing a well-timed hit into its stomach. The hit launches it back, but not before she manages a final hit of her own, with one of her two Fighting-Type empowered Double Kicks.
Both Pokemon launched back towards their sides of the field, as the crowd watched with bated breath.
Nidoqueen impacted the ground hard and rolled to a stop just at the edge of the arena, lying motionless on the ground, fainted.
Larry skidded to a stop just before Valerie, pain evident on his face. He grunted in exertion as he fought to raise himself off the ground with gritted teeth,
‘...C’mon! Stay…up…’ But it wasn’t to be, as his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed back down onto the ground as his eyes fell closed.
Larry was out cold.
“Both Nidoqueen and Larvitar are unable to battle! It is a draw!” The Gym’s referee raised both arms, “Gym Leader Giovanni and Challenger Valerie, please bring out your final Pokemon.”
…
Valerie
She was so excited, she could hear her heartbeat hammer away in her ears. The cheers of the crowd weren’t even audible to her, she was so engrossed in the battle. As she watched Larry lie in the arena motionlessly, something in the back of her mind finally cut out, and she finally realized where she was again. Wiping her brow, Valerie realized she was dripping with sweat, even though she hadn’t even done anything yet, ‘Phew…That was…something…’
“Right! Recalling!” Recalling Larry in his Pokeball, Valerie couldn’t help but admire him, ‘He managed to beat two Pokemon, one two badge levels or so above us, without getting hit, and another I don’t even know how strong…That is insane…We’ve actually got a chance to win now…’
“You did amazing. Thank you, Larry.” She whispered to the ball in her hand before putting it back onto her belt.
“You have had a good run, Miss Riston.” Giovanni began with a condescending sneer, “But I think this will not end well for you.”
“Maybe…” She began, noticing the veiled threat halfway through, “But nothing is set in stone yet.”
Sybil's ball was picked from her belt and thrown into the field, “Bring it home, Sybil!”
“Naatu!” It cried out as Giovanni huffed in derision at the sight of the tiny bird Pokemon.
“Hmpf…” Taking the third Pokeball from his pedestal, Giovanni scrutinized it before setting it back down with a frown, “I have a suspicion that the team for this match has been tampered with. I do not use a Rhyhorn under normal circumstances, but I will continue this match, seeing as our Champion is in attendance. Instead, I’ll be using this one here.” Giovanni put a hand on his lap cat's head, “You’re up, Persian!”
‘Tampered with?’ Valerie thought wordlessly, ‘That Rhyhorn definitely wasn’t part of his usual team, but he’s used Rhyhorn before during his Gym Battles. What happened?’
The feline Pokemon hopped from the Throne Box with ease, landing without a sound in the arena below as it stared down its opponent. Sybil simply stared back at the little bird with the same dead fish-eyed stare as ever.
‘It doesn’t matter!’ Valerie quickly shook the thoughts away, ‘Keep your head in the game! We’ve just got to win this now!’
“You’ve got this, Sybil!” Valerie encouraged the small bird, “Let’s take home a badge!”
“Are both trainers ready?” The referee cut in and, after nods from both trainers, he threw a hand forward, “Let's the battle - RESUME!”
Like...What?! You're telling me the cool bipedal monster I've always wanted is the size of a Middle-Schooler?!
