Skyla is not shocked by her loss as she knows what she is up against, her Swoobat did try its best but that Head Smash was lethal and they couldn't stop it with Expanding Force which was their last resort.

Skyla sighed and called her Swoobat back to its Pokeball and sent out her next pokemon, she tossed a Pokeball up in the air and her next pokemon took the stage, Skarmory, her second pokemon for this battle. ​​

Julian also called back Archen as he has had enough battle for the day, he also took out a Pokeball and sent out his second pokemon for the battle, Larvesta.

His Larvesta is also a physical attacker but his stats are lower compared to Archen but what is special about him is his fire, being enhanced by the dragon stone, the one that belongs to Reshiram, Larvesta's flames are wilder and destructive than ever and its power will keep on growing.

Skyla's Skarmory looks very menacing, with its blade-like wings, sharp beak with razor teeth, any pokemon would be intimidated by it.

Julian looked at the Skarmory and nodded his head, it was indeed a powerful pokemon and raised up well.

Julian's Larvesta stood on the ground with his four legs and two other legs hanging through his fur motionless as if he is sleeping peacefully but he is not, his blue eyes staring at Skarmory as a predator looks at its prey.

Julian had noticed that his Larvesta has a temperament of a dragon even though he is a bug/fire type pokemon, the dragon stone seems to have not only changed his fire's attribute but also his attitude towards everything else.

He respected the strong and looked down on the weak but never tried to bully them just like all dragon-type pokemons.

Skarmory is clearly the stronger one here but that doesn't stop Larvesta from treating it as something that he cannot defeat because the gap is not that huge.

Flames started to erupt from his immature wings causing the surrounding around him to become hot, Julian saw this and was surprised, this was the first time he has seen Larvesta acting like this, he could see the confidence in Larvesta's eyes.

Back in training camp, Larvesta was clearly not the strongest and other pokemons in their team were already at their final form or were close to evolving so it never showed this kind of presence before.

How could it even if it wanted to, with pokemons like Garchomp and Victini around and even they knew not to cause trouble around Infernape and group, there was clearly a hierarchy in the family that Julian has created, even though this hierarchy doesn't affect their fun, happiness, training, growing stronger, it still existed and every pokemon that Julian took in soon realized it!

Even Deino who was so rowdy quickly calmed down and realized his position in the family as well after sensing it.

Julian smiled, he knows how much pressure his younger pokemons have to face, they have this pressure to perform the best and live up to the expectation of the ones who came before them and they felt that pressure too.

___________________

Skyla saw the surrounding around Larvesta change as she noticed the area around Larvesta becoming wavy, it was clear that the temperature around Larvesta was rising.

She gritted her teeth, this was not a fair battle for her, even though her Skarmory is strong, it is a physical attacker and it will have to get close to Larvesta to land those powerful lethal hits.

Skyla knew she had to risk it, she knows that Larvesta doesn't have a good Defense or Special Defense so if she is able to land that one hit it will be enough.

She took a deep breath and started the battle.

Skyla "Skarmory, use Air Cutter"

She decided to start with Air Cutter and figure out what move Julian's Larvesta is going to use.

Skarmory sent multiple wind blades shooting at Larvesta who is waiting there for Julian's instruction.

Julian "Use Flame Charge and dodge"

Larvesta's body got covered with flames and he moved to the side using Flame Charge and dodge the Air Cutters, the Air Cutters landed on the ground but it was clear that they couldn't deal much damage because Skarmory is not a Special Attacker but Julian can also not risk-taking those hits.

His Larvesta is not a good tank, in fact, a very bad one, and any hit can cause injury.

Skyla "Continue with Air Cutter and a lot of them"

Skyla went all out and she tried to pull something.

Julian "Use Flame Charge and keep dodging"

While Skyla planned to pull off a way to counter Julian, he used this time to increase his Larvesta's speed, every time he uses Flame Charge, his speed will increase and it will be helpful as the battle progress further.

Skarmory's Air Cutters didn't hit Larvesta but they were hitting the ground causing dust to fly all over the battlefield, she was planning to use this dust as her cover to deliver that hit she is waiting to land.

And her plan is very close to success as the air raised the dust high in the air engulfing Larvesta in it.

Skyla "Now, Use Drill Peck"

She isn't holding back and going for the finish this very second, her Skarmory dives down as a burst of wind surround its beak and start to spin at a very high speed creating a wind drill.

Julian "Use Protect"

Julian suddenly called out Protect.

As Skarmory reached the dust, the Drill Peck blew away the dust to the side while sucking in some into the spinning drill, Larvesta saw this and quickly used Protect and put up a force field in front of him stopping the Drill Peck in its track.

A shockwave traveled through the battlefield as this happened, Skyla is surprised by this, this whole battle Julian has been very aggressive so she didn't expect him to use Protect.

Her attack failed, the Drill Peck stopped and the Protect shattered but this allowed Julian the opening he needs, now that Skarmory is close, its time to strike.

Julian "Use Flame Wheel"

Larvesta used Flame Wheel and he was so fast due to all those Flame Charges that Skarmory couldn't even dodge it, the destructive flames engulfed Larvesta as he landed a strike on Skarmory.

Skarmory got sent flying backward with an explosion as the destructive flames covered its body, Skarmory is effected by Burn.

With Larvesta's Flame Body ability and the 10% chance of Flame Wheel inflicting burn on its receiver, the chances of Burn taking effect were very high and it seems it is successful.