Dewford was the smallest town I had visited in Hoenn. It was much like Mossdeep in that it had no tall buildings, but it was much more condensed like Slateport was. The city itself was surrounded by cliffs and its shore was completely covered by docks. I knew that the surfing scene here was larger than other Hoenn beaches, but there was no beach connected to the city. I figured there were probably some elsewhere on the island.

The ship that took me to Dewford arrived earlier than expected so it was mid-morning when I disembarked. The room provided was filled with bunk beds that I had shared with four other people, which meant my Pokémon slept in their Pokéballs.

When I left the small boat to step on the wooden pier it docked at, I released Swablu to fly alongside me. I felt that I had been neglecting Swablu so I wanted to make sure he was receiving enough attention. The city was too dense for the rest of my team to walk alongside me, anyway. Of course rather than flying nearby, when I released him he just perched on top of my head and looked around innocently.

I didn’t bother moving him, but knew that if he kept that habit up, it would be an issue once he evolved into an Altaria.

I’m not even going to think about what would happen if a Mega Altaria tried to land on my head.

I walked into Dewford to head to the Pokémon Center. The buildings were primarily made out of red bricks and wood which made the entire city look eerily similar. They were all built in the same style with the same materials. If I had to guess, some kind of catastrophic event happened to this city, destroying most of the houses, and all the buildings had to be rebuilt at the same time. It wasn’t that uncommon to require construction after a strong Pokémon attack. In fact, there were Pokémon specifically trained to help with construction, like the Ground and Rock Types that maintain Gyms’ battlefields.

I managed to find the Pokémon Center soon after entering since the bright red of its roof stood out enough among the dull reds of the other buildings to be identifiable. I booked a room, dropped off my stuff, and then went to the back yard to talk to my Pokémon.

I sent them out and lined them up to discuss training, using my familiar practice of setting goals.

“Alright, we need to do some serious training if we want to win against Brawly. I made the mistake of taking on Norman too early and not training all of you equally, but it’s time to fix that.

“Vulpix, we’re going to work on learning Ice Beam. Now that you know Aurora Beam, it should be easy enough to learn and master if we follow the notes in Old Man Harvey’s journal. Once you’ve mastered that, we’ll finally be able to start working on your abilities. You might be a bit weaker now, but once you can obscure yourself in snow, you’ll be strong enough to evolve and will be catapulted into being the strongest member of our team.

“Floette, we’re going to practice setting up Grassy Terrain and using it to enhance your moves. We’ve been focusing too much on its healing aspect and using it far too little to avoid healing your opponents. Honestly, it doesn't matter that you’re healing them since the extra damage your Grass Type moves deal is more than what gets restored. Additionally, I think we should try to train Grass Knot. We’ve been using Vine Whip to trip your foes, but that uses your physical power, which you don’t have much of. Grass Knot will make the most out of your special capabilities instead, plus it can be used at a longer range.

“Swablu, we’re going to get you specialized. As you are now, physical attacks aren’t going to do much. Once you evolve, Cotton Guard and Dragon Dance will make you a much better physical attacker, but for now it doesn’t make sense to get in close when you can be so easily knocked out. You know Disarming Voice, which is strong enough, but what would be a better attack is Dragon Breath. It’s stronger and is a Dragon Type move, which will be beneficial to familiarize yourself with before you evolve. Even better, Dragon Breath can cause paralysis which would let you move faster than your opponent and cause their attacks to be interrupted.”

Everyone I called and told what to do looked motivated to start, especially Swablu who was extra excited to learn a Dragon Type move. However, Marill was looking around, worried that I was leaving her out.

“Now then, Marill. You have an important role during our training sessions.”

She perked up when I said that, her angry face starting to look extra malicious with excitement.

“Relax.”

She slumped back and looked visibly confused.

“We’ve been pushing you too hard, and for the wrong reasons. I still know you love to fight, but I want to emphasize that strength isn’t the only reason to keep you around. But I’m not just going to force you to sit around and do nothing, I have an idea that will let you train but also let you enjoy yourself at the same time.

“Marill, your role is to challenge other team members to spars randomly during training. Hone their battle instincts, challenge their defense, and make them fight back when they least expect it. Just don’t actually ambush them, I don’t want them acting like we’re in a war zone.”

Marill was practically giddy when I said that, while everyone else was stiffened in fear. Except for Swablu, he didn’t seem to mind.

I clapped my hands.

“Alright, let’s get to work.”

We spent the next two weeks training. While I believed we could have defeated Brawly even before we started, I wanted to make sure we were more than prepared. I learned my lesson about rushing and focusing too much on Marill from the Petalburg Gym, and I wasn’t going to make that mistake again.

For our goals, everyone was motivated to reach them, and they easily did. Vulpix mastered Ice Beam, Floette developed Grassy Terrain even further and learned Grass Knot, and Swablu was able to learn Dragon Breath. There was only one other thing that needed to be said.

Marill was a monster.

When I told her to “relax,” I expected her to sit back and maybe try to find some boulders to destroy on the days we trained outside of Dewford on the island. I didn’t expect her to rapidly challenge my Pokémon to full-on battles whenever she felt they were free enough.

At the start of the two weeks, everyone else almost always lost. Vulpix’s Ice Type moves dealt little damage to Marill due to her innate resistance and her ability Thick Fat. When combined, those two defenses cut the effectiveness of Ice Type moves to essentially a quarter of their power. As for Floette, she could barely react to Marill’s hyper-aggressive battle style, even with her super effective Grass Type moves.

Swablu was the only member who had some luck at the beginning since he could fly away from Marill, but that stopped happening once Marill figured out how to use Aqua Jet to launch herself in the air.

After the first day, my team was so exhausted I had to set some ground rules in place. First off, Marill was only allowed to battle one Pokémon an hour. Second off, she couldn’t battle the same Pokémon twice in a row. Third, Marill wasn’t allowed to rush to knock them out as fast as possible. My Pokémon needed to train against melee attacks, not fail to defend themselves at all and instantly be knocked out.

While Marill was a bit disappointed about the changes, the rest of my team visibly relaxed, even Swablu since he learned to fear what was essentially a jet-propelled mouse.

Once the changes were in place, the sparring sessions with Marill were actually extremely helpful to develop the rest of my team’s capabilities in close-ranged combat. I hadn’t realized it before, but outside of Marill, my team was pretty weak towards physical attackers. Vulpix, Floette, and Swablu all easily fainted once they were caught in close range, so I hoped their experience with Marill would help prevent that.

Knowing that my team was so weak in melee, I was pretty set at eventually catching a Mawile to help fix that weakness. However, I wanted to focus on developing my team further than they were now first, especially since I planned to evolve Vulpix once she mastered her abilities. Once Vulpix was a Ninetales, I would search for a Mawile to add to my team.

Since I wasn’t as worried about saving up my cash any more, we also spent time battling trainers visiting Dewford to challenge the Gym. Most of them had between two and five badges, so there was a large range in difficulty. It was rude to challenge trainers weaker than yourself, so for trainers that had less badges than me I only used Swablu since he needed the most practice out of everyone in my team. I was happy to see that his aerial maneuvers and effectiveness of both Disarming Voice and Dragon Breath significantly increased or were mastered through experience. Just spending that little extra time with Swablu over the two weeks made a big difference in how capable Swablu was in battle.

Since I wanted to make sure my Pokémon were happy, we didn’t only train. I made sure to let everyone have free time to do what they wanted to do. Marty’s “sponsorship” cash kicked in towards the end, so we only spent two days doing jobs over that entire two week period, which meant we had way more time available. My Pokémon tended to be tired after their training, so instead of going around and doing fun activities, I found a local video store and let my Pokémon choose what they wanted to watch. It was a little strange to see tapes still around, but the world’s technology was so inconsistent it wasn’t too much of a surprise.

Vulpix liked drama, Marill liked action movies, and Floette liked animated films. Whenever Swablu would choose, he would choose either a documentary or a historical drama. Most of my Pokémon didn’t like it when Swablu chose.

The movies in this world had a pretty even split between human and Pokémon actors. It was usually human actors with Pokémon assistants, but there were some films that solely had Pokémon acting in them. While it was lost on me, Vulpix actually cried after we picked out one obscure movie starring a romance between a Psyduck and a Wigglytuff.

I personally tried to call Laura a few times during our two weeks, but each time I did, she refused to talk to me until I decided to take on the Gym. I ended up giving up after the first few days of calls, so I didn’t end up calling her again until the end of the two weeks, when I decided we were ready to take on the Gym.

And when I did tell her I was taking on the Gym, all I got was a simple “Good” before she hung up. It did not reduce my stress about what would happen the next day.

I woke up early the day of my Gym challenge. I didn’t want to risk delaying it too long in case whatever Laura had planned became worse. I exited the Pokémon Center to head to the Gym, releasing Swablu again to keep me company along the way. The Gym was located on top of a cliff that overlooked the town, which meant I would need to find a way to get up there. While searching for a path, I started to think about what could be waiting for me when I actually arrived.

Will this be some kind of exercise test? A maze like the normal Gym Trial? Will I have to drink a bunch of protein shakes? Oh no, will she force me to do the FitnessGram Pacer Test?

Left to my own musings, I didn’t notice the two buff men wearing white karate gis approaching me from behind. With a yelp, I was picked up by my arms and lifted off the ground. The two men immediately started to run towards a cliff that towered over the town. Swablu didn’t help me at all, simply taking off and flying casually in the air, following my kidnappers along.

I panicked and flailed when they picked me up, and despite other people walking along the road, no one helped me. Rather, whenever they noticed they just quietly chuckled to themselves and continued on their way.

I’m ashamed to say it took me a bit to understand what was going on, but to be fair this was one of my fears since I arrived in this world. Internally, I cursed Laura’s name. I knew she said she’d whip something special up, but I didn’t expect to be kidnapped.

I gave up and let my abductors carry me wherever they were heading. Eventually, we arrived at the foot off the cliff and I looked up in horror. I could guess what would happen next. They grabbed me, shoved me into a harness, attached a rope hanging from the top of the cliff to the back of it, then pointed to the top and spoke only two words.

“Your destination.”

It was an absolutely massive cliff, at least from my perspective at the very base of it. It was pure red and brown craggy rock all the way up. I guessed it was at least several hundred feet tall. I couldn’t see any vines or moss growing on it, but I didn’t know if that was a good or bad sign. I had never rock climbed before so I was thankful I at least had a safety harness for when I fell.

When I fell. Not “if” I fell. I knew my capabilities.

Swablu flew over to a small outcropping on the cliff and sat down on it. He looked down at me with a smug expression on his face.

“Not everyone can fly, some of us have to stay on the ground,” I grumbled.

I walked over to the cliff face and grabbed a rock to test it. It seemed sturdy enough.

I grabbed it and pulled myself up, testing rocks for looseness to make sure they would be able to support my weight. I was thankful at this moment for all the exercise I had done with my Pokémon and the pounds of weight I had lost while traveling. I definitely would not have been able to do this if it was a few months ago.

I started to slowly make my way up the cliff. Most of my exercise had been dedicated to stamina and running, so my arms started to quickly burn. I wasn’t used to moving myself with my arms like this and worked up a sweat.

The first fall was terrifying. It was a sudden feeling of weightlessness followed by a swift yank to stop me from hitting the ground. I was slowly lowered back down before I was able to start over.

I lost track of time due to exhaustion. I had only managed to get less than half of the way up in my best attempt. I struggled to find handholds and kept falling down and starting over. My arms were sore and my chest hurt from the jerking motion of the falls.

“Hey down there!”

The sudden shout scared me and I pulled myself against the rock where I was climbing. I looked up to where the voice came from and saw a familiar blue ponytail.

“Laura, please bring me up,” I asked her.

She purposely cocked her head to the side and rubbed her hand on her chin in an exaggerated manner.

“I’m not sure what you mean. You look like you’re handling yourself just fine. You’ve been following my suggestions for proper workouts, right?”

I gulped. It’s true that I may have not followed exactly what she said, but I at least did the basics with my Pokémon when we worked on physical conditioning. It just might not have been as frequent or as hard as she said it should be.

“Look Laura, it’s been an hour, I think, and I just want to reach the Gym. Surely you or someone else can lift me up with the rope? Please?”

She went through the same exaggerated motions of confusion before emphatically nodding her head. I didn’t like the way she smiled after I asked that.

“Alright, Alex. I’ll give you a lift. Not sure why you didn’t climb the stairs, though.”

“Wait, stairs? I didn’t know there were-”

A suddenly pulling force yanked me off of the cliff and I was sent flying up. Through my screams I just noticed what seemed to be a set of stairs obscured from my position by a large boulder at the base of the cliff.

She planned this!

I flew up in the air from the force of the rope and sailed a few feet over the cliff. I saw that the same two men from before alongside a Machoke were running away with the rope to provide the continuous upwards motion that brought me to the top.

I landed unceremoniously on my stomach and Swablu fluttered down to perch on my back. I lifted up my head to glare at Laura.

“I get it. I should treat my friends better. I’m sorry. Was this all you had planned?”

Laura laughed.

“This? All you did was arrive outside of the Gym! I said what I had planned for you would be for your Gym Challenge, not for the approach towards the Gym!”

I groaned.

“And I don’t suppose the cliff climbing counted as a Gym Trial, did it?”

“Nope!” She said, smiling brightly. “Me and the guys had a whole thing planned at the start of the season, but that had to be canceled since someone decided to not call. Luckily we were able to reimplement most of it at the last minute so everything’s worked out great!”

I laid my head on the ground.

At least my Pokémon are well rested.

After taking a moment to rest, I climbed up from the ground to sit up and one of the Black Belts handed me a water bottle. I took a few sips after they advised me not to chug it, then got up to follow them into the Gym. I chatted with Laura along the way.

“Congrats on getting the job, by the way,” I said to her.

“Yup, apparently I was one of the few candidates who had the appropriate mindset. Most of them got scared off when they had us run laps around Dewford. It’s pretty great and super helpful for learning how to train Fighting Types. I was even able to catch Machop and have him join my team!”

I smiled.

“I’m glad everything worked out. I’m still filling out my team. Since you've left, Marill, Floette, and Swablu have joined me on my journey. We’ve beaten Wattson, Flannery, and Roxanne, but lost to Norman half a month ago. We spent the past two weeks training, so my team is in a much better state.”

As our conversation continued, we finally approached Dewford Gym. The Gym was a massive cylinder with a small, windowed, second-story floor at its top. We walked through the automatic glass doors and entered the building. The two uniformed men, who Laura introduced me to as Hideki and Takao, entered a room to the side of the familiarly set up waiting room with Machoke. It seemed the Gym also had a public “gym” for trainers to workout with their Pokémon.

Laura darted behind the receptionist’s counter (the waiting room was empty except for us) and quickly entered some data into the computer set up there. She looked up at me and motioned to the door in the back with her head.

“Just enter through that door when you’re ready. It’s almost the same as our Gym Trial, but you’ll face Brawly at the end and we made sure to include some special surprises. You just have to get through the maze. Good luck! You’ll need it.”

I sighed and chugged the rest of the water before heading toward the door. I had read what the Gym Trial was online so I knew the base level of what to expect. The Gym had a massive maze inside of it that left challengers in dim light. Challengers had to move through the maze in the darkness, but had to be careful because certain dead ends had small battlefields where they would have to face Gym Trainers. Luckily, as Gym Trainers would be defeated, the lights would get brighter and with enough victories, small glowing lights that served as clues would help challengers make their way through the maze. The Trial ended once Challengers escaped, beat all Gym Trainers, or were determined to be too lost to continue.

When I opened the door, I was met with pitch black darkness rather than a dim light. I looked over to Laura and she grinned.

“Remember! You aren’t allowed to use any light-generating technology! Only you and your Pokémon’s abilities.”

I returned Swablu and sent out Vulpix. Swablu was likely to get curious and explore the maze himself, only to get lost, while Vulpix had lived in a cave for most of her life and likely had decent low light vision.

Vulpix nuzzled my leg when she appeared then paused when she saw the darkness past the door. She looked back up at me questioningly and I realized my error.

She has good low light vision but this is pitch black darkness. There’s no light at all to let her see.

I nervously took a step forward and motioned for Vulpix to follow.

“Come on, girl. It’s just a maze. Once we’re through, we have a Gym Leader to fight.”

Putting on a brave front, Vulpix entered the darkness with me. The door closed behind us and everything became black.

“We’re never talking about that again.”

“Vulpix,” she agreed next to me.

We stepped onto the first visible location we could see within the maze, the elevator, and I sent Marill out to use a Water Gun to clean all the pies off of us.

Our combined glares didn’t stop Marill’s laughter.

I returned her to her Dive Ball before the elevator finished ascending while Vulpix and I stood soaking wet in the elevator. With a “ding” it signaled that we arrived at our destination and we entered a thankfully lit up room.

The top floor of the Dewford Gym was a more advanced weight-lifting center than the one downstairs. It had a large battlefield set up in the middle of it. The walls consisted of large glass windows that gave an incredible view of Dewford itself and the ocean. In the home-side trainer box I saw that the Gym Leader was already standing ready, waiting for us. Unlike other Gym battlefields, there were no stands for an audience. Rather, there were a few sets of benches at the side that would let a small number of people watch. I ignored the three familiar Gym Trainers sitting on one of the benches laughing as they watched recordings of my time in the maze on their tablet.

She better know I’m going to get her back after this.

Brawly, the Fighting Type specialist Gym Leader, didn’t look the same as he did in the games. He wore a pair of large baggy blue shorts and a pair of sandals, but nothing else. He was shirtless, revealing a tanned set of washboard abs. His light blue hair was wild and only partially held back in a ponytail. He stood with his arms crossed and ready for battle.

“Greeting Challenger, hah, Alex. I hope, hah, you’re, haha, ready-” his attempt to be dramatic failed as he broke out in a fit of laughter and literally rolled on the floor laughing. Vulpix flipped up a soaked bit of hair in annoyance.

“Just, haha, you should see your face. Oh you’re so mad.”

I crossed my arms and waited for him to finish. After several long, irritating minutes he finally stood up and wiped his eyes.

“So, Alex, you’re here to challenge me for the Gym Badge, right?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I am.”

“Alright, since you’ve been training, your team is probably at four stars at this point, so I’ll use my five star team that I’ve ‘specially’ trained.”

I don’t like the sound of that.

He once again took on an imposing stance and his joyful expression faded. He pointed to Laura.

“Gym Trainer Laura. You’ll be the referee for this battle.”

I just barely heard when she cursed under her breath. She walked over to the center edge of the field and lifted up her arms.

“This will be a three-on-three battle. Each side will have three switches at their disposal. The battle will end when one side’s Pokémon are unable to battle. Trainers, are you ready?”

Wait, three-on-three? Norman had a four on four battle for his fourth badge level battle.

I knelt down to pet Vulpix and smooth out some of her wet fur.

“Are you okay with sitting this out, girl? You’re especially vulnerable to Fighting Types, and it’d give you time to dry off your fur.”

Vulpix lied down next to me and curled up to watch the battle, giving me my answer. I stood back up and looked at Laura.

“Ready,” I said.

Brawly already stated that he was ready, so Laura shouted to begin.

“Go, Swablu!”

“Let’s do this, Machoke!”

Swablu's body immediately started to emanate Mist while Machoke took a single deep breath. Swablu flew high up to create distance from Machoke and to start peppering it with his attacks.

Swablu screeched and a Disarming Voice attack shot down a ring of pink sound towards Machoke's position. Machoke exhaled the air it was holding, creating a small puff of steam.

The Fairy Type attack impacted Machoke's chest right as its muscles expanded, the effects of Bulk Up strengthening its body but still taking the full force of the ranged super effective Fairy Type move.

Swablu flew high above the battlefield while Machoke stalked along the ground below. He screeched a few times to probe Machoke's defenses.

Machoke tried to dodge out of the way of the Fairy Type sound waves, but it was difficult to dodge against sound. While it could almost move out of the way using its enhanced strength and reduce the damage, it was still taking super-effective damage each time Swablu screeched.

Brawly frowned for a moment before suddenly perking up.

"Alright Machoke, let’s knock this bird out of the sky! Seismic Toss: on yourself!"

"What."

As Swablu flew overhead, Machoke crouched into a fighting position before jumping and rocketing off the ground. It used the initial process of the move Seismic Toss to get high in the air without the follow up of using gravity to enhance a throw.

My fear of whatever other “special strategies” Brawly had planned suddenly skyrocketed as high as the Machoke had thrown itself.

Swablu, caught off guard by Machoke's sudden ascent, was grabbed out of the air as Brawly shouted the next command. Swablu could move out of the way of Marill’s Aqua Jet easily enough, but Machoke was larger than a full grown man.

"Vital Throw!"

Machoke swung Swablu around itself and chucked him at the floor, slamming him into the ground and causing dirt from the battlefield to fly up from the impact.

But Swablu got up. His experiences fighting against Marill let him learn how to properly get slammed into the ground. A little strange to know how to do, but not when you’re a bird fighting a vicious beast of a mouse.

Machoke fell from the air, not having the grace to land properly. We took advantage of that.

"Stay low to the ground, Dragon Breath the impact site! Keep away!"

Swablu flapped his wings to lift himself a foot off the ground and breathed out, aiming a large plume of yellow-tinged fire at Machoke’s landing position. The Fighting Type landed on its feet only to be burned by the Dragon Type attacks

Machoke stumbled but stayed standing. Swablu flew forward and flapped his wings, gaining momentum and using his speed to zip around the battlefield. With his position low to the ground, he was in the perfect place for my next strategy.

"Burn its feet! Stay low!"

Swablu zipped towards Machoke, the path ahead of his body aflame in the weak fires of Dragon Breath. Machoke saw it coming and took a stance to use Strength, but Machoke was too used to fighting enemies its own size.

Since Swablu was both small and close to the ground, the unfamiliar positioning caused a delay in Machoke's attack when it bent hit Swablu, allowing him to dodge Machoke's attack and use his fire to hit its ankles.

Machoke fell back and landed on its rear. The paralyzing effect of Dragon Breath came into play and Machoke suffered from rampant Draconic energies coursing through its body. It pushed to its knees to at least give itself some height, then held out its hands ready to grab Swablu if he got close.

Unfortunately for it, Swablu had just severely limited its mobility. Rather than going in for another Dragon Breath, Swablu stayed back and hit it with a series of super effective Disarming Voice attacks now that Machoke was paralyzed.

Machoke had the ability “Guts,” which let it use the adrenaline created from suffering from a status condition to massively boost its physical power. However, the reduction in speed from Dragon Breath’s paralysis meant Machoke was unable to move fast enough to catch Swablu, or even just move out of the way of the already difficult to dodge Disarming Voice. Brawly didn’t switch, recognizing a losing battle, and Machoke fainted.

Brawly returned Machoke and Swablu landed on the ground in front of me. He held his wings up in victory.

As Laura did her duties as referee and told Brawly to send out his next Pokémon, I talked to Swablu.

"You did a good job. You pushed through that landing and clinched a win. I’m going to return you so someone else can have a turn, alright? Just rest up and I can let you out later."

Swablu didn't respond outside of preening his feathers on his chest. I took out his Love Ball and he disappeared. I called out to Laura to tell her I'm using my first switch and sent out my next Pokémon.

Brawly and I released our Pokémon at the same time. He sent out a Hitmontop, and I sent out Floette.

Laura called for us to start and our Pokémon began to move.

Floette immediately used Grassy Terrain to boost her Grass Type moves like she practiced. She proceeded to create a boosted Magical Leaf swarm and dozens of sharp leaves shot towards Hitmontop.

Hitmontop had closed its eyes and tensed its body. While Floette was using Grassy Terrain, it used Focus Energy to prepare for its own assault.

The Magical Leaves got close and Hitmontop's eyes snapped open. The leaves closed in and it just barely moved its head and body to cause the entire attack to miss, the move Detect allowing it to dodge a normally perfectly accurate move.

Brawly shouted out at this point.

"Hitmontop, get in close and stay there! Don't let it run away!"

Hitmontop ran forwards on its three legs and its body began to glow with Quick Attack. It was moving too quickly for Floette to get away, so I had her do the next best thing.

"Floette! Slow it down with Fairy Wind!"

She waved her flower and pink dust drifted forward in a wave. Hitmontop ran through and the glimmering particles popped against its skin, dealing more damage than it expected due to the super effective damage of a Fairy Type move against a Fighting Type.

The Top Pokémon ran up next to Floette and jumped onto its head. It rapidly spun and its legs swung out, aiming to kick Floette as Brawly narrated its attack.

"Triple Kick!"

The sudden impacts hit Floette's body, every successive impact dealing greater damage. The first kick hurt, but the second kick managed to hit an especially vulnerable spot on her body and she suffered critical damage. Luckily, she was knocked back with the second kick and the third one missed due to the distance.

Floette clasped her hands to pray for Wish while Hitmontop continued to spin to get close.

"Gyro Ball! Take it out!" Brawly shouted.

Hitmontop gained a metallic sheen of Steel Type energy as its movement speed decreased in exchange for a drastic increase to the power of its spin. At the same time, a star of white light appeared above Floette and she floated backwards as fast as she could. Since Gyro Ball was a Steel Type move, it would deal super effective damage to Floette if it managed to hit.

"Trip it with Grass Knot!" I called out.

Floette held out her flower and two lengths of grass from Grassy Terrain tied themselves together to form a tripline right in Hitmontop’s path. Hitmontop, balancing on a narrow point and spinning too quickly to see, was caught on the Grass Knot and lost its balance, rolling onto the ground and getting injured in the process.

Floette looked down at it, still holding her flower, and an array of Magical Leafs floated out of her weapon.

Hitmontop tried to get up to use Revenge after suffering from Grass Knot, but it was still recovering from the unexpected fall and Magical Leaf attacks cut into its body. The Grassy Terrain did its work as the boosted Grass Type move caused Hitmontop to faint.

Brawly recalled Hitmontop from across the field and grinned.

"You may have fainted two of my Pokémon, Alex, but it only gets harder from here! Go, Hariyama!"

A massive tan, blue, and yellow sumo wrestler Pokémon appeared on his side of the arena. Laura shouted for us to start now that both Pokémon were out, and both Floette and Hariyama began to act.

Floette's wish landed in her body and reinvigorated her, healing her wounds. She refocused her energy into her flower and the Grassy Terrain was refreshed before it could completely fade.

Hariyama brought up its hands and slammed them down, beating its own stomach. The drumming caused Hariyama to experience terrible pain, but the move created waves of energy that traveled through its body, tearing and healing its muscles to be stronger and maximizing its physical power.

Shit. That was Belly Drum. Hariyama's attack is boosted to its maximum potential, but it seriously hurt itself to do so. We can take advantage of its damaged state to end the battle early, but we can’t afford to be hit by any of its attacks.

I ordered an attack and Floette used Magical Leaf once more. Massive spinning green blades appeared in the air around her and shot forward and tore into Hariyama, who did nothing to defend itself.

I became a little worried when Brawly used his next move.

"Hariyama, Rest!"

Hariyama closed its eyes and regulated its breathing before slumping forward into the healing sleep of Rest. The Psychic Type move caused its wounds to disappear and the backlash from Belly Drum disappeared. Hariyama returned to perfect health, but unfortunately for us, its increased power remained.

"Was that smart?” I called out toward Brawly. “Your Pokémon's asleep and won't be able to defend itself."

As I spoke, Floette used Fairy Wind without me needing to tell her to do so. The same pink dust sparkled forth and popped against Hariyama, who stayed unconscious as she used the move.

As she prepared to use the move a second time, Brawly didn’t respond but gave a command that made my heart stop.

"Sleep Talk!"

To be clear about the state of the battlefield, Hariyama was on one side while Floette was on the other. There was a large distance to be covered in order to get into melee.

Hariyama, still unconscious, tensed its legs and appeared right in front of Floette due to its immense power translating into immense speed. It stuck an open palm out in an Arm Thrust and Floette was sent flying back and slammed into the wall.

I turned around only to see that she had fainted in one move.

"How do you like that?" Brawly shouted "It took us forever to stop the adrenaline from waking Hariyama up, but the power it creates is insane!"

Adrenaline...?

I suddenly realized his strategy.

"You're using Hariyama's Guts ability to boost its already increased attack from Belly Drum. Sleep restores it to full health, and since sleep is a status condition, Guts gets activated and makes Hariyama into an unstoppable force."

"Yup!" Brawly said, smiling. "You figured that out quickly. Most trainers don't know enough to understand the entire process."

I ignored his compliment while I began to think about a strategy. I sent out Marill who was raring to go, wishing to prove herself after the results of the last gym.

Marill never learned Charm to reduce its attack, and that wouldn't help anyway since Hariyama's asleep. Getting close is risky due to its increased strength, but ranged attacks aren't Marill's strong suit.

Laura shouted for us to continue the match, and Hariyama used Sleep Talk once more.

A ripping sound from the friction echoed through the room as a fist shot out toward Marill. She moved out of the way with Aqua Jet as the area she was just in exploded. Hariyama's Dynamic Punch would have likely KO'd her in one hit if it landed.

Not really capable of thinking of something else, I told Marill to use Play Rough and she began her own assault.

Marill jumped forward and onto Hariyama's unconscious body, unintimidated by its massive size, and began to do what she did best. Marill slammed its extremities, jumped forcibly up and down on its head, and used parts of its body as a punching bag. She climbed around its bulk like a child in a jungle gym. The super effective damage of Play Rough caused Hariyama to sustain serious injuries.

In the middle of her attack, Hariyama used Sleep Talk at Brawly's command.

Still asleep, it brought a foot up before stomping down, the sheer force of the impact creating a Whirlwind that knocked Marill back and off of its body.

I noticed that Brawly clutched a fist in celebration when that happened.

"Marill, stay back and get ready to dodge with Aqua Jet. Use Bubble Beam if you can, but it's not a priority."

Marill took a few steps back and eyed Hariyama carefully. A weak stream of bubbles shot from her mouth and impacted its body as it prepared its next Sleep Talk.

This time, Hariyama brought its hands up in the air and slammed down on its stomach in a repeat of its Belly Drum move.

Brawly grimaced.

Why did it use Belly Drum again? It can't increase its physical capabilities any further.

…

Wait, don't tell me Sleep Talk is random, like in the games. Brawly, is your strategy just one big gamble?!

Brawly seemed to notice my realization and looked away, embarrassed. Hariyama had sustained injuries from Marill, but had just injured itself even further with that useless Belly Drum. Marill now had a significant chance to win.

"Its attacks are random, Marill! It can't accurately predict you!"

Marill's scornful face turned cruel and she burst forward with Aqua Jet. No longer worried about Hariyama retaliating with deliberate moves, she slammed into its chest with Aqua Tail and prepared to use Play Rough.

This time, Hariyama's Sleep Talk let it use Vital Throw. It grabbed Marill from the air and spun her like a hammer toss. She flew back in the air and slammed down onto the ground. The force of Hariyama’s boosted throw left Marill in an almost completely passed out state. She looked like she was on the verge of fainting.

“I’m using my last switch!”

Marill disappeared from her crater and I sent out Swablu. His ranged attacks would be better to use against the sleeping and buffed Hariyama, even if they did less damage.

Once Laura shouted for us to resume, Swablu screamed an attack with Disarming Voice, dealing super effective damage to Hariyama. However, since he had just made a loud noise and the forced sleep of Rest was wearing off, Hariyama’s eyes snapped open as it regained consciousness.

It was now more dangerous since it could properly defend itself while it was awake. However, the damage it sustained from both Marill, the Belly Drum, and Swablu’s attack meant it immediately stumbled, waking up into the feeling of being terribly injured and on the verge of fainting. We had a chance at victory, that was, unless Brawly-

"Rest again!"

Hariyama closed its eyes and prepared to regulate its breathing to start its healing sleep. It would soon return to perfect condition, so we had no choice but to act.

"Continuous use of Disarming Voice, don’t let up!"

As Hariyama started to heal, Swablu breathed in one deep breath then bellowed a Disarming Voice. When the attack came out, I realized that the classic pink sound waves didn’t appear at all. Instead, the air itself seemed to vibrate and Hariyama stumbled as the self-inflicted sleep failed to come into effect. I recognized this move from when Loudred used it against Floette; Swablu had learned Uproar.

Swablu was never able to figure out Round or Sing. Both Swablu and Altaria, the species, were known for their beautiful singing voices. My Swablu just didn’t work like that. However, it seemed that whatever biological ability that let his species sing also let Swablu scream.

Hariyama’s Rest failed to start since Uproar innately prevented Pokémon from falling asleep due to the deafening noise. It looked up, incredibly injured as Swablu continued his Uproar. Internally, I was thankful my Pokémon was nowhere near as loud as Loudred because otherwise I might have gone deaf.

Hariyama looked like it was trying to prepare itself to jump towards Swablu, but all of the sustained damage it had taken and its failure to activate Rest just meant that Swablu’s multi-turn move caused it to fall into unconsciousness.

Once again, a high-stress environment proves to be the best environment to let Pokémon develop. Hmm. I wonder if we could turn Swablu’s Uproar into Hyper Voice...

Hariyama disappeared and Brawly and I approached each other in the center of the field. Vulpix stood up from where she was laying down to follow, and Swablu landed on my head. I shook Brawly’s hand and he reached into his short pockets.

"This is the Knuckle Badge. Shows you've beaten me and all that. Nice job, Alex."

I pocketed the badge and thanked him. He didn’t look like he was going into the classic, long Gym Leader victory speech so I turned around to leave. I looked around the room but saw that Laura was nowhere to be found.

I suddenly got a sinking feeling in my stomach.

"Is... is there another way back?" I weakly asked Brawly.

He let loose a massive grin.

"You mean the elevator back downstairs? Don't worry, the maze it lit up for Gym Trainers, I'm sure everyone else made it back just fine."

I looked at the elevator then back down to Vulpix. Her tails were down between her legs.

I turn back to Brawly, eyes large and lip quivering.

"I... I don't have to go through the maze again, do I?"

He nodded and I grimly walked to enter the elevator. I returned Swablu to save him from the incoming suffering. As the doors closed, I heard the mocking voice of Brawly call out from behind me.

"Good luck, and make sure to stay away from windmills this time, okay?"

I shivered.