Chapter 104 (Patreon)

There was a bit of a mix-up when it came to the pair of chapters posted on Friday, so if you only read Chapter 102, make sure you read Chapter 103 now.
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The Iron Ball spiraled around Kirlia as he commanded it to move with his will. Ponyta crackled with yellow and red sparks as he tried his best to conjure the flames of Mystical Fire. Mawile stood nearby, shadow boxing the air with her jaws to practice her own moves.

In the distance, Ninetales had her defensive snow swirling around her, training her weather control against Whimsicott, who was developing his Chlorophyll ability under a Sunny Day only feet away.

The last two members of my team, Florges and Azumaril, were next to me, with Florges practicing making Wish faster by healing Azumarill’s muscle strains she got from her own intense training.

My Pokémon were all training heartily in preparation for our battle with Byron, which was only one day away.

We were located right between the dry forest and searing magma fields of Iron Island's underground biome. While we weren’t doing anything as intense as our battles against the aggressive wild Pokémon above us, the harsh environment provided the ideal place to work on consolidating my Pokémon’s developments. The previous week here hadn’t been focusing on making my Pokémon stronger, but making it so that what they’ve learned and developed actually stuck. Arguably, these last few days had been the most important period of training during our time on and in Iron Island.

As we trained, most of the wild Pokémon here were surprisingly docile and didn't seem to even blink at our presence. However, every so often, we would gain an audience of variable size, such as the one right now: a few Shieldon watching intently from off to the side and a single Goomy resting on a rock.

There was also an Ariados lingering in a tree nearby with its green Spinarak children looking on. I was trying my best to ignore the creepy Bug Types, though.

"Could everyone come here please? I want to have a discussion," I called out as the day started to end.

Most of my Pokémon immediately stopped what they were doing to head over, but Kirlia went and did one last spin in his continuation of psychic control before stopping.

It only took a few moments before everyone was properly grouped around me.

"To start, I want to say it's been a great two months, and I'm extremely proud of you all for everything you've gone through."

My Pokémon cheered at the praise, all of them reacting in their own way.

"Now, though, we face a difficult battle that's going to put everything we’ve trained to the test. Ninetales, Florges, Azumarill, and Mawile: I need you all to be ready for the fight tomorrow. Since it's a rematch, I want to use the same Pokémon."

Those four gave a swift nod, but Whimsicott, in the back, looked a bit disappointed.

"Don't worry,” I said to him. “We have a show battle coming up in only a few weeks. You'll be able to show off then."

Whimsicott smiled at that.

"But for now, we need a plan," I continued. "As it stands, I'm not sure what Pokémon Byron plans to use, since he has an entire ten-star team at his disposal. Azumarill is the only Pokémon here that could potentially overpower them, but it’s going to be much harder if she’s not matched up against a Pokémon that only has ranged moves like before."

Azumarill frowned at the insinuation that she would struggle with anything other than that Magnezone, and Ninetales seemed upset that I implied her power wasn't comparable.

"Against any other Type, I'd give us better odds. But against Byron, a Steel Type expert? We need a strategy."

Mimicking other discussions we'd had in the past, Ninetales created a puff of snow around her to refer to her Snow Warning ability, and Florges conjured a small Wish to make her own move known.

"I agree. We might be able to use what we've done before, but now enhanced with our training and experience fighting Steel Types here on Iron Island. The main issue, though, is that Byron's Gym Battle is based around matches between individual Pokémon rather than a team battle. Anything we set up on the field would be gone by the time the next Pokémon is sent out. Switching won't be allowed."

Florges frowned, and the rest of my team were sent into thought. It was true they had had individual strategies, but the primary way we'd trained and prepped in the past had been for a team fight. Not only were we potentially weak to Byron's Type, but his battle rules were a counter to our usual tactics.

Azumarill took a step forward and cleared her throat. Everyone turned to her.

"Azumarill," she stated while bringing her hand up then away from her mouth.

Kirlia scoffed.

It took me a moment to process what she was trying to say.

"You... you want me to ask?"

She nodded.

I wanted to smack my face, it was so obvious.

"Urgh, duh, of course he'd be open to suggestions. It's not like I was ever against asking for help in the past, too. Yeah, Azumarill, maybe we can change the battle itself to suit us rather than be forced to work within the bounds Byron put us in. It might be a Gym Battle, but Gym Battles don't tend to use Pokémon as tough as his, so he'd most likely be open to a few caveats."

Azumarill smirked at my words and stepped back with the rest. I absentmindedly rubbed my sore arms from the exercises I'd been doing alongside my Pokémon earlier.

"So, if that works, that's great. Otherwise, I wanted to talk about a few tricks I had in mind for some specific members of his team. Iron Island was great for developing our raw power and techniques against Steel Types, but when it comes to strategy? We've fallen behind.

"Ninetales, I have a specific idea for you. Now, picture this: Bronzong has just slammed its body into the dirt..."

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"Wait, so you don't want to fight like last time?" Byron asked incredulously.

I shook my head. To be honest, I was still a little annoyed with him. I thought I got over my displeasure at his previous actions, but when I found out there was a tunnel that led from the barely staffed, underground Pokémon Center all the way to the larger and more staffed surface Iron Island Pokémon Center, I felt upset.

I get that it was a test, but experimenting with me traveling through Iron Island felt pointless since there was such an easy entrance. Well, at least I didn't need to go back through the Durant swarm.

"Your Gym Battle uses one on one matchups with no switching and total number of wins to determine the victor," I began to explain. "That's fine for generic Gym Battles, but I'm facing your personal team. When it comes to battles in tournaments and Conferences, they're always team battles with switches. I'd like to be able to rely on strategies my team and I had been practicing for months. We aren’t individualistic Steel Types like the Pokémon on your team."

Byron frowned slightly and rubbed his head.

"But don't you want to test how powerful your Pokémon have become?"

"Byron," I said flatly, "there's only a single Steel Type on my team. My team works best together."

He looked rather upset at my words, but he at least seemed to understand. Sighing, he looked around the area of the biome we were in one last time before moving back to the Pokémon Center.

"We'll need to battle in my Gym, then. A match with switches definitely needs a referee, and there aren't any here. Follow me. I have an Alakazam in my employ that teleports me to and from Iron Island as I need."

A free trip off of Iron Island? The place might have been good training, but I wasn't going to complain about not being surrounded by so many Steel Types much longer.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

I half expected Gavel to be the referee, but he was going to be on Iron Island for quite some time longer.

Instead, a surprisingly buff man in a tight gray sweater stood at the side of the field to serve as the judge. There was no audience for this since Byron had taken an hour off to battle me and left a Gym Trainer in charge of the scheduled fights while he was gone. We were in a room that contained a secondary battlefield since the main one was preoccupied.

"This will be a four on four match between Gym Leader Byron and Challenger Alex,” the buff judge shouted out. “Each trainer will send out a single Pokémon at once and will have five switches each. The match will be decided once one trainer has no more Pokémon available to battle. Trainers, are you ready?"

I nodded. Byron said "I am."

"Then begin!"

Byron immediately tossed forward a Pokéball that released his large blue bell of a Bronzong. At the same time, the field was overtaken by a snowstorm when Ninetales was released from her Premier Ball.

"Gyro Ball!"

"Confuse Ray!"

Bronzong held its arms out and spun slowly in the air, only to pull them back in and drastically increase its spinning speed. Ninetales tried to use a Confuse Ray against it, but the Steel Type's fast spin made it so the beam didn't quite get it in the eyes.

It moved forward at a slow but constant rate towards Ninetales.

"Agility into Ice Beam strats,” I ordered. “Follow the plan from before."

Ninetales stepped back and turned on a single foot to race away from Bronzong. Her speed was increased to twice the usual rate due to the boost from Agility. Her wild mane flowed obviously behind her since she wasn’t using Snow Cloak to cover her position up.

Byron hummed, watching her move quickly across the field.

"Bronzong, stop and use Trick Room. Go for a Heavy Slam."

The Steel Type ceased its spinning and glowed blue to conjure solid square barriers around it. Those barriers slid out and away from underneath it to slowly and meticulously make a box-shaped Trick Room that encompassed the field.

Ninetales's fast speed let her use Ice Beam against it to keep up appearances. Chunks of ice formed on its body but it was mostly unaffected.

As the room formed, Ninetales's Agility meant she was moving much slower now, as expected. Following the same strategy he used against Florges, Bronzong floated over in preparation to drop its whole weight on her.

We continued to wait for that moment patiently.

Without a way to run away, it seemed that Bronzong would successfully land its hit due to the boost it gained from Trick Room. The moment it caught up and positioned itself over her, its entire mass dropped straight down towards Ninetales.

Her slowed speed meant she was struck by the move, but a quick Aurora Veil helped mitigate the damage. The crushing weight was especially damaging to her Ice and Fairy Type body, but she was able to withstand the move thanks to her dual layers of defense up with both her Snow and Aurora Veil, allowing her to dig straight into the ground.

Bronzong tried to press harder into her, but the ground gave away as Ninetales disappeared into a hole, causing Bronzong to be stuck half-buried.

Byron's eyes widened partially, but he was quick to recover.

"Gyro Ball!" he shouted.

Bronzong spun and tried to make its way out, but the spinning just caused the dirt to build up around it. Ninetales popped up out of a hole a few feet away, and while the Trick Room caused her movements to be slowed, she was still quick to use Ice Beam against Bronzong and strike it right where its body lined up with the floor.

Ice formed on that edge. Gyro Ball was halted suddenly. As it stood, Bronzong was now frozen to the floor.

I returned Ninetales. Her Aurora Veil lingered.

"Mawile, Crunch!" I called out to my newly sent out Pokémon.

"Bronzong, keep up Gyro Ball!” Byron yelled. “Try to break it!"

Now, Mawile normally wasn’t a very fast Pokémon, but she was still inherently faster than Bronzong, especially with the training we’d done with her speed. However, under this Trick Room, Mawile dashed forward at a rate previously unseen. Her movements were quick and fluid as they far outpaced anything Bronzong would do. That would imply that Mawile was slower than Bronzong when Trick Room wasn’t up, but that wasn’t the case.

The trick?

Mawile was holding the Iron Ball in her mouth. Its heavy weight reduced her speed, and while she was within the bounds of the Trick Room, that reduction let her move insanely fast. It was only moments before Mawile latched on to the spinning Bronzong, who hadn’t been able to drastically increase its speed by lowering its arms just yet. While Mawile wasn’t quite as strong as she was when Mega Evolved, the sheer force of her jaws meant Bronzong suddenly found itself unable to move.

Crunch pressed harder onto Bronzong. It wavered under the super effective damage.

Bronzong, unable to spin with both ice and Crunch locking it down, tried to use Extrasensory to get Mawile off of it. Space twisted violently around her, but the fading Aurora Veil meant Mawile was easily able to brace herself through the damage to hold on.

Her Crunch got tighter. Bronzong continued to attack desperately.

It didn't take much more than one last squeeze to finish it off.

Byron laughed as he returned his Pokémon.

"Great! Ninetales's defenses have significantly improved since the last I saw her, and I didn't expect Trick Room to be used against us like that. I see why you wanted to allow switching for this battle; this is far more entertaining than it would have been. Now then. Let's see how this one will go."

Tossing forward his next Pokéball, the light that came out of it coalesced into the towering form of Byron’s Steelix. We were more than familiar with fighting off members of its species, but this Steelix in particular was significantly more trained and was much, much larger.

Trick Room would still be up for a few more seconds, so I decided to have Mawile do one last thing before I returned her.

"Fling!"

Mawile had picked up this move within minutes. Her familiarity with Dark Type energy, as well as a few tips from Whimsicott, meant she easily figured out exactly how to send projectiles flying in the most damaging way possible.

Using the speed of the Trick Room to her advantage, Mawile briefly spun before opening her jaws and letting the Iron Ball fly.

The held item impacted Steelix right in the head, sending it reeling backwards despite its immense defense. I returned Mawile.

Azumarill took her place.

The Water Type stared down the Steel Type that was many times her size, completely unafraid. She confidently adjusted the Life Orb hanging around her neck and took a deep breath to use Work Up to prepare herself.

Meanwhile, the Steelix used Sandstorm at Byron's orders to cause whipping sands to pick up over the field. The Psychic Types in the Gym had to work overtime to make sure none of the grains escaped.

I could have told Azumarill to use Surf, to make the most of Steelix’s weak defenses against wide-ranged attacks, but I knew how she’d want to fight. I wasn’t going to take that away from her.

“Liquidation,” I commanded.

Azumarill’s fist became coated with water as she used Aqua Jet to push herself forward. Trick Room had worn off when she used Work Up, which gave her the freedom she needed to move unabated.

The sand dug into her as Steelix attacked with a charging Double Edge as well. It flung itself forward and spun each link of its body to assist its movement. It looked like it was moving like a snake, but it was actually its rotating body parts that were letting it move. Three sets of large spikes dug into the ground and tore it up to give Steelix proper grip.

The two Pokémon rapidly approached. Azumarill’s fist sailed forward. Steelix’s head angled downward. A cracking sound rang out as the two Pokémon collided, and a pulse of dust was sent outwards from the impact.

Steelix was a several ton, metal snake that had an immense advantage in size when compared to Azumarill. Azumarill was just a rabbit-like Water and Fairy Type.

Still, Steelix was stopped in its tracks.

Both Pokémon paused at the impact for a moment before rearing back and moaning with pain. Azumarill hissed and stiffly brought back her arm as Steelix raised its head off the ground. It let out a low moan and pressed its red eyes closed. As both of them recovered from the impact damage they just took, I saw a sight that made me smirk.

There was a large crack in Steelix’s metal head.

“Follow it up!” Byron and I yelled, practically in unison.

Steelix curled its body and swung its tail forward with an Iron Tail that tried to catch Azumarill while she was still recovering. At the same time, Azumarill was already off the ground with a jump-boosted Aqua Jet as she spun and aimed her tail at the same spot on Steelix’s head.

The Iron Tail passed underneath her, but Steelix was quick to adjust its angle of attack and pulled its tail into the air. Azumarill stopped her attack to brace herself from the damage as she reinforced her body with Protect to negate the attack.

She grabbed onto the tail that had hit her as it brought her back to the ground, where she quickly regained her balance, took the offered appendage, and yanked.

She didn’t pull Steelix that far, but her immense strength caught it off guard, and the foot it actually moved caused it to lose its balance. Its head fell to the floor with a mighty thud as Azumarill rapidly approached to attack once more.

“Thunder Fang!” Byron shouted.

Seeing Azumarill coming, Steelix’s teeth sparked yellow as its maw opened up to crush Azumarill within it. Its mouth was wide and filled with flat teeth that definitely would have hurt if it landed.

Instead, Azumarill purposely angled herself to land on the front side of the teeth. She was still hurt by the crackling electricity, but a bouncing Splash sent her back off of it. Reorienting herself in the air with Aqua Jet, she was then able to hit Steelix once more on the crack on its head with Liquidation.

Steelix’s eyes went wide. Azumarill landed naught but a few feet away.

The pair of powerful opponents stood off facing each other. Steelix had taken two powerful attacks that had broken then bypassed its defenses, and Azumarill had suffered from both that initial exchange as well as a glancing, super effective Thunder Fang. At the same time, Azumarill was also suffering from both the Sandstorm grinding her down and the burning of the super-charged moves that her Life Orb was providing.

The stand off lasted only a few seconds longer until a single sound echoed out, a “Tch,” and both Pokémon fell to the ground. Steelix’s head had only been a few feet off the ground, but the earth rumbled upon impact all the same.

Byron and I recalled our Pokémon.

“I admit, Alex. Your team has grown by leaps and bounds. Your strategy handled Bronzong perfectly, and it’s been ages since I’ve seen a Pokémon stop one of Steelix’s charges. I have to ask, do you have more surprises to use against me?”

“It’s best to show you instead,” I echoed.

Byron laughed heartily. I went over what we had planned in my head.

Bronzong had gone perfectly, like Byron had said. Similarly, having Azumarill do what she did best was my best answer to Steelix. I had strategies in mind for Byron’s Bastiodon and Magnezone, but with Azumarill fainted, I would need to adjust them. I had wanted her to stay conscious so Florges would be able to heal her if necessary. However, Azumarill still did far more than I had expected, so I was in no way disappointed by her role in the battle.

Everyone except Florges had been sent out so far. I needed to make sure to play the rest of the battle carefully. I couldn’t underestimate Byron’s remaining Pokémon.

“Let’s see how you handle this!” Byron yelled.

He sent out his next Pokémon as I did the same. The sand was replaced by Ninetales’s snow as I took in the sight of Byron’s next Pokémon.

It wasn’t his Magnezone, but it wasn’t his Bastiodon, either. Rather, it was a species of Pokémon I’d only ever seen the pre-evolved form of in the underground biome beneath Iron Island. I wasn’t particularly familiar with its capabilities as I had never played Hisui games, but I was still aware of its existence.

Fighting a shelled Hisuian Goodra would be a test of my ability to adapt. I needed to focus to see if Ninetales and I could figure out a good way to handle it.

“Wait, didn’t you say you weren’t using the underground biome to your advantage?” I asked, surprised. “How do you have a Hisuian Goodra on your personal team?”

“Hisuian?” Byron mumbled. “Named after the old name for Sinnoh? I suppose that term could be used to describe it, but yes, I did find him underground. It wasn’t my intention to add him to my team, but he refused to stay down there after his evolution and demanded to be by my side. It’s rare that I get to use him in battle due to the secrecy I needed to maintain, but now that you know, I can give him a shot here.”

“Feels like part of the reason you had me go down there was just so he could battle,” I muttered.

Byron gave a sheepish laugh that was all too telling.

Not willing to waste anymore time, both he and I started to give our Pokémon new orders.

"Blizzard!"

"Shelter!"

Byron's command was wholly unfamiliar to me, but based on the word and Goodra's response, I could guess it was a defensive move.

A flurry of snow coalesced and was sent out from around Ninetales as the Hisuian Goodra immediately jumped up and fell back into its shell. Its shell resembled the tail of a modern Goodra, but it was twisted up into a circle that had a metal sheen. As the shell hit the ground with a clang, only its head was exposed to the freezing temperatures and biting wind of the Blizzard that spun right over it.

Proceeding to use a technique we had only used in Contests before, Ninetales tried her best to change the direction of the Blizzard. It was a bit slow to move due to its medium size, but she was at least able to make it crash in the ground and freeze the terrain around the Goodra.

It exited the shell once the powerful Ice Type attack finished its movement. As it did, Goodra stumbled and slipped on the ice, causing it to flail its arms around and hop on a single foot in an attempt to regain its balance.

"Ice Beam!" I quickly shouted.

Crackling Ice Type energy impacted the Goodra and sent it back, but its dual Steel and Dragon Typing meant the move was just normally effective.

In response, the Pokémon caused its spongy body to waver and shake to shatter the bit of ice that had formed on it before sending a Flamethrower at Ninetales.

She tried to dodge, but the unexpected super effective attack still caught her before she could put up an Aurora Veil. I sent Byron a surprised look.

"What? It's a cheap and common TM that's useful for coverage,” he said.

I couldn’t complain. I taught Altaria the move for basically the same reason.

Following up that comment, Byron then ordered his Pokémon to move in with an Iron Tail. The Hisuian Goodra wasn't that fast, but the way it practically bounced each time it skipped forward on its feet made it difficult to track. Ninetales used Agility to escape and maintain her distance.

"Try for another Ice Beam, Ninetales," I said.

She turned around to unleash the attack I ordered, only for Goodra to take a sudden jump in the air and Shelter in its shell, easily withstanding the hit. Its metal home bounced off the ground before it popped back out and resumed its light jog forward.

Ninetales tried to back off, but Goodra unleashed a second Flamethrower that burned her side.

The super effective damage meant Ninetales was seriously injured. She was already hurt from Bronzong, and while her Aurora Veil was protecting her, she wouldn’t be able to persist for much longer.

"Let it get close, Ninetales," I said, trying to attempt a different strategy.

Understanding my disguised meaning, she slowed down to let the Goodra shrink the distance between them. This was a risk to her health, but one I felt we could turn to our advantage.

Seeing Ninetales lower her speed and move closer to Goodra didn’t ring alarm bells in its head, but instead, it confidently twisted around and tried to slam its metal shell down into my Pokémon.

Ninetales let loose a Dazzling Gleam before the base movement could complete. She was able to lunge to the side to avoid the tail slamming into the ground, and hit the Goodra with yet another Ice Beam.

The Dragon Type recoiled from the freezing temperature but easily regained its focus to attempt to use the move again. Ninetales tries to jump to the side once more, only to find one of her feet had somehow been stuck to the ground and fell to her side.

Somehow, a bit of Goodra’s goo had fallen off of its body. Ninetales had been unlucky enough to step in it and get stuck. While it hadn’t been a direct hit that caused it, Goodra’s Gooey ability demonstrated its effect by interrupting Ninetales’s movements with its inherent sticky secretions.

Seeing Goodra’s metal home raised so high up encouraged me to return Ninetales. I needed her to face Byron’s last Pokémon, so I couldn’t let her faint here.

Goodra lowered its tail back to its default level, almost disappointed.

Weighing my options, Florges came out next with snow still lingering on the field. Byron ordered a Heavy Slam as she appeared. Neither Florges nor I would let that happen.

I didn't need to give Florges a command before she tripped the snail Pokémon with Grass Knot. Goodra splattered against the ground as its poor balance caused it to trip. It tried to push back to its feet, but it brought its head up into a cloud of Fairy Wind as it did so.

"Flamethrower!" Byron yelled.

The half-Dragon Type sent its flames forward. Florges didn't even bother to dodge.

Awash with flame, Florges pushed through the pain and used the attack surrounding her to disguise a pulsating pink sphere she sent forward. It pushed the flames back, but Goodra didn’t notice it due to its position at the base of the burst.

Byron called out for it to dodge, but Florges twisted her arms to bank the sphere right into Goodra’s chest.

It wobbled on its feet. I frowned upon seeing it was still up despite being so damaged.

"Again!" I shouted.

Florges created another Moonblast that sailed towards Goodra. Goodra, however, smashed its head downwards right into it to destroy the attack.

The Moonblast still burst, dealing some damage, but the Iron Head stopped the move before it could do any significant damage.

Time to try something else.

"Wish and return!" I shouted.

Florges, from her practice with Sophie, was able to use Wish surprisingly fast as the star formed in the air above her. I returned her to her Heal Ball before Goodra got close enough to slam with an Iron Tail, and Ninetales appeared a short distance away once more.

She was still in an awful state, but I knew her experience would let her stall just long enough to last until the wish healed her up.

Like before, Goodra hopped forward after Ninetales. It was clearly tired and injured, but so was Ninetales, so the entire chase was significantly slower than before. There was a moment where Ninetales suddenly stalled, and it looked like Goodra would catch up to her, but she leaped in the air to pass through the healing star and restored most of her health. As she landed, reinvigorated, Ninetales conjured a Blizzard that tore into Goodra, with the snow assisting her aim.

Goodra wasn’t able to last and fell to the floor, chilled and unconscious.

Byron returned his Pokémon.

As it stood, I was sitting at an extreme advantage, although I only had a single switch left. Florges could be used to heal once more, but that was only if Ninetales fainted. While all my Pokémon were a bit injured and tired, I was feeling good.

I was feeling even better when Bastiodon appeared, which we had a plan for.

"Like we planned, Icy Wind!" I shouted with a smile on my face.

"Ancient Power!"

A barrage of purple glowing rocks were sent Ninetales’s way as she dodged every which way. Several clipped her side pretty hard, but an Aurora Veil protected her from the rest after the first, and her healing from Wish meant she stayed up.

Several chilling breezes of Icy Wind caused Bastiodon to get coated in frost that slowed it down and interfered with its movements. The ancient Pokémon’s lumbering movements became even more lumbering, and its attacks slowly became easier to dodge.

With my last switch, Ninetales was returned as Mawile took the field.

Mawile appeared on the field with Ninetales's Aurora Veil around her against the same Bastiodon from before. She opened and closed her jaws as she saw her opponent to prepare herself for the rematch to come.

Byron had a pensive look on his face as he analyzed the situation.

“Do you plan to Mega Evolve again?” he asked. “I didn’t Mega Evolve my Steelix.”

“I don’t plan to,” I said. “Mawile is going to beat Bastiodon without needing Mega Evolution. We’re stronger and far more prepared than last time.”

Byron just smiled. The battle continued.

“Circle it!” I called out.

Mawile ran forward to reach Bastiodon, shielding herself with her Iron Defense-enhanced jaws to block shots of Ancient Power. Upon approaching the resurrected fossil, she didn’t stop there and instead continued running around its side. Last time we tried this, Bastiodon was able to keep its extended skull to face her and block her attacks, but now that Ninetales had slowed it with Icy Wind, Bastiodon couldn’t turn fast enough.

“Perfect!” I said excitedly. “Now, Thunder Fang!”

Thunder Fang wasn’t as powerful as one of Mawile’s potentially super effective moves, but it had a different purpose.

For this, she knew not to use her ability, Sheer Force. Our goal was Thunder Fang’s secondary effect.

Her jaws sparked and slammed into Bastiodon, hitting it with Electric Type energy but not quite locking on. The attack dealt a bit less damage when used like this, but even so, it still had a chance to paralyze.

“Nice try with the circling, but you can’t assume we don’t have an answer for fast Pokémon,” Byron called out. “Knock it off balance, Bastiodon!”

Bastiodon lifted up one of its heavy front legs before slamming it on the ground, sending a wave through the earth that broke up the field and caused Mawile to stumble. The surprise super effective damage seriously hurt her as she was assaulted by rubble flying up and knocking her to the floor.

Bastiodon stomped forward. It hadn’t lifted itself up just yet, but it seemed like it would try to repeat that same, full body mass Heavy Slam that had fainted Mawile last time.

We had a plan for this, and I was hoping Byron would be too caught off guard to remember one of Mawile’s specialties.

“Mawile, don’t let it do that! See if you can burn it with Fire Fang!”

Saying “don’t let it do that,” was my code phrase.

Despite ordering Mawile to retaliate, she didn’t actually push to her feet. Rather, she grit her teeth (in both her mouths) and slammed a fist into the floor frustratedly.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

“Mawile?” I asked quietly, pretending to be worried.

Mawile let her head droop forward, making Bastiodon pause. Byron frowned at Mawile’s current lack of willingness to continue, which meant the effort we had put into her acting was paying off.

She hung her head to let tears pour from her eyes and fall to the ground.

Honestly, as a Steel Type specialist, Byron should have known Mawile was using Fake Tears. However, he criticized how I was training Mawile in the past. He had told me that she would be better off using a straight forward, defensive-based strategy, like he specialized in. This? This was Mawile putting her Fairy Type to use. Byron was too focused on strong, individualistic ways of battling to recognize what was going on fast enough to react.

“Mawile, if you don’t want to fight—”

“It’s faking it, Bastidon!” Byron suddenly realized.

He was too late, though. Mawile leaped forward to lunge right past Bastiodon’s head. It had turned itself slightly to look at Byron for a command. That was the opening Mawile’s Fake Tears had been used to create, giving us the perfect opportunity to finish it off.

Byron came here for a Pokémon battle. I came here to win.

Mawile moved forward to pause right behind Bastiodon’s head before leaping up and tilting her jaws forward. Her massive mouth bit down at the base of Bastiodon’s relatively unarmored neck, causing it to moan in pain.

Unlike the rest of its body, the spot right behind Bastiodon’s head was less armored due to the crest that protected it. As a result, Mawile was hitting it in a rather vulnerable spot. More specifically, this meant that practically any damage she dealt would be critical damage.

It looked like Byron realized what we had done. Rather than admonish himself or act defeated, he moved right into giving Bastiodon orders.

“Up!” he commanded, just like the last battle.

Bastiodon lifted itself up on its hind legs ever so slowly to try to crush Mawile like before. As it did so, she sent Electric Type energy into it with Thunder Fang, and due to the vulnerability of where she was biting, Bastiodon stiffened and fell back down to its feet.

Not only was it suffering from a chill from earlier, but it was now paralyzed as well. Bastiodon could barely move.

“Perfect! Now, Crunch until its fainted!” I ordered.

Bastiodon let out another moan as the energy from Mawile’s bite shifted from coursing Electric Type energy to penetrating Dark Type energy. It tried to shake to get her off, but with how little it could move, Bastiodon barely made Mawile shift at all.

“Try Metal Sound!” Byron suggested.

Bastiodon moved to start its attack, but it never got the chance. Mawile’s bite on its neck tightened to put more and more pressure on it all while its slow movements meant it could barely retaliate. Bastiodon was stuck suffering from a Pokémon locked in its most vulnerable spot until it finally collapsed onto the ground, fainted.

“Gym Leader Byron is out of Pokémon,” the referee shouted out. “The victory goes to the challenger!”

Mawile hopped off and landed on the floor with a poorly disguised smile on her face. She walked over to where the Iron Ball had been left earlier in the fight and picked it up as Bastiodon was returned.

Byron stared at the Pokéball in his hand for a long while before bringing his head back in a deep laugh.

“I should have expected this when you asked for the rules to be changed! You’ve had two months to get stronger and prepare to fight my team! No wonder you won!”

Byron laughed again and even wiped a few tears out of his eyes. He began to stride towards the center of the field, so I finished patting Mawile’s head proudly and returned her to her Heavy Ball.

“Ah, congratulations!” Byron boomed. “Your team’s made great progress. Tell me, what would you have done if I used my Aggron or Forretress?”

“For your Forretress, I would have tried to have Mawile burn it, otherwise we would have tried to keep our distance, which is our usual strategy. I don’t have much planned for Aggron, but we’d probably try to slow it down.”

“That’s not very detailed,” Byron said.

I shrugged.

“Our plan was to wing it and use basic anti-Steel Type strategy against any unknown members. We only planned in depth against Pokémon we knew. It's only because you used three out of the four members you used last time that we were able to win with so many of us still conscious. If you’d switched up your team to use more than just your Goodra, we would have had a much harder time.”

Byron laughed, but it was much softer this time and slightly less joyous.

“Maybe I should have done that...” he muttered.

I didn’t want to consider that happening.

Byron clasped my hand and vigorously moved it up and down.

“Congratulations again on beating me! Thank you for the battle!” he said. “Make sure to never lose to anyone else. I don’t want a trainer that beat both my son and me appearing weak.

“Now then, for beating my Gym, here.”

Byron handed me two objects, the first of which was expected, but the second was a surprise.

“This one is a Mine Badge. It symbolizes your victory over me in the Gym,” he said.

The Mine Badge looked like three blue curved pickaxes arranged to form a circle, with a trio of orange stones in between.

“The second is a TM for Heavy Slam. It’s one of my favorite moves, so hopefully some members of your team can learn it and put it to use! Consider it my apology for what I put you through, as well as a thanks for the great battle.”

Going over the potential learnsets in my head, only Carbink would be able to learn the move. Considering it relied on the user’s weight, and Carbink was relatively light, I doubted it would be that useful.

I appreciated the thought, though.

“Thank you, Byron. It was a good match.”

There wasn’t anything else that needed to be said before Byron and I parted ways. Since Byron was kind enough to bring me back from Iron Island with a Teleport, my schedule was a bit more open. I’d spent basically the entirety of July and August on Iron Island, and now, it was currently the first week of September. With my second show battle coming up, the one against Maylene, I had until September 21st to make it across the region to Veilstone.

Altaria would be key to keeping travel times to a minimum. Likely, if we timed it well, we would be able to make one or two stops on the way there, too.

It’d been two months of training, and there was something I wanted to do after putting it off for so long.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

After stocking up on items and healing everyone in the Pokémon Center, we were out of the city by the next day. My team was a bit switched up, but I had everyone around me that I thought would be interested in my next question.

“So,” I began, “who would be interested in competing in some Contests?”

====================================================
Author Note:

With this battle and Alex’s Iron Island training done, I can finally update the team information to list Alex as having a nine-star team. Alex has basically been coasting off of a high eight star team for quite a while, being unable to get that last push into nine stars due to focusing training on the newer team members. With this, Alex has pushed into a far more elite tier of trainers, comparable to some of the tougher Gym Trainers and Ace Trainers.

I will note that Alex was lucky for today’s battle, however. Byron was still treating it somewhat casually, and didn’t adapt to the modified rules as well as Alex did. Alex should have had a tougher time fighting a team of Steel Type than what actually happened here.

Notes about the battle with Byron:
Mawile’s base speed is 50 while Bronzong’s is 33. When Mawile holds the Iron Ball, her speed is cut in half to 25, which means she becomes slower than Bronzong in general, and faster than it under the effects of Trick Room. She’s also slower than Steelix when the Iron Ball is held, as its own base speed is 30.

Ninetales Vs Bronzong:
I’m including these to show how much of a difference snow makes to an Ice Type’s defense.
With Snow (50% defense boost):
252 Atk Bronzong Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 240 HP / 240 Def Ninetales-Alola in Hail with an ally's Aurora Veil: 194-230 (55.9 - 66.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Without Snow (Solely Aurora Veil)
252 Atk Bronzong Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 240 HP / 240 Def Ninetales-Alola with an ally's Aurora Veil: 290-344 (83.5 - 99.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Azumarill versus Steelix:
Steelix has 200 base defense. The only non-Mega and non-Legendary Pokémon that has more is Shuckle. Even still, Azumarill is capable of dealing a surprising amount of damage to it, as shown here:
+1 240+ Atk Life Orb Huge Power Azumarill Liquidation vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Steelix: 307-367 (86.7 - 103.6%) -- 25% chance to OHKO
+1 240+ Atk Life Orb Huge Power Azumarill Superpower vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Steelix: 291-343 (82.2 - 96.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Goodra is a special defense monster. A normal Goodra would have taken super effective damage from the Ice Beams and Fairy Type attacks that hit it, but its Hisuian form’s bonus Steel Type meant all of those were just normal attacks. It’s capable of taking a lot of beatings, although it didn’t have a way to recover health.

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:
Aggron
Alakazam
Bronzong
Forretress
Goomy / Hisuian Goodra
Shieldon / Bastiodon
Spinarak / Ariados
Steelix

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