15 Battle!

In the middle of a small clearing in the West Lynier Forest, a Pokémon battle was about to take place.

Raiden and a mob were facing each other as their Pokémon were preparing themselves.

"You should have left while you can! No one can save you anymore!" Mob said some mob character things.

Raiden was quite annoyed with this.

Please don't say such cliché lines. You're ruining my story.

"Let's just get on with it." Raiden said.

At those words, Mob was angry.

"Ha! Taste this! Pignite, Flame Charge, GO!" Mob commanded.

Raiden was shocked. A domestic Pignite that knew how to use Flame Charge?

Flame Charge was a move that encompassed the user with flames and rush towards the opponent. Every time it was used, it would ignite the Pokemon's blood to exert more strength and speed.

It was an intermediate move learnt by the Pokémon of seasoned trainers.

"Piiig-nite!"

Pignite stomped on the ground and rushed forth.

It snorted out a flame then ran at full speed.

When Raiden saw this, he was speechless.

This wasn't a Flame Charge, but a Tackle while using Ember!

The fire didn't fully cover its body and was even flickering!

But it seems like the mob and Pignite didn't even know that this wasn't the real thing.

Raiden stopped caring.

He just had to win.

"Pikachu, let's try out a Thunderbolt." With an invisible spark, he connected with Pikachu.

Raiden was calm. He was sure they would win anyway.

So he decided to check out how proficient Pikachu was in using electric attacks.

"Pika-!" Thunder-

Pikachu charged the electricity within it for more power and then fired.

"Chu!!" Bolt!

Raiden's mind wandered. Was this the first time that Pikachu mentioned its full name?

A huge Thunderbolt aimed towards Pignite who was moving in a straight line.

It couldn't dodge because of its momentum.

"Oh no!" Mob was worried. Will he lose like this?

The thunderbolt landed... and hit nothing!

It completely missed!

""Eh?"" Everybody who was watching was confused.

That Thunderbolt was all the way to the side!

It wasn't even close!

"Pika…" Eh…

Everyone else was wondering what happened, but Pignite was still running towards Pikachu without stopping.

Forget Flame Charge. If something of that size rammed into Pikachu, it would definitely hurt.

Raiden who was also surprised, composed himself quickly.

"Pikachu! Jump and smash its head with Iron Tail!"

Pikachu also went back to the battle. He was ashamed when he missed, so he directed all his anger to the Pignite.

His tail was coated with the Aura of Steel and shone like it really was metal.

Pikachu jumped when Pignite was almost upon him and spun in the air to gather momentum.

BANG!

Pikachu smashed the Pignite who was leaning forward onto the ground, making it skid for a few meters face first.

And that was all it took. Pignite had fainted.

Being hit in the head while running fast will definitely cause serious damage.

Pikachu won the battle with one miss and one successful attack.

"Pika!" Aw yeah!

"Oh no! Pignite!" Mob ran towards his Pokémon.

A Pokéball can accurately discern the Pokémon's status as it was connected to their life force.

The Pokédex will receive this information and determine the winner of the battle.

[Pignite is unable battle. Pikachu wins the match!]

[Junior Trainer Raiden Creed is the winner!]

[You won 150 Poké dollars.]

[Battle Record]

[Total Number of Battles: 1

Wins: 1 Loses: 0

Win Rate: 100%]

Pikachu ran back to Raiden and stood proudly.

"Pika-pika-pi." Come on. Praise me.

Raiden raised an eyebrow.

"You missed." Raiden stated the facts.

"Pika…" Sorry…

Pikachu looked down. He wasn't quite used to using Thunderbolt.

"But you were still great. Thanks, Pikachu!" Raiden smiled.

He was just playing with Pikachu. Raiden would never blame him for something like this.

Pikachu brightened up and climbed onto his shoulder.

"I-I lost?" Mob never even considered that he would lose.

After all, Pignite was three times in height and 10 times in weight than Pikachu.

Just by comparing their sizes, it was like an 8-wheeler truck vs a car.

"In a direct clash, Pignite would definitely win. But Pikachu wouldn't just stand there and let himself be attacked, no?" Raiden explained.

Pikchu had a lot of battle experience in the wilderness. It would be a shame to lose to a Pignite with nothing under its belt.

"Now that you've lost, what are you going to do?"

Mob clenched his teeth. He returned his Pignite into its Pokéball.

"This isn't over yet!" Mob said his scripted lines as he turned around to leave.

Raiden was betting that they'll be back.

But not this fast.

"What's going on here?" Another young Trainer walked out of the trees.

Raiden observed the newcomer.

He looked a bit older than Mob and the others and seems to be quite experienced as a Trainer.

"Bi- Big Bro!" Mob revealed who that person was. He ran to the person he called Big Bro and shameless hung onto him.

"Big Bro! That guy disrespected me! I battled him but I lost! Take revenge for- Abbftt?" Mob was suddenly cut off when Big Bro pushed his face away from him.

"What are you, a mob character? If you lost, you lost. Don't make others battle for you." He lectured.

Oho. I see that you are a man of culture as well.

Surprisingly, Big Bro had a good head on his shoulders.

"Aren't you brothers? You're not gonna stand up for him?" Raiden curiously asked.

Raiden was surprised to see that the Big Bro revenge cliché didn't happen.

"Nah. They are just students from my neighborhood. Their parents paid me to teach them how to battle., and I know this guy for a long time. He's quite stupid." Big Bro just looked at Mob with disdain.

Then, he turned towards Raiden.

"You look strong for a new Trainer. What's your name?" He asked.

"Raiden."

"I'm Bernie. Nice to meet you, Raiden. Anyways, I'm sorry for any trouble this guy caused." Bernie bowed his head and apologized.

"Ah, no, it's okay. Pikachu and I also had some training from the battle." Raiden said while petting Pikachu's head.

He accepted the apology. It wasn't that of a big deal anyway.

Bernie looked at Raiden with interest.

"Raiden, huh. I am a year older than you and I already have three badges. But, do you want to have a battle with me?" Bernie introduced his qualifications before asking for a battle.

Raiden's eyes widened in surprise. Three badges in one year! So fast!

The Junior Gym Challenge was the official program of the Pokémon League to assess the strength and experience of Junior Trainers all over the world.

Different Junior Gyms have different themes and offers different challenges with different difficulty to Trainers with different number of badges.

That was why, the more badges you win, the more difficult the challenge will be.

Challenges would range from climbing a mountain, searching for something hidden in the forest, or even the infamous challenge to battle and win against 50 Trainers!

Clearing these challenges may take weeks or even months. But even if you did clear it, it's not yet over.

You have to defeat the Gym Leader in a Pokémon battle! Only then would you get a badge.

If you lose, you will have to take the challenge all over again.

If Bernie could complete three such challenges and defeated three gym leaders all in one year, how strong could he be?

Raiden hesitated. He just started training with Pikachu and they didn't even practice electric attacks yet.

Could they do it?

When Raiden turned to look at his partner, he saw that Pikachu was burning with fighting spirit.

Yes. Raiden had forgot.

They weren't fighting to win. They were fighting to grow stronger together.

What was the use of battling only those they know they will win against?

Win or lose, the battles they had together would give them lessons they could learn and memories they could share.

"Yes. We're gonna give it a try." Raiden said with determination.

Bernie was impressed with Raiden's attitude. Few new Trainers that weren't arrogant would try to battle a veteran Trainer like him.

Nobody wanted to lose. Raiden didn't want to lose either.

That's why Raiden and Pikachu will have to win this.

'This Trainer has great potential.' Bernie thought.

A great Trainer not only has great partners, but also a great mindset.

"Alright. To lessen the gap between us, I'm going to use my third Pokémon, who I caught only a few months ago." Bernie said as he took out a Pokéball and tossed it into the air.

"Nidorino, let's battle!" The Pokéball opened with a flash.

A light purple Pokémon appeared amidst the bright light. It had spines on its back and a pointed horn on its forehead.

"Krooo!!"

Boom!

Just the act of it landing shook the ground.

Nidorino who evolved from a Nidoran were quite hard to find inside the forts. It was because Powerful Nidoqueens and Nidokings watch over them carefully.

It looked powerful and Raiden knew there was poison within its spikes.

Raiden and Bernie walked over to both ends of the clearing.

The other students, especially Mob, excitedly stood on the edge of the clearing, keeping distance from the battlefield.

After all, Pokémon battles were highly dangerous. If they got swept in, they've got no one to blame but themselves.

[Scanning for opponents…]

"Pikachu, try to avoid all poison attacks, no matter what. Okay?" Raiden gave instruction.

Poison would greatly affect the battle in the long run, so it was better to suffer damage than get poisoned.

[Match found.]

"Pika-pi." Let's win this.

[Opponent has 3 badges more than the Trainer. Do you still want to battle?]

Raiden pressed yes without any more hesitation.

[The battle will begin in 3…]

"Bernie, let's have a great battle." Raiden focused.

[2…]

"May the best Trainer win!" Bernie laughed.

[1…]

Pikachu and Nidorino tensed their muscles.

[Battle, Start!]

"Nidorino, Poison Sting!" Bernie acted first.

Nidorino coagulated Plasma and imbued it with properties of Poison.

It fired tens of Poison Stings like a machine gun, all this done in an instant.

Raiden waited for Bernie to say his command before deciding what to do.

Nidorino may act first, but speed wasn't something Pikachu lacked.

"Pikachu, use Quick Attack to dodge and close in!"

Pikachu used Aura to activate Quick Attack and increased his speed two-fold.

He dived headfirst into the rain of Poison Sting and dodge every sting with minimal movements like a phantom.

Bernie was shocked. So fast and very agile!

Never had he seen a Pokémon with that much agility.

As Pikachu got closer, Nidorino shifted its body slightly.

"Pikachu, be careful of its spikes!" Raiden cautioned.

He knew about Nidorino's Ability, Poison Point.

"Pi!" Okay!

Pikachu acknowledged and hit the spot where there were no spikes with a Quick Attack.

Bam!

Nidorino faltered.

Pikachu may be small, but with greater speed, it could cause greater damage.

Bernie clicked his tongue. Poison Point was one of his minor trump cards.

But every Trainer aspiring to be great must learn all about Pokémon and their characteristics.

Bernie became even more serious.

"Nidorino, Double Team!"

Nidorino's body split into nine as they all ran in different directions.

Double Team used Psychic to manipulate the minds of those in the area to create illusion copies.

The number of copies depended on how often the move was trained.

Only when the copies were attacked or disturbed would they fade away.

Bernie used Double Team to get away from Pikachu.

It was quite funny to imagine a Nidorino running away from close combat with a Pikachu.

But Pikachu was really too fast for Nidorino to attack accurately with physical attacks.

So he had to resort to this.

"Pikachu, try to cut down their numbers with Thundershock!" Raiden quickly reacted.

Pikachu fired small bursts of electricity, trying to hit the retreating NIdorinos.

But they didn't practice yet and he couldn't aim well, so he only got rid of two copies while missing three Thundershocks.

Bernie took note of this.

After Nidorino had gained distance, Bernie followed it up.

"Now, Poison Sting!" Bernie sounded confident.

Seven Nidorino attacked with Poison Sting, filling the sky with purple deadly pins.

This was one of Bernie's tactics.

With the amount of Poison Stings, it was impossible to dodge them all.

The only way to deal with it was to block it all or endure it.

But getting hit would exponentially increase the probability of getting poisoned.

As Bernie wondered how Raiden would deal with this...

"Pikachu, do your best to dodge all the attacks for one second!" Raiden suddenly commanded.

Huh? Bernie was confused. Why waste energy to dodge it rather than blocking it? What for?

Pikachu didn't complain and just followed.

They were partners. But during battle, Raiden was the Trainer and the general, while he was the Pokémon and the soldier.

Pikachu observed every spike with utmost concentration and dodged to where there were gaps.

As Pikachu dodged the first few spikes, the ones that missed hit the ground.

Most of the spikes just vanished, while real ones created a dust cloud.

Raiden was waiting for this.

"Now! Pikachu, Use Quick Attack get to to the Nidorino opposite the dust cloud!" Raiden called out.

Pikachu burst out with a Quick Attack, only avoiding the Poison Stings from the direction of that one Nidorino while ignoring the rest.

Bernie was shocked. That really was a great way to find out which was the real Nidorino.

Raiden was really quick in thinking.

He would surely become a great Trainer.

Pikachu was closing in on Nidorino, and fast.

"You and Pikachu are quite good, Raiden! But this is it for you!" Bernie laughed.

Bernie used a trump card.

"Nidorino, shake the ground with Earthquake!"

Raiden was extremely shocked. A Nidorino that could use Earthquake?

It was unheard of!

"Pikachu! Quickly, jump!" Raiden said in a panic.

Earthquake was super effective against Pikachu. He mustn't get hit or it would end up badly.

Pikachu quickly jumped.

But something was wrong. Nidorino didn't move.

"Ahahaha. Sorry. I lied." Bernie chuckled.

It was a bluff!

"Nidorino, Poison Sting, now!"

Pikachu was still in mid-air and he couldn't dodge.