CH47 (661), First Gym Challenge (2)

I could not help but curse in my mind when Aggron used Sandstorm. While Sandstorm would not negatively affect Osiris/Skellibra, it would boost Aggron's relatively weaker energy endurance/defense, which was something I did not want to see and the reason Osiris did not use it himself. Unfortunately, the only other weather move Osiris knew aside from Sandstorm was Sunny Day, so he had nothing to get rid of Aggron's Sandstorm.

Still, since I was planning to use Flamethrower against Aggron, I had Osiris set up a Sunny Day on top of the Sandstorm. Surprisingly enough, once the weather moves were set up, Aggron sent a Flamethrower in our direction while running towards Osiris, taking advantage of the power boost granted by Sunny Day. Osiris countered the Flamethrower with a Dragon Pulse since we wanted to keep our Flamethrower a secret for now.

Dragon Pulse easily blocked Flamethrower and even began to push through the fire towards Aggron. Aggron slowed down and barely managed to move out of Dragon Pulse's way. They directly retaliated with a Dragon Pulse of their own, which Osiris smoothly dodged, before throwing a Bonemerang at Aggron's head, forcing it to block it with its arms crossed before its head. Osiris swiftly followed up with a Shieldmerang, which forced Aggron to a still stand, and Osiris used that opportunity to perform another Dragon Dance.

Aggron's successful blocks meant that it suffered minimally from both merang moves, and since it was already standing still, it performed another speed boost. This time I was sure that it was using Autotomize, which made Osiris' second Dragon Dance an even better decision since it kept him faster than Aggron.

What followed was a phase where Aggron tried to close in on Osiris while bombarding him with Rock Slide and Dragon Pulse. Meanwhile, Osiris ensured that the distance between them remained wide enough while countering Aggron's moves with his own Rock Slides and Dragon Pulses. He did add in the occasional Bonemerang and Shieldmerang aimed at Aggron's head which always managed to stall Aggron's speed for a moment, allowing Osiris to open up the distance whenever necessary.

We were playing along with the other side's strategy to waste Aggron's stamina and energy in preparation for a decisive strike. Additionally, Aggron was building up some slight damage from Osiris' attacks, and while the same was true for us as well, it was worse for the other side.

The moment we waited for came when Aggron took advantage of a forced stop to perform his third Autotomize. Osiris naturally followed suit and performed a Dragon Dance as well, but that was secondary. When Aggron rushed up to Osiris, Osiris started to run as well, but we chose to deliberately slow down, making it seem like Aggron's speed had finally caught up and even slightly surpassed Osiris' own speed.

Once Aggron had closed the distance between them to roughly 15 meters, Osiris triggered an Earthquake that destabilized Aggron and had him stumble. Osiris then aimed a Mud-Slap at Aggron's face, temporarily blinding it, and letting it walk into the Earth Power he had followed up with. The earth eruption made the by now much lighter Aggron fall over and the momentum had Aggron roll towards Osiris' feet.

We naturally did not miss the chance, and Osiris bathed the approaching Aggron in fire using Flamethrower. Aggron's body was red from the fire when it came to a stop, and it was releasing groans of pain, but Osiris still followed up with an Earth Power to knock it out. On one hand, this would prevent Aggron from trying any kind of counterattack, and on the other, Aggron would be free from the pain when it was out cold, so we were doing them a favor really by double-tapping while it was down.

The Gym Trainer recalled his Aggron, and the referee declared Osiris the winner. Since substitutions were not allowed, I decided to wait for the gym trainer to call out his second Pokemon to ensure that Tiamat/Milotic was not at a disadvantage if I switched her in. When he called out a (mid) dark gold stage Skarmory I briefly considered whether I should send out Hera/Pidgeot instead, but I decided that Tiamat would have no problem beating Skarmory, so I went with my initial plan.

Before the referee could give the starting signal I declared that I was forfeiting Osiris since that was what switching him out pretty much counted as. The referee asked me if I was sure, and I could hear a doubtful murmur coming from the stands. That naturally did not change my mind, and I recalled Osiris under the surprised as well as disbelieving stares of everyone aside from myself, but only after I had him actively cancel Sunny Day.

I sent out Tiamat and she announced her presence with a happy trill. The referee once more asked if we were ready and upon receiving a nod from both of us he declared the start of the battle. The first thing we did was get rid of the still-ongoing Sandstorm using Rain Dance. While Skarmory certainly did not mind the Sandstorm, in fact, it probably welcomed it, we definitely did mind it, and since there was no one to keep it up, Rain Dance easily replaced it.

Anyway, Skarmory used the time Tiamat made it rain to perform an Autotomize before taking off into the sky. The ceiling above the battlefield was pretty high, close to 40 meters by my estimation, so there was more than enough space for it to maneuver around, even if Skarmory was not entirely safe from long-range moves. Still, that did not mean that Tiamat would not be able to hit it, especially since Skarmory would most likely try to get close to attack since the species was much more physically inclined.

So after Skarmory dodged a few of Tiamat's Hydro Pumps and Ice Beams, it dove down and tried to hit Tiamat with a Steel Wing. That was exactly what we had been waiting for, and she used Attract to make Skarmory infatuated. The moment Attract hit it, Skarmory staggered mid-air, and it actually interrupted its dive and landed in front of Tiamat. Skarmory spread its metallic feathers and tried to impress Tiamat while throwing her heated looks, but my girl ignored its antic and released a point-blank Ice Beam that she kept up until Skarmory became a popsicle.

While ice moves usually only did regular damage to Skarmory due to its steel type, that did it matter when Skarmory simply stood there and took it without defending itself regardless of its trainer's shouts and pleas to snap out of it. The referee waited for 10 seconds before declaring Skarmory unable to battle, making me the victor of the first challenge, ending the battle that finished much faster than everyone had expected, myself included.

My first opponent vacated the battlefield after congratulating me on my victory and the referee declared a 5-minute intermission, which was used to repair/reset the battlefield. The second Gym Trainer also took her position during this time under the cheers of the crowd, home advantage and all that. Once the field was repaired and the 5 minutes were up, the referee announced that this would be a 3 versus 3 battle before asking us if we were ready.

We both nodded, and he began the countdown. Since the battle would be 3 versus 3, I decided to lead the battle with Parvati/Beedrill, so as soon as the referee gave the signal, I let her out of her ball. While Parvati appeared on my side of the battlefield, a Magnezone appeared on the other side.

Parvati's appearance caused quite some surprise, and I was sure that was not purely because of her distinct looks, which was understandable since Beedrill were at a particular disadvantage against steel types. They also had a reputation as somewhat lower-end Pokemon, at least that was true for regular Beedrill. They could not know that Parvati's racial value was nearly as high as that of an apex Pokemon, and while most of Parvati's moves would either be useless or weak against Magnezone, she did have a few aces that would let her beat it.

Anyway, the Pokemon on the field ignored the hubbub. Parvati used Agility as soon as she appeared, but she was forced to abort that when Magnezone released a Thunder Wave. It forced Parvati to immediately perform an Iron Defense instead and pierce her feet into the ground. She completed that Iron Defense, before taking off into the air where she initiated another Agility.

Parvati dodged Mangezone's Thunderbolt and as soon as Agility was done, she performed Double Team. She and her doubles spread out and began to fly around Magnezone. It tried to attack Parvati using indiscriminate/AoE moves like Shock Wave and Discharge, but Parvati dodged the latter while blocking the Shock Wave with Bug Buzz.

Parvati utilized her superior speed to not only dodge Magnezone's attacks but also to close in whenever the chance presented itself and attack its back with either Brick Break or Drill Run. Doing so was obviously not without risks and she did get hit twice so far. Nonetheless, the strategy was paying dividends, and the accumulated damage along with the energy/stamina it expended caused Magnezone to become a bit sluggish, which emboldened Parvati enough to attempt a final attack.

She rushed towards Magnezone from the back, but instead of attacking its backside, Parvati did a wing-supported flip and delivered a Laser Focused Drill Run, thrusting Magnezone into the ground in the process. Magnezone did not recover from that and stayed on the ground, conscious but unable to take off the ground. Seeing its state, the referee declared it unable to battle, and I once again waited for my opponent to call out their next Pokemon before recalling my own so that I could decide who I was going to switch to.

When I saw that the lady had chosen a Forretress I decided to go with Hera/Pidgeot. My declaration that I was forfeiting Parvati was once again met with disbelief from everyone, though this time around the referee did not ask me if I was sure but simply acknowledged my intent. Once Hera was on the field, the referee asked us if we were ready before giving the signal to start the battle.

Hera took off into the air while Forretress seeded the ground with spikes. Forretress then did its best to take down Hera, but unfortunately for it, it failed quite miserably. Hera easily dodged its Zap Canons, and its attempt at catching her in the air using Magnet Rise was a bust as well since its speed in the air was miles below Hera's own speed. Not to mention the difference in maneuverability between the two, which allowed Hera to dodge Forretress' attack attempts while it failed to do the same with Hera's attacks.

Hera's most used move during the battle was Heat Wave, which she used to basically cook Forretress. At one point she even used Hurricane and Heat Wave to create a flaming tornado that scoured the battlefield and signed Forretress a bit. She practically forced it to perform a Kamikaze attack where it tried to fly as close to Hear as possible before triggering a Self-Destruct when it became absolutely clear that it was losing.

Hera did weather through the explosion without suffering any substantial damage thanks to Protect and the distance between them during the point of explosion. After its failed suicide bombing, Forretress was withdrawn as it fell out of the sky and Hera was declared the winner. I once again waited for the next Pokmeon to appear before making my move.

Once the Gym Trainer had sent out her Excadrill, I announced that I was withdrawing Hera and called out Jade/Gyarados in return. We did not have to worry about the Spikes released by Forretress since they got destroyed by Hera's flaming tornado. It was interesting to see that this time around the surprise at my decision to forfeit my Pokemon was minimal, though the excitement shown by the crowd at Jade's appearance was the opposite. There were quite a few exclamations of awe and astonishment when my grass variant Gyarados appeared on the battlefield.

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I'm feeling better now😌 I want to thank all of you for your well wishes😊 and I wish you all a wonderful week🙂

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