Chapter nine- Battle of the serpents

Mason soon found himself standing on the platform floating on the surface of the pool and was grateful that he knew how to swim; otherwise he would have been a little worried about falling in with how shakey the platform was. But he figured that was something that the gym used to offset the challenging trainers as the gym leader would have been used to battling on this field.

Looking across the water to the other platform Mason smirked at Misty, looking forward to this battle.

"I hope you're ready Misty, because I don't intend on losing here!" Mason called over as he plucked one of his pokéballs from his belt.

Misty smirked back at him, "oh it's you who should be worrying about losing Mason, because I'm in my element here. You're about to find out just how powerful water Pokémon can be" she said as she tossed her own pokéball out and out of it Goldeen appeared and took into the water swimming around with speed.

Mason smirked, "This battle is going to be interesting then," he said before tossing his own pokéball out, "Poliwhirl, ready for battle!" he called as Poliwhirl appeared standing on the platform in a ready stance.

"Oh!" Misty said in surprise, "I see Poliwag evolved, Congratulations to you both. Polwhirl is looking very strong now, you've clearly raised him well"

Mason nodded, "yeah, thanks. I'll fill you in on the details later" he said as he widened his stance to keep his balance, "let's get this started shall we, ladies first~"

"Such a gentlemen" Misty giggled, "Alright Goldeen let's show him what a water Pokémon can do, go Supersonic"

Goldeen immediately rose up from the water and began letting out high pitched waves of sound from her mouth towards Poliwhirl.

"Poliwhirl jump into the water to dodge" Mason ordered not wanting to risk his Pokémon getting confused.

Poliwhirl obeyed and jumped quickly into the water to avoid the sonic attack.

"Big mistake, go attack with Horn Attack!" Misty called with a smirk.

Goldeen obeyed as she shot towards Poliwhirl with incredible speed her horn lowered, primed for an attack. Mason could see Misty had trained the fish Pokémon well.

"Counter with Double Slap!" Mason ordered quickly.

Goldeen's attack continued as she shot towards Poliwhirl who readied himself as the sharp horn came at him and he thrust out his open palm, as it connected with the fish Pokémon side and knocked her off course just in time, before he thrust his other palm out, connecting to deal further damage.

"Don't give up, circle around and use Fury Attack!" Misty ordered hastily

Goldeen heard and obeyed as she recovered from the slaps and sped around Poliwhirl in a circle and began to thrust her horn towards the larger Pokémon with speed catching Poliwhirl in his side.

Mason gritted his teeth, Goldeen was fast, and with Misty's fast commands she wouldn't be easy to counter, he needed to slow her down. "Poliwhirl, counter with Double slap again and then follow up with Hypnosis!"

As Goldeen went in for another thrust of her horn, Polywhirl moved out of the way just in time and caught the fish with another thrust of his palm to the side of her body, followed by a second that sent her up and around disorienting her.

"Look out Goldeen!" Misty called in warning, but it was too late.

As soon as Goldeen began to get her bearings she came face to face with Poliwhirl who's eyes began to glow as he launched Hypnosis and within half a second Goldeen was asleep in the water.

"Alright, now launch her out of the water with Hydro Pump, and follow it!" Mason ordered seeing his way to win.

Poliwhirl obeyed as he pulled back both his arms and fired the condenses stream of water from his centre catching Goldeen and launching her out of the pool before shooting up after her.

"Goldeen!" Misty called in worry.

"End it, Double Slap, both hands at the same time!" Mason ordered.

Misty could only watch as Poliwhirl drew back both his arms and thrust his palms forward both catching Goldeen full on and launching her back down to crash into the floating platform which sunk for a moment under the water before coming back up revealing Goldeen laying on it unconcious.

Mason grinned, "one down" he said to himself as Poliwhirl landed back on its own platform.

Misty sighed as she recalled her Pokémon and uttered soft words to it before putting it back in her bag and looked to Mason, "well well Mason, colour me impressed, that was very impressive, you sure I can't talk you into becoming a water Pokémon trainer full time, with how well you've trained Poliwhirl it's obvious you have a knack for it~" she said, seeming to get over her first loss to him.

Mason smirked and shook his head, "sorry Misty, no can do. I'll leave that to you, you're the water specialist after all" he complimented her back.

Misty giggled as she took out her next pokéball, "oh hush you, don't think sweet talking me is going to make me go easy on you in this next round"

Mason smirked, "wouldn't dream of it" he replied, internally wondering what her next Pokémon would be, if he remembered correctly Misty only had three Pokémon at the start in the anime, and with both Staryu and Starmie out of commision after her battle with Ash he didn't know who the fourth could be.

Up in the stands Daisy, Lily and Violet sat together watching the battle unfold. Needless to say, the three of them were impressed by what they had seen in the last battle and in this one.

"Misty sure has grown up hasn't she" Lily commented as they watched.

"Yeah for sure, she's definitely got as much skill as the three of us when it comes to battling" Violet countered.

Daisy nodded with a sigh, "yeah she may have skills but its experience that wins in a battle"

Her sisters nodded, "that Mason sure is something though," Lily commented

Violet nodded, "yeah, that Poliwhirl of his is no slouch, he's clearly trained it well"

Daisy sighed, "I feel a little bad about trying to just give him the badge now, with how he's battling it's clear that he's worked hard on training his Pokémon, I can see why he refused me now"

Lily nodded, "yeah, but at least he's getting his battle now"

Violet smirked, "and Misty seems to have really taken a liking to him, I don't think I've seen her act that way around a boy, ever" she said as she glanced at her sisters and they glanced back.

"Tease her after this?" Daisy asked

"Oh definitely," Lily nodded in agreement.

"What kind of big sisters would we be if we didn't?" Violet smirked before the three of them burst into giggles.

Back down at the pool Misty smirked as she took out another ball from her back that Mason recognised as an ultra ball making him arch an eyebrow at seeing in as Misty gave him a grin.

"You may have beaten my last Pokémon Mason but you won't beat this one," Misty said as she held out the ball, "and I can guarantee if I had used this one in my match with Ash he wouldn't have won so easily either" she said confidently.

Mason smirked at the challenge, "we'll let's see it then, I've been looking forward to a challenge"

Misty smirked, "you'll be sorry you said that"

Up in the stands her three older sisters were exchanging worried looks between them, "isn't that…" Violet asked.

Daisy nodded, "yep"

"She must really be taking this seriously," Lily said as they continued to watch.

Mason braced himself for whatever water Pokémon Misty was going to use but nothing could prepare him for what was about to come.

Misty tossed the ball as the called out the words that made Masons eyes widen, "Misty calls Gyarados!" As the ball burst open and the massive sea serpent appeared with a massive roar before it dove into the waters of the pool.

Mason had to steady himself as the waves almost caused his platform to capsize, his eyes still wide with shock from what he had heard and seen. 'A freaking Gyrados, how the hell does she have that!' He internally panicked as the large beast rose from the water towering over both him and Poliwhirl, his red eyes glaring down at them both.

Mason swallowed hard, 'okay Mason calm down, you asked for a challenge and you got one. Now man up and deal with it, even if that challenge is the biggest freaking beast you've ever seen in your life' he told himself as he looked up at the massive sea serpent that looked like he could swallow him and Poliwhirl in one bite.

The thing was huge, at least seventeen feet tall and that was only the part that he could see out of the water and he was sure there was probably more that he couldn't see.

He could practically feel the strength radiating from it, and he wasn't sure if that was real or it's intimidate ability but he was beginning to doubt his ability to actually win, but quickly blinked and shook his head to snap out of it and looked back at the large sea serpent with a determined look.

Misty seemed to smile, "wow, I'm really impressed now, not many would be able to snap out of Gyarados's ability like that, most would just wet themselves at the sight of him and give up, but you broke through it in record time" she commented,

Mason smirked, "thanks, I do make it a habit of breaking people's expectations, shall we get back to the battle now"

Misty smirked, "sure thing, I was just waiting on you," she said before getting a serious look in her eye, "Gyarados, let's win this, use Dragon Rage!"

Mason's eyes widened, "dodge it Poliwhirl, and use Hydro Pump" he ordered thinking fast, he had to deal as much damage as possible as well as keep Poliwhirl as far away from Gyarados as possible.

Poliwhirl did just that dodging just in time as Gyrados fired his draconic attack that impacted the small platform that he'd been standing on and jumped into the air and fired back with a powerful torrent of water which hit Gyarados right in his face making the large sea serpent rear back from the impact.

"Show them a real Hydro Pump!" Misty ordered confidently.

And almost immediately Gyarados came right back, his huge maw open as water swelled up, Mason didn't even have a chance to tell Poliwhirl to dodge before the powerful blast of water launched with pressure to spare, it was almost five times as powerful as the one that Poliwhirl had used and four times as large as it caught Poliwhirl just as he landed back on the platform and lifted him clean off his feet and shot him backwards.

The attack cleared the pool and smacked Poliwhirl into the wall behind Mason causing spiderweb cracks to form from the impact. When the torrent of water finally came to a halt Poliwhirl was left embedded in the wall, his arms and legs spread eagle and his eyes glassy and unfocused as he let out pained moans.

Mason could only stare in shock at what he had just seen before he clenched his fist and swallowed as he raised Poliwhirls pokéball and returned him to it. And looked back at Gyarados with a hard look in his eyes.

Back up in the stands Brock had a narrowed gaze as he looked down at the battle while Ash just gawked at that.

"I… I didn't know Misty had a Pokémon like that," Ash said completely shocked as Pikachu huddled in just jacket to keep out of sight of the large sea serpent, "where did she get it"

"From our father," Daisy said, hearing his question.

"That's the same Gyarados that scared Misty all those years ago," Lily added as she watched the battle as well.

"Dad made sure to show Misty that Gyarados would never hurt her and the two of them became friends over the years, so when dad passed away he left him to her" Violet explained.

Daisy nodded, "Gyarados has always had a soft spot for Misty ever since he scared her, and he's undoubtedly one of the top four strongest Pokémon in this gym, right next to my Blastoise, Violet's Dewgong, or Lily's Seadra," she explained, "so it's no surprise that he's strong, and there's no denying that he's only gotten stronger since Misty became his trainer, and she was right," she added as she gave Ash a side glance, "had she used him in your match there was no way you would have won, your friend is in for a hell of a challenge if he's going to try to win this"

Ash gulped, not even daring to argue, and looked back down at the pool a little worried for Mason's chances of winning but at the same time made a mental note to never piss Misty off again, not if she could sick that beast on him.

Mason meanwhile was mentally trying to come up with a strategy to use against this obviously overpowered and battle hardened Gyarados. He knew that Spearow was our, as fast and as small as she was, Gyarados would pick her out of the air with a single shot, and that meant Golbat was out as well, not only did he not have any battle experience with her but he couldn't afford a wild card at the moment, and as handy as her toxic and Hyper beam would be they were no guarantees for a win against an opponent this strong.

Scyther was also out, with no solid ground to stand on or to use to evade he would be a sitting duck out there and wouldn't be able to get enough speed boosts to avoid the powerful attack that would follow, and if he went to boost his attack right off it would be the exact same.

That left only one option.

"Dratini! Ready for battle!" Mason called as he tossed his starters ball out onto the floating platform as he called out the small blue dragon, getting looks of shock from both Misty, her sister's and Ash.

"What's Mason thinking, sending Dratini out against Gyarados? What's it meant to do against that!" Ash said in shock.

The sisters looked equally as concerned, "a last ditch attempt maybe", "he should have just forfeited is he knows he can't win", "this is bad"

Brock however watched the scene for a moment longer before shaking his head, "I don't think so, Mason isn't the kind of guy to rush into things without a plan and get his Pokémon hurt like that"

"But come on Brock what can Dratini possibly do" Ash asked not seeing how Dratini could possibly win.

Brock just shook his head, "I'm not sure, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see"

Misty was looking confused and concerned for a moment and thought that maybe she had misjudged Mason, but then she saw the hard look in his eyes and she flinched, he was pissed.

"Dratini," Mason said as he pointed his finger at Gyarados, "this one hurt Poliwhirl, let's show him what happens when you hurt one of us"

Dratini seemed to gain a hard look in his eyes at that statement as it glared at the much larger Pokémon, it was clear that the small dragon shared the same sentiment as his master, and although he knew the battle would be tough, was ready to give it his all.

"Taking this kind of personally aren't you," Misty said jokingly with a nervous chuckle at Mason's tone, before getting serious again, "but if it's a grudge match you want then we'll give you a good one, Gyarados use Hydro Pump!"

"Dodge by diving into the water!" Mason immediately ordered not wasting time as he knew what was coming.

Dratini obeyed and threw himself into the water just as the torrent of water shot overhead.

"Trying to beat me under water? Not going to work, after it Gyarados!" Misty ordered as Gyarados submerged after the small dragon.

Mason gave a small smirk as he did and Misty's eyes narrowed wondering why she didn't have to wait long.

"Dratini, use thunderwave!" Mason bellowed to be heard by all, and Misty's eyes widened with horror and realisation.

Under the water Dratini heard and paused in the water as the large sea serpent swam towards him before Dratini let out a powerful electric shock wave that rippled through the water and caught the surprised Pokémon in its wake.

"Gyarados!" Misty called in worry seeing her strongest Pokémon begin to thrash in the water from the electrical current passing through the water.

"Now Twister!" Mason ordered as Misty looked worried.

Almost instantly the waters of the pool began to thrash around as draconic winds seemed to poor out of Dratini as the waters began to swirl around and began to form a maelstrom in the water, the winds pushing the water forcefully around as Mason and Misty were both hard pressed to keep their balance.

"Gyrados," Misty called, far from ready to throw in the towel, "fight back with your own twister!" She called

And then things only proceeded to get tougher as the waters seemed to clash against each other as the two forces of draconic winds seemed to battle between one another as both Pokémon seemed to rise up to the surface, the winds seemed to deflect the other's as they did so. It was unclear who was winning this test of draconic strength as neither seemed to be giving ground.

Up in the stands Ash, Brock and the sisters seemed to be having a rough time as the winds blew throughout the room as they tried to keep watching the match.

Pikachu has taken to huddling deeper into Ash's jacket to shield himself from the winds.

Mason's hard look hadn't left his face as he struggled to keep his platform from sinking in the rough currents, "Dratini! Use Dragon Rage!"

"Use Dragon rage too!" Misty ordered right back.

Almost instantly the winds began to die down as both serpent Pokémon drew their heads back and gathered the draconic energies to their maws and launched the purple fire balls at one another, they impacted midfield causing a large explosion from the combined attacks.

The explosion almost caused both Masons and Misty's platforms to overturn, "don't give him an inch, fire again" Mason ordered.

"You too Gyarados!" Misty parroted.

Dratini did as Mason ordered as it drew back its head to charge another attack, but when Gyarados went to do the same suddenly he began to writhe in pain as sparks of electricity sparked off his body.

Misty's eyes widened, "Gyarados!"

Up in the stands Brock nodded, "so that was Mason's plan" he said in realisation as the sisters and Ash looked to him, "Mason knew that Gyarados was both strong and fast, there was no way he would be able to win without taking one of those two factors out of play, and banked on Misty's over confidence in her element to play to his advantage, now Dratini has the speed advantage with the possibility of Gyarados completely missing out on attacks at crucial moments. It's a well thought out strategy"

Because of Gyarados's paralysis it wasn't able to attack or avoid the incoming attack and as a result the purple ball of draconic flames met its mark, hitting Gyarados right across his face and knocking the massive serpent back.

"Don't let up, fire again" Mason said pressing his advantage, he knew one shot wouldn't be enough to bring down that titan he needed to take every shot whenever he could.

"Counter with Fire Blast!" Misty yelled, making Masons eyes widen again as this time Gyarados wasn't paralysed and was able to gather crimson flames in its mouth before letting them loose towards Dratini.

"Dive into the water" Mason ordered in a hurry, but it was too little too late.

The attacks collided and the inferno of crimson swallowed the violet fireball and continued on, Dratini wasn't able to move in time and got caught in the wall of flames letting out a pained cry as he was thrown back and into the water.

"Dratini!" Mason yelled his eyes wide as Dratini went below the water he felt his stomach knot as he stepped forward to dive in but came up short when Dratini emerged from the water looking battered and burned but still able to fight.

Up in the stands Brock let out a sigh, "that was a close one, Dratini only just managed to avoid the worst of the damages by falling into the water, had he not been thrown back like that, that fire blast would have ended things, Mason needs to be careful, it's clear that Gyarados has a well versed moveset to counter most types that a trainer would normally bring to battle water types."

Mason looked to his partner with concern, "Dratini can you still battle?" He asked getting a determined cry in response making mason nod before he looked at Gyarados again his eyes narrowed as he began formulating another plan in his head, that maelstrom from before having given him an idea, "Alright, now use Agility in the water, circle Gyarados and use Twister while moving"

Dratini nodded and with a cry took off at speed as it began to channel the draconic energy inside it as the winds began to whip up and the water began to stir and thrash.

Misty frowned as she narrowed her eyes as she tried to work out what Mason was up to, before the realisation hit her, "Gyarados, stop it with Hydro Pump!"

Gyarados moved to obey but when he went to fire the attack failed as once again sparks or electricity sparked over his body as the paralysis effect prevented him from attacking.

"Try again!" Misty ordered in a frantic hurry, but it was too late.

By this point Dratini had gained too much momentum and the draconic winds had grown too powerful. The water began to swirl around, throwing Gyarados off balance as the strong currents began to fully form into a large focused maelstrom with Gyarados at its epicentre, being battered by both the draconic winds and the harsh currents that followed them.

"Gyarados!" Misty called in worry, her eyes closed as she tried to keep herself from being thrown off her platform by the waters, only the cables connecting hers and Masons platforms to the pool walls kept them from being pulled in by the strong currents.

"Keep it up Dratini!" Mason ordered as he did the same, he knew that he needed to keep the pressure on, if he let up Misty could counter, he'd been lucky with two paralysis so close to the other, he couldn't afford to waste that kind of luck.

The waters kept churning and thrashing as Dratini kept circling but after a minute Mason could see from where he was that they were starting to slow and Dratini was getting tired from the constant bombardment, Gyarados was looking a lot worse for ware, Mason just hoped that it would be enough, it was now or never.

"Dratini, end this now, use Dragon Rage!" Mason yelled.

Misty was getting desperate, she needed to do something to end this now, and when she heard Mason call his attack she knew what she needed to do, "Gyarados, Hyper Beam!"

As the waters began to lesson drastically as Dratini pulled away exhausted as he readied his attack, Gyarados managed to break free of the maelstrom and upon hearing Misty's command reared back his head as he pooled in his energy, the paralysis did not happen a third time and the beam fired true. While Dratini fired the strongest Dragon Rage he could.

The resulting explosion when the two attacks met shook the room as water exploded from the pool from the shock wave of the attack's collision. Misty and Mason were violently thrown from their platforms as the water was sucked down into the void left by the water being displaced.

Those in the stands had to put their hands and arms up to try to shield themselves as the water fell soaking the entire seating area.

Mason and Misty both emerged from the water at the same time both gasping for breath as they looked about the pool in shock.

The water level in the pool had gone down by a good seven feet, and there in the centre of the pool were both the unconscious forms of Dratini and Gyarados.

Both trainers swam over to check on their Pokémon worries for their well being after such a battle, but both were relieved to see that they were both just unconscious, and Mason was pleased to see that the burns on Dratini from before had vanished entirely, 'shed skin for the win again, no wonder he was able to hold out so long' Mason thought to himself as he cradled Dratini in his arms as he kept himself a float by kicking alone.

Misty let out a sigh seeing that Gyarados was okay, just exhausted and a little banged up, nothing too serious. She looked over and smiled seeing Mason cradling Dratini like he was and couldn't help but feel her disappointment at her loss fade away and be replaced with a warm feeling in her chest, she didn't mind losing to such a great trainer like Mason who obviously cared for his Pokémon.

"Congratulations Mason, you won," Misty smiled.

Mason chuckled, "I don't know if you noticed Misty but we both lost there," he mused but couldn't find a reason to be disappointed in that loss after all both his Pokémon had given it their all against a Pokémon much stronger than them both.

Misty nodded, "that may be so, but like my sisters said before, gym leaders are allowed to make exceptions for trainers that they deem worthy, and you most certainly are, no one has ever pushed me as hard as you did just now, nor gone as far against Gyarados like you did, I'd say both those make this battle your win" she said as she floated over and held out her hand with the cascade badge in it.

Mason looked down at the badge and frowned, he had said that he didn't want a badge without properly earning it but looking down at Dratini he couldn't help but feel that they had, maybe not outright but he'd like to see anyone else do as well as his team did having only been training as long as he had.

Nodding softly Mason reached out and took the badge, "Alright, thank you Misty, but I swear we will be training even harder after this to become stronger, we will be worthy of this badge, I swear"

Misty smiled seeing the fire in his eyes and the dedication in his voice, he meant that he was determined to succeed and Misty knew he would follow through on his promise.

Time skip

After recalling both of their Pokémon back to their pokéballs the two of them helped each other to climb out of the pool seeing as how the water drop made it hard for either of them to get out on their own.

As they touched down on the ground they were met by the others coming down to greet them with towels.

Mason gladly took his and began to dry his hair and face, he'd need to change his clothes too, luckily he had some in his bag that he had left with Brock so it was fine.

"That was a brilliant match Mason, I didn't know Dratini could even do that" Ash commented as Mason dried himself off.

"Indeed that was a terrific match, both of you should be proud of your Pokémon," Brock complemented with a smile, "great strategy using Dratini"

Mason nodded as he rested the towel over his shoulders, "yeah we'll Dratini was really the only choice left to me, both Spearow and Golbat would have been plucked out of the air, and there was no room for Scyther to manoeuvre on the platforms even with its wings, Dratini was the only option left to me,"

"Well it was the right call," Daisy commented with a smile before frowning, "listen, I'm sorry about insulting you before by offering you the badge for free, me and my sisters have talked and…" she said before sighing.

"We've come to an agreement that we're going to spit the gym responsibly between us and take it a week about for gym battles and performances," Lily smiles as she spoke up.

"One of us will handle the gym battles, one of us will handle performances with the Pokémon, and the other will handle all the paperwork of both, and we'll work on rotation to keep everything even" Violet said cheerfully.

"Daisy has even volunteered to handle the first week of paperwork duty" Lily chirped with glee, while a storm cloud seemed to appear over Daisy's head as she slumped.

Something told Mason that she hadn't so much volunteered for the first week and was more press ganged into it as punishment by her two other sisters for the things she had said earlier.

"That's great, at least there will be no more repeats of handing out badges like you did before, with this system everything should run smoothly" Brock agreed.

"About time if you ask me" Misty sniped, "you three should have been doing this from the start"

"And of course this also means that you'll be able to continue your travelling Misty, and become a great water Pokémon trainer" Lily smiled.

Mistys personally did a complete one eighty at that and she smiled, "really," she said before clearing her throat, "good, because the last thing I want is to be stuck here bailing you three out of your messes," she smirked.

"Of course" Violet smiled, "we wouldn't want to keep you from your boyfriend after all~"

"You and Mason, so make a cute couple~" Lily giggled.

"Maybe he'll finally be able to tame that wild streak of yours and make you into a proper lady" Daisy comments not wanting to be left out of the teasing.

… the screams and denials of Misty that followed, left everyone's ears ringing until after the four of them had left the gym.