21 Battling the Gym

Lawrence entered the gym, the first thing he saw when he entered was counter and a receptionist like the one with the trainer's guild but in this case only one reception

"How may i help you?" Ask the receptionist

"I'm here to challenge the gym" said Lawrence

"Then may i have your I.D." said the receptionist

"Here" Lawrence give her his I.D.

"Oh! First time challenge of gym, then it will be beginners challenge?" Ask the receptionist when she saw the information on his I.D.

"No, I would like to challenge intermediate level" said Lawrence as he know that beginner challenge are for kids , and they use it to know the kids potential as a trainer

"Are you sure?" Ask the receptionist as she was surprised at Lawrence said cause normally even if your strong for the beginner level you won't challenge something that will make your winning percentage to lower

"Yes, i like to challenge myself" said Lawrence

"Oh! I understand" said the receptionist as she finishes the procedure of challenge

"Then it you will need to pay 2 gold" said the receptionist

Lawrence knew why most people won't higher the difficulty of the challenge at the start is because they were afraid to go bankrupt if they lose many times, so people like Lawrence are rare in the receptionist eye, and the need to pay is because if the league cover the cost of repairs in every battle then they would go bankrupt, because there was hundreds of people challenging in every gyms everyday, so what they did was to make a rule that you will need to pay in every challenge but the league will not pay the gym leader but just give them authority and privilege as well access to rare material

"Here" Lawrence pay 2 gold coins

"Done! Then you can proceed to the arena" said the receptionist as she pointed at the door next to the counter

Lawrence then enter the door which leads to a battleground where where the ceilings was 35 meters high and a battleground that was big as a basketball court, and in the sides was spectator seats that can host 150 spectators, this was also one way where gym earns money by selling tickets to watch a battle, this may not be the best way to hide confidentiality of a challenger but this can also way to attract job and boost your fame at the same time many recruiters of team or organization may also offer you a job, so there were pros and cons but mostly pros cause normally if your not confident in your strength or don't have powerful backer you won't dare to challenge a gym

In the center of the battleground is a man wearing casual clothes his name was Derek, Giovanni son, when Giovanni disbanded the team rocket after the battle with Ash Red Ketchum he decided to settle with his family and the change of personality also was appreciated by his wife she said its like he was back in the younger days, but some ex member decided to rebuild the team rocket but now they don't have the same strength as when Giovanni was still leading them

Now Derek notice his first challenger of the day

"Oh! The first challenger" said Derek

Lawrence look around the spectator seats and counted the people and he counted 40 people

"Those people may be the recruiters so early and they already here, well i guess they don't want some promising people get taken by others, like they say the early birds get the worms" thought Lawrence

"I'm here for intermediate challenge" said Lawrence to Derek

"Oh! Finally not those boring beginner challenges, then as the rules stated 2 vs 2 and only pokemon can battle and you can only use some auxiliary moves and not attack moves, and only the challenger can switch pokemon" said Derek as he walk to the corner of the field

Then the screen at the top turn on and show the picture of Lawrence in his I.D. and Derek 

Then a mechanical voice said

*begin*

"Go cubone" shouted Derek

*cubone*

"Go Argo" shouted Lawrence

*bagon*

"Status page

Race: cubone

gender: male

Bloodline ability: rock head

Age: 4 year old

Level 35

Strength: 100

Agility: 72

Intelligence: 20

Endurance: 143

Attacks: leer, rage, headbutt, sandstorm, sand attack, bone rush, skull bash, iron tail, mud shot, mud sport, bone club, bonemerang"     

"Status page

Race: bagon

gender: male

Bloodline ability: rock head

Age: 3 year old

Level 33

Strength: 121

Agility: 82

Intelligence: 19

Endurance: 157

Attacks: bite, rage, headbutt, twister,crunch ,ember, skull bash, dragon claw, dragon dance, endure, zen headbutt " 

"argo dragon dance" ordered Lawrence

*bagon* energy materialized around argo forming dragon that looks like dancing which up argo speed and attack then vanish

"Nice first move but its my turn now, cubone sandstorm" praise Derek

*cubone* cubone slam his bone in the ground which cause the sand to scattered, then cubone spin his bone which made the scattered sand to form a tornado which hide his figure

"Nice energy manipulation as expected of gym leader pokemon" thought Lawrence as he saw how powerful the sandstorm which form a tornado

"But Argo is not someone that will be affected by that" thought Lawrence, and as expected Argo was hit by the sandstorm but Argo have very high defense that ignore attack of a certain level but Argo was still force to close his eyes

"Use twister" ordered Lawrence

*bagon* a huge tornado larger than the sandstorm was made and dispel the sandstorm

"What" Derek was surprised cause his cubone was one of his pokemon that was great at energy manipulation and it was defeated in wide range attack

"Then use ember" quickly said Lawrence

*bagon* Argo use ember

"Not so fast! cubone use mud sport" ordered Derek

*cubone* cubone spit a brown light upward then it exploded and released mud like rain, the ember was weakened by the mud rain

"The effect of mud sport last for few minutes and your fire type moves will become useless" stated Derek

"No worry, Argo use dragon dance" ordered Lawrence

*bagon* Argo speed and attack was strengthen again

"Cubone use mud shot and don't let that bagon strengthen again or we will be in deep trouble" said Derek

*cubone* cubone spit mud toward bagon nonstop

"Skull bash" said Lawrence

*bagon* Argo eyes showed excitement as he crouched and lower his head, his head was hit by mud shot but his head was his hardest part so he wasn't that much affected, 3 seconds passes and when his legs stored enough force he dash toward cubone like a rocket

"Such domineering way of fighting" thought Derek

"Cubone use bone club" Derek decided to attack Argo head on cause he knows that, with Argo speed after those dragon dance cubone won't be able to escape

*cubone* cubone focus his energy in the bone his holding until it glows blue light, then he smash it toward Argo that was already in his front

*boom* a huge sound was made because of the collision and cubone was the one who lost in the contest of power as he flew 2 meters backward and stopping

"Argo dragon dance" said Lawrence

*bagon* Argo again use the time when his opponent was still down to strengthen himself, but he knows even with his toughness he can only endure 3 strengthening or his body won't be able to endure and may result in backlash

"Cubone give him one last attack in full power, bonemerang!" Shouted Derek

*cubone* barely standing cubone use all his remaining energy in this last attack, he injected all his energy on his bone until the bone become bigger

*bagon* Argo look toward his trainer and looks like he was telling him something, Lawrence look straight in Argo eyes then nodded

"Okay! We won't back down either! Use headbutt" said Lawrence

*bagon* showed his fearless smile then dash toward cubone and focus his energy in his head, then jead glowed

*cubone* cubone also finishes focusing all his energy on his bone, he look toward Argo with challenging eyes then throw his bone toward Argo

Their attack collided

*Boooom* a stronger sound was made because of the collision and little by little Argo was being push back

*b-bagon* Argo was unwilling to lose in terms of power so he again use more energy in his attack

*bang* then the bonemerang lost in the contest of strength and flew back and stab the ground near the fainted cubone then shrink back in its original size

*cubone was unable to battle bagon wins* a mechanical voice announced the victor of the round