Cinnabar Gym Battle Pt 1

Looking out at the battlefield, Vali had to admit that Blaine was a genius if a crazy one. The battlefield was built inside one of the side vents of the Cinnabar volcano. The battlefield itself was supported by heavy duty cables and chains that not even an Aggron could bite through. The same could be said for the metal beneath the battlefield of volcanic rocks and dirt. It was all treated with a special type of coating created and continually improved by League scientists to withstand the heat of a volcano. It was mostly used when containing powerful fire-types specifically of the Magby-line. A system was in place to allow clean air into the vent without hitting the magma bubbling far beneath the battlefield. A psychic barrier as well as quite a few nets were in place to keep pokemon from falling into the lava. If those failed, Blaine had some type of mechanism that created a false floor about five feet below the battlefield that would deploy when a pokemon other than Magma fell towards the magma.

Vali was already sweating from the sheer heat coming off the room and was somewhat jealous of Steven who was enjoying the air-conditioned stands. She felt a faint buzzing in the back of her mind, but managed to ignore it as the referee called out, "This is a Four on Four battle between Gym Leader Blaine of Cinnabar island and Challenger Valkyrie Potter-Black of Pallet town! Only the Challenger may make substitutions. Any none flying-type pokemon save for Magmar is out if they fall below the battlefield. Trainers release your pokemon!"

Blaine released a Ponyta and Vali replied by releasing Pele who looked around curiously. She noted the stub on its forehead, the larger flames above its hooves, and its increase in height which told her that the Ponyta was coming close to evolving. By the aggressive pawing at the ground, it was getting pretty close. With that in mind, she knew they needed to end this battle fairly quick prompting her to call out, "Pele, Focus Energy and Earth Power."

Pele radiated bright orange energy for a few moments as Blaine shouted, "Ponyta, Quick Attack into Double Kick!"

Ponyta blazed across the field quickly with it's Quick Attack and got into position to hit Pele with Double just as the Numel released Earth Power. Pele sent Ponyta stumbling away as the earth beneath their feet shuddered violently and pulsed upwards slamming into the Ponyta. Pele used Flamethrower which earned a cry of pain. Vali realized that Blaine's Ponyta likely has Run Away for it's ability which worked out for her. She called out, "Pele keep Ponyta off balance with Magnitude and Earth Power."

Ponyta struggled to keep on it's feet as the ground shuddered violently before getting sent skidding back as a wave of earth slammed into it. The only reason Vali didn't fear the battlefield collapsing when using those two attacks was due to Steven's battle with Blaine the day before when Claydol had Earth Power. Pele kept up the offensive as Blaine's Ponyta grew furious with each continued successful attack. The fury caused it to ignore Blaine which only caused more injuries to occur and infuriate Ponyta even more. With a rage-filled screaming, Ponyta jumped up and launched a Fire-Blast at Pele. Pele skidded back as the powerful fire-type move slammed into her, but managed to keep up the attack. Due to Ponyta's awkward position and the fact it had kept getting moved towards the edges of the battlefield, the wave of earth that slammed into it managed to send Ponyta falling off the platform. Blaine returned it with a low chuckle, "Nicely done using my own rules against me. Let's see if you can keep it up," He sent out a Growlithe that immediately dropped into a attacking position without any sign of the species normally cheerful nature apparent, "Growlithe, start off with Agility into Take Down."

Growlithe howled before pretty much disappearing from view which showed just how much training Blaine had put the puppy pokemon through since there wasn't even a sign of the tell-tale aura of Agility. Pele used Magnitude again looking around with a slightly wary expression on her face. Growlithe slammed into Pele from behind and actually managed to force the Numel to slide forward. By the time Pele reacted to the attack, Growlithe was gone. Vali inwardly cursed knowing that Pele wouldn't be able to actually hit Growlithe unless something slowed it down. Given that Pele hadn't really reacted to it's appearance on the field, Blaine's Growlithe likely had Flash Fire for an ability which meant fire-type attacks were out of the question. After Growlithe had once again struck, Vali decided to take a gamble as she called out, "Pele, Earth Defense!"

Earth Defense was an perfected move that basically utilized Pele's innate ability to control the earth. Pele created thick walls of earth/rock that surrounded her save for a specific area which basically forced the attacking pokemon to use that area in order to attack. Pele would then only need to use Earth Power or a long range move to damage the attacking pokemon. Seeing as Pele didn't have many long range moves, Vali had her learn Toxic and had been spending time ensuring that the Numel could use the long-range version of it. While the toxins were a bit weaker in this case due to pretty much needing to projectile vomit, Pele was capable of using it. Blaine realized that she had pretty much concocted an almost perfect defense and kill box when his Growlithe was unable to break through the defensive walls leading to it venturing into the 'weak point'. Growlithe backed out of the tunnel spluttering and trying it's best to get the poison it'd been hit by of, "That's rather inventive, Vali."

"I have to be especially since Pele isn't ready to turn into a tank just yet," Vali replied as Pele continued to defend herself and piss off Growlithe while doing so, "We're still working to perfect this, but anything works, right?"

Blaine chuckled as his Growlithe was sent flying out of the tunnel by a wave of Earth Power. Growlithe barely managed to keep itself from falling over the edge and glared at the box, "True enough especially since using Dig would mean magnifying the damage done by your Magnitude. Very smart move indeed though not something she can keep up for long, huh?"

Vali shook her head, "No, it isn't."

It ended up being a match to see who could outlast who and Pele barely managed to win. Vali returned the Numel who fainted moments later as Blaine called out a Magcargo, "Let's see how you deal with this."