C105 - First day of Akala Gym Challenge

The fight between Gigalith and Komala was rather short. Ilima's pokemon was really outclassed - though that is to be expected from a pokemon chosen by a gym leader. Or, well, island kahuna turned gym leader.

The sleeping koala pokemon managed to land a few good hits with the special normal attack Snore. Though sadly, the relatively low special defense of the opponent's rock pokemon didn't mean much since it was a not very effective move.

Komala had some funny dodges that looked like it practiced a sleepwalkving variant of the Drunken Fist style, but even then, Gigalith tanked through most things Komala could do in return.

The super effective grass move Wood Hammer with the log Komala carries and another super effective Brick Break couldn't do much against Gigalith in a straightforward brawl. Gigalith didn't flinch once and continued to use Bulldoze, Rock Slide, and finally Rock Tomb to take out Komala as if nothing could stop Olivia's rock pokemon.

Komala certainly couldn't.

With that, Olivia was given an hour-long break but not before awarding Ilima the Akala badge for his efforts. She praised his sincere care for his pokemon as well as the passion with which they fought battles. Even though it was technically a 2:1 in Olivia's favor, winning 2 or even all 3 matches was not necessary to get a badge - it wasn't in any league, for that matter.

Pete would have loved witnessing the birth of Burnet and Kukui's child, but sadly, it wasn't in the stars. Metagross returned before the break ended to 'tell' him that the kid was safe and sound - Burnet was lucky to pop out her child like it owed her rent instead of dragging out the birthing process for hours and hours like the nieces in his last life did.

This day had two more matches on the docket, so Pete was eager to kick off the next - even if he had to commentate them alone. Which apparently wasn't needed: Professor Samuel Oak's cousin Samson was in the stands and decided to assist Pete with the commentating.

Samson turned out to be an almost exact copy of Samuel Oak, though he was incredibly tanned and grew out his hair to shoulder length. Instead of working on many projects like his much more famous cousin in Kanto, Samson stopped actively researching various projects and focused on his crown-jewel research: regional forms with a focus on Alolan forms.

Sadly, Pete would have to wait chewing Samson's ear off about that until after the next match.

"Alright! The next match is about to start, and it turns out I will not have to commentate it alone for all of you! With the joyous absence of Professors Burnet and Kukui - who I'm told have already welcomed a healthy son into their family," Pete announced to the happy cheers of the crowd, "yes, yes - all the best to them. As I was saying, I will not be alone at the commentator's booth: Please help me out with a round of applause for Professor Samson Oak!"

The cheers kept ringing through the stadium while Samson held up his hand in greeting with a bright smile, "Hello fellow Alolans and everyone else watching! I wanted to hang out with some old friends in the stands, but I couldn't watch young Pete here sweating through the whole next match alone. And what a match this turns out to be! It is my understanding we're about to see Guzma, the little delinquent from Melemele Island?"

"That's what you said. But yes, that is correct! Guzma, with his extraordinary bug pokemon lineup, is next!"

As the white-haired man walked onto the stage with a slight scowl for Samson, who just grinned in return, Olivia sent out her first pokemon for the battle: Gigalith.

"Young Pete, want to know what I asked myself when my friends urged me to come down here to help you?"

Pete shrugged, "Sure, let's hear it, professor."

"Wynaut?"

It took a short moment until Pete got the pun, but most people on the stands didn't even moments later. Neither of the two explained the joke, so it fell flat with the audience. It fell flat with Pete, too, but he had the decency to lift a corner of his mouth at the pun.

Guzma on the stage didn't wait for any more introductions or bad puns and threw out Pinsir's pokeball.

The fight was a nailbiter - for Guzma quite literally because that is exactly what he did on the stage - but his pokemon turned out to be a little out of its depths.

"Despite getting rained on by super effective fighting moves as a rock pokemon, Gigalith clinches out a win against Pinsir! What a brutal slugfest between two pokemon slinging super effective move against one another," Samson Oak concluded with an awed expression.

"Yeah, both pokemon didn't give an inch. The two trainers really found pokemon with a burning fighting spirit! Let's see what Guzma decides to send out next - certainly, he's on a backfoot with his water and electric dual type pokemon now. If he sends out Golisopod, Olivia might counter it with her Alolan Golem. If he sends out his Vikavolt, Olivia might choose to withhold her Golem for the guaranteed favorable matchup after. Makes me wonder why he didn't send out his Golisopod first to dodge that particular matchup," Pete analysed, which earned him an annoyed glare from Guzma.

Moments later, exactly the matchup Pete just described stood on the field.

Samson showed a grin full of schadenfreude at the typings on the battlefield and shouted, "There you have it, Golisopod the bug/water pokemon versus Alolan Golem, the rock/electric pokemon! Both of Golem's typings are very effective against one of the Golisopod's typings, and water is naturally very effective versus rock. I'm guessing this will be another slugfest!"

Golisopod started the match with his signature move First Impression, a bug type physical attack move that could only be used at the very start of the fight and followed it up with Dig, right under Olivia's pokemon's nose. The four times effective move connected, but was defended with a timely Protect. From there, it was only downhill for Golisopod.

"And another Dig into Liquidation combo is turned against the bug pokemon as Golem combines Magnet Rise and Rollout to become a veritable floating wrecking ball on the battle field!"

Pete quickly added, "It looks like Golem isn't done showing its superior battle experience and combines the two moves Rock Throw and Spark! Usually Spark would be used as a sort of electric type Tackle that may leave the opponent paralyzed for a short moment but Olivia's Alolan Golem charges the rock to leave the paralysis effect to more conveniently land the Rollout! It picks up speed - aaaaand it connects!!"

Golisopod's shell gave out a sickening crunch as Golem's massive form crashed into its body. Immediately after, Golem followed up with a Discharge causing Golisopod, who was wet from its own move, to once more be paralyzed.

"Golem doesn't take any prisoners after losing its first battle last match against Ilima's Kangaskhan! This is the first time I see it, but a 'Galvanize'd electric type Giga Impact is about to obliterate Guzma's Golisopod!"

With Alolan Golem's ability, Galvanize, normal type moves turn into STAB electric moves. Golisopod had to learn the hard way first hand just how much something like that hurt.

"Let's hope the next combatant is given a little more chance," Samson quipped with a smirk as Guzma balled his pokemon with another deep scowl. "Olivia's Golem clearly had to work through some frustrations from its last match. But that's the luck of the draw!"

"Yeah, beautiful show from Golem. It showed being able to wield two moves simultaneously back-to-back. It's already a rare thing to be able to do, yet doing it for two different combinations is on another level. Olivia can be proud," Pete commented. This was truly a different match compared to Golem's last showing.

"And this battle result means we're going into the last match Carbink versus Vikavolt with a 2:0 lead for Team Olivia," Samson added after a few more comments on the last match.

For the third matchup, Vikavolt could do nothing to stop Carbink from setting up with Calm Mind while blocking most special attacks from the quick special attacker with Protect and Light Screen. When it finally came to dealing damage to one another, Carbink quickly overwhelmed Vikavolt with perfectly aimed Ancient Power moves.

There was only a small hick up when Vikavolt revealed to know the steel move Flash Cannon which was four times effective against Carbink, but Carbink kept a level head and blocked the move twice before finally landing enough hits to take out the relatively squishy Vikavolt.

And yet, despite losing 0:3, Olivia still awarded Guzma the badge. She apologized for her pokemon fighting with a little too much oomph, leaving Guzma's less experienced pokemon little chance to win the battles.

Guzma very much disliked being 'belittled' like that, so Pete mused if that was the moment where the villain 'Team Skull Leader' was born. He even refused to give an interview and left the venue quickly.

An hour later, Samson introduced the last match for the day, "The last young man in the line up of the contenders is due to fight the last match of the day. Tomorrow is apparently a power-women-only battle day. Nevertheless, it is my distinct pleasure to invite my good friend Lusamine's son onto the stage! Give it up for a young trainer with limitless potential: Gladion!"

The pale blonde boy walked onto the battle rampart with closed eyes and a determined expression. He greeted Olivia with a respectful nod but otherwise kept quiet until Olivia chose to send out her first pokemon for the fight: Alolan Golem.

"Let's see what Gladion chooses to send out against Olivia's powerful rock/electric pokemon!"

Samson's eyes started shining as he shouted, "And it's his shiny Lucario! Certainly a wise choice just matchup wise. Though Lucario would have been a great choice regardless of the battle!"

"I agree, but Porygon-Z is better used against the other two pokemon, especially Carbink, while his Zoroark has an equally hard time against all of Olivia's pokemon. One could argue that Gladion should have maybe sent out Zoroark so it won't face against Carbink," Pete deliberated out loud.

As the two talked some more about what choices Gladion could have made, the battle started. Lucario dodged a whole bunch of attacks while setting up - something Golem easily did as well between moves. Since its dual-move activation was now known, Golem saw no reason to hide it anymore.

"Oh, it looks like the real battle is about to start! Golem is going in hot with a Wild Charge!"

Pete's eyes started shining. He felt something was a little off about Lucario's moveset from the start. He didn't voice his suspicion, though, and commented, "Lucario moves away at the last moment using Detect to dodge the Charge! And it combines it with a Low Kick to trip the rock pokemon! The kick connects - AH! What we thought was Lucario all this time was actually Zoroark all along!"

"Classic Illusion shenanigans from Zoroark, now Golem is forced to change his tactics on the spot, giving Zoroark a slight edge! Zoroark immediately uses Night Daze, a powerful dark special move that has a chance to lower an opponent's accuracy," Samson explained with a gleeful grin. He had a soft spot for practical jokes and puns, so the dark type pokemon with the Illusion ability was right up his alley.

Pete chimed in as Zoroark managed to run beneath Golem, "Oooh, another heavy hit as Zoroark follows up with a devastating High Jump Kick!"

The battle was much more strategic than the last one Olivia's Alolan Golem fought and ended in a narrow win for Zoroark. Pete mused that if Golem hadn't fought two matches today already, it would have probably won the fight. But as Samson said, luck of the draw played a part in these battles.

"Looks like it is time for us to GO-lem unto the next match," Samson joked to the laughs of nobody. "I hope this one won't be over in a Car-BLINK."

Next, Gladion sent out his Porygon-Z to fight Olivia's Carbink. Olivia likely chose the tanky rock/fairy pokemon because Gigalith had relatively low special defense. And Porygon-Z had crazy high special attack.

"Second to last match of the day! Porygon-Z versus Carbink!"

The fight between the two was a sight to behold. And an absolute pleasure to commentate for Pete's inner nerd. Porygon-Z kept using Conversion and Conversion 2 to change between typings to make use of its Adaptability ability that raised STAB bonus damage by another 50%. Like that, Porygon-Z fired STAB Flash Cannons, STAB Aurora Beams, STAB Bubble Beam, STAB Energy Balls, and in the end even a STAB Solar Beam that resulted in Porygon-Z's win.

Despite losing the first two battles, Olivia never lost her smile. Her pokemon clearly enjoyed themselves fighting these pokemon, and this loss might make Carbink take healing moves more seriously.

"And now for the last match of the day, Gigalith versus Lucario!"

Samson interrupted the referee from starting the battle by asking Pete, "Hey Pete. Could you do me a favor if you're ever in the position to open a school?"

Pete could already tell this was likely going to be another pun by the impish grin on the professor's face, but he played along anyway.

"If it's in my power, sure. Let's hear it."

Oak's cousin lost his grin and said, "My pokemon school sadly has a board, and they didn't let me name it. Please consider my number one choice: Star University. Is that acceptable?"

Pete closed his eyes and sighed.

"You want me to name my school StarU?"