CH58 (672), First Gym Battle (5)

I ignored everyone's valid reaction and focused on the battle while suppressing the complacent smirk that threatened to appear on my face. Now that Corviknight was cursed, this battle was heavily in our favor since worst case scenario Mothra/Butterfree would just have to focus on holding on until Corviknight succumbed to the curse. Obviously, neither a battle nor a victory like that was something we would want for Mothra's first Gym Battle, Mothra deserved much more.

Others might think that beating a Gym Ace like Corviknight with a stage disadvantage was a great accomplishment, regardless of the method used in said victory, but those Pokemon were not Mothra. My Queen of Monsters could beat Corviknight in a proper confrontation where Curse was only a part of her victory and not the sole reason, and that was what we were going to do.

I watched as Mothra followed up her Curse with a dose of Sleeping Powder straight at Corviknight's head, and when she saw that Corviknight was keeping its breath she used Hypnosis on top. Corviknight tried to resist, but when its head began to slacken it involuntarily inhaled the Sleep Powder, seemingly sealing the deal. "Rest!" Stephanie ordered before Corviknight's head could drop, making the best of the situation, though I was unsure if Rest would even work due to Taunt. Besides, smart maneuver or not, that did not change our plan, so Mothra began to use Dream Eater to recover the damage she inflicted upon herself by Cursing Corviknight.

"Corvi, Sleep Talk," Stephanie ordered just as Mothra was about to switch to Giga Drain. Corviknight reacted nearly instantly and fired a sudden Hyper Beam at Mothra, which answered my question in regards to Taunt. Due to the short distance between them, Mothra had nearly no time to react, yet she still managed to cover her body with her wings and going by the metallic sheen those showed she managed to apply some steel energy even if she did not have enough time for a full-fledged Steel Wing.

Her actions were enough to redirect some of the Hyper Beam. However, she still had to bear the brunt of the attack and got pushed away by the Hyper Beam until she managed to move out of the beam's way. 'Aqua Ring, then string that bird up,' I instructed for some additional self-healing, and the crowd once again was bewildered by Mothra's move usage. Honestly, I'd thought they would have started to become numb by now, yet they kept showing exaggerated reactions to nearly everything Mothra did.

Anyway, once the Aqua Rings were set up, Mothra began to string Corviknight up using Powdered Strings laced with Sleep Powder and Stun Spore. "Sleep Talk, rip those webs up" Stephanie ordered, while Mothra was webbing it up tight.

Stephanie timed her order well, seemingly perfectly aware that her Pokemon had recovered from the involuntary Hyper Beam usage. I had to wonder if Corviknight was just that well-trained or if their luck was just really good since Corviknight ended up triggering Air Cutter, which shredded the web Mothra had just spun around it.

"Rain Dance," I ordered out loud. 'Thunder, followed by Hydro Pump, and then Ice Beam,' I added telepathically. "Sleep Talk," Stephanie said once again shortly after I gave my order, and surprisingly Corviknight ended up using Protect which was quite lucky. This happened moments before Mothra released Thunder, so Protect ended up blocking that before breaking.

Yet, that still left it open for Mothra's Hydro Pump, which not only hurt Corviknight but left it thoroughly soaked, finishing what the rain had started. It also left a good base for Ice Beam to work with since it made freezing Corviknight much easier. Still, a second after Mothra's Ice Beam hit it, Corviknight woke up and released a cry of pain as well as frustration.

"Shake it off, then Brave Drill,' Stephanie instructed, and Corviknight released a determined Screech before doing a single-turn corkscrew that allowed it to dodge Ice Beam and ended with it coming to a halt while spreading its gleaming wings, shaking off all ice and water that had formed/gathered on its body.

It then actually threw out a Taunt just as I gave my follow-up command. 'Double Team,' I said telepathically which she thankfully did before Taunt took effect. However, the same did not apply to the verbal command I was about to give, so I had to change what I was about to say from Gravity to "Silver Wind, then Hurricane". 'and then Heat Wave,' I then telepathically added.

Hence, when Corviknight began to do a corkscrew flight towards Mothra while shining, which obviously was it using Brave Bird while performing Drill Peck, it came face to face with Mothra's attack. Surprising to me was that Corviknight ended up flying into an actual Silvercane instead of a Hurricane that had drawn in the Silver Wind Mothra released first like I had planned, admittedly with the idea to mimic the very Silvercane she ended up using instead. Well, I guess we could add Shino/Yanmega's combo move to the list of moves Mothra ended up copying/executing without trying to actively learn the move.

Anyway, just as Corviknight was finally breaking free from the Silvercane, Mothra released Heat Wave. *boom* Contrary to what I had expected, the Silvercane did not ignite turning into a flaming tornado, but exploded rather explosively instead, catching Corviknight in its explosion radius, not only hurting it as a farewell gift but also throwing its Drill Bird flight entirely off course in the process. I was obviously not the only one taken by surprise at the development and more than one scream of surprise came from the audience at that moment.

"Blitz it/Protect," Stephanie and I ordered simultaneously. Her choice showed that Stephanie read me/the situation really well since her Corviknight set up that Protect as it was still hurling through the sky, seconds before Mothra crashed into it, performing an Extreme Speed backed Flare Blitz. The Protect held on and stopped Mothra's attack, though the force of Mothra impacting the Protect sent Corviknight crashing into the wall and broke the shield that had already cracked due to Mothra.

Mothra naturally followed up on her failed attempt and sent a Flamethrower at Corviknight who was still trying to get out of the wall. The next moment a Hyper Beam shot through the Flamethrower and hit Mothra, interrupting her fire attack and sending her flying. She retaliated with a Thunderbolt as soon as she gathered her wits at the sudden forced displacement, but as luck would have it, the momentarily immobile Corviknight managed to dodge the Thunderbolt by falling out of the hole in the wall it was in thanks to gravity doing its work. Still, I saw that Corviknight looked somewhat tattered, which showed that we were wearing it down.

'Flare Blitz surprise,' I instructed Mothra. 'Then Nuzzle it,' I added since Corviknight seemed to be resisting the first charge quite well, showing no serious signs of paralysis at all so far. Mothra lit up and flew/rushed towards Corviknight. "Slam," Stephanie followed Up, and Corviknight's body glinted as it flew towards Mothra. Moments before the two crashed, Mothra suddenly shrunk down using her Size Control talent, taking everyone off guard since she was still under the effect of Taunt, which obviously did not work on talents as it did with moves.

While the exclamations of disbelief and awe were coming from the audience, Mothra actually pulled off a Split-S maneuver and flew/rushed at Corviknight from behind after growing to a much much bigger size, roughly 6 times the size of a regular Butterfree. This naturally resulted in more excitement and cries/shouts from the audience. Frankly, that was not all that shocking considering how, from one moment to the next, Corviknight had a giant Butterfree at its back that was gunning for it.

Anyway, Mothra in her small kaiju form slammed into Corviknight from the back while using Flare Blitz, and the impact sent Corviknight crashing into the ground at high speed. Mothra, who had not stopped at all, flew after Corviknight and practically dive-bombed on top of Corviknight, resulting in a small explosion and throwing up dirt as well as smoke/dust into the air. Unlike before there was no option for Coviknight to get sent flying anywhere, so it had to not only accept the brunt of Mothra's Flare Blitz but also the pushback from the ground during the collision, no matter how minor that likely was compared to the damage Mothra had to have caused.

Yet, despite the impressive display Mothra just put on, I nevertheless thought that Corviknight was still conscious, which is why I quickly gave a follow-up order, and I was obviously not the only one who thought so since Stephanie spoke up as well. "Fire Blast/Giga Impact," we ordered at the same time, and everyone saw dust being displaced, with something dashing upwards from the ground, while a red light was forming above.

Moments later the two clashed and their clash dispersed the dust/smoke in the air, restoring visibility. We all saw a shining Corviknight pushing against Fire Blast, and it actually managed to push through the fire move, continuing on towards Mothra. In my opinion, it was a bit amusing to watch the situation play out since it kinda looked like a Pidgey slamming into a Snorlax at least if one looked at the size difference between Corviknight and Mothra.

Still, size difference aside, I actually saw Corviknight pushing Mothra a bit back through the impact, or rather up considering that they were flying and that Corviknight flew up from below. Nevertheless, its impact was minimal, and Mothea retaliated by releasing a Discharge, which Corviknight had no chance of dodging due to its proximity to Mothra. Well, it was not the Nuzzle I had ordered some time ago, but given the circumstances, Discharge was probably the next best thing she could do, I guess.

I saw Corviknight seizing up, which led to it falling out of the sky, smoking, and landing on the ground with an audible thud. However, Corviknight was still conscious and directly stood back up, though it did look worse for wear. "Heat Wave/Hurricane," we instructed simultaneously, but while Mothra followed my command, Corviknight seized up, becoming paralyzed, when it tried to do the same. Naturally, we did not let go of the chance, and Mothra immediately followed up with a Fire Blast.

"Rest," Stephanie ordered having not much of another choice since Corviknight looked like it was finally about to collapse. 'Uproar,' I immediately countered the moment I heard Rest, and Mothra directly followed through, successfully interrupting Corviknight's Rest attempt. Corviknight released a frustrated Screech at our interruption before shuddering for a moment. It then finally slumped over, which had the referee observe Corviknight for a moment, while the audience took a deep breath, which they only released when the referee raised his arm.

"Corviknight is unable to battle, Butterfree is the winner," he declared and the audience erupted in cheers. Mothra thrilled happily at that declaration and waved happily towards the audience in her small giant form, before shrinking down to half the size of a regular Butterfree. She then rushed towards me and threw herself into my arms before laughing happily at her victory while I pat her head and praised her for her great performance/victory.

While I did that, Stephanie recalled her beaten Corviknight and put its balls away after whispering a few words. She then looked at me and everyone quieted down once she began to speak. "Good job beating Corvi. I had suspected that you and your Pokemon had it in you, though that went a bit differently than I expected. I have to say that that is a really special Butterfree Queen you have there. Definitely quite a bit more special than I had heard about," she praised Mothra, who gave her a cheery wave, which earned her a warm smile from Stephanie.

"Still, don't think that you already have the Badge in the bag," she said while taking out the Pokeball of her next Pokemon. "You still have quite the challenge ahead of you," she confidently finished and the crowd cheered at her words.

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