Battle for the first badge begins

"There you are. Finally." 

"Sorry, I'm a bit nervous." Though, he said that Lukas was internally complaining that he was actually 5 minutes early. 

"Is this your first time?" 

"Yes, I started only a few months ago." 

"Alright, I'm Becky, btw." 

"Lukas" 

Sizing him up, Becky continues, "I assume you know the rules, but even if you do, I'm obligated to go over them anyway." 

Seeing Lukas shrug, she continues, "It's going to be a 3v3 match, all use of items is prohibited and after every fight you will be allowed to switch your Pokemon whereas I'm not allowed to switch Pokemon at all." 

Those are the standard rules for every type of gym-challenge, except the number of participating Pokemon changes from 3 during the Junior-challenge to 5 during the Elite Gym-challenge. 

"I'm on a tight schedule, so let's start." 

After their short exchange, both trainers made themselves ready on either side of the field. 

As expected from a Flying-type Gym, while the battlefield itself is just the standard dirt field, the height from ground to ceiling turned out to be an impressive 28m. 

"Are both of you ready?" the referee asks them both, and upon receiving an "ok" gesture from them promptly starts the fight off. 

"GO Charmander/Farfetch'd" 

Becky, "Farfetch'd start with Sand Attack." "Far!" 

Lukas, "Charmander evade and retaliate with Flamethrower." 

With no pause, both trainers and Pokemon immediately began the fight, with Charmander barely dodging Farfetch'ds first move before using a Flamethrower of his own. 

Becky, "Use Protect and get closer to him." 

Just as Charmanders Flamethrower seemed to hit its mark, Farfetch'd in what looked like a well practiced maneuver swiftly executed a Protect blocking its opponent's move. While doing so, it also began to dash in Charmanders direction. 

If it were any other opponent, Lukas would have no problem making Charmander use Growl before they are in melee distance and starting their various close combat maneuvers. 

After checking out Farfetch'd with his Mentaldex and learning he possesses the ability, Defiant Lukas had to discard that plan however. 

Lukas, "Use Smoke Screen." Instead, making use of the fact that Farfetch'd doesn't have the Keen Eye Ability, he resorts to plan b. 

Becky, " Gust, blow that smoke away." Unfortunately for Lukas and Charmander however, neither Becky nor Farfetch'd seem to have any issue reacting to their move. 

Lukas, "Use Smoke Screen again, this time at the spot you're currently standing." 

Not minding their failure, Lukas jumps straight to the next plan. 

Becky, "Farfetch'd do it again." 

Waiting until Farfetch'd got ready to execute its move, Lukas shouts at the small cloud of smoke permeating his side of the battlefield. 

Lukas, "Now, up and then Flamethrower!" 

Shortly before his smoke cloud is blown away, Charmander jumps above it, and thereby also the effect range of Farfetch'ds Gust, firing a Flamethrower at full power. 

*boom* 

Being in the middle of a move, Farfetch'd found it impossible to evade Charmanders attack, so in a last ditch attempt it tried to mitigate the effects of Flamethrower by steering its Gust in the direction of the incoming attack. 

Becky, "Shake it off and get close again." 

Lukas, "Try to keep your distance and continuously attack with Ember." 

Since Ember requires less stamina in addition to being of a higher mastery than Flamethrower, he decided to use it for Charmanders kiting strategies. 

"FAAR!" "CHAR!" 

Eventually, after getting hit by a few and evading even more Embers, Farfetch'd reached his target. 

Becky "Finally, use Slash Farfetch'd" 

Lukas, "Counter with Dragon Tail." 

*clash* 

Charmanders Tail collided with the Plant Stick of Farfetch'd. 

Realistically, a small fragile Plant Stick like the one Farfetch'd is holding should absolutely break after getting by any Bronze-rank Pokemon using Dragon Tail, yet it didn't. Because just like all Pokemon that use any sort of external object when battling, for example the spoons Abra will use after evolving to Kadabra or the Bones of the Cubone-line, Farfetch'd has the innate ability to bind a certain type of Plant Stick to themselves severely increasing their durability. 

"Again" x2 

*clash* 

"Again!" x2 

*clash* 

Both Pokemon continued to use the same move over and over again. Despite Charmander having the trait Full Buff that increased his str by +40% however, it looked like he was slowly getting more and more disadvantaged. 

Lukas can think of two main reasons for that. 

1. Farfetch'd is a physically stronger species(Base stats). 

2. Although it is a (mid)Bronze-rank Pokemon, Lukas theorizes that its str has already reached (high) thereby nullifying Charmanders advantage a bit. 

*clash* *boom* 

A few minutes after the close combat brawl started, Charmanders exhaustion finally caught up to him leading to him being unable to form his next Dragon Tail in time. 

Getting hit and sliding a few meters back, Charmander breath heavily while awaiting his next command. 

Becky, "End it with another Slash." "Farfetch'd!" 

Lukas, "Forgo defense, try to use Dragon Tail to cause as much damage as you can." "huff..Char..huff" 

In what was possibly their last clash, both Pokemon targeted their opponent with all the remaining power they could muster. 

*BOOM* 

A cloud of dust was the result of their exchange and not wanting to leave the three observers waiting, the winner of the clash used a low powered gust to blow the dust cloud away to reveal that indeed Farfetch'd turned out to be the winner. 

"Charmander can no longer continue, the winner is Farfetch'd, Challenger Lukas, please call out your second Pokemon." 

Hearing the referee declare Farfetch'd the winner, Lukas recalled Charmander and whispered some words of encouragement to him, resolved to drastically expand Charmanders move set no matter the result of this match. 

"Go Abra" "Abra!" 

Both trainers, after seeing the referee's signal to resume the battle, waste no time giving commands to their Pokemon. 

Becky, "Farfetch'd Sand Attack." 

Lukas, "Teleport into confusion." 

Becky, "Use Air Slash once it appears, don't give it time to use its move." 

Despite knowing that long-range move aren't Farfetch'ds strong suit, Becky has no choice but to use them anyway since she doubts her Pokemon would be able to catch a teleporting Abra, especially after just going through a battle. 

In the end, Abra had to use her Confusion to deflect Farfetch'ds Air Slash. 

Lukas, "Alright, use Shock Wave." 

Becky, "Protect! With all you got!" Knowing that an effective move like Shock Wave will probably spell the end for her Flying-type Pokemon Becky has it defend with the strongest Protect it can muster. 

Successfully blocking the attack, neither Farfetch'd or Becky can breathe a sigh of relief, however. 

Lukas, "It won't be able to use Protect again in a short time, finish it with Psychic." 

Before it could react, Farfetch'd was hit by a violent storm of pure psychic energy, causing it to fall over, fainted. 

"Farfetch'd is unable to continue the winner is Abra, does Challenger Lukas want to switch his Pokemon?" 

Seeing Lukas shake his head, the referee turns to Becky. 

"Deputy Becky, please call out your second Pokemon." 

"You're next Wingull." "Wingull!" 

'Damn, looks like we won't see Pelliper today' 

On the online forums Lukas checked out yesterday, since he felt his initial search wasn't thorough enough, he learned that Becky basically never uses two Pokemon of the same evo-line. 

So while he hoped for both Wingull and Pelipper since they're the most vulnerable to Abras and Riolus electric attacks, he knew he would at most see one of them. 

As for why she would use either of them after seeing Abras electric move, he has no clue, maybe she decided on the Pokemon she will use beforehand. 

Becky, "Start with Air Slash" 

Lukas, "Block with Protect." 

Becky, "Next use Agility." 

Lukas, "Abra use Calm Mind." 

Becky, "Break its concentration with Supersonic" 

Lukas, "Use Confusion to offset the sound waves." 

Becky, "Another Agility" 

Realizing he started this fight off the back foot, Lukas tries to think of a way to turn the situation around. 

Lukas, "Use Shock Wave." 

Becky, "Block using Swift." 

Since it was just a distraction anyway, Lukas didn't mind seeing Abras Shock Wave dissipate after colliding with the last star from Wingulls Swift. 

Lukas, "Use Psych Up." 

Hearing his command, Becky scrunches up her nose, realizing raising Wingulls speed had been for naught. 

Lukas, on the other hand, has a small smile form after feeling the familiar sense of excitement, he last felt during the Rookie-tournament finale, return. 

'Alright, let's win this.'