16-19

The New Normal – 2-9 – Training to Mauville

I watched as Karen left the Rustboro Gym with a satisfied smile on her face, she approached me, and we started making our way to the Pokécenter to heal up her Pokémon.

"That was a great battle." I told her, "Did you predict how it was going to go?"

"Thanks, and yeah I did." Karen replied, "I had a basic idea of what I thought Roy would do, and I tried to manipulate the battle so that things would go how I wanted them too." Her voice took on a hint of pride as she proceeded to explain her thinking and her plan to me. I have to admit, it was a good plan and really showed off her tactical thinking and skills as a trainer.

"You planned it out well." I praised, making her proud smile grow even wider, "And yeah, you're right that most trainers haven't really trained their Pokémon to resist mental attacks. It's something I had to remind myself to practice training because it's all too easy to focus on developing your Pokémon's attacks and strength."

"Mhm, these kinds of tactics are my favourite." Karen admitted, "Though I have to thank Agatha for teaching me about it; she's much better at it than I am."

"Well, now that you have the Stone Badge, which Gym are you going to head to next?" I asked, "I don't have any plans, so I don't mind following you." And I really just wanted to relax for a bit. It's been a rather stressful morning.

"Hmm, well traditionally the next Gym that we would head to would be the Dewford Gym, but that requires us to take a boat from Petalburg to Dewford unless we choose to fly there." She thought aloud, "Or, we could make our way to Mauville City…we could probably even just fly there to save time. It's much closer than Dewford anyways."

"Yeah, that makes sense." I agreed, "I'm not too keen on wandering through Rusturf Tunnel either. Exploring the many caves of Indigo were the least favourite part of my own journey through Indigo back then."

"Same. I just hate sleeping or trying to rest on the hard terrain of the caves. And you can never really feel safe enough to sleep comfortably. It's horrible." Karen remarked with an exaggerated shudder.

Our conversation paused as we had arrived at the Pokécenter. Karen went to the Nurse Joy to get her Pokémon healed up while I checked the Pokénet as I waited for her.

Due to how busy I was over the past few days; I hadn't checked the Pokénet for a while and missed what kinds of articles were being posted. Browsing through them, I was filled with a mix of happiness and disappointment.

On the one hand, I was happy to see how much coverage I was getting on the Pokénet. Getting more exposure meant that you were relevant and interesting to the public, which was a great thing to prevent myself from being side-lined by the Indigo League any further. There were also many who praised my performance in the recent battle against Norman, which was nice. On the other hand, there were a few articles criticising my appointment and deeming me unfit to be a member of the Elite 4. Not unexpected, but I still found it a bit frustrating to see.

Perhaps after the news of my participation in working together with Devon Corp might change a few people's minds? One can hope.

"I'm done...something wrong?" Karen returned and gave me a look of concern as she saw how my brows furrowed as I read through the Pokénet.

"Nothing unexpected, it's just that I was disappointed to see that there were quite a few people criticising my appointment to the Elite 4." I told her slightly despondently.

"Aww, well I'm sure you'll be able to prove them wrong soon enough." Karen comforted sympathetically while giving me a pat on the shoulder, "Come on, stop looking at the Pokénet and making yourself more depressed. We've got to head to Mauville City so I can book a match with Wattson."

"Fine, fine." I said and put away my phone before following her out of the Pokécenter. "Have you even prepared for your match against Wattson yet?"

"Not really." Karen admitted with a shrug, "But I should have time before the match to prepare a simple plan."

I nodded at that, and we both proceeded to saddle up on our Port and Honchkrow respectively before we flew to Mauville City. It was a very short flight, and we probably could have just walked there, but I was happy to not have to risk spending the night inside Rusturf Tunnel.

Before long, we were both circling around the enormous construction site that was Mauville City. The wonderful complex that could be seen in the ORAS games was still in construction, but the construction of the Mauville Gym had been prioritised and had already been built.

We both landed in an empty spot of land on the outskirts of Mauville City to avoid the hustle and bustle of the many construction workers and Machokes that were running around hauling building material and equipment. Even now, after spending sixteen years in the world of Pokémon, I still marvelled at how efficient the Pokémon was at getting things done.

At this rate, Mauville City should be pretty much finished by this time next year. Which was an insane rate of progress compared to my old world.

"Let's go get my match booked." Karen announced as she walked towards one of the entrances to Mauville City with me following behind her.

As we entered Mauville City, I was once again taken aback at just how big Mauville City was. The games really failed to show just how large the city was and how many shops it would eventually contain.

Immediately my mind jumped to the potential investment opportunity here for my family's Moomoo milk business. Despite the predictably high rent for setting up a shop here, I knew that Mauville City would be a popular location for shoppers around the world when it finally opened, so it might prove to be a fruitful business venture.

I quickly jotted down my thoughts in my notepad just so I wouldn't forget about it. Karen gave me a curious look, but I just shook my head. I could tell that she wanted to ask, but we had just arrived at the Mauville Gym, and I gestured for her to go inside.

A quick few minutes later, Karen came out again with a smile on her face. She said that she had a match scheduled in two days, and so it was a perfect balance of giving Karen enough time to prepare and create a plan while also not forcing us to wait a long time for her battle.

With her match scheduled, we went to the Pokécenter to reserve rooms for the next two nights and then we bought takeaway for lunch at the partially opened food hall and made our way back outside to the outskirts of Mauville so that we could release our Pokémon to train and feed them.

We then spent the next half hour just making sure that ourselves and our Pokémon were all appropriately fed. I was just packing away the remains of Smough's Pokéblocks before Karen came up to me with a request.

"Hey, John, since my next battle is against Wattson, who's an Electric type specialist, I thought that this might be a good time for my Pupitar to brush up on his Ground type attacks." She said, "Would you mind if he trains up with your Ursaluna?"

"Of course not, it's no problem." I immediately replied, "I promised you before that I would help." I called out to Vordt to get over here to help Pupitar train.

As I did so, I thought to myself that this would be a great opportunity if all our Pokémon trained together. It would do them some good to have go up against a different sparring partner than what they're used to.

I relayed my thoughts to Karen who nodded back.

"That's a great idea," Karen agreed, "Let's pair up our Pokémon so that each of them would have a suitable partner."

After a quick discussion, we decided on the following pairings.

Pupitar would be training with my Ursaluna so that Pupitar could practice using his Ground type attacks while Ursaluna would teach Pupitar how to improve on them. I noticed that, while Pupitar certainly wasn't bad at using Ground and Rock type attacks, I could understand why Karen had asked for additional training because there was a lot to improve on. Its Rock Throws were inaccurate and slower than what you'd want, and its' Earthquakes lacked power.

Sneasel would be training against my Snorlax so that her Sneasel could train and improve the stopping power of his attacks, while Smough would be practicing trying to hit a very nimble and evasive target with his Rock Slide, as I realized that he was a bit lacking in that aspect as demonstrated by his fight against Norman's Swellow.

Soaring through the air, Honchkrow was flying around with my Pidgeot and Mantine to practice their aerial manoeuvres. Specifically, they were focusing on trying to land Wing Attacks on each other without being hit themselves. Surprisingly, despite being not as trained for battle as the other two, Port was able to best the other two Pokémon in terms of flight speed. Perhaps that was because it had so much practice as a transport Pokémon that it had become very fast at flying.

Her ace, Houndoom, and my Wyrdeer were running around trying to blast each other with their Special Attacks while avoiding getting hit by the other's. Sometimes, they would also charge against one another to see who had the greater endurance and strength. Watching them spar, I was surprised at how much Klaus was struggling against her Houndoom; she was really good at pursuing Klaus and timing her attacks so that Klaus wasn't really able to fight back. It was a really impressive showing and really demonstrated why her Houndoom deserved to be Karen's ace.

Umbreon and her Spiritomb would be practicing their regeneration and status-based moves with my Clefable and Blissey. They would also be firing and blocking the occasional Special Attack moves from each other as they all mostly relied on Special Attacks as their main source of offense.

I was really surprised when I saw Karen sending out her Spiritomb. I didn't realize that people had even discovered that Pokémon yet. I managed to conceal my shock from appearing on my face though, and when I asked Karen where she got it, she told me that it was a gift from Agatha.

"She never told me where she got it from." Karen admitted to me, "She just said that it was some Lavender Town secret and that all Ghost Pokémon fell under her domain, whatever that means."

"It has no weaknesses though!" Karen continued as she boasted, "It's Ghost/Dark typing means that nothing can hit it for supereffective damage. It's still relatively untrained as the Pokémon was one of the newer ones to join my team, but once I start training it to reach the level of my other Pokémon then I'm sure it'll be a powerhouse."

I didn't correct her statement about Spiritomb having no weaknesses because I didn't want to reveal my knowledge of the Fairy type just yet. I'm saving that 'discovery' for much later when I can justify 'finding out' about it. So instead, I kept my silence as I patiently listened to her describing how strong her Spiritomb was going to be in the future.

And lastly, our newest captures, Corphish and Porygon were paired together. Unsurprisingly, the fact that they trained and battled together in Petalburg Woods did wonders for their friendship and bond. Thus, they had no problem practicing their basic moves against each other; each of them trying to dodge the other's attacks while landing their own. I could see that Corphish had the upper hand in most engagements, but Pixel was catching up and didn't let itself fall behind.

After a while, I had Tyrant join in to help out as a pseudo-punching bag for the newer Pokémon to practice their attacks against, since he didn't have a suitable partner to spar against. Sometimes, I had Tyrant attack with slow and highly telegraphed sweeping strikes that the two had to dodge.

In the meanwhile, Karen and I were tasked with just making sure everyone was training properly. After a while and seeing that none of our Pokémon really needed our assistance, Karen went on her phone to watch Wattson's previous battles so that she could begin formulating a strategy against him. In the meanwhile, I sat down and made sure that the egg was still healthy and remained undamaged.

Our Pokémon continued training together for a few hours, until eventually most of them got tired and demanded to be fed. Considering that it was already late in the evening, we decided that we would wrap up the training shortly after a quick round of intense Gravity training to finish off the training session for all the Pokémon that would actually benefit from it.

This was Karen's Pokémon's first-time undergoing Gravity training, and I noticed that her Pokémon really struggled to adjust and power through the sudden weight caused by the shift in Gravity. However, none of her Pokémon complained or tapped out and they all managed to endure through it, to the cheers of myself and Karen as we watched them endure through with their grit and determination.

After our Pokémon had finished undergoing their Gravity training, we wrapped up the training and began setting up for dinner. Karen had decided to treat her Pokémon for their efforts in going through their first Gravity training, and I joined in since I didn't want my Pokémon to feel left out.

Thus, we had placed all the food on a large picnic blanket that Karen had brought in her rucksack and allowed our Pokémon to chow down on it. Except for Smough, he was quickly banned from the feast because he would have just hogged all the food and eaten it all before anyone else could. So, as punishment, he had to eat his own meal separately. He gave me a lazy shrug when I told him that he had to eat by himself, he didn't really care so long as he could still eat.

I relaxed and sat back with the egg cradled in my arms as I watched dinner progress, basking in the warm atmosphere of the evening rays as all of our Pokémon were chatting to each other and developing friendly rivalries from our earlier training session. This was the idyllic Pokémon life that I wanted, and I watched it all with a content smile on my face.

It was a day of aimless wandering and training, and while I didn't have a set schedule planned for my next few days in Hoenn, I didn't mind. Sure, I could be doing other, more productive things, like the hunting of Mega Stones, but I didn't have a clue where to find said Mega Stones as I didn't remember where they were found in game. Plus, I didn't even know if the Mega Stones would be in the same place as they were in the games.

So, I just treated this as a nice relaxing break that I hadn't really had time to enjoy ever since I won the Indigo Conference became a member of the Elite Four. I would worry about my other problems another time.

"You look happy." Karen commented with a smile of her own.

"Yes, I am." I replied relaxedly, and we both sat there in comfortable silence as we watched our Pokémon polish off their dinners and playfully fight for the scraps. Amusingly, we saw that Sneasel had the bright idea of trying to steal from Smough and take one of his large Pokéblocks but was forced to quickly retreat as Smough gave him a glare that threatened death if Sneasel dared touch his food.

Suddenly, my happy spectating of my Pokémon was interrupted by an unfamiliar soft cry of a Pokémon.

"…Whismur?" I could barely make it out over the din of noise from our Pokémon. It was so quiet that I thought that I was just imagining things. But the sound was getting louder.

"…Whis? Mur? Whismur?" No, at this point I knew that I wasn't imagining things and that I could clearly hear the Whismur. Apparently, Karen heard it too as we both got up and started looking around for it.

There! I could see a small Whismur shyly hiding behind a tree that was just outside of our designated training area. I thought that it got attracted to the food that we had laid out but was too shy to approach.

I calmly called out to my Pokémon to quiet down with the noise and Karen did the same; we didn't want to frighten the Whismur unnecessarily. Our Pokémon quickly obeyed, and I could see the immediate effect as the Whismur was now no longer cowering completely behind the tree and it started to poke its head out more often, but it still seemed too shy to approach.

I passed the Zigzagoon egg over to Karen as I picked up one of the medium-sized Pokéblocks and then slowly and carefully made my approach to Whismur with the Pokéblock outstretched in my hand.

"It's ok, you don't have to be scared." I said comfortingly, "Do you want some food?" I asked and motioned to the Pokéblock that I had in my hand.

The Whismur still seemed very uncertain, and I could see that a part of it wanted to back away as I slowly approached it. However, it seemed to get over its timidity and slowly waddled up to me.

As it got close enough to me to eat the Pokéblock, it curiously sniffed at the Pokéblock before taking a small nibble. I could see that it enjoyed it as it continued to nibble on it even further until it eventually finished the entire Pokéblock. It gave me such a cute look of sadness when it realized that it had finished the Pokéblock that I couldn't resist not feeding it another, so I took a step backwards and extended an empty hand towards Karen for her to pass me a Pokéblock to continue feeding the Whismur.

This time, as it was eating the second Pokéblock, I used my free hand to pat it gently and slowly on the head. The Whismur jolted at my touch, but eventually eased into it and allowed me to slowly rub its head as it ate the Pokéblock. I waited for it to finish before speaking.

"Hey, do you want to hang out with the rest of our Pokémon?" I asked softly before gesturing to our two teams that were all standing still and trying to not make any noise that would scare off the Whismur.

Unfortunately, Whismur took one look at them and immediately wrapped its ears around itself as if to hug itself out of fear. I sighed but continued patting it on the head.

"It's okay, they're not going to hurt you." I comforted, "They might look scary, but I promise they won't do anything to you."

"Whismur…Whis, Whismur…" It said, and I couldn't really figure out what it was trying to say. Whismur saw my confusion before it gestured to Pixel and Corphish with its stubby arms. I gave both of my Pokémon a considering look before guessing what it was trying to convey.

"You're not afraid of the smaller Pokémon?" I asked, and it nodded. I motioned for Pixel to come to me, and I asked it to introduce itself to Whismur.

"Pory, Porygon. Porygon."

"Whismur, whis…."

"Pory? Pory…..Porygon!"

I watched the two communicate with each other as I tried to figure out what they were talking about. Luckily, by now I was close enough with Pixel that I could mostly understand what Pixel was saying and, from that, figure out the gist of the conversation.

Basically, Whismur really wanted to find a trainer that would help it get stronger and overcome its shyness. But it was still too terrified of my larger Pokémon and really didn't want to be in the same team as my Elite level Pokémon as they unconsciously radiated an aura of danger that Whismur couldn't really handle.

I was disappointed to hear about this, as that meant that I really couldn't have Whismur joining my team. I thought about trying to persuade it, but ultimately decided against it as it looked like it was one misstep away from just bolting away. I sighed and was about to let Whismur go before I remembered about Whitney and how she wanted a Normal type Pokémon from Hoenn.

"Whismur, I have a suggestion for you." I told it, and I could see its ears perking up in interest. It really was a cute little thing. "I have a sister, Whitney, who's looking to become a Pokémon trainer in a few months' time. I promised her that I would send her a Normal type Pokémon for her to train up. She doesn't have any large Pokémon like I do, just her Miltank, so I don't think you'd get scared." I began to explain.

Seeing that Whismur was listening attentively, I pushed on, "If I catch you and give you to her after my time in Hoenn, would you want to be part of her team? I promise that she's a good trainer and that she'll help you become the best that you can be."

I watched patiently as Whimur tilted its big head to the side as it thought about my proposal. Pixel buzzed and beeped as it tried to encourage it to do so; Pixel was trying to sell Whitney to Whismur by listing how good of a trainer she will be and how she'd love to have it as part of her team and that she was a really kind person.

Eventually, Whismur nodded and wrapped its small hands around my own as it accepted my proposal. I personally thought that it was Pixel's encouragement that led it to accepting rather than my speech, but I was happy with the outcome regardless.

I quickly fetched a Premier Ball that I was given from Devon Corp and, double checking that Whismur actually wanted to be caught, threw it towards Whismur as it voluntarily allowed itself to be captured. Without any resistance, the Premier Ball clicked shut and I sighed with relief as I caught the Whismur.

I gave out a wide smile at my newest capture and I hugged Pixel tightly in thanks. Suddenly, the bubble of silence that engulfed the rest of our Pokémon was blown as all of our Pokémon that had watched our conversation cheered and howled as they celebrated.

I felt Karen's hand tapping me on the shoulder.

"Good job with that Whismur, John. Real smooth. You handled that really well." She commended with a smile that suddenly turned curious as she saw my Premier Ball, "What kind of Pokéball is that, John? It looks cool and unique."

"Oh, damn, I knew I forgot to tell you about something." I replied while glancing at my Premier Ball, "This is a new design created by Devon Corp that they've asked me to market for them. They've given me ten Premier Balls extra to gift away."

"They look really good; I can already see people lining up to buy it. How are they going to market it?" Karen asked and I proceeded to explain Devon Corp's marketing strategy. I also gave her four Premier Balls as a gift, saving the rest for Whitney, which she thanked me for.

I left her to inspect her new Premier Balls while I almost instinctively released Whismur into the midst of my Pokémon so that it could be introduced to my team before remembering that it was scared and that I promised it that it would go to Whitney. Thus, I kept it safe in its Premier Ball for the time being.

With that bit of excitement over and dinner also finished, we decided to pack up and make our way to the Mauville Pokécenter to rest for the night. In my room once again, Karen and I did another round of Dark energy infusion on the egg before she returned to her room, and I got ready for bed.

Before sleeping though, I texted Whitney that I had caught her Pokémon for her but wouldn't tell her what it was as I wanted it to be a surprise. She immediately responded demanding to know what it was, but I left her in suspense. I did ask once more to confirm that she didn't want me to catch anything else and she said that one Pokémon was enough and that she really wanted to catch her own Pokémon.

I was more than happy to encourage her independence, so I didn't ask her again and put my phone away for the night as I went to bed, happy that I managed to catch a Whismur for her.

I dreamed of a day where Whitney would evolve the Whismur into an Exploud that would sweep all before her with powerful Boombursts. That'd be incredible.

The New Normal – 2-10 – Preparations

The next morning, I spent some time checking over the egg with Klee in my room to try to see if there were any differences that could be found with the dark energy infusions. Sadly, there didn't seem to be any progress made yet, but at least Klee informed me that the egg was still growing up healthily and that the Zigzagoon inside remained safe.

I had hoped to spend today just relaxing and training with my Pokémon and Karen's, but those hopes of another peaceful day were promptly shattered as I heard my phone ringing.

"Hello, John speaking." I answered.

"John, lad, it's me, Drake." I heard his gruff voice through the phone, "Since I was the first to speak to you, the Hoenn League wanted to pass on a request for you on behalf of the Hoenn League." Normally, such a sentence would have immediately made me nervous, but the fact that Drake said it so casually managed to alleviate most of my unease.

"Oh, sure, what is it?" I responded curiously. "Is it something serious?"

"Nothing like that lad, the idiots up top have finally decided to do something about the fact that you're here, though they most of them still don't know why you've come. I guess they just didn't think of asking any extra questions and just accepted your presence here. Fucking idiots." Drake grumbled. "Anyways, they must have saw your match against Norman and wanted to get in on that. I guess they finally fuckin' realized that you being here was an opportunity for them to get their shit together and plan something."

"Uh, okay, I can understand." I replied, "So what do they need me to do?"

"They want you and the rest of the Hoenn Elite Four to do a few photoshoots in a week's time so that they can publish it in their newspapers and milk it for their own popularity." Drake grumbled before becoming a bit more excited, "But then, the League finally decided to say something intelligent for once and asked for a show match between you and another member of the Elite Four after the photoshoot was done. They're going to be announcing that later today to hopefully draw in a big crowd. They're hoping that it will be a great spectator event."

"That's great!" I exclaimed excitedly, "I'd love to battle one of the Hoenn Elite Four!" Not to mention, if I won against someone of Drake's calibre and reputation, it would really solidify my position as a member of the Elite Four. It would be a message to my critics that, despite my age, I deserved to be here. Of course, I had to win first.

"That's what I thought kid, and I still remember saying that I'd like to battle them one day. So, I told the rest of the Elite Four to fuck off and that I'd be the one to battle you." He declared, "Phoebe and Sidney didn't really mind, but Glacia was giving me the look. Fortunately, I was the one that met up with you back when you first arrived here, so the League officials sided with me."

"Well, that's great." I remarked, though I realized that pitting me against Glacia would draw some unfortunate comparisons with Pryce that the Hoenn League smartly wanted to avoid. "I'd be honoured to battle you. But what is the battle format going to be?"

"6v6, 3 switches, no stakes, with your annoying commercial break after someone gets 3 knockouts. Just your typical show match stuff." Drake responded, but then his tone took on a bit of excitement, "But! Don't you dare hold back, lad. I'll be bringing in my best Pokémon to fight against you. You're the first challenge that I've had in a while outside of our Elite Four." He chuckled.

He couldn't see it, but I was also grinning in excitement, "You're on, Drake. I'll start getting ready now. No hard feelings if I study up on your previous battles, right?"

"HAH! Of course not, lad, I'll be doing the same." Drake laughed, "Well that's all I have to say to you, lad, so go get yourself ready for our match. My dragons and I are gonna be waiting for you."

I smirked, "You better get ready too, Drake, I didn't come to Hoenn just to lose." We shared a few more similar comments before eventually hanging up.

I gripped my phone tightly in excitement as I hung up from the call. I was nearly shaking with delight and anticipation at the challenge. I was starting to get slightly concerned about not knowing what to do in Hoenn aside from following Karen around to watch her Gym fights. I even considered beginning a likely fruitless hunt for Megastones just to try to be productive with my forced stay here.

But now, with this show match against Drake, I was given a purpose again and something to train towards.

I looked at the time, and seeing that it was approaching noon, I hurried to get a quick breakfast and returned to my room to eat it. I texted Karen telling her that I had a show match with Drake and that I was in my room preparing for it.

Then, I immediately started preparing for my match against Drake. I most certainly wasn't going to go in blind like I did with Norman, I needed to know everything about Drake's team and his battling style before the match.

A quick search on the Pokénet listed Drake's past matches and the Pokémon he used. Unsurprisingly, his team was filled with mostly Dragon types, but he had a few non-Dragon Water types like Blastoise and Gyarados that he also favoured using. From his past battles, I saw that he favoured using an aggressive battling style that made use of his Pokémon's strength and raw power to overwhelm his opponents, which was a very similar battling style to what I used.

I read through a few articles about Drake and found that the public, overall, felt that Drake was the strongest of the Hoenn Elite Four at the moment. He had lost against Glacia previously, but most of the public attributed that to the poor Type matchup rather than any weakness on Drake's part.

This was going to be a challenge, but it was a challenge that I would relish in. Truthfully, my previous battle against Norman and Shin were not that great of a challenge for my Pokémon, but Drake's team was a very different beast entirely.

I knew that, going into the battle, our Pokémon are likely going to be evenly matched when it comes to raw strength and power. I couldn't just brute force my way to victory like I did with Norman. Thus, in order to win, I needed to plan tactically and create opportunities for my Pokémon to capitalize on to secure victory.

I took out my notepad and started to brainstorm about what I could use to win. Without realizing it, a few hours had passed since I had begun, and it was already time for lunch. I was only shaken out of my thoughts by the sound of the door knocking.

"Hey! John! Get out of there already! Stop being so lazy!" I could hear Karen's voice complaining through the door. I checked the time and my eyes widened as I saw how late it was.

I hurriedly put away my phone and notepad and opened the door to reveal an impatient looking Karen.

"Come on, you're late." She told me, and I wondered if this was how she felt when I dragged her awake every morning. "I know you're busy preparing for your match against Drake, but I still need to prepare for tomorrow's match against Wattson. And I want my team to continue training with yours, so come on! Let's go" She grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the room.

Before leaving, we both quickly went to the vending machine to buy another takeaway lunch before we headed back out to the training area that we used yesterday.

Once we arrived in the training area, Karen asked if it was okay if our Pokémon would train with the same partners as they did last time. I thought about it for a moment, thinking through if my upcoming battle with Drake would require me to train up my Pokémon in any specific technique or attack.

After thinking through it, I couldn't think of any reason to train specifically in one area or another, so I accepted Karen's request, and our Pokémon were organized into the same training partners that they had yesterday. I considered conducting a specialized routine for my Pokémon to practice their Ice Beams, but then decided against it as it might cause them to be overly fixated on using Ice Beam instead of a potentially more appropriate move. They were sufficiently proficient at it regardless.

Before they were split up, though, I told all of my Pokémon about are upcoming battle with Drake, and they all responded with cheerful howls and roars. My Pokémon were always excited and ready for a fight, and I owe it to them to prepare myself the best I can to allow them the greatest chance of victory.

Knowing that she had a battle tomorrow, I told Karen that I wouldn't recommend undergoing any Gravity training for her Pokémon today as they were still getting used to it and needed to greatly exert themselves while doing it. If they participated in it today, then I was worried that they might be too tired and may not be in perfect condition for her battle tomorrow against Wattson. Luckily, Karen ceded to my expertise and nodded without arguing.

With that out of the way, we both sat back and continued studying the previous battles of Wattson and Drake respectively as we continued to try to make and refine our plans against them. After some time had passed, I noticed that Karen had scooted over and was now leaning her head on my shoulder and had joined me in watching Drake's previous battles on my phone.

"He's really strong." Karen commented, "I can see why he was made one of the Hoenn Elite Four. Do you think you can beat him?"

"I think I have a chance." I said with a sense of confidence that I wasn't sure that I should be feeling, "If you notice, he fights very similarly to how I fight. So, it's just a matter of outsmarting him and creating advantages for my Pokémon to use."

"That's easier said than done." She noted, and I nodded my head at that.

We both silently continued watching the recording as we saw Drake's ace, Salamence, pounded his opponent's Donphan into the ground with a vicious Wing Attack. His Salamence was a fearsome Pokémon, having a powerful combination of speed, strength, and endurance. Predictably, I thought that it was going to be my hardest Pokémon to beat.

"I don't think my team is capable of beating Drake." Karen muttered glumly as she watched the recording, "I don't really have anything that can take on multiple Pokémon that are as strong as that Salamence. My team is good at trickery and sudden reversals, but not so good against Pokémon like your Slaking or Drake's Salamence."

"It's alright." I comforted, though inwardly I agreed with her self-assessment. Her team lacked the tenacity to beat Drake's team, "You still have time to train your Pokémon. It's not like you're going to make a run for the Elite Four right now. You still have time."

"And besides, Drake's supposed to be the strongest of the Hoenn Elite Four." I continued, trying to make her feel better, "So you shouldn't feel too bad if you can't match up favourably against him. Most people can't. I think a better target for you to compare yourself to would be the Dark type Elite Four member Sidney, since you both share a Type specialty."

"That's true" she replied, but I could tell that she was still feeling upset about it. She stared down sullenly for a moment before she patted herself on the cheek and shook away those sad thoughts. "Okay, never mind about that for now. I still have a battle to prepare for and I can't let my sudden sad thoughts cloud my judgment or affect my planning." She then turned away from me and went back to looking at her phone to study the plan that she had begin typing up on her phone.

I hoped that Karen would not feel too bad about her perceived weakness; I did think that her team wouldn't realistically stand a chance against Drake's, but I still stood by the fact that her team just needed more time to train.

If she could catch a few more Dark types to expand her options, or just get a few key evolutions to her team like evolving her Pupitar into a Tyranitar or her Sneasel into Weavile, that would greatly improve her team's overall strength.

Speaking of Weavile, I knew that in order to evolve a Sneasel into one you needed to give it a Razor Claw and then level it up at night, or at least that was how it was in the games. The problem was that I wasn't sure how you would get a Razor Claw in the Pokémon world, nor what a Razor Claw was.

Funnily enough, the Pokémon world was already aware of Sneasel's evolution into Weavile, but they didn't know what caused it at the moment. Many suspected that the evolution occurred after a Sneasel was able to defeat many other Sneasel's until it eventually evolved into a Weavile.

But, with my meta-knowledge, I believed that a wild Sneasel was able to evolve into a Weavile because with each victory it instinctively takes a portion of the defeated Sneasel's claw as its trophy, until eventually he had enough trophies to form a Razor Claw that the Sneasel would use to evolve itself.

I wonder if Karen would eventually learn about this method because I knew that she had a Weavile in her Elite Four team in the games. Still, I made a note of it on my notepad, and I would tell her about it in the future when she returns to Indigo.

Although I wanted to tell her my theory immediately, I opted to wait until she returned to Indigo as she wouldn't be able to make use of this information in Hoenn anyways as there are no Sneasel to be found here.

Refocusing myself from my own internal tangent, I continued studying Drake's team and a plan was beginning to take shape in my notes. It was nothing too complicated, and I half-expected to need to abandon it as soon as things went awry as they often do, but it did give me an idea on which Pokémon I would be sending out first and what matchups I wanted.

After an hour or so that Karen and I spent planning on our respective battles, we both decided to take a break and check up on our Pokémon to ensure that everything was going well. As we checked up on our Pokémon's training, I noticed that despite only undergoing less than two days of tutelage under my Ursaluna, Karen's Pupitar had noticeably improved its use of Earthquake, an important improvement for Karen's next battle.

Similarly, it seemed like my Porygon was putting up more of an even fight against Karen's Corphish, as it previously struggled against him and frequently lost its spars. I kneeled down to hug Pixel as it floated to me in happiness at its visible improvement. As I hugged Pixel, I noticed that Karen was staring at her Corphish with a weird expression.

"Is something wrong?" I asked her. Corphish joined me in giving Karen a look of concern.

"No, nothing's wrong." Karen muttered distractedly, still staring at Corphish. "I just realized that even after Corphish evolves, it's still going to be quite small."

"…Yes, but how is that a problem?" I questioned. Sure, I could understand that even a Crawdaunt was still only around a meter tall, but I didn't see how that was a problem. Corphish whined sadly at Karen's disappointment.

"Oh, no, it's nothing wrong with you, Corphish." Karen quickly comforted Corphish and rubbed his shell, "I'm not upset about you or anything. It's just that, I realized that I still don't have a Pokémon that I can surf with since even a Crawdaunt is still too small for me to ride on."

I couldn't help but burst out laughing as I heard that; it was just such a random statement that came out of nowhere that I couldn't help but laugh at it. As my laugh eventually settled, I looked up and saw that Karen and Corphish were both frowning at me.

"Sorry, sorry. I couldn't help myself." I apologized as I took a deep breath with Karen still grumbling at me, "It's just that it was such a random comment from you that I just found it funny. So, what are you going to do about it?"

Karen stopped grumbling and tapped her chin in thought, "Well, I know that I can catch another Water/Dark type here in Hoenn through a Carvanha. I'm pretty sure that a Sharpedo would be a suitable Pokémon for me to ride on for surfing purposes. Might catch one soon if I can find one that wants to join my team."

I nodded at that and turned back to my notes once more. There was a lot to prepare for my match against Drake, and I needed to focus on preparing.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening undergoing light training with our Pokémon and making plans for our respective battles before we retired to my room at night to continue our experimentation on the egg.

"I don't see any changes." Karen commented disappointingly as she inspected the egg, "Were you hoping to see anything at this stage?" She asked me.

"Relax, Karen, it's still early days yet." I reassured, "Big changes like this takes time. After all, Norman did say that the egg was newly laid, so I wouldn't be surprised if any changes took longer to become noticeable."

"Yeah, okay, sorry. It's just that I really want this to work out." Karen admitted, "A part of me wants to try infusing it with more Dark energy to see if that will cause any changes, but the more sensible part of me doesn't want to do so to prevent the Zigzagoon from being hurt."

"Blissey! Blissey! Sey!" Klee took on a stern expression as she lectured Karen about the dangers of rushing through with these things. Her Umbreon joined in and pawed at Karen's legs. Karen hung her head apologetically.

"I know, I know, I'm trying to be more patient." She apologized before she turned to me, "What do you think of the progress so far, John?"

"Well, it's really hard to say at this stage since nothing's visibly happening and Klee is unable to detect any changes." I told her, "But as Klee mentioned, I'm not willing to risk damaging the Zigzagoon by increasing the Dark energy that we are infusing into it, so I'm going to maintain our current level for the time being. Maybe I'll increase it later, but I'm not taking any risks right now."

Karen nodded at that and fell silent as she continued looking at the egg. In the meanwhile, I went to write up my notes on our experiment and the procedure that we were using. I didn't want anyone to denounce my experiment with not following proper scientific procedures.

After writing everything down, I spent a bit more time talking to Karen about her thoughts on the project and continued to reassure her that she just needed to be more patient. I seemed to have gotten through to her as she regained her typical confidence, and she promised me that she wouldn't allow herself to become overly worried and ruin the experiment by doing something out of panic before retiring to her room for the night with her Umbreon.

Of course, I couldn't be certain that what we were doing was right, but I felt it in my gut that this way was the method of producing a Galarian Zigzagoon.

I could hope that my gut was right.

The New Normal – 2-10 – Canon OMAKE – Drake

Hanging up the phone with John, Drake sat back in his chair and thought about his upcoming battle against John.

As soon as he heard that the Hoenn League was finally arranging something interesting for once, he had hopped on board and volunteered to be the one to battle John. Like he said to John, the other Elite Four members were mostly ambivalent, but Glacia had also wanted the opportunity.

He could understand her reasons, Glacia was a very sheltered individual who hadn't been really able to visit other regions, so being given an opportunity to battle a foreigner was a particularly appealing for her.

However, Drake wouldn't let his sympathy get in the way of a good challenge. Well, that's not true, he DID feel bad for taking away Glacia's opportunity, and did promise to make it up to her some other time.

Despite Drake's gruff exterior, he knew that he did care in his own way for his fellow colleagues in the Elite Four.

He then decided that he should probably get started on actually researching John's team. He couldn't be doing his best if he didn't know what he would be facing, after all.

After a quick few minutes of research, Drake realized that it was surprisingly difficult to find good clips of John's previous battles. Sure, it was easy enough to find his recent battles against Norman and Shin during the Indigo Conference, but any further than that was really stretching Drake's ability to make use of all this new-fangled technology.

He supposed he could have asked one of his more tech-savvy colleagues to help him, like Sidney, but that might be a bit too embarrassing for even him to do. He'd just get called an old man again.

Well, accepting that he might have to just work with what he had found out so far, Drake began compiling information about John's team.

Unsurprisingly, Drake placed most of his attention on John's trio of bruisers, his Snorlax, Ursaluna, and ESPECIALLY his Slaking. While Drake himself had never fought against Norman or his Slaking, he still recognized that to be able to become a Gym Leader, your Pokémon must certainly be strong and well-trained.

Yet, despite this, John's Slaking was about to throw Norman's Slaking around like it was nothing. He watched the recording of the fight a few times, and he was certain that John's Slaking had hardly broken a sweat after defeating the other Slaking. Drake was undoubtedly wary about facing off against such a powerful Pokémon, but he remained confident that his Salamence was up to the task.

Fortunately, most of John's remaining Pokémon weren't nearly as threatening in Drake's opinion. He dismissed John's Blissey and Clefable as threats to his team, because though he was sure that they were likely strong in their own right, he was certain that they wouldn't be able to match up against the raw strength of his team. He was not trying to be dismissive, but he knew that Blissey and Clefable just lacked the power to knock out his Pokémon.

Similarly, while his Pidgeot and 'Wyrdeer', that new Deer Pokémon of his, were powerful Elites of their own, he didn't think that they were anything special over another Elite-level Pokémon. That didn't mean they weren't threats, but that Drake was confident that he could handle them without too much difficulty. His Flygon would be ready and waiting.

Of course, that just left his Snorlax and Ursaluna. He was concerned about Snorlax's endurance, but again, he mostly saw the Snorlax as just another strong Elite-level Pokémon that didn't really have any standout ability or moves. It certainly fought well and hard, and could tank powerful attacks, but Drake's entire team was built around those exact same ideas, so Drake wasn't too worried.

However, there was a distinct lack of information about John's Ursaluna. Not only was it a relatively new discovery by John himself, meaning that there wasn't that much information available about its battling abilities, but John also didn't really use his Ursaluna in any of his recent battles that Drake could find.

Drake didn't like being left in the dark, but he could say with some confidence that at least his Ursaluna wouldn't be as strong as his Slaking. That was cold comfort, since he predicted that he would struggle to find some way to counter John's Slaking, but he supposed that John would be saving his Slaking until he sent out his Salamence, for a starter vs starter fight.

Drake then suddenly had an amusing realisation, the two of them probably had very similar fighting styles, in that they both preferred to get close with their Pokémon and brawl. It was a rather mindless method of attacking, but Drake was very interested to see who would win in a brawl between their Pokémon.

Drake would bet that his Dragons would be the ultimate victors.

The New Normal – 2-11 – Karen vs Wattson

The next day, I somehow found myself seated in the audience stands in the Mauville Gym. As I blinked away my confusion, I recalled that I had apparently overslept and nearly missed Karen's match against Wattson. Fortunately, and slightly degradingly, I was forcibly dragged out of my room by an impatient Karen to the spectator stands.

I didn't even realize I was so tired when I went to bed last night. Perhaps I had slept restlessly the previous night because I was too caught up in my own thoughts and excitement about my match against Drake? I had done some good planning and training, after all.

Regardless, I pulled myself out of my thoughts and I focused on the battle that was playing out in front of me. Currently, Wattson was finishing up on a 3-badge battle against a new trainer and Karen's turn was next in line.

The battle was simplistic, and I saw that the trainer wasn't really good enough to put up a fight against Wattson's Electabuzz. The trainer's Pokémon just wasn't trained enough and was too slow to respond to the trainer's commands. Sure enough, I watched as Wattson's Electabuzz Thunderbolt the trainer's Ponyta, knocking it out and finishing the battle.

However, I felt a spark of inspiration as I saw Wattson's finishing move get replayed on the massive television that hung above the arena. I had been struggling to figure out how I would continue training Pixel in order for it to learn how to utilize its Electric type attacks, since I didn't have any Pokémon that really specialized well enough in Electric type moves for them to Pixel.

Sure, Klee, Luna, and Klaus all knew Thunderbolt and Thunder, but I wasn't too confident that they were the best teachers for Pixel considering that they only learnt those moves through TMs. I had been planning on using TMs as well on Pixel for it to learn its Electric type attacks but seeing Wattson's battle in front of me gave me a different idea.

Being a Pokémon that was capable of moving through cyberspace, I knew that Pixel was effectively living data turned into a Pokémon. That meant that it had perfect memory and could replay a scene that it had witnessed in its own head as many times as it wanted with perfect recollection. Thus, I thought that if I released Pixel right now and had it watch the upcoming battle between Wattson and Karen, it could probably pick up a few techniques on how to make use of Electric type attacks.

Nodding to myself, I released Pixel into the stands, which fortunately the people sitting next to me barely noticed.

"Pory? Porygon?" Pixel asked curiously as it looked around the Gym in wonder. I supposed that this was the first time for it seeing so many people crowded together in an area before.

"Yes, this is a Gym battle, Pixel." I explained, "I want you to study the upcoming fight between Wattson and Karen and record it for you to use later. Maybe you can learn how to make use of Electric type attacks by studying how Wattson does it."

Pixel buzzed in agreement and settled into my lap just in time for Karen to make her entrance on to the arena.

"And for our next battle! We have an exciting 3v3 8-badge battle between challenger Karen and Gym Leader Wattson! Each trainer is allowed 1 switch!" The referee announced, and I felt Pixel squirming in my lap out of excitement.

Personally, I thought that Karen likely had this battle in the bag. But I kept my expectations low as to avoid any unwanted surprises.

"Trainers, are you ready?!" I could see the both of them nodding and they released their Pokémon, "BEGIN!"

"Sneasel, you're up."

"Electrode, go get'em. WAHAHHAHA!"

Immediately after both Pokémon landed on the field, they instantly started circling each other and making use of their high speeds. I noticed that, despite how agile Sneasel was, Wattson's Electrode was still noticeably faster.

"Ice Shard into Agility!"

"Magnet Rise and Agility! Get faster!"

Both Pokémon wrapped themselves in a pink glow as Sneasel quickly fired off sharp shards of ice that sped towards the Electrode, but they were easily dodged as the Electrode started levitating into the air and began bouncing around the arena. They had both boosted their speed, but Electrode was getting so fast that it was almost impossible to follow with your eyes.

The audience gave appropriate noises of 'oohs' and 'aahs' as they admired Electrode's speed. It was nothing more than a blur. It was obvious that Karen's Sneasel had no chance of out speeding the Electrode, and it needed to switch tactics.

"Electro Ball!" Wattson ordered, and a small orb of electricity rocketed towards Sneasel. All the while, Electrode didn't even slow down and was still continuously racing past the battle arena like it was a speeding pinball.

"Detect and Icy Wind!" In a feat of impressive acrobatics, Sneasel dove and spun past the rapid Electro Ball and fired off an Icy Wind in a wide cone that managed to almost cover half of Wattson's side of the arena. Despite all of its speed, Electrode wasn't ready for the unexpectedly large cone of ice that was coming its way, and it failed to dodge out of the way in time and was struck and slowed by the chilling gust of wind.

I could understand Karen's plan, she needed to slow down the Electrode with Icy Winds before her Sneasel got overwhelmed by its' blistering fast speeds.

"THUNDER! Don't let it continue!"

"Keep up the Icy Wind and Metal Claw into the ground!"

Sneasel immediately stabbed a metallic claw into the ground just as a loud BOOM resonated across the arena. Sneasel was struck dead-on by a huge bolt of Thunder that he failed to dodge. However, by using Metal Claw and stabbing into the ground, Sneasel had managed to mitigate some of the damage by dispersing some of it into the ground, though he still had to end to endure through and brunt a majority of the damage from that powerful bolt of Thunder.

I frowned slightly at that; it was a very high-risk strategy to use and was notoriously unreliable, since you risked paralysis every time you attempted it.

Remarkably, Sneasel didn't falter despite his injuries and continued maintaining his Icy Wind, catching the Electrode in a net of chilling winds that caused it to become increasingly slower as it tried to manoeuvre through the Icy Wind.

"Thunder again! Stop it!"

"DIG TO DODGE!" Karen shouted and Sneasel stopped its Icy Wind and barely scrambled underground in time to dodge the next Thunder, which created another loud boom that caused cracks to appear from the impact area.

"Agility again, Electrode, maintain your speed!" Despite having fired off multiple powerful Thunders, the Electrode hardly looked winded as it began wrapping itself in a pink glow once again.

"Taunt it and Ice Shard!" Sneasel quickly popped up from the ground and fired off a faint blast of Dark energy that wrapped around the slowed Electrode, causing its expression to morph into one of pure anger as it no longer bothered to use Agility and instead dove straight through the incoming Ice Shards to the Sneasel.

"Electrode?! Calm yourself!" Wattson shouted out but Electrode wasn't listening to its trainer, being too angry and tunnel-visioned to care at the moment.

"Ice Shard again and get close to it!" Sneasel obeyed and shot another round of Ice Shards at the incoming Electrode that it also didn't bother dodging. Instead, the Electrode instinctively fired off a Discharge and exploded with electricity, sending out a powerful shockwave that spread throughout the arena and it was only contained through the psychic shields.

"Get close and Metal Claw the ground!" Sneasel continued his charge as he raked a Metal Claw through the ground despite the oncoming burst of electricity, which allowed him to power through the shockwaves as it helped divert some of the incoming Electric damage and dispersed it into the ground. I could see Sneasel wincing in pain as he charged through the shockwave but was lucky enough to avoid paralysis. It was another high-risk move, but now it paid off as Sneasel was now in striking range of the Electrode.

"Damn! Get back, Electrode!" Wattson ordered, but Electrode still refused to listen, and Wattson changed his order, "Fine! Then Discharge again!"

"Ice Punch, Sneasel!" Electrode once again charged up for another Discharge, but just as the Electrode was about to release its stored electricity, Sneasel smashed its Ice-infused claws into its face and interrupted its attack. Coupled with the Icy Wind and multiple Ice Shards that it had taken, Sneasel's Ice Punch caused ice to begin rapidly spreading across Electrode's shell as it was beginning to freeze over.

Seeing Electrode was about to freeze over, Wattson recognized that the battle was over as Electrode was unresponsive to his commands and had no way of preventing itself from being frozen. Thus, he steadied himself and calmly employed his last resort.

"Explosion."

"FALL BACK NOW!" Karen yelled out. I could hear the audience scream as I watched Sneasel hurriedly backpedal away from the Electrode as he tried to scramble away to avoid Electrode's desperate Explosion, but it was no use. Wattson had evidently trained his Electrode very well in the art of exploding, and the Electrode Exploded quickly and without hesitation. The resulting blast created a wave of force that quickly erupted from the Electrode that the psychic shields struggled to maintain itself as they flickered briefly at the incoming blast.

Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, the result of Electrode's explosion was a double knockout as Sneasel couldn't avoid the blast radius in time.

"Both trainers' Pokémon are unable to battle! Each trainer has 30 seconds to send out their next Pokémon!" I looked at Karen as both trainers withdrew their Pokémon, and I noticed that she didn't look unhappy at Sneasel's fainting. Perhaps she had expected something like this to happen? I guess that when you're dealing with an Electrode, expecting it to Explode is a reasonable thing to plan around.

I watched as she tapped a Pokéball with her finger briefly before sending it out.

"Let's go, Pupitar! Show your training!"

"Ampharos, show them what you got! Wahahahah!"

I sat up with more focus as I adjusted Pixel on my lap, I wanted to see how Pupitar would stand up in an actual battle and if his training with my Ursaluna had led to him improving.

"Trainers, are you ready?!" Both nodded, "BEGIN!"

"Pupitar, Earthquake!"

"Get in the air, Ampharas! Dragon Pulse!"

As Pupitar started to hop up and down as it began to shake the earth, to our collective shock, Ampharos had coiled up its tail and sprung up into the air, using its tail to bounce off the ground and managing to avoid a large portion of Pupitar's Earthquake. Ampharos landed surprisingly gracefully just as the Earthquake petered out and fired off a Dragon Pulse straight towards the Pupitar.

"Protect!" Pupitar was quick enough to form a shield in front of himself that managed to block the Dragon Pulse.

Just from that one exchange, it was obvious to any adequate trainer that this battle would not be anywhere close to the battle of speed between Sneasel and Electrode. Both Pupitar and Ampharos were much slower Pokémon that weren't able to dodge attacks nearly as well, but instead traded that speed for power.

"Dragon Pulse again!"

"Dark Pulse, Pupitar!"

A torrent of powerful Dark energy exploded outwards from Pupitar that crashed against Ampharos' incoming Dragon Pulse. The two bursts of energy struggled against each other as they pushed each other back and forth as they vied for dominance and each Pokémon strained to break through the other's attack.

"Aerial Ace and dodge to the side, Pupitar! Then Stone Edge!" Just as it appeared to be a stalemate, suddenly, Pupitar cut off its Dark Pulse and launched himself through the air with his Aerial Ace, eliciting gasps of surprise from the audience as they watched the unusually nimble Pupitar deftly fly past and dodge Ampharos' Dragon Pulse.

Ampharos tried to track Pupitar with its Dragon Pulse but a barrage of rocks from Pupitar's Stone Edge crashed into it before it could do so. Ampharos stumbled backwards and cancelled its Dragon Pulse, and Karen capitalized on the opportunity.

"Earthquake, Pupitar!" Pupitar slammed into the ground in front of Ampharos, unleashing a powerful point-blank Earthquake that Ampharos couldn't dodge in time. Ampharos quickly lost its balance as the ground began to shake heavily and it fell over with a shriek of pain as it endured through the Earthquake.

Unfortunately for Karen, Pupitar's lack of proficiency in using Ground type attacks was a flaw that reared its head at this very moment, as despite taking the supereffective Earthquake Ampharos was still not out of the fight just yet, which caught Karen and Pupitar off-guard.

"Ampharos, get up and Dragon Tail!"

"Protect-"

Pupitar only managed to create a partial shield that was quickly cracked and shattered by the hammering blow from Ampharos' tail that broke through the shield and slammed into Pupitar, cracking his shell, and hurling him across the arena until he crashed against the psychic shields. It was a heavy blow, but Pupitar managed to scrape himself off the ground and continue the fight. He wasn't out yet either.

With that, I noticed that both Pokémon were pretty badly injured. Pupitar's shell was chipped and cracked in a few places, and it wobbled unsteadily as he tried to keep himself upright. On the other hand, Ampharos had an eye that was sealed shut from its injuries and had a plethora of scrapes and cuts that were littered throughout its body.

Both Pokémon and trainer were now staring the other one down as they both dared the other to make the first move. I knew that this was a critical moment in the battle. Both Pokémon were far too tired and hurt to carry out any more complex manoeuvres, and so it was now a battle of endurance to see who had more left to give.

Karen's impatience broke their stare down as she ordered the first move.

"Pupitar, Dark Pulse. Win for me."

"Ampharos, Hyper Beam. Match it."

The air grew tense. This was it.

Pupitar's Dark Pulse shot forwards and once again crashed against Ampharos' Hyper Beam as both Pokémon were once again locked in a stalemate as they tried to overpower the other's attacks. It was a test of willpower, strength, and raw determination.

The other audience members and I all held our collective breaths as we watched their two bursts of energy push back and forth against each other as they both tried to overwhelm the other. I heard a few people muttering about how surprised they were about the power of Pupitar's Dark Pulse, which I supposed Karen had focused on training instead of its Ground type attacks.

I didn't even know how much time had passed as I continued to stare fixedly at the two rays of energy that were still locked together in a battle of wills, but I knew that something had to give soon. Sure enough, Ampharos must have been more injured than it appeared as its Hyper Beam started to falter and was being pushed back by Pupitar's Dark Pulse. I took a quick glance at the Ampharos and noted that it was breathing heavily and was exerting itself to its very limits. It looked like seconds away from falling over.

Suddenly, Ampharos' collapsed in exhaustion, causing Pupitar's Dark Pulse to rapidly shoot forwards, blasting the Ampharos back into the psychic shield and pinning it to the flickering shields momentarily. Pupitar quickly cut off his attack as soon as he recognized that the Ampharos was knocked out.

A collective silence surrounded the Gym for a moment as the audience took time to process what had just happened before it was broken by Wattson.

"WAAHAHHAHA! That was a great battle, lass!" Wattson shouted out as he withdrew his Ampharos.

I couldn't hear Karen's response as she was interrupted by the referee and the shouts of excitement from the crowd.

"Ampharos is unable to battle! The Gym Leader has 30 seconds to send out his next Pokémon!" I could barely hear the referee's announcement as the audience erupted with cheers and shouts at the conclusion of that epic battle. I looked around and saw that most of the audience members were standing up and applauding Karen's Pupitar, and some of them even had their phones out and had likely recorded the final exchange.

I wondered if I would be seeing Karen's Pupitar show up on the Pokénet? That'd be great for Karen's popularity and bringing her into the public spotlight. I looked down at Pixel who I had almost forgotten was on my lap and watched as it buzzed in excitement at the match. I guess it was finding these sorts of high-level matches entertaining. In that case, I should probably bring it to more matches.

I pulled myself back from my idle thoughts as I heard Karen's announcement that she was retiring for Pupitar. Understandable, it was far too tired to put up any sort of fight against Wattson's next Pokémon.

"Challenge Karen has retired her Pupitar! Both trainers now have 30 seconds to send out their next Pokémon!" Before the referee had finished speaking, both trainers had already sent out their next Pokémon.

"Come, Magnezone."

"Houndoom. It's your turn."

My eyes shot up in surprise as I saw Karen send out her ace. How did she guess that Wattson was going to send out Magnezone? I looked towards Wattson and noticed that he had a slight frown on his face; I guess he knew that this was a bad matchup for him.

Unfortunately for Wattson, poor type matchups would be the least of his problems.

"BEGIN!" "Fire Blast!" The moment the referee announced the start of the battle, Houndoom charged forwards and a pulsing ball of flames shot out of her mouth. Houndoom's flames burned with such intense heat that I could feel it even through the temperature regulation of the psychic shields.

"Magnezone! Magnet Rise! Dodge it!" Magnezone levitated itself into the air as it swerved around Houndoom's Fire Blast, causing it to explode powerfully on the psychic shield, but Karen wasn't done yet.

"Flamethrower, Wide!" Maintaining its' rapid approach towards Magnezone, Houndoom spewed forth a huge cone of flames that Magnezone couldn't possibly dodge with its meagre speed, even if it was levitating. Wattson clearly noticed this too as his eyes widened in alarm.

"Protect and Thunder!" Showing off its training, Magnezone was both able to deploy a shield while simultaneously firing off multiple Thunders. However, Houndoom was able to leap forward and dodge past each of the incoming bolts of Thunder as her flames managed to completely engulf Magnezone's shields and spilled across the sides and on to Magnezone's shell.

Magnezone futilely fired off more Thunders as it tried to interrupt Houndoom's Flamethrower, but Houndoom managed to nimbly dodge past each one and she continued with the pressure and maintaining the stream of flames that was steadily spilling past Magnezone's Protect shield and slowly consumed the Magnezone. Houndoom barely even looked like she had exerted herself despite her relentless attacks and dodges.

The situation was rapidly deteriorating for Wattson. I could tell that Magnezone didn't have the speed to avoid Houndoom's flames and Houndoom was too nimble to be struck by half-hearted attacks. Attempting to play defensive like this wasn't working, and Wattson knew it. I watched as his face slowly settle into one of calm determination as he uncrossed his arms and gripped his hands together tightly on the rails.

"Magnezone. Artillery Mode. Full offense." My eyes widened as I saw that Magnezone had dropped its Protect shield and became completely engulfed in Houndoom's flames. Before I could understand why it had done so, Magnezone began firing.

And firing.

And firing.

"PROTECT!" Karen quickly shouted out. I could see that Karen was gripping the safety rail in alarm as I watched in fascinated awe as bolts of Lightning rained across the battlefield, with large orbs of electricity and steel also shooting across the width of the arena and blasting large holes into the ground before a large beam swept across the field and added more scars on the arena.

Wattson's Magnezone was firing a barrage of Zap and Flash Cannons, Thunderbolts, and Charge Beams in an overwhelming array of attacks that flooded across the battlefield. I could barely tell what attacks were being fired as all manner of bolts and balls and lights flashed and whizzed across the battlefield. I was mesmerized as I watched all sorts of explosions rained across the arena.

Magnezone had completely abandoned all defense and movement as it continued firing attack after attack in an overpowering barrage that filled the arena. Fortunately, it appeared that Magnezone had also sacrificed its accuracy in order to fire off this many attacks in such a short period of time, but the sheer number of attacks were still so overwhelming that Houndoom had to dedicate all of her attention to dodging and blocking the incoming attacks.

Houndoom narrowly leapt past a Thunderbolt before quickly needing to put up a shield that barely blocked an incoming Zap Cannon, and even before the Zap Cannon could fully dissipate on her shield, a Flash Canon slipped past it and slammed into her side, causing Houndoom to stumble. She had no time to recover though as she quickly had to fire off another small plume of flames to block an incoming Electro Ball before she pivoted on the spot and shot off another Dark Pulse to shield against another Charge Beam.

Her Houndoom barely had time to breathe in between the attacks! It was utter chaos! The arena was so absolutely scorched with flames and electricity that it was adorned with scars and small craters from Magnezone's bombardment of attacks. The psychic shields surrounding the arena were tested to the very limits as they valiantly continued to protect the spectators from the onslaught of explosions and impacts.

Despite all of this, I saw that Houndoom was doing a commendable job continuing to evade and block Magnezone's attacks, especially considering the sheer volume of attacks coming her way. Although she certainly wasn't unharmed, I noticed that Magnezone was slowly faltering as it gradually began to tire. A minute had barely passed since the beginning of Magnezone's artillery fire of attacks, but it clearly could not maintain this bombardment for much longer, no matter how trained it was. And Karen knew it.

For a brief moment, Magnezone's attacks slowed down, and Karen immediately jumped on it.

"It's tiring! Fire Blast!" Taking advantage of the brief window of opportunity, Houndoom had the space to fire off a Fire Blast that flew unimpeded as it struck Magnezone, rapidly engulfing it in a prison of flames and interrupting its constant barrage of attacks. Magnezone shook desperately as it tried futilely to shake off the flames, but it was no use. And Magnezone was slowly scorched ablaze as it failed to escape from the cage of fire.

The flames eventually dispersed, revealing a completely exhausted and badly damaged Magnezone that didn't even have enough energy to maintain levitating and was littered with scorch marks. Magnezone let out a weakened buzz as, coupled with its injuries, it didn't have the energy left to continue maintaining its attacks.

I watched as Karen and Wattson stared at each other for a moment, before Wattson eventually let out a big sigh and withdrew his Magnezone. Wattson looked at Magnezone's Pokéball for a moment before muttering something that I couldn't pick up on and pocketed the Pokéball.

As he looked back up, he lost all traces of his earlier solemn expression as he once again adorned his signature easy-going smile.

"WAHAHAHA! That was an amazing showing, lass! I'm surprised you were able to endure past Magnezone's barrage! Truly impressive! I hadn't had such an exciting battle in a long time!" He laughed, and the audience joined in with their shouts of cheers. Pixel also seemed to really enjoy the match as it wiggled happily and excitedly alongside the cheers of the crowd, and I had to hold on to it tightly to ensure that it didn't accidentally jump out of my lap.

"KAREN! KAREN! KAREN!" I smiled as I heard some beginning to chant that Karen easily overheard and turned to face the audience. Of course, I joined in with the chanting while looking Karen straight in the eye as I saw her blushing slightly at the chanting. But Karen didn't let any embarrassment show on her face besides a faint blush on her cheeks as she waved back confidently towards the audience.

Hearing the chanting only reinforced my idea that Karen was now slowly entering the public eye. Idly, I hoped that recordings of Karen's battle against Wattson would spread on the Pokénet; it would do wonders for getting her recognized and as a way to show off her strength.

Wattson stood patiently as he allowed Karen to wave to the crowd and bask in the attention for a few moments before she turned back to face Wattson. They exchanged words that I couldn't hear, but I did see Wattson awarding Karen with the Dynamo Badge. I saw her giving a slight bow in thanks before she turned to me and gave me a happy smirk, which I returned.

I did consider getting up and introducing myself to Wattson at the moment, but I felt like I had enough on my plate with my upcoming battle against Drake as well as my plans with Devon Corp and Norman. It might be a missed opportunity, but I wasn't perfect, and I didn't really have anything I wanted to discuss with Wattson at the moment anyways.

Also, it was nice seeing Karen so happy and cheerful. She seemed to really enjoy the attention that she was receiving from the crowd as she continued waving to the crowd as she made her way out of the arena.

I hoped that this battle was the start of Karen's rise to fame.