Battle

Prinplup's attack crashed into Geodude with such force, that the floating Rock type was imbedded into the wall on the other side of the arena.

"Geodude, Rollout!" Roark shouted from where he stood. Unfortunately, his Pokémon would never get the chance to shine as it was smashed back into the wall by another Bubblebeam before it could even make it half way across the arena stage.

Tony looked up at the hologram and saw the red line below Geodude continuously shrink as he nodded in satisfaction.

"Geodude is unable to battle," called the ref. "Prinplup is the winner!"

"Prin! Prin-plup!" After spending some time around Tony, his Pokémon was slowly starting to come out of its Modest shell, much to the satisfaction of his viewers.

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[IronPatriotrox: Hahahaha! Look at how our boy is preening! He's come so far!]

[gottagofast: Weeb still a weebin..]

[Poppy_Peps: Nooo! My sweet Piplup is devolving!]

[sappyGilmore: Crushed by the Iron Penguin!]

[theyreCollectables: Iron Penguin +1]

[Randomviewer68: Iron Penguin +1]

[bowsRcool: Iron Penguin +1]

[IronPatriotrox: IP +1]

[Randomviewer420: Iron Penguin +1

[notBBanner: Isn't Prinplup a water type though?]

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Roark recalled Geodude with a sigh before his expression hardened. With a confidence built up over years of training, he threw out his next Pokémon with a shout, "Come out, Onix!"

The towering behemoth of Pokémon let out a mighty roar that shook debris from the walls as it uncoiled and prepared for battle.

[Prinplup: Lvl.18 vs Onix: Lvl.16]

Bolstered by his partner's determination to fight, the gym leader gave the order, "Onix, use Rock Thr-!"

"Bubblebeam."

Roark's eye twitched as his once mighty beast flew past him and created another crater in his gym's wall. A few moments later, a Water Gun came in and finished off his second Pokémon for good.

"Onix is unable to battle," called the ref once again. "Prinplup is the winner!"

"I guess this is all?" Tony sighed, a little disappointed to be honest.

Roark withdrew his second Pokémon and brought out his final trump card. He raised the Pokéball up to his face and whispered a silent encouragement before locking eyes with his challenger.

"You know, my first two Pokémon are usually just used to weed out those who are unqualified to challenge me," Roark said calmly, regaining the bearing of a professional gym leader. "But even then, it's still incredible that you handled them so easily. For that, I must seriously commend the effort you put into raising your Pokémon thus far."

He pressed the center button on his Pokéball and released his final partner before continuing, "However, you should know that the real battle starts now."

"Cra~ nidos!"

[Prinplup: Lvl.18 vs Cranidos: Lvl.21]

A small shiver ran through Tony's body when he met the blood-red eyes of the small dinosaur Pokémon. His prior nonchalance vanished in an instant as the prospect of losing crossed his mind for a brief moment.

Seeing its trainer becoming serious, Prinplup became so as well. Just in time too, as the first attack came like lightning.

"Cranidos, Headbutt," Roark ordered and the response was instantaneous.

Before Tony could issue an command of his own, he got to experience what he'd just done to the first two Pokémon as Prinplup went flying past him and into the walls of the arena.

"Prinplup!" Tony panicked, "Get up and use Metal Claw!"

"Prin!"

The penguin Pokémon kicked off the wall with its right flipper shining a deadly silver hue. Sadly, the attack missed and it was left wide open for a counterattack.

"Cranidos, Bulldoze!" Roark roared and his Pokémon complied.

"Cra! Ni! Dos!" With a force that didn't match it size, Cranidos stomped the ground with its small legs, shaking the earth to both damage and knock its opponent off balance, lowering its speed.

Tony looked up at the hologram and was shocked to find that his Pokémon was already down to half health. Berating himself for his sloppy orders in the heat of the moment, he started putting his brain to work and changed strategies with his next command, "Prinplup, Charm!"

Prinplup locked eyes with its opponent as they started to glow with a pink luster, stopping the little dino's stomping and messing with its equilibrium. With its attack sharply lowered, the next Headbutt merely sent the penguin stumbling back a few paces, the perfect range.

"Now, Bubblebeam!"

Roark grinned at his challengers comeback and how he was now thoroughly enjoying the battle, "Cranidos, Rock Polish!"

"Bubblebeam!"

"Bulldoze!"

"Charm!"

"Headbutt!"

"Metal Claw!"

*Pant*Pant* Tony was sweating from the intensity of the battle that was just shy of his fight with Stane. The two Pokémon in the arena weren't any better off, both being on their last legs and with HP in the red if the hologram was to be trusted.

What Tony didn't realize, was that with this single battle, any hope of accomplishing what he'd initially set out to do in this game was now impossible. This battle was destined to be clipped and shared more times than anything he'd done as Iron Man so far. Even the chat had frozen as no one could bear to look away.

Roark chuckled as he wiped the sweat from his brow and caught sight of the smile on his challenger that must've matched his own, "You know, I haven't been a gym leader for long, but it's battles like this that ensure I'll never regret my decision to become one. Sadly though, as all good things, this battle must end."

"Oh?" Tony smirked, "Why does that sound like confidence? As much fun as this was, I'm surely not planning to come back here anytime soon."

Roark grinned, "I'd say that decision is out of your hands. What do you think, Cranidos?"

"Cran!" The little Pokémon huffed, steam shooting from its nostrils.

"Prin!" The penguin disagreed, pounding its chest with a flipper.

"I think we'll know soon enough," Tony spoke, straightening his back and standing tall.

"Indeed," the gym leader replied, doing the same. "Cranidos-!"

"Prinplup, use Bubblebeam!"

"Headbutt!"