Like No One Ever Was

We walked out to the lift at the front, taking it down. Clay, Lacey, and I (plus Dun and her Drillbur) were the first ones headed down, but it looked like many others would be following us.

Possibly the whole party. The multi-lift system Clay had set up in his large mining shaft/Gym wouldn’t be the most comfortable, but it could let them all down and allow them to watch the battle from different angles.

“You know, I was tryin’ ta get them fancy pants who never worked an honest day in their life to quit their yappin’.” Clay said suddenly. It took me a second to realize what he meant before I responded.

“Ah, thank you. But I meant every word I said: I’m going to be the best. The only way that happens is by challenging myself, so please, give me a battle on that level.”

He grunted approvingly, stepping onto the express lift to take us down to the bottom. “If that’s how you want it, then that’s how you should do it. Decide your own limits! But ya ought ta know I use at least three Pokemon for any challenger looking for their fifth badge. Your Dunsparce up for that?”

“That might be a bit much even for Dun, as he is now, but I’ve got another Pokemon too.” Fan form gives Flying, which doubles up on immunity to Ground, but will Clay have a Pokemon with Mold Breaker? I don’t know, but it’s not worth that, especially since it would give Miles a weakness to Rock Moves, which Clay's Pokemon undoubtedly know tons of. That leaves Wash, Mower, and Refrigerator Forms. All of them have a Type advantage against his Ground Types, but Mower and Refrigerator have more weaknesses. Heat isn’t bad either, but it has a Weakness to Rock, so it and Refrigerator are out. Mow is pretty good, but it just has way more weaknesses than Wash, will be resisted by Excadrill, and doesn’t get as much out of Rain Dance.

“Are you going to eat that in the middle of the battle?” Lacey’s words brought me out of my thoughts, and I saw her pointing at the paper plate still in my hand.

“Ah, no, sorry, I just kinda forgot about it in the rush. Mind holding onto it for me?” I asked embarrassedly. Damn, that must have made my challenge waaaay less cool. How do other people manage that? To just be so effortlessly cool?

Up above I saw more people streaming down. They had to use the other lifts that were spread out like a puzzle for trainers looking to challenge the Gym (though the staff helped in organizing them all down and around). Grumpigs, Solosis, and other Psychic Types were being released to make transparent barriers to help make sure none of the enthusiastic guests would fall if they slipped. Many of them were already pulling out their phones to record the match. Is this really that big a deal? This isn’t even an official Gym Challenge.

Since we were on the express elevator, we reached the bottom before everyone above had settled. “Eyes down here Miss Future Champion. Don’t let your head get lost in the clouds young’un, or you’ll crash hard.” Clay said, slipping into his Gym Leader persona easily.

“Gotta aim high, 'cause I’m gonna fly old man.” I shot back, getting a slight twitch from his right eye. Hmm, the age comment might have been a bit much, I should avoid that. Or maybe twist the knife at a critical moment?... No, he’s been pretty kind to me, no need for that. Besides, ignore the cameras and crowds, this is just a friendly match, a great chance to improve.

Stepping off the platform, Clay went to the side, grabbing a few Pokeballs from an alcove and we took our places at opposite ends of the brown dirt pit. It was fairly barren, save for a few rocky formations that jutted out a few feet and a pool, barely a puddle, to the side. The lighting this deep down was dim, not too terrible, but enough to annoy trainers who might not have my eyesight, or be used to the arena. I never realized how those little personalizations can give Gym Leaders a home-field advantage. Something to watch out for, Dun will be fighting in unfamiliar terrain if he goes underground. I had an advantage if Clay tried to use the depths to his advantage first, however.

“Well, I reckon that’s enough dilly-dallying, let’s git this show on the road. This here rodeo is gonna be a three v. two, ain’t no switching for either one o’ us.” Hmm, that’s probably giving me an advantage here, since I have less Pokemon. “Now, you ready to face the might o’ the Miner King?” He asked, holding out a Pokeball.

“Born ready. Miles, it’s your time to shine!” I called out, stretching open my bag and hefting out the washing machine. Miles floated up in front of me, waiting as I tossed the machine up in the air. Leaving their phone, they floated into the washing machine, possessing it and surrounding the device with a blue glow while I caught the phone case before it fell.

“Well I’ll be,” Clay said, letting out a low whistle. “Been a minute since I saw one o’ those wretched machines.”

“Ro-to-to-to,” Miles said, flashing a malicious smile and a few sparks of electricity. Clay released his own Pokemon, a brown and black striped crocodile-like Pokemon that stood upright on two legs. He gave out a low growl, something that had Miles shaking for a moment before it shook off the supernatural fear their opponent was outputting.

Krokorok probably has Intimidate as its Ability. This is a great match-up for us. Still, can’t get overconfident. This isn’t a video game, nothing is certain here.

Clay pulled out an oddly shaped gun from a pocket inside his jacket. “On the count of three I’ll fire this here flare and the match will start when it lands, ya hear?”

“Loud and clear.”

“Three, two, one, here we go!” He called out, flipping off the safety and firing up. A brilliant red light rocketed out of the flare gun, reaching up almost thirty meters before arcing back down and landing a sizzling mark into the rusty brown dirt to the side.

“Confuse Ray!” Was my first, immediate command. The ball of multi-colored light Miles made in front of them shot out at Krokorok’s face and hit it before he could even begin to follow Clay’s commands.

“Sink your teeth into that varmint!” The lizard charged ahead, but it started veering off to the side, blinded and dazed by the light. Miles drifted over that way before rising and letting Krokorok ram head-first into a person-sized rock.

The rock shattered from the impact, but from the way he reeled back, I couldn’t imagine that it was without pain either. Do I go for the win here? No, let’s set up, Krokorok can’t do much, and I’ve got two more Pokemon to beat.

“Boogie time!” My coded phrase couldn’t hide the move for long due to its nature, but every second counted for set-up Moves. Miles began waving their plasmic limbs about as they spun around, the hose part of their machine body lifting up and spraying water about into the air in a fine mist, condensing into clouds way above. We had practiced the Move tons since learning it and found that it needed more than just a dance to work well.

Within seconds, rain was falling in large drops on us all, Lacey giving a small shriek from the sidelines. Those seconds weren’t wasted by Clay though, the burly man shouting “Focus on the sound it makes, then Crunch and don’t let go!”

Using his powerful legs, the Krokorok jumped up, sinking his teeth hard into the side of Miles’ body. With a whirr of pain, the heavy beast (and gravity) pulled Rotom down, and I heard the crunching of metal grating on my ears.

Damn, can’t let him keep up like that. “Hyper Voice, then Hydro Pump!” I called before covering my ears. Even through that I still heard the ear-piercing whine Miles was generating, and it had Krokorok reeling backward, only to be met with a high-pressure burst of water from Miles’ core. The door on the front of the machine opened up and gallons of water poured out, slamming into the Ground Type and sending him spiraling across the floor.

Not out, however, as the large lizard managed to get back on shaky feet. “Get out a there! Burrow beneath, and wait for your time to strike.” Clay commanded, and Krokorok eagerly complied, digging through the dirt so fast it was practically diving through it.

“If you want to let us set up, I won’t complain. Nasty Plot,” I called out, dropping a hand down. Clay gave me a conflicted look before sighing and responding.

“Get 'em, now!” Krokorok lunged upwards from the ground… And was met by Miles easily shifting to face him down and releasing another deluge down on the Pokemon. The water slammed it back into the ground and washed over the arena again, but this time Krokorok didn’t rise.

Clay returned his fallen Pokemon to his ball. “Ya did good out there,” he whispered to the unconscious Pokemon within. Debatable, but it was brave of Krokorok to go ahead like that, despite how it ended. Clay didn’t have a choice there; if he let me set up, I might have been able to sweep the rest of his team. Now I had to wait until he sent his next Pokemon out.

First, though, Clay stopped and took off his hat which was getting drenched, to reveal… Why does he have a smaller hat on underneath his first hat!? The second one appeared to be made of wool and resisted the water better.

“Yer up Palpitoad, show this young’un a bit of water won’t keep a good miner down!” He announced, releasing the odd ovular Pokemon. It was blue with a beige face/torso and paler blue bubbles on its forehead and in place of its arms.

Water/Ground, great. This one’s gonna be a… problem! Almost immediately after being released, without waiting for a command, Palpitoad zoomed forward, smashing into Miles and sending them spinning backward through the air. So fast!

“Hyper Voice,” I called out and Miles began making that horrendous sound once more. Palpitoad winced, but kept on charging ahead, hitting the washing machine from several different angles as he bounced around the room.

That Palpitoad’s gotta have Swift Swim, no way they could be moving that fast and hitting that hard without it. Hyper Voice can’t truly be dodged, not this close, but I’m just trading here and I don’t like the exchange rate. Sweeping a hand out before drawing it close to my chest, I yelled out: “Flood the field with flames, Will O Wisp!”

Miles dropped the sound and began conjuring the dancing balls of fire in front of it, the light reflecting off their front lid. The rain was still coming down hard, but the drops didn’t extinguish the ghostly fire, only causing the flames to distort for a moment with each impact as they carried on their course. They drifted towards Palpitoad, who easily dodged around the first volley and the second, but as the third and fourth closed in, they had to abort an attack to dodge out of the way.

“Hyper Voice,” I called out once more, pushing my hands out. Miles let their control of the flames on the field slip as they seemingly gathered energy for the attack, an opening Clay didn’t let go of.

“There’s yer shot, hit 'em!” The Water Ground Type did just that, skidding off the water and flying head-first at Miles. Just before the toad would hit, Miles flung open their lid and revealed the first Will O Wisp they had made, hidden with their body.

The flames sunk into Palpitoad’s aura, burning it, but it still impacted Miles hard, knocking them around and adding another dent to their battered machine body. I thought Burn would have weakened it- “Facade,” I hissed, realizing what Move they had been using.

“That’s right little missy. Yer not the only one who can be tricky,” He commented, clearly having noticed the hand signs I was using to give Miles advice on how to vary their Moves. “Facade, hit 'em again!”

“Protect!” A barrier popped up around Miles, causing Palpitoad to rebound off it, sitting, waiting for the shield to drop. When it did, they charged up yet again, and lacking other options, I once again tried to block it. “Protect!!”

The barrier formed a few cracks this time as the bulbous Pokemon smashed into it, but Miles winced and managed to just hold onto it. High above I could hear the crowd whispering, wondering if I was out of options, but I knew that this was just the smart play, if a somewhat desperate one. Clay gritted his teeth as he realized it too, his Pokemon wincing from the burn.

That wasn’t the only clock I was waiting out however, as the shield finally fell, so did the last drop of rainwater. There we go, no more speed boost for you! “Hex, let them BURN!”

Dark purple apparitions began assaulting the toad-like Pokemon, causing it to warble out in pain as it felt heat likely greater than it had ever felt in its life up to this point. Its Typing would protect it from fire, but this is just a hallucination, the feeling of burning and heat without the actual flames.

“Toxic!” Clay called out, and despite the pain, Palpitoad vomited forth a slick purple wave of toxins that landed on Miles. They fell over from the ghostly assault and Burn a second later, but the damage had been done. Miles’ blue plasmic glow had splotches of purple on it, and I heard a sizzling sound as the poison began to burn through their aura.

Despite possessing machines, Rotoms didn’t have enough of a connection to Steel Type energy to have an Immunity to Poison. That Poison would slowly eat away at Miles until they were unconscious from the drain on their health, but Clay didn’t try to draw things out, releasing his final Pokemon immediately.

“Drillbur, time ta clean house!” He released his own small mole-Pokemon, but his was almost twice as big as Lacey’s and had a few scars on her face.

Knowing Miles would be out of the fight soon, I gave a quick command. “Hydro Pump.” Thought he would have gone for Excadrill, I wonder why he didn’t. Still, I can’t underestimate-

“Earthquake!” He called out, and his reasoning clicked into place in my head.

“Dodge it! Go above-” I tried to call out, to no avail. Miles was spinning up a fresh blast of water when they tried to abort it and fly away, but the shaking ground rose in a spike straight beneath Miles. They were flipped over by the impact, landing down with a crash, immobile.

“Miles!” I cried out, rushing over to them. Crouching over the washing machine, I said: “You did great. That was an amazing fight.”

“Ahem.” I whipped my head up, my wet hair flipping up and slapping uncomfortably against my back as I saw Clay clearing his voice loudly from across the battlefield. “Appreciate the concern for yer Pokemon little missy, but do get off the battlefield.”

Blushing, I grabbed Miles and stuffed them into my backpack, shuffling back to my place off the arena. “Sorry about that,” I mumbled. I still haven’t gotten my early license, so I don’t actually have a Pokeball for Miles. That hasn’t been a problem before, but I hope I don’t get questioned about it here.

Dun had been waiting outside his Pokeball patiently by my side, and when I gave him a nod, he jumped onto the battlefield, letting loose a hiss of anticipation at his foe. For her part, Drillbur sharpened her claws aggressively before giving Dun a ‘come get it’ gesture.

“Ready?” Clay drawled, and I nodded. “Begin!”

“Glare!” With what was slowly becoming my signature opening, Dun affixed her with a vicious stare, and her body started twitching and spasming.

“Run 'em down,” the Gym Leader shouted, and Drillbur launched herself into a spin, forcing her resistant muscles to tear up the ground as she charged toward me. Dun knew the Move well, having practiced it often, and rolled out of the way from a direct hit. The Ground Type was able to fling the dirt she tore up fairly far, however, still winging him.

“Strafe and Hyper Voice,” I calmly said, bracing for the next wave of sound. This one hurt my ears less, not exactly because Dun’s wail was any quieter than Miles (his lesser Special Attack was made up for by the Same-Type-Attack-Bonus), but probably an adjustment in the arena shielding by the Gym Psychics.

Of course, that only helped up outside the battlefield - Drillbur was subject to the full force of his attack and was thrown off by it. Combined with the Paralysis and her attacks were going further off course.

Not keen to let this go on further, Clay stomped one of his cowboy boots against the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust. “Git outta there! Dig!” Eager to escape the sonic barrage, Drillbur carved a hole in the ground with her spade-like claws and dived in.

That’s what I’m waiting for! “Earthquake!” I cried triumphantly. It was one of Dun’s strongest Moves and way stronger against a target within the ground.

Before Dun could even slap his body onto the ground Drillbur was already pushing out from the ground. The shaking waves of earth still smacked into her, but she was a pro at moving through unstable grounds, racing across the field to close with Dun.

“Didja ya reckon I couldn’t see that coming? I felt that little feller’s strength all the way up there.” Clay laughed boisterously. Gah, should have realized such a simple counter would have been anticipated by a Gym Leader. “Now break that snake like a stack o bricks!” Raising a claw wreathed in orangish energy, she brought it down in a chop on Dun.

“Duuun!” He cried out, slithering away from the powerful mole. I’ve got to regain the initiative.

My opening came as Drillbur stumbled in her chase after my starter, her left leg twitching. Paralysis is still doing its job. Let’s have it help us even more. “Hex,” I called out and Dunsparce conjured his shades to torment the enemy, the ghastly energy pinning her in.

She cried with pain but began chasing after him again. “Hyper Voice and evade. Only Earthquake if she drops down more than three meters beneath the ground.” Dun renewed his assault, this time focusing on the ground beneath us. He’ll never be able to sense vibrations as well as a Ground Type can, but we’ve practiced that a fair bit. He can at least tell if she tries pulling a whack-a-mole like last time, and if she goes deeper, Earthquake will finish her off.

“Ya sure like those Moves, dontcha? Leaves you mighty predictable” Clay grumbled, and I laughed.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I fired back. Indeed, he didn’t seem to have many answers for that right now, Drillbur trying to chase after Dun with her hands over the sides of her head. The Paralysis slowing her down meant she couldn’t close the gap with Dunsparce, who was taking deep breaths and letting loose powerful wails every few seconds.

They have similar Moves, but Dun and Miles handle them pretty differently. Dun is a lot slower than Miles, so he can only keep up this moving assault because of how omnidirectional Hyper Voice is and the Normal Typing letting him draw the energy for that Move fast. Despite the fact Miles learned Hex from Dun, their original Ghost Type lets them draw on the energy faster than Dun can. They would be able to zip around the battlefield and blast Drillbur with Hex repeatedly. Still, I think this can net us a win here.

“Well I’ll be…” Clay gasped as a light on the battlefield pulled in both of our attentions. Drillbur was surrounded by a brilliant glow, so bright we couldn’t make out the details but everyone knew what was happening. Her glowing body shifted and grew until it ended in a flash and a whole new Pokemon stood before our eyes.

“Excadrill!” She shouted her name, raising her new steely gray claws in the air. The claws were larger than before, proportional to her new, bigger body, and with jagged spikes jutting out over the middle claws on each hand. She had an additional protrusion of metal sticking out over her head, the steel horn covering her tapered face like a deadly hoodie. Her fur was now more dark brown with splotches of red on it.

Dun valiantly tried to continue the attack from before, but his Hyper Voice had much less effect now that she had added Steel Type to her Ground Typing. “Back to Hex,” I tried, only to be met by a powerful Drill Run that Dun avoided by a far narrower margin than the last one and ended up bruising him a bit more as the churned dirt smashed into him.

Hex did way less damage than last time, evolution must have removed Paralysis. “Glare!” I called out, hoping to hit her again, but the Gym Leader didn’t even need to give out a command for Excadrill to lower her gaze and avoid Dun’s stare, her new hood/horn obscuring the line of sight between them. She gave a quick Slash as well, her claws cutting a shallow line through my starter’s scales and causing him to hiss and shift away from her while she still couldn’t see him.

“Rapid Spin!” At Clay’s command, Excadrill hopped up, spinning midair and landing with her claws pointed down together. She began rotating around, not digging through the ground but starting to spin like a top. Spinning around, she began cutting a path to Dun.

“Protect.” Dun rushed into the blow, stopping just before her and covering himself in a barrier that halted her attack and sent her rebounding back. Excadrill wasn’t too shaken by the Move, but he’d knocked her out of the attack before she could get her speed boost. His initiative and precision were great there, we’ve got an opening too we wouldn’t usually get with such a Move.

“Earthquake,” I called out, trying to use that new Steel Type to my advantage. Unfortunately, Clay wouldn’t be taken out so easily.

“Jump an’ git to the side.” Her new, powerful legs had her soaring up, well above the shaking earth as she carved a handhold in the side of the wall, waiting out the aftershocks. Gotta pivot fast here.

“Nestle down.” It’s difficult to switch between the energy Types so radically opposed, but if he can, we might just turn things around. The earth was still shaking beneath Dun as he flapped his wings and curled into a circle as if landing down and nesting. Then I saw it, the cuts on his body starting to heal. Yes!

Our opponents weren’t going to let this go without anything to say, and what they had to say was: “Crush Claw!” Excadrill flung herself from the wall, landing right beside Dun and moving to squeeze him between her claws. My Pokemon slithered out, but not without a fair few lacerations and many cracked scales. Any hit past this point is going to land even harder now, and she already hits like a truck.

“Drill Run!” At my command, Dun instantly reversed direction, tail spinning around and cutting through the dirt. He slammed into Excadrill, knocking her head over rear as the Ground Type attack did massive damage.

Not enough to take her out though, as she flipped herself back onto her feet, then began chucking rocks to rain down upon Dun. He avoided most of the boulders as they cascaded down, but one or two clipped him, and his wing was bent from the blow. One more good hit and he’s out. She’s not doing great either, however. Yawn or status set-up would take too long, I’ll go on offense.

Once again I called out “Drill Run,” And Dun began his attack cycle, spinning towards her. He gave some cry as he charged her, causing the otherwise unflappable Excadrill to blink and take a step back in sheer confusion. “I knew telling him about the Prequel Trilogy was a mistake,” I muttered.

“Stand firm, Protect!” Clay called out and this time my Pokemon was the one rebounding off the transparent blue hexagonal barrier. “End o’ tha line, Brick Break!”

“Protect!” I shouted out desperately, and Dun managed to conjure the shield just before her Fighting Type arm would have knocked him unconscious. As the Move ended, I cried “Earthquake!”

Point blank, there wouldn’t be enough time to jump away, but Clay surprised me, giving his own command the same instant I gave mine. “Protect,” he called again, and she proved herself to be just as effective with it as Dun was, the barrier covering her in a sphere and blocking the earth-shaking straight below from affecting her.

“Horn Drill!”

“Protect! Then Earthquake.”

“Protect. Crush Claw.”

“Protect, followed with Drill Run.”

Back and forth we clashed, neither side able to land a decisive blow. I could hear the guests above whispering, wondering why the battle was so boring. They don’t get it. This is incredibly tense, a series of lightning-fast duels testing our reflexes to their limits.

Not just reflexes, but also strategies, something Clay proved as we pivoted to his attack. When the shield dropped, he punched his fist out and called “Sandstorm!”

At the same time, I called “Protect!” Too late to abort it, Dun rendered himself immobile by shielding himself, while his opponent scraped her claws about in the ground, spinning in a quick circle and throwing the dust she had carved up in the air. Within half a second, the dirt was picked up by a sudden air current, and a few seconds after that, more dirt was picked up by the wind, making a full-fledged Sandstorm.

“Ag- Earthquake,” I aborted my original plan, seeing Clay waiting. He only called for Protect after I had stopped calling for Agility. He got me good there.

The sandstorm was chipping away at Dun when he made his attacks now, while Excadrill was unaffected by it. My vision was getting obscured by it as well, but it was sharp enough that I could see cracks starting to form as Dun’s Protect fields weathered Excadrill’s attacks while her own remained strong. I can’t keep going like this. But what can I do? I doubt Dun can even see me well enough to see any hand signals now, and we’re locked in this battle. Something needs to… change.

“Alright Dun, drill into her, as hard as you can!” I yelled over the storm within. I saw Clay shaking his head as he called for another Protect. You think it’s over, you think we can’t survive another attack, and you’d be right. Dunsparce’s tail dug through the ground as he charged at the armed mole. The earth splashed off her shield, and it still held as his tail impacted it, spinning around fruitlessly.

Clay was waiting for the moment my attack lost momentum to give the command to attack, but we weren’t going to let that happen. “Spin harder, faster, stronger!” Dun kept up the assault, spinning fruitlessly against the immovable barrier. “You can do it, yours is the drill that can pierce the unbreakable. More. MOAR!”

Dun lacked the leverage, the body needed to spin fast enough to break through a Protect. But Pokemon are impossible beings, and when the need is great enough, they can change to adapt to the challenges they face. They can evolve.

For the second time in this battle, a Pokemon was surrounded by a brilliant white light. This time it was Dun, his glowing outline shifting and changing. His drill tail was now topped by a smaller blue drill segment connected to the larger yellow one, and his body grew another torso segment, and then another one after that.”

“DUDUNSPARCE!!!” Dun gave a triumphant cry as his now quite lengthy spinning body pushed forward, shattering the Protect like it was a thin sheet of glass. The Hyper Drill ground into Excadrill, driving her back to the edge of the arena. She hit the end of the field and collapsed down. She didn’t rise back, and Clay recalled her.

Everything was quiet for a few seconds, save for Dun’s heavy panting as the Sandstorm died down. Then Clay gave out a deep laugh. “Ghahaha! Feels great, don’t it? Ta go all out - even if you still lose!” The crowd above began cheering wildly, clapping and shouting at the finish.

“Yes!” I called out, running to Dun and hugging him. “We did it! We beat our first-ever Gym Leader!”