"The next battle is between the challenger from Viridian City, Silas Alaric, and Olivine Gym Leader Jasmine. Each side will use two Pokémon. The first side to have all of its Pokémon lose the ability to battle will be declared the loser."
The referee, whose face looked like that of a completely worn-out office worker, expressionlessly raised the flag in his hand.
Who knew why Gym Leader Jasmine had chosen to have a Gym battle with some kid at a time like this? This was overtime!
When the referee had received the call, he had really wanted to refuse.
Unfortunately, Jasmine was paying overtime.
The referee, a man who prided himself on never backing down, ultimately surrendered to the power of money.
Besides, it was only an ordinary 2-on-2 battle. At most, it would take around fifteen minutes. What an easy way to make some extra money.
"Then, my first Pokémon will be this one!"
Jasmine tossed a Poké Ball with her right hand, and a Magnemite, shaped like a magnet with a bright, alert eye in the center, appeared on the battlefield.
"Owa~"
As arcs of electricity crackled around its body, Magnemite let out a cry accompanied by a strange electronic sound.
Silas did not hesitate for long.
"For the first battle, give it your best, Dreepy!"
"Reme~"
Floating in the air as well, Dreepy looked at its opponent with a pair of watery, innocent eyes.
Hmm. It was a Pokémon he had never seen before.
Magnemite was thinking the same thing.
So were Jasmine and the referee.
"What is that?"
Jasmine looked at Silas curiously.
Silas briefly explained where Dreepy had come from.
"I caught it in the Dragon's Den in Blackthorn City. It's a pretty good little guy."
"A Dragon?"
Jasmine was slightly surprised.
Knowing just how powerful the Dragon Tamer family was, she certainly would not assume that this previously unseen Dragon-type Pokémon in front of her was some weakling.
Or rather, even if it was weak, that would only be temporary.
After all, if it were a weak Dragon-type Pokémon, there was no way the Dragon Tamer family would have been able to keep its existence hidden so well.
The referee's face remained expressionless, but internally, a huge storm was already raging.
Could they kill me to keep this secret?
He was inexplicably worried. It seemed he had learned something he really shouldn't have known.
Jasmine and Silas obviously paid no attention to the referee, who was frantically making up a dramatic story in his own head.
"Magnemite, use Thunder Wave!"
Jasmine pointed forward with her right hand and gave her command with impressive authority.
At her words, yellow electricity immediately began crackling around Magnemite's body.
The tingling yellow electromagnetic waves traveled through the air toward Dreepy at an astonishing speed.
"Dreepy, use Astonish to interrupt it!"
While marveling at how quickly Magnemite had used Thunder Wave, Silas immediately ordered Dreepy into battle.
"Reme~"
Dreepy narrowed its large eyes, and a high-pitched, piercing cry burst from its mouth before spreading throughout the entire battlefield.
Magnemite's single large eye seemed to narrow as well, and its body instinctively retreated several steps.
"Ziii!"
Because it had suddenly been hit by an attack, Magnemite evidently lost control of Thunder Wave.
The yellow electromagnetic waves twisted in the air for a moment before disappearing without a trace.
Dreepy's piercing cry continued.
Jasmine remained completely calm.
"If we're competing with sound, Electric-type Pokémon don't know the meaning of surrender! Magnemite, use Screech!"
"Ziiiiiiii!"
Blue light radiated from Magnemite's body as waves resembling sound waves were released from it. The surrounding air itself seemed to distort.
The two frenzied cries caused all three humans on the battlefield to frown.
At the same time, Dreepy vanished into thin air with a sly smile.
"A Ghost-type Dragon?!"
Jasmine instinctively exclaimed.
The sound waves from Screech passed through the place where Dreepy had been moments earlier without producing any response.
Magnemite tilted its body in confusion.
"Be careful, Magnemite!"
Jasmine's anxious voice came from behind it.
Careful? What does my Trainer want me to be careful about?
Magnemite was utterly confused. It tilted its body to the side, trying to figure out what its Trainer meant.
A blue-black figure suddenly appeared directly in front of it.
Oh no!
Magnemite's large eye instantly contracted.
"Bang!"
The next moment, a tail radiating a blue-violet glow slammed heavily into Magnemite's sturdy body, accompanied by the sound of it cutting through the air.
Magnemite was sent flying.
After rolling across the ground several times, it finally wobbled back into the air.
Seeing this, Dreepy was very dissatisfied, but there was nothing it could do.
Silas could only shake his head helplessly as well.
In reality, Magnemite was an Electric/Steel-type Pokémon, rather than a pure Electric type, so it had fairly good resistance to Dragon-type attacks.
On top of that, Dreepy was still in its first evolutionary stage, and its combat ability was rather concerning. As a result, this attack had not done much damage to Magnemite.
Fortunately, this was a Gym Challenge. The levels of the two Pokémon were not too far apart. Magnemite was probably still around Level 15 or 16, only three or four levels higher.
Otherwise, Silas seriously suspected that this attack would have felt like nothing more than a tickle to Magnemite.
"Kiki."
Magnemite had thought it was about to suffer some serious damage after being sent flying.
But this was it?
Without exaggeration, the injuries it received during its regular training were more severe and painful than this.
So you're all bark and no bite.
Magnemite looked at Dreepy with obvious disdain.
You make such a huge commotion, but that's all you've got?
Dreepy naturally understood exactly what Magnemite's expression meant.
The pride of a Dragon-type Pokémon immediately made it furious.
Its blue-black body even began to take on a reddish hue.
"Don't let yourself get needlessly provoked. Try again. This time, use Quick Attack."
Silas's calm voice reached Dreepy's ears, forcing it to suppress the anger that was almost driving it into a frenzy.
After more than half a month together, Dreepy had developed tremendous trust in its Trainer.
That trust extended beyond training. It also included Silas's battle commands.
Its figure disappeared once again.
"Cover the surrounding area with random electric shocks. Do your best to catch it."
After giving that instruction, Jasmine fell silent.
If Magnemite were a higher level, she would have ways to locate its opponent, whether by releasing electricity over a large area or by using Lock-On.
Unfortunately, given Magnemite's current level, those methods were simply not practical.
Even covering the surrounding area with random electric shocks was something Magnemite could not maintain for very long.
Compared with the electrical attacks of a high-level Electric-type Pokémon, calling this "random coverage" was being generous. In reality, it was just a few arcs of electricity randomly darting around every so often.
"Run into it, then use Quick Attack."
In response, Silas chose an approach that Jasmine never would have expected.
"Reme~"
Dreepy slowly revealed its body directly along the path of an incoming electric shock.
It let out a cry of pain, but at the same time, it proudly wagged its tail.
At the same time, Magnemite's body underwent a strange change.
A peculiar, deep-black aura suddenly enveloped its body before being completely absorbed into Magnemite itself.
"Owa!"
Magnemite let out a panicked cry.
It discovered that it could no longer use Thunder Shock. What was going on?
"Cursed Body? That's quite an impressive countermeasure.
"But relying on luck is a little too risky. If you ended up paralyzing yourself, that would be troublesome."
Jasmine spoke to Silas.
It had only taken her a few seconds to understand why this had happened.
"I knew I couldn't hide it from you, Jasmine." Silas spread his hands. "The main thing is that I have quite a bit of confidence in my luck, and Dreepy itself is pretty confident too."
Watching Magnemite being sent flying recklessly by Dreepy, which had transformed into a streak of white light, Jasmine already knew the outcome of the first battle.
Even though the effects of Cursed Body would not last very long, under these circumstances, Magnemite had completely lost its ability to fight back. Dreepy could simply wear it down until it was defeated.
Normal-type Tackle was ineffective against Dreepy, while Electro Ball and Gyro Ball, which relied on the difference in Speed to deal damage, would have very little effect against two Pokémon whose Speed was relatively similar.
Without Thunder Shock, Magnemite was practically like a little tiger that had lost its teeth.
"Seriously, you calculated everything perfectly, didn't you?" Jasmine said with an unhappy expression.
This was one of the drawbacks of a Gym Leader having to send out a Pokémon first, and it was a drawback that had to exist.
Otherwise, how could a Gym evaluate a Trainer's abilities and use the results to determine whether they were qualified?
To be able to observe in such a short period of time that Magnemite's training focus was on Speed, then decisively choose to seal away the only damaging move Magnemite could use under these circumstances.
Silas was simply not at the level of an ordinary Trainer who had just debuted in their second year.
Even some Trainers with more than a decade of experience might not have been able to give such a command.
It had nothing to do with ability.
It was simply talent.
Cruel, but also very realistic.
"Magnemite, prepare Thunder Shock."
Even so, as a qualified Gym Leader, Jasmine certainly wasn't going to simply give up and admit defeat.
She stared intently at both Pokémon.
The moment electricity began crackling around Magnemite again, Jasmine issued her command.
Silas's response was simple.
"Do it again."
The exact same scene played out once more.
Dreepy took Magnemite's Thunder Shock head-on without the slightest hesitation.
Although this time it took three consecutive Thunder Shocks directly before Cursed Body was activated, causing Dreepy to begin panting heavily.
It still hadn't been paralyzed, leaving Dreepy plenty of time to recover and continue attacking.
Amid the endless flashes of Quick Attack, Magnemite slowly closed its eyes.
"Magnemite is unable to battle. Dreepy wins!"
The referee immediately raised the flag in his hand.
"Fifty percent. You're really lucky."
Jasmine returned Magnemite to its Poké Ball while complaining about Silas's luck.
Silas wiped the sweat from his hand.
"Don't remind me. I nearly thought I was going to lose that one."
The first time had been fine. Cursed Body had activated on the first attempt.
But when it activated the second time, the odds were actually quite low.
If not for Dreepy's resistance to Electric-type attacks, it definitely would have been unable to battle after taking four Thunder Shocks.
Cursed Body's activation did not negate the damage caused by the move.
Silas had no doubt that with Dreepy's current stamina, taking one or two more Thunder Shocks would have been enough to knock it out.
"Sure enough, I'd better stay away from this kind of gamble in the future."
Dreepy's first battle had firmly strengthened Silas's resolve.
For a Trainer whose Dreepy had the Cursed Body Ability, this Ability was honestly a little too brutal.
"Next is my second Pokémon. My choice is this one. Go, Ferroseed!"
After confirming that Silas had no intention of switching Pokémon, Jasmine threw out her second Poké Ball.
A Pokémon resembling a metallic seed appeared on the battlefield. Its body was covered in spikes like the shell of a durian, while two tiny yellow eyes sat in the center of its body.
This was a Pokémon from the Unova region, Ferroseed.
Its evolved form, Ferrothorn, was an extremely powerful Pokémon.
Especially now that the Steel type had been confirmed to exist.
The Grass/Steel combination of Ferrothorn was absolutely the kind of Pokémon that made anyone who used one think highly of it.
The problem was that Ferroseed was extremely difficult to raise.
Pokémon like Ferroseed had a particular habit. Whenever they encountered danger, they would launch the spikes covering their bodies as a counterattack before fleeing, much like a porcupine.
Professor Oak had once written a senryu about Ferroseed.
"Ferroseed shoots all its spikes, leaving itself completely bare."
Fortunately, those spikes would quickly grow back. Otherwise, Ferroseed really would be little more than an iron ball.
At the same time, the accuracy of this counterattack was quite poor.
Out of a hundred iron spikes, perhaps only one or two would actually hit the opponent and cause damage.
Only an experienced Trainer could repeatedly train it until it became capable of accurately hitting its target.
Yet even in the Unova region, there weren't many Trainers capable of doing this.
Let alone in the distant Kanto and Johto regions.
The only person skilled at raising Ferrothorn was the Olivine Gym Leader standing before him, Jasmine.
"Dreepy, use Astonish!"
Although he knew it probably wouldn't accomplish much, Silas still ordered Dreepy to attack.
It was also what the little guy wanted to see.
Even though it could be somewhat lazy, as a Dragon-type Pokémon, its innate instinct was to pursue victory and take pride in itself.
"Reme!"
Dreepy raised its head and let out a piercing cry.
"Pin Missile!"
Jasmine's command rang out.
Under Silas's silent gaze, five gleaming silver spikes shot violently from Ferroseed's body.
If an ordinary Trainer and Pokémon managed to perform five consecutive attacks, it could be considered lucky.
But Silas had reason to believe that Jasmine was definitely not relying on luck.
According to Bug-type expert Bugsy, the number of hits from Pin Missile could be increased through training.
"Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff!"
Five dull impacts rang out against Dreepy's body.
Its stamina had already reached its limit, so it was completely unable to withstand the damage from Pin Missile and immediately lost the ability to battle.
"You've worked hard. You did great. Leave the rest to your partner."
Silas returned Dreepy to its Poké Ball and comforted it before taking out another Poké Ball.
"The next battle is up to you. Go, Prinplup!"
..
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