Fearow stared down the giant rock snake in front of her. Unlike her opponents till now, she could truly feel the pressure this Onix put on her.
She didn't hesitate, however. The moment Brock signalled the start of the match, she shot towards the sky, and dove down towards the Onix like a falling missile, surrounded in deep streams of flying type energy.
Onix didn't stay idle, as he spun around and swung his tail at Fearow. The speed and power behind the swing barely gave Fearow enough time to dodge, but she still did as she turned 90 degrees to her side and flew around the tail, landing the Aerial Ace on Onix's mid-section.
Seeing this, Flint smiled as he ordered Onix to use Rock Slide right at this instant. Huge amounts of rocks formed in the sky and fell down with tremendous force on both Onix and Fearow!
That's right, Flint chose to let Onix get hit by his own attack if it meant catching Fearow with him.
"Fearow, protect!"
Fearow coated her body in a protective barrier, blocking the rocks from falling on her. But Onix used this chance to wrap his tail around the barrier. That way, once the barrier breaks, he'll be able to catch Fearow before she can take flight.
'Clever Move,' Eric thought as he racked his brain trying to come up with a solution. It was unfortunate that Spearow didn't have any ranged attacks. Pitting her in close combat against rock types put her at a severe disadvantage. In the end, all Eric could tell her was to focus and use Steel Wing to counter the Onix.
But there wasn't enough room for her to gain any momentum, severely weakening the attack. The protective barrier broke, and Fearow shot up, trying to use her reinforced wings to break free from Onix's tail. It didn't work as Onix smacked her to the ground with tremendous force, then followed up with another rock slide, knocking her out.
"Fearow can no longer battle. Onix wins!"
Brock shouted from the side. The spectators showed a mixed reaction of relief and disappointment. Fans of Flint were relieved that at least his Onix didn't lose to a flying type Pokémon, that too a Fearow. The others who were rooting for the Fearow to defeat them all were slightly disappointed. Although they knew that, realistically, beating Flint's Pokémon with a type disadvantage was extremely difficult.
Eric calmly recalled Fearow and sent out Poliwhirl! She did great today, now it was Poliwhirl's turn.
"For a second, I thought you'd send a Pidgeotto next." Flint chuckled.
"I don't have one, sadly."
"Hahaha, you really are cheeky!"
Eric smiled as he gave Poliwhirl his commands. His personality was really changing little by little.
"Poliwhirl, Muddy Water."
The moment the battle started, Poliwhirl created a huge muddy wave of water that crashed towards Onix. Onix immediately used Protect to block it.
Once the wave ended and the water dispersed, the protective barrier around Onix disappeared as well. But then, Onix felt a few drops of water fall down on him from the sky. The drops intensified and turned into a heavy pour.
Poliwhirl had used this chance to use Rain Dance!
Onix didn't have time to react as a high-pressure stream of water, surrounded by bubbles, shot towards it. He slithered around to dodge it and swung his tail to catch Poliwhirl, but the current Poliwhirl was too fast for him.
It was only under this rain that the true value of his ability, swift swim, was being displayed. Swift swim had doubled Poliwhirl's speed, making him much faster than the Onix. Poliwhirl dodged the tail, and launched a Water Pulse, knocking Onix out in one attack.
"Onix can no longer battle, Poliwhirl wins!" Brock shouted from the side, his voice not hiding his surprise.
Flint recalled Onix, and sent out his next Pokémon. A Sudowoodo!
Pokémon: Sudowoodo
Gender: Male
Level: 29
Type: Rock
Ability: Rock Head
Held Item: None
Potential: Deep Blue
This was Eric's first time seeing a Sudowoodo.
The moment Sudowoodo appeared, he immediately used Earthquake, causing Poliwhirl to jump up to dodge. He then followed up with a Head Smash, shooting towards Poliwhirl while he was still in mid-air!
'Fast,' Eric thought as he ordered Poliwhirl to counter with a bubble beam.
Both attacks met in mid-air. The immense rock-type energy of Head Smash was protecting Sudowoodo, reducing the damage of Bubble Beam, and letting him push forward. He pushed through the stream of water, reaching Poliwhirl. But he had also lost all power in his attack.
"Thunder Punch!"
"Protect, then Water Gun!"
Sudowoodo was very close, so Poliwhirl couldn't form the barrier perfectly, causing it to break against the punch. But Poliwhirl used this time to fire a Water Gun, blasting Sudowoodo away.
His Water Gun was now at the intermediate level, making it a lot faster and more powerful. Poliwhirl could fire it almost instantaneously.
Before Sudowoodo hit the ground, Poliwhirl fired one more Bubble Beam at him, as he landed on the ground, knocking him out. His attacks, boosted by the rain, were not something a Rock-Type Pokémon could withstand.
"Sudowoodo can no longer battle. Poliwhirl and challenger Eric win!"
Brock announced as he looked at Eric. It wasn't usual for him to see his dad lose.
"Hahaha! That was quite the match." Flint said as he walked towards Eric.
"Here! You deserve to get a Boulder Badge from me."
He then patted Eric's shoulder.
"You're good, kid. Keep it up, and you'll go very far. I can tell."
"...thanks."
The crowd cheered as Eric won. From start to finish, Eric had completely dominated the gym. Even though he was only at the beginner level, it still didn't diminish his achievement.
After the battle was over, Eric didn't linger around as he promptly left the gym. Before leaving, he glanced one last time at Brock, and then turned away.
Later in the day, his trainer's information was updated and showed the Boulder Badge under his list of achievements. His AP shot up to 550, and his followers increased by about 200, which were mostly from the spectators.
This was only his 1st badge of the 8. For his next badge, the Gym leader would use intermediate level strength.
Of course, this was only for the top 8. The other gyms didn't need to follow this structure, as they weren't counted fornthe Pokemon League.
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