Chapter 383: Start of the gym battle
Chapter 383: Start of the gym battle
"Mr. Morgan, do you think Axel could win against our gym leader tomorrow?" asked the reporter.
Morgan, the gym leader of Vermilion city, had been invited as a guest to anticipate the battle. Despite Axel\'s previous loss, everyone could see that he was a very talented trainer, and there was great excitement about the battle. People from all over the region had come to watch, and the stadium was packed.
"I don\'t know how much improvement Axel has made in this month, but I do know that the kid is very good at training his Pokemons. Axel might have a chance to win," replied Morgan.
"During the last battle, Axel couldn\'t even defeat two of Kent\'s Pokemon. Do you really think he could win this time? I believe that he should have taken more time before challenging Kent again. What do you have to say about that?" asked the reporter again.
"You have not seen him closely like me. He is a genius with a good brain. I don\'t think he would have challenged Kent if he didn\'t believe in himself."
"So, who do you think would win if you had to choose one? Kent or Axel?"
"I believe that Axel would get the badge," said Morgan.
"Thank you, Mr. Morgan, for your time.
Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, even though Axel lost miserably last time, our esteemed guest still believes that he would win. What do you think? Do you think that the successor of Samuel Oak could do it or will he lose again? Stay with us to find out more...."
The reporter went on, but Axel didn\'t bother to watch it. He was viewing it from the TV in his hotel room. Tomorrow was the big day, and if anyone had asked Axel who would win, he would have said that he didn\'t know. He had prepared his team as much as possible and needed to trust himself and his Pokemons.
###
The next day, Axel woke up, did his daily routine, and talked to his Pokemons. He came out of the hotel to go to the gym. Axel was accompanied by proper security to the gym premises, as the battle had become a huge event in the city, and Axel had become ultra-famous. Kent had arranged for the security.
Axel was led to the gym building and then to the waiting room. He was told to wait for Kent there. After waiting for 10 minutes, the door opened, and Kent entered. They shook hands and hugged each other.
"You came just after a month. You must have trained your Pokemons a lot," said Kent.
"Yes, I went all out."
"Do you think that you could win this time?"
"I would not have come here if I thought that I would lose," replied Axel.
"Good. Before, you had confidence with uncertainty, and now I can only see confidence. You have grown a lot in this month. The battle will start in 30 minutes. You can do whatever you like till then. I have to go now. Best of luck for the battle," said Kent and left the room.
###
After 30 minutes, the receptionist came to invite Axel to the stadium. Axel followed her to the door.
"This is where I will leave you, Mr. Axel. Good luck for the battle," said the receptionist with a low bow and went to do her duties.
###
"Ladies and gentlemen. My name is Amrita, and today is a special day for us Ceruleans. Today, challenger Axel will battle our gym leader again for the 8th badge. Do you think he can win?"
CHEERS!
"Or do you think he will lose again?"
CHEERS!
"Let\'s not wait any longer. On the right side, we have the challenger, Axel Blaze."
The gate opened, and Axel slowly entered the battle stadium. The crowd went ballistic, and many of them cheered for him. They all wanted the underdog to win.
"On the left side, we have our gym leader, Kent."
The door on the opposite side opened, and Kent walked in with confidence.
###
"The referee for this gym battle will be me, Karen. The rules are as follows:
1. This will be a 3-Pokemon battle.
2. Only the challenger can switch out his Pokemon.
3. If the battle ends in a draw, the challenger will be the winner.
4. Gym leader Kent will use his Pokemon first.
5. Since this is the trainer\'s 8th gym battle, the gym leader cannot use higher rank Pokemon than pseudo-king rank Pokemon."
"Gym leader Kent, please take out your first Pokemon," said Karen.
"Let\'s do it," shouted Kent and threw the ball in the air.
It was a blue, bipedal amphibian Pokémon with a round body and muscular arms. It had bulbous eyes that protrude from the top of its head, and its belly was covered by a white and black swirl. It wore what appeared to be white gloves on its hands, and it had rounded, digit-less feet.
It was Poliwrath.
ROAR!
"What? You thought that I would use the same Pokemon?" asked Kent with a smile.
Axel was very calm right now. He didn\'t want Kent to get ahead of himself. Of course, Axel had expected Kent to use another Pokemon. He looked at Poliwrath\'s stats.
---
Pokemon\'s name: Poliwrath (Age- 8 years)
Pokemon Nickname: None
Pokemon Rank: Pseudo-king
Ability: Water Absorb (100%)
Hidden ability: Swift Swim (90%)
Potential: Brown
Health: 4500/4500 Attack: A+
Agility: B++ Defense: D
Sp. Atk: A Sp. Def: B
Moves: Rain Dance, Belly Drum, Dynamic Punch, Hydro Pump, Ice Punch, Water Manipulation, Water Aura, Bubble Beam, Bubble Punch, Protect
Core: Water (Mastered)
---
It had an interesting move set, focused on physical attacks. It was not as powerful as Blastoise, but it could be a formidable opponent if used well. Axel had just the perfect Pokemon to face Poliwrath.
"Come out, Marcus!" shouted Axel, and his shadow transformed drastically, revealing Shedinja.
The crowd fell silent for a few seconds before erupting again. Shedinja was considered one of the weakest Pokemon in existence, so using it against Kent was very surprising.
"Did you also think that I would use the same Pokemon?" said Axel with a smirk.
The battle was already won when Axel called out Shedinja. Kent just didn\'t know it yet.
"Are both of you ready for the battle?" asked Karen.
Both of them nodded.
"Let the battle begin!"
###
"Poliwrath, start with \'Rain dance\'," shouted Kent.
"Marcus, \'Agility\' and \'Substitute\'," said Axel.
Kent was getting excited about this battle. He could see that unlike before, Axel was very calm, so this Shedinja must not be normal. He knew that the battle would be exciting.
Shedinja was able to use \'Agility\' three times and create three substitutes by the time Poliwrath could use Rain dance.
The rain started to fall hard. Poliwrath must have trained \'Rain dance\' a lot. Axel could expect the rain to fall for a long time.
"Poliwrath, now use \'Water Aura\' and \'Dynamic punch\'," said Kent. He knew that the battle would not be over soon.
A blue aura covered Poliwrath\'s whole body. The aura looked menacing, and Axel could feel the pressure from it. The three substitutes spread out around the battle stadium as Poliwrath charged.
The speed of Poliwrath was extremely fast. Axel was surprised by its speed. It was as fast as Shedinja, and Shedinja was the fastest Pokémon in his team.
It came near Shedinja in just a second; its right punch was glowing with fighting-type energy. It had charged its power to the limit and then... Poof.
It hit nothing but air. Just as it was processing that in its mind, it was hit by an attack on its back. It could not control its speed after it was hit by the attack, and it stumbled forward and crashed.
BOOOM...
###
"What the hell has just happened? Shedinja just disappeared like it teleported. Can a Shedinja even do that?" shouted Amrita. She was the commentator and she had seen a lot of things during the gym battle, but never a Shedinja that could teleport.
It was not teleport but \'Shadow jump,\' but they won\'t know about it.
"Marcus, use \'Shadow ball\' now."
Shedinja started to charge \'Shadow ball\' and came near Poliwrath to deliver a powerful blow. Poliwrath was fast. It had already charged \'Hydro pump\' by the time Shedinja used \'Shadow ball\'. Both of the attacks connected and...
BOOOMMMMM
The dust settled, and everyone could see Poliwrath lying on the ground.
What had happened? Everyone was surprised.