Littledale's gym doesn't look much like a gym- not by June's standards anyways, and a far cry from the traditional style Brawly and Norman went for with their gyms. If it weren't for her GPS directing her here she would have completely glossed over it as it blends in with the surrounding farms. Sure, the emblem seen on most gym exteriors is on this building as well, but it does little to make it stick out, and June idly stares at the gym before deciding to walk over.
"Howdy. Looks like we got a challenger here?" A stranger's voice takes June out of her state and she looks around to see where it came from. She glances down and sees a short and stout young adult whose gender she can't quite figure out, and the straw hat obscuring their eyes doesn't help much with that. "I'm Leader Merry Richtide, an' my pronouns are they n' them."
June looks at Merry in disbelief as they extend their arm out, confused why the gym leader is just wandering around the gym. "Oh, um, my name is Junko Enomoto. But everyone calls me June. Nice to meet you." She bows, unintentionally ignoring Merry's handshake offer. "If it's important information, I have two badges, the Knuckle Badge and the Balance Badge."
"Thems are two very different badges." Merry chuckles. "Now what are we waiting' for? Let's mosey on over!" June nods and follows them, but is confused when Merry walks right past the gym.
"Um, excuse me- isn't the gym over there?"
Merry shakes their head. "We don't do battles there, dirties up the place. Besides, I like havin' Pokemon battle out in the fields to give 'em freedom."
Then what's the point of even having a building in the first place…
Behind the gym is a wide open field where Miltank graze alongside some Wooloo, all of which are being tended to by a group of kids and a few adults- June figures they must be on some sort of field-trip. One of the adults from the group, a man with dark brown skin and a poofy mustache looks up and walks towards the two.
"Is this another challenger?" He asks. Merry nods, and June formally greets the man whose name she finds out is Yosuke. After introductions are made, Yosuke jogs over to the group he was with, and Merry takes this time as an opportunity to explain the rules to June.
"Y'see June, what we do here is a smidge different from what you've done at your other gym battles. Y'ever hear of knockout battles?"
June pokes her lip and shakes her head. "They ain't very different from regular battles, the difference is that battles are segmented into rounds. The winner of that round has to go back to their ball and can't be sent out for the rest of the battle. What we're doin' is that we both use four Pokemon, and if you can beat three of 'em, y'get the Dell Badge. Sound good?" June nods, and the two create enough space for a battlefield. As this happens, the group of children all rush toward Yosuke, screeching and jumping with excitement. This wasn't exactly what June had in mind when she pictured having an audience, but support of any kind is always pleasant.
"The battle between Leader Merry Richtide and Junko Enomoto is about to begin! The challenger may send out a Pokemon!"
Not really having any idea what Pokemon Merry uses, June just sends out Chip to scout their team, and it takes no time for Merry to send out their Pokemon: a Yamper. It's a Pokemon June actually recognizes for once, although she's always seen them specifically as pets up until now. The only other thing she knows about Yamper is they're electric-types, making this a bad matchup for June. Switching out isn't an option however, so she needs to make do.
"Chip, use Aqua Jet!" Chip bullets straight towards Yamper, who bears his crackling fangs, but this was expected. June calls for Chip to change trajectory, and he skids against the grass to appear from behind Yamper before knocking him back a few feet and scurries after just to get a Sand Attack into his eyes. When Yamper stands up again, he howls to boost his confidence, but getting hit with a Struggle Bug stops him before he can finish. Trying to escape any chance of getting with a Thunder Fang, Chip engulfs himself in water to run away, but Yamper is able to use his sense of smell to follow suit, even with dirt in his eyes and ends up playing a game of tag with his foe. The two run around the field for a bit until June has to order Chip to repeat the strategy used at the beginning of the round. With the assistance of Aqua Jet, Chip circles around Yamper before closing in to strike. The same trick doesn't work twice though, and Yamper turns around at just the right time to catch Chip with his electrified jaw. Chip is still able to battle, but does a 180 and cowardishly runs back to his Pokeball.
"Wimpod is unable to battle!" Yosuke shouts, trying to be heard over his screaming students. "This round goes to Leader Merry!"
"Wait! B-but Chip can still battle!"
Merry shakes their head. "Sorry miss, thems the rules. Yer Wimpod didn't wanna do no more fightin', so perhaps it's for the best anyways." They then return Yamper to his Pokeball and wait for June to send out her next.
"Sting, it's your turn!" Merry spends about two seconds looking at the Beautifly's movements before they send out a Herdier. Upon seeing this, Sting hastily spits a Poison Sting straight towards the Loyal Dog Pokemon who sidesteps the attack. Trying to catch it off-guard, Sting then launches an Electroweb in quick succession only to be blocked off by a Protect barrier Herdier puts up. This doesn't discourage Sting in the slightest- he rapidly flaps his wings to gust forward a Silver Wing in an attempt to put pressure on the barrier, and is proven to have some success when the Herdier looks irritated by the continuous attack. Feeling energized, Sting unrolls his proboscis and charges forward with a Bug Bite. Things only seem to be looking better when the barrier vanishes before the attack lands- but so does Herdier, and in his place is a hole in the ground. June's eyes widen before they're averted to her PokeGear.
"According to the Pokedex, this is Dig… the user burrows and attacks the user-"
She's cut off by the sound of Herdier (who must have popped out of the ground behind Sting while June was inattentive) pouncing on Sting and biting in his wings with an Ice Fang. Sting nearly comes crashing down but fortunately he's able to muster up the energy to use a Silver Wing, which not only releases him from Herdier's jaw, but also sheds dead wing particles. The speed granted from this allows Sting to trap Herdier in an Electroweb right as it thuds to the ground, and with his target stationary, he jolts forward with his proboscis pointed forward for a finishing Bug Bite- June instinctively shields her eyes before the attack connects.
"Herdier is unable to battle! This round goes to Junko!"
June lowers her hands to return Sting while the crowd of children cheer- although she's able to discern an adult voice that wasn't heard a minute ago.
"Fantastico!! Keep it up Junko!!"
She turns her head to see what the source of the roaring was, and sure enough, Giorgia stands adjacent to the crowd of observing schoolchildren, cheering so loud that it actually draws everyone's attention to her. Akira is with her as well, arms crossed while her face is stone cold.
"Gi-Giorgia!? Aunt Akira, when- how did-
why are you-" She looks to the referee to signal a time out and dashes to her aunts.
"Hello Junko- we've just arrived here, we're so sorry for being late."
"I ain't." Akira remarks before receiving a forceful elbow to the gut, causing Akira to give an annoyed groan. "Alright, fine. The reason I'm here is because Giorgia reckoned that if I was willin' to cheer for Junichi and even that
varmint Tetsuo, I should do the same for ya. Even if I detest it, she has a point…"
June's face slowly forms into a grin. "Thank you Aunt Akira. I really appreciate you showing up for me." Even though her aunt is the only one not cheering her on, her presence does more for her than anyone else could.
"That's sweet an' all, but are we gonna keep battlin' or what? We got an audience of rowdy youngins rarin' to see some action!"
"Right… of course." Not thinking much of it, June sends Einstein out to battle. There's a brief pause from Merry before they send out their next Pokemon, and it's one June is well aware of: a Tauros. She's seen what kind of destruction her dad's Tauros is capable of, so she's feeling somewhat discouraged by this.
"Tauros, Iron Head!"
Of course, she can't afford to waste time worrying about this. She readjusts her glasses, and has Einstein use Reflect to bounce Tauros back, following up with a Confusion to exacerbate the impact. Things are looking good until Tauros scrapes his hoof against the dirt while snorting with eyes that briefly flash red. The Pokedex's description of what just happened throws June off a bit.
It seems this move is Spite, which restricts the last move an opponent uses! This isn't good, as Einstein only knows two damaging attacks, and the other of which is significantly weaker than Confusion… Tauros charging forward with another Iron Head serves as a motivator to order Einstein to zip out of the way while shooting Struggle Bug at him to deal chip damage.
After Einstein dodges, Tauros just stubbornly changes his trajectory to charge headfirst into the Orbeetle, but he's met with the same outcome as before. When he misses a second time, he repeats his previous action, and at this point it becomes second nature for Einstein to dodge and shoot. This pattern continues for a bit until Tauros decides to stop in his tracks and furiously moo, harshly stomping his hooves into the ground, causing it to shake. June wobbles about, but Einstein is completely fine as he never really touches the ground- or so she thought. As Tauros continues to bulldoze the ground, his power output increases, and chunks of dirt are hurled upwards toward Einstein. They don't actually do much damage, but some of it manages to get into his eyes, functioning as a powered up Sand Attack.
Tauros takes this as a sign to charge forward and surround his body in electricity, ramming into Einstein with all his might. Reflect weakens the attack, although Tauros' insane strength is just
barely weakened by the barrier, and the momentum of the attack still makes contact with Einstein's body, blowing him back by a good distance before Einstein is able to do that himself with Confusion. His barrier isn't looking too great either, as Wild Charge put a serious dent in it. There is good news for June in that Wild Charge can damage the user as well as the target, and the exhaustion from Tauros only seems to prove that right. Despite that though, more electricity crackles along his fur and he rushes forward as if nothing happened.
Einstein scans his surroundings and notices the debris from Bulldoze used earlier. With time running out before he's hit with another force of electricity, he uses Confusion to fling the dirt chunks forward, and just like what happened to Einstein, some of the dirt gets into Tauros' eyes, causing him to loudly writhe in pain. Taking advantage of this, Einstein uses Confusion again, this time using the psychic energy to put an immense weight on Tauros and making him unable to move forward. This seems to be enough to end this round, but when Tauros, staring Einstein down with glowing red eyes, unleashes a burning ear-shattering roar while using his three tails to furiously whip himself… well, that's enough for her to realize she'll have to put up with this final bout of resistance.
"Consarnit!" Merry groans, tipping their hat. "That there is Anger Point. Whenever it activates, Tauros becomes as stubborn as a… well, a Tauros. See for yerself." They point towards their Pokemon, who fights against the current and moves forward with all his might. "'Fraid I ain't got no more control over 'em when he's like this."
Einstein exerts more energy to keep Tauros in place, and it becomes a struggle battle, literally brains versus brawn. Both Pokemon need to be careful- Tauros has already taken considerable damage for his ability to activate, and the psychic energy holding him back is hurting him considerably. Likewise, it takes an immense amount of psychic energy for Einstein to hold Tauros back, so much so that it becomes physically exhausting. Being an urgent situation though, they both push their limits, Tauros moving ever so slightly faster while Einstein becomes increasingly drained from using his dwindling power. So drained, in fact, that he quickly runs out of Confusions, and Tauros, now freed, starts bustling forward, electricity crackling through his fur- until about halfway through he suddenly collapses to his side.
There's a sudden silence from everyone. June blinks in disbelief, and even rubs her glasses to make sure what she's seeing just happened.
"...it seems that Confusion had depleted enough of Tauros' energy that simply activating Wild Charge was enough to knock him over." Yosuke declares, putting an index finger and thumb to his chin. "Which means Tauros is unable to battle! This round goes to Junko!"
The combined cheers of the children and Giorgia raises June's spirits. Einstein hovers over to June, occasionally faltering, and his trainer pets his shell. "You did a marvelous job, Einstein! You deserve a good rest after your hard work- return for now."
"Now don't get too big for yer britches just yet, June." Merry says, readjusting their hat. "We still got one more round to go, and this'll be the decidin' match!
"Right." June nods. She has two Pokemon to choose from, Kit and Heracross, and she's inclined to go with the latter. While she's clueless what else Merry has in store, two of their Pokemon are normal-types, and it'd be reasonable to assume that's what Merry will send out next, and June would have the upper hand. That, and also the fact that Kit is… well, she's been hesitant to use Kit after what happened at that contest last week.
"Heracross, lend me your assistance!"
Right when the Single Horn Pokemon materializes, he lets out a battle-cry and hops up and down, raring to go. Seeing his hasty nature, Merry smirks. "Hoo boy, have I got just the Pokemon for this Heracross to face. C'mon out Miltank!"
While Merry's Miltank isn't as large as Big Blue, her presence is certainly comparable, which excites Heracross. His familiarity with the species gets him a little cocky. As soon as the referee gives the cue, Miltank charges forward with a Rollout, and Heracross firmly plants his feet into the ground, just like he did with Big Blue. Unlike Big Blue however, this Miltank doesn't aim straight for her target, and actually goes off-course a little, rolling towards a chunk of the ground that had been there from Tauros' Bulldoze, and uses it as a ramp to gain air. She falls in a dowards arc towards Heracross and breaks her previous position, striking Heracross from above with a harsh Stomp. Heracross quickly counters with a Horn Attack, but it's overpowered by Miltank's hoof, and he's knocked onto his back. Miltank uses this as an opportunity to use Rollout again, maneuvering around Heracross in circles to gain momentum while he struggles to get back up on his feet. Right when he's about to however, Miltank plows over him. He takes a moment to get up again, but just like before, he's hit by Rollout. Thinking third time's a charm, he tries yet again but is rammed into again by Miltank, inflicting far more damage than the previous two executions of the attack.
June starts to grow anxious. This Miltank is on an entirely different level from Big Blue. Seeing this become a pattern is certainly discouraging… but she can't give into her worries! Not while Akira is watching! She needs to get in-sync with her Pokemon, especially when Miltank is about to hit a fourth time. Heracross is very energetic, doesn't hesitate to make a move, and impulsive, so she'll have to adopt a similar mindset for the moment. She takes a deep breathe to recollect herself, and she feels an impulse telling her to call out for an attack at the moment. It'd be a huge risk, but…
"Heracross, do it!"
At the call of his trainer, Heracross jabs a fist into Miltank with every ounce of his strength, halting Miltank in her place. June looks to the Pokedex to see what this is and sees he's learned a new move: Counter, a fighting-type move that hits the target with twice the power that the last physical move that struck the user.
"Shoot! Miltank, get outta there!" Miltank uses Rollout to create distance between the two Pokemon and stops at a close hill where she can safely drink milk from her own udders. June tries not to think about the demonstration Akira gave her yesterday, and calls out for Aerial Ace. Heracross uses this attack to not only quickly catch up to Miltank, but also to strike before she can fully heal herself. Miltank headbutts Heracross in the face and makes him flinch, and Miltank holds a finger in the air to move it left and right, left and right…
What happens next absolutely puzzles June: Miltank exhales and a cold gust is blown towards Heracross, forming chunks of ice around his legs and making it difficult to move. Not that it really matters when they're both within a close proximity of each other, as seen when Heracross knocks her back with three strikes of Arm Thrust. She skids against the ground, but deliberately falls to her back and uses Rollout to create more distance, standing atop the hill before wagging her finger once more. June learns this move is Metronome, a technique that somehow becomes
any move… but this Metronome just turns out to be an Aqua Ring.
While there certainly could have been much worse outcomes, she can't allow Miltank to heal up anymore. Heracross hastily shatters the ice chunks with his fists and uses Night Slash to zip uphill while Miltank uses Metronome again. This time it comes out as Retaliate, and Miltank is quickly fueled with an immense rage for her fainted comrades before rushing downhill and ramming her head to intercept Night Slash. Heracross recoils and sternly plants his feet into the ground to prevent himself from tumbling down, but is dangerously close to that. One more attack should be enough to make him go rolling downhill and put him at a massive disadvantage, and Miltank wags her finger in hopes of getting lucky. She ends up using Rock Slide, sending a barrage of boulders rolling his way, but Heracross manages to shatter them all with Arm Thrust. When those are no longer a problem, he notices one final rock heading towards him that's significantly faster than the others- no wait, that's Miltank using Rollout!
"Heracross, Counter!"
Heracross holds his fit back as if to charge up the attack, and swings it straight into Miltank. The brunt of his fist is enough to completely halt Miltank and knock her straight into the ground where she's nearly buried. Even though the round has yet to be called, Heracross sets a foot on her belly and flexes his expanding muscles, his way of celebrating.
"Hold on, hold on!" Yosuke shouts as he makes his way over to both Pokemon to get a better look. He briefly examines Miltank before twirling his mustache and calling the round.
"Miltank is unable to battle! The winner is Junko Enomoto!"
"Heracross!!" June cheers as she dashes to her Pokemon, roping her arms around him. "You did such a good job!"
"Well, guess I shoulda seen this comin'." Merry says as they catch up. "Ya showed a lot o' promise durin' this here battle, an' for that I'll have to give ya yer badge and money, but I'll be throwin' in a TM as well! This thing right here is Bulldoze, that move Tauros used to shake th' ground. It'd suit a tough Pokemon like that there Heracross and slows enemies down, which he can use t' get ahead." June gladly accepts her award and bows at Merry. She turns her head when hearing the footsteps of her aunts approaching.
"
Molto bene! I'm so proud of you Junko!" Giorgia cheers. As she and her wife get closer, Akira's expression slowly grows more and more irritated. "You did well yourself, Merry!"
"Thank you kindly, Giorgia. I see you brought along… Akira Enomoto!?" Merry says with a mixture of surprise and pleasure. "Why, I don't believe it! Never thought I'd see ya 'round these parts! Giorgia tells me a lot about ya, but I ain't never see ya! How's you these days?"
"Buzz off, Merry!" Akira barks, much to June's shock. It takes a lot to get this sort of reaction from Akira, and how she'd snap at
Merry of all people is baffling.
"Same as always, I see." Merry chuckles.
"Aunt Akira, um, so…" June takes a deep breath. "I was wondering what you had thought of my battle? I know you believe Pokemon battles to be little more than senseless violence, but I was hoping that by showing how determined I was that I could have you see my viewpoint-"
"And y'did that by havin' yer big ol' bug smack the heck outta that Miltank?" Akira interrupts.
"Um, n-no, not like that-"
"Y'ain't gonna change my mind, Junko. I already told you." Her stern face starts to become more and more intimidating as she stares down at June. "I stand by my values."
"...b-but…"
"An'd those big ol' puppy dog eyes ain't work either! Now c'mon Giorgia, there's more work to be done at the farm." She says before walking off into the distance.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! Don't worry Junko- I'll talk some sense into her when we get home." Giorgia reassures before catching up with her wife.
"Shoot, 'fraid I can't help ya with family problems." Merry readjusts their hat. "I'm a gym leader, not one of 'em therapists."
June gives no response, just standing in defeat as she watches her aunts' departure, despite her victory just a minute ago. Maybe this is just one of those battles she just can't win.
Heracross forgot Tackle and learned Counter!
This report was written with the help of Natsuko, and is our first assignment for the both of us. Right after visiting your lab, we looked for some wild Pokémon to observe, and found the cutest group of Azurill in a nearby pond. So that would be Littleroot, about 7 p.m. on Monday.
