READ THE DISCLAIMER!
POKÉMON IS NOT MINE; THIS STORY IS. I AM ALLOWED TO USE POKÉMON AS LONG I SAY THAT IT BELONGS TO NINTENDO/GAME FREAK, HOWEVER THE STORY, CHARATERS AND REGION BELONG TO ME.
Prologue: Yet Another Day at the Gym.
The Gym Leader sat slumped on the chair in his private viewing box, overlooking the battlefield. Below was the third trainer of the day to challenge his gym; a boy no older than fourteen years, dressed very casually, a pair of yellow shorts matched with a bright blue t-shirt, a backwards facing white baseball cap hiding most of his short brown hair. Despite the boy's youth he had managed to defeat three of the gym trainers with relative ease, choosing to heal his Pokémon with his own medicines rather than leave to heal at the Pokémon Centre. While this impressed the Gym Leader to a degree, he was still not convinced of the trainer's ability. He closed his eyes as the battle below started.
"Drifloon I choose you!" The young trainer's voice had a confident tone to it as he threw a Poké Ball onto the battlefield. The Poké Ball popping open in the air with a flash of light, releasing the Balloon Pokémon before recoiling back towards the trainer.
"Go Yanmega, prepare for battle!" The fourth gym trainer threw his Great Ball high into the air, releasing the eager Ogre Darner Pokémon with a flash of blue light.
For a moment the air in the gym stood still as both trainers decided on their moves and strategy. The Drifloon and Yanmega floated opposite each other, sizing up their opponent, waiting for their trainers command.
"Yanmega, Air Slash."
"Drifloon, return."
The young challenger held up the Drifloon's Poké Ball, a beam of red light dissolving the Balloon Pokémon back into the ball's confinement. A deft flick of the wrist allowed the challenger to switch to his next Pokémon. A Great Ball was thrown forward, clattering against the floor before bursting open. A loud roar shook the gym as an Onix emerged from the blue light, the Rock Snake Pokémon stretching to full length as the Yanmega began its attack; flying high into the air above the battlefield, its wings glowing white as they vibrated. Moments later the wings pulsed in the air, the invisible edge only viewable by the wake of condensation being formed at the tips as it sliced through the air.
The Onix shuddered slightly as the edge collided with his rocky body, without waiting for a command from his trainer the Onix hurled himself at the Yanmega as it tried to compose itself for another attack.
Switch out you moron. The gym leader thought, his eyes closed not knowing what attack the Onix was using. It's a rock type Pokémon, all it need to do is use Rock Throw and your strongest Pokémon is down and out. He sighed as the gym trainer's indecision became apparent, opening his eyes as the door to his viewing box clicked open.
As the Onix collided with the Yanmega, knocking the Ogre Darner Pokémon across the battlefield, a Gardevoir walked through the door, closing it as quickly as she had opened it. The Embrace Pokémon walked over to the Gym Leader; however she was no normal Pokémon. Her body, usually covered with her species natural gown, was instead covered by a dark blue, long sleeved t-shirt, with a hole in the middle allowing her horn like sensor to jut out, all the while exposing her midriff and tight fitting denim jeans that hugged her slender form.
"That Onix has a very powerful Double-Edge." The Gardevoir spoke aloud in perfect English. "Zach is going to struggle to defeat him." She looked across at the Gym Leader as he sighed and sat up.
"What other Pokémon does Zach have on him?" His voice was quiet; the Gym Leader hated talking when he was focused on his trainee's battles.
"Magmar." The Gardevoir replied in a whisper-like voice.
The Gym Leader rolled his eyes, moaning softly as he stood up from his chair, leaning against the tinted glass. As he looked out on the battlefield, Zach returned his Yanmega to its Great Ball while throwing a Poké Ball forward releasing his Magmar onto the field. The challenger's eyes lit up as he savoured the possibility of getting to challenge the Gym Leader.
The serene atmosphere in the viewing box was suddenly broken as a powerful earthquake tore though the gym building. The reactive foundations doing their job keeping the building up while allowing the damage from the attack to hurt Zach's Magmar, sending the Spitfire Pokémon flying back slamming against the trembling wall of the gym.
However the Gym Leader and Gardevoir acted as if nothing was even happening, and with their experience, this was a mild earthquake. The Gardevoir walked up to the tinted window, placing a slender, pale white hand on his shoulder.
"Stephen, you ready?" The Gardevoir asked, her ruby red eyes softly staring at him.
"Sure thing Jessica, let me just grab my Poké Balls." Stephen turned to leave the viewing box, the door clicking open as he walked toward it. "What's the bet that he won't understand the gym rules?" He asked Jessica as she followed Stephen down the hall, leading to the battlefield. The walls held several hundred small picture frames, each containing a photo graph of a winning trainer at the gym, with their Pokémon behind them and the Gym's badge proudly displayed in either their case or on their jacket.
"I have no idea Stephen, but to be honest, I don't care; I just want a good battle." Jessica replied as they descended a flight of stairs, entering a small room behind the battlefield. On the wall were several rows of many differing types of Poké Ball, all of them belonging to one of the Gym Leaders. "So what Pokémon are you going to be using?"
"The usual." Came the plain reply, as Stephen pulled three deactivated Poké Balls from his pockets, however they were no ordinary Poké Balls – one was a Premier Ball, another a Luxury Ball, while the third was a rare Cherish Ball.
"What a surprise!" Jessica stuck her tongue out as she replied. "Well I'll use Abigail, Sparky and Nova." She reached up, grabbing three Poké Balls from the shelves. "They should be more than enough."
The two Gym Leaders stood in front of the large door that led out onto the battlefield. On the other side the challenger looked on nervously, only now noticing the detailing on the door, the large ornate carving of the gym badge surrounded by stylized Pokémon. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the gym trainer, Zach, slipping on a black and white striped shirt, while getting a green and red flag from a small podium at the side of the battlefield. The challenger flinched as the door suddenly began to split open, a spot light shining its light on the door as the figures of the Gym Leaders walked out.
"Hello young trainer, how have you been finding our gym trainees? Good?" As Stephen and Jessica walked towards their end of the battlefield, he rattled off the speech he gave all trainers who were about to challenge him. The slightly bored tone to his voice did little is dampen the mood of the challenger. "Now that you have defeated the four trainees of this gym we accept your challenge to the Möbius gym for the Möbius badge."
The young trainer's eyes gleamed with anticipation and he listened intently to the Gym Leader's words.
"The rules for the battle are as follows: It will be a six-on-six double battle – we, as joint leaders, will use three Pokémon each and you will use six Pokémon; Wherever possible all sides must have two Pokémon on the field," Stephen yawned, quickly covering his mouth and turning away. The challenger looked on with a frown. "Sorry. Both yourself and Gym Leaders will be allowed to switch Pokémon at any point during the battle."
"Wait ... what?" The challenger's frown deepened as he queried the rule. "Normally the Gym Leaders are not allowed to change Pokémon during battle, why can you?"
Stephen rolled his eyes and gave a subtle shake of his head. "It's because this gym does not have a specific type. As a result, we do not have Pokémon with similar moves and abilities. Consequently in order for us to give you a fair battle worthy of earning a badge we must be able to switch and counter you Pokémon in the same way you will to ours." Stephen looked at the clock above the referee's podium and nodded to Zach as he stood upon it.
"Are you ready?" Zach called out to the challenger.
"Y-yes sir and ma'am." The challenger said to Stephen and Jessica.
"Both the Challenger and Gym Leaders release your Pokémon on to the battlefield and prepare for battle!" Zach called out holding up a red and green flag, red for the Gym Leaders and green for the challenger.
The challenger threw two Poké Balls out onto the battlefield releasing his Exploud, the Loud Noise Pokémon, living up to its name, bellowing out a battle cry and his Omastar, the Spiral Pokémon glaring across the battlefield at the opposing Gym Leaders.
"Go Abigail!" Jessica called out while tossing her Poké Ball from her hand onto the field.
"And go Arkbird!" Stephen called out while tossing his Cherish Ball onto the field. The challenger's face showed the classic confused look all the challengers at the gym have when battling the leaders. Few of them are used to battling a Gym Leader who has nicknamed their Pokémon. The challenger looked at the balls as they opened releasing the Pokémon held within, in this case Jessica's Absol and Stephen's Togekiss. The two Gym Leader Pokémon faced the opponents with absolute calm, Abigail crouching slightly, keeping the muscles in her legs sprung and ready to strike, while Arkbird slowly flapped his wings, bobbing ever so slightly in time with his breathing.
"Begin the battle!" Zach called out to the three trainers on the battlefield.
"Exploud use Screech on the Absol and Omastar use Rock Blast on the Togekiss!" The challenger called out to his Pokémon.
"Arkbird use Aura Sphere on the Omastar, fast!" Stephen called out to his Togekiss.
"And Abigail use Night Slash on the Exploud!" Jessica called out to her Absol. The two Gym Leaders' Pokémon attacked before the challenger's could even move. Arkbird fired off a glowing ball of energy at the Omastar who just seemed to stand there, unable to move as the ball hit the Pokémon square in the face. It was sent flying backwards, colliding against the wall behind the challenger. A second after Arkbird moved, Abigail moved too, jumping into the air as the scythe on the side of her head glowed with a dark eerie light. With a flick of her head Abigail sent a dark edge towards the unwitting Exploud, who, like the Omastar next to him, was sent flying backwards, slamming against the wall behind the challenger. Both the Exploud and Omastar were out cold.
"The Challenger's Pokémon are unable to battle!" Zach called out while holding a red flag out on the side of the two Gym Leaders.
"Oh wow, Exploud and Omastar return." The trainer held both the Pokémon's Poké Balls, beams of red light pulling both of them to their Poké Balls containment.
"Sorry guys." The trainer apologised to the Poké Balls as he switched, placing the tired Pokémon in his bag before taking two more Poké Balls from his belt. "Go Bagon and Blastoise!" The trainer called out while throwing out the two Poké Balls on to the field.
"Ready Jess?" Stephen asked while looking across at his fellow Gym Leader, who nodded in reply and looked out knowing exactly what move both Stephen and she were going to use.
"Arkbird use Air Slash on the Bagon!" Stephen called out with a slight sadness in his voice.
"And use Night Slash on Blastoise Abigail!" Jessica told her Absol while trying to add some excitement to the battle.
"Blastoise use Withdraw and Bagon use Headbutt on the Absol!" The trainer desperately called out to his Pokémon, knowing that they were too slow to react in time to stop the attacks from the Gym Leaders Pokémon from hitting. Arkbird's wings flapped strongly, causing the air to slice across the battlefield. It hit the Bagon trying to ram Abigail with its head, knocking the small dragon to the floor. As the Blastoise tried to tuck into its shell Abigail's dark attack hit the Shellfish Pokémon incredibly hard on the head. Both of the challenger's Pokémon again fell with only one hit.
"Both of the Challenger's Pokémon are unable to battle." Zach declared while holding up the red flag. The challenger returned both Pokémon to their Poké Balls.
"I concede the battle." The challenger's voice waivered slightly as he swallowed his pride and admitted defeat. "I cannot beat you and do not want to hurt my other two Pokémon."
"That is commendable and proves you are a good trainer." Jessica told the challenger, walking up to him as Abigail returned to her side, sitting on her haunches and looking up at her trainer. "You need to train your Pokémon to a higher level and focus on their defences - any thoughts Stephen?"
The words fell on empty space. Stephen had begun to walk off into the back room, yawning. "Okay then, we await your next challenge." Jessica said with a rushed tone, looking around, trying to get Stephen to stay, but it was too late - the challenger had already turned and left the room with his head held low.
"STEPHEN!" Jessica yelled out and chased the Gym Leader into the back room.