*whispers* I'm back. Don't kill me yet. At least it's still June.

If there's anything the past few months have taught me, it's that things never go to plan. Ever. Also, that I have no ability to time myself...

But hey, more interesting chapter. And I bear internet cookies (::) (::) (::) That sweetens everybody, right?

Right?

Chapter Ten

The steady dripping of water was the first defining feature of Connecting Cave. At least, it was the first feature a wanderer would notice. The real defining feature, of course, were the Zubat.

Somewhere in the ceilings of the cave hundreds (maybe thousands) of Zubat rustled, the occasional sound of flapping loud in Harry's ears. The cave was alight with a faint pink glow – Ralts' Dazzling Gleam. Ralts was no happier in the Zubat Roost than Harry was, trudging slowly along the damp ground.

Despite its size on a map, Connecting Cave was far larger than it looked. The only redeeming feature was that the path was relatively straight. One single main path, with smaller paths branching out into the depths of the cave. Harry had no intention of meandering down them.

Ralts and Nincada were the two Pokémon he had out right now, as defence against the Zubat – Ralts more so than Nincada, who he still couldn't understand. Fletchling was resting after a particularly nasty horde of Zubat managed to poison her. The two days in the Berry Fields had been well worth it considering his reward was another basket of Pecha Berries – she would need a bit of rest, but otherwise she would be fine. Honedge was resting as well. Steel or no, fighting well over two dozen mad Zubat would drive anyone into exhaustion.

At first, there was enough light in the cave to see – but as they went deeper, it became darker and darker until Harry was nearly blind. Ralts' Dazzling Gleam lit the cave a soft shade of pink, just enough to see by without – hopefully – alerting any Zubat.

If it came to battle, he would just have to hope Ralts' Confusion could hold them off. He doubted Nincada could do much against Zubat, and it was far too dark for Fletchling or Honedge to see. Considering most of their attacks needed them to see, it wasn't an ideal situation.

Nincada scuttled forwards, transparent wings pink in the glow of Dazzling Gleam. It was possible for Harry to direct him in battle – he'd discovered it during a Zubat attack – but it was downright impossible for Harry to understand him otherwise. Food and shelter seemed to be a recurring theme in his mutterings, but then there was also winter and birds and strings so it really didn't make any sense.

According to his Holo Caster, he'd been in the Connecting Cave for well over six hours by now, and barely any closer to the opposite exit. Harry wondered if Connecting Cave was designed to snare travellers – surely there was no other explanation for how it seemed so small but was actually so large, Zubat or no Zubat.

He was definitely glad he had entered the cave in the morning. Spending a night surrounded by wild Zubat… well, there was bad, and there was bad bad. A night in Connecting Cave was bad bad – unless it was a Zubat fanatic, in which case, well, Harry would be running as far away in the opposite direction as he could. He really did try to understand people, but Zubat protectors were just like his Nincada – completely unintelligible.

Another Zubat screeched, Air Cutter splitting the air. Ralts slammed it into the ground with Confusion, and Nincada spat String Shots to tie it up. Harry grimaced. He really hoped it hadn't disturbed the Zubat above.

No such luck, apparently. Seven Air Cutters flew in their direction. Harry scooped up Ralts, recalled Nincada and bolted.

Ralts flung a flurry of Magical Leafs at the Zubat as Harry ran, Supersonics echoing all around them. The Zubat slowed to cut the leaves with Air Cutter, by which point Harry was far away enough to avoid that particular flock's (did Zubat hordes count as flocks?) attention. He slowed to a walk, releasing Nincada as Ralts hopped back down.

Nincada wove an intricate String Shot pattern that would (hopefully) tangle up any Zubat following them. Harry checked his Holo Caster again. Supposedly, they were near the exit. Then again, that was what the Holo Caster had said nearly two hours ago, and they still weren't near the exit. At least, he couldn't see any exit in front of them.

He sighed and kept on walking.

~OoOoOoO~

It was nearly six hours later when he finally saw the light of day. Or rather, the light of the setting sun. Harry couldn't have stopped his sigh of relief even if he wanted to.

"We're out," he declared to Honedge, who made a sharp keening noise. Thank Arceus. We are never going back in there.

"Agreed."

The massive round yellow ball known as the sun glowed as it began dipping into the sea. Well, at least that was something after the torture of Connecting Cave. The beauty of it almost made the Zubat worthwhile. Almost.

Harry snapped a picture with his Holo Caster (this time it wasn't nearly as blurry) and captioned it with "Too many Zubat hordes in that place". His Holo Caster beeped as he sent it to his père, before laying out a map of Cyllage for him.

His first destination, of course, was the Pokémon Centre. Of course it was the Pokémon Centre. Over that torturous twelve hours – dear Arceus, twelve hours! – every last one of his Pokémon had been exhausted to the brink of fainting. Fletchling nearly did faint, but then learned Roost at the last possible minute to win against what may have been the twentieth Zubat horde. Harry had definitely lost count by then. Despite the Roost – which was most appreciated and wonderful for a Flying Pokémon to learn – Fletchling was still under the lingering effects of poison, and the Roost stalled just long enough for her to win. Ralts was exhausted from Heal Pulse, Nincada was just exhausted and still not-understandable – and even the stalwart Honedge was showing his exhaustion.

Nurse Joy gave him a sympathetic smile. "Zubat?" she asked.

"Zubat," Harry agreed.

While his Pokémon were being healed, Harry picked a room and promptly flopped down on it. It was a good thing that August wasn't really the trainer starting time – that was September, when the annual trainer test was undertook. If you passed and you were ten (and there were a lot of people who met those criteria), your journey could start immediately. If you passed and were nine but would turn ten before the next September, all you had to do was wait for your tenth birthday. Then you could start your journey.

September was by far the busiest month of the entire calendar year, with hundreds of new trainers sprouting from each city and town all dying to rush off and start their journeys. Which meant September was when Pokémon Centres were busiest. August, not so much – the month before the novices but after the Conference was rarely busy, since ninety percent of people could be lumped into one of two categories in August.

The first category: finished the badge run and had crashed out of the Conference, or didn't bother competing.

The second: waiting for the September exam to become a trainer.

Once September floated around, it was going to be a lot harder to find places in a Pokémon Centre. But the double-digit routes were also a lot longer, so he'd probably be camping out anyway.

When Harry finally managed to rise, he picked up the brochure lying on his bed. The front page read "Cyllage – All Those Attractions (And That Precious Gym Badge)".

He found himself smiling a wry smile as he flicked it open and started reading.

Cyllage City is famous for its bike races, but if you have no bike, have no fear! It is possible to walk around the city! No, duh. If there is a race on, chances are you'll have to wait for that Gym Badge, trainer. Grant is an avid cycling fan and competes in every race in Cyllage!

That much anyone who watched even one episode of Gym Freaks would know. Grant was famous for two reasons, after all. The first was that he was a Gym Leader. The second, that he was a cyclist. A world-famous cyclist.

Our lovely seaside city has many attractions! The cliff walk is famous among lovers and is best viewed during sunset. Our bicycle road is the best you'll find in all of Kalos! Dwebble inhabit our beaches and are very friendly, however please do not attempt to break their shells, they will attack. If you are lucky, during low tide there may be Skrelp on the rocks.

Warning: Do not touch Skrelp. They may have either Poison Point or Poison Touch as an Ability, and will not hesitate to use Toxic on you if you attempt to pick them up. Even if you intend to capture one, DO NOT touch the Skrelp with your hands. It may still poison you.

Fishing in the sea can yield many Pokémon; most of our restaurants are happy to buy them off you. Luvdisc Heart Scales are treasured by our elderly residents; if you, trainer, would like to make someone happy, give an elderly resident a Heart Scale and listen to their advice, our elders give very good advice too!

Please note that Horsea are a protected species and recreational fishing must return all Horsea to the sea. Capturing one will require you to sign a special form promising that you will release it in Cyllage if you ever do not want it.

Surfing is also a popular activity in Cyllage; our Wailmer squad is happy to loan you a Wailmer to enjoy the pleasures of surfing if you do not own your own Water Pokémon. Gaze upon the depths of the sea from the back of a Wailmer on a hot summer's day – there is truly nothing more wonderful!

Warning: We give no guarantee that Tentacool may not try to eat you, or indeed that you can fight off the Tentacool. The Wailmer have been trained to take you back to shore at first sight of a Tentacool, however they have not been trained to fight off Tentacool. Please bring your own Pokémon to fight off Tentacool.

Indeed, Cyllage City is full of wonders! Come explore them today!

All the possible recreational activities did sound enjoyable, even if Harry didn't really want to be eaten alive by Tentacool. Skrelp's evolution was fairly powerful and was a top predator in the Kalos ocean food chain despite their speed – nothing would eat a Dragalge without being immune to Toxic first, and the harsh leathery skin (so the Pokédex claimed) put anybody who was immune to Toxic off. The only Pokémon who would eat Dragalge were Snorlax, and they didn't really care about Toxic because they ate everything.

Horsea and its evolutionary family were the other big seahorse predators in Kalos; Kingdra held advantage, but were harder to raise. It was the whole case of fast-but-not-so-deadly versus slow-but-deadly. Although, take both out of the water, and the Dragalge would last slightly longer against something like an Electivire or Luxray.

The buzzer screeched, and Harry went down to collect his healed Pokémon. Fletchling was shaking out her feathers, while Ralts and Honedge both formed some sort of protective barrier in front of Nincada. Fletchling was giving them an insulting look, as if saying, I have more control than that.

When she spotted him, she instantly flew back to her usual perch. We are never, ever, ever going back there again. Ever. And if you make me I will claw out your eyes first. Understood?

"Understood," Harry said dryly. "Hey, you didn't eat Nincada."

I have more self-control than that, was the deadpanned response. Just like he'd predicted.

There weren't very many others in the Pokémon Centre – a fifteen-year-old slouched over his Holo Caster, someone sleeping on the couch, their face covered, somebody else attacking the computer with vicious movements that made the clicks of the mouse seem a lot louder than it should be. Everybody else was probably asleep already. Or planning to leave Cyllage, or something.

"So, how long do you guys think we should stay?" Harry asked, after confirming that nobody was paying attention.

Nincada immediately started mumbling about spring. He felt rather than heard Fletchling's scowl. Can I please eat him?

"No, Fletchling," he answered. "Well?"

Honedge spun idly through the air, thoroughly rejuvenated (or as rejuvenated as a Ghost could be). A week? A month? It depends, I suppose, on how much there is to do. You stayed a week in Lumiose. Is Cyllage nearly as interesting?

"Well, no," Harry admitted. "The brochures just talk about the recreational activities you can do. I'm kind of split on the Wailmer surfing thing, but I really don't want to be eaten by a Tentacool and none of you really have an advantage over a Tentacool – not in water, anyway. And I don't want to accidentally touch a Skrelp."

Then stay shorter. Maybe a day or two, see if there are any trainers? It is late, but maybe we'll be lucky.

"They won't be second-badge, though," Harry said. "That's if anyone's running in August. Not many do. Definitely not in late August – definitely not a week or so before exams. The only ones that might are ones who took tutelage under a Gym Trainer, but they're pretty rare."

There were two ways to get a Badge. First way – battle the Gym Leader, the quicker and often easier way to do it, for the first few badges at least. The second way – become a Gym Trainer and study under the Gym Leader, usually for a year or so, and gain the Badge that way. The first way was a lot more popular, mostly because well-enough planning and good Pokémon would be able to succeed. For the seventh or eighth Badges, though – well, it was a lot harder to gain those Badges, from any Gym Leader, so a trainer might settle and undertake a year of studying to gain it. Especially if they had done the wrong planning and left Viola last.

In fact, most eighth-badge Gym Battles were recorded and later played on TV. It was a good way to tell future trainers who not to leave last, and helped break down the whole 'weak Pokémon, strong Pokémon' thing. Nobody quite dared say Bugs were weak for an entire month after a televised broadcast of an eighth-badge challenge against Viola. Her Volcarona, Vivillon and Masquerain swept through the challenger's full team without a single loss.

The eighth badge was proof of ability, and Gym Leaders did not give that last coveted badge out easily.

Still, it will allow you a glimpse of Grant's ability. There was no arguing with that, even if it was widespread knowledge that Gym Leaders all had great battling ability. It just depended how much of that ability was reined back when fighting second-badge runners.

Harry went to bed that night wondering just what Pokémon Grant used for second-badge runners.

~OoOoOoO~

As it turned out, there was a Gym Battle on the next day. Harry – along with what seemed like the entire city – turned up to watch the fifth-badge runner, a girl around thirteen years old.

So she was a slow runner – one that spent more time journeying than actual battling. That didn't make her any weaker. If anything, slow runners had an even stronger bond with their Pokémon. He hadn't seen her in the Pokémon Centre, so either she had recently arrived, or she was already in her room by the time Harry went down. It could easily be either.

Both of them sent out their Pokémon at the same time. Grant, an Aurorus. The challenger, a Gallade.

Obviously, there was a massive amount of type matchup in this match. Harry scanned both Pokémon into his Pokédex. The Aurorus' frills (was that what they were called?) waved slightly in the still air.

Fifth-badge runners could choose between a four-on-four or a five-on-five. Each had its own merits. The four Poké Balls on the screen, though – this was a four-on-four.

Grant and the challenger stared across the battlefield for what seemed like an eternity. Then, abruptly, the girl raised her hand.

The Gallade's blades glowed soft pink as it rushed forwards towards the Aurorus. That was impressive – the girl must have trained him to respond to hand signals, or something. The pink blades swung towards Aurorus in a clear Psycho Cut.

At the last minute, Grant called, "Protect!"

The green dome shimmered into existence around Aurorus just as the Gallade bore down on it. Try as he might, Gallade couldn't break through the thick green barrier, which didn't falter even once – proving its strength. Protect could be broken if the attacker was strong enough and the defendant wasn't as strong – but it held up impressively against the onslaught, not a single crack appearing in the shimmering green dome.

"Thunder Wave!" Protect collapsed abruptly, a wave of electrical energy replacing it.

Gallade's own Protect flared. Unlike Aurorus' dome, Gallade's Protect was literally a shield on his left arm, behind which the Pokémon hunkered down. The immediate weakness, of course, was an aerial attack – not that Aurorus could fly, but against a Flying Pokémon there was a clear disadvantage.

Of course, that possibility had probably already been extensively prepared for. As the Thunder Wave dissipated, the Gallade whirled his blades.

A drop of rain landed on the dusty battleground. Then another. Rain Dance – although in an enclosed environment, it was slightly easier to manage. Mostly because in an enclosed environment Rain Dance only affected the battleground itself, not the stands and not the surrounding area. Unlike a Rain Dance outdoors, where the heavens would pour water down everything even vaguely exposed.

The water would definitely have a detrimental effect on Rock types. Maybe even cause a bit of distress to Ground types with Electric-type moves. It was possible, under rain – though even under heavy rain it didn't have too great of an effect.

In response, the Aurorus flared its frills. The air temperature dropped, and Harry could suddenly see his breath misting in the air. The raindrops froze as Hail battered the battleground.

Before the challenger had a chance to respond, the Aurorus let out a piercing cry. The snow fell even thicker, until Harry could just barely spot the Aurorus in the thick hail.

Then a Blizzard raced through the entire battleground, razing and freezing everything in its way. The Gallade's Protect held for an entire minute before faltering, its owner crying out as thousands of wickedly sharp icicles dug in.

The Blizzard was thick enough that no hand signal would make it in – and its roar was more than loud enough to drown out the loudest of battlers. Harry leaned forward, curious to see just what the challenger would do next.

That turned out to be ordering the Gallade to use Will-O-Wisp to light the way. A single tiny flame burned in the heart of the Blizzard. With a start, Harry realised that it wasn't so much to let the Gallade see Aurorus so much as let the challenger see her Gallade.

"Brick Break!" she shouted.

In the two seconds it took for Grant to comprehend the verbal command, the Gallade leaped forward, the remnants of Will-O-Wisp trailing from its bladed arms. The Aurorus shrieked as the Brick Break landed a solid hit.

But Grant reacted fast. Within seconds, the Aurorus – still somehow standing from a super-effective hit – had spewed Powder Snow towards the Gallade's eyes. While the Gallade wiped snow from its eyes, Aurorus paralysed it with a Thunder Wave.

The following Ice Beam should have hit. If Gallade hadn't Teleported away.

Of course – paralysis only applied to the muscles. But Gallade was partially Psychic type, even if its powers weren't nearly as great as the alternate evolution Gardevoir. Teleport was still guaranteed to work despite Gallade's muscles being at risk of locking up – because it was a trick of the mind, not of the body.

Multiple Gallade fanned out, circling the Aurorus with Double Team.

The Aurorus used Discharge.

A massive halo of electricity exploded from its body, eliminating every copy of Gallade with ruthless efficiency. The real Gallade flung up a Safeguard, dispelling the worst of the electricity.

Safeguard didn't prevent the majority of the Discharge from hitting, though. Although, Harry could appreciate why Safeguard, rather than Protect, was used. Safeguard was another trick of the mind – Protect, while definitely not physical, required the Gallade to use his arms, and the challenger really couldn't afford to risk Gallade seizing up and failing at the worst possible time.

It was pretty obvious Aurorus had the advantage, though, which might have been why the challenger withdrew Gallade. The image on the board dimmed.

Her second Pokémon was a Chimecho. It tinkled pleasantly even while the Hail battered it.

The confusion Grant was feeling was visible on his face. Chimecho weren't aggressive Pokémon at the best of times, definitely didn't hold type advantage over Aurorus, and were relatively fragile. Chimecho weren't really much use in Gym Battling if you wanted to win.

Then the Chimecho released a pure, tinkling sound – Heal Bell. And all at once the reason for its appearance became apparent.

Aurorus blasted out a Dark Pulse. Chimecho met it with a Dazzling Glean, burning the Dark move out of existence. Aurorus stumbled as the light was reflected a thousand times by the hailstones, attacking its eyes.

As soon as Aurorus was distracted, Chimecho released a Thunder Wave. Paralysis wracked Aurorus – a direct retaliation, of sorts, for Gallade's now-healed paralysis. Aurorus was paralysed as Chimecho – with great effort, it seemed – picked up the Tundra Pokémon and smashed it into the wall with a Psychic.

The following Shadow Ball put it down for the count.

Looked like Chimecho could indeed be dangerous.

Grant looked suitably impressed as he recalled Aurorus. "Very nice. Barbaracle!"

A bipedal Pokémon bursted out of the Poké Ball. It was decidedly odd, but then again, sentient bin bags existed – so there wasn't really much to judge. Four arms, one head, two legs – well, there were weirder ones.

Harry quickly scanned it into his Pokédex. Rock-Water – a terrible typing, to be sure, if one was playing defence. There was no way such an aggressive Pokémon would ever be playing defence, though, so the typing would work more in its favour. Harry supposed the Barbaracle was a bit of a glass cannon, a terribly slow one.

After a bit of hesitation, the girl recalled her Chimecho – probably to save the Heal Bell for later, Harry supposed. "Leafeon," she called.

An image of Leafeon filled in the third-Pokémon slot on the massive board as the Grass-type Eeveelution appeared. Barbaracle clicked menacingly.

"Leafeon vs Barbaracle, begin!" The referee – who Harry hadn't noticed until now, to be honest, declared.

The Barbaracle lunged, claws gleaming as it flew towards the Leafeon. Before it could connect, Leafeon Dug into the ground, leaving a single hole behind.

"Scald!" A jet of boiling water rushed into the hole left by Dig. The Verdant Pokémon leaped out of the tunnel in a single fluid movement, a column of water shooting out of the exit.

"Razor Leaf!"

An absolute cascade of sharp leaves fired themselves at the Barbaracle. The Barbaracle slashed them all out of the air with Razor Shell, four blades glinting as it twirled into an awkward Swords Dance.

The Barbaracle charged forward with Fury Cutter; Leafeon duplicated itself with Double Team and the Barbaracle flew into a copy. Lightning fast, the other copies of Leafeon began to run in a circle, fast enough that the Quick Attack was only visible as a continuous green-brown circle around Barbaracle, standing there stupefied.

Then the Leafeon lunged towards the Barbaracle. But instead of connecting, it spat out a glob of purple poison that instantly covered the Barbaracle's body. Toxic.

The Leafeon shot back out of range as the Barbaracle growled. Its longevity had suddenly been halved – Grant would have to end it quickly, or risk being two-down in a fifth-badge battle.

"Stealth Rock." Rock exploded from the ground, forming a tall barrier before sinking back into the battlefield. Any future Pokémon would be severely debilitated by the crushing rocks. Especially the smaller ones.

Barbaracle stamped the ground, and an Earthquake rumbled outwards. Leafeon leapt upwards to avoid the rolling ground.

Immediately, the Barbaracle launched a stream of boiling water at it. Leafeon howled as steam hissed all around it. Grass Pokémon or not, hot water was going to hurt even a Maractus. Well, maybe not a Maractus. Those Pokémon would soak up just about anything even remotely resembling liquid.

The minute the Leafeon landed, Barbaracle charged, claws gleaming with X-Scissor. Leafeon never stood a chance, fainting on contact.

The girl recalled her Leafeon. "Good job," she told the Poké Ball. "Gallade!"

The Blade Pokémon reappeared, eyes focusing on the Barbaracle. Of course, after the Heal Bell, it was no longer paralysed. "Close Combat!"

"Match it, Razor Shell!"

The two Pokémon lunged at each other, blades swiping madly. The Gallade was doing impressively considering he only had two blades to Barbaracle's four. Not that limb number was playing any factor in their grappling war – cracks were appearing on Barbaracle's shell, and the Toxic was taking its effect while Gallade was rested from the Heal Bell and using Close Combat without mercy.

Barbaracle went down.

Two Pokémon left for Grant, three for the challenger. The next Pokémon Grant sent out was a Lunatone.

The Gallade charged, dark energy on his blades. Lunatone's eyes glowed.

Gallade staggered backwards as a ray of rainbow light smashed into it. Signal Beam. Lunatone followed up with a Moonblast that exploded all over the Gallade.

Grant was starting to put what made him a Gym Leader into the battle, it seemed. Gallade recovered just fast enough to bring up his blades in a Night Slash, deflecting the Psychic that would probably have ended the match.

Leaf Blade scythed through the air. Lunatone's answer – a Reflect – was more than strong enough to keep it from connecting.

Harry knew Rock Pokémon were traditionally able to tank hits well despite their numerous weaknesses, but this was ridiculous. First a Protect that easily withstood Psycho Cut despite the fact that Protects would fail under immense offensive power – and now a Reflect that just as easily stopped Leaf Blade in its tracks. Gallade only had enough time to bring up his blades when another Psychic was flung at him. It glanced off the just-in-time Night Slash and faded to nothingness.

Unfortunately, Gallade didn't manage to avoid Lunatone's eyes. Hypnosis instantly sent Gallade asleep.

The challenger immediately withdrew the Gallade. Harry expected the Chimecho to make an appearance again, for Heal Bell. Instead, a Bisharp came out.

That meant the challenger's entire team for this battle consisted of a Gallade, a Chimecho, a Leafeon and a Bisharp. The line-up was set.

And Grant still had an unknown Pokémon. Although there wasn't much that was effective against both Fighting and Dark.

Except Fairy, of course, assuming Grant was willing to use a Carbink as his last Pokémon. Carbink weren't known to be very sturdy.

The Bisharp took a step backwards as Stealth Rock took effect, crushing it within a tomb of stone. Small scrapes littered the shiny parts of its armour when the Stealth Rock sank back into the ground.

Bisharp shot forward, claws gleaming with Metal Claw. Lunatone slammed a Reflect – and then another, and another. Harry hadn't even known that was possible. Pulling down and slamming up a Reflect, yes. Placing several Reflects between between Lunatone and Bisharp's Metal Claw – no.

The Earthquake rattled the entire arena. Bisharp jumped to avoid the worst of it, only to get hit immediately with a Smack Down. The Rock-type move was hardly effective on a Steel, but it sent the Sword Blade Pokémon right back down onto the ground – where the Earthquake promptly doubled in strength.

Lunatone were weaker in attack than their solar counterparts Solrock, but apparently this one wasn't going to let that small matter affect it at all.

A Charge Beam shot through the Bisharp, the steel not helping Bisharp's cause one bit (non-Steel/Ghosts, apparently, felt electricity quite keenly; mainly because shocking a Dark was quite different from shocking a Ghost.) Bisharp released a horrible grating sound as it shook from the Charge Beam. The Metal Sound reverberated around the entire stadium, and – well, Harry thought Honedge's Metal Sound was loud. Apparently not nearly as loud as Bisharp's. Lunatone recoiled just long enough for the Bisharp to leap forward with Iron Head and smash its forehead into Lunatone.

Unfortunately for the Bisharp, head-to-head (or head to pointy end of crescent?) meant direct contact with Lunatone's eyes. Which meant Hypnosis.

And suddenly it was Lunatone v Chimecho. Two Psychic types. One Heal Bell, and Gallade and Bisharp would probably make easy work of Grant's last Pokémon.

Then Lunatone blew itself up.

The force of the Explosion washed against the walls, causing a shaking shockwave to rattle the walls of the Gym. Harry gripped the railing in front of him as the entire Gym shook. Explosion wasn't used very often, mainly because Exploding your own Pokémon gave off the sense you didn't care about it – but Grant obviously did care about his Pokémon and the Lunatone, well, the Lunatone probably didn't mind Exploding to secure this win.

The Chimecho stood absolutely no chance.

Suddenly, Grant had the upper hand. Maybe Explosion was a bit of a dirty tactic – but, it was effective. The challenger looked a little lost as to what to do, now that Heal Bell was never going to happen.

Tyrantrum cheerfully ripped through the sleeping Gallade and the equally asleep Bisharp. It was an anticlimactic end to a battle with that kind of promise – then again, if the challenger hadn't made the mistake of allowing Lunatone to use Hypnosis on Bisharp, it could have been a lot different.

Harry departed the Gym, thoughts swirling in his head.

~OoOoOoO~

Grant was the kind of trainer who slowly debilitated you. There was a pretty obvious reason for that – Rock types just weren't fast enough to be all-out attackers, but had too many weaknesses to be solid defensive tanks. Without the option of attack or defence – effective attack or defence – there was no wonder Grant was the type to throw status at his opponent until they were all worn down. He set his Pokémon to practising their moves, then considered what he'd learned.

After extra research – or rather, after spending the entire day inside on the computer searching for Grant's battles against second-badge runners – he'd learned that Grant's preferred Pokémon against a second-badge runner were Tyrunt and Amaura, the two fossil Pokémon of Kalos. A two-on-two battle always required a bit of planning ahead, mainly to have no glaring weaknesses. Amaura's weakness to Steel meant that Fletchling might be able to take the Pokémon on with Steel Wing, but unless Ralts and Honedge both developed some kind of disease (and Ghosts didn't get disease, period), Fletchling was sitting out.

Ralts was the prime choice against Tyrunt, especially with Dazzling Gleam – but Tyrunt was a physical attacker and Ralts a special one. She would be in a lot of trouble if Tyrunt got in close, although that was also the whole point of Teleport. Even without any Steel moves, Honedge was still the better choice against Amaura. Maybe they'd get to perfect Night Slash – although, for obvious reasons, Harry would rather not rely on an imperfect move.

And then there was Nincada, who still needed battle experience to become a Ninjask (and a Shedinja). Nincada was definitely not going to be battling – but he did need experience. Where Harry was going to find such experience, he didn't know. Maybe along the Menhir Trail?

That, of course, depended on the Sigilyph not getting Nincada first. But Sigilyph were notoriously dedicated to their "job", so Nincada was probably safe. Of course, there was that Sigilyph he had seen in the Palais Gardens – well, either it was just an anomaly or a sign that Nincada wouldn't be too safe after all.

Either way, it looked like it was going to be a lot harder than he expected to evolve a Nincada.

On the windowsill, Ralts paused from her Dazzling Gleam practice. At least you'll learn patience, she commented airily before cackling and Teleporting to the top of the bookshelf in his room.

Actually cackled.

I think the fencer has corrupted her, Fletchling declared.

I hate you all, Honedge replied.

Harry laughed.

Traitor.

~OoOoOoO~

The morning of his Gym battle dawned bright and cloudless – not that Harry was able to witness much when the Gym was in a cavern. He was able to curse loudly, however, when the underground waterfall sprayed him with a jet of freezing cold water. A Relicanth eyed him warily before swimming off.

Grant was waiting for him at the battlefield. "Nice to see you made it up," he said with a grin. "Second badge – Aquacorde-Vaniville, right?"

Harry nodded. "Your waterfall got me, though."

"At least you made it up. We had a challenger who fainted out of exhaustion from climbing up, once. That was anticlimactic." Grant smiled broadly. "I have a feeling our battle will be a lot different. Shall we commence?"

"This match is a second-badge match between Gym Leader Grant and Challenger Harry Void! This is a two-on-two match, only the challenger is allowed to change Pokémon at will. The Gym Leader has the first move. Begin!"

"Ralts!" Harry called just as Grant released the Tyrunt.

Grant whistled. "Nice one. We've had a few Ralts pass through, not many. The gardeners are that dedicated, you know. Tyrunt, Rock Polish!"

The Tyrunt began scraping itself against the sandy floor of the battleground. Rock Polish, of course, would increase Tyrunt's speed – not that Harry planned for Ralts to need to move much to dodge the Tyrunt. Thank Arceus for Teleport.

"Ralts, let's start with Double Team," Harry called. After all, even the fastest Pokémon would be useless if it couldn't figure out which one was the Pokémon to attack.

Tyrunt tilted its head but did nothing when copies of Ralts surrounded him – definitely well-trained, although Harry wouldn't have expected anything less for a Gym Pokémon.

"Magical Leaf!" He also would prefer it if his trump card – Dazzling Gleam, not the move Trump Card – stayed hidden for a while longer, since it was pretty rare for a Ralts to learn Dazzling Gleam naturally.

"Tyrunt, cut through those leaves with Dragon Claw!" Tyrunt's claw glowed purple as it slashed away the leaves. "Now, Stealth Rock and get rid of those copies!"

"Ralts, Teleport!" Even though Stealth Rock wasn't an immediately damaging move, getting crushed under a ton of rock was still going to be very painful. There were other ways to cause damage, after all.

The Double Team vanished under a cascade of rock that quickly buried itself underground – a trap for Honedge. It also sent up a massive cloud of dust as the rock settled. "Ralts, Confusion!"

Tyrunt stumbled as the Psychic energy attacked its mind. "Dark Pulse, Tyrunt!"

Harry definitely didn't expect the wave of Dark energy that rolled off Tyrunt. It was far too weak to do any damage at all to Ralts – in fact it dissipated before it got anywhere close – but it did throw off the Confusion. Grant was very good at (or very used to) battling second-badge runners, Harry decided.

"Now, Roar!"

"Ralts, Dazzling Gleam!"

Roar, of course, would drag Honedge out. And Dazzling Gleam would make battling decidedly inconvenient for Tyrunt. It was now a race to see which was faster – if Roar got out first Ralts wouldn't make the Dazzling Gleam, and if Dazzling Gleam got out first Tyrunt wouldn't be able to Roar.

As it turned out, Ralts got in first. The brilliant flash of Fairy light sent Tyrunt tumbling back, the Roar dissipating as the Royal Heir Pokémon crashed into the ground. "While Tyrunt is down, Magical Leaf!"

Unlike the last time, Tyrunt was in no condition to Dragon Claw the leaves. That didn't mean it was time to start celebrating, unfortunately. Tyrunt was conscious enough, after all, to hear Grant's command.

"Protect!"

The green dome sprang up around Tyrunt's prone body, the leaves bouncing in every direction as Protect deflected them. "You good to go, Tyrunt?"

Tyrunt grunted in affirmation, pushing itself up to its feet. Grant smiled broadly. "Tyrunt, Dig!"

"Ralts, be careful," Harry called. "Try sense for Tyrunt underground."

Ralts' horns twitched before she suddenly Teleported, just as Tyrunt exploded out of the ground. To Harry's alarm, she didn't quite manage to get out of the way of the following Iron Tail, which sent Ralts flying across the battlefield.

But Ralts was nothing if not quick on the uptake. Even while she was lying on the floor, the pink of Heal Pulse was surrounding her, healing the results of Iron Tail. "Ralts, are you alright?"

His response was Ralts leaping to her feet again, turning back in the direction of Tyrunt. Grant raised an eyebrow at the movement.

"Not many Fairies get through Tyrunt's Iron Tail. I like you, Harry Void. Roar!"

Ralts instantly reacted, Dazzling Gleam burning the air. This time, while Tyrunt – and Harry and Grant – were recovering from the light, Ralts used Telekinesis to lift Tyrunt up.

Then she slammed the Royal Heir Pokémon straight into the ground, making an impressive crater. Tyrunt was instantly knocked out.

"Tyrunt is unable to battle!"

Grant recalled Tyrunt with a smile. "Can't say we get surprised by Fairies very often, can we?" he asked the Poké Ball. "You did a great job. But now it's Amaura's turn – Hail, Amaura!"

Harry realised a second too late that Grant's words could be taken too ways. The first was as a battle cry – Hail Amaura, like Hail Mew or Hail Arceus or Hail [insert legendary of choice]. The second was to take it literally – an actual command for Amaura to use Hail.

It turned out to be the latter. Harry didn't even get a chance to see the Tundra Pokémon before hailstones battered the battleground. Ralts gave a yelp of surprise.

"Ice Beam!"

"Ralts, Teleport!"

But Ice Beam had a decidedly spectacular range, and healed or not Ralts was still tired from taking an Iron Tail – and Amaura's Ice Beam froze Ralts so solidly Harry could make out a Ralts-shaped blob of ice in the middle of the battleground.

"Ralts is unable to battle!"

He recalled Ralts with a smile. "You did very well, Ralts. Sorry I didn't figure out Hail sooner – maybe we wouldn't have been as surprised, then. Thanks." He tucked the Poké Ball back onto his belt. "Swords Dance, Honedge!"

Honedge spun and sliced through the air as he appeared. Grant blinked. A hailstone found itself sliced in half as Honedge passed through it – as did the Stealth Rock that Harry had forgotten about. At least Honedge didn't take any damage.

Grant recovered quickly, though. "Amaura, Ancient Power!" A ring of rocks outlined in purple shot towards Honedge.

"Cut them down!" Honedge never paused in Swords Dance, simply slicing each rock in half as they came at him. "Now, Metal Sound!"

Grant had an answer to that as well. "Round!"

The screeching sound of metal met the melody of Round, and both moves collapsed against each other. "Amaura, Avalanche!"

"Honedge, Tackle Amaura!"

Snow dropped on Honedge just as he rushed forwards, Tackling Amaura. Both of them skidded backwards – and well out of range of the Avalanche, which detonated snow in every direction. Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now that you're close, Metal Sound straight into Amaura's ears!" Amaura didn't have a chance to respond before the screech of metal blew the Tundra Pokémon back. "Follow it up with Aerial Ace!"

"Mist and Powder Snow, Amaura!" Grant commanded. The battlefield became shrouded with white; if it was hard enough to see at the start, now it was nearly impossible to see through it. "Frost Breath!"

"Honedge, pull off an Autotomize if you can, then Aerial Ace!"

The breath of frozen air – a fraction bluer than the Mist – separated around Honedge as the blade came down, a halo of light blue on top of the lilac colour of Aerial Ace. Ice crept rapidly up Honedge's blade; luckily, the Autotomize meant that Honedge was moving just fast enough for the ice to not freeze him instantly.

The Aerial Ace connected solidly, throwing the Tundra Pokémon back. Amaura made a massive gouge into the frozen battlefield before it struggled back to its feet. "Honedge, keep using Autotomize, you need to stop the ice from freezing on you!" Honedge whistled through the air in response, a blend of Autotomize and Swords Dance scraping remnants of Frost Breath off his blade before it could freeze and severely inhibit his movements.

"Amaura, Aurora Beam then Charge Beam!" What resulted wouldn't have been out of place in a Pokémon Contest of Hoenn or Sinnoh. The Charge Beam lit up the colours of the Aurora Beam, resulting in an explosion of light and colour. Honedge flinched back as light dazzled every corner of the battlefield, not helped by the hailstones reflecting the Aurora Beam in Honedge's direction.

"Now, Icy Wind!" The chilled air swept forward as the Aurora Beam vanished, leaving glittering crystals in its wake.

"Honedge, if you can, Shadow Sneak!" Honedge twisted and vanished just before the Icy Wind hit, reappearing in the only other part of the battlefield without light – directly above Amaura.

"Amaura, above you!" Grant shouted in alarm.

Enveloped by the Dark energy of a Night Slash, Honedge cleaved down just as Amaura lifted its head. Amaura's mouth opened to reveal the blue ball that signalled an Ice Beam.

Unperfected Night Slash met unfinished Ice Beam.

The explosion flung both Amaura and Honedge backwards, neither of them gaining enough friction to stop skidding with the slippery ice and the battering hailstones. Harry ducked as a chip of ice from the frozen battleground sailed past his shoulder. Dust and ice was not a good combination.

When the dust finally cleared, it was Amaura who was knocked out and Honedge who was swaying dangerously in the air, looking just about ready to collapse and join Amaura on the (rather battered) ice of the battlefield.

"Amaura is unable to battle! The challenger wins!"

Grant smiled as he returned Amaura to its Poké Ball. "Good job, Amaura," he told the red-and-white sphere. "Excellent job, Harry Void. You have excellent compatibility with your Honedge and Ralts – an impressive show of teamwork, certainly. To commemorate your victory, I present to you – the Cliff Badge."

The Cliff Badge was a curious arrangement of boulders into something that might resemble stairs – maybe. Harry took the badge, showing it to Honedge who gave a hum of appreciation before nearly toppling to the ground. "Return, Honedge," he said before Honedge actually could topple to the ground.

Grant waited for their exchange to finish before producing a dark brown disc in a case. "Some things in life will always appear out of reach, or moving too fast – at which point, Rock Tomb, the move in this TM, is very useful. Rock Tomb deals damage and slows your opponent down, so if you're facing off against a fast flyer – well, this move is your best friend. I assume your next Gym is Shalour – this is something Korrina's Machoke will try against you. But I'm sure you'll find a counter for it too. Safe travels, Harry Void." He nodded, turning to leave.

Back in the Pokémon Centre, Harry healed his Pokémon, then released them all out of their Poké Balls so Fletchling could interrogate Ralts and Honedge on what had transpired. She made a rather unimpressed sound as Honedge explained the Night Slash/Ice Beam explosion.

I could have done it better, she declared.

"Shalour's all yours, Fletchling," Harry replied with a grin as he sent a copy of the battle video to his père. "If you can take them all on, of course."

Fletchling sniffed. Just you wait and see.

Honedge rolled his eyes. We'll gladly do just that, wind-daughter. I don't think I ever want to see an Ice Beam again.

"I'm just going to casually point out that Wulfric is an Ice-type Gym Leader."

The wind-daughter can deal with it.

Harry snorted. Nincada made a few chirping noises. Ralts sighed.

Oh, will you two ever grow up?

Never, was the simultaneous response. Fletchling immediately whacked Honedge with a Steel Wing. Hey, I answered that first!

"Now now, no arguing, you two," Harry said, trying to stifle his laughter. It wasn't really working – both his mediation attempt and his no-laughter attempt.

So Harry just gave in and laughed as Fletchling chased Honedge around the room, while Ralts shook her head (probably wondering why her trainer was an idiot), and Nincada continued chirping.

Ah, the joys of Zubat. You have no idea how glad I was in Gen V when there were no Zubat in the caves. (That was before I discovered Roggenrola)

Because Explosions are dangerous and I prefer Lunatone to Solrock unless I'm Thieving Sun Stones off them. Also because no Gym Leader is going to battle you in a six-on-six for a second badge. Maybe the seventh, but not the second badge. As a side note, in this universe Gym Leaders have different lineups for different badge-runners. (You're not actually going to fight someone with seven badges with the same team you use for beginners, right?)

Question of the chapter: Your first full-fledged six-Pokémon team? Mine was Empoleon, Staraptor, Luxray, Roserade, Rapidash and Dialga (although I usually switched him out for utility Pokémon. Like I said, the joys of carrying a Bidoof in boss battles for that Rock Smash)

I'd give you an update time... but I really just don't know. Hopefully soon, though :)

~dreamingthroughstarlight