Episode 26: Battle on a sunny day!
Niko and his friends arrived at the Lavaridge gym the morning following their excursion to the hot springs. The gym, unlike nearly every other one he's been to, was outdoors this time; an open battlefield in the middle of a dojo. It took Niko a moment to realize this once he entered inside the gym, looking around for any sign of a gym leader.
"JJ, who's the gym leader of Lavaridge Town?" Niko asked, turning to his friend with the pokénav.
"Her name is Flannery. Early 30s, by the look of it," JJ said as he gazed at the gym leader. While he read more of her bio, Niko noticed the outdoor battlefield and walked outside, Brittany and Jake closely following him.
"HIYAAAA!" A voice shouted at two small geysers released steam on the other end of the field, clouding it as a figure leapt into action, landing in front of the geysers and posing in front of the group.
"Oh, hello!" Niko said. "My name is Niko. I'm from Pallet Town, and I'd like to challenge you!"
The woman—presumably Flannery—was slightly shorter than Niko, with bright red hair that was tied in a ponytail that produced four tails instead of one, making it look like she had a massive "x" on the back of her head. She wore a low-cut shirt with an orange flame on it and low-cut jeans, revealing her midriff.
"Oh…hey. Didja like my entrance?" Flannery asked, pointing over her shoulder. "I'm told I should be making more of an entrance when I get challengers."
"It was pretty cool, but you don't have to make an entrance. Most of the gym leaders I've met haven't."
"Noted. Alright, you want to challenge me? Got four pokémon?" Niko nodded. "Great!" Flannery exclaimed. "Then let's do it!" A judge walked out from behind her and stood on the side of the field in front of JJ, Jake, and Brittany. Flannery then pulled out a pokéball from her belt. "Numel, let's go!"
"Alright then. Taillow, I choose you!" Niko shouted, summoning his swallow pokémon. "Use wing attack!"
"Numel, sunny day!" Flannery commanded. The numb pokémon looked to the sky as the sun seemed to get slightly brighter. Taillow then collided with the fire type, knocking it back a couple of feet. "Now, take down!"
"Taillow, get back in the air and use quick attack!" Niko commanded. Taillow swooped back up, dodging the take down, and proceeded to dive-bomb its opponent once more. However, when it came back down for another go, Flannery had something in mind.
"Numel, use overheat!" She cried out, gesturing with her hand. Numel's body began to glow bright red and it released a wave of fire in every direction, hitting taillow and immediately disrupting its wing attack. The tiny swallow pokémon crashed to the ground. "Now, finish it off with take down!"
"Taillow, get up!" Niko shouted, but the bird didn't seem capable. It took the hit from numel, and fainted.
"Taillow is unable to battle, numel wins!" The judge declared.
"Return, taillow. You did great. Hmm…treecko, I choose you!" Niko shouted, summoning his wood gecko pokémon, which to his friends was unexpected.
"A grass type? Haven't seen that in a long time. Numel, use overheat!"
"Treecko, get low to the ground!" Niko commanded. The grass type obeyed as the overheat began to pass through it, doing damage to the wood gecko, but not as much damage. "Hopefully that reduced the damage you had to take. Anyways, use pound!"
"Numel, magnitude!" Flannery commanded. However, by the time numel began shaking the ground under it, treecko was already leaping into the air, somersaulting until it slammed its thick tail on its opponent. "Take down!"
Once treecko landed on the ground, numel charged after it, running into the wood gecko. Treecko grabbed onto its head to halt its movement, and began to succeed once Niko commanded it to use absorb. Treecko then let go and flipped in the air to land another pound, directly between numel's eyes, knocking the pokémon to the ground.
"Numel is unable to battle, treecko wins!" The judge declared.
"Slugma, you're up!" Flannery commanded, summoning a slug pokémon with a body of magma. "Use smog!"
"What's this pokémon?" Jake asked, pulling out his pokédex:
"Slugma, the lava pokémon. Fire type. It is a species of pokémon that lives in volcanic areas. If its body cools, its skin hardens and immobilizes it. To avoid that, it sleeps near magma."
"Gee, Niko would do well to have a water type," Jake commented.
"Treecko, try to escape the smog!" Niko shouted, but it was too late. The toxic gas was surrounding his gecko pokémon, immediately poisoning it. Treecko collapsed onto its knees, having been weakened by the gas. "Can you use bullet seed?" Niko asked rather than commanded. Treecko nodded, and raised its head back to slugma and fired several rounds of seeds at its opponent, who hardly seemed fazed from them.
"Slugma, use ember!" Flannery commanded, and the lava pokémon hurled several small fireballs from its mouth at treecko, who retaliated with bullet seed, albeit far slower and weaker than previously, since the poison was taking effect. "Now, finish it off with overheat!" Flannery shouted. Slugma began to glow bright red as it released a powerful wave of fire at treecko, ultimately finishing off the wood gecko. Treecko collapsed on its back, defeated.
"Treecko is unable to battle, slugma wins!" The judge stated.
"Numel, let's go!" Niko shouted, summoning his numb pokémon. "Use magnitude!" Numel instead turned to Niko, as if looking for assurance. Confused, Niko motioned his hand to prod on the fire type, who still seemed unsure. "Go on, you can do it buddy. This is how we get better—by winning battles."
Numel nodded, turning back to its opponent, who was attempting to defeat it with a series of embers. The numb pokémon then roared out as the ground shook, albeit weakly, enough for slugma to survive.
"That's…better, numel. Good job," Niko said in praise. Numel turned around and nodded. "Now, use tackle!"
Numel charged at slugma, who responded with a body slam, covering the hump on numel's back. Which gave Niko an opportunity he couldn't seem to pass up. "Numel, use magnitude!" He shouted, throwing his hand out as a gesture. Numel, with slugma still on top of it, shook both itself and the ground, which clearly unsettled the lava pokémon, who slid off of numel and collapsed onto the ground.
"Slugma, use smog!"
"Numel, halt it with magnitude!" Niko shouted. Numel shook the ground once more, still as weak as the previous few times, but effective nonetheless. Slugma then released the smog from its mouth, hitting numel directly in the face. The numb pokémon cried out as the toxic gas took effect, causing the fire type to collapse onto the ground, but not yet defeated.
"Slugma, body slam again!"
"Numel, magnitude!" Niko commanded. "You can do this buddy, I know you can!"
Numel, hearing its trainer, shook the ground more viciously than before, trying to summon as much energy as it could. Once slugma slammed onto numel's hump, it felt the aggressive force of the ground move, and quickly fell off of numel, unable to take more of the magnitude.
"Slugma is unable to battle, numel wins!" The judge declared.
"Numel, can you keep going?" Niko asked. The numb pokémon slowly got up and nodded as it faced Flannery, who was ready with her third pokémon.
"Mag, let's go!" Flannery said, summoning her magcargo. Like with slugma, Jake once again pulled out his pokédex:
"Magcargo, the lava pokémon. Fire and rock type. The shell on its back is made of hardened magma. Tens of thousands of years spent living in volcanic craters have turned magcargo's bodies into magma."
"Mag, use flamethrower!" Flannery commanded as her second lava pokémon belted out a stream of fire at the poisoned numel, who took the attack in turn before using magnitude again, albeit weaker, since the poison was still taking its toll. However, it did an unexpected amount of damage to magcargo, who certainly seemed irritated by the move. "Use double team, and then flamethrower!"
"Numel, hang in there a little longer! Use magnitude!" Niko shouted. As the magcargo multiplied, numel stood there, shaking the ground with every ounce of energy it had left. However, the barrage of flamethrowers were too much for it, and numel collapsed to the ground, defeated.
"Numel is unable to battle, magcargo wins!" The judge stated.
"Numel, return. You did good buddy. I'm proud. Aron, let's go!"
"Mag, use flamethrower!" Flannery commanded. The lava pokémon released a stream of fire from its mouth, which hit aron, but hardly seemed to do any damage to it.
"Aron, use harden, and then dig!" Niko shouted. The iron armor pokémon nodded, digging into the ground and hitting Mag from underneath, sending it into the air several inches. "Now, mud slap!" Aron kicked dirt from under Mag, hitting it once again before retreating back into the hole and returning to where it began.
"Mag, double team!" Flannery commanded. "And flamethrower!"
"Aron, dig again! And again! And again!" Niko shouted. Aron dug and popped out under Mag multiple times, destroying each copy before ultimately hitting the real one. Mag fell onto its side. "Aron, use headbutt!" Niko shouted. The iron armor pokémon rushed at its opponent and slammed its iron head into Mag's lava body.
"Mag, can you get up?" Flannery asked, genuinely concerned. Mag kept trying to get back up, eventually doing so after several minutes. "Great! Use flamethrower!"
"Aron, use harden!" Niko commanded. Aron shielded itself from the stream of fire before kicking dirt at its opponent, and then proceeding to dig back into the ground. "Now, use dig one final time!"
Aron shot out from under Mag, launching it into the air. When it landed—again on its side—Mag was unable to get back up.
"Magcargo is unable to battle, aron wins! Flannery will send out her final pokémon!" The judge declared.
"Torkoal, I choose you!" Flannery commanded, sending out a tortoise-like pokémon with a large black rock-like shell with several holes in it. Curious, JJ and Jake looked at it on their pokédexes:
"Torkoal, the coal pokémon. Fire type. It battles using energy it gets from burning coal. When loosing smoke from its nostrils, it lets off a sound that is similar to a locomotive's horn."
"Torkoal, use sunny day!" Flannery said, repeating her move from the very start of the battle.
"Aron, mud slap!" Niko commanded as his iron armor pokémon kicked dirt at its opponent, which surprisingly angered torkoal. "Now, use dig!"
"Torkoal, flamethrower!" Flannery commanded as it released a stream of fire that nearly hit aron, had it not used dig. "Flamethrower under you!" She shouted, learning from her opponent.
"Aron change course!" Niko shouted. However, it didn't appear that aron heard its trainer, as it reappeared under torkoal, and took a steady flamethrower to the face, causing it to fall back into the hole from where it had come. "Use harden!" He said, hoping to weaken the effect of flamethrower. Aron retreated back to its starting position, just as torkoal used overheat at full power, with additional power from sunny day. "Aron!" Niko shouted as his steel type collapsed onto the ground. "You can do it! Let's keep this up, we're almost done!" Niko said, trying to encourage aron. "Use dig!"
Flannery and torkoal stood there, waiting to see what Niko and aron would do. The latter dug a hole into the ground and was travelling under the battlefield. Eventually torkoal looked down and began spitting fire in hopes that aron would be there.
"Now aron!" Niko shouted, knowing exactly what the iron armor pokémon would do. Aron popped out from torkoal's left and slammed into the coal pokemon's side, nearly knocking it over from the force of the attack. "Use mud slap!" Niko commanded, once again throwing his hand out. Aron kicked dirt into torkoal's face, angering it before lowering its head and headbutting the fire tortoise, knocking it back a couple feet.
"Torkoal, flamethrower!" Flannery commanded.
"Aron, harden and headbutt!" Niko shouted. Aron braced itself as it lurched at its opponent, once more slamming its head into torkoal once again. Reeling itself, aron dug a hole in the ground and reappeared only inches away, right under torkoal, launching it into the air. When torkoal hit the ground, it was unable to get back up.
"Torkoal is unable to battle, aron is the—huh?" The judge said, turning to aron, which was now glowing a bright white color.
"Aron…is evolving!" Niko exclaimed. The iron armor pokémon grew to twice its size, now with a bigger head, body, and armor plating. It also has a small tail at the end, and stood on four feet like aron. Curious, Niko pulled out his pokédex:
"Lairon, the iron armor pokémon. Steel and rock type. When two lairon meet in the wild, they fight for territory by bashing into each other with their steel bodies. The sound of their collision carries for miles."
"Lairon is the winner, and the victory goes to Niko from Pallet Town!" The judge finished.
"You did it, buddy," Niko said, walking over and petting lairon on the head. "We did it."
While his friends were exiting the small stands to join him, Flannery and torkoal were congratulating Niko and lairon. The gym leader then held out an orange and yellow badge in the shape of fire.
"Great job, Niko! You really surprised me a few times. As proof that you beat me, I award the heat badge to you."
Niko took the badge and showed it to lairon, who really showed its stuff that day, beating two of Flannery's pokémon. Lairon looked up at its trainer and smiled happily. Niko thanked Flannery, and then the group was off, back to the pokémon center.
"So, Niko," JJ said, looking at the pokénav while munching on a fry. "The closest gym to here is Petalburg which, according to Norman…"
"I can challenge now," Niko said, finishing JJ's sentence. "Well, there ya go! Let's head to Petalburg next! How long will it take?"
"Oh, jeez…almost two weeks. We'll have to go east, then south to Mauville, and then we could go west to Verdanturf and Rustboro City, and then southeast to Petalburg. It'll be a long trip, you up for its guys?"
Brittany, Jake, and Niko all nodded.
"Perfect! Also, Brittany, apparently there's a contest in Petalburg coming up. Wanna enter it?"
"Sure, if we make it there in time!" The brunette answered.
"Alright, if we can," JJ said, looking up and smiling before putting away his pokénav and getting back to their lunch.