"Good work, Claydol." Tate said as he returned it to its Poke ball.
"You too, Xatu." Liza called back her Pokemon as well.
"Well, it looks we're..." Tate started.
"...in a bit of a pickle." Liza finished.
"But..."
"...that doesn't mean..." Both of them took out a Poke ball at the same time and said in unison: "...we're about to give up!"
"Solrock, it's time!" A Pokemon that resembled the sun emerged from Tate's Poke ball.
"Lunatone, let's rise!" A Pokemon that resembled the moon came from Liza's Poke ball.
The challengers looked them up; Davin with Solrock and Maura with Lunatone.
"Solrock, the Meteorite Pokemon. Solar energy is the source of this Pokemon's power. On sunny days, groups of Solrock line up facing the sun and absorb its light."
"Lunatone, the Meteorite Pokemon. It becomes very active on the night of a full moon. It was first discovered 40 years ago at the site of a meteor strike."
"Something tells me that those two have great power when they battle together." Maura said.
Davin nodded. "Let's be careful."
The judge crossed her flags. "Let the second battle begin!"
"Solrock, use Flamethrower on Snorunt!" A stream of flames blew from Solrock's center.
"Dodge it!" Kalis jumped out of the way, just in time.
"Lunatone, Psychic!" Kalis became outlined in the same color as Lunatone's eyes and it was flung into the ground with force.
"Mightyena, use Sucker Punch!" The dog disappeared yet again.
The twins wore a smirk. "Dodge it!"
Both of their Pokemon levitated up and missed Mightyena's strike, causing it to look around to see where they were.
"Flamethrower!" Mightyena was scorched by Solrock's flames from above.
"Kalis, use Ice Fang on Solrock!"
"Lunatone, Hypnosis!" It stared at Kalis and its eyes glowed, making the Ice Pokemon stop in mid-attack and fall asleep on the spot.
"Oh no!" Davin exclaimed.
"Now, Solrock! Flamethrower!" More fire was breathed and Kalis was burned by the intense flames.
"Lunatone, use Psychic!" The moon Pokemon levitated Kalis in the air and shoved it into the wall behind Davin, making it slide down and fall over, unconscious.
"Ah! Kalis!"
"Mightyena, Shadow Ball!" The dark sphere was fired, but the two avoided it by moving aside.
"Solrock, Sunny Day!" The yellow spines on its body glowed white and it fired an orb at the ceiling. Upon contact, the orb exploded into a blindingly bright light. "Solar Beam!" The spine on top of its head glowed and it fired a clear white beam from it. Mightyena was hit by the beam and was knocked into the same wall that Kalis hit and slid down right next to the Snorunt, unconscious.
"Mightyena and Snorunt are unable to battle! The second battle goes to the gym leaders!"
"How you like that?" Tate taunted.
"Solrock and Lunatone aren't to be taken lightly." Liza added.
Davin got his Snorunt back inside its ball. "Thanks, Kalis. You were great."
"So were you, Mightyena." Maura said to it after it was already back inside.
Davin faced their opponents. "This is our last shot."
"Yeah. We can't afford to lose now!" Maura said.
Davin's Poke ball went flying. "Ros, let's go!" His Swampert appeared on the field, standing on its hind legs.
"Blaziken, you're on!" Maura's ball opened to let out her red Fire/Fighting machine. Flames burst around its knuckles upon its roar.
"The third and final battle will now begin!" The judge crossed her flags.
"Solrock, Solar Beam on Swampert!" The top spine glowed again and released another beam.
"I knew he'd do that! Ros, use Rest!" It lied on the ground and went to sleep just before the Solar Beam made contact. The next second, it awoke with no damage on its body.
Maura blinked. "What? Wait a minute! I thought Rest was supposed to heal your Pokemon's health after it has taken damage."
"Heh. We've discovered a trick that works around that." Davin stated proudly.
"Lunatone, use Psychic on Blaziken!"
"That was predictable, too! Blaziken, Substitute!" An afterimage of itself quickly came out of its body. When Blaziken was outlined by Psychic, it disappeared in a puff of smoke. Liza gasped at this just before Blaziken appeared behind Lunatone. "Sky Uppercut!" It brought its fist under Lunatone and brought it back up in a punch to make it hit the ceiling.
"Solrock, use Psychic on Blaziken!"
"No way! Ros, use Water Gun!" A blast of water hit Solrock before it could activate its move.
"Blaziken, use Brave Bird!" It launched itself forward as a blue aura surrounded its body.
"Psychic! Both of you!" They commanded in unison. Both Solrock and Lunatone's eyes glowed and they tried to stop the oncoming attack. Blaziken struggled to keep in control due to the combined psychic force, but failed and was levitated into the ceiling.
"Blaziken!" Maura cried as it fell down to the field.
"Not so confident now, are ya?" Tate mocked.
"This'll be over soon enough, I assure you." Liza added.
"No way we're letting that happen! Ros, use Muddy Water!" A tidal wave of brown water erupted from the ground and went towards the foe.
"Use Light Screen!" A golden box, the same kind that Claydol created, formed around them to block the rushing water.
"Agh! Not again!" Maura shouted.
"Solar Beam, Solrock!"
"Lunatone, Psychic!"
The enemy's respective attacks landed their mark on the targets and the victims were forced into laying on the ground in pain.
"Blaziken, are you alright?" Maura asked with worry in her voice.
"Bla... Blaz..." It gasped, trying to stand up.
Davin shut his eyes and put his fist to his mouth. "This is bad! This is REALLY bad! Ros's only damaging moves are Special attacks and now that Light Screen is up, there's no way he can land a hit! What are we gonna do?!"
"Davin, are you okay?" Maura asked, noticing his reaction to all this. He glanced at her from the side of his eye and took his fist from his mouth. "Y-Yeah... I-I'm okay..."
Right then, the bright light produced by Sunny Day had disappeared.
"Uh oh. Guess we better fuel back up. Solrock, Sunny Day!"
"Blaziken, Fire Blast!" Standing on one knee, Blaziken released a ball of fire that quickly went over and hit Solrock before it could make a move.
"Hypnosis, Lunatone!" It locked eyes with Blaziken, eyes glowing, and the Fire Pokemon fell into a deep sleep.
"No! Blaziken!" Maura shouted. "Davin, do something!"
"U-Uhhh..." he stammered.
"Solrock, Sunny Day! Then, use Solar Beam on Swampert!" The commands were followed in exact order, resulting in Ros taking damage from another powerful blast.
"Davin, don't just stand there! Give Ros a command! Hurry!" Maura urged.
"The Light Screen... Our Special attacks..." Davin mentally panicked.
"Psychic!" Tate called. The sleeping Blaziken was lifted and was forced into the ceiling again. Unfortunately for the twins, that blow to the head caused Blaziken to awaken.
Maura started to become angry with Davin's sudden behavior. "Fine! I'll handle this myself! Blaziken, Sky Uppercut on Lunatone!"
Liza scoffed. "Give it up! You know that we can just render your moves useless with Psychic!" On cue, Lunatone's eyes glowed.
"Fight it, Blaziken! I know you can!" She encouraged it. The Blaze Pokemon struggled to break free with so little strength left. It was about to give in.
"COME ON, BLAZIKEEEEEEEEEEEEENN!" The pressure was so unbearable that Maura just had to scream it.
Blaziken heard its trainer's cry and tried to break free again. With some effort, Lunatone lost control of Blaziken as it broke free with its arms blazing. It jumped into the air and delivered an uppercut to the moon Pokemon so hard that it hit the ceiling again and when it fell, it just lied there with unconsciousness.
"Lunatone!" Liza shouted.
Tate grunted. "There's no way it can break through it twice! Solrock, use Psychic!" The poor Fire/Fighting Pokemon was under control again by the forces of Psychic.
"Blaziken!" Maura shouted.
All this time, Davin had his head down, not wanting to look at what would happened. Not wanting to do anything because he thought it was useless. He knew they were going to lose. "And it's all because of Light Screen..."
As he thought this, he heard a loud crack. He looked up and saw that Light Screen had worn off.
Immediately, he called out, "Ros, Muddy Water!"
The Swampert had lied down to rest, seeing as Davin wasn't doing anything, but as soon as he heard the order, he shot a blast of brown water from his mouth that hit Solrock directly, losing its hold on Blaziken. That, combined with Solrock's tiredness and the usage of all its energy, was enough to make it plummet down to the ground next to Lunatone, unconscious.
"Solrock and Lunatone are unable to battle! With two wins, the victors are the challengers, Davin and Maura!"
Davin put a hand to his chest and breathed a sigh of relief. "That was close. But we won!"
"Yeah... we won..." Maura said, feeling angry towards Davin.
"You did great, Solrock. Take a rest." Tate recalled the sun Pokemon.
"Same to you, Lunatone." Liza copied her brother's action with the moon Pokemon.
They both walked towards the victors. "Well, it looks like..." Tate started.
"...you two won." Liza finished.
"So, as proof of..."
"...your victory here..."
They both went into their pockets and pulled out a badge that was shaped that like a heart with two of its sides closing in. They said in unison, "We hereby award each of you the Mind Badge!"
"Thank you very much." Davin took the badge from Tate.
"Yeah, thanks." Maura took the badge from Liza.
Davin did his usual routine when he received a badge and held his new acquirement in the air. "All right! I got the Mind Badge!" He turned towards his friend. "Isn't this great, Maura?"
"Yeah, great." She said in a sarcastic tone as she put the badge in her case and returned Blaziken to its ball. She proceeded to walk out of the gym.
"Hey, wait!" Davin put Ros back in his ball. "Where you going?!"