Jason's POV
It was time for my battle against Clair. Laura, Ryan, and Danielle were also there to watch my battle.
"The battle between the gym leader, Clair, and the challenger, Jason Oak, will now begin. Each side will use three Pokemon and the battle will be over when all three Pokemon on one side are unable to battle. Battle begin!" the ref cried.
"Kingdra! Let's go!" Clair cried, tossing her Pokeball.
"Weavile, go!" I cried, tossing my Pokeball. I had planned a strategy to beat Clair.
"Freeze the pool with Ice Beam, Weavile!" I cried, wasting no time putting my plan into action.
Ice was one of a Dragon Pokemon's few weaknesses. Also, by freezing the water, Kingdra would be unable to move, which would make it an easy target for Weavile to hit. However, I knew that Kingdra would still be able to use some attacks from its mouth. But I could just have Weavile skate across the ice like I had done in my gym battle against Jimmy, which would make dodging a lot easier.
"Use Night Slash!"
"Hyper Beam!"
Weavile easily maneuvered across the ice and avoided the attack and landed his own attack.
"Now use Faint Attack!"
"Hydro Pump!"
Being an attack that never misses, Weavile vanished and avoided the blast of water and landed the blow.
"Kingdra, use Swift!" Clair shouted.
"Stop it with Ice Beam!" I shouted.
Like Faint Attack, Swift was unavoidable, but I could stop it with an attack of my own! The Swift stars were frozen and shattered.
With Weavile able to stop Swift and avoid all other attacks by skating across the ice, he could avoid anything! My plan was working. I just had to keep it up until Kingdra was defeated.
… …
Thanks to Weavile being able to dodge easily with his speed, Kingdra was almost defeated.
"Okay, let's finish this with Slash, Weavile!" Weavile skated across the ice, avoiding Kingdra's final attack, and landed a direct hit on it.
"Kingdra is unable to battle. Weavile wins!" the ref announced.
Clair removed her Pokeball and returned her fallen Pokemon.
"I've noticed that you and Adam battled against Kingdra very differently. Adam used physical resistance and raw power from Rhydon to overcome Kingdra, while you, Jason, used your head and took away Kingdra's mobility so that Weavile would be able to land his attacks easily. Adam charges straight in and overwhelms his opponents to win battles while you prefer to think your way through the battle. You both battle very similar to the way your fathers battled me." Clair mentioned.
I felt a sense of pride, hearing Clair's words. My dad was the person that I looked up to the most.
"Gyarados, go!" Clair cried, tossing her Pokeball. Gyarados smashed through the ice of the frozen pool and revealed the water again.
"Weavile, return." I said as I returned my Pokemon. I had a Pokemon that was much better suited for dealing with Gyarados.
"Lanturn, go!" I cried, tossing my Pokeball. Since Lanturn could swim, he would be able to keep up with Gyarados. Lanturn could also use Electric attacks, which were strong against a Water/Flying Pokemon like Gyarados.
"Use Thunder Wave, Lanturn!" I cried, wasting no time.
"Gyarados, stop it with Dragon Breath!"
"Dodge, Lanturn!"
Dragon Breath stopped the Thunder Wave, but Lanturn was fast, thanks to his smaller size, and avoided being hit. It would be difficult for Gyarados to land a direct hit.
… …
"Lanturn, use Spark!"
"Gyarados, take the hit! Then use Hyper Beam!"
Lanturn's Spark made a direct hit while Gyarados charged the Hyper Beam. It wouldn't be too much longer and Gyarados would be defeated. It was breathing heavily and was battered from the Electric attacks. Only a few more hits and Gyarados would be defeated!
"Now!" Clair cried, since the Hyper Beam was fully charged.
"Dodge it, Lanturn! Dive underwater!"
"Follow it in the water!"
The beam followed Lanturn into the water and caused the water to splash up as it was disturbed.
"I hope this works…" I muttered, since I was unable to see where exactly Lanturn was. I could only hope that Lanturn had gotten behind Gyarados.
"Now, Lanturn! Use Discharge!" Lanturn jumped out of the water behind Gyarados and unleashed the attack. Sparks covered Gyarados's body, who cried out in pain and fell to the surface of the water and fainted.
"Gyarados is unable to battle. Lanturn wins!" the ref announced.
Clair returned her Pokemon and removed her final Pokeball.
"Dragonair, go!" she cried.
"Lanturn, return. Weavile, go!" I cried.
I was using Weavile again, since Ice attacks would be powerful against Dragonair.
"Alright, Weavile! Freeze the entire pool from top to bottom!" I ordered. With no water to hide in, Dragonair would be forced to battle head-on!
"Use Ice Beam again, Weavile!"
"Dodge it and use Iron Tail!"
Dragonair floated up into the air and avoided the Ice Beam before swinging its tail at Weavile. But it was no match for Weavile's speed!
"Use Dragon Rage!"
"Dodge! Then use Slash followed by Ice Beam!"
Weavile easily skated around on the ice but barely managed to avoid the attack. As Clair's strongest Pokemon, Dragonair was not a Pokemon to take lightly. Weavile then sliced Dragonair with his claws, stunning it, and landed a direct hit with the super-effective Ice attack.
"Now use Faint Attack!" I yelled. Weavile landed the hit, but Clair didn't seem worried.
"Dragonair, use Hyper Beam!" she yelled. Weavile was blasted at close range with the attack and flew backwards, crashing onto the ice.
Clair had let Weavile get in close so that Hyper Beam wouldn't miss its mark. She knew that Weavile had the speed advantage on the ice and would normally be able to avoid the attack.
… …
Weavile skated across the ice, heading towards Dragonair.
"Fly up!" Clair cried.
"Follow, Weavile! Jump!"
"Perfect. Do it, Dragonair!"
Dragonair used Iron Tail and landed a direct hit on Weavile. I had fallen into Clair's trap, but I wouldn't give up!
"Weavile, use Ice Beam!"
"Use Hyper Beam, Dragonair!"
Both attacks collided and pushed against each other for a few seconds, but the Hyper Beam overcame the Ice Beam and blasted through it, hitting Weavile and causing him to faint.
"Weavile is unable to battle. Dragonair wins!" the ref announced.
Despite Dragonair having taken a lot of damage from the Ice attacks, it was still able to prevail against Weavile, even at a type disadvantage.
"Thank you, Weavile. Take a well-earned rest." I said, returning him.
I removed the Pokeball that contained the one Pokemon that I had yet to use for the battle. It was all riding on him.
"Okay, Charizard! It's all up to you!" I cried, tossing my Pokeball. Charizard appeared and growled, eager to fight.
"It's time for you to show me your strength. Prove that all of that training in the Charicific Valley was worth it!" I said, encouraging him.
"Charizard, use Fire Spin!" I cried. Dragonair was trapped in a vortex of flames.
"Escape with Dragon Rage!" Clair cried. Dragonair used its attack to blast away the flames.
… …
The battle was going back and forth. This was going to be a close match! Both Pokemon were giving it their all and neither was giving an inch! After trading blows so many times, neither Pokemon looked like they would last much longer.
"Flamethrower!" I cried as a Hyper Beam headed towards Charizard. The two moves canceled one another out.
"Use Iron Tail, Dragonair!"
"Don't let it get you, Charizard! Grab it and use Seismic Toss!"
Charizard grabbed Dragonair's Tail and deflected the attack before grabbing it and flying into the air. Charizard flew around in a circle and slammed Dragonair into the ice, breaking a part of it. To my surprise, Dragonair was still able to get up...but just barely!
"Time to finish this! Dragon Rage!"
"It's over for you, Clair! Flamethrower!"
The two moves collided and exploded, sending both Pokemon crashing down. When the smoke that had been created cleared, both Pokemon laid on the ice, motionless.
"Both Pokemon are unable to battle. It's a tie! But since Jason still has one Pokemon remaining on his team, he is the winner!" the ref announced.
I had done it! I had won my eighth badge!
"Great job, Charizard. Take a rest. Thank you for your hard work." I said as I returned my strongest Pokemon.
"Congratulations, Jason. I present you with the Rising Badge."
I took the badge from her and everyone that had been watching the battle walked over.
"Way to go, Jason!" Michelle cried.
"We both made it into the Johto League." Adam commented.
"I'll be battling you next for my final badge." I heard Laura telling Clair.
"Adam, Jason, I'll see you two at the Pokemon League." said Danielle.
"I wish you both luck in the Pokemon League." said Clair.
Adam's POV
The three of us left the gym and stood outside, talking.
"What do we do now? The Grand Festival isn't happening for a long time." Michelle asked.
"Maybe my parents will have an idea. They wanted me to let them know when I had won my badge, anyway. Why don't I call them?" I replied.
So we made our way to the Pokemon Center and went straight to the video phones. I dialed my house and waited for someone to answer the phone.
"Hello?" my mom's voice greeted as she appeared onscreen.
"Hey, mom!"
"Adam! Hi! Hello, Jason and Michelle."
"We recently won our eighth gym badges and can now enter the Pokemon League, but the Grand Festival takes place before it and we don't know what to do with our spare time until then." I explained.
"You could come home. Your father and I will be heading to Sinnoh soon, since the Sinnoh Pokemon League will be happening in the time before the Johto Grand Festival takes place, and Darien will be battling in it. It would be a good way to take some time off after all of your traveling." my mom suggested.
"That sounds good. I'll see you soon, mom. Bye."
"Bye, sweetie."
The call ended and I looked at Jason and Michelle.
"What will you two do?" I asked.
"While you were away in the Orange Islands, I spent most of my time reading and studying in my dad's lab. I'm going to go back to New Bark Town and see Professor Elm and see what I can learn from him. He knows my dad, so he'll let me stay. The more you know about Pokemon, the better you can use them in battle." Jason replied.
"I'm going to be doing some heavy training for the Grand Festival, since I know how tough my rivals are. But I wont' be staying here to train. I'm going to travel back to some of the places that we've been to on our Johto journey and visit some of the people that we've met while I'm training. I won't be walking to those places, though. I wouldn't have enough time to travel AND train. I'll be taking the bus across Johto." Michelle replied.
We all hugged one another goodbye.
"We'll meet up again at the Grand Festival." I said.
"It's being held in Olivine City this year." said Michelle.
"Until we meet again." said Jason.
With one final wave goodbye, we all went our separate ways.
Author's Note: Jason wins his final gym battle, which means that he, Adam, and Michelle have earned all of their badges and ribbons.
The three friends now head their separate ways until it's time to meet again at the Grand Festival, each one with their own plans until then.
Stay tuned for the next chapter, where Adam is off to Sinnoh with his family to watch Darien compete in the Sinnoh Pokemon League! How will Darien fare in the biggest annual tournament in the region?
Find out in the next chapter of Pokemon NG!
