Enjoy another chapter of the Galarian adventure!
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"Damn it! It all went to pot!"
Hop slammed a fist against the wall outside the gym. Fiora stood nearby, watching with a worried expression. Poor Hop. He worked so hard to get through the gym challenge. His battle with Melony had been intense. Unfortunately, Fiora could briefly see the anxiety and doubt flash in his eyes mid-battle. Melony had seized on that moment to claim victory. Hop had lost the gym match.
The boy groaned. "There must have been something wrong with my strategy. But what?! I did what Lee did! I just...I...sigh."
He collapsed to a bench close by. He buried his face in his hands. Fiora sat beside him.
"You were doing well. I was impressed how you held your own until the gigantimax pokemon came out. All that training really shows!" Fiora tried to comfort him.
Silence. The loss hit him hard. Maybe not as hard as with Bede but still rough nonetheless. Uncertainty still lingered in the poor guy's mind and it was started to affect his judgement and reaction times. If only Hop could shake it off, he'd be able to claim victory.
"Well, then how about we go do some more training?" Fiora offered.
"What about your battle?" Hop's muffled voice asked.
"If you couldn't beat Melony, there's no way I'd-…" Fiora was about to say.
"Oh no you don't!" Hop grabbed her hand. "You are not backing out now!"
"Eh? But-"
"You worked hard just like I did! Your pokemon deserve a chance to show what they're made of! So you need to go fight Melony and get that gym badge!"
The team probably would be disappointed not to fight in the gym. Heck, Tsareena and Kubfu would never let Fiora get away with it.
"Besides, if you fight Melony, I'll be able to study her techniques and be ready for her in the next fight. You'd really be helping me out!" Hop added, flashing a grin.
Ok, fair enough. Fiora couldn't argue with him.
"I'll face the gym then." She agreed.
If Hop couldn't beat the gym, odds were Fiora wouldn't be able to either. But if battling Melony would prepare Hop for his next fight, Fiora was more than willing to help. Maybe if she had an interesting battle, it'd snap Hop out of those doubts and reignite the competitive spirit. After grabbing beverages and reviewing battle strategies, it was time for Fiora's gym battle. If she thought the gym lobby was cold, the gym challenge area was like the tundra! Not only was the air frigid, everywhere was covered with ice and snow! A wintery wonderland of a maze. In a gym uniform, it was hard to keep warm.
"Don't worry, you'll warm up once you get moving. Take this." The referee said, handing her a strange device. "These Trap Detectors will help you navigate the maze."
"Trap Detectors? These kind of look like bomb detectors..." Fiora nervously said.
"Bombs? Oh arceus no, not after the last mishap with gym renovations." The referee assured.
Thank goodness.
"These detect pitfalls. Step too close and you'll fall through, causing you to start all over."
"Wait what?!"
"Let the gym challenge begin!"
Pitfalls? Seriously? One would think Galar's gym challenge had some safety procedures in place! How far was the drop? Would it hurt if she fell through? Hop seemed ok (then again, did he fall at all?) Fiora carefully took her first steps off the stable gym floor and onto the snow. The trap detectors vibrated, glowing a faint blue. Blue meant far away; the colors went from blue to green to yellow. Yellow meant the pitfall would be practically next to her. Best bet was to make sure the device stayed blue or green.
"Testing, testing, can you hear me?"
A voice sounded from the loudspeaker system.
"Don't worry! Take a deep breath, calm your nerves and trust your senses."
The voice belonged to a woman, like it was a caring motherly type person. Fiora felt a little better hearing it support her. Her eyes scanned the maze. It wasn't complete snow and ice. There were some areas with regular flooring and a trainer to battle. It was best to take this one step at a time. Get to the first safe zone, go from there. Fiora used the device to figure out which areas were most likely pitfalls. From there, she weaved around the parts of the ground that were stable and carefully managed to make her way to the first gym trainer.
"It might get a bit harder now. You'll have to carry on, even if you can't see the path before you. Such is life."
After the battle with the trainer, the winds picked up. Flurries whirled around the air, creating a mini storm inside the maze! Fiora took shaky steps forward, using the device to...
WHAM!
"Owwww!" Fiora rubbed her face.
"Careful with the rocks! I know it's hard to see but don't look down at the device all the time! Keep your eyes forward."
The winds stung her eyes though Fiora did as the voice advised. With occasional glances at the device, Fiora squinted her eyes and carefully stepped around the maze. The path was twisted, full of sharp turns. It was harder to avoid those hidden pitfalls. It felt no different than charging through a blizzard out in the wild.
"No hesitation, ok? Your only way is forward."
After the second and third trainers, the winds picked up speed. It was practically a white out! Fiora could vaguely make out the shadowy shapes of the rocks and walls but otherwise, she was completely blind. All she had was to rely on her own two feet and the trap detecting device. The device was constantly flickering between green and yellow now. No matter which direction Fiora attempted, she was dangerously close to...
RUMBLE RUMBLE
With a yelp, Fiora jumped backwards just as she felt the ground below her grow loose. She fell onto her butt, watching a pitfall appear before her. Somehow, she could sense the pitfall was pretty deep.
"We all slip and fall sometimes. The important thing is to get back up and try again. Failure helps us become stronger."
Fiora got back up and brushed the snow off. Better get moving again.
"...huh?"
Where did the trap detectors go?! Fiora felt around the ground. There was no sign of them. Did they fall into the pitfall? Shoot shoot shoot! This was bad! She couldn't see anything in the blistery winds. How would she be able to get to the finish line without falling into the pitfalls?
"You're close to the end! Don't give up now!"
The voice was still encouraging her. Right, can't give up when she was this far. At the beginning of the maze, Fiora had seen enough of the platform to know there were no more trainers after the third. That meant it was a short distance from where she was to the finish line. Fiora took a deep breath. Continuing on, her steps were cautious and slow. If the snow felt loose and shaky, she'd pull her foot back and try a different direction. It was like playing a giant game of minesweeper. Fiora's heart was pounding in her head. At any moment, one wrong step, she could trip and fall.
And then, no snow. Stable gym flooring? Did she...?
"Wonderful job! You made it!"
The winds cleared up and the challenge room was visible again. There was a faint click noise. The maze behind Fiora cleared, revealing where all the pitfalls had been. Geez, there were so many! Practically only one path that was safe. Man, she was way too lucky to have made it all the way to the end without falling in! Especially after losing the device!
"Now, gym challenger, come over to the pitch! I'll meet you there!"
Meet there? So that voice was the gym leader, Melony! Fiora climbed a stairway and went into the tunnel that led to the stadium battle arena. From the sounds of the crowd, quite a number had gathered for the match. Normally, Fiora would have felt a little nervous having a lot of people watching her but she was still trying to shake off the challenge portion of the gym. Steeling what was left of her nerves, Fiora entered the battle field and walked to the pitch.
Melony left the tunnel on the other side of the gym. She waved to the crowd before facing Fiora. Like her voice, Melony had a motherly vibe to her. The kind of sweet lady who would bake cookies for her children and their friends or who'd talk your ear off at the supermarket. Still, Fiora knew this same woman had a fierce reputation as a gym leader.
"Well fancy that! You made it through without falling in a single hole! Even after you lost the device!" Melony greeted. "Anyway, I'm Melony! As you can tell, I assembled a team of ice pokemon! We'll freeze you solid and, well, you'll see what happens after. You'll find my battle style a bit more severe than most gym leaders."
A glimmer pierced Melony's eyes, sending shivers up Fiora's spine. This woman meant business. The two women faced away from each other and walked to their respective ends of the court as the crowd buzzed with anticipation. The battle had begun.
Melony started off with Frosmoth. She had done the same when she battled Hop. However, it didn't mean her tactics would be exactly the same. Fiora chose to lead with Sylveon and see how things would go. Frosmoth summoned a hailstorm into the stadium. No doubt it was setting up the field for the other pokemon on its team. Sylveon used Light Screen. Hopefully that could deflect some of the damage and last as long as the hail. Frosmoth used icy wind, Sylveon countered with Return. It was back and forth with Frosmoth relying on hail-boosted icy wind while Sylveon tried to gain back some health with Draining Kiss. When both were reaching their limits, Sylveon barely pulled off a quick attack for a KO.
Next pokemon on Melony's team was a Galarian Darmanitan. Kubfu was sent out. Darmanitan used taunt. Kubfu, fallen for the taunt, wouldn't be able to bulk up extra stats. Still, he did have the type advantage and was confident in his abilities. Brick break cut right through the ice pokemon and critically injured darmanitan, leaving it with little health. Huh? Was it changing form? The gorilla-like pokemon started to resemble a bouncing snowman. It almost made Fiora giggle, seeing how strange it appeared. Darmanitans, Galarian or otherwise, sometimes had the ability to enter zen mode. A fire darmanitan would be more defensive when it hit low health. But what about an ice type? The darmanitan seemed to pick up speed as a result and used fire fang. It must have gained fire as a secondary type, boosting that attack. Kubfu responded with another brick break to end it before the pokemon could do any more damage.
Eiscue was up. This was a tricky foe. Kubfu's attacks were all physical and Eiscue could hold its own against physical setups. One hit would knock off the ice on its head, lowering defenses. But the window was small to attack it. Once it was in hail long enough, the ice block would return and protect Eiscue again. Eiscue was also using Amnesia to further up its defenses. Kubfu was still suffering effects of taunt so all he could do was slowly chip away at the opponents health. All the while, the hail was hurting Kubfu little by little. When Eiscue used Freeze-Dry, the hail's boosted power froze Kubfu in place.
Fiora called back Kubfu, unwilling to endanger him further. She chose Inteleon to take his place. The hail was starting to lighten so Eiscue summoned another round to secure his defenses. If the hail was close to passing, then the light screen probably wouldn't last much longer. Inteleon was a water type so ice moves wouldn't be too effective against her. And her Snipe Shot wasn't a physical move; it was special. Thanks to that powerful move, Inteleon was able to sneak by the ice penguin's defenses. With a few snipes, Eiscue eventually succumbed.
"Even cracked, ice is still ice! We can weather any storm!" Melony shouted as she called the last pokemon.
Lapras. The pokemon that made Hop lose his focus and swept his team. Fortunately, since she saw Hop's battle, Fiora had mentally readied herself for the battle's climax. She had an idea how to combat Lapras.
"I'll let you freeze everything sub-zero! Lapras, gigantimax!"
"PorygonZ! Gigantimax time!"
PorygonZ might not have type advantages or disadvantages with ice types. However, Lapras was also part water. PorygonZ had some electric moves in its arsenal. In dynamaxed form, discharge attack turned into Max Lightning. Super effective hit on Lapras along with creating a field of charged electricity, boosting future moves. Melony's Lapras wasted no time, countering with G-Max Resonance. As ice blasted against PorygonZ, an aurora shined brilliantly in the air of the battlefield. The aurora lights seemed to create a protective barrier that reduced damage. Both sides continued with electric vs ice, hoping the elements in the field would be enough to boost their attacks. Attack after attack, each whittling down the other. Intensive damage dealt to each pokemon, a fierce power struggle that had the crowd on the edge of their seats. Until...
"Lapras cannot continue the battle. Winner of the gym battle is Fiora!"
Fiora almost fell to her knees, breathing a sigh of relief. Though it was barely able to stay conscious, un-dynamaed PorygonZ happily floated over to Fiora and celebrated the victory. Thank goodness its speed was better than Lapras.
"Aw, and here I thought we were on the verge of winning!" Melony walked over to Fiora's side. "You're pretty talented, you know."
"Thanks though credit belongs to my pokemon. They worked hard to get this far." Fiora said.
"Ah ah ah! Pokemon can only go so far on their own. They won because you trained by their side and lead them to victory." Melony said. "It's sad to see my own sweeties lose but we love to see someone young with grand talent. Makes us excited for the next time we'll battle, when we can really let loose!"
This wasn't letting loose? Then what was Melony like at full strength?!
"You know, I somehow envision you facing my son in a pokemon battle. I bet you two could really wow the crowd! If you become champion and he ends up challenging you, give 'im a thrashing for me would ya?"
"Eh?! I, um...sure? I guess?"
Maybe champion was a bit out of reach for Fiora. But the championship cup would be just around the corner soon enough now that she had the sixth badge.