Jason's POV

Several days had passed since Adam's battle with Brawly. Today, I would be going up against him for my badge. I would've battled him right after Adam, but Brawly revealed that he had scheduled a few other trainers for gym battles before mine.

I was currently standing on the opposing side of the battlefield, waiting for the ref to begin the match.

"The battle between the gym leader, Brawly, and the challenger, Jason Oak, will now begin. Each trainer will use two Pokemon and the battle will be over when both Pokemon on one side are unable to continue. Substitutions are allowed for the challenger. Begin!"

"Go, Hariyama!" Brawly cried, tossing his Pokeball.

"Machamp, go!" I cried, tossing my Pokeball.

Unlike his battle with Adam, Brawly was using his strongest Pokemon first. That meant that I would have to match strength with strength, using Machamp.

"Alright, Machamp! Use Cross Chop!"

"Stop it and then use Arm Thrust, Hariyama!"

Hariyama blocked Machamp's arms with his huge hands and readied his Arm Thrust.

"Low Sweep!" I cried. As Hariyama's arms shot forward for Arm Thrust, Machamp kicked with his leg, knocking Hariyama to the floor and stopping his Arm Thrust.

"Use Dynamic Punch, Machamp." I shouted as Hariyama got back on his feet.

"Meet it with Arm Thrust!" Brawly shouted. Both moves collided with one another and began fighting for dominance. Hariyama's huge palms struck against Machamp's glowing fists.

"Vital Throw, Hariyama!" Hariyama let his guard down and Dynamic Punch struck his face, but he was quick to grab Machamp immediately afterwards and slam my Pokemon into the ground.

"Machamp is down! Use Seismic Toss!" Brawly wasn't letting up with the attacks! I waited as his Pokemon approached Machamp.

"Use Low Kick!" As Machamp was picked up by Hariyama, his leg shot out and landed a direct hit, causing Hariyama to stumble and lose his grip.

"Cross Chop!" Machamp was quick to follow up with the second attack. But as I'd seen with Adam's battle, I knew that this would be a test of endurance. I also knew that Hariyama would be able to take a lot more strong hits than that before tiring out. This battle was nowhere near over!

... ...

Both Pokemon had done a high amount of damage to each other. Neither one would be able to take much more. I was impressed that my Pokemon's stamina training had paid off, but I needed to end this soon, if I wanted a chance at winning the badge.

"Vital Throw!" Brawly cried, breaking me from my thoughts.

"Dodge it!" Machamp managed to dodge it.

"Quad Dynamic Punch!" I cried. It was a new variation on the attack that we had been working on while training on Dewford Island. All four of Machamp's fists glowed as all four, not two, were about to strike Hariyama.

"Block them with Arm Thrust!" Brawly yelled. Both moves fought for dominance and created a small stir up of dust.

The arms of both Pokemon were swinging so fast that I almost couldn't see them! Both Pokemon were going all out! Machamp's four arms were colliding with Hariyama's huge palms in rapid succession! But both Pokemon were also landing plenty of hits, unable to block all of them. But which Pokemon would give in first?

As the dust settled, both Pokemon fell to the ground and fainted.

"Both Pokemon are unable to battle. It's a draw!"

So whoever won this next round would win the battle. I hadn't been able to evolve Taillow before we had returned to Dewford Town, I had run out of time to train. I wouldn't be able to use Machamp to weaken Machop, either. It was up to Taillow to win this now, but it would be a huge challenge, since he hadn't evolved, and thus didn't have the endurance and stamina that I knew Machop had. But it was my only choice and all that I had left.

We returned our Pokemon and were ready to continue.

"Go, Machop!"

"Taillow, let's go! Use Agility!" Taillow increased his speed. If I couldn't outlast Machop in terms of stamina, then I at least had to make sure that he could avoid attacks by being faster.

"Now Quick Attack, Taillow!" With the added speed, Taillow was able to land a direct hit. Needless to say, Machop shook off the hit pretty easily.

"Use Aerial Ace!"

"Meet it with Cross Chop!"

Taillow landed the hit, but Machop's crossed arms blocked most of it.

... ...

Despite Taillow having landed multiple super-effective hits and fighting hard, it was clear that Taillow's stamina was running out.

"Karate Chop!"

"Dodge it, Taillow!"

But Taillow wasn't able to dodge it and took a direct hit, crashing down to the battlefield and not getting up.

"Come on, Taillow! We can't give up! We can still win this!"

Taillow cried out weakly. It looked like he had no strength left to fight with.

"Come on, we can do it!" I yelled, encouraging him. I didn't want this battle to end in defeat!

But Taillow then stood up and cried out as his body began glowing.

"Yes!" I cried. Taillow was finally evolving into Swellow!

As the glow faded, Swellow now stood where Taillow was and he cried out loudly, taking to the air.

"Let's do this!" I cried. "Use Aerial Ace, Swellow!"

"Karate Chop!"

Perfect. Just where I want you. I thought.

The moves collided with one another.

"Wing Attack!" Swellow's wing glowed and he pulled back from the attack and swooped around behind Machop and landed a direct hit. It was clear that he could strike with a lot more power, now that he had evolved!

"Okay, use Quick Attack!" I cried as Machop was still recovering from the Wing Attack.

"Dodge!" Machop managed to stumble out of the way at the last second.

"Let's use Aerial Ace!"

"Block it with Cross Chop!"

Machop blocked the attack, stopping some of the damage, but it was clear that he was receiving more damage than when Taillow had been attacking.

... ...

Slowly but surely, I had turned this battle around! Machop's endurance had kept him going for this long, but Swellow's sustained super-effective hits had brought me to the brink of victory!

"Finish it, Swellow! Aerial Ace!" I cried.

"Dodge it!" Brawly cried.

But Machop was too hurt to be able to dodge, having reached his limit of the Flying attacks, and fell to the ground.

"Machop is unable to battle. Swellow wins! Which means the challenger, Jason Oak, wins!" the ref announced.

"Yes! We did!" I cried as I rubbed Swellow's head.

I then removed my Pokedex and scanned my new Pokemon.

"Swellow, the Swallow Pokemon and the evolved form of Taillow. Swellow flies high above, making graceful arcs in the sky. If its two tail feathers are standing at attention, it is proof of good health. It is also very conscientious about the upkeep of its wings."

"Thank you so much. I knew that we could do it." I said as I tapped my Pokeball to my Pokemon's head.

"Well, I must admit, I thought that I had you beaten until Taillow evolved. Looks like your hard work and training paid off. I present you with the Knuckle Badge." Brawly said, handing me the badge.

"Thanks, Brawly. You didn't make it easy for me. I thought that you had me there for a second." I said as I took the badge.

"You did it!" Megan cried as she and Adam ran over to me.

"You and your Pokemon did great, Jason." Adam added.

I had won my badge against Brawly. Things were going well for me. Plus, Taillow had finally managed to evolve, after all of the training that we had done. I couldn't wait to see how Swellow would fare in future battles!

Author's Note: Jason wins his second Hoenn badge, thanks to his newly-evolved Swellow!

Now that our heroes' adventures on Dewford Island have come to an end, where will they go next?

Find out in the next chapter of Pokemon NG!