Lombre, unlike Vigoroth, was doing much better in terms of stamina.

But Vigoroth's low health helped power reversal and I was pretty sure that Lombre wouldn't be able to take a hit.

After all Rhyhorn had better defense though that could be neutralized with its type disadvantage. It had defense which Lombre didn't have.

Though the stealth rocks on the field did make it difficult for vigoroth to get over to lombre.

"Lombre mega drain"

Lombre faced Vigoroth and extended its arms out trying to pull the energy in.

"Vigoroth counter with blizzard"

Vigoroth let out a blizzard that clashed with lombre's mega drain. The two attacks pushed against each other until the blizzard pushed into the lombre.

"Lombre are you ok?" Avery said as she looked at the field.

"Lombre" The lombre responded with a cocky smile.

"I guess I'll have to do something to gain back the advantage. Vigoroth slack off"

Vigoroth began to laze around as a white glow began to surround it.

"I'd rather not have to deal with that, Lombre attack with fake out"

Lombre instantaneously appeared next to Vigoroth as it dealt a jab with both of its arms, flinching Vigoroth.

"Take on the momentum and finish off Vigoroth with bubblebeam"

Lombre immediately shot a spray of bubbles that all exploded on Vigoroth. Creating a small fog obscuring it from view.

"Is it over?" A person in the crowd said out loud.

As the fog began to clear it revealed Vigoroth was still standing.

"That was a good try but I did say I was serious after all"

...

"It's surprising that Vigoroth even managed to survive," Matthias said.

"I'm guessing it's due to using slack off at the right time allowing it to barely avoid fainting" I replied.

"Well you're probably right"

"Vigoroth let loose, use Slash"

Vigoroth's right claw turned white as he began to navigate through the stealth rocks quickly approaching lombre.

"Lombre dodge and use mega drain"

Lombre preemptively began to move as it heard Avery speak and dodged the incoming slash, preparing to attack Vigoroth's back.

"Vigoroth Blizzard"

Vigoroth turned around to Lombre who was preparing to mega drain it and shot a blizzard straight towards it.

"Dodge once more and try mega drain"

"Attack once with blizzard, Vigoroth"

Even though Lombre successfully dodged the first blizzard the second blizzard hit it straight on.

..

"Seems like she's struggling Glaze?"

"I'd be struggling too, this matchup seems tough to deal with the only viable damaging attack she can go for seems to be mega drain"

"Why's that? I know fake out is a no go but what about bubble beam and fury swipes"

"I'm sure blizzard would freeze any bubbles that came close and messing with Vigoroth's sheer capability at close range seems like a death wish to me"

"Yeah I understand what you mean"

After missing a few mega drains Lombre finally managed to land one managing to replenish its health a bit. Even though Vigoroth seemed much more injured it seemed to be doing a better job fighting .

The two clashed though it was mostly Vigoroth that was doing the attacking while Lombre seemed to be going for sneak attacks and avoiding direct confrontation

Vigoroth seemingly changing tactics began to stop for a moment as it stared down Lombre. Lombre at this moment fires another set of bubblebeam at Vigoroth.

Vigoroth dodged the bubble beams by leaping above and rammed into Lombre with a slash that knocked it off its feet.

As Lombre began to fall down it shot a final mega drain towards Vigoroth who was caught entirely by surprise. The attack hit true and Vigoroth hit the floor with Lombre barely being able to stand up.

"Vigoroth is unable to battle" The referee announced as the crowd began to cheer once more.

"Good job so far. It's only fair that I commend you since my last pokemon is an entirely different beast" Norman said as he tossed his pokeball.

A large shadow overtook the arena as a obese sloth 's arms were huge compared to the lombre.

"King King" The slaking roared.

It leaped into the air.

"Slaking Stomping Tantrum!" Norman said.

"Lombre use-" Avery didn't get a chance to attack as Slaking came down.

Slaking crashed into the ground scattering all the rocks that were present in all four directions and obscuring the field with dust clouds.

After the dust cleared the pokemon that managed to last so long was finally taken out.

"Lombre is unable to battle" The referee said as the crowd remained silent.

"So it's finally down to this," Avery said as she took out a pokeball.

"Go Hariyama" Avery said as her final pokemon took stage.

A pokemon that resembled a sumo wrestler with large palms appeared onto the field.

"Hari Yama!" Hariyama said as it struck it's fists out.

'Even with a type advantage this fight will be tough'

Slaking with its sheer attack could take out most pokemon with ease. I dread the day I will have to fight Norman and this Slaking of his.

"Both sides only have 1 pokemon remaining; this match will decide whether Norman will successfully defend his badge or whether the challenger Avery will be able to acquire her 5th Badge. Begin!"

"Hariyama use Arm thrust," Avery said.

Hariyama began running towards Slaking as it's arms began to glow white.

"Slaking use mega punch," Norman says.

Slakings arms also glow white as it leaps into the air towards Hariyama.

*Thump*

The two pokemons fists met as a loud sound reverberated through the audience. I could feel a gust of wind being produced from the force of the attacks all the way from my seat.

The two seemed to be at a standstill until Slaking's fists began to overwhelm Hariyama. The mega punch was overwhelming the arm thrust.

It couldn't be stopped.

The mega punch hit Hariyama and pushed it back a few feet. The punch was definitely strong but Hariyama took it like a champ.

The crowd neither cheered nor boo-ed. They just sat in wait to experience the battle that was taking place in front of them.

"Hariyama are you ok?"

Hariyama nodded as it dusted itself off with its hands. Slaking looked at it with a stern expression seemingly trying to intimidate him.

"Trying to challenge Slaking in a physical fight is basically impossible. If you have any doubt of what I'm saying then let me show you! Slaking attack Hariyama with Giga Impact"

Slaking's entire body began to glow as it began to growl.

"Hariyama use detec-" Avery was unable to say the full move before Slaking began to move.

Slaking crashed into the Hariyama creating an even louder noise than the crash between the two of their fists. And plunging the arena in more dust obscuring them from view.

As the dust cleared Hariyama stood tall as it managed to get detect up in time.

Norman looked surprised but he then immediately straightened up.

"That Giga Impact must have taken quite a bit of energy. Now's our chance to counter-attack. Hariyama use Seismic Toss"

Hariyama took the opportunity and got a hold onto Slaking who was trying it's best to move but failed due to the energy it took to perform the giga impact. It then lifted Slaking into the air using its body weight and tossed it away.

Slaking with nothing to stop it hit the ground.

"Don't stop Hariyama now's your chance go for a arm thrust"

Hariyama began running towards Slaking with its arm glowing.

"That's not going to happen Slaking mega punch the Hariyama"

Slaking who was face first on the ground rolled around and turned towards Hariyama as its fists glowed white.

The two attacks clashed but the resulting force wasn't as much as before. The two attacks pushed both the attackers away as they stopped then charged up for another attack.

They clashed again and again pushing hard against each other. Even though Slaking had the superior strength it's body made it difficult for it to sustain prolonged confrontations.

Hence it was being pushed back by Hariyama who despite the difference in strength made up with sheer technique. With its superior maneuverability Hariyama managed to turn the tide in its favor.

As they exchanged punches both pokemon began to grow tired. Their attacks weren't comparable to the first one they let out. Right now it seemed to be a test of endurance.

The sweat on both of the pokemon was easily visible. Also visible was the damage they had taken. But it was difficult to tell who had taken more damage.

As the two pokemon went for another clash Norman spoke

"Slaking Hammer Arm now!"

Slaking moved with an unmatched zeal as it approached Hariyama.

'Was it conserving its energy for this final attack

Hariyama couldn't move in time as it didn't expect Slaking to suddenly speed up. Avery also seemed at a loss for words.

It thrusted it's glowing white arm into the Hariyama in one final swoop then fell down as it seemingly exhausted all of its reserves.

Norman just scratched his head as he turned towards Avery. Turning to Avery I noticed her eyes were still on Hariyama.

As I moved my eyes to Hariyama I noticed it was still standing.

"HariYAAMA!"

"Hariyama use counter now!"

"HariYAAAMA!"

Not wasting any time Hariyama's strikes Slaking with it's glowing orange fists. Slaking being on the ground unable to move took the full brunt of the attack.

Leading it to fall on its stomach.

"Slaking is unable to battle. Hariyama and Avery are the victors"

The crowd cheered. They roared. Even I and Matthias joined in the cheers. It was an exhilarating experience, one that was hard to put into words.

"Phew, that battle sure was something wasn't it Glaze" Matthias said leaning back in his seat.

"It sure was. I think I figured out what I want to do"

"What do you want to do?"

"The gym challenge. I'm going to take on all the gyms in Hoenn. This battle solidified it in my mind"

I looked on over to see Avery swarmed by people.

"Calm down everyone. Let me at least award Avery here with her badge" Norman said as he began walking towards Avery.

The sea of people around her began to disperse as Norman stopped in front of her.

"That was an excellent gym battle, Avery. You and your pokemon showed excellent teamwork and it is an honour to award you with the balance badge"

He held out the balance badge which was made of two connecting circles joined in the centre by a rectangle.

"Thank you Norman" she said as he took out her badge case and placed it in there.

"No thanks necessary I hope to see you reach even further heights as you continue to challenge the next few gyms. Good luck"

And with that Norman left and the crowd began to gather around her once more. But she managed to weave through the incoming crowd and rush out of the gym. The crowd followed after but seemed to lose her in the hurry.

With the battle done with the remaining seated people began to leave. I stood up from my seat as I began to head out the entrance but turned back once I noticed Matthias was still seated.

"Matthias the match is over let's head out"

"You can go ahead Glaze I think I'll need to talk to Norman"

"Sure, then I'll head out. Catch you some other time"

"Yeah"

I walked out of the gym and looked to the people who seemed to be looking around for Avery.

'Guess she really did manage to escape'

I took out my pokenav and gave a call asking for the dragonite to come pick me up. As I waited around I looked up to the sky as I awaited my incoming gym battle.

Overthinking about anything never worked out so I just needed to train well for the few days before the gym battle begins.

As the dragonite appeared I jumped on top of it and flew off. As I looked out into the horizon I saw Avery in the distance flying on a tropius but she quickly disappeared from my view.

The sky had been calm so maybe I was just seeing things. Nonetheless I enjoyed the flight as I eventually reached back home.