So, I know it has been WAY too long, so if you don't enjoy reading battles, don't worry, because Chapter 40 is almost done will be out next week. As I mentioned in my note to the readers, there's been a lot that has kept me from writing, but I haven't given up on this fic. It's just that writing for fun has taken a backseat in my list of priorities, sad as that is.

Anyway, for a quick recap of the first part of this gym battle: Carly (the bug user) opened up with a Ninjask who speed boosted into a Baton Pass, which buffed the Scyther who entered next (apparently, this is a poor choice in the doubles metagame if you play Pokémon Showdown, but I would like to clarify that I don't base battling just on what works in the metagame. If I did, nobody would be using Double Team and gym leader Kevin would be using a Breloom). The Scyther then went on to own everything in its path until Litwick evolved. While one would think that a fire type pokémon would sweep the gym, but an intelligent gym leader who raises certain types of pokémon will always have a contingency plan. Despite thwarting the first obstacle, Cody and Heather still have to deal with the leaders' more difficult pokémon.

Again, I hope you guys like this, because writing double battles is a chore beyond chores. But without further ado…

Chapter 39: We Can Make It

Cody expected for Carly to pull her Armaldo early in the battle to deal with the newly evolved Lampent, but her decision of choosing Forretress was surprising to say the least. Sure, the pokémon was a strong son of a bitch, its steal plating making it a tough nut to crack, but a Forretress? Against a fire pokémon? That was ridiculous. Carly must have had a plan. Either that, or she trusted that Kevin would have her back.

"How much does Smaug got left in him?" Cody asked. He could tell the little antlion pokémon had been going harder that day than he had expected.

"I don't know, maybe for a few more minutes," Heather replied. "He really took a beating."

"Well, let's see if we can make quick work of these two. Cortez! Flame Burst!"

"Hahaha!" The Lampent cackled. However, he didn't even move before getting hit by a lone rock thrown by the Sudowoodo, who was now charging straight at him with a Double Edge. Drunk with confidence, the Lampent charged at it with a Flame Burst, only to be blasted backwards by the Sudowoodo's raw strength. If there was any silver lining to taking that hit, Cody hoped that his newly evolved pokémon gained a bit of humility. This was no time to be rash.

What to do, what to do… The best way to cripple a pokémon like this would be to use a Memento or Curse, but Lampent still had a lot of energy left. No sense in using a last ditch effort move this early. "Confuse Ray!"

"Rapid Spin!" The Forretress rolled in front of the attack and spun its steel shell, breaking the mystic blob into fragments. "Magnet Rise!" The bagworm pokémon moved from its defensive position to levitating in the air. But it had also set up a new opportunity. Both the Forretress and the Sudowoodo were in Cortez's line of fire. Too make things even better, Smaug had just pulled both of the false tree's feet underground, immobilizing it temporarily. It may have been resistant to fire, but every little bit of damage added up. "Fire Spin!"

"Protect!" The steel shelled pokémon erected a big silver bubble around its body, blocking the flames. Some flames did hit the Sudowoodo, but it barely flinched. "Now Mirror Shot!"

"Dodge it!" Cortez didn't react fast enough. The silver blast hit him square in the face, also blinding the lamp pokémon. Letting out a cry of confusion, the Lampent sprayed embers wildly. A few hit both the Forretress and the Sudowoodo, bit the damage was minimal. The floating Forretress readied another Mirror Shot, but Smaug saved his partner with a well-placed Take Down that did little damage, but it sent the attack flying towards the ceiling. But it mattered little. As Cortez's eyes focused again, he was smacked by one of Sudowoodo's rocky arms.

"Ready yourself! Hex!"

"Sucker Punch!"

The false tree may have been slow, but at that one command, he slipped past the demonic attack and punched the ghost with his three-pronged fist. This reminded his trainer that despite evolving, Cortez could not tank as well as his teammates. One or two more hits would be the end of him, so now was the time to make an impact.

"Curse!"

"HAHAHA!" The Lampent began chanting an ancient rhyme and once the spectral needle stabbed through the lower part of its body, the black flames encircled the Forretress, just as it struck a finishing Take Down on Smaug. Heather's buzzer sounded.

"Ha… ha…" Cortez had no energy left and he was an easy target for the Sudowoodo's Rock Slide. Upon being struck, he let out one last explosion of flames, scorching the false tree's body, but damaging it little. Cody's buzzer sounded next.

"You did a good job," he whispered to the pokeball before he replaced it with a fresh one from his belt.

"You dealing with the Sudowoodo like we planned?" Heather asked, releasing Nadine into the fray. The poison-tipped Nidorina immediately targeted the cursed Forretress, slamming her form into the aching bag worm.

"Yup." From his next pokeball, Bastion graced the stage. He knew from the get go that Bastion would probably not last too long in this battle. He would be able to endure some grass attacks, but Kevin's team would eventually demolish him. Bastion would be useful in countering this Sudowoodo though. It was common knowledge that the Sudowoodo line hated water, and combined with his agile style of fighting, Bastion would be able to clear this hurdle. "Aqua Jet!"

"Counter!" The Sudowoodo took a water-charged strike to the chest, but he reacted swiftly by smacking the turtle upwards on the chest of his shell. Bastion flew straight up, unable to readjust himself before Kevin barked out his next order. "Wood Hammer!"

"Protect!" Cody shouted, panicked. He would not have his first pokémon defeated this easily. The bluish-greenish bubble surrounded the falling Wartortle and while it protected the turtle from the Sudowoodo's swinging arm, it shattered instantaneously. Damn, there goes his one get-out-of-jail free card. "Back up and use Water Gun!"

"Rock Throw!"

"Raup!" Bastion shot a blast of water, but the blast was cut in half with a hurled stone. But the rock pokémon struggled to keep up with the speed. Bastion would hit eventually. But then…

"Toxic Spikes!" After a failed Mirror Shot attempt at both foes, the Forrretress pulled out one last trick by spinning in the air, releasing a multitude of poisonous spikes onto field. The spikes bounced off of the Sudowoodo's thick hide and Bastion's shell, as the turtle pokémon temporarily withdrew to avoid the poison. The rest landed on the ground and a few hit Nadine, though her natural toxins protected her from the poison, but not from the sharp edges hat cut her skin.

"Nadine will take care of those. Focus on the tree thing," Heather ordered. "Sweep up the spikes!" The Nidorina darted around the field, letting the spikes latch onto her body. Interestingly, as they cut into her skin, they began to shrink. Her body must have been absorbing the toxins with little harm done to her. Meanwhile, the Forretress was trying to gun her down with Mirror Shots, but with the effects of Cortez's curse, it was obviously on its last limb, so to speak.

Bation finally hit his mark with a Water Pulse that caused the false tree to flinch. He took this opening as a chance to land an Iron Tail across the Sudowoodo's chest, but Kevin had an answer for this too.

"Mimic!" The Sudowoodo couldn't perfectly imitate the Iron Tail technique (lacking a tail and all), but it compensated with its branch-like arms. They shone like steel and he began swinging them at the Wartortle as it kept walking towards him at a slow, methodical pace. Bastion kept hopping backwards, spraying bursts of water at the Sudowoodo, who kept swatting the water away with its metal arms. The false tree was putting up a better fight than Cody expected.

"Protect!" Kevin shouted.

"What the…" Out of the corner of his eye, Cody saw the Forretress's body glowing white. Nidorina had been kicking it's ass with the aid of Cortez's curse, but it had one last trick up its sleeve. But Bastion reacted before his trainer did. Knowing that he would not be able to hurt Sudowoodo as it protected itself, it aimed a Water Gun at the floating bagworm. As the water hit its mark, the Forretress's body stopped glowing and began to steam. Bastion had unwittingly saved the day by dampening the foe's body to the point that it could not explode. But it had no time to dry off, as Nidorina slammed her body into the shell one last time, causing it to crash into the arena's artificial stream. The buzzer rang.

SMACK! The Sudowoodo let its Protect down and it struck Bastion with one of its arms. It tried to follow up this attack with a Wood Hammer, but Bastion rolled out of the way and rocketed himself at the enemy with another Aqua Jet. The Sudowoodo tried to use another Counter to this, but Bastion saw it coming this time and evaded the blow. Upon landing, he released another Bubblebeam. The false tree tried to Sucker Punch, but the bubbles surrounded him and the little explosions were too much. Seconds later, another buzzer rang, but Bastion had no time to celebrate as he just barely side-stepped a thin, red beam that came from the sky.

"Bzzzzzzzzzz!" Now, Carly's Vespiquen entered the fray. She was a royal-looking bee pokémon with an enlarged, striped abdomen, and glowing, red eye. The queen bee pokémon looked to be about five feet in height, and a swarm of tiny, minion bees that she was telekinetically linked to flew around her. Before Cody could utter a command, Kevin's next pokémon joined the bee's side. This one wasn't quite as scary: it was only a Grotle; a formidable pokémon nonetheless, but seemingly more manageable. The tortoise pokémon stood at about four feet and two, large bushes grew from its yellow shell. It opened its mouth and let out a reptilian cry that sounded in disjointed segments.

"Heather?"

"Right." She knew what to do. "Nadine! Poison Sting the Grotle!"

"Bastion, Water Gun!"

"Defend Order!" With that command, the bee queen raised her arms and a swarm of bees flew between her and the Wartortle. One would think that a powerful stream of water would easily cut through the swarm of tiny bees, but no such luck. The swarm was so thick and tightly knit that the water could not cut through. Even more surprising was the fact that this high-pressured blast didn't even kill the bees that it hit. They waivered for a second, but their connection to the Vespiquen strengthened them once more. She then pointed at Bastion and another swarm emerged from her honeycomb posterior.

"Crap, Bastion, dodge!" The turtle began running, but the swarm moved faster than him, slowly catching up with his sprint. "Now, Aqua Jet!" He shot himself at her, but the Defend Order was ready. Before he could make contact, the bees bounced him back like a trampoline. He flew back into the swarm that chased him. He writhed and shrieked in pain as the bees jammed their stingers into his bare skin.

"Now, Toxic!"

"Get them off of you! Rapid Spin!" Bastion succeeded at spinning the swarm off of him, but not before getting drenched with a purple ball of sludge that the bee queen shot from her abdomen. When he stood up, he tried to focus, but he limped and swayed. His skin was riddled with welts from where the bees stung him, and if their poison wasn't detrimental enough, the queen's far more potent toxins would be draining the life out of the Wartortle, inch by inch.

"Bastion, shift left and try a Water Pulse!" He tilted his head slightly towards Heather, who seemed to be faring better. "How you holding up?"

"It's hard to- Nadine! Toxic Spikes!- It's hard to say. Nadine has been keeping him at bay from Bastion, but she can't really hurt him either. We're locked in a stalemate." She noticed Bastion's stagger between his Water Pulse and his bare dodge of a Power Gem. Now, Vespiquen had pulled all of her swarms to defend her as she waited for Bastion to pass out from the poison. "He doesn't look so good."

"Yeah, nothing I can do about it now," Cody lamented. "Hopefully, he can cut her down a bit before it happens." He clenched his fist. "I'm gonna bring Antonia in early. She can cut into both of these guys." That was going against the plan again. He had planned on having Antonia anchor his squad in this match, but he wasn't sure if Colossal could cut it against the Grotle at this point in the match. He had expected Heather to complain about this, but she just let out a quick groan. She had grown used to this sort of thing by now. "Iron Tail!" Once more, the Wartortle's tail glowed silver as he leapt forward to strike the bee with his last bit of energy, but the bee netting caught him and threw him towards the Grotle. The big tortoise, having knocked Nadine back, took the opportunity to pin the smaller reptile down with its front feet.

"Mega Drain!"

"ROAAAH!" The tortoise took on a light-green glow as he began to absorb the last of Bastion's strength. The Wartortle struggled, but he had little strength left to resist. The buzzer sounded the second after the smaller turtle fell limp.

"Good work, Bastion." Cody praised his pokémon's efforts, but he was feeling the pressure once again. When Cortez had evolved, he had some hope for the battle ahead, but now he was down to his last two. He had a lot of faith in Antonia, but there was no doubt in his mind that Kevin and Carly had a plan to deal with a pokémon like Skarmory. At the very least, he knew she could take down the Vespiquen (which Bastion had only hit with part of a Water Pulse), but beyond that, could Colossal anchor his squad? Time would tell.

"Come on out, baby girl!" With an ear piercing screech, Antonia burst from her pokeball, rousing awe in the spectators as she circled the arena. "Air Cutter!"

"Attack Order!" The bee queen ordered half of her hive to fly straight towards the armored bird, but her cutting wind blew them into confusion. The insect then ordered the second half to attack, but they all crashed into the Skarmory's thick armor plating, unable to inflict any sort of damage. As this happened, Antonia was flying straight towards the big bee and slammed into her with a Take Down. After crashing her target into the soft earth, Antonia readied a Steel Wing for the coup de grâce, but her metal wing clanged against the Grotle's shell as he covered his ally.

"Nadine can't put a dent in that thing. See if yours can! Now that that Vespiquen is down, she can-"

"Got it." Words took time and time was precious. He wouldn't wait for the details. "New target, Antonia! Wing Attack!" His bird struck her wings against the tortoise, knocking it off of the bee and giving the Nidorina her opening. The Grotle refocused and launched himself at the bird. The heavy pokémon brought Antonia down, but she struck him off of her with one of her wings.

"Razor Leaf!" A gust of sharpened leaves flew from the turtle towards the Skarmory, but most of them shattered on impact, leaving nothing more than scratches on her metal plating. Kevin seemed to recognize that physical attacks would be the way damage a Skarmory, at least internally. "Body Slam!"

"Feint!" Rather than attack directly, Antonia intelligently dodged the blow before countering with another strike of the wing.

"Leech Seed!" The seeds latched onto Antonia's armor, but they did not reach her skin where they would actually be able to drain her.

"Agility!"

"Curse!"

The defensive move was enough to help the tortoise endure the next blow. Antonia tried slashing at him, but he absorbed the hits and knocked Antonia down before pinning her and readying another Mega Drain. This time though, Nadine did not let that happen as she pushed with the last of her strength to knock the tortoise off.

"Thanks," Cody said, but he saw that the Vespiquen had been doing well, now using her minions to restore some of her minor injuries. Nadine was good, but the bee could only be matched by extreme power. Antonia reached the air again, and next to her, Nadine struck the Grotle with her poisonous barbs.

"Now! While it's down! Steel Wing!"

"Skreeee-" She was hit by the bee's Power Gem. It did little but annoy her. She hit the bee with another Take Down before circling to the Grotle and crashing her weight into the reptile's chest at top speed. That must have been its weak spot, as the buzzer sounded shortly after.

"Keep going!" Cody cheered on. His steel bird kept cutting away at the bee's defenses, but even her swarms could not keep her safe. Antonia delivered another strong blow, but before she could go any further, a bellowing roar sounded from Kevin's next pokémon: the Tropius that Cody had been worried about. The winged dinosaur stood seven feet in height, had a bulky frame, and had strong wings to support its flight. Antonia soon forgot the weary Vespiquen as she stared down this new foe. She liked a challenge and it was the biggest challenge on the gym leader's team.

"No, finish off the bee!" But Cody's monster would have none of it. She flew directly towards the massive beast as he charged her, and when the two collided, both recoiled from the blow, though Antonia fell back further, being that she was dwarfed in size. But the shining in her eyes showed how eager she was to fight this behemoth.

"Cody, if she reheals- I don't want to fight both the Vespiquen and the-"

"Read my mind. Antonia, take the bee down now!"

"Skraaa!" She did not like being told what to do, but she did so nonetheless. Her steel wings gleamed and she flew straight towards the Vespiquen and her readied wall of minions. Over all the bees buzzing, a deeper buzz was heard by Cody's side. Nadine must have been defeated. He looked up to see that the Tropius had stomped her with a Body Slam.

"Defend order! Don't let it get through!" Carly shouted, but it didn't matter in the end. The bees were strong, but her sharpened wings and heavy body cleanly cut through the insect wall without losing any momentum. The bee queen tried another Power Gem, but the effort was fruitless to stop the Skarmory that cut into her. When her buzzing ended, another one sounded.

Alright, we evened this up. Four vs. four: we can handle that.

But it wouldn't be that simple. Carly's next pokémon was her Galvantula, a large, yellow spider that crackled with electricity, and Heather had sent out Feathers. Strong as the Pidgeotto was, this did not look well.

"Heather, don't you think-"

"I didn't know that. I sent her out before- Either way, it was either her or Somnos. I can't win here!"

"Fine, we'll make it work! Slash!"

"Growth! Slam after!" The Tropius basked briefly in the sunlight, focusing on letting the light fortify his body. When Skarmory struck, the flying dinosaur absorbed the shot with ease before smacking her back with his long neck. That did little to Antonia as well, so circling the Tropius and dodging the Galvantula's String Shot, she tried to pry through his defenses with a Fury Attack. She was cutting through his defenses for a moment but again, the bulky Tropius knocked her back again before shooting multi-colored leaves at his aggressor.

Magical Leaf. This actually concerned Antonia's trainer, as Magical Leaf was a specialized grass move that would home in on a pokemon's weak points. In this case, it was the openings at the joints of Antonia's armor. The leaves flew right in and Cody's bird screeched in pain. Even so, she didn't stop flying. As the Tropius tried a Roost in the trees above, Antonia shocked the dinosaur by ramming into him again. Clearly, she wasn't about to let up, even with the critical cuts under her steel.

"Hey Carly, I need help with this one!" Kevin called over.

"Right! Electroweb!" Originally, the electric spider couldn't land a hit on the Skarmory at all, but now that her flight had been crippled, she could not evade the electrically charged spider web that the Galvantula had shot at her, especially since it gravitated towards her metal armor. Upon impact, electricity shot through the bird, causing her to let out another pained screech. On top of the pain, sticky webbing covered her body, sending her into the ground. She tried to cut through the web, but to no avail.

"Come on, girl! Cut out of it!" Cody turned to Heather, who had just barked out an evasive maneuver to her Pidgeotto. "She's not going to last much longer if she can't get out of that web."

"What? But what about the Tropius? It's-"

"Feathers will have to take over. I know she's not as durable, but she's our best shot now at taking that thing out."

Heather's face soured. "Okay, but what about the Gal-"

"You forget who my last pokémon is. He can take it." He turned back to Antonia, who had shook off the webbing from her feet and neck, but not her wings. They were too tangled. The electric arachnid approached her and she made a last ditch effort to defend herself, jabbing at the spider with her sharp beak. She actually made one direct hit, crashing into the Galvantula's head, but the spider was still too strong. It crawled onto the bird's back and let loose another surge of electricity. Antonia was tough, but not tough enough to take a direct attack like that. The buzzer sounded after she hit the floor.

"Damn… Good work, girl!" Cody called out as he returned his pokémon. One more… Colossal can handle this thing easily, but what about their last pokémon? Only one way to find out. "Colossal, destroy them!" And his final pokémon entered the fray.

"Hooooooome!" the blue-shelled pupa hummed. He had grown up so much in the past year, now standing confidently on the tip of his shell to face the Galvantula. But it was not the time to be sentimental.

"You know what to do! Take Down!"

"Dodge, and Spider Web the Pidgeotto!" The spider quickly avoided the Pupitar's impact and shot sticky, electric web at the bird. Feathers was too fast, but the webbing was getting closer and closer. Before the stream connected, Colossal blocked it, not feeling any effects of the electricity. Knowing that he needed to disrupt the Galvantula's onslaught, the pupa let out an ear piercing screech. The result was a shuddering spider, allowing him to land a Body Slam.

"This won't take long. How goes it with the Tropius?"

Heather looked increasingly frustrated. "Not good! Feathers is faster, but- Gust! But it's too strong. I don't know-"

"Use a support move!"

"But-"

"We've been over this! You do something indirect! Feathers is our best chance now of beating that thing!" He looked back over at Colossal's opponent, who had sprayed spider webs across the ground. The arachnid had lost the use of one of its legs from the pupa's slam, but now, the terrain was its advantage. Not only could the Galvantula move faster on web, but the Pupitar was slowed. Good tactic, but a little too late for that. "Rock Slide!" The rolling rocks were slowed by the webs, allowing for the spider to scuttle out of the way and shoot a Signal Beam at its aggressor. The beam didn't seem to damage the Pupitar at all, but it did hit him between the eyes and it looked like he was a bit dazed.

"Shake it off! Dark Pulse!" Colossal was too wobbly, so the dark aura that was released completely missed the target… hitting Tropius instead. The flying dinosaur shrugged off the hit, but he was stopped for a moment. Any time now, Heather.

"Feather Dance!"

'Bout time. He took his eyes off his pokémon for a second to see Heather's Pidgeotto coating her enemy with soft feathers. The dinosaur tried to resist, but he wasn't hitting as hard now. "Colossal! Get it together! Rock Slide!" This time, the move hit. The rocks exploded on contact, and since they were covered in sticky webbing, they all stuck to the Galvantula's body. "You got him weighed down! Thrash!" The spider could neither escape, nor endure the oncoming onslaught as the Pupitar's sturdy shell repeatedly slammed. Even after the buzzer sounded, he wasn't done. He launched him up towards the Tropius and collided into its side. Before it could regain its balance, the Pidgeotto smacked her entire weight against the dinosaur's neck, following that attack up with multiple slashes of her wings.

Good. She's got- He almost didn't see Carly's final pokémon: her Armaldo, the strongest on her team. "Colossal, intercept!" Like a football player, his last pokémon crashed into the ancient bug type from the side, knocking it on its side. The attack was strong enough to buy Feathers enough time. For a second, she flew backwards to hit the Tropius in the chest one last time. Finally, the dinosaur had had enough and the buzzer sounded.

"You did good, Heather!" Cody looked over at the Armaldo, who was already back on its feet. Cody could see why the species had gone extinct long ago. Awkwardly placed legs that reduced its movement to waddling and arms that could only attack what was in front; not on the sides. But while it was not suited for survival, it could still do a damn good job in a fight with its crushing claws and heavy armor. A perfect challenge for Colossal. "Bring it down! Body Slam!"

"Crush Claw!" Before the Pupitar made contact, the armored bug smacked him down into the ground with its claw before stomping on him with its big foot.

"Squirm out!" He glanced over at Feathers, who was now engaged with Kevin's final pokémon, a Sawsbuck. The deer didn't look all that impressive in its Spring form, as only a few flowers graced its antlers, but without any extra foliage weighing it down, it was just as fast as the bird. "You doing alright?"

"Yeah, it's his final one! She should be able to handle it! Feathers has the type advantage. We should-"

"Jump Kick!"

The deer suddenly leapt to the trees where Feathers was trying to set up a Roost and it smacked the bird with its back hooves.

"Okay, maybe a bit of help would be-"

"On it! Colossal! Dark Pul-"

"Aqua Jet!"

He didn't expect to see the Armaldo to move that fast. From under its shell, bursts of water blasted himself into the Pupitar. Thankfully, the water attack didn't actually hit the pupa with any water, but it did slam him into the big tree at enough force to stun him. Rather than focus on him though, Carly ordered it to focus on the bigger threat of Feathers, who could potentially defeat the Sawsbuck on her own.

"Rock Throw!"

"Leech Seed!"

"Dodge and use Quick Attack!" Feathers easily dodged the rocks, but the Leech Seed made contact. The Pidgeotto struck the Sawsbuck with her wings and slammed herself into the Armaldo. The last effort did little, however. The Sawsbuck didn't even need its Leech Seed, since it managed to hit it with a Horn Leech. It didn't do much, but it did restore his strength a little bit and it set the Armaldo up for an Ancient Power. The stones that floated around the prehistoric beast shot off one by one, each hitting the target on the mark. Feathers tried to blow them back with a weakened Whirlwind, but that wasn't enough to slow them down. The final stone was followed by the sound of the buzzer.

"Return!" Heather called back her bird and she looked over at Cody, who returned her glance. "One more. You think we can do this?"

"Of course." He looked at her last pokeball. "Drain Punch it. If that deer leeches anything from him, Drain Punch it back. Somnos is fast enough. If it gets too hairy, we'll switch."

"Right. Somnos! Scald!"

The Poliwhirl burst from his pokeball and immediately struck the approaching Armaldo with boiling water. As the ancient bug let out a pained scream, the frog turned its attention to the deer and boldly slammed its body into it, barely avoiding a Horn Leech. Meanwhile, as the Armaldo was regaining its senses, Colossal was already back up, and he slammed the base of his shell into the ground, creating a small earthquake. It kept the big bug off balance long enough for him to shoot himself head first into its chest.

"Quick," the opposing trainer shouted. "Slash!"

"Thrash!" Cody ordered in response.

Move for move, the Pupitar and the Armaldo's blows clashed evenly. Ten feet away, Somnos couldn't land a single blow on the Sawsbuck, but the deer couldn't hit him either. That was until the deer finally smacked the blue frog with its horn, sapping some of its energy. But then, Somnos sapped some of it back with a Drain Punch. For the time being, they were locked in a stalemate, but Cody didn't want to leave that to chance.

"Switch?" he asked.

"Switch," she agreed.

"Right. Dark Pulse!"

"Bubblebeam!"

As Colossal's dark aura shot into the deer's side, it freed Somnos up for long enough to shoot a stream of bubbles at the armored bug.

"Alright, finish him off!" Cody left his order ambiguous, but Colossal did something that he did not expect. Instead of a Body Slam or a Rock Slide, he shot himself into the air, collided with the earth, causing a sharp rock to jut out of the earth at lightning speed, knocking the Armaldo into the air, hard. A perfect Stone Edge. They had been practicing, but he never had been able to pull the move off until now. And that was that for the Armaldo as the buzzer rang.

"Just one left!" We got this.

The Pupitar shot itself at the Sawsbuck's side, but the deer saw the move coming. It turned and kicked the pupa with both of its back feet. Jumping over Somnos, it circled around and slammed its horns into the pupa's front.

This isn't good. That's a very super-effective move. If it starts draining, the Sawsbuck could easily drain enough energy to fight of Somnos. "Dark Pulse!"

It was no use. Colossal struggled, but the buck had pushed him against a tree. Before it could start draining, however, Somnos had hopped on the deer's back, pulling back on the Sawsbuck's antlers. Like a wild bull, the deer tried to launch its rider off of its back, but Somnos held onto its antlers tightly, while its legs were wrapped tightly on the deer's back.

"It's holding your antlers! You can Horn Leech him right there!" Kevin shouted out. The deer's antlers began to glow and several vines began to leech onto the Poliwhirl's hands, keeping him from letting go. However, it was a desperate act at that point in the battle, as the deer was wide open for an attack from Colossal. The Pupitar crashed into its side with a Rock Slide, and the deer stopped jumping. Its grip on Somnos weakened and the frog pulled its fists free before using both hands to Drain Punch the deer in opposite sides of its head. Taking those direct hits were enough. The Sawsbuck let out a pained cry before collapsing in a heap and the final buzzer rang.

"Both members of the defending team have run out of usable pokémon!" the referee announced. "Therefore, the winners are the challengers, Cody Storm and Heather Landon!"

"Yes!" Cody fell to his knees, raising his arms to the air. His excitement was overkill, but after having to overcome the world's fastest Scyther, the bulky Tropius, the defensive Vespiquen, and the rest of the gym leaders' forced rapturous emotions to rush through his veins, draining out the sounds of the audience and their applause. He quickly rose to his feet and hugged Heather for a brief moment before leaping off of the platform he was standing on, rushing onto the field and hugging his tired Pupitar. Colossal simply hummed back to him, happy that his trainer was pleased. He would have hugged Somnos too, but the frog pokémon had passed out where he had been standing. But he relinquished his hug anyway as the fourth tier leaders approached him.

"Well… you certainly are jubilant," Carly commented, her voice sounding somewhat cold, though she was smiling.

"Oh, sorry. That was unprofessional of me. Please forgive my outbur-"

"No, it's fine. We've all been there," Kevin laughed, his voice reverberating in the arena, despite its size. "I gotta say, you two really came through."

"Yeah, that Ninjask threw us off our plan, but…" He didn't want to brag. Not to the gym leaders who gave him one of the toughest fights of his life, at least. "Thank you. It was a great fight, and you guys really made us sweat."

"Hey, just keep it up. We'll see you at Diamond Beach someday." Both gym leaders held out their hands, and Cody shook both. "Lily and Beckett are waiting for you two at the front lobby. They'll give you your badges."

"Right, thank you," Cody replied with a nod. Heather finally reached them after tending to Somnos and was congratulated in the same way. But Cody was at that point where he felt the success sinking in. He really did it: his fourth badge. He wasn't even half way towards Diamond Beach and he already basking in that feeling that making it there was doable. Somehow, he and Heather managed to turn around a battle that they thought was lost in the early going, and they came out on top with their teamwork, skill, and that tiniest bit of luck: luck that he had said before that he did not need, but he was pretty damn happy about finding it when the challenge seemed like too much for him to handle.

"So… we're never doing this again," Heather chuckled tiredly as she hugged him.

"Doing this?" He didn't understand what she meant at first, but it didn't take long for him to figure it out. "You mean teaming together?"

"Teaming when a badge is on the line, to be specific," she clarified. "You are so-"

"Hey, we won, and half of the creative changes I made were right. You can't follow a plan if the plan didn't call for a baton passer." He knew he was right, but he decided not to push the point any further. Heather was definitely on to something in that perhaps the two of them weren't compatible as double-battling partners. "But hey, we did it."

"Yeah…" Her voice trailed off as she stared into space. "I guess… I guess we get to go home for now… for a little bit, at least."

"Yeah. Home." For a second, he forgot about what that really meant. He had been on the road for so long that he had forgotten what it was like to be home. Those home cooked meals, his bed, the familiar faces. He missed all of that, but for some reason, going back to all of that was so strange. While he was happy at home, he could only think about how perpetually boring it would be to be back there for a month or two. Part of him didn't want to go back, but he knew better. He had promises to keep.

"So, we should celebrate. Pizza tonight?" Heather suggested. The mere mention of food sent Cody's train of thought flying off the rails.

"Yeah, sure. I'm down." But he did not know how long he could celebrate for. He felt exhausted. He looked over to see Jared and Izzy, who were still in the stands. Then he looked down at his sole survivor of the day, Colossal, who looked like he was about to pass out as well. An early bedtime did sound nice. For the first time in a while, he was tired enough that he did not dread going to sleep.