Chapter 33: Snake's Canyon Gym
The wide range of conflicting emotions swirling inside of me was almost too much to process as Lapras expertly pulled herself up to the sandy shores of a well-kept beach off of the Isle of Naporia with me and Eliza in tow. I had finally bested what some would consider my rival - I had taken Snake down even with him using the element of surprise to ambush me in the middle of the ocean. But I'd been too green to finish the job. He had escaped and was likely saved by his Anonymous cohorts by now. His threats of the full power of Team Anonymous coming down on me still rung in the back of my head even with so many other pressing concerns at the moment.
On the one hand, I had reached the final destination of what I had been busting my ass for the past year or so, and a huge part of me was genuinely excited at the thought of facing such strong opponents soon if I got into the Ilragorn League. I had to give myself props for coming as far as I had, because I honestly had a few moments where I really questioned if I had the potential to get this far. On the other hand, the League started in a little over a day and I was still one gym badge short, and the anxiety of knowing I only have one chance (if that) against the final gym due to the time constraint was more than a little nerve-wracking. Add to the fact that Eliza had ceased her crying which normally would be a good thing, but she had actually worsened into a mute state of complete disconnect that made her seem depressed since she hadn't responded to anything I'd said in the past hour.
I sympathized. I shared stories of losing my beloved Kabutops to a Dusknoir in a graveyard, of Togepi and Spearow being slain by Snake's Arbok, of my old Emolga that abandoned me at Gord Lake after a traumatizing battle. But Eliza didn't react to any of it; she remained sad and silent and lost in her dark thoughts, consumed by the death of her Staraptor. After a while I had given up to preserve the little energy I had left.
While I expected the local beach of Naporia to be deserted at the late hour of what had to be at least past midnight, it was quite the opposite. The local beach was packed with people who seemed to be celebrating, some of them partnered with pokemon who were joining in the festivities. While people danced and drank and laughed, several floating Castform had been using Sunny Day in order to create the illusion of spotlights on the dancing crowd of people, with the sunlight transforming the Castforms into orange versions of themselves. A few Drifblims were using very restrained Gusts in order to act as wind machines and keep the girls dresses and hair flying in order to subconsciously urge people to keep dancing in the night with the glitz and glam of the bright lights and massive wind machines encouraging the partying to continue.
Lapras cautiously slowed to a stop along the most deserted area of the beach where the fewest people would notice the odd sight of two teenagers arriving by Lapras from the ocean in the middle of the night. It was impossible to arrive unseen, however, and one of the locals approached us as Eliza and me hopped off of Lapras at last, finally back on dry land. Eliza instantly fell to her knees and started kissing the sand in appreciation - she must have really thought she was going to die for a minute out there. I recalled Lapras as a young boy of around 6 years old ran up to me.
"Whoa! I saw your Lapras, he was coming in so fast, like fwoom fwoom! He must be freaking strong! And you came from the sea!" the little boy squealed as if he had caught Santa Claus delivering presents.
"That we did," I agreed with a smile, enjoying the child's massive enthusiasm and praise. "Although that Lapras is actually a she. And she's actually tussled with pokemon over at Goldenleaf Gym. So yeah, she can play with the big leagues."
"Wooow," the young boy marveled, his eyes gleaming. "She's awesome."
"Well, thank you. I have to ask you, though. What's everyone out here celebrating? Or is this normal for Naporia, are the locals late night party animals or something?" I wondered.
"The Ilragorn League is tomorrow, silly!"
"Oh, duh." A thought suddenly occurred to me that I should have asked a long time ago, and the fact I was about to ask a 6 year old child on a whim didn't bother me a bit. "Little boy, do you know where the League actually takes place?"
"Over there!" The child turned away from facing me and the ocean and pointed his tiny finger toward a large, rounded building shaped like a bowl not too far in the distance. Probably right in the middle of the main city of Naporia.
"Is it a colosseum?" I asked, squinting my eyes in the darkness to try to make out the shape.
"The Naporia Colosseum!" the boy confirmed happily.
"They host the Ilragorn League in the Naporia Colosseum? And it's right there? Oh my Arceus. Yes." mimicked Eliza and fell to my own knees in the sand in exhaustion and relief, so tired from the days events and yet so happy to know that this was one of those rare moments in my life where Arceus was tossing me a bone in exchange for all the unlucky bullshit and psychos I'd had to go through to get here. The gym and the League were housed on the same island. I'd explored the majority of Ilragorn's main island, including all the major cities and I'd never seen an area with enough space to host the pokemon league so it made sense for it to be hosted in the Isle of Naporia where there were less people.
The boy was being called back by his mother a ways away, and so he thanked me for letting him see his very first Lapras in person, then he jogged back across the sand to join his family who were grouped with all the partygoers. Eliza and I were dead exhausted at this point, and our pokemon needed urgent medical attention, especially if I was going to try to get that badge.
I can hardly remember the trip to the Naporia Pokemon Center as it was basically a drunken stupor as I somehow managed to tag Eliza along in her coma-like state of duress that I just didn't have the energy to try to snap her out of at that point in the night. The streets were filled with people, Naporia locals as well as tourists in town to watch the Ilragorn League, all of them dancing and partying just like the people on the beach were. Attempts to ask them for directions toward the pokemon center proved difficult as most of them were too inebriated to give a clear answer.
When we finally arrived at the pokemon center, I checked in all 5 of my pokemon with special instructions to tend to Gengar the most since he received the worst damage and rented a room in the back, practically throwing my money in the ever-cordial Nurse Joy's close-eyed, always-smiling face in my rush to lay down in an air conditioned room. Nurse Joy was left with all of our pokemon with strict instructions that they must all be at tip-top shape by sunrise. Eliza and I were asleep before we even settled into our beds, too tired to even take off our shoes.
I woke up in the early afternoon to the sun high in the sky and casting a bright glow through the skylight windows that made me surprised I was just now waking up. The nights events really had taken their toll on my body and I underestimated how much sleep I actually needed. Apparently Eliza felt the same way, because she was still in her own bed on the other side of the room, the covers pulled over her head. Unsure if she was awake or asleep under there as it was quite possible she was just hiding under the blanket in a state of mourning, I thought it only appropriate to explain my actions because I instantly felt a surge of adrenaline rush through my body as I realized how little time I actually had to go to the gym, schedule a battle today, win, and enter the Ilragorn League. The digital clock on the nightstand between the two beds read the time as 3:03 PM.
"I'll be back in a couple hours," I stated to the silent room, wondering if Eliza was listening. "I'm so sorry you're going through all this, but I promise it's only going to get better from here, Eliza. I'm going to go get this dark badge and get in this league and win it. And I'll give you half the prize money when I do. Then I'm getting the fuck off this island and away from all these crazy gang members and unstable trainers, and I'll take you with me...if you want. Hang in there just a little while longer." I then left the room, wondering if she had heard any of that, being sure to shut the door as quietly behind me as I could, then made my way to the front of the center where the rejuvenation chambers to heal pokemon were kept and where Nurse Joy was usually found.
"Good afternoon, sleepyhead!" Nurse Joy greeted me from behind the front desk as I entered the front lobby, still rubbing sleep out of my eyes.
"I need my pokemon," I grumbled at her, but my unfriendliness didn't faze her and she was quick to retrieve four pokeballs from one of the large rejuvenation machines behind the counter and hand them back to me with proficiency. "Only four?" My mind instantly went to Gengar, remembering how severe the damage to him was and my throat clenched, feeling very dry all of a sudden. "Is Gengar-?"
"Your Gengar is a tough little guy, and he's hanging in strong. It's rare that I see a pokemon come in here with that much damage taken and still be able to come back from it. Your Gengar will need some more time to recuperate fully from the damage he sustained, but all in all I believe he will make a full recovery. He's a very impressive pokemon, so you shouldn't be ashamed in any way or think of either of you as weak that he needs extra recovery time. I've seen injuries far less than this take down even the greatest pokemon." Nurse Joy explained in her optimistic tone, and for once I didn't mind it one bit. With my mood uplifted and my battling confidence equally rejuvenated from Nurse Joy's speech, I bounded out of the pokemon center in a race against the clock to reach the dark gym before the day was over.
The street outside Naporia Pokemon Center had somehow grown full of even more people who would be attendants of the Ilragorn League tomorrow, some clearly Ilragorn residents while some appeared to be foreigners based on the Kalos, Unova, and Johto-branded hats, shirts, and bags being sported. The dancing craze of last night had faded and instead the energy in the air had changed to excitement and talk as I caught bits and pieces of who everyone was placing bets on would go far this year and what pokemon were expected to perform the best and how close some of the matches would be and how unlikely it was that anyone could match up to Ava.
"Don't forget that Ava has a Mega Metagross, Sheila. How many people on this island even have a Mega pokemon?"
"I'm betting on that girl from Wintervale with the Garchomp! Dragons are the best type by far!"
"Are you going to enter or not, dude? Last day to enter so don't Torchic out, just do it you scaredy Meowth!"
"I knew a guy who had a Mega Audino for a little while but I think it ended up getting killed 'cause it was so weak - he just stopped talking about it and stopped using it altogether. So don't assume all Megas are unbeatable. Then again Audino is literally the worst Mega pokemon."
"Do they serve pokemon as food at the Naporia Colosseum? Don't look at me like that, they served cooked Luvdisc at the Lily of the Valley Conference in Sinnoh last year and it was delicious, get with the times!"
"Guys, believe me, I was so close to entering - so close - but I just couldn't beat the dark gym! I brought 3 fairy pokemon but Magenta's mons are some of the toughest I've ever battled! I can't imagine how stiff the competition this year is going to be if everyone in the league actually beat Magenta!"
"Remember last year how Ava beat that dude with Venomoth and Metagross? I just don't want the battle to be such a steamroll this year, I want to really see a showdown between someone great and Ava where, like, all six pokemon are used, you know? I mean, Ava can't really be that great until the day she dies, can she?"
"Make sure you didn't lose the tickets, again, Mom. I really don't want to miss any matches this year."
"Did you just say you were attacked by a red-eyed Probopass in Rocky Road? Oh my god, I was attacked by a red-eyed Clawitzer over in Gord Lake that was just insanely hostile for no reason and wouldn't stop attacking my poor Chesnaught until it wouldn't go down anymore…"
"Zach would be sexy if he wasn't so anal about everything, he's gonna get wrinkles on his forehead from all that stressing at such a young age. What is he, 18?"
"So there's only an Elite 3 this year because of Morgan's accident? That's disappointing. It just doesn't have the same ring to it as the Elite 4."
"Raise a glass if you've ever traded a pokemon and regretted it immediately!"
"My cousin over in Kanto says their champion Red would demolish Ava in a heartbeat because he uses a Mega Charizard but type advantage isn't always a guarantee win. Plus, what does he know, he can't even win a single badge."
"You know, Gladys the ground gym leader is an old chick. Ava the Champion is an old chick. Why are grandmas some of the best battlers on this island, am I the only one wondering that?"
"Are you guys talking about Morgan? There's rumors that it wasn't a cave in or an accident at all. Don't you know?"
The actual city of Naporia was magnificent, littered with skyscrapers throughout the city, most of them hotels to house the many vacationers and tourists. The buildings were all new and recent unlike the huts of Goldenleaf Slums. The air itself felt richer and cleaner. But it seemed that the two biggest attractions drawing people to the isle was the natural wonder of Snake's Canyon and the dark gym nestled somewhere within it, and Naporia Colosseum where the league would be hosted. The remainder of the Isle of Naporia was mostly wild jungle where pokemon that found the living environments of Ilragorn's mainland too stressful had migrated to the more serene wildlife.
I reached the city's limits after a few hours of squeezing through the piles of people clumped together excitedly all throughout the city streets, where a sign and chain link fence separating the wild, lush jungle trees and the city read Fuji Jungle - A Scenic Trainer's Route to Snake's Canyon (6 miles to canyon).
Fuck that. I was not about to waste more time fighting past wild pokemon through six miles of jungle to get to the massive canyon where I still didn't even know where exactly the gym would be located when according to the pokedex's digital watch, the time was now 5:30 PM. I had never actually learned when specific times gyms close, but I knew they weren't 24/7.
I grabbed one of the four available pokemon from my belt that I knew would help this situation the most, and that was clearly Tropius. It had become clear to me that out of all my pokemon, Tropius was definitely the weakest in terms of battling as he had the worst win-loss ratio, plus his typing of grass/flying hardly offered any useful resistances, and he lacked good coverage moves to make up for his many weaknesses to common types. While at first glance it may look like Tropius was more of a detriment to the team than a benefit, over the year he had pulled his weight and saved my ass enough times to make me appreciate that when he was bad, yeah he really sucked. But when he was good, he really did pull through. Beating a Kabutops in Duggie's Ruins without a grass move because I had been too foolhardy to make sure he even had one before I went challenging rock types, and allowing me to catch Kabutops who had been the key to beating Zach in Peltagrow. Tropius saved me from a broken neck after I sat on that Rhyhorn in Exeter and it almost charged me into a tree in retaliation, which I found to be a bit of an excessive reaction.
"Tropius, we don't have a lot of time," I felt like I said this to him a lot and was feeling a sense of deja vu as Tropius emerged from his pokeball and flapped his wings in gratitude as the fresh air blew through them. "I need you to fly me over Fuji Jungle and just take me directly to Snake's Canyon Gym. It's somewhere in the canyon past the jungle, I don't know where, but we'll keep our eyes peeled. If ever I need you to not fuck up, today is that day, Tropius."
Tropius bowed his head and long neck to the ground to allow me to climb aboard his back, and without hesitation the two of us were up, up, up in the air and flying at a speed I didn't even know Tropius was capable of as he soared with purpose high over the tallest trees of the jungle. I almost felt like I was in a video game, and I had reached one of those parts in the game were you just know you're going to have to slug through an hour of filler content and busywork that was essentially just put in there to drag the game out longer and keep you from reaching the final boss. Riding atop Tropius as he breezed over Fuji Jungle felt like the thrill of discovering a secret password or hidden passage in the game that allowed you to just skip with ease over all the bullshit that would have otherwise occupied your precious time for an hour, and be done with it in one simple minute.
I won't deny that Fuji Jungle was gorgeous, as the trees had far more greenery and life to them that the murky browns of the Gord Woods or the tall, ancient, thick oaks that stretched to the heavens in Exeter Forest. The pokemon that thrived in Fuji from the birds eye view I had appeared far healthier and stronger than their Ilragorn counterparts as I recalled the starved, emaciated Golbat Marvin and I spotted along Rocky Road. A pang of guilt rang through my heart as a family of familiar birds took to the air from one of the treetops as a mother Staraptor led her baby Starlys through the air as they practiced flying. I was slightly cheered up by the sight of the Starly all successfully catching their dinner when their mother Staraptor led them all to a honeycomb dangling from one of the tallest branches of a tree and they dined on the Combee surrounding it while Staraptor gorged on the Vespiquen.
The sun was beginning to set in the west and cast dark shadows all along the ripples of uneven rocky valleys that made up Snake's Canyon as Tropius reached the final stretch of luscious trees outlining Fuji Jungle. Finding it best at this point to not even check my pokedex for a time check, I just prodded Tropius to descend lower into the valley so that there was no way possible we would miss spotting any buildings laid out on the floor.
Snake's Canyon was a long trench that curved in an S-pattern which I imagined was the reason for its name with tall, jagged rock formations that had been carved out from a water source that was long gone and what remained was a beautiful vision even in the fading sunlight. The canyon was marked with hundreds of years of people and pokemon and the elements strolling over its rocky surface until at last it became what it was today: a long, curly canyon that housed a handful of different pokemon such as Boldore strutting along the very bottom of the trench, likely rushing to find the holes that would lead them to their homes under the ground before it became too dark and they'd get lost, as they were not the most intelligent pokemon. I'd learned that from reading the pokedex over and over in my many hours of boredom.
Tropius was the first to see it - the lights were still on inside of the building, making the gymnasium cast a bright ray of light throughout the generally dim Snake's Canyon, but we didn't see it until turning around a particularly sharp corner while following the deep trench through the canyon. The adrenaline and nerves and doubt that had been radiating throughout my entire body for the entirety of the day subsided at the fact that the lights were on - the gym wasn't closed.
The Snake's Canyon Gym was an interesting sight as it had been built right smack dab in the canyon, just a little off to the side of the massive trench centered between the hills shielding the canyon off from Fuji Jungle. I thought that was an insane idea, as there was an Onix, standing at a total of 8 meters tall, nestled in a nook in the trench not less than 200 feet away from the gym. Couldn't an Onix do massive damage to a building if it just happened to be a bad mood or tussled into it while battling with another wild pokemon? Regardless of the placement of the gym, it was a sight for sore eyes. It had been painted entirely black and would have been camouflaged in the darkness if not for the lights still being on inside.
"Down, Tropius! Here! You did it! Fucking amazing, man, you did it!" I gave a Tropius a hug around his long neck and even stroked the bananas dangling off his chin which I only did if he really pleased me. Tropius chuckled affectionately as he descended to the canyon floor, sending several inquisitive Arons scuttling back to the safety of the trench in fear of the unknown green flying pokemon in their midst. I hopped off of Tropius and thanked him while recalling him back to his pokeball just as the front doors of the gym opened with great force, sending the doubles doors slamming wide open as a young woman with glossy black hair in a long dark robe met my eyes, and I just knew it was her.
"You're Magenta," I said, not asked, having picked up her name from the tidbits I'd heard while traveling through Naporia City.
"And you are someone who is not very good with time because you must not know that the gym is actually about to cl-"
"Please," I sank to my knees, hands clasped together like in prayer, immediately resorting to begging. "You don't know, you really don't know what I've had to go through to get here. Please - I'm here, I'm ready. I've been stopped and dawdled by trainers and red-eyed pokemon and Anonymous agents and my own demons and I know I'm late but all I ask is that you just honor what I've had to go through as a trainer this whole entire year which has been nothing but stress and grinding and just give your job as a gym leader just an extra 20 minutes of overtime today just so that I can have one last chance to get into the Ilragorn League. Otherwise, I'm stuck waiting a whole other year and at this point I'm pretty sure I've got a price on my head from Team Anonymous and the thought of spending another year collecting badges and training my pokemon while going around the island all over again just ups the chances I wind up dead from bumping into one of them when I know I have what it takes this year, today, right now to go all the way to Ava and win the prize money and start over somewhere new. Please. Just give me one battle."
"And you're familiar with all the standard gym policy, yes?" Magenta asked from the other side of the stadium. The dark stadium didn't have spotlights or fluorescents or the day's natural sunlight to illuminate the room like the other gyms, but there were a dozen lit torches grappled to the wall that allowed some light, but not much. There were no stands to play off of either like the normal gym in Peltagrow, and for some reason I was hoping there would be. The stadium itself was actually pretty barren and the only niche it had going for it was that it was dimly lit.
"Yep, completely. I'm ready."
"Good. Then let's wrap this up quickly, I have bets to place for tomorrow. I choose Malamar."
Magenta released Malamar from one of her three pokeballs with utter confidence, which was a bizarrely shaped pokemon that reminded me of a sea creature with a beak and long sharp tentacles for arms. Malamar was almost fluid with its movements in the way its tentacles and mane of cool blue hair moved as if underwater, even while remaining motionless. Malamar had an unpleasant grimace and beady yellow eyes, making it one of the ugliest pokemon I had ever come in contact with and I'm the last guy to care about the aesthetics of a pokemon.
"I choose Drapion," I announced as Drapion emerged from my own pokeball. I never started a gym battle with my hardest hitter before, as I usually liked to conserve him in the back as the ace up my sleeve. I already knew I had Passimian and Lapras in the back since there was no way I was risking losing this match by putting Tropius in the mix, so I was feeling pretty assured. Drapion and Malamar faced each other but didn't like it, both of them roughly the same height and both of them scowling at the other as an intimidation factor.
"Drapion. Don't see that much. Most challengers start off with fighting types or fairies but a Drapion? I like your tenacity to think outside the box." Magenta commented admiringly, a true expert such as her being able to sense the raw power coming off of Drapion instantly. A small smile broke over her face as I got the sense she was starting to not regret her decision to entertain me with a battle. That's right, I was actual competition afterall.
"He's been with me the longest and he's the strongest on my team. He's who I'm going to beat Ava with so he could use the experience of going up against one of the top battlers on the island."
"You're so confident. Perhaps too. That can be powerful and helpful but like all things - in moderation. Don't let that get the better of you in the future." Magenta spoke in a wondrous tone reminding me of a fortune teller trying to appear like she's communicating with the dead. "Malamar, Superpower into Drapion right away!"
Malamar started charging toward Drapion using its floppy, flat feet, the tentacles of its arms reeling backwards to gain momentum as Malamar prepared to charge into Drapion with a full force fighting attack by pummeling into it with its tentacles.
"Pin Missile," I told Drapion, feeling a wave of nostalgia hit me as I hadn't needed to use that move in so long, since Drapion was a little Skorupi trying to weaken Tropius for me to catch back at Gord Lake. Drapion whirled around in a complete 180 so that his tail was going to be the first thing Malamar collided into, then fired off four sharp pins from the end of his tail that - while they were tiny as can be, dealt out insane 4x super effective damage to the dark/psychic type that was exclusive to the Malamar and Inkay family line, besides the legendary Hoopa Unbound. More information I had picked up on from pouring over the databases, the trainer comments on mons, and reviews from other trainers on pokemon and necessary items, and I'd also learned plenty about legendary and ultra beasts as well as most of the Alola pokemon which I had usually forgotten about. While I was pretty sure the first Pin Missile alone sent Malamar into la la land, the second, third, and fourth cemented it and Malamar was a floppy, unconscious mess as Magenta recalled him back into his pokeball as quickly as he had come out.
"You've come prepared," Magenta complimented with a touch of snideness, as if there was less honor in taking out her mon with a 4x weak move, but her composure and confidence for the most part remained unshook despite losing a mon in record time out of all my battles with the gym leaders.
"Actually, he's been able to use that move since the day I caught him. Just experience and quick reflexes and teamwork." I responded back with just a pinch of my own attitude, ever so slightly insulting her battling style.
"I choose Fairy Killer," Magenta moved on and sent out her next mon, the nickname for her Bisharp catching me slightly off guard with its political incorrectness, especially for a gym leader. Her Bisharp stood straight and held its stance very tightly, arms held in front of its face defensively, focusing incredibly hard on Drapion as my own dark type took a few slow steps toward the Bisharp to gauge his response.
"Night Slash to fend it away!" Magenta ordered, surprising me by going for a resisted hit
"Drapion, Swords Dance," I responded, very happy right now that I had went with Swords Dance over Leer for this match as the dance allowed the damage output to be greater, as well as Bisharp's ability would punish me if I went for Leer by greatly boosting Bisharp's attack and allowing him to deal out too much damage. All the cards were falling into place so far with this one.
Drapion remained in place on his side of the field as Bisharp leaped toward him and, his right first surrounded with dark black energy, slashed his arm down across Drapion's armored chest while Drapion took the hit with ease and performed several movements with his arms to boost his strength.
"Iron Head and flinch it to submission!" Magenta tried, probably regretting her bad Night Slash play and letting me boost Drapion up for free. Bisharp's entire head formed a steel iron substance as he charged back at Drapion with the intention of headbutting him with the Iron Head.
"Pin Missile!" I countered, hoping the pins would prevent Bisharp from getting off the hit. Drapion repeated his move against Malamar by spinning and using his tail to fire off another round of projectiles, but the Bisharp moved with more speed and effort than the Malamar before it, and the Bisharp whacked at the five Pin Missiles intended for him using his head, sending each one zooming into a different direction with a metallic ching noise, and then finishing it off with bringing down his Iron Head on Drapion's back since Bisharp had breezed through the attack so fast that Drapion hadn't had time to face him again.
Drapion was brought down by the powerful force of Bisharp's Iron Head down on his sensitive back, sending his stomach slamming into the cold gymnasium floor.
"Alright, Fairy Killer. Finish him off with a Guillotine."
Drapion was still planted facedown in the ground as Bisharp, who had been standing right over him with a leg pressed down on his back, skyrocketed high into the air, as up as he could possibly go, then flipped in mid-air so that he was descending with the axe atop his head heading straight down toward the back of Drapion's neck.
"Dig!" I revealed my third move, and Drapion reacted with the impeccable speed I expected, using his newfound strength to pummel and tunnel at the gymnasium floor beneath him and digging himself entirely underground just seconds before Bisharp would've landed right on top of him and knocking him out instantly. Bisharp readjusted his landing so that he landed on his feet instead of his head when he noticed at the last second that Drapion had tunneled quite deep underground to evade the hit. The force of landing still shook Bisharp slightly, rattling his ankles heavily from the landing and sending dust and chunks of the wooden floor flying, revealing the rocky floors of the bottom of Snake's Canyon below.
"Fairy Killer, when he comes out, Sucker Pun-"
Drapion exploded from the ground beneath Bisharp's feet before Magenta could finish calling out her attack, Drapion not even allowing the little bit of damage that Sucker Punch would've done to be allowed. The wooden panels and rocky earth beneath Bisharp erupted in a cloud of dust and debris as Drapion shot himself out of the ground, releasing the full power of Dig right underneath Bisharp just as he was getting his bearings from landing. Needless to say, Bisharp fell to the floor and did not rise again while Drapion respectfully walked back to his side of the stadium, albeit rubbing with his tail concernedly at his back where Bisharp had headbutted it.
"You sacrificed your dark coverage for a surprise play like Dig," Magenta commented in her slightly spooky voice while she recalled her fainted partner. "Thought my Bisharp walled you. You got me."
"Figured why would I need to use a dark move against a dark gym?" I said it as if it was obvious, but judging by Magenta's reactions, such prep was a rarity from her challengers.
"No matter. My last pokemon has swept entire teams many a times and Fairy Killer's weakened your best mon enough. I choose Hydreigon."
With a toss of her last pokeball, a familiar ping, and a burst of red energy rocketing out of the ball, a ferocious three-headed dragon with two of its heads poking out of its palms and a dark coat of black, purple, and blue flew through the air and howled. Hydreigon being what trainers had titled a pseudo-legendary owing to his respectable power, and having a pretty cool look made it an incredibly loved pokemon here on Ilragorn and I'm not going to lie and say if I had the chance to have one on my team I wouldn't take it because hell yeah I'd squeeze him in. But mons like that are rare as all hell, even with trading and the Daycare Factory at Wintervale pumping them out.
Enough fangirling over this mon. This is my final enemy to get the last badge, and from what I remember my asshole brother saying as well as countless others on my journey - the Snake's Canyon gym is the the hardest of them all. And since Malamar and Bisharp have been cakewalks, the last thing I was about to do right now was choke away the battle by getting too cocky, even with two other mons in the back. Hydreigon was no bitch, and it likely had the power to take down my Passimian and my Lapras and my Drapion if I got too comfortable, even with all those type disadvantages.
"Drapion, Pin Missile!"
"Hydreigon, Fire Blast!"
Three thin missiles compiled of bug energy went darting toward the airborne Hydreigon who raised an arm at the incoming missiles to fire out a Fire Blast from the head on his right arm, a hangman-shaped burst of fire soared through the missiles, burning them to harmless crisps instantly and still descending upon Drapion as he realized his bug attacks would do no good as the temperature rapidly increased.
"Dig!" I ordered, grateful for the boost to his strength from the Swords Dance so that he once again managed to tunnel his way underground at the last second to dodge the explosion of flames and sparks as Fire Blast landed in the floor, then faded.
"Get above the hole," Magenta responded, and Hydreigon did, both of them moving as one as Hydreigon rushed to hover directly over the hole Drapion had just dug. "Fire Blast into it."
"Drapion, get out of the ground!"
Drapion shot out from the small crater in the ground where he had knocked out Bisharp and scrambled to his feet to avoid the hellfire going on underground as Hydreigon fire off a powerful Fire Blast right beneath the gym's floors and into the canyon floor itself, momentarily lighting the underground on fire as smoke and flames kept pooling out of both holes dug into the ground. Hopefully there were no wild pokemon hanging around right under that spot at the moment.
"Swords Dance, Pin Missile, Dig - what's the last move? Can you even touch my Hydreigon if I keep cooking your missiles? But no, I thought I walled you with the Bisharp, there's no way I'm making that same mistake twice." Magenta was thinking out loud which normally I thought to be an advantage, but she was confident enough in her abilities as a battler to not be afraid to share her planning with me in the moment. "Alright, Hydreigon. Let's be smart and see what else he's got and not go tossing out Fire Blasts left and right. Dark Pulse and force him to reveal his last move or just sit around slowly getting whittled. And if he goes underground again, Fire Blast him the moment he starts digging and burn him up. We've got them up against a wall, Hydreigon. Dark Pulse!"
My own mind working at a rapid pace to keep up with Magenta's expert level plays, knowing three out of four of my moves would do nothing but give her more momentum or damage on me, she really had cornered me. Right?
Hydreigon, levitating high in the air out of reach of Drapion and giving him a huge advantage, fired off a black stream of dark energy towards Drapion that there was no way to dodge.
"Pin Missile the Dark Pulse," I said, a wild idea occurring to me in the heat of the moment, doubting it would work but desperate.
Drapion had mastered the art of firing Pin Missiles at this point and didn't even need to turn around, as he could aim well enough with his tail while still facing the dark/dragon pokemon, and so he did, firing off five Pin Missiles this time in a stroke of good luck.
Unsure if Drapion's boosted strength as well as five missiles had the capability to put a dent in any special attacks thrown off by Hydreigon, even ones that it's super effective against, I still figured there was not much lost in trying.
The Pin Missiles collided in mid-air with the Dark Pulse, and although I had never thought to use Drapion's physical attacks to quell a special attack, it actually worked even better than I dared hope. The first four Pin Missiles used up all of their energy upon meeting with the Dark Pulse, their strength eventually overpowering it as it faded away, but the fifth Pin Missile remained on course directed toward Hydreigon, who was just as surprised as I was that his Dark Pulse has dissipated before coming into contact with Drapion.
"Dodge!" Magenta urged worriedly, the other-worldly quality in her voice gone as the fear of losing took over.
Hydreigon was a speedy flier and maneuvered his body and tail in just the right way so that he cleanly dodged the lone missile by several meters, proving that even if his Fire Blast didn't fry them, his natural speed would allow him to just dodge them all with ease with the amount of space Hydreigon had put between himself and Drapion. There had to be a way to get close.
"Flash Cannon, let's get some damage off, please!" Magenta ordered with a touch of annoyance in her tone as Hydreigon obeyed and pressed his hands together so that both of its heads combined to form one solid, long, silver stream of steel energy at Drapion, who was still looking focused and in it to win it.
"Drapion, jump onto the Flash Cannon before it reaches you!"
As the metallic beam of energy was fired out from the howling dragon, the Flash Cannon rushed through the air in its urgency to strike into the scorpion below. Drapion took a few key steps backwards, then propelled himself into a run as he rushed to meet the beam of tangible energy and light, bounding into the air after a few wide steps with the intention of landing with the utmost precision on the actual beam of energy that was aimed to hit him. Drapion did just that, landing atop the actual Flash Cannon while it was still being fired at him, the end of the attack crashing into the bare ground below. As quickly as Drapion had landed right in the middle of the Flash Cannon between the floor and the flying dragon, Drapion bounded to the air once more, propelling himself even further toward Hydreigon as Drapion whizzed through the air on a collision course headed straight into the beastly mon at last.
"Poison Jab!" I said unnecessarily because Drapion had already used his right hand to sock Hydreigon clean across his main face, the poisonous punch being thrown knocking Hydreigon out of the air and rolling into the floor of the gymnasium with a crash. Like a fool, I expected the match to be over as easy as that and started cheering prematurely over Drapion taking down a gym leader's Hydreigon when that very pokemon rose to its feet, covered in dirt and bruises and its face now sporting a black eye and swelling up like a balloon from Drapion's punch, but still alert and combative.
"Enough of this. Go all out! Draco Meteor!" Magenta shouted, clutching at her dark robe and trying to wrap herself into it even more than she already was, as if she was getting anxiety over losing.
Hydreigon raised both of its arms once more, holding them both high above its head, and fired off a powerful comet from the roaring mouths in its hands. The comet, covered in blue flames, soared straight above the four of us until it peaked high in the sky - then the comet exploded and dozens of streams of blue fiery dragon energy and shattered comet pieces descended down upon the gymnasium as the entire building rumbled with the power of Hydreigon's Draco Meteor slamming all over the stadium.
Drapion tried dodging the streams of dragon energy hailing all around him at first, slapping away at some of the incoming comet shards with his tail or his claws, but there was a reason this move was feared by almost any non-steel or non-fairy pokemon and that was due to its incredible attack potency.
At a certain point, Drapion stopped fighting it and he zeroed in on the only target: the stationary Hydreigon that was focusing his eyes towards the ceiling, where he'd fired off his beautiful Draco Meteor that was bound to take out his annoying opponent. Drapion allowed himself to be smacked by the incoming attacks as he marched through comet shards slapping at him at 60mph and scorches of blue dragon fire burning through his tough exterior armor until Drapion at last came face-to-face with the Hydreigon, and Drapion lifted both his arms at the same time.
One, two - two sharp Poison Jabs to Hydreigon's face from Drapion's boosted attack was enough to put the pseudo legendary monster down for the count. Drapion and I had really just solo'd the hardest gym of the four gyms of Ilragorn. I looked up from the unconscious Hydreigon to Magenta, trying to see her reaction.
"Better hurry to register for the league," Magenta said simply, revealing a pitch black pin I knew to be the dark gym badge from inside her robe and holding it out for me to take. I took the badge, managed a quick thank you for letting me battle her, then rushed out of the gym and back into the air of the night aboard Tropius as I rushed back to Naporia City feeling like for the first time in a long time things were about to get so much better.