Counterbalanced – Chapter 21
Alex breathed out slowly, anxiously awaiting the referee's decision.
After a moment, the man held out his right hand, towards Alex.
"Watchog is unable to continue this fight! I hereby declare Alex Zenouveau to be the winner of this battle!
He has officially earned the Basic Badge, along with 2400 Pokédollars! Congratulations!"
Alex grinned.
"Well done, Tauros!"
Alex was nearly knocked over as the large, brown Pokémon happily shoved him.
Zigzagoon, completely exhausted from his part of the battle, was sitting at his feet, and barked.
After regaining his balance, Alex crouched down, scratching Zigzagoon behind its ears.
"You did really good as well, Zigzagoon. I don't think we would've had any chance against Herdier without you."
Lenora's voice sounded from across the battlefield.
"Congratulations, Alex. That was an excellent battle."
She held out a Pokéball, and her Watchog returned to it in a flash of red light.
"I will officially hand over your well-deserved badge soon, but first… I'll have to battle your friend."
The tall woman looked at Yena, who was beaming at both her and Alex from the sidelines.
"Our battle will start after I put my Pokémon through the Speed Recovery machine.
They'll be ready to face you in ten minutes."
"This is an official gym battle between the gym leader Lenora, and the challenger, Yena Zenouveau.
You will each use two Pokémon.
The battle is over when your Pokémon are unable to continue fighting, or when one of the trainers gives up. If these rules are clear, the battle may commence!"
Yena threw a glance to the sidelines.
Alex was leaning against the wall.
He had returned Zigzagoon and Tauros to their Pokéballs, leaving Sandshrew as his only companion to watch her battle with.
Her young Pokémon was currently hanging from the lower end of Alex' sweater, trying to crawl inside like she had done with Yena.
Alex rolled his eyes at Sandshrew's attempts, then caught Yena looking at him, and grinned.
But when the Pokémon almost succeeded, sticking her head under his shirt, he grabbed her, holding the protesting Pokémon in his arms instead.
His eyes went back to Yena.
He nodded with a determined look on his face, wishing her a good battle.
And Yena was ready – she already had the first Pokéball in her hand.
As it opened, Munna appeared in front of her.
The Pokémon swirled around.
"Mu-Muuuu…!"
Lenora's voice sounded from the other side of the battlefield.
"If your Pokémon is just as strong as it is cute, I'm in for a difficult battle!"
Her teal hair danced as Nacrene City's gymleader threw her own Pokéball out on the grounds.
It bounced once, then opened – Herdier appeared with a growl, immediately eyeing the pink Pokémon in front of him.
Yena studied the dog-like Pokémon for a moment.
"I've seen your Herdier fight against Zigzagoon. He's really strong…
But we'll do our best to defeat him, won't we, Munna?"
The referee held up his arm.
"Trainers and Pokémon! Get ready! The battle for the Basic Badge starts… now!"
Alex struggled to keep a good grip on Sandshrew.
The baby Pokémon had started to squeal and cry out to Yena from the moment the battle had started, intimidated by the show of force, and not quite as comfortable around Alex as she was with Yena. But as having Sandshrew run across the battlefield was potentially disastrous, Alex refused to let the struggling Pokémon go. Too nervous to watch the battle unfolding in front of them, Sandshrew finally gave up, and rolled herself into a tight ball.
Alex sighed of relief, and looked up again, discovering he had missed the start of the battle.
The Pokémon were now circling around eachother fast. As he watched, Munna glowed for a moment, then fired off a bright, multi-colored beam from her forehead. The Psybeam attack scratched Herdier's coat for a moment, but missed its target for the most part.
A quick command from Lenora – Herdier jumped back at Munna, its mouth open, its fangs clearly visible.
But there was no need to worry. Almost all the battles Alex and Yena had practised, had involved Zigzagoon's sharp teeth.
Routinely, Munna went up in the air, now hovering higher than usual.
Herdier's teeth never reached her - as soon as Herdier passed below her, she dropped down, knocked her opponent down to the ground.
This unconventional attack was something Yena and Munna had come up with together.
The pink Pokémon was quick to execute the attack independently, and required no command from her owner.
Herdier barked shortly as he hit the ground, and quickly scrambled away from Munna.
Alex could tell how Lenora was assessing the situation.
"Herdier, don't be discouraged. We still have our trump card… Use your Shadow Ball attack!"
Alex mind was racing – Lenora had not used this move when Herdier fought Zigzagoon.
If this was her strongest move, she surely would've tried it, if it would've had any effect at all…
But now, with a Psychic-type Pokémon as her opponent…
"Yena, watch out for that attack!"
Yena immediately responded to his warning.
"Munna, stay on the move! Don't let that attack hit you!"
Herdier had opened his mouth, and a dark ball of energy was forming in front of it.
When it was fired off, the purple orb moved through the air incredibly fast – missing the swirling, pink Pokémon by an inch.
Lenora called out, from her side of the battlefield:
"Again! Try it again!"
Herdier's Shadow Ball attacks were now cast towards Munna in quick succession, and the Psychic Pokémon had to move in a zigzag to avoid being hit by them.
Yena was trying hard to come up with a plan.
"Munna! Keep going, you're doing great!
Try to use your Psybeam attack, whenever you can!"
It was quite a spectacular sight – the dark purple balls of energy going to one side, and bright rays of light to the other.
Both Pokémon were moving fast, dodging attacks and firing off their own at the same time. It was only a matter of time before one of them got hit…
…Then, a terrible, high-pitched squeal.
Munna flew back through the gym as she was struck by one of the dark balls of energy.
The Pokémon crashed into the wall behind Lenora, then fell to the ground with a thud.
Munna, unable to even levitate, just moved around on the ground, powerless.
A moment of silence followed, where Yena had frozen on the spot, her mouth covered by her hand, her eyes wide.
The referee was quick to conclude:
"Munna is unable to continue the fight. Please use another Pokémon."
His words called Yena back to reality.
Shakily, she held out her Pokéball.
"Come back, Munna!"
A red beam shot from the object in her hand, returning the defeated Pokémon to it.
Then, with more force this time, she threw out Oshawott's Pokéball on the battlefield.
"Let's go, Oshawott!"
The otter-like Pokémon appeared in front of Herdier, looking ferocious.
Munna's defeat made Oshawott focus on winning against Herdier, no matter what – the Pokémon breathed in deep, completely concentrating on the battle at hand, and ready to do its best.
So when Herdier jumped forward, it took just a fraction of a second for Oshawott to remove the seashell from its stomach.
And maybe it was because dodging Munna's Psybeam attacks had made Herdier tired, but the dog-Pokémon was too late to see Oshawott's shell coming – the scalchop slashed across his face mercilessly.
Blood dripped down on the floor as Herdier stumbled backwards, whining loudly, and clearly in pain.
Oshawott's shell had cut deeply into his nose, and the wound was bleeding badly.
Lenora made the decision, without waiting for the referee.
"That's enough, Herdier. Come back."
Red light enveloped the Pokémon, and he disappeared from the battlefield.
As Lenora held up her next Pokéball, she locked eyes on Yena.
"Your Oshawott seems ready for a good battle. I won't hold back."
Lenora's Watchog looked remarkably fresh and ready for battle, considering he had been trampled by Alex' Tauros less than an hour ago.
Standing tall, the Pokémon closely studied Oshawott with its strange, red and yellow eyes.
Oshawott did its best to hold on to its focus, trying to hide just how much he was intimidated by Watchog's strict gaze.
He made sure the shell was secured well as he put it back on his stomach.
Yena made the first move.
"Oshawott, let's see how fast Watchog can move… Water Gun!"
She had observed Watchog fight Tauros from the sidelines, and noticed how he preferred to stay upright, just on its feet, instead of using his paws to run as well. So when Oshawott blasted a strong jet of water towards the meerkat-like Pokémon, Watchog jumped away, just using its hind legs.
"Faster, Oshawott! You can do this!"
It had been a wise bit of judgement from Yena.
Soon, Watchog got tired of jumping aside, and was partially hit by Oshawott's attacks over and over again, and losing energy quick.
Lenora had seen enough.
"Watchog, go ahead and use your Thunderbolt attack!"
Watchog's cheeks released some sparks of electricity, and soon the current moved through its entire body.
As soon as his whole body was surrounded by the clear, yellow electricity, Watchog sent a spark flying towards his opponent.
Oshawott yelped as he threw himself aside, out of harm's way.
The endless practise battles with Alex and Chase paid off, as the little water-Pokémon danced around, dodging Watchog Thunderbolt attack again.
Every time he managed to avoid getting hit by the electricity, Oshawott's confidence grew.
At one point, he even spared a moment to look back at Yena, to show her he was ready for her next command.
Then, he jumped away again, causing Watchog to growl in frustration as his attack missed again.
Yena felt incredibly proud of her agile Pokémon, but was wrecking her brain at the same time.
A water-type attack was out of the picture now, obviously.
Oshawott's Tackle was also quite strong, but he'd surely get shocked before even reaching Watchog…
And to use his Razor Shell attack, he'd also have to get quite close…
Or… Wait…
Yena lifted her head, as she came up with a plan.
"Oshawott! Try to get a good hold of your shell when you get the chance…!"
Lenora's light teal eyes went from Yena to Oshawott.
"Keep going, Watchog… Don't give Oshawott the time to arm himself…"
But Oshawott had jumped back, away from its opponent, creating more space between them.
Now the Thunderbolt attack took a little longer to reach him, giving him some extra time.
In one moment between attacks, Oshawott routinely pulled the seashell from his belly again, simply holding it while he leaped to the left to dodge the next electric blast.
Yena quickly gave him his next command.
"Get ready, Oshawott… Throw your shell at Watchog…! Now…!"
Oshawott hesitated for a moment, having never practised this before.
Then he spun around, letting go of his precious scalchop.
The seashell soared through the air for a moment, before scratching Watchog's side.
The meerkat-like Pokémon abruptly lost its concentration when he was hit, crying out in surprise, and the electricity disappearing from its body.
Yena called out to her Pokémon:
"Now go, Oshawott! Tackle!"
Sandshrew stretched out as soon as Alex handed her to Yena.
The young Pokémon climbed to her owner's shoulder, hugging the side of Yena's face.
Lenora smiled, and reached out to scratch Sandshrew's tough skin.
"Your Pokémon must be happy to have such a talented master."
She reached into a pocket on her apron, offering the content to Yena and Alex.
"Congratulations, both of you."
The Basic Badge was a long, thin rectangle.
The inside of the shape was a deep shade of purple, the outlines were golden, along with three thin, horizontal lines.
Alex was the first one to recognise the shape.
"It's like the spine of a book…"
Lenora grinned.
"I couldn't resist designing it like that, after putting every trainer that comes here through all those puzzles…"
Yena and Alex were greeted by Chase and Scout the moment they stepped outside.
Chase was looking displeased.
"You two took your time. At least tell me you both got a badge?"
When the two nodded, he sighed.
"Well, that's good."
He gestured at the darkening sky.
"But the time of day is not. We have Pinwheel Forest to pass through.
Not a festive place in the dark.
And I advise against crossing the Skyarrow Bridge in the dead of the night, too."
"So…"
He clapped his hands once, a move that was instantly copied by both Scout and Sandshrew.
"…We'll go to sleep early, and leave for Castelia City at dawn."