Chapter 21: VS Dewford Leader Brawly (part 2)

No reviews yet...sigh, I know I was gone for a while, but I'm not leaving this story in the dust.

Disclaimer: I own nothing official.


Makuhita rushed forward, pounding Wind with several weak blows before the bird could react. With all of the damage that had been done to Wind in the previous battle, this was enough to faint him. With a weak caw, the bird plummeted down to the sand and lay there sprawled out in a rather undignified manner.

Sapphire was a bit startled by this - after all, Arm Thrust wasn't that powerful, and it was not that effective on a Flying type - but on the outside she kept a calm exterior. Quickly she recalled Wind into the safety of his Pokeball, whispering a few words of thanks before selecting her next Pokemon.

"Dancer, I need your assistance." She called as she released the little Pokemon onto the field. Dancer let out a soft cry before focusing her attention on Makuhita, who was looking at his opponent with a tiny bit of apprehension. Even though he was at a higher level than Dancer, Makuhita couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit of apprehension. It was to be expected. As a Fairy and a Psychic type, Dancer was a Fighting type's worst nightmare.

"Use Disarming Voice!" Alpha commanded. The girl was taking a risk, since Dancer was the frailest of all of her Pokemon. But the Feeling Pokemon needed to get some training in. While Sapphire was not cruel, she also did not believe in coddling her Pokemon too much.

Makuhita's face scrunched up in pain as Dancer let out a wail, but nonetheless used Bulk Up to raise his defenses.

"Keep going, Dancer!" Alpha cheered, happy her strategy was working. If Makuhita got in close that would mean bad news for Dancer, type advantage or not. But as long as the two of them engaged Makuhita from a distance, the win would easily become theirs.

"Makuhita, hit them with Knock Off!" Makuhita grimaced before rushing forward, quickly closing the gap between himself and Dancer. The attack connected, and Dancer stumbled backwards. Even though it only normally would have dealt moderate damage, the difference in levels made it so that Dancer ended up taking a lot more damage than Sapphire predicted. Perhaps the attack had also been a critical hit, and that was why it had seemed so powerful.

"Good work, Dancer!" Sapphire held out the Pokemon's Pokeball and recalled her faithful partner. She was not a moment too soon, for just as Dancer vanished Makuhita struck the sand where she had been standing with another Knock Off.

"Makuhita." Makuhita grunted, a peeved look on his face. Alpha smiled slightly, before reaching for Sword's Pokeball.

"Wow, a shiny Ralts." Brawly raised an eyebrow in surprise at the sight of the rare Pokemon. "That's one I've never seen before in this gym."

"Yeah, well you're going to remember him quite well." Alpha smirked. "Sword, use Confusion!"

"Makuhita, Sand Attack!" Makuhita grinned and began to kick up sand, the fine particles that flew into the air. Sword got several of them in his eyes, and his psychic attack missed the mark by several feet. Makuhita laughed before using Bulk Up.

"As long as we use Sand Attack a few times, you won't be able to hit us." Brawly said confidently before calling for another use of the Ground type attack. Makuhita obliged, and soon Sword could hardly see.

"Stay calm, Sword, and use Disarming Voice!" Alpha ordered. Brawly grinned, only for a shocked expression to replace that grin as the super effective Fairy type move hit Makuhita dead on.

"Disarming Voice always hits its target, regardless of how the Pokemon's stats have changed." Alpha explained, grinning a bit at the surprise coating the Gym Leader's face.

"Ah, yeah, I guess I forgot about that." Brawly said with a sheepish look on his face. "I guess that means that I can quit messing around. Hiding in the dark's not really my style of battling, anyway. Makuhita, keep on using Bulk Up!"

"Don't let up, Sword! Give them your best Disarming Voice!"

Makuhita grit his teeth and kept on flexing his muscles, steadily building up his offensive and defensive capabilities. Sword kept on wailing, his voice assaulting his unseen foe from a distance. This continued on for a few moments - Makuhita charging up power, while steadily taking damage from Sword's attack. Finally, Brawly decided that he had had enough hiding.

"Alright then, Makuhita, finish them off with Knock Off!" He called. Makuhita smirked and began running towards Sword, who was still crying out. Alpha ordered him to dodge the attack, but due to the sand in his eyes Sword accidentally lept right towards the advancing Fighting type, and was promptly hit with the Dark type attack. Despite the fact that Sword's Fairy type attributes lessened the damage, he was still barely standing.

But despite all of this, Sword grinned. And Sapphire smirked as well. They both knew what just had happened. Makuhita may have landed a devastating blow, but he had also given away his position. And even though Makuhita hadn't taken nearly as much damage as Sword had, he still wasn't looking too hot.

"Finish this battle with Confusion!" Sapphire yelled. Sword hurled the psychic energy towards Makuhita, striking Brawly's Pokemon with the attack. Confusion may have had a weak base power, but Sword was rather strong for a Ralts, and he had managed to hit one of Makuhita's weak points. It was a critical hit, and down Makuhita went.

Now, no one could never say that the orange Pokemon didn't try to continue, and spent a good minute trying to pick himself up off of the floor. But in the end the damage was too much for the Gym Leader's partner, and with a grunt he fell back down onto the battlefield, completely knocked out.

"Aw man." Brawly let out a slight laugh as he recalled his partner. "That was crazy. Nice work, Makuhita, you deserve a good rest."

"Thank you so much, Sword." Alpha also recalled her Pokemon, a smile on her face.

"I'm telling you, I've ridden some pretty big waves in my time as a gym leader, but the one I just tried to best had to have been the biggest one I've ever seen." Brawly said as he walked over to shake Sapphire's hand. "Not even Professor Birch's two kids were as hard to fight as you were. This here's the Knuckle Badge, you've more than earned it."

"Thank you." Sapphire accepted the fist-shaped badge and put it in her badge case.

"And this here is just a slight gift from me. It's a Technical Machine that contains the move Bulk Up. It's incredibly useful for stat boosting." Saying this, Brawly handed the advanced machinery to Sapphire. "So, what're you off to next?"

"I need to deliver a letter to a guy named Steven Stone from his father." Sapphire explained. "I heard he was in Dewford Town. You wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you?"

"Yeah, he's probably in Granite Cave. It's pretty famous among stone collectors." Brawly explained. "Just go up past the town hall to the beach, and turn right. You can't miss it."


And another battle down. So, Sapphire has two badges. I would like to personally reassure people right now that she's not going to win every gym battle. While I personally never lost a gym battle in my playthrough of Alpha Sapphire (fighting the twins in Emerald was a totally different story), Sapphire will lose at least one gym. And before anyone makes any speculations, She could lose more than one, or she could only lose one, and I haven't decided which one it is yet, so don't go crazy with the guessing.

Other than that, I can't think of anything else yet to say. So, as always, leave any comments, questions, compliments, and constructive criticisms in a review. Brawly will surf right over any and all flames to put them out. And don't forget to vote in that poll on my profile!