Disclaimer: Pokémon is owned by The Pokémon Company, which in turn is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and probably others I forgot. The following fanfiction is me playing around in their sandbox, using characters they envisioned and created, except for the odd character that wasn't. I own nothing of this.

Chapter 11: Offensive

Flames obscured his vision, their heat palpable behind the powerful shields that Roxanne had called for at the start of their battle. Somewhere in the blaze, in the field of fire, was his grovyle, and somewhere beyond that was Roxanne's magcargo. His mind raced through the possibilities: burst through the flame and hope grovyle didn't pass out from the fire, hope Bullet Seed was able to knock the magcargo out, hope for anything.

Hope wasn't enough. Drake had said as much.

His heart sinking, he raised a pokéball, the first he ever obtained for himself, and pressed the return button. The red beam pierced the flame, and Max took the time to look to the side, to the audience. Most of it – the class Roxanne had taken along – was cheering.

He'd lost.

He had ideas where everything went off the rails. Baltoy hadn't been able to dent lairon too much, and Roxanne had simply traded blow for blow, Pokémon for Pokémon, after that. Max was the first to send out his last Pokémon, grovyle, to counter the boldore that had stopped electrike after her tremendous effort. That disadvantage cost him, as Roxanne was able to tailor her third Pokémon to his.

Good for her. Bad for him.

He listened to Roxanne's words. Learned she required at least five days between challenges. Lied about feeling fine. Left without saying much, walking faster than normal, Danny following behind him.

Danny, who was now a badge ahead for the coming few days. Danny, who was…

"Snap out of it, Max!" When did Danny get in front of him? Danny took his hand, pulling him along, pushing him down onto a bench. "You lost. Big deal. It happens. Get over it and beat her next time."

"She beat my three strongest Pokémon. How am I supposed to beat her?" Max spat back, a rising, almost floating, feeling in his chest. "I. Can't."

He made to get up, but Danny pushed him down again. "Yes. You. Can," Danny replied, locking eyes with Max. It made him want to look away, though he didn't. "Use that brain of yours. Figure something out."

"Easy for you to say."

Danny stepped back, face contorted. "Fine. If you wanna mope, mope." He started walking away, in the opposite direction of the Pokémon Center. "I'll see you tonight."

By the time Max had the idea to go after him, Danny had long vanished from sight.

~~§~~§~~

It was well after dark when Max entered the Pokémon Center. He handed his Pokémon to Nurse Joy, ignoring her lecture on coming in so late, and, with a heavy heart, made his way to the room he'd stayed in the past two nights. The light was on, and he heard vague chatter from the television, even though the door was closed. He opened it. "Hey."

"Finally here?" Danny was watching the television, though he'd muted it the instant Max had come in. His back was to the door, and he'd made no motion to turn around. "Sit. On the bed."

Max obliged, trying to catch a glimpse of Danny's face, but Danny actively turned his back on Max as much as he could while still watching TV. Some game show was on, with questions on obscure Pokémon trivia. Max knew one or two of the answers, but he didn't share them as silence stretched in the room, turning almost oppressive. "I'm sorry."

"Of course you are." Danny's indifferent tone hurt. In the afternoon, it had caused anger. Now, it made Max feel shame. "Close your eyes."

Max didn't know what to make of that, but he did it anyway. He heard the other boy get up, and he felt Danny remove his glasses. After that, nothing happened for what felt like an age. Socks shuffled on tiles, but it was soft, and noises from outside, like something wheeled going down the hallway, or someone opening a door, were easier to hear.

Then, something whacked him over the head.

Max opened his eyes just in time for a green blur – a Pokémon Center pillow – to descend on his face. He couldn't dodge it, but he was able to grab his own pillow, and by the time Danny had landed two more hits, Max was ready to return fire.

The fight was fast, furious, and fun, though Max had a big disadvantage since he was still wearing a small backpack that flopped every time he wanted to turn quickly. Laughter echoed through the chamber with every hit, from both boys, no matter who was on the receiving end. Max got in a few hits, but Danny got in far more, eventually grabbing the pillow from Max's hands when he tried to land an overhead whack that missed, causing him to stumble forward. Danny threw it to the other end of the room, and held his pillow out like a floppy sword. "Yield?"

"Yield," Max confirmed, taking a seat on the bed as he tried to get his breathing to slow down. "You're a jerk." He drew his feet onto the bed, sitting where his pillow had been.

"Takes one to know one," Danny replied cheerily as he sat down at the other end of the bed, also placing his feet on the bed. He held out a pair of glasses, which Max accepted, and the entire room came into focus once again.

"I kinda was one, wasn't I." Max'd come to that conclusion earlier, after his anger had drained away.

"Yeah, you were. A big one." Max opened his mouth, but Danny was first. "It's all okay. Just don't do it again."

"I..." Max started, hesitantly. This conversation was weird, even for their standards, even after that pillow fight out of nowhere. "I don't know why I got so angry. I..." Just was, suddenly.

"Don't sweat it."

The boys lapsed into a slightly weird silence, with Danny looking intently at Max, and Max averting his eyes just a bit every time he caught Danny's gaze. "Why the pillow fight?" Max wondered.

"Dad thought it'd be great. Help break the ice and all that. Said it's really hard to be angry when you're laughing."

"He got that right," Max muttered under his breath. Of course Danny's Dad had been the one behind this. He was a bit of a clown, and Max liked that, a lot. So did his own Dad.

"And Dad suggested the routine before it, too." Danny cracked a smile. "I practised for an hour to say that. Nearly burst out laughing anyway."

The door opened, revealing Nurse Joy with a tray. On it, Max saw two glasses, cookies, and several pokéballs. "Are you done?"

"Yes, Nurse Joy. He's all happy again." Danny suddenly scooted over, hands on Max's face. "See?" he said, as his fingers pulled Max's cheeks upward, making him sort of smile.

"I see. Here is some milk, and some cookies too." She placed the tray on the table next to the door. "Did you eat, Max? Danny said you might not have."

Max went slightly red. Forgetting to eat was something he could've done, but his stomach had been too loud. "I ate something."

"Good. Just bring the tray back in the morning, okay?" Both Max and Danny nodded. "Oh, and no more pillow fights, okay?"

"No, Nurse Joy," Danny replied while Max was thinking through what that sentence actually meant. "Thank you." Nurse Joy left the room, and Danny walked to the table, the smell of freshly-baked cookies wafting over. "Chocolate!"

The boys didn't say much as they ate their cookies. Max had to deny one to bagon, who had come out as he sometimes did at night, and the night just slowly passed. It was far past their usual bedtime, but the sugar in the cookies kept them up.

"Hey, that's Roxanne on TV." Danny's words made Max look at the screen, and the Rustboro Gym Leader was indeed on TV, a picture of her in a corner, above a 'Coming later' message. The programme looked like something Max's parents watched, late at night, about news and stuff. "Wonder what it's about."

Another item about the new Safari Zone followed, but the boys kept watching. Max thought the item was actually sort of interesting. A few minutes later, the presenter came back. "On Sunday, a group of concerned trainers gathered in Rustboro City's park. We sought out the Rustboro Gym Leader, Roxanne, to ask what it was about, and why she joined this protest."

Roxanne was sitting on a desk in a classroom, looking completely at ease. The interviewer was off-screen, but he still asked a question first. "Can you explain what your protest was about?"

"Of course. Every year, many children turn twelve and leave home on their Pokémon journey. It is a great moment for them, for their parents, and also for their teachers." Roxanne smiled at the camera as it zoomed out for a moment. "But every year, many new trainers are wounded, often severely, on their journey. All the Nurse Joys that end up treating those injuries keep a record of which Pokémon wounded the trainers, and we found some things in those records.

"Firstly, most injuries are from wild Pokémon, but it's only a narrow majority. The types are about what you expect: a lot of dragon-type Pokémon compared to their rarity, and fire-types are also high up. The interesting part is when you look at the injuries from trained Pokémon."

"What did your group find?"

"We found that Ghost, Dark, and Psychic-type Pokémon are responsible for a far greater number of injuries than their rarity should suggest. They are responsible for nearly 40 % of all injuries, and those are just the ones severe enough to require Nurse Joy's help. Who knows how many children are wounded on the road, but don't say anything?"

"That's a large number. It's been a while since I checked, but didn't those types only make up about 25 % of all Pokémon?"

Roxanne nodded. "Exactly. That's what we found, and after the events in Petal Grove recently, where many Ghost-type Pokémon, trained or wild, did strange things, outside of their trainers' control, we decided it was enough. It was time to protest."

"But what do you want from this? We can't stop children from catching those Pokémon."

"No. We can't. And we shouldn't. Every trainer is free to catch whichever Pokémon she or he wants. But we could start by teaching children in school about the dangers of these types. Maybe do some research towards why this is the case. Is it because children have no idea how to treat these types? Or is it perhaps the type that makes the Pokémon more dangerous, just like we know dragon-types are more volatile?" Roxanne hopped from the desk, shrugging. "I don't know the answers. Nobody does. We should go look for them."

The image returned to the female presenter in the studio. "Thank you Roxanne of Rustboro City Gym. With me, I have Joshua Bonsai, assistant to Professor Birch in Littleroot Town. Mr. Bonsai, what can you tell us about these claims by Roxanne about the injur—"

With a popping sound, the TV went black, as did the rest of the building for a moment. Then, the lights came back on, at half strength. "Power went out?" Danny guessed when Max looked at him quizzically. He opened the curtains, revealing utter darkness, except for the light coming from the Center itself. "Looks like it. What did you think of Roxanne's interview?"

"Learning more is always good." Max shrugged. "But it's for kids, not us. Besides, we know how to work with baltoy and duskull." He yawned. "And I'm going to brush my teeth."

"Sure." Danny waved him off, and when Max returned, he found Danny looking outside into the darkness, elbow on the sill, hand under his chin. "Do you think Roxanne went harder on you because you picked baltoy first?"

"No." Max was absolutely certain of that. "She wouldn't. Gym Leaders don't do that. They have their own organisation dealing with stuff like this, Dad told me once. They make sure that challenges are fair."

"Ah, okay."

~~§~~§~~

The stands were empty when Max and Danny walked in to the Gym on a sunny Sunday afternoon. The arena itself held a handful of people: Roxanne, someone wearing referee's clothing, someone wearing the Trainers School uniform operating a camera, and a man with spiked blue hair, wearing casual clothes and sandals. He was the first to notice the trainers walking up. "Well, if it isn't Max Maple. Long time no see, little dude." Then, to Roxanne. "You taking on trainers on Sundays now? Take some time to relax, Rox."

"Hi Brawly," Max greeted back. "Trust me, Dad hates it when there's a trainer on Sunday."

"Max lost on Tuesday," Roxanne interjected, soft-spoken, her voice somehow still making Max pay attention. "It was a close contest, and we agreed today was best. That way, he can continue, win or lose."

"I see. Well, I got some bad news for ya. If you're planning on Dewford, no can do for a bit. I'm off to the airport tomorrow. Be up in Sinnoh for two weeks."

"Oh."

"Sorry dude," Brawly said, and he did look sorry. "My parents are married 25 years next week, and my grandparents are married 50 years in December. We're taking the family to a week and a half in Sinnoh's Resort Area."

Danny whistled appreciatively. "Sounds great. Guess we'll have to make new plans."

"You could just wait two weeks, dudes. Dewford's great this time of year. Beaches, sun, sea. Even some girls." Brawly took a look at Roxanne. "Oops. Sorry Rox."

"I am well aware of how boys work," Roxanne said, haughtily looking at Brawly. "I did think you were twenty-four, not fourteen. Guess there's always time to learn something new."

"Ouch," Brawly said, without heat. "I'll just go lick my wounds." He held out a hand to Max, who took it. Brawly had a firm grasp, but it wasn't uncomfortable. "Good luck, little dude. You'll need it." With that, he walked off to the bench on Roxanne's side of the field.

"As this is a last chance rematch," the referee stated once everyone was in position, "the challenger has to win. The same rules as in the normal match apply: three Pokémon aside, with the challenger allowed to switch out." Both of his flags went up. "Trainers, select your Pokémon."

"Good luck, Max! Show me you can do it!" Roxanne called from across the arena. "Let's begin! Lairon, I choose you!"

Just as Danny and Max had expected. A titter of nerves shot through Max, but he squashed it. They'd made his plans, and it was too late to back out. "Bagon, come on out!"

As the bipedal young dragon entered the field, stomping aggressively, Max's mind flashed back to Wednesday night, in the park. "I have an idea," Danny had said. "Your normal strategy didn't work against that lairon, right?" Max had concurred with that: lairon being too heavy to lift and too strong to box in with baltoy's Rock Tomb. "Go all out offensive."

"Say what?"

Shields sprung up around the arena, and the flags went down. Max barely heard the call to begin, but he was ready. "Dragon Pulse."

"Lairon was slow, but fast enough to catch baltoy because you couldn't do much. I bet it can't dodge attacks all that well."

"It doesn't need to. You know they're tanks."

Bagon jumped on one of the many, many rocks that littered the arena, and after locating lairon, it fired a ball of green energy, larger than Max's head, straight at Roxanne's Pokémon.

The ball dissipated on lairon's Protect, but the ground around it suffered for that. The Steel-type then ran at bagon, uncaring about any rocks in its way, smashing them with Iron Head.

"We know it has Protect, and lots of contact moves. It has nothing at range."

"Most of my other Pokémon work better up close, and clefairy's weak to Steel."

"Left, pepper it with Embers," Max ordered, and bagon obeyed by jumping off the rock, quickly circling around the sluggish, heavy-set lairon. Embers impacted on the Iron Armour Pokémon, mostly on its flank as it turned while it ran. "Towards me. Keep at it!"

"You're missing one."

"You can't mean..."

"He's a month old, Max." Max had glared at Danny at that point. "Nearly, anyway. He's hardly a baby."

"Still… We don't even have Dragon Rage down."

Bagon was, with careful coaching on Max's side for which way he should move, keeping the lairon at bay. Right now, there was a pretty large gap between the two Pokémon, and lairon was turning again. That was a good opportunity. "Dragon Pulse!" Bagon fired another sphere at lairon, who didn't stop, or even slow down, even after getting hit right in the face with the attack. "Jump!"

The jump wasn't in time to dodge lairon fully, but it couldn't take bagon on the head and fling him away, like it had done to baltoy previous. A quick tumble later, bagon was up again, and crucially, behind lairon, who was slowing down for the edges of the arena. "Dragon Rage!"

"So? As long as it doesn't blow up in his face, all's fine. Maybe the lairon even gets complacent after using Protect. Drop the shield a split second before the fire hits."

Max had grinned. "If it works..."

As Danny had predicted, the dragon-typed glob of energy impacted on the Protect shield, which fell immediately afterwards. The glob of fire hit lairon in the rear, hard enough to leave smoke trailing from the point of impact. "Dragon Pulse again, go!" Max yelled.

"It's dangerous, I know. No endurance. It's all or nothing. Just like the match."

Another green sphere, another hit, on the lairon's flank this time. "One more!"

Lairon's eyes glowed, and rocks flew up around it. Several blocked most of the Dragon Pulse. The rest was sent at bagon. Two missed, one he dodged, and the last hit his helmet, though bagon shrugged it off, thanks to his hard head. It did, however, break his momentum, and lairon took that moment to charge again, faster this time.

Then, it jumped, going In with claws glowing.

Bad idea. Very bad idea.

Bagon was nimble enough to roll out of the way as lairon crashed with an almighty thud, and the steel type wasn't quick enough in getting up. "One last Dragon Pulse!" Max screamed, his throat feeling raw as the sound ripped through it.

The attack hit lairon on the side of its face, spinning it around slightly from sheer kinetic energy. Bagon prepared a second attack, but let it fizzle out once lairon turned red. Instead, he sent out a set of embers at the ceiling in celebration, adding a roar to it. It echoed around the room, and resonated within Max.

On the bench, Danny was grinning like mad, and the boys exchanged double thumbs up while waiting for Roxanne's second Pokémon.

The shielding vanished. "Well fought! Let's see how you handle this!"

Max didn't recognise the grey-brown Pokémon that came out. That was a first in a very long time. He actually had to take his Pokédex from his backpack, because he hadn't expected to need it.

Tyrunt, the Royal Heir Pokémon. This Pokémon was restored from a fossil. If something happens that it doesn't like, it throws a tantrum and runs wild. Its fossils are mainly found in the Kalos region.

Rock/Dragon. Now that was a unique typing. Lots of weaknesses, from the top of his head, and one he was sure about was Dragon itself. "Dragon Pulse!"

It was pretty fast, faster than lairon, and it could jump better. The first Dragon Pulse went underneath it, but the second one hit it on its belly as it jumped in on bagon, screeching as it did.

"Get it, bagon!"

The mêlée was vicious, with both dragons not giving an inch, not even using actual attacks. Bagon was limited to ramming its head into the taller tyrunt, while the tyrunt had clawed feet and a jaw to use.

Max's Pokémon put up a good struggle, dishing out several whacks while using its smaller size to dodge under a lot of the bites tyrunt tried to do, but an attack – a set of glowing claws in bright green – raked the bagon just long enough to make him falter. Clawed feet stepped on him moments later, and bagon couldn't take any more, falling.

Max quickly returned him as the tyrunt started biting down on the prone Pokémon.

Like bagon before, the tyrunt let out a roar for the heavens to hear, asserting its superiority. "We'll see about that," Max muttered. It sounded weird, even to himself, and when he tried to swallow, the back of his mouth felt like he'd been eating Route 111 sand. He gestured for a short time-out, heading into his backpack for the second time this match, this time to grab some water.

The full bottle was half-empty ten seconds later. Max also took a separate moment's pause, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself some more, and sent out his second Pokémon.

If Max was hoping for a reaction when he sent out clefairy, Roxanne didn't give him one. As far as he could see. He hadn't planned on using her, but tyrunt's Dragon-typing just asked for it.

Tyrunt moved first, breaking into a loping run across the rubble-strewn centre of the battlefield. Max and clefairy watched it bear down on her, jaws open, ready to bite.

It cleared the last few feet faster than expected, causing clefairy to be hit by the moving tail as she dodged right. She ignored it as Max called out an Encore move, which hit, white light enveloping the Dragon-type. Clefairy then bounded away, crossing the field to Roxanne's side in mere seconds, and started a Metronome.

Tyrunt closed in, but the Metronome finished, and clefairy started spinning rapidly, a blue ring of light forming around her. Tyrunt tried to evade the attack by heading into the rocky side of the arena, but clefairy caught its right leg. The sudden jarring impact forced clefairy back a bit, and tyrunt a lot more, though it did land on its feet.

Rocks flew at clefairy, not because tyrunt used an attack, but because its tail smashed a rock with enough force to send the debris at the fairy type. "Dodge them and Disarming Voice."

Clefairy did just that, jumping up, soaring over the incoming rocks, and released a short burst of pink. It missed tyrunt, which evaded it by going left, but it destroyed another rock. A second Disarming Voice clipped her enemy, but it wasn't enough to stop the dragon from running in, and clefairy abandoned her position, bounding away again, faster than tyrunt could follow.

"Encore must be running out soon," Max said to himself. It wasn't unlikely that it knew something at range, though thankfully, Dragon Pulse wasn't a good option. "Metronome again!"

Fingers waggled, and clefairy started glowing with a brown aura. Max perked up, recognising the Magnitude attack. He also braced himself, just in case it was a powerful version. The waggling stopped, and clefairy raised her foot for a moment. Then, it came down, resulting in… a small tremor that barely slowed the tyrunt down, though it did wobble a bit.

Tyrunt roared, and as it ran, rocks lifted up from the ground, creating small craters. It held them for a moment, but once clefairy bounded away, all four rocks flew after her while tyrunt turned on its paw, following the rocks.

Clefairy's eyes glowed an ominous black for a second, and the rocks, which had been en route to hitting her, took a downward angle, one of them skidding and rolling into her feet, unbalancing the small Pokémon for a moment. Tyrunt, too, was affected once it reached the Gravity field. Clefairy held the increased gravity until tyrunt was on the ground fully, and then released it, bounding away once again in her keep-away.

The tyrunt was slower in getting up than Max expected. "Disarming Voice, finish it!" he called across the field.

A continuous stream of spiralling pink energy spewed forth from clefairy, splashing on the shields before clefairy adjusted her aim to the dodging tyrunt. The ancient Pokémon did its best, but the energy clipped one of its legs at a bad angle, causing it to trip, and crash head first into one of the rocks still standing. The rock perished in the process, but tyrunt was also out for the count.

Tyrunt was returned, and again, Roxanne dropped the shields with a gesture. "Excellent, Max. Top marks! You know this last one. I choose magcargo!"

"What about the magcargo? It's better at range than any of my Pokémon, with good defences too."

"Sorry Max. I'm out of ideas for that one. Catch a Water-type tomorrow?"

Unfortunately, they hadn't found a Water-type that could work on land. Plan B it was. "Clefairy, take a break. Electrike, come on out!"

Magcargo was a Fire-type with limited mobility. He'd fought this one before, and he knew nearly all of its tricks. Meanwhile, electrike had learnt a new trick in the past few days.

It would have to be enough.

The Pokémon opened fire simultaneously: a hailstorm of Embers meeting a crackling Thunder Wave. The attacks cancelled each other out, and electrike moved closer, trying to find a good angle to run in.

Magcargo started firing globes of fire at electrike, Flame Bursts that fell apart on impact. Luckily, electrike was smaller than grovyle, and faster at changing direction on a whim. Slowly but surely, she managed to move in ever closer, until… "Spark," Max barked.

Electricity flared around the small Pokémon as it rammed itself into the shell. It didn't topple the Lava Pokémon, but electrike was able to use the shell as a springboard for jumping away, and she was long gone when the close range Lava Plume fired. The few rocks that made it to electrike's general position weren't a threat.

The match continued much like it had at first. Magcargo, now more wary, sought to keep electrike at bay with Embers and Flame Bursts, while Max's Electric-type sought to push current into the Fire-type's body, with only limited success. Soon, Max saw her strength beginning to wane, though it was only a little. "Get in closer and Thunder Fang," he spoke in as loud a whisper as he dared make, hoping to keep Roxanne in the dark.

Electrike had good hearing, and she changed her running pattern immediately to a more aggressive one. It forced magcargo to stop the Embers and start using Rock Throw as it tried to keep itself safe.

It was nearly enough. One rock hit electrike in the side as she jumped for magcargo's face, but the quadruped snagged the side of its nose, unleashing a ferocious current as she used nearly all she had left.

Max returned her the moment she let go.

He judged his opponent as he sent clefairy out again, making her appear on the halfway line. Going for the face had been crucial, as the pain, and hopefully paralysis, would stop it from using its mouth for a bit. "Metronome!"

A torrent of bubbles flew at magcargo, who threw the rocks it had just grabbed at the Bubblebeam. It was an effective defence, though part of the attack made it through, causing some smoke to rise up, visible even from where Max was.

Another Metronome, another random attack. This one, unfortunately, was useless, as clefairy spat threads of sticky string at the magcargo. Not only did String Shot not actually help, they also just melted off immediately. Worse, the magcargo managed to open its mouth, releasing a clear white smog.

Clear Smog and Flamethrower had been grovyle's bane, magcargo using those attacks to create a curtain of fire.

"Metronome, one more," Max ordered. Clefairy obeyed, even as she breathed in the poisonous smog, and Max saw her bend over, coughing as her fingers waggled.

Then, clefairy vanished, reappearing as she rammed a tiny first into magcargo's shell, unbalancing it for long enough to allow her to make a getaway to Max's side of the field. Max grabbed two pokéballs. "Healing Wish!"

Clefairy started floating, creating a burst of blue light that hovered over the arena close to Max. With his left hand, Max returned clefairy, while his right immediately sent out electrike, just in time to catch the now-falling motes of light. The small Pokémon yipped happily with every mote that hit her, and Max saw burns on her snout vanish right in front of his eyes.

It was time for round two.

With strength anew, electrike accelerated towards magcargo, slipping past a barrage of Flame Burst and rocks as she went into a Quick Attack, running circles around magcargo before striking, backing off, and resuming her broad circling manoeuvre. She did so twice more before Roxanne ordered something with a sharp hand gesture.

The something turned out to be a gold glow around magcargo, and Max saw cracks appear around it, slowly spreading outward in a semicircle, though accelerating. "Out!"

There was one moment the Earth Power nearly connected on electrike: a segment of the floor collapsing the culprit, but soon, the Lightning Pokémon was on safe ground.

As was magcargo. A straight path was no longer possible, as most of the arena on its end had collapsed, and the bits that hadn't looked mighty unstable. The only safe area was just around and behind magcargo, but there was at least a thirty foot area of unstable ground to pass first.

Actually...

Max ordered electrike to dodge the Flame Bursts that magcargo was firing from long range, his mind working in overdrive. Magcargo was in bad shape, its Flame Bursts weaker than before, and Max doubted it could send rocks over with any more accuracy or power. Roxanne was trying to win through attrition, and Max couldn't let that happen.

Time to improvise.

Max explained his plan to his Pokémon, hoping that she could do what he asked for. Her reply seemed enthusiastic enough, but it wasn't something they'd tried. Both of them waited for magcargo to stop firing Flame Bursts, and when it did, electrike was already running towards the right side of the arena before Max could give the signal, slipping into another Quick Attack.

The Earth Power had spread unevenly, because magcargo had been slightly more to the left of the arena. There was a strip on the right of the arena that looked as stable as anything. If electrike could jump from there to the stable portion near Roxanne, Max reasoned, she could finish the tired Pokémon off. It'd have to be in one blow, though, and quick, else a Lava Plume or Earth Power would make him lose.

So he asked if electrike could use Spark while using Quick Attack.

From afar, Max saw electricity beginning to arc over electrike's body, yellow energy contrasting with the white of Quick Attack. She jumped, crossing the gap, executing a perfect landing that allowed her to spin on a dime, and sped to cross the last gap of twenty-or-so feet.

She slowed down a little, but the electricity sparked into life, nearly hiding the similarly-coloured Pokémon in the attack. Max saw, for a brief instant, a gold glow beginning to envelop magcargo.

Then a yellow-and-white ball hurled herself into magcargo, and the cry of pain that came from that end of the arena wasn't electrike's. There was a blinding flash of light, and a small explosion that caused magcargo to skid out of the ball on its side.

It wasn't getting up, but that wasn't what Max's attention was focused on.

The ball grew, and grew, electrike completely invisible within it. It was shapeless, and a wind whipped up around it, sending small pebbles, of which there were many, flying in all directions. And then it was not shapeless, settling in spikes. Far more spikes than electrike had. Wider than electrike was. Taller than electrike was.

Manectric let out a deep, echoing, victorious howl before running to Max. She easily cleared the gap, and Max barely had enough time to crouch, arms open.

Then, he fell backwards, as a far-heavier Pokémon bowled him over, happily licking him on his face. After a moment, Max began to run his hands through her fur, which felt even more statically charged, but otherwise the same, as before.

A shrill whistle from nearby caused manectric to stop her licking, and Max felt Danny's hand on his arm, helping him up as the taller – she was nearly as tall as he was! - Pokémon walked around them, barking happily. Max settled a hand in her fur, behind her ears, as Roxanne and Brawly walked up.

"Strength, speed, and creativity. You dealt with my defences excellently, using a team of Pokémon. You earned this Stone Badge fair and square." Max accepted the badge with his empty hand. "Incidentally, can I use this battle for class purposes?"

"Huh?" There'd been a camera, though it, and the teenager operating it, had vanished. "Wasn't there someone recording?"

Roxanne smiled. "He just wanted some practice editing battles. He plans on going into the film industry."

That made sense. "Oh."

"What about it? It'd be a really big help for me and my lessons."

"Sure. Go ahead."

Roxanne hugged him, briefly, but firmly. "Thank you! Oh, this'll be great. Brawly, can you see these two out? I'm going to find Seymour." Without waiting for a reply, she ran off to the door that led to the School proper.

"You made her day, little dude. Been a while since I saw her so psyched." Brawly had a big grin on his face as he sat down to rub the manectric's fur. "Mind, that battle was amazing as well. The hype is real."

"Hype?" That was Danny, who'd also sat down. Max, feeling no need to stay standing, did the same. "What?"

"It's that people think we should be good," Max said, a bit peeved with Brawly for bringing it up, though his general happiness crowded it out. "Because of our family."

Brawly grinned, ignorant of Max's annoyance. "Right in one. And your first journey, too," he added, pointing at Max. "And I saw some of Ash's stuff today, but, y'know… It wasn't him I was reminded of." He fell silent, smiling secretively.

"Who?" Danny asked when it became clear that Brawly wasn't going to say anything without being asked for it. "If not Ash..."

"His father. Norman – Max's Dad, sir, whatever you call him – loves to set the pace in battles," Brawly started explaining. "That bagon offensive, and then the clefairy keep-away with Encore? You forced Rox to react to you. She couldn't act until she sent out her ace." He leant in, motioning for the boys to join him, and they did. "Bagon even forced the tyrunt. Most of her other Pokémon at this level can't deal with that kind of assault. Too slow, y'know. They'd get hit too much before taking it out." He sat up straight. "And then you send out the clefairy. Counter."

Max laughed at Brawly's delivery. "That was the idea, yeah."

"Anyway, one more thing. The bagon. You were really into it, weren't ya?" Brawly asked, though he looked like he already knew the answer. Max confirmed it with a nod. "Don't get cocky. I know it's easy, but that's what makes dragons so dangerous, and powerful."

"Filling you with confidence and daring. Sometimes, overconfidence."

Max nodded vigorously. "Will do. Or won't do. Whatever." Brawly and Max shared a laugh. "Thanks Brawly."

All of them got up, and when Max made to return manectric, she nudged him, as if to say no, so he didn't. "No problemo dude. You sure I can't convince you to spend two weeks in Dewford?"

"We'll see," Danny said, but Max knew Danny. He'd want to keep going, as Max did himself.

Brawly recognised it, Max thought. "Well, call me up after your last badge, maybe. Have a training battle for the League. Whatever." They reached the door. "Later dudes!"

~~§~~§~~§~~§~~

Every Gym must have Pokémon capable of shielding the arena of choice. If these Pokémon are not in your possession, the League will provide you with them on a permanent loan. If they are injured, ill, or indisposed, battling is discouraged, though it is up to the Gym Leader to elect whether or not to use them. Any injury sustained by a trainer in a Gym Battle is your responsibility. Err on the side of caution.

From: Home Regions Gym Leader Handbook.

Author's Note: Clefairy's Metronome moves, in order: Gyro Ball and Magnitude 4 for tyrunt, Bubblebeam, String Shot, and Mach Punch for magcargo. All randomly generated, except Magnitude was the second attack rolled. The first one, being Roar of Time, was a bit overkill.

You can imagine my amusement and dismay at rolling Magnitude, and then rolling a natural 1 on the d20.