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[Galar, Hulbury]
Morning came to Hulbury as Lincoln walked into the front gate of the city and passed through said gate and was amazed by what he saw.
All around him were many businesses focused around the sea like a seafood restaurant that looked like it had a lot of business along with several shops that specialize with equipment for fishing like fishing rods and fishing nets. Lincoln can distinctly smell the air of the salty air of the sea even from where he was as he could see what look like the masts of boats from the distance along with what looked to be a harbor and a giant lighthouse.
"I guess it would make sense that a gym leader specializing in water type Pokemon would live here since this would practically be the perfect place for water Pokemon to live."said Lincoln to himself as he started making his way towards the gym.
"I wonder what the gym challenge will be as hopefully I will pass said challenge and beat Nessa and earn my second gym... well seeing as how I have one every Pokemon battle I have battled so far I should be okay."said Lincoln with confidence... and a bit of arrogance.
Soon Lincoln arrived at what looked like the Hulbury gym stadium as it had a large symbol of a drop of water in the front and it was colored blue. It looked almost like the gym in Turffield but it had a blue color theme which was consistent with water as how the Turffield gym was mostly green to represent grass.
Lincoln smiled as he entered the gym and made his way over to the area where gym challenges officially challenge the gym.
"Are you hear to challenge the gym?"asked the League official that was watching the gate.
"Yes I'm here to challenge Nessa to a Pokemon battle."said Lincoln with a grin on his face as he was sure he was going to win his second gym badge as she was only the second gym leader so she shouldn't be that tough...
Then again Milo proved to be more challenging than he originally anticipated but Lincoln got out of that one so he was sure to get out of this one as well.
"Alright head to the changing area and change into your gym Challenger uniform please."said the Pokemon League official as Lincoln headed off to the changing area and changed into his gym Challenger uniform.
As Lincoln was pulling his shirt over his head he began to wonder how much different of a battle or Nessa was from Milo. His strongest Pokemon had a clear disadvantage against Nessa as Raboot was a fire type Pokemon and Nessa specialized with water type Pokemon meaning she would have an advantage.
'I better not use Raboot since he'll clearly be at a disadvantage...' thought Lincoln who was sure that if you used his main Pokemon he would be at a massive disadvantage and that's the last thing he wanted.
Soon Lincoln arrived back where he began as the League official asked him if he was ready.
"I'm ready."said Lincoln as the League official stepped aside to allow Lincoln to take on the gym challenge.
Lincoln was amazed at what he saw as soon as he entered the area where he was supposed to have his gym challenge. All around there were large pipes that were colored differently as some were red, some were yellow, and some were blue.
All of these pipes were releasing massive amounts of water and some of these large streams of water were clearly blocking the path he needed to get to the other side.
"Okay Lincoln this is a lot more difficult than you expected."said Lincoln with some sweat falling down his brow before he noticed some panels that were colored the respective colors of the pipes.
"Hmm... I wonder..."said Lincoln as he walked over to one of the panels and pressed the large button in the middle causing the water to stop.
"Ohh! I get it like a puzzle as this is a maze where I need to shut off some water at some points in order to get to the end."said Lincoln has this gym challenge reminded him of those puzzle games he would play behind cereal boxes on days he would be having his breakfast and the cereal box had a mini maze on the back.
Lincoln proceeded to make his way through the maze as be carefully observed his surroundings to see what path he needed to go and what paths were covered by streams of water that he needed to turn off with a panel in order to proceed. Lincoln also began to notice that in some parts of the maze he needed to press a button to turn off one stream of water so he could go turn on another that way another pipe would shut off that way he would go on his merry way to the end.
Soon after some trial and error Lincoln finally arrived at the end with the streams of steam from the door indicating that he finished the gym challenge and now he could challenge the gym leader Nessa.
"Okay here goes nothing."said Lincoln has the doors open and he step fourth to the battlefield to challenge Nessa.
Lincoln arrived at the field and noticed that it was different from the field in Turffield as the battleground was made of some kind of plastic like substance which Lincoln suspected was used to help divert water as he suspected dynamax attacks involving water was hard to clean up so the battlefield was made out of the material it was made of in order to make the water go into what looked like sewer drains easily
Soon Ness arrived from the opposite end of the stadium as Lincoln saw that he could easily see how she could be a model as she was very beautiful as even Lori and Lola would be jealous of her looks as from what he heard Nessa is the top model in all of Galar.
Soon Nessa and Lincoln were standing on opposite ends of the middle of the field as the referee took his position in the middle.
"Welcome honored gym Challenger. I must say I do not doubt my humble challenges difficulty but you managed to conquer it which I commend, your mind is a Pokemon trainer must be quite refined. But no matter how refined it is me and my partner will sink it."said Nessa is she in Lincoln took their positions on the opposite side of the field.
"This will be a three on three Pokemon battle between Lincoln Loud the Challenger and Nessa the gym leader! The battle will be over when one side's Pokemon are unable to battle. Additionally only the Challenger will be allowed to substitute. Are both sides ready?"asked the referee.
"I'm ready!"
"I'm ready as well."
"Well then call out your first Pokemon and let the battle begin!"
"Corvisquire I choose You!"
"Goldeen come on out!"
Soon both Pokemon appeared on the field as Lincoln pulled out his Pokedex to identify the Pokemon in front of him.
Pokedex: Goldeen, the goldfish Pokemon: Its dorsal, pectoral, and tail fins wave elegantly in water. That is why it is known as the Water Dancer.
"Seems to meet this Pokemon specialty is speed. luckily I pulled out a speedster as well. Corvisquire use peck!"commanded Lincoln as the raven Pokemon flew into the air to begin its attack.
"Goldeen use horn attack!"ordered Nessa as the goldfish Pokemon moved ahead with lightning speed towards the raven Pokemon.
"So fast!"exclaimed Lincoln as he wasn't expecting the goldfish Pokemon to move that fast!
Corvisquire didn't expect it either as soon he was struck by the goldfish Pokemon with horn attack which caused damage but being stubborn the raven Pokemon managed to strike the goldfish Pokemon with peck causing Goldeen damage as well.
"I see your Pokemon is quite stubborn. Let's see if you can handle this Goldeen use whirlpool."ordered Nessa as Goldeen began to make a literal Whirlpool from the tip of its horn which started to envelop Corvisquire.
"Corvisquire!"said Lincoln as he could tell that the world pool was causing his Pokemon damage the more it was whirling around in it.
"Escape and use drill pluck!"exclaimed Lincoln as the raven Pokemon heard his trainers call and flapped his wings and managed to escape the world pool to use pluck against Goldeen.
"Use water pulse!"ordered Nessa as Goldeen focused energy on its horn creating an orb of water which he quickly launched at the raven Pokemon as it was honing in on the goldfish Pokemon.
Corvisquire tried to get out of the way but he was struck, sending him falling to the ground!
"Corvisquire!"said Lincoln as he saw that his Pokemon had been knocked out.
"Corvisquire is unable to battle which means this part of the battle goes to Nessa and Goldeen."declared the referee as Lincoln recalled Corvisquire back to his PokeBall.
"You did an excellent job out there and you more than deserve a good rest."said Lincoln who was surprised of how fast his Pokemon was defeated by Goldeen as it was indeed more powerful than he expected.
"Toxel I chose you!"said Lincoln as he called out the baby Pokemon out to the field.
"I see you chose wisely by picking an electric type Pokemon. Let us see how well Toxel goes against Goldeen."said Nessa as she looked at her Pokemon to give a command.
"Goldeen use horn attack!"ordered Nessa as Goldeen charged towards the baby Pokemon at full speed.
"Toxel use tearful look!"ordered Lincoln as the baby Pokemon began to fake cry causing Goldeen to lose its fighting spirit and lower its attack power.
"Now use nuzzle while you have the chance!"ordered Lincoln as Toxel jumped onto Goldeen and began to rub its cheeks causing electricity to flow from its body into the goldfish Pokemon causing it super effective damage.
"Finish with acid!"ordered Lincoln as the baby Pokemon jumped into the air and spat out acid attack from its mouth hitting the goldfish Pokemon and causing it to fall to the floor revealing itself to have been knocked out.
"Goldeen is unable to battle which means this part of the battle belongs to Lincoln and Toxel!"declared the referee as Nessa recalled Goldeen back to its PokeBall.
"You did an excellent job out there and you more than deserve a good rest."said Nessa before she put away Goldeen's PokeBall and pulled out another one.
"Impressive strategy using tearful look to lower my Pokemon's attack power and then striking with a super effective move like nuzzle and finishing it off with acid. I can see why Leon chose to sponsor you but let's see how you go against my partner."said Nessa with a smile on her face as she called out her next Pokemon.
"Drednaw come on out!"exclaimed Nessa as she called out a Pokemon that was turtle-like and look kind of familiar to Lincoln.
Lincoln was suspicious so he pulled out his Pokedex to confirm his suspicions.
Pokedex: Drednaw, the bite Pokemon and the evolved form of Chewtle: With jaws that can sheer through steel rods, this highly aggressive Pokemon charms down on its unfortunate prey.
'So this is what Chewtle will look like in the future when he evolves.' thought Lincoln as he looked at Toxel.
"Toxel use acid."ordered Lincoln Toxel jumped into the air and fired another blast of acid attack towards the bite Pokemon.
"Drednaw use bite!"ordered Ness as the bike Pokemon jumped out of the way of the acid attack and started making its way towards the baby Pokemon.
The baby Pokemon tried to get away but before he could he was already bitten by Drednaw's jaws and thrown to the floor towards Lincoln's feet revealing that he was knocked out.
"What?!"said Lincoln who didn't understand how this was possible.
"Drednaw's ability is strong jaw which makes moves like bite a lot stronger than they normally would be."explained Nessa in case Lincoln was confused and didn't understand what happened.
"Toxel you did an excellent job out there take a nice long rest."said Lincoln who felt like he was backed into a corner as now he only had one Pokemon left will Nessa still had two and Drednaw hasn't even taken any damage.
"It's up to you now Farfetch'd I choose you!"said Lincoln as he called out Farfetch'd on to the battlefield with his leek at the ready.
"Impressive as Galarian Farfetch'd are notoriously hard to capture for their stubborn nature. You truly are a special trainer Lincoln so let's see how your Pokemon fares against mine."said Nessa as both the bike Pokemon and the wild duck Pokemon looked at each other with glaring eyes.
"Farfetch'd use rock smash!"ordered Lincoln as the wild duck Pokemon charged towards the bite Pokemon to use its leek.
"Drednaw bite!"
"Dodge and use rock smash!"ordered Lincoln.
Drednaw waited until Farfetch'd was within range to strike but luckily the wild duck Pokemon was faster so he jumped out of the way just in time to strike Drednaw with rock smash causing super effective damage.
"Headbutt!"ordered Nessa as Drednaw quickly recovered and hit it's hard head onto Farfetch'd's body, sending the wild duck Pokemon flying.
"Water gun!"ordered Nessa as Drednaw fired a powerful stream of water from its mouth.
"Dodge and use brutal swing!"ordered Lincoln as the wild duck Pokemon swung its leak around in a complete circle causing the water gun attack to completely miss it as he literally cut through it.
"Drednaw razor shell!"
"Farfetch'd brutal swing!"
As soon as both Pokemon heard their commands they quickly charged towards one another with their intended attacks with dreadnought making a blade of water pop out of its head while Farfetch'd's leek was surrounded by dark energy.
Both Pokemon struck at the same time!
Both trainers held their breath as Drednaw grunted a little before Farfetch'd fell to the floor revealing himself to have been knocked out.
"Farfetch'd!"yelled Lincoln as he couldn't believe what it had just happened.
"Farfetch'd is unable to battle which means the winner of this challenge is Nessa the gym leader and her Pokemon Drednaw!"declared the referee as the crowd who had been watching the battle cheered for their gym leader as Lincoln recalled his Pokemon.
"Its not your fault that you lost that's my fault for not preparing you guys better."said Lincoln who could have blamed his Pokemon for their loss but he knew that was petty and they didn't deserve it.
He was the only one that fault as he grew to overconfident with his constant victories and that ended up costing him the gym battle.
"You can try again later after your Pokemon are healed. I like how you didn't blame your Pokemon for your loss as many trainers who ended up losing against me blame their Pokemon for their loss. You are certainly a skilled trainer Lincoln Loud but you got to remember winning or losing that's all apart of Pokemon battling."said Nessa wisely as she walked away from the field as Lincoln lowered his head covering his eyes with Shadow as tears fell down his face as he left the gym.
Lincoln soon after leaving the gym made his way to the Pokemon center and handed his injured Pokemon over to Nurse Joy. Lincoln then went to a secluded part of the lobby to cry as this is the first time he tasted defeat ever since he arrived in Galar.
'I'm not Leon and I was a fool the thing I would keep on winning as sooner or later I was going to hit a wall and that wall is Nessa. I could challenge her tomorrow but I don't plan on doing that as I need to build up a better relationship with my Pokemon and help them grow a bit stronger before I can take on Nessa again. This defeat hurts a lot and I understand what Hop must have felt when I beat him. But and defeat it just drives me to be better and that's what Hop it's all about! I will defeat you Nessa I just need to prepare first.' thought Lincoln as he wiped away his tears and looked into the night sky or more specifically the Hulbury gym with a determined look on his face.
He planned to challenge Nessa again in the near future and this time he didn't plan on losing!