When Sam reached the Gym’s field the next morning, Chuck was already in another Gym battle. This time around, a trainer’s Golbat was harassing his Machoke with air-based blades, and no matter how hard the Machoke tried to resist, it wasn’t able to do anything about the Flying Type’s attacks.
Chuck tried to call for a Rock Throw, but shouting for that move caused his Pokémon to drop its guard. Though his Machoke grabbed a chunk of earth that could have knocked the Golbat out of the air, doing so opened it up to a blade of wind that slashed across its chest, and the Machoke fell back.
From there, Sam sat and watched the rest of the exchange. The Machoke fainted, and the Golbat was able to take out one more Pokémon before ultimately falling to a Hitmonchan. The battle was eventually sealed by a Hypno, which, even though it became subjected to a Taunt, could still unleash its Psychic Type moves to finish off the last member of Chuck’s team.
The Gym Leader’s laughter was explosive even in defeat. Chuck wasn’t the kind of person to get upset with a loss as long as he enjoyed the match. Once his last Pokémon was returned, he handed his team’s Pokéballs to an awaiting Gym Trainer for healing before moving up to his opponent and shaking their hand.
“It’s a matter of mindset,” Sam whispered, speaking to his churning shadow while Chuck was too busy chatting with his latest challenger. “We’re worried about Taunt. I’m worried about Taunt. But to Chuck, Taunt is just a tool. It’s only a single answer he keeps prepared. It’s useful, but it’s also only one part of his strategy. We’ll have the rest of the battle, too.”
Chuck was all about battles that were up close and personal. Lean into that, and Taunt wouldn’t be a big deal. It also had its counters, such as just about any move that messed with a Pokémon’s move selection (which meant Taunt countered Taunt, funnily enough), but Sam was limited to what his team currently knew. A single night wasn’t enough to teach his team new moves.
So with what his team was currently capable of, he saw two big answers to the problem of Taunt: either make sure it didn’t hit, or outright ignore it whenever it was used.
Taunt would only be an issue if he overplayed his hand and forced Chuck to use it to reshape the state of the fight. But since Sam was aware of that, he could use Chuck’s preferences to his favor.
Chuck wants simple fights? I’ll give him simple fights. If we want to win, we just need to make sure we have a straightforward counter for Taunt.
After, he could rely on his Pokémon to handle the rest.
Sam was ready for this. His plans favored him and his team. Sitting in the stands, he watched and waited, expecting Chuck to know he was there. His gut feeling was proven right when the previous trainer eventually left, and Chuck looked up at the stands to make eye contact with Sam.
The challenge was clear enough. Their battle would be happening right then.
Standing up, Sam left his seat to stride down from the field, taking advantage of this short break between scheduled matches for this short, one-on-one battle.
Behind him, from above, a shout rang out; Dreepy cheered.
Sam almost stumbled when he heard another, somewhat softer voice come right after. Though quiet, Drakloak also sent Sam her own words of encouragement.
“So! Ready for our battle? I hope you’ll push us just as much this time around!”
Chuck’s shout was friendly, but it still reminded Sam of the outcome of his last two matches. He might have lost twice, but he still had the rest of his team.
(He also now had enough information to let him win.)
Pulling out a certain Friend Ball, Sam held it up and pointed it at Chuck to represent his acceptance of the challenge.
“I’m ready,” Sam said. “Ready to finally beat you and earn my badge.”
Chuck responded with a hearty laugh.
The second Sam was in the trainer’s box, Chuck didn’t wait to toss his own Pokéball forward. As for Sam, he just clipped the Friend Ball back to his belt and gestured to the ground under the feet.
As a flash of light overtook Chuck’s side of the field, Sam’s shadow stretched out to overtake the opposing side. From within that darkness, Mismagius rose out of the floor, and Chuck’s Pokémon—a Hitmonlee—raised a knee while balancing on a coiled leg.
“Spooky,” Chuck commented. Subconsciously, his muscles flexed.
Sam very purposefully ignored that physical reaction while the referee went over the rules, but he only half-paid attention. He already knew how this battle would work, and he was going over the plan in his head.
“Trainers!” the referee shouted. “ Are you ready?”
“Ready!” Sam yelled.
Chuck roared to express the same.
The very start of the match ended up being simple; where a Hitmonchan excelled in punches, a Hitmonlee excelled in its kicks. Mismagius stayed in place as it charged forward, but rather than fully running up to her, it stopped yards away to lean to the side and extend its leg to unleash a powerful kick.
Like a spring subjected to a tremendous force, the Hitmonlee’s leg stretched out to threaten Mismagius from even that far away. And, due to the Foresight being maintained by a nearby Machoke, Hitmonlee’s attack hit. Mismagius did nothing to dodge and took that powerful strike to her side.
But that just meant Phase 1 was already complete.
“Now!” Sam shouted.
Mismagius brought up her arms, a hissing cackle leaving her throat even through the pain, and the opposing Hitmonlee suddenly lurched when its leg snapped back.
Her use of Pain Split was in no way perfect, but she was at least able to divide the pain of that kick between her and her target.
Honestly, the only reason she could use this incomplete move was thanks to her Nasty Plot—and preparing herself with it was why she didn’t move at the beginning. There shouldn’t have been any interaction between Nasty Plot and Pain Split, but yet, there was a hidden synergy between them.
Nasty Plot functioned by using Dark Type energy to help make plans for the best ways to inflict pain, and what was Pain Split but a move that did exactly that?
However, the only thing Mismagius’s in-progress Pain Split truly offered here was an opening. It barely healed her, and it barely drained Hitmonlee’s health. But the surprise jolt of pain sent through Hitmonlee gave her the perfect amount of time to act, and she clapped her arms together before pulling them apart. Between her hands, motes of purple fire sparked up to hover in the air.
Purposefully, the motes she conjured looked like they were from Will-O-Wisp.
But they were not from Will-O-Wisp.
To a Fighting Type specialist, however, a Will-O-Wisp was trouble since a burn could outright cut a Pokémon’s physical power in half. Chuck couldn’t risk letting Mismagius keep that up, and he called out the expected move.
“Taunt!”
Got you.
Mismagius fell for the Taunt hook, line, and sinker, but Chuck fell for her trap at the same time.
Though she would be using no further status moves, Mismagius was already in the mindset of a Pokémon prepared for an attack. Also, the Hitmonlee was in the process of using Taunt, which meant it was occupied by that move.
She had complete freedom—and plenty of willingness—to send her Hex forward, surprising both Chuck and his Pokémon. Hitmonlee tried to respond by showing off the sheer flexibility of its legs, bending its body a full ninety-degree angle back, but that didn’t matter.
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Mismagius was suddenly right there.
The flames of Hex consumed the air above it, obscuring its vision, and then there was no more room between them.
Already on the back foot, Hitmonlee didn’t have the chance to respond. It used Detect for a flash of insight to avoid how the Hex suddenly redirected itself to stab down, but that just meant it wasn’t able to do the same to avoid her next attack.
It was caught by her Psychic.
She squeezed.
Consumed by a super-effective, Nasty Plot-boosted attack, Chuck’s Pokémon fainted right there and then.
“Huh,” Chuck said.
Briefly, the Gym Leader rubbed his eyes.
The small number of people watching from the seats clapped for the outcome of the match, and this time around, without a loss, the noise didn’t eat at Sam.
“That was fast,” Chuck said. “Faster than I expected! Hm. You really came up with a strategy like that overnight?”
Sam realized he’d been staring at the field in silence and let out an embarrassed chuckle. He awkwardly rubbed the back of his head as Mismagius shook herself to push away the effects of her Nasty Plot.
“Kind of. I had the pieces. Mismagius had the rest. We were worried about your Taunt, so we had to develop a bunch of strategies to get around it. I figured something simple was for the best—and you probably won’t fall for a quick rush more than once. Better to rely on this now instead of later.”
Extremely pleased, Chuck laughed.
While going over strategies with his team, Sam hadn’t known that Mismagius could use Pain Split, but she had brought up the theory of its synergy with Nasty Plot. And after watching this match, he now fully realized just how fast she could move without Shadow Sneak—unless Typhlosion or Drakloak used Agility, Mismagius could beat any of them in a race. Sam hadn’t even called for a Shadow Sneak here because he needed to give Misdreavus the chance to prepare other moves.
While Mismagius didn’t have the same in-built aerodynamics as a Pokémon like Drakloak, her speed was more of a consequence of what she was. She was a spiritual being adept at moving spiritual energies, which included the energies that made up herself, and she could also ignore air resistance thanks to her Ghost Type ability to phase through obstacles.
That meant she didn’t need to worry about building up momentum. It also let her use moves quickly, allowing her to wholly focus on offense to end a match fast. Here, arguably, she had even been a bit slower than usual due to the Foresight making her more physical, but she had moved as if she expected the Hitmonlee to react quicker.
It was almost as if the way she had trained to fight saw her be naturally prepared for faster opponents—which was likely true thanks to all of her spars with Typhlosion.
Or, maybe it was from her spars with someone else?
For a brief second, Sam looked over to the stands, but Drakloak didn’t look back. She was too busy staring at Mismagius, a complicated expression on her face. Sam couldn’t tell if she was jealous or if she wanted to see how she matched up, herself.
Next to her, Dreepy saw Sam’s glance and waved.
“So, your next Pokémon—”
“In a bit,” Sam said. He wasn’t fully paying attention again. He was already going over his next set of plans.
“I’ll be waiting!” Chuck shouted as Sam left the field.
After, another battle passed.
This time around, Sam didn’t wait like yesterday, moving up to face Chuck for a second battle as soon as they were both ready.
Previously, Sam led with Mismagius to set the expectation of a heavy offense. But here, he sent out a Pokémon that could have not fought more differently.
Trevenant appeared on the field, ready to slowly wear down whatever Pokémon Chuck chose.
“Triple Kick!” Chuck yelled once the match started.
For this battle, Chuck’s Pokémon was a Hitmontop, another evolution of Tyrogue, but a Hitmontop was far more balanced than either of Tyrogue’s other two evolutions. Weirdly, a Hitmontop primarily fought by spinning on its head, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t good at kicking and punching. In truth, the momentum brought on by its spins meant its moves could land with even greater power.
So, spinning over the field to where Trevenant awaited it, Hitmontop struck him with a leg, then a tail, and then a second leg to his bark.
The triple hit caused his body to crack as all three strikes perfectly targeted the same spot. However, the very moment the final kick hit, Trevenant lashed out to grab the offered limb.
“Horn Leech!”
A wooden hand latched around the Hitmontop’s leg, claws digging into its flesh. Forced to stop spinning, it suddenly grimaced as it was drained of its energy.
Though Trevenant started this match by dealing damage, Sam didn’t plan for this battle to be as quick. It would be a slow, well-placed weathering of Trevenant’s opponent until they pulled off a win.
But Chuck recognized that quickly. He was a Gym Leader with plenty of experience. Instead of waiting to let Sam do as he pleased, he called for a Taunt.
Trevenant was already prepared.
The second Trevenant heard Chuck’s shout, he acted. Before Hitmontop could even think about using Taunt, he was already gone.
With Trevenant having suddenly disappeared, Hitmontop was let go, where it fell to the floor.
This move was no Protect, but Phantom Force allowed Trevenant to disappear for a few seconds. That meant he could temporarily remove himself from the match without needing to officially retreat from the battle.
Phantom Force meant he wouldn’t be around to be targeted, so a Taunt here would always fail.
Expecting his return, Hitmontop brought up its arms for a defense, and it was quick to turn around when Trevenant appeared out of a shadow behind it. It attempted to kick again, but Trevenant slashed.
For this, his attack wasn’t an attack. He simply took that kick to plant a Leech Seed on Hitmonchan’s chest.
And just like that, the battle was sealed. Phantom Force simultaneously allowed him to stall while also letting him focus on attacks. Hitmontop was able to get a Taunt off once it became more familiar with Trevenant’s pattern, but at that point, it didn’t matter.
Phantom Force was an attack. It gave Trevenant a way to aggressively dodge while also stalling to allow Leech Seed to drain as much health as possible between moves.
Given that the only other move Sam bothered to call for was Horn Leech, Hitmontop eventually dealt more damage overall, but Trevenant healed through all of that. Even when Chuck called for a series of powerful strikes that all landed, he was still able to use Harvest. It was an ability, not a move, and to save time, he could eat his fresh Sitrus berries whenever he was preparing his next attack while not present in the mundane conceptions of reality.
Trevenant won.
When Hitmontop collapsed to the floor, unable to stay standing after losing all of its energy, Sam felt confident. He felt satisfied. This was why he’d chosen to wait until another day. It was so, so easy to fall into the trap of a defeatist mindset, and it helped to know that even when given such a short amount of time, he was still capable of making effective plans.
With this match finished, Sam was ready to move into his next, but Chuck just returned his Hitmontop and unexpectedly sat on his stone platform. Crossing his legs, he let his head fall onto a hand in rest, and then he looked Sam in the eye and beckoned for him to come over.
Curious, Sam returned Trevenant and did exactly that.
“One night, and you’ve turned it around. One night, and you made a strategy to counter my entire team, didn't you?” Chuck asked.
“I wanted to treat your challenge like a challenge in the Conference,” Sam explained. “I started out thinking that meant I needed to prepare strategies in just a few minutes, but that’s not how the Conference works. Battles in the Conference happen fast, but they’re still usually only day-to-day. You don’t get much time, but you still have at least some time to make a strategy, and you’re also able to watch your opponent’s battles or even watch recordings of them online.”
Which is what Sam had done here by sitting in the audience.
When he finished explaining his thought process, Sam looked up to where Chuck was still seated. The Gym Leader glanced over him before quietly laughing to himself and lightly shaking his head.
“That’s not always going to work,” Chuck said.
“What do you mean?” Sam asked, suspicious.
“All trainers you face will have a unique way they fight, and you can always try to find a counter to that, sure. But from my perspective, there are only two real strategies: a trainer either fights with a plan, or they fight with their instincts.
“So in your case, you’re a planner. I’d expect pre-made strategies out of you. But for others like me, well, they’re more instinctual.”
Sam frowned. He couldn’t say he agreed with the idea of an “instinctual” fighter. He refused to believe that anyone was instinctually better at training Pokémon than someone else.
Then again, Redi was better at training Pokémon than me—but only at the start! We both put in a lot of work to excel where the other excelled. She’s more specialized in the physical, but my Pokémon are now growing just fine on their own.
Sam knew he and Redi had both put in an insane amount of effort. At this point, he had personally spent hundreds of hours researching, memorizing, and understanding Pokémon through the use of the New Pokédex and other sources of info. He’d spent even longer just training with his team and discussing his ideas with them. Talking to his Pokémon about their capabilities was great at transferring theoretical knowledge into something more practical.
But that wasn’t what Chuck had meant.
The Gym Leader looked at Sam and frowned, visibly sensing that Sam had taken the wrong meaning from what he’d said.
“Trainers don’t always need things like information, logic, or even strategy to win battles,” Chuck said as he casually waved a hand. “Most trainers just do whatever feels right for their team at that moment. That’s why I called them instinctual—they’re not instinctually better. It’s that they fight with their instincts rather than anything prepared beforehand.”
“I... see,” Sam said slowly.
Chuck’s expression was serious.
“Sam,” he said. “Do you know why I wanted to have this kind of modified challenge against your team?”
“...To push me and my Pokémon?”
Chuck replied with a light nod. He looked over Sam before speaking next.
“You’re mostly right. I still owe you training from what Brawly asked of me, and this is the best way I can provide that within the short amount of time we have. But, Sam,” Chuck pointed a finger at Sam’s chest, “really, I did all of this to see how you would fight. I saw how you would fight when faced with an unknown team. I saw how you would fight when given just the barest amount of prep time. Honestly, I’m more than satisfied enough to give you your Gym Badge right now...”
He paused when he saw Sam frown.
“But I’m not going to do that. That’s not what we agreed on. See, if I can’t help you pick up the basics, then I can at least help you understand something more advanced.”
Chuck leaned back to sit up straight.
“Know this,” he said, “the best trainers are the trainers that fight with both plans and instincts.”
“But you...” Sam frowned. “You described yourself as an instinctual battler?”
“I did,” Chuck said with a nod. “That’s why Brawly has his own Gym instead of staying here. He’s already far surpassed me.”
From there, Chuck properly stood up to tower over Sam. His gaze shifted; he stared down with the full presence of a Gym Leader.
“Samuel Greyson!” Gym Leader Chuck bellowed. “I have one last challenge! One last match left against you! You are still yet to truly earn your final Gym Badge, and you are still yet to truly show off that one species you promised to show me!”
Sam tried to hide his wince. He had been planning to use Drakloak next. He’d forgotten about his promise to use Annihilape in a fight.
Chuck seemed to sense that, and he gained an amused smile. Glancing over to the side, he gestured for a Gym Trainer to come closer, and a muscled woman in a tank top ran over to receive his commands.
He told her to take over his next few scheduled matches.
He then looked back.
“Sam, you and I will be moving off to have our final match for your challenge,” Chuck said in a quieter voice. “This will decide whether or not you’ve passed the makeshift crash course I’ve inflicted on you. This battle is going to be very important because we’re going to do it now, before you have too much time to prepare. Also...”
He chuckled to himself.
“Also, you’re from Hoenn. So it’ll be a double battle. To decide whether or not you earn my Storm Badge, you’ll need to win in a double battle match against the strongest two Pokémon on my team.”
Sam’s Team:
Badges Earned: 7 (Mineral, Fog, Plain, Hive, Zephyr, Rising, Glacier)
Approximate Team Strength: 8 Stars
(Fire / Ghost Type, Female, Timid Nature +Spe/-Atk)
Abilities: Blaze
Held Item: Charcoal
Moves: Tackle, Leer, Smokescreen, Ember, Flame Wheel, Curse, Will-O-Wisp, Incinerate, Detect, Quick Attack, Swift, Flame Charge, Flamethrower, Double Team, Infernal Parade, Confuse Ray, Hex, Shadow Ball, Night Shade, Shadow Claw, Agility, Blast Burn
(Fighting / Ghost Type, Male, Impish Nature +Def/-SpA)
Abilities: Vital Spirit
Moves: Scratch, Leer, Low Kick, Karate Chop, Fury Swipes, Assurance, Ice Punch, Fire Punch, Cross Chop, Curse, Brick Break, Rock Smash, Rock Slide, Bulk Up, Rage, Rage Fist, Close Combat
Haunter (Ghost / Poison Type, Male, Naive Nature +Spe/-SpD)
Abilities: Levitate
Moves: Hypnosis, Lick, Confuse Ray, Spite, Mean Look, Hex, Shadow Punch, Night Shade, Acid Spray, Ominous Wind, Shadow Ball, Dream Eater, Nightmare, Curse
Mismagius (Ghost Type, Female, Hasty Nature +Spe/-Def)
Pokéball: Friend Ball
Abilities: Levitate
Moves: Growl, Psywave, Astonish, Confusion, Confuse Ray, Mean Look, Night Shade, Shadow Sneak, Shadow Ball, Nasty Plot, Psybeam, Will-O-Wisp, Psychic, Hex, Power Gem, Pain Split
Trevenant (Ghost / Grass Type, Male, Quiet Nature +SpA/-Spe)
Pokéball: Moon Ball
Abilities: Harvest, Frisk (Developing)
Held Item: Sitrus Berry
Moves: Horn Leech, Tackle, Confuse Ray, Astonish, Growth, Ingrain, Leech Seed, Forest’s Curse, Shadow Claw, Phantom Force
Drakloak (Dragon / Ghost Type, Female, Serious Nature, +-n/a)
Pokéball: n/a
Abilities: Infiltrator (Developing)
Moves: Astonish, Infestation, Quick Attack, Bite, Lock-On, Agility, Double Hit, U-Turn, Phantom Force, Take Down, Dragon Pulse
Dreepy (Dragon / Ghost Type, Male, Rash Nature, +SpA/-SpD) [Partnered with Drakloak]
Pokéball: n/a
Abilities: Clear Body (Developing)
Moves: Astonish, Infestation, Quick Attack, Bite
Auxiliary Pokémon: A decent number of wild (only increasing)
At Home (non-battlers): ,
At Carl’s Ranch: (more than twenty), (Annihilape’s brother)
Redi’s Team (outdated):
Badges Earned: 7 (Mineral, Plain, Hive, Zephyr, Rising, Glacier, Fog)
Approximate Team Strength: 6 Stars
(Normal Type, Male, Adamant Nature +Atk/-SpA)
Abilities: Guts, Quick Feet
Moves: Scratch, Fury Swipes, Fire Punch, Baby-Doll Eyes, Slash, Ice Punch, Focus Energy, Thunder Punch, Hyper Beam, Rock Slide, Swords Dance, Giga Impact, Shadow Claw, Sleep Talk
Porygon2 (Normal Type, Genderless, Quirky Nature +-n/a)
Abilities: n/a
Moves: Tackle, Sharpen, Conversion, Psybeam, Thunder Shock, Charge Beam, Discharge, Tri-Attack, Charge, Teleport, Recover, Thunder Wave, Magnet Rise, Lock-On, Zap Cannon
(Dragon Type, Female, Rash Nature +SpA/-SpD)
Abilities: Shed Skin
Moves: Wrap, Leer, Thunder Wave, Twister, Slam, Agility, Aqua Tail, Dragon Rush
Auxiliary Pokémon: x2 (Tibia and Fibula)
Pokémon (and people) included in this chapter:
Golbat
Chuck
huge thank you to everyone reading! Your support keeps this story going.
