- Blessed by Divinity -

Against All Odds

"This will be a three versus three battle between Korrina the Shalour City gym leader and the challenger. Both trainers send out your first pokemon."

After training with Calem for close to a week, here I was, stood opposing the Shalour gym leader. Knowing that she was a fighting type specialist and that she used a Mega Lucario, both of us trained our pokemon tirelessly in preparation for the battle. Calem kindly offered for me to battle first to which I naturally accepted.

"Mienfoo, I choose you!"

"Slowpoke, I'm counting on you."

Both pokemon stood at either on of the field, staring down their respective opponent. The pink water pokemon wasn't backing down an inch from the fight type's intimidating stare.

"Get in close with fake out."

Slowpoke looked back to me quickly as we both nodded to each other. He stood completely still, not attempting to evade the attack. The martial arts pokemon charged forward, hands glowing white as she thrust them into Slowpoke's face.

However, any damage was negated due to Slowpoke's ability. Now our opponent was too close to avoid any attack, just as planned.

"Use water pulse!"

The close range attack hit its target, sending the opponent flying backward into the ground before Korrina. Mienfoo stood up, attempting to shake off the attack but from close range it was evident that a lot of damage had been done.

"We can still fight! Mienfoo, drain punch!"

"Stop them with confusion."

As the martial arts pokemon charged forward, three orbs of psychic energy were hurled toward it. She was able to avoid the attack but had lost all momentum, meaning that we could evade the attack easily.

"Use water pulse again!"

The quick fire call took our opponent my surprise as Mienfoo was stunned by another water type attack. When she stood up this time, there were stars in her eyes, indicating that she had become confused.

"Mienfoo snap out of it!"

"Don't let up Slowpoke, use confusion!"

A confused Mienfoo was unable to avoid the attack, suffering a super effective confusion. The martial arts pokemon was thrown back, landing at Korrina's feet, unable to battle.

"That's a great battle strategy there. Using your pokemon's ability and move set to the fullest really threw us off our game."

I took the compliment graciously but I also added that Slowpoke came up with half the strategy himself. You didn't need a pokedex to tell you that this pokemon had a high intelligence level.

"Hawlucha, I choose you!"

"Slowpoke, return for now. Growlithe, I'm counting on you."

Once again, both pokemon were staring each other down, trying to gain the competitive edge over the other. The orange puppy pokemon turned to face me, both of us nodding to each other just before the battle started.

"Flame burst!"

"Dodge using bounce!"

The barrage of flames was easily evaded as the luchador pokemon sprang high into the air. Covered in a faint yellow light, Hawlucha crashed through the sky, barreling straight toward Growlithe. At the last second, we were able to avoid the attack, still slightly caught by the aftermath. Both pokemon stood back up, unfazed and ready to continue.