As the Champion, what kind of Pokémon would he send out first?!
Dawn had just heard about the power of the Jewel of Life. After being entrusted with something so precious, the pressure weighing on her heart only grew heavier. She needed a proper outlet for it.
And naturally, that outlet was right now.
She steadied her breathing and adjusted her state of mind.
The battle began!
Blazing crimson fire rose into the air. As the Poké Ball opened, the flame-clad knight carrying a golden war spear took the field.
"A Pokémon I've never seen before... What form is that, a knight?! So... cool!"
"Eh? But that Pokémon is Fire-type, isn't it?"
Gardenia crossed her arms. She had been looking forward to this Gym battle too, and she had not even had time to change out of her wet clothes before hurrying over to watch. At the same time, she was also serving as the referee for this match.
But Armarouge's appearance left her completely baffled.
"Didn't you say you were a Steel specialist? Why are you using a Fire-type Pokémon? Are you trying to show off the power of a sun team?"
Hikaru smiled. "No. Weather is strong, but there are other battle methods that can rival it."
"As for team-building, even if you're a specialist in one type, you can't focus only on Pokémon of that type. Every now and then, you also need to raise off-type Pokémon to cover your blind spots."
"Gardenia, you should catch something like Charizard or Torkoal too. That would round out your sun team's offensive coverage. If you do that, then when you challenge the Elite Four, you'll definitely be able to crush powerful opponents with overwhelming force."
"Up to now, I've taught a lot of people all kinds of strange and unusual battle techniques, but some of them are very direct and violent. Sun teams are especially good for that. For example, Chlorophyll + After You + Eruption. A strategy like that can ignore almost any tactical trick the opponent tries."
Gardenia blinked, looking a little dazed.
"That battle style... sounds kind of ridiculously strong?"
"You want me to use Fire-types? Grass Pokémon and Fire Pokémon... I don't know the first thing about raising Fire-types!"
Hikaru laughed. "Even if you don't like Fire-types, try raising one or two anyway. Even Aaron of the Elite Four doesn't have a true Bug-type as his ace. His ace is Drapion, the fake bug, isn't it?"
A Pokémon with Chlorophyll doubled its Speed under sunlight. Even in real battle, that was an astonishing Ability with tremendous tactical value.
That was because After You forced the target to move immediately afterward, allowing a slower Pokémon to be repeatedly controlled into unleashing huge, high-powered attacks one after another to suppress the enemy.
Lilligant plus Torkoal for a Chlorophyll sun-powered Eruption strategy was an incredibly brutal and simple battle style. Even in real-world battle, it created horrifying pressure.
Hikaru looked at Dawn, who was standing ready in full concentration. She had already used medicine to restore her team's stamina.
"To deal with Fire... of course Water is the better answer!"
Dawn immediately sent out her Pokémon without hesitation.
"Go, Floatzel!"
"Floata!" Floatzel, looking like it was wearing a life jacket, took the field first as a swift rain attacker.
With a base Speed of 115, Floatzel under rain and boosted by its Swift Swim Ability would reach terrifying Speed levels, effectively the equivalent of a Pokémon with base 230 Speed.
Its only real problem was that it was too frail, and as a rain sweeper its damage output also lagged behind Kabutops. Pure Water-type coverage was not especially strong either, which was why it had not made it into the "Big Four" of rain sweepers.
Still, in the Mystery Dungeon world, a rain-boosted Swift Swim double strike would make it a true king.
"A Swift Swim Ability gives Water Pokémon incredible Speed in rain," Hikaru said, "but Floatzel actually has another way to fight too. Do you know about it? It's used with its Hidden Ability, Water Veil."
"If it holds a Flame Orb..."
Floatzel's Hidden Ability, Water Veil, prevented it from being burned. On top of that, it had access to the filthy egg move Switcheroo, and when combined with its naturally blazing Speed, that instantly created a nasty trap strategy.
"Switcheroo Flame Orb!"
As long as it swapped its held item with the opponent and gave them the Flame Orb, it could instantly cripple physical attackers and ruin their ability to fight properly. On Floatzel's side, it could then go for Agility or Bulk Up into Baton Pass.
Since its offensive coverage was only pure Water anyway, there was no need to expect it to carry a whole bunch of attacking moves for serious output. Its tactical role was simply to hand the Flame Orb over to the enemy. It was basically like handing your opponent a Lava Golem in a card game.
"So that's how the Champion battles... It feels kind of dirty," Dawn said in amazement. Her survey of the Sinnoh ecosystem had only just begun, so naturally she could not possibly know that many Hidden Abilities yet.
But with the right Ability, plus a peculiar held item that looked useless at first glance, a battle could be flipped in an instant, and the winds of victory could suddenly turn in your favor.
"So the items you prepared for changing Abilities were for this," Dawn said. "I understand now."
"But I can't use that strategy in this battle, so let me fight with the most basic method instead!"
"Rain Dance!"
Floatzel raised both hands toward the ceiling. The dark clouds that had only recently been driven away by the sun gathered once more, covering the Gym battlefield. Eterna Gym had so many trees that it looked like a miniature forest, so when the rain came pouring down, the whole place filled with the fresh scent of plants and wet soil.
"It smells so good... the scent of nature."
Even Hikaru could not help taking a deep breath.
Gardenia had taken excellent care of the plant life here. The rain carried up a hazy mist, and with the clouds hanging low, the Gym's environment looked dreamlike.
"Under rain, Fire-type moves are cut in half. I don't need to teach you that anymore. You already know it well."
"So once the sky-signifying force of weather has been opened, what's still missing...?"
"The answer is the earth-signifying force of terrain!"
"Armarouge, Psychic Terrain!"
Armarouge extended both hands forward.
Domain expansion.
A strange sensation spread beneath their feet. Light representing the Psychic type diffused into the rainy mist, and the light itself began to refract as fantastical pink energy enveloped the battlefield.
"Aqua Jet!"
This was Dawn's first time ever seeing terrain, so she chose to probe it first and immediately ordered a priority move.
With STAB and rain, Aqua Jet's base 40 power effectively rose to 90.
And if it hit a Fire-type Pokémon, that was effectively like striking with 180 power!
"You sent out a Fire-type Pokémon in the rain and still aren't using sun to change the weather? You're practically throwing the match?" Gardenia muttered from the side, thoroughly puzzled.
But in the very next second she saw that Floatzel had frozen in place. Water overflowed around its body, yet it seemed to be suppressed by some invisible power. It could not use the move at all.
"Floata?!"
Floatzel stared at the flame-knight before it in utter shock. The Fire-type enemy was right there. Why couldn't it attack?!
What kind of sorcery was this?!
"Floatzel can't attack?!" Dawn immediately realized she had stumbled at the opening. This was something she had never seen before. How could that even happen?
Hikaru shook his head and praised her at the same time.
"Even after boosting your Speed with Swift Swim, you still chose a priority move. Dawn, you're very steady."
"But Aqua Jet won't work. Or rather, until Psychic Terrain disappears, no priority move can be used at all!"
"That is the power of terrain."
"The first new thing I'm going to teach you is lesson one: Terrain."
"So far, there are four known terrain moves. Each has its own distinct power and can influence many moves and even Abilities. There are also two branches to terrain strategies, terrain setting and terrain destruction, though for now we're only talking about the former."
"Psychic Terrain is the battlefield where Psychic-type Pokémon fight and thrive. Psychic-type moves gain a 30% boost while Psychic Terrain is active. And Pokémon on the ground are protected from priority moves."
"That's right. Which means that if I had sent out a Flying-type Pokémon, it would still have been hit. Psychic power protects the ground, not the sky."
"And after that-"
Dawn immediately cut in with a command. "Even without priority moves, our Speed should still be the highest!"
"Loud and proud. Fastest in rain! Use Wave Crash!"
This was the massive-power Water-type physical move Hikaru had given her. Floatzel did not have an Ability to ignore recoil, but under Swift Swim, a huge STAB strike like this was not something even Pokémon that did not fear Water could just shrug off.
Even if the difference in growth between the two sides was large, that did not matter!
And yet, the moment Floatzel charged forward like a raging flood, Armarouge suddenly burst into roaring flames. Even under the pouring rain, it moved first, evaded Wave Crash, and countered by driving a punch into Floatzel's face.
Hikaru said one word.
"Burn Up!"
The fierce blast of fire struck Floatzel and staggered it backward. But because Floatzel doubly resisted Fire and rain weakened Fire-type moves further, even the strongest fire finisher could barely do any real damage.
Dawn's heart skipped.
"A Fire-type move in the rain?! What is going on? Is there something strange about that move?"
"Floatzel, Aqua Tail!"
Floatzel swung its massive tail like a crashing tidal wave.
Dawn had sharply realized that something was wrong.
Why would the Champion make such an absurd type-disadvantage play? Hikaru had taught her before that unfavorable type matchups did not necessarily mean defeat, but unleashing a straightforward burst of flame in the rain still made no sense.
Shouldn't he be using the opponent's weather instead, with something like Natural Gift, a move that could alter type?
He had told her before that there were three "natural" moves, and after capturing Saturn, Hikaru now possessed all three.
"Correct, Dawn! Your battle instincts are getting better and better!"
Hikaru openly praised her intuition.
On the battlefield, Floatzel's tail brought down a huge wave like a steel cannonball smashing into Armarouge's armor.
And then-
A hard metallic gleam spread across the armor. That tail strike achieved absolutely nothing.
Iron Defense!
And more than that-
"Not very effective!"
"Guren!"
Armarouge's eyes were calm and utterly without arrogance. It held deep respect for the Floatzel before it, and for the young girl commanding it.
Anyone worthy of being recognized by its teacher and lord was practically its junior apprentice.
And so, as a senior and elder disciple, it would display its full power in battle and complete this lesson properly.
Armarouge grabbed Floatzel's tail and gave the stunned otter a small nod.
Then-
Sunlight blazed.
A prismatic pillar of light erupted upward from below. This was Armarouge's signature technique.
"Expanding Force!"
Floatzel was blown straight into the air, then slammed heavily to the ground with a booming thud.
Floatzel burst apart in defeat.
"Floatzel is unable to battle?!"
Gardenia stared at the fallen Floatzel. Floatzel was not known for its toughness, but for it to be one-shot like that?
And more importantly-
"What is going on here? Water-type attacks in the rain are supposed to be overwhelming. There's no way a Fire-type Pokémon should be able to take that, even with Iron Defense."
"That first Fire-type move clearly had something weird about it. And it moved first!"
Dawn was full of confusion, so Hikaru explained:
"That was an extremely rare move, one that's gradually being lost to time: Burn Up. It's regarded as a supreme Fire-type technique beyond Flare Blitz and Overheat, and it has no side effect of lowering the user's stats or injuring the user."
"And that is the second new topic I'm teaching you."
"Lesson two: Type alteration."
"Just like the gods of Sinnoh's legends, there are powers that can alter type. Just like Natural Gift, which we obtained earlier, and the common move Hidden Power, a very small number of Pokémon and moves can change type based on the surrounding environment, held items, or even innate talent."
"But those are all cases of one-way type modification, and some even involve adding type effects. So then, is there such a thing as type reduction?"
"The answer is yes."
"A very small number of moves can cause one of a Pokémon's own types to vanish. Armarouge is a flame warrior from Paldea, the legendary sun knight. Its types are Fire and Psychic."
"After using Burn Up, its Fire type disappears for a period of time, leaving it as a pure Psychic-type, while the original Fire component becomes typeless."
"Typeless means it has no type interaction with anything. It's neither super effective nor weak to any type at all. The Pokémon best suited for this move is actually Arcanine, which learns it naturally."
"Once it becomes pure Psychic-type, Armarouge's weaknesses change. It no longer fears Water-type moves!"
Dawn said, "Then why did that sun knight suddenly use a 'move second, attack first' kind of technique? Didn't it set up Psychic Terrain to block priority moves? Until the terrain disappears, neither side should be able to use priority moves."
Hikaru smiled. "Normally, yes. But there's one thing you need to watch out for."
"Quick Claw and Custap Berry priority effects are not blocked by terrain. They still activate normally. And allied moves are not subject to that restriction either."
"The item I gave Armarouge is Quick Claw."
"Psychic is an extremely powerful type. It has many famous weaknesses, of course, but when it comes to distinguishing friend from foe, that's very easy for Psychic power."
Gardenia was left utterly speechless. Then she thought back to her earlier battle with Dawn, and the bob-haired Gym Leader sank into deep thought.
I see.
Watching the Champion battle really is useful.
And combined with Dawn's battle earlier, it all suddenly clicked into place.
That's it.
Even a single-type Pokémon, even while trapped in an unfavorable environment, can still seize total control of a battle through the proper use of unique moves and type mechanics. And on top of that, it can lull the opponent into lowering their guard.
"...I get it now. The real core idea here is moves like Hidden Power. Don't let yourself be limited by your Pokémon's natural typing. Fight freely."
Gardenia felt her mind open all at once, as though enlightenment had struck her directly.
Dawn, meanwhile, wore the expression of someone who had been taught something important. After quietly praising Floatzel with her eyes closed, she sent out her second Pokémon.
The rain was still falling.
"Floatzel was holding a Damp Rock, so the rain lasts longer. And under rain, the second Pokémon I'm sending out is a true rain attacker!"
"Open the path for me, Kabutops!"
Light burst from Dawn's Poké Ball. After the battle with Gardenia that morning, her Kabuto had gained experience and...
evolved.
It had reached level 40.
The leader of the Swift Swim rain quartet: Kabutops!
Kabutops had a brown shell, while its chest armor, claws, and arm scythes were white. Its head was triangular, with two horns stretching backward. After evolving, it could now walk upright.
Kabutops had once lived in warm seas. It was a savage ancient Pokémon. It swam incredibly fast, capable of reaching speeds of around 29 knots. It would rapidly close in on prey, then tear it apart with its scythes and finish it with a lethal strike.
"Ka-lame!"
After evolving, Kabutops' personality had changed too. It was no longer laid-back at all. It had become a little impatient.
But its obedience to Dawn's commands was absolute.
That was partly instinct as a living creature, and partly because it had seen Dawn smash a ghost with a Heavy Ball from inside its Poké Ball. That incident had left an enormous psychological shadow on the then-unevolved fossil Pokémon.
Always and forever, Kabutops would be loyal to Dawn!
Hikaru said, "Psychic's weakness is Bug, so you sent out Kabutops with Bug-type attacks, is that it? But do you really think my Armarouge doesn't have countermeasures prepared for you?"
"Just like you said!" Dawn replied with a confident smile. "Type battle is free. Sometimes it looks like a disadvantage, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is!"
"But no matter what, Fire moves can't do real damage in rain! You don't seem to have any intention of changing the weather, so let me put in a little more force!"
"Kabutops, Swords Dance!"
Sharp blades appeared around Kabutops as sword-light revolved around it, sharply raising its Attack.
Then the two scythes flashed with cold Bug-type light.
"X-Scissor!"
If Armarouge was only Psychic-type, then it feared Bug.
If it regained its Fire typing, then it would fear Rock.
And with Water added in too...
Dawn believed this was the best possible answer to Armarouge.
But at that moment, dazzling light flashed once again in the eyes of the sun knight. The instant it burst forth, a bizarre pink space like a block-world enveloped the battlefield.
"That's Trick Room?!"
As a Gym Leader, Gardenia had seen many things. After all, another Gym Leader, Fantina, specialized in this move.
"That's right," Hikaru said. "Lesson three: Space."
Armarouge's movement speed changed. Before Kabutops' scythe strike could land, it had already evaded, while Kabutops itself seemed to slow down.
Hikaru continued, "Different spaces have different effects. Trick Room causes slower Pokémon to act before faster ones."
"Speed stat changes, paralysis, weather-based Speed modifiers, and Ability-based Speed modifiers are all affected by Trick Room."
"But aside from Speed, things like move priority, Lagging Tail, Quick Claw, Full Incense, and slow-starting Abilities still function normally. They are not affected."
"In other words, under this space, I'm now faster than you. And with Psychic Terrain still active, you can't use priority moves. But because I'm holding a Quick Claw, I can still move first."
Armarouge drove a fist into Kabutops' back.
An incredibly intense wave of aura gathered into its fist. The shoulder armor folded downward and merged with the red iron fist.
"Point-Blank Aura Sphere!"
Kabutops reacted as though struck by lightning.
Its pupils contracted violently, and it crashed to the ground with a thud.
The enormous aura blast instantly defeated Kabutops, which was doubly weak to Fighting and had miserable Special Defense.
"Whether it's X-Scissor, Rock Slide, Leech Life, or Surf, once Kabutops loses the right to act first, it loses its offensive initiative. For a rain sweeper like it, that's a fatal danger."
Dawn stared in stunned disbelief as one of her chief rain attackers was crushed in an instant. She had been prepared, but not for this.
The power of weather...
A flood of thoughts welled up inside her, but she knew all of that should be reviewed after the battle. The more she thought right now, the more likely she was to get nervous and make mistakes.
She adjusted herself immediately.
The rain was about to end, but for Dawn, that was not much of a problem. Her whole team could use Rain Dance, and she still had plenty of backup battle power in reserve.
She still had many tactics left.
"Huh?"
Dawn saw Armarouge suddenly perform a knight's salute toward her, then slowly withdraw from the field.
"The sun knight isn't fighting anymore? Why?"
"Rain still isn't very friendly to Fire-type Pokémon. The knight should rest a little too," Hikaru said with a smile. Then he turned toward Gardenia. "Second one. Go!"
"Eh?! Who's going? Me?" Gardenia pointed at herself, staring in shock. Just as she was about to protest, Hikaru burst into laughter.
"Don't look back. That little guy's right beside you, secretly watching."
"I'm talking to it. Last night, in my house back in Eterna City, I happened to meet a new friend."
Gardenia swallowed hard. She was curious, but she did not dare turn around. Then she felt something slowly drift out from behind her.
Eek...!
I-It's a Ghost-type!
"Oh, come on, you found another Ghost-type Pokémon again?! Don't scare me like that... Huh? Isn't that Shedinja?!"
Gardenia realized the thing drifting out was not some terrifying ghost like she had imagined, but instead looked like a cicada shell she sometimes saw in the forest. Her fear eased quite a bit.
Though, of course, Shedinja still came with some very creepy legends.
Even so, it was at least a Bug Pokémon that lived in forests, and its pre-evolved form was common there too.
Gardenia was not afraid of bugs the way Misty was.
"Shedinja... that's?!" Dawn had never seen this strange-looking Pokémon before. It looked like the cast-off shell of some kind of cicada. And when people thought of cicadas in Pokémon, the best-known one was usually Ninjask.
Gardenia glanced at Hikaru. "Its Ability is Wonder Guard. If you don't know that, it's impossible to fight it properly. So I think maybe you should explain?"
Hikaru nodded. "For Dawn, this is a Pokémon you've never seen before. Shedinja is actually a very weak Pokémon, but it has an extremely strange Ability: Wonder Guard. Only moves that are super effective against it can hit it."
"In other words: Flying, Rock, Ghost, Fire, and Dark."
Dawn came to a sudden realization. "I see! That's why you only sent it out after defeating Kabutops!"
But then, for once, the determined girl smiled.
"But even if it was partly coincidence, maybe even luck...!"
"The next Pokémon I'm sending out isn't Water-type!"
"Yesterday all the electrical appliances were moved into Eterna Gym. After carefully thinking it over, I changed Rotom's form. But not into the Wash form you recommended!"
"You said that the most important powers in rain, besides Water, are lightning and wind! That's why the legendary Pokémon Zapdos is one of the strongest rain attackers. And in my team, the Pokémon that has both lightning and storm moves is Fan Rotom!"
A Flying type that was immune to Ground meant Mow Rotom wasted part of its defensive value, so it did not appear very often in real battle. But the one truly great thing about it was that it could stop the blood-pumping combo of Mold Breaker + Earthquake.
Of course, as an even lower substitute for Zapdos, it was not completely unusable.
"If we're battling in Eterna Gym, then yes, this does make things a little more convenient. And even if it's only Fan Rotom, with Nasty Plot, even low-power attacks can become strong."
"But..." Hikaru asked, "are you really going to be that lucky?"
His question made Dawn and Rotom both freeze for a second.
Across from them, Shedinja was not doing anything at all.
It was just staring at Rotom.
An Electric ghost...?
"...?"
Shedinja started thinking about something. Then very quickly, it stopped thinking about anything again.
Only after Hikaru called to it twice did it snap back like someone had just summoned its soul back into its body. It drifted sideways a little, indicating that it was ready for battle.
As for battling...
Even if it got defeated, it would not actually feel bad about it.
"This little guy was only caught yesterday," Hikaru explained to Dawn. "It suddenly appeared in one of my Poké Balls on its own, so its strength isn't especially impressive compared to the rest of the team."
"But although Shedinja is very weak, once it gets the boost of a certain battle system, it becomes almost completely shameless."
"Lesson four: Pokémon with no weaknesses!"
"Of course, not truly none. Just extremely few. And 'weaknesses' don't refer only to type matchups, but also to all sorts of status and utility moves."
"Shedinja, Terastallize. Electric!"
Hikaru took out a Tera Orb and, before the eyes of Sinnoh's Trainers, revealed for the first time the Terastal battle system from a faraway region.
Wrapped in flashing electric light, the ghost cicada crowned with a giant lightbulb completed its Terastallization.
"Terastallization is a battle system from the distant region of Paldea. It changes a Pokémon's own type. Moves of its original type can still receive STAB, but on defense, calculations use the new type, and its Ability still factors in too."
"When Shedinja becomes Electric-type, it has only one weakness left: Ground. Under the protection of Wonder Guard, only Ground-type attacks can hit it!"
"And as everyone knows, Shedinja's vitality is so low that the slightest touch can knock it out. But in this state, after Terastallizing, if it holds Safety Goggles, then it can also protect itself from sandstorm damage-"
"Shedinja, use Sandstorm!"
It almost sounded like a delighted hum came from inside Shedinja's empty shell.
".~!"
Wearing Safety Goggles, changing its type so it no longer fears Knock Off, and no longer fearing sandstorm either...
Those "meaningless" moves weren't meaningless at all.
They had just never been used correctly.
And now...
Mm-hm.
I do whatever I want.
Sandstorm, go!
(End of Chapter)
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