Chapter 63: Pewter Badge Obtained (Patreon)

Half a minute later.

Brock and Renan stood in the command areas on opposite sides of the field and threw their Poké Balls.

"Go, Rhyhorn!"

"I choose you, Nidorino."

Brock gestured for him to go first. "You're the challenger, so you get the first move."

Renan didn't bother with politeness. "Ice Beam," he ordered at once.

Brock: "?!"

When he saw Renan send out Nidorino, he'd assumed the boy wanted a close-quarters brawl.

Instead, Renan opened with an Ice Beam, a Special Ice-type attack that did double damage to Rhyhorn.

But unlike Flint, who'd traveled for ages and barely improved, Brock was gifted, both as a Trainer and as a Breeder.

He reacted almost instantly and began countering. "Dig! Get underground!"

From the third Gym onward, Gym Leaders' Pokémon were no longer limited to the moves they could naturally learn, or to moves of the Gym's type.

That raised the difficulty of earning a badge by several tiers.

But Renan was no newbie. He hadn't done much PvP in his previous life, but he'd watched plenty of other people's battle videos online.

"Switch moves. Stealth Rock to set up the field," he said immediately.

Nidorino was long used to its Trainer's decoy tactics. That first Ice Beam had barely gathered any energy.

Now, hearing the order to change moves, it condensed a huge number of transparent, hard stones and scattered them across the field.

Right then, Rhyhorn burst out of the ground behind Nidorino.

It didn't hesitate and charged straight at its target.

Renan gave his third order. "Take it, then Water Pulse at point-blank range."

Brock: "Wha—?!"

He was so shocked that his eyes, usually squinted into slits, flew wide open.

He tried to make Rhyhorn change moves, but there was no time.

Nidorino took a Dig, a move that did double damage to it, and swayed on its feet. Then the horn on its head gathered a ball of water-blue energy, and it slammed the ball into Rhyhorn without a hitch.

It was a four-times-effective hit, and Rhyhorn was a bit lower in level besides.

The match wasn't an all-important one either. With all those factors stacked together, Rhyhorn toppled to the ground with swirls in its eyes.

Brock returned his fainted Rhyhorn. His tone was calm, and he had clearly pulled himself together. "You did well, Rhyhorn."

Once the words were out, he took a second Poké Ball from his belt. "I'm counting on you for the next fight."

A flash of red light, and a round, four-armed boulder of a Pokémon appeared on the field.

It was Graveler, the evolved form of the Geodude that Renan and Misty had seen so many times in Mt. Moon.

From the previous fight, Brock had vaguely sensed that Renan's strength exceeded what a three-badge Trainer should have. He didn't hesitate and ordered, "Graveler, Defense Curl, then Rollout!"

Defense Curl plus Rollout was a fairly common little combo in battles.

Of course, breaking it wasn't hard either.

At least not for Nidorino, a veritable kaleidoscope of offense.

Thoughts flashed quickly through Renan's mind. "Use Water Pulse on the ground all around you, then freeze the water with Ice Beam."

Nidorino did as told.

It had trained a lot lately on how fast it could gather its moves.

By the time Graveler first rolled up in front of it, part of the rocky field had already turned into watery ground.

Under Renan's command, Nidorino leapt as high as it could and dodged the attack.

Graveler resisted Rock-type moves, but while rolling it still brushed against a few Stealth Rock stones by accident.

As a result, its Sturdy Ability was broken.

At that point, the outcome of the second fight was already settled.

The instant Graveler used Rollout again and began to skid on the frozen ground, Renan, a faint blue glow blooming around his pupils, gave the order at once. "Water Pulse, finish it!"

"Nido!"

Against a target moving in a straight line, Nidorino's accuracy was quite high.

One Water Pulse later, without any surprise, Graveler, already below full health, was knocked into swirly eyes.

By now Brock had basically worked it out: Nidorino's level was well above that of his own Pokémon, and it was probably the black-haired boy's ace.

He understood that he would most likely lose today's Gym battle. But as a Gym Trainer with a whole family of younger siblings to feed, his temperament was stable enough.

He didn't fall apart over losing a fight or two.

He simply sent out his third Pokémon, a well-raised and sturdy Onix.

Against a big fellow like that, Renan honestly didn't need any delicate tactics.

He had Nidorino use one Water Pulse first. He'd planned to switch in Charmeleon and finish it off with Dragon Breath, but he never expected Brock's Onix not to have the Sturdy Ability. As a result, not long after it appeared, the hulking giant followed Rhyhorn and Graveler.

"Sorry, Onix."

Brock returned the Pokémon to its Poké Ball and took two deep breaths where he stood to settle the turmoil inside him.

Then he stepped forward, his tone friendly.

"Trainer Renan, I looked over your records before the battle. You've been traveling less than a season, and you've already raised a Nidorino that's close to Elite class and knows moves of several types."

"Purely as a matter of raising Pokémon, you're undeniably excellent."

"Your tactical setup just now had no flaws either."

"As the current Leader of Pewter Gym, I acknowledge your strength."

As he spoke, Brock held out a Boulder Badge.

"Thanks." Renan took it, a faint smile on his face.

With the third badge in hand, he was undoubtedly one step closer to challenging the Indigo League.

At the same time, the shared space deep in his soul, which hadn't reacted for over a month, suddenly trembled.

Through some instinctive sense, Renan knew he had gained the authority to pause the Pokémon world's spacetime for a second time.

'So winning a Gym battle gets me the authority to cross back to DanMachi?'

'Or is it only Kanto's Gyms, or the so-called [Eight Great Gyms], that have a function like that?'

Renan mulled over guesses in silence.

Brock's voice sounded in his ear again. "Are you planning to enter this year's Indigo League?"

Pulled from his train of thought, Renan didn't mind. He nodded and answered, "That's right. Next I'm heading north to challenge the Fighting-type Gym in Rota City."