Today Turquoise was very excited since today was her long awaited gym battle with Max.

“Finally, after so long, we are ready to face Max,” Turquoise said.

“Just be careful, max is no pushover,” Aqua said. They were now in front of the gym and once they went inside Max was waiting for them.

“Good to see you girls again, I assume you have four badges now?” Max asked.

“I sure do,” Turquoise said before showing him before he inspected them. After a few moments Max gave his verdict.

“These are the real deal, so I accept your challenge,” Max said.

“Was there a reason for that inspection?” Aqua asked.

“Lately there have been reports of trainers forging gym badges in order to cheat their way through the league, So as a precaution all gym badges have been stamped with a hidden mark, “ Max said.

“You're not far off on that, “Turquoise said, referring to a certain someone back in Johto.

“Moving on, I believe you came for a gym battle,” Max said as he took his side of the battlefield while Turquoise took hers. Soon the ref took his spot before speaking.

“The battle between max the gym leader and turquoise the challenger will now begin, Both sides will use three pokemon and the battle will end when all three of one side’s pokemon are unable to battle, in addition, only the challenger will be permitted to substitute pokemon,” the ref said with both sides in agreement.

“All right Turquoise, are you ready to begin?” Max asked.

“Been ready for a while now,” Turquoise said, full of confidence.

“First up, I choose Slakoth,” Max said as he called out a small sloth-like creature which had Turquoise pull out her pokedex.

“Slakoth, The slacker pokemon, It sleeps for 20 hours every day. Making drowsy those that see it is one of its abilities,’ The pokedex said.

“Go Espeon,” Turquoise said as she called out Espeon. The ref gave the signal for the battle to start. “Espeon use Psybeam. Espeon fired her Psybeam and was expecting it to hit only for Slakoth to lean left slowly to dodge it.

“Now Slakoth use Hidden Power, Slakoth sent a bunch of white orbs flying towards Espeon before they surrounded her.

‘Espeon use psychic on those orbs. Espeon tried to use psychic but was not able to use it in time and took some serious damage from Hidden Power. Fortunately Espeon was still able to continue. Slakoth was now taking a nap.

“Why did Slakoth just stop like that?” Aqua asked.

“That would be Slakoth’s truant ability,” Fluttershy said. “You see Aqua, when Slakoth uses a move it lazes around for a bit before using another move.

“Now is our chance, Espeon use psybeam. Espeon fired another psybeam and this time Slakoth took it before being blasted into Max's arms and fainting.

“Slakoth is unable to battle, Espeon is the winner,” The Ref said while pointing his right flag at Turquoise. Max recalled Slakoth.

‘I see you figured out Slakoth’s weakness,” Max said.

“Thanks to Fluttershy i did,” Turquoise said.

“But my next pokemon won’t be so easy, Go Vigoroth, “max said as he called out a white medium sized monkey-like creature which turquoise once again pulled out her Pokedex for.

“Vigoroth, the wild monkey pokemon, and the evolved form of Slakoth, It is always hungry because it won't stop rampaging. Even while it is eating, it can't keep still,” The pokedex said.

“Return Espeon, “Turquoise said as she recalled Espeon.

“What is Turquoise doing? Espeon barely broke a sweat,” Aqua asked.

“I think Turquoise plans to switch to something that can handle Vigoroth’s speed since it moves a lot faster than Slakoth and is not weighed down by the truant ability, “Fluttershy said. Turquoise pulled out her next pokeball.

“Go Ninetails,” Turquoise said as she called out her Alolan Ninetails.

“I see you got yourself an Alolan Ninetails, very nice, “Max said as the battlefield now had snow falling onto it.

“Wait til you see him in action,” Turquoise said before the battle resumed.

“Vigoroth use brick break. Vigoroth ran at Ninetails quite fast before inflicting decent damage which was not as much thanks to ninetails fairy-typing. “Now use flamethrower. Vigoroth unleashed flamethrower on Ninetails.

“Ninetails use MoonBlast. Ninetails unleashed moonblast which collided with the flamethrower before causing both moves to cancel each other out. “Now use Ice beam. Ninetails unleashed an ice beam which scored a direct hit on Vigoroth and encased its body in ice thus preventing it from moving.

“Come on Vigoroth, break free, “Max said but Vigoroth was not moving.

“Ninetails use dazzling gleam. Ninetails unleashed dazzling gleam which dealt a lot of damage to Vigoroth and caused it to faint.

“Vigoroth is unable to battle. Ninetails is the winner, “the ref said while pointing his right flag at Turquoise.

“Return Vigoroth,” Max said as he recalled Vigoroth. “Your doing pretty good so far but this is where I get serious,”

“Bring it,” Turquoise said.

“Go Slaking,” Max said as he called out Slaking who shook the battlefield a bit due to its big size.

“Can you keep going, Ninetails?” Turquoise asked with ninetails nodding yes. “Then let’s keep going.

“Very well, Slaking use Focus Blast. Slaking generated a blast of energy before firing it at ninetails.

“Dodge and use moon Blast. Ninetails dodged the attack and managed to unleash moonblast which landed but was not doing much damage.

“You will need more than that to beat my Slaking, he may have the truant ability, but his defense is just as great as his offense,” Max said.

“Ninetails use Extrasensory. Ninetails used all of his mental energy to lift Slaking and pull him closer to him, which Max expected Turquoise to do.

“I knew you would try that, slaking use Heavy Slam. slaking body slammed Ninetails real hard which caused a lot of damage. As soon a sSlaking rolled off of Ninetails it was revealed he fainted.

“Ninetails is unable to battle, Slaking is the Winner, “The ref said while pointing his left flag at Max.

“How can Ninetails lose that fast, is it because Slaking is bigger?” Aqua asked.

“Heavy Slam is a steel-type move that takes the users own weight in comparison to the opponent’s into account so you're half right, but the reason it was that strong has to do with Alolan Ninetails being a Ice and fairy-type, both of which are weak to steel-type moves,” Fluttershy explained.

“So when you say weight do you mean? “Aqua asked.

“Both variants of Ninetails weigh around 43 pounds while Slaking are around 287 pounds and the amount of damage heavy Slam inflicts depends on how heavy the user is,” Fluttershy said. Turquoise wasted no time in calling out her next pokemon.

“Go Espeon,” Turquoise said as she called Espeon back out.

“Going for speed again? we shall see where that gets you,” Max said.

“We shall,” Turquoise said.

“Slaking use Crush Claw. Slaking ran towards Espeon with the intent to crush her with his gorilla-like hand which turquoise was not going to let happen.

“Dodge and use psybeam. Espeon easily dodged crush claw and unleashed Psybeam at full power which dealt a medium amount of damage. “Now use swift. Espeon unleashed swift at full power which dealt more damage to slaking. Unfortunately all that power was not enough to beat him.

“Now Slaking use Rest. slaking fell asleep which suddenly caused his health to return to full strength.

“Why is Slaking going to sleep all of a sudden?” Aqua asked.

“That is called rest, while it does induce sleep status, it also restores a pokemon’s health to full strength which means Turquoise is back to square one,” Fluttershy said.

“You may be back to full strength but that won’t stop us, Espeon use psychic with all you got. Espeon put everything she had into Psychic in order to lift Slaking off the ground. Unfortunately as she was lifting him, he woke up completely refreshed.

“Use Heavy Slam. slaking attempted to crush Espeon beneath him just like he did to Ninetails.

“Quick Espeon get away from there. Espeon tried to get away but unfortunately slaking was able to crush her beneath him and just like with ninetails it was enough to cause Espeon to faint.

“Espeon is unable to battle, Slaking is the winner,” The ref said while pointing his left flag at Max.

“Return Espeon, " Turquoise said as she recalled Espeon. “You did your best, now rest.

“Well Max evened the score, but does Turquoise even stand a chance against a heavyweight like Slaking?” Aqua asked.

“We will have to see who turquoise plans to use next,” Fluttershy said.

“Go Sceptile,” Turquoise said as she called out Sceptile.

“An interesting choice,” Max said. Turquoise was not wasted any time on this since she was starting again from zero with slaking all healed.

“Sceptile use quick attack. Sceptile charged at slaking and managed to push him back a bit.

“Slaking use crush claw while Sceptile is still near. Slaking used his gorilla paw to try and push Sceptile to the ground.

“Use Quick attack to get away. Unfortunately, Sceptile could not get away and was struggling. Use Giga drain. Sceptile’s leaves turned into vines that wrapped around Slaking’s arm before draining his energy which caused him to let go of Sceptile.

“Not bad but we are not out yet. Slaking use Heavy slam. Slaking tried to crush sceptile under his weight but this time Turquoise was prepared for it.

“Use quick attack to dodge it. Sceptile quickly moved out of the way which caused Slaking to faceplant into the battlefield. “Now use your strongest leaf blade. Sceptile used this opening to deliver a powerful leaf blade which did tremendous damage. Unfortunately Slaking was still able to battle.

“Slaking use Rest. Slaking fell asleep again and recovered all of his hp.

“At this rate I will need something overly powerful to end this,” Turquoise said to herself which gave her an idea.

“Slaking awaken and use Focus Blast. Slaking woke up and began channeling power. Max was expecting Turquoise to order Sceptile to dodge but what she would say next took him by surprise.

“Sceptile stand your ground,” Turquoise said.

“Has Turquoise lost it? Sceptile can easily dodge that,” Aqua asked.

“She knows, she just does not want to, “Fluttershy said.

“And why not? If Sceptile falls it’s over, “Aqua said.

“I know what she is trying to do and if you just watch, you will too,” Fluttershy said. Slaking launched his attack and sceptile just took it which covered the battlefield in a thick layer of dust. Max was expecting that to be the end but once the dust settled Sceptile was still standing and was now covered in green energy.

“You see Aqua, Turquoise knows that Max will use rest to fully heal slaking so she is banking on Sceptile’s Overgrow Ability to end this. That’s why she had Sceptile take damage on purpose.

“I get it now, she is drawing up all of Sceptile’s power for one final attack,” Aqua said.

“And now that Slaking won’t move, now is her chance,” Fluttershy said.

“All right Sceptile, use leaf blade and give it a hundred percent of your power. Sceptile’s leaves grew longer and formed four long blades that were longer than normal before charging at Slaking and doing a cross attack which inflicted a metric ton of damage that sent Slaking flying to the other end of the battlefield but not quite off it. He tried to get back up but then fell forward and fainted.

“Slaking is unable to battle, Sceptile is the winner, which means victory goes to Turquoise,” The ref said while pointing his right flag at Turquoise.

“We did it, we won,” Turquoise said with joy as Sceptile fell on one knee from exhaustion which was Turquoise’s cue to recall him. After max recalled Slaking he approached Turquoise.

“Turquoise, that was a very intense battle,” Max said.

“I will admit when you kept using Rest to heal Slaking completely, I almost lost all hope for victory,” Turquoise said.

“I also saw how much faith your pokemon have in you even when it meant taking damage on purpose,” max said before pulling out the badge. “So as proof of your victory, I present you with the Balance Badge. Max gave her the badge which was added to her case.

“Thank you,” Turquoise said.

“So where are you ladies off to next?” Max asked.

“To be honest, we don’t know yet,” Turquoise said.

“Here is a suggestion, why not go to Fortree City to challenge the Fortree gym,” Max said.

“Where is Fortree City?” Aqua asked. Turquoise looked it up and gave her verdict.

“Really far,” Turquoise said before showing them. “This is where we are and all the way over here is Fortree City.

“Looks like we need to head back to Muaville City and go eastward,” Aqua said.

“And that’s just half of the way,” Fluttershy said.

“There is some good news,” The harbor at Slateport City is open again and if you talk to Mr. Briney on Route 104, he should be happy to give you a ride there," Max said.

“Thanks, Max we will,” Turquoise said. With the battle now over the girls return to the pokemon center to heal turquoise’s team and rest before setting out on the road again. What exciting adventure awaits our heroes next? Stay tuned. As the journey continues.

TO BE CONTINUED

Author's Note

Turquoise's team
Espeon ♀ LV: 61 Moves: Psychic/ Swift/ Morning Sun/ Psybeam
Floragoto♀ LV:33 Moves: U-turn/ Slash/Magical leaf/Seed bomb
Sceptile♂ LV:36 Moves: Giga Drain/Slam/Leaf Blade/Quick Attack
Dewott♂ LV:30 Moves: Razor Shell/Detect/Aerial Ace/Water pulse
Alolan Ninetails ♂ LV:35 Moves: Moon Blast/ Ice beam/ Dazzling Gleam/ Extrasensory
Metang LV:30 Moves: Take Down/ confusion/ Metal claw

Aqua's team
Swampert ♀ LV:36 Moves: Mud shot/ Rock slide/ water pulse/ Rock smash
Linoone ♂ Lv:28 Moves: Slash/ Pin Missile/ headbutt/Take Down
Kantonian vulpix ♀ LV:32 Moves: Flamethrower/ Quick attack/ extrasensory/ Will-O-Wisp

Fluttershy's Team
Cinderace ♂ LV: 45 Moves: Flame Charge/ Pyro Ball/ Headbutt/ Double Kick
Ursaring ♂ LV:30 Moves: Hammer Arm/ Focus Blast/Slash/ Metal Claw

Max's Team
Slakoth ♂ LV:32 moves: Hidden Power/ counter/ Icy wind/ Shadow Ball
Vigoroth ♂ LV:34 moves: Brick break/ Flamethrower/ Play Rough/ Yawn
Slaking ♂ LV:36 moves: Focus blast/ Crush claw/ Heavy Slam/ Rest

Turquoise: Badges:5 Ribbons:4

coming up with a move set for these three was quite a challenge. I know Norman is the original gym leader for Petalburg City but since this takes place in the future, he retired, and Max took over since that was what he was working towards in the anime. Anyway I hope you all enjoyed the battle and this chapter.