Chapter 27: Ch.27
"Trainer Lucas, please send out your next Pokémon!" the referee says once I remove Primeape and stabilize him.
"Leo, you should be able to deal with this even with Raichu's mastery over Double Team," I say to Leo who nods his head and walks onto the battlefield.
Like Raichu and Lt. Surge, Leo has a stoic look while walking onto the battlefield. Many of the people in the stands are cheering even more and look on with anticipation. Leo is well known to be my Ace and strongest Pokémon, while Raichu is Lt. Surge's ace. However, Leo is the same rank as Raichu, and with his type advantages, plus extremely high stats, he should be able to handle Raichu relatively easily.
"Begin!" the referee says to us seeing everyone ready for the last round.
"Leo, buff up!" I say as Leo uses Leer and Howl.
'Leo Raichu has a high mastery, so keep rushing it and do not let it use Double Team again. Once you finish buffing up rush Raichu with Flame Charge,'
"Raichu rebuff yourself!" Lt. Surge says as Raichu uses Nasty Thoughts again and Charge.
Just as Raichu was starting to gather its energy for Double Team, Leo already gathered his flames and charged at it. Though just as Leo reached Raichu, it finished his Double Team. However, Leo reached Raichu before it could move and slammed into the real Raichu sending it flying back a few feet. The other fake Raichus all launched themselves at Leo who ignored them and gathered flames in his mouth to bite down on Raichu with Fire Fang.
"Raichu, Thunder Wave followed by Nuzzle!" Lt. Surge says as Leo closes the distance from his first hit.
Raichu reoriented itself mid-air and released a small wave of electricity around itself which Leo was struck with. Leo winced but pushed forward, as he bit down on Raichu. Leo bit down hard, but Raichu released a burst of electricity inside Leo's mouth. Leo cried in pain dropping Raichu, and I could see small sparks of electricity dancing across Leo's body showing he was now 'paralyzed'.
Raichu wasted no time to create distance from Leo who was pushing through the pain, while the other clones of Raichu ran over too. They all ran away from Leo and ran around in a circle making Leo and I lose track of who was the real one. We both became frustrated, though I have a plan with Leo this time.
'Leo, gather as much flames as you can around yourself and then release them in all directions,' I say trying to get Leo to make an AOE attack for situations like this.
Leo then begins gathering his fire energy around himself and then heavy flames begin appearing around his body. Meanwhile, the Raichus are gathering their energies and sending Thunderbolt after Thunderbolt at Leo. Leo just grunts tanking the damage, but winces when the real one strikes him. We both know which it is now but then they all run around again making us lose the real one once again.
Just as the Raichus gather more energy for another round of attacks, Leo finishes gathering his fire energy. The heat from the flames can be felt through the invisible wall, and a split second after Leo finishes he releases all of his gathered fire energy. The blast is huge and looks like Leo was a napalm bomb going off.
The fiery explosion consumes the whole battlefield as the fire slams into the invisible wall. The wall flashes showing it had to use more energy than normal to block the attack from escaping. Once the fire dissipates we can see a heavily panting Leo, who is still paralyzed and looking pretty spent after using most of his energy just now. However, Raichu is not knocked out, but it is extremely injured too with heavy burns across their body.
The move Leo used just now was a very powerful Fire Blast. Then I notice Lt Surge's look on his face, unlike his other Pokémon, he seems concerned for Raichu's health. It seems Lt. Surge and Raichu have a strong connection like Leo and me. However, I am unsure if he even cares about his other Pokémon, especially since he made one harm itself severely just to take out one of mine.
Leo looks to be in better health than Raichu but with his now-spent energy and paralysis, the battle will still be hard. Thankfully Raichu is now extremely hurt and seems to be in constant pain from their burns. Both Pokémon look at one another with defiance and respect for the damage dealt and received. Even Lt. Surge looks at me with a glint of respect in his eyes.
"Leo, close the distance and finish it was a Fire Fang!" 'Gather the last of your fire energy and try to release another Fire Blast,' I say to Leo who nods his head moving and gathering his fire energy.
"Raichu finish this!" Lt. Surge says as Raichu nods its head and begins gathering what appears to be the last of its electrical energy.
Just as Leo tries to move he grunts in pain since the paralysis makes his muscles seize up. I figured this might happen so Leo, the only chance of winning this is with another AOE attack. Raichu sees Leo unable to move and focuses on gathering its energy. Leo however, makes it look like he is gathering his for a Flamethrower, but in reality for one last Fire Blast.
Both Pokémon focus their full attention on gathering the last of their energy in an all-out attack. They also seem to have finished gathering it at the same time, with Leo releasing his fire in another battlefield-consuming wave of fire. At the same, dark clouds finished gathering at the top of the battlefield and Raichu released its energy by putting it all in Thunder.
We all heard the sound of a Thunderclap and the explosion of the fire at the same time. Once again the battlefield was covered for a few seconds in both fire and dark clouds. Finally, the fire and clouds dissipated and showed us a surprising scene. Leo was standing there but I could see he had passed out while standing in his spot. Underneath Leo was a huge burn area showing that the Thunderstruck him square on.
Then we can see a similar scene with Raichu who was standing on its hind legs while passed out too. Raichu's fur all appeared to have been burned away with heavy burns covering its whole body. Both Pokémon appeared to have passed out at the same time and both are extremely injured.
"Both Pokémon are unable to battle! The challenge ends in a tie!" the referee says as the crowd starts cheering and seeming to talk about what just happened.
I then rush into the battlefield stabilizing Leo before withdrawing him into his Poké ball. At the same time as me, Lt. Surge walked over to Raichu and stabilized Raichu before withdrawing him too. I am sure I will not get the badge as I did not win, but maybe Lt. Surge will give it to me for doing well. So I walked over to him either way to at least be a good sportsman and the battle gave me a lot to think about.
"Lt. Surge, good battle. It gave me a lot to consider and think about for my future battles," I say offering my hand in a handshake to him.
"You did very well, and your Arcanine did extremely well. Especially since Raichu just ranked up a few days before today's battle," Lt. Surge says to me and I nod my head now understanding Raichu was an even harder fight than I realized. He then stared at me for a few seconds seeming to think about something.
"I believe you deserve the gym badge. I will give you the Thunder Badge," Lt. Surge says while handing me the badge, but before I can thank him he continues.
"You and your Pokémon still have a long way to go. I imagine you will want to take part in this tournament for the region's Championship. That is why you deserve the badge, I believe you will do well and will get stronger before then. So, I have high hopes for you, don't disappoint me," Lt. Surge says before walking away without waiting for me to answer.
"Thanks!" I say to him as I notice a TM along with the Thunder Badge. The TM appeared to be 'Thunder Fang', which I am sure he gave me for Leo to learn.
I then quickly make my way to the nearest Pokémon Center and hand over all my Pokémon. I then text my Dad who watched my latest gym battle and we just catch up. Then I text my other friends I made to catch up with them as I wait for them to finish healing up my Pokémon.
Once my Pokémon finish healing up, I bring them outside and show them we still have the gym badge. We still have a long journey ahead of us, and even I have a lot to learn. I decided we were going to spend another few days here to relax before getting a ferry ride to Fuchsia City.
By the end of the second day, Swinub finished absorbing the Dugtrio part we purchased and maxed out all his stats. So I decided it was time for him to evolve before we left for Fuchsia City. We all then made our way outside the city to give Swinub some space and away from the eyes of the public to evolve.
It doesn't take us long to find an open and private area about a mile from the city. There I removed the Everstone from Swinub and gave him the ok to evolve. Swinub then has a glow of light take over his body as it grows to four feet in diameter. The light is too bright for us to look at, so we look away for a few seconds until the light dies down.
Standing in Swinub's place is Piloswine, a much larger version of Swinub, though other than a large size difference. We can also see the start of what will become huge tusks on Piloswine once he evolves for the last time in the future. Right now the tusks are only about 8 inches (20cm) but will grow to several feet upon his final evolution.
"Congrats Piloswine!" I say patting his head as he hops around happily, with Primeape and Leo congratulating him too.
I then checked his stats and noticed that he finally ranked up along with gaining a few levels. However, Piloswine's potential did not increase, I know I was extremely lucky to have Leo and Primeape's potential increase with their evolutions so I wasn't saddened seeing this. Though Piloswine's stats did reset in rank and gives me the chance to make them go even higher again.
We all then head back into the city and go to a nicer restaurant to celebrate Piloswine's evolution. Then we spend the rest of the day walking around the city. The next morning we head to the docks and get onto a ferry that is taking some people and Pokémon to Fuchsia City.
The ferry ride will take a few hours as the boat does not go that fast, plus it is more meant for carrying many people and cargo instead of speed. My team and I just enjoyed the sightseeing while relaxing on our journey to Fuchsia City. There were a few brave people who approached me for pictures or autographs, even with all my Pokémon staring at everyone with annoyed expressions.
Thankfully though the journey was not that annoying since only very few bothered me. Finally, we arrived at Fuchsia City after a several-hour journey. Unlike the other cities which have a much more modern style and skyscrapers everywhere. Fuchsia City has much more older style buildings and a much smaller city than the others. Almost as small as Cinnabar Island.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
-- Power
stone