Chapter 22: Before The Gym Challenge
It was now the last day of training.
Srorm and Hercule were both off doing their own thing, and Cinder had announced to the team in the morning that he was going to have the sheep and tadpole battle at the end of the day. Both Pokemon seemed pretty excited about that, but also equally determined. That was a good sign. Friendly competition was almost always cited as one of the most important dynamics for a team of pokemon to have.
While Storm and Hercule got in some last minute practice before their battle at the end of the day, Cinder had fully committed himself to playing/training with Fafnir. The baby dragon was growing along quite splendidly. The newborn was now able to walk with no difficulties. Cinder was tired as he chased after Fafnir who was giggling in delight from the game, it has been close to a week since Fafnir hatched, and Cinder was happy enough to see that the nutrients from the Moomoo Milk and his unique pokemon food has made Fafnir develop regularly fast. From what Cinder knew in the Pokedex, with Fafnir's currently developed body, it wouldn't take no more than a week before he could then safely train the dragon-type. Cinder was excited by that prospect.
Hercule was working tirelessly. Just as determined as Cinder was, as he had spent the best part of the week trying to get their ice domain trump card down. Clearly, he wanted to see things through, and see the fruits of his labor. Thankfully, the occasional practice that he had received from mock battles between him, and Dom and Diana's companions, allowed the tadpole to quickly get the hang of the technique.
Right now, almost the entire training ground would be covered in ice whenever Hercule would test it out, unfortunately, it has a drawback that Cinder had not accounted for, the technique took a lot for the first-stage pokemon, leaving him tired and lacking of stamina.
It was certainly effective, though. Each training the Poliwag had with Samael(Dom's Nidoran) as he skidd through the icy terrain that he made allowed the tadpole to slowly get used to it.
Even if he ended up not mastering it today, Cinder was still quite confident that it was ready for use in battle. Nevertheless, he wanted the technique to be as strong as it could possibly be for tomorrow. That's right, tomorrow. Cinder decided that he was officially going to challenge the Gym by tomorrow.
When fighting a Gym Leader, no gambles should be taken. They took their battles seriously. Challengers who wanted the badge would have to do the same, likely due to inexperience, that was how Dom and Diana still hasn't been able to win their Gym challenge no matter how they tried. The two was left clueless, eventually, they decided to ask Cinder some advice seeing how he trained his pokemon in a peculiar way. Although Cinder had emphasized to both of them that he was the same as them and wasn't that skilled yet, both of them were eager to hear his advice nonetheless. Cinder wasn't entirely sure just how much advice that he would be able to give; as they both had very different teams than himself and weren't going up against the exact same opposition as himself either. Nevertheless, he did what he could, and described the training regiment that he had given his team. Diana seemed particularly interested in the mobility training that he had given Storm: Apparently her Growlithe was really fast but couldn't traverse the terrain properly. The female, Fire-Type canine Pokemon had kept losing her footing while trying to run at full speed which left her vulnerable to Brock's powerful attacks.
The girl had perked up when Cinder suggested that she spend at least a few days getting Growlithe to train in traversing rocky fields before challenging the Gym again: suggesting that Growlithe's speed could potentially counter Onix after the Pokemon learned to maneuver around the rocks correctly. This would also benefit most of the pokemon that were currently in their group.
Apparently, Dom's Samael(Nidoran) was having a hard time mastering Double Team, which was yet another thing that Storm could probably help out with. Realizing that the sheep would be the perfect training partner for these two, Cinder had promised Dom and Diana to help them next thing in the morning, and so Storm could assist their teams in practicing. Although it would give the young sheep another to do, it was part of being a trainer.
This was the day he was helping his friends, while this is also their last day of training.
Although Cinder would occasionally go over to check on Storm and Hercule, he spent most of the day with Fafnir while also occasionally checking on his friends. Sadly, he found himself frustrated that he could offer the young tadpole little more than mere words of encouragement after he saw how the water-type got frustrated at times.
However, over the course of the day, the final improvements needed progressively began to come to fruition.
With just a few hours of daylight left, Cinder watched in awe as the Poliwag skidded through the ice with his flip-flop feet, since he has no hands, he used his tail as an alternative, shooting Water Guns, Bubble Beam and even Ice Beam towards the trees and boulders laying around them.
"Whoa!" His gasp was one of excitement, more than shock. "Hercule, I think you've got it!"
Landing beside his new trainer, the young Poliwag let out a proud gurgling sound.
Grinning ear to ear, Cinder knelt down and faced the young tadpole. "A technique like that's gotta surprise the hell out of'em, don't you think?" At his nod, he made a suggestion to him. "You know, we really should think of a name for this new move." When he tilted his head in confusion, he elaborated. "A lot of trainers come up with their own names for modified moves such as this. Since it's so common for many trainers to create advanced techniques through the modifications or combinations of their pokemon's moves, a lot of professionals come up with their own names to keep track of them. Now that we've got one of our own, maybe we should name it?"
In understanding, the Poliwag happily nodded.
In hindsight, Cinder was grateful for himself coming up with this idea. Not only would this result in him and the team earning much needed money when using against other trainers, but now they had a new powerful technique that they had gotten out of it. Cinder had to admit that he was quite smark and was quite creative to have come up with his own technique that would change the terrain of the battlefield, although he wasn't ignorant enough to assume he was the first one to do this. Cinder felt that it deserved a proper name. Something simple enough to remember but still described the new technique perfectly nonetheless.
"How does Icy Terrain sound?" It wasn't too complicated, but Cinder didn't think that it needed to be. It was a terrain made from Hercule's ice. Straight and to the point.
After a few seconds of consideration, Hercule nodded in approval, and Cinder responded to him with a smile.
"Alright." said Cinder. "We should practice it for a little bit longer just to be sure. And then you'll be done for today. Pretty soon you and Storm will be having a battle, I know you don't want to miss that, right?" He gave him a smile.
Hercule smiled back and chirped out the affirmative.
...
The sun was starting to set. Cinder and his friends could see the orange filling the sky, giving a distinct glow over the training grounds.
The final day of training was over, and they were capping it off with a quick battle between Hercule and Storm.
Storm and Hercule were both raring to go. It had occurred to Cinder that none of his teammates had ever battled each other before. Mock battles were a common practice of training among most professional trainers in both indigo and elsewhere, and were excellent for both building relationships between teammates and just for training in general. Battle, after all, was the best way to see a pokemon's improvement. It would put everything that they learned into practice, like a test at school.
But apart from the battle to capture Hercule, Cinder had never done this with his team before. The closest being when the water-type had tried to test his moves out on Storm.
This would be the first mock battle of the team. And it wouldn't even be close to being the last.
Sitting on a separate rock, Diana cupped her hands and called out. "Both of you do your best!" Sitting beside her, Venus let out a cry of agreement.
Dom also cheered loudly for the two, with his team beside him.
Getting up from his seat, Cinder slowly approached the battlefield, eyeing the two teammates carefully.
"Alright, this is going to be a very quick fight. Just to see what you've learned. Give it your all, but don't worry about fighting to win. Finding out who is better than who isn't the point of this exercise."
He looked between the two combatants to see their reaction to that. Both of them seemed to understand, but were still clearly determined.
Cinder didn't blame them, of course. After all of the training that they did, this was their chance to really show off their newfound skills. Skills that would officially be put to the test tomorrow morning in their first ever Gym Battle, and, hopefully, win them their first ever Gym badge.
Cinder had chosen to have the mock battle on the training grounds rather than the traditional battlefield of the Pokemon Center. This way, they could test themselves out on a battlefield that was conceptually similar to that of the Gym that they were about to be fighting in. Dom and Diana had expressed agreement in this strategy.
Although Cinder found it undeniably convenient that every Pokemon Center offered a convenient battlefield, he felt that this was the best way to go about it for this particular circumstance.
Backing away slightly, but remaining standing, Cinder raised a hand at the two combatants. "Alright, then, begin!"
Storm wasted no time. The moment that Cinder had said the word, his wool were already sparking, the electric sheep getting to work as he fired a powerful Thunder Shock at Hercule.
Hercule's belly glowed a bright blue as a icy orb materialized on his spiralling belly. Getting ready to fire it, the young Poliwag felt his scales raise up slightly from the impact as the lightning bolt and his arcs of Icy beams smashed into each other. Both attacks fought for a moment over the domination of the other, eventually, both the pokemon stopped putting their energy into it, creating an explosion as it ended, but Storm and Hercule remained unharmed.
However, Storm was already acting again. Faster than Cinder could keep track of, the young sheep was already closing in with Agility. Much faster than he had ever been when the pokemon was training it, Storm was upon Hercule in instants, his raised tail already glowing as it channeled the energy of Iron Tail.
Storm's tail was raised, in all its metallic glory, as Storm thrust downward with a fully powered Iron Tail, ready to hit his mark on the now wide open Hercule.
Cinder winced at that. Due to his newest companion currently having very low defensive capabilities without the help from his terrain, Cinder was certain that a fully powered Iron Tail from Storm would greatly hurt Hercule, maybe even knock him out in a single hit if Storm struck him hard enough on the head.
His worrying was all for naught, though, as Hercule suddenly charges his Ice Beam once again to create a boulder of ice infront of him while also backing off with a leap.
The Iron Tail struck the Ice where Hercule had just been standing a single instant earlier, causing shards of ice to fly. Ice Beam had done its work.
At the same time, Hercule fired off Bubble Beam as his mouth flashing a blue color as he let let it loose. The narrow, light blue colored bubbles was easily avoided by Storm, who broke into a run with Agility and began circling around Hercule at high speeds.
The Poliwah responded by firing off Ice Beams at the speedy mouse a few times, but none of them connected. Despite Hercule's competent aim, Storm was more than used to dodging his attacks now, and was moving faster than ever before. But, was Storm really what Hercule aimed the attack at...
Continuing to run in a circle, the sheep began varying his movements, however, it suddenly found itself tripping on an ice, obviously the Ice Beam Hercule let loose wasn't aimed at him, but was aimed at the ground where he was encircling the tadpole. And then, suddenly, a Bubble Beam hit Storm in the side of his ribs.
Cinder was stunned.
Looking behind him, Cinder could see Fafnir entranced by the action, the baby pokemon was doing its best to focus on the battle of tactics as well.
That was very like the Icy Terrain, but Hercule wasn't on ice yet, he saw that Storm was moving at a speed which he could take advantage with making the ground slippery, getting the chance to get a direct hit. Also, Hercule had aimed at that very specific spot and fired… before Storm had even been there. Although it was nearly impossible to keep track of Storm for Cinder, due to how fast that the sheep was moving, Cinder knew for a fact that he had not spotted the yellow blur at that one, particular spot, until after Hercule had fired.
Had Hercule… actually predicted where Storm would be? This seemed less like aiming sense, and more like Heryule had... actually detected a pattern.
Letting out a pained cry, the sheep went flying a few feet away, his body almost landed on a rock, which would have left his body bouncing painfully across the rocky terrain, but to Cinder's delight, the young sheep regained his composure just in the nick of time; using a well placed Iron Tail to steady himself and break his landing, just as he had always done whenever he tripped and fell while running on the rocks.
Immediately flipping himself back onto all fours, Storm bolted forward with Agility, while electricity coated his body, Spark, preparing himself to ram head first into Hercule with the move.
But the young Poliwag had already prepared for this incoming charge, as he let lose Ice Beam continuously without stop at the battlefield, slowly encompassing the whole terrain with ice.
This was Icy Terrain.
Cinder noticed that Hercule hadn't used Icy Terrain until after he was really far away. Likely because he hadn't fully gotten the hang of it yet, while also because how fast Storm was on closing in on his opponent.
Unlike Hercule, Storm was unable to predict his opponent's movements, and was abruptly halted by the Icy Domain. He may not be able to predict, but he does have wit. Cinder watched with widened eyes as Storm used his Iron Tail like a ski pole, he wasn't used to it at first, but eventually he does as he slowly got close to Hercule's side. Seeing this, Hercule was helpless, he couldn't fire anymore attacks but a few, his 'ammo' was getting empty.
When Storm got to a distance he was satisfied, he propelled himself skywards using his Iron Tail, channeling Spark through his metallic tail, he aimed at Hercule's face. Hercule did his best to ski through the ice using his own fin-like tail, just in time to barely dodge the attack.
The shockwaves of the immense wind pressure from the sheep's blow pushing him backwards and causing him to let out a loud wince of pain. Sliding backwards through the ice, he almost fell right flat on his back before finally managing to regain his composure at the last second.
No doubt, if that attack had actually landed and scored a direct hit on Hercule, Storm would have ended the fight right there.
Nevertheless, Cinder had seen enough.
"Stand down!" He shouted as he ran through the battlefield, which was a bad idea. He slipped and banged his blackhead at the icy ground. He stopped about halfway between his two companions as his body slowly slide towards the center, letting out a reassuring smile at his pokemon and friends who looked on in worry, he continued. "I've seen enough; we should probably call this off before either of you get too hurt."
The two companions seemed mildly dejected by that; clearly, they had both started to get quite into the fight. But nevertheless, they complied and eased themselves up.
Looking over to Hercule, Cinder saw that the young Hercule was beginning to breathe heavily. Multiple uses of Ice Beam, Bubble Beam and Water Gun, continuously firing off attacks, maintaining his balance for a decent amount of time, had clearly taken its toll on him.
Looking over to Storm, Cinder's starter exhibited no signs of fatigue. Although he and Hercule were both used to consecutive uses of their moves, the young sheep seemed to have better stamina than Hercule overall. The constant running that he had been doing throughout training over the course of this week most likely being to thank for that. However, he was very clearly more bruised up than Hercule.
It had made Cinder fairly curious about who would have won if he had allowed the battle to continue to its conclusion, but it was like what he had told them before: This wasn't about winning. This was about two teammates testing each other. And Storm and Hercule had both equally succeeded in that regard.
Storm's speed and power were the young sheep's greatest asset. His Agility turned him into a yellow blur, near untraceable to Cinder's eyes. His now mastered Iron Tail had enough force behind them to leave Hercule with very little choice but to go on the defensive. Although they weren't able to showcase both the TMs he had given them, Scald and Reflect, Cinder was confident it would be useful against their battle with Brock.
"You've got quite a spirited team, Cinder." Dom said simply, gesturing his head over to the duo of pokemon as they seemingly discussed the previous battle that had just occurred.
"Yup! We're ready for tomorrow! Aren't we guys?" Cinder looked towards his team, who cheered in eagerness and excitement. Fafnir also joined them.
*A long chap before the battle, get Rocky's music in please!!*
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
AiLund
AiLund Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.
Like it ? Add to library!
Creation is hard, cheer me up! VOTE for me!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone