Cranidos rushed forward while cloaked in a shroud of dust and pebbles. The dinosaur then leapt towards Stratus and blasted a volley of sharp stones which the bird swiftly swerved around before retaliating.

  “Whirlwind!”, Harrison ordered as an immediate response.

  Neither were actually considered offensive moves in game but in reality, many moves have more utility than intended. Especially when used in the right circumstances. Even a mere Splash from a fierce Magikarp could rival Surf.

  “Star!”, the bird exclaimed.

  Unfurling both wings to its maximum wingspan, Stratus unleashed a fierce gale which began to move Cranidos, causing faint trails on the rocky terrain as the dinosaur was forcefully dragged from its position.

  Roark prepared for the effect of the move to activate with his hand on the belt but his Pokemon had not been the target.

  When the gale subsided, he paused briefly but continued.

  “Cranidos! Rock Blast!”

  “Stratus, Double Team!”

  Immediately, illusory copies of Staravia filled the sky. Each slightly spread apart as if gauging the space.

  The dinosaur then launched many rocks towards the sky in rapid succession. Every copy of Stratus dodged but those that were clipped even slightly on the wings instantly disappeared, clearing half of them.

  They don’t stop at just 5, Harrison noticed as he observed the Rock Blast. Perhaps, Bullet Seed could even imitate a minigun in action.

  Something’s off, Roark thought. A good amount of the Rock Blasts were slightly off. It was a lower accuracy move but he knew his Cranidos was accustomed to this move so the aim shouldn’t have been a major issue.

  “Quick Attack and charge head on!”, Harrison ordered.

  Lunging forward at a blinding speed, Staravia abandoned the copies above and headed straight for Cranidos.

  “Take Down! Ground that bird!”, Roark shouted.

  Promptly, Cranidos attempted a full body charge but had been interrupted on its fourth step as if surprised by something.

  “Steel Wing”, Harrison stated.

  Stratus canceled its Quick Attack and as if rehearsed, spread wings coated in steel energy and struck the dinosaur that lost its composure with full force. The super effective move sent Cranidos sprawling to the ground and it seemed to collide with something unseen as it slid.

  Without being commanded, Stratus then rushed in for the finishing blow but Cranidos moved.

  “Evade!”, Harrison then suddenly shouted.

  “Rock Tomb!”, Roark ordered.

  Stratus swiftly fled from the center of the field with Cranidos on its heels.

  Right where Stratus had been, Cranidos unleashed a cluster of boulders that jutted from the floor. The formation nearly trapped the bird in place but Stratus swerved at the right angle to escape through a closing gap. Due to the quick decision, Stratus had escaped the brunt of the blow but the bird had been slightly affected. Oddly, her speed wasn’t lowered but its right wing had been damaged, leaving a small pile of feathers behind.

  “Impressive. To think that you used my own Stealth Rock against me”, Roark then stated. No wonder Cranidos had been shocked. After all, it was his own move attacking him.

  “You leave anything on the field unattended and it can be used against you. Of course, it would be different if Cranidos was a better special attacker”, Harrison stated. Unlike a game where everything was fixed, anything could be interacted with and changed.

  “Then what if I didn’t use Stealth Rock?”, Roark questioned, slightly amused.

  “I’ll show you. Stratus, Winged Sword”, Harrison ordered. The Staravia began coating itself in Steel energy and angled its wings.

  “Rock Tomb as defense, Cranidos!”, Roark responded.

  With great force, Cranidos displaced the terrain around itself once again, swiftly forming large boulders using the disturbed earth. But before it could solidify its fortress, a silver blur reminiscent of a sword shattered the rock formation and impacted the dinosaur with a full-bodied Steel Wing.

  Reeling from the blow, Cranidos crashed through its own defenses and landed with a heavy thud. Right after, Cranidos stirred and attempted to move, only to then lay motionless without protest.

  A moment passed then another. The Gym Trainer briefly glanced at Roark before raising his flag.

  “Cranidos is unable to battle. Staravia wins”, the Gym Trainer announced.

  “Woah.. that was intense”

  “What was that move at the end?”

  “...A flying type just trounced a rock type”

  “Is this really how a rookie fights?”

  “For Stealth Rock to damage the user…”

  “...that Cranidos literally wiped my team on Monday”

  The audience that gathered had bustled with comments and reactions as they had expected more from Cranidos which had been frequently positioned as the wall that beginners needed to overcome for their Coal Badge. Cranidos even used moves that were atypical of a First Badge, especially Stealth Rock even if that had been to its own detriment. Most of them would have just ignored Stealth Rock and let it damage their team even if they knew the move.

  “So that’s the Type Advantage he created”, Gavin realized.

  A red light shone as Roark recalled Cranidos back to its Pokeball.

  “You did well”, Roark whispered to Cranidos.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “A custom move already. You must’ve trained considerably”, Roark said to Harrison with a smile.

  “Steel Wing was the hard part but I’m sure Rampardos would’ve been a different story”, Harrison stated.

  “You’re already making me look forward to a rematch”

  Roark then took out another Pokeball and launched the capsule forward.

  “Complete the excavation, Graveler!”

  A bulky boulder spawned on the field, fitting in perfectly with the rocky terrain. It then unfurled to reveal limbs and a face which seemed to frown by default.

  “A Graveler?”

  “Yeah. usually it is a Geodude”

  “After Cranidos, there’s no point in using a Geodude so it makes sense”

  “Isn’t an evolved Pokemon a bit much for the first Gym?”

  “What do you mean? The challenger also has an evolved Pokemon”

  “Yeah but Geodude evolves way later than a Starly”

  A brief moment passed to allow for Harrison to substitute but Stratus remained on the field.

  “Rock Polish!”, Roark shouted.

  Immediately, the huge boulder began to sharpen itself by rolling against the terrain.

  “Leer”

  Stratus swooped down to eye level to make eye contact with Graveler. The bird then gave the boulder a menacing leer which compounded with Intimidate to lower offense and defense simultaneously.

  “Continue”, Roark stated and the Graveler did not relent with boosting its speed stat.

  “Double Team”

  Stratus responded with illusory copies which added to the remnants from the battle with Cranidos.

  If Pokemon were limited to just four moves like the games, then status moves like Leer would be immediately discarded. But this was reality and all moves remained even if it was common practice to master a few instead of retaining everything.

  “Bulldoze!”, Roark ordered.

  The polished Graveler leapt upwards and stomped with great force, displacing the mostly level terrain. Unsurprisingly even the illusory copies of Staravia flew upwards, completely avoiding the attack. In reality, flying types were not immune to ground moves, they just flew away from the impact by instinct as flight was something that they did not need to think about. Which also meant there were plenty of methods of grounding birds.

  And a Ground type move in the right circumstances would hit a bird just as hard as a critical, Harrison thought.

  “Again!”, Roark ordered.

  The Graveler then moved to the other side of the arena and unleashed another Bulldoze with less force. The boulder then curled up to conceal any weak points. Defense Curl.

  “Winged Sword! Quickly!”, Harrison then abruptly ordered as he noticed the problem.

  Stratus glanced at its Trainer before turning into a silver blur.

  “You caught on but it’s too late. Rollout!”, Roark shouted.

  Wrapping its limbs around itself, the Graveler turned into a proper boulder and rolled forward as if it was tumbling downwards atop a steep hill. The arena then seemed to turn into a minefield as the Graveler pulverized stray fragments of Stealth Rock along its path to build more and more momentum.

  Numerous Staravias then swerved from the sky, battering the rolling boulder with volleys of Steel energy. Only one was real as the rest were illusory copies to confuse the Graveler but Stratus persistently struck the Graveler with precise strikes. Nevertheless, the boulder continued rolling and only continued to gain speed.

  After a few more strikes, Stratus then faltered as it could no longer keep up and immediately, the boulder changed gears.

  Graveler swerved and shot towards the flock of Staravia. Even just being grazed caused the illusory copies to dissipate but Stratus used the opportunity to escape upwards and somehow the boulder followed just through sheer momentum.

  With all the copies eliminated, Harrison commanded Stratus one more time.

  “U-Turn!”

  Abandoning escape, Stratus slammed straight against the pursuing Graveler only to have the brunt of the impact mitigated by the fierce rotation of Rollout. The bird was then worn down by the sheer force of the boulder’s endless rotation.

  As Stratus went limp, it was switched back into its Pokeball and the Graveler immediately fell back to land. However, the Rollout didn’t stop and the boulder continued rolling even without an opponent on the field. The momentum and increased force would be maintained.

  Stratus barely made it, Harrison thought. In fact, even a single additional move would’ve been impossible. Functionally, Stratus already fainted so he was left with just one Pokemon.

  “You did enough, Stratus”, Harrison spoke to the Pokeball.

  “He changed the terrain before Rollout”

  “How do you even stop it? I mean the Graveler is still going after Staravia already fainted”

  “Even Crasher Wake would have a tough time against that”

  “What about Maylene? Lucario would struggle to punch through that”

  The audience erupted with excitement now that the challenger was being devastated right after dealing a crushing blow to the Gym Leader. To them, it was anyone’s game as they didn’t know Harrison only came here with two Pokemon capable of battle.

  “Your Staravia did better than I expected against Graveler but Rollout doesn’t stop until Graveler is stopped”, Roark stated with anticipation.

  Indeed, Harrison thought. Even if Rollout missed, it wouldn’t stop as it could just continue rotating. And he suspected there was no 5 turn limit either. He did believe that it couldn’t get any stronger after the 5th impact though as if it could go beyond 960 base power then Rollout would have been the most broken move in reality.

  Still far more busted in real combat, he thought. Not that it would matter though.

  Without any comment or commands, Harrison summoned his true ace. The Pokeball opened and the red light emerged but the only thing Roark saw was a blur.

  Surprisingly, the remnants of Stealth Rock didn’t trigger even though they always activated when the challenger switched battlers.

  His eyes then widened after he blinked.

  Pebbles, rocks, and small boulders levitated all over. All the pieces and debris that Graveler had created in its pursuit of momentum was now floating. It was similar to Stealth Rock if it had been used throughout the entire field and with a far greater magnitude.

  “Graveler!-”, Roark began with a shout but his voice was drowned out by the sheer scale of the sudden bombardment.

  From the sky, fragments rained with the force of bullets and impacted the arena, leaving noticeable craters which smouldered from the strength of the blast. Desperately, the Graveler rolled to evade but its path was far too simple. All directions of escape had been covered and it was struck repeatedly on all sides as if trapped by a storm of erosion. Fortunately, it had an innate resistance as it was a Rock Type being hit with rocks or it might be completely covered in its own blood.

  Through sheer rotational force, the Graveler weathered through the assault but any momentum that empowered it was eviscerated alongside its vitality.

  From the side, Ralts observed the spectacle with yearning. This was the psychic prowess it needed to pursue.

  Covered in spiderwebs of cracks throughout its rocky exterior, the boulder looked ready to collapse.

  Maestro then appeared at the center of the arena with a distinct and peculiar second spoon equipped as if it was already an Alakazam.

  The Graveler groaned in agony but seemed to persist. Looking at Roark, the Gym Leader recognized the signal from his Pokemon and made another command.

  “Rollout. One more time”, and his Graveler complied.

  Rolling forward with barely any strength, it attempted to take advantage of what seemed like a clear victory.

  When it reached Kadabra, it then shone with a bright white light but Maestro reacted.

  The boulder attempted to get around the barrier but immediately conceded.

  The Kadabra used Protect but the barrier wasn’t on itself. It was on Graveler.

  The remnants of its vitality then ignited, leading to a great and tremendous explosion that had been contained within an erected barrier.