CH50 (664), First Gym Challenge (5)

My next opponent walked onto the field a minute before the 5-minute break was up, and according to the referee, she would be the final Gym Trainer I would have to face before I was allowed to challenge the Gym Leader. This time around the battle would be 5 vs 5, and the challenger, that was me obviously, was allowed one substitution. I certainly did not mind that since it allowed me to switch my Pokemon once without having to forfeit the Pokemon that was being recalled, which gave me a safety buffer in case one of my Pokemon ended up losing against all odds.

The referee gave the signal and we released our Pokemon. Nyx/Umbreon appeared on my side, while a Scizor appeared on the other side. This was a slightly disadvantageous match-up for Nyx since she still had her bug energy weakness despite our best efforts. Still, I did not doubt that Nyx was going to win this regardless. Anyway, Nyx's appearance did cause some excitement due to her different coloration, but both Pokemon ignored that and made their opening moves instead. Scizor started what appeared to be Sword Dance, while Nyx went big from the start and used Karen.

Scizor, in reaction to Nyx's move, interrupted its Sword Dance to dodge, and it actually managed to partially succeed. Karen was one of our most complex combinations and was based on Mean Look, Confuse Ray, Taunt, and Screech. Scizor failed to escape the Screech and Taunt part of Karen since it affected a wider area than the Mean Look and Confuse Ray part, which Scizor managed to dodge. Nonetheless, the fact that its defense got a bit reduced and that Scizor was now limited to offensive moves if only for a while was already good enough for now.

The other party's reaction was not slow and they sent out Air Slashes in retaliation, which forced Nyx to dodge, though doing so posed no problem to her at all due to the distance between them. She actually used its attack to use Fake Baby-Doll Tears against Scizor, whose attention had been entirely on her, which ensured that her move took effect. She then used Dark Pulse to attack Scizor, which missed due to it dodging with Quick Attack.

Scizor followed that up with Bullet Punch and closed in on Nyx. Nyx's first reaction was not to dodge but to copy the Bullet Punch with Copycat instead due to our copy principle which said that quick movement moves were to be copied as fast as possible unless they already knew them. Hence why she had no time to dodge when Scizor struck out its pincer in a Brick Break. Instead, Nyx quickly put up a Protect, which while weaker than usual due to the haste at which it was erected still managed to stall Scizor's attack long enough for Nyx to go underground using Dig before shattering.

Nyx quickly resurfaced behind Scizor and released a Thunder Wave at its back. I did not expect it to dodge that, but it actually managed to deal with it by sticking its feet into the ground and letting its metal carapace act as a conductor. Not that it had much of a choice since Iron Defense was unavailable due to Taunt. Either way, Scizor then turned just enough to aim one of his pincers at Nyx and released a Flash Cannon at her, which she had to block using Dark Pulse. After the initial clash Nyx's Dark Pulse began to overpower the Flash Cannon, and just when it seemed like Scizor would get hit instead of Nyx, Scizor, who had finished turning around by now, actually released a second Flash Cannon from its other pincer.

The second Flash Cannon tilted the odds of the energy beam clash somewhat fiercely in Scizor's favor and the fused Flash Cannons quickly overwhelmed Dark Pulse, forcing Nyx to interrupt her attack and frantically dodge out of the way of the approaching energy beam. Nyx gave Scizor another Fake Baby-Doll Tears after barely dodging the beam before she had to dodge Scozor's attempt of nailing her with a Brick Break. I could feel her frustration at that and had her use another Thunder Wave.

When Scizor attempted to once again plant itself into the ground, I had Nyx use Psychic to stop it from doing that. Scotor struggled against her hold, but Nyx managed to stop it long enough, for the Thunder Wave to hit home, much to her joy. Nyx then released Psychic and used Confuse Ray instead. Scizor attempted to dodge it but ended up unable to move due to a current that suddenly went through its body, briefly immobilizing it.

Scizor's trainer tried to have it use Bug Buzz to force Nyx away, but it ended up performing a Quick Attack instead which took Nyx off guard since it suddenly closed in on her at high speed. Nyx swiftly went underground, and Scizor rushed past the hole she left behind. I told her to poke her head back out, which she did before releasing a Hyper Beam at Scizor's back. The Hyper Beam slammed into Scizor's back and carried it away, slamming it into the wall. Nyx, who could not move once the Hyper Beam sputtered out, fell back into the hole.

The two Pokemon began to recover around the same time. Nyx once again poked her head out of the ground as Scizor finished struggling onto its feet after falling onto the ground. Still, it seemed that the meeting with the wall had snapped it out of its confusion since it managed to follow the order of its trainer, who told it to use Silver Wind. Nyx dove back into the hole to dodge that, before poking back out on Scizor's right. She released a Dark Pulse at it, which it tried to dodge with Bullet Punch. Unfortunately for Scizor, it seized up at that moment, which caused it to get hit by Dark Pulse.

Its immobility along with the force of Dark Pulse caused Scizor to fall over, and while it was sprawled on the ground, Nyx released another Hyper Beam at it. Surprisingly, Scizor actually managed to endure that. It used the period when Nyx couldn't move to close in and wail onto Nyx with Close Combat. Nyx had no choice but to endure Scizor's attacks, but unfortunately for Scizor, Close Combat was only doing regular damage since Nyx had long standardized her fighting type weakness, so Scizor's hopes of taking Nyx down or at least causing her some serious damage while she was immobilized were doomed from the beginning.

The moment Nyx could move again, she threw sand at Scizor's eyes, interrupting its attack, and while it was distracted she fired a point-blank Dark Pulse at its head, which finally allowed her to take Scizor down. The referee waited a for few moments before declaring Scizor unable to battle which made Nyx the winner. The Gym Trainer then recalled it before she sent out her next opponent, which ended up being a Probopass. As usual, I raised my hand and declared that I was forfeiting my Pokemon. I was not planning on using my substitution chance just yet, so Nyx had to be forfeited.

I recalled her after telling her that she had done a terrific job before swapping her ball with the next one. I honestly felt a bit bad for Probopass considering who I was going to send out. Manami/Lapras was going to eat it alive but she had to come out eventually and I doubted any other Pokemon the Gym Lady had would fare any better against Manami. Anyway, I called her out, and as soon as the referee gave the starting signal both Pokemon made their move. Coincidentally both of them tried to set up the field by using a weather move.

Manami obviously did it because of her True Water Absorb ability, and seeing how Probopass tried to set off a Sandstorm, it was not hard to guess that it had Sand Force as its ability. Either way, Manami's Rain Dance and Probopass' Sandstorm ended up canceling each other out, which was impressive since Manami's move was mastered. Not to mention her blessing. Still, while she usually went for Rain Dance first since it made executing Freezing Rain easier, Manami could still use the move without a setup, and that was what she did as soon as Rain Dance and Sandstorm canceled each other out.

Probopass tried to do the same, but Freezing Rain, being the fusion of two weather moves, overpowered its Sandstorm. The ice-cold rain with the occasional slush that started was proof of that. Still, Probopass instantly moved on and released a Thunder Wave at Manami, which she blocked using Shock Wave. Probopass then actually tried to use Gravity to hamper Manami's actions/movements, which sadly for Probopass failed since she was used to operating under higher Gravity.

They definitely did not expect Manami to simply ignore the effects of Gravity and release a Freezing Pump at Probopass. Still, surprise or not, Probopass directly used a Protect to block Manami's attack. Manami kept the Freezing Pump going and the Protect broke within the first 10 or so seconds, though Probopass was already ready for that by that point. It started to charge an attack while under the protection of Protect, and as soon as the shield broke, it released 4 Flash Cannons at once. One beam came from its nose/beard and 3 were fired through its 3 mini-noses.

The big beam and two of the smaller beams blocked Manami's Freezing Pump, forcing it to a standstill, while the third mini-nose fired its beam directly at Manami. Manami interrupted her beam-off to release a Surf, which not only allowed her to dodge the beams by riding the wave for a moment to change positions but also forced the beams to focus on blocking the wave that approached Probopass, and while it managed to open a gap in the wave that kept it safe, the water wave still fulfilled its secondary purpose, which was to help the Freezing Rain with thoroughly soaking the whole battlefield.

Manami used Probopass' distraction to start a Blizzard, which not only attacked Probopass, who had just managed to weather the Surf, but it also froze the ground of the whole battlefield. Probopass managed to set up another Protect after enduring the Blizzard for a few moments and it kept the shield up for as long as Manami kept the Blizzard going, which was close to a minute. During that time, the Blizzard not only froze the ground, but Manami kept the Blizzard going until nearly 40 cm of snow had accumulated on top of the frozen ground, turning the battlefield into her home ground.

As soon as the Blizzard stopped, Probopass let its shield drop and fired 3 Power Gems at Manami. Because the mini-noses shoot from different angles/positions, Manami was unable to block all three moves with a single beam of her own, which is why she chose to go with Sparkling Aria instead. Manami's Sparkling Aria managed to stall all three of Probopass' Power Gems and part of it even managed to hit Probopass. Nonetheless, the part that hit was enough to interrupt the ongoing attack of its mini-noses.

Manami used that moment to switch from Sparkling Aria to Freezing Pump. Freezing Pump finally hit home, and together with the influence from the Freezing Rain that had been ongoing since the start of the battle, Probopass ended up getting frozen. Still, knowing that Probopass might still be able to break out, Manami used its inability to move/act to use Sheer Cold on it encasing it in a large ice block. As soon as that happened the referee declared Probopass unable to battle, which made Manami the winner of the battle.

Manami released Probopsss from the ice after she was declared the winner. After she did that, Probopass was recalled, and an Empoleon got sent out instead. Once that happened I had Manami stop the Freezing Rain before raising my hand and announcing that I was switching her out. Yes, I used my one substitution on Manami, and since I did it before the new battle began, Empoleon was not allowed to act while I called out my new Pokemon.

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