The First Challenge, Lose?

The Earthquake hit the still Tyranitar. Its health bar above its head immediately dropped nearly two-fifths.

In Hisoka's plan, Rhydon would mainly focus on four moves in the future. Aside from the moves that matched his type, he would also need to learn a few moves to cover his weaknesses.

Since it was easy for him to be attacked by an agile Pokemon due to his slow speed, having a large-scale move like Earthquake would be quite advantageous.

One of Tyranitar's weaknesses was Ground-type attacks. And with the damage bonus, Rhydon got from his own type, the Tyranitar would only be able to withstand around three attacks before succumbing, theoretically.

This was only a simulation. Not a real battle. Nobody would just stand still while facing an attack. They were many factors to consider in a Pokemon battle. Each one of them might be the key to winning the fight.

Then, the Rhydon replica repeated its previous action, hurting the opposite Tyranitar once more. Finally, after being hit by the Earthquake for the third time, the Tyranitar shattered into smaller pieces.

Rhydon Win!

Hisoka's mouth lifted slightly. The program he made can replicate a Pokemon battle with certain limits.

When the main options popped up on the screen, Hisoka chose to restart the whole thing again. But he selected the automatic combat mode this time.

Fortunately, he obtained a lot of information about Tyranitar. They were even some footage of it battling against another Pokemon. With this captured footage, he was able to build a more accurate Tyranitar model.

On the screen, the Tyranitar slammed its tail onto the ground, causing giant rocks to protrude from the ground and surround the Rhydon, keeping it firmly in place.

Boom!

Boom!

Rock Tomb!

Aside from bombarding the enemy with rocks, it can also be used to trap the enemy.

Then, Tyranitar stomped on the ground, causing a pointed light blue rock pillar to appear out of the ground and rush towards the opponent.

Roar!

Rhydon roared and slammed its hands on the ground, sending out a series of yellow shockwaves toward the incoming attack.

Boom!

The attack canceled out each other, kicking up a small cloud of dust. When the dust had settled down, a glowing blue fist appeared in front of Rhydon.

Ice Punch!

Critical Hit!

Boom!

Rhydon's health quickly fell by half. While the fight was going on, Hisoka was staring at the screen intently. Sometimes, he would also jot down some notes if there was something that needed to be rectified.

Beep!

Finally, the health bar of both Pokemon bottomed out at the same time. It was a draw. After that, he turned off his laptop and took a deep breath, enjoying the view.

"Weavile!"

Weavile walked into the garden and looked toward Hisoka. Then, she turned to Kirlia, who was meditating on the ground, and whispered something in her ear.

"Hisoka. Two trainers are waiting for you at the arena. They want to challenge the gym," Kirlia sent a mental message to Hisoka.

"Alright, I'll leave first," Hisoka stretched his body and stood up. Then, he picked up his black jacket and walked out of the garden.

Kirlia watched Hisoka's leaving figure for a moment before turning to Weavile.

"Go protect him!"

"Weavile!" she gave a thumbs up to her.

Then, she ran out of the garden to catch up with Hisoka.

...

"Hisoka from Dark Gym will be fighting against Larry from Fuchsia City. This is a one-vs-one battle. The match ends when one of you has no available Pokemon left to fight."

Since Dark Gym didn't have its own referee yet, Ran will serve as the temporary referee for this battle. Thankfully, this wasn't a high-level battle. The competition rules were relatively loose for gym-level battles.

The gym badge specially designed for Dark Gym was delivered three days ago. There were forty badges in total. After all of them had been issued to the winning challengers, only then he would be able to apply for more badges. Gym Leaders weren't allowed to cast gym badges by themselves without permission.

Hisoka, as the official Gym Leader, must have a gym badge on hand when accepting a challenge from a trainer.

"Come out, Ponyta!" he called out.

After seeing the two young boys, he decided to borrow Ran's Ponyta for this battle. Their Pokemon were out of league against his Pokemon. A gym leader was supposed to guide and teach the trainers, not dashing their hope.

After all, not everyone was as lucky as Ash.

...

Pop!

Ponyta's striking figure with his burning mane appeared in the arena.

Thanks to Hisoka's teaching, Ponyta looked much better than before. His flame burned brighter, looking vigorous. His body was filled up with more muscles, showing the perfect contour of his body.

Although Larry knew this was a Fire-type Pokemon, to be on the safe side, he still took out his Pokedex to scan the Pokemon.

Beep!

"Ponyta, the Fire Horse Pokemon. It is capable of jumping incredibly high. Its hooves and sturdy legs absorb the impact of a hard landing. It likes to run in fields and mountains all day."

A mechanical voice came from the Pokedex.

Larry and Percy were born into an ordinary family. Their parents didn't have the money to pay for the Kanto starter Pokemon. So they had to make do with other common Pokemon.

Larry's first Pokemon was a Poliwag. It had just evolved into a Poliwhirl about a week ago.

He was happy after seeing Hisoka using a Fire-type Pokemon for this battle.

'Phew! Thank god it isn't that giant Pokemon,' he thought, wiping the sweat off his face.

"I choose you, Poliwhirl!"

Larry took a Pokeball from his belt and threw it out.

The Tadpole Pokemon appeared in a flash of red light. Then, it clapped its hands a few times and stared at its opponent.

Chii!

A smell of gunpowder filled the air.

Fire versus water. Anyone can see that both Pokemon did not get along with each other, just like oil and water.

Compared with one of its final evolution forms, Poliwrath, Poliwhirl was much smaller in size and had a docile personality.

"Poliwhirl! Use Water Gun!"

Larry had already obtained a badge from Cerulean Gym, so he already knew about the Gym Challenge rules.

Gush!

Quickly, as soon as it heard its trainer's command, it released a spiral of water from the swirl on its stomach at the Ponyta.

Neigh!

Ponyta seemed a little restless in the face of Poliwhirl's attack. It wanted to move away, but out of trust in Hisoka, he calmed down his impulse and stayed put.

Although Ponyta was Ran's Pokemon, after being taken care of by Hisoka for a week, he had a nice impression of him. And he always gave him many tasty snacks. Under Ran's command, Ponyta decided to obey Hisoka temporarily.

"Jump, Ponyta," Hisoka ordered.

Neigh!

Ponyta neighed and bent his hind legs slightly. Using its powerful forelegs, it jumped more than two meters high. Meanwhile, the Water Gun went on and missed its target.

"Flame Wheel!" Hisoka's second command followed.

Ponyta couldn't move in the air, but he could still attack the opponent directly.

If he was facing a more experienced trainer, Hisoka wouldn't choose this kind of attack at all. Because the moment Ponyta was in the air, he would be an open target. An experienced trainer would immediately capitalize on that.

Larry, a rookie trainer, obviously didn't have that much battle experience yet. There was nothing he could do but fight more battles to accumulate experience.

Ponyta's body became surrounded by flames as he spun in the air. Then, he rolled toward the Poliwhirl.

Facing this sudden attack, Larry didn't panic. He knew that a Fire-type attack wouldn't do much damage to his Pokemon.

...

"Poliwhirl! Use Double Slap!" Larry shouted quickly.

At this time, Ponyta was about to hit Poliwhirl. It was already too late to use a Water Gun. He could only let his Pokemon rush toward the Ponyta.

Boom!

The Flame Wheel hit Poliwhirl first, causing a small explosion. After the smoke settled down, everyone saw that both Pokemon were still standing.

Hiss!

Poliwhirl resisted the burning feeling on its skin. Then, it raised its hand and slapped the Ponyta's face at a rapid speed.

Smack!

Smack!

Ponyta was beaten back and forth by Poliwhirl's Double Slap as it screamed in pain.

Neigh!

"Nice one, Poliwhirl! Follow it up with Hypnosis!" Larry clenched his fist in excitement, cheering for his Pokemon.

"Poli!"

Poliwhirls's eyes glowed light blue as it put its hands on its waist. The swirl on its stomach began to undulate slowly.

When Ponyta finally stood up after getting rid of his dizziness, his eyes fell on the Poliwhirl. Suddenly, he felt a little sleepy. He tried to move his eyes away but failed to do so. Poliwhirl's strong Hypnosis managed to induce drowsiness in Ponyta.

Zzz!

His eyes closed and slowly fell to the ground, snoring softly.

"Dang it!"

Ran, who was sitting on the sidelines, stomped her foot in irritation. In her opinion, Ponyta did not perform well in this battle. Although she was to be partial as the referee, Ponyta was still her Pokemon. Of course, she would prefer to see him winning rather than the opponent.

Seeing that Ponyta was fully asleep, Larry pumped his fist in excitement. He had already won this battle.

"Yes! We won!" he and his Pokemon jumped at the same time.

Hisoka smiled slightly at them. Then, he recalled the sleeping Ponyta back to his Pokeball. This also told everyone that Hisoka had admitted his defeat and Larry, the challenger, had won the fight.

"Congratulations on winning the first gym badge of Dark Gym!"

...