Viridian City Gym Battle Pt. 1

On the morning of her gym battle, Vali got up early with Elrond and Eevee to meditate. Eevee had begun joining them awhile back mostly to gain energy for his Stored Power, but through Elrond, she'd learned that it also helped him get ready to face the day. It helped bring him a sense of mental stability and calm that made dealing with everything that happened during the day easier. She also knew it was because Eevee wanted to spend some quiet time with his trainer which warmed her heart. Much like Eevee, Elrond used morning meditation to help build himself up for the day and spend some quiet time with her. Of course it was the same for her, it also gave her a some peace especially on days when her dreams were at their worst.

Waking up everyone, they got breakfast and Vali gave them a pep-talk to help get ready for their gym battle. She grinned at them all, "You guys know what I'm going to say since I've said it every single time we've had a gym battle. We're going to fight our hardest and come out on top since we've worked so hard," Noises of agreement and determined grins were tossed towards her, "This will be our last Gym Battle before the Conference if we win this, I'm counting on each and everyone of you to do your part. Alright?" Everyone nodded or voiced their agreement, "Good! We're going to win this."

The Viridian City Gym's battlefield was a bare field of earth without any rocks or anything that would put Giovanni's pokemon at an immediate advantage unlike other gyms. What really put Giovanni apart from other Gym Leaders was his trainers box, it was a lot like the Emperor's box of the Roman Colosseum set above the battlefield. She took in the elegant chair Giovanni rested on with a Persian sitting beside him and could definitely see that Steven had been right. The man saw himself above his challenger. Taking her place in the trainer's box, she met Giovanni's dark eyes and grinned at the man.

Giovanni's lips twitched slightly as the Referee came out and announced, "This is a five-on-five gym battle between Gym Leader Giovanni of Viridian City and Challenger Valkyrie Potter-Black of Pallet Town! Only the Challenger may make substitutions! Trainers release your pokemon!"

Giovanni tapped a button and a Rhyhorn was released onto the field. It roared loudly stamping its feet and glaring at Vali with dark crimson eyes. Likely a test, she mused pressing a hand to her pokeballs until her hand settled on the correct one. She took out Pele's pokeball and called out, "Come out and battle with me, my friend!" Pele appeared from her pokeball, "Pele, we're battling a Rhyhorn," Pele looked at Rhyhorn slowly and curiously, "Start off with Focus Energy and Double Team then Flamethrower."

Granted the Flamethrower wouldn't do too much damage due to the stone that made up Rhyhorn's armor, it would begin the process of overheating Rhyhorn which would aid in exhausting it. Since brute force wouldn't be possible, Vali and Pele would need to exhaust Ryhorn's naturally low stamina. Granted as a Gym Leader's pokemon, Rhyhorn would have more stamina than an untrained one, but it would be possible to exhaust it especially since this particular specimen didn't show any signs of evolution. They would need to be careful especially if Giovanni had helped this Rhyhorn gain some mastery of the earth. Pulling on the sense of calm from her meditations, she focused on the battle at hand.

Rhyhorn's eyes went wide as twelve Pele's appeared and released streams of fire towards it. Rhyhorn shuffled in an attempt to avoid the scorching hot flames that threatened to burn everything in their path to a crisp. It grunted as the flames licked at its right side. Rhyhorn retaliated with Rock Throw attempting to pelt Pele with fist sized rocks. Pele shuffled back to avoid a majority of them while using Magnitude causing the earth to shake harshly beneath Rhyhorn earning an alarmed grunt. Pele continued on with another Flamethrower and another use of Double Team. Rhyhorn retaliated with another Rock Throw before rushing forward with a Horn Attack. Pele stamped her front hoof onto the ground and summoned up her Earth Defense ensuring the only path Rhyhorn had was in front of it. Vali grinned a bit shouting, "Hot Pot!"

Giovanni's eyes narrowed in confusion as the entrance to Pele's defense slid shut and a layer of earth closed over the top. Vali kept up her grin as the small holes within Pele's Earth Defense began to glow orange and radiate heat. 'Hot Pot' boiled down to a rather simple strategy. Close all exits as tightly as possible while forming small nearly invisible holes in the walls of the defense, the pokemon inside, Pele, would use a fire-type attack, Heat Wave, to basically create a furnace/pot. As a pokemon able to survive in a volcano, Pele would have no trouble dealing with the heat and even regain whatever energy she used during the attack while Rhyhorn would be facing burns, heat exhaustion, and a myriad of other problems. Especially since Pele would also be using Toxic and any other attacks she chose, it was a good thing a pokemon was immune to its own poisons otherwise this strategy would be a complete double edge sword.

Eventually Pele dropped her defense revealing both pokemon that had been inside, Vali winced at the sight. Rhyhorn glared at Pele as shudders racked its body with each heavy pant clearly holding on by a thread. Grey stone blackened by burns and ash, a small amount of smoke rose up from the small holes in Rhyhorn's armor that help keep the heavy armor coating its body. Pele was bleeding from a few puncture marks and scratches showed that Rhyhorn had managed to get close to her. They'd have to work on finding some way to restrain her opponents while using that move. Pele used Magnitude again earning a loud rumbling groan from Rhyhorn as it stumbled a bit. Rhyhorn used Rock Throw though based on the reduced size in stones, it was very close to passing out. Pele dodged the attack and used Flamethrower. Rhyhorn stumbled as it attempted to shuffle out of the attacks path and fell onto its side. Pele used Magnitude again followed by another Flamethrower. Rhyhorn let out a final groan before passing out and the Referee called out, "Rhyhorn is unable to battle!"