Chapter 22: Nacrene 4
"You took in a spunky one here, didn't ya Drayden." Lenora snorted in amusement at Magnus's display, caressing one of the pokeballs on her waist as she spoke up towards the spectator stands, "You wouldn't mind if you gave him a little scare would you?"
"Please do. Maybe he'll learn to think before diving head first into dangerous situations after a defeat." Drayden responded with his arms crossed, looking stoic as ever.
"Hey, I heard that!" Magnus butted in, replying to Drayden poke at his recklessness in dealing with team plasma, "You know I'm smarter than half the pricks at your school."
Plucking a blue and red great ball from her belt, Lenora states, "You asked for it brat." Throwing the ball onto her side of the arena, a flash of white blinded Magnus' eyes as he was greeted with the sight of a familiar face.
Standing in front on him was the purebred beast of a Sawsbuck that he and Leonra rode to Nacrene. In the arena, the majestic pokemon looked far more daunting than it did surrounded by nature.
If before it gave a calming, at peace impression to everyone who laid eyes upon it. Now it looked like a battle hardened warrior ready to smash skulls under its hard-than-steel hooves.
Upon closer inspection, Magnus noticed that several patches of fur Lonora's Sawsbuck were thinner in some places, barely concealing old scars of varying sizes.
"If you manage to take down Briar you can have your badge. In fact I'll even throw in a prism scale" Lenora boisterously taunted.
Undaunted, Magnus pulls Feebas's pokeball off its resting spot on his belt and launches it into the arena.
Sprouting from the white light was the blotchy pokemon who he'd come to know and love. Floundering about on the rough ground, Feebas's sunken eyes spotted the hulking stag, and in fright splashed her way over to Magnus, stopping just before the technical area.
Attempting to stop his pokemon before it got too freaked out to battle, Mangus informed her, "Calm down girl, you're in a gym battle. I know it's going to be hard, but I need you to give it your best shot."
"Fee!" She cried, her gaze flickering between her trainer and Leonora's Sawsbuck.
"I know he looks tough, but the whole team's in it together. All you need to do is put a shift in and it'll all add up." Really selling it to Feebas, Magnus finished it by saying, "See that woman over there? She said she'll give us a prism scale if we win."
That done it for the fish that aspired to be beautiful. With a rejuvenated desire for battle, Feebas flopped to centre stage and stared down her opponent with newfound aggression.
"That was quite the turn around." Lenora said, impressed at the display, "Drayden you fine with reffing?"
"It's not like there's anyone else here that can do it." Drayden somewhat sassily said, before announcing in a loud voice, "This battle will be a one versus four, and will go on until either the pokemon faint or I declare the battle over."
"The battle between Gym Leader Lenora and the challenger Magnus will now commence." Pausing now that he was finished with the official league drivel, Drayden raised a single arm in the air, much to Magnus's anticipation.
Magnus could barely keep himself from screaming out in excitement, from just one look at both Leonora and her Sawsbuck, he knew this would be a totally different ball game compared with his bout in Striaton. This time, himself and his pokemon have to bring their A-Game if they want a chance at success.
"...Begin!"
Not wasting a single second, Magus told Feebas to press the attack, "Dragonbreath! Keep Sawsbuck at a distance!"
Not needing to be told twice, Feebas turned her innards into a burning furnace and quickly blasted a stream of blue flames towards her opponent. These flames were rapid, much quicker than what they were mere days prior, the Yanma swarm really got Feebas's strongest attack up to scratch.
Just as the Dragon Breath was about to impact, Sawsbuck flickered out of view. The ground around it was torn apart by the resulting explosion sending scorched earth flying across the arena and spreading dust everywhere.
"Feebas watch out!" Magnus yelled.
Out of nowhere a huge hooves crashed towards Feebas's stationary body. Reacting to her trainer's shout, she smacked her tail against the ground, barely managing to get off the ground and narrowly avoid the attack.
Just when both trainer and pokemon thought they were in the clear, a second leg caught Feebas mid leap. Sawsbuck's glowing front legs smashed into her scaled side with no mercy, the kick sent her skidding across the ground, only barely coming to a stop at the white outlines surrounding the arena's edge.
"Feebas!" Magnus shouted in worry, hardly able to hold himself back from running over to check on her.
Sawsbuck never had any sympathy for the injured pokemon though, continuing to charge in after Lenora calmly ordered, "Take down."
It was as if the world began moving in slow motion for Magnus, if he doesn't come up with something fast Feebas will be taken out before she's even able to do anything.
Magnus desperately racked his brain when an idea popped into his head, "Feebas set the ground around you on fire!"
Twitching at her trainer's words, Feebas still managed to spew a torrent of luminous dragonfire across the arena floor, despite taking a heavy hit moments prior.
Faced with the threat of severe burns, Sawbuck cancelled his charge and the resulting skid doubled down as a Sand Attack that ended up obscuring the vision of both Feebas and Magnus.
Taking a shot in the dark, Magnus commanded his pokemon, "Set the entire field on fire! Don't worry about hitting anything."
Sawsbuck outsped Feebas by a mile, even though her attacks only had a half chance of hitting at best. The only way she'll get any blows in is by restricting the stag's movement.
"Energy ball." Lenora ordered.
"Use Mirror Coat!" Magnus hurriedly yelled, in hopes Feebas could reflect the attack. Barely in time to absorb the grass-type attack, Feebas covered herself in Mirror Coat's translucent polish and sent Energy Ball back towards Sawsbuck at twice the speed.
Not needing an order to avoid the reflected attack, Sawbuck dashed to the side, allowing the Energy Ball to fly past her at impact on the arena's psychic barrier.
Due to Feebas using Mirror Coat, she had to cancel her use of Dragon Breath before she could cover the entire arena - meaning that there were still patches of ground that weren't alight with the dragonic flames.
Capitalising on this, Lenora instructed, "Sawsbuck close in and hit'em with takedown!"
Using the unblemished areas, Sawsbuck pranced over the sea of fire from island to island until it was close enough to propel itself at Feebas. With one final jump Sawsbuck was on top of Feebas' own safe zone.
"Dragon breath!" Magnus commanded, prompting Feebas to spew a torrent of flames at Sawsbuck who was still mid air. Hitting its mark, the blue fire managed to spread latch onto Briar's fur coat and began gnawing away at his skin.
Sadly it never lasted long, as Sawsbuck came crashing down on top of Feebas. Magnus never needed to see Feebas to know it was game over, the battle field devoid of fire told him all he needed.
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