บท 87: C087 - Jasmine the Olivine Gym Leader
It was finally the day for Jasmine to become the gym leader of Olivine City. Preston, a grey-haired man dressed in a granite colored three piece suit and a fedora and with an ever present smile that gave him deep wrinkles, invited Jasmine for a last match of sorts, completely throwing away any pretense of having someone else take over his gym.
The audition he originally planned therefore became an exhibition match only, where his old ace pokemon could go out with a last hurrah. After a long lifetime of battles in the gym, his gigantic Rampardos, Golem, and Tyranitar were covered in battle scars all over and looked plenty menacing.
Rampardos was even Preston's very first pokemon. As a small boy, his father, who used to work as an adventurer and cartographer, found a small and lonely Cranidos in the mountains and gifted him to his son. It grew so powerful with age that at some point, Preston simply stopped using him to not overwhelm his young challengers.
A fate that might soon befall his opponent in battle: Mega Torterra. The pokemon was simply too powerful to be left to its own devices. Unless a challenger had their own mega evolved pokemon, Jasmine could likely not use it to battle challengers.
The second battle would be a doubles match: Golem and Tyranitar versus Steelix and Gliscor. The battle would likely be hard to observe since all four pokemon strived in a Sandstorm, but not using the move would be too limiting for both sides.
Before the first match was on its way, the audience slowly filled into the empty stadium and filled barely two rows on one side of the stadium. Preston wished for this match to be a private affair, and Jasmine was very much grateful for that.
So the audience 'only' consisted of Pete, Vivian, Benny, Professor Elm, who arrived a few minutes ago with his Xatu, Courtney, Valerie, Valentino, Jasmine's entire family minus Lucifern's wife, and Preston's family: his son Greg, his granddaughter Antonia or simply 'Toni', and an old Growlithe who didn't want to evolve with a Fire Stone and simply liked staying around Preston to keep him company.
"Can't believe it took us this long to meet," Lucifern, a well dressed young man, said as he sat next to Pete. Isabelle, the Feelgood family's mother, sat on Pete's other side.
"It's been quite busy on my farm, but if you ever have the time, I'll gladly host you and your wife! Could she not make it, by the way?" Pete replied with a polite smile as he looked to the man who looked exactly like his father except the missing platinum blonde handlebar mustache and slightly darker hair.
"Oh, Chloe is a little skittish around pokemon battles, an old trauma you see. She'll join us back at home," the eldest son of the family explained.
Isabelle chimed in, "And I hope she isn't cooking. I told her to just relax, but knowing her, I bet she already cut up a mountain of salad enough for thirty guests in preparation."
"Should have roped her Togetic in if you really wanted her to sit back. It took me a full week before she finally agreed to close her restaurant in Fuchsia for three days so we could come to cheer on our baby sister. I bet her hands are already getting restless," Lucifern suggested with a laugh.
"Who do you think is going to win, Pete?" Isabelle asked as she chose to change the topic. The woman was fidgetting in her seat, clearly more nervous than her own daughter. She simply spoke anything that came to mind as a distraction.
"Hmm, I think Mega Torterra has a great chance to clinch out a win. I've never seen Preston's Rampardos, but Torterra should even be the favorite. The typing is in its favor, as well as the fact that it is mega evolved. But I think for the doubles, Jasmine's pokemon are going to get schooled. Preston's Tyranitar and Golem have a lifetime of experience, and just because Jasmine takes great care of her pokemon and gives them plenty of opportunities to grow stronger, the fight is still stacked against her team. Preston wasn't gym leader for this long without reason."
Which was exactly what happened. Rampardos had the abilities Mold Breaker which made it so mid-battle stat increases for defenses were largely ignored if properly trained and defensive abilities were less effective and Sheer Force which increased the damage of moves with secondary effects like flinch and status effects in favor not inflicting those same secondary effects.
In battling terms, Rampardos was what people called a 'tank breaker', yet the old dinosaur looking pokemon finally met its match in his last gym battle. Mega Torterra turned out to be too much of a tank for it to break. Potentially getting hit with super effective attacks from both of its typings, Mega Torterra was the clear favorite over Rampardos to begin with.
Tanking an onslaught of Head Smashes at the start of the short fight, one of which was even a clear critical hit despite Mega Torterra's ability Shell Armor, which should prevent critical hits if it wasn't for Mold Breaker, the continent pokemon set up enough to pretty much three-shot the rock pokemon after the ability Overgrow activated.
Overgrow powered up grass moves the more damage a pokemon had taken in a battle. With it active, a frighteningly calm Mega Torterra first unleashed Grass Knot, which dealt more damage depending on the weight of a pokemon and rooting it in place, followed by a special attack Leaf Storm with leaves the size of a sheet of paper which was finally followed up with a glancing blow of the physical attack Wood Hammer.
Pete, who watched the fight from the sidelines, started sweating heavily. He wasn't entirely sure if Rampardos would have survived a full hit of Wood Hammer, especially if it crit. Both Leaf Storm and Wood Hammer were 120+ power moves after all and together with Overgrow, Torterra had used quite a few set up moves starting with Reflect and Stockpile, then Nasty Plot, Ingrain and Grassy Terrain. Rampardos, especially one this big and old, was on the heavier side, too. So, Grass Knot was sure to have hit for quite a lot as well.
Preston wasn't too mad about this result. Clearly, he expected this and never lost his signature smile. After congratulating Jasmine for the spectacular performance of Torterra, it was finally time for the doubles battle. And just like Pete had suspected, her team lost. And despite nobody getting a clear look through the heavy Sandstorm, it was clear that Steelix was taken out by a flurry of super effective fighting moves by Golem after the two tried brawling it out. Despite the heavy hits Steelix inflicted with super effective steel moves on its own, Golem's repeated use of Rock Smash followed by a Seismic Toss that made Steelix eventually faint was too much.
On the other hand, Tyranitar somehow managed to hide the fact it was using setup moves from Gliscor and took it out with a singular critical four times effective Ice Punch when the pokemon came close from an angle it thought Tyranitar wouldn't expect.
From what Pete could see, barely any doubles battle tactics even happened because all Tyranitar did after taking out Gliscor was propping the fainted enemy pokemon against a rock, sheltered from getting peppered with more sand, and keeping said Sandstorm up for the other two pokemon still fighting.
To congratulate her, Preston held a little speech with misty eyes after the second battle that ended with, "For all my remaining years, I will be happy to know that my life's work is in good hands. You'll make an exceptional Gym Leader, though do keep in mind to train a few pokemon over the years. Those three we just saw are going to give you the impression that no challenger will ever be worthy of the Olivine gym badge. And finally, stay as you are and treasure your pokemon, for they are the source of your strength. Oh, and if you ever need me, I'll move in with my son, and he lives right across the street, haha!"
Preston and Jasmine were both happy with the result of the fight. Preston was now rest assured that his choice in successor was correct. And while Gliscor getting taken out in one hit was a bit of a shame, the opponent's cunning Tyranitar imparted Jasmine's Gliscor a valuable lesson. Namely that Gliscor's usual hit-and-run tactics wouldn't always work, even if it used Agility and Double Team first midair.
Preston and his family agreed to follow the Feelgood family back to their home in Violet City and so Pete found himself talking to the old gym leader and his son in the mansion's garden while the women chased everyone out of the house to prepare a lavish dinner under Chloe's guidance, who clearly did not heed her mother-in-law's warning and already prepared most of it.
Pete had just shared his theory on Shuckle being one of the most busted rock pokemon there ever will be with the old retired gym leader which resulted in the man's smile vanishing for the first time in a long time.
"I can't believe it. If a Shuckle is properly trained to pull that combo off quickly enough, it would be unstoppable... you really know how to make an old man feel inadequate," Preston offered in disbelief.
Pete showed a shy smile and quickly said, "No, no. I read up a few of your training tips on rock pokemon that the professor has in his library. There's no way you should feel like that at all. You are and were very meticulous in your care of rock pokemon."
"Don't worry, Preston. I know how you feel," Professor Elm chimed in with a big smile. "I still count my blessings that Pete decided to travel all the way to my lab despite the storm all those weeks ago."
Toni, the elementary school student who hid behind her father's leg, clearly heard Pete's explanation and while she couldn't fully comprehend everything that went into Shuckle being powerful, she swore to herself to become a trainer worthy of her grandfather's name.
One that trained a completely busted Shuckle.
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