The Gym Leader tilted his head, some confusion on his face. Falling for what?

Whatever it was, the girl changed targets soon after, sending the Lucario after the Volbeat after noticing it picking itself up.

Everything that came next was rather prompt and swift.

"Play tag." The Gym Leader ordered, the Illumise having already set upon following behind the Lucario, not realizing a large boulder of a present was following behind her.

Her Volbeat BF had meanwhile been intercepted with a fist to the face; his attempts at slugging the other much better proportioned fighter were going poorly, his stuffing getting beaten out of him by rapid punches and kicks while he swung his fists wildly at the other, determined to bruise something.

Stubby arms did not lend themselves well for Close combat. Unless they came flying from behind anyway.

The Illumise came flying straight towards the Lucario's back, intent on body checking it roughly while covered in fae energy.

The Volbeat gaze widened as he saw her, before his arms crossed over his chest, summoning a large barrier around them as the stone came bearing down upon them, the rock exploding into a cloud of dust upon contact.

The Volbeat's arms hung limply in front of his body shortly after, his pants rather obvious.

TL;DR:
-Volbeat got the stuffing beaten out of him, swinging his previous dizzy punch around to try and hit something.
-Illumise Play Rough's at Lucario from behind.
-Volbeat used Protect on Rock Throw.

TAG: Megan Whitmore

Well, not like he hadn’t taken the hits already so far. Still, it clearly hurt her Lucario to be hit like this from behind. But on the other hand, he was getting in some good hits on the Volbeat instead, especially when that one decided to protect everyone at the expense of guarding against the punches. Megan still felt a little bad about beating up someone who so clearly was not made for Close Combat – neither to use it, nor be hit by it. But she didn’t exactly have another choice here. That ‘Mon could have just as easily hung back and watched the fight, much like Graveler had. But it had decided to fight and would hurt her Pokemon if it wasn’t stopped. Heck, Lucario was hurting despite that.

After all, he’d been body checked into the Volbeat at the same time. That wasn’t as effective as anything before, but he’d still grunted it in pain. And thus, he’d decided to make an executive decision, as the dust from the thrown stone was coming down all around them. Even Meg couldn’t see what happened. Graveler wanted to throw another stone, but she signalled it not to, given that they couldn’t see at all what was going on there properly. And at the end of that, Luca would be panting too – but he would have instead tried to weave around the Volbeat, which was clearly nearing the end of its rope, seeking to bring it between himself and Illumise, which was still aggressively fighting. But maybe that would give her pause, especially with a stern hand on Volbeat.

“Uhm, I’m not quite sure how these things work, but shouldn’t we recall the injured. I think the other two will do just fine slapping each other silly, but your Volbeat looks kind of…well…beat?”

"This is a Gym Challenge, not a battle in the park." The Captain said sharply, the atmosphere around him suddenly intense. "There's a lesson to be learned, so you had best pry your eyes and ears open, Challenger Megan. The battles that await Hoenn are not the kind any of us can run away from."

The Lucario had made the mistake of holding the Volbeat while he faced towards Illumise. Not only did being used as a shield for his seemingly tougher just girlfriend hurt his pride tremendously-

His tail was still pointed at its face.

A practical flashbang went off in the Lucario's face within arm range.

A blur moved, and the Volbeat was simultaneously slipped right out of his grip with enviable finesse while a fist moved to strike him in the muzzle.

"As long as the opponent is conscious, man or pokemon, they are a threat." He said. "Pokemon specially. Desperation and injury can be sources of power- as I'm sure you are aware."

Blaze, Torrent, Overgrow, Swarm. Abilities that triggered only when a pokemon was on its last legs; Volbeat and Illumise themselves had the potential for Swarm.

Man and pokemon both could never be counted out of a fight if they were not truly down and out. It was not a lesson he enjoyed giving- but on the brink of war, it was one that bore repeating.
TL;DR:
-Volbeat used Tail Glow as a flashbang on Lucario's face.
-Illumise used Covet, stealing back her boyfriend and swinging at Lucario's muzzle at the same time.

TAG: Megan Whitmore

The thing about flashbangs was that they obscured and obfuscated, but they did not really change one’s surroundings. Lucario was not a fighting type for nothing, he had reflexes and instincts, even though his trainer was still working on developing those. When hit by a flashbang like this, it dashed backwards by nature, getting away from that fist without thinking too much. He did have to blink a bit after though, before he could see again.

Meanwhile, Megan was growing somewhat….agitated. She had never taken well to people – men in particular – patronizing her. And this sounded a little like that. Which, in turn, reminded her of that manager, so her first instinct was to reject what was being said. “Yeah, I am,” she replied – and meant it, begrudgingly. She had, in fact, thought these things over before coming here. Heck, it was part of her tactic to begin with. The motto of the gym had given her thought in that regard. But that thought, precisely, had made her unwilling to go to the extreme without need. There was only one life. And she was precisely fighting this battle as if there were. Hence, she’d want the wounded to be evacuated, rather than ‘killed.
Jerk. “Yeah, you can’t run from battles. But wars aren’t won by killing everyone,” she replied. “Victory is hollow if it isn’t achieved the right way! If I discard my values just because the going gets tough I might as well not have them. Discharge.” The last word came out a bit more of a snarl than intended, but she spoke it loud and clear enough for Graveler to hear. While Lucario was prioritizing getting his footing back and getting a little distance, he was, by now, opposite of Graveler with the enemy between them. And he could just barely get out of range of the ring of electricity that expanded from the Graveler.

tl;dr Lucario trying to dodge the attack, Graveler disharging at the bugs in-between

The point had washed off the girl unheeded, and to that the youth could only holdback sigh. It would have to wait until the post-battle debrief, he supposed.

"Helping hand." Doug ordered in response to the Discharge, and the Illumise caught on quick.

Her hand grasped the Volbeat's, who blinked at her for a moment as he prepared to use protect- before he yeeted skyward in a shower of fae energy.

The Discharge hit her shortly after, drawing a short gasp out of her lips before she crumpled, getting returned to her Net ball before she touched the soil.

"Signal Beam." Volbeat, ubercharged with Tail Glow's Drastic Power increase and Illumise's empowering Helping hand-

Unleashed a furious, gigantic wavemotion beam upon the Lucario while it was regaining its footing.

TL;DR:
-Illumise used Helping Hand. Illumise fainted.

-Volbeat used Signal Beam on Lucario.[Bolstered by Tail Glow + Helping Hand.]

TAG: Megan Whitmore

Ugh. Another one of those supercharged beams. Megan still remembered how that had hit Graveler back then. Lucario was better poised to take it, she thought, but he had already taken quite a bit of a beating. At the end of the day, type resistances did only do that much, really. And given how he was still trying to get back into the game proper, there was no way for him to easily dodge this. Ironically, while she had earlier suggested to take out Volbeat and Graveler due to being injured, those two would be the ones remaining after Lucario had to be recalled as well.

“Stealth Rock,” she noted quietly during all of that. Loud enough for Graveler to her, who put her hands on the ground and did whatever a Pokemon did to start up that move. It was not exactly the most straight-forward one, after all. This caused multiple rocks to slightly rise from the ground all around the battlefield, ready to shoot up at Pokemon treading or hovering too close to them with explosive force.
Not much else it could do against a flying opponent, after all. The big oaf had to ready herself to at least try to do just about anything before another devastating beam came by. “Anyway, why bugs? Are they used a lot in the military?” That was a bit random, but it had been something that bugged her for quite a bit. Those two bugs definitely did not match any kind of martial aesthetic.

---

Lucario out, Graveler prepares Stealth Rocks.

The Gym Leader narrowed his eyes, looking at the remaining pokemon, then the trainer.

Volbeat panted heavily, his wings barely able to keep him in the air, his body slowly descending south. The Earth shifted and moved about following the movement of the challenger's lips, and for a moment, he considered ordering the Volbeat to stay high and go for another Signal Beam.

The panting of the bug reached his ears a moment later, however.

He closed his eyes for a moment, considering everything that had been shown until now... before nodding to himself.

"I've seen enough." He said, raising a net ball and returning the Volbeat. "It is your victory, challenger."

Even if he dealt with whatever it was the girl had planned, Volbeat was poorly equipped to handle the rock-type. More importantly, the beating he had taken until now, as well as the last blast, had left it exhausted beyond measure. Only stubbornness kept him conscious, and that alone wasn't enough to win a fight.

Still, he and Illumise had performed better than he had expected.

"You battled admirably- Ignoring a few moments here and there. Still, it's given me a lot to think about." He said, humming. Given the different strengths the two bugs had shown, he had a new training plan in mind for both. But that was not important.

"Now... follow me, challenger. Let's chat." He said, grinning wide before turning on his heel, beginning to make his way inside the building.

---

The office had been cleaned up a bit since Hideo Kino had stood within it. As the gym leader rounded around the desk and took his seat, he gestured his challenger to take a seat.

He had handed his two pokemon to the nurses on the way there. The opportunity was there for Megan to do so as well, if she pleased.

"Why don't ya tell me 'bout yerself, Ms. Whitmore?" He said, bringing his elbows atop the desks, a hand sliding atop the other. "I remember ya saying something about capes before the battle began; ya seemed rather excited. If I ain't remembering the words wrong... It seems like ya wish to be a Gym Leader?"

TL;DR:
-Megan Whitmore wins the battle!

Wait, what? He ended the fight? Sure, Meg appreciated winning, but this just felt weird. Kind of because she had just suggested taking this one and graveler off the field earlier. In her opinion, while it might not have been exactly the same, it at least kind of felt like it. But when she’d suggested it, it had been her not getting the point. Now he pulled that one back without fighting to the end! A bit flabbergasted at first, she lightly grumbled, but then decided to not express that any more for once. Instead, she smiled wearily towards Graveler, who was clearly quite exhausted. Fortunately, she had not pushed to the edge. Megan recalled her, before giving a slightly quizzical glance towards the leader. Follow him? Wasn’t this the part where one was simply given a badge? And why did this kind of feel like being called to the principal’s office?

Then again, Meg did not exactly have a choice, so she followed. Taking in the interior of the base, she tried to make sense of the aesthetic. Still didn’t really feel a lot like a gym. More like, well, an army base. But it had absolutely zero to do with bugs, in her opinion. But it was also not exactly a comfortable place to be in for a civilian such as herself. Even as she sat down, she did so more proper and stiffly than she usually would have had. It simply was a place for soldiers. And people like here usually only got there when they’d done something particularly bad. Though she had given her Pokemon to the nurse as well, she felt somewhat assured that she still had a few others on her belt.

Still, being called Miss Whitmore again felt a bit weird in this setting. She decided that she was not quite comfortable yet. Or rather, that she was not quite there yet. It made more sense in her head. “Well, um, I just like the look. They are fancy. I mean, I already have some more eccentric stuff, but somehow…I don’t know. A cape is something that should be worn by someone sufficiently badass. And I don’t feel ready for that sort of thing yet. Like, anyone could put them on, but actually wearing them is something else. Though I do want to be a gym leader. One day. When I’m…I don’t know. Ready for it I guess. And proved myself, of course.”
Yeah, not exactly the best speech to give for something like that. But it was how she felt. Nothing would change that anytime soon. “Also, are you putting on an accent now, or did you just forced yourself to speak differently earlier?”

The young man laughed, leaning back against his seat.

"'Tis actually m'accent; really." He said while chuckling, shoulders quaking with mirth. "I try and be a lil' more eloquent for the sake o' theatrics while battlin'."

He leaned back against his seat, considering her earlier words.

"What do ya consider bein' 'ready' to be a Gym Leader?" Doug asked her, tilting his head ever so slightly.

Then a memory came to mind.

"Oh, and, lil' off topic, I just like bugs." He said, remembering her question during their battle; he had almost missed it then. "They ain't really military types, though some are a bit more common' than most. Military type mons are high discipline fighters, canines with good noses... And the Voltorb line, to name a few choices."

He stretched his neck for a moment, before speaking again.

"You might want to freshen up on those typing advantages 'fore challenging the next gym." He said casually, grinning at her. "An aspirin' Gym Leader should at least have the basics downpat."

tags: Megan Whitmore

She shrugged in response. “I figure if I knew, I would be.” Honestly, that was the best answer she could give in that regard. After all, being one was as much about character as it was about skill, if she understood matters correctly. Granted, she didn’t exactly enjoy this man’s character at all times, but he seemingly did have the act down at least. Even changed up his accent, if ever so slightly. Meg, meanwhile, was just Meg while she battled. Then again, she didn’t do it all too often, after all. “Though I do think that experience is at least part of it. I mean, I still have a lot to learn, I think, and need to just get used to it more. To my strength, and when and how to use it. Does that make any sense?”

It probably didn’t. Most people were not so hung up about matters as she was. Then again, they had not exactly lived her life, either.
Megan was starting to relax a bit more, though she soon found herself slightly blushing when he had to bring up types. “I do know the basics! It’s just like….bug is weird. Really weird. They are weak to Rock but I guess Rock doesn’t resist them? While it’s just the opposite for fighting. I mean, how does that make any sense?”

"Sounds 'bout right." Doug said, leaning back against his seat.

It could be arrogance, or it could be true. No way to find out but to try, once she got there.

Leaning his weight on one elbow, his cheek came to press against his fist.

"It does." He said with nod. "The gym Leaders ain't necessarily some o' the strongest trainers in the region. Among 'em, you'll find some who simply have acquired a wealth o' experience, or a single, meaningful experience. Things worth teachin' and passin' on."

It was the reason the non-traditional challenge format existed.

"Learnin' when and how to apply yer strength- that is an extension o' good judgement; just acceptin' ya need to work at it further puts ya heads and tails above the curve." He said, smiling as his fluttered close, his one free hand underneath the desk flicking its wrist.

He laughed at her excuse; it was true, the bug type was as non-standard as it got. But...

"No excuses. That's the kinda thing ya gotta be payin' attention to." He said with a playful wink. "Not every fight's gonna be fire, water n' grass. Hyperbolin', course. The weirder typin's are the ones ya gotta look out for; specially if ya plan to challenge Billi Marsh. His gym is fully bug-type."

Regardless of his words, the young man slowly stood up from his seat, pushing back the chair before holding out his hand towards her.

"Regardless of that, the battle still resulted in your victory." He said, smiling. "Though, my badge ain't handed out just on that. My main concern ain't whether the challenger succeeds or fails."

"It's how and why they did."

Upon grasping his hand, a cold piece of metal would be felt against naked skin, and pulling back would reveal...



"Congrats, challenger Megan." The youth said, smiling. "I wish ya fortune on the rest of yer Gym challenge."

---

tags: Megan Whitmore

She pouted, in return. In her opinion, that was not an excuse, but rather a reason. But then again, it probably sounded like one. She had to acknowledge that much. Megan had not exactly allocated a whole lot of time to learning about odd types like this, so he was certainly right in that regard. But she just didn’t want him to be right in that moment, so she decided he wasn’t. Simple as that. It totally worked like that. Definitely.

Still, it was difficult to stay mad when someone presented you with a badge, so she quickly lit up in response. “I – thank you,” she replied, swiftly changing track in that moment she realized what she was taking possession of there. Truth be told, she had been burned often enough in the past, she had not truly accepted that she would actually get this badge until this very moment. Not that she wanted to see the worst in him or anything like that, she was just jaded enough to think that fate might snatch this from her at the last possible moment.
Now though, she had something. She’d properly taking the first step. Time to work on the next one, of course.

Hence, she nodded. “Yes, Gym Leaders are not the strongest. If they were, I reckon very few people would earn badges.” Her own joke made her chuckle, briefly. “But yeah, I want to become the proper kind of strong and then help others do the same. Though I first have to learn what that truly is. I don’t think I have the concept fully realized yet.” First, she shook her head, then nodded. “But I do think I learned something today. Thank you for that. Though to be frank for a moment, as much as I like capes, your original bum-look somehow suits you way better than that proper leader look. Just aesthetically.”