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It was time. And although she had never once dreaded battling Fernando, she had always, in some way, found herself intimidated by the prospect. Their month spend together training had been eye-opening and had allowed her to see the man in a different light, to understand him better and relate to him on a more personal level.[break][break]

She no longer saw him quite so vividly as the impatient, callous man of great disrespect and intolerance. While he was intolerant of weakness, he was merely a man who expected the best, at all times, from the people who had been given the responsibility of testing Hoenn's next strongest trainers.[break][break]

And she would show him nothing less than her absolute best.[break][break]

Gone was the same arrogant girl who was nothing more than a whiny, bratty child. The woman who stood, waiting for Fernando on the other side of the gym entrance, was, although still arrogant, much wiser and less childish. She was proud and strong and smart.[break][break]

Well.. the young and naive Stormy was probably still there just a little bit.

[attr="class","spiral"] "I'm here to challenge the Gym Leader."

Fernando leaves their difference behind. Today, he is nothing more than a representative of every trainer who will have to pass through the Lavaridge Gym on their journey to the Champion's seat. Any relationship between them is severed, nonexistent as he tries his best to remain objective. A series of Pokeballs line his belt and he has them specifically picked out based off what he knows about Bronwen's lineup.

The entrance doors close behind him and Fernando awaits her acceptance.

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Stormy overhears Fernando's curt request and rounds the corner, waving down the receptionist who was organizing papers to prepare for the man's challenge.[break][break]

She flags Fernando down, beckoning him to follow her.[break][break]

"Follow me, please."[break][break]

It doesn't take them long to stand at the separate entrance to her arena. It's uneven and rocky. The ground is hot and unsteady. The hot springs overlook the arena for the benefit of visitors.

[attr="class","spiral"] No further words need to be spoken on their way to the battlefield. Tension aside, the both of them have known that this day would come. The moment Fernando confronted her with the promotion back in her apartment succeeding the botched operation to rescue Dahlia was the moment this day was etched into stone.

Fernando surveys the field with silent determination, gauging that it'll have little effect on his current line up. Naturally, the fire theme comes into play and he's both prepared and ready to have Bronwen show off her own set of skill. He stands in position, ready.

"What are you rules?"

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The further she walks across the field, the easier it is for her to shed her anxieties, to find her strength, to steel herself for their battle. It would be a battle of merit, of pride, of proving to him that all of his lessons weren't for nothing, that she had grown.[break][break]

And so, the tension leaves the tips of her fingers as her balled hands relax, as she lets out that final breath, as she turns to face him on the field and he asks her a single question. [break][break]

"Double battle, a test of compatibility between trainer and partnered Pokemon. Winner must take down both of their opponents Pokemon."[break][break]

The rules are straightforward and uncomplicated. It's a test of strength and passion. The stronger trainer will win, the more cunning trainer, the one capable of overcoming any and all obstacles.[break][break]

She thumbs over two pokeballs at her hip and she opens them both to reveal a Turtonator and Blissey. They both blink to attention, Blissey overjoyed to be out and about. Turtonator remains passive and indifferent, blowing out a thin trail of smoke from his nose.

[attr="class","spiral"] Much better. While not perfect, compatibility is a much better descriptor of a champion than respect. The later is a term used for those that do not understand the severity that differentiates losers from winners. It is a term laden with folly and meant to be used by the naive. Fernando accepts neither and her development spares her from what would've been another beratement.

Two Pokemon chosen to work in tandem — Fernando knows exactly which one he wants. It should come as no surprise that he chooses the two that Bronwen should be the most familiar with: Rhydon and Charizard. One after another, the duo stand on his side of the field, primed for combat and ready for his commands.

"Battle routine set."

The Charizard lifts off, wings pumping up and down as it ascends a few feet over the Rhydon.

"Execute."

With a muted snarl, the Pokemon opens up its maw to unleash a thick expulsion of SMOKESCREEN to hide themselves while blinding the enemy.

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It really doesn't come as a surprise to see Fernando wield the same two Pokemon she had been practicing against and witnessing fight. It makes her nervous, however, because it means she should know what they're capable of, how they move, what to expect.[break][break]

But she sets her jaw and she prepares herself. Losing means nothing, this is a challenge of merit, of proving to herself and to Fernando that she's grown, that she's strong enough to take charge of a city, to be the gym leader Lavaridge needs her to be, to be what the League needs her to be.[break][break]

The Charizard begins the battle by clouding the arena with a smokescreen. The smoke is so thick that Stormy begins to cough, but Turtonator isn't afraid. In fact, he's dealt with something like this before.[break][break]

Fire pours from his mouth and Blissey, who had already been standing close to Turtonator's side, inches closer and behind, touching his tail to keep track of where he is. The fire incinerates and lights up the smokescreen. The smoke seems to heat up and grow thicker and more suffocating. [break][break]

Light crackles in the smoke, illuminating different but empty areas of the smokescreen. It hasn't shown either of Stormy's Pokemon the enemy, but they still wait. They're patient and prepared for what might come.[break][break]

"Blissey."[break][break]

Stormy announces, and the Blissey sits upright, acutely aware. She is masked by the smokescreen but the white light of an ice beam crackles as it spreads across the rough terrain. It splinters and spikes, growing quickly as it ventures out to hopefully trap one of Fernando's Pokemon to the ground.[break][break]

[attr="class","spiral"] The smoke burns with acrid fumes. INCINERATE starts to eat at the grey clouds, changing the current of the SMOKESCREEN into billowing onto his side of the field. Fernando covers his mouth with his sleeve, avoiding inhaling the toxic fumes. His Charizard is impervious to the burning smoke, as are most fire type Pokemon. It is his Rhydon that has to withstand the shift in environment, somewhat able to navigate the clouded air due to the Pokemon's habitat of mountainous regions. It still makes breathing difficult and makes it all but impossible to find its opponents.

But the SMOKESCREEN was never meant to allow the Rhydon to have an advantage with vision. The veil is a double-edge sword, masking both positions as the heat picks up and the Rhydon has to withstand the buffering heat of an indirect INCINERATE. With a heavy STOMP of one of its legs, the ground shatter with an EARTHQUAKE rippling from the point of impact. Minor tremors rock the battle field as the ground becomes loose and upturns due to the shock waves. There's no point in finding out where the enemy is when the Rhydon can just attack the entire fields.

Her Blissey's ICE BEAM cuts through the smoke and the freezing beam crystallizes anything in its path. It splinters and spikes, freezing over upturned terrain as it snakes closer toward his Pokemon. The further it invades the SMOKESCREEN the less powerful it becomes as the smoke burns with her previous INCINERATE. By sheer luck, it manages to hit the Rhydon but the attack's power has been diluted in comparison to a head-on ICE BEAM.

His Charizard rises into the air, escaping the SMOKESCREEN and taking a position closer toward the ceiling, circling from above. Without being able to pinpoint Bronwen's Pokemon's exact position, it starts to pelt her side of the field with FLAME BURSTS. Whether or not the attack hits anything directly, when it lands, the flames explode outwards and spread, expanding and increaisng his area of attack and the chance the attack will land.

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Blissey's ice beam crawls across the rugged terrain, searching, finding, meeting a target. By the time it reaches the Rhydon, the majority of the attack's strength is lost - but that's not really why she had done it. The ice beam was a path, a marker to help Stormy's team locate the general location of their attackers.[break][break]

In doing this, however, it left them wide open for the plan to backfire, for Fernando to know where they are. Blissey then places a hand on Turtonator's forearm, tugging him out of the way, towards her. Deeper into the fog.[break][break]

But then the ground begins to shudder beneath them and Blissey hesitates, waiting for the tremors to subside. Before the earthquake can hit them, Turtonator braces for impact and protects Blissey from the majority of the impact with wide guard.[break][break]

Meanwhile, the Charizard has escaped the smokescreen to fly above, to wait in bated anticipation while the battle continues in the confusion. It begins to pelt the battlefield with flame bursts, spreading the smoke briefly to reveal empty plots and more jagged rock. The ground is split and cavernous with the previous earthquake.[break][break]

Turtonator begins to fire back at the flying-type Pokemon, predicting it's movements to the best of his ability based on where the flame bursts had come from. With a rapidfire of dragon pulses, Turtonator side steps another blast of fire that glances off his skin and barely makes a dent. [break][break]

Blissey waits, preparing a trail of egg bombs along the slowly melting ice beam path. Should anyone follow it to their location, they'll be met with several unpleasant explosions.[break][break]

[attr="class","spiral"] A weighted STOMP from the Rhydon frees the Pokemon from being tethered by the residue of the ICE BEAM. Without a pressing reason to be coaxed out of the protection of the SMOKESCREEN, the Pokemon continues to pound the earth, strike after strike, assaulting the arena with a continuing EARTHQUAKE.

Just like their first battle, Fernando keeps his Pokemon within a set routine. Without any means to force them off what's tried and trued, they'll continue a simple attack pattern due to the ease of execution. The Charizard above takes a stray DRAGON PULSE but delivers an equally retaliatory FLAME BURST, continuing the bombardment with impunity.

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The stomp reverberates across the field. It makes the ground tremble beneath the Blissey's feet and she can feel her heart race with anticipation. Battling was always exhilarating and intense, but for some reason, she felt more on edge, more amped to give it her all. This battle counted.[break][break]

It's time to drop the veil, time to pick this battle up a notch.[break][break]

Turtonator is hit in retaliation with a flame burst, and, while the attack blasts against his shell and leaves him virtually unphased, it means they've been found. So it was time to drop the curtains.[break][break]

Blissey uses her ice beam to freeze the smoke in the air. It drops like a cool wave of fluffy fog as it breaks and withers away into wisps on the ground. Turtonator shuffles his feet just as the earthquake hits, bracing himself for the pain that comes as his inferno belly is jostled.[break][break]

He bellows in response, taunting the attacking Pokemon into coming at him. Blissey, meanwhile, waits patiently for the egg-bombs, which had fallen into the crevices of the earthquake to explode and distrupt more dirt and debris. It might act as a distraction while she aims a thunderbolt at the Charizard.[break][break]

[attr="class","spiral"]The purposeful use of ICE BEAM saturates the SMOKESCREEN with the colder temperature and with it the smog loosens up as the condensation weighs it down. The loss of their cover doesn't prove too unfortunate for them but that does demand that they change up the tempo. This gets exacerbated when they realize that Blissey can use THUNDERBOLT. The attack proves fast and lethal to the flying type but none of that matters as the lightning arcs back toward Rhydon. Fernando smiles inwardly, having no knowledge of the Blissey's moveset and therefore only coming out ahead due to his future proofing.

"Switch! Infantry formation."

Fernando is unable to recognize the TAUNT due to his unfamiliarity with Turtonator but that matters little. The reveal of THUNDERBOLT and the loss of his SMOKESCREEN force him to change his hand in accordance and his Charizard circles back to his Rhydon, keeping several feet above and behind it. It stays there, waiting, maw open, ready to attack but doesn't. Not until prompted to, not until their strategy calls for it.

Rhydon is still free to move and without anything forcing it to move it's content with slamming forward again with another EARTHQUAKE. The longer the field does rumbles the more the field becomes overturned. This spells good for Fernando who's Pokemon don't require being mobile except for the one able to navigate the sky. The same cannot be said for the enemy but he watches, vigilant, paying his opponent the respect of being someone worth being cautious toward despite the field turning to his advantage.

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Stormy watches in muted horror and frustration as the arch of lightning from Blissey's core is redirected and absorbed by the Rhydon. It sizzles into the ground and disappears in subtle pulses - effectively muddling the gym leader's attempt to take down the Charizard.[break][break]

Blissey stands still for a moment, also bewildered by this sudden turn of events. She does, however, realise what this means for her next mode of operation.[break][break]

"Hmm.."[break][break]

The woman chews the inside of her lip as she considers her options, watching as Fernando's Charizard retreats to fly above but behind his partner. There's a twitch in her jaw as the Turtonator taunts his opponents. The ground churns beneath his feet and he stumbles, one foot crunching through the unstable ground to injure him quite substantially.[break][break]

"Refocus our attention."[break][break]

Stormy commands, tucking her chin down as she observes the battlefield. [break][break]

Blissey manages to protect herself to some degree by spending her energy on sidestepping and stumbling. She catches her breath momentarily as she stands behind Turtonator's protective body. She's panting, clearly a little out of breath and tired.[break][break]

Still, however, she comes to a mutual agreement with Turtonator to change their target. The Blissey begins to sing a soft and sweet lullaby, pointedly attracting the Rhydon's attention with her beautiful lyrics. Should it put the opponent to sleep or merely distract him long enough for her to catch her breath again, she would watch as her own partner steps up to the plate.[break][break]

Turtonator fires off a brief series of dragon pulses at the Rhydon. It was time to take him down first and deal with the flying-type Pokemon second.[break][break]