[attr="class","spiral"] A lucky strike against Blissey grants the Charizard enough quarter to survive another exchange of blows. Their attack pattern repeats and the simple approach of DRAGON PULSES are met with another series of FLAME BURSTS. Had the Blissey found the opportunity to join in on the attack then perhaps the situation would have tilted in Bronwen's favor, but in an even match between two Pokemon bombarding each other with attacks, the blasts settle into a cascade of impactful explosions that mitigate the potential damage inflicted on the sleeping Rhydon.

The Rhydon remains helpless and continues to snore, shaken by the attacks around it and pelted by the occasional DRAGON PULSE. It only takes one too many to stir the Pokemon awake but for now it remains asleep.

[attr="class","bodygold"]
[break]

Blissey finishes munching on her

soft-boiled egg

in time to stand behind Braum Stormy's Turtonator before the opponents Charizard could hit her again with more flame bursts. The fire splashes the ground and the hardy skin of her companion, but she can feel her partner's energy waning.[break][break]

He's slowing down and his breath is labored and raspy as if he's trying hard to stay standing and keep fighting. Or maybe he's just older than Stormy thought he was. Perhaps he wasn't the young and spry Turtonator she'd seen in the wild, maybe she'd caught the wrong one.[break][break]

When the dust settles and the flames peel away, both of Stormy's Pokemon remain standing despite their burns and their exhaustion. Unfortunately, Fernando's Pokemon also remain alert and awake, perhaps more so than her own - even despite his Rhyhorn sleeping soundly.[break][break]

Still, the fact remains that they need to eliminate the Rhydon. They need to do something before they lose it all.[break][break]

And so, Stormy feels herself steel a breath and shift her weight. Lips pursed, she whistles, and both Blissey and Turtonator take one step forward before breaking out into a dead sprint.[break][break]

Turtonator uses

taunt

once again to get the attention of the Charizard, to keep its focus on him instead of on Blissey. In this scenario, she's the damage dealer, the important piece, the checkmate.[break][break]

Meanwhile, she breaks formation, taking the lead as she beelines it for the resting Pokemon. Ice forms at her mouth as a blast of

ice beam

snakes forward in a wicked zigzag, fully intending on freezing the Pokemon to the ground, or at least hurting it.[break][break]

[attr="class","spiral"] Fernando's counting against the clock for when his Rhydon will awaken. Once it does, the match will be his. That's his win condition and now all he has to do it play towards it — easier said than done but not impossible.

"Charizard! Finish it off! Break through their ranged attacks and take Blissey out!"

His instructions are detailed on the objective but not on the execution. He leaves that up to the Pokemon's discretion and considering the technique it has, there's only a few options it can use. The fact that Fernando has called for an end hints at what he wants the Charizard to do and it primes itself with an emphasized flap of its wings.

The TAUNT works to an extent and the Pokemon feels too aggravated to stall out any longer with a non-offensive move like SMOKESCREEN. The Charizard takes flight and rushes in toward the two with an INFERNO leaking from its open maw, enveloping itself in intense flames as the Charizard flies through its own INFERNO. It turns toward Blissey when the Pokemon breaks formation and powers through the ICE BEAM, taking the brunt of the blow as it comes in closer for a DRAGON CLAW.

Hitting the Charizard dissuades the attack but does not negate it completely. The beam of ice arcs with an uncanny zigzag, snaking closer until it lands on the Rhydon's arm, coating the point of impact in solid ice. A mixture of the time elapsed and the sudden sensation of ice against its hide snaps the Pokemon awake. With an aggravated snarl, it stands up, feeling the newfound weight on its arm.

[attr="class","bodygold"]
[break]

The incoming

inferno

is terrifying for the Blissey. While the Turtonator has seen it, done it, lived it all before, Blissey is weak to it. She's the ugly duckling in Stormy's arsenal of flaming swans.[break][break]

So when the Charizard leaps through his own

inferno

to intercept her

ice beam

, the medic screams. Her attack lands, dismantling the flames but only for a moment. Ice clings to the Pokemon's wings and shoulder but it doesn't stop him from lashing out with a powerful

dragon claw

.[break][break]

She's rendered useless as the claws slice across her pink skin. She's rattled, terrified, unable to respond.[break][break]

Turtonator is powerless to intervene at the moment, it'll take him too long to get close to his partner. So he turns to

dragon pulse

against the exposed back of the Charizard hell-bent on taking out the one Pokemon that matters in this fight.[break][break]

[attr="class","spiral"] Up close and personal, the Blissey has no quarter against Charizard. At least it doesn't make a move between attacks and considering the Pokemon's nature and attributes, that's not surprising. In melee range, the Charizard follows up with a personal INFERNO meant to maim them both. Any backlash from the attack is fine for the fire-type but not so much for the normal.

The Charizard is about to follow up with a few jabs of DRAGON CLAW to tear flesh from bone but the DRAGON PULSE finds purchase along Charizard's exposed backside. The direct attack proves more fearsome than the diluted ones that rebounded off its FLAME BURSTS and falls the beast into collapsing onto the Blissey and trying to tear into it as makeshift footing.

Left unattended and unsupervised, the Rhydon takes off into a charge that starts slow but picks up speed as its horn also starts to rotate in turn. The Pokemon lunges toward the attacking Turtonator in a DRILL RUN that looks to skewer the Pokemon's shell in a full body tackle.

[attr="class","bodygold"]
[break]

The Blissey continues to cry out in terror. It grips her so tightly she can't find the strength to retaliate, to defend herself, to do anything but shrink back and pray for the worst to end.[break][break]

Fernando is a brutal battler, determined to prove his strength, to finish the battle with blood and glory. He's ruthless, powerful, impressive. [break][break]

So when the

inferno

scalds her skin and intensifies her already burned flesh, her scream is heart-breaking.[break][break]

Turtonator trumpets in desperation, his movements slow and painful as he hurries to protect her. [break][break]

The dragon's

dragon pulses

find purchase, but at the cost of Blissey. The Pokemon is crushed under the weight of the immense dragon, and his claws find purchase in her flesh as he attempts to recover from the blast.[break][break]

Something slams into him from behind, smashing hard into his shell. Instinctively, the Turtonator seems to flex, and his

shell trap

activates, detonating upon impact and exploding like shrapnel as he ejects the explosive shards on his shell. [break][break]

And yet, even after this, he too crumbles and falls from the attacks. [break][break]

Blissey does not recover this time.[break][break]

[attr="class","spiral"] The Rhydon is dumbstruck by the SHELL TRAP and helpless as its momentum is turned against itself. The impact of the DRILL RUN becomes a liability as the sudden velocity of its running speed rebounds against the force of the blast, sending it flying backwards to land squarely on its backside in a heap of battered rocks. The Pokemon is rendered unconscious and Fernando's equally flabbergasted, unaware of the Turtonator's signature attack or the extent of its power. He makes a note to study it further during his free time and makes the gap in his knowledge for later.

That's one Pokemon down and Fernando's eye settles onto his Charizard, knocked on top of Bronwen's Blissey from the earlier DRAGON PULSE but not taken out of the battle. Using the Pokemon as a cushion, the Charizard eventually regains its balance and stands up triumphantly, no longer looking to attack the fallen Blissey. The moment the Pokemon seems to have been rendered incapacitated, Charizard stops, trained well enough when to put the stops during official battles.

Rather than wait and bask in his victory, Fernando recalls his Pokemon sharply once the battle is decided. His face remains expressionless but it's better than disappointment. "Satisfactory," is his judgement and he gives her a few short claps before approaching.

"Do you know where you went wrong?"

[attr="class","bodygold"]
[break]

Turtonator can feel his

shell trap

put an end to his opponent. But the cost of his retaliation is the cost of his energy. He, too, crumbles under the pressure and finds himself unable to get back to his feet to meet the Charizard and end this.[break][break]

Stormy bites the inside of her lip - hard - as Blissey is left in the dust and Charizard gets back to its feet and stands triumphant. Both of her Pokemon remain motionless and incapable and she's left the loser against Fernando once again.[break][break]

She fights to control the disappointed expression in her face. She hadn't really expected to win, because this was his battle against her, his chance to win her badge. But she had wanted to give him a challenge. She wasn't convinced she had, not even with his expressionless approach and the slow claps he gave her.[break][break]

"I left Blissey wide open."[break][break]

Her answer is a guess, but she is aware that losing Blissey had lost her the battle, even if it wasn't what Fernando was talking about.[break][break]

[attr="class","spiral"] "Before that." The result of her mistake was leaving Blissey open for his Charizard to dispatch without interference. In return for going after his Rhydon, the attention was weaned away from what should've been a decisive two against one. Fernando doesn't know the extent of the Blissey's move set, unable to see the EGG BOMBS through his SMOKESCREEN but he had only counted around four attacks during the duration of the battle.

"You went after Rhydon after it went to sleep and paused to heal while Charizard defended. With Rhydon out of the picture, that should've been an easy two against one to finish off Charizard before Rhydon woke up. Without Charizard, it would be a repeat numbers advantage to clean up Rhydon."

That's Fernando's interpretation of the match and had it went another way it would've been very possible that he would've lost. He doesn't mention that though, keeping his ace in the sleeve tucked away until the very end.

[attr="class","bodygold"]
[break]

Stormy swallows, hard. Her fist clenches until she can feel her nails digging painfully into soft flesh. The brief moment of pain is enough to bring her back into focus and she takes a breath to steady the frustration building in her chest.[break][break]

"The Rhydon seemed like the greater threat - and with it asleep, it seemed the right opportunity to finish it off."[break][break]

Clearly, she should have prioritized taking down the Charizard. The beast had proved irritating to navigate around. He had slowed them down and, ultimately, Stormy hadn't been able to faint the Rhydon despite it having been asleep.[break][break]

She breathes out slowly through her nose and her frustration seems to melt away.[break][break]

"I'm disappointed in myself, but it's because I could have done better. I will do better."[break][break]

The woman runs a hand through her hair, wiping away sweat with the same stroke. She's exhausted.[break][break]

[attr="class","spiral"] "Charizard won't let that happen. Not without taking something back down in return. Battles are a lot like chess. You have to consider what the opponent's best move will be and their course of action."

Consider that his final lesson. Her performance proves adequate and Fernando's content with leaving Lavaridge's Gym in her hands. The fact that she cans tand on her own already puts her miles above the previous Gym Leaders of old. For now, Fernando will settle for what he can get and hopes the Bronwen's performance will erase the temporary backlash of her botched mission to rescue Dahlia.

Little does he know that, that blotch in her life will be nothing more than a fleeting memory.

"Then do better."

[attr="class","bodygold"]
[break]

Stormy had never been good at chess.[break][break]

Patience was not one of her virtues, and the concept of strategizing and guessing what the other person might do had never been a strong suit. [break][break]

So hearing Fernando chastise her on her mistakes makes her ears grow hot with disappointment. She needed to do better. Even now, Fernando wasn't satisfied with her. Even now, she could feel his disappointment. Thankfully, it wasn't nearly as suffocating as previous interactions, but the fact remained.[break][break]

Stormy's been squeezing her badge in her hand. She doesn't dare to interrupt him during his explanation of her error. A younger and more stubborn Stormy might have been so bold as to challenge him further, but she's past that now.[break][break]

"I will do better."[break][break]

Her hand extends to press her cold badge in his hand, and her hand retracts immediately.[break][break]

"The heat badge."[break][break]

[attr="class","spiral"] Fernando glances at the badge before reaching out to accept it. Bronwen tears her hand away from him the moment the metal passes hands and Fernando pockets acknowledgement with indifference.

"Good. You represent Lavaridge now."

There's not much more to talk about so Fernando takes his leave, having spent way too much time outside of his traditional duties to ensure that Bronwen measures up to be a Gym Leader fitting of her title. Gym Leaders will come and go, some more questionable than the last, but Fernando will not let her be a blemish on the League. Not while she spouts out his surname as her own.

"Prove what they say about you is wrong. Become a Gym Leader that no one questions."

Fernando leaves her with those as his parting words, apathetic to the end results, expectations dashed by a decent sense of reality.

But there is hope.