The battlefield that they would be fighting on was a rock battlefield. There were boulders and rocks all around the field and it was certainly harder to move around.
At the same time, it gave a home turf advantage to Brock's rock Pokemons who were already quite used to battling here.
"Each trainer can only use 2 Pokemon and the battle will end if the trainer is out of usable Pokemon. Only the challenger can change Pokemon in the middle of the battle. Now start!"
The gym trainer acting as the referee shouted and that began the battle.
Brock was the first one to reveal his Pokemon and like Arthur had guessed, it was Geodude, the standard Kanto rock Pokemon.
"Duuuudde!"
Geodude gave out a loud cry as soon as he entered the battlefield.
Against him, Arthur had already decided to use Mankey. He threw his pokeball in the air from which Mankey was revealed. The boxer monkey Pokemon looked to be in high spirits as usual and eyed Geodude with a glare.
"Mankk!!"
Across the battlefield, Brock stared at Mankey with a grin and immediately recognized that he wasn't an easy opponent.
"Your Mankey looks really healthy. You shouldn't have caught him a long time ago, but he has been trained well. Like I had thought, you are not an ordinary rookie!" Brock called out.
"I should say the same about your Geodude." Arthur replied.
He was not saying it to match Brock, but because Geodude status was in front of him and it surely matched up to Arthur's expectations.
* * *
Pokemon: Geodude (Green) (Evolution possible)
Gender: Male
Level: 21
Type: Rock and Ground
Holding items: None
Ability: Rock head (Protect the Pokemon from recoil damage)
Moves: Defense curl, Take down, Rock slide, Mega punch
* * *
As Arthur looked through Geodude's status, the two Pokemon glared at each other as they awaited the orders of their trainers.
It was Brock who moved first.
"Geodude, use Take down!"
A golden aura suddenly surrounded the body of Geodude and a force field suddenly covered the front of his body. Without wasting even a second, it charged at Mankey.
"Mankey, jump!"
Arthur ordered and before the charging Geodude could even touch him, Mankey jumped and landed on top of one of the boulders.
Take down was a high power move and thanks to his ability, Arthur knew Geodude won't get any recoil damage, making it more effective.
"Don't stop, keep using take down." Brock commanded and Geodude charged again.
Although take down was a charging move, Geodude's body was still quite heavy, degrading the speed of the charge. Mankey was easily able to dodge the attack thanks to his long legs.
The battle continued like that for a while and more and more boulders were smashed by Geodude's charge.
Arthur still kept to dodging and Brock soon noticed what he was trying to do.
'He's waiting for Geodude to exhaust himself.'
Brock thought it was quite a good strategy, but he was still a gym leader and had seen a lot of different types of trainers. He immediately commanded.
"Use rock slide!"
The golden aura suddenly vanished from Geodude's body and Arthur immediately understood that his plan had been seen through.
"Mankey, Bulk up!"
He immediately commanded him to use bulk up which immediately increased Mankey's attack and defense by one stage each.
On the other hand, white orbs of energy got created around Geodude and they soon turned into large, gray rocks which Geodude promptly rained down at Mankey.
In the face of the large boulders coming at him, Mankey didn't fear.
This was one of the moves that Mankey had already seen in the clips that Arthur had shown him. That's why he was prepared.
Taking a deep breath, Mankey jumped at the boulders coming at him. He didn't collide into them, but jumped on top of them. Taking advantage of their speed, he swiftly moved over them and aimed right at Geodude who was left bewildered.
"Karate chop!"
Mankey's hands glowed in a white light as he descended and struck down on Geodude with terrifying momentum.
Boom!
A large crack appeared on the surface where Geodude was standing.
Dirt and wind rose all over the ground from the impact.
Under this powerful attack, Geodude was barely able to keep standing despite taking a super effective move right at his head.
"Geodude, are you okay?"
Brock shouted once the dust had settled and looked at his Pokemon's condition. Thankfully, Geodude was still standing, somehow surviving the impact.
"Dudde!!"
An assuring cry from Geodude calmed Brock down.
He looked at the young rookie trainer that he had earlier underestimated and fell into a trance.
'He knew I would see through his strategy and use rock slide. He was always preparing for it and was probably hoping to end this battle in one attack. What a scary guy!'
Brock had guessed right.
This was Arthur's plan all along, but sadly, Geodude survived karate chop. Arthur frowned seeing that, but he swiftly followed up with another attack.
"Karate chop, again! Keep using it until Geodude faints."
Mankey rushed at Geodude, who looked battered. Both of his hands glowed white and a fierce glint appeared in his eyes.
He wanted to finish this battle fast.
"Counter it with mega punch."
Brock followed up with mega punch, an attack that sounded like a fighting type move, but it was a normal type move. It was famous for its destructive power, but Arthur believed in Mankey.
Whoosh!
The intense clash of karate chop and mega punch shook the small rocks on the ground.
Some even got shattered into pieces.
Both the Pokemon exchanged dozens of blows with one another, their fist collided with intense impact, but neither of them looked to be going down.
Mankey was in his top form and Geodude just didn't want to give up, despite being in low health.
It was truly an awe-inspiring contest!
Even the gym trainers watching the battles from the sidelines weren't able to blink their eyes in fear of missing out even one second of the battle.
At that moment, one of the gym trainers suddenly noticed something strange.
"Brock... he... he is smiling!"