"Flannery still needs to work harder on her training!"
Moore murmured as he watched the entire match between the two.
As the former gym leader of the Lavaridge Gym, he knew that in the battle with this young man, Flannery had already used all her strength. Although the outcome between them had not yet been determined, the fact that it had come to this showed that Flannery, as a gym Leader, still lacked some strength.
After all, being a gym leader required assessing the trainers who came to challenge. If one's own strength was insufficient, it would be difficult to fulfill the duties of a gym trainer properly.
"Swellow, use Air Slash!"
At this moment, Rex also began the final battle.
"Magcargo, Shell Smash!"
Contrary to expectations, Flannery did not choose to defend and counterattack this time. Instead, she boldly used Shell Smash, sacrificing most of its defense in exchange for increased speed and attack power.
After Shell Smash, Magcargo's speed was greatly enhanced, directly dodging Swellow's Air Slash.
"Next, Magcargo, use Smokescreen!"
Flannery continued to command.
Magcargo ran to evade Swellow's attacks while releasing a purple smokescreen. In no time, the battlefield was shrouded in deep purple mist.
Even though there was a brief gap created by Swellow's Air Slash, Magcargo quickly recovered, ensuring that the concentration of poison gas on the battlefield was enough to cover its position.
"Now is the time, Magcargo, use Stone Edge continuously!"
While Swellow was frantically using Air Slash to destroy the toxic fog, Flannery finally found a slight flaw. Although Swellow was trying hard to dodge the incoming stones, it was eventually hit by one.
Stone Edge was a skill that condensed special stones using rock-type energy. When a flying-type Pokémon was hit by these stones, not only would it suffer damage from the stones themselves, but its body would also be corroded by the rock-type energy, causing it to fall from the sky.
"Swellow, create a air current, glide with it!"
Rex saw Swellow falling to the ground and could only let it try to generate and utilize a air current to prevent it from falling.
At this moment, Swellow was flapping its wings desperately, trying to slow down its descent. However, its usually agile wings now felt heavy, and even with all its strength, the effect was minimal.
After hearing Rex's command, Swellow began to try. This attempt surprised it. The air current, which was difficult to control in the air, was now very docile.
After realizing that it could control the tailwind, Swellow stopped flapping its wings wildly and simply kept them spread out, using the external airflow to glide in the sky, temporarily avoiding the risk of falling.
"Phew!"
Seeing this scene, Rex also breathed a sigh of relief. If Swellow had fallen to the ground, he would have basically lost the match. After all, a Swellow turned into a grounded bird would have no advantage in speed.
"Darn it, you actually figured it out. This is a tactic I specifically trained Magcargo for."
Flannery, seeing that Swellow hadn't fallen, was somewhat surprised. Since losing to Rex in Slateport City last time, she had specifically trained this set of tactics for Magcargo against flying-type Pokémon.
During this period, whenever a challenger with flying-type Pokémon came to challenge the gym, she would have Magcargo use this set of tactics. The results were very good, and none of them escaped the fate of falling. The subsequent results were self-evident.
"Magcargo, continuously spray flames!"
Although Swellow had temporarily avoided the risk of falling, its flexibility and speed were now greatly reduced.
Flannery wouldn't let this opportunity pass. After all, the time limit for Stone Edge was there. When the skill expired, it would be her turn to be troubled. The Swellow that had suffered once would certainly not fall again.
Swellow was trying hard to manipulate the air currents to evade the incoming flames. However, this state was indeed unfriendly to it. It inevitably got hit a few times, but fortunately, it was tough enough to withstand the damage for now.
After a few minutes, the negative effects of Smokescreen were finally removed from Swellow. Seeing its wings return to its control, Swellow happily shuttled through the air, and Rex and the others on the ground couldn't see its figure anymore.
"What's this, a tailwind?"
Rex noticed that Swellow's speed at this moment was unusually fast, feeling that it should have completely mastered the skill of tailwind.
"Alright, Swellow, now it's our turn. Use Brave Bird!"
After hearing the command, Swellow's eyes sharpened. It firmly resisted Magcargo on the ground, then covered its entire body with a thick layer of flying-type energy, slightly retracted its wings, and shot towards Magcargo like an arrow.
"Not good, Magcargo, quick, dodge!"
Flannery loudly reminded.
However, before she could say the word "dodge", Swellow had already hit Magcargo. At this speed, Swellow itself also suffered some damage, but it still flapped its wings and slowly rose into the air.
After the dust on the ground cleared, a large pit appeared before everyone. Inside the pit lay the incapacitated Magcargo.
"The match is over, the winner is Rex from Fallabor Town!"
With the referee blowing the whistle, signaling the end of this full-team confrontation, Rex finally won this match after a hard battle.
"Congratulations, Rex, today's match was really exciting!"
Flannery didn't feel discouraged by her defeat in the match. Instead, she felt a sense of unfinished business.
"It was indeed an exciting match. I also learned a lot. I believe that after this battle, Swellow and the others will definitely make great progress."
Rex can be said to have put all his strength into this match, but he still almost lost to Flannery. And Flannery was just a novice gym leader, and her own strength was far from its peak.
Through this match, Rex realized where he stood in this world with his current strength.
Perhaps among young trainers, his strength was still acceptable, but compared to the older generation of trainers, he was incomparable. Their heritage was not something he could match with his current self.
"It was really exciting. I haven't seen a challenger with such strong strength in a long time!"
Moore walked over at this time and praised Rex.
"You're too kind. I still need to work harder!"
Rex modestly replied.
"And you, Flannery, through this match, you should have realized that as a gym leader, you are still far from qualified. You need to work harder in your training in the future!"
Moore turned to Flannery and said seriously.
"I understand, Grandpa. I am also working hard to improve myself. But after today's battle, I feel that I need to work even harder."
After Flannery finished speaking, she looked at Rex with eyes blazing like fire.
"Sister, don't look at me like that, it's scary!"
Rex quipped inwardly. Of course,
he knew what Flannery meant. She was planning to target him and wait for the next time to defeat him.
"I'm going to the Pokémon Center now. What about you, Flannery?"
Today's battle was too intense, and their Pokémon were all seriously injured. Rex planned to let Nurse Joy help with the treatment first, which would also avoid arousing suspicion from Flannery and Moore.
"Oh, right, let's hurry!"
After Flannery finished speaking, she grabbed Rex and walked towards the door.
Under normal circumstances, the Lavaridge Gym could heal its own Pokémon. However, too many Pokémon were injured today, and the healing process was slow. Also, Flannery didn't want to hear her grandpa nagging at her again, so when she heard Rex's suggestion, she hurriedly dragged him to the Pokémon Center.
"By the way, I was in a hurry just now and forgot to give this to you. This is the Flame Badge. Please accept it!"
After arriving at the Pokémon Center, the two handed over their injured Pokémon to Nurse Joy for treatment. Flannery, who had some free time, seemed to remember something and took out a badge from her pocket, handing it to Rex.
The Flame Badge looked like a burning flame, with a red bottom and a top point that was orange, resembling an eternal flame. After admiring it for a while, Rex put the badge into his badge case.
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(The end of this chapter)