Canterlot, day.
The second day of the Pokemon Festival is still young and Rainbow Dash is in the midst of her fifth Gym Battle with Soarin.
She had previously taken out two of his Pokemon. Archeops and Torkoal. Now she is facing off against Soarin's Boltund and the newly-discovered Eiscue.
She knew she couldn't underestimate it due to how silly it looked. Usually, it's the silly Pokemon that perform the wildest moves.
"I don't know what that thing is capable of..." Rainbow Dash squinted her eyes, looking at the Penguin Pokemon. "But I ain't taking any risks. Braviary. Altaria return."
Knowing that Braviary and Altaria, especially Altaria, take heavy damage from Ice-Types and considering there was an Electric-Type in the mix, Rainbow Dash returned the two of them for safer options.
"Don't mind if I get a head start. Use Hail!" Soarin commanded.
"Eiscue!" The Penguin Pokemon started up the weather effect of hail by creating a gust of cold air from its body, causing snow to start falling.
"If its Ice, then...Whirlipede! Mienfoo! Go!" Out came the Curlipede Pokemon and the Martial Arts Pokemon to handle these two opposing Pokemon.
"Whirlipede!"
"Mienfoo!"
"Watch out for Boltund's speed you two! And I don't know what that Eiscue's capable of." Rainbow Dash warned her partners as the hail started to beat on her Pokemon.
"That's not all you should be worrying about," Soarin said under his breath.
"Mienfoo! Rush in with Agility and use Fury Swipes on Boltund! Whirlipede! Rollout on Eiscue!"
"Mienfoo!" Mienfoo pulled out her hidden claws as she aggressively charged towards Boltund.
"Pede!" Whirlipede rolled on the spot, aiming at Eiscue for some super-effective damage. Both Whirlipede and Mienfoo were moving side by side with each other.
But Soarin had something crafty under his wing.
"Eiscue! Use Soak! Boltund! Fire Fang!"
"Cue!" Eiscue didn't move from the spot it stood at. It was going to let Whirlipede smash into it. However, not only was its defence high so it could still stand after being struck by a super-effective move, but the move it was about to pull off can change the entire battle.
"Mien!" Mienfoo and Boltund had their own battle with Mienfoo's claws clashing with Boltund's Fire Fang.
"Bolt!" Boltund bit onto Mienfoo's claws, swinging the Martial Arts Pokemon away, however, Mienfoo recovered thanks to her flexible movements. Her speed had also been increased thanks to Agility.
"Foo!"
"Whirl!" The Curlipede Pokemon smashed into Eiscue, creating a meaty impact as the block on Eiscue's head came off, revealing its true face. Its Noice Face.
"E-Eiscue!" But even with a super-effective hit such as that, Eiscue still stood with the only major result being that it staggered back a bit.
The Penguin Pokemon then raised its flippers, pulling off what might be the most game-changing move that Rainbow Dash would ever have to come across.
A blast of water came out of Eiscue's mouth, covering the entire area as it engulfed both Whirlipede and Mienfoo. But from how light the water was, it was a non-damaging move as the best that it did was just get Mienfoo and Whirlipede wet.
"Mien?" Mienfoo looked at herself, seeing that she had now gotten wet.
"Whirl?"
"Making them wet? That's all it does?" Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow, confused at what Soak was.
"You'll see..." Soarin nodded, knowing what Soak really does.
"Okay then. How about I switch up again? This time, Mega Punch is gonna deal some big damage on Eiscue and Rollout's gonna put the hurt on Boltund!"
"...Uh." Soarin paused for a moment as he tried to process something. "Rainbow Dash. You do know that Mega Punch is a Normal-Type move right?"
"Hm? What are you talking about? It's a Fighting-Type move."
"No." Soarin shook his head. "It's Normal. Don't let that name deceive you."
"Hah! No way!" Rainbow Dash took out her Pokedex to check Mienfoo's moveset. She selected Mega Punch as she found out what it really was.
"Mega Punch. A Normal-Type move. The target is slugged by a punch thrown with muscle-packed power."
"Say what?!" Rainbow Dash screeched. "It's Normal?!"
"Mien..." Mienfoo whistled, trying to pretend like she didn't know it was Normal herself.
"Dash. Don't you always check the typing of moves?"
"Yeah but..." Rainbow Dash grumbled, looking to the side. "I just assumed it was Fighting so I never checked it. I just looked at the name."
"I guess that can be a bit misleading." Soarin chuckled. "That's why I always check the typings of my Pokemon's moves, ya know."
"Ugh..." Rainbow Dash lowered her head. "It's fine!" She quickly jolted up. "We'll just learn a Fighting-Type move in the future! Right now, let's finish this battle!"
"Oh, I agree. This is where things are gonna get interesting."
"Whirlipede! Iron Defense! And Mienfoo! Attack rapidly with Fury Swipes!"
"Mien!" While Mienfoo rushed in again with her speed being increased thanks to Agility from before, Whirlipede stayed where he was, increasing his defence.
Soarin didn't let Eiscue move because he was only focusing on Boltund. But for good reason. The reason why he chose to use the move Soak was about to be revealed.
"Discharge." He said it casually.
"Bol...TUND!" Even with Mienfoo's increased speed, Boltund was still faster. And much quicker at attacking. An instant blast of lightning that went multiple ways raged out of Boltund's body. Normally, this would be just neutral against Mienfoo and Whirlipede.
But not anymore.
Mienfoo's eyes widened as her path to Eiscue was being blocked by Discharge. Before she could properly react, Discharge had shocked the Martial Arts Pokemon. Not receiving neutral damage. But instead, something bigger.
It had dealt super-effective damage.
"M-Mienfoo!" And Mienfoo definitely felt it.
"W-Whirl!" Whirlipede as well thanks to Discharge being a widespread move. Both of them had been given super-effective damage which wouldn't be possible normally.
"Ah! Whirlipede! Mienfoo!" Rainbow Dash gasped as she witnessed her Pokemon take an unusual amount of damage. Before she knew it, both of them had suddenly fallen flat on the ground.
She expected it to be powerful, but not that powerful. But what she really didn't expect was the aftermath of what happened to her Pokemon
They weren't getting back up.
The reason was simple. They had fainted.
"Whirlipede and Mienfoo are both unable to battle! Boltund wins!"
"H-Huh...?" Rainbow Dash flabbergasted. She had no idea what she had just witnessed in front of her eyes. Her Pokemon had fallen that easily with a single Discharge. "B-But how...?"
Little did Rainbow Dash know that Soak was the reason why her Pokemon were taken down so easily. Soak is a move that changes the opposing Pokemon into a Water-Type. It does more than just make them wet.
But Rainbow Dash, unfortunately, did not know that at all. It was a new move to her after all. She was now down to 3 Pokemon in this 5v5 Gym Battle.
"Told ya. This is where things get interesting." Soarin grinned, knowing that he played her for a fool. He didn't even reveal what Soak did, leaving Rainbow Dash befuddled.
"You two...Return." Rainbow Dash lowered her head, returning her partners to their Poke Balls. "Sorry about that. I don't know what happened..."
"Cast?" Castform poked his head out of Rainbow Dash's saddlebag, looking up at his trainer.
"No need to panic now..." Rainbow Dash raised her head. "All I have to do is get rid of the fastest one here! Let's go! Luxio! Braviary!"
She had sent those two out instead of the usual Altaria and Braviary combination she had previously. She knew that if she sent Altaria out with Eiscue in the mix, things would get hairy fast.
"One hit is all we need! Iron Tail on Eiscue! Superpower on Boltund!" Rainbow Dash was starting to play aggressive. And depending on how she battles, her Pokemon will mimic her style.
Both Braviary and Luxio had energy surround their tail and wings as they bolted forward to their opposing Pokemon.
"Here they come." Soarin didn't choose to intercept but rather wait for them to get close.
"Brav!"
"Lux!"
Both of them raised their tail and wings, expecting to land a solid clean hit on both of their opponents. But once again, Soarin changed everything up.
"Soak!" Eiscue got in front of Boltund, allowing itself to take all the damage as the Penguin Pokemon sprayed water over Braviary and Luxio.
Both Superpower and Iron Tail smashed into Eiscue's body, dealing 4x super-effective damage to the Penguin Pokemon. Eiscue sacrificed itself to allow its partner to finish the job as the Ice-Type was sent flying, landing right next to its ice cube.
"E-E-Eiscue..."
"Eiscue is unable to battle! Luxio and Braviary win!"
"Whew." Rainbow sighed. "I got really scared there for a sec. But there's no need to worry. We've got this!"
"Return, Eiscue." Soarin returned the Penguin Pokemon, looking at the Poke Ball. "You did your job. Now let Boltund and Corviknight handle this. Go!" Soarin's 5th and final Pokemon, his ace and strongest partner on his team, Corviknight had come out.
"Corviknight!"
"We just gotta take out Boltund and Corviknight and that 5th Gym Badge is ours!"
"Braviary!"
"Lux!"
"Hmph." Soarin nodded slowly as he knew that this battle was in his favour already. "Metal Sound!"
"Corvi...kniiiiiiight!" Corviknight let out a horrible sound like scraping metal was emitted, reaching the ears of its opponents.
"B-Braviary!" Braviary lowered himself to the ground, raising its wings as it cringed at the horrible sound.
"L-Luxio!" Luxio cowered, putting his paws in his ears as he writhed on the ground.
"Let's finish this! Boltund! Discharge!" Soarin raised his hoof.
"Tund!" The Dog Pokemon capitalised on the current state of its opposing Pokemon by releasing a violent whip of lightning.
"Dodge it quick!" Rainbow gasped.
But it was too late. Metal Sound had them completely perplexed. It didn't help that Discharge was incredibly fast. The blast of lightning hit both Luxio and Braviary at the same time.
It was already super-effective against Braviary, but now thanks to Soak, Luxio took super-effective damage himself, no longer being an Electric-Type.
Rainbow Dash watched as her Pokemon were overwhelmed by Metal Sound and Discharge. What really took her by surprise was the fact that after Discharge dispersed, Luxio had fainted whilst Braviary had been paralyzed.
"L-Luxio..."
"Luxio is unable to battle! Boltund wins!"
"No way...Luxio didn't tank it?" Her jaw dropped. She was speechless. This battle at first looked like it was in her favour and all of a sudden, things rapidly change.
She was now down to just two Pokemon. Braviary and Altaria. The last time Rainbow Dash had a Gym Battle this rough was when she went up against Sunset Shimmer. This is looking to be just as rough as that one but on a different scale.
"Gotta make this count...I can still win this. Altaria, let's go!" She sent out Altaria as her last hope.
"Taria!"
"Braviary!" Rainbow Dash called for Braviary's name.
"Brav?" The Valiant Pokemon turned around.
"Come on! Just this once, let's go into Rainbow-Braviary! If we-"
"Vi!" Once more, Braviary denied changing into Rainbow-Braviary.
"Braviary...?" Rainbow Dash pulled back. She was surprised at how neglectful Braviary was with the Bond-Phenomenon. She knew that Braviary wanted to get stronger at his normal state but she didn't expect something like this.
"Viary..." The Valiant Pokemon winced as he narrowed his eyes at Boltund and Corviknight.
"Looks like they're having some problems...Oh well. Let's end this quick! Use Steel Wing and Discharge!"
"Cor!" The Raven Pokemon hardened his already metal wings with extra steel while Boltund prepared yet another Discharge. However, this time, it was revealed that Soarin had taken inspiration from Rainbow Dash's metal conductor tactic.
When Corviknight flew powered, Discharge connected with his metal body and wings, perfectly mimicking Rainbow Dash's strategy that she learned from Ash.
Naturally, this threw Rainbow Dash off guard.
"Wait that's- Quick! Block it with Superpower!"
"B-Bra!" Braviary was lagging a bit thanks to Discharge paralyzing the Valiant Pokemon. Nevertheless, Braviary still managed to ascend and put his wings together whilst gathering high amounts of energy in them.
He went in front of Altaria, acting as her shield. The effects of Discharge almost made him lose focus, but he was strong enough to keep his focus steady.
Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for when the attack landed. Corviknight crashed into Braviary's wings with a combination of Steel and Electricity.
The moment he made contact, Braviary's body trembled, adding more pressure to his body that was already present thanks to Discharge.
Braviary's wings took serious damage as they were unable to withstand a heavy combination of two attacks. One that was naturally hard and the other being super-effective.
"V-Viary!" Braviary, as a result, was knocked back by the devastating combination of a very familiar tactic. With him being knocked back, Altaria was wide open.
"Tari?!" Altaria gasped as she was next in line. Corviknight didn't stop at Braviary. Once he knocked the Valiant Pokemon away, he immediately smashed his wings onto Altaria's neck. "Alta!"
"Altaria! Braviary!" Rainbow Dash bellowed.
"Now! Flash Cannon!" Soarin continued with a distanced attack. Corviknight opened his mouth wide, sending a silver beam of energy full of metal.
"Dodge it quick!"
But there wasn't enough time to dodge since Corviknight fired the attack right after he knocked both of his fellow Flying-Types away.
Braviary and Altaria each looked in the same direction. The last thing they saw was a massive beam of silver energy right in front of their faces and that was it.
The explosion was a result of metal energy scattering across the gardens of Canterlot. Shards of metal even rained down from above, showing just how much energy was put into that attack.
The smoke cleared as it was revealed that both Braviary and Altaria had fainted.
"Braviary..."
"Altaria..."
"Braviary and Altaria are both unable to battle! Corviknight and Boltund win! Which means the victor is the Gym Leader Soarin!"
"Yes!" Soarin raised his hooves in victory. "Told ya I'm unstoppable when I'm in the zone."
"Mrrgh..." Rainbow Dash face-hoofed as she took the force of defeat once more. However, she wasn't hit too hard by it. She did manage to take out most of Soarin's Pokemon after all. It was just that some slight mishaps caused her defeat.
She's learned to take losses better this time so she wasn't too beat up like with her third Gym Battle. Then again, this is the second time she's lost a Gym Battle so it shows that not only has she improved but she still has a long way to go.
"Viary..." Braviary and Altaria both sat up, feeling a bit of electricity run through their bodies as they noticed their trainer coming up to them.
"You two...You tried your best. And Braviary. I get that you don't want to always use the Bond Phenomenon but..."
"Don't let that loss get to you too hard, Dash." Soarin flew over. "You put up a great battle against me and my Pokemon, ya know."
"Yeah. I guess so." Rainbow Dash nodded as she held Altaria. "But what was that Soak move of yours?"
"Oh Soak? I'll let you know what it does. It turns the opposing Pokemon into a Water-Type. That's what it does." He explained shortly.
"Say what?! That kind of move exists!?"
"Mhm." Soarin nodded. "When I found out a move like that was possible, it helped me through so many of my battles. Isn't that right, you two?"
"Corvi."
"Bolt. Boltund!"
"Guess there's still a lot I don't know about Pokemon, huh?" Rainbow Dash laughed a bit. "When you come over to Rainbow Falls, you can have your rematch with me."
"Rainbow Falls? The Gym moved?"
"Sure did. Luckily, the gym has a solid floor that my Non-Flying-Types can battle on."
"Oh. Alright. Return you two." Rainbow Dash returned Braviary and Altaria. "Next time, I'm definitely gonna win. I'll get stronger with new moves at my side and we're gonna flatten your gym and earn that fifth badge!"
"I'll be waiting! Right now, I wanna check out the Crystal Empire." Soarin returned his Boltund and Corviknight.
"Then come with me. My friends are there so I'm heading there myself."
"That's what I like to hear. Gonna leave this gym to the spare Gym Leader." Soarin grinned.
"And if they don't want to run the Gym anymore? Will you come back?"
"Nah. They've got more than just one spare, ya know. Pretty convenient that so many trainers are on equal levels lately. But uh...don't know how much things are gonna change when they get stronger."
"Nevermind that. Let's head over to the Crystal Empire already. In the meantime, you can tell me all about moves. You seem to be a pro at it."
"Sure thing." Soarin began walking with Rainbow Dash. He began babbling about moves as the two of them made their way towards the train station to the Crystal Empire.
Even with Rainbow Dash's loss, she has a lot to improve on and more to learn. Whether it's moves that change a Pokemon's type or moves that aren't what they seem.
There are many moves that Rainbow Dash has yet to discover or experience after all. Some more surprising than others and some that can be predictable but still tough to go against. And perhaps, that must be one of the many reasons why she loves Pokemon battling. And she'll continue to love them for days to come as the journey continues.
Chapter 305 End.