Chương 124: Chapter 119

Curse had always been a "buffing" move on Sam's team. Its energy required its user to focus, slowing them down, but it otherwise increased a Pokémon's physical capabilities. Typhlosion, as a Quilava, had made great use of it when paired with her Flame Wheel. Similarly, its energy was what let Primeape figure out Rage Fist in the first place. Yet, Curse's effects changed when used by a Ghost Type, no longer serving as an enhancement and changing into a targeted, damage-over-time effect.

Though Porygon continued to look as emotionless as always, Curse had inflicted a sort of lethargy to its clockwork-like movements. Its clicks would stall here and there, and an occasional wince would crop up and cause it to pause. Pain, Sam realized. Curse inflicts pain. He could see no other visible effects or injuries. Though Banette had fainted, its Curse remained. Porygon would only grow more and more exhausted until its eventual faint.

"Get ready," Redi said, though Sam wasn't sure how much Porygon would benefit from that assurance. As Morty maintained a polite smile, Banette's replacement, Drifblim, lazily drifted over the field. Each side had two Pokémon left at this point, but Redi was at a severe disadvantage due to Porygon's injuries and Ursaring's likely poor match-ups. Sam could at least recognize Porygon's limited time left conscious, so he quickly fulfilled his role as referee to call for the battle to continue.

"Resume!" he called out. Redi wasted no time, as well.

"Charge Beam!" Around Porygon, motes of Electric Type energy sparked up only to be sucked in and absorbed by the artificial Pokémon. Charge Beam built up Porygon's power before being released, and Porygon's impeccable aim meant it was due to hit. But Morty was prepared. He had no plans to let Porygon do anything but suffer from its Curse.

"Minimize," he said calmly, and that command let Drifblim easily dodge. As a balloon-like Pokémon, Drifblim didn't exactly have set dimensions. Charge Beam tore through the air toward the dead center of its body, but it suddenly pulled into itself, shrinking and cutting its size in half. Doing so saw its center of mass be pulled down, and the top of its head moved to be just barely under the launched beam.

Charge Beam completely missed, sailing past Drifblim to strike an invisible barrier that was being maintained by the various Ghost Types in the room.

"You..." Redi grumbled to herself.

"Fine. Whatever. Porygon, return." Before Porygon fell to the Curse, she withdrew her Pokémon back into its ball. Curse didn't linger after a switch, but it was far more effective than a burn or base poison when it came to dealing damage. If Curse couldn't faint a Pokémon, it could at least force a switch. Unfortunately, it had done its job, and Porygon was a hair's breadth away from falling unconscious.

At least, because Redi switched here, if Ursaring tied to Morty's final Pokémon, Redi would win thanks to still having Porygon left. But she needed to faint Drifblim first if she wanted to even think about Morty's final Pokémon.

"I'm looking forward to seeing how your team handles Drifblim," Morty commented.

"Yeah? I didn't expect you to be so excited about losing," Redi replied with a smirk. Morty laughed as Redi tossed forward a Pokéball, bringing her expected Ursaring onto the field. I don't understand how she can be so confident here. Ursaring only has Rock Slide and Hyper Beam to deal with flying opponents. Except, Drifblim is immune to Hyper Beam, and Rock Slide can't do much with Minimize letting Drifblim dodge. But she's not bothered. Why?

Sam quickly realized that, yet again, both Redi and Morty were waiting on him.

"Continue!" he shouted. Weirdly, Drifblim suddenly expanded back to its normal size. Minimize was dropped as if maintaining it required an exertion similar to constantly flexing an arm.

"Ominous Wind," Morty ordered.

"Focus on reacting with Minimize."

"Swords Dance!" Redi yelled. She said nothing more than that, smiling as if her victory was now assured. Rather than immediately dealing with Drifblim, Ursaring reared back to stand on his hind legs, beginning to regularly stomp back and forth. His claws clashed against one another in the air, echoing with ringing clangs that sent his fur standing on its ends. The pressure conjured by the move caused him to visibly bulk up. Swords Dance increased his physical power. Morty tilted his head to the side.

"Hm. I think I get it. Your strategy is something similar to... the Law of Large Numbers?" he asked.

"Even if Drifblim avoids most of your attacks, something will eventually hit, and with Swords Dance, you're making sure it'll hit hard enough to knock him out with just that." Redi maintained her grin.

"Am I really that obvious? Well, you got it in one," she said.

"Sometimes, you don't need a complicated strategy when brute strength is good enough!" Morty seemed to enjoy her answer, as he chuckled at her response. He didn't adjust the orders he had given to his Pokémon, and both sides of the field built themselves up. Sure, Ominous Wind was an attack, but the Ghost Type move could never affect the Normal Type Ursaring, anyway.

No, as Drifblim's tendrils vibrated from the force of the ghostly wind it generated around it, the effect served to enhance its every capability thanks to the move's energy priming Drifblim for a fight. Both Pokémon had the same core strategy—to build themselves up so that their opponent would be unable to withstand any attack. Sam would have said Drifblim had the advantage since Ominous Wind boosted every capability including defense, but Ominous Wind's boost only occurred rarely.

Morty was already fortunate enough that it had happened once. However, Redi seemed to recognize Ominous Wind's limitation. Rather than waiting for Ursaring to completely maximize his strength, she called out for Ursaring to attack now, before Drifblim managed to enhance itself a second time.

"Rock Slide!" As an attack learned solely to take on Walker's Flying Type Gym, Ursaring knew how to use this move to target a Pokémon in the air. He stabbed his claws into the ground and tore up the floor, using Rock Type energy to send an absolute barrage of stones hurtling toward Drifblim. But while Drifblim was in the air, it was no bird. Most importantly, it could shrink.

Using Minimize combined with the speed gained from its Ominous Wind boost, it was able to maneuver through even the smallest of gaps, and as a balloon Pokémon, it was able to perfectly move up and down unlike any Pokémon with wings.

"Alright, Drifblim," Morty called out.

"We'll be finishing off Ursaring here." He might not have given an explicit order, but his Drifblim seemed to understand the Gym Leader's command. It replied with a voice that reminded Sam of some kind of kazoo—a very excited kazoo, which made the response that much more worrying. Continuing its nimble movements, it slipped right through the onslaught of Rock Slide to rush Ursaring, which caused Ursaring to grin. Rather than stay in the air, where it was hard to hit, Drifblim was moving right into his melee range.

Unfortunately, even as Redi yelled out a command, Drifblim's ribbons lashed out. Something akin to darkness sparked up around Ursaring's claws in reaction, but before he could unleash any move, Drifblim had already managed to tie him up with a Constrict that limited his movements. The strength granted by Swords Dance should have been enough to let Ursaring break free.

Drifblim countered that by giving Ursaring just the slightest amount of leeway—he could flail about, but he couldn't exactly reach back to swipe where it maintained its Constrict behind him. Gritting her teeth, Redi momentarily looked overcome with annoyance before she suddenly blinked and slapped herself on the head.

"Wait. I'm stupid," she said.

"Just use Ice Punch."

"Not going to work," Morty countered. They were both partially right. Yes, Ursaring wasn't able to land the Ice Punch, but as freezing energies crackled up his arms, they left a sharp frost on the tendrils actively wrapping him up. As a Flying Type, Drifblim was especially vulnerable to the Ice Type energy and reflexively pulled back. Doing so freed Ursaring from its grip.

"There we go! Take it out!" Redi yelled. Morty let out a sigh.

"Looks like we're doing this sooner rather than expected. Explosion, Drifblim. End this match now." Redi's smile fell from her face as Drifblim cheered its name and glowed a bright orange. Ursaring had already dedicated himself to his attack and was stuck mid-Ice Punch when all of that energy was released. Smoke, dirt, and heat exploded outwards, completely covering the field and warping the air with a thick obscuration.

Sam narrowed his eyes without saying anything—though Drifblim was guaranteed to faint from a sacrificial move like Explosion, the fate of Ursaring was still left unknown. Morty spoke up in the meantime.

"Our strategy usually involves Payback. Each time Drifblim is damaged, the move lets him return it two-fold. But in the case of your Ursaring, it wouldn't have been possible to use it more than once. You saw how Swords Dance would cause even a single hit to knock Drifblim out?" Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

"... Yeah?" Redi said. She seemed more focused on trying to see through the smoke than listening to Morty's words.

"The answer to that, of course, would be Aftermath. Drifblim's ability means that he doesn't need to use Explosion to deal damage when he faints. But since Explosion is more powerful, and since you have only one Pokémon left, it made more sense to take Ursaring out here." Morty shrugged.

"Like I said at the start of the battle, I had no plans to hold back." Redi nodded along, and her eyes lit up when she noticed something in the smoke. Her smile returned to her face as she replied, staring at a shadow on her side of the field.

"Yeah, that's no problem. I totally get why you called for that," Redi said far too casually.

"You're missing something, though."

"What?"

"There's no way Ursaring would fall to a single move like that!" Her shout was punctuated by a roar in the center of the field, and the sheer ferocity of the noise pushed all the smoke away. The suddenly clear field revealed an unconscious Drifblim on the floor. However, Ursaring, blackened and breathing heavily, stood tall on his hind legs. He was more injured than he'd ever been before, but Redi's Pokémon were strong. He was far too determined to allow himself to faint just like that.

"Good." Morty smiled.

"Your Pokémon are doing well, even with the disadvantage you're at."

"You really thought we'd fight three-on-five if we couldn't withstand something as simple as an Explosion? Please. We've been fighting at a disadvantage since the start. Every Gym Battle, my Pokémon are always outnumbered." As Redi bragged to Morty, Sam considered the match so far. All of Redi's previous team members had only been defeated by proportional effects. Destiny Bond had knocked out Dragonair, but Destiny Bond was a move that took out any foe regardless of a difference in strength.

Similarly, the pain caused by Curse "scaled" with a Pokémon's health. So far, Morty had only managed knock-outs when not relying on direct attacks. However, Sam was still confused. Calling for Drifblim to faint here felt like a waste. I don't get why he called for an Explosion. Did he really think Redi's Rock Slide strategy was that much of a threat? His command is the reason Drifblim fainted, but then again...

Payback isn't the strongest move in the world, and Drifblim probably doesn't have too many other options against Normal Types. Morty probably figured that the sheer damage potential of Explosion was worth the trade-off.... Which means this is him setting up Ursaring for the final Pokémon on his team.

"I appreciate your confidence, Redi, but like you said, this is still a three-on-five match!" Morty called out as he returned his fainted Drifblim.

"I still have one Pokémon left, and Ursaring is in no state to take them out!"

"Bring it on," Redi growled without even an ounce of fear. Morty regained that same grin from before, looking over the field with the expression of a trainer enthralled by a match. Tossing up the last Pokéball he had brought for this battle, his final team member appeared on the field. It was as threatening as it seemed. Morty released a fully evolved Gengar. Seeing that Pokémon, Redi frowned.

Not necessarily because it represented a threat, but because she'd commented about wanting to save Porygon's Psybeam for a Poison Type. She had expected this Pokémon, just not necessarily in this order.

"Ursaring. Be careful," she said slowly.

"We don't know how it fights." This Gengar wasn't one Sam had seen before, but it looked just as mischievous as the Gengar that had fought Dusclops, staring at Ursaring with a wide, gleaming smile.

"Resume the battle," Sam said. Both trainers pointed forward.

"Shadow Claw!" Redi shouted.

"Agatha!" Morty ordered. Sam blinked at the Gym Leader's strange command. Agatha? As in Elite Four Agatha? Despite it being the weirdest order Sam had ever heard, Morty's command seemed to carry a meaning to the Gengar. Its grin grew wide enough to almost split its head in half. Ursaring roared and charged, and the Gengar zipped over to meet him on the field. They would reach one another in the center, and both Pokémon looked excited for the clash. Ursaring let his front claws hang.

They gathered shadows that stretched from his paws and left grooves in the dirt floor. While it was heartening to see that Redi had taken Sam's Ghost Type lessons to heart, Sam still couldn't help but be worried when the Gengar got close. Thanks to Swords Dance and Gengar's frail body, Ursaring's Shadow Claw would undoubtedly faint his foe, but the same was true for Gengar's attacks thanks to the sheer amount of damage Ursaring had taken from that Explosion.

He remained standing through sheer willpower alone, something Redi's team possessed in spades. Without any worry, Ursaring met Gengar in the middle of the field and reared up to try to use the motion to cleave right through his foe. The energy of his Shadow Claw left reverberations behind it, but the Gengar carried enough speed to pull back and dodge, bouncing away as the shadowy attack tore through the air an inch away. Ursaring clearly expected Gengar to respond with an attack of its own.

He followed up his swipe by pulling that same attack down, intending to cleave Gengar from above instead of from below. He made a mistake here. So focused on attacking, he met Gengar's gaze as he brought his claws down. Gengar didn't move to dodge—it didn't need to. Instead, Ursaring utterly froze.

"Close your eyes!" Redi shouted desperately. While her call could have been helpful, it was already too late. Trapped by the sudden Hypnosis, Ursaring collapsed. The thud of his heavy body shook the floor, and his snores shook the air.

"Ugh! How did we fall for that? That's, like, Sam's every battle," Redi grumbled. Morty got you used to fighting with direct attacks against Drifblim. He put you in a certain mindset that he then took advantage of with Gengar. Sam was in awe of the Gym Leader's subtle manipulations. Morty, far too focused on the battle to notice Sam's reaction, went ahead to share some of his thoughts with Redi.

"Gengar are powerful and speedy special attackers. Most trainers use them solely for offense," he explained.

"However, there's one trainer that uses the Gengar line differently—and I'm not talking about Sam. Agatha's primary strategy almost singularly relies on sleep. Her Pokémon are so incredible at sending opponents to sleep that few can even counter.

"Of course, we took inspiration here." As Morty spoke, his Gengar floated down with a movement that mimicked a cocky strut through the air. Each step brought it lower as it approached the sleeping Ursaring's head.

"My call for 'Agatha' wasn't a call for a specific attack, but it was a call to direct Gengar toward a specific strategy, even if that's not how my team usually fights. At this level, trainers are expected to have a counter for status effects, but not usually when they're such a surprise. Honestly, with your travels with Sam, I'm surprised that you had Ursaring go in so—""Ugh." Redi's sudden groan interrupted Morty.

"Are you really going to make us do this? I mean, come on! That's not fair." Morty paused. Gengar stopped preparing its next move to look up.

"Sorry, what?" Morty said.

"Do you mean taking on the Gym again?" Sam asked. Redi shot Sam a glare before looking over to Morty. The Gym Leader frowned as he tried to think of what Redi was referring to.

"I'm not talking about that!" Redi shouted.

"We're not losing here. No, it's just... This sucks. Do you even realize what you've done?"

"No?" Morty offered. At this point, Ursaring was far too soundly asleep to do anything. Even though Gengar was watching Redi—its species far too curious to do anything else—it wasn't exactly concerned about its opponent right now.

"This was supposed to be our trump card! Our secret strategy! Our surprise against Sam when we eventually fight in the Conference!" she whined. She stomped a foot against the ground and let out a huff. Her vague words had captured the attention of every single watcher in this room as everyone tried to figure out her plan.

"Can't really ask you to turn around if you're the referee," she grumbled to Sam.

"Whatever." There was no pause after that word, but it sure felt like there was one.

"Ursaring," Redi said, "use Sleep Talk." Redi's command came out frustrated, but Morty's eyes immediately went as wide as they could go. For once in this battle, he seemed to be genuinely caught off-foot. This move wasn't anything that relied on a strategy of brute strength. Except, in a strange way, it absolutely was. Still completely asleep, Ursaring stirred. He didn't wake up or unleash a direct attack, but he did grumble and flip around.

He seemed to be in some sort of hibernation-like state—which helped to explain why Redi didn't bother to call out for him to wake up. No, rolling to his side, he threw out an arm as if tossing and turning in his sleep. With how sudden and unexpected that movement came, Gengar was in no position to dodge when the attack hit. A Shadow Claw tore right through it, disrupting its body and launching it far back. Ursaring remained asleep, but he had also remained under the effects of Swords Dance.

Gengar's cockiness and Redi's distraction had given him plenty of room for this final blow.

"Gengar is..." Sam had to swallow once he realized what Redi had done.

"Gengar is unable to battle. Redi wins?"

"You don't have to act so surprised!" Redi snapped.

"I'm allowed to develop my own tricks!" At the end of her shout, the reality of that knock-out seemed to settle in. Redi looked to the unmoving Gengar and then dragged her stare over to the motionless Gym Leader. Morty was still in the process of taking her strategy in. Several long seconds passed before he finally reacted. Morty slapped a hand to his forehead and drew himself back for a laugh.

"Of course! It all makes sense!" he practically shouted.

"Guts activates under any status condition! Sleep Talk is even better—while asleep, every attack is enhanced!" There was a slight pause.

"Oh. Yeah. Absolutely. I definitely thought of that," Redi lied. Still standing at the side of the field, Sam stared at Redi, who seemed to purposefully not look his way. She returned Ursaring before immediately releasing him at her side, and she pushed her shoulder against him to try to wake up. She taught Ursaring that move just for me? Just so she could counter my team? She's been preparing for a battle in the Conference all this time, which means... Which means... Sam breathed out.

Which means Redi is more prepared to defeat us than we're prepared to defeat her. At this point, her entire team had some sort of counter against status effects, and when Sam had been training his team, he'd been training for general opponents rather than anyone specific. He thought he'd be able to pick up the gaps once he earned his eighth Gym Badge, but now he could only worry about how many more strategies Redi had prepared—and there was more to that.

Xavier had also told Sam he planned to win, and how many specific counters would Xavier have once they faced one another in the Conference? As Ursaring slowly came to, he smacked his lips before glancing over to Redi. She sent him a look, causing him to shoot up, and she used the opportunity to fall forward into his stomach, pressing herself into his fur for a hug.

"We did it," she said quietly. Still waking up, Ursaring drowsily grinned and let his arms fall around her to hug back. As the moment passed, Morty finally returned his Pokémon and walked over to join her. She looked up at him, and he smiled. He reached into his pocket to take out a certain ghost-shaped badge and place it into her palm.

"Congratulations," he said.

"I can tell you and your team worked hard for this." Redi's grin was as bright as the sun. She'd been training for this ever since her loss to Ecruteak's Gym Trial, and this badge was proof of more than just a victory—it was proof of her genuine growth as a trainer.

"One left," she whispered, staring at the pin in her hand.

"Only one Badge left for us to obtain before we take on the Conference." Ursaring let out a roar to express his confidence.

"I also want to thank you for this match, by the way," Morty said, and Redi looked up at him as Sam walked over.

"Given what you already know, I had the freedom to try out a few new strategies, though your Normal Types made the lack of Hex a pain. Still, your Pokémon are independently strong enough that you fight similarly enough. You were the perfect opponent to help me practice for my challenge against Lance." Redi's jaw dropped open. Sam stumbled where he was walking over.

"Lance," Sam repeated as he arrived, keeping his voice low." Champion Lance, you mean? You're training for a match against him?"

"Yes." Morty's voice contained nothing but the truth.

"Hex's power contains the edge we need. Honestly, my team could win on Destiny Bond alone, but I already told you that kind of fight isn't really a fight. No, my Pokémon and I have been training for a proper battle for quite some time. While we have our tricks, we plan to win with our own strength no matter how powerful our opponent might be." At Morty's side, a haze caused the air to waver, and he brought up a hand to pat his Mismagius as she appeared next to him.

"Moves like Spite, Curse, and even Minimize and Ominous Wind are going to be key. I won't be surprised if Lance has something like Sleep Talk in his pocket, which is one of the reasons I appreciate this battle so much. Unfortunately, we won't be able to use moves like Grudge and Destiny Bond or even Explosion. I can't let any of my Pokémon faint too early against someone like the Champion—but I also have to admit that I might have pushed against the limits of what I'm allowed to do in a Gym Battle."

He chuckled, scratching a cheek.

"Sorry about that."

"... We still won," Redi mumbled.

"Regardless, my match against Lance is scheduled to take place between seasons in a public showing. Demand will probably make tickets hard to get, but as long as you two promise to cheer me on, I can make sure some are passed your way, yeah?" He grinned, and his expression was once again one that wouldn't have been out of place on Redi's face. Sam was only able to slowly nod due to his shock.

As a Gym Leader, Morty had the right to challenge Lance every so often, but people just didn't do something like that right out of the blue.

"But why?" Redi asked.

"Why challenge Lance?"

"To prove myself," Morty answered, a strange look entering his eyes.

"Fighting the Champion is more than just a battle for me. There's a Pokémon I have to meet. But the only way I can ever do that is if I prove myself a worthy enough trainer for it to accept me." Silence lingered after his declaration, and Morty shook his head to snap himself out of the strange mood that had overtaken him.

"But that's for the future! Right now, you two are rapidly becoming amazing trainers in your own right!" he said excitedly.

"Yeah, Redi's pretty great," Sam said. Redi's face turned bright red as she looked away.

"Well, in the meantime, I highly encourage you two to take some time to relax. Your journeys have been going on for a while, and you still have over a full month and a half to earn your final Gym Badge!" Morty said.

"Stick around for a bit. Hang out in Ecruteak! Sam, I noticed you two tend to leave cities immediately after earning the local Gym Badge. The Kimono Girls are hosting a festival within the next few days. At least wait to experience that, yeah?" Sam breathed out, getting over his shock to nod once again. He didn't plan to battle Morty himself, but he was fine with lingering in the city especially if it meant he could watch some of the strong Ghost Type trainers here fight. The festival was a bonus, too.

"That's fine with me," Sam said.

"We have time until the Conference, and it shouldn't take too long to get to Cianwood. I want to rematch Jasmine in Olivine and get a sixth Pokémon first, but we need to catch a boat in Olivine to reach Cianwood, anyway. I'm fine with staying in Ecruteak for a few more days, at least, if it's okay with you, Re—" He stopped himself when he saw Redi had frozen where she stood. She had gone utterly still upon mention of Olivine, and her happy expression had vanished from her face.

Almost hurriedly, she looked between Sam and Morty before taking a step back.

"S-sure," she said quickly.

"We can do that. I just... I just need to heal my Pokémon. Excuse me!" Very uncharacteristically, she threw herself into a bow before running out of the room, briefly turning around to return Ursaring when she remembered. As she vanished through the battlefield's doors, Sam turned to Morty to see if the Gym Leader knew why that had happened, but Morty was just as confused as him. The Ghost Types in the room murmured among themselves, and Typhlosion walked over to stand at Sam's side.

They stared at the entrance, watching the swinging doors that marked Redi's sudden exit. Neither of them understood what just happened, but they could tell it had been important. It had happened so suddenly that it caught them off guard, but it was still blatantly obvious that something was going on with their friend.