"You've come?"
"I'm here—"
Before Ritchie could finish, the red, yellow, blue, and green-haired youths behind him stormed forward, voices full of fire.
"That's right, we're here! This time, we'll make you cry for your mom!"
Uh... kind of feels like American-style bullying. Is this some kind of important ritual before every challenge?
Also, isn't Ritchie the one doing the challenge? How come the trash talk's all coming from you guys?
They're not here to help Ritchie challenge me. They're here just to yell at me, right?
"Don't worry, Ritchie. We've got your back."
"We'll be right there in the stands—your strongest support."
"Even if you lose, no big deal. There's always next time."
"What matters is your spirit. Don't let this shady Gym Leader look down on the bond between us and our Pokémon!"
Each of the four shouted their own version of encouragement.
From the moment they entered the Gym, Caleb had already started streaming.
Rotom hovered midair, zooming in for a dramatic close-up of the four.
Ritchie listened to their words of support, but for some reason, a wave of secondhand embarrassment washed over him. His face was burning—he wanted nothing more than to crawl into a hole and disappear.
He quickly pulled himself together, then bowed formally to Caleb. "Please take care of me."
"No problem."Polite kids were always a soft spot for Caleb—it didn't surprise him at all.
After Blue finished reading the match rules, Ritchie shouted, "Go, Rose!"
Rose, a Swellow—the evolved form of his Taillow.
And also one of his trump cards for today.
Its ability: Guts. With Guts, a Normal or Fighting-type move can hit Ghost-types, and it's immune to Intimidate.
And Caleb already knew all of this—he'd learned it that morning.
Still, he sent out a Ghost-type.
"It's your time to shine, Cursola."
A flash of white light.
A pale, round stone appeared on the battlefield.
As Caleb called its name, wisps of white smoke floated from its holes, forming illusory coral branches. Two red lights glowed on its front.
"A new Pokémon? Never seen that one before."
"Looks... weird. Doesn't look like anything good."
"Smells like death."
"Is that a shiny Cursola?"
The four in the audience bantered back and forth.
Ritchie hadn't seen it before either, but he had a Pokédex.
Beep~ Cursola. Galarian Form. Coral Pokémon. Ghost-type. Said to be the remains of Corsola that once lived in the Galar region long ago, killed by a meteor impact near the coast.
"A regional Cursola—Ghost-type!"
No problem. Doesn't affect the plan.
"Rose, Tailwind!" Ritchie commanded.
Whoosh!A strong wind swept across the field, doubling the Speed of Ritchie's team for the next few turns.
"U-turn!"
No hesitation. Every second of Tailwind counted.
At this point, Ritchie's strategy was crystal clear—this was a Tailwind team, banking on high-speed offense to win.
"Stealth Rock," Caleb said with a small smirk.
Immediately, dozens of faintly glowing rocks hovered around the battlefield. Any Pokémon switching in would take one-eighth of their HP as damage.
A major threat to Flying-types.
And the one switching in after Swellow was, of course, today's main star—the pseudo-legendary, Tyranitar.
"Cruise!"
As the Desert Tyrant appeared, its Sand Stream ability triggered instantly.
A sandstorm whipped up, and as a Rock-type, its Special Defense got a 50% boost. Combined with its already solid durability, it was absolutely terrifying.
Though it took a bit of damage from Stealth Rock, to a Rock/Dark-type like Tyranitar, it was barely a scratch.
"Cruise, Stone Edge!"
"ROAR!"
With an ear-splitting roar, sharp rocks floated around Tyranitar. Boosted by Tailwind, they launched forward at blistering speed toward Cursola.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Direct hit!
Cursola staggered out of the smoke, trembling.
Even with an Eviolite to boost its defenses, a fully powered Stone Edge like that still hurt—a lot.
"Nice one, Ritchie! Keep going, keep attacking! Don't give him a chance to breathe!"
"Haha, Gym Leader! Feel the power of the living world's trainers now?"
"I thought regional Cursola was supposed to be special. Turns out it's just mid!"
"Right? Took one hit and already looks like it's gonna faint..."
The battle wasn't even over yet, and the four were already giving their victory speeches.
Naturally, Caleb heard it all.
Heh. "Gonna faint," huh?
"Solevadokana."
I've been waiting for this.
"Cursola, time to flip the game—use Strength Sap!"
With a wave of Caleb's hand, Cursola suddenly pulsed with intent. Green energy tendrils began flowing out of Tyranitar, draining from its body.
And yet, Tyranitar didn't feel like it was taking damage—just... weak. Like it had woken up from a nap with no energy.
[Tyranitar's Attack -1]
At the same time...
The four in the audience watched as the once barely-standing Cursola began to straighten up.
Its wounds rapidly faded... then disappeared altogether.
Strength Sap: heals HP equal to the opponent's Attack stat and also lowers their Attack.
In other words, the higher the opponent's Attack, the more Cursola heals.
Which is why, in Gen 8, it was known as the "Physical Sweeper Slayer."
One move, and it can drain the very life out of you.
Hearing the Pokédex's explanation of Strength Sap, the four's faces twisted in horror—like they'd just eaten something foul.
This thing's even legal?
Of course, our dedicated camerabot Rotom wasn't going to miss this moment. It zoomed right in on their faces, beaming the whole thing live to the rapidly growing viewer count—and let out a gleeful robotic cackle.
But no one's face looked worse than Ritchie's.
He didn't show it outwardly, but his fists were clenched tight.
Tailwind was starting to fade. No time to hesitate.
"Cruise, Crunch!"
"ROAR!"
Even weakened, my Tyranitar doesn't mess around!
Take this—Crunch!
Like a wild beast, Tyranitar charged Cursola with a furious roar. In a flash, it was in front of it.
A STAB (Same-Type Attack Bonus) Dark move like Crunch could still do serious damage.
"Protect."
Caleb's tone remained calm.
A shimmering green shield popped up in front of Cursola, blocking the hit entirely.
Before Tyranitar could react, Caleb issued another command.
"Will-O-Wisp."
The moment the words left his mouth, ghostly purple flames materialized in midair, flying straight at Tyranitar.
Will-O-Wisp: inflicts burn status, cutting physical Attack in half.