"I think Barry win the badge too." Lucas remarked.

  He suddenly recalled Barry's sed enter with Paul in Jubilife City and added, "By the aul, we never got the ce to battle again. How about we have a match after the gym battle?"

  "A battle? Sure. I’ve got some Pokémon that he experience." Paul replied without hesitation.

  Soon, the battle on the field began.

  Gardenia sent out her Turtwig first, while Barry chose his Staravia.

  From the start, Barry ordered Staravia to use Quick Attabsp;to strike. However, Gardenia's Turtwig and its Trainer remained unfazed, dodging at the st moment with impressive precision.

  Unwilling to back down, Barry directed Staravia to unleash a barrage of attacks—Quick Attack, Aerial Ace, and Wing Attack. Unfortunately, none of them nded on Turtwig.

  "This Turtwig… its speed is ridiculous…" Lucas muttered from the sidelines, stunned.

  As a turtle Pokémon, Turtwig was somehow faster than Lucas' Chimchar. Was this even reasonable?

  "Indeed, its speed is impressive." Paul agreed.

  Paul knew his own Turtwig was fast, but pared to Gardenia's, it was pletely outcssed.

  Still, Paul had no iion of training his Turtwig’s speed. After all, it would evolve sooner or ter, and even with increased speed, how fast could it realistically bee post-evolution?

  As expected, after a series of exges, Barry's Staravia was defeated by Turtwig.

  For his sed Pokémon, Barry made an unusual choice, sending out his retly captured Snorx.

  Against the speed-maxed Turtwig, Snorx remained unmoved, repeatedly using Defense Curl and Amnesia to bolster its defense and special defense. When its HP ran low, it restored itself with Rest, attag in its sleep with Snore.

  Turtwig attempted to ter with Leech Seed, but Snorx burhe seeds away with Fire Punch.

  With its excellent defense and stamina, Snorx steadily endured, using a simple yet effective cycle of boosts recovery and attacks. Eventually, Turtwig succumbed to Snore.

  Gardenia the out Leafeon to faorx, but despite its best efforts, it too fell to Snorx’s overwhelming power.

  It wasn’t until Gardenia's third Pokémon, Breloom, ehe fray that Snorx was finally defeated.

  For his final Pokémon, Barry chose Heracross, whose type advantage allowed it to take down Breloom with a decisive Megahorn, seg victory.

  "How did I perform in this battle?" Barry asked enthusiastically as he returo the stands with his newly earned badge.

  "Your use of Snorx was impressive. To think you mao defeat Turtwig with that strategy—well done." Lucas said with a smile, as he didn’t want to criticize his childhood friend.

  "Nothing much to say." Paul interjected bluntly. "If your Staravia couldn’t beat Turtwig, either the Trainer isn’t good enough, or the Pokémon isn’t trained properly."

  "It’s unbelievable that the two Pokémon who won you in this battle were ones you retly captured, while the one you’ve been training lost in the first round."

  Paul’s sharp critique left Barry visibly frustrated.

  Training a Staravia without teag it any ranged moves was something Paul could uand—after all, Staravia excelled in close bat. However, before it evolved into Staraptor and learned Close bat, relying solely on impact moves for offense wasn’t enough.

  "If its speed isn’t up to par, train it. If not, teach it Agility. Otherwise, against faster oppos, it’ll just get kited to death. What’s the use of such a Staravia?"

  "And don’t even think about using Double Team in a forested area like this—it’s useless here."

  "Paul, you… ugh! I’ll prove y someday!"

  Barry poi Paul, visibly upset but uo refute the truth of his words. All he could do was sulk.

  Lucas, witnessing the se, felt awkward and unsure of what to say.

  Paul, ued in further versatiohe stands and headed to the field. He waited fardenia to finish healing and sing her Pokémon while sidering his own battle strategy.

  After a brief pause, Gardenia returned her Pokémon to their Poké Balls and o the referee.

  "The match will be a challetle betweeoy’s Paul aerna Gym’s Gardenia, with the badge on the line."

  "Each side may use three Pokémon. The battle ends when all of one side’s Pokémon are uo battle. Only the challenger may switon."

  The referee’s annou echoed through the field.

  "The weather looks nice. Go, Tangrowth!" Gardenia called out, throwing her Poké Ball.

  A Pokémon covered in blue vines with visible eyes and red boot-like feet appeared on the field.

  Paul noticed Gardenia's as and gnced up, seeing the clear sunny sky. Suspeg Gardenia's strategy, Paul tossed his own Poké Ball.

  "Vulpix, let’s go!"

  "Vul~"

  Vulpix wagged its tails slightly, ready for battle.

  "Vulpix, use Ember!"

  Vulpix opes mouth, releasing a wide spray of fire that covered Tangrowth’s position.

  Even though the fmes were scattered and less powerful, the sunher amplified their effect, making the attack far from weak.

  "Jump and dodge!"

  Calm and posed, Tangrowth leaped onto a nearby tree, hopping effortlessly from branch to branch to avoid the embers.

  "It really has the Chlorophyll ability." Paul deduced after Tangrowth’s speed uhe sunher.

  "Tangrowth, use Sleep Powder!"

  A pale green powder wafted from Tangrowth’s body, drifting toward Vulpix.

  "Burn it away!"

  Vulpix unleashed a burst of fmes, easily iing the powder mid-air.

  Even after the attack, Vulpix remaiationary, watg Tangrowth ily while awaiting further instrus.

  "Pying defensively? It won’t be that easy." Gardenia remarked.

  From the moment Paul sent out Vulpix, Gardenia knew using SorBeam directly wouldn’t be effective. However, she wasn’t ed—Tangrowth had other moves.

  "Tangrowth, use A Power!"

  "Tang~"

  Tangrowth summoned glowing orbs from the ground, transf them into massive rocks that hurtled toward Vulpix.

  "Use the trees to evade!"

  Under Paul’s and, Vulpix skillfully maneuvered through the forested area, using the trees as cover to either block or avoid the falling rocks.

  "Now, use Bind to catch it!"

  Seizing the opportunity, Tangrowth extes vines, whiaked toward the dodging Vulpix and successfully enss legs. With a strong tug, Tangrowth pulled Vulpix toward itself, ing more vines around its body.

  "Great! Now, use Sm!"

  Just as Tangrowth prepared to execute its move, Paul’s voice rang out.

  "Now, Extrasensory!"

  Trapped within the vines, Vulpix’s eyes glowed with a mysterious blue light, and an invisible force surged along the vines, paralyzing Tangrowth.

  Though Tangrowth struggled, it couldn’t move for several seds, giving Vulpix the ce to free itself.

  "Fire Bst!"

  The moment Vulpix nded, it unleashed a massive fiery-shape at cle, engulfing Tangrowth in fmes.

  Boom!

  The explosioangrowth flying, and it nded on the ground, uo titling.

  "Tangrowth is uo battle. Vulpix wins!" the referee decred.

  "Vul~!"

  Though Vulpix was visibly tired, it remained jubint over its victory.

  "e back, Tangrowth. You did great." Gardenia said as she recalled her Pokémon.

  She uood Paul’s approach—Vulpix wasn’t in peak dition, and if it had eangrowth head-on, it would’ve likely exhausted itself. However, by taking a calcuted risk, Paul mao secure a victory with minimal energy expenditure.

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