The Pokémon world is truly wondrous, every Pokémon is born with its own specialty field.
In Axel's view, field battles are exactly one of Gengar's strongest domains.
It can hide in shadows, it can poison, it can hard control, its move pool is ridiculous while also having pretty good speed.
In MMO terms, this is a certified assassin-type Pokémon.
In a field battle, if Gengar dared to call itself tenth, then almost no ordinary Pokémon would dare call themselves top ten.
Axel patted the obviously flustered white-haired young lady in front of him, "Accept her offer."
"O-okay," Hearing Fantina say the fight would be a field battle, the young lady became even more nervous, her words even stammering.
But thinking of Axel's reliability, she still braced herself and agreed.
"Since you've agreed, then await my descent."
"I shall, with ghost-type power, make you forever remember this fear!"
As the sultry voice fell, rumbling came from the roof of Hearthome Gym, as though the roof had been pried open.
The next moment, a purple Drifblim floated out of the gym, slowly drifting toward the open ground in front of the entrance.
And beneath Drifblim, a woman in a purple single ponytail and long gown was gracefully dancing, sometimes with sudden glimpses of spring.
Seeing Fantina's entrance and her domineering declaration, Axel froze instinctively.
Because it reminded him of a certain old acquaintance of the rock + ground type, suddenly, a flash of white appeared in front of Axel.
At some point, the young lady had stepped in front of him, spreading her arms like a mother hen protecting her chick.
The wide white sleeves instantly blocked Axel's line of sight.
Axel looked at Plantina in confusion, "What are you doing?"
"You... she's flashing, and you're still watching," The young lady's face turned red, but her momentum didn't falter.
"You obviously can't handle it, I'm just afraid you'll feel bad after seeing it!"
Axel: "..."
'Damn it, I was just recalling an old friend, what do you take me for?'
*Grit teeth!*
'Now I'm angry, I must vent somehow!'
'Fantina, I'll remember you!'
"Gengar, come here, let me tell you something..."
———
On the side of Hearthome Gym, a man with a Ditto on his head and camera gear slung over his shoulder was lying on the ground, full of excitement.
As a paparazzo, he had finally found his road to fortune.
Just yesterday, he'd heard from inside news that two challengers were speedrunning gyms, even completing the feat of clearing three gyms in one day.
So he rushed to Pastoria City to lie in wait, and finally got a shot enough to make headlines.
In just a few hours, his account balance had already increased by hundreds of thousands.
The only regret was that he didn't catch those two in front of the Pastoria Gym, so he didn't know the real reason the gym collapsed.
But now, Fantina was going to battle those two challengers outside the gym.
Today, he would surely catch another story enough to make headlines.
And it would dominate the charts for at least three days.
Thinking about how he'd have money to stay in Belritsch family hotels on business trips from now on, the paparazzo grew even more excited.
"My lovely little monies, please start fighting quickly!"
"Ditto, transform into a bush, make sure we're absolutely safe!"
———
After finishing her dance, Fantina landed in front of Axel and Plantina.
Seeing Gengar between the two, Fantina's smile grew wider.
'So it's also a ghost-type trainer?'
'No wonder the previous gym leaders got beaten so badly.'
'The reason is simple: ghost-types are invincible!'
But since they'd come here, Fantina felt it was time for these two to stop.
When it comes to ghosts, who in all of Sinnoh can outplay her?
"Which one of you will challenge?", Fantina got straight to the point, unlike Brock who'd drag on with trash talk.
"Me!", The young lady obediently raised her hand.
"So obedient, little sister~", Seeing Plantina so well-behaved, and dressed in the same pure-color style as herself, Fantina immediately felt goodwill.
"Don't worry, little sister, don't be so timid."
"Even if you lose here at my gym, I'll still give you some tips on raising Gengar."
"After all, Gengar is one of the cutest Pokémon in this world!"
"If you're ready, then I'll announce the battle rules?"
"Okay!", Seeing Fantina so easy to talk to, totally unlike her stereotype of ghost-type trainers, the young lady immediately grew more confident.
Fantina glanced at Plantina's waist, "Since you have three Pokémon, this will be a 3v3 battle."
"But since it's a field battle, there are no other rules."
"They can use any moves, and any advantages from their species."
"Like Mismagius's spells, Gengar's shadow-hiding, those are all within allowed range."
Fantina explained clearly, and both Axel and Plantina nodded slightly.
In the Pokémon world, indeed many species had abilities beyond moves and abilities.
Like Arbok's patterns, Gible's teeth that can bite through rocks, Bagon's indestructible skull.
In official arenas, such abilities were rarely allowed.
"Let me just cut in," Axel raised his hand like Plantina, asking, "Since it's a field battle, can we hit the trainers too?"
Fantina rolled her eyes, "Of course not."
"This is a gym, not some villain gang's lair."
Axel continued, "Then is it a free-for-all, or one Pokémon at a time?"
"One at a time," Fantina's gaze fell on Gengar.
Normally, field battles are free-for-all, but she wanted to gauge this girl's Gengar's training.
In that case, one-on-one was obviously better.
"If there are no other questions, then let's begin?"
The young lady nodded, "Yes, Sister Fantina!"
"So obedient, unlike the violent guy beside you."
For some reason, Fantina didn't feel much goodwill looking at Axel.
'Like how a Smeargle looks at a Meowth thief, just annoying~'
"My first Pokémon is Drifblim. We can begin now, little sister."
"But before we start, I must warn you."
"My Drifblim has a very remarkable move."
"If you send out that high-level Gengar first, it might suffer very painfully at its hands~"
Axel tugged at the corner of his mouth.
If he couldn't see Fantina's Drifblim's skill pool, he might have thought this girl was a tactical master.
'But you're just using a Minimize strategy, how do you expect to handle Gengar's moves?'
'Especially since this is a field battle.'
'When Gengar slips into your shadow, your Drifblim won't even get a chance to use Explosion!'
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