> **Name:** Combusken (male)
> **Type:** Fire, Fighting
> **Ability:** Speed Boost
> **Aptitude:** Elite-Four-class
> **Level:** 18
> **Moves:** Scratch, Quick Attack, Ember, Double Kick, Focus Energy, Sand Attack, Bulk Up, Flamethrower, Double Team, Brick Break, Protect, Swords Dance, Sky Uppercut, Fire Spin
The Combusken's data showed on the system panel.
Evolved, the Combusken had come up to level 18, and the moves he had mastered had grown a great deal in number.
"Combusken, then."
Looking at the Combusken standing out there in high spirits, Vance felt rather struck by it, and a little surprised that the Torchic should have evolved into a Combusken here of all places.
Still, no harm in it. A successful evolution was a successful evolution.
Against the Weepinbell across from him, his odds had just improved considerably.
"Extraordinary. The Torchic evolving at exactly the critical moment."
Erika looked delighted as well. To her mind, witnessing a Pokémon evolve was a thoroughly pleasant thing.
"Then we won't stand on ceremony. Combusken, in — Quick Attack."
"Combusken—"
The Combusken moved. Against what he had been as a Torchic, his speed had multiplied several times over.
A cut to the side, and under Quick Attack he slammed into the Weepinbell.
The blow sent it staggering. The many roots it had driven into the ground beneath it were what kept it from being knocked flying.
"Stun Spore."
"Combusken, dodge, then use Flamethrower."
This time the Combusken met the Weepinbell's old trick and evaded it perfectly, and even as he went past he sent a Flamethrower sweeping across.
"Weepinbell, Energy Ball."
Energy Ball and Flamethrower met and blew apart together.
"Combusken, get in there. Quick Attack again."
"Combusken—"
The Combusken charged forward once more, and as he closed he got another order from Vance and used Double Team, throwing the Weepinbell off.
"Sky Uppercut."
"Combusken—"
Seven or eight Combusken threw Sky Uppercut as one and ran at the Weepinbell, and the fist that landed on it showed which of them was the real one.
"Rrrip—"
Under the Combusken's Sky Uppercut every root beneath the Weepinbell tore through, and its body went flying.
"Stun Spore, maximum power."
"Combusken, Flamethrower."
"Combusken—"
The Combusken's Flamethrower came through the falling Stun Spore and struck the Weepinbell full on, and the scorching flame gave the Grass-type Weepinbell a particularly bad time of it.
"Bang—"
Struck by it, the Weepinbell dropped to the ground with its eyes spinning, out of the fight.
The referee raised the flag in his hand and called the result aloud.
"Weepinbell is unable to battle. Combusken wins."
"Combusken—"
Told that he had won, the Combusken put his hands on his hips, and that remarkable swagger of his came out again.
"That's two the Gym Leader's lost. She isn't going to lose all three, is she?"
Down among the seats, several of the onlookers were talking it over.
By the classical clothes they wore, they were apprentices of the Celadon Gym.
"Hardly anybody's come to watch today. It's no disgrace."
Another of them said it.
"Disgrace? What's disgraceful about it? The Gym Leader is only testing the boy, and the Pokémon she's been directing are all ordinary ones. Which of you thinks she's weak? Though that boy is strong, I'll grant you that."
It was a girl among them with an older face than the rest who said it.
"Ha ha, our senior is right. I spoke out of turn just now. Our Gym Leader has a good temper, but she's no pushover."
On the field, with the Weepinbell beaten by the Combusken, Erika sent out another Grass-type — a Bellossom.
"Bellossom, the Flower Pokémon, the evolved form of Gloom, evolved from a Gloom with a Sun Stone. Energy level 31. It seems the Gym Leader is taking this rather more seriously."
Vance said it to himself. The moment the Bellossom appeared he had its data.
The Bellossom's body was green, with round blue eyes and red markings on its cheeks. On its head were two bright red flowers, and it had green and yellow leaves like a skirt, which it used in place of feet.
Vance asked the Combusken what he wanted, and hearing that he was unwilling to come off, left him out there to go on and fight the Bellossom.
The Bellossom's performance, too, was far better than that of the Pokémon before it.
Once the battle began it evaded every one of the Combusken's attacks without hurry, and could strike back as well; like the flower Pokémon it was, it danced lightly about the field and met everything calmly.
It may also have been that the gap in energy level between it and the Combusken was too wide — several of his moves went in and did very little.
As they tangled, an invisible dust drifted across the ground where the two of them fought, and in the middle of the battle the Combusken could not help breathing it in.
The Combusken found the fight harder and harder; the Bellossom found it easier and easier.
Little by little the Combusken began to feel dizzy. Several Bellossom appeared in front of him at once, shifting up and down.
In the end, under a single Energy Ball from the Bellossom, the Combusken was out of the fight.
"I did tell you. If you can't settle it fast, just yield — I wouldn't hold it against you. Why fight to the death over it?"
Vance recalled the Combusken and spoke to the ball that held him.
He thought it over, then took out the Gyarados's Poké Ball after all and let him out.
"Roar—"
The Gyarados announced his arrival the moment he appeared with a furious roar, that vicious face of his looking down at the Bellossom, the savage expression on it seeming to say: so you're the one who's been picking on my little brother the Combusken?
"A Gyarados. Well raised, too. It seems Celadon has gained another fine Trainer this year."
Erika said it smiling, seeing the extraordinary presence the Gyarados carried.
As for who won this round, that no longer mattered. On the strength of the battle just now, Vance had passed her assessment and had earned the badge.
After that the battle between the Gyarados and the Bellossom began in earnest, and the vicious Gyarados had no tenderness to spare for a flower — he went at the Bellossom with one savage attack after another.
Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Earthquake and the rest came one after another. He treated the Bellossom entirely as an opponent of his own class.
After holding out for a dozen or so exchanges, the Bellossom went down on the field, unwilling to the last, and was out of the fight.
The Gyarados was the stronger of the two, and Vance's directions were faultless, so the win came quickly.
"Bellossom is unable to battle. Gyarados wins. The victor is the Trainer Vance."
The referee held the flag high and announced it in a loud voice.
"Congratulations. This is the Rainbow Badge — you've earned it. I hope you show what you can do at the Conference and take the win."
Erika came over with a broad smile, the Rainbow Badge in her hand, and held it out to him.
"Thank you, Gym Leader. I will."
Vance took the badge in both hands and thanked her.
After a few courtesies, Vance took his leave as well.
"So this is the Celadon Gym's Rainbow Badge. Much the same as the one in the anime." Outside the Gym, Vance studied the Rainbow Badge in his hand closely — it was much like the one in the anime.
"Am I supposed to come out with something now, to suit the occasion — I got the Rainbow Badge! No. Forget it. That feels a bit embarrassing."
Vance put the Rainbow Badge away. It was the first badge he had ever won, and it carried a certain commemorative weight.