Journey Towards Greatness

Machoke's fist landed on the protective forcefield, a sonic boom swept through the battlefield and the protective forcefield started to crack, but it was enough to stop Machoke's momentum.

The Protect shattered and Skrelp moved back as it happened, Machoke landed with its feet on the ground and lunched at Skrelp once again since he is so close to Machoke. ​​

Korrina "Use Karate Chop"

Machoke got close to Skrelp and was about to bring down its knife hand down on Skrelp when Julian made his move as well.

Julian "Use Poison Tail"

Due to the height difference between Machoke and Skrelp, Skrelp clearly had a better chance at landing a hit before Machoke, Skrelp was not just a special attacker and Korrina seems to have forgotten about it and it was time for her to be reminded of that.

Skrelp did a quick spin and lashed at Machoke's leg with his glowing poisonous tail, Poison Tail landed on Machoke's leg and it shouted in pain and its hand hit the ground, Skrelp completely avoided the Karate Chop.

Machoke got poisoned, one could clearly tell by the changes in Machoke's body, its skin now has a slight hint of purple, its eyes are a little red and the area where it got hit is completely dark purple due to the high content of poison on it.

Machoke tried to get up but was feeling a little weak, it stared at Skrelp and tried to hit him with another Karate chop but it was not going to happen, this battle was already over in Julian's eyes.

With Skrelp's opponent poisoned, there is no need to drag this battle any further.

Julian "Use Venoshock"

Machokes don't have great special defense and with poison already in effect, the Venoshock will do double the damage.

Before the Karate Chop could even touch Skrelp, he released a blast of poisonous pulses which hit Machoke and did a lot of damage, due to it being poisoned, the damage was doubled and Machoke crashed back first into the ground knocked out cold.

Korrina couldn't believe this at all, she thought she will be able to make a comeback but she was wrong, her Machoke was also taken down very easily by her opponent.

For the first time after becoming a gym leader, she felt desperate and started to lose her confidence.

Julian "I am disappointed"

Julian suddenly said.

Korrina frowned, she didn't like this statement at all, she wanted to speak out and confront her challenger but decided to stop herself, she still has one more move up her sleeve, her ace pokemon, her Lucario.

Her Lucario is her best pokemon and it is way more powerful than both her Machoke and Mienfoo combined.

She sent Machoke back to its Pokeball and sent out her Lucario, Lucario entered the battlefield and looked at its trainer and back at its opponent.

Julian looked at Lucario for a second and decided to continue using his Skrelp, he thought of switching his pokemon and send out Floette into the battlefield but decided to use Skrelp, Julian believed he can speed Korrina's third pokemon as well.

Lucario stared at its opponent and got fired up, it loved to battle just like its trainer and started to punch and kick the air indicating that it is ready to battle and is just waiting for Korrina's signal.

Korrina didn't make her Lucario wait and went for the attack.

Korrina "Use Power-up Punch"

Korrina is very confident in this round, not only is her Lucario stronger than her previous pokemons, but it also has an advantage against her opponent's Skrelp.

Lucario rushed towards Skrelp and went for a straight right as its fist was swirling with fighting energy.

Julian "Use Scald"

Hearing Julian, Skrelp countered, he puffed his chest and shot a scalding water jet at Lucario, Lucario who was gunning straight towards Skrelp saw the incoming attack and moved to the side dodging it but Skrelp was not done.

His eyes are locked on Lucario, he continued blasting the scalding water jet at Lucario, Lucario found itself in a very difficult position, it realized that it cannot go forward with its attack, if it gets any closer to Skrelp, it will get hit by Scald.

For now, it could only run around and wait for Skrelp to get exhausted and then go for the attack, while Lucario was running around, Julian noticed something and was once again disappointed by the current gym leader.

She relied on her Lucario too much during the battle and Lucario also seems to be running a little wind on the battlefield without communicating with its trainer.

If a pokemon can battle on its own on a battlefield and use moves depending on the situation, it would be of great help to its trainer but this could also cause a lot of miscommunication between the pokemon and trainer.

Korrina and Lucario are suffering from the same thing, while Korrina might think of something, Lucario might do something completely different, believing it is doing the right thing and Korrina doesn't seem to mind it at all, she just goes along with Lucario thinking its for the best.

As Julian observed the battle for a few minutes he realized just how good Korina's Lucario really is, it is coming up with ways to counter his Skrelp's attacks on its own, this Lucario was born for battling, while Korrina is trainer is just going along with it.

This is only good if they are facing opponents who are not that strong, if they faced someone who is a veteran, they will be dissected and destroyed.

Korrina needs to learn how to control the battlefield, not let her pokemon do it for her, she is there to watch the battle, access the surrounding, become her pokemon's third eye and guide it, not just stand there, wait for her Lucario to make a move and then follow up with her own call.

This was just sloppy in Julian's eye, no matter how good Lucario really is, his Skrelp could defeat it with just a few predictable shots.