Luther still remembered the sting of his loss to Hakuya, a battle where he'd been up by two Pokémon, only to have Hakuya's Tauros turn the whole match upside down. He'd clung too tightly to his initial information advantage, trying to out-think instead of out-act.
That single, crushing defeat had hammered one thing into him: when you're cornered, you can't just wait for the enemy to mess up. You have to force a change.
Facing Candice's Hail team and her wall of brutal Ice-types, Luther knew that if she seized the pace, the countdown to his defeat would begin. He needed to yank the steering wheel out of her hands, even if it meant prematurely showing his hand.
And that was precisely why Chansey was waddling onto the field.
"Fire Punch, on the ground, Chansey!"
Chansey swung her hefty pink fist down, plunging it into the icy floor. The thick sheet of ice instantly buckled and melted, leaving a steaming hole and exposing the solid earth beneath.
Candice's eyes narrowed; she instantly understood his objective.
"Absol! Use Bite!"
Absol shot forward, a dark, sleek shape gliding effortlessly across the ice, sending up a spray of frozen mist as it lunged, jaws snapping wide.
The Snowpoint Gym was built for this, and Luther's initial experience was showing. The icy terrain was a natural ally to Candice's Pokémon, letting them move like they were on flat land while challengers skidded and struggled. Candice had assumed the same fate awaited Luther's team this time, but apparently, she was wrong.
Absol's Bite landed solidly, sinking right onto the top of Chansey's head. Yet, Chansey… didn't even flinch.
Completely ignoring the Disaster Pokémon dangling from her scalp, Chansey continued her mission, slamming Fire Punch after Fire Punch into the ice. Piece by piece, she was melting and reshaping the immediate terrain, creating a small circle of solid, sure footing for herself.
Not just Candice, but everyone watching was stunned.
Absol looked the most bewildered. He'd attacked with everything he had, yet Chansey was acting like he was an annoying hat, calmly continuing her work like a machine. It felt… deeply personal.
From the safety of Luther's shadow, Darkrai rubbed the bridge of his nose. He was beginning to suspect that Marill wasn't the only oddball on this team; Chansey seemed to be cut from the same eccentric cloth. Still, the daily extra nutrition egg she slipped him was a compelling argument for tolerance.
"Disengage, Absol! Dark Pulse!"
Absol quickly backed away and unleashed a wave of dark energy that slammed into Chansey's back.
Candice waited for Luther to command a dodge or a counter, but he didn't. Chansey just stood there, absorbing the attack. Strange. Very strange.
The hail was intensifying now, the falling chunks of ice growing larger. The passive damage was beginning to accumulate.
In the midst of the swirling storm, Chansey slowly turned to face Absol. She raised one hand and made a deliberate beckoning gesture, go on, keep attacking.
During training, Chansey was routinely ganged up on and pummeled by five Pokémon at once, often joined by Mai's team for good measure. True, her own attacks weren't powerhouse moves, but, as she seemed to be demonstrating, getting hit didn't bother her much, either.
Absol felt a surge of pure provocation. He glanced back at Candice, waiting for the signal to dive back in and continue the beatdown.
"Swords Dance!" Candice commanded, opting to gather more data on this baffling Pokémon. She needed to know just how tough this Chansey really was.
"Egg Bomb!" Luther spotted his opening and instantly shouted his counter.
Chansey plucked a perfect nutrition egg from her pouch and hurled it.
Absol was just finishing the final flourish of his boosted Swords Dance when a white blur filled his vision. Before he could react or dodge, everything went white with a blinding flash and an exploding shockwave that sent him tumbling backward.
"Lock onto Chansey's position, Bite again!"
Absol fought his way through the hail, found Chansey's unmoving silhouette, and lunged.
With Absol's newly boosted attack, Luther knew he couldn't risk a direct hit now. Watching the snow swirl around them, an idea clicked into place.
"Blizzard!"
His old rival Hakuya had once told him: The beauty of a Normal-type is in its versatility; you can never truly predict the full range of moves it might know.
Candice had been equally blindsided; she certainly hadn't expected her own weather, the very element of her Gym, to be turned against her.
Chansey's Blizzard wasn't a powerhouse move on its own, but since Absol had been rushing in for a close-range Bite, the attack hit him almost point-blank.
The Bite barely scraped Chansey before the gale-force winds of the Blizzard caught Absol, sending him skidding across the ice in a helpless, snow-drenched flurry.
Absol was still good to fight, but Candice immediately recalled him.
That was the moment Luther realized Bertha's assessment of Candice, the Gym Leader, might be spot-on. Her tactical control didn't quite match up.
He thought of Hakuya. Hakuya's mastery over a battle's flow was likely on par with, perhaps even surpassing, an Elite Four member. If Hakuya had been in this spot, after Absol's first Bite failed, he would have switched out instantly, doubling down on his inherent advantage. He wouldn't have kept Absol in just to 'gather data' against an opponent like Chansey, who was clearly built to take punishment.
Sure enough, Candice's natural instinct to preserve her information led her to switch again, sending out the towering Abomasnow.
In the stands, the Pokémon Academy students were frantically whispering. Abomasnow, the bulky Ice/Grass-type, had earned a rather infamous, if cruel, nickname at the academy: "The Weakness King."
"Chansey is so unbelievably tanky," One student muttered. "Will Candice really try to brute-force through that sheer defensive type advantage? That'll take forever."
While tending to her Milcery, Mai glanced back and reminded the younger students, "Remember, Abomasnow can learn Fighting-type moves."
"Brick Break!"
The massive Abomasnow charged, the ground actually shaking with the impact of its heavy footsteps. It raised a massive, icy forearm and brought it down in a powerful karate chop.
"Head-on clash, Chansey! Fire Punch!"
Brick Break and Fire Punch collided with a sharp crack, steam and sparks momentarily obscuring the two Pokémon. The clash looked even, at first. But Luther saw the subtle strain in Chansey's posture.
Chansey was never a heavy hitter, and Luther's training philosophy didn't prioritize offense for her. This was quickly becoming an unfavorable trade-off.
After the collision, Candice clearly sensed that tiny flicker of struggle. She instantly commanded Abomasnow to press the attack again with another Brick Break.
No matter how inherently tough Chansey was, Absol's initial attacks had left their mark. Even the sturdiest iron wall will eventually crack under relentless assault. Candice wasn't going to let Luther simply wear down her team, not that easily.
This time, Chansey was visibly struggling. The enraged Abomasnow completely suppressed her Fire Punch, preventing her from getting a clean hit in, and its Brick Break came within a hair's breadth of connecting.
"Keep using Brick Break! Don't stop! Show your fighting spirit and press the attack!" Candice shouted, her voice ringing with competitive fire.
Abomasnow roared, shards of ice shaking loose from its dense white fur and cascading down like snowflakes.
"Chansey, show them your specialty! Fire Punch!" Luther didn't change his command.
Once again, it looked like a full-on collision was imminent. Everyone in the stadium held their breath, their eyes locked on the impending impact.
A dull, heavy sound rang out. Chansey's Fire Punch was suppressed again, failing to land cleanly, and Abomasnow's Brick Break slammed solidly against her body.
Then, Candice noticed something strange. Abomasnow looked… off.
As Abomasnow backed away after the exchange, a small, persistent flame suddenly flared up along its massive striking arm.
"Oh ho. A lucky break," Luther said, clapping his hands together with satisfaction.
"When did that happen? Your Fire Punch should have been suppressed. It shouldn't have connected," Candice said, genuinely puzzled.
Before she could finish her thought, flames burst forth from both of Chansey's small hands.
"Back during the Rockfist Gym battle, Chansey mastered the trick of using Fire Punch with both hands at once," Luther revealed.
The audience erupted in gasps and cries. Several students shouted, "I wanna learn that too!"
"My miscalculation. My miscalculation. Thank you for the heads-up, Luther," Candice laughed, shaking her head. "Abomasnow, you understood that, didn't you?"
Abomasnow gave a sharp, determined nod.
Luther blinked, caught off guard.
"Let's give Luther a little show of our own, shall we?" Candice challenged.
Abomasnow raised both arms and swung them down toward Chansey in a powerful double strike. This time, Chansey's single-handed Fire Punch couldn't block the crushing force. She was smashed backward, sent tumbling across the icy field.
Though the burn weakened Abomasnow's Brick Break damage, all the accumulated blows finally took their toll. Chansey hit the ground hard, a clear grimace of pain twisting her face.
"Don't give her a chance to recover! Blizzard!"
Abomasnow seized the moment, unleashing a devastating Blizzard just before the current Hail weather was set to fade.
The freezing wind bit down to the bone; Chansey felt her body stiffening as the deep cold seeped in.
"Soft-Boiled!"
Bracing against the chilling gale, Chansey's glowing nutrition egg dissolved into pure energy, flowing through her body. Moments later, her bruises seemed to smooth over, and her visible wounds closed. Her stamina had significantly recovered.
Standing back up in the biting wind, Chansey suddenly noticed the ceiling. The dark, swirling storm clouds over the battlefield, the Hail, had completely dissipated.
Candice's eyes widened as she suddenly realized she'd walked right into a calculated trap.
Chansey had been fighting defensively, not just to wear down Candice's team's health, but to run down the clock. Hail damage accumulated painfully for most Pokémon, but for the super-tanky Chansey, it was barely more than a light drizzle, a few pebbles bouncing off her durable body. Hardly worth noticing.
Chansey's incredible toughness had done more than just absorb hits; it had subtly forced Candice into a strategic blunder. The sheer defensive presence of the Normal-type had created the illusion that Candice needed to keep slamming it with super-effective Fighting-type moves, distracting her completely.
Without even realizing it, Candice had completely squandered her early, devastating advantage in controlling the Hail weather.
The battle rhythm had been successfully slowed, stifled, and broken, all by one pink, durable Pokémon.
Luther nodded to himself, a small, deep sense of satisfaction warming him. This was the exact outcome he had trained for.
From the very beginning of her training, Luther had instilled one core purpose in Chansey: she was the rhythm engine of his entire system. When the flow of a battle turned against his team, Chansey's job was simple: charge in, drag the tempo down to a crawl, and smother the opponent's offensive momentum.
He'd been right to trust her completely. Chansey was the perfect choice for the job.
"Chansey, rest now. Abomasnow, activate your Ability, let's see the weather change again!"
Abomasnow's Snow Warning Ability triggered once more. Dark, icy clouds instantly began to gather and thicken overhead, ready to unleash another Hail storm.
Cradling a water bottle almost as big as she was, Espurr stared blankly at the intensifying weather on the field.
"Your turn, Espurr," Luther said softly. "Help me break Candice's rhythm completely."
Luther gently placed a hand on the small Psychic-type's head. Espurr leaned into his touch, rubbing against him affectionately, then slid across the thinning ice to give a soft, acknowledging high-five to the exhausted Chansey, who was retreating to the edge of the field.
Candice's eyes went wide as the final piece of Luther's strategy clicked into place.
"Sunny Day!"
Luther gave a wry smile as the sky above the battlefield cleared for the third time in quick succession, her weather advantage was erased again. Candice finally understood that Luther had completely outmaneuvered her, not with brute force, but with timing.
If she wanted to reclaim control of the weather now, she'd need to send in another Pokémon to use Hail or trigger Snow Warning.
But Abomasnow had already taken heavy, burning damage, triggered its Ability twice, and was clearly low on stamina.
If she forced a weather switch now, she would almost certainly be sacrificing Abomasnow.
Luther had cornered her: she either had to throw away her damaged Absol, or reveal whether she had any other Hail-team core members left just to re-establish the weather.
"This really does feel like battling Hakuya," Candice muttered, a grudging respect in her voice. "But compared to his slow, methodical style… you've got a bit more edge."
She quickly recalled the struggling Abomasnow.
Absol reappeared on the battlefield, looking ready, but clearly lacking the weather advantage it needed.
(End of Chapter)
You can read ahead up to 30 chapters on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darkshadow6395