"So, this is the gym." Harry said to himself, looking down at his Town Map and then back up at the building infront of him. Although "building", didn't seem like the appropriate word considering the fact that the gym looked to be a large doorway built into the side of the dark grey rock of the mountain side. He slipped his town map back into his waist pouch and tried to push down the nervousness he still felt at the base of his sternum as he walked forward.

Harry had alredy checked in at the Pokemon Center and dropped off his backpack. During his mandatory physical check-up he had amused the doctor conducting the exam, with him being so nervous about his gym challenge. He had been debating with himself ,out loud, about whether or not he should have lunch before going to the gym. On one hand he thought that it would be a good idea to eat since it was already just past noon and he had promised Professor Rowan that he wouldn't skip any meals as well as needing the energy during his battle. But he had then started worrying that with how nervous he was feeling and how his stomach was in knots, that he might make himself sick if he challenged the gym on a full stomach.

He had ended up having a package of peanut butter crackers and a fruit cup that the doctor had given him. The man explaining that he probably shouldn't challenge a gym on an empty stomach and that hunger could be a distraction in his battle, and if he didn't feel up to having a full meal then he should at least have a small snack. He had been looking at Harry with an amused expression, obviously finding some humor in the novice trainers nervousness over his first official gym challenge. As Harry was leaving, he had heard the doctor saying to himself, "I remember being that nervous my first time.", in a nostalgic voice.

Now Harry found himself standing in front of the gyms front door feeling like both turning around and running away and bursting through the front doors at a full sprint. Taking one last breath, he took one more step forward, opening the automated doors of the gym and walking inside.

Harry was slightly taken aback when he seen the interior of the gym, the outside was made of nothing but complete rock, but the inside was completely clean and sterile. There was smooth blue tile floors and shiny sky blue walls, it almost reminded him of the research lab. The main door of the gym led into a currently empty foyer, a front reception desk was in the back corner and a TV monitor was set into the far wall, with a few chairs lined up along the front wall opposite the reception desk.

Harry walked in looking around to see if there was anybody there, only finding the reception area completely empty.

"Hello, is anybody here?" He called out, as he walked toward the front desk. Looking over the desk he seen a small button embedded init, underneath a sign that said "Push for Assistants"

Harry pushed the plane little white button , and when he did he heard a repetitive buzzing coming from the hallway leading further into the gym, along with a dull white light flashing in time with the buzzing.

After about a minute or so Harry heard the sound of two sets of footsteps coming down the hallway before two young men came into the room.

One of them had long clover green hair and eyes with a bit of scruff on his chin, and was wearing a burnt yellow mining outfit. The second man had red hair under a red mining helmet and rectangular glasses over his burgundy eyes. He wore a similar mining outfit as the first man, only his was grey and outlined in yellow with white gloves.

The man in the helmet and glasses was the one to speak upon seeing Harry in the foyer, while the other one went over and pressed the button again silencing the buzzing.

"Hello, can I help you with something?"

Harry swallowed nervously before steeling himself and speaking. "M-my name is Harry. I've come to challenge the Oreburgh gym?" He tried to say but it came out as a question.

"Oh, well then welcome to the Oreburgh Pokémon Gym! I'm Roark, the Gym Leader." He introduced, his eyes seemed to gain an excited gleam at hearing the challenge. "You can scan in as a challenger over there." He pointed over to the front desk that the other man was now standing behind.

"Welcome, I'm Ian the pokemon caretaker here." The man, now named Ian, said as Harry approached. "If you'll just let me see your pokedex for a minute, I can have you scanned in as an official challenger." He held out his hand for the device which Harry handed over.

"So how many badges do you have right now?" Ian asked as he inserted Harry's pokédex into a scanner on the computer.

"I don't actually have any badges.." Harry admitted.

"Oh, so is this your first time challenging a gym?" Ian asked. He handed Harry back his pokedex, who only nodded his head in agreement.

"Then you'll need this, " He opened a drawer under the desk and grabbed something out of it. "Here, your Sinnoh region badge case."

He then slid a slate grey badge case over to Harry.

"Thank you very much." The green eyed trainer said in gratitude, taking the case.

"All right now that that's all taken care of we can get started, please come this way." Roark said as he turned and started walking back down the hallway that he and Ian had first come from.

'Alright I can't turn back now.' He thought as he followed the redheaded gym leader.

'Maybe I should have turned back.' Harry thought to himself, his stomach seemed to clench so hard that he was sure if he swallowed some cole he'd cough up a diamond.

He was currently standing on a battlefield covered in rocks that was in front of a large set of bleachers that were currently empty. Honestly Harry wasn't sure whether he was happy or sad that the arena size seatings were empty. On one hand he wasn't sure if he wanted a big crowd gawking at him as he tried bumbling his way through his first official gym battle but on the other hand he felt a little bit overly scrutinized just having the gym leader and a referee there. And wasn't that a strange feeling, never before at any point in Harry's life did he ever think he would be debating with himself about whether or not he wanted a crowd of people watching him. Though he guessed if there was a crowd it would probably seem more like how is first contest was; something more familiar than what was going on now, then he could at least take some comfort in the unfamiliar situation he was in now.

"The Oreburgh city gym battle between Roark the gym leader and Harry the challenger is about to get underway. The battle will be three on three and as soon as all of one sides pokemon are unable to battle the challenge will be over. In addition only the challenger will be allowed to switch pokemon." Ian called out from his place on the sidelines between the two trainers.

"Now let the battle begin!"

Immediately Roark sent out his first pokemon.

"Onix, let's go!"

"Ooon!"

Harry almost felt his heart stop when out of Roark's pokeball came the largest pokemon he'd ever seen to date. Of course he'd seen many battle reruns with people using the mega sized pokemon, and he had read up on the species. But that still didn't take away from the fact that facing it in real life was pretty freaking scary, especially with it only being the very first pokemon in the battle.

Hesitantly he took out his pokedex and scanned the gargantuan rock snake.

Onyx, the rock snake pokemon. It tunnels through the ground which shakes when it raises its thunderous roar. It can move through the ground at 50 miles per hour. The robotic voice informed

"And for the challengers pokemon?" Ian prompted when Harry didn't make a move to release a pokemon.

"Alright Ralts, you're on!"

"Ralts!"

'Okay, Onix is a rock and ground-type, Magical Leaf should be my best bet.'

"Harry, you have the honor of the first move." Roark said, to which Harry nodded.

"Ralts, use Magical Leaf!"

"Ral!"

Right on command the psychic-type jumped into the air an spun around, her horns flashing a light green for a second, releasing glowing green leafs at the Onix.

"Onix, dodge it."

With surprising speed the rock-type moved out of the way of the super effective attack.

"Woah, it's so fast!" Harry stated in shock.

Now, it's our turn. Onix use Slam!"

"Ooon!"

With that, Onix brought its tail up before slamming it down towards Ralts.

"Dodge!"

Ralts tried to move out of the way of the attack, and had avoided being slammed directly beneath the large tail, but was still hit on the side of her body and was sent careening back with a pained cry.

"Ralts! Are you okay?" Harry called out, panic seeping into his voice. From across the field Roark fixed him with a speculative look.

"R-ral." Shakily, Ralts managed to push herself off the ground.

Right as Ralts had gotten back on her feet Roark was calling out his next move.

"Onix use Double-Edge!"

Onix entire body started glowing gold as it charged straight at Ralts.

"Double Team and dodge it!"

Right on command, multiple illusions of Ralts started appearing around the battle field, a few disappearing as Onix charged through some of the fake ones that were where Ralts had been.

"Now use Confusion." Harry called as soon as Onix had stopped.

"Ralts!" Every one of the Ralts' horns and eyes started glowing purple. Onix body was outlined in purple for a moment before it was suddenly knocked back, though it didn't fall over it did seem to take some damage.

"That was brilliant." Harry called to his partner, with a smile, his nerves now settling down.

"I'll admit that was a good counter attack, " Roark said with a smirk. "But we're not done yet. Onix use Slam on the ground!"

"Ooon." With a loud roar, Onix brought its tail down into the center of the feil, smashing the ground and sending rocks out in every direction, knocking Ralts and her copys back and causing the Double Team to disperse.

"Ralts get up and use Magical Leaf!"

"Onix use Screech."

Immediately Ralts began spinning her body around, firing off the glowing green leaves. Though as the Magical Leaf shot towards the rock snake pokemon, Onix opened its mouth and the inside of it was glowing white. It then released a light blue cylinder beam of sonic shockwaves accompanied by a deafening roar. The Screech blew away the leafs as the beam of sound shot toward Ralts, blasting her back into a large rock.

"Ralts!" Harry shouted in horror at his pokemon being hurt.

"Onix, now use Slam."

"Onn!" Seiing Onix raising its tail again, Harry brought out Ralts' pokéball.

"Ralts, return!" He shouted, almost a bit hysterically, as he pulled Ralts from the battle before Onix tail hit where she had been.

"How did you do that? Screech is a status type move, it shouldn't be able to cause damage!" Harry shouted at/asked Roark. At that moment Harry was feeling an intense pressure in his chest. He had to find a way to turn this battle around, otherwise it would be his pokemon getting hurt. He knew going in that this battle would be different than the ones he had been in on the road, that it would be tougher. But seeing Ralts getting knocked around and almost slammed on the battlefield had been a lot more than he was ready for. In The Wizarding World anytime he had to face any sort of danger or challenge, whether he was alone or with Ron and or Hermione, he would be in as mutch danger of getting hurt. It was a whole new experience to be in a situation where, if he failed someone else would be hurt and he would still walk away physically unharmed, and the situation unnerved him.

"Now, Sylveon your on." Harry called, releasing his main partner.

"Sylve!" Sylveon appeared from its pokéball with a ready cry, but a moment after it was released it looked back at Harry with a concerned expression. It started at him for a second before turning back to their opponents, looking somewhat nervous.

Both Roark and Ian paused at the sight of the new pokemon.

"Well, I've never seen that pokemon before. This should be interesting." Roark commented, not seeming to be particularly worried about the unknown opponent.

"Sylveon, Disarming Voice."

Roark furrowed his brows at the unknown attack that Harry had called.

The fairy-type opened its mouth, firing the heart shaped sound waves, and hitting the rock-type and knocking it back.

"All right Onix use, Stealth Rock!" Roark ordered.

"Wait, what!?" Harry cried in shocked disbelief, knowing what that move was and what it did.

Several shiny glints of energy appeared around Onix before they shot forward and flew into the ground all around on Harry's side of the battlefield and causing several sharp rocks to protrude from the ground.

"Damn it, this is bad."

"I take it by that look you know what Stealth Rock does, am I right Harry?"

"Now any pokemon I call in is going to get hurt right from the start." Harry said, looking around the newly formed stalagmites for a moment before calling his next attack.

"Alright use Shadow Ball then follow up with Fairy Wind."

"Syl!"

Sylveon formed and fired the dark sphere at its opponent.

"Dodge them both Onix." Immediately the large pokemon moved out of the way of the Shadow Ball, but was immediately hit by the gust of silvery pink wind that Sylveon had released with a wave of its ribbons.

"Onix, are you okay?" Roark asked as the rock snake was knocked sideways from the attack. Even though Onix looked fine Roark could tell that his pokemon was starting to feel the strain.

"Onnn!" It roared in reassurance as it got back into a battle ready position.

"Sylveon use Shadow Ball again."

Sylveon again fired the ghost-type move from its open mouth.

"Move Onix, and get in close!"

Onix immediately charged forward, moving out of the way of the incoming Shadow Ball and closing in on Sylveon.

"Now use Double-Edge."

Onix once again started glowing gold and rushed toward Sylveon, impacting against it before Harry had a chance to give it any orders.

"Sylveon!" Harry shouted out after Sylveon was sent flying backwards and slamming into, and making an indent in, one of the rocks one the battle field.

"Sylveon, oh Merlin. Sylveon are you okay?" Harry called, trying his hardest not to run onto the field. His hands where twitching as he moved from foot to foot as a way to relieve some of the anxious energy he had.

"Syl-Sylveon." Slightly staggering, the fairy-type managed to push itself out of the small crater in the rock and back onto its somewhat shaky legs. It turned slightly and looked back at Harry, the concerned look, now more pronounced with it all scraped up.

"All right Onix let's finish this off with Slam."

The command from Roark had Sylveon and Harry refocusing in on their opponents, whom they had momentarily forgotten about.

"Onnn." Onix lifted its tail before bringing it down towards a still wobbly Sylveon.

"Sylveon get back." Sylveon jumped backwards avoiding the massive tail. "Now get back and used Disarming Voice from afar."

"Onix, after it."

Sylveon jumped backwards, vaulting between rocks and trying to gain some distance as Onix was moving forward after it. The two of them continued in this way for a while, each trying to gain ground in the battle. Suddenly as Onix was chasing after Sylveon, who had made an impressive series of dodges from the right to left and back again, had maneuvered its body into an awkward position and momentarily stopped its chase.

"There, now jump and let them have it." Harry ordered. Sylveon immediately jumped into the air and let lose the vocal attack.

"Syl-Ve-Oooon~"

The heart shaped shockwaves hit Onix, knocking it onto its side.

"Onix!"

"Alright Sylveon, keep your distance and use Fairy Wind." Harry ordered

"Syl!" Sylveon swung its ribbons and sent the pink gale at its opponent.

"Double-Edge, and cut through." Onix glowing golden body went shooting straight into the Fairy Wind and cutting through it with little resistance.

"Sylveon, jump high and dodge it, then use Swift. " Harry called, when he seen that the super sized pokemon was still coming.

"Syl." Sylveon extended its ribbons as it did a flip and springboarded itself high into the air and avoided getting hit by Onix Double-Edge for a second time. While still in mid air, Sylveon spun around and swung its ribbons out and sent a volley of pink glitter-dusted golden stars at the Onix.

"Now Onix, counter it with Iron Tail." Roark called right as the Double-Edge missed. Immediately when Onix stopped, it turned back toward Sylveon with its tail glowing white.

Harry's eyes widened at hearing the attack, practically screaming out his next order. "Sylveon dodge it now!"

"Onnn." Onix's glowing tail swung through the Swift, not even slowing down as it destroyed the stars, straight into a wide eyed Sylveon. There was an angry 'smack' as the large tail hit the fairy-type, sending it flying into the opposite wall before falling to the ground, unmoving.

"Sylveon, No!" Harry cried, as he ran over to where Sylveon lay, its eyes where swirled showing it was unconscious.

"Sylveon is unable to battle." Ian called from the sidelines. "Onix wins."

Harry stood up after returning Sylveon to its pokéball and turned back towards the rock type gym leader still feeling unnerved at the sight of the large pokemon that he still needed to beat.

'I need to get rid of that beast of a pokemon. It has to be on its last legs by now.' He thought before he sent out his next pokemon.

"Alright, Tyrunt, you're on."

"Ty!"

As Tyrunt appeared the stalagmites that were created by the Stealth Rock rose up into the air before all coming down and smashing onto the rock/dragon type.

Tyrunt emerged from the smoke, a little bit roughed up but fairly good, and in the same way Sylveon had done, looked back at Harry in concern. Though unlike Sylveon, Tyrunt only looked at Harry for a second before turning toward Roark and Onix and growling threateningly at them.

"This time we'll attack first. Onix use Iron Tail." Roark called, starting the battle.

"Onnn." Onix moved forward tail glowing, and swung at the other duel rock-type.

"Tyrunt jump and use Dragon Tail."

Tyrunt jumped up shockingly high for having sutch a stout body, avoiding the swing of Onixs tail, before it's own tail became covered in a green scaley aura. Tyrunt twisted in the air toward Onix and slammed its tail into the side of its body, knocking it over with a cry of pain and kicking up dust as its large body hit the ground.

When the dust cleared Onix was sprawled on the battle field, its eyes swirled and out cold.

"Onix is unable to battle, Tyrunt wins!" Ian announced.

Roark took out a pokeball and returned his Onix ."Thank you, take a good rest." He said to the pokéball before taking out another.

"Nice job Tyrunt!" Harry praised his pokemon and breathing out a sigh of relief. He was now feeling mutch less anxious with Onix out of the match and Tyrunt having taken only minor damage.

"Don't get too comfortable there Harry," Roark called out. "You may have beaten my Onix but this battle is far from over." He warned, now eyeing Harry with a more speculative look.

Roark released his next pokemon, "Cranidos, let's go."

"CraniDos!"

Standing in front of Roark was a grey and blue dinosaur-like pokémon that resembled a pachycephalosaurus. Harry furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at the pokemon. He had read about them and new they were considered to be extinct. He then took out his pokedex and scanned it.

Cranidos, the Head Butt Pokémon. Cranidos lived in the deep woods about one hundred million years ago, and its cranium is as hard as steel. Cranidos toughen up their already rock-hard heads by headbutting one another. The robotic voice explained.

"That Cranidos, it's a restored fossil, isn't it?" Harry asked

"That's right! Looks like someone's done their homework. This Cranidos was restored from a pokemon fossil I found as a kid, it was also the first pokemon to be restored here in Oreburgh City at the museum." Roark explained enthusiastically. "Its also my most trusted pokemon, so don't think this is going to be as easy as going up against Onix." The coal miner warned.

The fact that he was down a pokemon, and Ralts was already weakened from her earlier battle, and Roark still had two at full health, slammed into Harry like a train. Though luckily for him he wasn't hit with the same anxiety he had been feeling since..well the start of the match. Doing his best to shake off the nerves he still felt Harry looked forward and called out his first move, starting the battle.

"Tyrunt use Bite."

"Ty."

Tyrunt charged forward with its mouth open, ready to chomp down on the other prehistoric pokemon.

"Cranidos, dodge it and follow up with Headbutt."

"Crani"

Tyrunt reached Cranidos and made to bite it, but just before it could clamp down Cranidos moved to the side before bending over and launching forward, slamming its blue cranium into Tyrunt's side.

Tyrunt cried out in pain but managed to stay on its feet as it was pushed skidding to the side. It came to a stop and redirected itself back toward Cranidos.

"Alright Cranidos, now use Focus Energy"

Cranidos's body started glowing white for a moment before the glow traveled upwards to its head causing its blue dome to glow blue for a moment before fading.

"Tyrunt, use Stomp!"

Tyrunt took a running start before jumping up into the air, then coming down with its foot lifted up.

Roark smirk slightly before calling out his next command. "Cranidos, intercept with Zen headbutt."

"Crani!" The blue part on Cranidos's skull began to glow blue and became surrounded in a light blue reflective shield, as it ran forward towards the incoming Tyrunt. The two rock-types moves clashed, kicking up a large dust cloud do to the collision. The two prehistoric pokemon came sailing out of opposite ends of the dust cloud, Cranidos was skidding backwards, still on its feet and looking to have taken a bit of damage. Tyrunt was knocked backwards, tumbling across the ground having taken a considerable amount more damage than its opponent.

" Tyrunt, can you get up?" Harry asked, once again frantic at the thought of his pokemon being hurt and unable to go on.

"TyTyrunt." It wheezed as it got back to its feet, now covered in dirt and scrapes.

"Alright Cranidos finish this off with Zen Headbutt." Roark called out.

Cranidos's dome once again started glowing before it began charging at Tyrunt again.

"Tyrunt move quick." Tyrunt jumped back and to the side just before Cranidos launched itself at it, head first.

"Cranidos keep after it until you hit it."

"Tyrunt keep dodging."

The two pokemon continued on with Cranidos lunging and trying to land a hit and Tyrunt moving around, narrowly avoiding the glowing blue skull.

'Tyrunt can't take another hit from that.' Harry thought to himself, as he watched Cranidos get closer and closer to landing a blow, before an idea hit him.

"Tyrunt get back," He instructed, Tyrunt jumped back on command, avoiding another of Cranidos's attack from the right.

"Now, use Roar." A blue aura surrounded Tyrunt for a moment before it opened its mouth and let out a deafening Roar just as Cranidos turned around.

"Crani." Cranidos closed its eyes tightly at the loud sound before it when back into its pokeball as another pokemon was pulled out of a shocked Roark's pocket.

"DudeGeodude?" A slight confused Geodude had taken the place of Cranidos.

Not waiting for the others to get their bearings Harry was immediately on the offensive. "Tyrunt use Bite."

Tyrunt immediately lunged forward and clamped down tight onto Geodude's arm and pulling a pained cry from it.

"Wow Harry, I'm impressed. That was a pretty good strategy you came up with, especially on the fly like that." Roark praised. "But now it's time for our counter attack. Geodude, use Hidden Power. "

Geodude's body, still inside Tyrunt's jaws, became outlined in yellow as it crouched in on itself, and light blue orbs appeared around it immediately hitting Tyrunt from point blank range

Tyrunt cried out as it was forced to let go of Geodude as it was knocked away.

"Tyrunt, stand up." Harry called out, seeing that despite the damage it had taken that his Tyrunt was still conscious. Before Harry could give a command, Roark was alredy back on the offensive.

"Now Geodude, use Seismic Toss."

"Dude." Geodude got in close and grabbed onto a still dazed Tyrunt and floated high into the air.

"Tyrunt you have to try and get free!" Harry cried to Tyrunt who was already trying to break out of Geodude's grasp on it to no avail.

Geodude then came falling back down toward the ground, spinning around as it descended. Just before the two pokemon reached the floor Geodude released its hold and slammed Tyrunt into the battlefield.

"Tyrunt?" Harry called out in question to his current battle partner.

"Ty-Runt" The Rock and dragon type muttered half coherently from where it was lying on the ground, eyes swirling and hardly conscious.

"Tyrunt is unable to battle ,Geodude wins." Ian announced.

Harry returned Tyrunt to its pokéball, his jaw was clenched and his brows were furrowed. He was down to his last pokemon, and Ralts had alredy taken damage in her earlier battle with Onix.

'This is bad,' Harry thought to himself as he took out his last pokéball. Geodude and Cranidos had both taken damage, but they were both still in better shape than the lone shiny psychic-type that Harry had in his corner.

"Ralts, you're back on." Harry called, re-releasing his pokemon onto the battlefield.

"Ral!" Ralts cried as she appeared, still covered in scrapes and bruised from her previous go around. Looking at her, Harry once again felt the same helpless fear he had felt when he first seen her going against Onix and along with the fear he felt the pressure and anxiety of not being able to do anything to stop his pokemon from getting hurt. Luckily for him the fear and nervousness only lasted for about a second before the Stealth Rock from earlier lifted into the air and crashed into Ralts damaging her more, and snapping Harry's focus back on to the battle as a whole, not just the damage his partner had taken.

"Looks like the battles almost over." Roark said after getting a look at Ralts's current state.

"Maybey, but it's not over yet." Harry snapped back, not likeing the dig about him and his pokemon losing. "Right Ralts?"

"Ral!" She cried in affirmation to which Harry smiled.

At Harry's response, Roark smiled. "Good, that's what I like to hear."

Not really understanding the positive reaction from the gym leader Harry decided to get right into the thick of the battle, and called his first move.

"Ralts use, Magical Leaf."

"Ral!" Ralts again started spinning and sent a barrage of glowing green leafs at Geodude.

"Geodude, use Hidden Power."

"Geo" Geodude was outlined in yellow before the teal orbs of the attack surrounded it as it moved it directed the attack toward the on comeing Magical Leaf. The orbs and the leafs collided in a blast of smoke, canceling each other out.

"Geodude, now use Rollout."

"Geo" Geodude lunged forward before it tucked its arms in around its body and began rolling at a high speed.

"Ralts use Double Team."

Multiple duplicates of Ralts popped up around the battlefield, just before Geodude charged through where Ralts had originally been, dispersing one of the copies.

"Ralts, use Confusion."

Ralts and her copies horns all became outlined in purple before the still rolling Geodude, was stopped in its tracks as it also became outlined in purple. Geodude froze for a moment before it was jerked roughly to the left then was flung to the right and smashing into one of the battlefield rocks.

"Geodude?" Roark, called out.

"Ge-Geo" Geodude, gritted out as it hurriedly pushed itself up, and looked around at all the Ralts copies that were infront of it.

"Geodude, use Hidden Power, wideshot."

Geodude created the glowing teal balls of energy around itself, then flung its arms out wide and launching them in all directions in front of itself.

"Ralts, stop it with Shock Wave. Then use Magical Leaf " Harry quickly ordered.

"Raal!" Ralts and her copies all started glowing a bright electrical blue before spreading their arms out and sending out sparking rings of electricity. As the two moves hit, the Hidden Power became electrified from the Shock Wave, creating a sort of large electric spider web as it was stopped midair. Ralts then fired off Magical Leaf and sent a shower of glowing leafs straight through the attack fusion, and showering down onto a wide eyed Geodude.

"Geo!" The rock-type, cried out in pain as it when skidding back from the attack, before stopping on it's back with swirled eyes.

"Geodude is unable to battle, the winner is Ralts." Ian called out from the sidelines.

Roark returned Geodude to its pokéball. "You battled great, take a good rest." he said to the red and white ball.

"Brilliant! Nicely done Ralts, only one to go." Harry enthusiastically praised.

"Ral-Ralts!" Ralts cheered happily, though a bit out of breath. she was breathing hard and her posture was slumped, it was obvious she was feeling the weight of the battle.

" I have to say, I'm impressed." Roark said from his end of the battlefield. "I honestly didn't think you'd be able to make it through that last match." He sounded proud of the fact that Harry had proved him wrong in his assumption.

"Then I guess you shouldn't have underestimated us." Harry said with a slight cheeky smirk.

'But I really don't know how much longer Ralts can keep going.' He thought to himself, making sure to keep the worry off his face. Honestly he wasn't sure if Ralts would collapse from another attack or from fatigue.

"Cranidos, let's go." Roark called, sending out his last pokemon.

"Crani!"

Deciding to try and get the whole thing wrapped up as soon as possible Harry immediately when on the attack.

"Ralts, Double Team and then use Magical Leaf."

Immediately Ralts started moving forward, though very sluggishly, and created duplicates of herself all around the battlefield before they all unleashed a wave of glowing leafs towards the blue-headed pokemon.

"Cranidos use, Flamethrower."

"Crani" Before the Magical Leaf was about to hit, Cranidos opened its mouth and released a long stream of fire, burning the leafs to ashes then started taking out the duplicates from the Double Team.

"Ralts take cover." Harry shouted just before the Flamethrower was about to hit the real one. Ralts clumsily dodged behind a rock, narrowly avoiding the flames.

"Cranidos, use Headbutt."

" Ralts, get ready and use Shock Wave right when you see it."

Cranidos immediately ran towards the rock that Ralts was hiding behind, and ran around it. Right as Cranidos rounded the corner Ralts formed a sphere of blue electricity and shot off a bolt, hitting a surprised Cranidos.

"Take cover again." Harry ordered.

Right when Ralts stopped the attack she immediately jumped behind another rock.

"That won't work twice. Cranidos use Head Smash and go straight through."

Cranidos's entire body became surrounded in a whitish-blue aura, the aura was glowing so intensely that only the outlined silhouette of its body could be seen.

Harry's green eyes went wide at the sight of the extremely powerful move before he began shouting out orders.

"Ralts, move back and get out of there."

Ralts started moving backwards, away from the rock she was hiding behind, trying to get some distance without stepping into Cranidos's line of sight.

Cranidos shot forward at the rock with its head pointed at it and crashed into it, smashing it apart and speeding towards Ralts. Cranidos was moving so fast that it impacted against the weakened psychic-type before Harry had a chance to give another command. Ralts when flying ungracefully through the air before falling to the ground in a heap, clearly unconscious.

"Ralts is unable to battle. The challenger has no more Pokemon so the winner is the gym leader Roark." Ian announced.

Before Ian had even finished speaking, Harry had run out onto the battlefield to where Ralts was lying, kneeling down and picking her up.

"You did well Cranidos, take a nice rest." Roark said to his pokemon giving it an affectionate pet on the head before returning it to its pokeball.

"Harry," he called getting the teens attention as he walked over. "You really surprised me towards the end of our battle. I didn't think you would be able to get pass my Onix, let alone get me down to my last pokemon. You've got some impressive battling skills." The man praised.

"Thank you." Harry said as he stood up cradling Ralts in his arms.

Suddenly Roark frowned and his expression became serious. "Now you did manage to pull it together towards the end but when we first started you were completely tense and skittish."

"O-oh yeah, I was pretty nervous about my first gym battle." Harry explained.

"I could tell." Roark said. "It's pretty normal for people to be nervous there first time around, but even with your nerves you have to stay focused on the battle. That's what you failed to do and that's why things turned out the way they did. When your in a pokemon battle, you can't let your nerves get the best of you. You've got to keep yourself together, because if you can't, your pokemon won't know what to do when you go to pieces.

Harry flinched back like he had been hit. Roark's words cutting deep, 'you failed' 'that's why things turned out the way they did' your pokemon won't know what to do' you go to pieces'. He had failed, that's why he was now holding and looking down at his unconscious Ralts. This is exactly what he didn't want to happen, his pokemon had gotten hurt because of him.

Before Harry could go any further into his self deprecating internal spiral, Roark continued talking.

"That right there is part of what you did wrong." The redheaded gym leader said sternly, startling Harry into looking up at him. "You got so worked up over your pokemon taking damage that you weren't able to properly command them, and they ended up taking even more damage because of that." He had seen the way Harry had been looking down at his Ralts, like he was a child that had just been scolded for playing to rough and hurting someone. " It's normal to not want to see your Pokemon hurt and to be worried when they get hurt in battle. But you can't swing from enthusiastic and focused to nervous and panic every time your pokemon and your opponent's pokemon trade hits. I noticed that every time Ralts or Sylveon took damage you seem to get more and more panicked. But whenever they managed to land an attack you would relax. You can't keep running so hot and cold throughout a battle, you have to keep a level head." He said vehemently

Roark's face relaxed a bit and he let us small smile cross his lips before continuing. "But like I said you did manage to pull it together. Once you stopped being so nervous and started focusing on the battle itself you and your Tyrunt,(On a side note I'd like to talke more with you about that pokemon later on if you don't mind.) where able to really turn things around." Roark then put a hand on Harry's sholder, unintentionally making the green-eyed psychic tense up. "You were even able to take down my Geodude with Ralts, even though it had already battled."

Harry was feeling a bit shell shocked, and could only nod his head in understanding at Roark's words.

"Please feel free to come back and challenge me again. I really would like to battle you when you have a clear head from the start." He gave Harry's sholder a slight squeeze before letting go and started walking away. "Right now my pokemon need some well deserved rest, and I think yours could use a trip to the pokemon center to." He said in departure.

Harry took a deep breath and slowly relaxed himself from his tensed up posture do to Roark unexpectedly touching him. Harry still didn't like people touching him, something that had develop due to his upbringing of unfriendly touch at the hands of the Dursleys. Though he had gotten used to small bits of physical affection from the staff at the research lab, Professor Rowan would occasional give his sholder a pat or squeeze when he did well, Yuzo and Albert gave him pats on the back or ruffled his hair in praise or in passing in the lab. Miranda would sometimes pat him on the hand or head when he got an answer right when she would study with him, and Zach would some times bring him into a friendly side hug or an affectionate noogie when they would talk while watching TV. But he still didn't really feel comfortable when strangers touched him.

Slowly, Harry left the battlefield area and walked with Ian back to the front entrance and out the front door. He was still processing everything that had happened so he only replied with a nod of the head to the man as he bid him goodbye and encouraged him to come and challenge the gym again.

As Harry walked back toward the pokemon center everything finally started to sink in. Even though he knew Ralts had taken damage earlier and that he was going up against a professional pokemon gym leader, who still had two much less injured pokemon. There was still a part of him that thought he would turn things around.

But he hadn't.

He had lost.

A/N: And another chapter done, also this is my longest chapter of this story so far, honestly I wanted to ened this at a different place but this chapter seems to have run its course. I hope the battle seemed turned out okay , it's easy to imagine this stuff in my head, putting it into words... not so much.Well anyway, as always Thank you so much for all of the, Favorites, Follows and especially Reviews. See you next time.