Tomo's 5th Gym Battle

After a long wait, Ash and Tomo would finally get to battle Fantina. This time it was Tomo's turn to battle the gym leader first. So Ash, Dawn, Brock and Barry sat in the side seats while Tomo stood on the battlefield with Growlithe. The referee introduced Fantina and explained the rules.

"I look forward to seeing how you do in our battle Tomo." Fantina said.

As she knew Tomo was Ash's brother, she hoped he would be a good battler like Ash.

"I have waited for this Fantina." Tomo said.

Ash was talking to Barry.

"Watch this Barry, Tomo and I will show you two gym battles you will never forget."

"Sure you will, but the result will be you losing." Barry replied.

He still didn't believe Ash and Tomo could beat Fantina.

"We'll see about that." Ash said.

Fantina sent out her first Pokemon, a Gengar. Tomo sent his Poochyena out to battle first.

"Humph Poochyena may be a dark type, but it will find it hard to beat Gengar." Barry said.

"Don't count Poochyena out." Ash responded. "Tomo and I have trained for this."

"Bite." Tomo told Poochyena.

Gengar dodged it. Then he flew around and around to confuse Poochyena.

"Poochyena, use Shadow Ball." Tomo said.

Poochyena released a dark purple ball of energy, but again Gengar dodged it.

"The way Fantina's Pokemon float around makes it impossible for another Pokemon to land an attack." Barry said. "I went through that when I battled her."

"Use Shadow Punch Gengar." Fantina said.

Poochyena was punched, but it didn't do much damage.

"Alright, no more Mr. nice guy." Tomo said. "Poochyena spin and use Dark Pulse."

Poochyena spun around on it's back, while releasing a Dark Pulse attack. It created a tornado of purple and black whips. Not only was Gengar hit by the whips, it was also tossed around. Everyone, except Ash, was surprised by this.

"It works perfectly." Ash smiled.

Fantina told her Gengar to try and not let it's body touch the Dark Pulse, but it was no use Gengar couldn't escape at all. Gengar kept getting hit by the tornado until Poochyena finally stopped spinning.

"Ha it's like Ash always says; 'a good defense is a strong offense'" Tomo said.

Fantina was impressed with this technique.

"I think we should call that technique the counter shield." She said.

Ash and Tomo liked that name so counter shield it was. Gengar attacked again with Night Shade while Poochyena attacked with Dark Pulse again. Gengar and Poochyena got hit by each other's attacks, but in the end Gengar fainted while Poochyena remained standing. Tomo won the first battle.

"Wow Ash, the idea you came up with before worked." Dawn said.

"Tomo and I practiced this a lot." Ash replied.

Barry was starting to feel a bit jealous because Tomo's Poochyena defeated Fantina's Gengar while his Pokemon didn't defeat any of her Pokemon. Fantina returned Gengar; she was impressed with how Tomo was battling.

Fantina sent out her Mismagius next. Tomo remembered Mismagius, especially when it used psychic type moves and Magical Leaf against Zoey's Glameow. He sent his Houndour out to battle next.

"Charge with Fire Fang Houndour." Tomo said.

Houndour ran as fast as he could towards Mismagius to bite it with Fire Fang, but Mismagius dodged Houndour. Houndour then leaped up and blew a stream of fire at Mismagius.

"Good job Houndour." Tomo said, giving a thumbs up.

Fantina was surprised by what just happened.

"Wow that Houndour is something." Barry said.

"Tomo's Houndour was part of a pack in the past, and it never forgot it's wild side." Brock said.

"Okay Houndour, time to use your new trick." Tomo said.

Houndour jumped high and spun around using Flamethrower; he was using a fiery counter shield. Mismagius used Psywave, but it still got hit by the counter shield.

"Magical Leaf." Fantina told her Mismagius.

This time the attack broke the counter shield apart. That was a surprise to everyone; as Magical Leaf was a grass type move it should have been weaker than the fiery counter shield. But Fantina's Pokemon were strong and of course she knew about the counter shield. It was then Tomo had an idea.

"Mismagius, Dark Pulse." Fantina ordered.

"Counter it with your own Dark Pulse." Tomo ordered.

The two Dark Pulse attacks collided with each other.

"Houndour, Feint Attack." Tomo ordered.

Houndour ran towards Mismagius and disappeared, and then while Mismagius searched for it Houndour charged into Mismagius. Migmagius fell to the floor after that attack and fainted.

"That's Tomo's second win." Dawn said.

"Now Tomo only needs to defeat one more Pokemon to earn the badge." Brock said.

Barry felt really jealous now. Tomo returned Houndour while Fantina returned her Mismagius.

"You did well against my Gengar and my Mismagius Tomo." Fantina said. "But let's see how you do against my Drifblim."

She released her Drifblim.

"Uh oh here's the difficult part." Dawn said. She remembered how strong Fantina's Drifblim was.

Tomo released his Dusknoir.

"Wow, a Dusknoir." Barry said. "This is going to be interesting; a ghost type Pokemon facing another ghost type Pokemon."

"Dusknoir, use the combination of Will-O-Wisp and Psychic." Tomo said.

Dusknoir released a Will-O-Wisp attack and used Psychic to spin the flames around himself, creating two big rings of flames.

"Oh ho an interesting technique there Tomo." Fantina said.

"Dusknoir and I did a lot of experimenting." Tomo smiled. "Right Dusknoir?"

Dusknoir nodded yes.

"Well then, let's make this more interesting." Fantina said. "Drifblim let's do the same thing."

Drifblim used the same Will-O-Wisp and Psychic technique as Dusknoir. Then the two ghost type Pokemon threw the Will-O-Wisp rings at each other, which collided.

"Wow that was impressive." Barry said.

"Dusknoir, use Night Shade." Tomo said.

Dusknoir released a Night Shade attack but Drifblim used Ominous Wind to counter it.

"Man, Dusknoir is going to lose." Barry said.

"Alright let's try this then. Dusknoir, use Shadow Punch." Tomo said.

Dusknoir managed to hit Drifblim with Shadow Punch.

"The good thing about Shadow Punch is that it never misses." Ash said.

"I take it you've faced the move Shadow Punch before?" Dawn guessed.

"I have." Ash nodded.

"Impressive that move was." Fantina said. "But it won't stop our counter shield."

Drifblim used the Will-O-Wisp and Psychic combination again.

"Dusknoir, use Fire Punch." Tomo said.

Dusknoir charged at Drifblim's Will-O-Wisp shield with Fire Punch. While it did that Dusknoir's Fire Punch attack absorbed the power of the Will-O-Wisp, making Fire Punch more powerful. Then Dusknoir slammed a flaming fist into Drifblim.

"That did it." Tomo said.

Fantina was surprised with what just happened, but enjoyed this all the same.

"Your Dusknoir is indeed magnifique." She said. "But this is not over. Drifblim, Ominous Wind."

"Dusknoir, use Protect and then Thunder Punch." Tomo said.

Dusknoir used Protect to defend itself from Ominous Wind and then moved forward to strike Drifblim with Thunder Punch.

"Yeah, that nailed it." Ash said.

Barry was surprised.

"Drifblim, Hypnosis." Fantina ordered.

Dusknoir quickly used Shadow Punch. Drifblim took a lot of damage from that. Then Dusknoir struck Drifblim with a electricity covered fist. Drifblim couldn't take any more after that and fainted, so Tomo won the gym battle.

Tomo cheered for his victory with Dusknoir and Growlithe. Ash, Dawn and Brock were happy for him. Barry couldn't believe it at first, but he did in the end. Fantina returned Drifblim and presented the Relic Badge to Tomo. The Relic Badge consisted of three purple circles combined together with a grey circle in the middle.

"Well Ash, I will battle you next." Fantina said. "But my Pokemon need to rest at the Pokemon Center first."

"Take your time Fantina." Ash said. "I'll be ready to battle you next."

So Tomo finally had his gym battle against Fantina, but Ash's was soon to come.