Mind Badge

Word spread across the Hoenn Region about Team Aqua and Team Magma being defeated. People were relieved that the two teams were finally arrested, especially those who had trouble with them. Archie, Shelly, Maxie and Tabitha would spend the next 40 years in prison while the grunts would spend 20 years in prison. The Hoenn Region was safe once again.

By now Ash and the others were in Mossdeep City. Lance had given them a lift and Ash was ready to face the leader of Mossdeep Gym. Mossdeep City was famous for it's space center and the launch of the space rockets. Ash found out that Mossdeep Gym had two leaders; twin brother and sister Tate and Liza. He also found out that Tate used a Solrock and Liza used a Lunatone. As Solrock and Lunatone were rock/psychic type Pokemon, Ash decided to use Nuzleaf and Mightyena since they were both dark type Pokemon and had a advantage over the Mossdeep gym.

The Mossdeep Gym was shaped like a space dome and the battlefield was like nothing Ash had seen before; the battlefield was three-dimensional and it had planet-like objects floating in the air. It was like the moon with planets flying around it. The gang thought this was very clever. The gym leaders Tate and Liza were twins all right; despite being a boy and girl they actually looked the same and dressed the same. The referee was their mother Rachel. Rachel explained that the battle would be a double battle and the person who knocks out the other opponent's Pokemon first wins.

"Let the battle begin." She said.

Ash sent out his Nuzleaf and Mightyena while Tate and Liza sent out Solrock and Lunatone. Brock pointed out that using dark type Pokemon for this gym was brilliant because of type advantage.

"But we don't know what other moves Tate and Liza's Solrock and Lunatone have." Max said. "And they might know some moves that could defeat Nuzleaf and Mightyena."

"Don't worry Max." Tomo reassured him. "Ash will figure out what to do. You know he always does."

"You're right." Max agreed.

Tate started things off by ordering his Solrock to use Tackle on Nuzleaf and then Liza ordered her Lunatone to tackle Mightyena. It was clear to Ash that Tate and Liza used combination moves in their battling, which meant that they did work together well in double battles.

"Okay Nuzleaf hit Solrock with Energy Ball and Mightyena use Crunch on Lunatone." Ash said.

Nuzleaf fired Energy Ball at Solrock and Mightyena jumped towards Lunatone to bite down on it. But Solrock and Lunatone had a clever trick; they were floating near some of the planet objects, so when the Pokemon dodged Nuzleaf's Energy Ball it hit one of the planets and Mightyena just bit down on another planet.

"Those two are good." Ash admitted.

Liza then ordered her Lunatone to use Ice Beam and Tate ordered his Solrock to use Solar Beam. This was bad; if Ice Beam and Solar Beam struck Nuzleaf and Mightyena, then they would be in trouble.

Ash was about to order his Nuzleaf to use Protect and have his Mightyena also use Protect to escape the attacks, but they didn't need to do anything.

Ice Beam and Solar Beam ended up colliding with each other, leaving Nuzleaf and Mighytena unharmed.

"Hey you messed up my Solar Beam!" Tate shouted at Liza. "My Solrock had perfect precision, but you interfered with it!"

"Oh please!" Liza argued back. "You were too slow!"

It was clear to the gang that Tate and Liza were not fully in sync with each other yet, and they were the arguing type. Ash saw this as an opportunity to attack and told his Nuzleaf to use Bullet Seed and Mightyena to use Dark Pulse. The two attacks struck Solrock and Lunatone and they didn't have a chance to dodge this time.

"Aah what happened?" Liza asked.

She and Tate didn't realize the attacks were coming until it was too late.

"What happened was that you two were too busy arguing, giving Ash a opportunity to attack." Rachel said, a bit angry. "You two should focus on this gym battle first and argue later."

Rachel may have been the referee but it still didn't stop her motherly duty to make her son and daughter stop arguing.

"Wow she's good." Max said. "She's like our mom when she tells us to stop fighting May."

"You're right." May agreed.

So Tate and Liza focused on their battle instead of continuing their argument. Even though Lunatone and Solrock were hit by Bullet Seed and Dark Pulse, they were still willing to battle.

"Okay Nuzleaf, let's use Seed Bomb on Solrock." Ash said. Seed Bomb was like Bullet Seed, but the seeds were bigger and a green color.

Nuzleaf fired multiple seeds towards Solrock, but then Lunatone came out in front of Solrock and used Light Screen. The Seed Bomb bounced off the Light Screen, leaving Solrock unharmed.

*'So that Lunatone knows Light Screen.'* He thought. *'I know how to take care of it though.'*

He ordered Nuzleaf to use Razor Leaf, but Liza told her Lunatone to use Light Screen again.

"Use Brick Break Nuzleaf." Ash said.

Nuzleaf switched from Razor Leaf to Brick Break and struck the Light Screen. When it struck the Light Screen, the shield smashed like a mirror and then Nuzleaf hit Lunatone with Brick Break.

"Sorry Liza." Ash said. "But Brick Break has the ability to destroy moves like Light Screen and Reflect."

"Ash is right, Brick Break has that ability." Max pointed out.

"Woah, I'm learning something new every day." May said.

Tate and Liza were surprised, they clearly didn't know that.

"Okay now Nuzleaf use Seed Bomb on Lunatone and Mightyena use Dark Pulse on Solrock." Ash said.

Nuzleaf and Mighytena fired their attacks at Solrock and Lunatone, and this time the attacks hit them directly. Solrock and Lunatone couldn't take any more after the attacks and fainted. So Ash was the winner of the battle.

Ash was happy with his win and gave Nuzleaf and Mightyena a hug, getting licks from Mightyena. Tate and Liza returned their Pokemon and went over to Ash.

"I must admit Ash, you are one strong Pokemon trainer." Tate said. "And we ended up learning new things from you."

"It made us realize that Tate and I still have a lot to learn about battling and still need to work on our combination moves." Liza said.

"I thought your combination moves were brilliant and you nearly had me with them." Ash said. "But I have to admit you two still need to work on your coordination, especially not arguing during a battle."

Tate and Liza blushed sheepishly.

"You're right." Liza agreed.

Tate handed over the gym badge to Ash; it was called the Mind Badge and it was pink in the shape of a heart with two sides closing in. So now Ash had seven gym badges and only needed one more to get into the Hoenn League.

With the gym badge obtained, it was now time for the gang to leave Mossdeep City for their next destination. They said goodbye to Tate and Liza and left the city.