Pokemon: Gym Leader

"No wonder she's Gym Leader Dylan's student—she's already taken out three of his Pokémon."

The older sister let out a heartfelt sigh. She'd been watching Rota Gym battles for a long time, and this was the first time she'd seen such a smooth opening.

Sure, Selene was technically behind, but given who she was fighting? Being in this kind of "disadvantage" against Dylan was already incredibly impressive.

"Right? Maybe she can even go for a four-kill," the Bird Keeper chimed in. Selene still had two Pokémon left—she might just pull it off.

But as for defeating Dylan? None of them were that optimistic.

Dylan's strength was well-known. Just a few days ago, he completely demolished Galar's undefeated Champion Leon.

They'd seen the video. Brutal.

On the field—

"Umbreon."

Dylan tossed out Umbreon again. The black-furred fox returned to the battlefield.

Umbreon—the ultimate lead. No matter what you were up against, it could always hold the line. Worst case, just pass the baton and get out.

And even Pokémon like Incineroar—Selene's go-to opener—couldn't do much to weaken it. Debuffs? Umbreon didn't care.

"Tch…" Selene clicked her tongue, frowning at the black fox.

After a second's thought, she threw out her sixth Poké Ball.

"Kartana, let's go!"

A flash of white—then a tiny, humanoid Pokémon floated onto the field.

It looked like a sword-wielding warrior—but if you looked closely, its entire body appeared to be made of folded paper. Its arms were long, razor-sharp blades.

The Ultra Beast codenamed UB-04: Blade—Kartana.

Beep~ Kartana. Grass/Steel-type. Drawn Sword Pokémon.

Ability: Beast Boost

Moves: Guillotine, Swords Dance, Sacred Sword, Leaf Blade, Night Slash, Detect, Aerial Ace…

Description: Said to have once sliced a massive metal tower in half with a single stroke. Classified as an Ultra Beast.

Kartana…

"Looks like Selene's going full offense now. Kartana's got insane attack power," Lillie said, eyes sparkling.

She knew Kartana well—her brother had one too.

It might look tiny, barely bigger than a hand, but its power was absurd.

She'd personally seen her brother's Kartana knock over a Tyranitar like it was nothing.

In the world of Pokémon, size meant nothing. And Kartana was proof—its Attack stat was practically legendary.

(Excluding Mythical and Legendary Pokémon, of course.)

The Pokédex said it could slice down steel towers in one stroke. Lillie didn't doubt that at all.

"Yeah, but Kartana's weaknesses are pretty obvious too."

Leaf nodded. Kartana had overwhelming physical offense, sure. But most Ultra Beasts were like that—extremely specialized.

Kartana had amazing Attack and solid Defense, plus decent Speed.

But its HP, Special Attack, and especially Special Defense? Trash-tier.

Not even worth trying to fix with training—it just was what it was.

That made it incredibly fragile against special moves.

A single Flamethrower from Charizard? Goodbye.

No exaggeration—Kartana's Fire-type weakness was 4x. It could melt in an instant.

"…Kartana." Dylan's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Curse."

Umbreon began chanting lowly, body glowing faintly—Curse activated.

Because Umbreon wasn't a Ghost-type, Curse had a different effect: it boosted Attack and Defense, but cut Speed.

"Sacred Sword!" Selene didn't hesitate.

Kartana let out a sharp cry and shot forward in a blur. Both arms lit with glowing blue energy, transforming into blades.

In just a breath or two, Kartana was in front of Umbreon—its right blade slashed down hard through the air.

Fighting-type: Sacred Sword!

Umbreon's Curse boost completed—it glowed briefly as its Attack and Defense rose, Speed dropped.

Slaaash!

Sacred Sword carved across Umbreon's body—Umbreon cried out in pain as the impact sent it flying.

Even with boosted Defense from Curse, Sacred Sword ignores defense changes.

And Fighting beats Dark—this hit hurt.

"Hard hitter," Dylan muttered.

His Umbreon had very high Defense—but it still took serious damage. That said it all.

"Don't let up! Keep using Sacred Sword!"

Kartana surged forward again—its left blade raised high, shining bright blue.

"Dig."

As Umbreon hit the ground, it immediately vanished—Dig sent it underground, leaving only a deep, dark hole.

"Force it out!"

Kartana floated upward, arms raised. The blades glowed, growing longer and sharper—Sacred Sword charged.

With a heavy slash, Kartana slammed both blades into the battlefield.

BOOM!

The ground trembled violently—deep fissures cracked open beneath the pressure.

Across the field, Umbreon surfaced—it had to. The underground quaking had become too intense to stay hidden.

"There!"

Kartana turned and shot toward Umbreon again.

"Baton Pass."

Dylan wasn't going to let Umbreon take another hit.

Just before Kartana reached it, Umbreon vanished into a streak of white light—Baton Pass activated.

Short exchange, but intense.

The crowd finally exhaled.

"Holy crap! That little thing's a beast!"

"That Sacred Sword was nuts! I've never seen it that massive before!"

"I swear, if that second strike had hit, Umbreon would've been done!"

"Selene's killing it!"

Excitement filled the gym—faces lit with shock, admiration, hype.

"That Kartana is really something," Dylan murmured. He truly respected its power.

"In that case…"

He threw out his fifth Poké Ball.

"Banette, you're up."

A small, purple puppet-like figure appeared—Banette.

Selene narrowed her eyes, already considering whether to pull Kartana out.

On paper, Banette couldn't compare to Kartana in raw power.

But battles were never about brute strength alone.

"Victory doesn't always go to the strongest," Dylan used to say—especially during his days leading Poison-type teams.

Selene, his "first disciple," had taken that lesson to heart.

"Shadow Sneak!" Dylan commanded.

Banette's form flickered into a ghostly blur—Ghost-type priority move. In an instant, it appeared in front of Kartana and slashed at it.

The sneak attack staggered Kartana. It crossed its sword arms in front of itself defensively.

"Return, Kartana!" Selene pulled out a Poké Ball.

"Mean Look!"

Too late.

A dark glimmer locked Kartana in place—the Mean Look landed.

A shadow clung to Kartana's feet, and the red recall beam from her Poké Ball fizzled out.

Selene's face froze.

Kartana was trapped.

"Selene, hesitation leads to chaos," Dylan said gently.

To be fair, even if she'd tried to switch the moment Banette appeared, it might not have helped.

With Prankster boosting status moves, Banette's Mean Look was just that fast.

"Leaf Blade!"

Selene gritted her teeth. She'd hesitated for just a second!

Whatever—it was just a Banette. Kartana was undefeated.

Green light flared from Kartana's blades—it lunged forward at high speed.

Grass-type: Leaf Blade!

It closed the gap fast—the two were already near each other. Kartana was like a flying sword, aiming to cut Banette clean through.

"Detect."

Dylan smiled faintly.

Banette's gem-like eyes shimmered—it bent backward at an impossible angle, just barely dodging the blow.

"Will-O-Wisp."

Banette's claws came together—blue ghostly flames floated toward Kartana.

Fire-type: Will-O-Wisp.

"Kartana!!" Selene cried.

Kartana slashed wildly—its blade-arms slicing the fireballs clean apart in midair.

"Tch… showoff."

Dylan clicked his tongue. Not just raw power—this thing had technique, too. Even ghost-fire couldn't land a hit.

But brute force alone wasn't always enough.

Banette's eyes gleamed with mischief—it clapped its little hands and cheered.

Eerie, whispery words floated through the air as it taunted and praised Kartana with mocking adoration.

Flatter.

The strange wave pulsed outward—Kartana's body shimmered as it absorbed the energy.

Its stance faltered slightly.

Its head twitched.

Then—it started spinning.

Confusion.

Flatter raised its Special Attack (useless for Kartana) but left it confused.

"…Kartana's confused now."

"Yikes. And that Banette has Fire Punch too."

"Who would've guessed a goofy Banette could neutralize something as scary as Kartana?"

The Bird Keeper trio sighed. This was the same Kartana that made Sacred Sword cause earthquakes.

And now it was stumbling around like a drunk, thanks to that weird little puppet.

"…."

Selene stared at her Pokémon, watching it stumble in a daze like it was shadowboxing the air.

Her expression twitched.

And she began to think:

…Okay. Now what?

(End of Chapter)