Journey Towards Greatness

Seeing her Meditite being taken down from a single shot made Maylene tense up, Paul also becomes serious.

Paul 'Such power and speed, completely different from the Cranidos I fought in Oreburgh city'

Paul has easily won his battle against the Oreburgh gym leader and his Cranidos, but seeing how Julian handles his Cranidos he wondered if his pokemon can withstand one of the attacks from Julian's Cranidos.

Paul 'He didn't give a chance for the opposition to find their footing, fast pace commands, one after the other, but they aren't random as well, it looks like he calls out the move depending on the position of his pokemon's stand, this way he is able to pull off continuous flawless attacks'

Paul is indeed right, Julian always has his eyes both on the opposition and his pokemon, he always sees what position his pokemon is in and if his pokemon will be able to pull off a move during this position.

But to reach this level even Julian had to train and bond with his pokemons a lot, he had to study them and how they react on every command of his, it is not easy to pull of continues moves like Julian.

Paul, of course, understands this and learns how large of a gap there is between him and Julian.

Maylene calls back her Meditite back to its Pokeball and takes out her next Pokeball.

Maylene "You won the first round but it won't be so easy, let's go Machoke"

She sends out her Machoke as her next pokemon, a big bulky Machoke enters the battlefield and looks down on Cranidos.

Julian 'Let's see what this big fellow can do'

He thought and smiled.

Maylene "Machoke be careful, the opponent is stronger than normal challengers"

Her Machoke nodded at her and looked at the little blue and grey pokemon in front of it.

Maylene "Machoke let's go, use Karate Chop"

Machoke soon brings down its big arm towards Cranidos.

Julian "Dodge"

Cranidos moves to the side and dodges the Karate chop, the hand continues down and hit the ground and causes the side to break and come out of the ground carrying Cranidos with it causing him to go off balance.

Maylene sees this and doesn't want to miss this chance.

Maylene "Now Low Kick"

Julian "Use Protect"

As Machoke's legs come near Cranidos a force field stops it completely, Cranidos lands back on his feet and stares at Machoke.

Julian has thought Cranidos some defensive moves as well because sometimes speed and power is not always everything, Protect is a very useful move and Julian made it so that Cranidos learns it and will be able to protect himself from attacks like this.

Julian "Ancient Power"

Julian called out another attack, Cranidos created multiple mini rocks around him and shot it towards Machoke.

Maylene "Machoke, deflect it with Close Combat"

As Maylene said, Machoke uses its hands and legs to shatter all the rocks shot towards it but during this, it didn't notice that Cranidos has also jointed the rocks.

Julian "Iron Head"

Cranidos uses the rocks around him to jump from one to other and lands a powerful Iron Head right in the stomach causing Machoke to back off holding its stomach in pain.

Maylene didn't expect this at all, Cranidos was carefully camouflaged with the glowing rocks with that Iron Head reflecting the light.

Maylene "Machoke, stay on guard we cannot give them a second to attack or it will become hard"

Maylene said and warned Machoke, Machoke nodded and got its attention back to Cranidos.

Julian "Focus Energy"

Julian called another command, Cranidos's moves became stronger as Cranidos used Focus Energy.

Maylene "Machoke use Revenge"

Machoke charges towards Cranidos once again while using Revenge, revenge is a move that doubles the amount of damage if the user was hit before, Maylene wants to finish this with one hit, she knows that the previous Iron Head hit Machoke very hard, she could see Machoke is having a hard time breathing after taking that powerful hit.

Julian "Use Ice Beam"

Suddenly Julian calls out another move, Ice Beam, Maylene didn't expect Cranidos to know any Ice-type moves at all.

Cranidos aims at Machoke's legs and freezes it, causing it to fall face-first on the hard ground.

Julian "Let's get this over, Zen Headbutt"

As Julian gives the command Cranidos charges towards Machoke who is still on the ground trying to break apart from the frozen ice, too bad its too late, Cranidos is too fast and connects the Zen Headbutt right on top of Machoke's head causing Machoke to lose consciousness the next second, as Cranidos has a very high attack stats and Zen Headbutt being a psychic type move, it was no surprise that it was able to take out Machoke.

Referee "Machoke is unable to battle, Cranidos wins"

With the referee's call, Maylene's two pokemon are down, she only has one left.

Julian got the first two victory easily but he knows the third one will be a little tough, his previous exchange with her Lucario had already made Julian guess its rough strength and it may be even stronger than his Cranidos.

Even though Cranidos will still have an over the top attack stat, but from an overall perspective Julian believes that the Lucario is a tough one.