Generation Z - Hoenn Alone

Chapter 23: Flying High

Bonnie looked at her thoughtfully. "But I planned our battle with you around beating Nosepass when it used Sandstorm."

"Did you?" Roxanne looked amused. "I know it was part of how you adapted in our rematch. Dedenne's antennae worked wonderfully. But Sandstorm was far from the only barrier you had to get through. You had a variety of moves you were able to pull off and they weren't necessarily due to my specific strategy making them necessary."

Bonnie opened her mouth to answer, but couldn't find any words. She paused, thinking back to her battle with Roxanne. Maybe the Rustboro Gym Leader was right. Beating Nosepass had certainly been the key point of concern for Bonnie, and Sandstorm was a large part of that, but there had been much more to it. Beautifly had needed to find ways to get in close to use Absorb and use defensive measures to protect against super effective attacks, while Dedenne had needed to find ways to take advantage of the rock field. There had certainly been a lot more going on than Bonnie had even realized at the time.

"Just try to find something that works for you and your Pokemon," Roxanne said, smiling as Bonnie nodded to herself. "You can win this battle. You just need to know what makes you and your Pokemon able to perform at their best depending on the circumstances."

"Beautifly certainly looked like a real force when you were battling Team Archaic," Clyde said. "When we got back from finding Aggron, it looked like she was really making use of her speed. Maybe you don't need to worry about attacking from a distance as much as you think."

"I don't know..." Bonnie knew that Beautifly had managed to increase her physical strength lately with the ocean flying, but it was still a concern putting her, or even the others, so close to Brawly's Pokemon. She'd managed to handle Geodude in the last gym battle thanks to using the rock field to block some attacks and String Shot slowing down an already slower Pokemon. Brawly's Pokemon were probably much faster.

"Hey guys! How's the training going?"

Bonnie looked up at the call, seeing Sawyer heading up the path from the cave towards their training spot. He had a lot of dust on his clothes from the work he and Steven had been doing, but he looked pretty content. They'd managed to set up what appeared to be a pretty secure security system with Aggron in charge, and the Aron and Geodude as the bulk of the scouting force. It seemed as though it would be easier for Team Archaic to set their sights on another target if they wanted to keep themselves a little more under the radar.

"Sawyer!" Bonnie said excitedly, standing up and heading over to greet him with the others. "Just working on some of our attacks to get Brawly's Pokemon off balance. Still trying to work things out, though."

"Well from what I saw of your battling in Granite Cave, you should be fine, Bonnie," Sawyer said, laughing as he looked to Wingull and Dedenne. "When Smeargle stole King's Shield from us, you did a great job using our plan to draw him into using it and staying patient to time our attacks when it started to fade. And you certainly seem to know when to attack head on like Ash. Beautifly's Aerial Ace is super strong!"

"Just be your stubborn old self, and that badge is yours!" Clyde added, smirking as Bonnie glared at him. Then, more seriously he added, "You managed to do well against Shauna, and she uses some of the same training techniques as Brawly. Maybe you can use some of those techniques."

Bonnie nodded to herself, thinking back to a couple of the moves she'd done with Wingull in the battle against Meditite. She still couldn't be sure Brawly wouldn't have a counter, but it was worth keeping in mind. She was glad to have her friends giving her encouragement, though. They certainly knew how to get her thinking of her strong points heading into a big battle. Even though she was nervous, she couldn't help but feel like she was heading into this match with a much better chance than she'd started off with against Roxanne. It felt like good progress.