Cyan has just made it through the hole in the floor ice puzzle in Circhester City gym, clearing it quicker than any competitor before her. Cyan didn't have time to waste on puzzles, she wanted to continue to show the whole region her skill as a Pokemon Trainer. She walks through the final hallway just after the gym puzzle, making sure to go slow so she can savor the feeling of walking out unto the stadium, surrounded by the cheers of everyone who came to watch her battle.
Once Cyan clears the hallway she is temporarily blinded by the bright afternoon light... or at least she wish she was. It's actually an extremely cloudy day in Circhester, and only traces of light can be seen breaking through the clouds. This disappoints Cyan, as she had been envisioning walking out unto the pitch under the shining sun, her bright white hair sparkling under the sunlight like with her past five challenges, but it's no big issue. She walks onto the middle of the field, surrounded by people cheering her arrival, and also the entrance of Circhester City's gym leader Melony, who is walking to the middle of the field from the opposite side of the stadium, creating a familiar sort of staredown as the two walk towards the middle of the stadium, taking their places inside of the Pokeball shaped circle. They stare at each other, Melony seemingly trying to size up her opponent while Cyan is just impatiently waiting for them to begin. After about a minute of silence from both parties, Melony starts to speak in a gentle, yet commanding voice.
"Well, fancy that! You managed to reach me without falling into a single hole on the way here! Not many challengers have done so in the long history of this gym, so pat yourself on the back. Though, do be careful. My battle style is rather severe, like the biting winds of a Hailstorm. You would do best not to underestimate my strength!"
Melony chuckles a bit, complimenting and warning Cyan that this opponent will be far tougher than any she's faced yet. Cyan is almost entirely unphased though, and keeps up her bright and energetic, yet slightly intimidating demeanor.
"Wow, if you're talking like that, you clearly haven't seen me battle before! That's all good though, it'd make clobberin' ya significantly more fun!"
Cyan talks loudly and tauntingly, boasting her own strength against Melony. Melony is only slightly annoyed at Cyan's comment, though. She's challenged a number of young, loudmouthed challengers in the ten or so years she's been a gym leader, so talk like that is just static to her.
"Well then, you certainly resemble my son in terms of your disposition, now I reckon I won't hold a single thing back in our battle!"
Melony responds coldly. The gentleness in her voice had all but vanished, leaving only her cold and commanding tone. She draws a single Pokeball, ready to begin the battle. Cyan, having waited impatiently for this battle to finally start, quickly draws and throws a Pokeball, revealing her Inteleon. Melony chooses to lead with her Frosmoth, she doesn't have an advantage type wise but nor does Cyan, so she feels safe leading with her standard lead Pokemon. Almost as soon as the Frosmoth leaves her ball, Cyan shouts a command at her Inteleon.
"Ace, Snipe Shot!"
Inteleon kneels down in position to fire a highly pressurized bolt of water, so much so it takes on the properties of a bullet in terms of its speed and power. Cyan's command is a bit slow though, despite her quick reaction time, so Melony has the chance to yell a command of her own.
"Frosmoth, dodge that attack and swiftly follow up with Bug Buzz."
"Ace, adjust aim to your left in account for Frosmoth's speed! Aim for the wing!!"
Inteleon does exactly as he's told, adjusting his aim to the left and firing right as the Frosmoth begins to dodge the attack telegraphed to go straight at her previous position. It's a direct hit to Frosmoth's left wing, interrupting her Bug Buzz attack and landing a critical hit. Melony is shook, how could she have predicted that Cyan knew the direction Frosmoth was going to dodge, but also that her Inteleon could predict her Frosmoth's speed and adjust his shot accordingly? It seemed planned out, and that's because it was. The speed of which she said her command was intentionally slow so Melony could pick up on the attack and order a dodge, causing Frosmoth's wing to be hit, leaving her wide open for another-
"Ace, Snipe Shot! Straight at its center!"
Inteleon quickly kneels again and fires off a Snipe Shot much faster than he did before, demonstrating his true speed. It's another critical hit, hitting Frosmoth's center perfectly as if there was a bullseye on her. Frosmoth falls unto the ground, having fainted while Inteleon is unscathed. Melony is speechless at the flawless performance she just witnessed, but she is far from being unable to battle. Melony recalls her fainted Frosmoth sends out her Eiscue next, ready to turn this game around.
"Ace, Rain Dance. Camouflage yourself in the rain."
Cyan's Inteleon begins to wave his hands in the air, summoning a rain that will last a few attacks. While not perfect invisibility, as the rain doesn't soak him enough to be completely invisible, her Inteleon appears to have a large amount of small holes all around it's body, the invisibility activating on the spots he gets wet from the rain, making multiple spots on him completely see-through. More and more spots become invisible as more rain pours down on him until he's almost completely invisible, with only a few spots of blue and yellow being visible to show Inteleon's location. Melony is impressed with the creative use of Rain Dance to bring out Inteleon's camouflage, but that doesn't deter her.
"Ace, Snipe Shot!"
Cyan shouts a loud command, and Inteleon swiftly gets in position to carry it out. Melony saw this coming, and issues a command to her Eiscue.
"Eiscue, take the attack with your Ice Face, and quickly use Hail to stop Inteleon's camouflage!"
Inteleon fires a Snipe Shot directly at Eiscue's Ice Face... and pierces it without breaking the Ice Face. It's a critical hit, fainting Eiscue instantly as it can't take a critical hit Snipe Shot with it's low maximum HP. Melony is shocked, but quickly realizes that Snipe Shot is a special move, so it ignores Ice Face entirely. Upset at herself for making such a beginner mistake, she quickly recalls her fainted Eiscue and sends out her Galarian Darmanitan.
Melony is on her backfoot, if Darmanitan hits half HP her Zen Mode will activate and she'll become part Fire type, giving Melony a major type disadvantage. Nevertheless, Melony pushes on, knowing that even if Darmanitan falls, she still has one more ace up her sleeve. Cyan yells a command to her Inteleon, while Melony does the same to Darmanitan.
"Ace, Rain Dance. Extend your invisibility."
"Darmanitan, Headbutt! Catch her off guard!"
Inteleon begins to wave his hands in the air again to extend the rain, but during the process Darmanitan charges in for a nasty Headbutt, which would deal decent damage. Cyan is entirely unafraid though, in fact she has a massive smirk on her face, as if she's waited the whole match for a moment like this. It's clear to anyone who's watched her battle before what's about to happen, but Melony is clueless.
"Focus Energy, pull the cord."
Time seems to slow down to a crawl for Cyan and her Inteleon, with both of her eyes and both of Inteleon's eyes are glowing yellow, signaling the activation of their Battle Bond. Inteleon instantly stops his Rain Dance, and stands the exact same way Cyan does. Their breathing is synced, the slightest twitch of a finger is repeated across both bodies with no delay, while the bodies remain seperate, their minds have become one. Time seems to resume as Cyan sees the incoming Headbutt and jumps out of the way herself, making her Inteleon do the exact same thing at the exact same time, completely avoiding the attack. Cyan and Inteleon immediately kneel down after landing, both making a finger gun, which seemingly points at nothing for Cyan, but for Inteleon is pointing at the dead center of a confused Darmanitan. Without a word the Snipe Shot gets fired off, getting another critical hit and fainting Darmanitan instantly, without a command being uttered.
Melony is in shock. What did she just witness? The crowd is cheering Cyan as if she didn't do something completely unnatural. In the ten years Melony has been a gym leader and her even longer amount of time as a Pokemon Trainer she's never seen a person do that before. Melony had gravely underestimated Cyan's skill, despite knowing she's Selia's kid. Melony is completely backed into a corner, she doesn't even think her Gigantamax Lapras could take down this what could only be described as a fusion of person and Pokemon. Despite this, she still has to send out Lapras. She quickly begins the process of Gigantamaxing before Cyan and Inteleon get the chance to one shot it with Snipe Shot, calling the Lapras back to her ball and using the Galar particles stored in her Dynamax band to enlarge the Pokeball, giving it a bright pink color before throwing it behind her. The Pokemon that emerges from the ball is gargantuan, wowing the spectators. Lapras's appearance had changed too, bearing lines of sheet music all around it's massive saddle. Cyan quickly does the same, recalling Inteleon to it's ball before Dynamaxing it. She sends the Inteleon out behind her with no physical differences, other than it's extreme size.
Cyan begins to make a finger gun with her hands, the massive Inteleon standing behind her does the same. She doesn't even need to shout a command to let lose a devastating Max Geyser, landing her 5th critical hit this battle, but to everyone's surprise except Cyan's of all people, the Gigantamax Lapras is still standing tall, though definitely hurt, probably at a bit under half HP. Melony cannot believe her eyes, and seizes the opportunity to even hit Cyan's Inteleon.
"Lapras! G-Max Resonance!!"
The Lapras begins to summon massive balls of ice from the sky, ready to rain them down unto Cyan's Inteleon. Cyan sees this coming and crosses her arms, her Inteleon doing the same, forming a protective barrier by use of Max Guard. Melony's chance of victory had been robbed of her at that exact moment, and she knew it. As the balls of ice make impact and a resounding echo reverberates through the stadium, the Inteleon stands unscathed. Cyan begins to make finger guns again, and so does Inteleon, showing this battle is over.
"Lapras, Max Gua-"
The command for Lapras to use Max Guard comes too late as Inteleon fires off another Max Geyser, hitting Lapras for critical damage, having landed a critical hit every attack of the battle. The Lapras shrinks back down to normal as it faints, leaving Melony the loser of this battle. Inteleon also shrinks down to normal as the glow in his and Cyan's eyes disappear, an undamaged Inteleon marking them as the flawless victor. Cyan didn't even need to use another member in her party to cause a crushing defeat for Melony.
Though absolutely devastated at this loss, she keeps up her composure and congratulates Cyan for her victory.
"My, it seems I may have severely underestimated you, Cyan! Your showcase of skill was exemplary, and that unique ability of yours really threw me off! I think you absolutely deserve this badge."
Cyan walks up to Melony in the middle of the pitch, ready to say something.
"I've been watching ya battle for a hot minute, Melony, how'dya think I knew what direction ya Frosmoth was finna dodge? Maybe ya shoulda been watchin' me battle a bit too, potentially coulda made yer defeat less embarrassing if you knew whatcha was up against!"
Cyan gloats while expressing a bit of admiration for Melony. They shake hands right there in the middle of the stadium, Melony handing her Gym Badge over to Cyan as proof of her victory.
It only seems to go up from here for Cyan, until she trips on one brick slightly jutting out of the ground. If only she knew what awaited her after one usually meaningless mistake.