Lillie, Luke, and I are now at the windmill in the center of Artazon City, and there is already a battlefield, which I assume will be the place where I battle the Gym Leader.

"Greetings, Challenger!" We hear the voice and we decide to find where it comes from.

"Ash, up there!" Lillie points and I realize that the man is actually standing on top of the windmill pane! It's a good thing that the windmill isn't moving, but that was really dangerous!

He just jumps to the ground without any problem, and he says, "You did well to come this far! Ash Ketchum the World Monarch! I am Brassius - an artist specializing in Grass-Type Pokemon. I am also the Gym Leader here at the Artazon Gym."

"Why would you stand so high up there?" I ask.

"I was observing your Gym Test from atop the windmill, you know." Brassius says. "The perception you displayed in finding Sunflora was truly... Oh, how shall I describe it? Yes! It was truly avant-garde!"

The way he speaks really surprises me a lot, but he continues, "I only pray that you might demonstrate that eye for beauty in our battle as well. Enough talk! We must begin creating our collaborative work of art!"

We are now standing on both sides of the battlefield, and the referee also comes, "The battle between the Artazon Gym Leader Brassius and the challenger Ash Ketchum is about to begin. Each trainer will be using 6 Pokemon, and when one loses all 6 Pokemon, the other trainer wins."

"I trust that you are ready? It is time for our masterpiece to take shape!"

He sends out his first Pokemon, which is a Lilligant, and he is also holding some sort of whip in his hands, I hope that he isn't going to use it to whip his Pokemon...

"Masquerain! I choose you!" I decide to use my Bug Type for the first move, and I can see that Lillie is also surprised at my decision.

"Art is creation and destruction! Struggle, else your defeat will nourish my Pokémon!" Lilligant decides to go with the Light Screen to set up the field, and I have Masquerain use Air Cutter, landing a critical hit, but Lilligant uses Quiver Dance to also raises the Special Attack, Special Defense, and even the Speed.

"Masquerain! Let's lower the Special Defenses! Use Bug Buzz!" I command, and Brassius says, "Counter with Hyper Beam!"

Hyper Beam already? Brassius sure isn't holding back on me, and much to my horror, the Hyper Beam manages to overpower my Bug Type attack, and thus Masquerain falls to the ground.

"Masquerain! Return for now!" I decide to switch out as Masquerain takes a lot of damage from the attack. "Gengar! I choose you!"

Gengar appears in the field and Lillie says, "With Gengar, Lilligant's Hyper Beam won't be able to work now."

"That sure is a smart move." Luke says.

"Use Petal Blizzard!" When Lilligant attacks with the Grass Type move, I smile and say, "Hide in the Shadow and then use Sludge Bomb!"

Gengar dodges by going into the shadows, and when it comes out, it blasts the attack on Lilligant, causing it to get poisoned.

"Now that's what I'm talking about! Finish with Ice Punch!" Gengar steps in front of the Pokemon and punches it, knocking the Lilligant out.

"Not bad...Scovillain, you're next!" Brassius says.

I jump as I see the second Pokemon, it is a two-headed Pokemon with their heads looking like peppers. Lillie says, "Scovillain? What's with that Pokemon?"

"It is a Grass and Fire Type Pokemon... Ash might be in trouble..." Luke says.

Scovillain goes for Sunny Day, setting up the weather, and then it goes for Solar Beam to make the move charge fast and deal damage to Gengar.

"Gengar! Are you okay?" Gengar nods at me, and I say, "Good, use Shadow Ball!"

Gengar tries to attack with the Ghost move, but just as Scovillain is hit, Brassius says, "Let's see how you handle this. Spicy Extract!"

As the move hits, Gengar's Attack stat boosts a lot but the Defense Stat also lowers, much to my confusion. "If you're helping me with raising the Attack Stat, then thanks." I say as I have Gengar use Ice Punch again, but Brassius smirks, "Now that is an art that I will like to finish. Zen Headbutt!"

I widen my eyes, and Gengar is hit by the attack and immediately gets knocked out.

"Gengar! No!" I rush to him and recall him. Lillie says, "So that was his intention... lowering Gengar's Defense so that it can defeat Gengar with a Super Effective move..."

I decide to call back Masquerain, and I look at the sun, "Let's change the weather. Rain Dance!"

When the rain is set up, Scovillain goes for Zen Headbutt again, which makes Masquerain flinch.

"Flinching? This is not going to be good..." I mutter. "Use Air Cutter!"

"Dodge it and use Sunny Day!" Brassius says, "The Sun and the Rain... they create a beautiful rainbow, and now use Solar Beam to end it!"

"I'm not going to give up you know! Hydro Pump!"

Both attacks manage to create a giant explosion, which causes both Pokemon to get inside. In the end, we see that both Pokemon are knocked out of the battle.

Luke says, "So it's a draw... both of them lose two Pokemon..."

Brassius says, "Marvelous. I can see you're a natural artist. However, let's see how you handle this!"

His third Pokemon is Breloom, and I decide to go for Corviknight.

"Mach Punch!" Brassius starts the first move, and Breloom manages to punch Corviknight with quick speed.

I have Corviknight use Steel Wing, and it continues to slash the Breloom until it goes for Spore to make Corviknight fall asleep.

"Are you kidding me? Corviknight! Wake up now!" I yell.

But as Corviknight is sleeping, Brassius says, "Let the Thunder Punch decorate our sleeping masterpiece!"

Breloom continues to use the super effective move on Corviknight, and I was worried if Corviknight can't take it.

"Corviknight!" I yell, and it finally wakes up and goes for the Drill Peck, dealing a lot of damage.

"Seed Bomb!" "Use Aerial Ace!" Both of our attacks collide with each other, and eventually, my attack overpowers the Breloom and knocks it out.

"Nice job, Corviknight!" I say to my Pokemon.

"Well done, my fourth Pokemon is going to be Tsareena."

When the fourth Pokemon appears, it goes for a High Jump Kick and knocks out Corviknight, much to my frustration.

Lillie says, "Tsareena is not an easy Pokemon to beat..."

"I know... it's a good thing Mallow used this Pokemon before." I then have Gallade out to battle, and Gallade goes for the Psycho Cut that deals a lot of damage.

"Play Rough!" Are you kidding me? This Pokemon has a Fairy-Type move? And I can see that my Gallade is taking a lot of damage.

"Gallade, calm down and go for Aerial Ace!" "Use Trop Kick!"

Both attacks manage to clash at each other as they all jump out of the way to avoid more damage, and then Gallade goes for Close Combat, after several times, Tsareena is eventually defeated.

"You know... just by using the four battles, I can already see a lot of inspiration in it. However, I will like to see you show more of it with my Arboliva!"

The fifth Pokemon is a Pokemon with a lot of olives on the arm... I have to guess this is the evolution of Smoliv, but it is perfect, it is also a Normal Type.

"Close Combat!" I yell, and just as the attack hits, I see that some seeds come from the body of the Pokemon and land on the ground, creating a Grassy Terrain.

"Grassy Terrain?" Lillie asks.

"That's the ability Seed Sower." Luke says.

And just as Arboliva uses Leech Seed, I widen my eyes in horror as it defeats Gallade with the seeds and the Terrain Pulse.

"Sometimes I hate Leech Seed..." I mutter as I send out Maushold to battle. Lillie asks, "You're using Maushold?"

"Of course, I'm going to give these new Pokemon a try." I say.

Maushold goes for Population Bomb, and it keeps striking Arboliva, although it just hit 8 times this time. Then it goes for Energy Ball, which is boosted by the terrain.

"Hang in there, Maushold! Beat Up!" I yell.

Since technically, the Pokemon that we carry right now are mine and Lillie's, so that means the move hits 12 times, and eventually Arboliva is defeated.

"This has promise! Yes! Let us lead this artistic endeavor to its conclusion at once!" He sends out Sudowoodo as the last Pokemon.

"Sudowoodo? That's a Rock Type..." Luke says.

"Maybe not after what he's going to do..." I say.

"Allow me to touch this work up slightly! I will call it... "Truleewoodo"!"

Truleewoodo? Really? And I can see that he already uses the Tera Orb and Terastallize his Sudowoodo to a Grass Type. And it uses Stone Edge to defeat Masuhold in the end.

"Pikachu, you're my final hope." I say.

Pikachu jumps into the field and I decide to Terastallize the Pokemon. I just hope that it is something that is against Grass, but much to my horror, Pikachu's Tera Type is now Water.

"Water Type? Are you kidding me right now, Pikachu?" I yell, and Pikachu can only shrug as he doesn't know.

"At times, art becomes a race against the clock! Let us increase the pace! Trailblaze!" This Grass Type move not only deals a lot of damage to Pikachu, but it also raises the speed.

"Ash is in trouble!" Lillie gasps.

"Damn it. Pikachu! Use Splishy Splash!" I try to have Pikachu attack harder with the Water move, and much to my delight, it causes Sudowoodo to get paralyzed. I decide to use the chance to continue attack.

"Iron Tail!" "Fire Punch!"

Both attacks clash with each other, and I decide to have Pikachu use Flotty Fall, eventually knocking the Sudowoodo out.

"Sudowoodo is unable to battle, Pikachu is the winner, which means the victory goes to Ash Ketchum!"

"Finally..." I sigh as Pikachu goes back to normal.

"Avant-garde!" He recalls Sudowoodo. "Oh! What artistic tactics you employ! The patterns of your moves! The minute details of your Pokémon's performance! Everything you did was honed to perfection! Our battle was, in a word, art! Indeed, if we could not call that a work of artistry, then nothing else in this world could be labeled as such! If I were to judge your work, I would say it passes my inspection. Yes—a pass without exception!"

He takes out the Grass Badge and says, "As proof of your artistic prowess, you may have my Gym Badge! Shall we take a photo as well?"

Looks like every time I get a badge, Rotom will take pictures for us, and we decide to take a picture with the windmill as the background.

"You did it, Ash. I was really worried." Lillie says to me.

"Yeah, that was really awesome." Luke adds.

"Ah! My inspiration is overflowing, as if drawn from a bottomless well! I will begin on a new piece at once! You must excuse me. Farewell!" Then we bid farewell to Brassius as we go to rest.

The next day, Lillie gets her turn for the gym, and she only battles Lilligant, Arboliva, and Sudowoodo. Once we finish, we go back to the gym and we find Professor Hassel there.

"Professor Hassel? What are you doing here?" I ask in shock.

"Well if it isn't Ash, Lillie, and Luke." Hassel says. "I was here to check the gyms, after all, I'm one of the Elite Four of the Pokemon League."

"Elite Four? Wait, you mean our Art Teacher is the Dragon Type Elite Four of this Paldea Region?" I ask, I know that he uses Dragon Types a lot, but this information shocks me and Lillie.

"So tell me, Ash and Lillie. What compelled you to collect these Gym Badges and strive to be a Champion?" Hassel asks.

"It's obvious, we want to become stronger. Just because I'm the World Monarch doesn't mean I am the strongest of everyone. I also want to learn." I say.

"And by doing the gym challenges, we can also find our treasure." Lillie says.

"Asked and answered. Thank you. Naturally, there is no single correct answer. All paths lead to the Great Crater of Paldea, as they say. You know, your friend Nemona is the youngest to achieve Champion Rank in all Paldean history... It is entirely possible that such great potential lies within you two as well."

Before he leaves, he says, "Should you continue striving to reach Champion Rank, you will one day have to battle me. You would be wise to train hard starting now. It will save you from experiencing the bitter regret of defeat."

"Of course." I say.

"Oh, and do remember that you have the Art homework that you need to finish." Hassel says.

"We've already finished them, thank you." I say as Hassel smiles before leaving. I think he's here just to talk to Brassius.

"What are the odds that we find Professor Hassel here..." Luke says.

"Yeah...and learning that he is the Elite Four member, no wonder Drandon admires him a lot." I say.

And here is a new chapter, this marks the second gym battle. I hope you like this chapter and the next chapter will be the Family Visit Chapter.