CHAPTER 70

I watched with bated breath as Gardenia sent out her Weepinbell. I cheered silently, thankful that she had sent a poison type that Justin’s Sandile would be useful against. Now all he had to do was attack for a few minutes and then recall his Lotad, and he’d have the perfect start to this battle.

“Lotad, Bubblebeam!” Justin yelled out. “Then get in the water!”

“Sunny Day and Acid,” Gardenia replied.

Lotad steadied itself against the ground before spitting out a stream of bubbles toward the Weepinbell. The grass type cried out, turning the sunlight harsh and weakening the Lotad’s attack. It shrugged off the bubbles and spat out a massive lump of purple acid toward its opponent. Lotad managed to sink into the water before getting hit, but I reckoned two or three of these would be enough to take it out.

“Acid in the water,” Gardenia smiled. “Force it to come out.”

I clicked my tongue. I hadn’t known that was allowed, and that meant some poor gym trainer would have to clean the pond after the battle.

Justin groaned. “Water Gun! Intercept it!”

Lotad croaked and spat out a jet of water toward the acid, but it was too weakened by Sunny Day to do anything. All that did was dilute the attack slightly. The water type cried out in pain as its body began to suffer from the contaminated water, and it slowly crawled out.

“Get close and keep using Acid on the way,” The gym leader calmly said.

“Keep using Bubblebeam, Lotad,” Justin said.

Weepinbell simply rushed past the attacks as if they were nothing, but before it could do anything else, Justin recalled his Lotad and exhaled sharply. He grabbed Sandile’s Pokeball and released him before immediately barking out an order.

“Sink into the ground!” He yelled.

“Grab it with Vine Whip!” Gardenia ordered.

Two long vines grew out of Weepinbell’s side and snaked toward Sandile, but the ground type was already gone. It had sunk into the ground as if it was water, and it hadn’t even left a hole. Sandile wasn’t even using Dig anymore, he was manipulating the soil around itself.

“Sleep Powder around yourself,” Gardenia said without a hint of panic. Weepinbell acquiesced and shook itself, releasing green-colored spores around its body.

That was smart. She was guaranteeing that if Sandile wanted to hit her Pokemon physically, it would be forced to breathe in spores and fall asleep. I didn’t know most of Sandile’s moves, so I just hoped Justin had something to counter that.

“Sand Tomb!” He yelled, louder than before.

The ground below Weepinbell started to liquefy and spin around like a tornado. Sandile’s Sand Tomb was way different than Gible’s. The grass type tried to get out, but no matter how hard it tried, it was stuck in Sandile’s trap.

“Get out and Mudslap!” Justin continued.

Sandile poked his head out in the sand and spat out mud just as fast as a Water Gun would be. Weepinbell cried out in pain and tried to retaliate with Vine Whip, but the ground type was already back underground. Weepinbell got hit two more times before Gardenia recalled it. A grass flying type like Hoppip would make the most sense here, or one that could levitate like Cottonee. At least, that’s what I believed until Gardenia sent out a Maractus. The grass type danced in place, waiting for its trainer’s orders.

“Grassy Terrain,” She started.

“Sand Tomb it and Mudslap again!” Justin yelled.

The grass type shook its arm in a dramatic fashion, and grass began growing around it. That didn’t stop the ground from liquefying around it and putting it in the same dilemma Weepinbell had been. Sandile poked his head out again and opened his mouth—

“Sucker Punch,” Gardenia grinned.

Maractus blurred forward, now somehow unaffected by the Sand Tomb, and hit Sandile in the Chin.

“Grab it and Mega Drain,” She hurriedly continued.

“Sandile, Bite!”

Maractus smiled as it sunk its spiky hands into Sandile’s flesh and started draining his energy. Justin clicked his tongue before hurriedly recalling the ground type, and I found myself sighing in relief. If Sandile had gone down right now, the battle would have become significantly more challenging. With a shaky hand, he sent out Growlithe, who started growling at the Maractus, who was just dancing in Sandile’s mud pile.

“Keep your distance for now, Ember!” Justin yelled.

“Dodge with Grassy Glide,” Gardenia said.

Growlithe spat out small flames toward Maractus, but the grass type spun around and slid across the grass as if it was an ice skating rink. It wasn’t terribly fast, but at Growlithe’s distance, it made dodging moves like Ember trivial. I frowned. Gardenia wasn’t ordering Maractus to get closer, and she wasn’t ordering it to attack either. She was laying a trap, and I could only hope Justin was seeing it. The boy ordered Growlithe to use a few more Embers, but when that failed again, he snapped.

“Howl, then Flame Wheel!” Justin said.

Growlithe howled, making his body tenser as so many flames engulfed him I couldn’t even see the fire type anymore. He dashed forward, burning a path across the Grassy Terrain as Maractus simply waited for him. I clenched my fist, hoping that Justin would notice that this was too convenient, but he wasn’t thinking straight. The nervousness might have gotten to him.

“Spiky Shield,” Gardenia said at the last second. A barrier not unlike Protect appeared around Maractus, but it had hundreds upon hundreds of spikes layered onto it. Growlithe yelped as he crashed into the barrier, and the flames around him stopped burning. “Mega Drain.”

Maractus spun around, killing nature around it and draining Growlithe’s energy. Luckily for Justin, the attack wouldn’t deal much damage, but he still needed to clear his head, order his Growlithe to get back, and start making a new plan on the fly.

“Fire Fang!” He yelled.

“Grassy Glide into Sucker Punch.”

Maractus skidded across the grass and then sped up toward Growlithe.

“Flame Whee—”

Too late. Sucker Punch was too quick to order Growlithe to engulf himself in fire. The fire type was knocked back a few feet, and Maractus approached again.

Come on, Justin, just get back and use Ember, I thought. If push came to shove, Gardenia would be the one forced to attack, since running out the clock meant Justin would win. This was easier said than done, however. In the heat of battle, obvious strategies sometimes never came to your head.

“Flame Wheel!” He said.

“Sucker Punch!”

Again, Maractus blurred forward and hit Growlithe just as its body became wreathed in flames, burning itself slightly.

Finally, Justin appeared to have gotten it. “Get back! Winning at close range is too difficult.”

Good. Maractus was a tricky opponent, but it didn’t dish out that much damage, all things considered. The grass type danced and giggled evily as it watched Growlithe run away.

“Ember!” The trainer said.

“Dodge with Grassy Glide.”

Growlithe let out his flames, and Maractus easily dodged by sliding across the battlefield. This repeated another five times before Gardenia finally realized that Justin wasn’t biting on her bait. She smiled and recalled it, sending out her Lombre— the same one I had faced.

“Rain Dance,” She said.

My eyes bulged. Of course, Gardenia hadn’t just been waiting to see if Justin would respond to her bait. She had also been waiting to be able to change the weather again. A plan within a plan. I winced, and so did Justin. Not only would Growlithe’s fire type attacks be cut in half, they wouldn’t even be super effective against the Lombre.

And he was out of switches. Gardenia had just completely fucked him over, and even I hadn’t seen it coming.

Gardenia couldn’t stop herself from grinning. “Leech Seed,” She smiled.

Lombre croaked and spat out too many seeds to count. Growlithe tried to dodge, running around as fast as he could, but there were just too many.

“Dig, Growlithe!” Justin said. The Pokemon quickly started to claw at the ground, but the rain had turned it to mud. Sandile wouldn’t have cared, but he was a ground type. For Growlithe? It made him dig slower, and one of the Leech Seeds landed on his back before he could escape.

“Forget the Dig, burn it away with Flame Wheel!” Justin shakily said.

Growlithe barked, and fire once again consumed him. To my surprise, it was now too weak to even burn away Leech Seed. I supposed that had been why she hadn’t used the move previously in the battle.

“Bubblebeam!” Gardenia continued.

“Argh, Dig again!” He panicked.

Too indecisive. Too slow. The quick Bubblebeam powered by the rain hit Growlithe, knocking him out.

This… this was really bad.

Justin sent out Sandile once more and immediately ordered the ground type underground. He sunk even more easily than before now that the upper ground had turned to mud. Once again, he ordered the ground type to create a Sand Tomb, trapping Lombre in place. Justin decided to just stop attacking and let his Sandile stay underground, which was honestly the smartest strategy he could have come up with. There was no way Sandile was going to beat Lombre one-on-one. The strength difference wasn’t enough to overcome the typing weakness.

Seemingly annoyed, the gym leader rolled her eyes. “Lombre, Nature Power the ground.”

With a nod, the grass type gathered energy in front of its mouth and started using Energy Ball again and again, creating craters around the battlefield, hoping to hit the Sandile with a lucky hit. I understood her frustration. Losing like this would definitely be incredibly aggravating, but what could she even do? Sandile’s manipulation of the ground was too good to leave a hole for Lombre to crawl into.

People in the audience began heckling at Justin, telling him to do something and stop wasting time, but rules were rules. Twenty minutes was all they got, and maybe Gardenia had something to deal with Dig, but she was out of switches. Justin ignored the noise and simply waited the clock out. I understood why he did it, but by doing this, he was only delaying the inevitable. If he wanted to get a third badge, he would need to redouble his training and get his Lotad at the same level that his other teammates were at.

An alarm rang across the gym. The twenty minutes were up.

“Get someone to clean this up,” Gardenia said, pointing at the battlefield before taking off her mic. She sighed and reset her face into a neutral tone as Sandile finally surfaced again. Both trainers recalled their Pokemon, and Justin got his badge and other rewards as Pauline made her way down to the waiting room.

A few gym trainers showed up with an array of ground and grass types to fix all the damage that had been done to the arena. A Pyukumuku slowly crawled into the poisoned lake, causing the color to go from a toxic purple to a clear, transparent blue, while Kadabra fixed any damage to the barrier.

First Louis and now Justin had taken hits to their reputation. The high of the first badge was over, and now as harsh as it sounded, I supposed the second gym was when gym leaders separated the trainers that really wanted to become the Champion and strive further, bettering and training themselves every day, from the rest who were just doing it for fun— or in Justin’s case, doing it because of his father.

I had faith that Pauline would manage to do slightly better, even with two Pokemon. The girl liked battling and trained just as much as we did, she was just extremely picky about her Pokemon like Denzel was, but she hadn’t actually planned a team beforehand, which was the worst of both worlds.

I glanced at Emilia, who was starting to look worried. It looked like it was sinking in.

Unless Gardenia somehow fumbled the bag really badly, which would probably never happen, she had practically no chance. But honestly, maybe it was better this way. Maybe this was what Justin and Emilia needed to finally stop doing something they didn’t like. They could tell their parents that they at least tried.

That was a conversation for later. A few minutes passed, and Pauline confidently stepped on stage, wearing one of her mother’s expensive dresses. The stadium gasped when Gardenia said that this would be a two-on-three battle with two switch-ins.

Pauline sent out her Gothita, who shared her confident look. Gardenia sent out a Paras, which made me swallow. I hated the fact that it would be controlled by its parasite when it evolved, and the Pokemon brought back the bad memories of Eterna forest, but its bug type would help it deal with the psychic.

“Grassy Terrain and go hide,” Gardenia started.

Paras screech and slammed its pincers against the ground, causing the grass to grow. It scuttled along the floor and slipped into the Grassy Terrain, employing the same strategy Gardenia had with Leafeon.

“Hmph,” Pauline said. “Wait it out—”

“Fury Cutter!” Gardenia yelled, pointing forward.

Way faster than before, Paras burst out of the grass on Pauline’s side of the field, and its pincers started to grow. Then another. Then a dozen. I clenched my hand around my seat. I knew it was just Double Team, but I still instinctively feared the Pokemon when it was in large numbers. Pauline didn’t seem to be rattled, however.

“Confusion! Throw them away!” Pauline said.

Pink, psychic energy surrounded the first Paras, who immediately vanished before Gothita moved on to the next. There were too many to find the real one this way. Pauline needed to change it up.

“Psybeam! Hit all of them!” She said.

Gothita’s eyes shone even brighter as a rainbow-colored ray appeared above her head and rushed toward the Paras. Unfortunately, though, she was unlucky, and four Paras reached her, including the real one. It slashed across the psychic type’s torso, staggering her, and before it could hit her again and the damage could stack up, Pauline recalled Gothita with a scowl. It was the same look she had when I beat her in the Floaroma tournament.

She thought Gardenia was being unfair.

Pauline released Charmeleon and immediately barked out an order.

“Fire Spin! Trap it!”

The fire type roared and spat out a stream of flames that somehow settled into a circle around Paras, slowly burning the bug type.

“Now, Ember!” Pauline continued. “It can’t dodge!”

Paras was hit by a few flames before Gardenia recalled it. Luckily for Pauline, Gardenia had used her two Lombre today, including against Justin, so unless she was willing to send out a Lotad, she didn’t have much to counter Charmeleon. The fire type let out a victorious scream as if she had won a battle while its Fire Spin slowly subsided.

“You’re up, baby girl,” Gardenia said, releasing a Bayleef. The beautiful grass type let out a soothing cry and stared down the Charmeleon. My leg began to bounce. There was only one reason Gardenia could have sent out the grass type.

“Fire Spin again!” Pauline raged.

“Light Screen,” Gardenia said. A thin barrier appeared around Bayleef, protecting her from much of the heat. Unlike protect, however, it stayed. “Ancient Power!”

There it was. Bayleef’s eyes began to glow as it lifted up chunks of earth and rock from the Arena and threw them toward Charmeleon.

“Dragon Rage and Metal Claw to intercept!” Pauline said.

Charmeleon nodded, reared her head back, and spat out a stream of blue draconic flames. They didn’t have much of an effect on the rocks, but it did soften them up enough for her Metal Claw to cut them apart. Charmeleon slashed across the earth, splitting the projectiles in two before they could hit.

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“Ember!”

“Lift one up,” Gardenia said. “Then throw more forward.”

The flames were stopped by another Ancient Power, which was again intercepted with a Dragon Rage, Metal Claw combo. The Fire Spin was still slowly dealing damage to Bayleef, but Light Screen was too powerful for the fire to ever take the grass type down.

“Enough! Run up to it!” Pauline yelled.

Gardenia sent out another set of Ancient Power before realizing it would never hit, and then decided to switch it up.

“Magical Leaf,” She said.

Leaves surrounded by multicolored energy appeared around Bayleff and flew toward Charmeleon. The fire type attempted to burn them up with Ember, but the fire had no effect on the attack. It shrugged off the damage and ran up to Bayleef.

“Fire Fang! Get its neck!”

“Reflect,” Gardenia continued.

Another thin layer appeared, this time around the Light Screen. Charmeleon opened her flaming maw and bit around the barrier, which began to crack. It looked like Fire Fang was too powerful to be blocked.

Without Gardenia’s command, the ground behind Charmeleon trembled and hit Charmeleon in the back, interrupting its attack.

“Push through and break the Reflect!” Pauline screamed.

Charmeleon shook itself and began biting again. The barrier crackled, broke apart, and the fire type jumped on Bayleef’s back before biting its neck and slashing across its body. The grass type cried out and tried to shake Charmeleon off, but she was latched on too tightly. Gardenia sighed and recalled Bayleef, using her last switch-in. Charmeleon roared, throwing an Ember at the sky.

Gardenia sent out her last Pokemon: Servine. The snake-like Pokemon lowered itself to the ground and started running across the battlefield as if it was slithering. Charmeleon immediately sent out another Ember, which Servine dodged easily. It was fast, faster than both of Pauline’s Pokemon.

“Wrap around it…” Gardenia said quietly.

“Burn it!” Pauline said.

Servine methodically approached Charmeleon, dodging almost every attack in the process. It wrapped around the fire type as if it had no bones, stretching its body in unnatural ways and perfectly avoiding Charmeleon’s tail and mouth.

“Leech Seed, then Mega Drain,” Gardenia said smoothly.

Thorny vines started to wrap around the restrained Charmeleon, and Servine started draining its energy too. Pauline ordered Charmeleon to fight back a few times, but the fire type could barely move as it was, and she finally recalled it and released Gothita once more. Both she and Gardenia were now both out of switches.

“Gothita, Psybeam!” Pauline said.

“Wrap around it again!”

Servine easily dodged the psychic attack, but this time, Gothita finally picked it up with Confusion. I expected her to use Psybeam in tandem like Cece had done with Slowpoke’s Confusion and Zen Headbutt, but she just slammed the grass type on the ground a few times before it finally managed to break out of Gothita’s hold.

“Leaf Tornado,” Gardenia ordered.

Servine struggled to stand up, but when it did, it spun around, and razor-sharp leaves began to swirl around Gothita.

“Focus and pick it up again!” Pauline yelled out. “Gothita!”

The psychic type was hurting too much. She was unable to focus.

“Keep it going until it’s down,” Gardenia said. Servine nodded weakly.

Well, it looked like Charmeleon would have to deal with three weakened Pokemon. It was certainly doable, but it would be difficult, especially dealing with Bayleef’s Ancient Power. I doubted Gardenia would let herself be caught off guard by Fire Fang’s strength again. She would probably try to keep her distance instead—

Light. Blinding light engulfed Gothita and the battlefield. She was— she was evolving.

“Don’t falter,” Gardenia told her Pokemon. “Keep the attack going.”

Gothita’s body stretched and almost doubled in size as it turned into a Gothorita. Pauline’s face split into a grin.

“Confusion.”

More range, more concentration, more power. That was the name of the game as Gothorita suddenly picked up Servine and rammed it against the ground over and over. The grass type’s eyes closed, and Gothorita finally released its body, allowing it to go limp. Gardenia wasted no time and released her Paras.

“Fix up Grassy Terrain and then go hide again,” She told the bug type. “Be careful.”

Paras screeched, and the Grassy Terrain recovered from Charmeleon’s flames. The bug type sank into the grass.

“It’s going to Double Team again,” Pauline warned. “Get ready.”

Another dozen Paras burst through the grass, and Pauline grinned.

“Confusion again! Find the real one!”

Gothorita held out her arms and started using Confusion on multiple clones at once, easily dispatching them. My eyes widened when I saw a singular seed fly out of the grass.

The real Paras wasn’t even attacking. It had stayed in the tall grass, hiding and waiting for an opportunity to land a Leech Seed on its opponent. Gothorita was too focused on using Confusion, and Pauline was still riding on the high of that evolution. The attack landed on the psychic’s type head, and vines snaked around her.

Pauline winced. “Psybeam the grass!”

Another wave of Paras streamed out of the Grassy Terrain, and Gothorita’s attack didn’t appear to hit anything.

“Fuck it, get close and try to track it!”

I nodded. Gothorita’s newly acquired power could be enough to find a hidden enemy—

One of the Paras hit the psychic type with a vicious Fury Cutter. Gardenia had pretended to use the same tactic, but the real Paras was actually a part of the rush this time. Gothorita fell to the ground and finally fainted. Pauline recalled her and smiled.

“You made me proud,” She said, before grabbing Charmeleon’s ball. The fire type looked ready to go, and she was now free from Leech Seed. “Burn up the grass!”

Charmeleon roared and spat out an Ember, completely destroying Paras’ hiding spot. The flames forced the bug type to scuttle out, and it started to run in the only direction it could. Toward Charmeleon.

“Fire Spin to trap it, then finish it off!” Pauline said.

The fire type roared out another stream of flames, trapping the Paras. One Ember and the heat from the Fire Spin was enough to finally take it down. Gardenia smiled and recalled her Pokemon before sending out Bayleef.

“Get close, quick!” The redhead ordered. “Ember as you run!”

“Light Screen and Reflect,” Gardenia started, and two shimmering barriers formed around her Pokemon. She waited for Charmeleon to get closer and then yelled out her second order. “Trip it up with Ancient Power!”

Charmeleon tripped on a raised piece of Earth, but she got up right away before any of the attacks could hit her.

“Ancient Power around yourself.”

A cocoon-like shell formed around Bayleef just before Charmeleon could reach the grass type. She raged and clawed at the earth with Metal Claw.

“Burn it up first, then hack it apart!” Pauline said.

Charmeleon let out a point-blank Dragon Rage at the barrier, but it exploded outward, sending her flying. I sat at the edge of my seat as the fire type struggled to stand. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and opened them again. They were bloodshot, and she appeared to be frothing at the mouth.

Blaze had just come into play.

Pauline let out a nervous grin. “Ember!”

“Ancient Power again.”

At this point, Charmeleon’s Ember looked more like a Flamethrower, and the searing hot flames had now turned white. The attack melted Bayleef’s protective barrier and simply burst through the Light Screen like it was nothing, burning the grass type. She tried to raise another layer of Ancient Power, but the attack melted it all the same, and Bayleef finally went down.

I sighed in relief. Pauline had won, thank Arceus. Her Pokemon had gotten so much better since the tournament— which served as a reminder that I wasn’t the only one improving. If she had mastered Blaze like this during our battle, princess probably would have lost.

Emilia audibly swallowed.

“You’ll make it, Emi” I said, trying to cheer her up.

The rest of the group gave her more words of encouragement as we left the gym to meet Pauline. Tomorrow morning, Emilia would fight.

——

We had done all we could to bring Emilia up to speed with some last-minute training. Denzel, Cecilia, and I had asked for her team’s entire moveset to craft a strategy so she could win, and we had managed to come up with something… pretty good, I supposed. It wasn’t perfect, and there were a lot of holes in the plan that couldn’t be filled because of some of her Pokemon’s weaknesses, but we could only cross our fingers and hope that Gardenia either wouldn’t use the Pokemon that heavily countered Emilia or was just having an awful morning that reflected on her battling.

Emilia stepped into the battlefield with meek, uncomfortable steps. The battle would, of course, be three-on-three with two switch-ins. She sighed and sent out her Aipom, and Gardenia sent out a Cacnea, which hadn’t been on my radar whatsoever. I expected her to send out Ferroseed or one of her grass types that could fly. Emilia hadn’t planned for this either, and I doubted that she even knew what moves the grass type even had.

“Fake out,” Emilia breathed out.

Aipom yelled, and he practically teleported next to his opponent before hitting him as hard as he could with the huge fist on his tail.

“Slam it!” She continued.

The normal type once again used his tail to slap Cacnea away, using its surprised state to his advantage and sending it flying off toward Gardenia. The grass type got back on its feet right away and awaited Gardenia’s command.

She didn’t keep it waiting. “Grassy Terrain, Spikes,” Gardenia said in quick succession.

Cacnea screamed, summoning Grassy Terrain, and I groaned as floating spikes were laid all over the arena. They were dormant now, but as soon as a new Pokemon stepped onto the field, the closest ones would rush toward it and deal heavy damage. It was an especially annoying move with how much switching beating Gardenia required.

“Get close and Slam it again,” Emilia said.

Aipom nodded and ran toward Cacnea. He wasn’t particularly fast, which meant that Gardenia had ample enough time to think about how to respond.

“Sand Attack,” She said, waiting until the last moment. Cacnea placed its appendages into the ground and flung dirt into Aipom’s eyes. The normal type panicked and rubbed his face with his tail. “Needle arm, then follow it.”

The needles on Cacnea’s hands extended, and the grass type flung its arm at Aipom as hard as it could, sending it away. It didn’t stop there, though, and it quickly ran after it.

“Come on, Aipom! Get up and Swift!” Emilia said, her voice faltering.

Aipom swerved his tail around, summoning stars and sending them flying toward the advancing Cacnea. The Pokemon grunted at the impact, but it kept running and flung its arms, hitting Aipom again.

“Bullet Seed,” Gardenia ordered, continuing her onslaught.

“Swift! Swift!” Emilia said.

She was starting to panic. She needed to take a breather, and maybe switch Aipom out. The normal type could maybe beat Cacnea, but sending out Rockruff wouldn’t be that bad of an idea, even with the type disadvantage. The rock type was her fastest Pokemon, and as long as she didn’t reveal her Beldum too soon like we had discussed, then it would be fine.

Another set of stars hit the Cacnea, who was hunting Aipom like he was its Arceus damned prey. Sometimes, the normal type would try to knock it away with Slam, but Cacnea had quickly learned to counter that by baiting him into overextending and then hitting him with Sand Attack. Cacnea wasn’t the strongest opponent to deal with, but its cunning certainly couldn’t be underestimated. Gardenia was barely commanding it.

Emilia finally decided to switch out and sent her Rockruff right next to Cacnea. A few of the spikes the grass type had laid out levitated and flew at him, causing him to yelp.

“You’ve got this! Bite it!” She yelled.

“Do the usual,” Gardenia said.

Cacnea once again threw sand at Rockruff’s eyes, but the rock type shrugged it off with a fierce bark and immediately bit at the base of Cacnea’s arm. Thank the Legendaries for Keen Eye. Cacnea used Needle Arm with his free arm, hitting its opponent in the head and neck, but Rockruff kept shaking his head as if he wanted to tear the grass type’s entire arm off and ignoring the pain.

Gardenia returned Cacnea and sent out a Skiddo without even missing a beat. That was perfect. The plan was working, at least somewhat. Gardenia was underestimating Emilia and using Pokemon that weren’t that powerful. Now all Emi needed to do was bait out her last Pokemon somehow and hope Beldum could take all of her team down.

“Skiddo, Bulk Up, and grab it with Vine Whip,” Gardenia said.

“Rock Throw!” Emilia ordered.

Skiddo’s body tensed, and its muscles bulged as it began running toward Rockruff. First slowly, and then steadily picking up speed. Rockruff pulled up a rock from under the ground and threw it at Skiddo, but the grass type just extended two vines from the leaves on its neck and broke it apart.

“Run up and Bite! You can do it!” She screamed.

I winced. That was a mistake.

Skiddo’s vines wrapped around Rockruff, picking it up from the ground.

“Rock Throw!” Emilia faltered.

The rock type barked, and pieces of the rock he had thrown at Skiddo before barrelled toward the grass type, hitting it in the back, but its hold over Rockruff never weakened.

“Seed Bomb.”

Skiddo spat out the vicious, detonating seeds that we had all grown familiar with, and they all hit Rockruff in a cacophony of explosions. Emilia’s Pokemon cries were overshadowed by the noise, and he quickly went limp. Even I was surprised at how fast it had fallen unconscious. Maybe I had been underestimating Skiddo all along, but from the information I had gathered on it before my gym battle, it wasn’t that remarkable.

Maybe that was its strength. Appearing weaker than it was. That precious smile and docile nature apparently hid a vicious battler.

“Rockruff is unable to battle! Challenger, send out your second Pokemon,” The referee yelled.

Emilia silently thanked Rockruff and sent out her Aipom again, who was hit by the Spikes.

“Grab it again,” Gardenia said.

“Fury Swipes!” Emilia ordered.

Somehow, the fingers on Aipom’s tail grew sharp enough to hack the two vines apart. Emilia slammed her foot and kept going.

“Run away and Swift!”

Good, I thought. Fighting this Skiddo in close combat had revealed itself to be a terrible idea, especially when it had used Bulk Up.

“Follow it and Razor Leaf.”

Swift hit Skiddo, but it was too bulky to go down to an attack that weak. The grass type was faster than Aipom, and its Razor Leaves were hitting the Pokemon more often than not, no matter how much he tried to zig-zag to dodge. A few more minutes of this chase, and Aipom went down as well.

Emilia hadn’t managed to make Gardenia use a third Pokemon. Her chances of victory were now significantly slimmer.

The chestnut-haired girl sighed and grabbed Beldum’s Pokeball. She stared at it for a few seconds before releasing the white, marble-like steel type, which let out an alien-like grinding sound. Thanks to him levitating in the air, he didn’t trigger the Spikes, but if he was ever knocked to the ground, they would hit him all the same.

“Take Down!” Emilia said.

“Knock it away,” Gardenia quickly ordered.

Beldum floated toward Skiddo. He wasn’t fast, but he was heavy, and that would make all the difference. Skiddo hit him with Vine Whip, but Beldum’s course wasn’t even slightly altered. He rammed into the grass type.

“Pick it up!” Emilia said, not missing a beat.

Take Down had sent the grass type flying, but Beldum’s red eye shone brightly as he used Confusion to stop it midair. He slammed Skiddo into the ground multiple times.

“Flash Cannon!” She continued. Beldum summoned a bright light in front of his eyes and sent it flying, hitting Skiddo once more. The grass type tried to fight back, sending Seed Bombs and Razor Leaves whenever there was an opening, but the fight was a foregone conclusion. Skiddo went down.

“Skiddo is unable to battle! Leader Gardenia, send out your second Pokemon,” The referee said.

In a way, the sheer difference in strength between Beldum and the rest of her team was incredible, and Gardenia apparently thought the same, because she hesitated for a few seconds. She smiled and released Cacnea.

“Pin Missile!” She said. “Don’t get close!”

“Stop it with Confusion and get in range!”

Needles grew out of Cacnea’s arms and started flying like guided missiles toward Beldum, who diverted a few away. Unfortunately, he hadn’t trained his psychic abilities as hard as Slowpoke or Gothorita, and a few of them hit him. Still, it was barely a scratch. Cacnea sent out another barrage of Pin Missiles before being picked up with Confusion. Since Beldum was already picking up a living being this time, all of them hit. The steel type let out a metallic sound and slammed Cacnea against the ground like a ragdoll, sometimes changing it up with Flash Cannon to inflict more damage.

Cacnea went down. It was one-on-one now.

Gardenia released Tangela— the same she had used against Cecilia’s Fletchinder. The grass type gurgled as if it was sneering. It was nothing like angel, which made me appreciate how different two Pokemon of the same species could act.

“Get your vines out,” Gardenia said. Tangela extended more than ten vines into the air. “Sunny Day.”

“Get in range again and pick it up! You can do this!” Emilia said, clenching her fists.

Tangela screeched, and the sun began to bear down harshly on the battlefield. Gardenia wanted to take full advantage of Tangela’s ability. Beldum once again slowly but steadily flew toward Tangela.

“Bind it.”

All of Tangela’s vines instantly converged on Beldum at the same time and snaked around him, holding him in place further than his Confusion could reach. I expected the steel type just to brush it off like he had done with Skiddo, but he surprisingly couldn’t. Tangela’s vines were too powerful to be simply overpowered and torn down. Beldum tried to manipulate the vines away with Confusion, but Tangela just brought more of them to the table, rendering any attempts to free himself useless.

“Bring it down,” Gardenia followed up.

Tangela slammed Beldum against the ground in one smooth blur of motion, and the Spikes all hurtled toward the steel type as well.

“Mega Drain,” She said.

Was… was it over? No matter what Beldum tried to do, he couldn’t get free from Tangela. He was bulky and resistant enough to grass type moves that he could last a long time, but that didn’t matter if he couldn’t do anything.

Beldum’s red eye slowly began to fade, leaving only a dark cavity. It was knocked out. I stared at Emilia, expecting her to be bitter about her loss, but she wasn’t.

She looked relieved.

——

We joined Emilia in the lobby and started comforting her.

“Sorry Emi…” Pauline said, wrapping an arm around her friend. “I should have helped you train more. I was so focused on my own battle that I only helped you after it was too late.”

“It was a close battle,” Denzel said, clapping her back. “You’ll get her next time. I know how hard defeat is—”

“I feel great,” Emilia said.

“What?” Justin frowned.

“I feel great,” She repeated. “Beldum… he spoke to me before going down,” She said, caressing her Pokeball. “They weren’t words— not exactly, it was more like a feeling.”

“That’s— that’s amazing!” Denzel smiled.

“I knew you were worrying for nothing,” I said. “I told you he loved you.”

“You did,” Emilia said. “Beldum told me to do what I really wanted to do, or at least that’s what it felt like. I guess he knew all along that I was forcing myself into the Circuit, since he’s there a lot when I watch contest videos. I was nervous about losing because I didn’t want to hold everyone back, and I was scared about my parent’s reaction—”

“Just give me the phone when they call,” Pauline said.

“Thank you,” Emilia smiled.

“So are you finally going to try out contests or what?” The redhead continued.

“Pauline… you knew?” She asked.

“Of course, I knew. You were obvious as hell about it,” She said, rolling her eyes.

Contests weren’t particularly my cup of tea, but I was happy Emilia had something she was passionate about. Signing up for it was as easy as signing up for the Circuit, and unlike the Circuit, it didn’t run on a yearly basis. It was a continuous sport, where trainers could earn ribbons instead of gym badges. I wasn’t too familiar with all the rules, though.

“Plus, contests happen all over the region! I can still travel with all of you, although I’ll probably skip the more difficult parts and hop on a plane…” She trailed off.

“Of course,” Cece said. “It wouldn’t be the same without the entire group.”

Emilia sniffled and teared up. “Thank you, everyone… for supporting me.”

We all grouped up and gave her a collective hug.

“I feel so much more motivated to train now,” Emilia smiled. “It’s like everything’s clicking into place!”

As we stepped out of the gym and toward our hotel, it was finally time to start planning when we would leave Eterna city. I still had my session with Amanda tomorrow evening via video chat, but other than that, I was fine with leaving any time.

Our time in Eterna was slowly coming to an end.