I look at my phone’s clock and then back to the gym, I tap my foot anxiously until I finally build up the courage to go into the Gym. The line has now only been reduced to five or so people. I walked up to the receptionist and after confirming with her that I had a gym battle schedule she points me in the direction of a hallway. I walk down the hallway, steeling my nerves. One breath in, hold, deep breath out. The thought of this battle has been fraying my nerves all day, while I was nervous about the gym battle I’m a bit more nervous about the cameras.
If I mess up in this fight it won’t just be my opponent who will know I messed up, but whoever watches the video. It’s a bit…much I guess, I’m sure I’ll get used to it but for right now it’s fueling some anxiety. ‘Let’s just relax, focus on the fight…’ I go over my strategy in my head, going over a few scenarios and things such as that. ‘Assuming that it’s not the same pokemon as last time…no even if it is my team all have moves that are super effective against ground types. It should be okay.’ Steadying my breath I open up a room labeled “Challenger Lounge” inside is a locker room that’s been spruced up a bit. Lockers line the wall and a few benches sit in between all of them ‘Why do they need so many lockers? Maybe if they host a tournament or a contest? Probably something like that.’ I take a seat on the bench.
In the corner of the room is a small tv with a speaker under it, the tv shows the stadium. The flat dirt field with a square chalk outline looks like a more prominent and well-kept version of the battlegrounds behind the pokecenter. I fiddle with the pokeballs on my belt, once again going through my strategies. Well, more like strategy, the main plan is to use super effective attacks and improvise from there. Though I went over a list of ground-type Pokémon that could cause a hassle, ‘Wooper would cause trouble, if we didn’t have Budew. Gligar could cause trouble…so could Swinub, any ice attacks would be bad for Budew.’ I sigh off my worries, instead opting to look at some positives. ‘I have the upper hand, both with my Pokémon and my abilities. Oh, that reminds me!’
I clip off Budew’s Pokeball from my belt l and release her onto the bench next to me. She looks around, expecting to be in the gym’s stadium…I think that’s how it looked anyways. She lets out a small pout, she’s been eager to fight after the whole Venomoth incident. “Hey bud, sorry to throw you out like this. But I forgot to equip your item back at the hotel.” I reach into my backpack, which is normally always with me, except for that one time when I got kidnapped. I pull out the modified Shell Bell, I look at the plaid bandana tied around Budew. “Hmm, putting it on the front might offset your balance…” I mumble to myself as I scratch my chin. Budew is only a foot tall after all, sure big for her species, but still fairly small. A thought pops into my head, I rummage through my bag until I manage to find a paperclip. I straighten it out and then put one end into a small hole near the end of the shell. Then I very carefully stab the paperclip into the plaid fabric then twist it into a circle. Finally, I make sure the tips of the paperclip wrap around the circle in a loosely braid-like formation.
“There we are!” I exclaim after finishing. I pat Budew on the back and then return her to her Pokeball. The speaker under the TV suddenly goes off “Please enter the stadium.” The voice is robotic, like a text-to-speech program. Following the prerecorded message’s advice, I walked towards a door just to the right of where I was sitting and right across from the entrance. I take a deep breath and then open the door, stepping into a short hallway. The floor is made from very packed dirt, the same kind as in the stadium. I walk forwards and am blinded real quickly by the sudden change from a dark hallway to a bright field. In front of me is the classic chalked-out square of a battlefield, and across on the other side of it is Alira with a small grin that threats to become a smirk.
“This is a battle between Challenger Elliot versus Gym Leader Alira of Shaleshallows! This will be a two versus-two battle, the challenger gets one switch while the leader gets none. Please take your positions!”
The blare of a referee turned my attention to the crowd when Fen challenged the gym there were at best four people in the audience, Alira announced the rules, and there certainly wasn’t a giant TV. But now…My breath hesitates in anxiety and fear as I look around me. The bleachers are packed, a wide variety of people all packed together like sardines, a lot of them cheering “Alira!” while a few wished me good luck. I stop myself from running back into the hallway. A large TV shows my shell-shocked expression, while a referee on a weird drone-like Segway floats above the battlegrounds. ‘Why are there so many people? This-This is a battle for my first badge, not the championships or anything so why are there…’ My question was soon answered.
“Hey, hope you don’t mind. Buuuut, I took the liberty of calling a few friends of mine, no worries though only, like, two or so hundred!” Her small grin finally breaks into a large tooth-filled smile. I just look at her. I just look. I raise my hand up and in on fast motion slap myself on the cheek, the pain snaps me out of my daze. ‘Screw it, whatever, fuuuck!’ I turn to face this fuck-...girl. “Yeah, no problem at all,” I say with equal parts dripping in venom and fake confidence. ‘Okay, relax. This is still a gym challenge…no matter how absurd this all is. Why did the audience show up, are they, really, all her friends? Did she pay them…no that’d be too much. Wait…maybe she, offered them…a show.’ I look towards her belt, spying only two balls rather than the six she’d usually have so she could choose a pokemon of equal strength to her challenger. So if a guy with one badge had a Garchomp or something she could send out something of equal strength…probably another Garchomp.
‘If that’s the case, then…’ I straighten out my back and take a breath, “Hey! How strong would you say your current team is?” My voice sounds a bit hoarse, but still fairly filled with that fake confidence. She looks at me, her grin fades for the slightest of seconds before it comes even bigger, a small chuckle emanating from her mouth. “Oh, around third badge level or so, give or take I’d say.” I gulp a dry mouth, ‘Relax man, you can do this…but, what if I can’t. I think she’s overestimating me, is this because I entered the sanctuary? Right she mentioned that her Palossand let me inside it…’ My hand slightly shakes, but I grasp Budew’s pokeball regardless. These worrying thoughts flood my mind, but I push them away from this moment. We can worry later, for now, just fight. I look at my pokeball, it’s split colors, the two halves of the lid now red and blue. I look towards Alira. The referee, who was very kindly letting me have this moment, finally coughed into his hand.
“Trainers on the count of three toss your pokeballs!” His voice booming through a speaker system, “One!” I shift my stance, now standing at an angle like I’m about to toss a baseball. “Two.” Alira stands relaxed, her stance telling of her confidence in her skills regardless of her young age. “Three, go!” In unison, we toss out our pokemon. Budew’s ball goes flying to the middle of the courts, she forms from the red light and stands in silence, waiting to see her opponent. Across from Budew, a small camel forms. Holding back a swear I look at the Numel, whose listless eyes looked like nothing but bad news. ‘Shit, should I switch. No that’d be too soon, what’s my plan then?’ The thoughts are cut by a call “Numel, Lava Plume!” Alira points her hand outwards as she lets out her command. “Budew, dodge!”
Luckily Budew managed to dash out of the attack vicinity, a large pillar of fire sprouting out of the ground where Budew was. “Budew keep dodging, and counter-attack with Absorb when possible!” I quickly turn my gaze towards the Numel and put my hand over my mouth like I’m in deep thought. In actuality, it was to hide my lips from moving as I, as quietly as a mouse, say “Status.”
Numel
- Attack: C+/B+
- Defense: A-/A+
- Special Attack: B-/S-
- Special Defense: D+/B-
- Speed: E/C+
- Luck: C+/C+
- Reactions: D-/C+
- Intelligence: C-/B+
[Omitting Overall]
I look over the camel’s stats, focusing on having something to look at really quickly seems to have omitted the Overall. ‘Alright, low Special Defense, but high Defense and Special Attack.’ Budew barely manages to dodge the next plume of fire, ‘Absorb requires focus, with the constant and fairly unpredictable attacks that will be impossible…then let’s try this!’
“Use Stun Spore!” I yell louder than I expected, out of Budew’s bud shoots out a blast of yellow-colored dust. Alira flinches for no more than half a second before commanding back “Burn it with Ember!” Numel leans his head back before shooting out a swarm of golf ball-sized fireballs. The flames burn most of the spores, the ones left too few in between to cause any effect. “Budew, keep using Stun Spore! Make a dust cloud!” I yell out with a quick wave of my hand. Budew starts to spam Stun Spore, the sheer quantity is too much for Numel to burn, and soon enough spores hit the pokemon. A small crackle of electricity brought to my ears tells me that the plan worked. Budew heaves from the overuse of one move, “Budew, return!” I call back Budew and grab Min’s pokeball.
“Go Minccino!” I say with an unknown feeling burning in my chest, making my fake confidence turn more and more real. Minccino forms onto the field, letting out a small cry that goes unheard amongst the cheer of the crowd. My heart is pounding, and my anxiousness is ever so slightly alleviated. “Min, get close and use Aqua Tail!” That part makes Alira flinch for a whole second, before responding with “Lava Plume!” Min easily dodges the pillars of fire, ‘Lava Plume has a long wind-up time. It was a problem for Budew, but not Minccino!’ A small whirlpool wraps around Min’s tail as he speeds toward the listless camel. He soon finds himself in attacking range, twirling like a ballerina into his attack. Numel lets out a small squeal as the attack lands, “Keep hitting him, he has high Defense!” Min does just that, turning his twirl into a flip where he snips Numel’s hump with an Aqua Tail. Now behind him, he begins to barrage the camel with super effective moves, and after the sixth hit, Numel finally falls.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“Numel is unable to battle!” The audience lets out a deafening cheer, with a small undertone of boos. I soon follow suit with my own cheer “Way to go Min!” Alira lets out a loud laugh, “Hahaha! Good job Elliot! But don’t get too confident, I still have a pokemon left.” Her cheerful grin looks a bit more intimidating to me. Her hand goes to her last pokeball on her belt, actually on closer inspection it’s a Heal Ball, the same one she thought about using in Fen’s battle. “Right, let’s do this Sandygast!” She tosses it onto the field. As soon as she said Sandygast, the crowd went wild…well wilder. I ignore the noises that are of no importance to me and instead take my gaze toward the mound of sand now on the field.
“Min, same thing!” I once again cover my mouth and mutter “Status”
Sandygast
- Attack: C+/B+
- Defense: A/S+
- Special Attack: A-/A-
- Special Defense: C+/A-
- Speed: C-/B+
- Luck: B+/B+
- Reactions: A-/A+
- Intelligence: A-/S+
[Omitting Overall]
‘Oh god…Okay, same points as Numel along with high reactions.’ Sandygast soon shoots out a glob of mud ‘Mud Shot! Alira didn’t even give out a command! Shit, did she read this?’ The mud is making Min extremely uncomfortable as he resists the urge to wash it off. The mud causes his acrobatic act to pause as he slips. “Sandygast use Hypnosis!” No! “Baby-Doll Eyes!” Min’s large puppy dog eyes cause Sandygast to freeze, “Move!” I yell out with a hint of fear. My eyes scan Sandygast, and I notice something ‘What the?” Swirling around inside of its sand is a small light blue gem, and as quick as I saw it, it went back into the mound. “A held item!”
“Min, Aqua Tail and use Baby-Doll Eyes when needed!” I say trusting him to know what to do. Soon Min speeds towards Sandygast, his tail once more flaring up with a whirlpool. He circles the mound of sand, making sure to stay away from his mouth to avoid any more Mud Shots. With the grace of a gymnast, he strikes Sandgast with his water attack, but I notice something off about the ground type. He’s taking these hits well, the attacks are connecting but he still has plenty of energy. Right as Min was about to go for one more Water Tail towards Sandygast’s back, the ghost type's face that was facing towards me now shifted and reforms aimed at Minccino.
====
Time seems to slow down for Minccino, looking into the black void of this sandy beast’s mouth. He can make out the individual grains of sand that make up the whole of Sandygast, inside the beast’s jaw purple ooze forms into a ball. Min sees his face and his impending failure inside the Sludge Bomb. At point-blank range there’s no doubt it will make him faint, even his eyes are slightly watery just looking at it. Time moves on slowly and Minccino’s body starts to react on its own.
His eyes spot a small glimmer of light amidst the sand and, with what feels like second nature, a dark aura surrounds his arm right as the ooze is released. He tilts his body mid-air causing the Sludge Bomb to only hit half his body. A searing pain is dulled by pure adrenaline, he sinks his hand into the mess of sand. And in no more than a second he rips out a small light blue gem cut in a triangle, and soon he blacks out.
====
“Minccino is unable to battle!” The referee’s words go on deaf ears as I process what just happened, in one motion Min lost. But he also seems to have dealt damage, and even more impressively he seems to have pulled something out of Sandygast. “Status”
Minccino
- Attack: B/S-
- Defense: F+/B-
- Special attack: E-/B+
- Special Defense: E/C+
- Speed: B+/S+
- Luck: A-/A-
- Reactions: A/S++
- Intelligence: B/A+
[Overall Omitted]
Moves: Baby Doll Eyes, Pound, Helping hand, Echoed Voice, Aqua Tail (Egg Move), Thunder Wave (Taught by TM) Knock Off (Egg Move)
My eyes widen as I look over the screen in front of me, I return Min to his ball as I read over the information. ‘Knock Off…An egg move. Then, egg moves aren’t naturally known? Does it just mean that it can learn it? Other than that his reactions increased by two, his attack by one, and his special defense also went up by one. All in that one moment…’ I snap out of my shock and palm Budew’s ball.
Deep breath in, hold, let out. “Finish ‘em off Budew!” I say with more conviction in my voice. She soon forms on the field, “Use Absorb and don’t let up!” A stream of green orbs flies out of Sandygast and into Budew, his low special defense not buffering him that well. “Use Sludge Bomb!” I look towards our weary opponent ‘Damn it if we could just keep the stream up…’
“Budew dodge it!” I say that, and yet Budew did not move. Her focus dead set on her foe, ‘Shit!’ I yell “Budew you have to dodge!” It goes unheard and the glob of poison splatters onto the small pokemon “Shit!” I say unconsciously. While it’s only neutral damage, it’s a base power of ninety. But that’s when I heard a ding of a bell, and when I saw Budew still standing, a constant stream of energy beginning to heal her wounds. My eyes widen in shock, but I turned my gaze back toward our opponent. The mound of sand seems to stagger, his form turning slightly less formed and soon he slumps down into a small pile of sand with a small red shovel stabbed in it.
“Sandygast is unable to battle, Gym Leader Alira has run out of pokemon! The winner is Challenger Elliot!” If the crowd cheered then I didn’t hear it. My heart pumps like an engine, a grin that threatened to split my mouth apart forms, and a loud cheer subconsciously leaves my lip. “Yes!” I race towards Budew avoiding a small puddle of poison as I lift her into my arms “You did it!” I cheer out, with more energy than I’ve ever had before. Budew looks at me a bit surprised before I could see a realization set into her face.
She lets out a small chuckle that turns into a very loud laugh at her name. Soon a blinding white light takes over her body, in my arms I can feel her body grow bigger. The light that makes up her bulb split forming two arms with roses for hands. In no time flat, I was no longer holding Budew, but rather I was holding Roselia. I didn’t know what to say to that, but I gave my best attempt “Way to go! Go rest, bud.” I tap Roselia’s ball to her forehead and return her. I take a breath and try to calm down it raging excitement inside of my chest.
“Congrats Elliot! On both your victory and Budew’s evolution!” I turn my gaze back to the cheerful gym leader. “Come ‘ere I got some stuff for you!” I walk towards Alira, who offers me her hand. I shake it and in her other hand, she hands me a small metal pin shaped like a sandcastle. She stops shaking my hand and reaches into her pocket, pulling out her trainer card and I do the same. She pokes my ID with her own and my bank account is now 10,000 dollars heavier. “I added a bit extra for the whole, third badge level ‘mons thing.” She answered before I even asked, ‘It would usually be 5,000.’ I turn to her and prepare to ask a question that’s been gnawing at me the whole fight.
“Why did you do all of this?” It was a simple question, but one that escaped me at the moment. She replies, her grin a bit smaller “Well, the reason I invited all these people is that I saw you pacing back and forth in front of the gym for at least twenty minutes before you entered.” My face grows a bit hot from embarrassment ‘She saw that?’ she continues “You can’t be so unconfident when it comes to this type of stuff. When I first became a gym leader I suffered a lot due to my worries and lack of experience.” She scratches her head as she keeps going “The reason why I used a third badge team, is due to Palossand’s recommending it. You see he’s pretty good at measuring strength, even gave me one of his kids to use.” I express my disbelief internally, though it does kinda make sense…but even then “Why did you help me, surely it can’t just be due to Palossand’s recommendation?” She nods back to that, “Yeah if it was just that I would have ignored your whole anxious stuff, buuut…I guess I just took a liking to ya, is all. Maybe it’s because you're so short?” She hums jokingly at that last part. I resist the urge to comment on that, “Well it’s neither here nor there. Come on, go get out of here and get your team healed up.”
====
I was soon ushered out of the gym, making my way to the pokecenter and healing up Min who I let rest on my shoulder. I let out Roselia who now stands at one foot and six inches, luckily she’s still small enough to rest in my hood. And she does just that after figuring out how to balance with the added weight of her new arms. I walk down the streets, ignoring everything as my exhaustion just piles up and up. ‘I wasn’t even the one who fought, why am I so tired…”
I finally made my way to the hotel and promptly flop down onto the bed, Min was still awake on my shoulders so he jumped off. But Roselia fell asleep in my hood and was promptly woken from my flop. “Sorry about that.” She didn’t seem to mind and just hopped towards a free spot on the bed. I lie down and very quickly sleep takes over. Like a snap of the fingers, I pass out on the bed.
My sleep is a restless one, I keep waking after sleeping for an hour and always with some weird dream that I soon forget. I sigh and decide to do some web browsing, checking out various Yourtube videos and some random forums. I notice that my video has been uploaded to the “Shaleshallows Gym Offical” Channel. I spend the rest of my restless night watching the video on repeat, taking notes of things I could improve upon and also of habits to get rid of. After that, I decided to plot out more of my path, after Dizzyfields there’s a path through the mountain range that’ll lead me to the water gym, or I could take another path to Bonescrap. But the mountain range might have a new teammate for me…I scratch my chin and decide to just weigh my options through the night. This leads to me finally falling into a restful sleep.