The Destined

Chapter Sixteen

(A/N: Sorry y'all, this is going to be a shorter chapter.)

The moment I stepped in the gym, I could tell that this battle would be more difficult than the rest. Not just because there were more gym trainers, but because I kept seeing platforms disappearing and reappearing as the buttons to stand on and off kept activating by the gym trainers

"Welcome, gym challenger!" the jubilant gym leader roared. "I hope you have a towel on you, because it's time to get splashy!" "Uh, what?" I responded, slightly confused. "You know? Because I'm the water type specialist?" asked Crasher Wake, trying to save his joke. I could hear him quietly complain after: "ugh, that doesn't work either? I'm trying to lighten the mood after that mysterious group devastated this town..."

"Anyway," he continued. "For you to challenge me, you must find the correct path that leads to the platform I am currently standing on! You can battle the trainers to find clues about which buttons to press to help you if you need to."

"Sounds simple enough." Wouldn't be such a bad idea to train my team on the way, I thought.

"Hey you, trainer!" I called to one of them.  "Which buttons do I press?"  "You think I'll give you that information for free?" he scoffed.  "Shellos!"  "I didn't really expect that to work, but it was worth a shot.  Luxio, help me out here," I called.

"Start with Charge," I ordered.  "Shellos, block and counter with Muddy Water," countered the trainer. The Shellos created a massive wave of brown water to stop Luxio in its path! This caused Luxio to take quite a bit of damage. "Us gym trainers aren't pushovers from here on out, kid! Better not underestimate us twice," he provoked. "Argh! Luxio, try to speed up with Double Team," I tried.

"That won't help you escape this Earthquake," the gym trainer challenged. I could immediately tell that this attack would give Luxio trouble, as it couldn't get up in the air fast enough to evade the attack.

"Luxio, return." I decided that Luxio had enough, because I could see that it didn't have enough training yet. "You did a great job out there for your first trainer battle. Thank you. Go, Staravia! Wing Attack!" I called.

"Shellos, quickly use Quick Attack," the trainer countered. Luckily, Staravia was a faster flyer than Shellos was a faster attacker. "Staravia, finish it off with Gust," I said.  The Shellos was knocked out, winning me the battle.

"Oh no, Shellos!" cried the gym trainer.  "Fine, rules are rules: one of the buttons you have to press are right next to me."  He pointed to his right.  "Seriously?  Why did I have to battle you then?!" I argued.  The trainer just shrugged.

Stepping on the button, a platform appeared, allowing me to access the next section of the gym.  "You better not let anyone or yourself press that button okay?" I told him sternly.  "Yeah, yeah, sure," he replied.

I knew it was unnecessary, but I kept my eye on the button all the way until I got to the next section.

Okay, one down, I don't know how many more to go, I thought uncertainly to myself.