Of Pokémon and Partners

Wrong Way

She clutched the poké-ball in her hand firmly. This was it. Her first gym battle.

She'd started her 'Pokémon Adventure' about three days ago, she had arrived at the Pokémon ceremony pathetically late, and as a result, all the traditional starter Pokémon had been claimed.
But that was okay!
She had gotten an impressive, if not uncharacteristically temperamental, Eevee.
She also wished the Professor had given her some kind of map with directions or something. It was her understanding that the road went in a kind of circle with the weakest gyms at the beginning and the strongest at the end, and honestly she had no idea which way was which.

She'd hoped she'd gone the right way. But as she stared at her reflection in one of the impressive, yet extremely intimidating gym's many reflective pools of water, she had to doubt it.

On the bright side, journeying alone hadn't seemed to have taken much of a toll on her appearance. She still had the same unruly blonde hair, the same pale freckled cheeks, (perhaps slightly tinted with sunburn,) and the same round glasses perched on her small nose.

She blinked up at the gym again.
It was really big.

Several large, elegant navy towers flecked with gold stretched to the heavens, each symmetrically adorned with sparking waterfalls. It gave them the appearance of twinkling pillars of water. In the center of them stood the main area of the gym. It, too, was navy and gold, but it was not shrouded in water. Instead, it was decorated with many gilded oceanic carvings and statues.

Peridot squinted and shielded her eyes as she admired it.
Yeah.
She had definitely gone the wrong way.

She looked over her shoulder at the town and the road. Really, Peridot knew that she should just turn around and go back. There was no way that she could hope to defeat the strongest gym on the road first.

And yet.

She couldn't stand the idea of everyone else from her town also embarking on Pokémon journeys getting a six day lead on her.
And she smirked as she imagined the looks on their faces if she really did manage to thwart the strongest gym first.

How hard could it be, really?

That settled it. Peridot pursed her lips, pushed her glasses up in determination and attempted to look confident as she pushed the large golden doors of the gym open and walked inside.

As soon as she entered, her mouth dropped open in awe.
The inside was sparkling with every shade of blue imaginable. The floor beneath her must have been made of glass, or perhaps something stronger, but whatever it was, it was thin and very clear because if she hadn't known any better, she would have thought she was standing on the torrential water swirling beneath her.

She snapped out of her stupor as a voice piped up beside her, "Are you here to challenge the gym?"

Peridot licked her lips, no going back now, "Y-yes."
She cringed as her voice cracked, but the girl who had spoken seemed not to have noticed. Or at least, it seemed that way because of the pastel blue bangs covering half of her face.

"Come with me, then."
The tall blue haired girl quickly turned on her heel and led Peridot through the impressive gym until she stopped at a large, intricate door in the image of what Peridot assumed was a Gyrados.

As it opened, the girl beside her waved her into the room, which turned out to be a large water-type arena.

Peridot gulped, "What did I just get myself into?"