The Light Of A Flare

Chapter 7 - She's with me

Just over here pretending I'm not salty that my trash oneshots from age 13 have 10k reads and this, which I'm proud of and have actually put effort into, has less than 50 <3

"Ready?" I asked Eevee, hiding my nerves behind my excitement.

Eevee nodded excitedly, even jumping in the air slightly. I grinned at its enthusiasm.

"Then let's go." We walked together through the door, both nervous, but feeding off each other's enthusiasm. Symbiosis, I remembered the word from a Pokémon documentary a while ago. We needed each other. My thoughts were disrupted, however, by a trainer jumping in front of me.

"Ha! You think you can battle the Leader just like that? I need to test you to see if you're ready!"

"Enough of that, Naomi." A voice floated across the room, saving me from my shock. "She's with me."

I looked up, and to my surprise, it was the woman from the Pokémon Centre! I was again distracted from my shock by a voice; this time, that of the trainer, Naomi.

"Sorry, I had no idea you were recommended by Viola! She hasn't done that for a while... I'll just..." She said, backing out of the room.

Viola laughed, shaking her head. "So, I'm the Gym Leader here." She took her camera from around her neck and surprised me yet again by asking, "Do you mind? I like to have photos of all my challengers, and my last one wouldn't let me. He said he was 'only here to train', then beat all of my Pokémon with one move each from his Umbreon!"

I gasped. "Robin was here?"

"You know him?" This time, I was the one to surprise her.

"We've met." I didn't know what facial expression to accompany this with, so cycled through everything from distasteful to dreamy. Viola shot me a questioning look, then gestured to her camera.

"May I?"

"Shoot." I blushed. "Uh, pun unintended."

She chuckled, and I tried as hard as I could not to pose. I ended up doing a halfhearted gaze into the distance. The shutter clicked, and she examined her work. She appeared to be happy with it, smiling widely.

"All done! Now, time to battle!"

Grinning, I reach for my belt. "Fletchling, let's go!"

In a flash of blue light, Fletchling appeared, stretching its wings and flying around the arena.

"This is your first Gym battle, so I'll use these three," Viola told me. "You can use all three of yours, obviously." I nodded.

"Surskit, come on out!"

The bug appeared, displaying very little emotion, and I scanned it with my Pokédex. The official described the rules.

"This will be a 3-on-3 Pokémon battle! When one trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle, the match ends. Only the challenger may switch Pokémon. Battle begin!" Sweeping her arm down, the referee began the battle. I wasted no time in getting the first move in.

"Fletchling, Peck!"

The Tiny Robin Pokémon darted toward Surskit, but the blue skater was ready.

"Dodge, then Ice Beam!"

I winced - an ice-type move would be super-effective - but Surskit used the move on its surroundings after sliding out of the way of Fletchling. I have Viola a quizzical look.

"There's more than one way to use a move," she explained cryptically. "Double Team."

Copies of Surskit appeared in a circle around Fletchling, catching me off guard. "Um, Quick Attack!"

Fletchling zoomed around, cutting down copies; but not the real one. "Sticky Web!"

The remaining copies threw string at a desperate Fletchling. But I had an idea.

"Razor Wind! Find the real web and cut it!"

Slashes of air began to cut up pieces of string; or rather fake string. Until it hit the real web, and kept going toward Surskit. It landed a direct hit, sending smoke billowing around it.

"Yes!" I cried - but I'd celebrated too soon. Surskit emerged from the thick smoke barely damaged.

"Fell Stinger." Viola smirked as Surskit prepared to release a stinger. I smirked in return.

"Peck. Take it head-on."

The stinger was released, and Fletchling tucked in its wings, speeding toward the green blur. But the stinger was too fast. The two blurs suddenly stopped in the centre of the arena, fighting for ground and completely trapping Fletchling in one spot.

Viola's smirk widened. "Ice Beam."

My eyes widened as my flying partner was hit by the super-effective burst, collapsing to the ground in a block of ice and unable to battle. "Fletchling is unable to battle! Surskit wins!"

"Fletchling, thank you. Return." I told it, recalling it. I then turned to Eevee. "Ready?" Eevee nodded defiantly. "Then let's go!"

Eevee leapt onto the battlefield eagerly - and immediately slipped helplessly toward Surskit. I rushed to get Eevee's Pokéball, and recalled it with a relieved sigh. Viola giggled.

"Fennekin, Ember on the floor. Melt the ice." I commanded, throwing its Pokéball out. It obeyed, sending a stream of glowing embers across the arena. The ice melted where they hit, leaving enough grip to move around. "Ember, this time on Surskit!" I allowed myself a wary smile.

"Fell Stinger!" The green stinger was again charged and again fired, but Fennekin's stream of glowing embers was too much. They flew at Surskit, landing a direct hit.

"Now, Scratch!" Fennekin leapt at Surskit, who was still recovering from the Ember. Claws extended, it threw Surskit across the room. But it still wasn't done.

"Scratch, once more!" Surskit was down, and I intended to take full advantage of that fact. But Fennekin began surrounding itself in flames, before dashing at Surskit.

"Is that - Flame Charge?"

Surskit was hit head-on, and collapsed to the ground. "Surskit is unable to battle! Fennekin wins!"

"That was some secret weapon," Viola nodded appreciatively.

"It just used it! It couldn't before," I told her.

"It learned it to get you out of trouble, huh." She smiled.

"Learned?"

Viola then explained how Pokémon learn certain moves at certain times, from certain parents, and so on. "So, back to the battle."

I smirked. "We'd better."

"Vivillon, go!"

"Vivillon, huh?" I scanned it with my 'Dex, before turning to Fennekin. "You're on a roll. I believe you can do it."

"Kin! Fenne!"

"Vivillon, Gust!" The butterfly Pokémon quickly whipped up a Gust with its wings, blowing Fennekin back.

"Ember'll get blocked by Gust," I pondered, "so use Flame Charge!"

Fennekin waited until the Gust had run its course, then dashed at Vivillon, coating itself in fire as it did so. It seemed to be going faster than before - an added effect of Flame Charge, maybe. Even with the speed boost, however, Vivillon evaded easily.

Time to test my theory, I thought. "Flame Charge, over and over!"

"Picked up on the speed boost, huh. Alright Vivillon, use Quiver Dance to dodge. Keep up with it."

I grimaced. Vivillon's speed had obviously increased, and probably some other stats as well. Fennekin, unsurprisingly, was nowhere near it.

Viola grinned. "Sleep Powder!"

Oh crap.