Chapter Seven: Strategy

So this is it, then. Eve thought to herself as she stood in the challenger's box of the battlefield, waiting for Faulkner to finish his conversation with the match's judge. It's already Wednesday… It took us this long to perfect the techniques that Hannah came up with. That means I've only got a chance at getting this badge today and tomorrow if I want to pass my class. She looked down at the pokéball in her hand and saw that her arm was trembling. Even though I'm this nervous… I'm confident at the same time. I believe in Hannah's strategies, and we've practiced at this long enough that I think that I'll be able to keep from panicking. And I've gotta do this for the two of them… I know they'll both be upset if we lose, especially after Katsu's last comment during that fight.

Eve glanced over at the spectator's bleachers at the side of this battlefield. Some of the people there she didn't know; they were just kids who had nothing better to do than come and watch a gym battle. However, many people there she did know. Rose and Christina from her class were there, as well as a couple of Eve's other classmates. Mr. Terruf was present, since it was his extra credit assignment that was the cause of this battle. Katsu was there as well, sitting away from the rest. He had tried to apologize for his actions on Monday, but Eve had flat out refused to accept it. She wasn't holding a grudge, exactly; she simply knew he wasn't sorry about his views towards pokémon. Since then, neither she nor Katsu had really tried talking to each other.

"Sorry for the wait!" Faulkner said, moving back to his proper position on the battlefield. "I just had to discuss something with judge. So, are you ready to battle?"

Eve marveled at how young Faulkner looked; he was probably only a few years older than she was. His hair was dyed completely blue, and it matched his outfit; just the sort of somewhat silly getup that a lot of young people tried to style at some point of another. And he's already strong enough to be a gym leader? That's amazing. "Yup! I'm ready to battle!" Eve said.

Faulkner smiled encouragingly. "Now that's what I like to hear!" he said, grasping his own pokéball. "While I'm sure you already know the rules, I still have to say them. League guidelines and whatnot. So…" He cleared his throat. "Each side may use a total of two pokémon! You, the challenger, may switch pokémon at any time. I, as gym leader, will not be allowed that luxury. Seeing as you have no gym badges yet, the pokémon I use will be of a level that I deem proportional to your gym battling experience. Is this all acceptable?"

"I suppose so," Eve said, doing her best to sound calmer than she actually was.

"Good. Then let's begin!" Faulkner said as he tossed out his first pokéball. The energy that was released coalesced into a small, rather fierce looking bird pokémon. A spearow, Eve said, recognizing it. She threw out her own pokéball, and Hannah appeared from the light.

The judge raised his arm. "Faulkner's spearow versus the challenger's chikorita. The match may now commence!"

"Using a grass pokémon first, huh?" Faulkner said. "That's an interesting choice. Let's see if you thought it out well! Spearow, use peck!"

When the pokémon comes in close, we take the opportunity to poison it. Eve recited in her head, the strategy pounded into her memory after days of work. "Hannah! Poisonpowder!"

Hannah used her leaf as a fan and spread out the poisonous dust in a wide area in front of her, right in the spearow's path of flight.

"Spearow! Go over it, then dive in for a fury attack!"

Wait, he's not going to be using wind-based attacks to blow away the poison? Why's that? Though they did cause us some trouble during training, we were counting on a long-ranged battle. Unless… Eve looked closer at the spearow, and for the first time noticed just how relatively small his wings were in comparison to his body. That's gotta be it; the spearow's wings aren't as wide or as long as a pidgey's, so he can't use whirlwind or gust. In fact, he looks like he prefers physical attacks. That changes things a bit, but we still should be able to make it work.

"Defensive vine whip!" Eve shouted out. This was one of the moves that took the most concentration for Hannah to use successfully; Eve hoped that Hannah could do it. Four vines – one each from the farthest front, back, left, and right buds of her neck – snaked out, each reaching over seven feet in length. She began to lash them in the air around her body in an erratic, seemingly patternless way, creating a huge hazard for any opponent that tried to get close.

"I see you really did plan ahead!" Faulkner shouted out. "Spearow, fall back to my side of the battlefield, then use leer! When we get a chance to get in close, I'm going to need you to make it count!" the spearow flew back to Faulkner's half of the arena, then leered at Hannah from his position in the air.

Perfect. "Hannah, razorleaf!"

~Got it!~ Hannah said excitedly. This was the main reason why the training had taken so long, but it had definitely been worth it. Hannah rapidly fired off one leaf after another, though she aimed them so that covered a large area. True, clustering them together would do more damage if it hit, but with an opponent that could dodge so easily, they had decided to take no chances. Only a couple of the several dozen she sent out actually struck their target, and even then, the spearow seemed almost unaffected by the cuts he received.

"You know, grass-type attacks don't do much to bird pokémon," Faulkner pointed out. "Now, spearow, use… Wait, what's going on?"

The spearow dropped a few feet, and then another few feet after that, though he flapped his wings frantically to try to keep aloft. Eve could tell that his breathing was becoming more frequent as he tried to pull clean air into his lungs.

I'm sorry, little spearow… I really hope that what Totodile said was right, about all pokémon liking to battle. It would be cruel if I had done this to someone who didn't want to battle in the first place.

"Was some of the poison still lingering around?" Faulkner questioned aloud. "No, that can't be right… Spearow didn't go anywhere near where the cloud of poison had been, and it should have dissipated by now, anyway. What did you do to my spearow, then?" He shouted out this last question to Eve.

I can't tell, even though I'd like to; it would ruin the surprise of Hannah's strategy. "That's for me to know, and you to… well, not know," Eve said.

"Judge! Is this foul play?" Faulkner shouted. "Maybe my spearow was poisoned before the match! In that case, we would need to cancel this battle!"

~That's not fair! I totally did it!~ Hannah cried out despairingly.

"Judge, I assure you, the poisoning is from Hannah!" Eve said, defensively. "If need be, I'll tell you my strategy, but only once the match is over!"

The judge made a quick decision. "No foul found, though it will be looked into at the end of the match!" he said. "Let the battle recommence!"

Faulkner's jaw was clenched now; gone was the cocky manner of before. "Fine, then. We'll have to make the next attack count, so that spearow can do some damage before he faints. Spearow, use peck at full strength!"

Despite his weakness, the spearow darted forward.

"Hannah, defensive vines again!" Eve shouted. "If you get the opportunity, grab the spearow when he gets close!"

"Spearow, ignore the vines! Just focus on your target and keep at full speed!"

In a couple of moments, the tiny bird collided into Hannah. He was moving too fast for Hannah to stop him, and his momentum leant him extra force in his initial peck. The attack did quite a bit of damage but, to Hannah's credit, the spearow didn't get a chance to continue his pecking. Hannah's vines quickly wrapped around the tiny body, and she lifted the helpless bird above her head.

"All right, that's enough!" Faulkner said, stopping Eve before she could order what to do with the spearow. "My spearow isn't strong enough to keep fighting." He held out his pokéball and recalled the injured bird. "Though I still think that someone's playing dirty."

He called forth a pidgey next. "I'd like to see your chikorita deal with this."

"Actually, Hannah's going to sit out for now," Eve said, recalling her chikorita. Hannah didn't protest; they'd agreed beforehand that if they managed to get this far, Basil would get to battle the second pokémon. Plus, that peck attack had dealt some fairly heavy damage, and Eve thought it wise for Hannah to rest for a bit. "Basil, it's your turn!" she shouted as the tiny electric mouse emerged from his pokéball.

~Did Hannah win?~ he asked, looking back. Eve nodded, and Basil quickly turned his attention back to his opponent. ~ Then I can't let her outshine me, can I now! I'll just have to take care of my opponent all by myself as well!~

"May the battle between Faulkner's pidgey and the challenger's pichu commence!"

"Pidgey, blow that puny thing away with gust!" Faulkner said immediately, obviously hoping to get the upper hand.

Okay, now to try Hannah's idea to keep Basil from blowing away. "Basil, hunker down!"

Basil flattened himself against the ground and dug all four paws plus his long tail into the ground. He also flattened his ears back against his head, to keep himself as streamlined as possible.

Unfortunately, the battlefield here was made of sand. While this was normally a good thing since it cushioned otherwise serious impacts, it left nothing for Basil to really hold onto. That, combined with his small body size, made it all too easy for him to be blown off his feet.

"Are you okay?" Eve asked as the pidgey stopped creating its windstorm.

~Yeah, just a little damage. Now let me attack!~

"Okay then, use thundershock!" Basil's little arc of lightning shot towards the pidgey. The bird tried to dodge, but electric-type attacks were usually fast and accurate; the pidgey took the hit directly. However, Eve frowned when she saw that the pidgey didn't seem too troubled. Sure, he'd taken some damage, but it wasn't the devastating damage that Eve had hoped the type advantage would give. Are Basil's electric attacks really that weak?

"Use thundershock again!" Eve ordered. Unlike Hannah's battle, Basil's best bet was to keep on firing off electric attacks.

"Pidgey, quick attack!" Faulkner shouted. The pidgey's attack hit almost before Basil could react. His concentration broken, Basil was unable to use his thundershock as quickly as he had been planning. However, the electricity that he'd gathered in his fur in preparation for the attack didn't go unused. As the pidgey returned to his own side of the field, Eve saw that the bird's movements were jerky. Occasionally, he'd drop a ways before he could get his wings moving again.

Paralysis.

"Pidgey is paralyzed, so this is the perfect chance for another thundershock!" Eve ordered. Basil started to accumulate more electricity in his fur.

"Pidgey, don't let it attack!" Faulkner shouted out. "Gust again!"

Basil was forced to cut off his attack and crouch down as the wind hit him. This time he managed to stay put, though the winds that buffeted him dealt damage all the same.

"Basil, can you fire off a thundershock through the wind?" Eve shouted, trying to make herself heard over the high-speed gusts.

Basil slid back a few feet. ~No! Right now it's taking all my strength just to stay on the ground!~

Faulkner grinned satisfactorily. "Pidgey, if you can keep it up despite the paralysis, then crank up the wind speed."

"Basil, do you want to switch out?" Eve asked as the pidgey flapped harder and the wind increased. "Hannah can still battle."

The pichu cried out in frustration. ~No, don't! I am not going to lose while that idiot Katsu is watching! I think that now's the time!~

"The time for wha…" Eve trailed off as Basil's body began to glow faintly with electrical power. Starting gradually and then moving more quickly, Eve noticed his appearance changing. His ears became narrower, his body widened, and the color of his body brightened considerably. Most notably, his already long tail grew even longer as it became more jagged.

Meanwhile, the pidgey's paralysis had forced him to stop his attack and land on the ground. So as soon as Basil's transformation was complete, he was able to stand up and look his new form over thoroughly without the threat of gale-force winds. Almost everyone in the room was also gawking over the pikachu now on the field, including Faulkner; it certainly wasn't every day that you get to see a pokémon evolve.

However, Basil didn't seem too happy with what he saw. His long ears drooped down in disappointment. ~What in the heck! I'm still the same size! I know I was small, even for a pichu, but I'm pretty sure my parents were close to twice as tall as this! What a rip off!~ He shook himself, both literally and figuratively. ~Ah, well. I guess I'll just have to finish off the match anyway. I'm awaiting your orders, Eve!~

"Oh, right!" Eve said, coming to her senses. "Basil, use thundershock!"

Faulkner quickly roused himself as well. "Pidgey, try to fly-" It was already too late, though. The thundershock hit dead on, and it was at least somewhat more powerful than Basil's previous electric attacks. And with the pidgey already weak from the paralysis and exhausted from keeping up those gust attacks, that thundershock attack was enough to end it.

"Pidgey is unable to battle, and so the challenger wins!"

Eve smiled, glad that she'd won despite the fact that the spearow and pidgey had been hurt in the process. She quickly let out Hannah so that she could join in the celebration, and then she dashed onto the battlefield and picked up the newly-evolved pikachu.

"Basil! You finally decided to evolve! But are you sure you're happy about this?" Eve asked. "I don't want you to change yourself just so we can win a silly battle."

~Oh, now you tell me,~ Basil joked as he curled up in Eve's arms. After all that attacking and being attacked, Eve could tell that he was completely exhausted. ~But no, I was sure about it. Though seeing as I don't think I grew at all, I'm starting to wonder if I don't regret it, at least a little. I think I've lost some of my charming adorableness.~

Eve hugged the pikachu tightly. "I assure you, you are still completely and absolutely cute. Maybe now more than ever."

Eve's heartwarming moment was cut short as Faulkner and the judge marched up to her. "I still cry 'fowl' in that first match up, and please excuse the pun," Faulkner said. "And is it legal to have your pokémon evolve during a battle?"

"That is legal, yes," the judge assured. "After all, it is still the same pokémon, with the same amount of damage. However, I would like to know how that spearow got poisoned. Unless you can make me believe your strategy, I may have to rule the entire battle null-and-void."

"No, please don't!" Eve said. "We worked so hard to perfect that strategy. You see,Hannah creates poisonpowder in her leaf. And she throws layers of her leaf when she uses a razorleaf attack. Hannah just decided to combine the two attacks. As long as she stores enough powder in her leaf just before firing off a volley of razor leaves, then each of the leaves becomes a transporter for the poison. Throwing the leaves wide means that the poison is widely dispersed through the air. And even the slightest cut makes for an equally devastating guarantee of poison. In short, it's a long range, one-hundred percent accurate poison powder."

The judge looked at Faulkner. "I've never heard of anything like it, but it seems like a logical enough explanation. If there was any doubt about it before, I make it official now: Eve wins the match."

Faulkner stood dumbfounded for a few moments, and then a grin spread across his face. "I guess I've been outsmarted, then! Sorry if I was a bit rude about it before. I love a good match, but I hate cheaters. I guess that means," he dug a hand into his shirt's pocket and pulled out a little metal pin, "that you get this. It's the Zephyr Badge, and it proves that you beat me. Though the win is also noted in your record on the league's database of pokémon trainers, so don't try to lie and tell the next gym leader you challenge that you haven't won a badge."

"Thanks," Eve said graciously as she took the badge in one hand and cradled Basil in the other arm. I'm glad that Faulkner isn't as angry with me as he was during the gym battle.

"By the way, it seems like I've seen your face somewhere before…" Faulkner trailed off, hoping that Eve might offer some explanation.

Eve's face turned pink. "Well, there was this article in the newspaper the other day-"

"That's right! You're the girl who can talk to pokémon, right?" Faulkner asked. "Well, that might be how you managed to come up with such an interesting strategy."

~Hey!~ Hannah protested.

"Actually, Hannah came up with the strategy herself," Eve admitted.

Faulkner shrugged. "But you wouldn't have used the strategy if you couldn't talk to pokémon and hear it in the first place, would you have? But that's not important… You see, after realizing who you are, I just had a crazy idea."

Eve looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you see, I've got a friend down in Azalea Town named Bugsy. He's the gym leader there, actually," Faulkner said. "There's been a little trouble with some pokémon recently in the Azalea Town area, getting sick or something like that. He's an expert in bug-types, so he actually knows quite a bit about poisons… but for the life of him, he can't figure out what's wrong. He's been asking all the gym leaders if they either have a guess as to what the problem is, or if they know of someone who might be able to help. I mean, I suppose I don't know if you're planning on taking on the rest of the gyms or not, but if you are, I bet he'd really appreciate your help."

"Actually, I really am not sure if I want to keep on challenging the gyms, though I know that my pokémon want to…" Eve said. "Still, I was planning on heading over to Ilex Forest after I'm done with school here in Violet. Isn't Azalea Town right near there?"

"Yeah, just Azalea's just south of Ilex Forest!" Faulkner said excitedly. "So you're willing to go?"

Eve nodded. "If I can help in any way, I'd be more than glad to stop by and try."

"That's great!" Faulkner said, clearly excited. "I'll call him right away and tell him that you'll be going down there sometime soon. I'm sure he'll be relieved to hear it, even if it's not a surefire remedy for the problem. Anyway, nice to meet ya' and all, and great gym battle." Faulkner and the judge walked away to another room of the gym, and so Eve finally went over and joined her friends in the bleachers.

"Hey, that was great, Eve!" Christina said. "And Rose was overawed, too, even if she's to shy to say it."

"I agree. To be honest, I wasn't sure if you could do it, Miss Atwood," Mr. Terruf said. "How did you manage to poison that spearow?" Eve went through her explanation again, making sure to give Hannah credit for coming up with the idea. Mr. Terruf frowned. "I can't say that I'm glad that you didn't come up with the strategy yourself… But either way, a win is a win. You get your extra credit."

Then Katsu came up. "I suppose I owe you another apology, then, if your pokémon came up with that idea. A real apology."

Eve scowled. "If you're apologizing to me, then you don't really mean it."

"Oh, fine," Katsu said, finally relenting. He looked to Hannah, then to Basil, and then back to Hannah again. "I'm sorry if I insulted you guys by ignoring you, when you obviously have some skills of your own. In the future, I'll make sure to insult you to your face. For example, Basil, do you realize that your tail is even more ridiculously disproportionate to your body than it was before?"

Eve detected the joking tone of Katsu's voice and Basil, to her relief, did as well. He repositioned himself in Eve's arms, then whacked Katsu gently across the face with his tail. ~All the better to hit you with, my dear annoying idiot.~

"He says thanks a lot," Eve interpreted. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and checked the time. "Not again! I scheduled myself for a later work time at the pokémon center today, but if I don't hurry, I'm going to be late! Thanks everyone for coming to support me and Basil and Hannah, but I've got to run! Bye!" Eve returned her pokémon to their pokéballs and quickly dashed out of the gym.

The friends she left behind all just laughed good-naturedly; most of them had realized by now that Eve didn't always have the best grasp on timing.

"Do you think she even understands how much of an honor it is to get even a single gym badge?" Katsu asked, staring at the door.

Mr. Terruf shook his head. "I doubt it. She just wanted the extra credit. And I suppose she probably wanted to give her pokémon the chance to prove themselves, as well. She's really bright in some ways, but…"

"But totally oblivious in other ways, right?" Katsu finished. "Yeah, I figured that one out already."

So, this was another not-so-long chapter. I forget if I mentioned this last chapter, but this chapter and chapter 6 were originally together... But then they had an argument about length, decided that their relationship was over, and broke up. ^_^ Hope you enjoyed it, because this is one of the few times I'll go into a battle in great detail. For important scenes, sure, I'll keep up the battles. But I won't write any more about the volley of attacks than I have to. Next chapter, you have a new character to look forward to... But you'll have to wait until then to see who it is.

As always, I kindly request that you please review and/or answer the poll I have on my profile! It would be much appreciated! More than that, though, I just hope that you like the story. Somplease keep reading!