What was your first gym victory like?
Maybe it was a sweep, your starter Pokémon being strong enough to take out the gym leader's entire team in one go. Perhaps you caught another Pokémon that had a super effective move, and that new Pokémon was what did it.
Perhaps it was a back and forth, with trading neutrally effective move the whole time. Or maybe you had a Pokémon that was weak to the gym leader's Pokémon, but had a super effective move. Perhaps your first Pokémon fainted, then your second defeated the gym leader's team.
Finn's battle was similar to this.
It had been three weeks since Nyx joined Finn's team, and for the most part she had been extremely unhappy to be indoors most of the time. Her broken leg healed quickly, as Nurse Joy had predicted, but until it had, the Gligar wasn't allowed outside. They relied equally on claws and legs to climb, and while she had shown that she could climb well with just one leg, it was better to take no risks.
Athena had explained Nyx's size issue to her, detailing exactly why she wasn't going to be released back to the wild. Since Gligar had dense exoskeletons, their size and weight needed to be balanced nearly perfectly, otherwise they would be incapable of flight altogether. When Gligar evolved into Gliscor, their exoskeletons decreased in density, but became a strangely flexible light material that was also more durable than Gligar exoskeletons, albeit not by much. Since the weight decreased, Gliscor could fly much easier than their smaller counterparts.
In return, Nyx had informed Athena –who had relayed it to Finn- that the reason she hated the indoors was because she had never been out from under the open sky before. She had known that she couldn't fly, but that didn't stop her from trying as hard as she could. Nyx didn't particularly dislike Finn, or any humans for that matter. What she disliked was the idea of losing her freedom. Her ability to go where she wished.
As far as Athena and Finn's injuries, they were healed by the end of the week. The salve that Nurse Joy had given him worked like a charm, accelerating his healing enough so that his innumerable bruises and scratches healed in days rather than weeks. Athena had healed quickly too, her nicks vanishing in a couple days and her scratches healing even faster. One nasty chip remained in her blade for a while, but it too was gone by the end of the three weeks. Her dulled edge was also easily remedied, as Finn still had the sharpening kit.
Sword training was still in session too. Athena wasn't any less capable of guiding his arm while she was injured. From time to time, Finn had heard voices that were clearly not real. The voice of an elderly man instructing him to shift his weight, or to do a maneuver again. It was incredibly disorienting at times, but considering the fact that Rath had given him memories, it made sense. Finn was hearing parts of Rath's memory.
The idea of having a century old Gallade's memories in his head was slightly unnerving, but it did let him improve his swordsmanship. Admittedly there was a limit to what the new memories could teach him, but it was still a major benefit.
After Nyx healed, Finn put her and Athena through a training regimen in order to toughen up for the gym battle. To his surprise, Nyx was a lot physically stronger than Athena. Her combat awareness was less, but she had a wider variety of moves available to her, as well as an incredible amount of physical strength.
Now that Finn was in the gym, it would be time to put the training to the test.
"Challenger Finnegan versus gym leader Ada!" The referee announced. "Let the battle begin!"
"Alright Nyx, let's put our training to the test." Finn plucked one of the Pokéballs from his belt and pressed the button. With a sidearm throw, he released the Gligar onto the battlefield.
"Well, you already know my first Pokémon. C'mon Rolf!" Ada sent out her Lillipup.
"Start off with a sand attack, then use poison sting." Finn instructed.
"Rolf, try to get out of the way!" The gym leader directed.
As her trainer had told her, Nyx stuck her stinger in the dirt floor and swept it up in an arc, filling the air with sand. The Lillipup tried to get out of the way, but only wound up getting hit by the fringe of the dust, getting the particles in its eyes.
"Change tactics, use ice fang."
Finn's eyes widened at that. Ice fang was doubly super effective on a ground/flying type like Nyx. "Stay away from its head and use poison sting repeatedly!"
Nyx jumped up onto the Lillipup's back, using her far greater weight and stature to pin it to the ground and keep it unable to attack her. Her stinger glowed white, then purple, and stabbed into the Lillipup's side repeatedly. It was difficult to tell if Rolf was poisoned, but after seven or so stings it should be.
"Use dig!"
The Lillipup began scrabbling at the ground, quickly vanishing into the soil below and leaving Nyx above.
Cursing under his breath, Finn scanned the battlefield. Normally a Gligar could dodge this move just by jumping and gliding, but Nyx was completely incapable of flight. She was stuck on the ground, leaving her vulnerable to ground type moves.
Before Finn could issue another command, Rolf burst out of the ground, a white haze emitting from its mouth. To the surprise of both Lillipup and gym leader, Nyx didn't react as a Gligar normally would, and took the bite on her arm. Frost immediately began to collect about the injured limb, slowing Nyx's movements by a significant amount.
"Why didn't your Gligar fly up?" Ada asked as both of the Pokémon faced off.
"She can't. Not because she's crippled, but because of her abnormally large size," Finn explained. "Nyx, use night slash."
One of the most important things that Finn had learned about Nyx was that some moves were genetic, and one of those moves happened to be night slash. Gligar couldn't learn the move, at least, not during its natural lifespan. Gliscor, on the other hand, could; and it could pass the move down to its Gligar offspring.
Night slash was one of those moves that had a high chance to, as the more nerdy trainers called it, critical hit. There were no official terms for it, but a 'critical hit' cut through any defense increases that the recipient may have, as well as being almost half again as strong as a normal hit.
True to form, Nyx's claws became lined with shadows, particles of darkness streaming off of her claws as she swiped at the normal type. Finn had seen the attacked used before, usually on unfortunate foliage, and it rarely had this heavy of an effect. The Lillipup veritably flew across the battlefield, only barely landing on its feet.
Then it collapsed.
It seemed like the poison stings had done their job after all.
"Rolf, return." Ada raised the canine's Pokéball and recalled the little creature. "I'll be honest, I didn't notice those poison stings take effect. Well done on that one. I'm really sorry about your Gligar's condition, but don't think I'll take it easy on you just because of that."
"Nyx is as good as any Gligar, just less mobile. She's certainly bigger and stronger than most," Finn replied. "You'd be surprised how well she can get around too, she's a better walker than your average Gligar, and even if she can't fly she can climb with just her claws if she wants to."
"Well, you've only battled one of the two Pokémon I have ready for challengers without badges." The gym leader grabbed another Pokéball and pressed the button, increasing it to full size. "Tyson came to visit the other day, he had nothing but praises for the kid who could battle with a Honedge in hand. True, you only did training exercises, but being immune to a Honedge's sash is something special. Sure, some people can train their Honedge to not drain on contact, but that takes years and is not something your average trainer is capable of. He also let me know that you guessed both of my Pokémon of choice."
"Wait…" Finn mumbled, thinking. Then it clicked. "Lillipup and Eevee?"
"Yup!" Ada laughed. "It's funny, most people expect me to have the Lillipup, but for some reason they never seem to expect an Eevee. Sure it changes types when it evolves, but that doesn't make it any less of a normal type. Alright Neven, come on!"
The gym leader tossed the Pokéball, releasing the brown fox-like creature onto the battlefield. Finn knew full well what an Eevee was, Professor Aspen had introduced him to several, but this Eevee was certainly something special. For starters, it was bigger than the average Eevee, showing that it was much older than most Eevee were when they evolved. Then there was the collar. Set right in the front of the collar was a gray stone. It was extremely normal, almost excessively so. If Finn had to guess, it had to be an everstone, an item that prevented evolution.
"Neven's been with me since I started as a trainer. I borrowed a talker collar in order to ask him what he wanted to evolve into, and he told me he never wanted to evolve." Ada said with fondness in her voice. "That's why I became the normal type gym leader. Now then, let me show you what the normal type gym leader can do! Neven, double team!"
Finn cursed. Double team would make it a lot more difficult for Nyx to land her hits, and that was a problem. "Use sand attack, then try to pin the Eevee to the ground!"
Like before, the sand attack hit perfectly, getting dust in the Eevee's eyes right before it split into innumerable copies. Nyx looked around to see the real Eevee, but was unable to distinguish one from another.
"Neven, use trump card." Ada directed.
Every Eevee on the battlefield conjured a flat square of energy before firing them simultaneously. To Nyx's credit, she survived the hit, then used poison sting on one of the clones. Surprisingly, it was the real Eevee, although it didn't do enough damage to warrant a celebration.
"Trump card again!"
Again, the squares of energy appeared, this time launching into Nyx and knocking her unconscious. Finn recalled the Gligar quickly, then grinned. He quickly ran through what he knew of Eevee, and his grin widened. "Athena, you got this one."
Ada blanched. "Crud. I forgot that you have a Honedge. How did I forget that?"
Athena appeared with the normal flash of light, looking at her opponent. "Wait just a second, the Lillipup was only the first Pokémon? Is this Eevee going to use shadow force or something?"
"Athena, use swords dance, then fury cutter. Just repeat fury cutter until you take it down." Finn instructed, sniggering.
"Well, just because Eevee can only learn a couple moves that can even damage a ghost type doesn't mean that this'll be a piece of cake for you," Ada protested. "Neven, use bite."
"Right, Eevee learns bite. But that leaves you with one more move you can use in this battle." Finn shrugged. "Just carry on through the pain Athena, you can do it."
Just as Finn predicted, Athena didn't get hurt badly by the bite. It may have been super effective, but it was far from enough to cause Athena to flinch. After a swords dance and a fury cutter, Neven looked much worse for wear.
"Alright then Neven, use shadow ball." The gym leader instructed.
Finn froze. Honedge couldn't take a shadow ball well. Not only was it super effective, but Honedge wasn't durable when it came to 'special' attacks.
Then Neven fell over.
Both gym leader and trainer looked at the collapsed Eevee, jaws dropped.
"Ada's last Pokemon has fainted, Finnegan is the winner!" The referee declared, snapping both of them out of their dazed state.
"Poison sting. It had to be poison sting." Ada muttered, walking across the battlefield with a smile on her face. "Well done on that. I didn't expect the poison to take effect on Neven either. Usually he's so resilient to poisons, paralysis, sleep inducing moves, and ice attacks; I almost forgot that he's not immune to them."
"I didn't think that Nyx even hit properly." Finn replied, still surprised at the outcome.
"Well, as a reward for proving your versatility I present you with the adaptation badge." Ada pulled a small metal token out of her pocket.
It was in the shape of a circle, with eight other circles around it. One red, one blue, one pink, one yellow, one green, one silver, one black, and the last a veritable rainbow, the circle in the center being a pure white. Finn knew that each color represented one of the qualities a successful trainer needs, the center white being versatility, the red being wit, the blue being patience, the pink knowledge, yellow for persistence, green for modesty, silver for tactics, and black for observation. In addition, each circle represented a member of the Eevee family, the white being the standard Eevee, red Flareon, etc.
But what confused Finn was the shimmering rainbow circle, the one representing Sylveon. "What's the ninth circle?"
"Spirit." Ada replied, closing Finn's hand around the badge. "The enthusiasm to begin the journey and the connection between trainer and Pokémon. There's no gym that can teach you spirit because that's something every trainer needs to learn for themselves." The gym leader reached into her pocket and pulled out two more things. "Also take the TM for double team. It's served me well in the past, and it may do the same for you. As for this…"
In her hand was a tooth, almost large enough to be used like some sort of dagger. "Is that…?"
"A razor fang." Ada tossed it into the air and caught it again before handing it to Finn. "Your Gligar needs to evolve to fly, right? I'm not going to be able to get any use out of this thing, you need it more than me. Take it."
"I… how can I say thank you?" Finn asked, looking down at the fang in his hand.
"By using it to battle the Pokémon league." Ada said with a wink. "I have so many items from my days as a trainer that I can't use for anything. I might as well give them to people who can."
"I have a question." Finn put the fang and TM in his bag and pulled out his badge case. "Why do you just randomly have a razor fang in your pocket?"
"Well, most trainers start with a backpack or similar bag. As a gym leader I have specialized equipment." Ada chuckled. "Or in other words, bottomless pockets."
"Do all the gym leaders have bottomless pockets?" Finn put the adaptation badge in the badge case and put it back in his bag.
"Nope. By the way, I need you to register your Pokédex so that we can officially say you have the badge. You'd be surprised and disappointed how many people either lose or steal badges." Ada shook her head and gestured for Finn to follow her. "The metal badges are still popular and mass-produced, but in order to legally say you have the badge we have to register it to your trainer ID."
The two, along with Athena who was still out of her Pokéball, made their way to a back room with a large computer. Ada set both of her Pokéballs down in slots on the computer and typed something in. "Could you hand me your Pokédex?"
Finn gave his Pokédex to the gym leader, who then plugged it into the machine. As soon as the information on the two devices was transferred, Ada typed something else in, registering the adaptation badge to Finn's Pokédex and registering his Pokémon. "You've got an interesting lineup. Honedge, Gligar, and Sewaddle. Not an orthodox team, but effective."
"Only two of those," Finn muttered. "Team Plasma stole my Sewaddle."
"Damn. I know how that feels." Ada said sympathetically. "I'll mark him as stolen so that anyone who sees him can let us know. I'm sorry for your loss."
"I'm going to find him and get him back. He's still registered as mine, right?"
"Yes he is. If you can find him, reclaiming him from whoever stole his Pokéball is legal," Ada informed. The computer beeped. "Well, you officially have one gym badge now. Get out there and give 'em hell."
"Finnegan, your Pokémon are ready!"
Those words were starting to get just a little bit irritating. Finn had been in the Pokémon center daily, and had turned his Pokémon in to Nurse Joy every time he finished training. Now that he was setting out from Teret city, he would have a period of time where he wouldn't be in Pokémon centers at all.
Finn walked up to the counter and retrieved his Pokémon. "Could I have a restock of my medicine?"
"Could I see your ID please?" Nurse Joy requested.
Finn obliged, handing his Pokédex over to the pink-haired woman. After scanning it for a moment, Nurse Joy nodded. She reached under the counter and pulled out a pill bottle, carefully checking the label to make sure it was the correct medicine. "Well, this is what Professor Aspen said to give you. Are you sure you want to take this?"
"I don't have any choice." Finn answered with a shrug. "I know it's not used for much, but it's keeping me stable."
"Very well then." Nurse Joy handed the bottle to Finn with a concerned look on her face. "You know that that is only for-"
"I know." Finn cut her off. "But it's the only thing that works."
"Well… I hope you recover." Joy looked into his eyes with worry.
"I won't, but thank you anyways." Finn nodded and turned to leave.
It was time to be on the road.
A/N:
Not the longest chapter, and heavy in information.
So I always wanted to give the normal type gym leader an Eevee, and the whole city sorta revolved around that. Eevee was the evolution Pokemon, which means that it can do so much more than other Pokemon, although ironically only after evolution. Eevee only has a few moves that can hit ghost types, and I didn't even realize this until this chapter. Also Eevee has the ability adaptability, and I didn't even know that until I started on this chapter. Heh...
Anyways, Teret City, Ada, and Neven were all named that way because palindromes, words that are the same backwards and forwards. For anyone that figured that out already, props to you!
For those who don't know what the move trump card does (Because I didn't when I started this chapter) it increases in power based on the amount of PP left after you use the move. Starting at 40, then 50, 60, 80, and when it's the last use it has 200 power. It's crazy good when you have 1 PP left, and meh when you have five.
As always, leave a review to let me know what you thought.