Welcome back everyone, glad you could join us. I hope you have enjoyed the last few chapters, and I hope you enjoy this one.
Before we start, I would like to thank you all once again for reading and doing whatever it is you wanna do here. Now onto the story.
"This is it, the Cyllage City gym" Caleb muttered, his body nearly trembling from the excitement. We were literally steps away from the doors of the gym and closing in fast. The boy was giddy as a little school girl and, when we reached the doors, nearly tore them off their hinges before making his way in. That's when he stopped dead in his tracks when he laid eyes on what the building housed.
A large rock-wall standing at least fifty feet tall sat before us and I swear I heard Caleb gulp. I could feel the fear suddenly taking over when he saw how tall it was.
'Must not be a fan of heights' I concluded before perking my ears and looking straight up. I felt someone else up there and was proven right when a loud whistle echoed off the walls.
"HOY, UP HERE" I heard a man shout from above and squinted my eyes to see someone waving us down. From what I could make out from her, he looked to be a dark skinned man with gems in hair, which was kind of done up to stand on its own. "ARE YOU HERE TO CHALLENGE THE GYM?"
"YES" Caleb shouted back instantly with his hand cupped around his mouth to amplify his voice.
"WELL THEN, YOU HAVE TWO CHOICE'S, THE CLIMB, OR THE ELEVATOR" he told us while holding an arm out to the metal elevator over on the side. I titled my head and looked back at Caleb curiously. The boy looked like he was at war with his own mind, his eyes darting between the rock-wall and the elevator.
'Your choice bud, I'll stick with you no matter what' I said before he closed his eyes and relaxed his nerves. I could see confidence in his eyes as he stared the wall down.
"Ash, you go ahead and take the elevator, I'm climbing up" he said and walked over to the wall. He looked back at me with a smirk and started climbing up the wall as fast as possible. Looks like he wanted a race, probably to make him forget about his fears, and I would gladly oblige him. His smirk quickly disappeared when I just started leaping up the rock and looking down at him smugly. I decided to add salt to the wound and sat down on the little outcropping above him, waiting for him to make it up.
"Showoff" he muttered and resumed his climbing with me watching him. It gave me plenty of time to wonder about the gym, like how they let you climb a fifty foot rock-wall without safety equipment. As soon that thought crossed my mind, I heard something in the wall give and looked down to see that Caleb had lost his foothold and was struggling to balance himself against the wall. I sighed and hopped down, grabbing onto one of the holds, and reached a paw out to grasp his arm.
'Don't worry, I gotcha' I said and pulled him up. I underestimated my own strength and ended up tossing him up onto the outcropping. He picked himself up and glared down at me before continuing the climb. He thankfully didn't lose his grip again and made it up to the top after a few more seconds of climbing.
'Nice, thought I'd have to catch you again' I smirked after jumping up high and landing next to him. He just rolled his eyes and walked out to meet the man we saw from the ground level.
"Good job, most people just take the elevator, but where's the fun in that." The man said with a grin and held his hand out towards Caleb. "Pleasure to meet you, I'm Grant, the Cyllage City gym leader."
"Likewise, I'm Caleb and I'd like a gym battle please." He said politely after shaking the mans hand. Grant chuckled at the kids enthusiasm and swept his hand over the dirt battlefield behind him.
"Sure thing, you've worked pretty hard to get up here, so lets not keep you waiting." He replied and stepped away from us to take his place on his side of the field. I knew Caleb was getting nervous again and sighed when I felt stress start to take over.
'Caleb, we've been over this, don't stress out over it.' I reminded him while transferring my feelings of calmness to help him out. He clinched his fists and exhaled, steeling his nerves and stepping up to his side.
"You ready for me Caleb" Grant taunted lightheartedly and grabbed a ball from his belt. Caleb nodded with a grin and held his hand over the balls on his belt, waiting to see what Grant would choose. The man smiled and reared his arms back, tossing the ball into the air and releasing the Pokémon inside.
I felt the temperature on the field drop a few degrees when a little blue dinosaur with rainbow colored, sail looking appendages over its eyes appeared onto the field. The Amaura looked around for a minute before its eyes set on Caleb and a large grin formed on its face.
"Yay, another challenger." It cheered in a high-pitched female voice that sounded a lot like a child. She must have been fairly young, which actually brought a small pang to my heart. Amaura were supposed to be extinct so she must have just reanimated from her fossil, also meaning that she had died fairly young.
"An Amaura, alright then" he said and grabbed a ball, tossing it up in the same fashion as Grant. Lilly popped out with a battle cry and immediately got into a fighting stance. I nodded my head in approval of his choice since Amaura was probably the only one Lilly would have been decent against.
'Ice and Rock, normally effective' I thought while linking the types in my head. Most people would have stuck with the type advantages, but as long as they avoided any ground type attacks, they should be fine.
"A fire type huh? Interesting." Grant said to himself quietly before he grinned and nodded to the referee over to the side.
"ALRIGHT, THE BATTLE BETWEEN GRANT, THE CYLLAGE CITY GYM LEADER, AND CALEB, THE CHALLENGER WILL NOW COMMENCE!" he shouted, making everyone tense. He paused for effect before dropping his hand. "BATTLE...BEGIN!"
"Your move Caleb" Grant offered, looking calm as ever while Amaura was shivering in anticipation.
"Right, Lilly, let's start off with flamethrower!" He ordered, making Lilly rear her head back and release a wide stream of fire towards her opponent.
"Aurora Beam!" Amaura quickly retaliated with a beam of sheer cold that connected with the flamethrower, completely cancelling out both attacks and filling the area in a mix of dirt and steam. Both the Pokémon seemed to disappear and I could just barely make their silhouettes behind the haze.
"Quick Attack!" Caleb called and I watched Lilly's shadow charge forward and slammed into Amaura, her unable to do anything since she was blind in the high temperature cloud. The force behind her hit was enough to clear some of the steam and for us to get a clear view of the field once again.
"Amaura, you doing alright?" Grant asked his partner, who was already starting to lose her breath. She hadn't been battling for more than maybe a minute, but the heat from the steam drastically increased her body temperature, which was not good for a Pokémon that required a nearly sub-zero temperature level.
"I'm...alright" she panted and got into her stance again, but I could tell she was about to drop. Grant looked at her worriedly, but nodded nonetheless.
"If your sure...ok, use Take Down!" She nodded and ran towards Lilly, but she was sluggish and struggling for breath.
'End this quickly, she's obviously exhausted and I'm afraid she might hurt herself' I told Caleb, receiving a nod.
"Flamethrower again!"
"Dodge it!" Grant shouted, but Amaura was just too slow to escape the flames and took a direct hit to the chest, throwing her back and knocking her out instantly. I tilted my head curiously while staring at the downed Pokémon.
'That was way too easy' I thought and looked up at the Gym Leader, seeing him recall the Amaura and offering Caleb a sheepish smile.
"As you can see, I'm still trying to learn how to battle with Amaura. She's fairly new and I've never had any experience with dual Ice/Rock types." He admitted while rubbing the back of his head before taking another ball from his belt and tossing towards the field. "But this one, I know what to do, come out Tyrunt."
"A Tyrunt, another previously extinct species" I muttered and examined the prehistoric being that appeared on the field.
"Lilly, return" Caleb said and returned Lilly to her ball before grabbing the next ball on the belt and throwing it. "Your turn Yuki."
Yuki materialized onto the field, ready for her opponent. Grant looked a little surprised, either by Caleb's choice or the fact he had an Absol in the first place.
"Shadow Ball!" Caleb told her to start things off. The Absol nodded and opened her jaws, a sphere of pure darkness forming in her maw.
"Rock Tomb!" Grant ordered before large stones started appearing around it. There weren't that many, but they were more than enough to stop the Shadow Ball when they dropped down, creating a wall between them. "Now use Stomp!"
"Dodge and use Night Slash" Yuki did as commanded and easily dodged the Tyrunt as he landed heavily after his jump and swung her head towards it, her horn pulsing with dark energy.
"Quick, use Bite too grab it!"
'Uh-oh' I thought when Grant's Pokémon shot its head around and chomped down on Yuki's horn. Caleb's hands clenched into fists as he looked at the scene worriedly.
"Now slam it to the ground and use Stomp!" I winced when Yuki was lifted up and slammed back to the ground, hard. Then the Tyrunt jumped up and came back down fast with its foot down, ready to crush the Absol.
"Get out of there!" Yuki was luckily able to follow through with the command and jumped out of the way before she was flattened. "Now use Psycho Cut!"
She complied and threw a blade of physic energy into the dust cloud the Tyrunt had created from its impact. The attack hit and launched Tyrunt back a good few feet, but seemed to do little damage against it. It wasn't quick enough to react when Yuki followed up with a Shadow Ball that knocked it back a bit more and actually looked like it did some decent damage.
"Shake it off and use Bite!" Grant called, but it was pointless since Yuki had fazed out and sucker punched Tyrunt in the back when she used Foul Play.
"Alright, way to go girl, your doing awesome" Caleb cheered, making the Absol smile as she stared down her opponent. Grant now looked dead serious when he realized this battle was not going down in his favor.
"Rock Tomb, box it in!" large rocks surrounded Tyrunt again and it tossed them towards Yuki. Instead of hitting her though, they landed all around her instead, trapping her. "Now jump up and use Stomp!"
"Yuki, use Night Daze!" Caleb ordered, pulling out his trump card by using one of Yuki's strongest moves. She charged up as much energy as possible while Tyrunt rocketed towards her. She unleased her stored power at the same time as Tyrunt's foot connected with her. The resulting explosion was strong enough to shatter the stone prison and send dust out in all directions. I had to brace myself from the force of the blast to keep myself from flying back and held my arms over my eyes to protect them from the high speed stones.
When the dust cleared, we saw both Yuki and Tyrunt on the ground with swirls in their eyes. The referee took a minute to verify what he was seeing before saying anything.
"YUKI AND TYRUNT ARE UNABLE TO BATTLE, THIS MATCH IS A DRAW!" He called before both trainers returned their Pokémon to their balls.
"Great job Yuki, rest up girl, you earned it." He said to the ball before returning it to his belt and turning to look down at me. "Your up next Aaron, you ready?"
'They won't even know what hit them' I told him confidently and walked onto the field while Grant was getting out his last Pokémon.
"A Riolu huh, this should be fun." Grant said with a grin and released his Pokémon. I felt my confidence drop drastically when an Onix appeared in front of me. I looked up at the large rock serpent seeing just how much larger it was compared to me.
'Well...this'll be...fun' I gulped, but tried to put on an air of confidence to hide my fear.
"Aaron, don't let its size intimidate you" I heard Caleb say from behind me. I knew he was just trying to help me, but him saying that when he wasn't the one fighting thirty foot rock type kinda defeated the purpose of his advice.
"Onix, Rock Tomb!" Grant yelled, making me even more nervous from the results. This attack made Tyrunt's look puny. The boulders were the size of an average house and could easily crush me if I made one wrong move. His plan seemed to be to trap me like he did with Yuki since the rocks started dropping all around me, but I had already figured out a way around this.
"Keep it up Aaron, get in close and use Force Palm!" I heard from Caleb as I kept jumping from rock to rock to avoid getting trapped, all while closing the distance between me and Onix. I reared my arm back after making the final jump and flying towards Onix with the intent of slamming my attack into his head.
"Iron Tail!"
"Oh crap!" was all I could say before I was sent back by the Onix hitting me hard with his hardened tail. I hit the ground hard and slid back on the dirt a few yards before righting myself and landing back on my feet.
"Quick Attack!" I sprinted back towards my opponent and avoided another Iron Tail so I could slam myself into its middle. I didn't do much damage, but it wasn't supposed to. I grinned and slammed a Force Palm into the same spot I had hit, causing the Onix to let out a pained screech before I slammed another Force Palm into it before getting shaken off and hit by its regular tail to increase the distance between us.
"Doing great bud, we got them on the ropes" Caleb cheered with a fist pump, making Grant let out a chuckle.
"Flash Cannon!" I struggled to avoid the attack as I dodged left to right when he started firing them in succession. I wasn't able to dodge them all though, and the one that connected might have been a full powered Hyper Beam with the force behind it.
"AARON!" Caleb called to me behind the dust and smoke, but I didn't really hear him. My body felt battered just from that one attack. The damage that Onix was able to do with its Flash Cannon was astronomical, way to powerful for anything like it. I was too stubborn too call it quits though and rose to my feet with a noticeable quiver in my legs.
"Aaron, you look way to hurt to keep battling, return" I wasn't about to argue with him over his command, seeing as his word was final in these types of situations. I limped back over to him and fell to my knees by his feet.
'Watch out for the Flash Cannon, man that smarts.' I told him after I situated myself comfortably by hhisi side so I could cheer on Lilly.
"Alright Lilly, its all up to you, good luck girl" Caleb said to Lilly's ball before releasing her back onto the field. She formed on the field and looked back at me worriedly.
'Don't worry about me, just make sure you show them who's the best fighter around.' I smiled and nodded to her, getting her to smile back and turn back to the field to stare at the Onix furiously.
"You hurt my mate now your gonna pay!" she growled out and widened her stance to try and look more intimidating. I swear I heard the thing chuckle at Lilly's threat as it stared back down at her in amusement.
"Lilly, Flamethrower!" Caleb ordered, sensing how restless Lilly was and starting the final battle of the challenge.
"Flash Cannon!" both sides shot their respective attacks out simultaneously and connect with enough force to even send the Onix back a few good feet. Lilly had been thrown back from the explosion, but easily caught herself and charged back towards it with Quick Attack.
"Rock Polish and follow up with Iron Tail!" Onix started to kind of sparkle and swung its tail towards Lilly. The speed of its swing made it nearly impossible to dodge and it slammed into Lilly's side, making her crash into the dirt hard enough to form a crater where she landed.
"LILLY!" Caleb and I shouted at the same time and watched Lilly struggle back onto her paws. I could tell that she was barely holding herself up as she wobbled from side to side with barely enough strength to Lee from collapsing.
"Lilly" Caleb muttered with a face of pure terror. Not only was his chances of getting the gym badge dwindling, but his first Pokémon was struggling just to avoid fainting.
"Sorry Caleb, it seems you aren't quite ready for the badge." Grant told Caleb sympathetically as he looked at Lilly before turning back to his partner. "Now let's finish this, Flash Cannon!"
Lilly still stood defiantly as the Onix charged its finishing attack. Not once did she look scared, she didn't even flinch when the beam sailed towards her. I stared at the scene with my teeth clenched in a mix of terror and anticipation as the attack hit, causing an explosion to shake the field.
"What the..." I said when I saw Lilly was still standing with a faint glow around her after the dust settled. My eyes widened and a large smile formed on my muzzle when I realized what was happening.
She was evolving.
The light coming from her started getting brighter until I had to look away to avoid going blind from its sheer intensity. When I looked back after the light faded, my little Fennekin was no longer there. In her place was a bipedal fox standing confidently with a stick between her paws. The end of the stick held a flame that glowed white from the sheer heat coming from it.
"Lilly...you evolved" Caleb said as he stared wide eyed at his partner.
"Into a beautiful Braixen" I finished, making a small blush form on her cheeks. She didn't acknowledge us any further though as she twirled her stick around, throwing it up in the air before catching it and twirling around with her stick pointing toward Onix. Before any of us knew what was happening, she had released her fire in a torrent of flames that rivaled the heat of the sun itself. The attack was simply too much for the already weakened Onix and it crashed down onto the field, unconscious.
I was shocked at the effectiveness of the attack and it took me a moment to realize what had just happened. When my mind finally caught up, I saw Caleb on the field embracing Lilly and spinning around with her in his arms. Lilly's laughter and happiness took over my mind as I walked over to the newly evolved Braixen.
"Aaron!" Lilly shouted leaping from Caleb's arms and crashing into me. Her new size made her a good head taller than me and it showed when she hugged me, her muzzle resting on my head.
"Great job Lilly, you won, and you're a Braixen now" I congratulated and wrapped my arms around her. She murred happily at my words and nuzzled my head in thanks. We perked up at the sound of clapping and turned to look at Grant as he moved towards us.
"Congratulations Caleb, you challenged the mountain and, even when everything was starting to seem bleak, you and your partners kept on climbing and rose up to conquer the summit." He said with a large smile, coming to a stop in front of Caleb and taking out a small box. He opened the lid and revealed a small badge. "To commemorate your victory, I would like to award you with the cliff badge."
Caleb smiled in pure joy as he took the badge from the case and placed it inside of his badge carrier.
"Two badges, just six more and then were off to the Kalos League." Caleb said excitedly and held both me and Lilly in a strong hug. Before we knew it, Yuki had popped out of her ball and joined in on the hug. "Next stop, Shalour City."
"Oh, so you plan on challenging Korrina next? Grant questioned. "She specializes in fighting types, so make sure your prepared."
"We will, thanks Grant, for the battle and the badge." Caleb bowed to the man respectfully, all of us doing the same. He just smiled and patted Caleb's shoulder and walked us back to Ashley and then to the elevator.
"No need for thanks, you earned that badge and that battle was a lot of fun, now from what I've been hearing you've got a championship to win." He said and nudged Caleb onto the elevator. He smiled at the gym leader and bowed one last time as the elevator descended to the bottom level.
"Congrats to all of you, especially you Lilly, you look absolutely beautiful." Ashley complemented, receiving a blush from the Braixen. I grinned and wrapped my arm around her waist and felt the foreign presence of her new arm around me as well.
"She's not lying, I didn't think you could get any more stunning" I told her and rubbed my head on her side. She didn't give me a verbal response, just another blush and a giggle after she nuzzled the top of my head. "But now I feel even shorter."
"Don't worry, I like males that are shorter than me." I just rolled my eyes at that before looking back ahead of me at the door as the elevator reached the bottom.
'Fighting types are next huh? Should be interesting, maybe train Lee a bit more so he'll be able to fight.' I thought, already forming various training exercises for the Ralts. That train of thought was quickly derailed after a familiar, slightly wet, rubbing was felt behind my ears.
"Yuki, will you give it a rest?" I begged without turning to the Absol behind me as she groomed my head.
"Nope, your dirty again." she stated simply, making me sigh in annoyance.
'Of course I am, this is gonna be a long night.'
Done, cut and print. What did y'all think, good, could use improvement, what the hell is this crap, tell me what you think. Reviews, favs, follows, whatever you wanna leave is greatly appreciated.
Bigshot, signing off