If I don't know what I'm doing wasn't my personal motto, I didn't know what was. I was traversing extremely thin ice to a faraway treasure named victory, and I didn't know how to ice skate, much less swim. I had nothing left to lose, though.

"Use smack down." Shouldn't Burgh have let me go first? That didn't matter as his dwebble lifted her shell, causing a small rock to fall out. She grabbed it and took aim, shooting the stone straight for Rose.

"Pound it back?" That had to be my first inclination? Again, my thoughts didn't matter as Rose turned to me and cupped a hand around where an ear would have been had she been human. Curse this big, echoey room. Of course she couldn't hear me. Of my team, she was the one who heard me at my normal volume the least, it felt like.

So, as Rose wasted time and attention on me, the rock hurtled towards her and smacked her back. She face-planted onto the rainbow floor as the rock fell by her feet. Yikes.

"Rock polish while they're still down."

I didn't bother looking up to see what was happening on Burgh's side due to occupying myself with worry on Rose's behalf. I wasted my effort as Rose sprung back onto her feet and waved a fist at Enkori.

"The, the rock." I flapped my hand at the stone Enkori and her trainer so graciously gifted to us. Might as well have used it. I really hoped Joel didn't think any less of me with my sorry display. "Rock throw."

I got a grunt in response. Apparently hearing my order and satisfied with my decision, Rose bent down and picked the rock up. With its small size, she took it in one hand and wound it up like a pitcher.

Rose let it rip once I heard Burgh say, "Faint attack." His tiny partner scuttled up to us like nothing doing, completely avoiding the rock soaring overhead at a relatively absurd speed. Rose let out a pissed-off growl that paralleled the grumble I made.

Next thing we knew, Enkori stood before Rose and the two had a staring contest for a second. Only a second.

Rose shook her fist again and thrashed a bit, probably angry at missing her move. I would admit, it was a pretty good throw on her part. Rose flinched away first to swing her leg up and kick Enkori's rock-shell like it was an old television acting up.

I couldn't help but laugh a little. Rose knew how to do that well. Be it out of genuine joy or to stop myself from having a stress-stroke, it mattered not.

"Oh, dear." Even Burgh laughed a little.

Enkoro cried out loudly. At the commotion, I looked to the dwebble to see Rose's kick's aftermath: it uprooted the shell from her back. The rock went into the air for a few seconds before landing just a foot to the side of Enkori. Several smaller rocks spilled out of the hole she used to be in. Guessed that was where she stored her smack down ammo stash.

"Enkori, calm down. It's still there. Just put it back on and use faint attack again." So this happened before?

Well, I saw an opening. "Rose, grab that thing and use rock throw again!" I was a genius. I managed to say that with full confidence, too.

Rose hummed in agreement. Much faster than Enkori could match, she snatched the shell and lifted it above her opponent. The dwebble looked on in what I assumed to be horror. Not showing any mercy, Rose threw it down and wiped her hands together to get the dirt off.

"Ah!" Burgh took a few steps forward and held a hand out. He didn't expect that? I took full credit for it. Boy, that felt good. Except for the whole, y'know, hurting Enkori part.

The dwebble lied on the floor, trying to reach for her shell like Rose did her log while groaning. Speaking of, I was kind of impressed that Rose hadn't tried using it this whole battle so far.

"Enkori, I assure you, your rock will be fine. Please, use struggle bug and follow into faint attack!" Did he not have a good handle on this pokémon? But he was a gym leader.

"New guy?" Joel called out. I almost forgot he was with us.

"Yes, I caught her a few weeks ago to better match beginner challengers. And she enjoys painting, too," Burgh answered. She liked painting? Upon closer inspection, I thought I saw her right leg with a stain of green paint.

Rose's shout snapped me out of my thoughts. Shoot, took my eyes of her for a second. When I looked back, Enkori latched her front pincers around the timburr's neck from the back, flailing around like Bud had, her shell left on the field. Her pointy legs must have hurt.

"Rose-" She hunched over and started panting. How much damage did that do? Enkori then shifted gears. Her front legs glowed with energy as she brought them down to strike Rose repeatedly on the head.

"Uh, uh…" What the hell? That wasn't fair. Rose couldn't reach the little bug from that position. More like a parasite. With my brain frazzled, I said the first thing to come to mind: "Stop, drop, and roll!"

Oh, hell, why did I say that?

"She's not on fire." Thanks for the obvious, Joel.

"Enkori, keep it coming." Burgh looked composed, but he must have been laughing at us on the inside. Had to have. Damn, I needed to figure out a way to think more highly of other people.

I had to carry through with what I said, lest I look like a complete idiot. In my head, I managed to make a picture where my command worked out. If only Rose could execute it. "Yeah, Rose, just fall and squish her."

"I'm sorry?" Burgh couldn't follow? Well, he didn't have to. I heard my brother stifle a laugh.

That could have came out more eloquently, though I assumed Rose wasn't one for style. With a huff, she dropped onto her back like a wrestler would and slammed Enkori to the floor. She proceeded to roll around, squishing the shell-less dwebble to the ground every complete revolution she made.

With a final cry, Rose came to a dead stop and sandwiched Enkori to the ground one last time before bouncing back on her feet. After finally letting go, Enkori wobbled in place, dizzy and hurt. "Oh, my…"

Suck it, Burgh. I would never say that out loud, though. "Low kick, go, go, go!" We only had so big a window to go crazy. Rose sang, giving me what looked like a thumbs-up. She sauntered up to Enkori and kicked her once upward and once coming down.

"Are you alright?" A little too late to ask that. Burgh waited on his dwebble, who continued to stand with quivering legs. Finally, her perseverance petered off as she fell to the ground, not getting up.

"She's out," Joel declared.

"I believe so." Burgh walked onto the field and picked Enkori's shell up. He kneeled before her and slid the rock back on to her, after which the dwebble kind of perked up. "Rest easy. You tried your best."

Burgh returned his pokémon and went back to his original spot. He added Enkori to the healing pad with Bud. With a chuckle, the gym leader removed from his belt another poké ball. But, it wasn't one of the three he had taken from the drawer just earlier. It was one that had been there the whole time.

"Hm, I didn't expect things to go so well for you." I'd chalk that up to luck, sir. "Beginner or not, that's not what truly matters. Do you know what a gym leader's job is, Eloise?"

What the hell was he going on about? Shouldn't he have given this spiel at the beginning? To avoid talking, I shook my head no.

"My job is to push trainers like you and their pokémon to their limits and allow them to perform at their best. That experience, that rush, that excitement and happiness you get during battle?" He pointed at me.

Me? Well, I rode a two-win-streak high now, so I guessed he wasn't wrong. Could I say I was better than a gym leader? I hadn't noticed before, but my hands were sweatier than usual, and my heart kind of pumped.

"And that bond and connection you feel with your pokémon. Those feelings, I wish to always experience during battle. Everyone has a hidden potential within themselves. I love seeing them come to fruition, be it on canvas or the battlefield." Burgh kind of laughed to himself. "But enough about that. I think I should up the ante for you."

No, no, I was fine with this. I didn't need to feel a thrill from battle. Just victory was fine with me.

"You have proven yourself quite skilled despite your inexperience. Or perhaps you were being modest?" No, I wasn't. We were here thanks to sheer luck. "I had planned to use a less experienced pokémon to face off against you to match your level, but I think I should push you a little harder. So…"

So? Why did I have a bad feeling about this? What was he planning?

"Sylkain, if you'd please." Burgh tossed his poké ball and out came a leavanny. To his new partner, he made a pinching motion with his thumb and index finger, whatever that was supposed to mean.

"Really? Burgh, maybe rethink this." Joel held an arm out. Miles continued to stand unmoving, to my surprise. I thought he'd try to pick a fight with this leavanny given their similar statures.

"No. Let us see what you are truly made of Eloise." He was going to decimate us, wasn't he? "Against my greatest partner, come at us with everything you've got."

What the hell? I didn't sign up for this. Fuck.

Though, I'd admit, I kind of wanted to see the outcome, win, lose, or otherwise. In this moment, I actually wanted to battle.

"Rose? Can you win this for us?" I asked as sweetly (and lowly) as I could when my timburr walked up to me. She pounded her chest and smiled. Even so, I could tell she was out of breath. I could believe she loved battling, no problem there. Winning too, of course. But so much as to risk injury in an attempt to prove her superiority? I asked her that as a joke, too.

I didn't get a chance to call Rose back, even if she complied. Burgh spoke up. "Are we ready?"

Unable to say no out of fear of looking like an idiot, I let Rose step back up and ready herself. Burgh's leavanny towered above her and looked anything but menacing. He wore a big goofy smile and held an arm up as a greeting. Wow, his arms looked like literal leaf blades.

"Let me see your very best come to life on this battlefield!" He sure was one for theatrics. "Sylkain, razor leaf."

The leavanny threw several leaves like discuses at Rose. Though, they all missed. More correctly, none of them actually hit her. Instead, they all shot at her and each aimed at one of her limbs. The concavities of each crescent-shaped leaf hugged Rose and pushed her down with the force they flew at her at. They pinned her to the floor, giving her little option but to squirm in place and whine.

"Uh…" We had nothing to work with. None of Rose's moves could work outside of close quarters.

"Go in for aerial ace." Next thing I knew, Sylkain shot forward with targets set on Rose. Once close enough, he swung his arms and squished her to the ground, much like she had Enkori.

Between all the swings Sylkain took and Rose's wriggling, the razor leaves pinning her down came loose. One to say the obvious, I said, "Get out of there."

"Come back and use a string shot and swords dance combo!" That was overkill.

"Rose-"

I heard a small grunt and stopped my sentence when I saw Sylkain spitting out string at Rose. As he did this, he waved his arms in a smooth motion, then clashed them together a couple times before holding them out like I knew Miles did his. In that short time, Rose became completely wrapped in string shot, looking like a giant egg with her as the yolk.

"Wind it up!" Burgh sang, drawing a circle with his index finger. In a similar manner, Sylkain yanked the Rose cocoon into the air and swung her around like a ball and chain. I wished my timburr luck that she didn't get motion sickness.

What the hell was I supposed to do? Did we lose already? "Rose?"

Sylkain didn't even grunt as he swung Rose around with ease. Round and round she went, and I hadn't a clue how to get out of this mess.

"Returning your pokémon is always an option," Burgh told me. I looked to him and felt my brain fizzle out a little. Why was he telling me that?

"Uh…" The leavanny showed no sign of letting up. Reluctantly, I pulled Rose's poké ball out and returned her. Once I did so, Sylkain literally cut his losses. He sliced the string shot, still in his mouth, with his sharpened blade-arm, letting the thing fling to the far wall of the room.

Who to choose, who to choose. I reached into my bag and sent out someone who wasn't Pepper.

Tempest. Of course it wasn't Gummy. I would have been fine with the pidove had we not been facing off against a gym leader.

She trilled louder than I ever heard before and flew next to me instead of opposite the leavanny. "What are you doing?" I sang through grit teeth. Tempest cooed again and bumped against my bag. From what I had seen of her, she was antsy in battle. But that wasn't an option right now.

"I know. I'm sorry, but just try your best or something. I'll figure how to make it up to you later." Why was I bartering with my pidove?

"Shall we resume?" How courteous.

"Yeah," I shakily answered. With that, by some miracle, Tempest took the field and puffed out her chest. Please keep that up. One of us needs to be confident, I thought.

"Why don't you start us off?" Could this get any worse?

"Air cutter." One, two. "Air cutter." And so it began.

Tempest flew up and flapped her wings like mad. And of course, she waited for the final call. Meanwhile, three others watched on in confusion.

"Air cutter." Oh, the humanity.

"What the hell are you doing?" Joel snapped.

"Is everything alright?" Burgh asked.

Oh, if only they knew. Before I could try to explain, Tempest launched her move, which swiped at Sylkain's face. Part of the leaf-cape behind his head chipped away.

"No, no, stop, stop. What are you doing?" Joel continued to hold his incredulous face. "She only used it once, even."

Burgh also paused to hear my answer. Fuck. "Uh, she… needs reinforcement."

"Reinforcement how?"

"She… has to hear it three times before she gets it." It sounded stupid coming out of my own mouth, and she was my pokémon.

"This is a first," Burgh said while pinching his chin. Was this really? Statistically speaking, this couldn't be the only case of the weirdest short-term memory in the world, right?

"What?" Joel refused to believe me. But he just saw it in action!

"Do you want a handicap?" How kind of him, but nothing would help us. I was pretty sure everyone in the room, including Tempest, knew that.

"No." I needed to change the subject. "Gust."

Tempest lazily flapped her wings while still standing on the ground. Whether or not she would fly while using her moves seemed random at best.

Just as I expected, Burgh snapped back into the swing of battle with my command. "Sylkain, leaf blade."

He was aware that wasn't a good match-up, yes? Though I supposed that didn't matter. "Gust." Tempest, why did you hurt me so? "Gust!"

My pidove let loose a small twister of wind just as Sylkain maneuvered behind her. Tempest looked around in panic just before the leavanny struck her.

"You good?" Of course she wasn't, but I still asked it. Tempest cooed and slowly stood. "Uh, quick attack."

"Let's see how you work around this, Eloise. Grass whistle." Sylkain put one of his arms in his mouth and swiped it left and right. It emitted a smooth, calming tune that sounded like a pitchy flute.

"What?" In an instant, Tempest fell to the ground like she had no bones supporting her. The only thing preventing me from thinking she was dead was her loud, cooing snore.

"Do you not know what that does?" Joel asked. I looked over and noticed that Miles sucked on a chesto berry. My brother was chewing something too. I felt a yawn coming on, but the sheer pressure of this situation kept me more alert than I thought I could be. I actually did know. That didn't help me stay calm, though.

"I apologize if this seems unfair, Eloise. But, Sylkain, aerial ace."

Seriously? Could he do this? Well, of course he could, but should he have? "Tempest, wakey wakey. Please get up."

The leavanny paid my pathetic attempt to wake her no mind and came forth to strike. The reaction? Tempest got flung back and hit the wall, whizzing right past my head. The kicker? She didn't wake up.

"Tempest, Tempest," I sang lowly. Maybe she got knocked out.

"Sylkain, one last time." The leavanny used aerial ace again and whacked Tempest back to my feet.

"She's out, enough," Joel called. Finally, the pidove opened her eyes and remained splayed on the floor. She barely got a scratch in. Just the air cutter from earlier, but that seemed so long ago that Sylkain probably recovered already. Well, at least she did that much, I'd give her that.

Since Rose already went, I tossed Pepper out. My tepig took a stance and narrowed her eyes at the leavanny's feet. God, I needed a miracle. "Ember."

"Dodge and grass whistle again."

"What?" My body went numb as I whimpered that. Why was he using that again? It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. If Pepper fell asleep, we lost. Even with Rose, he would just send her to dreamland, too. There was no way out. "No."

My face flared up and I clenched my fists. We couldn't avoid this. It was music. How could Pepper dodge that? Why didn't he just start out with Sylkain if he was going to do this? So unfair. So wrong. I might as well have never left my room today. Burgh said that he loved drawing out people's potential in battle? What a liar.

I blinked rapidly. Each time I opened my eyes, I looked at something different. In my panic, my ears flooded with the sound of Sylkain's grass whistle and everything I saw was but a fleeting image. One that I vaguely recalled was of Burgh squinting at me.

I knew I sucked. He should have just ended it now.

The music stopped and I eventually settled my eyes on a sleeping Pepper. My heart pounded for all the wrong reasons. How was anyone supposed to do this if he kept using grass whistle?

"Struggle bug," Burgh ordered while making a shaking (strangling) motion with his hands.

"You can use an i…" I didn't hear the last bit of what Joel said.

The leavanny approached Pepper and grabbed her. He then shook and whacked her like mad, another thin web of energy coating her. This went on and on as my throat closed up and I soaked in the shame of this situation.

An eternity later, Pepper's eyes shot open and she squirmed in Sylkain's grip. He released her, letting my tepig fall on the ground like a sack of potatoes. She oinked at me.

I looked at my now-awake tepig and felt nothing.

"Are you alright?" Burgh asked.

At the sound of his voice, I forced myself to regain some composure. Anything to make this a minuscule iota less painful than now. "Pepper, e-ember "

"We can't have tha-"

The fire shot out before Burgh finished his sentence. As each speck of it landed on Sylkain, the leavanny hissed and smothered it. "A-again." In fact, keep using it, Pepper.

"Stop that in its tracks. Use string shot."

Sylkain jumped up and let loose another sticky thread that wrapped around Pepper's snout. In shock, she sent out a small flame from her nostrils, which didn't come close to burning the string.

Every time before she used ember, Pepper took a deep breath through her mouth. So, with the string shot, all we had left was tackle. Could our future have looked any more bleak?

"Tackle," I barely said.

"Block with your arms."

Pepper charged for Sylkain's shins, which he blocked by holding his arms out like a shield. Pepper bounced off upon impact, but charged in again without waiting for me.

Why wasn't he using grass whistle? He could so easily win if he did, but he didn't. But in this temporary moment of safety, I managed to calm down and focus on Pepper. I had to, needed to. Wanted to.

Boy, did Sylkain's arms look sharp. What an appropriate name, leaf blade. Pepper kept tackling and the leavanny kept blocking. Well, she really didn't have any other options. My tepig cried out and flinched her head away before resuming her barrage. In that split moment, I noticed a cut along her forehead. Blood didn't gush out, though, thankfully. Were those things seriously that sharp? That injury could scar!

Since she kept going, I assumed she was alright. Hopefully. Besides that, it hit me: sever the string shot bind with Sylkain's own blades. "Pepper, aim for his arms."

That sounded stupid. Perhaps my pointing at my nose made my intent clear. Miraculously, it worked. With a vigor, Pepper charged in a couple more times with her head oriented quite specifically. When she jumped back by my feet, the string shot lay on the floor where she once was.

"Very nice." Was Burgh really trying? So lackadaisical. Maybe he was being sarcastic? Why didn't he just end this since it was obvious he could?

Even with that train of thought, I didnt let it bog me down. Despite my combination of embarrassment, panic, and braindead-ness, all my focus and energy went to Pepper. We had to do something. At least make one good hit so we could say that we tried before going home.

"Ember!"

As long as he didn't order grass whistle, I wouldn't break like I did just a minute ago. Maybe we had a chance.

"String shot!"

Why did he keep using that? It didn't matter as the two moves met half-way, the ember igniting the string and blazing toward Sylkain, who severed the link immediately.

"Ember!" I sounded like a broken record. What else could we do? I could have sworn I saw Pepper nod and smile.

"X-scissor." New moves at every turn, huh? Sylkain defty dodged our move and came at Pepper with his arms forming a cross.

"Get-"

Sylkain jumped in front of me and behind Pepper, unintentionally cutting me off due to shock. A nice whiff of grass and paint filled my nose as he just missed stepping on my foot. Just as he brought his arms down, Pepper looked back and jumped forward in time to dodge.

"Amazing." I wasn't sure if that was praise or surprise, but I meant it. Pepper was damn fast, as noted several times before.

"What agility this tepig has. No matter. We'll put a stop to it." Burgh snapped his fingers. "String shot one last time. Encapsulate her."

I knew what move I didn't want Gummy to do any more. "E-"

I stopped myself as Sylkain executed his move like he had done to Rose earlier. The string wrapped around her, making her into a little mummy ball. I paused to think as Pepper became more and more covered with string shot. All was lost if she got completely spun with the string. Over the grunt of Sylkain, I heard Pepper oinking in panic, muffled like crazy, akin to how my inner voice sounded right now.

But she was oinking? So her mouth wasn't muzzled. And she was coated with highly flammable string shot. We had a way out. "Ember!" I said at the top of my lungs. "Just go, ember!"

From the blob of white where Pepper once stood, I heard a loud cry, followed by a subtle crackling. In an instant, the blob flared up and blazed a blinding red. Sylkain cut his move short again and hopped away from the small inferno. He would have toppled onto me had he gone just two feet to his right.

"Swords dance. Wait for it to die down, then go in!" Burgh shouted across the field.

"No, Pepper, can you hear me?" I didn't know why, but my heart pounded and I didn't care what Burgh or Joel thought of my dumb commands. "Tackle, tackle! Over here!" I waved my arms in the air like an idiot.

From the fire, I saw a faint shadow at the center, probably Pepper. She adjusted her aim and wasted no time charging with reckless abandon at her opponent. I ran away for safe measure.

"What?" I heard Sylkain make a similar sound of surprise. Well, because of how much string shot she got wrapped in, Pepper burned so brightly and with such a large flame. My little tepig let out a war cry and smashed into the stunned leavanny. He fell down, slightly charred. Pepper bounced back and grunted, still on fire.

"Go, go, again! Go, Pepper!" I cheered. We could win if the string shot kept burning. At least, I hoped. Pepper cried out and went forth once more, this time even faster than the last.

"Sylkain, you need to hurry." Burgh put a hand to his mouth. "Is that really just tackle? Maybe it's flame charge."

"Go!" I felt like an idiot. I even shouted that over whatever Burgh just said.

As Pepper neared Sylkain, I couldn't help the smile forming on my face. Such a clear shot, and so super effective. My god, this felt good!

Pepper leaped into the air, still flaming, while the leavanny only just got to a kneeling position. "No, that's not just a flaming tackle," Joel said as Pepper reached her maximum height and arced down at Sylkain. "That's heat crash!"

On cue, Pepper fell onto Sylkain, flame spreading from her to him. A plume of fire engulfed the two and turned the room orange. Quickly after, the fire died down and revealed a satisfied tepig standing atop of a woozy leavanny. How amazing.

"Oh!" Burgh walked forward a few steps. "Can you get up? Get up," he said with a strange emphasis, not looking too worried.

Next thing I knew, Sylkain shot back up, launching Pepper off of him with leaf blade. Damn, of course that was too good to be true. The way they acted, was this planned? Had to be.

Pepper landed on her feet and stood again, ready for battle. "Was that true? Heat crash?"

She squealed and braced herself, coating herself with fire. Sweet, a third move! This was getting interesting. Then, she launched herself at Sylkain, square in the chest.

He didn't react much, though. When Pepper bounced back, all he did was pat his chest where he got singed a little more. "What?"

"You'll have to do more than that to get to Sylkain, Eloise." Well, if that wasn't a testament to how literally weak Pepper was in comparison to the leavanny. "Razor leaf."

"Heat crash!" Oh, was I going to abuse this new move. The leaves disintegrated as they came into contact with Pepper's fire. Again, she hit his chest, and again, we got the same result.

"This is how things should be. Do you feel the excitement?" I didn't bother answering, nor did I want to. "X-scissor!"

"Heat crash!"

"If it didn't work the first, second, and third times, why the hell are you using it so much?" Joel snapped. It was a miracle to me, so let me have it.

Sylkain parried Pepper with his move. She bounced off again and went into the air still on fire. All three times, it seemed as though she only hit him in the chest, causing very little damage. So what if we aimed at one of his flimsy-looking limbs? Break the armor first, then what's beneath.

"Go in again, and aim for his arm!" Should have said legs. His arms were practically swords.

Pepper changed her plans and hurtled towards him again, only this time aiming lower and to the left. They made contact before Burgh called something else out. Sylakin fell down again.

On the ground, the leavanny lay writhing in pain, with Pepper standing atop his right arm. A splat of char ruined the rainbow floor beneath them. So I guessed right. A torso like Rose's log and arms like twigs.

"Leaf blade."

Couldn't we call it my win already? Any longer and I would probably lose. Sylkain brought his left arm up and struck Pepper off of him. He then stood and held his injury.

A resilient one, Pepper gazed with determination at her much larger opponent even after taking the hits she had. I needed to figure out how to treat her after this. Rose and Tempest too.

"X-scissor." I prepped my throat to give my very obvious next move, but stopped when I saw Sylkain readying himself for an I-scissor rather than an X. Well, he really tried to make it work and came out with a T-scissor at best. In other words, he couldn't make his right arm work.

"Way to go, Pepper!" I had to give it to her. What an impressive turn of events. "Heat crash his other arm!"

The tepig charged in with guns literally blazing again. When Sylkain shot down to hit her, she jumped just in time to avoid it and land on his extended left arm. He fell to his knees and hugged both arms close.

"Ember, please!" I didn't remember the last time I shouted like this. Quite frankly, in this moment, I didn't care. With a large inhale, Pepper shot out fire from her nose that pelted Sylkain until she ran out of breath. After the last flame hit, the leavanny collapsed face-down. "Did we-"

"Don't get cocky," Joel said. What exact purpose did he serve for this battle?

"Grass knot," Burgh whispered just loud enough to echo in this room with the strangest acoustics I've ever heard. Still lying down, Sylkain stabbed one of his now-crispy arms into the floor, casting a small fissure, and summoned a small vine to rise from the cracks. It moved on command and wrapped around Pepper, then dangled her in the air by the torso.

"Huh?"

"Razor leaf, nonstop!" He snapped his fingers and Sylkain followed. Leaf after leaf shot at the suspended tepig, who was unable to move an inch. What the heck?

"Can you heat crash? At least charge it?"

"Don't let up!"

"What?" Fuck. The razor leaf kept coming and coming, all until the grass knot dissipated and dropped Pepper. When she hit the ground, she didn't even try standing.

"She's out," Joel called.

But we were doing so well. All we had left was Rose. Chewing my lip, I returned Pepper and sent out who remained. When the timburr took the field, I found some relief in her abandoning her log and taking a proper stance opposite Sylkain. Okay, I could do this. We could do this. Just had to try.

"Rose." I looked at the floor after recalling that grass knot. "Look down."

"This is the final stretch. We're both down to our last pokémon. How will this end?" Some theatrics on him. "Aerial ace!"

"Rock throw!"

"What the hell is that supposed to do? There's no rock," Joel said.

In a split second, Rose leaped ahead and stomped the fissure Sylkain's grass knot made. A small piece of whatever hard material the floor was made of chipped off. Hooray for her strong legs. If only her arms would follow. She took it and hurled it at the charging leavanny, stopping him in his tracks.

"Again!"

"Not so fast. Grass knot." As Sylkain struggled to stand, he plunged his burnt arm into the floor again. However…

A wail of pain broke the suspense. Instead of piercing the floor, his arm bent against it and kind of shed a few charred bits of leaf. It looked akin to shoving a plastic straw against a wall. Thank God for Pepper.

"Switch to swords dance!" For the first time this battle, he had urgency in his voice.

"Low kick, hard as you can." Rose sauntered over and drove her leg into his shins, toppling him over. As per her usual way of using it, she kicked him again swinging her leg back to the ground. "Rock throw!"

Overwhelm and drown, ha! Now we had the power. Rose snatched another shard of the floor and spiked it like a football over Sylkain's back. It shattered upon impact and made me wonder, He's going to be okay, right?

"Ah, leaf…" Burgh trailed off. Instead of finishing his sentence, he smiled and waited for the dust to settle. In this situation, that was a tad literal.

Rose stood atop a fallen Sylkain. The bug didn't try to get up, though his eyes were wide open and he was smiling. Joel stepped up and held his arm out. "Enough. Sylkain is out. That means, Eloise is the winner, victor over Castelia Gym Leader Burgh."

I stared in the general direction of my brother in awe. Did that really just happen?

"Congratulations." Burgh stood before me with his hand out, a hand that had just been put to his smiling mouth in a shushing motion with a glance at my brother. What the heck is with these two? "That was a spectacular battle."

Unsure if he really meant that, I shook his hand while watching Rose offer her hand to Sylkain. "Thank you."

"I admit, your tepig's heat crash caught me by surprise. Aiming for his arms was a pretty clever idea. Your other two deserve no less praise. Rose, was it? She is as energetic as a vigoroth. And Tempest is surely unique."

Wow, did Tempest get the short end of the stick. Either way, it had yet to sink in that we won. Did we really? Why didn't Burgh keep using grass whistle?

"Hm... I'm sure I know what you're thinking, Eloise." I forced myself to make direct eye contact. "You're wondering why I didn't start with Sylkain, and why I didn't use grass whistle again."

Read my mind and a half. I nodded and braced myself for the answer.

Burgh chuckled. "Do you remember what I told you just before we started the battle? Well, my job is to push trainers to their limits and test their strength accordingly. My job isn't to obliterate challengers and hold a reputation as the hardest gym leader around, though some, including my peers, might disagree with my standing." Read my mind again. "I aim to bring the best out of challengers and see their true strength and bonds with their pokémon. I'd like to believe all gym leaders feel this way."

"Really now?"

"Yes. And I saw the potential you and your pokémon have right before my eyes. You have great instinct with strategy. Like how you used Enkori's shell for rock throw, and our string shots as ember amplifiers." I failed to see how that was true. "Your pokémon all carry their own strengths that make them powerful in their own rights. You just need to be more confident about it. That's the only thing holding you back."

I really couldn't tell if he really meant what he said, or told this to all of his challengers. I really hoped it was the former, even though it was likely the latter. "Thank you."

"With that, I present you the insect badge." He pulled a small medal from his pocket and presented it to me. Looked like some green bug wing with gold outlines. Staining a corner was a smudge of dried paint. Gee, thanks.

I took it and held it in both hands. We really won?

"And I'd hope you keep that little thing close. Don't go losing it… or getting it stolen." He murmured the end a little.

"Huh?"

"Just put it in your case." Joel whacked my shoulder and juggled two poké balls in a hand, one with one of my stickers on it.

"Sure." I followed and safely placed this small treasure in my previously empty badge case.

"What with that poké center vandal going around, stealing gym badges as part of his havoc wreaking. I can't begin to count how many people I've had to look up in my database and give another badge to since this fiasco started. Such a hassle on everyone's part." Burgh put a hand to his forehead. "This serial vandal is such a menace. Not just badge theft, but graffiti and abandoning hostile pokémon in rooms to assault others?"

That stoutland from a while ago crossed my mind. Woof.

"Someone has to find a way to catch this guy. How is he so elusive?" I didn't know Joel cared so much about this issue. Was he tagged by the vandal too?

"This gym has been swamped with work lately, from badges to battles to gallery contributions… But that's not to say you can't come back for a friendly match, though, Eloise. Don't be afraid to come back for another battle if you so please." Burgh offered his hand again while laughing off what he said just then.

I shook it off and returned Rose. "Thank you. And sorry about Sylkain…"

"No worries. His leaves will grow back in time stronger than ever." Burgh patted his leavanny's shoulder. "And I'll tell you this Eloise, since you seem like the shy type: Sylkain is my strongest partner. You and your pokémon genuinely won one over us, and I commend you on that. So don't be so hesitant and worried. Be more confident."

I gulped and tried to stop his words from entering one ear and exiting the other instantaneously. He had to have gone easy on the strength for us, but it still felt like a true victory. I really did want to believe we did well. "Thank you."

"I wish you luck, the both of you. And I'm rooting for you, Joel." Come again? With that, Burgh waved us off and Joel pushed me out of the gym.


The pen squares off against the sword after being cornered

and the two end up in a stalemate.

The pen writes a heartfelt ballad, and the sword cuts it up.

The sword takes an overwhelming swing, and the pen draws a shield.

They duel and duel, the sword quite persistent.

And so, the pen runs away and hides until the next clash.

But through countless ties one after the other,

the pen starts to take on the soul of the sword.

I take the new pen in my hand and cut this journal to shreds

then walk on the battlefield with my head held high,

brandishing a new weapon under my belt and wielding it proudly.