"Are you here to observe the battle as well?" Zoey asks Shun as they take their seats to watch the gym battle.
Shun nods as she keeps her eyes on Leon and his golbat intensely. "Yes. I want to see how far he has come in training."
"Alright, Echo, time to show the results of your training," Leon says, scratching his bat pokemon's head.
Echo screeches happily before flapping up over the field, staring down machoke.
"Begin," the judge calls, and machoke rushes forward with a dynamic punch only for Echo to disappear before its eyes, surprising the fighting type before a purple ray from behind hits it. However, machoke didn't know that as it is very confused for some reason.
Maylene is somewhat confused as it doesn't seem like Leon called out an attack. "Machoke, get your head in the game!" she calls. "Give another dynamic punch to that golbat," she orders before watching machoke power up a punch but swings and strikes the ground, making pieces of the field smack into him. "Machoke!" she calls, surprised that he did that.
Echo, meanwhile, is not letting up, zipping in and out with a hit and run wing attacks back to back, taking full advantage of machoke's confused state. Meanwhile, in the stands, Shun takes in every detail. She knows he must be talking through Crystal. There is nothing in the rules against it as anyone with a psychic pokemon or powers of their own could do this, but it is challenging not knowing what move your opponent is using so you can't call out a counter ahead of time. On top of that, his golbat is very fast. Part of her wonders if he is using quick attack or agility moves to boost his speed or if this is his base speed.
"He has trained much further than I thought he would have," Shun observes, catching the attention of Zoey, who smiles. "Speed on his golbat alone is proof of that. I doubt he is constantly using quick attacks or another agility move. That would get tiring, and I am not seeing him falter in his flying. So this is base speed. To counter that…" Shun hums as she starts thinking about it.
Zoey grins. "Bet you are already thinking up ways to counter him if you are going to battle Leon," she suggests, seeing the thoughtful look on Shun's face. "And think. This is Echo. Just imagine his other pokemon."
'She is right. Leon isn't a one-trick ponyta either. So he must be training his pokemon in different ways and for different scenarios,' Shun considers.
"And not one to regard as cheap and easy," Crystal speaks up, smirking back at Shun as she sits on the guardrails. "I may have been reading a lot, but even Leon has done something else once I told him something interesting. And no, you can't know what that is," she says teasingly, winking at Shun.
"And now machoke is also poisoned," Gardenia says, calling Shun's attention back to the battle where Echo is biting into the shoulder of the machoke.
"Machoke! Grab him and throw him off!" Maylene yells, getting worried now how long Machoke can stand.
"Crunch," Leon instructs before Echo releases the shoulder before biting down with five times the force, making the machoke collapse from the sudden burst of pain and Echo flying over it triumphantly. "Nice job, boy," Leon praises as Echo flies over and lands on his shoulder.
Maylene sighs and returns machoke to her pokeball. "Great job," she says before putting it away. "You are relentless. I will say that," she calls over to Leon, who is petting Echo.
"Amber, your turn," Leon says, tossing out the monkey pokemon. "Echo here might be relentless, but Amber there, she is more furious," Leon says, smirking, referring to Ember's blaze ability.
Amber's tail flame becomes more prominent as she punches her fits together. "I want to beat this next one, master! Bring it on!" Ember calls, excited.
Maylene takes a deep breath before grabbing another one of her pokeballs. "Okay, Leon, you better get ready. Come on out, Meditite," she calls and throws the pokeball out into the field. Leon and Amber grin as they see the white and blue fighting and psychic pokemon appear in the area.
"Meditite Vs. Monferno. Begin!" the judge calls, and Monferno immediately disappears and hits Meditite with her fist encased in a light blue aura.
"Mach punch. The move that Monferno learns when it evolves. High speed and decent power. Combined with its Iron Fist ability further enhances the power," Shun observes as Maylene tries to defend by having Meditite use detect. However, even though it sees it coming, it still can't dodge because the differences in their speeds are far too significant.
Zoey smiles as she uses her pokedex to record the fight before them. "I am curious if Meditite can even try to dodge one of the attacks at least," she wonders, trying to use her own eyes to spot anything.
"Her better option would be to go on the offensive with confusion," Shun says, getting the moves that the Meditite knows with her pokedex.
"Quick little bugger!" Amber growls as she keeps jumping and punching Meditite. Each attack either glancing off and doing some damage or head-on and taking off a chunk of damage. "Stay still!" she yells, missing Meditite but now striking the ground behind her and trips Meditite enough that it refocuses from moving to balancing itself. "Boom!" Meditite looks up in time to receive a punch to the face and sends it skidding to the other side of the field.
'Finish it. Flame wheel,' Leon instructs through Crystal, and Amber immediately goes into a flame wheel, moving and hits Meditite head-on, causing an explosion from the fire. A moment later, out of the smoke, flies Amber, who lands and skids on the ground right beside Leon.
The smoke clears and leaves a down and out Meditite with swirls in her eyes. "Meditite!" Maylene calls to no avail before wondering what kind of training Leon put his pokemon through. They seem much more robust and faster than whatever she is doing.
"Meditite is unable to battle. The winner is Monferno!" the judge calls.
Leon cheers, and Amber rushes toward her trainer, enveloping him in a body hug. Leon laughs as he holds Amber while she nuzzles him. "Great job, girl. Knew you had it in you with no doubt."
"Maybe a little doubt was in his head," Crystal quips, smirking to the side.
"Back off, princess. I won, so let me enjoy the victory," Amber retorts and goes back to nuzzling Leon.
"You did well, Meditite," Maylene says to the pokeball, having returned her pokemon before bringing out the final one. "Now it's your turn. Lucario, come on out!" Maylene calls, throwing the pokeball.
"Alright, Amber, you take a seat. This one is someone else's fight," Leon says, pulling out Ippo's ball.
Amber nods before jumping off and staying behind him, sitting down on her rump. "Let's go, Ippo," she calls as he comes out onto the field and flexes his arms a little to get rid of some soreness.
"There he is. I wonder how much stronger he has become since I last saw him," Shun voices her thoughts.
Zoey smirks in her direction. "Just you wait. Ippo is going to blow you away."
"Ippo, stance," Leon says, and Ippo slams his fist onto the field and takes a football player-like stance.
Lucario, sensing that Ippo might try something nuts, gets into a fighting stance of his own as he stares down the heavy-weight fighter. "Be ready. And when he gets in close, you know what to do," Maylene warns as she keeps her eyes on Ippo and Leon.
"Begin!" the judge calls.
"Trick room," Leon says, and Maylene's eyes widen as a cube-like image forms around the field. The shimmering walls and ceiling cover and block some view as they all notice the walls have blocks layered on top of blocks of each other. Each piece is spinning, and the lower smaller pieces following the motion close behind. Each size of these blocks is consistent as they pause when they finish spinning, almost blocking the view of the field for a second before they all spin again and show what's going on inside. "You like what I have done with the place?" Leon jokes, smiling and gesturing to the bright room.
"It ends now either way," Maylene says, proud and full of confidence as Lucario seems to smirk as Leon notices his ears perk up a little. "Metal claw and get in there!" she calls. Lucario growls as the spikes on his paws glow bright white before they change and form out into two long hooks like claws each. As soon as he starts to run, his eyes widen as he realizes it feels like running through molasses, and each step of his foot is almost like sinking into the wet sand. Ippo smirks as he watches this and sees Lucario struggle to keep up his form and stance while charging at him. At which point, he takes the chance and runs straight at the dog pokemon. Lucario growls in his throat as he dodges to the side of the charge, but Ippo is quicker and grabs the tail, electing a yip from Lucario as he slams him back down onto the ground with a heavy crash. Lucario looks up in time to see a karate chop heading his way and rolls off to the side, making Ippo hit the ground and break it apart from the sheer power behind it.
"It's at least twice as strong as before," Shun observes the difference in physical strength.
"Trick room is also an ace up their sleeve as the speed of Machoke can be a lot lower given it's more built for power," Gardenia adds, getting a nod for Shun recognizing this is how Leon is compensating for that weakness.
Lucario scrambles to his feet and grits his teeth as Maylene tries to see a way through this. "Bone Rush, keep him away," she calls out. Lucario forgoes the metal claws with a shake of his arms and holds his paws together before spreading them apart as an energy form and lengthens between them. Ippo smirks as he watches his opponent make a large bone staff and holds a stance with one paw holding the staff in front and one paw behind him, ready to strike, almost egging Ippo to charge and attack.
"Uh oh, I think I know what is coming," Lana says with a smirk.
Crystal raises an eyebrow at Leon as she sees an image of something doing the same stance in his mind but pushes it aside for later. "Come on, muscle brain! Kick his furry butt!" she cheers, waving her arms like a cheerleader.
A tick mark appears on Lucario's head for a moment before it goes away as he calms down. The dog eyes Ippo for muscle twitch before swinging his staff around and jumping at the pokemon. Leon gives a soft smile at the attempt before blinking as he watches the dust cloud building up behind Lucario fly by the two. The bone staff inches from Ippo's head as even Ippo is surprised at the attempt to hit him. Lucario narrows his eyes and pulls the staff back before holding it beside him, ready for a retaliation strike as Ippo frowns when he realizes what the steel type is doing now. He can sense that Ippo has an ace up his sleeve if he is betting on Lucario to hit first by not moving at all.
"Clever…but someone has to hit someone at some point," Shun points out. "The real question is who has the bigger patience."
"That's a bad idea," Zoey says, sweatdropping.
"Here it comes. Focus punch," Gardenia predicts as she sees Ippo's hand flex behind his back.
Ippo grunts as he swings his now glowing white fist forward towards Lucario. Lucario frowns as his free paw glows bright blue and thrusts it forward open-handed. The two hands collide as the aura energy swirls around excitedly before it explodes, sending both pokemon back while a red aura swirls around Ippo. "Dang it," Maylene curses as she can feel something terrible is about to happen. "Just dodge this next one. And keep moving!" she warns, fearing this can end in one hit if it connects.
Leon stares at Lucario for a long while. "Judge, I think you may want to check Lucario," Leon says, noticing he hadn't moved at all.
The judge seems confused before stepping on the field towards Lucario and looks at the pokemon's face. At which point, he can see that his eyes are closed, and his muscles are loose and slack, but his body remains rigid enough to stand. "Lucario is fully unconscious. That means Machoke wins. And that also means Leon has won the match," he announces as Leon walks up to Lucario, with Maylene rushing up to him as well.
"I thought Ippo would have to hit back," Shun notes and sees Ippo relaxing his stance once the announcement is made. "I guess the strike is instant?"
"Lucario!" Maylene calls and touches Lucario's shoulder. Leon quickly pushes on his back and keeps the steel type upright as he slowly awakens and looks between the two. "Still standing after being knocked out," she chuckles, smiling. "Well, we lost," she shrugs off before noticing Leon looking closely at Lucario, who also notices Leon eyeing him. "What?"
Leon looks over the pokemon before reaching up and starts to scratch behind Lucario's ears. The pokemon freezes as he remains still while Lana and Gardenia giggle and Zoey facepalms. Maylene is about to retort something until she notices that Lucario's scythe-like tail is wagging around happily behind him. "I couldn't resist," Leon admits, still scratching away.
"Ma," Ippo says before glowing white all over his body and starting to change. His form shifts and enlarges, and when the light fades, it is a Machamp standing there.
"Well, looks like I got a double prize," Leon says, smirking at his now fully evolved pokemon.
Ippo smirks and flexes all four of his arms as he gives off multiple poses. In that time, Leon stops scratching Lucario's ears and lets him make an unamused frown while Crystal sits on his head, also not even remotely excited about dealing with a prideful fighter. "This is such a great feeling, master. Now I can punch twice as fast," Ippo laughs.
"Work on that ego of yours first," Lucario warns, crossing his arms.
"Oh, I have a plan for you," Leon informs as Crystal transfers images of Ippo punching super fast continuously.
Ippo pales a little as Crystal snickers. Lucario smirks up to the psychic and flicks his ears around playfully for her as she sits between them. "Keep him in line, would you?" he requests.
"Oh, that part is easy. It's the training that isn't," Crystal remarks as Leon sees Maylene approach with the gym badge.
"Thank you," Leon says very politely.
Maylene smiles. "I'll be honest; I haven't faced this style of fighting before. So maybe I will use a few. Also…can I ask a favor?" she whispers, and both Lucario and Crystal perk their ears towards the two. "Can you have your kirlia translate Lucario for me?" she whispers, bowing her head and sounding excited.
Leon chuckles and pushes Lucario forward as Crystal waves at Maylene on top of his head. "You found your resolve, master," Lucario says proudly, and Maylene becomes giddy for a moment as she hears his rough voice.
Leon laughs to himself as he waves over Ippo. "Okay, let those two talk for a bit," he says to the other girls as they start to stand and walk down towards him. "Meanwhile, I got a badge," he says happily before grabbing his bag and looking for his badge case.
"That is the fourth one now," Gardenia says, smirking.
"Halfway to entering the Lily of the Valley Conference," Shun adds.
"So? Do you want to battle Leon now?" Zoey asks with a smirk.
Shun sighs and shakes her head smiling. "Nah. But I will be waiting at the conference for him," she promises to him.
"Ok, he will meet you for that date," Gardenia chimes in with a smirk, trying to get a rise out of her.
Shun blushes and frowns at the gym leader. "Shut up…" she seethes.
"I am with you, sister," Zoey says in support of Shun.
Leon shakes his head, amused, as he places the badge into the case. "Okay. All set. Now…Gardenia, stop teasing her," he warns the woman as he puts the bag onto his back.
"So, where are you headed next?" Shun asks, now ignoring Gardenia.
"We plan to head west along route 215 then along 210 back to Hearthome City for a few things," Zoey informs.
Shun smiles and looks at Leon. "Well, be sure to try some academy battles there. I heard some of the students in Hearthome are good at what they study. Maybe you could learn something for free."
"Hum…sounds like where I went to school before starting my journey, and don't say that is a bad thing again, Zoey," Leon informs, pointing at her.
Zoey holds her hands up in defense. "I didn't say anything. You did," she points out.
"Yet, but I knew it was coming," Leon says, giving her a look.
Maylene smiles as she walks back over with Lucario while carrying Crystal in his arms. "Thanks for the chance. I never got a way to speak with him like that before," she compliments as Lucario gives Crystal back to Leon.
"Normally, I charge for that," Crystal says impishly.
Leon swipes at her head as he smiles at the two while Crystal winces and holds her head. "Consider it free. I like Lucarios. So awesome," he admits smiling and looking at him. "If I get a Lucario of my own one day, think you can teach us some tricks?"
"Lucarios don't like to learn from each other. It's a source of pride," Lucario informs.
Leon smirks. "Then I guess we have to beat you when we have a chance."
Lucario chuckles deeply. "Counting on it."
"So, are you heading off to train and take what you saw and learned today and incorporate it or use it to improve?" Leon asks Shun as they sit on a bench looking up at the night sky.
Shun smiles, relaxing as much as she wants. "Yeah. A lot of training is needed. And after seeing Ippo alone, I need more work."
"I also got to step up his training. I have many ideas which I have already shared with him via Crystal. Not to mention my other pokemon," Leon says, smiling as well.
Shun chuckles and turns her head towards Leon but keeps her eyes closed to get as much rest as possible. "And Crystal is still reading that book?"
Leon sweat drops and sighs. "I need to find a college-grade physics book for her. And also have to get her some partners to fight while training. She's been asking for it," he explains, seeing the questioning expression on Shun's face without her even opening her eyes. "So you're going to wait the whole eight months till the conference for us to have a rematch?" Leon asks.
Shun sighs and lays her head back. "Yeah. I want to be surprised. And I want you to be surprised as well by my hard work. Just because we won't have a rematch till then, I won't be sitting idle."
"…face Ash when you can. I know you think Ash is a weak trainer, but Ash is the type that evolves and gets better a lot faster after losing. Ash isn't like us who plan, research, and formulate strategies. Ash is most of the time an instinctual trainer," Leon advises.
Shun forms a frown on her face before sighing. "I don't want to hear another lecture from her. The battle won't be as good if she keeps complaining and trying to tell me differently."
"Just tune Ash out and nod every so often to just get to the battle. It's like dealing with a little kid at times," Leon says with a smirk.
Shun snarks. "Yeah…it does," she admits before frowning again. "I guess I made a bad first impression with her when she and her friends found me."
"No, I just know the type a bit. I went to school. You didn't and went on a journey like many others at ten years old?" Leon asks.
Shun nods before opening her eyes and looking at him. "Your point?"
"No real point. Just I encountered and had to put up with that kind of person for years is all I am saying," Leon informs, turning to her. "Chances are at this rate, we both will get the needed badges way before the conference, right?" Leon asks.
Shun eyes the direction to where the gym is. "Most have to battle twice or three times with gyms because they tend to stick to favorites or a type. You keep blowing through in one battle, and you might make it at least with five or four months to go. Why?" she questions, feeling like he wants to meet up with her before then.
"We will have a lot of time just to train ourselves hard, so…" Leon trails off before pulling out his pokedex and messaged her with a casual greeting and noticed his icon was a sort of cartoonish chibi version of his face with a smile.
Shun takes out her pokedex and smiles as she replies. "Guess we can share tips," she jokes as Leon notices her icon was the same only Shun had a grumpy expression. "Just don't leave voicemails like a needy boyfriend," she chuckles off.
"This is why you won't accept Ash's," Leon teases.
Shun shoves his side playfully. "Shut up," she laughs. Leon only laughs back as he shoves her back until they get into a shoving match. Both of them laugh happily before they end up pushing each other off the bench. Leon and Shun look at each other before laughing more quietly as they get up and dust themselves off.
"You know it is kinda bad when they make an app to update you when the Hearthome gym is open," Leon says, sweatdropping as he and his group sit around the forest of route 215.
Gardenia sighs, almost disappointed. "Yeah…it sucks…"
"Didn't you leave your gym alone?" Lana questions with a smirk and makes Gardenia glare at her.
"I called in a substitute. Fantina doesn't do that," Gardenia responds.
Leon sighs and looks at all the pokemon relaxing. "At least it gives plenty of time to train and relax as needed."
"Speaking of which, how is that eevee in your lap doing?" Zoey asks, looking at the extra fluffy eevee.
Leon smiles and pets the fluffy pokemon. "She's fine. Just sleeping."
"So, what are your plans? Will you evolve her into a Vaporeon?" Lana asks, a bit excited.
"Actually. After reviewing her, I am actually leaning towards Flareon at the moment," Leon clarifies.
"Is it because she is so extra fluffy?" Zoey asks.
Leon doesn't say anything as he keeps petting the sleeping eevee.
Zoey rolls her eyes before sighing. "Who wants to check out someplace else in the meantime? Maybe the academy?"
"Academy?" Lana asks, confused.
"Summer academy. It's an event Professor Rowan and his assistants host for a week to teach and give kids and younger trainers new experiences," Leon clarifies, bringing it up on his pokedex to show her. "Actually, that might be a good idea," Leon says before starting to do something with his pokedex.
Gardenia leans over to Zoey as they watch Leon type at his pokedex. "I'm surprised you suggested that," she observes in a whisper to the girl.
"I said look at, not attending," Zoey clarifies.
"Well, we have now been registered assistants to this camp," Leon informs.
"How did you manage that?" Lana questions, surprised.
"I have a degree from a pokemon academy," Leon answers simply.
Zoey just makes a very displeased face as Crystal laughs at her.
"Well, at least we won't be doing crazy things like surviving in the woods at night or drawing pokemon we have to research," Gardenia notes happily.
"I hate book reports," Leon drones suddenly, and they see him look so downtrodden with a dark cloud above his head. Even Crystal takes a peek in his mind and recoils at the number of book reports he wrote and…one hundred pages in total of them all. Crystal can only give pity for the poor boy.
"This isn't that kind. It's mostly a camp," Gardenia tries to assure.
Leon sighs in relief as the dark cloud goes away. "Okay…so who's ready?"
Loud snores sound out in the clearing, and they all look at the pokemon pile to see a few have fallen asleep. "Maybe in an hour or so," Lana giggles as they hear another snore.