As the smoke died down, I saw that my opponents beedrill looked like it was knocked out, and Lavender was still standing, looking very determined.
"I wi-" My sentence was interrupted by the beedrill darting up, scratched up, but still standing and ready to battle. The trainer had a huge grin on her face, like her expression was saying 'Try again'.
"You've got one tough Pokemon." I told the trainer.
"Yours isn't half bad either. Okay, Stinger, X-Scissor!" She said.
The beedrill darted towards Lavender, ready to attack.
"Lavender, protect!" I yelled.
Lavender set up a glassy blue barrier in front of her as the beedrill came after her. It struck the small glassy wall, repeatedly striking it. The barrier started to crack and beedrill's long, Stinger like claws broke through, and it hit Lavender's chest.
"Alright, do that again, Stinger!" The trainer commanded.
Stinger was ready to strike again, and it did. But Lavender dodged and I smiled, having a mini celebration in my head. That would've made Lavender faint for sure. I looked at the beedrill and I saw that when it missed, it came straight after me a split second later. I was about to start running, but it was too late. The beedrill nearly impaled me, but it barely struck the outside of my shirt, barely ripping it. It scared me for a second, but I still continued the battle.
"Lavender, pull it in front of you with Psychic!"
Lavender nodded and bring the beedrill to her.
"Throw it, and use Psyshock!" I yelled.
Lavender threw the Pokemon into the air and white orbs flew to the beedrill. It fell to the ground. We won.
"I win, I win, I win!" I yelled enthusiastically.
"Yeah, yeah, you win." She said, frowning.
I returned Lavender back into her Pokeball and went to look for Annora. I heard something moving in the bushes. I sent out Lavender. A small lion-like Pokemon crawled from under the bushes.
"Lit, Litleo..." The Pokemon quietly cried.
"Hey little guy." I said.
The Pokemon looked up at me and grinned.
"You're a Litleo, huh?" I asked it, petting it's back.
"Leo, lit liteo!" It cried.
This Pokemon could help me with the santalune gym.
"Wanna come with me?" I asked, holding an empty Pokeball.
The Pokemon jumped up and down, nodding.
"Good." I said as I pushed the button on the Pokeball, capturing it.
"Alright. That's done. Now to go find Annora and challenge the gym." I said to myself, walking and looking for Annora.
After a few minutes of walking, I found Annora sitting by a stream, dipping her feet in. I saw her Marowak right behind her, refusing to get wet.
"Hey, could you hurry up, I wanna get to the gym." I said, looking at my newly caught Litleo's Pokeball.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be ready in a second." She told me in an annoyed tone, drying her feet and putting her boots on.
I grinned and sent out my Pokemon, deciding to give them a little snack before we go to the gym.
"Ess-peon..." Lavender yawned as she got sent out.
"Lit-litleo!" The lion Pokemon cried.
"You guys want a little snack? I was gonna give this to Annora, but I guess she could live without it." I said, grinning and grabbing a sandwich from my bag.
"YOU'RE GONNA give THEM MY food?!" She yelled.
"Maybe." I said, holding the sandwich.
I stood up, holding it high above my head. She ran towards me and jumped up and down. For a girl so serious, she does go way too crazy for food.
"You're too short! There's no way you're gonna get this sandwich!"
"I'm not short, you're just insanely tall!" She yelled.
I laughed and gave her the sandwich. It took her a couple of minutes to eat, and I sent my Pokemon back into their pokeballs.
We got back to Santalune city and looked for the gym for a while. I couldn't wait for this battle. When I was younger, my mother told me about how the elite four used to be gym leaders. I guess they had to start off somewhere, right? But who was the elite four while they were gym leaders? There's so many questions I want answered. That's why I went on this journey.
"Hey, I think I see the gym." I told Annora.
"Alright, let's go inside then." She told me.
We walked inside, and there was a long pole leading to what I think is the challenge room.
"I heard there's a huge spider web at the bottom..." Annora told me.
"What, are you scared?" I said, sliding down the pole.
"No!" She yelled, coming down after me.