Chapter 8—Abby's audition—
Jenna and I headed further north until we were finally in the Glimwood Tangle. I saw Allister wasn't kidding when we got here: the Glimwood Tangle was dark as midnight! There were some glowing reddish-pink and light green mushrooms that created luminescence around certain places, but for the most part, it was like a great big abyss of nearly uninterrupted darkness… "Hey! This place is almost as dark as the ocean floor! How am I supposed to see all the pretty vegetation now?!" Jenna said before I said: "That's the least of our concerns… in a location this dark, we can't afford to get lost—there's no telling how long we might stay lost if we do." "No kidding… You were right to get those flashlights, Abby." Jenna said. "They're going to help, that's for sure. We'll just have to be careful not to overuse them—if they run out of battery power, there's no telling how long we could be stuck wandering in the dark." I said. And Jenna gulped as she said: "That's an unsettling thought… well, let's just do our best." "Yup… we'll have to. Now let's start by heading to that glowing mushroom over there." I said before we went to it and we paused as I said: "Hm… actually…" And I sat down and took out my box link before Jenna said: "Abby?" And I said: "I forgot to optimize my team for exploring here. As long as we're near a free source of light, I see no reason not to take advantage of it." "Good point. I may well do the same." Jenna said before she sat down and we changed our teams around. I added Oddish, Drizzile, Corvisquire and Umbreon to my team before we proceeded further in.
We went further into the Glimwood Tangle until we were by a reddish-pink mushroom… but we saw there were Pokémon by it! One was a little humanoid Pokémon that walked on two legs. It had a bright pink body and two arms with hands that each had three fingers. Its head had pink ears with red interiors that looked like imp ears and it had big white eyes with little, tiny black dots for pupils and dark purple, demon wing-like eyeshadow. It had a nose that pointed upward and a dark purple tongue that was hanging out of its mouth. It was short. And the other was also a humanoid Pokémon that walked on two legs, only it had green legs, a hot pink upper body and a nose that pointed upward, hands with three fingers and ears that were like imp ears, all like the first Pokémon's. It had very long dark purple hair that fell to its calves and covered its left eye and was somewhat short. But these Pokémon… one was an Impidimp and the taller one was Morgrem, the evolved form of Impidimp. Both were dark-and-fairy type Pokémon, meaning that Oddish was my best hope against them. Jenna and I exchanged glances before we tried to sneak by them… but then the Morgrem turned its head and said: "Morgrem!" And he and the Impidimp ran out in front of us! "So much for sneaking by… Jenna, are you ready?" I asked before she said: "Of course! Let's go!" and I took out Oddish's Poke ball before I said: "Go, Oddish!" And I heard Jenna say: "Go, Togetic!" And I called Oddish out while Jenna called out a Togetic… I couldn't actually see it now, but I knew what they looked like. They had a white body with a circular stomach that had stubby arms and legs with feet attached to them attached directly to their torsos. They had feathery white wings and long necks with circular white heads with spiky points on the top of their heads. They had black eyes with white pupils and thin eyebrows and red or blue triangles with no center on their stomachs. They were very short. Togetic were fairy and flying typed Pokémon, making it an effective choice on Jenna's part.
Jenna really helped to make the battle a lot easier—as we fought, I realized that having her with me was really a lucky break. Despite having a type advantage and not being weak to either of them, Oddish actually didn't stand up too well to Morgrem's attacks. When Impidimp ganged up on Oddish, it got even worse… Jenna was really helpful and even kept Oddish in the fight when her Togetic used life dew to heal himself and Oddish. Thankfully we won the battle with neither Oddish nor Togetic having gone down… it was all thanks to Jenna.
It wasn't long before Morgrem and Impidimp ran away and Jenna said: "Alright! We sure showed them!" "Due in no small part to you and Togetic. Thank you for looking out for Oddish, Jenna—if you hadn't been there, he could have lost in that battle…" I said before Jenna said: "Thanks, but Oddish was far from defenseless. His sludge bombs did a real number on both of them." "Yes, that's true. I just was so worried about him, I… I couldn't pay attention to that." I said before I turned to Oddish and said: "Good job, Oddish. Your attacks really made a big difference back there." "Oddish!" Oddish said before he suddenly looked energized and said: "Odd!" And then he started to glow with a white light and change shape!
When he was done, he still had a blue body with a circular torso and legs (only now they had feet), but he also had two arms attached directly to his torso and a brown flower that was closed on top of his head with white dots on each component. The flowers each had a bright orange petal and his eyes were closed, as though permanently shut. He had purple lips and appeared to be drooling nectar… he was short too. Now he had evolved into a Gloom… that was really going to help in our next battle! "Great job, Gloom! Now you're really ready to go toe-to-toe with the Pokémon here!" I said before Gloom said: "Gloom!" And Jenna said: "And that's another one of your Pokémon evolved, Abby. Good job!" "Thank you, Jenna. Now we're really ready to back you up! Getting through here is going to be easy after this!" I said and Jenna said: "That's the spirit! C'mon, let's go!" And we went deeper into the Glimwood Tangle—I let Gloom walk with me as we went further in.
As we kept going, we saw the supply of glowing mushrooms started to dry up… soon Jenna and I were walking in the dark, with almost no visibility… "Jenna? I think it's time we powered up our flashlights…" I said before I heard her say: "Yup, I agree… all this darkness is unnerving." And then we took ours out and turned them on before we proceeded forward. But it wasn't too long until Jenna stopped… "Jenna? What is it?" I asked before Jenna said: "Listen, Abby… do you hear galloping?" And we turned around to see a Pokémon running up to us… and it was adorable!
It was like a rather short pony that had a white body and purple hooves that had pastel pink cuffs around them. It had a pastel pink and turquoise mane that was slung over its right shoulder and nearly fell to its hoof and a small dark purple horn that had a pale purple horizontal stripe in the middle. It had a tail that was pastel pink on the top and turquoise near the bottom that almost fell to its hooves too. It had two ears with dark purple interiors and dark purple eyes with white pupils. But this Pokémon… it was a Ponyta. Or one found around here in Galar, anyway… Ponyta found in Galar were psychic Pokémon that were like adorable little unicorns. But Ponyta found in Kanto actually had fiery bodies and manes, which sounded dangerous… knowing that just made me happy I lived Galar! "Oh my gosh, that Ponyta's so cute!" I said as it ran up to us and I said: "Hey there, sweetie! What are you doing out here?" "Ponyta!" She said, but she sounded panicked… it made me wonder… I pointed my flashlight up… and saw a Shiinotic and a Morgrem chasing her! Shiinotic were Pokémon like walking mushrooms… they had white heads, necks, arms and chests and their stomachs, feet (which were attached directly to their torsos) and the rim around their mushrooms were all a bright shade of pink. The tops of their mushrooms were purple and they were wide and looked heavy… They had solid black eyes and mouths and were pretty tall… they were almost as tall as me! "So that's why she was in such a hurry!" Jenna said before I said: "Get behind us! We'll keep them away!" I said before the Ponyta ran behind us and I took out Corvisquire's Poke ball and said: "Go, Corvisquire!" And Jenna said: "Go, Togetic!" And she called Togetic out while I called Corvisquire out.
The battle against the both of them was tough with the Shiinotic helping… it used a really annoying attack called spore that made one of our Pokémon fall asleep, so they couldn't do anything… thankfully we managed to defeat him after enough time passed, which made defeating Morgrem easy! The two of them got up and ran away before I said: "Yes! Great work, Jenna! We really pulled off a great win there!" "Thanks, Abby! It was hard with that Shiinotic helping, but it wasn't enough for us!" Jenna said before Togetic said: "Togetic!" And Corvisquire said: "CorviSQUIRE!" And he started to glow with a white light and change shape!
When he was done, he had a dark purple body and wide, dark purple wings. He had gray legs with dark purple talons and feathers around his chest like a breastplate—he also had dark purple tailfeathers. He had red eyes with white pupils and was more than twice my height now! Now he was a Corviknight… they were flying and steel Pokémon that were strong Pokémon that were very reliable in battle! "Great job, Corviknight! Now you're fully evolved and at your best! Perfect timing too—that's really going to help in the next gym battle!" I said before I heard a: "Nyyyy!" From behind me… I turned and saw Ponyta was still there! It looked like she was congratulating him too…
"Oh, you stayed with us, huh? How nice!" I said before Ponyta said: "Pony!" And I turned back and said: "Anyway, congratulations, Corviknight! All your hard work has really paid off!" "CorviKNIIIIGHT!" Corviknight said before I turned back to Ponyta and said: "And I'm glad we could help you too. Those bullies were so mean to pick on you!" "Ponyta!" She said before she rubbed up against me and I grinned… and then Jenna giggled and said: "It looks like you've got a new friend, Abby." "Is that true? Do you want to come with me, Ponyta?" I asked before Ponyta said: "Pony!" Energetically and reared up. I chuckled a little before I said: "Well that works for me! I'd be happy to have you!" And then I took out the luxury ball I had bought and said: "You can ride around with me inside this luxury ball—it's a safe place for you to stay. I'll call you out when the time comes, but you can take it easy in here for now." "Ponyta!" Ponyta said before I said: "Okay, I'll bring you into it now. I look forward to having adventures with you, Ponyta!"
And I called her into the luxury ball before I used my box link to transfer Ponyta to a box and we continued on. Jenna and I made it deeper into the Glimwood Tangle, or at least, I thought so… with all this darkness, I wasn't sure if we were going in the right direction or not… eventually we passed by a glowing light green mushroom… but I thought I noticed something out of the corner of my eye and stopped… soon I heard Jenna say: "Abby?" "I think I see something… it looked like a spot of light green coming from next to that mushroom…" I said before I walked over to it and knelt down… and I saw it. There was no mistaking it: it was a half-circular shape of light green. I reached out and touched it… and it felt thin and fragile… I reached over it and felt something paper thin there… I grabbed it and picked it up… it was a small disc… a Technical Machine! I saw it said: "U-turn" on the front, but… that was a useful move! U-turn let your Pokémon attack before returning back to their Poke ball and switching out with a different Pokémon! It was a very likable move!
I heard footsteps before Jenna said: "Well there's something you don't see every day… a Technical Machine in the Glimwood Tangle! If someone dropped it, it's plain as day to see why!" And I giggled and said: "It sure looks that way. But it looks like it's the only one of its kind here. Jenna, do you—" and then Jenna said: "Oh, don't be so modest, Abby—you found it. It's only right that you keep it." "Are you sure, Jenna?" I asked. "Of course, I'm sure! Take it and count your blessings already." Jenna said before I said: "Thank you, Jenna." And I packed the U-turn Technical Machine into my backpack before we kept going.
Soon we made it further ahead, but we saw purple light in the distance! It was actually bright enough to see what was in the distance there, for the first time in a while… "Wow… what pretty light…" Jenna said before I said: "Yes, but… purple light? It doesn't even look like it comes from the sun…" And then I continued: "It must be Balloonlea up ahead… why else would there be light in this abyss of a forest?" "Well that sure has me intrigued! Come on, Abby! Let's go see what Balloonlea's like!" Jenna said before we approached the light…
Soon we walked into it and saw we were in a wooded town with simple wooden houses, glowing yellow mushrooms and with big trees that had huge purple leaves and there were flowers everywhere! About the only modern buildings here were the Pokémon Center, the stadium and… that was about it. It was dark in here, but not anything like in the Glimwood Tangle… it was comfortably so and very cool in this town… "Wow! It's so beautiful… even if we had to explore that pitch black forest, it was all worth it so we could come to this beautiful wooded town!" Jenna said before I giggled and said: "I'm glad it exceeded your expectations. These trees and mushrooms… it must be Balloonlea. This is the town where we will have to battle with Opal, the gym leader." "Yup, we'll definitely have to do that… but can't we look around, Abby? I want to see everything in this town!" Jenna said before I said: "Of course, Jenna. I only ask that we go to the Pokémon Center to heal our Pokémon first and that I have a moment to use my box link." "Of course! Besides, the Pokémon Center's a part of this town too, so that's fine by me!" Jenna said before we went to it and healed our Pokémon. We bought some supplies while we were there, then I used my box link to switch my Pokémon so that Corviknight, Toxitricity, Raboot and Ponyta were in my team and I let Ponyta walk with me through Balloonlea.
We met a lot of people as we went through the town—some even were pretty generous. One kind old lady gave Jenna and I Technical Machines—she gave Jenna a Technical Machine for the fighting move revenge, which did lots of extra damage if you were attacked before you moved. And she gave me Payback, which was basically a dark type-equivalent version of what she gave Jenna. Even so, I was happy to receive it—Umbreon could learn that move and it would benefit him tremendously to know it. I'll have to teach it to him when I get a chance. Others told us about Balloonlea—one man said that Balloonlea's trees that formed its canopy were the cause of its low light levels, cooler temperatures and purple lighting. He said Balloonlea never got hot (not even during the summertime) as a result and that they had to start wearing jackets in Balloonlea as early as the beginning of August because of it, which explained the townsfolk's attire. Since I was wearing a jacket right now, I felt good, though my legs were a little cold… and Jenna looked like she didn't even care, she was so happy to be here. Even I had to agree that Balloonlea was a beautiful place… what a lovely community. The people here all loved nature and were surprisingly friendly.
Once we had completely explored Balloonlea, Jenna and I decided to go to the stadium. When we entered it, we found the line for challengers and approached it before we were approached by a doorman and he said: "Hello there! Welcome to the Balloonlea Stadium!" And then he went on: "Are you both together?" "Yes, but don't worry—we intend to challenge the Balloonlea gym separately." I said before the man said: "Ah, excellent. That's the only way a challenger can challenge the gym, so that will make things easier for everyone." And then he went on: "Anyway, I'll explain the rules of the Balloonlea stadium to you now: once your turn comes, you'll go to a chamber further into the gym where you'll meet Ms. Opal, but she won't fight you just like that; she's going to observe you first—" And then Jenna said: "Sorry, did you say 'observe'?" And the doorman said: "Yes. You see, Ms. Opal intends to retire soon and wants to find a successor to take over as Balloonlea's gym leader. That's why she'll put you in three battles against her staff members and assess you as part of determining whether or not you'll be eligible to fill this role. But during the battles, the staff members will ask you one trivia question at a time of their choosing. If you answer correctly, your Pokémon will be rewarded by having their stats temporarily boosted. If you answer incorrectly, they'll temporarily lower your Pokémon's stats instead, so be careful!"
So Opal would evaluate any gym challenger to take over the position of gym leader? If she was willing to do that… I was worried what her standards were… they'd better be high, for the good of the league and the people of Balloonlea! But more than that… I didn't want her to choose me… I was only trying to enjoy an adventure, not to settle into a career… I wasn't ready to make a decision like that. And then the doorman went on: "Unless you're defeated by the three staff members, you'll proceed directly to Ms. Opal and the gym battle itself following this and will have your chance to defeat Ms. Opal and earn a fairy badge. Battles against Ms. Opal are 4-on-4 single battles and because Balloonlea's stadium is built on a power spot, you can Dynamax once in battle. After the battle, Ms. Opal will let you know what she decides. And that's all. Are you ready to begin your challenge?" "Sure thing!" Jenna said before I said: "…Okay." And the doorman said: "Great! Then take your place in line and good luck!"
And then the doorman went off before we got in line and Jenna turned to me and said: "Well I went first last time… so it looks like you're up first this time, Abby! Go break a leg!" And I sighed and said: "That was the deal, wasn't it… alright, I'll go." "What's wrong?" Jenna asked. "I just hope Opal won't get any ideas and pick me—" I said before Jenna said: "Abby… you do know you can say no, right?" "Of course. But that would be such an awkward situation…" I began before Jenna said: "If you don't want to do it that badly, then you have to say no. Who cares if she's disappointed? Being a gym leader isn't an easy commitment to get out of and you can't ruin your own life for her!" And I smiled and said: "Jenna…" And then I went on: "Thank you. You're a great friend." "That's what I'm here for. Now get out there, and don't forget to give her a big ol' "No!" if she asks." Jenna said and I nodded before we waited for a little bit…
When it was my turn, I went into the chamber the doorman had spoken of… it looked like a simple hall backstage in a theater… there was a desk and a table, as well as a small stage and stairs up to it on either side, as well as a door in the corner… and I saw Opal standing across from me. She wore a turquoise and pink dress and a turquoise bangle in between two pink bangles on each wrist. She had a purple fur scarf and a turquoise wide-brimmed hat. She had short white hair with mutton chop-like hair by her ears. Her face looked bony and witch-like and she had a pointed nose and blue eyes with purple eyeshadow. She was surprisingly tall too. When she saw me, she walked over at a speed so slow, it was like she almost wasn't moving… when she finally reached me, she said: "Welcome to Balloonlea gym, child. I am Opal, the gym leader here."
At this point I was tempted to act like a jerk just so she wouldn't pick me, but I just wanted to be myself… I shook her hand and said: "Hello, Opal. I'm Abby." "Abby… very well, then. Now I assume you've had a chance to hear the rules of this challenge from the stadium's doorman?" Opal asked. "I have. He said it was intended to assess if I was fit to be Balloonlea's future gym leader, divided into two parts, like the other gyms." I said. "Yes, that is correct. I'll be watching your performance against some of my staff members in this part of the challenge. So go ahead and get on the stage there—you'll be battling three of them. I'll be back here watching, so don't mind me." Opal said. "I understand. I'll go now, then." I said before I went up on the stage and waited… and soon a female staff member came across from me.
And then I fought a total of three staff members. They all used fairy Pokémon and I managed to not only win against all of them, but also get all three of their questions right. Once I had defeated them all, the last staff member left and Opal got up and walked up to me before she said: "Excellent work, Abby. Now come along… the crowd is waiting." "Okay!" I said before we walked out to the pitch (though I had to stop frequently for Opal's sake…). When we made it, a female staffer stopped me and healed my Pokémon before we went ahead onto the pitch and went across from each other before Opal said: "Now the time has come. Call out your Pokémon, Abby!" And she took out an ultra ball (which was a Poke ball that worked especially well) while I reached for Corviknight's Poke ball and she said: "Go, Weezing!" While I said: "Go, Corviknight!" And I called him out while Opal called out a two-headed, dark gray Pokémon that floated over the ground. Each head was connected by a ligament that was attached to a separate sphere and the head on the left was taller than the head on the right. The left head had a golden skull and crossbones symbol under its lips and they both had two white eyes with little black dots for pupils. The head on the left had a lime-green mustache while the head on the right had a lime-green beard around its mouth and lime-green colored eyebrows. Both heads had giant, chimney-like parts to their heads and had numerous nodes on their faces… both the chimneys and the nodes on their faces gave off pleasant, aromatic gases that smelled nice. It was very tall—it was about as tall as a human adult!
This Weezing was yet another Pokémon that was the kind we had around here… our Weezing were poison-and-fairy type Pokémon while Weezing found in Kanto were just poison type Pokémon, yet both evolved from the same kind of Koffing… how ironic this Weezing that gave off aromatic gases evolved from a Koffing that discharged poisonous gases… "Corviknight, let's start this off right! Hone claws!" I said before Corviknight said: "Cor!" And he scratched his talons together to sharpen them and he looked emboldened. "Weezing, use heat wave!" Opal said before Weezing said: "Wee!" And exhaled a blast of fiery air that hit Corviknight hard! I didn't expect that! Now we'd have to finish this fast… "Corviknight, steel wing!" I said before Corviknight started to glow with a reflective luster before he flew forward at high speed and bashed his wings into Weezing! It looked like it worked great too! "Weezing, heat wave!" Opal said before Weezing exhaled more fiery air at Corviknight.
This process repeated itself again before I had Corviknight hit Weezing with a steel wing and he collapsed! Unfortunately, Corviknight looked ready to drop himself… Opal called him back before she said: "Go, Mawile!" And she called out an odd little humanoid Pokémon… it had a manila-colored body with a head, arms and two legs that had fur on them like flared out pants. The ends of its arms were colored black, as were its feet—it even had black bangs. It had red eyes with black irises and white pupils, but it had another head attached to its own! It was shaped like a crocodile's head and was a massive black maw with a yellow spot near the top of it and it had many sharp teeth inside and a pinkish-purple interior within its mouth. It was fairly short.
And when Mawile appeared, it turned around and made the giant maw on the back of her head move and she shouted: "Mawile! Maw!" And Corviknight looked subdued… it looked like her Mawile had the intimidate ability too, which was going to hinder Corviknight's damage output with physical attacks, like he used… "Mawile, use iron head!" Opal said before Mawile turned around and ran up to Corviknight before she leapt at him (spinning and turning around as she did so) before she smashed her giant maw into him, but Corviknight actually got up after being attacked! But I still couldn't bring myself to make him fight anymore… "That's enough. I'll call Corviknight back and have it count as a loss. Just don't keep attacking him." I said before Opal suddenly looked intrigued and said: "Hmm… how impressive." And then she went on: "Fine. Then call him back and bring in your next Pokémon." And I went up to Corviknight before I said: "You were great out there. Now just leave the rest to the others!" "Knight!" Corviknight said before I called him back and then took out Toxitricity's great ball before I said: "Go, Toxitricity!" And I called him out before I went on: "Toxitricity, zap Mawile! Discharge!" "Toxi!" Toxitricity said before he created a thunderstorm that zapped Mawile, hard! "Mawile, attack with iron head again!" Opal said before Mawile did so… and Toxitricity didn't take it too hard. And then I had Toxitricity use another discharge before Mawile collapsed!
Opal called her Mawile back before she said: "Go, Togekiss!" And she called out a flying Pokémon with big white, feathery wings… it had a nearly oval-shaped white body with white tailfeathers and two very, very short feet attached to the lowest part of its body. It had a red spike, a white spike and blue spike on the top of its head and black eyes with white pupils and little solid red and blue triangles on its stomach. It was surprisingly tall for a flying Pokémon. And this Pokémon… it actually was what Jenna's Togetic could evolve into, if she so desired. "Togekiss, use air slash on Toxitricity!" Opal said before Togekiss said: "Toge!" And she flew at Toxitricity before suddenly flying up and to the right, causing blades of air to fly at Toxitricity and crash into him! And yet he didn't take it very hard… "Toxitricity, use sludge wave!" I said before Toxitricity said: "Tricity!" And he conjured a wave of poison in front of him that crashed into Togekiss and worked great! "Togekiss, use wish!" Opal said before Togekiss closed its eyes… and we saw a yellow star suddenly fly by in a diagonal line before it shone… now I only had two more attacks before it would heal Togekiss by a lot… "Use sludge wave again, Toxitricity!" I said before he did so… and Togekiss looked sickened at the end of the attack! She was poisoned and recoiled from poison damage! Perfect timing! "Togekiss, use sweet kiss!" Opal said before Togekiss flew up to Toxitricity… but he leapt aside just before she could kiss him. Good timing, too—had she succeeded, Toxitricity wouldn't have been staggered and wouldn't be able to attack, which would ensure her wish would have kicked in! At least now we had a chance! "Toxitricity, one more time! Sludge wave!" I said before Toxitricity attacked with it and Togekiss collapsed!
Opal called Togekiss back before she said: "Go on, Alcremie!" And she called in a little Pokémon like a humanoid monster made of whipped cream… it had a rounded stomach that it slithered on the ground on and two little arms with hands that were connected to it too. It had a neck like a scarf made of whipped cream and a face with red eyes with black pupils and a dot for a mouth. The top of its head looked like a dollop of whipped cream and it had curls made of whipped cream too that had strawberries stuck in them… its whole body was mostly white with a pink tint and it was short.
And then she looked at me and said: "And now it's time for my question: out of pink or purple, which is my favorite color?" And I was a little taken off guard before she said: "Remember when my gym trainers got to ask you trivia questions? I am no different. This is mine, so give it a try!" And I paused… there was a lot of pink in her gym, but that big, giant furry scarf she wore around her neck was colored purple… "Purple?" I said before Opal said: "Excellent! Good job! Then in that case… one speed boost for you!" And she took out something before she used it on Toxitricity… and he suddenly looked energized! It must have been an X Speed she used on him! Now he could attack twice back-to-back!
And then she suddenly called Alcremie back before she used the power of her Dynamax band to enlarge Alcremie's ultra ball to a huge size before she dropped it (and extremely abruptly at that… it looked like she actually wasn't strong enough to hold it…) and it opened before Alcremie came out, although now it looked like a skyscraper-sized cake with its head and two hands attached on the top… that was an Alcremie's Gigantamaxed form. Now its fairy attacks would be made into a special attack that healed itself with each use. And then she said: "Alcremie, attack with Max mindstorm!" And Alcremie said: "Allc!" And she fired rays of pink energy at Toxitricity, which he took hard! "Toxx!" Toxitricity said, but he managed to get up… and then wisps of pink energy formed over the ground… she had created psychic terrain. Now psychic moves were stronger…
Even though Toxitricity had recovered from that Max mindstorm, there was no way he could outlast another one… I suppose I should save my Dynamax for a different Pokémon, but his speed was up too and I didn't have any Pokémon left that could hit Alcremie super effectively, so if I were to Dynamax Toxitricity now, he could really do a ton of damage… much more so than anyone else could deal. I thought it over and decided to Dynamax him. I called Toxitricity back and used my Dynamax band to enlarge Toxitricity's great ball to a much larger size before I dropped it… but I wasn't expecting what happened to happen next: Toxitricity came out, but he was standing on all fours with a yellow mohawk that went halfway down his back! The hip guard around his waist now looked like amp towers and his eyes had turned yellow. His whole body was purple and reddish-pink!
But that form…! That meant Toxitricity had been Gigantamaxed! "Huh?! Toxitricity… you can Gigantamax too?!" I said before Toxitricity said: "Toxxxxi!" And I smiled and said: "Well you're just full of surprises, aren't you? Now go and show them your power! Max ooze!" And Toxitricity said: "Toxitriss!" And made geysers of poison form around Alcremie and blast her! They worked great too! And Toxitricity looked emboldened before I said: "Do it again, Toxitricity! Max ooze!" And Toxitricity attacked with it again before Alcremie said: "Aaaalcreemieee!" And shrunk back down before she returned to normal and Opal called her back before Toxitricity shrunk down and returned to normal before I ran up to him and said: "Way to go, Toxitricity! You really proved when the going gets tough, you get going! Congratulations!" "Tox!" He said before Opal walked up to us (which took a couple minutes) before she arrived and said: "A very impressive performance, child. Now as for whether or not you will be my successor…"
And I felt uncomfortable before she said: "You are clearly a very intelligent, kind trainer, but I'm sorry—you're not what I'm looking for. You came very close, but I still stand by my decision." And Toxitricity looked mad at her before I sighed and said: "Oh, thank heavens…" "You seem rather pleased at this news. I must say, I wasn't expecting that." Opal said before I said: "I am. I just wanted to be a Pokémon trainer to have an adventure with my Pokémon and learn from experience, not to decide on a career. I can't tell you how happy that makes me, Opal." And Opal closed her eyes before she said: "Hm-hm… what an exceptional answer. You're quite the character, Abby." And then she opened her eyes and said: "In any case, those Pokémon of yours are lucky to have you for a trainer. If that's how you feel, you should just keep enjoying your adventure your way." "Will do!" I said before Opal said: "Good answer. Then here's your reward for winning and participating in your audition: one fairy badge!"
And she held out a bright pink badge which I took and stuck into my badge ring before I said: "Thank you, Opal." And then she said: "Certainly. And in addition to that… here's something else for you, too." And she handed me a bright pink disc and I took it before she said: "That is the Technical Machine for the move draining kiss. It not only damages the target, but restores your Pokémon's health equal to a large percentage of the damage your Pokémon dealt. It's a very effective draining move—it drains more than its competitor moves in other types." "Sounds like fun! I may well try it." I said before Opal said: "That's the spirit. I trust you'll have no trouble using it." And then she went on: "Now before you leave, let me tell you how to get to the city with the next gym badge you'll have to win, Circhester. Be sure to listen well, as it's a multiple step process."
And I waited attentively before she went on: "Unfortunately—as Balloonlea is a dead end—to get to Circhester, you'll have to go all the way back to Hammerlocke. Once you arrive, head to the city's east gate and go though it to reach Route 7—luckily it will be easy to tell it apart from any other gate, because it's on the opposite side of Hammerlocke from where you will enter from. When you're on that route, head north to enter Route 8, which is similar to Route 6, in that it's an arid ecosystem. You'll have to navigate through some ruins to eventually reach the west side of Route 9, which is very cold. From there, Circhester is north of you, and not by much at that! The gym leader in Circhester—Melony—uses ice type Pokémon, so be on your guard." "Okay! I'll remember that. Thank you, Opal." I said before she said: "You're welcome. Farewell, Abby." And I nodded before I left the pitch.
When I was back in the stadium's entrance, I walked forward and saw Jenna before she said: "Abby! How did it go?" "I won the fairy badge! It wasn't bad at all." I said before Jenna said: "Great! And did you remember to say 'no' to Opal?" "Even better—she said I wasn't what she was looking for!" I said before Jenna said: "Hm… well at least it saved you some trouble. And now I'm headed in! Wish me luck!" "Okay! Good luck, Jenna! Although I doubt you'll need it." I said. And Jenna giggled before she went in.
I waited for a while, but eventually Jenna came out and I said: "How'd it go, Jenna?" "I got my badge! You were right, Abby—that wasn't so bad!" Jenna said before I said: "Great. Then we'd better get ready to head out to Circhester—it'll be a long journey." "Yup, I know… I'll miss Balloonlea, but we've already seen a lot of it and I know we can't stick around here forever!" Jenna said before I said: "Thank you for understanding, Jenna. Then let's get some extra batteries for our flashlights before we go… I don't even want to think about being caught out there without them." "Good idea!" Jenna said. And we left the gym and managed to buy some before we went back through the Glimwood Tangle to Hammerlocke.