"Dragon." Jarque tapped twice at the northern area of the map that lied unfolded on a tree stump in front of him. I was standing right by his side as I scanned the rectangular piece of parchment, while Valentine and Diamie stared at it from the other side. Jarque traced his finger around the outer edges of the map. "First is dragon at north. Then, going clockwise, the other seven gyms are poison, fire, uh, this should be fighting, then grass, ground, water and, looping back to home, steel. So which one are we hitting next, girls?"

Did the order matter that much? We would have to fight them all sooner or later anyway. I looked ahead, to the left, to the giddy Popplio clapping her flippers at us. So this one didn't care about the order either. She probably didn't even fully understand his words and was only along for the ride. But looking instead to the right, I noticed the Fennekin's eyes darting all over the map as if trying to find a hidden pattern that wasn't there. I wondered if I shouldn't be taking this more seriously too.

Jarque looked to Diamie, then to Valentine, then to me, taking a moment to stroke the back of my head before speaking. "This team has coverage for each of the three classic types. We've got a nice balance going here, all things considered." His gaze shifted a few times between me and the two girls in front of us as he tapped one finger on the map. "Is there any gym we have a strong advantage against? That would be… oh, how about ground?" he said as he dragged a finger along the lower-left corner of the map. "The gym at Baton's Burg uses ground-types. Grass and water are strong against ground, and although fire is weak, at the very least ground-types don't strongly resist fire moves, so it's something. So how about it? Feel like visiting the walled town?"

Diamie was the first to react, by making a little hop and spreading her flippers. But she would have reacted positively no matter what he had proposed. Valentine had a more tepid reaction, nodding to herself as she stared at the particular point in the map with blank eyes. If I had to guess she probably wasn't too happy that she would be the only one at a disadvantage. But at least the little vixen was smart enough to understand that this was the badge we had the highest chance of taking home. I actually appreciated that Valentine was so judicious at times like this, placing the goals of the team before her own. If there had been, let's say, an ice-type gym where only I was at a disadvantage, and we had agreed to visit it first, how would I have taken it? Would I have put the interests of the team first, even if it meant losing a chance to prove my worth before Jarque?

Luckily, a ground gym was about the ideal place to prove to my dear trainer how great of a pokémon I am. Diamie would also have an easy time here, and I wasn't sure how to feel about it — what if she shone brighter than me? — but at least this should prove easier than fighting dragons of all things.

And so, with a new destination in mind, Jarque made use of his device for long speaking to figure the path to take to get to this next city. After a bit of walking and the occasional scuffle against wilds or trainers with one badge, we reached our goal in a matter of weeks.

Baton's Burg. That's how Jarque called this place. It was a large city contained within a rectangular stone enclosure at the base of a large hill, with four main gates leading inside. According to the guidebook that Jarque had brought along, the city was built over the remains of an ancient fortified town, but had been remodeled to better suit the modern era. It looked like a castle straight out of a fairy tale from the outside, but it didn't look too different to any ordinary city inside.

I didn't fully understand the matters of humans, but although there was apparently a very long waiting list for challenging the first gym, the process was a lot quicker with other gyms, and you often only had to wait one or two days tops. Sometimes you might get an appointment on the same day! At least, that what I understood from what Jarque explained to us.

The gym building was easy enough to find, as it was the largest building around and was located at the center of the city, with many paths leading to and from it. Inside, one of those people in boring black suits told us that we would be able to challenge their leader on the very next day. So we spent the evening exploring the city, which was apparently popular with tourists due to its ancient architecture and history. This used to be the capital of Baraja centuries ago, apparently? Lots of museums too. Then, we spent the night at a cheap inn. I had to admit I was a bit nervous about the upcoming battle, but Jarque must have noticed and patted my head until I fell asleep.

And so a new morning followed. We arrived at the gym nearly half an hour before our appointment and had to wait. The leader wasn't battling anyone at the time, or otherwise we might have considered watching them fight to learn about their strategies. Not sure how relevant that would be, since leaders used multiple different teams depending on who was challenging them. Even for the same number of badges they would randomize their teams to some extent, or so Jarque told us.

And finally, they called Jarque's name. There was a man sitting in front of one of those electronic boxes that made weird lights and beeps. He asked Jarque for some details, like his name — which he just called out, mind you! — his number of badges, and the pokémon and moves he would use for the upcoming battle. Boring stuff. I was glad I wasn't the one that had to deal with that! Fighting was far more fun.

But as the administrator man spoke, he said something that caught my attention. "…so all of our gyms except for the first one have an additional extra ruling to keep things spicy, something unique to each gym. A gimmick, if you will. In this gym, the special rule is simple: held items are not allowed. These rules are always symmetrical, so our gym leader won't use any held items either."

Right, Jarque had told us about this! Outfitting pokémon with useful items was a very extended tactic in combat circuits. Whether it was natural berries, man-made tools or rare artifacts, they always gave you an edge in battle. The problem was that decent combat items were expensive and hard to come by, so Jarque's only realistic options at this point were like Oran berries. We would be at a great disadvantage when facing foes equipped with better tools. Held items were allowed in seven of Baraja's gyms. The only exception was this very gym! So it made sense that Jarque would pick the gym that forbids held items first, since we had none.

Uh? We're at the arena already? Oh gosh, I got lost in my thoughts and lost track of the time… Stay lively, Clover! You have a match to win.

I was with Jarque on our side of the arena. Diamie was also with us as Jarque had decided to start the match with the both of us out. It made sense! We were facing off against the ground-type gym leader after all. Diamie looked around with curiosity shining in her eyes. This was her first gym battle, uh? I was a bit surprised by how calm and even excited she looked. She caught glance of something in the middle of the arena that captured her attention, and when I followed her gaze I noticed a large pool filled with water in the middle of the arena. That's the last thing I would expect to see in a ground-type gym.

Valentine was resting inside her sphere of red and white, since a fire-type like her wouldn't contribute much to this fight. She probably would have to sit this one out. Even from inside a pokéball a pokémon could still observe anything that happened around them, so Valentine would be following the match. The only reason Valentine was in her sphere but Diamie and I weren't was that there was no need to keep our identities hidden, since Jarque had already decided that it would be the two of us on the lead. But the less information we gave our opposition about our third pokémon, the better.

Speaking of our opposition, who are we fighting today? I raised my head and squinted my eyes to get a better look at the gym leader at the other side of the arena. It was a woman this time! She looked old, maybe even older than Mom. Like, I don't think she was a grandma or anything, but it wouldn't surprise me if she were a mom. She wore a simple brown jacket with black gloves. Why did all the gym leaders dress so plain? She didn't look as intimidating as the dragon leader, but she seemed so collected that you wouldn't think we were about to enter a dance of skill. There was a… motherly kind of serenity to her. Like Mother Nature? Was that why she was a ground specialist?

"May the challenger introduce himself?" the referee asked. Oh, so there was one of those here too, uh.

Jarque didn't hesitate. "U-Uh…" Jarque hesitated, but only a little. "Jarque Montecarlo, from Dagger's Dockyard. I won my first badge like half a year ago."

"How adorable," the woman said, looking at my trainer with tender eyes. Okay, I didn't like her already. "My name is Briscola, gym leader of Baton's Burg and ground-type specialist. Some nickname me 'the Conqueror' due to having the highest win-rate out of all gym leaders, but please don't let that discourage you." She had a hearty laugh, which made her flabby chest bounce. I noticed Jarque's eyes being drawn to that heavy part of her, which made my throat feel itchy. "You say you only have one badge, sugar? My, my. It might be a little too early to challenge me. Most trainers wait until they have six or seven badges to defy me."

"I think I'm good," Jarque said. He gestured at both me and Diamie to enter the arena. I was quick to follow his orders with a nimble dash, and the Popplio followed soon after, propelling herself with her flippers slowly.

"You do you, sugar." Briscola turned towards a conspicuous machine holding multiple spheres of all colors. "One badge, right? Then I'll pick you, you, and… um, you!" She picked up three of the spheres, placing each on the belt she wore.

I think Mom told us about this once? Gym leaders don't use the same team in all fights, but instead adapt their teams depending on the challenger's number of badges. No one would win against them if they always used their strongest teams! The League's challenge was meant to be difficult, but not impossible. So the leader woman must have chosen three of her weakest pokémon, since Jarque only has one badge to his name. Three weak ground-types! We've got this in the bag!

"Go, my lovelies!"

Briscola threw two of the spheres with far more vigor than I had expected from someone her age. Once the colorful spheres touched the floor of the arena they released a bright light that soon faded, revealing two of the three pokémon in her roster. When I first saw them I felt something odd between my hind legs, and I looked behind to realize it was my tail cowering there.

Two rabbits. Two small rabbits.

One was gray-furred, with brown accents on the tips of her ears and feet resembling dirt or mud. She looked to her partner as if unsure of what to do. She looked a little out of shape to me, so this one didn't worry me too much.

The other rabbit… Actually, I wasn't sure if it was a rabbit, but it resembled one. Her skin was light blue, although her body was covered in darker spots. I could tell from the posture she adopted that she was the one with the most experience out of the two of them. She looked old to me. Like, very old, actually. Way older than even Diamie, I would assume. Maybe even old enough to be our mother! Among pokémon, age didn't necessarily correlate to evolution stage. I recalled that Diamie's parents weren't fully evolved, for instance. Perhaps this rabbit-monster-thing had only been caught recently? Regardless, she was the obvious threat here.

A ground-type gym leader, uh. Funny that.

"Ground gym my ass!" I heard Jarque complain. My thoughts exactly, buddy. I could tell the blue rabbit was poison at least. Jarque had spent a lot of time studying pokémon these past few months, so maybe he knew the typing of the other rabbit too. "Neither of those pokémon is a ground-type! Bunnelby is normal and Nidoran is poison!"

"But they evolve into ground-types," Briscola said as she wagged a finger with infuriating debonair.

Jarque clicked his tongue. "So that counts now? You look at a seed and a tree and see no difference."

"Aw, don't get angry, sugar. Pokémon aren't born evolved — well, some of them are, but I digress. Still, most of them have to train in order to become stronger. If this gym wants to use, say, a Nidoqueen at some point, I will need to give her some battle experience so that she can evolve first, don't you think?"

"Nidorina evolves with a Moon Stone!"

"I was being metaphorical. So do we do battle now or…?" She pointed a finger at her Nidoran. "If it's any relief, I didn't pick any poison moves for her for this battle."

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding upon hearing that. The Bunnelby I didn't care much for. I could deal with that one just fine even if I didn't have a natural type advantage. But facing a poison-type? I didn't like fighting poison pokémon. I mean, nobody liked fighting poison pokémon, but a grass-type like me hated it specially.

Briscola began to stretch out her arms, puffing out her already noticeable bust. Was she doing this on purpose or what? "Look, sugar, I will give you the same offer I give to all rookies that come to challenge me a little too soon. If you want, we can interrupt the battle before it begins. I will pretend like you never challenged me. This will not count as a defeat as far as the League is concerned." She leaned her head to the side, dropping her smile for a moment. "I noticed in your file that you lost once already against Tute, the dragon leader. If you lose five times total against gym leaders, you will be disqualified. Do you really want to risk adding a second defeat to your file this early? Perhaps you will find other leaders to be more manageable."

"Tempting." Jarque stretched out his arms in an exaggerated fashion, as if mimicking her. "But surrendering at the first chance is a surefire way to get nowhere fast. This isn't ideal, but I think we can deal with this." He returned his arms to their normal position, shaking them as he glared at the woman. "Let's fight, Briscola."

I mirrored Jarque's demeanor by glaring at the Nidoran, as she seemed to be the head of their pokémon team, much like I was in Jarque's team. She noticed my defying glare, and after giving me a curious glance, she flashed me a wide smile. "Nervous, sugar?" Whoa. Her voice sounded very mature for someone so tiny. "I'm sure you'll do great, so no need to be tense. It's okay to feel a little jittery, but let's just try to have some fun, shall we?" No malice in her voice, but I could detect traces of either pride or arrogance. I wasn't sure of which.

"Don't worry, chief!" Diamie said as she bumped her closed flipper against me. "We've got this!" Right. I wasn't fighting alone. So what if our opponent was a cheating loser that didn't even use pokémon of her gym's type? That would just make victory all the sweeter!

"May the battle begin!" Briscola shouted, her voice becoming less warm although still gentle.

I heard Jarque clear his throat out loud. Okay. I'm ready. What's the battle plan? "Hone Claws! Growl!"

Sure, that sounded like a decent start. Let's set up before we begin trading blows! I scratched the ground below to sharpen my claws and get myself pumped up. I was ready for the action now! As I did, I heard a soft roar reverberate through the room. I raised my head just enough to catch a glimpse of Diamie letting out a melodious howl. It was kind of adorable, in a way? The Popplio's voice always felt refreshing, like morning dew. Growl was one of those weird moves that directly affected the opponent's subconscious, making them less wary of you. Most notably, it was a wide attack, so that made it excellent for a double battle!

But the sound of Diamie's sweet voice was soon interrupted by a more mature one, one coming from a human female. "Both of you, support against the one closest to you."

The leader's orders where incomprehensible. Was she speaking code? If they were targeting the ones closest to them, that would mean the Bunnelby would go after Diamie, and the Nidoran would chase after me. Not the opponent I would prefer to face. My suspicions were soon proven right as the two of them raced away towards us at a fraction of a second. Diamie and I were still recovering from performing our moves, so we had little chance of reacting in time.

The Nidoran stopped before me, her head held high and her lips adorned with a soothing smile. You wouldn't think she was an enemy. Hey, were those droplets all over her face? Odd. There was a pool with water near the center of the arena, but we were far from it. "Your friend's Growl was very strange. I had never seen anything like it."

I wondered if striking up a conversation could work as a distraction while I recovered. "I don't think you saw anything at all. It's a voice. It's not visible."

"Oh, I don't know about that… Still, wise choice, lowering our attack first thing. That will be a bit of a hindrance for my Bunnelby partner, but unfortunately for you my best attack isn't physical. She will take care of your seal friend, and as for you…" Her eyes began to gleam gold and my whole body froze. I was terrified to look into her eyes, and yet I couldn't turn my gaze away. Why couldn't I look away? And why did I feel like something was deeply wrong? And then, just like it started it ended, with her eyes returning to their normal red hue. I looked at my own body, but it didn't look like I was hurt. I wasn't in pain either. What had just happened? "Miss anything?" the Nidoran asked, with an air of audacity in her voice.

I had no idea what she was talking about. Nothing hurt in any way. I didn't understand what she was trying to do, right after I… uh, right after I used… you know, that last move that…

Hold on. What did I do a moment ago? Jarque asked me to use some move, but I couldn't remember. For this battle he had decided on Leafage, Bite and… Aaah, why couldn't I remember my third move? I had just used it like a minute ago!

"Disable." The Nidoran pronounced a single word, and I understood. "We can't have you boosting your attack at will, now can we?" A frown must have been apparent on my face. Disable was a very infamous and very complex move that, well, disabled a move. "Now don't you worry too much about it, sugar. This effect is just temporary, but I assume it will last for the duration of the dance at the very least."

Baraja's gyms only allowed pokémon to use up to three different moves, which was limiting enough already, and now I was down to only two? At least Disable was an intricate enough move that the Nidoran shouldn't be able to use again in this battle. So we were both down to two moves, really.

I figured I could use a second to look to my side to Diamie, who wasn't all that far from me. This was a double battle, so I had to keep track of how my ally was doing. How was she dealing with the Bunnelby? She, uh, didn't look all that fresh to me. The Popplio held her head down between her flippers as the gray rabbit openly laughed at her. It kind of hurt to see her that upset, and I had only known the Popplio for like a month.

"Disable and Torment," the gym leader stated. I wondered why she was revealing her chosen moves now. I guess it didn't matter much after the fact. Perhaps she had taken pity on Jarque for being a beginner? At least he could now begin to formulate a strategy around those moves, assuming he recognized them.

Because, uh, I didn't. "Torment…?" I asked out loud, to no one in particular.

For reasons unknown to me, the nearby Nidoran offered a helpful explanation. "Torment inflicts deep-reaching psychological damage that makes you too self-conscious to use the same move twice in a row. You become hyper-aware of each and every imperfection in your moves, deterring you from wanting to sing the same old song immediately again."

That sounded harsh. I wasn't sure if this was a good start or not. Now our only hope was that Jarque had a plan to get out of this. I turned to him, expectant, and to my relief he didn't look defeated. "Bite the Nidoran! And, uh… Disarming Voice!"

But before we had time to execute our orders, Briscola decided to give hers. "Queen, sneak on two. Jackalyn, support again." I didn't like how she was giving her commands through codespeak. Should we do the same? It should be an advantage to make it hard for your opponent to read your strategy. Whatever! Time to act!

I dashed after the Nidoran with my superior speed, ready to bite at her! As a poison-type, my grass moves wouldn't be of much use against her, so Bite it is. I assumed that Jarque wanted us to get rid of her fast to dispel the effect of her Disable, or maybe he also recognized her as the greater threat in the field.

I darted away as Diamie prepared to project her sugary voice as a weapon. Disarming Voice was a weird move that did emotional rather than physical damage, but demoralizing the opposition was important too! Although fairy moves weren't the best against a poison-type Nidoran, Disarming Voice covered a wide area so it should hurt both of the enemy pokémon. Since it burrowed directly into your brain, so long as you had ears there was no dodging this move! We were going to thrash them real good, between the two of us!

Once I got close enough to the Nidoran I opened my mouth as I scanned her body for any weak points, finding none. I would have to try for her neck, since that always worked. I jumped at her and closed my maw with great strength to grind her beneath my sharp fangs, feeling very powerful… only to end up biting the empty air and falling headfirst against the ground. Ouch! How could I miss that attack? She was right in front of me! Where had she…?

I noticed by my side an open hole in the arena, roughly the Nidoran's size. Oh my god, had she really burrowed under the ground to escape my attack? What should I do, then? That hole was too tiny for me to enter it, plus it would be too dangerous to follow her underground! This must have been Dig. It was at this moment that I remembered that, at the end of the day, this was meant to be the ground-type gym.

Hold on, never mind the Nidoran. Where was the Bunnelby? When I turned around I found the other rabbit leering at me with a stupid, big smirk. Like a really big smirk. What was she even smirking for, that idiot? She didn't even say anything. She didn't even laugh out loud. Honestly, I think I would have preferred it if she did so, but instead it's as if she were trying hard to remain polite, which infuriated me even more. Had the Bunnelby been there the whole time? Had she seen me miss my Bite and plummet against the floor like an uncoordinated buffoon? Oh, god. Oh, god no. I wished the ground would do with me as it did with the Nidoran and would swallow me.

H-Had Jarque seen me crash against the ground too? I didn't dare turn back to look at him. What if he was laughing at me, or even worse, what if he was badly trying to stifle a giggling fit? I thought it unlikely but… what if? I would never recover! I would never be able to look him in the eye ever again! Why was I so careless? Stupid! Stupid! I was never using Bite ever again!

Wait.

I faced the Bunnelby again, and seeing her stupid grinning face, I understood. So I was under the effects of Torment now too, uh? It was kind of impressive that she could torment two pokémon at once. That must have taken some merit, being so annoying.

But her exasperating smirk disappeared as soon as a piercing soundwave hit her across the face, sending her flying a very short distance. Yeah, take that, punk! I looked behind me at Diamie, who was waving a flipper at me with a reassuring smile. Nice assist! I looked down to the hole open in the ground, wondering when the Nidoran would come out. Diamie's sound attack would normally hit both opponents, but the Nidoran had managed to stay out of the way. I thought Disarming Voice was supposed to never miss, but it just did! That made me feel a bit better about my failed Bite. Just a bit.

"Leafage and Water Gun on that one!" Jarque shouted. Our only possible target was the Bunnelby, as the Nidoran still remained out of reach. Since I was now under the effects of both Disable and Torment, I had no choice but to constantly switch between my only two moves, Bite and Leafage, making me terribly predictable. I had to take down at least one of them fast to remove those effects! Diamie had it only a little better, but she would not want to use Disarming Voice right again. Now we could probably expect to hear the leader's orders next…

"Jackalyn, go wide." Okay, whatever that meant, it couldn't be good. The human woman wasn't giving the Nidoran orders because, well, what else could she do but come out of her hole?

Diamie and I surrounded the still dizzy Bunnelby, ready to attack. "Let's get 'er, chief!" I sprinted to the Bunnelby's side to slash at her with needle-pointed leaves sharp as claws. Whatever move I used at the beginning that was disabled must be making my attacks particularly cutting! Right after I was done, Diamie fired a stream of high-pressure water at the bunny from afar, as the Popplio, much like the Fennekin, preferred to fight from a safe distance instead of getting close and personal like me.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" The Bunnelby's pained cries were a sweet melody to my ears. But far from giving up, she jumped up with a look of determination on her face, did a small pirouette midair, then plunged down at dangerous speeds. She stomped down on the ground and made the entire arena rumble, generating a small shock wave crashing in every direction and expanding outwards. "Take this Bulldoze to the face!"

I had heard of the move Earthquake. Everyone had heard of the move Earthquake. It was usually considered to be one of the most efficient, reliable, and strong moves a pokémon could learn. I figured this Bulldoze move was its younger cousin. The entire arena was shaking. This must have been the kind of risky attack that spreads everywhere and doesn't discriminate friend from foe, a move that hits all opponents but also causes friendly fire. Except that there were no allies around for her to hit, as the Nidoran was safely hidden underground. Some ground-type moves like Earthquake could reach deep underground, but annoyingly it seemed like Bulldoze only made the surface shake.

The trembling of the ground propagated through my legs and I almost fell down, only barely managing to keep my balance. Looking to my side, Diamie wasn't in a much better situation, needing to keep her flippers against the ground for support. Even after the attack was over, my legs didn't stop shaking. And I wasn't the only one in trouble.

"M-My hind flippers won't stop quivering," Diamie said. She tried to give me a comforting smile, but I could perceive the tension in her voice. "It will be hard to move like this, but we can still win this!" She was a little too optimistic, perhaps. Was Bulldoze one of those moves that made the targets slower? That's the kind of move I hated the worst. My speed was my strongest point! It's like they were robbing me of my best opportunity to show off.

Before I could say anything back to the Popplio, I noticed a suspicious amount of dirt forming under her. I had no time to warn her about the Nidoran popping out from the ground and tackling her with all her might, which was quite a bit of might for someone that small. We should have been more attentive! I should have anticipated that they would target her. Grass resists ground, but water doesn't.

"Bite the Bunnelby! Disarming Voice!" Jarque's voice! Right, we had to act fast. I guess we were targeting the Bunnelby this time? We couldn't have her bulldozing us and slowing us down further, plus she looked weaker than the Nidoran, so maybe it made sense to prioritize targeting her. Diamie and I had just hit her with Water Gun and Leafage, but we were both still under Torment's effect, so we would need to use different moves next. I was a grass-type right now, but if I used Bite I would become dark due to my Protean ability, and lose my natural resistance to ground moves. I found my ability very cool, but it was so annoying that it wasn't optional!

"Jackalyn, sneak on one. Queen, go wide," the leader said in a gentle voice. She wasn't even shouting like Jarque. She looked so confident in herself, so assured she would win!

I fired the briefest of glances at Diamie and nodded my head at her for reassurance. That Bunnelby was not surviving our next combined attack! While the sea lion prepared to project her potent voice I bolted after the Bunnelby with my amazing speed… which wasn't as amazing as I remembered it. My legs were responding slower than usual. I swear I could still feel the ground shaking under me, and I feared I would trip if I lost my concentration. It took me longer than I would have hoped to get close enough the rabbit as she ducked for some reason, but now that she was in range there was no escaping my Bite! I hopped at her to deliver a powerful chomp… only to end up biting the empty air again.

This again? It was just like with the Nidoran! Where had the Bunnelby gone now? I looked at the ground for any dug tunnels around me, but I found none. Then where was she? If she wasn't either on the ground or below it then where was she supposed to be, high above ? Like, a rabbit being capable of jumping high should not be surprising. I stretched my neck out to look at the ceiling of the building, nearly choking when I noticed that the Bunnelby had indeed jumped high in the air.

"Bounce," a mature voice said. I looked to my side to find the Nidoran nearby, close enough for her voice to be within earshot, although not close enough to actually threaten me physically. A noticed a white mist escaping her mouth. "It's like a flying-type version of Dig, except it shoots you up instead of down."

Whether she was burrowing deep under the ground or suspended high in the air, the end result was the same. Our attacks couldn't possibly hit that Bunnelby while she was so high above us. But she wasn't a flier so at some point she would have to land, right? But as I noticed her velocity of ascent slowing down and waited for gravity to do its job, the resourceful Bunnelby decided to stick it to gravity by changing her course until she landed on a wall. And then kicked it off to gain more height again, repeating this process as she jumped around the walls of the building. Goodness gracious. Was she trying to gather momentum to then drop on one of us at great speed?

But I didn't have time to worry about the Bunnelby when the Nidoran was so close by. Other than Disable and Dig, she still had one last third move she had yet to use. She opened her jaws and something akin to white smoke began to come out of her mouth and surround her. I felt my whole body shivering all of a sudden. Uh, did it suddenly get chilly around here? A brief sigh made me realized I could see my own breath while exhaling. But my visible breath soon faded into nothing as I heard an acute screech coming from behind me.

Diamie's Disarming Voice! I had completely forgotten she was readying one. Although I was in the path of the attack I wouldn't be affected, as the Popplio could modulate her voice to only distress her intended targets. The plan was to strike both opponents, but her voice wouldn't reach the airborne Bunnelby so far above us, and the Nidoran wouldn't be too badly hurt since poison-types resisted fairy moves like this one. But every bit helped.

The shrill soundwave crashed against the Nidoran, and she recoiled more than I would have expected, forced to dig her feet into the ground to avoid being sent flying. That hurt her worse than I had imagined, but although she did fire a quick glance at the Popplio with a raised eyebrow, this wasn't enough to stop whatever she was doing. Once the Nidoran was covered in enough of the fine white mist she was releasing, she let out an aggressive cry and the mist spread in every direction in an outburst, covering the field in a moderately thick fog. It was so cold! Cold enough that I could see a thin layer of frost in the pool at the center of the arena. My legs shivered and I could no longer feel the tip of my tail. It was like being in the middle of a snowstorm. In fact, was that literal snow I was seeing around me? I heard a howling wind and I had no idea what was —

Moved by instinct I leapt to the side without thinking, landing on my side and rolling around on the floor. Lying on the floor, I looked beside me at the massive icicle that had just fallen from the skies right at the location where I had been seconds ago. Although I was very self-confident I was also realistic: If I had not reacted in time I would have fainted in the spot. I wasn't a grass-type right now since the last move I used was Bite, but typing would hardly matter against an attack of this category. The mist vanished soon after, revealing Diamie lying on the floor nearby, panting heavily with wide eyes. I noticed frostbite on one of her flippers. She must have avoided the brunt of the attack, but didn't manage to dodge it fully.

I glared at the Nidoran as I stood up, my whole body still feeling cold. She was shaking her head in the way I would shake off water after a bath, forming a small puddle around her. Wait, when had she gotten wet? Was it because of the snowstorm just now? And what was that snowstorm in the first place?

"Fucking Blizzard," Jarque said in flat tone. I had never heard of the move Fucking Blizzard before. It sounded strong. "How does an unevolved pokémon have access to Blizzard?" he said in an increasingly incensed tone.

"No need to swear, young mister," Briscola said as she shook one finger. "What seems to be the issue, sugar? TMs exist. The Nidoran line can learn Blizzard as a TM even in their first evolutionary stage."

Jarque extended his arms to the side, a frown growing on his face. "You know we only have one badge, right? Do you think it is fair to use the strongest ice-type move — which isn't even your gym's specialty! — as early as gym two?"

"Now, now, that simply isn't true. I'm sure there are legendary pokémon out there who know stronger ice moves." She clasped her hands together and smiled as she let out a soft giggle. "Queen, sneak on two."

Wait wait wait. I'm not ready. Why was the woman with the giant flabby chest giving more orders already? Chill out! I almost got impaled by a giant icicle here! What do we do, Jarque? What can we —?

I felt a sharp pain on my sides, as if a meteorite had just crashed against me. The Bunnelby. Damn it, why had I forgotten about the Bunnelby? She must have dived at me after gathering enough impulse. She kicked me with her strong leg and then bounced off me, doing a flip midair before landing on her feet while I was shoved against the ground. What great luck that the last move I used was Bite. If I had received a strong flying attack like this one while being a grass-type, the pain would have been immeasurable.

"Attack!"

Jarque. He was right. I had the Bunnelby right by my side, stabilizing herself after her frantic attack. There was no material time for her to dodge if I struck right now. There were no choices here: due to our Torment, I had to use Leafage and Diamie had to use Water Gun. Which was good, as those were perhaps the attacks we were more comfortable with. I hoped that would be enough. The Bunnelby looked tired and she wasn't really all that strong. We had hit her enough times already, she eventually had to fall down!

Not a moment went to waste. I clawed at her not with paws but with razor-leaves, and then jumped away as Diamie blazed at the bunny with a watery missile. The Bunnelby ended up lying on the floor, unmoving. Please let this be it. Please let this be it. One of her legs twitched. Please don't.

"The Bunnelby cannot continue fighting!" Who said that? Oh my god, I don't even care who said that, just that it was said at all. "Briscola, recall your pokémon." Oh, it was the referee! That meant the leader had to obey no matter what, right?

That was one pokémon down. We just now had to deal with the Nidoran and with whatever the leader brought out next. We had practically already won! I was quite confident we had!