We're nearing the end of the Victory Road plot, and we're still several chapters ahead. Yay us!
Juliana left home with a Farigiraf, Deino, Lurantis, Talonflame, a freshly-evolved Frosmoth, and her shiny Lokix, ready for facing Gym Leader Tulip. She didn't count on the large amount of water Koraidon would have to swim across to get her to Alfornada.
"It's this or the cave," she told him. Koraidon shook his head and continued swimming.
Of course, they had to go through the cave anyway, after crossing a long, narrow pathway. Juliana wondered if it was worth it to navigate the cave from the start after all.
Then, as she stepped out into the dusk, following her floating phone, she saw the lights of Alfornada.
And once she entered the Gym, she saw Nemona.
"I knew I should have used that Tera Blast TM," she said to herself, half a second before Nemona turned around.
"Juliana!" The older girl burst into a smile. "Where's Florian? Doesn't he usually come with you to cheer you on during your Gym battles?"
"Eh, he'll show up. Probably."
"He'll miss a good show." Nemona pulled out a Pokeball. "I'm kind of frustrated after barely passing the Gym test - I aced the battle portion, but using my whole body for emotions is not something I'm good at."
Did Nemona not notice her happy arm-flaps? It felt weird, Juliana noticing something that no one else did. "So you want to battle to deal with your frustration," Juliana summarized.
"If you don't mind."
Juliana just smiled back and followed her friend to the battlefield.
Nemona led with Lycanroc. Juliana led with Lurantis.
Lurantis took out Lycanroc with one Petal Blizzard, though Lycanroc was faster and got a Rock Slide in. Lurantis also took down Sliggoo with two X-Scissor attacks, though Juliana suspected it would have been easier with a Flying-type Tera Blast.
"Nice!" Nemona said around a laugh. "That's the strength that got you six badges! Let's see you take this one on!"
And she sent out Pawmot.
"Is that the same Pawmi from...that one gym class?" Juliana caught herself before bringing up Dodge-mon, but Nemona seemed to understand what she was referring to.
"He is!" She looked down at Pawmot. "Let's show her what we've got! Use Spark!"
Pawmot nodded and attacked. Lurantis stayed standing, but was paralyzed and couldn't move when Juliana called for Petal Blizzard. Another Spark, and Lurantis was down. Then Deino fell to a 5-hit Arm Thrust, despite toughing it out twice.
Frosmoth's Aurora Beam worked to take down Pawmot, but then out came Skeledirge.
Nemona Terastallized. Juliana didn't. Torch Song hit before Frosmoth could make a move. Juliana sent out Farigiraf.
"I never know if you're going to challenge me before or after Gym battles," Juliana admitted as she pulled out her own Tera Orb - Talonflame, she'd discovered, was a Normal-Tera from her time as a Fletchling. Farigiraf was also a Normal-Tera, but at least he knew Stomp and Double Hit.
And at least Stomp and Double Hit worked on a Terastallized Skeledirge.
Juliana won the battle, but Farigiraf was barely standing after taking a Torch Song himself. Nemona did her happy flap again.
"That was incredible! The way Farigiraf...and then Skeledirge..."
Juliana nodded, pretending she wasn't tuning her out. Battles always depleted her attention span.
Skeledirge had taken the loss rather well. He'd curled up and gone to sleep.
Nemona healed Juliana's Pokémon and went to battle Tulip while Juliana took her test. Juliana was told about a woman in a tracksuit, but she wasn't expecting who that woman was.
"Ms. Dendra?"
Dendra turned at the sound of her name. "Hey, new kid! I wondered when you'd show up."
"What are you doing here?"
"I've been friends with Tulip for ages," Dendra explained. "We battled with a bet that whoever loses will be the other's slave for the day, and..." she shook her head. "Well, anyway. I have to give the Emotional Spectrum Practice test now."
"Yeah, you mentioned you like Fighting-types. Maybe you should have type advantaged things."
"She used a Farigiraf! I used a Medicham! I thought we were even!" Dendra took a deep breath to calm herself. "I'm not mad, really. I was just going to..." she cleared her throat. "Well, I can help out my friend, and that's what's important to me. Now get in the crowd, new kid! ESP is about to begin!"
Juliana missed a few cues herself, and missed a few of the emotion calls, but Lurantis managed to be expressive without changing her face. Nemona was right - using her whole body to show emotion was difficult.
But when she battled the first Gym trainer, taking down both the girl's Pokémon with one X-Scissor each, Deino got enough secondhand experience to evolve into Zweilous. The second trainer was a bit more difficult, taking down Lurantis with his Indeedee, but Zweilous took care of Indeedee with Crunch.
Then she was free to heal her team and face Tulip.
Tulip arrived talking on her phone, making a business call. She didn't notice Juliana at first. For once in her life, Juliana knew what it was like to be Florian.
But eventually, Tulip arrived at the Gym Leader side of the field and saw her opponent. She smiled, and Juliana noticed how pretty she was.
Why can't I look like that? I want to look like that!
"Welcome to my battlefield, Juliana." Tulip's dazzling smile didn't budge. "I see you're in awe already. Has my beauty gotten to you that quickly?"
Juliana could only nod.
"Makeup does wonders for one's appearance," Tulip explained. "I'm sure, with cosmetics and practice, you can indeed look like this."
"Did I say that out loud?"
"No, but your face said it all." Tulip pulled out a Pokeball, and the fluttering on her dress and shoes sped up slightly. "But you came for a badge, not a lesson in aesthetics."
"I'm an artist," Juliana protested, but Tulip sent out her Farigiraf and the battle began. Juliana opened with Sparkle the Lokix. Sparkle used Throat Chop, but it didn't take out Farigiraf, leaving her open for a Crunch. A Lunge attack took down Farigiraf, but Sparkle wasn't fast enough for the Gardevoir's Dazzling Gleam.
Realizing that Dazzling Gleam would take out Zweilous in one hit, Juliana sent out Lurantis instead. X-Scissor, Dazzling Gleam, X-Scissor. Gardevoir was down.
Zweilous was chosen for the Espathra, however. A two-headed Crunch was enough to take it down at once, though Zweilous wasn't fast enough to avoid a Shadow Ball.
Finally, out came the Florges. Juliana wondered, for a moment, if it was Fairy/Psychic, Fairy/Grass, or pure Fairy. Then she remembered that Zweilous was still out, and still very vulnerable to Fairy-type attacks.
She chose Talonflame instead. When she saw that Tulip Terastallized, she realized that Florges wasn't naturally Psychic-type.
"Aerial Ace!" Juliana called, and Talonflame jumped into action.
"Use Psychic!" Tulip ordered, and Florges took a moment to draw more power before launching her own attack.
Both attacks hit. Both Pokémon still stood. Juliana decided to switch tactics.
"Try Acrobatics!"
"Use Psychic again!"
Both attacks hit once again. This time, Florges fainted, earning Juliana another badge without the need for Terastallization.
Juliana was just as surprised as the spectators about that.
Juliana couldn't wait to get home, or back to her dorm room, and have a nice long sleep. Camping was fun, but not as comfortable as a bed.
As she turned to leave the Gym, she saw a familiar face leading a very small, unfamiliar one right to her.
"Hey, Juliana." Rika spoke like they'd known each other for years. "You don't mind that I brought the kid to watch your match, do you?"
"You have a kid?"
"She works with a kid!" the small girl corrected. "If anything, the kid has a Rika."
"Yeah, what she said." Rika smiled at the kid. "This is Poppy. She's a member of the Elite Four, too."
"Hassel says you're really strong!" Poppy interrupted. "And you were really good when out battling Ms. Tulip!"
"Who do you think is stronger?" Rika asked, and Poppy took a moment to think.
"I'm one of the Elite Four," she decided. "I'm probably stronger! But Juliana's crazy strong, too! Hurry up and come to the League, miss!"
"La Primera herself took an interest in her," Rika reminded the child.
Juliana had to think. "Who's La Primera, again?"
Rika and Poppy both stared at her as if she and not her battle dragon had grown a second head. "The Top Champion?" Rika said, unable to force the reminder to be anything but a question.
"Ms. Geeta?" Poppy, it seemed, had the same problem.
Juliana frowned and thought harder. "I...think I've heard of her..."
Poppy sighed in disappointment. Rika shook her head.
"It took Champion Nemona five meetings to remember her," she pointed out. "Come on, kid. Let's go get ice cream."
Excited at the promise, Poppy waved goodbye and raced out the door. Rika followed at a casual pace, leaving Juliana struggling to remember Geeta.