Once again, I woke up earlier than usual, both excited and nervous for my fifth gym battle challenge in Lumiose. Although I was certain we had done enough training to win, and although I had faith in my pokemon, I knew that anything could happen and there was still a chance we could lose.
I got dressed as quickly as I could, saying a quick goodbye to the professor, both thanking him for letting us stay again, and to tell Lotus where I had gone to. He said it was no problem and wished me luck on my gym battle.
Walking swiftly out, I walked as quickly as I could towards the Lumiose tower, where my gym battle would take place, admiring the beauty of the tower before I reached it. When I did, I stood outside for a moment, collecting my nerves as I took a deep breath, reminding myself that even if we lost it just meant we needed to train more, and we could always battle again as many times as it took to beat the gym.
Despite my efforts to calm my nerves, as I walked towards the battlefield, they only grew with each step I took. With my pokemon in their pokeballs and the battlefield fast approaching, I didn't really have much to help calm me down.
After the gym leader, Clemont, introduced himself and his younger sister Bonnie, we each took our places on each end of the battlefield, while the referee also explained the rules of the battle.
Once he had finished, the battle began.
Clemont started with magneton, and once the pokemon was sent out, I immediately knew who I was going to start with.
"Sawsbuck, show time!" I said, before sending Sawsbuck onto the battlefield.
"Ready to battle Sawsbuck?" I asked the deer, and it nodded with a determined look in its eye.
"Challenger has the first move!" The referee announced.
"Sawsbuck, use energy ball!"
Sawsbuck obeyed immediately, although Clemont told magneton to dodge, it didn't manage to move in time, making it get hit dead on with the energy ball.
"Good girl Sawsbuck" I whispered, just loud enough for her to hear.
"Use Electric terrain Magneton!" Clemont said.
As he did, a bright yellow light flashed from magneton, and once we could see again, the battlefield was a slight yellow colour, with electric zaps emitting from the ground every now and then.
Sawsbuck looked a little panicked by this, so I shouted, "Don't worry Sawsbuck! It'll be fine, I believe in you!"
Sawsbuck nodded at this and turned its attention back to Magneton. The electric terrain was going to pose a little bit of problem, since I knew it powered up electric type moves, but all we could do was do our best to dodge any electric type moves they used.
"Sawsbuck, use double kick!" I shouted, and Sawsbuck ran up to Magneton the moment the words left my mouth, hitting it with both of it's hind legs, making Magneton fall to the ground briefly.
By now, my nerves were disappearing, and I was getting more confident that we would win the battle.
"Use thunderbolt!" Clemont says to magneton, and the pokemon obeys immediately, making me panic a little bit.
"Sawsbuck, dodge it quick and use horn leech!" I said, in panic, hoping the attack would land and Sawsbuck would move quick enough to dodge the attack.
By now, Lotus had entered the gym and was sitting on the sideline with her serperior, silently encouraging me and watching the battle carefully.
Much to my relief, Sawsbuck managed to dodge in term, landing the horn leech attack shortly after, dealing more damage to magneton.
"Good girl Sawsbuck!" I praised, and Sawsbuck briefly looked back at me and gave me a small nod, acknowledging the praise.
"Let's wrap this up Sawsbuck! Use double kick!" I say, and Sawsbuck starts running towards Magneton.
"Use dodge and use thunderbolt Magneton!" Clemont said, and his Magneton obeyed immediately.
Unfortunately for them, without me even saying anything, Sawsbuck dodged the thunderbolt and managed to hit Magneton, making it faint.
After praising Sawsbuck and Clemont praises the faith that I had in my pokemon, he quickly sent out his second pokemon, Emolga.
After Emolga came out of its pokeball, I called Sawsbuck back, knowing that Emolga had some flying type moves, meaning Sawsbuck would be at a disadvantage.
"Show time Eevee!" I called as Eevee came out of her pokeball, excitedly moving her tail, ready for battle.
"You can do it Eevee, I know you can!" I say encouragingly to her, making her yip happily at me, before having a serious look on her face.
"Use aerial ace Emolga!"
"Jump and use Swift Eevee!"
Both attacks hit head on, making a small cloud of smoke appear, both pokemon appearing to seem not hurt by both attacks.
"Quick attack Emolga!" Clemont calls, while an idea comes into my head.
"Eevee, stay where you are." I say, causing Eevee to briefly turn back and look at me as if I was crazy.
"Trust me." I say softly, and Eevee has a hesitant look on her face before giving me a small nod and turning back towards Emolga, waiting patiently for my command.
As Emolga got closer, I could tell Eevee was struggling to keep calm, but I needed her to trust me.
When Emolga was close enough, that's when I said my command.
"Eevee! Jump on Emolga's back and use bite!"
Eevee followed immediately, landing on Emolga's back perfectly and used bite right away, making Emolga fall to the ground while Eevee jumped off.
I mentally cheered, while I noticed Clemont had a slight panicked look on his face. However, that look disappeared once he heard his younger sister encouraging him, and he issued his next command to Emolga.
"Use Volt switch Emolga!"
After that, a ball of electricity came form Emolga, which Eevee gracefully dodged, and Emolga went back into it's pokeball, and another pokemon was dragged out that briefly gave me and Eevee the same sense of panic Clemont had a moment ago.
Luxray.
After a taking a deep breath, I say to Eevee, "Just do your best Eevee, that's all I can ask for."
Eevee once again nods and waits for my command.
"Use wild charge Luxray!" Clemont said confidently, and I barely had time to react as Luxray came charging towards Eevee, the Electric terrain that still covered the battlefield making the pokemon faster.
"Use quick attack to dodge Eevee!" I quickly said, but I was too late as Luxray hit Eevee, causing her to hit the back wall.
Luckily for both of us, Eevee was still able to battle, but I could see she had taken a lot of damage.
"Eevee, jump spin and use swift!" I say quickly while Luxray was taking damage from the recoil of the wild charge, giving it hardly any time to dodge as the swift hit it. However, it didn't seem to do anywhere near as enough damage to it and the wild charge did to Eevee.
I could see that Clemont was closer to Luxray than his other pokemon, from the way the pokemon reacted when Clemont asked if it was okay, making me smile a little as it reminded me of the friendship I had with my pokemon.
"Thunder fang Luxray!"
"Dodge it and use quick attack Eevee!"
Eevee manages to dodge, but only barely and hit Luxray straight in it's side, making the pokemon stumble a little before regaining its balance.
"Discharge!" Clemont said right after, and I had no time to issue a command as the discharge hit Eevee, making it faint.
I was shocked for a second, before calling Eevee back into its pokeball and telling her how proud I was of her. After taking a deep breath, I sent Sawsbuck back out.
"Use double kick on the ground Sawsbuck!" I call, and Sawsbuck obeys immediately, making small rocks go towards Luxray, making it confused and stunned for a moment while I issued my next command.
"Use leech seed!"
As Luxray was confused and stunned by the small rocks, the leech seed had no problems hitting, restricting Luxray's movement, which I hoped in return would make it a little slower.
"Use energy ball Sawsbuck!"
"Use crunch Luxray!"
Almost effortlessly, despite the leech seed, Luxray bit the energy ball in half as soon as it was in range, causing minimal damage to the pokemon.
"You didn't think it would be that easy did you?" Clemont says, and I could see he was confident in his pokemon.
Unfortunately for him, I was confident in my pokemon too.
"Of course not," I start, then continue with, "But I believe in my pokemon as much as you do, and I'm determined to win."
"I never doubted that for a second. I can see how confident you are in your pokemon." Clemont compliments, and I nod, before saying the next command to Sawsbuck.
"Use energy ball and run towards Luxray Sawsbuck!"
Sawsbuck does exactly as I command, and Luxray once again effortlessly bites the energy ball in half, but once Sawsbuck was in close enough range, I told her to use double kick, which hits Luxray both times.
After that, Sawsbuck gains some distance before Luxray uses its next attack.
"Use wild charge Luxray!"
"Horn leech Sawsbuck!"
With that, both pokemon charge towards each other, leaving both me and Clemont to only wait for the outcome.
When both pokemon hit each other, a large cloud of smoke covered the battlefield, making both me and cover our faces for a brief moment.
Once the cloud dissipated I could see that Luxray had fainted, while Sawsbuck was still standing.
We had just defeated the Gym leader's strongest pokemon.
I could see Clemont was shocked, but he then called Luxray back to it's pokeball, telling it what a good job it did and how proud he was of it.
I did the same to Sawsbuck, and once Clemont sent out Emolga, I sent out Pachirisu, since she hadn't had a chance to battle yet.
Since Emolga had taken damage from Eevee's battle with it, it didn't take us long to take out Emolga as well, with Pachirisu giving it her all.
After we had defeated Emolga, that was it.
We had won our fifth gym badge.