I rushed out of the pokemon center as soon as I could, excited for my gym battle, more so than the others. Lotus, on the other hand, was a little slower than me, laughing a little and telling me to calm down, as the gym wasn't going anywhere, and we still had so much time.
When we entered the gym, the first thing we admired was the décor. It was decorated to look like a garden, with bridges connecting the battlefield to the entrance and side lines, with jade green and auburn trees littering the sidelines as well.
The gym leader was talking to someone, and me and Lotus couldn't help but admire her fashion sense.
"I need a dress like that..." Lotus mumbled, and I couldn't help but agree with her; it was gorgeous.
Once the Gym leader noticed us, she turned towards us and greeted us, introducing herself as she did so. We both complimented her fashion style, and she laughed a little before thanking us, saying she was also a fashion designer, even going as far to offer to make us one if we wanted. I politely declined, since I already had my performance dress, but Lotus accepted. Valerie once again laughed a little and said after the gym battle, she would make Lotus one, and it would be ready tomorrow.
Lotus thanked her, and went to watch from the sidelines, while me and Valerie walked to our respect sides of the battlefield.
"Let's go Sylveon!"
"Let's go Luvdisc!"
Me and Valerie both called out our pokemon at the same time, both of them coming out of their pokeballs at the same time too.
"Challenger has the first move!" The referee calls, giving me a subtle nod afterwards.
"Use water gun Luvdisc!" I call, and Luvdisc obeys immediately.
However, Valerie's Sylveon dodges gracefully, landing perfectly back on its feet as well.
"Fairy wind Sylveon." Valerie says calmly, her Sylveon obeying the command immediately, barely giving us any time to react, meaning Luvdisc barely managed to dodge the attack without me even saying anything.
"Your pokemon appear to trust you." Valerie compliments, making me smile a little.
"Spin and use winter gun Luvdisc!" I command, and Luvdisc obeys immediately, not giving Valerie's Sylveon much room to dodge, making the attack hit the pokemon dead on.
"Use water pulse Luvdisc, don't let them attack!"
"Swift Sylveon!"
Both attacks hit dead on, making a small cloud of smoke, both pokemon recoiling back slightly.
I, on the other hand, smirked and said, "Use Water pulse again Luvdisc!"
Luvdisc, although confused for a moment, uses the attack regardless, and Sylveon has no time to react as the attack appeared from the cloud of smoke, hitting the pokemon right away.
"Use swift again Sylveon!" Valerie counters, Luvdisc having no time to react as the attack also appears from the cloud of smoke, hitting Luvdisc head on as well.
"Dazzling gleam Sylveon!"
"Hydro pump Luvdisc!"
Unfortunately, Luvdisc doesn't manage to hit Sylveon before it uses dazzling gleam, resulting in Luvdisc taking a lot of damage from the powerful fairy type move. However, Luvdisc had not yet fainted, and was still able to battle, but I could still see she had taken a lot of damage.
"Return Luvdisc!" I say, calling my pokemon back, telling her she did a good job.
"I'm curious to see what pokemon you call out next." Valerie says calmly.
"Alright Eevee, show time!" I call, and Eevee, once out of its pokeball, yips happily, wagging its tail, ready for battle.
As soon as Eevee sees Valerie's Sylveon, I see her eyes light up in admiration, and I felt bad when I told Eevee we had to fight the Sylveon.
She looked sad for a moment, but quickly changed that sadness into determination.
"Start by using swift Eevee!"
"Fairy wind Sylveon"
Valerie issues the command calmly, and her Sylveon obeys immediately, a light pink wind coming towards Eevee as it uses swift, causing the swift to dissipate into small sparkles, the attack hitting Eevee shortly after.
To my surprise, she managed to stand her ground and not get knocked over by the fairy wind, making me smile.
"Good girl Eevee! Quick attack!" I call shortly after, and Eevee looks back at me with a mischievous look, using the attack shortly after.
However, instead of just going in a straight line towards Sylveon, she zigzags at first, before running along the railing to the side of the battlefield, not giving Valerie's Sylveon much time to react before Eevee leaped at it, hitting it in the side, causing the pokemon to fall.
"Eevee! That was amazing!" I praised, and Eevee quickly ran to me and yipped happily.
To everyone's surprise though, a blue light enveloped Eevee, making me gasp in both shock and anticipation as to what Eevee would evolve into.
Nothing could describe my excitement when I saw ribbons and a bow, and I had to stop myself from cheering when the light disappeared, and instead of a small Eevee, now stood a Sylveon, looking at me with sky blue eyes.
"You evolved into Sylveon!" I say happily, hugging her as I did so, and she yipped happily. Valerie congratulated me on Eevee evolving and said it would make the battle much more interesting.
"Use bite Sylveon!" I say, but instead of using bite, instead, my Sylveon uses the same move Valerie's Sylveon used, Fairy wind.
Not having much time to react, Valerie quickly tried to tell her Sylveon to dodge, but it was too slow and the fairy wind hit it.
While Valerie's Sylveon was recovering, I took the opportunity to quickly look at my pokedex, to see which moves Sylveon now knew. To my surprise, Sylveon had not only learnt Fairy wind, but has also learned moonblast, giving me an idea.
"Sylveon use Swift!" I call quickly, putting my pokedex away, and Valerie tells her Sylveon to use the same move, making me smirk slightly, her falling right into the trap.
"Quick use moonblast Sylveon!" I call, and Valerie looks shocked for a second, not having the time to issue a command as the moonblast hits her Sylveon, making it faint.
"That was quite impressive, the friendship you have with your pokemon is stunning." Valerie compliments, and I nod in response, petting Sylveon as I did so, while I waited for Valerie to call out her next pokemon.
"It's time Spritzee." Valerie says, sending out her pokemon.
"Sylveon, you did well, come back!" I say, but instead of calling Sylveon back to her pokeball, I let her sit next to me to watch the battle, one her ribbons curling around my arm, making me once again smile a little.
"Show time Braixen!" I say, calling Braixen out, her coming out of her pokeball and posing, as if we were performing.
"Let's begin shall we. Trick room Spritzee!"
Spritzee follows the command, the battleground being covered but a box with multicolored squares.
"We're not going to let a simple Trick room stop us. Flamethrower Braixen!" I call, Braixen following my command as soon as the last word left my mouth.
However, Spritzee dodges with ease, moving quickly around Braixen, and I could see she was panicking.
"Keep calm Braixen, I know you can do it." I whisper, just loud enough for her to hear.
"Moonblast Spritzee." Valerie states, her pokemon using the move immediately, not giving me any time to tell Braixen to dodge.
This keeps up, with Braixen trying to dodge Spritzee's attacks, but not being able to move in time, causing her to take damage.
Think Yui think! If this keeps up, we might end up losing the battle!
Sylveon must have seen that I was getting stressed, so she brushed against my leg, looking at me with a worried expression, before turning back towards the battlefield.
After she did, it seemed like an idea came into her head, and she started stomping her paws on the ground, trying to tell me something. I watched, trying to figure out what she was trying to show me, and then I realized that what she was doing looked like a certain move.
"That's it! Thank you Sylveon!" I exclaim happily, making Valerie and Lotus look at me a little weirdly before I told Braixen what I wanted her to do.
"Use flame charge Braixen! Bounce of the walls of the trick room!"
Braixen, at first, looked at me like I was crazy, until she realized what I must have been thinking.
So, she followed my command, a fire covering her as she dodged one of Spritzee's moonblasts, and bounced off the wall, gaining speed as she did so.
Eventually, the Trick room disappeared, and by this time, Braixen was much faster than Spritzee was.
"Flamethrower Braixen!" I say as soon as the Trick room disappears, Braixen being too quick for Spritzee to dodge, meaning Spritzee ends up taking damage from the move.
"Spin and use psybeam Braixen! Don't let them dodge!" I shout, my confidence increasing as Braixen does exactly as I ask, Spritzee having no room to dodge as it gets hit by the psybeam.
"Let's finish this. Braixen, flame charge!"
"Use fairy wind Spritzee!"
I could hear in her voice that Valerie was panicking a little, and I hoped Braixen would pull through the fairy wind, winning us the battle.
I watched, in anticipation as Braixen got caught in the fairy wind, standing her ground, and my eyes lit up as she managed to move, and, as soon as she was out of the fairy wind, charged straight at Spritzee, who had no time to move as it was hit by Braixen.
"Spritzee is no longer able to battle!"
I cheered, but I knew the overall challenge wasn't over yet. Valerie still had one more pokemon.
Luckily for me however, we managed to take out her last pokemon pretty easily, meaning we had one the challenge.
We had beaten the Laverre gym.