Ch 49. Day before the battle

(Unedited)

Having contacted the gym early in the morning, Ares was requested to arrive tomorrow, as they had a lot of challengers today.

With enough time to spare, Ares decided to prepare his pokemon for the battle to come. As Sabrina was a psychic--type gym leader, his best option was to use Umbreon in this battle. That said, the chance it was a one-on-one battle was rather slim, as the battles lately had been two-on-two or more.

So to prepare for the unexpected, he decided to battle with Pikachu and Pidgeot as well. Seeing that Clefairy didn't like battling as much as the others, it was better for her to just sit this one out. He had seen her watching other activities however, such as the contests that were held in the Hoenn region.

Her eyes would sparkle as soon as the pokemon started their performances.

So maybe Clefairy would be best suited for contests, rather than gym battles.

It was something he had to keep his eye on.

Back to training, Umbreon, Pikachu and Pidgeot were now standing before him, ready to face the training he had in store for them.

As Sabrina mainly focussed on psychic-types, Ares wanted his pokemon to train their reaction speed and accuracy. Psychic pokemon were masters at controlling their psychic attacks, as were they at using the move teleport.

This is where Mew came into the picture.

As a psychic type herself, Mew would be the perfect opponent for his pokemon to get used to psychic-type pokemon.

"Well then Mew, I will leave them in your care."

Mew popped out of the bag, a big smile on her face as she hovered in front of the three pokemon that would be her punching bags for today.

[Of course. It will be fun!]

Mew yelled, teleporting around the three pokemon.

"Now then. I will help with the training as well, to make sure it doesn't get out of hand and to cheer you guys on."

Ares added, multiple rubber balls placed in a basket at his feet, their use yet unknown.

"Don't expect me to hold back, just hope Mew does."

With that the training had officialy started.

While one of the three would be trying to hit Mew with their moves as she teleported about, the other two would be pelted with rubber balls from all directions. This training would adapt them to sudden attacks from blind spots, as well as adjust their reaction capabilities to cope with teleport.

Ares's pokemons were all too happy to help in the training, joining in occasionally as well to experience it and to train themselves as well. The only one who could help decently was only Lucario though. Clefairy was way too small to throw the ball as, using he psychic abilities instead. Beldum didn't have any arms to throw with, his psychic energy was rather low as well, which was another training for him to increase it. Both of them were training themselves more than the pokemon that would be joining the gym challenge.

Charizard at first only looked on from the side, not bothering to join in. While it aknowledged that some of the Pokémon in Ares's party were strong, he couldn't be bothered to help them get better. He was still a bit grumpy from him suddenly being caught by this trainer. He had no motivation to mingle with the others at all.

Yet as the day continued, he became slightly interested in the fun they were having. Even the distant little Beldum had joined in with the training, being surprisingly agile, dodging every shot that was going his way, even those coming from blind spots. It seemed like it had temporarily paused its psychic training and decided to join Umbreon, Pikachu and Pidgeot in their training to improve itself.

[You can't hit me! I am speed!]

While the others were throwing and dodging rubber balls, Mew was having fun as well bullying her targets.

Mew grinned as she popped back and forth, always managing to dodge Pikachu's attacks. Mew even brought it up to the point of making a weird pose everytime she did, pissing off her training partner. Every. Time.

At this point even Charizard had to hold back his laughter, as at some point every pokemon began to gang up on Mew, trying to get a hit in on her. Without success.

At some point the training had become more like a game of tag.

Slowly rising from his position, Charizard grabbed one of the stray balls in his vicinity, surprised by the weight. It was clearly filled with something heavy inside of it. It would surely leave a bruise depending on how hard it was thrown.

Clenching the ball a little tighter, Charizard followed the others's movements closely, seeing his trainer laughing on the side at the antics of his pokemon.

Maybe it had a chance if he tried now?

Snorting, a few flames flickered from his nostrils, leaving a small trail of smoke in its wake.

It was a tempting thought.

Looking down at the ball in his hand, Charizard flexed his arm a bit as he made a small twitch with his wrist, the ball swiftly leaving his hand.

The ball sailed through the air, flying towards its target.

Charizard waited with bated breath, wondering if his impulse would pay off.

[Hey! That's playing dirty!]

The ball was halted just before Mew's head, hovering with a pale blue glow surrounding it.

Charizard just turned his head away, not admitting he had tried to hit the pranker from behind. Charizard just huffed a bit, focussing his attention on his trainer, who had begun to laugh at his antics.

Ares remained silent, not intending to call Charizard out on his actions. It seems like the big giant had a surprising playfull side to him as well.

Mew was about to continue, only to be hit as a thunderbolt sailed just past her ears. Glancing back, she saw Pikachu charging up another one, intent to hit Mew.

[You're all playing dirty!]

Mew yelled, catching the rubber balls flying towards her with psychic and sending them back twice as fast. The game of tag was stopped abruptly as the pokemon were dodging for their lives.

At the end of it all, Ares had to step in to placate Mew. She eventually calmed down and went back to snuggling with the pokemon egg, all too happy to fill it with psychic energy.

As the little monster had returned to her usual spot, the rest of the pokémon were laying on the ground, staring at the sky.

"Enough rest, let's resume our training. With everything said and done, let's think of a strategy to fight Sabrina. Sabrina is an adept psychic who is capable of convering with her pokemon using telepathy. As a counter, it would be best if we made counters to her most well known moves."

As his side, his pokemon were nodding along. This would be their first true battle against a psychic type pokemon, a battle they had no clue as to how they should fight. Only Umbreon would be in the clear, as every psychic attack was useless against him. Only teleport would be a headache.

Ares and his pokemon were brainstorming till late in the night.

When morning came, they were ready to face Sabrina, the master psychic user.