Vs Gardenia!

"Each side will have the use of three Pokémon and the battle will be over when all of either side's Pokémon are unable to battle! In addition, only the challenger can make one substitution!" The female gym trainer explained it was the same ruleset as the Oreburgh gym.

Shuichi and Gardenia nodded understanding the rules, and Gardenia pulled out a Pokéball "Jumpluff, let's go!" She said as she threw the Pokéball. A blue spherical Pokémon with small red eyes with three puffs on its body came out, the puffs were on top of its head and two were its hands.

Shuichi was a bit surprised, during his research he didn't seem to find a Jumpluff. Still, he assumed that Gardenia still used Sunny Day. Plus the Jumpluff may even work out better for Shuichi.

Jumpluff's emotions revealed excitement and amusement, Shuichi frowned a little at the emotions. Jumpluff likely was trained to be a massive annoyance and it seemed to thoroughly enjoy it.

"Huntail, go hot," Shuichi said as he threw his own Pokéball. A blue eel-shaped Pokémon came out. Its body is covered in circles, white in the middle and orange at the edges of the circle. It has orange fins covering its body. Its tail ends in a round shape with two small fins protruding outwards.

Huntail was the evolution of Clamperl, Shuichi had bought a Deep Sea Tooth for ₽1,000 and had given it to Clamperl. Gardenia was a bit surprised at the water type and frowned with a look that said 'Are you serious?' Still, she gave Shuichi the first move.

Huntail's emotions displayed proudness and excitement due to his evolution and the increase in mobility that came with it.

"Huntail, Shell Smash." The reason Shuichi evolved Clamperl was that he lived up to his promise and learned Shell Smash. Huntail's skin started to glow red and suddenly cracks formed, the sound of something breaking came out and the skin was shattered apart.

Gardenia immediately understood why Shuichi chose Huntail; Shell Smash was a powerful setup move. However, that was if it could hit, "Jumpluff, Sunny Day!" Jumpluff formed a white orb and threw it out to the sky, the orb exploded and warmth came over Shuichi.

"Huntail, big Whirlpool" Shuichi had Huntail give out a showcase of his new abilities, a big whirlpool was quickly created and kept growing at neck-breaking speeds. The entire Whirlpool soon covered the entirety of the gym meaning Jumpluff had no escape.

The Whirlpool was fired off and it connected with Jumpluff trapping it, Gardenia wasn't worried as the Sunny Day weakened the power of the Whirlpool. She was more interested in Shuichi's next step.

"Jump and Ice Beam." Shuichi gave out an odd order, Huntail however understood Shuichi and suddenly stood straight up and coiled his body. Huntail straightened and jumped high into the air and was now above the gym.

As Huntail fell and aimed a blue orb coagulated at his mouth, it was fired off in big beams of blue freezing light. The Ice Beam struck the whirlpool with Jumpluff in it and quickly froze the entire whirlpool. 

Huntail landed and Shuichi immediately had him use Aqua Ring, three rings formed around his body.

Meanwhile, Gardenia was at a bit of a loss, Jumpluff was currently frozen in a giant whirlpool and she doubted it was even conscious. The ice quickly melted from the warmth of the Sunny Day and Jumpluff came out unconscious indeed.

"Jumpluff can't battle and Huntail is the winner!" The female gym trainer announced and the audience cheered loudly, it was an extremely strong start for Shuichi. Umeko and Johanna were a little speechless back in Sandgem Town, was Shuichi this good?

Gardenia recalled Jumpluff and gave it some words of apology, she couldn't even use her strategy properly. Jumpluff was supposed to use moves like Leech Seed and Synthesis for a long drawn-out battle, it even had U-Turn so that Gardenia could switch legally.

Gardenia then looked at Shuichi "I have to admit, you're even better than what Roark told us." She said Shuichi frowned for a bit before clarity hit him. "I see the gym leaders like to discuss interesting challengers." He picked up on her words.

Gardenia didn't answer and only smiled, she pulled out her next Pokébal. "Sunflora, you're next!" A Sunflora came out and hit the field, it immediately appreciated the warmth of the sun. Shuichi did know about her Sunflora, it had Solar Power for its ability which would boost all of its moves in power at the cost of some recoil for every move. 

Shuichi could switch out Huntail but with the Shell Smash boost currently active he didn't think it would be wise. "Ice Beam." Shuichi decided to start on the offensive. "Counter with Solar Beam!" Gardenia commanded.

Huntail fired off the Ice Beam and Sunflora's head shone brightly and it quickly fired off a bright beam. The Ice Beam and Solar Beam clashed and the Ice Beam quickly gave way as the Solar Beam overpowered it.

The Solar Beam continued and slammed into the ground near Huntail, Huntail slithered out of the way at the last second. There was a small hole in the ground and Sunflora's head dimmed a little as damage was taken.

"Pretty fast with the Shell Smash boost huh?" Gardenia noted but she still smiled "Sunflora, tie it down with Grass Knot!" She instructed. Sunflora's eyes glowed green and two blades of grass suddenly sprouted from the ground and entangled around Huntail's body, trapping it.

Huntail struggled to get out but the blades of grass were too tough with the Solar Power boost. "Calm down, freeze the ground." Shuichi planned to freeze the blades of grass, tying Huntail's body down and making them brittle.

Gardenia however wasn't going to let Shuichi off that easily "Solar Beam again!" With Huntail trapped she went for the powerful move again. Sunflora quickly charged and fired as Huntail froze the ground but it was too late as the beam slammed into Huntail.

Huntail was sent flying like a broken kite and dropped unconscious on the ground. "Huntail can't battle and Sunflora is the winner!" The female gym trainer announced and the crowd cheered at the battle being even again.

Shuichi recalled Huntail and praised it on a job well done, it wasn't consolement as Huntail did well to get the battle off to a good start.

Of course, that's what it looked like from an outsider's perspective, not to Shuichi. Sunflora was breathing heavily as two Solar Beams and one Grass Knot all boosted by Solar Power took a big toll on it.

"Eevee, go hot," Shuichi said as he lobbed Eevee's Pokéball, Shuichi decided to go with his ace as the second Pokémon. He would keep Combusken as the final stand. 

Eevee came out with a determined look and his emotions were similar if not even bigger, Eevee knew Shuichi had obtained his own evolution item and he didn't want to be behind Huntail anymore.

Gardenia had one more trick up her sleeves, "Sunflora, Synthesis!" She actually had Sunflora learn Synthesis to counter the negative parts of Solar Power. Shuichi intervened as Sunflora started to shine brightly "Quick Attack."

Eevee set off hard and sprinted to Sunflora, he rammed into it as it was still healing. Seeing another opening Shuichi continued, "Swift." It was just the regular version as it was faster than the big version.

Eevee swiped with his tail and stars were shot out, Sunflora was still busy healing itself and also took the stars. Gardenia noticed that Sunny Day was starting to run out and decided to switch it up.

"Sunflora, tie it down with Grass Knot!" Gardenia said and Sunflora once again tied Shuichi's Pokémon down with blades of grass, Eevee didn't panic and trusted Shuichi's decision. Shuichi also noticed the artificial sun starting to peter out and predicted Gardenia's plan. "Shadow Ball, break yourself out."

Gardenia was a little peeved Shuichi didn't take the bait, she knew Eevee could use Protect and hoped that Shuichi would wait for a Solar Beam. "Sunflora, Sunny Day!" Just because her plan was exposed didn't mean she would change it.

Sunflora spewed a similar ball of light that Jumpluff had originally made and renewed the now petered-out artificial sun. 

Another wave of warmth emitted over the gym as Eevee broke out with a small explosion, Shadow Ball would do no damage to Eevee as it was a ghost-type move which did not affect a normal type like Eevee.

"Quick Attack." Shuichi didn't want to give Gardenia another chance to heal again as Eevee charged in again. "Sunflora, Grass Knot to trip it!" Gardenia used another application of Grass Knot and suddenly two blades of grass made a knot right in front of Eevee which caused him to trip and tumble.

"Now! Solar Beam!" Gardenia took the opening and had Sunflora fire off once more, Sunflora took a deep breath as all the moves were taking a massive toll on it. This would likely be the final shot that Sunflora could make and Eevee was currently tumbling towards it wide open.

"Eevee focus! Protect." Shuichi heightened his pressure so that Eevee could snap out of his tumbling and put up a shield. Sunflora fired the beam directly at Eevee and an explosion appeared, Sunflora itself panted hard and fell unconscious, unable to see the outcome of the Solar Beam.

The smoke cleared and Eevee was standing albeit breathing a little hard with a green shield around himself, he'd stopped his tumble and put up a shield at the last second blocking the Solar Beam.

"Sunflora can't battle and Eevee is the winner!" The female gym trainer announced. The crowd was overjoyed with the battle being as close as it was and back home at Sandgem Town Umeko and Johanna were also deep into the battle.

"To think Eevee has become that strong, It felt like yesterday when he hatched from his egg," Umeko said as she also looked at her Leafeon. Leafeon was Eevee's mother and had helped Shuichi raise Eevee, If Shuichi was here he would be able to feel the proud emotions that Leafeon was currently emitting.

Gardenia recalled Sunflora and praised it, she then looked at Shuichi "Well Shuichi, I have to say I've very much enjoyed the battle so far." Shuichi nodded and replied, "Indeed, this battle has been quite nice."

"But." Gardenia said as she pulled out the next Pokéball "Don't think this battle is concluded just yet." She continued and threw the Pokéball. "Roserade, come on out!" 

A small plant/human-like Pokémon with a similar appearance to its pre-evolved form, Roselia came out. Unlike Roselia, its hands were more similar to bouquets and appeared to have white hair with a green cape.

Roserade emitted a proud emotion and seemed to be looking forward to the battle, unlike Roark's Rampardos which was arrogance Roserade was more akin to gracefulness as it didn't look down on Eevee.

"Work Up." With Sunflora and the potential of Synthesis now gone, Shuichi decided to show off Eevee's new move. Eevee started to vibrate slightly as a red glow appeared around him, Work Up as the name suggested would allow a Pokémon to bring itself to an intense state of excitement which boosted all of the Pokémon's offensive capabilities.

"Roserade, Weather Ball!" Gardenia instructed and Roserade jumped high and put its arms to the sky, a fireball quickly formed and was thrown at Eevee. Weather Ball was an interesting move that changed depending on what weather it currently was, in this case, it became a fire-type move.

"Quick Attack." Shuichi would have Eevee dodge and simultaneously attack with Quick Attack, Eevee set off hard again with even greater speeds than before. Roserade dropped to the ground and Gardenia was ready with a counter, "Use Flash!" She said as Eevee got close.

Roserade stuck out an arm and a bright light came from it blinding Eevee, Eevee quickly lost balance and began to tumble again. "Magical Leaf!" Gardenia switched up the offensive and Roserade began to spin like a top and shot out multiple glowing sharp leaves towards Eevee.

The leaves impacted Eevee which sent him flying, he fell to the ground and tried to get back up. Eevee's scarf was blown off and the Everstone inside was also removed, Eevee's determination to get up triggered the evolution sequence. The crowd got excited at the evolution but Gardenia frowned a little.

Shuichi suddenly pulled out his Pokéball and recalled Eevee cancelling out the evolution, "Eevee won't continue." He said to the female gym trainer, who was a bit stunned before regaining her focus, "Eevee can't battle and Roserade is the winner!"

The crowd was also a bit stunned. Why did Shuichi suddenly recall his Pokémon as it was about to evolve? Wasn't that a big point with Pokémon? 

However, one woman in Sandgem Town understood it: "He wants to evolve Eevee into a different evolution." Umeko said to Johanna. Johanna understood as she also had fostered an Eevee in the past, currently, it was an Umbreon.

"I'm sorry for that Shuichi," Gardenia knew what it meant for a Pokémon to hold an Everstone and having it nearly evolve was not wanted. Shuichi shook his head as he picked up the Everstone, "Doesn't matter, I'm more surprised that scarf lasted as long as it did."

The scarf had survived the battle with Paul, Ash, Roark and even Hunter J just to name a few. Shuichi told Eevee not to worry about the evolution as he was going to give him the Everstone back.

Shuichi then pulled out his last Pokéball, "Combusken, go hot." He said as he lobbed the Pokéball forward. Combusken came out ready with a sharp cry, she wasn't going to be the reason they lost the gym today.

"Finishing off with Combusken?" Gardenia looked at Shuichi's belt, she noticed Shuichi still had an unknown Pokémon on his belt. "He's a new recruit," Shuichi told Gardenia not going into details.

"Roserade, Weather Ball!" Gardenia started again with a strong Weather Ball, Roserade jumped and threw another fireball directly at Combusken. "Guard with Bulk Up." Shuichi countered with a new move.

Combusken put up a guard and her muscles started to bulge as her body was surrounded by a crimson hue, the Weather Ball impacted Combusken's guards and she started to slide back. 

Suddenly she opened her guard and dispersed the Weather Ball, the remnant of the attack hit the shields near the audience. "Flame Charge." Shuichi calmly instructed, Combusken set off hard and coated herself in red-yellow flames as she ran.

"Roserade Grass Knot!" Gardenia countered with the same strategy as against Eevee and Roserade complied, tying a knot in the grass for Combusken to trip on. 

Combusken's feet got caught on the knot and contrary to what Gardenia expected, the grass wilted instantly under the flames and was reduced to ash.

The flames were hotter than usual due to the Sunny Day also boosting all fire-type moves power, Shuichi had effectively turned Gardenia's strategy against her. 

"Flash!" Gardenia quickly adapted to the unforeseen circumstances and moved on to the backup strategy. Roserade quickly stuck an arm out and shone a blinding light directly into Combusken's face, Combusken closed her eyes but she continued charging towards Roserade.

Roserade quickly tried to jump out of the way but it was grazed by the Flame Charge, a direct attack likely would've knocked out Roserade in one hit so even a graze was some decent damage.

"Roserade, Magical Leaf!" Gardenia decided to take the opening with Combusken blinded, Roserade regained balance and spun like a top unleashing glowing sharp leaves. 

Shuichi had an idea. "Combusken, big Ember behind you." He could see Roserade was currently directly behind Combusken and with some guidance she could still attack with a wide attack.

Combusken took a deep breath, turned and fired off a big fireball all with her eyes still closed as she trusted Shuichi. The fireball turned all of the leaves into ash and continued towards Roserade.

"Dodge it!" Gardenia quickly instructed, Roserade shot out a vine from its arm and quickly pulled it towards a tree narrowly dodging the fireball. Combusken got a small breather which allowed her to open her eyes again after the pain faded away.

Gardenia looked up and could see the Sunny Day was starting to peter out once again, "Weather Ball!" She decided to quickly use the last of the sun's power to fire another fireball.

Roserade jumped and threw another fireball at Combusken, "Charge through with Flame Charge." Instead of guarding it, Shuichi had Combusken run through it this time.

Combusken set off faster than before and was coated in flames again as she ran towards the incoming fireball, the fireball slammed into Combusken but she continued running towards Roserade.

Combuksen suddenly sped up even faster as the flames increased in intensity, this was her Blaze ability kicking in and it was also Shuichi's plan. The extra boost in speed was a surprise to Gardenia and Roserade as Combusken slammed directly into Roserade, sending it flying.

Roserade landed on the ground with steam still coming off it as it lay there unconscious. "Roserade can't battle and Combusken is the winner! The victory goes to Shuichi from Sandgem Town!" The female trainer announced and the crowd cheered loudly at the victory.

Umeko and Johanna were also celebrating as Shuichi had won, it was a good battle and Shuichi got the lead early and kept it going for him.

Shuichi walked to Combusken and patted her on the shoulder "Well done, I'm proud of you Combusken." He told her. Combusken nodded and had a neutral face but Shuichi could feel her happy and proud emotions betraying her.

Gardenia recalled Roserade and praised it on a job well done, she then walked to Shuichi and Combusken. "Congratulations! It was a great battle and I'm happy to be able to give you this!" Gardenia enthusiastically said as she handed him the gym badge.

The Forest Badge was shaped like three trees of a forest, with the trunks whited out. Shuichi had the badge in hand and the crowd cheered and clapped, Shuichi thanked Gardenia and recalled Combusken to go to a separate hall of the gym.

Cheryl was standing in the hall, she had been watching from here due to the crowd being a little bit too much for her. "Congratulations!" She congratulated him once he got close.

Shuichi smiled "Thank you Cheryl, shall we go to the Center?" Shuichi asked her as he led the way. Cheryl nodded and followed him to the Pokémon Center, along the way Shuichi got his deposit back and the cash prize boosting his total up to ₽13,750.

With that amount of money, he shouldn't have a problem until Celestic Town. Once there, he would see if there were some decent jobs there for two badge trainers. "Hm?" Shuichi entered the Pokémon Center and noticed a very familiar man was talking to Nurse Joy.

He went to the man and put his hand on the man's shoulder, the man turned around and was face to face with Shuichi's black eyes. "Hello there Father," Shuichi said, surprising Enki a little.

Enki didn't know how to react, he wouldn't have believed it if he didn't see it. "Uh, Hello there Shuichi," Enki said a little awkwardly.

Shuichi frowned a little seeing the awkward tension but clarity soon hit him, he had acted way too differently than normal. Normally he probably would've teased him behind his father's back to Cheryl.

Cheryl noticed the awkward tension and jumped in "Hello there, I'm Cheryl, a friend Shuichi made in Eterna Forest." She introduced herself and Enki also introduced himself as he side-eyed Shuichi giving him a hint that he should explain himself.

"Say Cheryl, do you still need to pack for the trip to Celestic Town?" Shuichi gave Cheryl the hint and she nodded, "My grandfather always said a prepared Rhyhorn is a sight to see!" And with that bit of wisdom, she left Shuichi and Enki alone.

Enki looked at her walking away with an amused smile "Quite the character isn't she?" Enki asked Shuichi, Shuichi nodded and said "You have no idea." There seemed to be another silent and awkward tension until Nurse Joy hurried them up, not taking the mood anymore.

After leaving his Pokémon with Joy, Shuichi and Enki took one of the empty tables and sat there. Enki looked at Shuichi with a look that just said "Explain" and Shuichi explained how he quelled his nightmares and how he doesn't have them anymore.

He didn't go into detail about his past or even mention Kristoph, "And you're completely okay?" Enki didn't buy that Shuichi only solved his nightmares. "I may act a little differently but It's still me underneath it all Father," Shuichi repeated what he told his mother.

Enki didn't buy it, the personality change was so drastic that he doubted Shuichi was still under there but there wasn't much he could do about it. He had told Shuichi to get the nightmares under control and now that he has he's become almost a different person.

"We'll see, so did you already fight the gym leader?" Enki decided to switch the topic. Shuichi nodded and showed him the Forest Badge, "I beat Gardenia about 30 minutes ago." Shuichi told Enki.

Enki was surprised that Shuichi was just back from the gym. "A shame, I would've loved to see you battle the gym leader." Enki sighed a little. Shuichi smiled, "You can still see the match, Mother asked me to make it a public match so it's probably on the internet soon."

Hearing Umeko being mentioned made Enki think and realise that she was about to tease him hard, he cringed a little when he remembered how relentlessly he teased her and it looked like she was going to tease him back just as hard.

Enki sighed slowly mentally preparing for the teasing. Shuichi noticed that there seemed to be a story there but he didn't press it, instead he asked a different question. "How about you? Why are you in Eterna City?"

The last time Shuichi saw his father was back in the Valley Windworks after the Team Galactic take over. With so many grunts arrested he thought his father would stay in Jubilife to interrogate them.

Enki looked around and didn't see anyone eavesdropping, he then leaned in "We've got a big lead that Team Galactic has been stealing Pokémon and keeping them here in Eterna City, I'm here to go undercover and investigate."

If this lead turned out to be correct then his father could soon be in a lot of danger, "You don't have Looker here?" Shuichi asked about Looker. Enki shook his head, "There were too many grunts and Looker is still going through them with questions."

Shuichi still didn't like to see his father going in alone and taking on Team Galactic, "You need some help? You know I can handle myself." Shuichi said, referring to the Valley Windworks incident.

Enki quickly shot him down, "This isn't like the Valley Windworks, this is proper disguise and investigation." He didn't want his son involved with Team Galactic more than he already was. Shuichi had some infiltration experience from his past life but he couldn't explain it.

Still, Shuichi didn't want to give up, "Father, you know that doing this alone is not going to be easy. Let me help you." He insisted on helping his father. Enki noticed that Shuichi was confident about his help and seemed to think about it.

During the Valley Windworks incident, Shuichi was in and out with not a scratch on him. This also was already an outstanding feat. After thinking about it Enki sighed "I'll look at your gym battle first, we'll talk again in the morning."

The gym battle had taken place in the evening and Shuichi still wanted to take his Pokémon to a good place for dinner. He also quickly had something else to take care of and he walked with his father to the phones.

"Congratulations dear! I'm sure your father would've loved to see the battle." Umeko giggled, she knew Enki was on his way and he should've missed the battle thus making her the only parent who's seen it so far.

"Well about that…" Shuichi said a little mysteriously as Enki suddenly entered the frame. Umeko didn't expect Enki to already be there, "H-Honey, I didn't think you'd be at Eterna already." Umeko smiled a little awkwardly.

Enki smiled victoriously as he suddenly gained a brilliant idea, "Well of course! I couldn't miss my son's public gym match after all!" He decided to bluff and act as if he'd seen the battle.

Shuichi side-eyed him a little and Umeko seemed to pick up on it, "Well then, in that case, what was your favourite part of the battle?" She decided to call him out on his bluff.

Enki quickly regretted his bluff and he looked around, "Ah! Nurse Joy is calling me, I'd better get there quick!" He quickly ran away with that poor excuse. Umeko and Shuichi were already laughing, at moments like these Shuichi seemed to be a normal boy.

Shuichi and Umeko talked for a bit before he was actually called by Nurse Joy, Johanna had also shown up for a quick congratulations. Nurse Joy gave him back his Pokémon along with the standard one-day resting period.

Eevee was a bit interesting, Shuichi had warned Nurse Joy that he would likely try to evolve once he was let out but Nurse Joy was able to stop it and get him kitted out with a new scarf and Everstone free of charge.

Shuichi then went to the room and invited Cheryl out for dinner with her and his own Pokémon, however she declined saying that he should celebrate on his own. So Shuichi went out into the night and found a decent restaurant that allowed him to eat with his Pokémon and not need a reservation.

He paid ₽1,250 for the dinner and had a good time with his Pokémon, Drifloon's diet was a bit odd as a ghost-type but the chefs took the challenge and succeeded when he enjoyed it.

After dinner he decided to head back to the Center and call it a day, he was mentally fatigued from the battle and his Pokémon were physically fatigued from the battle.

Unbeknownst to Shuichi, while he was busy setting up the sleeping quarters of his Pokémon his battle was being shared and watched by many people. It was also being discussed a lot online and one such person who looked at the battle was his Enki.

Enki was watching the battle unfold and he could see Shuichi and his Pokémon had all grown stronger. But as he was watching the battle unfold he kept feeling a bit odd, suddenly the moment where Eevee clutched the Protect and Shuichi's instructions played out.

The hairs on his skin started to go up with goosebumps, he could finally place that odd feeling and now when he thought back to the conversation earlier in the day with Shuichi he could finally understand why the tension was so awkward when they met again.

Taking a deep sigh, Enki paused the video and paced around the room. There was something he'd only told Umeko and it was about his own family and past. Enki was estranged from his family because it was predominantly a military family and he didn't join them.

Seeing Shuichi like this now only reminded him of his father and even grandfather as he gave off the same feeling as whenever he got serious. He never told Shuichi about them because he didn't want Shuichi to start idolising them, he didn't want him in the military.

Maybe he should take Shuichi with him on the infiltration mission, he could observe Shuichi a little bit while on the mission. He just didn't want Shuichi to make a mistake he couldn't come back from.