Aberdeen Montany
post 5 chapter 3 : Violet City
That was the first night in a long time that Aberdeen slept early. When he woke up, his Pokémon were already awake, looking at him with hungry eyes from the edge of his bed. After getting ready, Whismur following him around wherever he went in the room and Pidgey occasionally landing on his head to give a quick peck when she thought he had been standing still for too long, they finally exited the Pokémon center and found a café where Pokémon were allowed. Ab served them with some Pokémon food in bowls borrowed from the café, and got himself a fat breakfast with the last of the money he had gotten from the siblings on Route 30. Hm, he'd better win some battles and earn money soon or this would turn into a difficult journey. Falkner probably gave a lot of prize money.
If the challenger won, that was. Ab didn't know if he could really win a gym battle. But he would try.
When they felt done, they marched right up to the Violet City Pokémon gym and found that it had just opened up. He was the first challenger of the day, so he didn't have to stand in line. However, Falkner had not arrived yet, so he bitterly had to wait anyways.
When the receptionist didn't look, Aberdeen sneaked through the doors to the main arena. It was rather magnificent, nothing like the simple arenas or lawns of the Academy. There were spectator seats all around the big arena and two platform looking things on each end of the battlefield. Did that mean that the trainer had to stand there instead of running around close to the battle? Aberdeen preferred the latter, so that his Pokémon could hear his orders well but not his opponent. Maybe things worked differently in these very official battles though. He would surely find out.
Suddenly, the doors opened again behind him and a surprised girl came in. Her head was as blonde as they came and she was wearing sporty clothes.
"Hey! Who are you?"
"I'm Aberdeen," he answered truthfully.
"But why are you here? Challengers aren't allowed in unless Falkner's with them."
"What are you doing here, then?" Aberdeen countered.
"I'm not a challenger, stupid. I'm a gym trainer."
"Gym trainer?"
"Yeah, I work here, helping Falkner with his birds and maintaining the gym and handling challenger queues and stuff. Like the receptionist only cooler!"
"Ah, that does sound cool."
"Best part is the payment. Not much in ways of money, but I get to train with Falkner himself and learn his secrets!"
"So you're almost as good as him?"
"Almost! One day I'll be even better." She suddenly eyed him curiously. "Say… You want a quick battle to test your skills?"
"Oh, I think I'd rather just wait for Falkner. You know, don't want to tire out too early!" Aberdeen laughed nervously.
"But if you can't beat me, there's no way you can beat Falkner. Don't you want to test your strength?" She walked closer and closer to Ab, finally stopping only a meter away.
"Uh… I guess… I could always heal my guys afterwards…"
"Yes! Great. Take your spot at the podium," the girl said with a smile before she ran across the battlefield to the other platform thingy on the ground.
"Do I have to?" he called after her.
"Why wouldn't you want to?"
"Okay…" He gave in and moved onto the platform. There was a fence around him and two buttons on the side facing the battlefield. Up and down, they said. He pressed the up one and felt the ground move.
The podium really was a podium! The platform rose as long as he kept the button pressed. When it stopped, he was several meters up in the air.
"I'm supposed to fight from here?" he called to the girl across the scene.
"It's better for flying trainers!" the girl smiled. "By the way, my name's Joan!"
"Aberdeen Montany..." Ab replied weakly. Okay. He only had Pidgey as a flying pokémon. He'd have to fight with her, then. Because otherwise he was unsure of if his pokémon down on the ground would hear his orders unless he screamed them.
"Let's do NO POTIONS rules, and use three pokémon each!"
"Can't we go with just one pokémon?"
"Don't tell me you only have one!"
"I have three..."
"Three it is, then!" Joan said with a grin. "Let's begin."
"Shouldn't we have a referee?"
"JUST BATTLE!"
Aberdeen nodded, almost afraid of asking further questions, and tossed Pidgey's pokéball up into the air. It opened up and Pidgey immediately took flight while the ball fell back into Ab's hands.
"Cute," Joan commented. "Go, Spearow!"
Aberdeen hadn't seen one of those in a while; they didn't live naturally around Cherrygrove, unlike Pidgey.
"You ready, girl?" he asked Pidgey, who was close enough to hear him when he spoke in normal tone. She chirped in reply and flew up higher.
"HEY!" a voice suddenly came from below. A man had walked in on the battlefield and was now staring up at Joan, hands on his hips.
"Oops," Joan said, backing slightly.
"Who's that?" Ab asked.
"I'm Falkner," the dark haired man on the ground said and turned to him. His face was pale but strong, somehow. Noble and fine, but determined. A smile suddenly showed on it. "And you are Aberdeen Montany."
"You heard that, eh?" Aberdeen said with a nervous smile. "I was just gonna-"
"Joan," Falkner interrupted and turned back to the girl who was currently moving her podium down again, blushing. "No challenger battles without my consent."
"Sorry Falkner... I just wanted to-"
"It's okay. But this time, I want to deal with the challenger first."
Aberdeen had moved his podium back down to ground level as well, and looked up at Falkner's new words. "You're going to battle me? Now?"
"If you want to," Falkner said.
Aberdeen cracked up into a genuinely eager smile. Pidgey chirped and sat down on his shoulder.
"That's a fine bird you have there. You two seem like a good pair," Falkner commented.
"We do alright," Ab said and petted the bird quickly on the head.
"We'll see just how alright. If you would please step back up onto the podium? Joan, you'll be our referee as a punishment!" Falkner called out and walked to the podium the girl had previously been on.
"Oh, that's no trouble!" Joan said, shining up. Apparently being the referee was more fun than it was punishment. Falkner seemed like a pretty likeable leader.
Aberdeen stepped onto the white, metallic podium again and held his finger on the "up" button. But then he hesitated. He hadn't cared much about winning battles until Donald showed him a valuable lesson. He didn't always care much for traditional ways of doing things. What if he tried to go his own way? Not just in Johto, but as a trainer. In battles. Unpredictable, he could try to be. Considering how inexperienced he still was, maybe that was the only way he could win against Falkner. By being a bit weird.
"Actually, I think I'll stay on the ground," he therefore said and took his finger off the button.
"Your choice. But you won't have as good an overview of the battle as I will," Falkner said, one eyebrow raised. "Especially considering my pokémon will all be in the air most of the time."
"That's okay," Aberdeen said and put Pidgey back inside her pokéball. "I'll be mostly on the ground."
Joan, standing on the sideline, shook her head, but Falkner smiled in amusement. "Interesting. Very well. Let's begin. Three pokémon each, switching out allowed, NO POTIONS rules!"
His first pokémon was a white and blue creature which the pokédex told Ab was called Wingull. Water/Flying type. Ab thought hard. Chespin wouldn't do very well against any of these, but he might have to use him eventually anyways unless he could somehow win with only two pokémon. Not likely against a gym leader. He'd have to be creative.
Whismur became Ab's first pokémon now. Wingull soared above and Ab did what he could to make Whismur stay calm and believe in himself. The boy stayed pretty close to the pokémon, closer that would probably be advised in a serious battle. But Ab wanted to keep his strategy. Up and close. Mumbled commands, understanding the situation. Maybe it would turn out a catastrophe, maybe it would work. Only one way to find out.
"Wingull, Wing Attack!" Falkner commanded.
Wingull spiraled and dove with sharp, gleaming wings at Ab and Whismur on the ground.
"Dodge left," Aberdeen said. As Whismur tossed himself aside, so did Aberdeen. Not that he would have been struck otherwise, but he wanted to feel what Whismur felt. Wingull flew past them, just barely, and rose again.
Having dodged left Whismur open for a subsequent attack though. "Try from a distance instead. Water gun!" Falkner called out.
Wingull halted its ascension and blew out a ray of water that hit Whismur pretty easily, pushing him back. Aberdeen felt splashes from the strike hit him a few meters away.
"Clear your face and do Uproar!" Ab said as soon as the beam of water subsided and Wingull started flapping to not fall too close to the pair on the ground.
Whismur caught it in his terrible soundwaves before it could ascend too high though. As usual, Ab had his ears covered, and Joan and Falkner soon had to do the same to endure. Wingull wasn't so lucky, its flapping disturbed by the pain it felt from the noises the hopping bunny did. Just as Whismur had to stop for a big breath, Wingull touched down onto the ground, having to recompose itself.
"Now, Pound!" Aberdeen shouted and ran alongside Whismur, closer to the bird.
"Use Wing Attack to fend it off!" Falkner shouted.
The hard pounds that were dealt in multiple from the bunny were all more or less countered by sharp wings flung out by the bird. But, as usual when two attacks in a row were commanded, that left Wingull open for another attack as it had to recover.
But then, Aberdeen suddenly returned Whismur to his pokéball with a content grin.
"What?" Joan couldn't help asking from the sidelines. Falkner just looked curious.
"Your turn, Pidgey!" Ab said and let his birdgirl out again. She flew up just as Wingull managed to take off from the ground again as well.
"Was that strategy? You almost had it," Falkner called down to the battlefield.
Aberdeen just laughed. Weird was the deal. "Tackle!"
Pidgey flew quickly and hit Wingull pretty easily and straight on. However, it recovered fast enough to aim a Water Gun that hit Pidgey in the air, almost throwing her to the ground.
But on the ground was Aberdeen. He ran to catch his pokémon in his arms, instead of her hitting the ground. When he had made sure that she was fine and not shocked by the water or anything, he realized that this might not be allowed. He hastily looked up at the gym leader on the podium. But Falkner only smiled. Maybe, if a trainer was reckless enough to not stand aside when pokémon were exchanging dangerous attacks, it was okay to help in the battle with your own body. Aberdeen smiled when he had decided that his rescue was justified. He wasn't afraid of getting a bit roughed up.
Better than living a secure life and never experience anything before you die. He swallowed, remembering his sister fleetingly. He wasn't doing this for her. He was doing it for himself.
He boosted Pidgey up into the air again, where Wingull came in for a Wing Attack. Ab made Pidgey blow a gust straight in the path of Wingull, which slowed the attacker enough that Pidgey could rather easily dodge the move.
But then, Falkner called out for a Supersonic. Much more subtle soundwaves than the Uproar's ones came towards Pidgey and made her flap frenetically.
"Your pokémon is confused," Falkner called down.
"I can fix that," Ab said and suddenly returned his second pokémon to her pokéball. "If she rests in here for a while, I'm sure she'll come out less confused later."
"Why do you keep changing pokémon!" Joan couldn't help but groan from the side of the arena. When Ab glanced her way, he noticed that some more gym trainers, dressed much like Joan, had entered and settled themselves on the spectator benches.
Again, Aberdeen only smiled before he sent out his last pokémon. Chespin.
"What do you hope to achieve?" Falkner asked, as Wingull flapped its wings to show that it still wasn't worn out.
"I just wanted everyone to get a chance to battle Wingull," Aberdeen shrugged. "Soundwaves, Water guns, Wing attacks... Pretty great array of moves! Good practice."
"True," Falkner said, still amused. "Let's continue then. I will try to take your little grass friend down in one blow. Think you can avoid that?"
Ab and Chespin shared a look and smiled back at Falkner together, Ab standing only a meter away from Chespin on the battlefield now. "Think so," he said.
Wingull didn't waste time on Water Guns or Supersonics. It dove immediately, sharpening her gleaming wings for a Wing Attack.
"Rollout!" Aberdeen shouted, and Chespin tucked itself in as a ball and started rolling away from the attacker. But the bird came in quickly and hit the ball hard enough to boost its rolling greatly.
Wingull soared upwards again and Falkner nodded. "Curling up might have increased its defense a bit. Two moves it is."
"You sure?" Aberdeen grinned, running beside his pokémon but quickly losing as Chespin was much faster all of a sudden. "I've been reading up on the movesets of my pokémon. Rollout gets exponentially stronger the faster the pokémon is rolling. Thanks for the boost, Wingull! Chespin, bounce against Falkner's podium and attack!"
Falkner gasped. The fast-spinning ball that was Chespin hit his podium, almost making it rock from the impact, and bounced up into the air where Wingull, not the speediest bird in the world, had been lingering. The attack was just fast and well aimed enough to strike the bird before it could dodge the projectile shooting up at it. Rock attack against Flying pokémon meant that when the two pokémon came back down to earth, Chespin landed not very gracefully but at least unscathed, while Wingull had already fainted on the way down.
"WINGULL HAS LOST THE WILL TO FIGHT! CHESPIN WINS! 3-2 to Aberdeen Montany!" Joan boomed from the side, astonished, and a few claps from the audience were heard as well.
"That's... That's just too lucky," Falkner stuttered.
"Maybe," Aberdeen said and bent down to pet Chespin on the head while Wingull got sucked inside its pokéball. "Really, your aim is either incredible when you're rolling around, or you were in sick luck there," he told his pokémon, who just winked happily at his trainer.
"But the match isn't over," Falkner said, straightening up. "I have two pokémon left."
His next pokémon was Murkrow. A black Dark/Flying type that looked like it could have a few tricks up its own sleeve. It mainly played a lot on Chespin's gullibility. First, it used Astonish to scare the grass pokémon. Chespin was too phased to retaliate before Murkrow came in with a Feint Attack that hit Chespin hard and made Aberdeen consider bringing him back. But then he remembered one of Chespin's least used attacks. As Murkrow flew back upwards, Aberdeen came in close and whispered the order to Chespin, who smiled and silently activated a dormant power within him.
"Still not going to retaliate? Fine," Falkner said pompously. "Murkrow, finish this little resilent rodent with Peck!"
Murkrow dove, glimmering beak ready to make Chespin faint, but Aberdeen gave another order that wasn't heard up to Falkner, before he jumped aside to avoid getting caught in the crossfire himself. In the nick of time, Chespin jumped forward and countered with a Tackle. The pokémon met, Murkrow's beak hitting the tough, protected back of Chespin's body. Of course it hurt the grass type some, but Murkrow wasn't completely unscathed either. Both pokémon were thrown back a bit, one staggering and the other one fluttering to gain altitude again. Not soon enough.
"Bind it with Vine Whip!" Aberdeen said, and Chespin's vines reached Murkrow's feet and pulled them so that the bird fell to the ground.
"The pokémon should have fainted from that!" Joan called out from the sideline.
"You are supposed to be an objective referee," Falkner reminded her, and she blushed anew. "But that Chespin did something... Aberdeen did something. Didn't you?"
"Synthesis!" Aberdeen beamed. "Nifty move! Can't believe I never used it before. It's like cheating! At least when you can't use potions. Right, Chespin?"
But Chespin didn't reply cheerfully; Murkrow was starting to peck on his vines and forced him to let go.
"Time for a change again," Aberdeen figured and held out Chespin's pokéball to retreat him. As the rodent dematerialized, Falkner's face got a curious look again. A different look, as if he had suddenly thought of something. Aberdeen wasn't sure he liked it.
Pidgey was sent out and quickly ordered to perform a Sand Attack. Murkrow fell victim and tried to Astonish Pidgey by jumping out from the sand cloud. Pidgey would have none of that though; she wasn't at all as gullible as Chespin. Instead, she Tackled Murkrow hard, so that it fell to the ground. It looked as if it was about to give up, where it was dragging its wings along the ground, so Aberdeen and Pidgey dared to get closer to aim a second Tackle better... But that was when a dark power suddenly struck up and overwhelmed Pidgey, making her fall to the ground instead. Murkrow flew up, still vigorous.
"Ah, Feint Attack again!" Aberdeen sighed. "Didn't see it coming that way."
"That's the point," Falkner called out with a proud smile. "Murkrow-"
"Pidgey, return!"
"Again? Are you serious?" Joan groaned, a few in the crowd behind her laughing at her strong reaction.
"Joan, objective," Falkner reminded her, and she clasped her hands over her mouth in embarrassment. But the gym leader had the dangerous smile going on again. "Murkrow, Pursuit!"
As Pidgey started to dematerialize from the ray of the pokéball in Ab's hand, another dark force shot out from Murkrow in the air and struck her right before she disappeared. Aberdeen gasped and quickly checked the pokéball with his pokédex. "She took a lot of damage! But she was switching out!"
"You need to know about attacks that your pokémon can't learn as well as their own," Falkner said, arms crossed. "Pursuit is a very sneaky move, used by dark types to punish pokémon that run from battle. Works when they are sent inside pokéballs as well."
Aberdeen breathed harder. After that attack, Pidgey was really weak. Chespin was fresh though, having healed up almost fully from the Synthesis. And there was still Whismur, only having been struck by a Water Gun and countered some slaps from Wing Attack. Whismur could go on!
He sent out his bunny pokémon, who actually looked less nervous now than he had done at the start of the battle. Ab smiled. His little noisy buddy was just a little slow in the start.
"This is MY sneaky move," he said. "Uproar!"
Turns out Murkrow was pretty tired after all, because it couldn't reach Whismur to Peck him before it gave in to the pain of its eardrums and fainted on the ground mere inches away from Aberdeen.
"Wohoo!" Ab cheered, and he got the crowd of gym trainers behind Joan to cheer with him. Joan smiled as well, impressed, again forgetting that she was supposed to be objective and all.
"So you have beaten two of the gym leader's pokémon," Falkner commented calmly as he withdrew Murkrow, "and I have yet to beat a single one of yours."
That was actually pretty odd, Aberdeen agreed. Was it cheating, to switch pokémon in and out this much? No, there were no rules against it, as long as you didn't retreat a pokémon to protect it from an attack of some kind.
That was pretty much forfeiting. Switching in between attacks though... That was just strategy. Aberdeen's strategy.
"That will change now. Here is one of my oldest and most trusted pokémon," the gym leader declared and sent his third and final champion out. "Panachia!"
It was a Pidgeotto. Aberdeen was properly impressed; that was the evolved form of Pidgey. If he trained his own bird enough, she might evolve into Pidgeotto one day. He noticed also that Falkner had nicknamed his.
Aberdeen chose to keep Whismur in battle. But he quickly understood that Falkner had been saving this pokémon for last for a reason. Whismur started its famous Uproar, but the Pidgeotto called Panachia withstood it for long enough to blow up a Gust that threw Whismur off balance and forced him to stop roaring. As he got up and tried to start a new Uproar, since it seemed like a pretty hopeless endeavor to try and assault a highflying bird with Pound, Panachia swooped down all too quickly. She hit him with a Quick Attack that made the bunny finally faint and land almost on top of Aberdeen's shoes.
Ab picked up his little monster buddy in his arms and stroke his cheek carefully until Whismur's eyes opened again. With a proud smile, Ab returned his pokémon to its pokéball. Time to fight airstrike to airstrike.
Pidgey came out and immediately launched a Sand Attack at her bigger opponent. Panachia knew that strategy too well though, and blew it away with a Gust. Meanwhile, Pidgey had gained altitude though, and now shot down and hit Panachia with a Tackle from above. Falkner applauded the effort, but the Pidgeotto shortly after caught up with Pidgey from behind and struck her with a Quick Attack, before it whipped up a Sand Attack of her own. Pidgey tried to fight it off with her own Gust, but the Pidgeotto had already imitated the strategy from earlier and suddenly came from above with a Tackle too. And this was a relentless one; Panachia didn't stop until Pidgey touched the ground and stopped flapping. She had fainted too.
Aberdeen was beginning to sweat, he realized, as he sent Pidgey back into her pokéball rather than moving to pick her up manually. He didn't want to get too close to the bigger, imposing bird that sent stares at him from the middle of the battlefield.
His bird and his bunny were down. This meant he had to fight this strong, far too speedy bird with his rodent. Flying versus Grass. Not very awesome odds. But the point of all this was
trying to win, he reminded himself as he stood in the dust from all the Sand Attacks, feeling Falkner's gaze from above, hearing the cheer from the trainers behind him and thinking back on the lessons in the Academy. Not the lectures. But Donald.
He would lose some money if he didn't win here, but he would get the experience from
trying to win all the same. Feeling strangely relieved with realizing this, Aberdeen smiled calmly again.
"Let's finish this!" he said and sent out his starter. Chespin popped onto the battlefield and met the stare of the bird fiercely.
"Indeed," Falkner said. "Panachia, Gust!"
Aberdeen thought of a counter quickly. "Use Vine Whip to hold on to me!" he said to his pokémon, who trusted his plan without thinking twice. The Vine Whips snared themselves around Aberdeen's arms just as the wind struck. Ab had to bend down and struggle to stay on the ground himself; the Gust of a bigger bird was harder than one from a Pidgey! But he managed.
"Now, propel yourself upwards as soon as Pidgeotto comes closer," Ab said, turned to Chespin so that Falkner wouldn't see or hear his order. Chespin only hesitated a second now, maybe seeing Ab's plan after all.
"Quick Attack!" Falkner ordered. Aberdeen had been hoping for a Tackle, since it was somewhat slower, but they would have to try with the Quick Attack then.
Panachia came in low and Ab helped swinging up Chespin with the vines in the nick of time. The Quick Attack missed and when Chespin retracted his vines, he was still on his way upwards.
"That only made you more vulnerable," Falkner said with a raised eyebrow. "Tackle!"
"Pity you aren't like your pokémon, learning from past strategies," Aberdeen grinned below and suddenly ran to the podium while he spoke and pressed the 'up' button. "Rollout!"
Chespin curled up right before the Tackle struck and sent him spinning incredibly fast up towards the roof.
"You can't aim in the air though!" Falkner practically shouted, Pidgeotto stopping to hover in the air when she heard the confusion in his master's tone.
"Can't we?" Aberdeen said, now on the raised podium closer to the roof. They book looked up and saw that Chespin had hit a wooden beam that ran along the ceiling. The barbs on his head and back had hardened as he rolled up and in the powerful ramming, they had been jammed into the wood. As he unrolled himself now though, the barbs softened. With the Vine Whip, Chespin clung to the wooden beam and didn't fall back down though. With his dorky, toothy smile, the pokémon positioned himself on a ledge and stuck out his tongue towards Pidgeotto below.
The trainers on the spectator benches cheered and Falkner actually couldn't help but laughing now. "That's just... I've never seen this. Your battle style..."
"Falkner," Aberdeen called from the other podium suddenly. "I don't think I can win, actually."
Falkner looked back at him and was surprised to see the boy smile at this.
"I have a grass pokémon and you have a really strong bird pokémon. It's kind of futile, really."
"Pity, I was having fun," Falkner said and smiled back.
"Oh, me too! That's why we won't quit yet!"
"You won't? But-"
"I said I don't think I can win. That doesn't mean I'll stop trying!"
"You are crazy!" Joan cried happily from the sideline, jumping up and down by now.
"Perfect," Falkner laughed. "Come on, then, make a move!"
"Chespin, use Vine Whip! Snap the bird!"
Chespin's vines shot down and tried to reach the bird, but Panachia used Quick Attack to avoid every flick of the narrow vines.
"Growl!" Ab shouted, and Chespin did his best to growl intimidatingly to lower the attack power from his enemy. The bird still came in for a Tackle that knocked Chespin off his pin and made him start falling down.
"Grab the bird!"
Chespin, as always, didn't think before he obeyed, and that was a good thing in this case because otherwise he wouldn't have had time to send out his vines and make them ensnare one of Pidgeotto's legs before the bird rushed by through the air. Pulling himself up, Chespin suddenly found himself seated on the back of Panachia, holding on for dear life with both hands, tail and vines.
The crowd literally screamed now and nobody could really sit still. Falkner laughed again, but Aberdeen was suddenly completely focused. He hadn't really seen the big picture. He never thought about the big picture. He knew that he was
trying to win. And that this was fun. And also that right now, he had the opportunity to make a strong attack on the bird for the first time.
"BITE!"
Chespin bit down at the side of the neck of the bird just before Pidgeotto made a flick with its back to toss the rodent off. He became hanging, darkly powered teeth sunk into the bird's neck as it tried to whip up a Sand Attack around itself, close to the ground, to get rid of the attacker causing the pain.
Chespin did fall off when his eyes watered from the sand, and he instinctively curled up into the ball of Rollout and started rolling out from the dust cloud before the bird could reach him with another attack. Panachia wasn't used to getting direct hits, especially not from someone riding on her back, so she was furious now and stomped on the ground after the rolling ball, snapping with her beak. She jumped up into the air and whipped up a Gust just in time to make the air shield her from the Rollout that had turned around and been coming at her.
"How long is this going to last? Who's having the upper hand now?" a trainer among the spectators asked.
"Stop!" Falkner suddenly called out.
The crowd fell silent and the pokémon stopped moving after a few seconds. Aberdeen found that his breathing was all of a sudden the noisiest thing in the room.
"This battle is over."
"No it isn't!" Ab called out.
"Yes it is. I forfeit," Falkner said with the widest smile yet.
"You... You forfeit?" Joan said, jaw dropping.
"Gym leaders can do that?" Aberdeen asked, honestly surprised, as he followed Falkner's example and pressed the 'down' button on his podium fence until they were both on the ground and could walk up to their pokémon in the middle of the arena.
"The job of a gym leader is to assess if a trainer is worthy of owning a specific gym badge. I find that you are, very much, worthy," the gym leader said proudly. "At least you are crazy enough. So you will get the Zephyr badge. Not really for winning. But for
trying really well."
Needless to say, it was difficult for Aberdeen to keep himself from spending all of the prize money on a fabulous lunch for him and his pokémon trio later. If this was how gym battles were, and if this was what he could look forward to as a pokémon trainer, then he would totally keep trying as hard as he could.
((OOC: finally omfg. Sorry if I didn't portray the gym like someone else established before my post. I'll be more careful to treat whatever the first poster depicts, as canon in the future. But honestly, when soloposting it doesn't matter overly much.))
Aberdeen
Chespin grew to lv 15 and forgets Growl for Leech Seed!
Pidgey grew to lv 14 and learned Quick Attack!
Whismur grew to lv 14 and learned Astonish and Howl!
