Saffron City Gym Battle PT. 1

Taking a risk, Vali had decided against sending for any pokemon back home mostly due to the fact Pippin, Empress, and Pele had been working so hard. Not to mention, they alongside Smaug and Balto had been training heavily with Elrond, Metagross, and Claydol to fight against psychic-types. Pippin was also showing signs of evolution which wasn't surprising since the Shinx-line tended to evolve somewhat quickly alongside the usual regional starters. She was going to let him battle rather than Empress or Pele mostly because he had become a rather good battler thanks to Lt. Surge's assistance. He was less prone to either ignoring her orders or accidentally forgetting that they were in a battle. Unsurprisingly, Empress protested quite a bit about not being allowed to battle against Sabrina and it took Smaug beating the dragon up a bit to make her listen. While the fire-type master-in-training was put out that the little event with Dragonite hadn't quite gotten through to Empress, she was willing to be patient.

Sabrina was waiting in the battle ground of the Saffron City gym for Vali, "Good morning, Vali."

"Good morning to you as well, Sabrina," Vali replied with a light smile, "Ready to have some fun?"

"Indeed," Sabrina turned to Steven, "Please sit in the stands, Steven,"

"Good luck, Vali," Steven squeezed her hand before following Sabrina's orders.

Steven had faced Sabrina the day before which had solidified Vali's choices in who'd be fighting today. Empress and Pele were a bit too slow right now for her to risk it. Steven took Vulpix and Eevee up into the stands since both wanted to watch the battle. Moving to stand in the trainers box, Vali watched the referee appear, "This is a Four-on-Four battle between Gym Leader Sabrina of Saffron City and Challenger Valkyrie Potter of Pallet Town. Only the challenger may make any substitutions. Trainers release your first pokemon!"

Sabrina released a Slowbro as Vali released Pippin onto the field earning a raised eyebrow from the gym-leader, "A Shinx, Vali?"

Likely she'd been expected Elrond, Vali couldn't blame her, but she had decided to battle with Pippin first mostly because if he lost, she'd at least have an understanding of how Sabrina would be fighting against her. She shrugged lightly as Pippin cheerfully mewed at his opponent, "Pippin's been working really hard. Pip," Pippin got into an attack stance and twitched his ears towards her, "Baby-doll charge."

Pippin gave Slowbro puppy-dog eyes as electricity ran across his form. Slowbro blinked slowly before cooing at Pippin as a light pink sheen ran across its body. Pippin continued to charge up knowing that he'd need whatever boost he could get. Sabrina called out, "Slowbro, Confusion!"

The Shellder attached to Slowbro's tail bit down sharply and Slowbro used Confusion. Depending on how the pokemon was trained, Confusion could be used in quite a few ways though the most prominent was surrounding the users opponent in a tight psychic grip much like when a pokemon used Psychic. The only difference was that the psychic power behind Confusion had a chance of making the target confused via overstimulating the optical nerves in such a way that caused a severe headache alongside doing something that agitated the inner ear. In Slowbro's case, it created a series of rings in the form of a beam that sped towards Pippin. Pippin stopped his Charge and did his best to move out of the way while sending out a rather powerful Discharge attack that he'd learned from Lt. Surge's Luxray.

Slowbro's eyes bugged alongside the Shellder on its tail as the waves of powerful electricity slammed into it disrupting the Confusion attack. Pippin managed to avoid getting hit without tripping over his paws which was a testament of the training he'd been put through. Pippin once again resumed using Charge making Sabrina's eyes narrow a bit as Slowbro grunted in pain looking a less dazed than before. Sabrina called out, "Slowbro, Psychic!"

Pippin stopped his Charge immediately and began running around the field to make it more difficult for Slowbro to get a hold of him. Slowbro's eyes glowed a bright blue and it raised a paw. Pippin let out a panicked yowl as he was grabbed by Slowbro's Psychic and quickly began to squirm. Vali called out, "Pippin, Shock Wave!"

The move had been another one that Lt. Surge had taught them thanks to his Raichu teaching Elrond. It didn't require the electric-type to actually move which was perfect for Pippin's situation. Pippin let out a loud yowl as electrical energy rippled out of his form and slammed into Slowbro. Slowbro let out a cry of pain and dropped Pippin in shock as the electrical energy ripped through its body. Shellder actually let go of Slowbro's tail in an attempt to stop the voltage running through its body resulting in Slowbro returning to being a Slowpoke. Pippin's body was engulfed in the light of evolution as the referee called out, "As per the rules laid down by the League, Gym Leader Sabrina has lost this battle due to the separation of her pokemon. Gym Leader Sabrina, please remove them from the field and select your next pokemon."

Vali called Pippin back over to her as Sabrina recalled Slowpoke and Shellder before sending the pokeballs off with a Gym Trainer, "Pippin, I think that's enough for now," Pippin nodded as he tripped his way towards her, "You did pretty good," She recalled him before telling Sabrina, "I didn't expect that to happen."

"It does sometimes which is why the League has put such a rule in place if only to ensure such things doesn't kill the pokemon," Sabrina answered as she called out a Hypno, "Though do not expect such a thing to occur again during our battle,"

Vali admitted that she'd won the first round on a fluke and felt a little frustrated despite it giving her a bit more leeway later on in the battles, "Come out and battle with me, my friend," Elrond appeared and found himself faced with Hypno, "Elrond, Electrical Terrain and Electro Ball."

Elrond nodded and quickly did as she requested. Hypno managed to catch the Electro Ball with Psychic and toss it back. Elrond caught it with his own psychic power and sent it back with a bit more power. The two continued to send it back and forth increasing the power within the orb until Elrond decided to keep it. Instead of sending it back towards Hypno, Elrond seemed to reabsorb the electrical energy into his body. Elrond's fur gained a slight glow to it as his cheek pouched sparked visibly and he began to float up higher. Elrond spoke within her mind, "Lt. Surge's Raichu told me about this and I was curious about discovering its potential."

'So it made you stronger?' Vali asked as Elrond dodged a Psybeam from Hypno.

"Yes though I will admit it is somewhat painful mostly because I've never done such a thing before," Elrond used Thunder Wave and then Thunder Bolt when Hypno's body was locked up by the first wave of electricity, "I will work with Pippin on this as it will ensure both our electrical capacities increase,"

'Only while we're in towns,' Vali didn't see much a reason to say no to it, 'I do not want you two to get hurt and me not be able to rush you to the pokemon center,'

Elrond nodded as he dodged another Psybeam, "Understood."

Elrond sent another Electro Ball towards Hypno and used Psychic to ensure it hit before using Electrical Terrain again. Hypno's eyes narrow as Elrond continued to batter him with electrical attacks. Finally, Hypno caught Elrond with Psychic and the two pokemon began to have a battle of wills. Vali encouraged Elrond through her thoughts via their bond while Sabrina was likely doing the same with Hypno. Eventually both pokemon were thrown back, Elrond weakly managing to rise up with a trail of blood leaking from his nose. Hypno did as well looking as tired as Elrond due to the attacks that had hit it before and the strain the mental battles had placed on it. Elrond sent a Thunder Shock as Hypno stuck out with a Psybeam. The two attacks hit one another before exploding with Elrond sending an Electro Ball towards Hypno that struck as the cloud created by the exploding attacks obscured the field. Hypno fell to its knees visibly straining to keep itself up. Bringing its pendulum up, it began swinging it gently. Elrond closed his eyes to avoid being hypnotized and sent another Electro Ball towards Hypno which finally knocked the mouth-less psychic-type out.

Elrond panted heavily as the referee called out, "Hypno is unable to battle, Gym Leader Sabrina please recall it and send out your next pokemon."

'Elrond, can you still battle?' Vali asked as he began floating towards her.

Elrond shook his head, "Not at the moment, I need to rest after that mental battle. Return me for the moment, I will try to be ready for the next battle if Smaug or Balto should fail to win."

"Thank you for your help, My friend," Vali murmured softly before returning Elrond and calling out Smaug, "Smaug, Elrond and Pippin won their battles. We have two more to go, so please do your best,"