I Sting (Pokemon Poison Type Specialist)

Today was the day of the gym battle, and she was apparently the first scheduled to go against Bugsy, not just in terms of their friend group, but a days' worth of trainers.

How and why this happened was beyond her but that was fine…

Kind of.

She hasn't prepared for the fight this past week thanks to all the things she's been doing behind the scenes and even though her team still got trained during daytime, it wasn't as hard as the training they did during Chuck and Warley's battles.

Virah knew that her team would pull this off, they were strong and competent in their own right, but she also feared that they would lose, Challenge Tiers were called that for a reason after all.

Virah nervously tapped on Nitro's Pokeball as she looked at the hall that led to the gym's arena, last she's heard, it was supposed to look like a forest of sorts, with trees and the like.

It would be perfect for her team, Jet and Nitro would do well in such an environment but at the same time, so would Bugsy's. In fact, it can even be argued that his Pokemon's experience would be worth more since they've been fighting in that arena for all their lives.

Virah wanted to groan, she had so much on her plate that it's not even a joke.

She closed her eyes and focused in on her Aura, this was a trick up her sleeve that she's never really used in her last two gym battles since they weren't needed, her team's capabilities were more than what was shown on her last two battles, and Virah took comfort in that fact.

'But will it be enough?' Virah looked at the dark hall, it felt like a mouth waiting to swallow her whole.

She hoped it was enough.

After a few more minutes of waiting, her name got called and she made her way out of the waiting room and towards the arena.

The echoing footsteps, cold air, and darkness on the way there reminded Virah of the secret tunnel that Janine led her to two days back and she subconsciously flared her Aura.

The Pokeballs in her belt rattled and Virah smiled down at them, "we'll be fine," she said, her gaze turning into steel, "we'll win this,"

Spotlights shone down on Virah's tiny form, blinding her for a brief moment, the announcer's voice shortly followed and her standard introduction echoed across the lightless arena, but unlike the two battles before this, the people cheered her name.

… People knew her now?

Virah smiled.

People knew her now.

She casually removed the arm covering her eyes and confidently walked to the podium, it lifted her up and brought her high into the air.

Bugsy's introduction came next and out of all the words the announcer called out, Virah was fixated on a single sentence- "one of Johto's youngest trainers, Gym Leader BUGSYYYY!"

As expected, the crowd roared but their cheers were drowned out in Virah's mind by her curiosity. What did the announcer mean by "youngest?" And one of? Who's the other one?

The answer to her first question came when light shone down on Bugsy and revealed a kid, quite literally, in her age group. It was even possible that he was younger than her.

Virah genuinely thought that he'd be older…

She watched in worry as Bugsy walked towards his own Podium. The Gym Leader was all smiles, which meant that he was confident about this battle, and how couldn't he be? He was fighting someone his age who, compared to him, was just a regular trainer.

Virah closed her eyes, 'it's fine,' she thought, 'I'll win this,'

Virah opened her eyes and palmed Nitro's Pokeball, she was expecting a Forretress and out of everyone in her team, it was only her Beedrill who could properly damage Steel Types, Diox not withstanding.

The arena lit up and a screen next to them came to life, then the announcer called the fight, setting a timer that got them both to release their Pokemon after it ended, the screen showed the two combatants, green bars started to grow underneath their icons, which was that of a Beedrill and a… Scyther?

"Why not Forretress?" Virah asked Bugsy.

"Hm?" Bugsy smiled, "why not Scyther? I'm sure my starter is strong enough to beat yours,"

Virah narrowed her eyes, "you think so?"

"I feel so," Bugsy arrogantly replied, "Slicer! Quick Attack into Aerial Ace!"

"Looks like Bugsy chose to move first folks! Now how would Virah react?!"

Virah had already spouted her counter command before the announcer began speaking, "Nitro! Harden!"

"Playing defensive?" Bugsy clicked his tongue, "that won't matter,"

"We'll see," Virah grit out.

Slicer moved so fast that he was hard to track even with Aura perception, in that state, Virah saw nothing but a green dot that shifted from one tree to the next, that dot was on a tree next to Nitro seconds after it began moving and it emerged from underneath the shade, scythes alight and mouth opened into a roar.

"Fury Attack! Counter it!" Virah shouted.

Nitro raised his drills and struck the blades of his opponent, the sound of clanging steel erupted as the two exchanged blows, the Scyther stopped after a single hit while a strained Nitro began to add hits to his prior strike.

"Double Wing Attack!"

Slicer heeded Bugsy's words and retaliated against Nitro by striking two more of the Beedrill's attacks with a slice from his scythes. Sparks flew with each exchange and it left both Pokemon tired by the end.

"String Shot!" Virah called out.

"Quick Attack! Back down!" Bugsy countered.

Distance was put between the two combatants as the Scyther bounded backwards, it glared at Nitro, its breathing heavy and stance low, both its scythes were spread from either direction of its body, intending them to be used for defense should Nitro come.

"Harden," Virah smirked. Nitro wouldn't come however, because she'd play dirty.

"Swords Dance." Bugsy calmly called out. The Gym Leader's smile had faded and was replaced by a tight purse of his lips, he was clearly unamused by Virah's tricks.

Virah's eyes widened, oh, oh! Now she's dead.

She inhaled, 'Challenge Tier, I'm in Challenge Tiers. I need to be prepared,'