two [c/gym]

[attr="class","smdbody"]in the middle of eterna was a statue of an ancient pokemon. it is believed that this pokemon was what galactic needed to recreate the universe. this was what liam believed too. he stood underneath it, the tall statue casting a shadow that protected him from the sun.

"someday," he muttered. and that was that; a dream, a goal, something he aimed for. eventually he'll achieve it, just not now. not yet.

for now he occupied himself with climbing through the galactic ranks. and next up was the second gym that he needed to conquer. 

the gym was much nicer than the first; it sported a nice green environment with flowers and trees all over the gym. it was definitely a nice change compared to the first which was all rock and dirt. he stepped up to the arena and glanced across at the gym leader across.

"liam, one badge," he introduced. the grass type leader then proceeded to do her introduction, which he most happily ignored as he was getting ready for a tough battle. he sent out his newly caught drilbur, who looked scared and nervous.

liam lowered himself to his knee and put one hand on the drilbur's shoulder. "relax, i don't mind if you lose. just do your best," he said. zu looked like he needed to be comforted so that was what liam did. he was fairly sure the drilbur was new to battling in general.

the gym leader sent out her first pokemon and zu took his place on the battlefield. the drilbur looked a bit more relaxed but was still nervous. liam stared at the cherubi. "use x-scissor," he said.

zu nodded and jumped up into the air, rotating his body as he came back down to dig into the ground. this seemed to catch his opponent off guard as she was unsure what to do. not long after the drilbur popped out of the ground and delivered a crucial x-scissor attack to the cherubi. it was enough to knock it out. zu went back into the ground and popped back out in front of liam again.

"good job," he praised. the drilbur was new to battling but it was naturally strong. the gym leader sent out her second pokemon and this one looked tougher than the first. "be careful with this one," he warned. the drilbur nodded and looked at his opponent.

this time he let the leader have the first move. the turtwig withdrew into its shell, increasing its defense before throwing out a razer leaf attack. it hit zu and damaged him quite a bit, but he was still standing and ready for another attack.

"x-scissor again," he said. zu dug back into the ground and repeated the same move, popping out in front of the turtwig to deliver an x-scissor attack. it didn't knock it out however. the turtwig quickly followed it with a barrage of razer leaf attacks, further damaging the drilbur. liam contemplated switching it out.

"again!" he called out. zu attempted another attack at close range but before he could hit a vine came out of the ground and grabbed his foot, slamming him down against the floor. the grass knot attack ended him.

liam took out a pokeball and recalled the drilbur before sending out his trevenant. "you did great," he whispered before returning his attention to the battle. the turtwig wouldn't survive another attack so the trevenant went in without liam having needing to say anything. fifteen delivered a poison jab attack and that was that. turtwig down. but he still felt bad for the drilbur.

the final pokemon appeared and it was a roserade. he knew at this point he had won the battle, he still had milotic that was healthy and would most likely take down the roserade no problem. 

"poison jab," he said. trevenant rushed forward once more and delivered a dangerous jab. the roserade retaliated with a stun spore and and poison sting attack, both hit. trevenant struggled to move, he couldn't use another attack in time before the roserade used a magical leaf attack. the trevenant was taking a lot of damage.

"keep trying!" he yelled out. the trevenant struggled but managed to pull off another poison jab attack, but that was still not enough to take down the roserade. another grass knot attack came and the trevenant was close to falling. but he hung on and delivered one final poison jab attack to end the battle.

liam walked over to the battle scene and gave the trevenant a pat, smiling happily as he praised it. "you did great," he said.