This was my first Gym battle after receiving Mr. Yuto's special training.
"Now, shadow! A blazing heavy blow!"
"Shadow! Shadow!"
Hayakame's Earthquake had destroyed the shadow's Substitute, but Yoshiko, which consumed half its HP to maximize its Attack, combined with the Ability "Flame," which multiplied the power of fire-type moves by 1.5 when HP fell below one-third, delivered a powerful blow.
"Linmu is unable to battle!"
"No way! One hit?! Just one hit?!"
"With that, team captain Nata has lost all his Pokémon! The winner of this battle is the challenger, Hikari!"
There, I defeated Naizhong, who had beaten me before with that classic bread.
"That was exhilarating. Oh, right, right. Here's this Gym's Badge. Take it."
After shaking hands in the center of the arena and praising each other's efforts, I received the Forest Badge-a square with a leaf in the middle, shaped like three connected characters.
The first one I received wasn't big at all. But its weight and presence in my palm, and the hard sensation of it digging into my palm and fingers when I clenched my fist, made it feel special.
"That was truly wonderful. It wasn't just your strength-you seemed like a completely different person. Sorry about the harsh things I said before."
"No, not at all!"
I felt I had a lot more to learn as a Trainer, so I didn't mind at all.
As for winning or losing, of course I was surprised and delighted to win.
But I had already been halfway certain that my Pokémon-the Pokémon I trusted-would definitely win.
"Thank you. Still, how did you train to make such a huge difference in just one week?"
"Well, we did all sorts of things."
"Hmm."
Gardenia kept looking at Yuto and the others in the spectator seats, so she seemed