Eevee, startled by something, was running frantically, only looking forward. When it saw someone blocking its path, it was too late to slow down.
Thump! The next second, it crashed directly into Natsui's shin.
The impact wasn't very strong, but even so, Natsui staggered and couldn't help but take a step back. Fortunately, Erika, who was beside him, helped him steady himself.
Looking at the Eevee, it had been knocked dizzy by the recoil and had fallen to the ground, its four limbs unsteady, with little stars circling its head.
"Um…" the girl hurried over from behind. Seeing that her Eevee had caused trouble, she quickly bowed to Natsui and said cautiously, "I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"
Natsui looked at this girl. Hmm? He recognized at a glance that this girl was one of the five Eevee sisters, and also the one who had appeared last in the finale with an Espeon.
Wait… this face is somewhat familiar. Isn't this the girl who I made eye contact with just before the performance started?
And seeing Natsui's face, the girl clearly also recognized him. This made her even more embarrassed. She quickly bent down and held her Eevee in her arms.
Natsui shook his head. "Mhm… I'm fine. What's wrong with this Eevee?"
Gently stroking Eevee's head, the girl said helplessly, "Just now backstage, a Fearow went on a rampage and scared this little one, so it ran out in a panic."
"I see." It was a small matter and hadn't caused him any harm, so Natsui naturally didn't mind.
Looking at her up close now, the girl was about sixteen or seventeen years old, very pretty, about 1.6 meters tall, wearing a pink kimono. Her hair was tied up and styled beautifully with flower ornaments, ribbons, and hairpins. Natsui even saw a Love Ball on her head.
Putting a Poké Ball on her head? What a strange accessory…
Seeing Natsui sizing her up like this, the girl's face turned slightly red. "Ah… I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Sakura. I'm the fourth of the five Eevee sisters."
"My name is Natsui, a traveling trainer. Ms. Sakura, your performance just now was wonderful. It was really captivating."
"Really?" Sakura's eyes lit up, a bit excited. "Before the performance, I was so afraid I would mess it all up."
The reason she had peeked at the audience before the performance was because she was afraid of messing it all up, or that the performance wouldn't meet her expectations. Now, seeing that she had been recognized, she was naturally very happy.
However… the name 'Natsui,' why did it feel so familiar? It seemed she had heard it somewhere… but before she could think about it, Erika, who was beside them, had already spoken up: "Ms. Sakura, you should be more confident. Natsui is right, your performance was indeed very wonderful. Even though we already knew the story beforehand, we were still captivated by your fascinating performance and dance."
Being recognized, a happy smile appeared on Sakura's face.
Just then, she suddenly remembered something, took out a card-like object from her pocket, and handed it to Natsui.
"Oh, right. As an apology and a thank you, please take this."
Taking the card, Natsui flipped it over and saw that it was an invitation.
"This is?"
Sakura smiled. "This is our five sisters' tea party. We hold it from time to-time. If you have time, please be sure to come tomorrow."
Natsui looked down. The tea party was to be held at ten o'clock tomorrow morning. If he got up early to challenge the gym, he should be able to make it if things went smoothly.
"I understand. See you tomorrow then."
After saying goodbye to Sakura, the two left the Ecruteak Dance Theater. It was already midnight, the moon was high, and there were almost no pedestrians on the street.
In this slow-paced city, without so much of life's pressures, the people here had long since gone to sleep.
Natsui was so sleepy that he was yawning continuously. After returning to the inn, the two said their goodnights and went back to their respective rooms.
The night passed without incident. The next morning, after breakfast, Natsui had originally wanted Erika to go to the tea party venue first and meet up with her after he had challenged the gym, but she refused.
"Since we're traveling together, how could I let you go to battle alone? Let's go to Sakura's place together after you've challenged the gym."
Hearing Erika say this, Natsui was touched and did not refuse her kindness.
Following the street, the two arrived at the Ecruteak Gym. The gym was in the northern part of Ecruteak City, not too far from their inn. It was built on a huge stone platform and had a traditional wooden and green-tiled structure, looking like an ancient Japanese building.
This was in keeping with the style of Ecruteak City. After all, everything in this city followed the old customs and styles.
Arriving at the front of the gym, Natsui pushed open the main door and found that the place was quite spacious, like a gymnasium. A man was kneeling on a soft cushion in the middle of the field, meditating with his eyes closed.
Hearing someone enter, the man opened his eyes.
"Can I help you?"
"Excuse me, is Mr. Morty in? I'm here to challenge the Ecruteak Gym."
After looking at Natsui for a few moments, the man stood up and walked to him.
"I am the Gym Leader, Morty. Welcome to my challenge."
It was only then that Natsui realized that Morty was really tall, about the same height as himself, and of a similar age. But he was dressed in a more casual, sporty style, even wearing a headband. His semi-long, orange-yellow hair made his temperament look a bit frivolous.
After Natsui also introduced himself, Morty didn't waste any more words and got straight to the point. At his gesture, Natsui and he stood on opposite sides of the battlefield.
The Ecruteak Gym's field was just a very ordinary, normal field. This was related to Morty's style. After all, he specialized in Ghost-type Pokémon and had no special requirements for the field.
Just then, a gym staff member walked to the side and acted as the referee.
"Good luck," Erika encouraged softly, then walked to the spectator stands and quietly watched the match.
She was very confident in Natsui's strength and didn't think he would lose here.
And the referee, seeing that both contestants were ready, raised the two colored flags in his hand.
"Now, let the gym battle begin. The number of Pokémon to be used is three. When all the Pokémon of one side are unable to battle, the match will end! The challenger will go first, and only the challenger may switch Pokémon during the match. The Gym Leader cannot switch Pokémon at will."
These were very common match rules.
And the appearance of such rules often meant that the Gym Leader was too strong and had to be weakened in this way to match the strength of an ordinary trainer.
Originally, Natsui could have, just as he had when battling the Violet and Blackthorn Gyms, had Morty send out his ace Pokémon to battle him. But after thinking about it, he decided to focus on training his team instead, taking this opportunity to train his other Pokémon.
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