Smaug (Charizard, Male, Lv. 61)
Littlefoot (Aurorus, Male, Lv. 61)
Hahaha, what do you know, I used to have a Charizard named Smaug too, though not in X. In X I do have an Ivysaur named Littlefoot, which is my go-to nickname for a Bulbasaur.
Anyway, back to my recent happenings in X. I finally got my third badge! Actually, the gym battle was completely NOT what I expected it to be. I knew Korrina had that Lucario and figured she might use it in the battle (and maybe have it Mega Evolve). She didn't. All she had was a Mienfoo, a Machoke (I think), and a Hawlucha. My Kadabra made quick work of the first two, but due to his practically non-existent defenses and Hawlucha being at a much higher level, he fainted. No matter; I had my Drifblim finish the job with a few Gusts, while all Hawlucha did was use Hone Claws a bunch of times. I had come prepared with a team full of Psychic, Ghost, and Fairy-types (which also happen to be my three favourite types), and yet I only needed two of them.
So then after getting the badge, Korrina asked me to meet her at the top of that building in Shalour dedicated to Mega Evolution. (Gosh, I keep forgetting the names of things in this game. I already forgot the names of the first two gym leaders... then again, they are pretty forgettable.) I figured, okay, she's DEFINITELY going to use her Lucario here, so I made a team tailored specifically for it: I brought my Charming Dedenne, my Stun Sporing Vivillon, my Leech Seeding Ivysaur, my Grassy Terrain Floette, my own Mienfoo, and my Honedge. On the way up, I battled a few other trainers, nothing too hard except for my fragile little Mienfoo fainting. And I finally make it to the top...
And instead of it being my team versus her Lucario, it's me borrowing her other Lucario to battle her first Lucario, because apparently all protagonists in Pokemon games naturally attract Pokemon and their affection. I got a Mega Ring and some Lucarionite, so the battle turned out to be Mega Lucario versus Mega Lucario. I didn't even get to use the rest of my team. But I did get to work with Mega Evolution for the first time at least. The Lucario I used was faster than Korrina's, so I started off the battle with Swords Dance. Korrina's Lucario used that punching move I cannot for the life of me remember the name of (the one she gives a TM for) which almost KO'd the other Lucario, who then OHKO'd Korrina's Lucario with said punching move due to raised Attack. So I won the battle. And then, to my surprise, she let me keep the Lucario! And to think, just a couple of days ago I was thinking about doing another Riolu hunt on Route 22... It looks like there's no need for that anymore. I named him Nimbus, which is pretty much my go-to name for a Lucario.
And then Calem gave me a HM for Surf as I headed out onto Route 12. Better yet, the guy who was previously blocking me from going any further on that route gave me a Lapras! Today is my day for freebies, isn't it? But to challenge myself, I swapped out my team once more, leaving Nimbus and the new Lapras behind (he was at level 32 and the Lapras was level 30, way ahead of the rest of my training team). I almost regretted it. The trainers here were TOUGH. My team was level 27-28, and their Pokemon were in the 30s. I felt like I was re-living the days of Gold/Silver as I battled one particularly difficult trainer with a Miltank. Although I also faced an even-more-difficult trainer with a Tauros right after that. Of course I had failed to bring a Fighting or Steel Pokemon, so that was just my luck. I ended up using all my Revives and Hyper Potions and having everyone except my Ivysaur and Meowstic faint (the latter was really low on health) by the time I finally reached Coumarine City.
And to my dismay, the first thing I learned here was that I couldn't really progress much further until I defeated the gym leader here, who is apparently some sort of actor who probably uses Fairy-type Pokemon (although I may totally be wrong). I didn't really have a lot of time to explore, although I did get a Lucky Egg. Which I find mostly useless, as the Pokemon-Amie is another way to get boosted experience without holding an item. What I really want to find is some Mega Stones for a couple of my Pokemon--namely my Absol and Mawile.
I also headed out onto the "Lumiose Badlands" route--I think it was Route 13? The first three Pokemon I encountered were Trapinch, Dugtrio, and Gible. I caught the Trapinch and Gible, but added only the Gible (who I nicknamed Jaws) to my training team. I was initially going to put the Trapinch on it too, but I didn't really like his Calm nature, and I really need to restrict the number of Pokemon I add to my training team anyway. Although I really like Medicham, I already had to take my Meditite off the team to make room for my new Lucario (and to offset the excess of Psychics on my team). Although this means I now have way too many Steel-types on my team. (Lucario, Honedge, Ferroseed, Steelix, and Mawile--but only two of them actually know Steel attacks, so I'll keep them all for now)
I tried evolving one of my two Eevees into Umbreon a couple of nights ago, but I guess her happiness wasn't high enough. I'll have to try again sometime... And I'm waiting patiently to access the Move Relearner so I could teach my other Eevee Baby-Doll Eyes, or a TM with a Fairy-type move, so he could evolve to Sylveon. So far it looks like either of those won't happen until I get another badge...