[color=8882be]"You're right. It was rude. I'm sorry about the battle from earlier too..."[/color] He thought back to the battle he'd had with Sydney yesterday. Despite the obvious advantage, he had lost. And even though Margo had technically lost, it was only because she had pulled out a pokemon with lesser experience. Even then though, she'd kept her ground using strategy. Even if brute force had won out, Indigo had to admire her quick thinking. 

That was what he lacked, along with confidence, thought he didn't quite grasp the concepts yet.

[color=8882be]"We can definitely start over. Hey, um, I've sort of got this idea... Yesterday, I faced a Spewpa, which is what your Scatterbug turns into."[/color] He took out his pokedex and flipped it on, going through a series of menus before settling on the image of a fuzzy Spewpa. [color=8882be]"The guy I battled, Sydney, he used this crazy combination of String Shot and Stun Spore to slow my pokemon down and paralyze them."[/color] It still stung, talking about how someone had bested him, but it was getting easier nonetheless. [color=8882be]"Anyways, I mean... I think you should look into it. It was a pretty good tactic, and he even beat my Torchic. Even though she had the advantage."[/color] 

And so, training commenced. He felt renewed, much more motivated than before. With some guidance and target practice, not to mention the wide variety of opponents, Poinsettia was soon trapping pokemon in her String Shot and locking them into submission with Stun Spore. Margo was better at training than he was, however, no doubt a sign of her breeder family that Indigo had failed to notice. She even ended up giving him tips on how to better battle, and train. He learned that Hawka's favorite defensive stance was actually inefficient for her body, and they worked on correcting her position to one that her weak legs could handle. Mimzy stopped tripping during the speed of her Quick Attack, and Hero became much more efficient at recovering his cloak during battle.

[i]"You don't train with your pokemon, Indigo..."[/i] Joan's words bounced around in his head. Was this what she had meant? He hadn't realized how many things were [i]wrong[/i] with the way his team had fought. They fought well, but, battling was an art in itself, it seemed. It was a skill that required analysis from the trainer to see what their pokemon were doing wrong, to guide them. And he certainly hadn't been doing as much. Not that he would have admitted it, ever. And it stung to see Margo be so much better at it than he. He quelled his negative feelings enough that they could make it out of the gym in better spirits than they had had before.

After a grueling two hours, they returned to the pokemon center to see a rather defeated looking Dan sitting at a table in the cafe. Indigo's heart rate quickened. Was he okay? Had something happened on Leeman Trail? [color=8882be]"Dan, hey..."[/color] He wasn't sure what to say. Indy was awful at comforting people. [color=8882be]"You don't look so hot. Is everything alright?"[/color]

 [hider=Current]
Hawka the Torchic F- lvl 19+1=20
Hero the Burmy M -lvl 18+1=19
Mimzy the Buneary F- 19+1=20

Items: small pearl ×1
White Herb x1
Kee Berry ×9
pokeball ×3
Cheri berry x6

Actions: trained for two hours with Margo. headed back to the pokemon center. 
[/hider]