A Viper in the Hole (Pokémon)

[The Dave]

After an almost uncomfortably tight hug and a move to the kitchen, where his father is clearly in the middle of making dinner, Ran ends up sitting at the dinner table with a glass of water, as his father slowly stirs the pasta sauce he's got on the fire.

"Some advance notice would've killed you?" His father starts, annoyance clear in his message but not in his tone, as he looks at Ran fondly, "I would've gotten more food for dinner. Now I won't have a warm lunch tomorrow."

"Sorry." Ran apologizes briefly, not elaborating any further.

"Well, come on, out with it, how've you been, what's happened?" His father urges, even as he offers a teaspoon filled with sauce for Ran to taste.

"Bit bland," Ran offers first, his father nodding agreeably as he starts unscrewing the lids off a few spice jars and starts adding them to the sauce, "So uhm, everything up to beating Falkner I sent was right. Well, except for one minor detail. Zubat didn't beat Falkner."

Ran's hand drifts to Golbat's pokéball, but before he can even unclip it, his father's sharp tongue is already rearing its head, "What, you figured I wouldn't be impressed enough that you needed two to get the job done?"

"Uh, no, actually," Ran denies awkwardly, before finally simply releasing Golbat next to the table, his pokémon hurriedly folding his wings to avoid knocking anything over, "But I don't have a Zubat anymore. He evolved."

"I can see that," His father allows, looking Golbat over taxingly for a moment, before returning his attention to the pots in front of him, which he carries over to the table, "Return him for now, dinner's ready."

Ran obediently recalls Golbat after offering his pokémon a brief thank you, eagerly offering his plate when his father puts serving spoons into both pots. For a few moments, they're both quiet, as plates are filled and they both dig in enthusiastically.

Finally, Ran continues his story, "I didn't tell you, because by the time I texted you, I'd had a fight with Spencer about where to go after Violet City. Then Josie, the girl I mentioned in my texts, offered to let me travel with her back this way and I hadn't figured out if I'd accept that yet. Once I did start traveling this way, I didn't really know how to tell you all of that in a text at first and then after a few days, it just felt like a bigger and bigger deal that I hadn't told you yet and then-"

"You're rambling," His father interrupts sharply, "Stop it."

"Sorry." Ran apologizes once more, awkwardly looking down at his rapidly emptying plate.

"This fight with Spencer..." His father begins leadingly, before trailing off. Ran doesn't respond however, merely reluctantly meeting his father's eyes, not wanting to discuss just how badly he'd misjudged his friendship with Spencer for all these years.

When Ran doesn't respond, his father lets out a heavy sigh, before forging ahead, "Do you want to talk about it? Ever since you first started planning with him, it was always 'Spencer and I this' and 'Spencer and I that'... Well, except for when you had that fight about Ekans' spot on your team."

Ran still refuses to respond, the mention of his first fight with Spencer enough for him to break eye contact with his father entirely. The older man stares at him taxingly for a few moments, before finally letting out an inscrutable hum.

"Hmm, so you beat Falkner two to nothing then?" His father asks, not acknowledging Ran's dodging of the Spencer-issue any further.

"I did." Ran confirms concisely, taking care not to start rambling again lest he risk his father turning the conversation to an awkward topic again.

"Good. What about this Josie, if you're still traveling with her, why isn't she here?" His father inquires next, cleaning off the last bit of sauce from his empty plate.

"She's staying at the Pokécenter," Ran admits hesitantly, "She didn't want to impose."

His father nods, one eyebrow lifting in amusement as Ran cleans out the pots to fill his plate once more, "Well the road's clearly doing you some good, if you're eating like this."

"There's just no competing with home cooking." Ran justifies his speedy eating with a guilty shrug, only to nearly choke on his pasta at his father's next question.

"So is she your girlfriend then or what's the situation?"

"W-What- No!" Ran denies hurriedly between coughs, needing a moment to gather his breath before he elaborates further, "She's just a friend. We met at Sprout Tower and had some double battles together, we celebrated getting our first badges together and when I fell out with Spencer, it just ended up making sense for the two of us to travel together."

His dad nods sagely, "Probably better not to if you're planning to travel together for a longer time anyways. At your age, hormones tend to complicate things."

"Yes, dad." Ran answers morosely, not even bothering to defend himself or dispute his father's words, knowing his father well enough to know when the man's mind is made up.

"You'll bring her by for dinner tomorrow," His father declares next, "And let me know once you've scheduled your match at the Gym, the sooner I can tell my boss when I need half a day off, the better."

"Alright dad, we'll be going by the Gym just before lunch tomorrow, I'll text you right after." Ran agrees easily, his father finally nodding approvingly before gathering the dirty dishes and starting to clean up.

"Good, go have a shower. I'm playing cards with the guys tonight, so you'll have the place to yourself in a bit. I trust the other two to know their bodies well enough and to be careful, but if you bring Golbat out, be sure he doesn't knock anything over." His father instructs once more, before starting on the dishes, the conversation clearly over.

The remainder of the evening is almost oddly uneventful, the nurse's reminder to give his pokémon a proper rest leaving Ran with very little to do after his shower. Eventually, he ends up in his room with Spinarak and Ekans in the positions they've often occupied over the past few years, only Golbat having to move from the small perch Ran'd made for his previous form to the inside of the bedroom's old wardrobe. It's a funny sight, Golbat's ears just about grazing the bottom of the wardrobe, but it's also a stark reminder of the progress they've made.

Eventually, with a small stack of comics by his side and his pokémon lounging in the room, occasionally exchanging some small sounds amongst themselves, it's almost as if he's properly home again. For a night, at least.

The next day, after enjoying the double rare luxuries of a soft bed and being able to sleep in for a few hours, he heads back to the Pokécenter where Josie is already waiting for him. They exchange a few quick words, with Ran mentioning his father's demand that she attend dinner and confirming that his meeting with his dad went well, whilst Josie for her part happily tells him about Tommy's repeated failed attempts at flirting with her the previous evening.

They enter the Gym shortly afterwards, the place buzzing with activity as the circuit is well and truly underway and inexperienced trainers from all over have started swarming towards the most inexperienced Gym leader on the circuit now that the word on Bugsy taking over is well and truly out. There's actually a short line in front of the reception desk, more than one eager trainer lined up to book their own challenge.

As they join the line, Ran looks around the reception area. There's still clear signs of the previous ownership, the water motif still present in the tiled floor as the standout example, but Bugsy's already had a lot of work done. The old-fashioned wainscot that gave the whole reception area the vibe of an old-timey steamboat has been replaced by a mix of paints. A kind of forest green is the dominant color, with hints of lighter olive green to simulate the effect of sunlight breaking through. Over it all, an asymmetrical array of white lines has been painted in a clear simulation of webs.

It gives the whole place a significantly earthier atmosphere, especially with the furniture also replaced, as stools and benches that looked like they belonged on a cruise ship have been replaced by and large by furniture that wouldn't look out of place on a camping trip. As the line advances and they reach the front desk, Ran concludes that the only thing that's still clearly missing, other than a new floor, is a large overhead window, to let in more sunlight to really nail down the forest clearing vibe the Gym is going for. Though considering how little time Bugsy's had and how busy the Gym is during the circuit, it's no real surprise that those kinds of major changes haven't been managed yet.

The receptionist is an unfamiliar woman Ran estimates to be in her thirties or forties, only remarkable to him in the sense that he'd never met her before which, in Azalea Town, was unlikely to the point of being impossible. Unsurprisingly, the woman doesn't seem to recognize him either, confirming, to Ran's mind, that Bugsy brought in an outside hire.

Scheduling their battles is a pretty easy affair, as they hand over their IDs and then merely have to wait for the receptionist to go towards Bugsy's next available opening. To Ran's pleasant surprise, it's only a seven day wait this time, rather than the nine day wait he'd been met with back in Violet. That isn't the only surprise either, as the receptionist, rather than immediately handing them their IDs back, instead actively inquires whether they're interested in taking on the Gym Trainer challenge as well.

Nearly every Gym offers such a challenge, but after not having it mentioned in Violet and not inquiring about it further himself, Ran wasn't expecting anybody to actively advertise theirs. Before he can properly process his surprise, Josie is already answering the receptionist.

"What's the challenge structure and what are the costs and rewards?" She inquires eagerly, clearly optimistic about what the Gym might be able to offer.

"For the second badge specifically, the challenge is a singles battle using two pokémon against a Gym Trainer. The Gym Trainer is allowed to use held items, the challenger is not. At this time, we are not able to offer a separate reward, as the Gym is still adjusting to new management. Because of this however, Gym Leader Bugsy is waiving the associated costs for now, essentially making our Gym Trainer Challenge a perfect tune-up opportunity for anyone who wants to get some extra experience fighting against Bug-types!" The receptionist tells them enthusiastically, clearly trying to mask just how underwhelming the offer is by giving it with a smile.

Before either of them can reject however, Tommy pops up behind them, lunchtime clearly having arrived as the big lug enthusiastically butts right into their conversation.

"What do you say, Ran? A good match between two locals to show all these traveling types that even if our town's pretty small, we've still got some real promising trainers to be proud of?" Tommy attempts to sway him, aiming to play on Ran's less than stellar hometown pride.

Ran hesitates for a moment, before yielding, figuring that it'll be an opportunity to measure his progress against someone who started out at the same time and under the same circumstances as him, "Alright, on the condition that you use your personal team."

"Of course!" Tommy agrees with an enthusiastic grin, "Wouldn't have it any other way. Hell, let's knock it out right now before we go have lunch. Field's free anyways, Bugsy just went on his own break!"

The receptionist lets out a beleaguered sigh, but Tommy cuts her off before she can even start complaining, "I know Mabel, I know, I'm terrible, I'm a monster. Just book us real quick before you go on your own break, alright? I'll bring cake for the break room tomorrow to make it up to you!"

"Homemade?" She asks, visibly falling for Tommy's bribery.

"I'll get on it the minute I get home this evening." Tommy vows over his shoulder, already eagerly hustling Ran and Josie through the double doors behind the reception area and directly to the Gym's main field.

As they are urged ahead by Tommy, Ran turns apologetically towards Josie, "Sorry about that, you were the one to ask and now I'm stealing the limelight."

"Don't worry about it," Josie waves him off easily, "I was only interested if there was a proper reward. I should've figured that wouldn't be the case for a Gym that's only just changed ownership. Falkner took over his own dad's Gym way longer ago and even he didn't have a decent Gym Trainer Challenge set up for the lower levels yet, so it figures that Bugsy hasn't gotten to it yet either."

"Hey now," Tommy objects loudly from behind them as they walk out onto the field, Josie veering off towards the bleachers as Ran crosses the field towards the far trainer's box, "Bugsy's been doing a real solid job here! After Mister Phillips left on such short notice, none of his Gym Trainers wanted to stick around, so Bugsy had to cover a lot of ground in very little time. He's been working his ass off establishing connections, building out a broad enough roster of Gym pokémon for all levels of challengers, looking for more staff and tons of other stuff!"

"Hey, don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming the guy," Josie clarifies easily, sinking down on her seat as she gestures for Ran and Tommy to get on with it, "It's just inconvenient timing, nobody's at fault. Now get to it already, I'll ref from here. Honestly figured the ref or some of the spectators would still be around though…"

"Last fight must've been a short one," Tommy muses as he considers Josie's words, "Plus, everybody knows that Bugsy takes a break at this hour, so that's probably why everyone cleared out so fast. Now let's do this! Come on out Paras!"

Ran hesitates for a moment as he notices the clear silvery sparkles on Paras' body, visible in brief spurts as the orange pokémon moves around under the light. It's a clear sign of the Bug-boosting Silver Powder and enough reason for him to consider sending out Golbat. It's only a moment however, then he chooses a ball and throws it out.

"Let's do this, Spinarak!" He calls out confidently, his only bug-type arriving on the field.

"Alright, on my signal." Josie announces dryly, before starting to count them down.

"Three… Two… One… Go!"

---

Author's Note: Smaller update today, as Ran isn't ready or willing to discuss the Spencer-situation and his battle against Tommy would've thrown the rest of the chapter out of whack. It promises to be a fun match however, as Tommy will be using held items, a wrinkle Ran hasn't had to contend with before. Then, inevitably, Ran's first confrontation with Bugsy awaits in the next chapter. That promises to be fun one. There isn't all that much to discuss here, so instead a general question: What Gym battle, barring Bugsy, are you most looking forward to? What about other trainers Ran encounters on the circuit? Any particular team specialties or combinations you're particularly interested in seeing?

As always, the next two weeks' worth of content, which includes Ran challenging for the Hive Badge, are already available to my supporters. Additionally, there's a large interlude from Bugsy's POV on there which was voted on by this month's Contributors and which sheds a lot of light on what Bugsy's been up to and how he sees things. Interested? Have a look at my Patreon.

Even if you're not interested in Early Access, if you've got something to spare, I'd really appreciate any help you can offer. I'm eyeing a team picture commission for around chapter 20, so some help towards that end would also be very welcome. So if a one-off donation is more your speed, please check out my Ko-fi.

 

[The Dave]

"Get spooky and follow up with Poison Sting." Ran orders, ignoring Tommy's order for Paras to produce Stun Spore, trusting in Spinarak to handle that threat without further instruction.

His trust isn't misplaced, as while Paras starts shaking and throwing paralytic spores into the air, Spinarak seems to triple in size within moments before seemingly crossing the gap to Paras in a single leap, her shadow stretching out underneath her as she goes. The other bug-type recoils in fright, ironically producing an extra large cloud of spores in the process, as the illusory Spinarak crashes down upon it, an explosion of ghostly energy eating away at its vitality as Night Shade connects.

"What was that?!" Tommy shouts in surprise, distracted by the visual spectacle and forgetting to give any orders to his beleaguered pokémon, only for the second part of Spinarak's practiced combination to go into effect, as she disappears into her own stretching shadow.

"Where'd it-" Is as far as Tommy gets, before Spinarak reappears out of the shadows just in front of Paras, bowling over the other pokémon with a surprising attack before turning on the spot and firing off a barrage of Poison Sting at close range into Paras, which is still struggling futilely on its back as it tries to recover from Spinarak's merciless assault.

The super-effective attack clearly hurts Paras badly, but it manages to turn back onto its legs, as Tommy finally manages to overcome his surprise and give out a new order, Paras' earlier Stun Spore useless as it wafts down the field and slowly starts to disperse.

"Fury Cutter! Show them your strength!" Tommy orders enthusiastically, Paras dashing forwards the few feet currently separating both battling pokémon as fast as it can.

"Infestation." Ran counters far more calmly, trusting in Spinarak's ability to weather the resisted attack well enough to deliver a super-effective one of her own.

Paras starts furiously hacking away at Spinarak, its clawed forelegs cutting and stabbing at Spinarak, only to largely skate off of Spinarak's hard exoskeleton ineffectually. For her part, Spinarak's red mandibles glow with ominous mossy green bug-energy for a moment as she braves Paras' attack to get close enough to bite down on the other pokémon's body, her mandibles finding purchase just behind Paras' eyes.

As the hostile energy is injected into Paras' form, its body is wracked by violent spasms, which are finally enough to throw Spinarak back a few feet. Knowing that Infestation will continue to wreak havoc on Paras' system, Ran orders the use of String Shot to slow Paras down and ensure that it won't be able to muster a sudden comeback, but Tommy has clearly seen enough.

"Come back, Paras." He orders, raising a pokéball to recall his first battler, before turning to mutter a few soft words of encouragement to its ball once it's been returned.

Spinarak scuttles back to her side of the field, as Ran looks her over closely for a moment. On closer inspection, Fury Cutter did do some damage after all, but Spinarak is clearly raring to keep going and considering how easily she handled Paras, Ran is more than willing to let her.

"Here's a surprise for you! It's showtime Ledian!" Tommy announces, throwing out his recently evolved starter.

Ran doesn't hide his evident surprise, looking towards Tommy for an explanation, as when the circuit started, he'd still had a Ledyba. Tommy is happy to oblige, the once hot-tempered boy beaming with pride.

"Bugsy's a real specialist with bug-types! He pointed out some stuff for us to work on after my battle interview and within two weeks, bam! Ledian is in the house!"

"Congrats," Ran says sincerely, ignoring the irksome detail that Tommy's starter has evolved before his own, "Working here is clearly agreeing with you. But our battle isn't over yet! Spinarak, String Shot!"

Immediately, Spinarak fires off a string of sticky stuff right at the hovering Ledian, but the evolved pokémon shows off its great speed by easily dodging to the side even as Tommy barks out an order of his own, "Mach Punch!"

"Poison Sting straight ahead, take it!" Ran counters immediately, trusting in Spinarak's type-advantage to weather the far faster pokémon's attack and hoping that its straight charge might let Spinarak land a hit of her own.

Ran's wish partially comes true, as Spinarak starts firing Poison Sting before Ledian fully closes the distance, a few purple darts landing on the lower half of the other bug-type's body. The speed disparity is big however, as Spinarak manages only a glancing hit before Ledian is blowing past her, the two fists on its left side slamming into Spinarak's side as it buzzes by.

"Scary Face!" Ran orders next, hoping to slow Ledian down enough to give Spinarak a more even playing field.

"Reflect." Tommy replies confidently, momentum clearly shifting as he allows Spinarak's attack to proceed unhindered, trusting that the speed gap won't be closed with a single status attack. Ran hisses agitatedly as the shimmering pinkish energy of Reflect forms around Ledian before winking out of sight.

"Shootout, Ledian! Swift and strafe!" Tommy continues, leaving Ran with few options, though he's not willing to give up that easily.

"Shadow Sneak!" He orders hurriedly, watching worriedly as Spinarak is bombarded by Swift after Swift. Not resistant to the normal-type attack, she's visibly being whittled down, but her expanding shadow affords Ran some hope at least.

Tommy is content to wait quietly as Ledian strafes around the field, staying away from Spinarak's expanding shadow with some effort, the gap shrinking slowly and putting Ledian on a clear timer. It does its best to put Spinarak down, the stationary bug-type visibly struggling to remain standing as she pours all of her energy into a last ditch surge of energy into her attack.

Spinarak's shadow suddenly bursts forwards, the slowly shrinking gap towards the still dodging Ledian disappearing in the blink of an eye. Spinarak sinks into her own shadow instantly, as Tommy hurriedly orders Ledian to get higher up in the air. Instantly, Ledian's strafing flight turns into a steep ascent. Without Spinarak's earlier Scary Face, it probably would've been enough, but as the flying bug-type starts climbing, a green blur shoots out of the shadows underneath it and latches onto its body as Shadow Sneak makes contact.

"Poison Sting!" Ran orders instantly, even as Tommy calls for Mach Punch, looking to knock Spinarak off of Ledian and send her crashing to the ground.

With the element of surprise on her side, Spinarak manages to get in a full second of Poison Sting at close range, every tiny dart of poison-energy digging into Ledian's form, the red-and-cream colored pokémon shivering under the effects of the barrage, even diminished by Reflect's defensive properties as it is. Then it starts hammering away at Spinarak with Mach Punch after Mach Punch.

Spinarak gives a heroic effort, managing to cling on for a few more seconds during which both attacks continue unabated, but finally, a double right hook from Ledian is enough to knock Ran's pokémon free, sending her falling some fifteen feet to the ground. Before she can impact, Ran is already returning her, Josie calling out his pokémon's withdrawal obligingly.

As Ran thanks Spinarak, his eyes shift to Ledian, who slowly floats back down to hover just a foot or so above the ground. Its flight seems a lot less stable than it did earlier and there's a faint purple tinge to its cream belly, a clear sign of poisoning. Confident about the outcome of the battle, Ran sends out Ekans.

"Alright, time for some payback Ledian! Come on, punch through!" Tommy encourages his starter, Ledian's eyes sharpening in recognition as it spots the pokémon that defeated it in its first trainer battle three years ago.

"Spinarak weakened it. Glare, then ready Acid and wait for your moment." Ran orders calmly, trusting Ekans to bring home the victory.

"Supersonic!" Tommy orders, catching Ran by surprise with the relatively inconsequential attack. Although a hindrance, the best way to counteract it is to simply do nothing and let its effects fade. Assuming Ekans gets Glare off, Ran is more than happy to wait and do nothing and let Spinarak's poison continue to do their work for them.

Ekans' eyes glow ominously as he glares at Ledian, whose wings start vibrating at such a speed that they no longer produce an audible sound to human ears, instead entering a supersonic frequency. The attack connects after a few seconds, as Ekans slackens and coils up in place tightly, as he does his best to work through the bothersome effect as soon as possible. Unfortunately, it does leave him defenseless for now.

"Swift! Hammer it down!" Tommy cheers enthusiastically, Ledian zooming forwards as it starts firing off Swift after Swift at close range, buzzing around Ekans like the pesky bug-type it is.

"Hold!" Ran orders confidently and succinctly, trusting in Ekans to weather the attack for now and only strike when he's gotten past the worst of Supersonic's effect.

It's an unpleasant visual to see his pokémon curled up defensively and absorb attack after attack, especially as Ledian's Swift starts inflicting visible damage, scuffing and bruising Ekans' purple hide, but Ran trusts his starter. He's right to do so, as finally, paralysis locks up Ledian's limbs for a few crucial moments. The bug-type goes tumbling into the dirt, its body now wracked by Spinarak's poison and the lingering effects from Ekans' glare.

Ekans rears up instantly, the upper fourth of his body bulging obscenely for a moment as the Acid he's clearly been building up for a while waits to be unleashed. Like an ancient onager, his whole upper body swings forwards in a single rigid move, before his maw opens. A huge purple blob of Acid goes flying right at the downed Ledian, which is still struggling to crawl back upright.

Its attempt at a dodge never even gets the chance to take form, as it disappears under the purple attack, its entire body obscured by biting purple acid for long seconds. When no movement is forthcoming, Josie calls out, "It's your call Tommy, but I think Ledian's done, if it doesn't move in the next five seconds, I'm calling it!"

"No need," Tommy sighs dejectedly, as he recalls Ledian without further urging, "Even if he's still conscious, we concede."

"Good fight," Ran says, returning Ekans before striding into the field, taking care to avoid the large patches of purple left behind by his pokémon's efforts, "That was closer than I was expecting."

Tommy waves the compliment away easily, "I've got a long way to go. Shouldn't have panicked like that when you pulled out the Ghost-type attacks. That's what those were, right?"

Ran nods agreeably, leaving Tommy to chuckle wryly, "Yeah, I should've remembered the Ariados-line learns those. It's a sign that it's getting close to evolution though, isn't it?"

"I'd like to think so, but… I don't know for sure," Ran admits after a moment's hesitation, before looking towards Josie, whose stomach rumbles audibly at that moment, "We can talk about this over lunch though, do we need to clean any of this up?"

"Nah," Tommy waves him off once more, "Cleaning staff is probably waiting to get at the field anyways. They usually do it right after Bugsy breaks for lunch, so we just delayed them by a bit. Now come on, we'll go get burgers, if you're both alright with that?"

Ran and Josie agree easily enough, the three of them sharing observations on the fight as they make the short walk to the only fast food restaurant in town and place their orders. Soon enough, they're sitting down to dig into their thoroughly unhealthy but oh so tasty meals.

"So what were you saying about Spinarak evolving soon?" Ran asks curiously, returning to Tommy's earlier comment, "I've researched the moves she can learn and the Ariados-line in general extensively on my pokégear, but I didn't really find anything on clear signs to indicate upcoming evolution. There honestly wasn't all that much to find on her species in general."

"No you wouldn't, I guess, it's hardly a very popular line that's had a lot of research poured into it," Tommy denies, "But Bugsy's got me reading up on all of the bug-types now that I'm working for him, including some manuals he's written himself. He's evolved a handful of Spinarak into Ariados at this point and it was one of his notes that they'd all learned to use Ghost-type attacks not that long before. He even added a note that he thought that they might not be Bug-Poison at all at one point, but I checked up on that with him and then he just handed me a twenty page paper he's sent off for peer-review in which he conclusively proves that they are in fact Bug-Poison and can't be used as an argument for triple type theory. Or that was the main take anyways, I think. I only read the first page or so of that one."

Tommy shrugs guiltily at Ran's amused look, taking a large bite of his burger to keep his mouth busy, but it's Josie who carries on the conversation, "So what's your job like, anyways? Just from hearing this, it's already sounding like a lot more reading than I assumed Gym Trainers got up to."

"Don't know about that," He clarifies after a large swallow, "From what Bugsy's said we're not exactly a typical Gym at the moment. But yeah, due to the lack of suitable applicants that are willing to work with exclusively Bug-types, in their capacity as staff at least, he's been giving me a crash course to try and get me up to a level where I'm good enough to offer the mid-range badge trainers a proper challenge as well. Not with my own team, obviously, I've only just added Paras and he's not at that level yet at all, but with Gym loaners. I figured I could hold my own at that level if the loaners were strong enough, but I've gotten to watch a few matches since and it's about a lot more than just how strong your pokémon are. My reflexes and my strategies aren't at that level yet."

Ran and Josie listen along politely as Tommy continues to explain his job, the other boy clearly happy enough to talk about the subject.

"So right now I'm not getting all that many battles in the Gym, because our Gym Trainer Challenge isn't drawing much interest yet. Because of that, on top of my normal duties like helping take care of the Gym's stable and training my own team, Bugsy's mostly had me studying Bug-types and general battle strategies. Oh and he's got me planning for my next two additions as well. I'm supposed to catch them one right after the other, because Bugsy wants me to see if them each having an equal rival to compete with will stimulate their growth, like it tends to do with trainers." Tommy finishes explaining, before directing his attention towards Ran and asking for a proper update on just what he's been up to, before he takes a large slurp of his soda.

Ran dutifully gives Tommy a cliff notes version of his own adventures, only omitting the details of his fight with Spencer. Tommy listens obediently, only interrupting when Ran mentions Golbat's evolution, to thank him for not just using the flying-type as his first pokémon in their own battle.

By the time they say their goodbyes, Tommy returning to the Gym for the rest of his workday whilst Ran and Josie stop by the pokécenter to check Spinarak in before heading out towards Ilex Forest for some training, Ran surprisedly realizes that this version of Tommy is one he could actually be friends with. Where the other boy used to be a bull-headed meathead who took out his own frustrations and insecurities on any target he could find, a steady job working with pokémon and measurable growth has leveled him out and made him pretty likable.

By evening however, Ran's good mood and friendly estimation of Tommy take a nosedive, when his pokégear buzzes with an incoming message. The sender's been saved amongst his contacts since their school days, though he never really exchanged any messages with him other than the initial obligatory ones when they first became classmates. Not until after his win against Falkner at least.

Bugsy's name is bold on his screen once more, as he calls a temporary halt to Ekans' attempts to learn Scary Face by building on Glare, whilst Golbat returns from his impromptu obstacle course amongst the trees. Reluctantly, with the sounds of Josie's fire-types training in the distance, Ran opens Bugsy's message.

Bugsy: Hello Ran. I'm checking in with you because Tommy mentioned that you're back in town already and we've got your challenge booked for next week. I'd have preferred a message to confirm as much, but I'm happy you've made this decision. Based on the data on your trainer profile and my conversation with Falkner, I just wanted to double check that you're going for poison as your specialty?

Bugsy: If you're open to shifting to bug-types, please do let me know, as Tommy was very impressed by that Spinarak of yours! I hope to see it for myself when we battle next week. Good luck with your preparations and I'm looking forward to your challenge next week.

Just as Ran finishes reading Bugsy's message, his pokégear vibrates once more as a new message pops up under the first one.

Bugsy: Oh and I do expect a reply this time.

Ekans' worried hiss finally makes Ran aware of just how badly he's clenching his own jaw. With a deliberate effort, he relaxes the tightened muscles, even as his eyes rapidly fly over the screen once more.

What does this mean? What is Bugsy's game here? Asking about his specialty and acting as if he'd support Ran if he were to change to focusing on bug-types? Just how deeply has Bugsy looked into him?

Ran seethes quietly, whilst only Ekans' earlier worry keeps him from grinding his teeth once more. His thoughts go at a thousand miles a minute but keep going in the same circles fruitlessly even so. He moves to start typing a response three different times, only to think better of it before he can even hit the first key and withdraw his hand once more.

Finally, after entirely too much time spent thinking, his answer is ultimately brief and to the point.

Ran: I'm sticking with poison-types. See you next week.

---

Author's Note: Tommy's gotten a lot better, but a roster of Paras and Ledian isn't exactly the most intimidating sight in the world, even if him having an evolved starter before Ran probably has to rankle just a bit. As for Bugsy... I'm curious to read your thoughts on this one. Do keep in mind that a potential pivot to Bug-types doesn't necessitate getting rid of Ekans and Zubat, though one could read it as being implied so it's really up to you guys to interpret based off of the information available to you. Next week's chapter brings the long-awaited Hive Badge Gym battle! It promises to be quite something indeed.

As always, the next two weeks' worth of content, which includes Ran challenging for the Hive Badge, are already available to my supporters. Additionally, there's a large interlude from Bugsy's POV on there which was voted on by this month's Contributors and which sheds a lot of light on what Bugsy's been up to and how he sees things. Interested? Have a look at my Patreon.

Even if you're not interested in Early Access, if you've got something to spare, I'd really appreciate any help you can offer. I'm eyeing a team picture commission for around chapter 20, so some help towards that end would also be very welcome. So if a one-off donation is more your speed, please check out my Ko-fi.

 

[The Dave]

The first few days following Bugsy's late-evening text messages pass swiftly. Ran starts out by spending half a day visiting the Charcoal Kiln, where Josie casually displays her father's deep pockets by buying six fire-type boosting Charcoal pieces at once. Ran's old part-time employer is so pleased by the major sale that he throws in the commissioned work to fit each piece in a suitable accessory for free.

For Ginger, they settle on an elaborately braided neck rope, the piece of charcoal sitting snugly against her neck. The effect is obvious, as the moment the Charcoal touches Ginger's hide, her mane glows brighter and her hoofbeats throw off visible sparks when she trots in place.

Josie's other two fire-types, Chief the Growlithe and Soot the Houndour, get matching handkerchiefs around their necks, with special knots to ensure that they can be refitted upon evolution. Like with Ginger, both pokémon are visibly empowered by the curious item's inherent power, as the temperature around both pokémon is noticeably elevated for a few hours, until they figure out how to control their newfound power boosts.

Next, Ran takes Josie along to Kurt's house, as he happily explains the benefits of Kurt's specialty balls, like the Level Ball and the Friend Ball he used to capture Spinarak and Zubat. Kurt, like the Charcoal couple, is happy to see Ran and even happier for the business, as Ran finally dips into his own winnings to buy a Moon Ball, the prize object one he'd long desired but could never afford in the past. Josie is initially intrigued by Kurt's work, but ultimately doesn't buy anything when she learns that there are no particular specialty balls to help with catching fire-types.

With their business in town done until evening, when Josie will join Ran and his father for dinner, they move towards Ilex Forest and start training hard, assuming that the Bug-types there are the best preparation they're likely to find for Bugsy's Gym. They aren't the only ones with the same idea either, as the woods are nearly swarming with eager trainers, most roughly on the same level as Ran and Josie, though there are also more than a few complete beginners who are hoping to win their first badge off of Bugsy, as well as some more experienced trainers who are either hunting for elusive bug-types like Heracross and Scyther, preparing for a higher-tier challenge against Bugsy or doing both at the same time.

It leads to more than a few battles both on that first half day and on the days after it, as there's only so much prime training space to be had, but between the pair of them, Ran and Josie generally manage to secure a sufficiently large area free of wild pokémon and interfering trainers to work with every day. Though they do end up having to cut their training short on the third day, when a slightly older trainer chases them both off by flashing Kanto's eight badges and sending out an angry Golduck the moment it seems like Josie's about to object.

Between its water-typing, ability to learn some strong psychic moves and the clear disparity in experience between them, Ran decides that discretion is the better part of valor and he even manages to drag Josie away from that particular confrontation before any foolish challenges can be thrown around. That he then has to suffer the brunt of her displeasure until he manages to distract her by bringing up the next day's planned scouting excursion to Bugsy's Gym is a burden he bears gladly.

The scouting trip in question, which occurs a few days after an uneventful dinner with Ran's father, is really little more than them arriving at the Gym early, buying tickets for the day and making their way into the spectators' stands with their pokégear set to the notepad feature. Bugsy clearly has an extremely busy day, possibly due to the Gym not being open for challenges the next weekend. There's a match scheduled every ten minutes, starting at nine in the morning and only pausing for an hour long break at noon, with matches continuing until six in the evening.

Only the matches just before lunch and at the end of the day really stand out, with both billed as high level challenges that might go over their time limit. Though they won't be useful fights for Ran's own preparation, he still looks forward to them eagerly whilst the first few hours pass slowly, with Ran and Josie taking notes all the while.

From a practical standpoint, the main takeaway is that Bugsy exclusively accepts two-against-two battles for first-, second- and third-badge challengers. The second point they both take notes on, is Bugsy's surprising tendencies when it comes to which pokémon he uses. Starting out with Caterpie or Weedle, as Bugsy does without fail,is reasonable enough for a first badge challenge , but for second and third badge challengers the weak bug-types which tend to evolve very early are clearly woefully outmatched time and time again.

Still, Bugsy's logic becomes apparent soon enough, as without fail his first pokémon is sent out to battle with a single clear goal. To slow down its opponent as much as possible. Without fail, the small bug-type that Bugsy starts out with lands at least one or two, and often more, String Shots aimed at both coating large swathes of the field in sticky threads whilst also hindering and slowing its opponent down. Caterpie or Weedle without fail then gets beaten without landing any actual meaningful damage on its opponent, but that isn't Bugsy's goal.

Because then his second pokémon gets sent out and the step up from facing a Caterpie or Weedle to facing a Pinsir, Heracross or rarely Scyther is enough of a shock for some challengers to lose the match then and there. Because for some, the shock is so great that they take too long to shift gears, allowing Bugsy to further buff up his new pokémon with moves like Harden and Swords Dance before steamrolling their slowed initial opponent and the challenger's next pokémon shortly afterwards.

It takes some frantic research and urgent whispered discussion, but the pair of Ran and Josie eventually agrees that Bugsy went through the trouble of selecting for Pinsirs and Heracrosses with the Moxie-ability, which further justifies Bugsy's set-up heavy approach to the lower-level challenges. Fortunately, although challengers aren't allowed to switch, there are ways to counteract Bugsy's approach, as more than a few challengers showcase.

Generally, those trainers that beat Bugsy tend to fall into two categories. Firstly, there's those trainers that clearly came by earlier or looked up Bugsy's matches online and scouted his battle style, as they do whatever they must to prevent even a single String Shot from connecting. Some use flying-types to evade the attacks, others rely on fire-types to burn right through the bothersome webs. Still others rely on raw speed, or opt for pokémon that are naturally slow anyways, that won't be hindered by further speed decreases due to their raw power or great defenses. One particularly noteworthy sponsored trainer goes so far as to have his clearly recently-caught Slowpoke use Trick Room to turn Bugsy's strategy completely against him.

Second, there's also a handful of winning trainers who aren't clearly aware of Bugsy's strategy in advance, or possibly they simply don't care enough to change their own approach to counter him specifically. Either way, they manage to overcome Bugsy either through type advantages, very strong pokémon of their own or simply through not letting the shift between Bugsy's first and second pokémon throw them out of their own battle rhythm. Already well-aware that he's susceptible to such tricks himself, Ran is quite happy to have all of the information in advance, though Bugsy's consistent approach does ultimately make for some pretty boring viewing.

Fortunately, just before they can really start to get bored, the final match before noon rolls around, a trainer who ended the previous circuit with five badges having her first go of the new season at earning her sixth badge. The fight is a four-against-four, with three free switches allowed to both trainers. The girl, a year or two older than Ran, uses Politoed, Misdreavus, Snubbull and Stantler over the course of the match.

It's a team that doesn't have a particularly clear logic behind it, but she puts up a good fight in spite of that. Not that it proves to be enough, as Politoed and Snubbull are dispatched by a Forretress that dominates the field with Toxic Spikes and Zap Cannon before Misdreavus finally manages to overcome Bugsy's first pokémon. The Yanmega that gets sent out next starts out fast and only gets faster, blowing through the girl's remaining team with little trouble.

Bugsy moves to the middle of the field, looking to exchange some polite pointers, but the pretty one-sided dismantling clearly did a number on his opponent, as the brunette storms out with tears flowing down her cheeks, the crowd's applause for their Gym leader awkwardly dying down at the less than glorious sight. Ran begrudgingly has to give Bugsy some credit for his crowd management however, as the young Gym Leader politely thanks the crowd before defending the girl's behavior as he expresses his understanding for her emotional reaction to her loss.

After another round of applause, the crowd starts to dissipate as Bugsy departs for his break, Ran and Josie joining their fellow spectators as the crowd drifts apart into small groups either heading home, to some form of restaurant for lunch, or as is the case for more than an unfortunate few, back to work. For their part, Ran and Josie exchange looks, before heading back out to Ilex Forest once more. It's a shame to miss the other high-level fight at the end of the day, but with seventeen low-level fights that all stuck to the same pattern, neither wants to spend the afternoon spectating even more fights to see if there's any further minor details to be gleaned.

Instead they return to training once more, the Golduck trainer from the previous day fortunately not crossing their paths again. They split up again, Josie's want and need to quite literally play with fire necessitating plenty of room to work with. Ran doesn't mind however, as soon enough his team is once more diving headfirst into their training.

For Golbat, training is twofold, as Ran sets the flying-type to flying improvised obstacle courses, relying on Ilex Forest's naturally present bug-types, as well as some webs produced by Spinarak, to provide a sufficiently challenging course for the large flier. Primarily, they're continuing to work on Golbat's speed and agility in the air, his larger wings enabling greater feats of speed than he ever managed as a Zubat.

They've seen solid results already, as by this point Golbat has clearly completely adjusted to his significant change in size, flight speed and general agility far better now than when he'd been newly evolved. However, his evolution doesn't just require a general change to his deliberate movements, but also necessitates some significant changes to his ingrained reflexes, as what used to be enough of a dodge to turn an attack into a comfortable miss is now only enough to turn a full hit into a glancing one. It's those subconscious estimations of incoming threats which Golbat is still working on, a lifetime's worth of ingrained habits not proving that easy to change.

As a secondary goal geared specifically at overcoming his bad habits, throughout Golbat's practice, Ran has Spinarak occasionally launch a Shadow Sneak towards her flying teammate, with Golbat having a standing order to try and use the new move Quick Guard. By working to truly incorporate Quick Guard's larger juking reactions compared to the smaller dodges he got away with as a Zubat, Ran hopes to sooner beat Golbat's currently insufficient reflexive movements out of him.

That part of training is far less smooth sailing however, as neither Ekans nor Spinarak are particularly renowned for their speed, which often gives Golbat too much time to act, preventing his reflexes from being triggered in the first place, but incremental bit by incremental bit, Golbat makes progress in learning the defensive fighting-type move nevertheless.

For Ekans, things are slightly more complicated. Ran's pokégear is very clear that Ekans doesn't generally learn Scary Face in the wild and that generally a TM is the way to go, but that's an expense he desperately wants to avoid. Instead, he's experimenting, hoping that between Ekans already knowing Glare, showing him footage of the move being used by another Ekans and some pointers from Spinarak, his starter will be able to figure the move out naturally. It's not smooth sailing at all, but they are slowly making some progress, leaving Ran confident that they'll get there.

That's not all however, as Ekans' increasing proficiency with normal-type energy has Ran add another three moves to the to-do list for the dutiful poison-type. Unlike Scary Face, the trio of Stockpile, Swallow and Spit Up do come naturally to the Ekans line, but the page Ran found on his pokégear also makes it clear that the moves generally aren't learned until after evolving into Arbok. When Ran double checked with Ekans whether his starter was willing to try and master the moves early however, his immediate failed attempt to pull Stockpile off on the spot had been answer enough.

Finally, for Spinarak, things are a fair bit simpler even as she's arguably the most industrious of them all. With her two new ghost-type moves well and truly mastered, in between ambushing Golbat and giving Ekans pointers, she's freely wandering off into the forest to hunt and to battle any wild pokémon she finds lurking in Ilex Forest. Over the course of the afternoon she returns with some minor visible injuries twice, whilst needing Golbat's interference when she's chased back towards the team by a hungry Noctowl once, but other than those few moments, she's clearly largely successful, as her happy chitters and excited wiggling whenever Ran addresses her show.

The next few days pass like that, with them heading out into Ilex Forest early and working hard all day, with any breaks from training either being to eat, patch up any injuries or battle other trainers. Then, by the time evening falls each day, they stumble back into Azalea Town, with them both heading to the pokécenter to have their teams healed up before Ran splits off to have dinner at home whilst Josie, after that first meal, prefers providing for herself for the evening.

It's more exhausting than traveling in a lot of ways, as Ran makes and lugs around impromptu targets every day, hustles from one training pokémon to another and throughout the day accrues a litany of small scuffs and scratches from just being active in nature. He wouldn't trade it for anything however, as his team improves with every passing day. Though he enjoys battling far more than training, the benefits of a mixed approach are hard to argue against.

A week and a day after Ran first returned to Azalea Town, they don't head out to Ilex Forest. Instead, after a lay-in and a rare, leisurely breakfast, they slowly head to the Gym once more. Ran's reservation is deliberately half an hour ahead of Josie's this time, so that they can both watch and support the other. Because of this, when they eventually arrive at the Gym, Josie heads right for the bleachers, whilst Ran follows the receptionist's directions and ends up in the challengers' waiting room.

It's one of a limited number of rooms in the Gym he's never been in before, its interior not yet updated to Bugsy's preferred styles and instead still in the old-fashioned steamboat style from the previous ownership. Unlike in Violet City, it's also clearly a singular communal room for all the waiting challengers, meaning that Ran joins another rookie who is scheduled directly ahead of him. She's a younger girl, her age clearly marking her out as a sponsored trainer with an SGC-license, a Sponsored Gym Challenge license, but she's got headphones in and is clearly focusing on her own stuff, so Ran leaves her alone and simply sinks down in a seat of his own before patiently twiddling his thumbs.

After a few minutes the girl gets called on, shooting Ran a cheeky thumbs up before confidently striding through the double doors at the other end of the room. Doing his very best to catch some sounds from the arena, Ran soon has to conclude that the soundproofing is definitely up to standard, not one sound from the ongoing battle leaking through the doors. Before he can get back to the tremendously entertaining time waste that is twiddling his thumbs however, there's a purple flash in the center of the room.

Ran nearly topples off of his seat in surprise, as a female trainer roughly his own age is teleported into the waiting room by the Jynx that's holding her hand. As the girl looks around, she scoffs derisively at her surroundings, before her eyes land on Ran, examining him like he is her.

She's got dark brown hair, part of it falling down to just under her shoulder blades in dark waves, but most of it caught up in a complex crown braid. Her eyes are a striking blue, almost sharp enough to make a shiver run through Ran when he meets them with his own brown pair. Her pale skin is accented further by a very tight bordeaux turtleneck sweater over which she wears an open, thin dark blue jacket.

He realizes he's staring just a moment too late, as her expression turns sour when his gaze stays stuck on her distractingly well-contoured figure. Apologetically, Ran raises a hand in an embarrassed greeting, but the slight sneer he receives in return is less than encouraging.

Still, not wanting to leave her stuck with a bad first impression, he presses on, "Hi, I'm Ran Carr. What tier are you challenging at?"

The girl frowns, but does at least answer even as she recalls her pokémon, "Karolina Brandt. I'm challenging at an eight-badge-level."

"Oh," Ran winces in sympathy, assuming that her challenging for her eight badge this early in the season means she just barely missed out on participating in the previous Conference, "Do you mind if I ask, did you run out of time last circuit or what happened exactly?"

"I don't mind you asking, though you're making a wrong assumption," Karolina replies with cold confidence, "I'm debuting, I've just sent ahead word of my team's composition and attached some video footage of my training and been granted an exemption to challenge at a tier of my choosing. This Gym was the only one that made such an acceptable offer, which is why I'm starting here."

"That's a thing you can do?" Ran asks in surprise, drawing an aggrieved sigh from the other trainer.

"It's standard procedure for trainers who've competed in at least one Conference to start at a higher tier even if they're moving to a new League or if their original badges' validations expire. For debuting trainers it's certainly rarer, though as I said, an exemption was made. I assume you're challenging for your first badge, then?" The dismissive attitude with which she ends her explanation bothers Ran something fierce, her eyes visibly falling to the three pokéballs at his side before she seemingly classifies him as a rank amateur.

"My second one, actually." Ran responds shortly, now far less interested in keeping the conversation going than he was before.

Karolina's answering with an unimpressed 'good for you' does her no favors in his mind either. Because of this, the final two minutes before the double doors swing open are spent in a frosty silence hanging over the room.

As he strides out into the arena, Ran dismisses the brief interaction from his mind, his gaze moving to the bleachers as he seeks out the familiar figures of Josie and his father amongst the significant crowd. For a moment, he's surprised by the sheer numbers of spectators, before he remembers that the scheduled Gym matches are openly available to anyone with an internet connection and an interest.

Though his own match undoubtedly didn't drum up anywhere near this much attention, a debuting trainer immediately challenging at the highest badge-tier likely did. So now, due to an unfortunate scheduling coincidence, Ran gets to be the boring appetizer in front of a massive hometown crowd. It would be enough to sour his mood in most circumstances, but his father's proud smile as Ran enters his trainer's box is enough to keep him eager and motivated, as he finally turns his attention to Bugsy.

Standing on the other side of the arena with that stupid bug catching net of his in one hand, Azalea Town's Gym Leader offers Ran a smile, which Ran ignores by looking down at his pokéballs, running his hands over them once more in a feigned maneuver meant to be seen as him reassuring himself. It provides a convenient cover for his unwillingness to return Bugsy's smile and if it leads to him being underestimated, then so much the better.

He tunes out the referee as the older man goes over the typical rules, already knowing that he's once more facing a two-against-two singles battle with no allowed switches. He does his best to tune out the rising crowd noise, as the announcer starts hyping up the battle between two hometown trainers. Ran is under no delusions that the crowd's on his side, Bugsy having brought great honor to Azalea mere months ago and now doing a great job breathing new life into a once stagnant Gym.

Still, even if most of the crowd is against him, Josie cheers audibly when the announcer calls out Ran's name whilst Ran's father visibly receives a few congratulatory pats on the back from some of the nearby spectators that are friendly with him. Pride, at making it this far after nearly having given up right at the start of his journey, wars in his gut with embarrassment, that he's fighting a former classmate who is now a Gym Leader whilst Ran is only challenging for his second badge.

Finally, all the necessary formalities are out of the way, as the referee counts them down. Though Golbat has the most favorable match-up, Ran's plan does not include him. Instead, Spinarak will handle Bugsy's first choice and then turn the tables against whatever intended sweeper he sends out next, slowing it down with String Shot and Scary Face before either finishing the job herself, or giving Ekans a slow and vulnerable opponent to contend with.

Or at least that's the plan, but when Spinarak appears on the field, she doesn't face the expected Caterpie or Weedle. Instead, to Ran's surprise and significant displeasure, Bugsy sends out a Venonat as his first choice. His eyes shoot to the Gym Leader in disbelief, but Bugsy's expression is inscrutable, not showing anything to hint at his motivations for suddenly deviating from the approach he'd used for the seventeen fights Ran and Josie spectated mere days ago.

---

Author's Note:
And it is on! Ran vs. Bugsy for the Hive Badge, here we go!

Some notes:
- Josie casually buying 6 pieces of Charcoal in a, to Ran, staggering display of wealth, is a solid reminder of the disadvantages the unsponsored trainers face.
- Training and new moves, as Ran pushes his team to new heights is pretty abbreviated here, as Ran is hyper-focused on his at that point upcoming Gym battle.
- Ran actually prepping for his Gym battle by doing some scouting is new! This'll likely be a recurring feature, at least if he isn't completely turned off from it because...
- Bugsy throws him a curveball! Venonat is not a typical choice for him at the second-badge level, one wonders what that's about?
- Karolina, a rookie who immediately debuts at an eight badge level! Though she's definitely out of Ran's league (assuming she isn't wildly overestimating herself), that's an interesting figure we'll likely be seeing more of further down the line.

As always, the next two weeks' worth of content, which includes Ran completing his challenge for the Hive Badge, is already available to my supporters. Additionally, there's a large interlude from Bugsy's POV on there which was voted on by last month's Contributors and which sheds a lot of light on what Bugsy's been up to and how he sees things. Interested? Have a look at my Patreon.

Even if you're not interested in Early Access, if you've got something to spare, I'd really appreciate any help you can offer. I'm eyeing a team picture commission for around chapter 20, so some help towards that end would also be very welcome. So if a one-off donation is more your speed, please check out my Ko-fi.

 

[The Dave]

"Confusion." Bugsy orders dryly, catching Ran off guard. As Venonat's eyes start to glow with pink energy however, he bursts into action.

"Shadow Sneak! Don't give it an easy target!" He orders hurriedly. Spinarak obliges instantly, sinking into her own stretching shadow even as waves of pink psychic energy start to radiate off of Venonat's fuzzy form. The barrier surrounding the arena, upheld by one of the Gym's dutiful Mr. Mimes, ripples gently as the attack strikes it, but the attack crucially doesn't initially hit Spinarak before impacting the barrier.

Only as his dutiful bug-type resurfaces a mere foot from Venonat does she briefly get hit by the purple fuzzball's super-effective attack and then only briefly, as her forward momentum carries her into Venonat. Both pokémon squeal in pain, but Venonat's squeal is the louder one, as it is sent flying by the impact, a ghostly afterimage of Spinarak sticking to its form and biting away at it for a second before fading away.

"Again!" Ran commands instantly, looking to push the temporary advantage and keep Venonat too pressured to call upon its super-effective psychic abilities once more.

"Disable." Bugsy counters succinctly, Spinarak already partially sunken into the ground when Venonat's antennae flash brightly for a moment. Ran can only watch in dismay as Spinarak's attack fails, as she gets forcefully thrown out of her own shadow and is caught out in the open.

"Psybeam." Bugsy continues, calling for an even stronger psychic-type attack now that both pokémon are fighting at a closer range.

Ran growls out his next order, feeling his temper rise as the momentum shifts against them, "Night Shade!"

Venonat's eyes start to glow pink once more, but before it can muster the more complex attack that builds off of Confusion, Spinarak shows just how well-drilled she is. Her own body glows with purple energy for a mere moment, tripling in size, with her mandibles exceeding even that factor of growth, easily quintupling in size as they stretch ever outwards, dripping incorporeal poison as they close in on Venonat from two sides.

With a haunting shriek, the mandibles connect with Venonat's form before disappearing a few inches deep into its body on either side, the glow in its eyes instantly cutting out as psychic-energy gets disrupted by ghost-energy. Ran smiles in triumph, punching his fist forward as he follows up with another order.

"Poison Sting! Don't give it time to recover!"

Spinarak obeys immediately, her whole body tensing briefly before she rocks forwards on her many legs, poison darts flying out from her small mouth in a rapidly-expanding cone, closing the short distance to the pained Venonat easily and hammering into its body.

"Supersonic." Bugsy instructs, his own volume rising to make sure that between the pain it's suffering and its own cries, Venonat still hears him well enough to carry out his orders.

"Don't let up!" Ran urges his own pokémon, unsure of any better order to give in the moment.

Venonat's antennae start vibrating on top of its head, clearly sending out supersonic waves for multiple seconds on end. To Ran's intense relief however, they don't seem to hit or affect Spinarak, as his own bug-type merely keeps up her barrage of Poison Stings. Venonat resists the attack and it's hardly all that impactful in the first place, but every small bit counts, as Venonat looks substantially worse for wear than Spinarak.

The purple bug-type realizes that its Supersonic isn't having any effect, dropping the attack. Before it can act and before Bugsy can give another order however, Ran is already shouting out an order of his own.

"Night Shade again! Don't give it time to pull any funny business!"

"Ps- Tackle it. Get in there." Bugsy starts to say, only to cut himself off and go with another order instead.

Once more Spinarak calls upon ghost-type energy to form an enlarged specter of herself, but this time Venonat doesn't offer an easy, stationary target. Instead the fuzzy purple sphere with feet darts forwards the few feet separating both pokémon before leaping directly at the center of Spinarak's large ghost form, trusting that it'll find its target at the center.

Its trust is justified, but as it passes through Spinarak's Night Shade it cries out in clear pain, the ghost-type energy eagerly collapsing onto a target foolish enough to throw itself right into the center of it. Venonat's cry isn't the only one however, as a loud thwack makes it very clear that its full-body Tackle connected with a pained Spinarak.

As the ghost-type energy evaporates, a slightly trembling Spinarak is getting back onto her feet, whilst the unconscious Venonat lies defeated next to her. Ran pumps his fist in elation, shouting praise to Spinarak, who perks up slightly. In the audience, which is stirred up by the first decisive result, he can distinctly pick out Josie's enthusiastic cheers and his father's trademark loud, echoing claps.

Their support buoys Ran's mood even further, but one glance at Bugsy is enough to remind him that the fight isn't over just yet. With his first pokémon already upgraded from Weedle or Caterpie to the significantly more threatening Venonat, to poison-types at least, Ran watches with no small amount of trepidation as Bugsy selects his second pokéball once he's recalled Venonat.

It's not exactly surprising, after Venonat, to see Bugsy once more opt for a pokémon he doesn't use a lot on the lower badge levels as Scyther materializes. Still, at least Ran had anticipated Bugsy's selection this time, as the large light green Mantis Pokémon's secondary flying-typing does give it a very favorable matchup against Spinarak. Not that his prediction proving accurate does anything to ease Ran's mood. In fact, it's closer to the opposite.

Irritatingly, Ran knows that the sight of a Scyther appearing on Bugsy's side presses buttons he shouldn't be letting get pressed. Even with that quiet rational thought in the back of his mind however, he still feels his temper rise once more, the sight of a pokémon like the one that nearly cost him his dream three years ago working on him like a red cloth on a Tauros.

With Spinarak not at her best and any exchange of attacks likely to be brief and heavily against her, Ran gives the only orders he sees any use in, under the circumstances.

"Scary Face and String Shot! Slow it down as much as you can!" He barks out, Spinarak trilling obediently as she restarts the fight.

"Quick Attack." Bugsy commands with quiet confidence, Scyther dashing forwards in a single green streak and bowling over Spinarak in two seconds flat. The attack is so fast, that Spinarak can't even get Scary Face off, merely being sent ragdolling by the impact of the larger pokémon as she does her best to recover.

"Hang in there!" Ran encourages her, even as Bugsy simply instructs his Scyther to keep his attack up.

In short succession, Spinarak gets battered three more times, her attempts at Scary Face and String Shot not even getting an opportunity to be executed fully before Scyther is racing past her, sending her tumbling to the ground once more. Ran winces in sympathy as his brave bug-type struggles to get back on her feet once more. Blessedly, Scyther pauses for a moment after its fourth Quick Attack in short order, clearly needing to catch its breath for a few seconds.

Taking a look at Spinarak, now visibly struggling to remain standing, he accepts that the next hit she takes will knock her out. The thought to gamble it all on a single Shadow Sneak, now likely recovered from Venonat's earlier Disable, pops into his head, but he dismisses it instantly. Though it'd likely do some damage, Scyther's speed is a greater threat than its full health, as the Mantis Pokémon is hardly known for its sturdiness.

Ultimately, there's only one real order to give.

"Get ready, Spinarak! String Mine!" Ran orders, Spinarak squeaking obediently as she tenses in place before staring right at Scyther.

"Finish it, Scyther. Wing Attack." Bugsy orders slowly, clearly intrigued by the unfamiliar command Ran just gave. Still, his order draws a wince from Ran as the super-effective move is announced.

Scyther rushes forwards once more, only slightly slower than during its previous Quick Attacks, whilst the wings on its back glow ominously with white flying-energy. Choosing for a slightly slower though more damaging attack is a mistake in this case however, one Ran is happy to punish his opponent for.

"NOW!" He barks, when Scyther's already closed half the distance.

Obediently, Spinarak rolls over onto her back immediately, before shooting dual malformed String Shots directly above her from both her mouth and abdomen. Rather than the normal long, tightly wound strings fired to make the attack cover a greater distance at speed however, Spinarak instead fires off wide blasts of webbing, hundreds of tiny strings flying in every direction in a poor man's facsimile of a Sticky Web. The fine strings of webbing lose nearly all of their momentum after just a few feet and leave her entirely defenseless, leaving the variation on String Shot useless in most cases.

In these exact circumstances however, it works to a tee. Scyther's straight dash towards Spinarak's prone form carries too much speed to be aborted, its Wing Attack hitting the defenseless Spinarak with crunching force and knocking her out on the spot, her soft underbelly denting worryingly and a trail of her blood trailing away from her unconscious body and leading to some twenty feet away, where Scyther finally comes to a stop.

Ran lets out a horrified shout and recalls Spinarak instantly, the severely-wounded Bug-type kept safe in stasis until they can make it to the pokécenter. He pays Bugsy's apologetic grimace no attention, cold gaze instead locking on Scyther, who is covered in countless tiny white threads which stick together at every opportunity and visibly hinder Scyther's movements, as it tries to break some of the strings with its blades or by beating its wings.

Logically, Golbat is the obvious choice, because Scyther is slowed down and weak to Air Cutter. But today is an opportunity to get even, not just for Ran, but for his first partner as well.

"Ekans, it's up to you! Show everyone what you've got!" He announces, his starter appearing on the field and, upon spotting his opponent, hissing threateningly, tail rattling ominously.

Bugsy's expression grows sharper as Ekans appears, the Gym Leader examining the poison-type curiously before his attention returns to Ran once more, "The last time your Ekans faced a Scyther of mine in this building, it didn't end well for you."

Ran nearly has to bite his tongue off to contain what would undoubtedly be a less than friendly answer, but his starter has no such compunctions, uninterested in formalities or niceties and instead immediately Glaring at Scyther.

The move, not audibly called out by Ran, catches both Scyther and Bugsy by surprise, leaving them unable to react before Scyther's attention is locked on Ekans' menacing, glowing yellow eyes. With Scyther well and truly spellbound and Bugsy seemingly scrambling to adjust to the surprising start of the battle, Ekans takes the opportunity to transition from Glare into Leer, a visible full-body shiver running through Scyther as the tip of Ekans' forked tongue darts out for a moment, seemingly tasting the air in anticipation of a tasty meal.

Ran watches mutely, happy to let Ekans keep setting up according to one of the basic strategies they'd initially planned out for the start of battles before Ekans even knew the moves he's now executing. His seeming inaction is supposed to have the added benefit of making his opponents doubt themselves. At this moment, with Bugsy seemingly floundering, that appears to be working perfectly, vindicating the countless months Ran spent stuck in Azalea Town with only Ekans for company.

Ran is perfectly content to keep letting Ekans act on his own initiative, knowing that his starter has more than enough plans drilled into him for a hesitating opponent. Finally, however, the Gym Leader realizes that Ekans will keep acting on his own initiative so long as the situation doesn't change, at which point he finally gives out an order of his own.

"Double Team." Bugsy orders confidently, clearly willing to accept that Scyther will continue to be hindered by the many status-affecting moves Ran's team has used and instead focusing on keeping him unhurt.

As Scyther seems to blur in place before a ring of threatening illusory doubles starts forming around Ekans, Ran finally speaks once more as well, "Set yourself up for success."

Ekans hisses obediently, closing his eyes and letting his tongue dart out once more, testing the air as Bugsy and the crowd watch curiously, unsure about the meaning of Ran's order. Ekans knows however, and that's all Ran needs for now. With Scyther's Speed and Defense already hampered and Glare's effect causing random bouts of paralysis, there's no point in trying to attack it or hamper it further whilst using the energy-intensive Double Team. Instead, Ekans can afford to take his time and slowly use Stockpile, hiding the hard-to-see move under a confusing command and a distracting visual cue.

For an Arbok, a well-prepared opponent would likely catch on in short order. They'd have to, because Arbok can usually execute the move in mere seconds. But for an Ekans, who doesn't tend to learn the move at such an early point in its lifespan… Ran has high hopes that Bugsy won't catch on fast enough. If he does, the plan will fail, because Ekans still needs significantly more time to use Stockpile, their training enough to learn the move, but not yet master it to the point of being able to execute it swiftly.

Fortunately, Bugsy clearly thinks Ekans' scenting of the air is leading up to something else, because he keeps Scyther using Double Team as he tensely watches Ekans for any surprises. Long seconds pass, Ran's gaze also locked on Ekans for the small visual indicators that Stockpile is working. Knowing what he has to watch for, Ran smiles in satisfaction as Ekans' scales seem to puff up slightly, a sign that the skin underneath is growing taut due to the energy Ekans is storing inside himself.

At the next stage, those same scales will become a slightly darker purple, stored energy intensifying Ekans' general characteristics, but unfortunately they don't get that far, as Bugsy finally catches on.

"It's using Stockpile. Disrupt it with Slash." The Gym Leader orders sharply, catching Ran off-guard by calling for the famously dangerous move. From a technical perspective, Slash is no more and no less than its name implies, a pokémon slashing at another with whatever sharp body part it possesses, generally some form of claws. In Scyther's case, its blades are of course the weapon of choice.

But the technical description isn't the reason for Ran's surprise. No, that's Slash's well-earned reputation for being a potentially crippling attack at the lower levels. Compared to a lot of other attacks, Slash has a high damage output compared to a relatively low learning curve, meaning that it often shows up in surprisingly low-level fights, long before either participating pokémon is actually strong enough to weather the effects of the nasty attack.

It's this awareness which flashes through Ran's mind in an instant when hearing the name of the dreaded attack, but he doesn't let it faze him, trusting in Ekans' strength to see them through.

"Poison Sting! Find the real one and follow up with Acid!" He orders hurriedly, as the many Scythers all raise their right arm and race towards Ekans.

Ekans' head rises up immediately, a fusillade of small poisonous darts shooting out of his mouth as he starts sweeping it around in a wide arc, passing futilely through illusion after illusion. Before he can even get through half of the incoming army however, they arrive, Scyther's many doubles disappearing as the real one appears just a foot to the side of Ekans' swinging head, razor sharp blade hacking at Ekans' neck mere inches behind the skull.

Ekans' entire body gets wrenched downwards, the blade mercifully not piercing skin but still carrying so much momentum as to carry Ekans out of his coiled position as he gets carried along by the neck for a few feet before slamming into the ground as Scyther loses speed and finally comes to a stop.

"Wrap!" Ran orders instantly, not wanting to give Bugsy and Scyther time to reopen the distance or build up speed once more.

Bugsy's order to use Double Team comes a moment too late, as Ekans manages to react with surprising speed considering the hard hit he just took, hurriedly slipping around Scyther's lower right leg and managing a single loop before Bugsy has even finished speaking. Immediately, Ekans starts to build on his initial success, wrapping himself fully around Scyther's legs once, then once around its abdomen and once around its thorax, tying the bug-type's arms down against its own sides.

"Acid!" Ran orders, as Ekans finishes winding around Scyther, the two pokémon coming eye to eye as Ekans slowly tightens his grip further and further.

Ekans neck bulges obscenely as he starts gathering enough Acid to spit at Scyther, but Bugsy isn't done just yet, ordering his pokémon to use Wing Attack to try and break free.

Scyther's wings glow with flying-type energy, twitching frantically in place as it tries to free them from Ekans' grip. It visibly impacts Ekans, as Ran's starter winces in agony, but he doesn't let up as he finishes preparing his own attack.

"Get out of there!" Bugsy finally shouts, his calm facade breaking now that the fight is drifting firmly out of his grasp. It's a futile effort however, as Ekans' grip is unrelenting whilst his head rears back.

Finally, like a cannon going off, his head moves forwards before blowing back, as a thick purple ball of acid shoots out of Ekans' maw, jaw temporarily unhinging to create enough room, and flies right at Scyther's defenseless face. The bug-type cries out in pain as his head, neck and upper thorax get covered in the biting substance, the impact worsened by the recipient's inability to roll with the blow, as Ekans keeps his target well and truly immobilized.

At that moment, Scyther's attempts at freeing itself with Wing Attack sharply cut off, a Glare-induced attack of paralysis hammering its system. Instantly, Ran orders Ekans to capitalize on the opportunity with Bite.

Ekans' large fangs, usually hidden by laying flat against the roof of his mouth, click down into place as they glow with discomforting dark-type energy. Bugsy encourages Scyther to try and break out once more, but his words carry the taste of futility, as Ran leans forwards eagerly, grinning in delight as his starter lets out a threatening hiss.

Then Ekans' head shoots forward, biting down harshly on Scyther's upper thorax, the bug-type letting out a final pained shout as the combined damage from Wrap, Acid and Bite finally becomes too much for it to bear. Ran watches eagerly as Scyther's eyes drift closed, its legs giving out as it falls to the ground, Ekans riding his prey down before, when the referee lifts his flag and announces the conclusion of the fight, finally unwinding and proudly slithering towards Ran.

"Scyther is unable to battle! Gym Leader Bugsy is out of pokémon! Ran Carr is the winner!" The referee's call comes, ringing through the quiet arena. Then the announcer takes over, recapping the fights with more than a little embellishment and singing Ran's praises as the spectators break polite applause, Josie's wolf whistle easily audible over the large crowd's polite noise.

Ran's attention is on Ekans first and foremost, his starter winding up his body, head coming to rest on Ran's shoulder from behind, allowing Ran to easily whisper some praise to his battered pokémon as he takes a closer look at where Scyther's Slash had impacted. To his surprise however, there's no sign of damage whatsoever. Taking a closer look at Ekans' scales, he turns accusing eyes on his starter.

"You already used Swallow, didn't you?" He asks, amused by Ekans' initiative. The poison-type hisses unapologetically, head wiggling in what Ran has learned through the years to be Ekans' approximation of a shrug.

Not begrudging his starter's decision to heal himself now that the battle is won, Ran turns his attention to Bugsy, who is already waiting for him in the middle of the field. His footsteps feeling lighter than they have in years, even with Ekans' added weight, Ran strides towards the center of the field as well, eager to receive whatever Bugsy decided to name his badge.

"As the Azalea Town Gym Leader, I hereby proudly present you with the Hive Badge." Bugsy declares, unveiling a circular badge colored and embossed to resemble a three-spotted Ledyba's back.

Ran gladly accepts the badge, immediately moving to pin it to the inside of his jacket, next to his no longer lone Zephyr Badge.

"You performed very well against challenging odds, your team shows the signs of a dedicated trainer who is willing to dedicate himself fully to allow each of his pokémon to reach their full potential. I'm sure that you're worried about that Spinarak of yours but, having trained a few of my own, please let me assure you that it will recover just fine, as long as you don't bring it out of its ball again before seeking medical attention." Bugsy continues to speak whilst wringing his hands, showing a willingness to reassure Ran to the crowd whilst handily absolving himself of any blame for his excessive use of force in their fight.

Ran doesn't respond audibly, merely offering the smallest nod he feels like he can get away with under the circumstances. It's clearly not enough however, as Bugsy's own expression finally falls into a disappointed frown, likely from Ran seeing through his ploys. For the second time following a triumphant Gym challenge, Ran is met with a Gym leader's lowered voice as they tell him something they don't want the crowd to listen in on.

"I assume this grudge of yours towards me is about me winning the sponsorship three years ago," Bugsy notes warily, seeming quite unimpressed by the idea, "Which is a shame, because really, it's pretty childish of you. We went for the same opportunity and I outperformed you. Suck it up."

"You cost me three years," Ran finally audibly replies, forgetting to keep his voice down but the sheer disbelief he feels is so strong that it still only comes out as little more than a whisper, "You almost forced me to give up on training forever."

"Ah," Bugsy softly lets out, leaning back slightly as he looks at Ran taxingly, seemingly reevaluating him, "I see. Okay, that'll tie nicely into the advice bit of this conversation."

Before Ran can even start to puzzle over just what that's supposed to really mean, Bugsy starts in on him, "Firstly, purely from a battling perspective. You have a Golbat. Maybe you really can't control it and you didn't dare to use it, or maybe you figured you didn't need the type advantage. If it's the former, either sort that out or trade or sell it to someone that can and get yourself pokémon you can control. If it's the latter, get over yourself. You're at a point in your career where not using any advantages you can get doesn't make you look strong, it makes you look foolish."

"Secondly, though you're probably not ready to actually listen to this yet, particularly not from me," Bugsy continues, pausing for just a moment before barrelling on nevertheless, "Specializing in a type doesn't just affect your pokémon. It's a two-way street. No matter in which direction you look, the effects aren't always beneficial. Bad trainers create bad pokémon and… well I wouldn't call them bad, but some types definitely tend to influence less-than-desirable traits in their trainers. In your case, revenge and anger can be powerful motivators, but don't let them consume you. Use them to drive you, because clearly that's working for you. That you've come this far without help does you credit. But please remember, the world isn't out to get you. I beat you in the sponsorship final because I needed the sponsorship, not because I had anything against you. There's a thin line between motivation and obsession, I think it'll serve you well to just keep that in mind."

Ran doesn't muster a response, merely squinting his eyes suspiciously at Bugsy's words, unwilling to accept them at face value. The Gym Leader doesn't seem to mind however, as he simply takes a half step back, before raising his speaking volume for the benefit of the crowd once more, "I also award you this TM for U-Turn and of course the cash prize associated with winning your second Badge. But that's not all! In my position as a new Gym Leader, I've only recently gotten my hand on some fascinating exotic bug-type pokémon!"

The crowd, previously only mildly interested, breaks into excited whispers at Bugsy's declaration, as Ran waits uncomfortably for whatever other shoe Bugsy is about to drop, "Though I look forward to unveiling these new additions to my roster at a later time, one of them is unfortunately not a long-term match for my Gym, as it will lose its bug-typing upon evolution. Having contacted its original owner, I could easily return it for another pokémon. However, in my capacity as Azalea Town's Gym Leader, I need to think not only about my own reputation, but also the reputation of this great town! It is for these reasons that I, with great pride, present you, Ran Carr, an Azalea Town trainer, with this pokémon, native to the exotic continent of Sinnoh!"

Ran has to blink, twice, as Bugsy suddenly unveils a black pokéball with a golden circle running along its middle, a smaller gold-rimmed red circle forming a smaller circle two-thirds of the way between the middle and the top. When he offers the ball to Ran, Ran can only stare at the Gym Leader in confusion.

"Don't worry, though it doesn't remain a bug-type, I assure you that it is and will remain a poison-type both now and after evolution. Which should make it a perfect fit for your team." Bugsy assures him placidly, voice still carrying far enough for the audience to follow along easily. Everyone is now watching with bated breath, even as Bugsy is still holding the ball outstretched, waiting for Ran to accept it from him.

With the anticipatory crowd watching his every move, Ran forces himself to reach out a hand and accept the ball from Bugsy's hand. If this is some kind of plot on Bugsy's behalf to hinder his team by forcing a subpar pokémon on his team, he'll just sell it or return it later on.

"Thank you," He grinds out, as Bugsy then also hands him the promised TM for U-turn.

"You're welcome," Bugsy smiles benignly, "I look forward to watching you at the Conference, where you'll surely do a fine job representing Azalea Town."

Bugsy frowns for just a moment after those words, which Ran is more than happy to take as his dismissal. Before he can turn on his heels and depart the arena however, Bugsy finally speaks up one more time, "Oh, and once she's healed, you should keep your Spinarak out in Ilex Forest overnight, while you're traveling towards Goldenrod. Just a tip."

Ran frowns in turn, but offers Bugsy a final polite nod, before finally striding swiftly towards the exit. His dad's already waiting at the door, beaming with pride, while Bugsy turns to move back to his side of the field, their battle and its aftermath already having run long. Ran badly wants to see Karolina's high-level battle, but for now, he has a wounded pokémon to get to the pokécenter.

---

Author's Note: Hive Badge won! New team member gained! With this, we're officially moving to the 'midgame'. So stronger moves, larger stakes and evolutions await!

As always, the next two weeks' worth of content, which includes Ran properly meeting his new team member and watching Josie's own attempt at winning the Hive Badge, is already available to my supporters. Additionally, this month's Contributor-poll to decide on the month's omake/au/interlude/... is going up today! Interested? Have a look at my Patreon.

Even if you're not interested in Early Access or other benefits, if you've got something to spare, I'd really appreciate any help you can offer. I'm eyeing a team picture commission for around chapter 20, so some help towards that end would also be very welcome. So if a one-off donation is more your speed, please check out my Ko-fi.

 

[The Dave]

Officially becoming Gym Leader was a momentous occasion, which put the previous day's events on a pedestal comparable to the day of his semi-final match at the recent Conference and the day he captured his starter. Today, however, his very first full day as a Gym Leader, is turning out to be a significantly more sour experience.

Of course Bugsy hasn't kept any particularly close track of the other applicants for Walter's sponsorship, ever since he earned the spot for his year, but it has genuinely been a pleasant surprise to find no less than three unsponsored trainers waiting in front of his Gym on the first morning of his tenure. Azalea Town normally only produces a very small number of aspiring trainers every year. So to think that in his very first year, they'll be sending out a total of four candidates… It feels at first like the perfect feather in his cap.

It can make for the perfect announcement of the start of his tenure. Hailing from Bugsy's Azalea Town, a strong batch of rookie trainers! An ideal clean break with the stagnant past of Walter's reign and a perfect opportunity to show everyone that, for all that Azalea Town is fortunate to have one of the eight official Johto Gyms, they are worthy of that honor.

But after that initial moment of hopefulness, which carries him easily past the annoyance of having to search for the three rookies' Common Gym Challenge licenses in the organizational mess that is the Gym he's won, things start going wrong rapidly. Because immediately upon handing out the licenses, it becomes apparent that of the three boys in front of him, one isn't planning to set out at all.

Immediately, the idea of sending out a total of three, rather than four, trainers from Azalea Town this year sours his mood slightly. But he's enough of a professional to hide the displeasure, not to mention the very decent consolation prize that is getting a Gym Trainer out of the deal. That's one problem solved at least, following the impromptu walkout by the old staff which was initiated by a vengeful sore loser - Clarence.

But it is no more than a consolation prize, one that rapidly loses what little shine it had when, for the second time in two days, he has to suffer through the indignity of a walkout. Because Ran Carr and Spencer Curtis - names he'd forgotten in the past few years due to their irrelevance to him - declare their intent to challenge for their first badges elsewhere, rather than in their hometown. Which is a decision that catches him so totally off-guard that he doesn't even manage to muster a true response until the door has slammed shut behind the latter of the pair.

He's left standing alone in an empty Gym, with only the ugly water motif running throughout the building's interior for company. Which is good, because that at least ensures that nobody hears him swear when he fully processes what just happened.

Why would those idiots stomp on tradition in such a terrible way? Over what? Loyalty to Walter and Clarence? Hardly, neither of the water-type specialists was the type to offer a helping hand without getting something in return and neither had ever seen the need to expand the efforts undertaken by the Gym to support Azalea Town's local trainers. So the odds of them engendering any loyalty from two unsponsored rookies were slim to say the least.

Do they not realize just how much this weakens Azalea Town? How much it weakens the Gym's reputation? How much it weakens him personally?

He's got an uphill battle to fight already, as a losing Silver Conference semi-finalist, to establish himself as a worthy Gym Leader. Already, their Gym was seen as one of the 'soft' targets, due to their lack of impressive sponsored trainers, as well as thanks to Walter's diminishing skills and roster. Changing the type-specialization to have a clean break with the past will help, but now the shadow hanging over him will be fed further by the thought that the local trainers don't consider his Gym worth their time.

As if he doesn't have anything to say or offer to starting trainers. The audacity is staggering!

But he can't spare their foolishness too much time or attention. He's got a gym to prepare for a new era. Starting tomorrow morning, challengers might be showing up, even if Spencer and Ran won't be amongst them. Next week, he needs to send out a sponsored trainer and Walter just left this year's applications in a large, unsorted mess on his desk, so he doesn't even know how many applicants he'll need to provide a ball or capturing partner for. Not to mention that due to the time crunch, he won't be able to make any of the larger changes to Azalea Town's sponsorship model which he'd been hoping to institute immediately.

Right, first things first. He'll have an applicant for the position of Gym Trainer in the evening. He should do some digging into just what Tommy Park's been up to for the past three years. If he's got some time to spare, he might even look into the pair of badgeless rogues that just departed his Gym as well.

---

Three days pass in a blur, as Bugsy desperately does everything he can to run his Gym. He hires a receptionist whom he manages to lure away from Goldenrod City with the promise of a bump in pay, gives Tommy a chance as his first Gym Trainer despite some worrying stuff showing up in the background check, and delves frantically into Ilex Forest in the day's earliest and latest hours as he does his best to build the extensive roster expected of a Gym. He's already regretting challenging for the position, but not enough to quit. He won't give Walter and Clarence the satisfaction. No, he just has to keep his head above water - ironic, that - for long enough, until the Gym is properly functional and the mad rush of the takeover dies down a little.

All of that is in the assumption that he doesn't end the day curled up into a little ball as he cries himself to sleep, of course. Because a big fat red circle on the Gym's old-fashioned paper calendar - could Walter have been any more of a fossil? - makes it very clear that even if he has the keys to the Gym, today is the day where he'll actually be officially acknowledged, or left as a powerless placeholder.

Because the first Gym Leaders' video conference call of the season is on the schedule.

He's battled all of them in their capacities as Gym Leaders, of course. Beaten all of them, too. But that was with his best team, whilst they may have used one or two of their elites in turn, but never a full squad. Not to mention the not so minor detail that he isn't Clarence. Knowing how busy they all are, it's quite likely that none of them have realized that he, Bugsy, is the Gym Leader. So their reactions upon seeing him will be quite revealing at least.

He's staring at the waiting screen, having clicked the button to join the call half an hour before its scheduled start time and with a few minutes to spare, when somebody actually begins the call. Immediately, the waiting screen disappears and he comes face to face with Pryce, who is apparently the first of the other seven leaders to show up for the call.

He stares in surprise at the unexpected grim face of Mahogany Town's Gym Leader, unsure what to say, giving Pryce the opportunity to break the silence instead.

"Bugsy. You're punctual. Good." Pryce hums, before falling silent once more, looking down at his desk for a moment as he shuffles some papers around, seemingly distracted for a moment.

Bugsy breathes out softly in relief at the venerable former Elite's approval, but before he can actually respond, Pryce seems to find what he was looking for, as he fishes out a paper from amongst his files, before his cold gaze locks onto the camera once more.

"You're the first worthwhile talent produced by Azalea Town in years! Walter never managed a properly satisfactory explanation, so you tell me. Why is your town not doing its part in strengthening Johto?" Pryce demands coldly, his continuing glare at the camera freezing Bugsy in place, leaving him feeling like a Caterpie caught in a snowstorm.

"Uhh- I- That is-" Bugsy sputters uncertainly, caught flatfooted by the directness of the other Leader's question.

Pryce frowns, but before he can continue to push, two people appear in the call near-simultaneously.

To Bugsy's immense delight, they are the two faces he's closest to both geographically and in age, as Falkner and Whitney appear on his screen. As a nice side-benefit, this shrinks Pryce's share of the screen, making the old man's frosty presence a lot less imposing.

Falkner is quiet, taking in the other present faces, before sinking back in his high back chair and steepling his fingers in front of his face. Combined with his hairstyle, this has the effect of obscuring most of his face, leaving only a lone piercing eye visible. As for Whitney, she has no such compunctions, instead barging right on into the 'conversation' and putting herself front and center.

"Pryce! Falkner! Bugsy? I was expecting Clarence. You're an improvement, don't get me wrong, but what gives?" Whitney asks, turning his attention to him curiously. Unlike with Pryce, though, she at least seems both genuinely curious and friendly.

But he is yet again prevented from answering, as Falkner actually speaks up first.

"I'm sure we're all curious about that, but I suggest we wait for the others before Bugsy explains his elevation. After all, I'm sure none of us want to hear the same story twice." Falkner declares, drawing a brisk nod from Pryce and a slightly disappointed sigh from Whitney, though she doesn't contradict him on the issue.

The next few minutes are filled with Whitney badgering Pryce about some favored pupil of his, though Pryce cuts the topic off at every turn, keeping Bugsy from gaining any proper insight into just what that's about as Clair, Jasmine, Chuck and finally Morty join the call in short order. For a moment, Whitney seems entirely content to just keep bothering Pryce, until, to Bugsy's surprise, Chuck of all people cuts her off.

"We're all here, let's get to it already!" The energetic fighter declares, which is enough to silence Whitney and draw everyone's attention.

"Very well," Pryce accepts, seemingly grateful for the opportunity to actually start the conference, as he shuffles through his papers before looking at the first one, "First order of business: Azalea Town's new Gym Leader. Walter's desire to retire-"

Morty lets out an amused snort at the likely unintended rhyme, but Pryce carries on without acknowledging the byplay.

"-was well known, as was his wish to look for an Azalea Town native as a successor. Bugsy, most of us expected Clarence to be sitting in your seat. Because of this, the issue was raised that-" Pryce speaks, only to get briskly interrupted by another voice.

"Oh don't beat around the bush, Pryce," Whitney cuts the conference call's apparent chairman off with clear annoyance, before addressing the entire group, "This is an issue I've discussed with some of you before. It's something I've been considering ever since Walter first mentioned that he was thinking about retirement, really."

Bugsy can only listen quietly and with a growing feeling of apprehension, as Whitney turns the conversation in a direction that doesn't feel promising for him in the least.

"Essentially, if we're really invested in making sure that the next generation is stronger than the ones that came before, we can't keep letting ourselves be limited by traditions. I get that I'm the only one that's really deviated from the whole 'hometown badge first' idea, and I'm not telling any of you to change your approach in that regard. But surely you can all see that, if we want Gym Leaders to be pillars of strength in their community, if we want them to be leading figures for others to aspire to… we can't just keep limiting ourselves only to the people that grew up in the right town?" Whitney declares dramatically, eyes searching as she looks at the screen.

There is no immediate response, though more than one of the other Leaders has a pensive expression. Clair in particular stands out, as she started nodding along approvingly almost from the second Whitney opened her mouth, only to keep going even as Whitney stops speaking.

"Indeed," Pryce finally speaks up once more, cold gaze fixated on his camera, giving the impression that he's staring directly at them all, "As I was saying, the issue was raised that you might not be the best possible candidate for the position of Gym Leader. Which is why there will be a vote later, to decide whether your position is accepted, or whether any of us wish to present any challengers for the position. For now, explain how you became Walter's successor, rather than Clarence." Pryce instructs, drawing a nervous gulp from Bugsy as he becomes the sole focus of Johto's Gym Leaders.

He squirms uncomfortably in his seat as he truly becomes the sole focus of the seven 'established' Johto Gym Leaders. Still, he has nothing to hide or be ashamed of.

So, he can only forge onwards. Thus, he starts to speak, "Walter got in touch during the Conference Finals, informing me that he wanted to retire and that he wanted me to battle Clarence for the position, if I was interested. I was, so I hurried back to Azalea Town after the Conference. I beat Clarence pretty easily, at which point he left town in a huff. Initially, Walter had said that he'd be staying around for a while to help his successor ease into things, but once I'd officially been announced to the people in town, he apparently changed his mind. The Gym has shifted to a bug-type specialty and we're working with a reduced staff for now, but all in all our start has been alright."

"A bug-type Gym, really, is this what we're reduced to?" Clair scoffs when none of the other Gym Leaders speak up, instead looking at him assessingly.

Immediately, before Bugsy can even get properly flustered by the insult, Pryce speaks up sharply, "The only reason you have your seat is your own cousin's ascension to a higher position, girl. You will show respect to those that rise to the same station of their own merit, or I will be happy to teach it to you."

Clair is clearly unhappy as she glares at her screen following the reprimand, leaving Bugsy to wonder anxiously whether Pryce has just earned him an enemy, or whether the clear animosity in Clair's gaze is reserved only for the ice-type master. Still, it's enough to keep everyone quiet, as Pryce takes the meeting in hand once more.

"Very well. Prior to this meeting, enough of you got in contact with me to make it very clear that you wished to present challengers, if Clarence had become the Gym Leader. However, those votes are explicitly targeted against Clarence, not Bugsy. So, we shall have a vote. Do those present accept Bugsy as the Gym Leader of Azalea Town for this Silver Conference circuit, or do any of you wish to present a challenger?" Pryce announces, causing Bugsy to shuffle around nervously in his seat, as they immediately get to the part of the conversation he's been dreading.

Pryce continues to speak after a brief pause, having given the various Gym Leaders just enough time to indicate their understanding, "We shall vote by order of seniority. I vote to accept Bugsy's position. Chuck?"

Bugsy's attention turns directly towards the fighting-type specialist, who seems deep in thought. Chuck doesn't respond immediately, his eyes remaining closed for nearly a minute, before he finally seems to nod to himself. When his eyes open, he speaks.

"I accept his position." He declares smoothly, before closing his eyes once more as he seems to return to his earlier thought or meditation.

"Morty?" Pryce speaks next, shifting everyone's attention to the enigmatic leader of Ecruteak Town.

Unlike Chuck, Morty doesn't need any time to think whatsoever, immediately answering, "Bugsy will do. I accept his position."

"Clair?" Pryce asks next, his tone neutral despite his earlier reprimand of the younger woman.

"He's unproven and unimpressive. I wish to present a challenger." She snaps, fiery expression seemingly daring Pryce to disagree with her.

The video call's apparent leader doesn't rise to her bait however, merely turning his attention to the next person in line, "Jasmine?"

"Bugsy did well against me and his performance at the Conference was satisfactory, but I haven't seen enough of him yet to be convinced either way. I wish to abstain." She announces, drawing a few disapproving murmurs from her fellow Gym Leaders. Jasmine seems unbothered however, merely looking at her screen with a steely gaze as she waits for Pryce, who is clearly amongst those that disagree with her decision, to move on.

Eventually, he does, leading Bugsy to the conclusion that either Jasmine's decision is allowed, or none feel confident in their ability to force her to change her mind.

"Whitney?"

For just a moment, Whitney's expression seems apologetic, but then she starts speaking confidently, "It's nothing personal against Bugsy, but I've got more than a few former sponsored trainers whom I think could do a great job, including this year's actual Conference winner, so I'd like to open the position to some challengers."

Doing a quick headcount, Bugsy feels himself grow pale as he realizes that Falkner has the ability to bring the count to a draw. He isn't sure what happens at that point but it probably won't be-

"I accept his position." Falkner speaks calmly, easily tearing Bugsy free of his increasingly worried thoughts.

"Are we really-" Clair starts to speak angrily, clearly unhappy with the outcome of the vote, but before Pryce can even get around to reprimanding her, another rises to the occasion instead.

"Shut up, Clair." Whitney interjects sharply, willingly drawing the dragon mistress' ire even though she herself is also on the losing side of the vote.

Yet, to Bugsy's pleasant surprise, said ire proves to be a quiet one as Clair, though she glares fiercely, does not speak again.

"Very well, Bugsy's position is hereby confirmed for this season. There will of course be an evaluation once the Silver Conference Finals have begun. Until that time, we shall speak of the matter no more. On to the next point on the agenda." Pryce announces, seeming to relish in the opportunity to get on to the more 'tedious' parts of the meeting, unlike most of the others, as Bugsy watches at least three pairs of eyes go glassy within the first fifteen seconds of what rapidly turns into a near-monologue from Pryce.

And that's without counting Chuck's closed eyes.

The next hour drags on seemingly indefinitely, as Pryce goes over budgets, sponsored trainer allocations, badge requirements, the minutiae of appropriate Gym rewards for each level of challenge and a dozen other minor administrative things. Ultimately, however, the once significant pile of paper in front of him is gone, which clearly signifies the end of the meeting.

"That's all for today. As always, make sure to send me any agenda points for our next meeting in advance. Unless anyone else wishes to chair the next call?" Pryce finally finishes up, gaze expectantly fixing on his screen as he waits silently for at least ten seconds, before sighing wearily.

"I assumed as much. Very well, good luck with the start of the season, all of you. Pryce, out." He announces, before disappearing from the call.

In short order, the other Gym Leaders start to disappear as well, but Bugsy hurriedly sends a direct message to Falkner, asking him to stay on the call for just a minute longer. Fortunately, the other Gym Leader seems to get his message just in time, as his gaze seems to sharpen for a moment.

It only takes a few more seconds for all of the others to have signed out, at which point Bugsy is left in a private call with the second-youngest Gym Leader in Johto.

"I'm listening." Falkner announces, his focused gaze reminding Bugsy of a bird of prey for a moment.

"Two unsponsored trainers from Azalea Town are on their way to Violet City, to challenge you for the Zephyr Badge." Bugsy announces without hesitation, finally pulling Falkner out of his earlier 'observing' pose, as the other trainer cocks his head in surprise.

"It's good to hear that your town has produced two unsponsored trainers, but why did you feel like telling me this, precisely? They're no childhood friends of yours whom you want special treatment for, are they?" Falkner asks, tone and expression growing significantly sharper towards the end of his reply.

"What, no of course not!" Bugsy hurriedly replies, crossing his hands in front of him as if to ward off the other Gym Leader's suspicions, "I just wanted to ask you to keep me updated on their performances, when they challenge you."

Falkner examines him for a moment, before offering a slow nod, "I can do that. But if they're no childhood friends of yours, is there any reason in particular you're keeping track of unsponsored trainers? Aren't they the same age as you? Were they your competition for the sponsored position three years ago?"

With his questions, Falkner inadvertently hits the nail on the head, something he clearly manages to read from Bugsy's expression, as his own expression darkens once more.

"I do hope you aren't holding on to any old grudges. They're unsponsored. You're already a Gym Leader. If there's any bad blood there, you should let go of it." Falkner cautions, jaw slightly tense as he continues to stare at the screen as if he could lurch forwards to snap Bugsy up at a moment's notice.

"No no you've got it all wrong!" Bugsy insists once again, before hurriedly offering a proper explanation, before Falkner can think even worse of him, "They both left Azalea Town without challenging me for their hometown badge! I offered them the very first legal time slots of the season but they both snapped at me and set off for Violet City instead! I just want to make sure that they aren't going to hurt Azalea Town's reputation whilst they're out on the road!"

"Oh." Falkner replies, the monosyllabic response a major departure from his earlier sharp questioning.

"So I was just hoping that you could let me know how they do against you, you know? Maybe let them know that they should return to Azalea as soon as possible for their hometown badge? They're not just hurting their own reputation, but mine as well." Bugsy continues hopefully, increasingly confident that Falkner will be sympathetic to his plight.

Falkner remains mute for a few long seconds, expression growing sharper once more as he yet again seems to examine Bugsy. Finally, he speaks.

"You don't realize that they're probably doing this precisely because they want to hurt your reputation, do you?" The more experienced Gym Leader asks, smiling smugly when all he gets from Bugsy is a stunned expression.

"Think about it, Bugsy. You're the guy that ultimately stopped them from earning sponsorships. Now that they were finally getting their CGCs, you returned to personally hand them their licenses and remind them of the heights they'll probably never reach, because, again, you beat them. They're probably hoping to prove themselves worthy by winning a bunch of other badges first. That'd put you, and your Gym by extension, in a pretty bad light." Falkner continues to explain, leaving Bugsy with little recourse but to bury his face in his hands out of frustration as all the pieces finally click together.

Presented like this, the issue is glaringly obvious. Which makes it all the more damning that he genuinely didn't catch on to it himself. In his own defense, he has genuinely been terribly busy and, unlike Ran and Spencer, his past three years haven't been filled with constant reminders of the sponsorship trials. But that doesn't really excuse his inattentiveness, does it? After all, a Gym Leader doesn't just need to understand pokémon, but trainers, as well.

Falkner lets him sulk for a few seconds, before speaking up once more, "Give it some thought. If they show up here, I'll make sure to lean on them and try to convince them to turn back to Azalea Town. I'll even let you know so you can follow up on that as you please. But consider this, how would you feel if three years ago, somebody had beaten you for the sponsorship and now, three years later when you finally get to set out, that guy returns to take over your hometown Gym?"

Leaving Bugsy with that problem to puzzle through, as if he has the time to spare, considering the enormous amount of work he's already got on his plate, Falkner leaves the call. A few seconds later, with a loud, frustrated breath through his nose, so does Bugsy.

---

Days pass in a blur of frantic work, his Gym becoming properly active as trainers from all over Johto and Kanto start arriving in Azalea Town to challenge him for the newly minted - and awesomely designed, thank you very much - Hive Badge. Initially, he struggles slightly with settling on a proper grading curve, the lack of both experience and a mentor leaving him somewhat struggling when he has to determine what kind of challenge is suitable for a fourth-badge challenger compared to a fifth-badge challenger. On top of that, seventh- and eighth-badge challengers will be an entirely different issue once they start showing up, as, while it's easy enough to rapidly build out the pokémon roster the Gym needs for the lower badge challenges, he's got no such easy solutions for those that aren't strong enough for his personal team, yet too strong for what he can easily acquire with limited free time. At least he can trade for some exotic bug-types from Hoenn and Sinnoh to add some diversity to his Gym's roster, with more than one of Ilex Forest's stronger bug-types moving to the distant regions in turn.

Ultimately, for those stronger challengers that easily outmatch any 'normal' wild pokémon he can only spend his spare time on training up, he figures he'll try to use one or two members of his personal team and fill out the remaining team with 'lesser' Gym-pokémon. It's by no means a perfect system, as those that figure it out can easily set up against the weaker Gym-pokémon to gain highly advantageous positions for the remainder of the match, but that kind of adaptability and team members capable of exploiting such an advantage to the fullest are good indicators of a trainer that's ready for the Silver Conference. Additionally, it's not as if he has any applicants at that tier just yet, considering where they are in the season and with Azalea Town's badge not having been particularly prestigious in the past. Not to mention the town's somewhat inconvenient position compared to the rest of the circuit, which leads to most passing through relatively early in their journey.

Though there is an interesting diversion from that established norm when he gets a message from a challenger with no badges whatsoever. For she wants to immediately challenge at the eighth-badge level, which Bugsy initially almost declines on instinct. It's only when he realizes just how thoroughly bland and indistinct the message is, that he reconsiders. A quick personal message to Falkner soon yields confirmation that he has received, and rejected, the same message. Logically concluding that all of Johto's Gym Leaders must have gotten the same message, Bugsy ultimately decides to accept the challenge, booking it for a few weeks down the line. That'll prove to be interesting at the least.

He also spends a fair bit of time working on Tommy, as he rapidly gets his one-time classmate up to speed. Tommy's personal team is hardly anything to write home about, and Bugsy won't give him any advantages that might lead to Tommy abandoning the Gym and setting out on a journey of his own. That'd be a waste of the time and effort he's investing in the other trainer's development. But Tommy does gradually start to show some actual skill, enough to serve as a respectable Gym Trainer Challenge for low-tier challengers at least.

The final, and arguably most major, development in those first frantic weeks, is the selection of his sponsored trainer for the year.

With no time to completely overhaul how Azalea Town handles sponsorships, because he'd at least like to figure out a way to expand his sponsorship to a second trainer per year, he can only change the trial, which is itself a major departure from how Walter handled things. Because fundamentally, though he'd personally been successful thanks to his capture of Scyther back in the day, Walter's way of handling the trial relied too much on getting lucky enough to run into a good potential starter.

Instead, for his own first iteration of the selection process, each of his applicants receives a Weedle, with all of them the same age and strength, and a week to care for them. At the end of that week, each of the Weedles is weighed and measured, to test for its overall growth. Or that's how he planned to evaluate each of his applicants' respective efforts.

But then, on judgment day, Geoffrey Brooks, Jeff for short, releases a Kakuna, rather than a Weedle. None of the other applicants even dare to complain when Bugsy names his sponsored trainer on the spot. When he announces that Jeff won't just be setting out with financial support, but also with a freshly-hatched Scyther fathered by Bugsy's own Scizor, there are a fair few looks of envy though.

Those applicants that sport looks of envy are ones he'll need to keep an eye on, to avoid fostering any more grudges, but perhaps their disappointment can yet be turned into a healthy ambition. Overall however, in the short term he has other priorities.

All of his responsibilities, combined with the general hectic nature of life as a (beginning) Gym Leader, make it easy to forget about Ran and Spencer. Which is why, when Falkner suddenly sends him a message somewhat out of the blue, it takes Bugsy a moment to catch up to just what he's reading.

Falkner: AT run-aways came today. Spencer has an Onix, completely OPed anything I could put up against it at 1-badge. Cocky shit. Didn't listen to feedback. Don't think he'll come back to AT soon.

Falkner: Ran used Zubat. Evolved mid-fight after almost losing to Murkrow. As Golbat, he let it savage defeated opponent badly. Vengeful ass. Seemed more receptive to guilt trip over AT's reputation. Better chance of convincing him. GL.

He reads Falkner's messages a few times, somewhat annoyed by the other Gym Leader's insistence on not writing out proper sentences, before sending back a polite thank you message for the updates. Then, he ponders how to handle his two troublemakers.

Both seem troubling, though for vastly different reasons. A Pineco, as he recalls Spencer's starter being, is hardly an ideal option against a flying-type Gym, so using a rock-type is justifiable in that sense. That he'd go after an Onix however, that hints at a truly dangerous amount of overconfidence. That he's actually succeeded in capturing one and keeping it obedient enough to obey in a Gym battle… That hints at a mouth-watering amount of potential.

Ultimately, the message he crafts and sends Spencer is one of challenge.

Bugsy: Spencer, congrats on your win against Falkner. I hear you put on an impressive display. Though with an Onix, it's really not so much a matter of being a good trainer, as it is of releasing it and sitting back as it crushes its opponent. At your level, at least.

Bugsy: I am curious to see what you can do, though. Capturing it must have been an impressive feat. Return to Azalea Town and challenge me for your next badge. If you impress me, you'll be traveling with my support. I'll even throw in an extra future prize for that Onix of yours, which I'm sure you'll be needing eventually.

Bugsy: Let me know if you've got the guts to face me and if you're trainer enough to face me without capturing any more naturally strong pokémon to carry you to victory.

He does his best to agitate Spencer, relying on Falkner's read of 'cocky' to try and manipulate the boy into returning to Azalea Town. At the same time, if Spencer's ego alone isn't strong enough to lure him back, then perhaps the thinly-veiled allusions to a Metal Coat might still be enough to persuade him.

Unfortunately, Bugsy doesn't receive an immediate reply. In fact, even when he'll look back at the message the next day, there'll still be no reply.

As for Ran, there, he finds striking the right balance trickier. That there's some loyalty to Azalea Town there is encouraging, but whilst using an Onix at the first-badge level is perhaps in somewhat poor taste, badly hurting an already defeated pokémon is a lot worse. Plus, with Ekans as a starter and now a Golbat… poison-types and their trainers don't have a great reputation, with good reason.

Then again, between his hometown pride and perhaps an interest in poison-types… There might be a way to draw him back to Azalea Town after all…

---

When Tommy absentmindedly mentions having battled Ran earlier in the day, Bugsy just about freezes in place for a moment. He hurriedly recovers and carries on the explanation of ghost-type energy Tommy had requested, but even as he does so his mind is already miles ahead, as he speculates on what he's just been told.

Subtly, once his explanation's finished, he swiftly turns the conversation to Ran's presence in Azalea Town, as the other trainer's Spinarak - worryingly, yet another poison-type - proves an easy pivot point to turn the conversation to Ran's behavior and battling style. By the time Tommy goes home, Bugsy's hands are itching to send Ran a furious message, as the other trainer could at the very least have sent a confirmation, rather than leave Bugsy stewing in frustration at the thought that he'd been completely ignored by both of the unsponsored rookies hailing from Azalea Town.

Ultimately, common sense wins out, as the boy's decision to show up in Azalea Town without actually confirming as much to Bugsy directly probably means that his loyalty to the town played a larger part in his decision than the promised reward did. Angry as Bugsy is at the corresponding slight, he can't exactly be angry with the other trainer for being loyal to their shared hometown.

Thus, he looks up Ran's trainer profile, which is a lot more extensive thanks to his Gym Leader clearance compared to what a regular trainer would have access to. A team of Ekans, Spinarak and Golbat can really only mean one thing, as Bugsy makes a weary mental note that Ran is more than likely indeed going to specialize fully in poison-types.

Spinarak offers a small opportunity for a pivot Bugsy would enthusiastically endorse and which could do wonders for establishing Azalea Town as the premier authority on Bug-types, which is why he makes sure to put in a 'throwaway' offer to that effect in his message to Ran. He then makes sure to clarify that he expects a reply, at which point he hesitates.

Should he clarify just what reward he's got in mind for Ran, if he performs well? Or should he be a bit more open in his reasoning for pushing for a bug-type specialization? Perhaps he should go so far as to call the other trainer? Everything points to him being less than fond of Bugsy, but perhaps they could clear the air and move forwards in a way that doesn't just benefit Bugsy's own position as Gym Leader, but the Gym and the town by extension as well?

Before he can make any decisions, his pokégear buzzes, as Ran answers with a curt message of his own.

It confirms Ran's commitment to poison-types in the curtest way possible, the tone of the message immediately shelving any hopes Bugsy has of reaching out right now. Any attempt at clearing the air will have to wait until after their battle, then. Not that he'll likely have all that much time then, considering scheduling…

But if Ran does well enough to beat him and earn his reward, maybe he can at least plant the seeds to make him more amenable to a future reconciliation? Offering him a strong olive branch in the form of his intended reward can be a good start. Then, he can flag Ran in the system, to make sure that he gets an alert whenever the other trainer wins another badge. Congratulating him with a personal message in the wake of those achievements, along with his intended reward, can hopefully ensure that they can establish a proper, less hostile, working relationship down the line.

---

Author's Note: This interlude has been brought to you by the October Contributor Poll, as voted on by my supporters over on Patreon. I hope it sheds some amount of light on Bugsy's actions and the larger events taking place in the world, of which Ran is blissfully unaware. Ideally, this shows some of the complexity of Bugsy's position emphasizing that though he definitely has his shortcomings, he's also just struggling to keep his head above water rather than acting out of malice when he seems rude/antagonistic/inattentive.

As this reward is an additional one on top of my regular writing, it didn't feel right to use it as part of the regular update schedule. Depending on the response, I might maintain this approach for future updates, or I might make it a 'normal' update after all. If you want to weigh in on what kind of POVs get written in the future, you know where to go.

 

[The Dave]

Five minutes after handing Spinarak's ball off to the Pokécenter Nurse, Ran finally relaxes when she returns to the front desk with a comforting smile. She assures him that Spinarak will be fine to travel by the next morning, while Ekans is already back to tiptop shape after just a few minutes spent in Chansey's care.

Ran gratefully thanks the nurse, his worry over his pokémon, which he'd suppressed during his battle with Bugsy only to resurface with a vengeance the moment he'd left the Gym, now finally abating once more. Next to him, his father offers him a final pat on the shoulder, congratulating him once more before heading off to work now that Ran's match is over and his pokémon are all fine. Ran himself returns to Bugsy's gym at a brisk walk, eager to catch the last part of Karolina's match and at least briefly catch up with Josie before she has to go to the waiting area ahead of her own match, but as he enters the spectator area it's only just in time to see Karolina and her Jynx teleport away, leaving a thoroughly unrecognizable battlefield behind.

The Mr. Mime that was previously on duty gets recalled by the referee, a well-rested one taking its place for the next challenger, as the first one gets a clearly well-deserved break. Whatever the details of the match, somebody had some powerful Ice- and Ground-type attacks in their arsenal, because the previously flat grassy field has been turned into a craggy, icy wasteland that looks like Ran imagines the foothills of Mt. Silver might.

Just then, Josie reaches him, clearly on her way towards the waiting area. Her eyes, gleaming with awed shock, are larger than he's ever seen them as she grabs him by the shoulders with both hands before shaking him vigorously.

"You missed it! That was incredible! She had a Piloswine! It knew Earthquake and Blizzard! She pushed Bugsy around like a chump! Then he finally beat it with a Scizor, though I don't think it was his starter, after which she used a Weavile that ran circles around them!" She rambles enthusiastically, leaving Ran little choice but to let her wear herself out for a few seconds, before finally gently peeling Josie's hand off of his shoulders.

"I'm sorry to have missed it Josie," He admits honestly, "I'll look the footage up later tonight and you can do a play-by-play, alright? Focus on your own match for now."

"Please," Josie immediately dismisses his words, though they do appear to have jarred her out of her previous fangirling at least, "I'll burn right through him. Five minutes, tops, and we can go have lunch."

"Sure thing," Ran agrees easily, sidestepping his friend and gently pushing her on towards the waiting area as he does so, "Good luck!"

With Josie refocused and on her way, Ran finally gets to pick out a seat for himself as the final trainer before Josie makes his entrance and starts his battle with Bugsy once the field's been restored to its proper state by the beleaguered cleaning staff. Clearly an unsponsored rookie like himself, Ran initially wants to root for the challenger, but when he's announced as having no badges yet and starts off by sending out a Rattata, Ran's interest soon wanes. That his second pokémon is a Bellsprout, something Ran finds out after just two minutes when the challenger needs to send it out once Rattata has gone down to Bugsy's Weedle of all things, does him no favors either.

The fight ends shortly afterwards, the short and one-sided match doing wonders for the Gym's schedule, after Ran's match ran over its allotted time earlier. As the defeated trainer stalks off in disappointment and Bugsy returns to his part of the field once more, Ran's hand idly drifts to the new pokéball at his side. He waits politely for Josie to walk through the doors and lock eyes with him, at which point he shoots her a thumbs up, but once her attention locks on Bugsy, he's typing away on his pokégear.

It's the work of less than a minute to discover that his new acquisition is housed in a Luxury Ball, which supposedly makes wild pokémon friendlier and more open to receiving training. It leaves Ran curious about what kind of poison-bug-type might justify or mandate such an expenditure, but before he can research the matter further, the match begins and his attention shifts firmly to the field.

Over the next handful of minutes, Josie confidently dominates the match from start to finish, letting Chief the Growlithe enjoy himself with his new chew toy in the form of the poor Caterpie that Bugsy starts off with. A few String Shots connect and it looks like his plan has some merit, until Josie has Chief use Flame Wheel to defeat Caterpie and burn away all the sticky threads that were bothering him in one fell swoop. Bugsy then brings out a Pinsir, which puts on a strong showing and gives Chief a run for his money.

The fight reaches a cinematic finish when Chief once more uses Flame Wheel, only to be caught in a Vise Grip before he can make firm contact. Both pokémon struggle to overcome the other for a few seconds, roaring flames licking away at Pinsir's body as it does its best to squeeze the pokémon between its enormous horns into unconsciousness before fainting. Chief comes away victorious however, Pinsir's grip growing slack mere moments before the flames cut out, as an exhausted, but still standing, Chief triumphs over the exhausted Stag Beetle Pokémon.

Ran cheers enthusiastically as Josie receives her own Hive Badge from Bugsy, his friend showing far more crowd awareness than Ran by actually turning to the spectators and offering them a gracious bow, which only intensifies the applause she receives for her strong showing. Ran isn't jealous of the warm reception she gets, even if it makes the crowd reaction he received earlier, somewhat lackluster. To the layman's eye, fire-types are simply far more attractive than poison-types, as they always offer visual spectacle and, thanks to pokémon's thick hides and fascinating biologies, rarely cause any visually unappealing injuries.

His own team is less-suited to flashy displays of raw power. Slowly grinding your opponent down or waiting to pounce in singular decisive strikes, as poison-types generally become dependent on as they grow stronger, is a far less well-received way of battling. But the crowd's adoration matters little to him, compared to the importance of succeeding as a trainer.

If the choice ever does present itself, he knows very well which of the two he values more. Although admittedly, in that regard, Josie is seemingly well on the way to having her cake and eating it too. Rather than let such thoughts sour his mood however, Ran merely claps for his friend as he gets up from his seat.

Now that they both have their badges, it's time to look forward once more. As he slowly meanders out of the bleachers and towards the front lobby, where Josie should join him once she's finished with her own brief conversation with Bugsy, he runs down a mental checklist.

Josie will have to check Chief into the pokécenter. They should both go and get lunch afterwards. Then there's time to make sure they're both fully stocked up on the necessary supplies for the journey through Ilex Forest and to Goldenrod City. Next, he has a new team member to meet. Once that introduction has hopefully gone smoothly, they can put the team members that didn't get any work in at the Gym through a light work-out before finally joining his father for a final dinner to end the day and their stay in Azalea Town comfortably.

It's a sensible plan and one that, once Josie and he are properly reunited in the lobby, is swiftly carried out. Once she's finished boasting about her fantastic performance, that is.

Throughout their visits to the Pokécenter, the sandwich place and the local Pokémart, Ran steadily starts to become more energetic, nervous energy slowly starting to leak out of him in tapping feet and fiddling fingers. Fortunately, Josie doesn't pay it much mind and the slight annoyance from the Pokémart's clerk doesn't really matter to him anyways. Especially not when his anxiety is quite justified.

After all, Sinnoh pokémon are quite rare, with direct contact with the other region still limited to the higher echelons of the Indigo League. Consequently, very little information about their pokémon is general knowledge in Johto and there's little more to be found on the net even if you go looking for it. So curiosity-driven anxiety is a very normal reaction to have, under the circumstances.

Finally, they make their way to Ilex Forest, claiming a large enough area for both of them to get some work in without hindering each other, before Ran finally starts to unclip his pokéballs. He releases Ekans and Golbat first, Luxury Ball heavy in his hands as the two pokémon appear in flashes of red light and look around curiously, soon focusing on the black sphere in Ran's hand.

"We beat Bugsy, Golbat," Ran explains first and foremost before further clarifying their current situation, drawing a congratulatory screech from the blue Bat Pokémon before he flies up to the nearest tree branch, clearly more comfortable once he's looking at the world from an upside down point of view, "Spinarak isn't with us right now, she got hurt pretty bad, so she's at the Pokécenter, though she'll be fine by tomorrow morning."

Ekans winds comfortingly between his legs as Ran mentions Spinarak's injuries, before finally slithering away a handful feet to curl up on a nearby large stone. His displeased hiss makes it quite clear that the stone isn't warm enough for his tastes, but it clearly isn't uncomfortable enough for Ekans to give up on his seat either.

"As a reward, we didn't just get the Hive Badge and a TM though. Bugsy also gave me a pokémon from Sinnoh. It's supposed to be a poison-bug-type for now, though if or when it evolves, it'll lose the bug-typing, according to Bugsy. That's all I know, so be ready for anything, alright guys?" Ran asks his two present team members, receiving clear unspoken answers from both as Golbat's eyes narrow to suspicious slits whilst Ekans turns from lounging lazily to coiling up in such a way that he can shoot forwards rapidly to attack, if necessary.

"Alright, here goes." Ran announces, before finally pushing the Luxury Ball's large button, not throwing it to release the Sinnoh pokémon at a distance but instead releasing it relatively close by. It's riskier, because if the pokémon's aggressive he's closer to danger, but the value of not having to waste time or attention on catching the rebounding Luxury Ball should at least enable him to return it quicker, if necessary.

The typical red light arcs down towards the ground in front of Ran's feet, before rapidly solidifying into a pale purple pokémon. Four short legs attach to an ovoid torso that runs parallel to the ground. At its rear, a menacing tail, covered in segmented exoskeletal armor before terminating in two white claws, rises into the air. At its front, teal oval eyes sit on a small almost egg-shaped head from which two small arms equipped with sharp white stingers point threateningly forward. Finally, its mouth is framed by two intimidating white fangs that seem ready to tear into flesh at a moment's notice.

"Sko-rupi!" The new arrival announces brightly, teal eyes darting around for a moment, the pokémon's small field of view keeping it from catching sight of Ekans or Golbat, before settling on Ran.

"Hi," Ran greets it drolly, "My name's Ran. A few hours ago, I beat the guy that traded for you and he gave you to me as part of my winnings."

Skorupi's eyes narrow in thought as it processes what Ran tells it, before it sags slightly, seeming disappointed at Ran's words.

"I don't really know anything about you yet, Skorupi, except that you're a poison-type and that you're from Sinnoh," Ran admits next, trying to get the unpleasant parts of the meeting out of the way as soon as possible, "We're in Johto, in case you didn't know that yet, and we don't have that much information on the different kinds of pokémon that live back where you came from."

The displeased hiss that Skorupi lets out as he continues to explain the situation is discouraging, though when it bends its tail to let the claws of its tail scrape threateningly along its own back, Ekans and Golbat interject as one. Golbat's screech and the rattling of Ekans' tail are enough to make Skorupi freeze in place for a moment, before it spins sharply in place to catch sight of the source of the threatening sounds, its tail shooting out instinctively to try and counter any sneak attacks.

With Ekans and Golbat both still in their previous resting places, it doesn't hit anything, of course, but the sharp looks both of Ran's more trained pokémon give the newcomer are clearly enough to cow it into listening once more, as it slowly turns to face Ran once more, tail lowering and visibly relaxing.

"Those are Ekans and Golbat, two of the other three members of the team. Spinarak isn't with us right now. You'll get to meet her later, if this conversation goes well," Ran easily continues, finally able to turn the conversation to what he hopes will be the enjoyable part, for both Skorupi and himself, "All of my pokémon are poison-types and I'm hoping to become a real specialist with a very strong team. Our goal for this year is to collect eight Gym badges, which we win by battling against a town's strongest trainer, so we get to fight in the Silver Conference, where all of the strongest trainers in Johto compete against each other to prove who the strongest is out of all of them."

His words clearly strike a chord with Skorupi, as his second bug-type visibly perks up, looking at Ran eagerly rather than threateningly.

"I'd like it if you joined our team," Ran continues, finally getting to the crucial point of this first meeting, "You'll have to listen to me and get used to training a lot, because I'm not the type of trainer who only ever tries to get stronger by battling. But my methods work, because we only just started on our journey a bit over a month ago and we've already won two badges. Plus, my other pokémon have all grown a lot stronger under my training already. Golbat was a Zubat when I first caught him, to give you just one example."

Golbat lets out a proud, affirmative screech at those words, though Skorupi doesn't turn to look at the flying-type again. Its quivering tail makes it clear that Ran's words aren't missing their effect however.

"If you're up to it, I'll be putting you through your paces to try and find out just what you can do today. Tomorrow, we start traveling towards the next city. Assuming you can keep up with the others, you'll get to have your first battles over the next couple of days. So, are you interested?" Ran finally finishes his spiel, falling silent as he awaits Skorupi's reaction.

"Skorupi! Sko sko skorupi!" Bugsy's gift shouts enthusiastically, compensating for the limited mobility of its head by bobbing its tail up and down instead.

"Great," Ran smiles happily, "Let's start off by seeing what moves you know! Turn to face that tree over there and have at it!"

Skorupi moves to obey immediately, leaving Ran barely enough time to open his tab with notes on his pokégear before attacks start following one after the other. It takes some research, some assistance from Ekans and Golbat as well as a fair bit of patience, but ultimately he's looking at an impressive list of seven moves, including one that's been sorely lacking from his team up to this point.

Poison Sting, Leer and Bite are standard fare, whilst Hone Claws and Poison Fang add much needed power and menace to Skorupi's arsenal, but it's the final two moves it shows off that have Ran beaming. First, Skorupi's fangs and claws gain a menacing mossy green glow as bug-type energy is concentrated before his pokémon bursts forwards with surprising speed, four sharp body parts digging deep into the tree it's been targeting all along.

It takes a fair bit of research, but Ran eventually determines that Skorupi just showed them Fell Stinger, a punishing bug-type attack that boosts the user's strength if it's used to decide a fight. Excited as he is about the potential ability to completely change the momentum of any battle, it pales in comparison to the excited whoop he lets out when Skorupi shows its final move.

It starts with Skorupi's armor glowing purple, briefly growing bristly with hundreds of tiny barbs, before it starts shaking, the barbs flying off in all directions and landing in a wide scattered area all around their makeshift battlefield. Once Skorupi finishes, Ekans immediately moves into action, serving as an improvised sweeper as he slowly clears Skorupi's spikes away in an ever-expanding circle with Ran at its center.

Ekans remains entirely unaffected by the many barbs even as they contact him before dissolving, solidifying Ran's good cheer as it fully confirms the move's exact name.

"You know Toxic Spikes!" He cheers ecstatically, racing to Skorupi and hoisting the surprised pokémon up into the air with a broad smile, almost dancing on the spot in joy.

Skorupi cries out plaintively, tensing uncomfortably in Ran's hands as it's clearly unhappy about its new position some six feet in the air, but Ran is deaf to its complaints for the moment, too caught up basking in the unexpected stroke of good fortune. Fortunately, Ekans knows his trainer well, as the purple Snake Pokémon lets out a series of variations on its name, likely communicating at least some degree of context to Skorupi.

Whatever Ekans 'says', it's enough to ease Skorupi's mood at least, as it once more relaxes in Ran's hands. Finally, as his arms start to strain from holding the not inconsiderable weight above his head, Ran calms down and sets Skorupi down onto solid ground once more.

"Sorry about that, Skorupi," He apologizes, finally calming down properly, "Toxic Spikes is a huge part of any poison-specialist's plans and none of the others learn it naturally. This is going to make a lot of stuff significantly easier, both for your own fights and for us as a team, if you can help Ekans and Spinarak learn it."

Ekans offers an affirming hiss, as Skorupi ponders Ran's words for long seconds before, finally, clicking its tail claws together cheerfully. The bug-type's good cheer draws another smile from Ran, before he finally turns the team's attention to training once more.

"Alright, we'll table Toxic Spikes for now. Golbat, do a quick patrol to make sure we'll have plenty of room to work with, I'll set up an obstacle course for you in a bit. Ekans, start with Stockpile, it's great that you pulled it off in a Gym battle, but you need to manage it even quicker. Skorupi, you and I will be starting out together. Now that we know your moves, it's time to get a baseline for your physical stats. We'll start out with sprints, let me measure out a track for you." Ran rattles off, his two more experienced pokémon dutifully getting to work, unlike Skorupi, which narrows its eyes at Ran in displeasure at the mention of sprints.

Ran shrugs apologetically, even as he draws a line on the ground with his foot before striding away measuredly, counting his steps mentally as he goes, "I know it's not fun, but I need to know what you're good at and what you're not as good at. The others all went through this shortly after joining the team as well!"

Ran isn't an expert on Skorupi's body language just yet, but he cautiously classifies the combination of Skorupi's downcast eyes with its lowered tail and stingers as 'sulking'. Accurate or not, Skorupi does move obediently towards the line Ran prepared for him. With an encouraging smile, Ran prepares his pokégear's stopwatch, before counting Skorupi off.

It's only the first of a series of physical tests he puts Skorupi through over the next hour, only pausing briefly to set up Golbat's obstacle course. Once that's all done, Golbat gets some one-on-one training whilst Ekans and Skorupi pair off. Though Ekans is still struggling with Scary Face, which Skorupi appears to show an intriguing amount of interest in, Toxic Spikes is too much of a priority for it to be postponed. Thus, Skorupi can immediately prove his value to the team, by instructing Ekans in its use.

Soon enough, the sun is setting and they get ready to leave Ilex Forest once more as they meet up with Josie and her team again. Skorupi is initially hesitant around the unknown fire-types, but relaxes somewhat when Ekans and Golbat greet Josie's team with friendly sounds. Josie herself examines Ran's new acquisition curiously for a few seconds, but atypically doesn't otherwise address the matter.

Shortly afterwards, their pokémon all recalled once more, they're having dinner with Ran's father, the conversation dominated by him as he keeps the focus firmly on the day's earlier Gym battles. Ran nearly glows with pride as his father repeatedly praises his earlier performance, clearly impressed by his son's prowess as a trainer. Josie for her part seems somewhat contemplative, though she does enthusiastically contribute a retelling of her own battle when Ran's father eventually asks her about it.

Once she's finished, she deflates slightly again when Ran's father briefly congratulates her, before turning the topic back to Ran's own battle, clearly more than happy to discuss Ran's second badge match for a fifth time that evening. Eventually however, the evening comes to an end, Josie saying her goodbyes as she returns to the pokécenter whilst Ran joins his father to do the dishes.

Dish towel in hand, Ran is caught slightly off-guard when his father finally seems ready to move on from discussing his fight against Bugsy.

"I didn't actually expect you'd succeed like this, you know," His father offers casually, his attention seemingly more focused on scrubbing away at a stubborn spot of dried out sauce than on their conversation, "I thought you'd come back with your tail between your legs, maybe a few badges in hand, savings used up and team permanently scarred. You could make a comfortable enough living here, working for the Gym or maybe working for Kurt or the Kiln more formally."

Ran does his best to keep his focus on the cutlery he's drying, his voice carefully neutral as he asks a question, "Why did you encourage me to try then, back when I didn't get the sponsorship?"

"Because if I hadn't, you'd have regretted not trying for the rest of your life." His father answers dryly, attention shifting to the pots and pans now that all of the smaller dishes have already been handled.

There's a deliberate detachedness to his father's voice that's enough to finally give Ran pause, his gaze drawn irresistibly towards his father's figure, half-dried plate in his hands temporarily forgotten.

"Why's that?" He urges cautiously, unsure of just how to handle his father's odd mood.

"Because," His father starts to say, pausing to let out a heavy breath before finally continuing, "Living life without at least one or two battle-ready pokémon relegates you to being a second-class citizen. It makes you weak, pliable, defenseless. Long ago, having a pokémon was for the privileged few. But nowadays, owning a pokémon is increasingly becoming a requirement to avoid being relegated to the underprivileged."

"The wealth gap is still prohibitive, don't get me wrong," Ran's father continues to say, "But since the War, people's priorities have shifted. Those that didn't have pokémon were burdens on their communities. Burdens that couldn't always be carried by those that did. The vast majority of the people that died were those that didn't have pokémon to defend them or, if necessary, sacrifice themselves for them. If we'd had a pokémon to protect us, it might have won your mother enough time to get away as well."

Ran freezes entirely, as his father's explanation falters with an audible hitch in his voice. After another deep breath, he continues once more, "The war is over, it should never come to that again. Kanto might treat us like an afterthought, but we lost far too much and far too many to even think of ever facing them on the battlefield again. But there's still plenty of other dangers out in the world. For me, it's far too late. I don't have the time, the savings or the license to even buy a pokéball, let alone train a battling pokémon. But you, I figured you'd get some experience in only to end up here, maybe down a dream but at least in a position to make a respectable living here with the status of having won a badge or two. That would've been enough to set you up for a good life."

"And now?" Ran asks tentatively, when his father falls silent once more, "Why are you telling me this?"

His father finally turns to meet his eyes, eyes showing faint signs of tears as he looks at his son, "Now, I'm convinced that you'll be going all the way. That I'll be watching you on television at the end of the circuit. That you won't ever be living full-time under my roof again."

"Oh." Ran replies eloquently, not quite sure what demeanor to adapt at the sight of his father being openly emotional. Before he can do much more, his father acts instead, sudsy hands coming up to grab him by the shoulders and draw him into a strong embrace for a few surprising seconds.

Ran doesn't even get a real chance to respond to that either, dish towel and plate in his hands trapped between their bodies and leaving him unable to really return the embrace.

Then it's over, as his father releases him, loudly clears his throat, looks at the remaining dishes and speaks, "Right, you finish up here, I'm going to go play cards with the guys. I'll lock the front door behind me. I've got the early shift tomorrow, so I won't be around when you wake up. Make sure to lock up and keep me posted on your progress, for real this time. I'm proud of you, son."

"Thanks dad, love you!" Ran manages, the final words needing to be shouted to even be heard, as his father swiftly leaves the kitchen, the front door audibly opening and closing only seconds later.

He's left standing alone in the kitchen, vaguely shell shocked by the past ten minutes. Ultimately though, he finally continues drying the dish he's been holding for multiple long minutes at this point. After all, there's still more dishes to be done.

---

Author's Note: Eventful chapter! A glance at Karolina's team, a summary of Josie's display, Skorupi's debut and initial integration, a glimpse at Josie's family life and a heavy discussion that should serve as a reminder that I put my own spin on the pokémon world whilst also giving perhaps some insight into just why things are as they are and why Ran's dad is a rather distant fellow.

As always, the next two weeks' worth of content is already available to my supporters. Additionally, this month's Contributor-poll to decide on the month's omake/au/interlude/... is still up for the rest of the week and currently sits at a draw! Interested? Have a look at my Patreon.

Even if you're not interested in Early Access or other benefits, if you've got something to spare, I'd really appreciate any help you can offer. I'm eyeing a team picture commission for around chapter 20, so some help towards that end would also be very welcome. So if a one-off donation is more your speed, please check out my Ko-fi.

 

[The Dave]

Spending time in town, where the comforts of civilization are at hand, is always nice, but there's something undeniably relieving to once more make camp for the night. Ilex Forest might not be quite as comfortable a location as an open plain, but sleeping under the open air at least means they can make a campfire without having to worry about smoke inhalation too much.

It's only the first night after their departure from Azalea Town, but already home feels far away again, as Ran and Josie busy themselves with setting up for the night. Some rustiness has set in to their routine, as it takes a bit longer than usual, though that might also be caused in part by the new addition to camp. Not that Ran's small new pop-up tent really takes that long to set up, as he needs to do little more than throw it down and hammer in a few pegs to make sure it remains firmly anchored to the ground.

Still, as Ekans excitedly crawls into Ran's latest purchase, Skorupi and Spinarak trailing closely behind whilst Golbat naps beneath a nearby tree branch, Ran can't help but shoot Josie a taunting grin. He might've had to sleep out under the open sky for a few weeks and his tent might still be a far shout from the far larger one she lugs around every day, but his is set up in two minutes. Josie's tent on the other hand…

She had the time it took to set it up down to fifteen minutes before they entered Azalea. After over a week without practice however, it's looking like she's back up to twenty, at least. All that really means in the end, is that Ran's on his own when he gets started on their campfire, with only Soot the Houndour enthusiastically trotting over to serve as the firestarter, once Ran's preparations are complete.

Eventually, Soot barks out a small flame onto a meticulously stacked pyramid of wood, just as Josie is finally coming to join him with her tent now properly set up. She lays out the food for all of their pokémon whilst Ran focuses on cooking their own dinner. It's a peaceful scene, Ilex Forest and the crackling of the campfire providing some excellent background noise as they settle into the familiar atmosphere again.

An hour later, food finished and both of them leaning back comfortably on separate logs, with Ekans spread out over Ran's legs and Skorupi receiving a cautious mixture of physical exam and massage in his lap, Josie moves the topic of conversation from their previous idle chatter to Ran's fourth pokémon.

"So Skorupi, huh? You're actually keeping it?" She finally cracks, the question that's clearly been on her mind finally bursting out of her.

"Of course," Ran replies in surprise, intensifying the pressure of his hand on Skorupi's back as a way to calm his pokémon down, the purple poison-bug-type clearly irked by Josie's words, "Why wouldn't I? Oh and the nurse confirmed that he's male, did I not mention that?"

"You didn't, but I'll keep it in mind," Josie waves off Ran's clarification simply, before returning to the topic of her interest, "I assumed you wouldn't want the challenge of training a pokémon you won't actually be able to find all that much information on. Not at this point in our careers, at least."

It's a valid point and Ran's happy enough to acknowledge as much, but before he can, Josie steamrolls on, as she starts to list examples to emphasize her point.

"When or how does he evolve? What moves does he learn? What's his typing going to be if he loses the bug-type? Does he evolve once or twice? Does he have any special dietary requirements? What about physical care? How's his-"

"I know, Josie!" Ran finally cuts her off, his friend chuckling sheepishly when she realizes just how much she was starting to drone on.

"Honestly, I don't know yet. I'm hoping to find out more in Goldenrod City. I figure if there's any place in Johto where there might be more information on, or someone who knows something about, a Sinnoh pokémon, it's there. If that doesn't work out, then Skorupi and I will just have to figure things out together." He continues calmly, attention shifting to Skorupi when he reveals an ability to purr in pleasure under Ran's gentle ministrations.

Josie looks at him as if he's talking crazy, disbelief evident in her voice, "But what if he's like a Shuckle or a Dunsparce or a Magikarp or something? What if he's a dud?"

"He won't be," Ran declares confidently, hurriedly continuing with a justification when Josie visibly gears up to press the matter further, "He already knows Toxic Spikes and his starting physical parameters are, overall, the best out of any of my pokémon at that point. Obviously Ekans and Golbat both comfortably outscore him now, but I've been training my team for the better part of a year, Ekans way more than that, and even with that Skorupi can still pretty much give Spinarak a run for her money already."

Ran shoots a guilty look towards Spinarak, only part of her head visible from where she peeks out of the partially hollowed out end of the log he's sitting on. His only female team member doesn't seem to mind the unintended slight however, merely wiggling her mandibles at Ran happily when she realizes he's paying her attention, before once more retreating fully into her temporary burrow.

"Really?" Josie asks with a raised voice, gaze now far more intrigued as she looks at Skorupi in a new light, "He doesn't look like all that much. Are you really telling me the little guy is secretly a powerhouse in waiting?"

He chuckles in response, finally lifting Skorupi out of his lap despite the latter's plaintive hiss, instead gesturing for Ekans to crawl up into his lap. His starter's been growing again, the first signs of an upcoming shedding already presenting themselves. An extra bit of scratching will do him well, even if Skorupi's jealous that his own pampering ends because of it.

"I mean obviously it all still depends on a lot of stuff. Ekans was one of three potential starters I really did a lot of reading on, so I knew what I was getting into there. For Zubat and Spinarak, I spent months, almost a year even, just researching and planning. All before I sought them out for capture deliberately. For all of them, I have solid plans for their development, movesets and strategies. So training Skorupi is definitely going to be a completely different kind of challenge than anything I'm used to. But I think he's got potential and he's fitting in well with the team, so we're going to try. If he ends up as a surprise powerhouse, great! If he just becomes a 'regular' team member, then that'll be just fine as well." Ran elaborates, not particularly bothered either way. After all, it's not as if Arbok and Ariados are particularly prevalent on the tournament circuit either and he's been planning for that pair to be on his team for years.

"Fair enough," Josie allows, before stretching, arms rising above her head as she lets out a loud yawn, Ran's eyes involuntarily drawn downwards for a brief, hopefully unnoticed moment, "Anyways I'm turning in for the night. Ginger, you want to stay out or be in your ball?"

Ponyta nickers as she approaches, nudging at her pokéball on Josie's waist, which is enough for Ran's travel companion to recall her starter. Then, her other two fire-types trailing after her, she retires for the night. Ran for his part doesn't move to follow her example just yet, but instead looks around for his own team.

Golbat is still napping, although he'll likely be waking up shortly, as the naturally nocturnal pokémon's normal waking hours are just starting. Spinarak's still hidden in her makeshift burrow, whilst Ekans and Skorupi are starting to shoot hopeful looks at Ran's new tent, both clearly eager to profit from his body heat for their own night's sleep.

"Right, I assume everyone is staying out?" Ran asks casually, voicing the thought on the off chance that one of his pokémon wants to be recalled after all. When none of them respond, he looks towards the waning campfire hesitantly, before turning his attention to Golbat for a moment.

"Keep an eye out in case it doesn't go out on its own, alright?" He asks, knowing full well that his largest pokémon is already quite aware of his surroundings.

Golbat lifts one wing slightly in response, just enough to reveal a single large eye which blinks open lazily in a quiet acknowledgement. With that matter handled, Ran gently nudges Ekans off of his lap, before getting up and moving to his tent. Both his oldest and his newest pokémon are hot on his heels as he enters his new tent, swiftly turning in for the night.

It doesn't take long before he drifts off to sleep, Ilex Forest providing a pleasant white noise that helps him drift off easily. When the forest's pleasant ambient noise is disturbed by a few loud crashes in the middle of the night however, he wakes up far more abruptly and unpleasantly than he fell asleep.

Desperately scrambling for his torch in the darkness of his tent, Skorupi and Ekans moving around agitatedly next to him, Ran curses as he doesn't find his torch immediately. Whether by moving in his sleep or by startling awake, he must have jostled it from the spot he'd deliberately chosen, securely sticking it out of his right shoe right near the tent entrance.

As he searches hurriedly, the earlier sounds abruptly cut off once more, everything going deathly quiet, apart from the clear sounds of Josie moving around in her own tent, likely moving to get ready for whatever's happening as well. Ran's fingers finally touch the cold grip of his torch, but before he can light it, a miniature sun appears in the middle of Ilex Forest, blinding white light penetrating the protection his tent walls afford easily and forcing him to avert his eyes.

Ran immediately dives flat to the ground, his first thought of a potentially destructive Hyper Beam. He immediately links that thought to the complete lack of sound from Golbat, who was keeping an eye on camp and should by all accounts have been awake. His heart clenches at the horrible conclusion he comes to, but Ran dismisses it instantly. Right now, the focus should be on survival.

Or so he thinks, but the Hyper Beam he'd instinctively sought cover against doesn't materialize. The bright white light doesn't beam off in one direction, instead seeming to pulse for a few seconds before slowly dying down again. There is no terrifying roar of sound as one of the strongest attacks in the world rips through Ilex Forest.

Instead, everything becomes deathly quiet once more.

Ran hurriedly clicks on his torch before he finally darts out of his tent, barefoot and in his boxers. Ekans and Skorupi follow him swiftly, sticking close to their trainer, likely more out of protectiveness than fright. From the other tent, an irate Josie appears, usual outfit replaced by a ratty old t-shirt that hangs down to her mid-thighs. Like him, she too holds a torch, both of them aiming the large beams of light in the direction of the earlier sphere of light.

"What the f-" Is all Josie manages angrily, before she stumbles to a halt, as their flashlights land on a large red body, four yellow-purple legs keeping it aloft over an indeterminate figure wrapped in spider thread. They watch in awe as the prey inside the thread cocoon visibly withers, the predator's purple-eyed red head sucking it dry of nutrients, before finally rising fully and turning to face them with a victorious look.

"Ariados!" Ran's newly evolved pokémon announces herself to the world, vestigial legs on her back twitching in place as she looks curiously at the congregation of Ran, Josie, Ekans, Skorupi, Chief the Growlithe and Soot the Houndour. After a moment, her eyes narrow in annoyance, newly enlarged mandibles clicking agitatedly under the glare from the two torches pointing directly at her.

Ran instinctively lowers his torch to point at the ground, Josie following his lead after a few moments. With their night vision ruined for the moment, it's hard to make out much of anything, but the indirect light from their torches is enough for Ran to see Ariados visibly relax, as she starts to amble towards him slowly.

When she comes to within a few feet of the group, Josie audibly gulps. The now significantly larger bug-type is clearly not particularly appealing to her. Ran isn't bothered however, sinking down onto one knee as he stretches out an enthusiastic hand towards Ariados. Her last few steps are a bit faster, as Ariados closes the distance to gently headbut Ran's outstretched hand, though she does fortunately remain mindful of her horn.

"Look how big you've gotten," He praises her gently, soft hands wandering over her head and upper abdomen in a gentle examination, as he notes that her horn has gained the unique slight purple sheen that used to color her mandibles as a Spinarak, "Congratulations girl, I'm so very proud of you."

Ariados trills delightedly, as Ekans and Skorupi finally overcome their shock enough to let out congratulatory sounds of their own. Behind them, Golbat finally announces his presence, alighting on the tree branch he'd been hanging from earlier in the night. Clearly, he'd actually been keeping a quiet eye out, just in case he'd need to interfere.

"So," Ran speaks next, as Josie and her own team quietly head back to their own tent, more than happy to let them enjoy Ariados' big moment as a team, "Now that you're the first one on the team to reach her final form, it's about time we finally settled on a name, don't you think?"

Skorupi is the only one of his pokémon who doesn't suddenly grow completely still, not having been with the team long enough to learn about Ran's views on naming his team. On the other hand, Golbat, Ekans and Ariados especially freeze in place for a few long seconds, before finally Ariados lets out a tentative trill. The other two long-term team members remain quiet, as Ran acknowledges her hesitance with a gentle smile.

"If you want to wait a bit longer, that's fine, but I've always told all of you that we'd decide on names once you reached your final forms. A name that might have suited you as a Spinarak wouldn't suit you now, just as any name I'd give Ekans, Golbat or Skorupi now might not suit them after evolving." Ran patiently encourages her, who finally closes her eyes approvingly as she nudges into his hand again.

"I've got a list of names prepared," He offers next, "we can go through it in a second, but I know one of them off the top of my head. How do you like Aria?"

She opens her eyes, lifting her head out from under Ran's hand and looking at him inquisitively, mandibles clicking slowly, as if testing out the idea. Ran watches patiently for a few seconds, before repeating the name once more to let her hear it again, "Aria."

She hesitates for a few moments more, before trilling in confirmation, vestigial legs on her back vibrating from excitement as she starts to chitter excitedly. Ekans slides forwards to congratulate his friend once more, whilst Skorupi looks at the scene curiously, before turning in Golbat's direction and scuttling over towards him whilst loudly chirping away about something or the other.

Ran takes the moment where all of his pokémon are occupied to subject Aria to a closer inspection. Knowing the Ariados-line's general size and proportions by heart, it's clear to him that Aria is just a bit on the smaller side, though it's definitely a possibility that she'll grow further in the future. Her coloration is largely typical, though aside from the purple sheen to her horn, her colors overall seem a bit darker and more vibrant than the average, slightly more pastel-tinted Ariados.

Before he can get too sidetracked by pondering about any possible relation between her reliance on poison- and ghost-type energy over bug-type energy and the impact that might have had on her coloration, Ran finally speaks up once more, "Alright alright, keep it down all of you, it's the middle of the night. Aria, congratulations on your evolution, you really earned it. If you're feeling alright, I'll hold off on a proper physical until tomorrow."

"Unlike the pair of you," Ran continues, gesturing from Aria to Golbat, "I'm not nocturnal. Also, I'm in my boxers and it isn't particularly warm out. Ekans, Skorupi, if you want to sleep in the tent, come on, I'm zipping it closed in a minute."

Ran's words are enough to spur everyone into motion, with Ekans offering Aria a final hiss before he joins Skorupi in retreating to the tent. As for Aria, she excitedly rushes towards the treeline, now significantly larger body allowing her to race up the tree trunk and join Golbat on his branch within seconds. Ran's first evolved team member warily welcomes his newly evolved friend with a soft cry, clearly not too enthused that he'll have a harder time isolating himself from the group in the future. Still, he at least doesn't relocate or rebuke Aria when she starts to chitter at him softly, clearly initiating some kind of soft conversation.

As the forest around them gradually returns to normal again, the surrounding quiet that fell following Aria's evolution slowly fades away. Casting one more look at Aria's impressive form, Ran finally turns on his heel and retires to his tent once more. Minutes later, when he drifts off once more, he dreams of treetops and webs.

---

Author's Note: Bug-types continue to take centerstage for the moment, as Aria the Ariados reaches her final form! As the first member of Ran's team to reach her final evolution and the potential personality changes that come with that, she's the first to get a nickname. The name 'Aria' was voted on by my Contributors over on Patreon. This on top of the 2 weeks of Early Access which Supporters get access to over there.

I'd also like to thank you all for your interest in the story and your activity in the thread, it's always fun to see people not just discussing my story, but also anything pokémon-related that spawns off of whatever's happening in-verse. As a quick aside, the 1 chapter per week structure is temporarily off the rails and will be a bit wonky for the next few weeks, as a few chapters turned out at an awkward length for splitting, but the normal upload schedule of 2 updates per week will be maintained.

 

[The Dave]

Over the next few days, as they continue to travel through Ilex Forest, Aria rapidly adapts to her new body, whilst Ran's other team members work their tails off in battling and training, clearly inspired by her recent evolution. As their trainer, Ran happily encourages all of them, making sure to give Skorupi in particular plenty of battles against weaker wild pokémon and lower level trainers that are also traveling through the woods, whilst reserving the tougher fights for his more experienced pokémon.

For Aria , he spends their second evening in Ilex Forest on a proper full physical exam, concluding that she's improved markedly in every area, compared to her time as a Spinarak, though the limited increase to her speed is a minor blemish on an otherwise sparkling record. Not that Ariados are known for their great speed in the first place, but her relatively fragile form combined with her still limited mobility do have him re-evaluate some of the moves he'd planned to have her learn.

They also test out her known moves, as Ran dusts off a file he prepared over half a year ago for precisely this occasion. By the time they're finished, he happily confirms that Aria's evolution has left her with the added moves Swords Dance, Focus Energy, Fell Stinger and Bug Bite. The added moves and increased power suddenly make her a highly effective close range battling pokémon, with Shadow Sneak hopefully remaining sufficient to ensure that she can close with her opponents at will.

As for what he has the others working on, that differs from team member to team member.

Golbat finally gets to work on new moves again, as the heavy focus on his aerial speed and maneuverability starts to show diminishing returns. Bite is an obvious addition to his movepool, the only slight difficulty in actually harnessing the empowering dark-type energy rather than merely chomping down on whatever he's attacking. Haze - the complete mishandling of which back in Falkner's Gym he'd only realized upon further research - and Venoshock are significantly more challenging and progress on that front is far, far slower, but they're moves that have their place in truly high-level battles, which is an empowering realization.

For Skorupi, things are more complicated, as Ran doesn't have the information available on his species like he does on his other pokémon. Because of this, Ran forgoes having him work on any new moves for now, though the occasional interactions he catches between Skorupi and the pair of Golbat and Aria have him squinting suspiciously, and instead he focuses on his now comfortably smallest pokémon's overall power.

It's not particularly enjoyable or exciting training, as Skorupi's body is forced to its limits day after day, but Aria's recent evolution has clearly convinced the Sinnoh-native pokémon of the merits of Ran's training regimen. There's not even the faintest sign of sulking or reluctance on Skorupi's behalf throughout their trek through Ilex Forest, as he merely doubles down on training and giving the best of himself day after day. That this genuine effort and his apparent exhaustion every night win him the approval of the other team members and thus greatly help along his integration into their group, is a wonderful added bonus.

Finally, it's Ekans who stands out most of all, with Ran's starter diving into training with an unparalleled, almost fanatical intensity. He improves upon every previous record Ran's pokégear holds for him, whether it's on speed, bite strength, Acid range or a host of other matters. Over the course of three days, he finally fully masters the Stockpile triple-header whilst also swiftly picking up Toxic Spikes in just a few sessions with Skorupi, a feat made even more impressive by Aria's far slower progress in mastering the move.

So great is Ekans' dedication to training over the days following Aria's evolution, that Ran ends up worried about his starter's mental state. Where he'd once been Ran's undisputed ace, the two evolved pokémon in the team now both sit comfortably above him in a straight power ranking. Plus, though Ekans never seemed to mind Ran's view on only naming his pokémon once they'd fully evolved, it's as if every mention of Aria's name is a tiny dagger in the Snake Pokémon's back, his attempts to hide the flinches and hesitance her name inspires in him not successful in hiding his apparent hurt from Ran's keen eyes.

It's a matter that needs confronting and so, on their final night in Ilex Forest, he recalls Skorupi to his pokéball whilst Golbat and Aria relax out in the open, some distance away from Ran's tent, leaving him the perfect opportunity to speak to Ekans privately. His starter seems to be aware that something's up when Ran only recalls Skorupi for the night, seemingly hesitant to enter the tent and slithering around uncomfortably for a few long seconds once he's entered in a feigned search for the most comfortable spot.

Finally, however, Ekans comes to a halt, head just so happening to be turned away from Ran's own. He doesn't mind however, having learned his starter's weak spots a long time ago. When his fingernails first make contact with Ekans' scales, there's no real reaction, but after just a few minutes of scratching, his hand ever so slowly moving from scratching directly behind Ekans' head to just a few inches beneath it, the poison-type starts to move.

Ever so patiently, over the course of multiple long minutes, Ran gently manages to lure Ekans' head into his lap, before his free hand comes up to be held just in front of Ekans' eyes. He can tell the exact moment when Ekans breathes in and smells his trainer's scent, as his nostrils narrow just so for a moment.

Ekans' eyes warily slide open, immediately locked on Ran's own even as his pokémon doesn't hide the defeat in his eyes. Ran merely offers a comforting smile however, knowing full well that Ekans is just as good at drawing him out of a sulk as what he just managed himself.

"So, is it a strength thing, a name thing, or both?" Ran asks gently, not beating around the bush with the one companion he's trusted above all others for years.

Ekans' answering hiss is low in both volume and tone, which Ran has long learned is Ekans' form of an affirmative.

"Both?" He inquires in surprise, before clarifying once Ekans offers a single short nod, "You beat a Scyther just a few days ago, buddy. Aria and Golbat might have overtaken you for now, but the only one you should compare yourself to, is you. You're getting stronger every day. I don't care when you evolve. You'll do so when you're good and ready. There's plenty of stuff on the pokénet that speculates about the advantages to a later evolution."

His starter lets out another hiss in response, this one sharper in tone, as Ekans shoots him a glare, clearly irked. Ran sighs, as he realizes just what exactly is eating at the pokémon in his lap.

"Ekans, you've known for a long time that you wouldn't always remain the strongest member of the team." Ran replies gently. As he speaks, his friend visibly wilts, eyes closing in defeat and head lowering, as they finally get to the crux of the matter.

"I've needed you to be, in the past, and I'll always continue to rely on you as the cornerstone of our team, but you know about some of the pokémon on my list. You never reacted like this when I mentioned adding a Venusaur or a Gengar or a Nidoking! So why is this a problem now?" He prods next, curious to discover just what's changed in Ekans' mindset between their planning sessions from before their journey and the present.

Ekans glares balefully at Ran. For long seconds, both trainer and pokémon remain quiet and motionless, as Ekans tries to will Ran into dropping the topic and Ran waits for his starter to crack. It's a contest of wills he actually wins for once, as Ekans finally drops his head once more, before raising his rattler and pointing out of the tent, in the direction of the tree that was housing Aria and Golbat, when they last saw them.

It takes him a few seconds, but when he finally connects the dots, he frowns at his starter sternly, "You're jealous because it's them? Ekans, come on, they're our teammates! They're our friends!"

When he only receives a mulish head shake as a response, Ran continues to speak, tone becoming reprimanding as he does so, "You were comfortably stronger than Zubat and Spinarak and I understand that it's unpleasant to see both of them make these huge leaps when you haven't yet. But begrudging your friends their successes is absolutely unacceptable. It's not the kind of reaction I'd have expected from you and it's not a reaction I'll accept."

Ekans shrinks in on himself under Ran's increasingly angry words, before flinching in surprise when Ran's hands move to grab his head and pull him closer, their eyes mere inches from each other and staring directly into each other, as Ran's volume lowers dramatically.

"I know that this isn't who you are. You're their friend. You're my friend. You're my starter. You will always be special to me, that's something that will never change. I don't care what happens, who joins or where we go. I will always rely on you. Always. Without you, none of this would've been possible. I wouldn't trade you, or replace you, for anything or anyone in the world. Not even if your strength regressed all the way back to what it was when I caught you. You may not be my 'Ace' right now, but you will always be my starter." He vows passionately, trying to convey both with his words and with his eyes the strength of his conviction.

The seconds of quiet that follow are unbearable to him, icy poison seeming to crawl through his veins as he waits tensely for Ekans' reaction. His starter is hard to read in his complete lack of an initial reaction, merely continuing to stare directly at Ran even as anxiety at the idea of a negative response slowly corrodes him from the inside out. Finally, Ekans' tongue darts out, just barely tapping against the tip of Ran's own nose, before his starter pulls his head free and eagerly starts to curl around Ran's upper body, crooning warmly as he does so.

Ran's relieved sigh isn't as deep or strong as he intends it to be, Ekans' form accidentally winding around him a bit tighter than the poison-type likely intends. Still, his feelings are no less sincere for their somewhat muted form of expression, as he is only kept from slumping in relief by Ekans' body. Even as he's subjected to a hug that's doing wonders for his posture, the poisonous doubt that was briefly eating at him drains away once more.

"Alright, glad that's sorted," Ran grins, left hand starting to pull at the nearest band of Ekans' body that's running over his torso whilst his right comes up to scratch the underside of Ekans' head, "As for a name, if you really want one, because Aria's got hers already, that's alright with me. But you know how I feel about the importance of being fully-evolved, so I'd personally really prefer it if you waited. Just to make sure we don't settle on a name that won't fit you as an Arbok, or that won't feel right, after your evolution."

Ekans remains quiet for a few seconds, before nodding sedately. Clearly, Ran's earlier speech had already done most of the heavy lifting, leaving the matter of Ran's naming convention as little more than an afterthought that Ekans is once more happy to accept.

The Snake Pokémon pushes his head into Ran's neck impatiently, clearly on the hunt for more petting. Ran allows as much, though he does manage to barter for his freedom from Ekans' overly tight hug in the process. Shortly afterwards, they're both lying down in actual comfort, as Ran finally comes to the matter that initially convinced him that he needed to have a private word with Ekans.

Carefully, he breaks the quiet once more, "Starting tomorrow, ease up on the training just a bit, alright buddy? I trust you to know your limits and I'm super proud of how much progress you've been making, but I don't want you to push past your limits out of some misguided desire to 'catch up' as soon as possible."

Ekans doesn't reply at first, the silence stretching on for five, ten, then fifteen seconds. Finally, it's Ran who speaks once more.

"If you overtrain, I'll have to give you extra rest during battles…" He trails off leadingly, doing his best not to let the grin creeping up from the edges of his mouth sound through in his voice. He's at least moderately successful in his endeavor, as Ekans finally lets out an acknowledging hiss, no matter how begrudgingly the poison-type does so. Fortunately, any hard feelings are easily remedied by Ran's right hand once more moving to scratch some of Ekans' itchier spots.

He doesn't know how long he continues to offer Ekans scratches, though he knows that he must have trailed off at some point, as Ran wakes up the next morning with no true recollection of having drifted off to sleep. He's annoyed for a moment when he realizes that his right hand isn't touching Ekans any longer, having fallen by his right side at some point in the night. But any worries that there might still be some unresolved issues he failed to address the previous night are instantly dashed when he realizes just what the warm weight on his legs, responsible for bravely staving off the early morning chill, is.

Looking down his own body, Ran smiles warmly at the coiled up and sleeping form of his starter. He'll have to keep an eye on Ekans' mental state for a while longer, not willing to assume that a single conversation has truly fixed the underlying issues that seem to have caused Ekans' worsened mood. But for now at least, as a warm fondness settles in his gut in a way that completely obliterates the morning chill better than simple body heat could ever hope to match, he dares to hope, for a few minutes at least, that last night's conversation might have resolved the issue completely after all.

---

Author's Note: A much needed moment between trainer and starter, as Ran sniffs out the seeds of resentment he himself is so worryingly good at cultivating and makes sure to weed them out in time. Ekans' mindset is hopefully understandable, as the only OG to not have evolved (despite being with Ran by far the longest out of everyone). There is of course the matter of Spencer to consider, as the impact of his words from long ago about Ekans'/Arbok's value on Ran's team definitely got picked up and have absolutely had an impact on Ekans' mindset. Fortunately, Ran picked up on things early, which shows that for all of his flaws he is at the very least a caring and devoted trainer.

This update is a bit of a shorter one, but definitely an important one, as we get ready to leave Ilex Forest. The chapters in which Ran leaves Ilex Forest and enters Goldenrod, only to encounter a familiar face, are already up on Patreon as part of the 2 weeks of Early Access which Supporters get access to over there. Additionally, the second name vote of the story approaches, for those that want to go a step further and join the Contributor-tier.

As always, thanks for your support and I hope you continue to enjoy my story.

 

[The Dave]

Days later, when the canopy above their heads finally starts to thin out properly and the ambient temperature starts to rise a few degrees, Ran notes Josie's relieved sigh with some amusement. Though the parts of Ilex Forest they've traveled through are hardly the most testing, he can understand that to a girl who's never really roughed it before, that may not have mattered. Even with his significantly greater experience in the forest, there's still something tangibly comforting about the sight of a bright open sky overhead. The distant sounds of other trainers engaged in a battle help as well, after the relative isolation they'd eventually stumbled into in Ilex Forest.

From somewhere up ahead, Aria comes hustling back towards Ran, clearly intent on being recalled once they depart the forest properly. He accedes to her desire to rest easily, having had her out more for her own benefit than in any truly formal capacity anyways. That duty falls to the pair of Chief the Growlithe and Skorupi today, the eager fire-type leading their small party with his nose close to the ground whilst Ran's most recent addition is right by his side, natural inquisitiveness curtailed by a certain degree of caution.

It's something Ran has noticed repeatedly over the past few days, ultimately coming to the conclusion that, whatever exact natural habitat Skorupi inhabitates, it likely isn't a forest. He's somewhat disappointed that it's really the only bit of new information he's managed to glean from his exotic pokémon over the past few days, but it's better than nothing. Any doubts about his ability to successfully integrate Skorupi into the team that might have arisen from his lack of tangible information are squashed thoroughly after having seen him in action a few times.

Of course beating the low-level bug-types they've largely encountered throughout their trek through Ilex Forest isn't all that impressive, but he's also fended off Hoothoot, Beedrill and even a surprising Gloom. That last one had even seen Ran's hand drop to an empty pokéball for a moment, before thinking better of it. Though a grass-poison type makes a lot of sense as an addition to his team, his already relatively large team, compared to his number of badges, had seen him think better of it for now.

Well, that and the relative weakness of the particular Gloom they'd encountered, as Skorupi had beaten it just a bit too easily, all things considered. Not that the poison-bug was weak by any means, but considering the numbers Ran had available to him as far as Skorupi's abilities went, he'd been a bit unimpressed that the evolved pokémon didn't manage to put up any more of a fight. Still, it spoke well of Skorupi that he'd only had to back down in favor of Aria, Golbat or Ekans a handful of times over their days-long journey through Ilex Forest.

Ran still considers Skorupi his weakest team member for the moment, by some margin, but his early growth and promising moveset have fully convinced him that Bugsy's gift was a genuine one. A realization that doesn't sit particularly well with him, as it forces him to re-evaluate the entirety of their interactions in a new light, something he's less than eager to do. The appearance of sunlight overhead and the horizon opening up as they exit the periphery of Ilex Forest and enter Route 34 is the perfect distraction from such heavy thoughts however, as the sight of two younger trainers battling just a few hundred feet away draws his attention.

The battle between a Psyduck and a Mankey isn't particularly impressive, not managing to keep either Ran or Josie's attention for more than a minute, but it's enough to lift their spirits decisively. As they look out over the large dirt path winding through a winding grassland, with the ocean to the west, the promise of the lights of Goldenrod City as a distant gleaming beacon to the north and Ilex Forest to both the south and the east, more and more the presence of other trainers becomes obvious.

Some are walking the same path Ran and Josie have just started down, others have wandered off the beaten path, training their teams or battling wild pokémon or other trainers in the wide-open landscape around them. They exchange looks, Josie's hand slowly drifting towards Ginger's pokéball as they do so. Considering how pent-up the Ponyta has started to behave over the past few days, Ran isn't surprised by Josie's next words.

"You cool with meeting up again in Goldenrod?" She asks, fingertips already on the pokéball by her side but not yet gripping it.

"Yeah," Ran agrees easily enough, "Go have fun, we'll catch up later tonight, or tomorrow, if I don't make it to the city before dark."

Josie immediately brings out Ginger and is already mounting the filly as she answers, "Awesome! We'll text! Later!"

Ran offers an amused wave, watching silently as Ginger eagerly breaks into a gallop, the pair of trainer and starter rapidly racing ahead and off towards Goldenrod City. Looking at the path ahead, for a moment, he considers keeping Skorupi out of his ball for company, before ultimately deciding against it. Between the wide open and flat road, the bright sun overhead and the many other trainers in the area, his still somewhat skittish new team member is unlikely to enjoy the walk at the moment, so Ran recalls him before setting off on his own.

As he slowly walks along the dirt path, he considers Route 34. There's supposed to be a significant population of Drowzee, the psychic-types attracted by the large population of Goldenrod City and the promise of many dreams to feed from that comes with that. It's not a pokémon he has any interest in capturing, but Drowzee do make for a good training opportunity for his team. As a budding poison-type specialist, the risk psychic-types pose to his team is one he's well aware of, after all.

It makes sense to take his time here, now that Goldenrod City's not too far away and his team is still in solid shape. Assuming of course that he encounters any of these wild Drowzee, because after an hour of walking, Ran hasn't spotted any wild pokémon yet, other than a lone Rattata which popped up out of the long grass, threw a single look at the four pokéballs at Ran's side before immediately tucking tail and fleeing.

He also crosses paths with a few trainers and two more trainer battles, though it soon becomes very clear to Ran that the circuit has firmly left the 'start of season'-atmosphere behind and is now properly underway. Because whilst there are still plenty of low-level trainers like himself around, he doesn't spot a single so-called 'Tackle battle'.

A staple of battles between aspiring unsponsored trainers, 'Tackle battles' are the derisive term for any low-level pokémon battle where the battlers only know one or two offensive moves. They're often boring to watch as a consequence, as there's only so much one can do with a move like, for example, Poison Sting. Ran can easily admit that his own battles could be considered Tackle battles until quite recently, but as he stops to watch a fight between two trainers, one with four pokéballs and the other with a full six, he confidently concludes that he's left that stage behind.

Though as he watches the battle, a one-on-one between an Ursaring and a Miltank, he can also admit that he still has a way to go. Then again, as he watches the fight progress, Ursaring gradually taking control and building towards a win, he proudly realizes that Aria and Golbat can at the very least give the large normal-types a very good fight, if not straight up try for the win.

The battle over, winner and loser exchange handshakes and an agreed upon wager, before the winner looks at Ran curiously, hand already drifting to another of the five remaining pokéballs at his side. Curious, Ran pulls his jacket to the side, showing off the two badges pinned to the inside of his left breast pocket. It's an efficient non-verbal communication, as the other, older trainer offers an amused grunt, hand drifting away from his pokéballs and instead turning his attention to his Ursaring, Ran clearly dismissed from his mind.

The loser pays neither of them any mind, attention occupied by his beaten Miltank, which he's patching up with a bottle of Moomoo Milk and a spray bottle of Super Potion. Ran merely offers the now dismissive winner a final respectful nod, before wandering on, continuing his trek towards Goldenrod City. The desire to get into some battles of his own itches under his skin, but it won't be against these particular trainers.

Ultimately, it takes another half an hour before he finds a reason to bring out a pokémon of his own. It isn't another trainer, but instead a distracted Drowzee wandering through the tall grass a short distance away that draws his attention. The psychic-type isn't even aware of Ran's presence at first, but that changes once he strides into the grass and directly towards his intended opponent.

As Drowzee turns to face him, Ran eagerly sends out Ekans, trusting in his own familiarity with his starter's exact abilities to get the most accurate gauge of the local Drowzee population's general strength.

"Glare, Wrap, Bite!" Ran orders in quick succession, trusting in Ekans' extensive training to enable the execution of the three orders in quick succession. As pokémon mature, evolve and gain experience, their ability to process commands tends to improve as well and Ran has been training his pokémon from the start to be capable of executing a chained command, but three moves in under two seconds is still pushing it even with that knowledge.

Fortunately, Ekans doesn't disappoint, rearing up and staring directly at Drowzee, who stares back. Before Ekans' Glare can affect his opponent however, Drowzee snaps its glowing fingers together, which leaves Ekans shaking his head uncomfortably as Disable locks away his ability to use Glare effectively for now. Fortunately, whilst Drowzee wastes time smugly staring at Ekans, Ran's pokémon shows just how well-trained he is by immediately bursting forwards to continue his attacking pattern.

Drowzee is caught off-guard, its last-ditch attempt to fire off a Confusion coming too late, as Ekans closes the distance, wraps around his opponent and, just as Drowzee's body gains an ominous pink glow, Bites down with dark-type energy coursing through his fangs and into the immobilized Drowzee. To its credit, it doesn't faint on the spot, instead wailing in pain and struggling futilely in Ekans' grip.

Less to its credit, its inexperience shows, as Drowzee doesn't manage to purge the invading energy from its body in time to muster up another psychic attack. It gets part way there, a small burst of dark energy visibly expelled from its head, but that's all it manages before Ekans Bites down once more, not needing a new order from Ran to stick to what's clearly working.

This time, it's enough to decide the battle, as Drowzee slumps in Ekans' grip, only kept upright by the tight bind Ekans is keeping it in. Years ago, Ekans' instincts might have presented some difficulty at this point, as letting go of a defeated opponent goes directly against the purple carnivore's nature, but a regular diet of specialized pokéchow and intensive training prove their worth today. Ran doesn't even need to order Ekans to release Drowzee, his starter doing so of his own volition the second he's confident that Drowzee isn't simply playing dead.

"Good job buddy!" Ran praises his starter proudly, "You alright to stay out for a while and take a few more? I'm sure we'll run into some more opponents if we stick to the grass rather than going back out onto the road."

Ekans offers an affirming hiss, moving to glide along at Ran's side, as Ran for his part fishes out his compass and turns to face north-northwest, ensuring that they'll keep moving towards Goldenrod City whilst also wandering a bit further from the main road. Further out in the wilds, he might not risk wandering off from the patrolled parts of the Route so far, but with the ocean as a nearby natural boundary to the west, there's practically no risk of any dangerous wild pokémon choosing to live between the coast and the main road of Route 34.

They wander easily into the wilds, grasses and shrubs dominating the area, only rarely making place for large puddles or even minor lakes, small depressions in the ground drawing the local rain water towards them whilst a slight rise in the landscape towards the ocean and a lack of heavy rains combine to prevent the formation of any proper streams. There's still enough water to have drawn some water-types out from the ocean and inland however, as aside from a steady stream of Rattata and Drowzee, they also encounter a fair few Krabby and even a handful of Staryu.

Ran doesn't make Ekans battle all of the wild pokémon they run into over the next few hours, instead switching Ekans for Skorupi after an hour. Then once Skorupi's had a few battles, after another hour, it's Aria's turn. By late afternoon he decides to take a break, a convenient rock serving as a natural resting spot.

Aria is happy for the break as well, as Ran withdraws her for Golbat. Before he can properly settle down however, an unfamiliar voice cuts through the quiet.

"You can't sit on that rock. It's Arthur's."

Surprised, Ran looks in the direction of the voice, even as a deep croak calls out, as if to confirm the statement. The speaker is a trainer in his mid-twenties, with a remarkable dark pink pompadour. By his side, a glaring Politoed stands with its arms crossed.

"Who's Arthur?" Ran asks slowly, looking around for anyone who might take offense at his choice of seat. With his feet sore from walking and loudly announcing their need for the respite by throbbing insistently at the mere thought of getting up, he's hesitant to simply listen to the other trainer's words.

"Arthur is my Politoed," The other trainer answers easily enough, even as the pokémon in question offers a low, elongated croak, "He's very fond of that spot and I'm not inclined to upset him. So go on, shoo."

Before Ran can answer, Golbat flares his wings threateningly, stepping out partially in front of Ran, body tense as he postures aggressively in a clear threat display. If he was hoping to make the other trainer back off however, he can only be disappointed.

"I'm not impressed and frankly I'm in no mood. Move, or be moved kid." The trainer demands, one hand falling to one of the six pokéballs at his side whilst the other reaches out slightly towards Arthur the Politoed, whose glare only intensifies further.

At the sight of a full belt and the other trainer's confidence, Ran is inclined to accept, but Golbat clearly isn't. He screeches angrily, taking a few more threatening steps forward as he does so.

"Alright, I don't feel like wasting any time on this. One-on-one. Loser, which will be you, pisses off. No wager, just leaving." The other trainer complains, pacing away even as his fingers glide over the balls at his belt. Mulishly, Arthur the Politoed hops after him, unleashing a waterfall of croaks towards his trainer in a clear diatribe of some kind.

"Are you sure about this, Golbat? He's probably been training a lot longer than us." Ran asks his pokémon cautiously. All he gets for a response is a challenging shriek, as Golbat hops forwards to enter the 'arena', which is more than enough for Ran to get fully on board.

"Alright, get ready to get in the air." He instructs his pokémon, receiving an approving screech in return, as both trainer and pokémon turn their attention towards their opponent.

"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe." The other trainer lazily announces, hand wandering between the three pokéballs on his right, before finally settling on one of them. Arthur the Politoed finally falling silent in the background, though he's clearly unhappy to be doing so.

"Come on out, Flashlight." He announces, as an Ampharos appears on the field. Ran can't stop an involuntary intimidated gulp, as the strong electric-type appears and immediately focuses its attention on Golbat, who for his part doesn't seem intimidated just yet.

"Charge up and pick your moment." The other trainer instructs lazily, signaling the start of the fight with a brisk wave.

"Screech!" Ran counters, hoping to not only weaken the opposing Ampharos, but maybe also surprise it into failing its own move.

His hopes are in vain, as all Golbat achieves with his Screech, aside from its normal effect, is to further annoy the opposing trainer.

"Okay no if you're going to use annoying shit like that, we're ending this quickly." He complains, even as Ran orders Golbat to use Astonish before closing in for a Poison Fang.

"Zap- Thundershock." The other trainer commands, seemingly aborting whatever he was about to say first as Golbat suddenly bursts forwards, a ghostly apparition covering his form and drawing Ampharos' attention towards its impossibly dark, gaping maw. Golbat's fangs are already glowing with purple poison-energy, whilst Ran leans forwards in anticipation, hoping that Astonish might make Ampharos flinch for the crucial second it will take Golbat to close in and land his own attack.

But although the ghost-type energy connects with Ampharos and thus must logically inflict at least some amount of damage, the electric-type doesn't acknowledge the attack. Instead, it remains laser focused on Golbat as the red orb on its forehead crackles with electric sparks for a moment, before a large burst of yellow electricity bursts outwards directly towards Golbat.

The poison-flying-type doesn't even have enough time to realize what's happening, his poisonous maw about to crunch down on his target one moment and terrible debilitating pain running through every inch of his body the next. Golbat doesn't even manage to cry out in pain, his whole body locking up as the electric attack wreaks havoc on his system. Ran lets out a horrified shout of his own, crying for Golbat to get out of there, but the attack's power is too great, as Golbat's diving attack turns into an uncontrolled nosedive, crashing into the ground a few feet in front of Ampharos.

Golbat's shivering pain-wracked body slides on for a few feet, with Ampharos confidently taking just a single step back to prevent its opponent from so much as getting any dirt on its feet. Any hope Ran might have that Golbat is still able to fight is destroyed the next moment, when the electric-type nudges the now fully stationary poison-type from his belly onto his back.

Golbat's large eyes are both closed, his tongue lolling out whilst a dark purple pattern is visible on his dark blue lower body. The branching pattern of scarred tissue forms a branching mess on Golbat's body that might almost be considered beautiful, if Golbat hadn't received it in such a painful way. Ran hurriedly recalls his pokémon for now, even as he frantically runs through the small inventory of medical supplies he's got on him at the moment.

"Right, I say again, buzz off." The other trainer speaks curtly, already striding past Ran and towards the rock that's the cause of their battle in the first place. Behind him, Arthur the Politoed comes dancing after him merrily, whilst the Ampharos, which hasn't been recalled yet, looks at Golbat's unconscious form with at least a modicum of hesitance.

Ran doesn't pay either of the other two pokémon any mind however. He's too focused on shooting a venomous glare at the older guy's back. Unfortunately, with Golbat utterly incapacitated from a single attack, he knows full well that anything other than obediently marching off will just end with him nursing more defeated pokémon back to health. Burning the other trainer's appearance into his mind, he finally turns before marching off, earlier pained feet forgotten in favor of the anger eating away at him from the inside.

It's not the loss itself that drives his ferocious steps as he stomps off briskly, but rather the other trainer's behavior and his needlessly violent attack. Ignoring his general jerkiness for the moment, the skill gap between them was apparent enough from the start. To not have the common decency to at least choose a pokémon without a type advantage, is enough for Ran to vow silent retribution.

Retribution he'll come for some day in the future, at least, when his team actually stands a shot against what might well be an eight badge trainer with a fully evolved team. For now, the thought of the other trainer's eventual comeuppance is all the fuel Ran needs to eat up a few more miles in short order, before his feet finally won't be ignored any longer. There's no convenient rock or log to be found this time, but Ekans is happy enough to flatten out a respectable area of grass so Ran can at least sit down without running the risk of having a wild pokémon literally crawl on top of him before he notices it.

Just as he plonks his butt down on the grass, with Ekans immediately coiling protectively around his trainer, his pokégear vibrates with an incoming message. Glancing down, he isn't particularly surprised to see Josie's name staring back up at him. Opening their conversation, which has been dormant for the duration of their Ilex Forest trek, he catches up on what his friend's been up to.

Josie: You don't know what you're missing by going poison-types. Riding's a good time.

Ran: I'm fine with my feet on the ground.

Josie: Lame

Josie: Almost made it to the city

Josie: Found something cool

Josie: Day Care / Eevee breeder

Josie: Got a pup with some real fire to her

Ran: I thought you weren't interested in a Flareon?

Josie: Yeah but now that you've got four

Josie: Don't wanna lag behind you know

Ran: Do whatever you like, but that seems like a bad reason to change your plans?

Josie: Right

Josie: Because Skorupi was in your plans right?

Ran: I didn't even know Skorupi existed. It's hardly the same thing. You already had the choice to add a Flareon and deliberately chose not to.

Josie: …

Ran knows that Josie wants him to react to the ellipses she sends him, but he doesn't bother. Instead, he takes the time to dig around in his backpack for a light snack for both himself and for Ekans, who gladly accepts his treat. By the time Ran bothers to look at his pokégear again, it's vibrated more than once with more incoming messages.

Josie: …

Josie: …

Josie: Don't ignore me

Josie: You suck

Josie: Guess you have a point though

Josie: Fine, won't buy the fuzzball

Josie: She's cute though

Attached is a picture of the Eevee in question. Exceptionally fluffy and with a slight reddish tint to her brown eyes, Ran can easily admit that it is indeed a remarkably cute example of its kind. Not to mention that there's something about those eyes that just seems to suit a future evolution into a Flareon.

Ran: I was getting a snack, actually.

Ran: That's probably the right decision, though, yes. Congratulations.

Josie: Whatever

Josie: You making it to GC by night?

Ran: No, I'll camp out one more night. Golbat got hurt pretty bad in a battle against an arrogant toerag, but I've got the supplies to take care of him. We've wandered off the path and into the wilds a bit, I don't feel like rushing in the dark and risking an injury or something.

Josie: Wuss

Josie: See you tomorrow then

Ran: See you tomorrow.

By the time Ran closes his conversation with Josie, early evening is already setting in. Looking from Ekans to the surrounding landscape, he hums in thought, before getting up once more.

"Come on buddy, just another hour or so, just to see if we can't at least find a spot with some fresh water. Maybe some better visibility too, while we're at it." He encourages his starter, the purple Snake Pokémon hissing obligingly before following at his trainer's side once more.

With Golbat out of action, they'll have to be a bit more careful until they make it to Goldenrod City, but he's confident enough in his team's ability to navigate whatever they might encounter. Even with Golbat temporarily out of commission, they can still get some good training in for the evening. Because if the encounter with Arthur's trainer has made one thing perfectly clear, it's that they've still got a very long way to go before the Conference at the end of the season.

So, even if one of his four pokémon is in no shape to train for the day, that's still no reason for the others to get a night off. If anything, this only further reinforces the need for him and his team to outwork and outperform everyone who has a head start on them.

Teeth gritted as his mind immediately wanders to Bugsy and his three-year head start, Ran speeds up further, power walking ahead in search of a good spot to make camp. Ekans lets out a plaintive hiss as he struggles to keep up for a moment before adjusting, but Ran is undeterred. It'll be a good warm-up for them both.

---

Author's Note: It's the final asshole! Though at least this one offered a chance at a peaceful resolution before resorting to fighting. As for journeying with Josie, her having a mount and Ran not having one was always going to end up being a thing, especially after the restrictive Ilex Forest. They'll reunite soon, but for now, Ran and his team are on their own again!

This update is a full chapter due to being an awkward length for splitting into a two-parter. The next update, as always, will be on Wednesday and will also be a full chapter. Then we'll have another interlude before returning to a chapter-per-week structure again for a while. Of course if you want to read ahead, or feel like supporting my writing, please go and have a look at my Patreon. There, you can get 2 weeks of Early Access at the Supporters-tier. Additionally, the second name vote of the story approaches, for those that want to go a step further and join the Contributor-tier.

As always, thanks for your support and I hope you continue to enjoy my story.

 

[The Dave]

It's around noon the next day when Ran finally wanders into Goldenrod City. His team is fully recalled once more, a nighttime battle against a belligerent and rather powerful Drowzee and a late morning two-on-two against another two-badge trainer having put some serious strain on them. Of course they chased off the Drowzee and won the trainer battle with a score of two to zero, but with Golbat's injuries keeping him benched and Aria having faced the wild Drowzee, it was the pair of Skorupi and Ekans who had to pull out all the stops in the trainer battle.

Skorupi's Toxic Spikes immediately proved their value, playing a significant role in his close triumph over the opponent's Marill. Their ability to really limit the Marill's freedom of movement alone was worth a lot, as shown by their opponent getting halfway through ordering a Rollout before hurriedly changing his mind. With it also lacking any real ways to defend against Skorupi's attacks, it was forced to choose between weathering their attacks and dodging right into the Toxic Spikes.

Ultimately, Skorupi had the other pokémon's number in general, but even the brief glimpse of Toxic Spikes' raw potential had left Ran's mind racing. They'd both been eager to keep going when their opponent's next choice was a Skiploom, but Ran ultimately overrode his own instincts and the poison-bug-type's wishes, recalling him in favor of Ekans. Skorupi's enthusiasm made him a joy to train, but under the circumstances Ran wasn't willing to risk overtaxing him.

His opponent had visibly perked up when Ran recalled one poison-type, only to slump in disappointment when Ekans had come out instead. That fight had been significantly less close, even though Skorupi's lingering Toxic Spikes didn't trouble Skiploom. Instead, Ekans was happy to Stockpile to buff his defenses before firing off Acid after Acid until their opponents finally made the mistake of letting Skiploom get too close. At that point, a lightning-quick Poison Fang, courtesy of some recent tutoring from Golbat - offered before his strongest team member had been incapacitated by that asshole with the Politoed and its stupid rock -, was enough to dispose of what little fight Skiploom had left.

After the previous afternoon's battle, the clean sweep is a nice ego boost, but with three of his four pokémon significantly below peak condition, Ran's mood remains sour. Before becoming a trainer he would've been able to push the state of his team from his mind, comfortable in the knowledge that they're all safe in the stasis imposed by their pokéballs. Now, however, there's a feeling of vulnerability to walking around with a weakened team. It's a scary realization to come to, that he's come to rely on his team as a form of actual protection and one that sees him speed up once more as he almost jogs the final few hundred feet to the Pokécenter.

As he approaches the building, the sheer size of Goldenrod City and everything about it finally sinks in. In Violet City, the Pokécenter was a fair bit bigger than it was in Azalea Town, offering easily twice as many beds and having a larger capacity for injured pokémon as well. But even that, at the time impressive, sight pales in comparison to the imposing building he enters now.

If Azalea Town's Pokécenter is the size of a large house and Violet City easily beats it out by being comparable to a large duplex, then Goldenrod City's Pokécenter can only be compared to a large three-floor office building. At a guess, it easily doubles the floor space Violet City's Pokécenter has available to it, whilst adding a full extra floor on top of that. The distinct red roof is still the same color at least, but that's really where the comparisons stop.

Not that the gargantuan Pokécenter stands out like a sore thumb in Goldenrod City, it's large paved roads surrounded on all sides by a variety of buildings, some even larger and more imposing than Ran's current destination. Whenever there's a smaller building that actually allows him a look at the rest of Goldenrod's skyline, his eye is caught by one of the city's skyscrapers, whether it's the Radio Tower, the famed Goldenrod Trainer Department Store or one of the tall office buildings he doesn't know the name of.

Violet City was large in a conventional sense, a large number of houses sprawling out over a greater area. But it had still been largely comparable to Azalea Town if sheer volume was taken out of the equation. Because at least they'd shared overall architectural features and a general sense of rustic tranquility.

That comparison, which Ran had figured might hold true for all of Johto, doesn't fly at all when Goldenrod City is added to the equation. Because Goldenrod sticks out like a sore thumb compared to the other places he's visited so far. Not only in scale, though that in its own right is a major departure from the norm established by Violet City, but in overall appearance.

There's something overwhelming about it all. It's not merely the height of the buildings, but also the unique background noises, reinforced by bouncing off of those steel titans that line the streets. With lunchtime just about arrived, there's also the sheer rush of people moving every which way, contributing further to the bustle of the city. Where the quiet and monotony of Azalea Town could get boring, here there's no such risk. If anything, it's overstimulation, rather than boredom, that seems more likely here.

He's not sure whether he likes these things about Goldenrod City or not, but he's got plenty of time to figure that out. At the moment, as he enters the pokécenter and makes a beeline for the service desk, he's got other priorities. A kind forty-something nurse greets him with a soft smile, accepting the pokéballs of all four of Ran's team members before sending them down a pressurized tube one after the other.

At Ran's evident surprise, she merely smiles once more as she explains the situation to him, "First time in the big city? We get a lot more business than most other pokécenters. We've got at least three nurses on duty at any time, as well as a full staff of capable support pokémon. Don't worry, your team is in good hands. It just wouldn't be efficient for me to personally walk them over to their treatment location. Don't worry, you'll get an automated message on your pokégear once their treatment is finished."

Ran just manages to thank the nurse, when he's cut off by an enthusiastic shout, "Oh hey you made it!"

"Hi Josie," He answers easily enough, turning to greet his friend with an amused grin, "What kept you?"

"Pssht, don't flatter yourself, running into you without texting is a coincidence. I took the morning off. This place has actual baths for some of the better rooms!" Josie waves him off, before her enthusiasm takes over once more, volume steadily rising even as she approaches.

"That's nice, I still got a normal one with use of the common facilities though." Ran replies casually, easily deflating Josie's rising cheer with his dry answer.

"Whatever, come on already, I was just about to go and book my challenge at the Gym." She shrugs off Ran's attempt to calm her down, taking a few bounding steps before holding in place, shaking in place until he relents and starts following her.

With a cheer, she leads them out of the pokécenter and towards the Gym. According to Josie, it's 'only' a fifteen-minute walk, which is apparently nothing by Goldenrod's standards even if it's easily triple the distance between the Gym and the Pokécenter back in Azalea Town. As they walk, Josie waxes poetic on Goldenrod's charms, her mind on the city clearly already a lot more made up than Ran's own.

Ran is content to let her, though he does weigh in when Josie starts on her planned itinerary for their stay in Goldenrod. They're both interested in visiting the Trainer Department Store and the Goldenrod Tunnel and easily agree to visit both locations together, but Ran has no interest in the Game Corner or the Flower Shop Josie saw and insists she must visit properly. Instead, he announces his intent to take a short two- or three-day trip to Route 35, which Josie in turn wholeheartedly disagrees with, unwilling to give up the opportunity to take a daily bath for the duration of their stay in Goldenrod.

Neither of them mind splitting up and there's no hard feelings involved either way, as far as Ran is concerned, so it's a conversation that's easily handled and fully resolved by the time they make it to the local Gym. Once they arrive however, they're met with a sight that Ran almost fails to process.

Outside of the Gym, which is a large, flat rectangular building with garish pink accents in its woodwork, there's an actual ticket booth. Said ticket booth currently has a line of eight people queuing up, only the large sign that clearly says 'spectators' preventing them from having to join the queue themselves. Instead, they get to walk right past and enter the building properly.

The front lobby is a whole new assault on the senses, the chosen aesthetic most closely resembling what Ran expects to happen if an eleven-year-old girl is given an unlimited budget and a professional renovation crew who can't use the word 'no'. Though testing isn't an option, he seriously wouldn't be surprised if the wallpaper tastes like cotton candy.

Unlike the ticket counter outside, the reception desk doesn't have a queue of people waiting in front of it. Instead the front lobby is surprisingly quiet, the older gentleman on duty perking up visibly when they turn towards him and start to approach.

"Hello there! Here to register for a Gym Challenge? Please hand me your Trainer IDs if you'd be so kind." He greets them both heartily, extended hand trembling just slightly as he accepts their documentation and scans them one after the other on a device attached to his computer.

"Josephine Shelby and Ran Carr? First circuit, Zephyr and Hive Badges?" He reads off warmly, pausing for affirmation before continuing once they both nod.

"Excellent! You can challenge Gym Leader Whitney three days from today. At what time would you like to challenge?" The man asks dutifully, attention shifting from them to the computer screen he squints at and back again.

"Just three days?" Josie voices the surprised thought running through both their minds before Ran can, "Are you sure that's right? We've had at least a week's wait at the other Gyms we challenged."

Rather than take offense at their shared doubt, the older gentleman merely laughs, breaking down into a coughing fit before he manages to regather himself, "Yes, well, you challenged Falkner and Azalea's new Gym Leader Bugsy, did you not? We're still pretty early in the season and those boys don't have Whitney's well-deserved reputation now do they?"

They both nod obligingly, indulging the man by giving him the reaction he's clearly looking for, in order to keep his explanation going.

"Well that's all there is to it, really! Flynn's boy's reputation for being a bit inconsistent isn't great and Bugsy of course did quite well in the Conference this year, but neither one of them is a true Conference winner like our Whitney, nor do they have her indomitable reputation. So those trainers that start out in this part of the region tend to do so at Violet City and those that start elsewhere in Johto tend to circle around to Violet and Azalea before coming to Goldenrod, when they get to this part of their journey. Thus, our waiting times will be quite a bit shorter than I believe you've gotten used to for a good while yet." The man finishes his story, shaky hand reaching for a cup of what can, by this point, be lukewarm coffee at best, that was previously hidden from Ran's sight.

"That makes sense, what've you got available in the early afternoon?" Josie accepts easily, showcasing her usual easygoing attitude by simply accepting the explanation at face value and moving on. Ran envies her the ability, as his own thoughts are still caught on the 'indomitable reputation' part.

"Does two work for you?" The smiling receptionist asks, hands returning to the keyboard confidently despite the continued light shaking. Josie nods confidently, which is enough for him to smile once more and book her challenge on the spot, then, his attention turns to Ran.

"Well it's Josie's turn to go first, so do you have anything around two thirty?" Ran inquires politely, soon locking in his own challenge for exactly that hour. Assuming everything goes roughly according to plan, that should give Josie enough time to head to the pokécenter and make it back to watch his match whilst likewise giving him enough time to comfortably watch her match before turning his focus to his own.

With that handled, they leave the Gym behind once more, with an hour or two left in the day before dinnertime. With their respective challenges against Whitney planned in just three days, rather than the expected week or more, Ran's intended trip to Route 35 will have to wait until after challenging Goldenrod Gym. The relatively late hour also immediately dismisses the Goldenrod Trainer Department Store as an option, so when he speaks up, it's to advocate the only location that makes sense at the moment.

"Want to go and visit the Tunnel? We can explore it, you could get a few matches in and then we'll have a proper lay of the land to make a day of it tomorrow or the day after?" He offers with a grin, although Josie waves him off immediately.

"Pass. If we're only in town for a few days, I'm hitting the Game Corner early. Meet up tomorrow morning to go to the Department Store? Then we can hit the Tunnel after lunch for more shopping, battling, dinner and more battling!" She offers cheerfully, which Ran accepts easily enough after a moment's consideration.

"Sure thing," he agrees, pausing for a moment before immediately continuing to cut off the question Josie is about to ask, her mouth already opening, "And yes I'm sure that I don't want to join you at the Game Corner. My budget is tight enough as it is."

"But that's why you should come to the Game Corner," Josie insists energetically, offering him an admittedly charming smile that's clearly meant to cajole him, "To increase your budget!"

"Nope. I'll just head back to the Pokécenter early and take an evening off, read up on some stuff and enjoy the opportunity to be off my feet for a few extra hours." He rejoins easily, just as unbothered by Josie's cajoling as he is by her following complaints about just how terrible he is.

"You're the most boring man alive! Read? Read?! I swear you're the kind of guy who gets a book for his birthday and is genuinely excited about it!" She cries out dramatically, presenting Ran with the perfect opportunity to subtly needle her a final time.

"Oh you're getting me a book? That's great. Actually there's this book on the history of Fuchsia City I'm interested in, but it's a bit hard to find in Johto, maybe your family in Kanto could mail over a copy?" He replies placidly, an encouraging smile plastered lazily across his face.

"Away, you monster! Away!" Josie cries dramatically, theatrically shying away from him as she takes a few steps backwards in the Game Corner's general direction. Ran merely offers a simple wave in return, before turning and heading towards the Pokécenter himself. Running into Josie earlier than expected threw off his plans for the rest of the day slightly, but with both his room and his challenge at the Gym booked, he can finally enjoy a shower of his own before hopefully claiming one of the Pokécenter's computers for a few hours.

After all, even with his team in the Pokécenter's expert care, there's no reason for him not to spend his time productively. Which is why, after a brisk walk, a long hot shower and a quick self-made early dinner (thanks to the Pokécenter's communal facilities), he plants himself behind a computer and starts typing. His very first search isn't actually a productive one necessarily, but is instead meant to finally sate an uncomfortable uncertainty that's been quietly gnawing away at him for a few weeks now.

There's a slight hesitance to his motions as he types Spencer's name into the search bar, but when he finally confirms his query, any worry he had immediately evaporates. Low-level trainers like Josie, Spencer and himself have rather barebones profile pages in the Indigo database, with none of them having any televised appearances, tournament or Conference participations or anything of the like under their belts just yet. Still, what they do all have, is a basic summary of the badges they've earned.

On Spencer's page, next to the gleaming silver Zephyr Badge from Violet City, its color showing off its status as an acquired badge, sits a shimmering onyx-bordeaux dragon head, the Rising Badge, from the dragon-type Gym in Blackthorn City. Ran stares in a mixture of relief and awe at the confirmation that Spencer made it through the Dark Caves in one piece and successfully challenged what is considered by many to be one of the toughest Gyms in Johto.

When he scrolls down to the 'known Pokémon' part of the page, he gets another shocking surprise, as Spencer's previous team of Pineco, Scyther and Onix has seen a significant shake up. Not only has Pineco evolved into a Forretress, but he's also added a Skarmory to his already impressive line-up. The addition of such an impressive fourth member to Spencer's team stings a bit, but nowhere near as much as the confirmation that his starter has evolved, whilst Ran's, which is supposed to evolve sooner than the Pineco-line, hasn't yet.

Plus, with Forretress' type advantage and the sheer bulk of his remaining team members, Spencer will likely blow right through Mahogany Town's famously tough Gym as well. Ran's own third badge is also within reach, but Spencer's apparent success still lights a fire in him, as his typing becomes a fair bit more animated from that point on.

His next stop is Karolina Brandt, the snobbish girl that debuted against Bugsy at an eight-badge level. Only the Hive Badge is colored in, confirming that she's only got the one badge thus far, but her profile holds other surprises. Her confirmed team for one doesn't merely show the Jynx, Piloswine and Weavile that Ran was already aware off through Josie's retelling of Karolina's battle with Bugsy, but also confirms a Cloyster and a Lapras, with both of those apparently having seen action in a tournament in Olivine City she participated in mere days ago.

With the sheer power her confirmed fully-evolved team holds, it's no surprise to Ran that she won the whole thing, though it does leave him with another question. How does a girl his age make her debut with five fully-evolved and quite rare pokémon? Her team's composition would make sense for a year two or three trainer, sponsored by Mahogany Town's Gym, but her profile confirms that she's on her first circuit and that she's Ran's age, so that theory doesn't hold up.

It's a mystery he lacks the means to solve, though he does decide for himself to keep an eye on Karolina's progress every now and then. Finally, as far as other trainers go, he looks up Grady Kendrick, the cheerful thirteen-year old having made a lasting impression on him over the span of the night they camped in Union Cave.

Unlike the mixed feelings Spencer's profile page evoked, Ran is happy to see Grady has in fact triumphed at Violet City, the Zephyr Badge shining right next to the Hive Badge. Again however, there's a surprise to be found, as unlike Spencer, Karolina and even Ran himself, Grady actually has a small personal message written on his profile, which Ran reads with a fair amount of disbelief.

Next destination: Goldenrod City! Whitney, I'm coming for my badge! #FirstofFive #2of8

It's an awkwardly childish update, as far as Ran is concerned, but there's a certain charm to it in spite of, or maybe precisely because of, its genuine naivete. Not that anyone other than Ran himself is likely to ever read it, as trainer profile pages really aren't used as a way to communicate by anyone, anywhere. Most people either leave the short message blank entirely, like Ran himself, or if they don't, they just put in a short description or quote they then don't touch again for years at a time.

Bugsy for example, being the only trainer Ran looked up every now and then in the past few years, had the same line for years, only recently changing it when he became Azalea Town's new Gym Leader.

It used to be 'Azalea Town Gym Sponsored Trainer - Bug-specialist'. Now, when Ran briefly visits his page, the text has been updated to the slightly more informative 'Azalea Town Gym Leader - Bug-specialist / Exciting employment opportunities, visit our site or inquire locally'.

Ran almost sinks into the rabbit hole by visiting the website for Bugsy's Gym, but he just manages to stop himself. Though interesting, he does actually still have stuff he wants to handle, rather than getting sidetracked by looking for more information on his hometown gym's progress under its new leadership. So, exiting the Indigo Trainer Database interface, he instead opens a proper search engine.

His efforts to find out more about Skorupi are just as fruitless now as they were when he first discovered just what species his newest team member belonged to, but he only wastes fifteen frustrating minutes on that particular search, before shifting focus. First, he uses his pokégear to send a few quick updates to his dad. Then he spends a frustrating half hour yet again researching the Ekans-line and any potential causes that might be keeping his Ekans, who is showing all the physical markers, from evolving.

When that research proves fruitless, he spends over an hour looking into ways to help teach Ekans, Aria and Golbat their next moves. Acid Spray and Sludge Bomb for his starter, Sucker Punch and Agility for Aria and finally Haze and Venoshock for Golbat. This at least proves more fruitful, his pokégear filling up with notes over the course of the evening. Just as he's considering a shift towards a more entertaining way to spend his last hour or two before going to bed, however, a surprising voice interrupts Ran's work.

"Oh cool, you made it here too!" Grady Kendrick calls out, eagerly approaching Ran at his computer and happily plonking himself down in the unoccupied seat to Ran's left. As he does so, Ran gets a good look at the younger trainer. His tan has darkened slightly further, a logical consequence of the traveling lifestyle, whilst the darkest parts of his black-and-yellow outfit have faded slightly, becoming more of a washed out dark gray rather than the previous dark black. His dark green eyes shine brightly, shaggy black hair kept out of his eyes by the baseball cap he wears backwards. He faces Ran with a beaming smile as he starts rambling merrily.

"This is great! How'd you do against Bugsy? I beat Falkner like it was nothing, so I'm back in town to challenge Whitney next, I guess you also got your second badge or you wouldn't be here yet so that was a dumb question never mind. Hey, where's Josie? Is she taking a shower or something? I only just made it into the city and I'll be sleeping at my parents' house so no shower for me just yet. Sorry if I stink, I guess, I just came by here to check my team in for the night before heading home for the night but then when I'd done that I figured I'd do a quick tour of the building to see if I'd run into any familiar faces and then I found you!" Grady rattles off at a mile-a-minute, not really giving Ran a proper chance to respond to any of his questions until he has to pause to take a breath, at which point Ran speaks up.

"As far as I know, Josie is at the Game Corner. It's good to see you Grady, though it might be better if we catch up properly tomorrow or something, if your parents are expecting you?" He offers easily, only to be surprised when the excitable thirteen-year old seemingly deflates.

"Yeah, alright… Sure thing…" He accepts sullenly, shoving his chair backwards and standing up in one brisk move, no longer making eye contact with Ran.

Unsure how to handle the other boy's reaction, Ran speaks up before the Goldenrod native takes his first step, "Josie and I are visiting the Trainer Department Store tomorrow morning, we could meet up in front of the building at around nine?"

Grady visibly pauses, green eyes regaining their previous luster after a few seconds as he gasps in delight, "You really mean it? Yeah, totally! I'll be there! I've been there loads of times, I can totally show you around!"

"Sounds great," Ran agrees easily, "Let's call it nine for now, if something changes, we've got each other's contact information, we'll text, alright?"

"Yeah, okay, totally, cool! I'll go home and take that shower now, then. See you tomorrow!" Grady agrees enthusiastically, almost stumbling over his own words in his enthusiasm as he takes off at speed once more, almost running over an unwitting older trainer who is just entering the computer room himself.

Ran sighs in weary amusement, the brief two-minute conversation with the absurdly energetic Grady enough to drain what energy he had left. After a few moments of thought, he logs off from the computer and heads towards his room. Initially, he was planning to watch one of Whitney's most recent televised matches, but at this point, he's happy to plop down in bed and just watch whatever form of competitive Pokémon battling is being broadcast at this hour.

The broadcast in question ends up being a battle between an up-and-coming Dark-type specialist, a young woman with silvery-blue hair and an attractive figure, and a man Ran is surprised to recognize. It's Clarence, the previously long-term sponsored trainer of Azalea Town Gym and water-type specialist who quite recently failed to win the position of Gym Leader in a direct match against Bugsy.

Clarence is by no means a slouch, his strong team and respectable track record at Conference finals making him a realistic candidate for the position of Gym Leader, even if a bit of favoritism might also have factored in there. But on the night, he's badly outclassed. Ran stumbles upon the battle when Clarence is already down two to zero and, although his Poliwrath manages back-to-back wins to bring the score back to three to two after his Azumarill goes down, the outcome is never truly in doubt, the battle eventually ending at six to three in the woman's favor.

At that point the commentary team turns to the impact the match has on both trainers' respective careers, but by then Ran is having trouble keeping his eyes open, barely managing to turn the tv off before sweet sleep claims him.

---

Author's Note: Heartbreaking: The Worst Person You Know Is Doing Great. Because yeah, Spencer is still on track as far as his own schedule goes. He may get his comeuppance in time, but for now, he's still succeeding in his endeavors.

I hope Goldenrod City comes across somewhat vividly as noticeably larger and busier than the previous locations Ran has visited. Grady is also here and he'll be present for the next few chapters at the very least, which is why for the next update, we'll be having a Grady interlude to see what he's been up to and shed some light on his behavior. Plus, he's run into another interesting figure who'll likely be popping up again further down the line.

We'll be back on Sunday! Of course if you want to read ahead, or feel like supporting my writing, please go and have a look at my Patreon. There, you can get 2 weeks of Early Access at the Supporters-tier. Additionally, the second name vote of the story approaches, for those that want to go a step further and join the Contributor-tier.

As always, thanks for your support and I hope you continue to enjoy my story.