When someone gets isekaied into the Pokemon world the first thought anyone might have is to become a Pokemon trainer and work to be the very best, like no one ever was. Harry Hemming doesn't have such lofty ambitions but that doesn't mean thing won't get stirred up as he tries to claim a spot as a new ninth Gym Leader for the Hoenn region.
Gym Leader Number 9
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Chapter 1
Tommy was Miss Roxanne's number one student, so when she asked around with her gym students for a bit of help grading homework Tommy stepped up straight away!
It wasn't normal for her. Roxanne worked really hard but she'd only ever asked for a bit of help like this once or twice. Tommy was happy to help anyway. It was kind of fun looking at the homework from boys and girls a few years below him, kind of nostalgic really.
Apparently some guy had asked to meet her about important gym stuff so she had less time after school hours to get things finished. Nobody had been able to get her to tell what the meeting was about though.
Tommy finished another pile of maths homework and brought it over to his teacher.
"Thank you Tommy," Roxanne said, offering him a friendly smile as she put the pile to the side.
"You got any more for me?" Tommy asked. Although he really was a bit bored of marking homework now. He'd been all for helping before, but that was before he'd realised how boring marking homework was. Tommy had no idea how she did it all the time. Roxanne glanced down to the work she was marking, which probably included Tommy's classwork, now he thought of it. Then Roxanne sighed.
"That is very kind of you Tommy but that's alright. I'd wanted to try and get everything done before this meeting but it looks like I'll have to put it off until later. Why don't you go out and play with your friends?"
"Okay," Tommy said, secretly glad that she was letting him go. He knew Roxanne was a bit nervous about the meeting, whatever it was about. That wasn't really his problem though. "I'll see you tomorrow Miss Roxanne!" Tommy shouted as he hurried out of the door.
He was more than ready now to go out and unwind and Tommy pulled out his pokeball from his pocket. Hopefully once he arrived someone would be brave enough to battle him and Geodude.
Tommy raced down the street, being extra careful to look for cars and stuff and then he arrived at the playground, only to find it had a far different atmosphere than usual.
Little Sally Gettsbrook was sat in a corner, cradling her new Teddiursa she'd been super excited about all week. Tommy had been just a bit jealous too and he'd been looking forward to seeing it. Now the Teddiursa was unconscious, its head in the girl's lap as she cried for him to wake up.
Sally was a bit too young to understand how Pokemon worked. It took a lot to properly hurt a Pokemon. Tommy was glad to know that with a potion and a bit of rest the Teddiursa would be okay. But it wasn't just Sally and her Teddiursa.
Some of the other kids he knew were here, looking dejected and they'd probably also had their Pokemon beaten by the sole newcomer. Some looked kind of ill, a bit pale or dizzy which was what sometimes happened after you lost a battle.
He was a tall guy, probably the same age as Roxanne or maybe even older. He had a mohawk and a sleeveless leather jacket and there were a bunch of spikes coming out of the shoulders.
Georgia was facing off against him in a Pokemon battle, her Geodude glowering at the other man's pokemon and Tommy definitely remembers this one! It was a Krokorok, one of the coolest Pokemon evolutions around with the final evolution being the super awesome Krookodile.
"Alright I'll show you!" Georgia shouted, clearly absolutely livid as her skirt fluttered in the wind and she pointed forwards imposingly. "Geodude, use Rollout!"
"Woah," Tommy muttered. Georgia was usually pretty quiet, or at least she wasn't easy to rile up. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had got her so upset though.
"Yeah get him Georgia!" Shouted Jon off to the side, one of Tommy's classmates who wasn't allowed to have Pokemon anymore after the permanent marker incident. A few other kids were cheering her on, but they didn't look too confident.
"Tommy, you're here!" Shouted Rachel from off to the side.
Tommy had never been hit by a Geodude's Rollout, or ever had anything except a bite from a Zigzagoon once when he was little, but after seeing Roxanne's Geodude break a steel girder once he'd learnt the most important lesson of being a Pokemon Trainer. To stay out of the line of fire.
Tommy went over to stand by Rachel, giving the ongoing battle a wide birth as the Krokorok jumped over the rolling Geodude, cackling as Georgina's Geodude turned around.
"What's going on?" He asked.
"That guy came and started challenging everyone to a battle," Rachel said, gesturing towards the guy dressed like a punk. She glowered. "He's super strong too and he's been taking everyone's pocket money as winnings."
"What!? That's totally unfair," Tommy declared. That guy had a Krokorok and they were super tough! Especially against baby pokemon like most of Tommy's friends were allowed to have.
Off to the side there was one of the kindergartners, Josh's sister, Tommy thought. Tommy remembered she had a Happiny and now little girl was sat on her bottom, crying her eyes out after probably being made to battle that guy. Next to her was her big brother Josh, who was trying to put on a brave face. Josh had a pair of Geodudes too, but they were bought by his parents. They weren't as strong as Tommy's Pokemon, none of the other kids could stand up to his Geodude, but it was obvious by how tired the other boy looked that he'd lost to this guy too. Whiting out was supposed to be horrible but Josh was holding himself together. That's why he only had the one Pokemon, he was too young for more than one.
"Go on Georgia!" Tommy shouted, absolutely infuriated. "You show that guy who's boss!"
Georgia couldn't really do much right now except watch though as her Geodude kept building up speed. This had to be the fastest Tommy had ever seen it go. Usually by this point the battle would be over, even Tommy had lost against her once when her Geodude picked up speed.
That might've been just because his Geodude had a crush on hers though which was just super icky. Tommy and his Geodude's friendship had been heavily challenged that evening until they'd become friends again.
Still the Krokorok was dodging and jumping over her Geodude like it was a game and the Pokemon's trainer didn't look so serious either.
"Alright…" the grownup said. "Go on Krokorok, let's finish this one up, there's another kid here we can Crunch!"
Obeying its trainers instructions the Krokorok stopped playing around. It reached out with one hand and Tommy's eyes went wide as Georgia's Geodude rolled right into it. Even with how fast the Geodude had been rolling the Krokorok didn't break a sweat stopping it, the Geodude's momentum rapidly burning off as it scraped the playground, leaving a furrow in the ground.
The Krokorok chortled before leaning down and biting onto Georgia's Geodude, the wispy smoke of a Dark-type move around its teeth.
The Krokorok lifted its head up with the Geodude still in it before flinging its head forwards, letting go of Geodude and sending it flying back across the playground. Georgia's Geodude rolled to a stop, unconscious.
"There goes another one," the bully said stepping towards Georgia with his Krokorok smirking beside him. "Come on kid, fork over your money."
Georgia scowled as she pulled out some Pokedollars from her pocket.
"Jerk," she muttered, eyes welling up a bit.
Tommy's lips became set in a line. If Georgia couldn't beat this guy then there was only one person left who could!
"Hey butthole!" Tommy shouted as he came over. "Try battling someone your own size!"
Well, Tommy wasn't as tall as that guy either, actually Georgia was a bit taller than him too, but it was the principle of the thing! You were supposed to say something like that when you confronted bullies.
The bully smirked as Tommy approached him and that Krokorok's lips pulled back to reveal lots of big teeth like it was ready ot gobble him up.
Tommy swallowed but didn't let the Pokemon intimidate him.
"Another one," the punkish bully chortled. "C'mon kid, how much you got to bet?"
Tommy tightened his fist and was about to respond when something caught his eye.
It was another grownup coming onto the playground. He was a guy with square glasses over his brown hair and he was wearing a jacket over a sky blue shirt and pants. He kind of looked like a teacher or something with the leather satchel strung over one shoulder but Tommy'd definitely recognise him if he was.
What stood out most though was the Gardevoir standing just behind his other shoulder.
"Hi, sorry," the guy said. He grimaced bashfully. "I don't suppose any of you guys could point me to the Trainer School could you? I'm late for a meeting."
This must be the guy Roxanne was meeting! Tommy realised. She'd be super upset by now if this guy was already late. He'd better help this guy out.
"I'll take you," he said. "But first I've gotta win back all my friends' pocket money!"
The bully snorted. "What? It's just pocket money, get a grip."
Then he stopped, seeing the unimpressed look on the other grownup's face.
"You've been picking on children for their pocket money?" The new guy asked, slightly incredulously as he looked the bully up and down.
"Yeah, so what?" The bully asked. "It's all fun and games innit? What, gonna try and battle me with your eye candy, four eyes? Does that Gardevoir even battle?" He asked snidely, looking the slender Pokemon up and down. "Or do you use it for other things?"
The Gardevoir at the man's side blushed and turned to press her head into her trainer's shoulder. The man patted its head absent mindedly, eyes not leaving the bully.
"I try not to use her for battles," the nerdy looking guy said flatly. There was a kind of resignation about his tone that Tommy didn't understand but he didn't have any time to think about it right now. The guy pushed up his glasses as his expression turned into a frown.
"But I do have a Pokemon that could stretch his legs a bit. How about a one on one battle? If you win I'll double whatever you won off these kids. If you lose you give back all the money you took and never come back here."
Alright! Tommy had wanted to battle that guy but even though his Geodude was definitely the strongest amongst all his friends he really hadn't liked his chances. Whoever this guy was he must've been a strong trainer if Roxanne was meeting him. He even had a Gardevoir and they were a final evolution too!
The bully obviously didn't know what was going on but it looked like he sensed something was off. Then he scoffed, smirk coming back.
"I want triple," he said.
"Done," the other man replied easily, waving his hand as if it didn't matter.
"I'll be referee," Tommy said immediately. He wanted a front row seat to what was about to happen.
"Don't need no referees," the punk said, turning stride across the playground to where he'd been standing before. His Krokorok went to stand in front of him, leaning forward slightly with arms spread wide in an aggressive stance. The other man went to stand opposite him, the Pokeball in his hand expanded to normal size, held at the ready. The Gardevoir wandered off to the side, going to kneel down by Sally and her Teddiursa.
Tommy took his own position to the side. He did a bit of refereeing and he'd had practice with some of Roxanne's gym battles. He couldn't wait to see what this guy was going to bring out.
The man didn't throw the Pokeball or anything, opening it from his palm to summon the Pokemon he'd be battling that Krokorok with.
The energy took on the form of the pokemon, fading quickly to reveal…
"Marill!" Declared the small blue mouse as it jumped up to bounce on the ball on the end of its tail. The Pokemon's mouth was set in a big smile as it looked around the playground cheerfully.
"What the fu-, I mean heck?" Tommy asked incredulously, remembering there were younger kids here.
Also he shouldn't be swearing either. Georgia would definitely tattle on him to Roxanne if she heard him swear.
Everybody else watching seemed equally as surprised.
"I thought you might actually be a challenge. This is gonna be a slaughter!" The punk on the other side of the playground stated confidently, and Tommy couldn't help but agree.
"Err, mister," Tommy asked, remembering training with Roxanne about warning people when it looked like a battle might be unfair. "Are you sure that's the Pokemon you meant to send out?" The man with the glasses looked back at him.
"Yes," he replied, nodding and apparently not understanding what Tommy was trying to say. He gestured towards the Krokorok. "I have a type advantage," he pointed out.
Well yeah. A Krokorok was ground typed and a Marill was a water type so on paper it made sense.
But that was a Marill. That Krokorok was like three times bigger than it!
This guy was just one of those grownups with a few Pokemon, but the kind that didn't really know how to battle, wasn't he? Tommy sighed. He'd been really hoping this guy would be strong like Roxanne.
The Marill bounced up and down cheerfully, smiling and waving with its eyes closed, the utmost impression of cheerfulness. It seemed completely oblivious to its surroundings or the big scary Pokemon across the improvised arena.
"Whenever you're ready to start us off," the man said, reminding Tommy that he had a job to do.
Tommy grimaced. But the battle was basically ready to start now.
"O-okay this is a one on one battle and the winner will be decided by knockout," Tommy said with as much authority as he could muster.
He raised his hand and then chopped down the way he'd been taught.
"Begin!"
"Use Bite and end this!" The bully shouted gleefully. "After this I'm gonna be able to get a new tattoo!"
On the other side of the field the Marill immediately stopped bouncing. Leaning forward its eyes were open and teeth bared as its entire demeanour suddenly changed from friendly and jolly to something downright vicious that made Tommy take an instinctive step back.
"Aqua Tail."
The Marill charged forward immediately, its eyes wide and mad in a way Tommy had never seen before. From around its tail a vortex of water appeared, growing larger by the moment as the two Pokemon closed the distance.
"Wh-what!" the bully shouted as the attack grew even larger, taller than the playground's wire net fencing! "Krokorok, dodge it!"
"Mar-illll!" The Pokemon shouted, jumping and spinning, dragging the immensely large attack around with its tail to slam into the Krokorok's forward pointing head. It had no opportunity to react before it was sent flying.
The crocodile Pokemon went through the wire netting, stopping part way through with its butt sticking up comically and dust billowing around from the collision.
It had been knocked out in one hit.
Tommy's mouth hung open for a few seconds until he remembered again that he was supposed to be being referee.
"Marill wins," Tommy declared. As if that was the moment they'd been waiting for, the other girls and boys suddenly cheered.
"Hey wait a minute, that don't make sense!" The bully shouted. He scowled as he pulled out a pokeball and withdrew his Pokemon. "There's no way tha-"
"Marill!" the Marill declared brightly from the man's feet. The small blue mouse had moved right in front of the guy while nobody was looking and was now bouncing up and down on its tail again with a cheerful demeanour. It was looking up at him with a jolly smile that completely belied the vicious glee with which it had beaten the Krokorok a few moments ago.
Whatever complaints the punk was about to make died in his throat.
"O-okay!" He said, stepping back and away in a hurry. He thrust his hands into his pocket and pulled out loads of money in change and notes. He threw it on the ground and then raced away and out of the playground like a pack of Houndoom were on his tail.
"Good job," the stranger said. "Return."
The Marill didn't stop bouncing even as the energy beam of the Pokeball reached it and managed to call out its name one more time before disappearing back into its Pokeball.
Tommy looked back at the unknown man and it was then that he remembered the Gardevoir was there. It was leaning down over one of the other kid's Pokemon and it was using some move to help heal them. Sally was already hugging her confused looking Teddiursa that looked tired but otherwise perfectly fine again and they were both looking up at the green and white Pokemon with awe.
"I'll leave Gardevoir here to finish healing everyone's Pokemon," the man said, approaching Tommy. "D'you mind showing me the way to the Trainer School now? I'd rather not keep Roxanne waiting any longer than I have to."
"O-Oh yeah sure," Tommy agreed quickly. "C'mon, I'll show you the way."
He shouted and waved goodbye to everyone and then quickly started to lead the man towards the school.
"Thank you for your help," the man said with relief as they walked through the streets. "Seriously I can't figure out where I'm going in this city, it's an absolute maze."
"It's no problem," Tommy said, not really getting what he meant. Tommy'd never had any trouble getting around Rustboro.
Then his curiosity returned.
"So… why are you meeting Roxanne?" Tommy asked.
"Oh nothing special really. I just wanted to ask her advice about a few things," the man said before elaborating and dropping another surprise on the boy.
"I'm going to try and become Hoenn's next Gym Leader."
It wasn't normal for her. Roxanne worked really hard but she'd only ever asked for a bit of help like this once or twice. Tommy was happy to help anyway. It was kind of fun looking at the homework from boys and girls a few years below him, kind of nostalgic really.
Apparently some guy had asked to meet her about important gym stuff so she had less time after school hours to get things finished. Nobody had been able to get her to tell what the meeting was about though.
Tommy finished another pile of maths homework and brought it over to his teacher.
"Thank you Tommy," Roxanne said, offering him a friendly smile as she put the pile to the side.
"You got any more for me?" Tommy asked. Although he really was a bit bored of marking homework now. He'd been all for helping before, but that was before he'd realised how boring marking homework was. Tommy had no idea how she did it all the time. Roxanne glanced down to the work she was marking, which probably included Tommy's classwork, now he thought of it. Then Roxanne sighed.
"That is very kind of you Tommy but that's alright. I'd wanted to try and get everything done before this meeting but it looks like I'll have to put it off until later. Why don't you go out and play with your friends?"
"Okay," Tommy said, secretly glad that she was letting him go. He knew Roxanne was a bit nervous about the meeting, whatever it was about. That wasn't really his problem though. "I'll see you tomorrow Miss Roxanne!" Tommy shouted as he hurried out of the door.
He was more than ready now to go out and unwind and Tommy pulled out his pokeball from his pocket. Hopefully once he arrived someone would be brave enough to battle him and Geodude.
Tommy raced down the street, being extra careful to look for cars and stuff and then he arrived at the playground, only to find it had a far different atmosphere than usual.
Little Sally Gettsbrook was sat in a corner, cradling her new Teddiursa she'd been super excited about all week. Tommy had been just a bit jealous too and he'd been looking forward to seeing it. Now the Teddiursa was unconscious, its head in the girl's lap as she cried for him to wake up.
Sally was a bit too young to understand how Pokemon worked. It took a lot to properly hurt a Pokemon. Tommy was glad to know that with a potion and a bit of rest the Teddiursa would be okay. But it wasn't just Sally and her Teddiursa.
Some of the other kids he knew were here, looking dejected and they'd probably also had their Pokemon beaten by the sole newcomer. Some looked kind of ill, a bit pale or dizzy which was what sometimes happened after you lost a battle.
He was a tall guy, probably the same age as Roxanne or maybe even older. He had a mohawk and a sleeveless leather jacket and there were a bunch of spikes coming out of the shoulders.
Georgia was facing off against him in a Pokemon battle, her Geodude glowering at the other man's pokemon and Tommy definitely remembers this one! It was a Krokorok, one of the coolest Pokemon evolutions around with the final evolution being the super awesome Krookodile.
"Alright I'll show you!" Georgia shouted, clearly absolutely livid as her skirt fluttered in the wind and she pointed forwards imposingly. "Geodude, use Rollout!"
"Woah," Tommy muttered. Georgia was usually pretty quiet, or at least she wasn't easy to rile up. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had got her so upset though.
"Yeah get him Georgia!" Shouted Jon off to the side, one of Tommy's classmates who wasn't allowed to have Pokemon anymore after the permanent marker incident. A few other kids were cheering her on, but they didn't look too confident.
"Tommy, you're here!" Shouted Rachel from off to the side.
Tommy had never been hit by a Geodude's Rollout, or ever had anything except a bite from a Zigzagoon once when he was little, but after seeing Roxanne's Geodude break a steel girder once he'd learnt the most important lesson of being a Pokemon Trainer. To stay out of the line of fire.
Tommy went over to stand by Rachel, giving the ongoing battle a wide birth as the Krokorok jumped over the rolling Geodude, cackling as Georgina's Geodude turned around.
"What's going on?" He asked.
"That guy came and started challenging everyone to a battle," Rachel said, gesturing towards the guy dressed like a punk. She glowered. "He's super strong too and he's been taking everyone's pocket money as winnings."
"What!? That's totally unfair," Tommy declared. That guy had a Krokorok and they were super tough! Especially against baby pokemon like most of Tommy's friends were allowed to have.
Off to the side there was one of the kindergartners, Josh's sister, Tommy thought. Tommy remembered she had a Happiny and now little girl was sat on her bottom, crying her eyes out after probably being made to battle that guy. Next to her was her big brother Josh, who was trying to put on a brave face. Josh had a pair of Geodudes too, but they were bought by his parents. They weren't as strong as Tommy's Pokemon, none of the other kids could stand up to his Geodude, but it was obvious by how tired the other boy looked that he'd lost to this guy too. Whiting out was supposed to be horrible but Josh was holding himself together. That's why he only had the one Pokemon, he was too young for more than one.
"Go on Georgia!" Tommy shouted, absolutely infuriated. "You show that guy who's boss!"
Georgia couldn't really do much right now except watch though as her Geodude kept building up speed. This had to be the fastest Tommy had ever seen it go. Usually by this point the battle would be over, even Tommy had lost against her once when her Geodude picked up speed.
That might've been just because his Geodude had a crush on hers though which was just super icky. Tommy and his Geodude's friendship had been heavily challenged that evening until they'd become friends again.
Still the Krokorok was dodging and jumping over her Geodude like it was a game and the Pokemon's trainer didn't look so serious either.
"Alright…" the grownup said. "Go on Krokorok, let's finish this one up, there's another kid here we can Crunch!"
Obeying its trainers instructions the Krokorok stopped playing around. It reached out with one hand and Tommy's eyes went wide as Georgia's Geodude rolled right into it. Even with how fast the Geodude had been rolling the Krokorok didn't break a sweat stopping it, the Geodude's momentum rapidly burning off as it scraped the playground, leaving a furrow in the ground.
The Krokorok chortled before leaning down and biting onto Georgia's Geodude, the wispy smoke of a Dark-type move around its teeth.
The Krokorok lifted its head up with the Geodude still in it before flinging its head forwards, letting go of Geodude and sending it flying back across the playground. Georgia's Geodude rolled to a stop, unconscious.
"There goes another one," the bully said stepping towards Georgia with his Krokorok smirking beside him. "Come on kid, fork over your money."
Georgia scowled as she pulled out some Pokedollars from her pocket.
"Jerk," she muttered, eyes welling up a bit.
Tommy's lips became set in a line. If Georgia couldn't beat this guy then there was only one person left who could!
"Hey butthole!" Tommy shouted as he came over. "Try battling someone your own size!"
Well, Tommy wasn't as tall as that guy either, actually Georgia was a bit taller than him too, but it was the principle of the thing! You were supposed to say something like that when you confronted bullies.
The bully smirked as Tommy approached him and that Krokorok's lips pulled back to reveal lots of big teeth like it was ready ot gobble him up.
Tommy swallowed but didn't let the Pokemon intimidate him.
"Another one," the punkish bully chortled. "C'mon kid, how much you got to bet?"
Tommy tightened his fist and was about to respond when something caught his eye.
It was another grownup coming onto the playground. He was a guy with square glasses over his brown hair and he was wearing a jacket over a sky blue shirt and pants. He kind of looked like a teacher or something with the leather satchel strung over one shoulder but Tommy'd definitely recognise him if he was.
What stood out most though was the Gardevoir standing just behind his other shoulder.
"Hi, sorry," the guy said. He grimaced bashfully. "I don't suppose any of you guys could point me to the Trainer School could you? I'm late for a meeting."
This must be the guy Roxanne was meeting! Tommy realised. She'd be super upset by now if this guy was already late. He'd better help this guy out.
"I'll take you," he said. "But first I've gotta win back all my friends' pocket money!"
The bully snorted. "What? It's just pocket money, get a grip."
Then he stopped, seeing the unimpressed look on the other grownup's face.
"You've been picking on children for their pocket money?" The new guy asked, slightly incredulously as he looked the bully up and down.
"Yeah, so what?" The bully asked. "It's all fun and games innit? What, gonna try and battle me with your eye candy, four eyes? Does that Gardevoir even battle?" He asked snidely, looking the slender Pokemon up and down. "Or do you use it for other things?"
The Gardevoir at the man's side blushed and turned to press her head into her trainer's shoulder. The man patted its head absent mindedly, eyes not leaving the bully.
"I try not to use her for battles," the nerdy looking guy said flatly. There was a kind of resignation about his tone that Tommy didn't understand but he didn't have any time to think about it right now. The guy pushed up his glasses as his expression turned into a frown.
"But I do have a Pokemon that could stretch his legs a bit. How about a one on one battle? If you win I'll double whatever you won off these kids. If you lose you give back all the money you took and never come back here."
Alright! Tommy had wanted to battle that guy but even though his Geodude was definitely the strongest amongst all his friends he really hadn't liked his chances. Whoever this guy was he must've been a strong trainer if Roxanne was meeting him. He even had a Gardevoir and they were a final evolution too!
The bully obviously didn't know what was going on but it looked like he sensed something was off. Then he scoffed, smirk coming back.
"I want triple," he said.
"Done," the other man replied easily, waving his hand as if it didn't matter.
"I'll be referee," Tommy said immediately. He wanted a front row seat to what was about to happen.
"Don't need no referees," the punk said, turning stride across the playground to where he'd been standing before. His Krokorok went to stand in front of him, leaning forward slightly with arms spread wide in an aggressive stance. The other man went to stand opposite him, the Pokeball in his hand expanded to normal size, held at the ready. The Gardevoir wandered off to the side, going to kneel down by Sally and her Teddiursa.
Tommy took his own position to the side. He did a bit of refereeing and he'd had practice with some of Roxanne's gym battles. He couldn't wait to see what this guy was going to bring out.
The man didn't throw the Pokeball or anything, opening it from his palm to summon the Pokemon he'd be battling that Krokorok with.
The energy took on the form of the pokemon, fading quickly to reveal…
"Marill!" Declared the small blue mouse as it jumped up to bounce on the ball on the end of its tail. The Pokemon's mouth was set in a big smile as it looked around the playground cheerfully.
"What the fu-, I mean heck?" Tommy asked incredulously, remembering there were younger kids here.
Also he shouldn't be swearing either. Georgia would definitely tattle on him to Roxanne if she heard him swear.
Everybody else watching seemed equally as surprised.
"I thought you might actually be a challenge. This is gonna be a slaughter!" The punk on the other side of the playground stated confidently, and Tommy couldn't help but agree.
"Err, mister," Tommy asked, remembering training with Roxanne about warning people when it looked like a battle might be unfair. "Are you sure that's the Pokemon you meant to send out?" The man with the glasses looked back at him.
"Yes," he replied, nodding and apparently not understanding what Tommy was trying to say. He gestured towards the Krokorok. "I have a type advantage," he pointed out.
Well yeah. A Krokorok was ground typed and a Marill was a water type so on paper it made sense.
But that was a Marill. That Krokorok was like three times bigger than it!
This guy was just one of those grownups with a few Pokemon, but the kind that didn't really know how to battle, wasn't he? Tommy sighed. He'd been really hoping this guy would be strong like Roxanne.
The Marill bounced up and down cheerfully, smiling and waving with its eyes closed, the utmost impression of cheerfulness. It seemed completely oblivious to its surroundings or the big scary Pokemon across the improvised arena.
"Whenever you're ready to start us off," the man said, reminding Tommy that he had a job to do.
Tommy grimaced. But the battle was basically ready to start now.
"O-okay this is a one on one battle and the winner will be decided by knockout," Tommy said with as much authority as he could muster.
He raised his hand and then chopped down the way he'd been taught.
"Begin!"
"Use Bite and end this!" The bully shouted gleefully. "After this I'm gonna be able to get a new tattoo!"
On the other side of the field the Marill immediately stopped bouncing. Leaning forward its eyes were open and teeth bared as its entire demeanour suddenly changed from friendly and jolly to something downright vicious that made Tommy take an instinctive step back.
"Aqua Tail."
The Marill charged forward immediately, its eyes wide and mad in a way Tommy had never seen before. From around its tail a vortex of water appeared, growing larger by the moment as the two Pokemon closed the distance.
"Wh-what!" the bully shouted as the attack grew even larger, taller than the playground's wire net fencing! "Krokorok, dodge it!"
"Mar-illll!" The Pokemon shouted, jumping and spinning, dragging the immensely large attack around with its tail to slam into the Krokorok's forward pointing head. It had no opportunity to react before it was sent flying.
The crocodile Pokemon went through the wire netting, stopping part way through with its butt sticking up comically and dust billowing around from the collision.
It had been knocked out in one hit.
Tommy's mouth hung open for a few seconds until he remembered again that he was supposed to be being referee.
"Marill wins," Tommy declared. As if that was the moment they'd been waiting for, the other girls and boys suddenly cheered.
"Hey wait a minute, that don't make sense!" The bully shouted. He scowled as he pulled out a pokeball and withdrew his Pokemon. "There's no way tha-"
"Marill!" the Marill declared brightly from the man's feet. The small blue mouse had moved right in front of the guy while nobody was looking and was now bouncing up and down on its tail again with a cheerful demeanour. It was looking up at him with a jolly smile that completely belied the vicious glee with which it had beaten the Krokorok a few moments ago.
Whatever complaints the punk was about to make died in his throat.
"O-okay!" He said, stepping back and away in a hurry. He thrust his hands into his pocket and pulled out loads of money in change and notes. He threw it on the ground and then raced away and out of the playground like a pack of Houndoom were on his tail.
"Good job," the stranger said. "Return."
The Marill didn't stop bouncing even as the energy beam of the Pokeball reached it and managed to call out its name one more time before disappearing back into its Pokeball.
Tommy looked back at the unknown man and it was then that he remembered the Gardevoir was there. It was leaning down over one of the other kid's Pokemon and it was using some move to help heal them. Sally was already hugging her confused looking Teddiursa that looked tired but otherwise perfectly fine again and they were both looking up at the green and white Pokemon with awe.
"I'll leave Gardevoir here to finish healing everyone's Pokemon," the man said, approaching Tommy. "D'you mind showing me the way to the Trainer School now? I'd rather not keep Roxanne waiting any longer than I have to."
"O-Oh yeah sure," Tommy agreed quickly. "C'mon, I'll show you the way."
He shouted and waved goodbye to everyone and then quickly started to lead the man towards the school.
"Thank you for your help," the man said with relief as they walked through the streets. "Seriously I can't figure out where I'm going in this city, it's an absolute maze."
"It's no problem," Tommy said, not really getting what he meant. Tommy'd never had any trouble getting around Rustboro.
Then his curiosity returned.
"So… why are you meeting Roxanne?" Tommy asked.
"Oh nothing special really. I just wanted to ask her advice about a few things," the man said before elaborating and dropping another surprise on the boy.
"I'm going to try and become Hoenn's next Gym Leader."
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Chapter 2
After being shown the way by the boy who revealed he was a Gym trainer here in Rustboro, I entered the Trainer School. It was just like any regular school really, only that it included teaching about how to be a Pokemon Trainer on top of the regular stuff. Roxanne was Rustboro's Gym Leader and probably the youngest one active right now. She'd inherited the position from the last Rusboro gym Leader and taken it upon herself to teach the basics of battling to all her challengers.
"Hi," I said to a receptionist at a desk near the front door. "My name's Harry Hemming, I'm supposed to be meeting Roxanne, right now actually," I finished apologetically.
"Yeah we were wondering where you were, the receptionist replied. "Head through those doors and her classroom's the third on the right. She should be there."
I nodded in thanks and then, quickly head off in the way they'd shown me.
Heading through the building I found Roxanne sat behind a teacher's desk. She was hunched over some papers with a red pen and she was undoubtedly doing some grading.
I sympathised. I'd almost wanted to become a teacher once and quickly been disabused of the idea after doing some shadowing.
"Hello?" I said, knocking on the open door frame. I must've been walking quietly because Roxanne jumped in surprise.
She was dressed in a grey dress that fit over a white shirt and she had startlingly bright red tights on and a big red bow holding her hair together in a pair of buns and pigtails.
"Oh, you surprised me!" she said, putting her hand to her chest as if to calm her beating heart. "Are you Mr Hemming?"
"I am," I replied, stepping forward and offering her my hand to shake.
"You kept me waiting," Roxanne said, sounding very much like the teacher she was. Despite being only seventeen she definitely had that air about her.
"I got lost and then had to scare off a hooligan bullying some kids," I replied by way of explanation. "It was lucky really, one of your students was there and he brought me here, Tommy."
"Oh, you met Tommy," Roxanne said. "Well seeing as you helped my students then I'll forgive you for being late," Roxanne said after a moment, frowning for a different reason as she now had to think about how to respond to whatever had happened. "Please, have a seat," she said, gesturing to the desks in front of her.
They were a bit too small for me, sized for children rather than adults like us. I decided to sit on one of the little tables and Roxanne grimaced, perhaps realising the mistake.
"Anyway, so," she said, going to sit back down at her desk. "You want to become a Gym Leader. I have to say I'd not expected we'd ever have to go through this process."
"The League person I spoke to told me it wasn't something they were allowed to do," I said. "Apparently it's down to all the other Gyms whether I can start one."
"That's right. The position of Gym Leader wasn't always called that," Roxanne revealed. "Years ago the Gym Leaders were regional leaders and protectors of their territory as the strongest battlers. This was before they even called it Pokemon training, you should understand."
"Fascinating," I said. "I've never heard of any of this before."
"That's not a surprise," Roxanne said. "Most people aren't really interested in ancient history like that. Anyway, what matters is that the Gym Leaders still maintain their old authority in lots of ways, including on how new members are accepted. So as you were told by the League it's our permission you need to ask for if you want to become a Gym Leader. The only other way is to inherit the position from the previous Gym Leader like I did."
I nodded, offering the Rustboro Gym Leader a smile.
"So I need all your permissions then," I stated. I'd suspected there would be some sort of vote but it seemed this process was going to be a bit more in depth. "How do I go about doing that?"
"You will need six out of eight of us to agree. Otherwise there aren't any real rules about what we need to do," Roxanne replied. "In theory we could all just say yes and then that would be it but obviously that isn't what's going to happen because we all understand how important our roles are. You'll be tested by all of us, in one way or another," the fairly stern looking girl said as she eyed me.
I was getting the sense that I was about to find out what Roxanne wanted from me.
"So what can I do for you, Roxanne?" I asked, leaning forward and looking into her eyes so she knew I was being serious about this. "I've set myself on becoming a Gym Leader and I'm determined to do whatever it takes."
Roxanne averted her eyes from mine, looking slightly embarrassed and I couldn't help but worry I'd come across as a bit too serious about it. I wasn't great with people so I knew I sometimes came across as a bit awkward. Hopefully I wasn't leaving a bad impression on her.
"W-well this is a very serious matter, becoming a Gym Leader," she told me. "There's lots of responsibilities and things you'll need to be able to do like battle trainers at different badge levels and train new trainers. There's lots of things a modern Gym Leader has to do and you'll need to convince me you know everything you need to do to properly manage a Gym before you'll have my agreement."
"I see. Well there can't be too much I'll need to learn, can there?" I asked, slightly nervously and bracing myself for…
Roxanne reached under her desk and pulled out a thick binder of documents that made her desk shake as she dropped it onto the surface in front of her.
Yeah, there it was, I thought as my shoulders slumped.
"I prepared this in advance," she told me. "First are copies of all the regulations a Gym building needs to meet both for battling, storage of Pokemon, their upkeep and welfare and consideration for Gym trainers. There's also copies of the certificates for fire safety, electricity, drainage and environmental friendliness an-"
Maybe it wasn't too late to change my mind about this… I thought as Roxane started to list everything I was going to have to put together at some point and explained there would be a test I would need to pass on it all.
But what else was I expecting from a schoolteacher? I thought despondently. I'd definitely had enough of exams and essays across two lives already but it seemed I'd never escape them no matter how old I got.
A faint resonating sound of a Teleport rang out somewhere next to me and a moment later a familiar pair of arms circled around me while Roxanne gasped in surprise at the intruder.
"Gaaard," Leah greeted me, having arrived at the perfect moment to distract me from the daunting task the first of eight Gym Leaders was putting in front of me.
"Hey Leah," I said back, looping an arm around her waist.
"You have a Gardevoir?" Roxanne asked, surprised and maybe just a tiny bit critically for some reason.
"Yeah, she was my first Pokemon," I said as my best friend leaned against me comfortably, squeezing me affectionately. Leah was pretty touchy feely and had been ever since she was a Ralts.
"Well that might make things… awkward," Roxanne told me.
"Why's that?" I asked with interest. Roxanne looked at me with mild bemusement while Leah waved at her cheerfully in greeting. I couldn't help but get the impression I was missing something.
"Err, you do know we already have a Psychic Gym don't you? We can't have two of the same type," she told me awkwardly.
"Ohhh," I said nodding in understanding, feeling a bit silly for not having explained it before. Having a Pokemon out that was usually thought of as a Psychic type would definitely give the wrong impression. I wasn't here to try and take over the Mossdeep Gym or something like that.
"I'm not a Psychic trainer," I told her. "I'll be starting a Fairy type Gym, Gardevoir's other type."
That definitely caught the schoolteacher by surprise, then her eyes widened in realisation.
"Oh of course, I remember now. The Gardevoir line is one of the species that are being classed as dual-typed now. But Fairy types have only just been discovered haven't they? You'll need at least a main team of six if you want to be taken seriously as a type specialist."
That was a fair statement. I wasn't about to tell anyone about my status as a reincarnator from another universe entirely. That would only lead to trouble of one form or another and I'd kept that very close to my chest.
"While the Pokemon Professors were hemming and hawing over whether Moonblast was Psychic or Fairy typed I went out and found Fairy types," I told her wryly. "There's not many out there, but there's a bit of variety if you know where to look and I have a full team of six."
Not many of them were native to Hoenn, unfortunately. In an ideal world I'd have been reborn in Galar or Alola where you could find more of them but Hoenn was where I'd wound up. Only two species originated in Hoenn with a few others like Jigglypuff also being found around the region in out of the way places that didn't see a lot of visitors. Being a Hoenn national I'd had to come home to settle down if I wanted to be a Gym Leader so the decision had been out of my hands.
Fairy types were in keeping with their otherworldly counterparts in that they were hard to locate, spread out among different environments and regions and quite a mixed bag of personalities and attitudes on top of that. It was probably part of the reason it had taken so long for people to identify them as a unique type, especially when the typing was particularly subtle like with many members of my team. Usually the other typing was what stood out most and that had led to those Pokemon getting mono-type categorisations until more recently.
"Well I'm hardly an expert on Fairy types obviously, but I look forward to finding out what your team is like," Roxanne stated. "Some of the other Gym Leaders will probably challenge you about your battling skills so be prepared to throw down with one or two them."
"Don't worry I was already expecting that," I told her. "To tell the truth I was thinking I'd probably have to battle each of you first if I wanted to become a Gym Leader."
"Well this isn't all just about being able to battle, as you can see," Roxanne gestured to the binder. "But plenty of the other Leaders will want to battle you and they won't be holding back either. You'll need to be strong enough to hold your own and help keep peace both with the people and the local Pokemon if you want to be a Gym Leader."
I nodded at her serious tone.
"I appreciate the advice," I said sincerely. I'd need to find a way to pay her back for all this help once I had my own Gym. "If there's nothing else I'm sure you're busy so I'll take this and start studying."
"Send me an email and we'll arrange for you to come sit the test," she said brightly. "I'll speak to the other Gym Leaders too so they all know you'll be coming to see them at some point in the future."
"That'd be very kind of you," I said, offering the first of the Hoenn Gym Leaders a polite smile. "I suppose the next one I'll visit is Dewford if you want to let Brawly know."
"I will," Roxanne said, standing up to shake my hand goodbye.
I stood up and shook her hand firmly before picking up the folder.
It was kind of heavy and I forced back the depressed expression that was trying to force itself onto my face at the prospect of all this work reading I'd be having to do. It was definitely going to cut into the recreational reading I'd usually spend my evenings doing. It'd probably interrupt my writing too. I'd done a bit of writing and published a couple of books that'd just about paid for my travels around the world. Nothing exciting but it was easy to fall out of the habit and I didn't want to do that.
Actually it'd be pretty important too. I knew money was going to be a problem at some point soon so I'd probably have to start a new project and get it out soon.
Leah tugged on my arm gently, reminding me where I was. I smiled bashfully, realising I'd gotten lost in my head again. I said goodbye to the Gym leader before quickly leaving her to her actual work grading papers.
I hefted the binder in my arms. It was too big to fit in my satchel so I'd have to carry it back to the hotel.
I could only hope the other Gym Leaders would ask simpler tasks of me.
***
After Mr Hemming had left Roxanne quickly finished off the last of her marking before heading home to the Rustboro Gym. It was past eight already but she was sure a few of the other Gym Leaders would be online.
"Roxy, hey what's up?!" Flannery said as the videoscreen turned on.
"Hi Flannery," Roxanne said as the screen split to show Wattson and then a tired looking Norman. "Is your grandfather there?"
"I'll go find him," Flannery said. "Gimme five minutes."
She walked off the screen, leaving it turned on and Wattson chuckled good naturedly.
"It'll probably take longer than five minutes," he chortled. The tired Norman chuckled softly in tired agreement. "So while we're waiting, what's all this about, Roxanne? Any trouble?"
"No," Roxanne said, shaking her head. "I just wanted to give everyone a heads up. I didn't get any warning from the League so I was surprised when I got a message from someone asking to meet me about becoming a new Gym Leader."
That caught the two men by surprise and it was then that Winona spoke up.
"What's this about a new Gym Leader?" She asked. "Don't tell me you're giving up already?" The Flying type trainer asked.
"No," Norman said. "She means a new Gym Leader as in another one."
"He just messaged me out of the blue," Roxanne stated. "Wanting to know what he needed to do about applying and the League only told him it was our responsibility and nothing else."
"So you told him he needs us to agree to let him start a gym then?" Winona asked and Roxanne nodded, quickly explaining that she'd told Harry he'd only have her agreement once he passed the test she was going to give him and showed he knew how to handle the management side of things.
Winona sighed, nodding. "I'm not sure I'll be willing to accept a ninth Gym leader. I don't think we need one, do we?" She asked.
"No, we don't have to even give him a chance if we don't want to," Wattson said firmly. "But that's no reason we can't give this lad a chance to impress us anyway. What did you think of him, Roxanne?"
Brawly chose that moment to arrive in the call.
"Heya all. What's happening?" he said brightly, wiping his forehead that was covered in sweat. It looked like he'd just finished a workout.
"A new prospective Gym trainer, a ninth one," Winona said to the fighting specialist. "What did you say his name was?"
"Harry Hemming," Roxanne reported.
"Oh cool. Can't wait to meet him then," Brawly said cheerfully. "Hope he's up to snuff."
"He was… a bit odd, but polite," Roxanne said in response to Wattson's question, thinking back to their conversation. "He helped stop someone bullying some children on his way to meet me so it seems like he has the right attitude for a Gym Leader.
"Hmm, that's a good start," Wattson mused, stroking his chin. "Hopefully this one isn't another attempt at installing a League plant like last time, but we can leave that for the kids to find out for us," he said, referring to Tate and Liza and their prodigious Psychic talent. "In the meantime the next thing to make sure of is that he's a good enough battler and that'll be easy enough. What type is he planning on using?"
"Fairy," Roxanne reported, to everyone's surprise.
"I don't think I've encountered a Fairy type specialist before," Norman mused. "How about any of you?"
There were shaking heads from those around the call with a few mutters about Ghost and Dark types, but nobody had ever encountered a proper Fairy type trainer before. Obviously it was hard to pin one down, given that the type itself hadn't been acknowledged until recently.
"Well now we'll get the chance," Brawly said confidently. "We've got the occasional Mawile in the caves around here in Dewford, but they're usually pretty weak to my team on account of their Steel type. I'll be interested to see how a Fairy type trainer battles," he said eagerly.
"You'll get your chance," Roxanne said. "He should be coming to see you next. I told him I'd let you know. I don't know when though."
"Awesome," Brawly declared. "We'll be ready. Hopefully he'll give me and Hariyama a good challenge."
"Yes, let us know how it goes," Norman said with interest. "I've got a few of Jigglypuff that are causing me trouble and they've been reclassified as Fairy type now, so hopefully this guy will be able to help me with that. I'll be able to see how much of an expert he is with his chosen type."
"Good idea!" Wattson said grandly. "So Roxanne'll make sure he knows all the ins and outs of the regs, Brawly'll check out his battling skills and Norman can make sure he's actually an expert and not just another run of the mill type specialist. I'll send him on a few errands around the city, see how he works with people. How about you, Winona? Any ideas?"
"I'm not really sure," the Flying type trainer mused. "I suppose I want to make sure he is in tune with his type like I am with mine, but obviously I don't know much of anything about Fairy types…"
"Maybe you could just battle him and find out about his connection with his Pokemon that way," Norman suggested.
"I suppose I'll have to," Winona agreed. "But Moore will definitely be planning on battling him. You know what he's like."
Roxanne nodded along with the other Gym Leaders. Moore was definitely the type to challenge the new trainer to a battle instead of anything else. Roxanne didn't really see how that should be a problem for Winona though.
"Where's Wallace anyway?" Brawly asked. "Would've thought he'd be here by now."
"He's hosting a Pokemon Contest tonight in Slateport," Norman said. "My wife likes watching them," he quickly explained with a faint blush.
The conversation continued from there, deviating into other less important things and Roxanne quickly excused herself, leaving it to the other Gym Leaders to update those who hadn't been able to join the conversation. It was already getting late and she needed to get up early tomorrow for Gym duties.
Hopefully Harry Hemming knew what he was getting into because running a Gym was definitely no walk in the park.
"Hi," I said to a receptionist at a desk near the front door. "My name's Harry Hemming, I'm supposed to be meeting Roxanne, right now actually," I finished apologetically.
"Yeah we were wondering where you were, the receptionist replied. "Head through those doors and her classroom's the third on the right. She should be there."
I nodded in thanks and then, quickly head off in the way they'd shown me.
Heading through the building I found Roxanne sat behind a teacher's desk. She was hunched over some papers with a red pen and she was undoubtedly doing some grading.
I sympathised. I'd almost wanted to become a teacher once and quickly been disabused of the idea after doing some shadowing.
"Hello?" I said, knocking on the open door frame. I must've been walking quietly because Roxanne jumped in surprise.
She was dressed in a grey dress that fit over a white shirt and she had startlingly bright red tights on and a big red bow holding her hair together in a pair of buns and pigtails.
"Oh, you surprised me!" she said, putting her hand to her chest as if to calm her beating heart. "Are you Mr Hemming?"
"I am," I replied, stepping forward and offering her my hand to shake.
"You kept me waiting," Roxanne said, sounding very much like the teacher she was. Despite being only seventeen she definitely had that air about her.
"I got lost and then had to scare off a hooligan bullying some kids," I replied by way of explanation. "It was lucky really, one of your students was there and he brought me here, Tommy."
"Oh, you met Tommy," Roxanne said. "Well seeing as you helped my students then I'll forgive you for being late," Roxanne said after a moment, frowning for a different reason as she now had to think about how to respond to whatever had happened. "Please, have a seat," she said, gesturing to the desks in front of her.
They were a bit too small for me, sized for children rather than adults like us. I decided to sit on one of the little tables and Roxanne grimaced, perhaps realising the mistake.
"Anyway, so," she said, going to sit back down at her desk. "You want to become a Gym Leader. I have to say I'd not expected we'd ever have to go through this process."
"The League person I spoke to told me it wasn't something they were allowed to do," I said. "Apparently it's down to all the other Gyms whether I can start one."
"That's right. The position of Gym Leader wasn't always called that," Roxanne revealed. "Years ago the Gym Leaders were regional leaders and protectors of their territory as the strongest battlers. This was before they even called it Pokemon training, you should understand."
"Fascinating," I said. "I've never heard of any of this before."
"That's not a surprise," Roxanne said. "Most people aren't really interested in ancient history like that. Anyway, what matters is that the Gym Leaders still maintain their old authority in lots of ways, including on how new members are accepted. So as you were told by the League it's our permission you need to ask for if you want to become a Gym Leader. The only other way is to inherit the position from the previous Gym Leader like I did."
I nodded, offering the Rustboro Gym Leader a smile.
"So I need all your permissions then," I stated. I'd suspected there would be some sort of vote but it seemed this process was going to be a bit more in depth. "How do I go about doing that?"
"You will need six out of eight of us to agree. Otherwise there aren't any real rules about what we need to do," Roxanne replied. "In theory we could all just say yes and then that would be it but obviously that isn't what's going to happen because we all understand how important our roles are. You'll be tested by all of us, in one way or another," the fairly stern looking girl said as she eyed me.
I was getting the sense that I was about to find out what Roxanne wanted from me.
"So what can I do for you, Roxanne?" I asked, leaning forward and looking into her eyes so she knew I was being serious about this. "I've set myself on becoming a Gym Leader and I'm determined to do whatever it takes."
Roxanne averted her eyes from mine, looking slightly embarrassed and I couldn't help but worry I'd come across as a bit too serious about it. I wasn't great with people so I knew I sometimes came across as a bit awkward. Hopefully I wasn't leaving a bad impression on her.
"W-well this is a very serious matter, becoming a Gym Leader," she told me. "There's lots of responsibilities and things you'll need to be able to do like battle trainers at different badge levels and train new trainers. There's lots of things a modern Gym Leader has to do and you'll need to convince me you know everything you need to do to properly manage a Gym before you'll have my agreement."
"I see. Well there can't be too much I'll need to learn, can there?" I asked, slightly nervously and bracing myself for…
Roxanne reached under her desk and pulled out a thick binder of documents that made her desk shake as she dropped it onto the surface in front of her.
Yeah, there it was, I thought as my shoulders slumped.
"I prepared this in advance," she told me. "First are copies of all the regulations a Gym building needs to meet both for battling, storage of Pokemon, their upkeep and welfare and consideration for Gym trainers. There's also copies of the certificates for fire safety, electricity, drainage and environmental friendliness an-"
Maybe it wasn't too late to change my mind about this… I thought as Roxane started to list everything I was going to have to put together at some point and explained there would be a test I would need to pass on it all.
But what else was I expecting from a schoolteacher? I thought despondently. I'd definitely had enough of exams and essays across two lives already but it seemed I'd never escape them no matter how old I got.
A faint resonating sound of a Teleport rang out somewhere next to me and a moment later a familiar pair of arms circled around me while Roxanne gasped in surprise at the intruder.
"Gaaard," Leah greeted me, having arrived at the perfect moment to distract me from the daunting task the first of eight Gym Leaders was putting in front of me.
"Hey Leah," I said back, looping an arm around her waist.
"You have a Gardevoir?" Roxanne asked, surprised and maybe just a tiny bit critically for some reason.
"Yeah, she was my first Pokemon," I said as my best friend leaned against me comfortably, squeezing me affectionately. Leah was pretty touchy feely and had been ever since she was a Ralts.
"Well that might make things… awkward," Roxanne told me.
"Why's that?" I asked with interest. Roxanne looked at me with mild bemusement while Leah waved at her cheerfully in greeting. I couldn't help but get the impression I was missing something.
"Err, you do know we already have a Psychic Gym don't you? We can't have two of the same type," she told me awkwardly.
"Ohhh," I said nodding in understanding, feeling a bit silly for not having explained it before. Having a Pokemon out that was usually thought of as a Psychic type would definitely give the wrong impression. I wasn't here to try and take over the Mossdeep Gym or something like that.
"I'm not a Psychic trainer," I told her. "I'll be starting a Fairy type Gym, Gardevoir's other type."
That definitely caught the schoolteacher by surprise, then her eyes widened in realisation.
"Oh of course, I remember now. The Gardevoir line is one of the species that are being classed as dual-typed now. But Fairy types have only just been discovered haven't they? You'll need at least a main team of six if you want to be taken seriously as a type specialist."
That was a fair statement. I wasn't about to tell anyone about my status as a reincarnator from another universe entirely. That would only lead to trouble of one form or another and I'd kept that very close to my chest.
"While the Pokemon Professors were hemming and hawing over whether Moonblast was Psychic or Fairy typed I went out and found Fairy types," I told her wryly. "There's not many out there, but there's a bit of variety if you know where to look and I have a full team of six."
Not many of them were native to Hoenn, unfortunately. In an ideal world I'd have been reborn in Galar or Alola where you could find more of them but Hoenn was where I'd wound up. Only two species originated in Hoenn with a few others like Jigglypuff also being found around the region in out of the way places that didn't see a lot of visitors. Being a Hoenn national I'd had to come home to settle down if I wanted to be a Gym Leader so the decision had been out of my hands.
Fairy types were in keeping with their otherworldly counterparts in that they were hard to locate, spread out among different environments and regions and quite a mixed bag of personalities and attitudes on top of that. It was probably part of the reason it had taken so long for people to identify them as a unique type, especially when the typing was particularly subtle like with many members of my team. Usually the other typing was what stood out most and that had led to those Pokemon getting mono-type categorisations until more recently.
"Well I'm hardly an expert on Fairy types obviously, but I look forward to finding out what your team is like," Roxanne stated. "Some of the other Gym Leaders will probably challenge you about your battling skills so be prepared to throw down with one or two them."
"Don't worry I was already expecting that," I told her. "To tell the truth I was thinking I'd probably have to battle each of you first if I wanted to become a Gym Leader."
"Well this isn't all just about being able to battle, as you can see," Roxanne gestured to the binder. "But plenty of the other Leaders will want to battle you and they won't be holding back either. You'll need to be strong enough to hold your own and help keep peace both with the people and the local Pokemon if you want to be a Gym Leader."
I nodded at her serious tone.
"I appreciate the advice," I said sincerely. I'd need to find a way to pay her back for all this help once I had my own Gym. "If there's nothing else I'm sure you're busy so I'll take this and start studying."
"Send me an email and we'll arrange for you to come sit the test," she said brightly. "I'll speak to the other Gym Leaders too so they all know you'll be coming to see them at some point in the future."
"That'd be very kind of you," I said, offering the first of the Hoenn Gym Leaders a polite smile. "I suppose the next one I'll visit is Dewford if you want to let Brawly know."
"I will," Roxanne said, standing up to shake my hand goodbye.
I stood up and shook her hand firmly before picking up the folder.
It was kind of heavy and I forced back the depressed expression that was trying to force itself onto my face at the prospect of all this work reading I'd be having to do. It was definitely going to cut into the recreational reading I'd usually spend my evenings doing. It'd probably interrupt my writing too. I'd done a bit of writing and published a couple of books that'd just about paid for my travels around the world. Nothing exciting but it was easy to fall out of the habit and I didn't want to do that.
Actually it'd be pretty important too. I knew money was going to be a problem at some point soon so I'd probably have to start a new project and get it out soon.
Leah tugged on my arm gently, reminding me where I was. I smiled bashfully, realising I'd gotten lost in my head again. I said goodbye to the Gym leader before quickly leaving her to her actual work grading papers.
I hefted the binder in my arms. It was too big to fit in my satchel so I'd have to carry it back to the hotel.
I could only hope the other Gym Leaders would ask simpler tasks of me.
***
After Mr Hemming had left Roxanne quickly finished off the last of her marking before heading home to the Rustboro Gym. It was past eight already but she was sure a few of the other Gym Leaders would be online.
"Roxy, hey what's up?!" Flannery said as the videoscreen turned on.
"Hi Flannery," Roxanne said as the screen split to show Wattson and then a tired looking Norman. "Is your grandfather there?"
"I'll go find him," Flannery said. "Gimme five minutes."
She walked off the screen, leaving it turned on and Wattson chuckled good naturedly.
"It'll probably take longer than five minutes," he chortled. The tired Norman chuckled softly in tired agreement. "So while we're waiting, what's all this about, Roxanne? Any trouble?"
"No," Roxanne said, shaking her head. "I just wanted to give everyone a heads up. I didn't get any warning from the League so I was surprised when I got a message from someone asking to meet me about becoming a new Gym Leader."
That caught the two men by surprise and it was then that Winona spoke up.
"What's this about a new Gym Leader?" She asked. "Don't tell me you're giving up already?" The Flying type trainer asked.
"No," Norman said. "She means a new Gym Leader as in another one."
"He just messaged me out of the blue," Roxanne stated. "Wanting to know what he needed to do about applying and the League only told him it was our responsibility and nothing else."
"So you told him he needs us to agree to let him start a gym then?" Winona asked and Roxanne nodded, quickly explaining that she'd told Harry he'd only have her agreement once he passed the test she was going to give him and showed he knew how to handle the management side of things.
Winona sighed, nodding. "I'm not sure I'll be willing to accept a ninth Gym leader. I don't think we need one, do we?" She asked.
"No, we don't have to even give him a chance if we don't want to," Wattson said firmly. "But that's no reason we can't give this lad a chance to impress us anyway. What did you think of him, Roxanne?"
Brawly chose that moment to arrive in the call.
"Heya all. What's happening?" he said brightly, wiping his forehead that was covered in sweat. It looked like he'd just finished a workout.
"A new prospective Gym trainer, a ninth one," Winona said to the fighting specialist. "What did you say his name was?"
"Harry Hemming," Roxanne reported.
"Oh cool. Can't wait to meet him then," Brawly said cheerfully. "Hope he's up to snuff."
"He was… a bit odd, but polite," Roxanne said in response to Wattson's question, thinking back to their conversation. "He helped stop someone bullying some children on his way to meet me so it seems like he has the right attitude for a Gym Leader.
"Hmm, that's a good start," Wattson mused, stroking his chin. "Hopefully this one isn't another attempt at installing a League plant like last time, but we can leave that for the kids to find out for us," he said, referring to Tate and Liza and their prodigious Psychic talent. "In the meantime the next thing to make sure of is that he's a good enough battler and that'll be easy enough. What type is he planning on using?"
"Fairy," Roxanne reported, to everyone's surprise.
"I don't think I've encountered a Fairy type specialist before," Norman mused. "How about any of you?"
There were shaking heads from those around the call with a few mutters about Ghost and Dark types, but nobody had ever encountered a proper Fairy type trainer before. Obviously it was hard to pin one down, given that the type itself hadn't been acknowledged until recently.
"Well now we'll get the chance," Brawly said confidently. "We've got the occasional Mawile in the caves around here in Dewford, but they're usually pretty weak to my team on account of their Steel type. I'll be interested to see how a Fairy type trainer battles," he said eagerly.
"You'll get your chance," Roxanne said. "He should be coming to see you next. I told him I'd let you know. I don't know when though."
"Awesome," Brawly declared. "We'll be ready. Hopefully he'll give me and Hariyama a good challenge."
"Yes, let us know how it goes," Norman said with interest. "I've got a few of Jigglypuff that are causing me trouble and they've been reclassified as Fairy type now, so hopefully this guy will be able to help me with that. I'll be able to see how much of an expert he is with his chosen type."
"Good idea!" Wattson said grandly. "So Roxanne'll make sure he knows all the ins and outs of the regs, Brawly'll check out his battling skills and Norman can make sure he's actually an expert and not just another run of the mill type specialist. I'll send him on a few errands around the city, see how he works with people. How about you, Winona? Any ideas?"
"I'm not really sure," the Flying type trainer mused. "I suppose I want to make sure he is in tune with his type like I am with mine, but obviously I don't know much of anything about Fairy types…"
"Maybe you could just battle him and find out about his connection with his Pokemon that way," Norman suggested.
"I suppose I'll have to," Winona agreed. "But Moore will definitely be planning on battling him. You know what he's like."
Roxanne nodded along with the other Gym Leaders. Moore was definitely the type to challenge the new trainer to a battle instead of anything else. Roxanne didn't really see how that should be a problem for Winona though.
"Where's Wallace anyway?" Brawly asked. "Would've thought he'd be here by now."
"He's hosting a Pokemon Contest tonight in Slateport," Norman said. "My wife likes watching them," he quickly explained with a faint blush.
The conversation continued from there, deviating into other less important things and Roxanne quickly excused herself, leaving it to the other Gym Leaders to update those who hadn't been able to join the conversation. It was already getting late and she needed to get up early tomorrow for Gym duties.
Hopefully Harry Hemming knew what he was getting into because running a Gym was definitely no walk in the park.
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Chapter 3
This last journey around Hoenn would probably be the last one I would ever have to make and I was going to do it in the right order.
Rustboro, Dewford, Mauville, Lavaridge, Petalburgh, Fortree, Mossdeep and finally Sootopolis. Disregarding the games, it was also the route trainers typically did the Gyms these days. That was according to the fledgling internet that wasn't quite as entrenched in society as it had been in mine but still was pretty useful.
It was a lot of travelling, but then I'd had practice at finding my way through the wilderness and there were areas that were connected enough via other means that I wouldn't feel the need to travel by foot. I probably would where I could, if only for the enjoyment of it, but there were advantages to settling down somewhere properly.
A proper home. Somewhere I could sit down in a quiet room on a comfy chair with either a laptop to write in or something good to read and I'd be happy. Don't get me wrong, travelling had been interesting but I'd always had a yearning for somewhere to call mine. I wanted to settle down and I was finally giving in to that urge.
Dewford obviously wouldn't be it. For one they already had a Gym and otherwise I could already tell that the environment didn't agree with me.
I watched over the railing as the ship carrying myself and the rest of its cargo of passengers came to rest in the port. This was my second destination on my journey to be recognised and accepted by the Gym Leaders, to getting that home I wanted.
Dewford was a very sunny, semi-tropical island and I grimaced again at the intense sunshine, shielding my eyes as I walked down the ramp into the little island. The boat had been hot inside without much air conditioning and outside hadn't been much better. A breeze ran past, doing little to cool me down. I spotted a sand devil spinning around on one corner of the pier.
I didn't like sand, to be honest. It was coarse and itchy and really did get everywhere if you let it, especially shoes. I preferred lush forests, open fields and the more urban areas to the intense heat of this sun beating down on me. It was why I'd avoided visiting Dewford before.
I should've really thought about putting on more weather suitable clothes but most of the rest of Hoenn was pretty temperate, or just wet, north of Slateport. Instead I had my usual smart pants, a jacket and shirt with no tie and leather boots suitable for travelling and I knew that whatever I did they were going to be full of sand by the time I was done here.
Gardevoir skipped ahead of me, spinning on her feet and looking around the place with a cheerfully interested trill of noise.
Dewford was a fairly small little island settlement. There were some paved streets leading from the docks into the town proper. Dewford was also a holiday destination and I spotted people who had to be from other regions based on their appearances, holiday goers here for the sun and surf who probably found Slateport a bit too commercial and busy.
I wasn't here for either the saltwater or the sand, but I knew Brawly was a surfer. So I anticipated I might find him if I found a beach somewhere. I could head straight to the Gym of course but to be truthful I just wanted to get some shade and a cold drink. I didn't fancy trying to be social or impress anyone right now and it wasn't like I couldn't choose to take my time.
Sensing my intent, Leah rejoined me, holding onto my arm as she tended to do and looking around at the sights. There were plenty of touristy spots and just like in my last lifetime Galarians liked the taste of home when on holiday too. The Blue Pyroar offered plenty of Galarian fare, including the shade and cold, fizzy drink that I had been craving.
Leah wasn't going to just let me go hide in a dark corner in the back where it was cooler though, she was too social for that and liked people watching. So we wound up compromising by sitting outside under an umbrella, a good spot to look over at the path running between the beach and the fronts of the restaurants, cafes and little shops that overlooked the ocean.
I decided to pull out my laptop. Now was as good a time as any to try and plot out whatever I was going to write next. Maybe a sequel to something?
Well I had ideas for another sequel to Trainers Colliding and that was what made me most of my money. But I really wanted to write something actually worth thinking about. Something with a bit of gravitas to it.
Poke-Gone had been the working title of a concept I'd had for a long time and I'd fleshed it out a bit here over the last few years but never taken the time to start it.
Drawing on my last life, I'd decided to write a reversal of some of the fanfiction stories I once remembered. Those had been a what-if, where Pokemon appeared in the real world and people had to survive and I'd started writing one of those myself once upon a time. Poke-Gone would be the reverse. What if all the Pokemon disappeared to be replaced with regular wild animals?
It was going to be a great work of fiction, I was sure of it. I could make some real commentary on the importance of Pokemon to this world and the natural ecosystems. Nothing groundbreaking in terms of themes but it'd definitely be a new take on the ideas I'd be talking about.
Currently the plot was planned to be three trainers in the wild, who have to find their way back to civilization when the Pokemon disappear, replaced by regular wild animals. The wild animals obviously didn't have any Pokemon attacks or anything, but they were wild and dangerous in their own ways and the trainers wouldn't have their teams to protect them in a suddenly harsher world.
I went through some notes about environments and natural disasters like earthquakes, landslides or tidal waves. Shamouti Island could be a good setting too. As without the local Legendary Pokemon there was a good chance the region would undergo some fairly calamitous weather, but I didn't necessarily want people calling to ask uncomfortable questions if or when that prophecy came true. It hadn't happened yet and I wasn't ruling it out.
I'd checked for the events I knew from the anime and manga and hadn't had any luck. So I knew either I had arrived pre-canon or I'd arrived in a Pokemon World devoid of protagonists. Professor Oak existed of course, but it was quite a bit harder to find publicly available records of say May Maple, Norman Maple's daughter, and I didn't necessarily want the attention from doing so either.
I made a few notes on the first few chapters of the original idea I'd had for Poke-Gone. It was annoying but as usual I was struggling to get past the first few chapters. I kept having ideas for changes and never got around to the later parts. I knew I just needed to settle for a plot, but I'd never managed to do so yet. The need to make it perfect was holding me back from progressing.
Absent-mindedly I took a swig of the deliciously cold drink that must have been put beside me when I wasn't paying attention. I'd been running myself around in circles over this story for literal years at this point. It was probably best to think about something else.
I had plenty of other ideas and plenty of stories from my past life to shamelessly borrow notes from. A Game of Thrones take with Pokemon was something I'd contemplated. Have different regions with different elemental affinities like some sort of pseudo Gyms, or maybe like what Roxanne had been describing to me the other day. Warlord kings or queens of their respective domains, perhaps beholden to a Dragon type King. It fit if nothing else and I could see some use for the types of respective Pokemon in terms of foreshadowing, etcetera.
I started a new tab and started writing things down before I forgot them. I didn't have to follow Game of Thrones in its entirety, or even follow the same plot, but it was a good starting point for a new fantasy setting.
"Sir?" someone said, making me jump and I turned to look at the waitress who'd spoken to me.
"Oh, you surprised me," I said apologetically. She was holding a plate of food, probably for me. I pushed my laptop away and she set down the food before leaving myself and Leah to our food.
I hadn't ordered food before, just the drinks, but Leah must have gone ahead and done so for us when I wasn't looking. I offered her a smile which was returned by my partner before she started eating some salady looking thing she'd ordered for herself. Honestly I'd probably forget to eat if it wasn't for my Gardevoir making sure I did.
We didn't see any surfers or anything so after our bite to eat we headed over to book a hotel for the night and once that was sorted we could make our way to the Gym. At that point it was getting dark, but it wasn't too late. I got directions from the hotel and then we started to make our way there.
The air was cooler now, bordering on chilly but my outfit was better suited for this kind of weather. I was also kept warm by the steady buildup of anticipation that was running through my veins.
I could sense it, a thrill of danger on the horizon. When I met Brawly we were going to battle, I was certain of it.
The Dewford Gym was built near the edge of a cliff, overlooking the ocean. The lights were still on and the doors opened automatically as I entered.
There was the faint smell of chlorine, or some other cleaning product which partially covered up the odour of sweat and exertion. I spotted a desk with a guy in a martial arts outfit sat behind it.
"Hi!" The guy said. "You here to register? Exercise or battling?"
"Probably battling," I replied. "I'm Harry Hemming. I'm supposed to meet Brawly but I don't have an appointment or anything. He should have been told I was on my way," I said politely. I was effectively in someone else's house, after all.
"Oh great!" The Martial Artist said enthusiastically. " I'm Hideki, the Bossman's told us to keep an eye out for you." He quickly typed something on his computer then stood up.
"Come on, he said to take you to the stadium."
I and Leah followed after the man, who set a brisk pace through the building. Along the way we passed a couple of other rooms with people in martial arts or exercise gear and it looked like they were either practising martial arts or doing exercise lessons.
"Gotta say I haven't seen Brawly this excited since he battled for the eighth badge last year. It was a good battle, let me tell ya," Hideki told me.
"Oh yeah?" I asked, feeling myself tense as we continued through the building. "Do you not get many challengers at that level?"
"Generally, no," was the answer. "Even sixth tier is hard enough to reach for most trainers at the best of times. Usually it's second through fourth we get in Dewford. I don't know how many Sootopolis or Mossdeep get though. They probably get more high badge challenges, being the later Gyms in the usual circuit."
"That's a pity," I said. "It might be better if it was spread out a bit more evenly amongst the Gyms."
"Yeah I guess," Hideki replied, but then his expression turned to amusement. "But it's kinda funny to see people get stomped when they assume Brawly's only as strong a second badge trainer and he pulls out one of his tougher teams."
I could picture it easily. Someone having thought they were going to steamroll a badge challenge after managing other Gyms that were supposed to be tougher. Then only to wind up short after underestimating the Gym Leader. I chuckled at the satisfying mental image and couldn't help but imagine what it might be like to be the Gym Leader in that scenario.
Maybe soon, I thought to myself. I was going to have to prove myself once I had my Gym and I would probably find some cockier people trying their luck against me.
Something to look forward to.
We came to some broad double doors.
"He's through there," Hideki said. "Good luck man. I dunno what about you's got Brawly so excited but make it a good one for him, yeah? Like I said he doesn't often get a challenger on his level."
"I'll certainly try my best," I replied.
The doors opened in front of me and I strode forward confidently. It was time to prove myself to the second of my future fellow Gym Leaders.
***
At first when he'd heard the news he'd been chilled out, relaxed. He'd gone to bed like normal. But then Brawly had woken up this morning and things had felt different. He'd gone through his usual routine with a bit of cardio to wake up, a healthy breakfast and then he'd done some paperwork before going to see his team with an odd feeling of anticipation ever so slowly building.
By lunchtime that anticipation had become something a bit more. To Brawly it kind of felt like there was a big wave somewhere in the distance, daring him to try and tackle it.
Any other day he'd probably have made time for a bit of surfing, something to chill him out and maybe unwind a bit with some of his team. Brawly hadn't wanted to leave the Gym though. He felt a need to be there at his Gym when Harry Hemming finally arrived.
To cope with the excess energy he'd instead burnt off some extra steam in the gym. Machamp had been happy to spot him for a bit and working out had helped him cool off for a little while before he'd elected to do some light training with his team. Brawly wanted to be at his best so he didn't want any of his squad to be overworked but a warmup was always good.
At first he'd just been excited for something a bit different to the usual challengers. He'd planned on a 1v1 battle just to get an impression of Harry Hemming's strength and honestly that was all he felt he needed to do at this point. After he'd finished with his team he'd felt a lot more relaxed and returned to his office. Paperwork was there but half an hour later he was distracted again by the returning anticipation. Brawly was now thinking of a 2v2, barely holding himself back on making it a 3v3 battle.
Then a little notification came up on his computer.
The Gym challenger was here.
"Alright!" Brawly declared. He snatched up the Pokeballs of his team and quickly headed over to the stadium.
The stadium was dark, just the way he liked it, all dramatic. The entrance doors opened to allow what had to be this Hemming dude in and then closed behind him. Brawly quickly pressed a button on his podium, activating the lights and bathing the relatively small stadium in light.
"Welcome challenger!" Brawly declared and it was then that he got a look at his opponent.
He looked a bit awkward, stiff, like someone who spent too much time in an office but he held himself up straight at least. Hemming was dressed kind of smartly and wore glasses and the Gardevoir Brawly had been told about was on the new trainer's arm and looking around with just as much interest as its trainer.
"Hello!" Shouted back Herry Hemming, walking forward onto the grounds of the stadium and Brawly copied him. Both men met at the centre. "It's good to meet you, Brawly," he offered his hand.
"Same to you!" Brawly said, eagerly clasping his hand with the other guy's. Hemming didn't look particularly strong physically, but he had a decently firm grip. Brawly saw his eyes were a deep dark blue behind his glasses as their eyes met for just a moment before Hemming looked away. Now they were closer Brawly could see there was a slight awkwardness about him, something slightly off. Not that it mattered to him or anything.
"I have to say I like your setup," Hemming complimented. "The location of the gym too is pretty scenic."
"Thanks," Brawly said. "It's always been here since before I took over. I think back in the day it was so they could keep an eye on things around town and the water, but the views are pretty awesome come sundown."
"I should've come earlier," Harry replied. "Maybe another time after all this Gym business is done."
"Definitely," Brawly agreed, nodding.
The time for hellos was over.
"So!" you gotta get most of us to agree before we'll let you go and build a new Gym," Brawly said. "I think you can guess what I want from you."
"A battle," Harry replied. "What do you have in mind?"
"We're not making this an official match or anything, we'll keep it as just a friendly two on two," Brawly told him, resisting the urge to make it a 3v3 at the last moment. "Two separate battles to knockout. No switching, each of us use a different Pokemon for each battle. I don't care how it ends, I just wanna see if you've got the skills to ride the wave with the rest of us."
"Sounds good," Harry said.
At unspoken agreement they both turned to head towards their respective sides of the stadium. There was a small podium for each battler, overlooking the arena.
Brawly fingered the ball for his Hitmonchan, who he intended to use first. But if Harry pulled out that Gardevoir then a Hitmonchan would probably have a bad time. Psychic types that could learn Teleport were killer on Pokemon that relied on getting in close.
On the other side of the field the Gardevoir had disappeared from Hemming's side. Brawly quickly spotted it in the stands, having sat down to watch. Harry had another ball in his hand too so he definitely wasn't planning on using the Gardevoir.
"Alright then, that's less of a problem," Brawly muttered, More loudly he shouted over to Harry.
"On three let's release our Pokemon!"
"Okay!" Harry shouted back.
"One, two, three!"
Brawly threw the ball forward, intending to get Hitmonchan as close to the centre of the arena as he could. You weren't supposed to call out a Pokemon into the opponent's side, it was bad manners even if it wasn't against the official battle rules set out by the League.
Hitmonchan materialised, knocking his gloves together and on the other end of the arena, much closer to its trainer there appeared a…
"Mawile!" The small yellow and black Pokemon declared itself, spotting her opponent.
"I should've expected you to pull out one of those!" Brawly said with a laugh, recognising the Pokemon immediately.
The Mawile took stock of Hitmonchan, looking him up and down.
"Mawile, Maa wile," she said, cocking her hip to the side.
"Hit hitmon mon," Hitmonchan replied firmly, but with his cheeks beginning to go slightly red.
There was a bit more back and forth between the two Pokemon before Hitmonchan knocked his gloves together and the Mawile pouted, tossing her hair around and back behind her like it was actual hair.
There were Mawile in the caves, but they were fairly uncommon and not many people used them in battles on account of their steel typing. Mawile were reported to cause a bit of trouble for weaker lone trainers but were a bit further down the list of dangers in comparison to the more prevalent Aron population and their aggressively territorial evolved forms. Brawly was used to seeing and battling both species, but he'd never battled a Mawile beyond a third badge tier before.
"I'll start us off!" Brawly shouted eagerly, feeling like a little kid as he pointed forwards towards their opponent. "Hitmonchan use Mach Punch!"
Brawly's Hitmonchan burst forward towards the Mawile, just as eager as his trainer.
The battle was on.
Rustboro, Dewford, Mauville, Lavaridge, Petalburgh, Fortree, Mossdeep and finally Sootopolis. Disregarding the games, it was also the route trainers typically did the Gyms these days. That was according to the fledgling internet that wasn't quite as entrenched in society as it had been in mine but still was pretty useful.
It was a lot of travelling, but then I'd had practice at finding my way through the wilderness and there were areas that were connected enough via other means that I wouldn't feel the need to travel by foot. I probably would where I could, if only for the enjoyment of it, but there were advantages to settling down somewhere properly.
A proper home. Somewhere I could sit down in a quiet room on a comfy chair with either a laptop to write in or something good to read and I'd be happy. Don't get me wrong, travelling had been interesting but I'd always had a yearning for somewhere to call mine. I wanted to settle down and I was finally giving in to that urge.
Dewford obviously wouldn't be it. For one they already had a Gym and otherwise I could already tell that the environment didn't agree with me.
I watched over the railing as the ship carrying myself and the rest of its cargo of passengers came to rest in the port. This was my second destination on my journey to be recognised and accepted by the Gym Leaders, to getting that home I wanted.
Dewford was a very sunny, semi-tropical island and I grimaced again at the intense sunshine, shielding my eyes as I walked down the ramp into the little island. The boat had been hot inside without much air conditioning and outside hadn't been much better. A breeze ran past, doing little to cool me down. I spotted a sand devil spinning around on one corner of the pier.
I didn't like sand, to be honest. It was coarse and itchy and really did get everywhere if you let it, especially shoes. I preferred lush forests, open fields and the more urban areas to the intense heat of this sun beating down on me. It was why I'd avoided visiting Dewford before.
I should've really thought about putting on more weather suitable clothes but most of the rest of Hoenn was pretty temperate, or just wet, north of Slateport. Instead I had my usual smart pants, a jacket and shirt with no tie and leather boots suitable for travelling and I knew that whatever I did they were going to be full of sand by the time I was done here.
Gardevoir skipped ahead of me, spinning on her feet and looking around the place with a cheerfully interested trill of noise.
Dewford was a fairly small little island settlement. There were some paved streets leading from the docks into the town proper. Dewford was also a holiday destination and I spotted people who had to be from other regions based on their appearances, holiday goers here for the sun and surf who probably found Slateport a bit too commercial and busy.
I wasn't here for either the saltwater or the sand, but I knew Brawly was a surfer. So I anticipated I might find him if I found a beach somewhere. I could head straight to the Gym of course but to be truthful I just wanted to get some shade and a cold drink. I didn't fancy trying to be social or impress anyone right now and it wasn't like I couldn't choose to take my time.
Sensing my intent, Leah rejoined me, holding onto my arm as she tended to do and looking around at the sights. There were plenty of touristy spots and just like in my last lifetime Galarians liked the taste of home when on holiday too. The Blue Pyroar offered plenty of Galarian fare, including the shade and cold, fizzy drink that I had been craving.
Leah wasn't going to just let me go hide in a dark corner in the back where it was cooler though, she was too social for that and liked people watching. So we wound up compromising by sitting outside under an umbrella, a good spot to look over at the path running between the beach and the fronts of the restaurants, cafes and little shops that overlooked the ocean.
I decided to pull out my laptop. Now was as good a time as any to try and plot out whatever I was going to write next. Maybe a sequel to something?
Well I had ideas for another sequel to Trainers Colliding and that was what made me most of my money. But I really wanted to write something actually worth thinking about. Something with a bit of gravitas to it.
Poke-Gone had been the working title of a concept I'd had for a long time and I'd fleshed it out a bit here over the last few years but never taken the time to start it.
Drawing on my last life, I'd decided to write a reversal of some of the fanfiction stories I once remembered. Those had been a what-if, where Pokemon appeared in the real world and people had to survive and I'd started writing one of those myself once upon a time. Poke-Gone would be the reverse. What if all the Pokemon disappeared to be replaced with regular wild animals?
It was going to be a great work of fiction, I was sure of it. I could make some real commentary on the importance of Pokemon to this world and the natural ecosystems. Nothing groundbreaking in terms of themes but it'd definitely be a new take on the ideas I'd be talking about.
Currently the plot was planned to be three trainers in the wild, who have to find their way back to civilization when the Pokemon disappear, replaced by regular wild animals. The wild animals obviously didn't have any Pokemon attacks or anything, but they were wild and dangerous in their own ways and the trainers wouldn't have their teams to protect them in a suddenly harsher world.
I went through some notes about environments and natural disasters like earthquakes, landslides or tidal waves. Shamouti Island could be a good setting too. As without the local Legendary Pokemon there was a good chance the region would undergo some fairly calamitous weather, but I didn't necessarily want people calling to ask uncomfortable questions if or when that prophecy came true. It hadn't happened yet and I wasn't ruling it out.
I'd checked for the events I knew from the anime and manga and hadn't had any luck. So I knew either I had arrived pre-canon or I'd arrived in a Pokemon World devoid of protagonists. Professor Oak existed of course, but it was quite a bit harder to find publicly available records of say May Maple, Norman Maple's daughter, and I didn't necessarily want the attention from doing so either.
I made a few notes on the first few chapters of the original idea I'd had for Poke-Gone. It was annoying but as usual I was struggling to get past the first few chapters. I kept having ideas for changes and never got around to the later parts. I knew I just needed to settle for a plot, but I'd never managed to do so yet. The need to make it perfect was holding me back from progressing.
Absent-mindedly I took a swig of the deliciously cold drink that must have been put beside me when I wasn't paying attention. I'd been running myself around in circles over this story for literal years at this point. It was probably best to think about something else.
I had plenty of other ideas and plenty of stories from my past life to shamelessly borrow notes from. A Game of Thrones take with Pokemon was something I'd contemplated. Have different regions with different elemental affinities like some sort of pseudo Gyms, or maybe like what Roxanne had been describing to me the other day. Warlord kings or queens of their respective domains, perhaps beholden to a Dragon type King. It fit if nothing else and I could see some use for the types of respective Pokemon in terms of foreshadowing, etcetera.
I started a new tab and started writing things down before I forgot them. I didn't have to follow Game of Thrones in its entirety, or even follow the same plot, but it was a good starting point for a new fantasy setting.
"Sir?" someone said, making me jump and I turned to look at the waitress who'd spoken to me.
"Oh, you surprised me," I said apologetically. She was holding a plate of food, probably for me. I pushed my laptop away and she set down the food before leaving myself and Leah to our food.
I hadn't ordered food before, just the drinks, but Leah must have gone ahead and done so for us when I wasn't looking. I offered her a smile which was returned by my partner before she started eating some salady looking thing she'd ordered for herself. Honestly I'd probably forget to eat if it wasn't for my Gardevoir making sure I did.
We didn't see any surfers or anything so after our bite to eat we headed over to book a hotel for the night and once that was sorted we could make our way to the Gym. At that point it was getting dark, but it wasn't too late. I got directions from the hotel and then we started to make our way there.
The air was cooler now, bordering on chilly but my outfit was better suited for this kind of weather. I was also kept warm by the steady buildup of anticipation that was running through my veins.
I could sense it, a thrill of danger on the horizon. When I met Brawly we were going to battle, I was certain of it.
The Dewford Gym was built near the edge of a cliff, overlooking the ocean. The lights were still on and the doors opened automatically as I entered.
There was the faint smell of chlorine, or some other cleaning product which partially covered up the odour of sweat and exertion. I spotted a desk with a guy in a martial arts outfit sat behind it.
"Hi!" The guy said. "You here to register? Exercise or battling?"
"Probably battling," I replied. "I'm Harry Hemming. I'm supposed to meet Brawly but I don't have an appointment or anything. He should have been told I was on my way," I said politely. I was effectively in someone else's house, after all.
"Oh great!" The Martial Artist said enthusiastically. " I'm Hideki, the Bossman's told us to keep an eye out for you." He quickly typed something on his computer then stood up.
"Come on, he said to take you to the stadium."
I and Leah followed after the man, who set a brisk pace through the building. Along the way we passed a couple of other rooms with people in martial arts or exercise gear and it looked like they were either practising martial arts or doing exercise lessons.
"Gotta say I haven't seen Brawly this excited since he battled for the eighth badge last year. It was a good battle, let me tell ya," Hideki told me.
"Oh yeah?" I asked, feeling myself tense as we continued through the building. "Do you not get many challengers at that level?"
"Generally, no," was the answer. "Even sixth tier is hard enough to reach for most trainers at the best of times. Usually it's second through fourth we get in Dewford. I don't know how many Sootopolis or Mossdeep get though. They probably get more high badge challenges, being the later Gyms in the usual circuit."
"That's a pity," I said. "It might be better if it was spread out a bit more evenly amongst the Gyms."
"Yeah I guess," Hideki replied, but then his expression turned to amusement. "But it's kinda funny to see people get stomped when they assume Brawly's only as strong a second badge trainer and he pulls out one of his tougher teams."
I could picture it easily. Someone having thought they were going to steamroll a badge challenge after managing other Gyms that were supposed to be tougher. Then only to wind up short after underestimating the Gym Leader. I chuckled at the satisfying mental image and couldn't help but imagine what it might be like to be the Gym Leader in that scenario.
Maybe soon, I thought to myself. I was going to have to prove myself once I had my Gym and I would probably find some cockier people trying their luck against me.
Something to look forward to.
We came to some broad double doors.
"He's through there," Hideki said. "Good luck man. I dunno what about you's got Brawly so excited but make it a good one for him, yeah? Like I said he doesn't often get a challenger on his level."
"I'll certainly try my best," I replied.
The doors opened in front of me and I strode forward confidently. It was time to prove myself to the second of my future fellow Gym Leaders.
***
At first when he'd heard the news he'd been chilled out, relaxed. He'd gone to bed like normal. But then Brawly had woken up this morning and things had felt different. He'd gone through his usual routine with a bit of cardio to wake up, a healthy breakfast and then he'd done some paperwork before going to see his team with an odd feeling of anticipation ever so slowly building.
By lunchtime that anticipation had become something a bit more. To Brawly it kind of felt like there was a big wave somewhere in the distance, daring him to try and tackle it.
Any other day he'd probably have made time for a bit of surfing, something to chill him out and maybe unwind a bit with some of his team. Brawly hadn't wanted to leave the Gym though. He felt a need to be there at his Gym when Harry Hemming finally arrived.
To cope with the excess energy he'd instead burnt off some extra steam in the gym. Machamp had been happy to spot him for a bit and working out had helped him cool off for a little while before he'd elected to do some light training with his team. Brawly wanted to be at his best so he didn't want any of his squad to be overworked but a warmup was always good.
At first he'd just been excited for something a bit different to the usual challengers. He'd planned on a 1v1 battle just to get an impression of Harry Hemming's strength and honestly that was all he felt he needed to do at this point. After he'd finished with his team he'd felt a lot more relaxed and returned to his office. Paperwork was there but half an hour later he was distracted again by the returning anticipation. Brawly was now thinking of a 2v2, barely holding himself back on making it a 3v3 battle.
Then a little notification came up on his computer.
The Gym challenger was here.
"Alright!" Brawly declared. He snatched up the Pokeballs of his team and quickly headed over to the stadium.
The stadium was dark, just the way he liked it, all dramatic. The entrance doors opened to allow what had to be this Hemming dude in and then closed behind him. Brawly quickly pressed a button on his podium, activating the lights and bathing the relatively small stadium in light.
"Welcome challenger!" Brawly declared and it was then that he got a look at his opponent.
He looked a bit awkward, stiff, like someone who spent too much time in an office but he held himself up straight at least. Hemming was dressed kind of smartly and wore glasses and the Gardevoir Brawly had been told about was on the new trainer's arm and looking around with just as much interest as its trainer.
"Hello!" Shouted back Herry Hemming, walking forward onto the grounds of the stadium and Brawly copied him. Both men met at the centre. "It's good to meet you, Brawly," he offered his hand.
"Same to you!" Brawly said, eagerly clasping his hand with the other guy's. Hemming didn't look particularly strong physically, but he had a decently firm grip. Brawly saw his eyes were a deep dark blue behind his glasses as their eyes met for just a moment before Hemming looked away. Now they were closer Brawly could see there was a slight awkwardness about him, something slightly off. Not that it mattered to him or anything.
"I have to say I like your setup," Hemming complimented. "The location of the gym too is pretty scenic."
"Thanks," Brawly said. "It's always been here since before I took over. I think back in the day it was so they could keep an eye on things around town and the water, but the views are pretty awesome come sundown."
"I should've come earlier," Harry replied. "Maybe another time after all this Gym business is done."
"Definitely," Brawly agreed, nodding.
The time for hellos was over.
"So!" you gotta get most of us to agree before we'll let you go and build a new Gym," Brawly said. "I think you can guess what I want from you."
"A battle," Harry replied. "What do you have in mind?"
"We're not making this an official match or anything, we'll keep it as just a friendly two on two," Brawly told him, resisting the urge to make it a 3v3 at the last moment. "Two separate battles to knockout. No switching, each of us use a different Pokemon for each battle. I don't care how it ends, I just wanna see if you've got the skills to ride the wave with the rest of us."
"Sounds good," Harry said.
At unspoken agreement they both turned to head towards their respective sides of the stadium. There was a small podium for each battler, overlooking the arena.
Brawly fingered the ball for his Hitmonchan, who he intended to use first. But if Harry pulled out that Gardevoir then a Hitmonchan would probably have a bad time. Psychic types that could learn Teleport were killer on Pokemon that relied on getting in close.
On the other side of the field the Gardevoir had disappeared from Hemming's side. Brawly quickly spotted it in the stands, having sat down to watch. Harry had another ball in his hand too so he definitely wasn't planning on using the Gardevoir.
"Alright then, that's less of a problem," Brawly muttered, More loudly he shouted over to Harry.
"On three let's release our Pokemon!"
"Okay!" Harry shouted back.
"One, two, three!"
Brawly threw the ball forward, intending to get Hitmonchan as close to the centre of the arena as he could. You weren't supposed to call out a Pokemon into the opponent's side, it was bad manners even if it wasn't against the official battle rules set out by the League.
Hitmonchan materialised, knocking his gloves together and on the other end of the arena, much closer to its trainer there appeared a…
"Mawile!" The small yellow and black Pokemon declared itself, spotting her opponent.
"I should've expected you to pull out one of those!" Brawly said with a laugh, recognising the Pokemon immediately.
The Mawile took stock of Hitmonchan, looking him up and down.
"Mawile, Maa wile," she said, cocking her hip to the side.
"Hit hitmon mon," Hitmonchan replied firmly, but with his cheeks beginning to go slightly red.
There was a bit more back and forth between the two Pokemon before Hitmonchan knocked his gloves together and the Mawile pouted, tossing her hair around and back behind her like it was actual hair.
There were Mawile in the caves, but they were fairly uncommon and not many people used them in battles on account of their steel typing. Mawile were reported to cause a bit of trouble for weaker lone trainers but were a bit further down the list of dangers in comparison to the more prevalent Aron population and their aggressively territorial evolved forms. Brawly was used to seeing and battling both species, but he'd never battled a Mawile beyond a third badge tier before.
"I'll start us off!" Brawly shouted eagerly, feeling like a little kid as he pointed forwards towards their opponent. "Hitmonchan use Mach Punch!"
Brawly's Hitmonchan burst forward towards the Mawile, just as eager as his trainer.
The battle was on.
Chapter 4
Oh sure Brawly's Hitmonchan danced like a Butterfree and stung like a Beedrill but if he had to run around after an opponent then he was doing something wrong. To make sure that didn't happen anyone who knew what they were doing made sure early on that their Hitmonchan learnt one of two moves that would be used throughout their entire battling career.
Mach Punch, or Bullet Punch if you were feeling adventurous, were great gap closers for a Pokemon that typically wasn't that fast on its feet. Those moves gave them temporary speed to square off against an opponent up close, which was where a Hitmonchan's fists could deal some damage.
Hitmonchan sped forward under its own power towards the Mawile, ready to kick things off.
"Iron Head," Harry called out from the other side, just late enough that Hitmonchan would be too late to abort.
Steel type tracks like Iron Head or Iron Tail had a peculiar effect, essentially acting as a very powerful defensive move in the locations where it was activated. Most other type interactions were fairly straightforward but for those moves in particular it meant that despite the type advantage, Hitmonchan might as well have been trying to punch a block of reinforced concrete.
Hitmonchan's fist struck home on the impenetrable steel as the Mawile swung its large maw forward, the two attacks colliding. Brawly grimaced. Brawly's Hitmonchan was strong and experienced enough to avoid injuring himself but Brawly knew from experience that it could've been a close thing.
Even though his first attack had been blocked, it didn't matter because Hitmonchan was now in range and he was already winding up his next attack.
Power-Up Punch helped increase his attack power, it just needed to land and that's why they'd trained for this classic one-two combo, starting with Mach Punch to close the distance.
Only it seemed the Mawile knew what to do next too, leaping up and past the surprised Hitmonchan's extended fist to deliver a punch with her own stubby arms. Sucker Punch.
It was a Dark type attack so it shouldn't have done too much damage and Hitmonchan didn't respond more than turning its face to minimise the blow, but the attack still came as a surprise and the Mawile used its momentum to leap past him towards the centre of the arena.
"Misty Terrain Ielle!" Shouted Harry.
That must've been the Mawile's nickname, Brawly thought. Not a lot of people bothered doing that for their Pokemon, he didn't, but it was kind of interesting that Harry had.
The Mawile's larger mouth, the one that was partially disguised as a ponytail lifted up and opened as it pointed towards the sky. Then a ball of pink energy was shot up.
"What attack is that?" Brawly questioned out loud. It was obviously a field move of some kind but not one Brawly had ever heard of. "Close the distance Hitmonchan!" Even if he was curious, there was no need to just give his opponent an opening.
Hitmonchan recovered and spun around to reinitiate a Mach Punch but one of the weaknesses of the attack was that it only really went in a straight line so it took vital moments to turn and then move, at which point the glowing pink sphere had aalready reached the apex of its ascent and exploded.
Pink mist scattered all around, falling down to the ground and covering the hard surface of the arena, including the \Mawile.
Hitmonchan shot forward at the same time, but the Mawile was already being covered by the pink fog as it fell down and he skid to a stop in the place the Mawile had been. The movement of the air behind him momentarily parted the mist to reveal the Mawile indeed had disappeared before the mist leisurely flowed back into place and it was now completely covering the arena.
Now Brawly was no stranger to field tactics. He'd battled people using Blizzards or Sandstorms to cover their Pokemon for sneak attacks before but this was definitely a new one. The Misty Terrain settled around the arena somewhere between one and two feet high, tall enough that the short figure of the Mawile was completely hidden from view.
The perfect strategy for an ambush predator.
"Clever!" Brawly called out across to his opponent.
"Why thank you," the other trainer graciously replied, lips pulled up in a smirk. "But we haven't won yet…"
"Mon hitmon hit!" Hitmonchan growled as he looked around him warily. There was a giggling reply from somewhere in the mist.
"Use Vacuum Wave to part the mist," Brawly ordered. He wasn't entirely sure if it would work but he wanted to test if the attack would actually affect the terrain or not now it'd settled.
The blast of air that came from Hitmonchan's fist did indeed part the Misty terrain for a few moments but it was clear that it was only a temporary thing, the fog quickly re-covering the ground it had lost. Perhaps if he kept at it or used a broader ranging effect then he might be able to disperse it, but that sort of move wasn't in Hitmonchan's repertoire. Hariyama knew Whirlwind, which might do the job. But Hariyama wasn't out right now, Hitmonchan was.
If this were a normal battle where substitutions were allowed then Brawly would have probably chosen to swap Hitmonchan out at this point, but these were the rules he'd set out and there was still something they could do.
There was a shifting of the fog from the side and Hitmonchan spun around to deliver another Vacuum Wave only for Mawile once again not to be revealed. Hitmonchan was being careful but as he thrust out a few more Vaccuum Waves the Pokemon found himself frustrated as Mawile remained hidden from view, taunting him in Pokespeech.
"Iron head!" Harry suddenly shouted.
"Detect!" Brawly countered.
The Mawile shot up from Hitmonchan's side, her larger jaws turning to steel as she whipped it around at the Fighting type.
Detect gave him preternatural awareness and Hitmonchan swayed out of the way as Ielle continued past, falling back into the fog without a sound like she was a freaking Sharpedo instead of a land-bound part Steel type. Then she bounced back a moment later, repeating the attack from another angle.
Hitmonchan swayed out of the way again, this time delivering a light punch to the other Pokemon as she sailed past but one Brawly knew would have only done minor damage.
"Clever strategy Mr Hemming, but it'll take more than that to stop my Hitmonchan!" Brawly said confidently. "He's trained to dodge hits with some of the best fighting types around!"
"You had a good counter," Harry Hemming replied as his Mawile giggled, sailing past with another swipe at Hitmonchan. "But how long do you think your Hitmonchan can keep that Detect running?"
Brawly grit his teeth. They both knew Hitmonchan couldn't keep it up forever. Detect and other moves like Protect required a lot of energy to perform. Not too much, but they were definitely more intensive than regular attacks and the longer a Pokemon tried to keep one up, the harder it would get.
Until the move failed.
"Chan!" Hitmonchan grunted as he took a strike to his raised arms, skidding back as the Mawile fell back into the Mist.
He didn't block the next attack, coming from the side and that time he stumbled.
"Alright Play Rough Ielle!" Harry shouted. That didn't sound like a move Brawly had ever heard of but it definitely was one, but it also sounded like a close contact attack. Now was their chance!
"Drain Punch!" Brawly ordered as the Mawile lunged out of the mist, eyes mean as it glowed with a pink aura.
Whatever attack that was, as long as Hitmonchan managed to deliver the return blow he'd survive.
Ielle was indeed hit but her jaws swung around, grabbing onto Hitmonchan's second punch and she swung herself forward at the Fighting type's face!
"Hiiit!" Hitmonchan bellowed as the not so cute Fairy type pummelled him, unable to do more than reach out to yank her away and off him.
The Mawile sailed back into the mist as Brawly's Pokemon stumbled, clearly dizzy and on his last legs after whatever the hell that last attack had been. Another hit would end it.
"Come on Hitmonchan!" Brawly shouted, but knowing that this was probably it. The Misty Terrain was still up, there was no way that Mawile wasn't going to be able to land a final hit with the initiative all going to her. "Ready up one more Drain Punch, you can do it!"
Hitmonchan steadied himself, pulling back a fist it began to glow with the telltale energy of his best attack. He'd managed a hit on the Mawile before and despite the part Steel typing Mawile weren't incredibly durable. One or two more hits like that could definitely turn things around in their favour.
"Fairy Wind!" Harry Hemming shouted.
"Damnit," Brawly muttered to himself as a ranged attack not unlike a simple Gust sped forth from somewhere in front of Hitmonchan. The Misty Terrain was scattered forward, revealing the Mawile several feet away. Hitmonchan saw his opportunity and charged forward with his remaining strength.
But it wasn't enough. The pink tinged winds buffeted him, making the Fighting type stumble. His raised fist stopped glowing and then Brawly's first Pokemon fell to his knees and then onto the ground face first.
He had fainted.
"Good battle," he complimented, feeling his heart pound in his chest as he raised Hitmonchan's Pokeball. The draining feeling of having a Pokemon knocked out struck him but Brawly was obviously tough enough to handle it and it only set his adrenaline running higher.
This guy was the real thing.
He'd counted five different attacks, Brawly thought as he withdrew his Pokemon. Misty Terrain, Iron Head, Sucker Punch, Play Rough and then Fairy Wind made five. That was one tough Mawile to know more than four attacks, only the strongest or most dedicated of Pokemon could remember more than four moves at a time.
That wasn't entirely true. Some specialist Pokemon like his own Hitmonchan could learn a big variety of certain types of moves at one time with little difficulty. In Hitmonchan's case it was a bunch of punching attacks like the three elemental punches on top of Drain Punch and Mach Punch and then he'd held onto a couple other moves like Detect too. Still, Mawile probably didn't count for that exception to the rule. It was definitely worthy of being called a seventh or eighth Badge tier Pokemon.
The Misty Terrain was finally fading away and the Mawile was looking back towards her trainer, looking kind of smug.
"Good job Ielle," Harry Hemming said warmly as he withdrew the Pokemon. Off to the side their only audience, which was the other guy's Gardevoir, was clapping and cheering for her teammate.
"You did great too," Brawly whispered to his own Pokemon but he already knew that wouldn't be the end of it. Hitmonchan was going to feel pretty down after losing to a Mawile of all things. Brawly knew the rest of the team were going to make fun of him over the loss to a Pokemon that the rest of them, including him, usually considered to be pretty weak.
Well that wasn't the case anymore. You should never judge a book by its cover, a lesson Brawly would have to keep in mind. Harry Hemming looked like a pretty straight-laced office worker, but there was more to him than met the eye too.
Brawly had seen enough. Harry Hemming was on the level. He had Brawly's vote if he wanted to be a Gym Leader.
But that didn't mean they were finished yet!
"Ready for one more?!" He asked, reaching for another Pokeball. He'd specified two battles after all.
"Absolutely," Harry replied across the arena, putting away his Mawile's ball and withdrawing another one.
"Come on out, Medicham!"
"Go Happy!"
Brawly's Medicham took to the field and across from it another small Pokemon appeared.
This wasn't another Mawile of course. Instead the small form of a Marill appeared and true to its nickname it looked pretty darn happy.
"Huh," Brawly said as the Pokemon bounced up and down excitedly. Whatever he'd expected Harry to pull out now, it hadn't been this.
Like Mawile, Marill weren't exactly considered to be strong Pokemon either. They were usually pet Pokemon for kids or they were occasionally used by people who enjoyed camping who liked a Pokemon that could be one part cuddle buddy and the other part water source. Brawly had seen trainers with an Azumarill once or twice in Gym matches, but usually an aspiring trainer who was going to train up a Water type went for something with either a bit more of a reputation as a battler or on the more practical side something that was bigger and better suited to carrying passengers on its back. A Walrein, a Tentacruel or for the bravest of trainers a Gyarados was what people often used in higher tier battles like these.
He grinned. After that last battle, Brawly couldn't wait to see what this Marill was made of.
He had wanted to send out Hariyama, but Brawly's opponent clearly wasn't using his ace, which he assumed must be the Gardevoir so Brawly respectfully wouldn't do the same either. Instead he had decided to go with his second strongest Pokemon. Medicham was a powerhouse in his own right and he'd been with Brawly the second longest out of his current team.
"Alright you caught me by surprise before," Brawly told the other trainer. "But me and Medicham are ready for any tricks this time."
"Marill!" the Marill replied for its trainer. "Marill mar!"
"Cham!" Medicham replied, nodding stoically to his opponent and shifting into a battle stance with one leg raised. Medicham was smart enough to know not to let the deceptively weak form of the Marill lull him into a false sense of security. Brawly wouldn't be using him if he didn't think the opponent was worthy of Medicham's time.
"I'll start us off!" Harry declared, gesturing forward and it was clear that he was enjoying their battle as much as Brawly had been. "Marill, use Aqua tail!"
Brawly was surprised when the Marill's disposition suddenly changed completely and it charged forward on four legs, tail raised and with an impressive Aqua tail forming from the blue orb at the end of the rapidly approaching mouse Pokemon's tail.
Usually Aqua Tail came out as a sort of whip, more rarely it wound up looking like a whirlpool like this. Already it was a sign that this Pokemon was no run of the mill Marill.
"Get in there with a Force Palm!" Brawly ordered. That size of attack wasn't going to be easily dodged. Medicham would have to either weather the hit or slip past it somehow and to do that he'd have to get close to the Marill first. Getting close would at least help to minimise any damage Medicham did take.
Medicham charged forward in kind, palm glowing and ready to thrust forward as the Marill jumped up, swinging his tail around in a clearly practised motion to strike the Fighting/Psychic type on the side.
Medicham was fast enough to land the blow against Happy but not fast enough to avoid being hit by the Aqua Tail in return. The Marill was sent flying back while Medicham had to brace himself, sliding sideways along the ground to bleed off the momentum of the hit.
Happy spun around in the air, landing on his feet back on his own side of the battleground.
Geeze, no Pokemon that cute should be going around with that kind of expression, especially after taking a point blank hit like that, Brawly thought to himself. Did normal Marill have teeth that sharp?
"Aqua Ring, Happy," was Harry's order to his Pokemon as Medicham shook himself and waited for orders.
An orbiting ring of water formed around the Marill and Brawly knew it would slowly heal the water mouse over time.
"Use Confusion," Brawly ordered. Medicham wasn't as great with the Psychic side of his type as one that had been trained by an actual Psychic type trainer, but he could still use some Psychic attacks.
Medicham put his hands to his head, focusing and a blur of psychic energy appeared around Marill, dealing some damage and making the Pokemon wince and teeter slightly.
Sometimes a Confusion could disorient a Pokemon but not this time. Happy the Marill shook himself and growled before charging forwards again.
"Iron tail this time, Happy!" Harry ordered.
"Force Palm again!"
The Marill leapt forward again, spinning around with his tail raised. This time Medicham didn't manage to land a direct blow in return, choosing to attack the other Pokemon's tail directly and the two attacks collided, stalemating for a moment before Happy spun around in midair for another swipe. Medicham responded with multiple Force Palms, initiating a deadly trade of deflections for several seconds before Marill bounced back.
Both Pokemon eyed each other, breathing heavily. Brawly figured Medicham had come out of the exchange for the better but that Aqua Ring was going to cause problems if he let this drag out. Already he could see scuff marks from the hits Marill had already taken disappearing on the blue mouse Pokemon's fur.
Marill was a Fairy type now, which was all well and good, but it was still a water type!
"Use Thunder Punch!"
Medicham was surprised by the order, it wasn't his best trained attack and Brawly's Pokemon usually stuck to Fighting or Psychic type moves. He'd still picked up the attack from training with Hitmonchan though.
"Bounce into Hydro Pump!" Harry ordered.
The Marill leapt into the air and almost completely dodged Medicham's attack, taking a glancing blow as it soared out of reach. Then, inhaling deeply it prepared to use the most powerful of the traditional Water type attacks.
"Detect!" Brawly shouted in a panic.
Medicham was barely able to activate the move, dodging the powerful spray of water as the Marill soared overhead, producing more momentum on account of the powerful spray of water.
But it couldn't last forever. Harry Hemming's Marill was strong but it couldn't keep a Hydro Pump up indefinitely and the attack tapered off as it touched the ground.
"Dual Force Palm! finish it!" Brawly ordered, seeing the Marill was absolutely exhausted at this point. Aqua Ring wouldn't stop you feeling tired.
Medicham sped forward again, ready to finish the battle but the Marill wasn't out of this yet.
"Come on Happy, use Aqua Tail one last time," Harry ordered.
Marill regained its composure, creating another Aqua Tail as it readied itself for Medicham to approach. This wasn't like the first one, the attack much weaker and taking on the regular form of a whip. That Marill had to be on its last legs.
Medicham thrust both palms forward, disregarding personal safety as Happy swung his tail around.
Both Pokemon collided, an explosion of dust coming from the point of contact.
Brawly leaned forward, desperate to see the result of their final clash.
The dust parted, revealing an unconscious Marill and a stumbling, panting Medicham. Brawly's second strongest Pokemon looked like a stiff breeze would see him joining the other Pokemon in unconsciousness.
It was Brawly's victory, by the slimmest of margins.
If anyone had told him yesterday that a Marill on its own could do that to his Medicham then he'd have laughed in their face and then demanded a battle to prove otherwise. The Fighting type specialist let out a bark of laughter as he and his opponent withdrew their Pokemon. Today had been just full of surprises.
"Well you've got my vote!" Brawly declared, striding forward across the arena towards the other trainer. "As long as we can do that again!"
Not only that, but it'd just be good to have another guy around his own age about running a Gym too, Brawly thought to himself privately. There was Roxanne, but they didn't exactly have anything in common and everyone else was quite a bit older than him or too young in the case of the Mossdeep twins.
"I look forward to it," Harry Hemming said, giving a promise to have them both battle again one day as their hands clasped together. Brawly beamed at him.
"C'mon I've got a healing station you can use," Brawly offered and started to lead his new friend back out of the stadium.
Things were getting too relaxed around Hoenn anyway. Then Harry Hemming had come in like a tidal wave and washed away his expectations and Brawly couldn't wait to see what happened next.
Mach Punch, or Bullet Punch if you were feeling adventurous, were great gap closers for a Pokemon that typically wasn't that fast on its feet. Those moves gave them temporary speed to square off against an opponent up close, which was where a Hitmonchan's fists could deal some damage.
Hitmonchan sped forward under its own power towards the Mawile, ready to kick things off.
"Iron Head," Harry called out from the other side, just late enough that Hitmonchan would be too late to abort.
Steel type tracks like Iron Head or Iron Tail had a peculiar effect, essentially acting as a very powerful defensive move in the locations where it was activated. Most other type interactions were fairly straightforward but for those moves in particular it meant that despite the type advantage, Hitmonchan might as well have been trying to punch a block of reinforced concrete.
Hitmonchan's fist struck home on the impenetrable steel as the Mawile swung its large maw forward, the two attacks colliding. Brawly grimaced. Brawly's Hitmonchan was strong and experienced enough to avoid injuring himself but Brawly knew from experience that it could've been a close thing.
Even though his first attack had been blocked, it didn't matter because Hitmonchan was now in range and he was already winding up his next attack.
Power-Up Punch helped increase his attack power, it just needed to land and that's why they'd trained for this classic one-two combo, starting with Mach Punch to close the distance.
Only it seemed the Mawile knew what to do next too, leaping up and past the surprised Hitmonchan's extended fist to deliver a punch with her own stubby arms. Sucker Punch.
It was a Dark type attack so it shouldn't have done too much damage and Hitmonchan didn't respond more than turning its face to minimise the blow, but the attack still came as a surprise and the Mawile used its momentum to leap past him towards the centre of the arena.
"Misty Terrain Ielle!" Shouted Harry.
That must've been the Mawile's nickname, Brawly thought. Not a lot of people bothered doing that for their Pokemon, he didn't, but it was kind of interesting that Harry had.
The Mawile's larger mouth, the one that was partially disguised as a ponytail lifted up and opened as it pointed towards the sky. Then a ball of pink energy was shot up.
"What attack is that?" Brawly questioned out loud. It was obviously a field move of some kind but not one Brawly had ever heard of. "Close the distance Hitmonchan!" Even if he was curious, there was no need to just give his opponent an opening.
Hitmonchan recovered and spun around to reinitiate a Mach Punch but one of the weaknesses of the attack was that it only really went in a straight line so it took vital moments to turn and then move, at which point the glowing pink sphere had aalready reached the apex of its ascent and exploded.
Pink mist scattered all around, falling down to the ground and covering the hard surface of the arena, including the \Mawile.
Hitmonchan shot forward at the same time, but the Mawile was already being covered by the pink fog as it fell down and he skid to a stop in the place the Mawile had been. The movement of the air behind him momentarily parted the mist to reveal the Mawile indeed had disappeared before the mist leisurely flowed back into place and it was now completely covering the arena.
Now Brawly was no stranger to field tactics. He'd battled people using Blizzards or Sandstorms to cover their Pokemon for sneak attacks before but this was definitely a new one. The Misty Terrain settled around the arena somewhere between one and two feet high, tall enough that the short figure of the Mawile was completely hidden from view.
The perfect strategy for an ambush predator.
"Clever!" Brawly called out across to his opponent.
"Why thank you," the other trainer graciously replied, lips pulled up in a smirk. "But we haven't won yet…"
"Mon hitmon hit!" Hitmonchan growled as he looked around him warily. There was a giggling reply from somewhere in the mist.
"Use Vacuum Wave to part the mist," Brawly ordered. He wasn't entirely sure if it would work but he wanted to test if the attack would actually affect the terrain or not now it'd settled.
The blast of air that came from Hitmonchan's fist did indeed part the Misty terrain for a few moments but it was clear that it was only a temporary thing, the fog quickly re-covering the ground it had lost. Perhaps if he kept at it or used a broader ranging effect then he might be able to disperse it, but that sort of move wasn't in Hitmonchan's repertoire. Hariyama knew Whirlwind, which might do the job. But Hariyama wasn't out right now, Hitmonchan was.
If this were a normal battle where substitutions were allowed then Brawly would have probably chosen to swap Hitmonchan out at this point, but these were the rules he'd set out and there was still something they could do.
There was a shifting of the fog from the side and Hitmonchan spun around to deliver another Vacuum Wave only for Mawile once again not to be revealed. Hitmonchan was being careful but as he thrust out a few more Vaccuum Waves the Pokemon found himself frustrated as Mawile remained hidden from view, taunting him in Pokespeech.
"Iron head!" Harry suddenly shouted.
"Detect!" Brawly countered.
The Mawile shot up from Hitmonchan's side, her larger jaws turning to steel as she whipped it around at the Fighting type.
Detect gave him preternatural awareness and Hitmonchan swayed out of the way as Ielle continued past, falling back into the fog without a sound like she was a freaking Sharpedo instead of a land-bound part Steel type. Then she bounced back a moment later, repeating the attack from another angle.
Hitmonchan swayed out of the way again, this time delivering a light punch to the other Pokemon as she sailed past but one Brawly knew would have only done minor damage.
"Clever strategy Mr Hemming, but it'll take more than that to stop my Hitmonchan!" Brawly said confidently. "He's trained to dodge hits with some of the best fighting types around!"
"You had a good counter," Harry Hemming replied as his Mawile giggled, sailing past with another swipe at Hitmonchan. "But how long do you think your Hitmonchan can keep that Detect running?"
Brawly grit his teeth. They both knew Hitmonchan couldn't keep it up forever. Detect and other moves like Protect required a lot of energy to perform. Not too much, but they were definitely more intensive than regular attacks and the longer a Pokemon tried to keep one up, the harder it would get.
Until the move failed.
"Chan!" Hitmonchan grunted as he took a strike to his raised arms, skidding back as the Mawile fell back into the Mist.
He didn't block the next attack, coming from the side and that time he stumbled.
"Alright Play Rough Ielle!" Harry shouted. That didn't sound like a move Brawly had ever heard of but it definitely was one, but it also sounded like a close contact attack. Now was their chance!
"Drain Punch!" Brawly ordered as the Mawile lunged out of the mist, eyes mean as it glowed with a pink aura.
Whatever attack that was, as long as Hitmonchan managed to deliver the return blow he'd survive.
Ielle was indeed hit but her jaws swung around, grabbing onto Hitmonchan's second punch and she swung herself forward at the Fighting type's face!
"Hiiit!" Hitmonchan bellowed as the not so cute Fairy type pummelled him, unable to do more than reach out to yank her away and off him.
The Mawile sailed back into the mist as Brawly's Pokemon stumbled, clearly dizzy and on his last legs after whatever the hell that last attack had been. Another hit would end it.
"Come on Hitmonchan!" Brawly shouted, but knowing that this was probably it. The Misty Terrain was still up, there was no way that Mawile wasn't going to be able to land a final hit with the initiative all going to her. "Ready up one more Drain Punch, you can do it!"
Hitmonchan steadied himself, pulling back a fist it began to glow with the telltale energy of his best attack. He'd managed a hit on the Mawile before and despite the part Steel typing Mawile weren't incredibly durable. One or two more hits like that could definitely turn things around in their favour.
"Fairy Wind!" Harry Hemming shouted.
"Damnit," Brawly muttered to himself as a ranged attack not unlike a simple Gust sped forth from somewhere in front of Hitmonchan. The Misty Terrain was scattered forward, revealing the Mawile several feet away. Hitmonchan saw his opportunity and charged forward with his remaining strength.
But it wasn't enough. The pink tinged winds buffeted him, making the Fighting type stumble. His raised fist stopped glowing and then Brawly's first Pokemon fell to his knees and then onto the ground face first.
He had fainted.
"Good battle," he complimented, feeling his heart pound in his chest as he raised Hitmonchan's Pokeball. The draining feeling of having a Pokemon knocked out struck him but Brawly was obviously tough enough to handle it and it only set his adrenaline running higher.
This guy was the real thing.
He'd counted five different attacks, Brawly thought as he withdrew his Pokemon. Misty Terrain, Iron Head, Sucker Punch, Play Rough and then Fairy Wind made five. That was one tough Mawile to know more than four attacks, only the strongest or most dedicated of Pokemon could remember more than four moves at a time.
That wasn't entirely true. Some specialist Pokemon like his own Hitmonchan could learn a big variety of certain types of moves at one time with little difficulty. In Hitmonchan's case it was a bunch of punching attacks like the three elemental punches on top of Drain Punch and Mach Punch and then he'd held onto a couple other moves like Detect too. Still, Mawile probably didn't count for that exception to the rule. It was definitely worthy of being called a seventh or eighth Badge tier Pokemon.
The Misty Terrain was finally fading away and the Mawile was looking back towards her trainer, looking kind of smug.
"Good job Ielle," Harry Hemming said warmly as he withdrew the Pokemon. Off to the side their only audience, which was the other guy's Gardevoir, was clapping and cheering for her teammate.
"You did great too," Brawly whispered to his own Pokemon but he already knew that wouldn't be the end of it. Hitmonchan was going to feel pretty down after losing to a Mawile of all things. Brawly knew the rest of the team were going to make fun of him over the loss to a Pokemon that the rest of them, including him, usually considered to be pretty weak.
Well that wasn't the case anymore. You should never judge a book by its cover, a lesson Brawly would have to keep in mind. Harry Hemming looked like a pretty straight-laced office worker, but there was more to him than met the eye too.
Brawly had seen enough. Harry Hemming was on the level. He had Brawly's vote if he wanted to be a Gym Leader.
But that didn't mean they were finished yet!
"Ready for one more?!" He asked, reaching for another Pokeball. He'd specified two battles after all.
"Absolutely," Harry replied across the arena, putting away his Mawile's ball and withdrawing another one.
"Come on out, Medicham!"
"Go Happy!"
Brawly's Medicham took to the field and across from it another small Pokemon appeared.
This wasn't another Mawile of course. Instead the small form of a Marill appeared and true to its nickname it looked pretty darn happy.
"Huh," Brawly said as the Pokemon bounced up and down excitedly. Whatever he'd expected Harry to pull out now, it hadn't been this.
Like Mawile, Marill weren't exactly considered to be strong Pokemon either. They were usually pet Pokemon for kids or they were occasionally used by people who enjoyed camping who liked a Pokemon that could be one part cuddle buddy and the other part water source. Brawly had seen trainers with an Azumarill once or twice in Gym matches, but usually an aspiring trainer who was going to train up a Water type went for something with either a bit more of a reputation as a battler or on the more practical side something that was bigger and better suited to carrying passengers on its back. A Walrein, a Tentacruel or for the bravest of trainers a Gyarados was what people often used in higher tier battles like these.
He grinned. After that last battle, Brawly couldn't wait to see what this Marill was made of.
He had wanted to send out Hariyama, but Brawly's opponent clearly wasn't using his ace, which he assumed must be the Gardevoir so Brawly respectfully wouldn't do the same either. Instead he had decided to go with his second strongest Pokemon. Medicham was a powerhouse in his own right and he'd been with Brawly the second longest out of his current team.
"Alright you caught me by surprise before," Brawly told the other trainer. "But me and Medicham are ready for any tricks this time."
"Marill!" the Marill replied for its trainer. "Marill mar!"
"Cham!" Medicham replied, nodding stoically to his opponent and shifting into a battle stance with one leg raised. Medicham was smart enough to know not to let the deceptively weak form of the Marill lull him into a false sense of security. Brawly wouldn't be using him if he didn't think the opponent was worthy of Medicham's time.
"I'll start us off!" Harry declared, gesturing forward and it was clear that he was enjoying their battle as much as Brawly had been. "Marill, use Aqua tail!"
Brawly was surprised when the Marill's disposition suddenly changed completely and it charged forward on four legs, tail raised and with an impressive Aqua tail forming from the blue orb at the end of the rapidly approaching mouse Pokemon's tail.
Usually Aqua Tail came out as a sort of whip, more rarely it wound up looking like a whirlpool like this. Already it was a sign that this Pokemon was no run of the mill Marill.
"Get in there with a Force Palm!" Brawly ordered. That size of attack wasn't going to be easily dodged. Medicham would have to either weather the hit or slip past it somehow and to do that he'd have to get close to the Marill first. Getting close would at least help to minimise any damage Medicham did take.
Medicham charged forward in kind, palm glowing and ready to thrust forward as the Marill jumped up, swinging his tail around in a clearly practised motion to strike the Fighting/Psychic type on the side.
Medicham was fast enough to land the blow against Happy but not fast enough to avoid being hit by the Aqua Tail in return. The Marill was sent flying back while Medicham had to brace himself, sliding sideways along the ground to bleed off the momentum of the hit.
Happy spun around in the air, landing on his feet back on his own side of the battleground.
Geeze, no Pokemon that cute should be going around with that kind of expression, especially after taking a point blank hit like that, Brawly thought to himself. Did normal Marill have teeth that sharp?
"Aqua Ring, Happy," was Harry's order to his Pokemon as Medicham shook himself and waited for orders.
An orbiting ring of water formed around the Marill and Brawly knew it would slowly heal the water mouse over time.
"Use Confusion," Brawly ordered. Medicham wasn't as great with the Psychic side of his type as one that had been trained by an actual Psychic type trainer, but he could still use some Psychic attacks.
Medicham put his hands to his head, focusing and a blur of psychic energy appeared around Marill, dealing some damage and making the Pokemon wince and teeter slightly.
Sometimes a Confusion could disorient a Pokemon but not this time. Happy the Marill shook himself and growled before charging forwards again.
"Iron tail this time, Happy!" Harry ordered.
"Force Palm again!"
The Marill leapt forward again, spinning around with his tail raised. This time Medicham didn't manage to land a direct blow in return, choosing to attack the other Pokemon's tail directly and the two attacks collided, stalemating for a moment before Happy spun around in midair for another swipe. Medicham responded with multiple Force Palms, initiating a deadly trade of deflections for several seconds before Marill bounced back.
Both Pokemon eyed each other, breathing heavily. Brawly figured Medicham had come out of the exchange for the better but that Aqua Ring was going to cause problems if he let this drag out. Already he could see scuff marks from the hits Marill had already taken disappearing on the blue mouse Pokemon's fur.
Marill was a Fairy type now, which was all well and good, but it was still a water type!
"Use Thunder Punch!"
Medicham was surprised by the order, it wasn't his best trained attack and Brawly's Pokemon usually stuck to Fighting or Psychic type moves. He'd still picked up the attack from training with Hitmonchan though.
"Bounce into Hydro Pump!" Harry ordered.
The Marill leapt into the air and almost completely dodged Medicham's attack, taking a glancing blow as it soared out of reach. Then, inhaling deeply it prepared to use the most powerful of the traditional Water type attacks.
"Detect!" Brawly shouted in a panic.
Medicham was barely able to activate the move, dodging the powerful spray of water as the Marill soared overhead, producing more momentum on account of the powerful spray of water.
But it couldn't last forever. Harry Hemming's Marill was strong but it couldn't keep a Hydro Pump up indefinitely and the attack tapered off as it touched the ground.
"Dual Force Palm! finish it!" Brawly ordered, seeing the Marill was absolutely exhausted at this point. Aqua Ring wouldn't stop you feeling tired.
Medicham sped forward again, ready to finish the battle but the Marill wasn't out of this yet.
"Come on Happy, use Aqua Tail one last time," Harry ordered.
Marill regained its composure, creating another Aqua Tail as it readied itself for Medicham to approach. This wasn't like the first one, the attack much weaker and taking on the regular form of a whip. That Marill had to be on its last legs.
Medicham thrust both palms forward, disregarding personal safety as Happy swung his tail around.
Both Pokemon collided, an explosion of dust coming from the point of contact.
Brawly leaned forward, desperate to see the result of their final clash.
The dust parted, revealing an unconscious Marill and a stumbling, panting Medicham. Brawly's second strongest Pokemon looked like a stiff breeze would see him joining the other Pokemon in unconsciousness.
It was Brawly's victory, by the slimmest of margins.
If anyone had told him yesterday that a Marill on its own could do that to his Medicham then he'd have laughed in their face and then demanded a battle to prove otherwise. The Fighting type specialist let out a bark of laughter as he and his opponent withdrew their Pokemon. Today had been just full of surprises.
"Well you've got my vote!" Brawly declared, striding forward across the arena towards the other trainer. "As long as we can do that again!"
Not only that, but it'd just be good to have another guy around his own age about running a Gym too, Brawly thought to himself privately. There was Roxanne, but they didn't exactly have anything in common and everyone else was quite a bit older than him or too young in the case of the Mossdeep twins.
"I look forward to it," Harry Hemming said, giving a promise to have them both battle again one day as their hands clasped together. Brawly beamed at him.
"C'mon I've got a healing station you can use," Brawly offered and started to lead his new friend back out of the stadium.
Things were getting too relaxed around Hoenn anyway. Then Harry Hemming had come in like a tidal wave and washed away his expectations and Brawly couldn't wait to see what happened next.
Happy is happier the way he is.
Chapter 5
"Now I should warn you," Brawly said. "Nobody else knows about you trying for Gym Leader so if anyone shows up then you're just someone I met over in Johto when I learnt under Chuck."
"Alright," I nodded slowly. "I went to Johto briefly, it's where I met Happy. Why the secrecy though?"
"It was Wattson and Winona's idea," Brawly said. "They don't want anyone making a fuss over things."
That caught me by surprise. "What do you mean by fuss?" I asked. It wasn't like I was bothering anyone or anything. With the exception of the Gym Leaders, I supposed. Was there more political stuff at play I didn't know about?
"They think if people find out someone's trying to become a Gym Leader then Slateport and Lilycove will start bothering you and us about it. Plus there'll be a media circus with reporters bothering all of us and trying to get a piece of you too and none of us really want that."
"Fair enough," I said, realising now what he meant and putting the mention of Lilycove and Slateport to the side to think about later. I knew it was probably going to be a big deal once it was announced there was a ninth Gym, but that was no reason to draw attention to it early and I completely understood Brawly's desire to avoid being hounded by the press. "I haven't spoken to anyone else about it except one of Roxanne's Gym trainers, and I suppose the person I spoke to at the League when I started things."
"Great, shouldn't be a problem then," Brawly said cheerfully as we passed through some automatic doors to the healing room, which was empty at this time of evening.
There were four rows of six ball slots for quick and easy Pokemon healing and some benches next to them, plus a couple of vending machines too for people who were waiting. Anything truly serious would require a Nurse Joy but for standard battle related damage this was far faster and cheaper for people coming to the Dewford Gym. Brawly slotted his Pokemon in a couple of the spots and I put mine in beside his.
"Gotta say though we were all a bit surprised," Brawly said as he turned the machine on. "I didn't even know that was a thing we could do, make a new Gym."
"They have more than eight in Kanto," I pointed out.
Kanto had more Gyms than the normal eight that most people would have heard of. I'd done some checking and some of the gyms I vaguely remembered from the anime existed in this timeline I'd found myself in. Brawly grimaced.
"Yeah but those other Gyms aren't worth talking about," Brawly said dismissively. "I guess it makes sense why it's us Gym Leaders that get to decide instead of the League."
The machine lit up, little symbols for our Pokemon appearing on the screen above.
"Give it five minutes," Brawly gestured at the healing station. He went and sat down on one of the benches. I went to sit opposite him.
"So you know I've gotta ask," he said. "Why'd you decide to become a Gym Leader. I mean you're strong, don't get me wrong, but you don't have any badges. At least no Hoenn ones."
He'd probably checked, I thought.
"I guess it was just something I felt I had to do," I replied. "I did a bit of travelling overseas and I did battle a couple of Gyms in some of the other regions, but I knew one day I'd have to settle down and I didn't want to give up my team or stop battling. Being a Gym Leader just seemed like the natural continuation of things."
It'd always been something on the back of my mind, I thought. The idea of having a Gym, staking a claim like that just appealed to me ever since I'd been little.
"How about you?" I asked. "Why'd you decide to be a Gym Leader?"
Brawly shrugged.
"I just sort of fell into it. Chuck and my dad went back a bit and dad used to be a Gym trainer here, so he got me a place there training instead of being cooped up in Dewford. Then I met Bruno and he bullied Chuck into letting him take me out to train for a few months. Apparently he liked me enough to put in a word with Fang, the last Gym Leader here and after a battle together Fang decided I was gonna be the one after him. Can't say I'm disappointed."
"I bet not," I said, looking around the room and thinking about the rest of the building. "Did it cost a lot to get this place like this?"
"A lot of it was already here," Brawly admitted. "I got a big loan and spruced things up when I took over, but the regular Gym membership stuff pretty much pays for all that on its own."
"Something I'll need to think about," I mused. I had a decent income and my team weren't exactly expensive to keep happy and healthy but building work was very expensive. A lot of Gyms doubled up as something else, providing some kind of service whether it was exercise here, offering schooling like Rustboro, Saffron and Mossdeep or something like running public shows like in Cerulean.
Writing wasn't exactly something I could provide as a service, maybe teaching writing? But I wasn't that good a writer, more of an amateur that stumbled on something that worked enough to make money.
Leah patted my knee affectionately, reminding me that I wouldn't be going through all this alone and I offered her a smile in gratitude.
"Anyway I guess you're gonna visit Wattson next? Doing the normal Gym route?" Brawly asked, glancing between myself and the Gardevoir beside me. I nodded.
"It seemed appropriate to travel and meet everyone. I suppose I could've just tried speaking to you all over videocalls, but that'd have been a bit rude I think."
"Yeah Moore and Winona definitely wouldn't have liked that," Brawly said humorously. "Word to the wise, Winona is probably gonna be your toughest sell, she's kind of… rigid I guess. Doesn't change her mind easily once it's made up."
The healing station beeped several times, indicating our Pokemon were healed.
"Hopefully she has the time to warm up to the idea," I said as I retrieved my two Pokemon and returned their balls to their place on the side of my belt, out of sight underneath my jacket.
"Well there's a first time for everything," Brawly joked. "Anyway enough about that, you got any other plans while you're here? Maybe check out the caves. You probably know we have some Mawile running about in there. Your Mawile could go say hello."
"She's not from around here but I'll see if she'd like to," I replied. Mawile were fairly solitary creatures and they didn't generally get on with the rest of their own kind. Ielle was pretty social with my team and other Pokemon we encountered, but I didn't expect her to want to check out Dewford's caves.
Brawly showed me around a bit more before I managed to say my goodbyes with a promise to come see him again for another battle at some point. The Gym Leaders met up a couple of times a year, at both the end and beginning of the yearly circuit so with only a month or so before the end of the current circuit I would hopefully be meeting him again sooner rather than later.
Now we'd visited Dewford Leah would also be able to teleport us here too as long as we were in the region. If I wasn't travelling as much I'd probably need to start thinking about my fitness as well. Maybe I'd get a gym membership. I could do far worse than coming here once or twice a week.
***
We returned to the hotel to spend the night before heading off towards our next destination. The hotel room was cool and quiet and large enough to bring out a few of my Pokemon. The hotel had specified a three Pokemon limit depending on size and so I decided to bring out the members of my team who'd performed today.
Happy and Ielle materialised before me as I sat on the edge of the bed.
Ielle was looking pretty smug after her victory. Happy despite not winning his battle hadn't lost his usual cheerfulness.
"Brawly says we have his vote," I told them both. "Good job both of you, you were brilliant."
Ielle cheered alongside Happy who didn't look much happier, but that was because his usual state of being was like that.
"Marill!" Happy said. He turned towards Ielle and began speaking to her.
I ignored the byplay and reached for Happy, the small blue mouse didn't resist as I pulled him into my lap and began feeling around for injuries. A healing station was good, but I would be a poor trainer if I let myself rely on it after Happy's battle. Brawly would undoubtedly be giving his Pokemon a look over too.
"Mar marrrill," Marill said, ignoring what I was doing and gesticulating towards Ielle as the other Pokemon listened. I only paid half attention. I could generally understand the tone of what my team were saying which was generally enough when I had context too.
Happy was clearly talking about the battle and how much he had enjoyed it. My little water mouse was a bit of a battle junky, it had to be said. Win or lose he came away with a jolly disposition and I wouldn't change him for the world.
Running my fingers through his fur showed no signs of injury. That was good, he'd taken a good beating from that Medicham which if they had access to their ability could be amongst the strongest of physical attackers. If it had used Thunder Punch more or a harder hitting Fighting type move, then Happy would probably have lost more easily. Medicham could learn High Jump Kick, but Brawly hadn't used it which was interesting. I might ask him eventually why he hadn't used that specific attack against my Marill.
All finished I taped him on his back and Happy clambered out of my lap to sit on the bed next to me, still babbling in Leah's direction who listened politely to his recounting of the battle but was rummaging through my bag for the compression capsule that contained some of my things.
"Mawile!"
Looking down I saw Ielle. The yellow Pokemon held her arms out, eyes wide and trembling as she begged for attention like a little kid.
"You know that doesn't work on me," I said dryly but I acquiesced to her request and reached down to pick her up anyway.
Ielle was a lot more durable than Happy was and she'd taken far less of a beating too. But a bit of pampering wouldn't go amiss. It'd been mostly due to being a lucky matchup on our part but she'd done splendidly in her battle against that Hitmonchan.
I set her in my lap and did some brief checks for any lingering signs of injury. She hadn't taken many hits so I really wasn't expecting anything and like Happy she was perfectly fine.
I moved my fingers to the juncture between her jaws and head. The thinner part was sensitive and Mawile relaxed almost immediately as I rubbed the base where it met her skull. Ielle's large black jaws lifted up almost immediately to rub my cheek. It was like the reaction you got when you tried rubbing the base of a cat's tail and Ielle slumped contentedly in my lap. If she could purr then I was sure she'd have started doing so.
I had two hands though and I reached to the side to rub behind Happy's ears, which I knew the Mouse Pokemon enjoyed. It interrupted whatever he was saying to Leah as he cuddled my side. Leah meanwhile had been going through my travel stuff, helpfully pulling out clothes for me to wear in the morning that she set to the side neatly. Finished, she came and sat on the other side of Happy, hugging my side and the four of us just sat like that comfortably for a bit.
"There's caves around here and Brawly suggested you might want to go explore them and maybe meet some other Mawile. Do you?" I asked my Mawile.
Ielle looked up at me and looked for a moment like she was considering it, but then she shook her head and leaned back against me comfortably. She was happy here.
I nodded. That had been the reaction I'd expected. I squeezed her to show I understood.
"Gaaardevoir," my starter suddenly said, gesturing to the clock. It really was getting late and realising the time was enough to make me suddenly yawn.
"Time for bed," I agreed. "Busy day tomorrow."
"Aaawiiile," Ielle complained, pressing her face into my belly and shaking it as if to say she didn't want to move. Then she gave off a little yelp as she was suddenly lifted in the air. She pouted across at my Gardevoir as she was set down on the bed next to Happy.
I chuckled as I headed into the bathroom to get changed and brush my teeth.
That was one Gym I'd got to agree to make this thing happen. Roxanne's test was still looming on the horizon and I was kind of dreading it, but that was in the future. Next up was Wattson and I couldn't help but wonder what he'd want from me.
***
He grabbed a beer from the fridge and then headed over to his den for his call with Moore. You didn't get a body like this without putting in the work. Wattson patted his belly and chuckled to himself.
This time the other man had had enough notice to be ready for the call so when Wattson activated the call Moore was already waiting for him.
"Wattson," he greeted. "How are you doing?"
"Good enough," the Electric type expert replied. "And you?"
Moore sighed. "I'm worried about Flannery," he admitted. "Do you think I should try hanging on for another year or two, make sure she's ready to take over from me?"
Wattson honestly didn't know.
"I'm sure whatever you decide will be the right thing," he said. "She's a good girl and a good battler but whatever happens as long as you support her she'll manage in the end." She took too much after her own grandfather to not cause problems for herself, but Wattson knew she'd pull through with the same fire that had seen Moore join the ranks of the Elite Four.
"I suppose," Moore said. "I think I might hang on for one more year, then let her take over properly then."
Wattson shrugged. Moore was going to do whatever he had been thinking of doing anyway. This was just him trying to get Wattson to validate his own opinion.
"Anyway," the Electric type trainer said, getting to business. "Now it's just the two of us, any thoughts about this new fellow?"
"Harry Hemming," Moore nodded, understanding what he was meaning. "I have to say it's well timed, don't you think?"
"Yes," Wattson agreed. "They certainly wouldn't have risked a repeat of last time."
He took a sip of his drink. It was less than six months after the previous Mossdeep Gym Leader had passed away, comfortably in her sleep. Liza, the older Liza, for whom her granddaughter had been named, had unofficially been the strongest amongst the Gym Leaders before her retirement and subsequent death and Hoenn was worse off for her loss.
Shortly after she'd sent that girl packing there had been a number of scandals that came to light and a number of other supposed accidents in the League and some linked organisation, all around the same time. There hadn't been anything to connect the events together of course, but it was known amongst the right circles who had been responsible.
The older Liza had indeed been a stunning, terrifying woman and Wattson wouldn't lie and say he hadn't once carried a bit of a spark for her, even though he'd been still a kid really.
So had Moore and Fang for that matter, but unfortunately for all of them Liza had been a Psychic and those types were very particular about who they let marry into their family lines. Actually being psychic was the first requirement. Moore, who'd been a bit of a hothead back then, hadn't taken that lying down. There had been a few comic moments over the years as Liza shut him down in increasingly dramatic ways during their occasional meetings.
Of course Moore had grown up and moved on eventually, they all had. It'd taken a few tries and two failed marriages but Wattson had found his own partner in the end. Elaine was everything he'd ever wanted in a woman. She was smart, confident, a good battler and best of all liked traps just as much as he did! The fact she was almost twenty years younger than him and an absolute stunner only made it better as Wattson got to watch other men seethe in jealousy.
"The twins will be able to figure out whether this Hemming boy's just got good timing or if he's another stooge," Wattson continued, repeating his comment to the other Gym Leaders the other day. "Between us both we can almost veto him on our own but the twins would potentially make three and Wallace will side with us too. Juan is old enough to remember last time and Wallace listens to him. So our positions are safe, if it comes to that."
They had enough to shut it down, even if Hemming did inexplicably make good friends with most of the other Gym Leaders. Six of eight was required between them for a new Gym Leader to be agreed so three would block it. That might need changing if they indeed added a ninth, or maybe not. They would all have to sit down and discuss things whether or not Hemming got the spot.
There ought to be a way to formally start the process, Wattson thought idly. Perhaps have it by invitation or a specific recommendation. More things to think about on another day.
Moore sighed and nodded tiredly.
"I'll miss battling like I used to but I certainly won't miss all the worrying over this sort of thing," he said wistfully. "With many youngsters coming in. I'm glad they've got you to keep an eye on things if something unexpected happens," he said, although it was more like a question really.
"Don't worry I certainly won't be going anywhere for a while yet," Wattson confirmed jovially. "But you're right we've got quite a few younger Gym Leaders now. I'll make sure they're looked after, but I'll leave Flannery for you to handle of course."
"Thank you," Moore said graciously but his expression betrayed relief.
He chatted with Moore for a bit about some of the older days before they both said goodbye. Moore was an old man, older than Wattson by ten years and those extra years hadn't exactly been kind to him. Wattson ended the call and then relaxed into his chair.
It was funny, he used to be the youngest of the Gym Leaders. The new kid pushing for progress and innovation, whether it was the smart thing to do or not… But once Moore was gone, Wattson was going to be the old man of the group. At least he'd look the part! He thought humorously as he brought his drink up to take another sip.
Then Wattson was suddenly startled as Plusle jumped onto his lap.
"Well hello there," he said, spotting Minun coming in through the now partially open door after her partner. "Does Elaine want me?"
The Plusle nodded, looking cheerful rather than worried.
So he wasn't in trouble then, that was good.
"Alright then," Wattson grunted, pushing himself up off his chair to follow after the two Pokemon.
Harry Hemming should be on his way to meet him soon, which would be interesting. Wattson wondered if he liked traps.
"Alright," I nodded slowly. "I went to Johto briefly, it's where I met Happy. Why the secrecy though?"
"It was Wattson and Winona's idea," Brawly said. "They don't want anyone making a fuss over things."
That caught me by surprise. "What do you mean by fuss?" I asked. It wasn't like I was bothering anyone or anything. With the exception of the Gym Leaders, I supposed. Was there more political stuff at play I didn't know about?
"They think if people find out someone's trying to become a Gym Leader then Slateport and Lilycove will start bothering you and us about it. Plus there'll be a media circus with reporters bothering all of us and trying to get a piece of you too and none of us really want that."
"Fair enough," I said, realising now what he meant and putting the mention of Lilycove and Slateport to the side to think about later. I knew it was probably going to be a big deal once it was announced there was a ninth Gym, but that was no reason to draw attention to it early and I completely understood Brawly's desire to avoid being hounded by the press. "I haven't spoken to anyone else about it except one of Roxanne's Gym trainers, and I suppose the person I spoke to at the League when I started things."
"Great, shouldn't be a problem then," Brawly said cheerfully as we passed through some automatic doors to the healing room, which was empty at this time of evening.
There were four rows of six ball slots for quick and easy Pokemon healing and some benches next to them, plus a couple of vending machines too for people who were waiting. Anything truly serious would require a Nurse Joy but for standard battle related damage this was far faster and cheaper for people coming to the Dewford Gym. Brawly slotted his Pokemon in a couple of the spots and I put mine in beside his.
"Gotta say though we were all a bit surprised," Brawly said as he turned the machine on. "I didn't even know that was a thing we could do, make a new Gym."
"They have more than eight in Kanto," I pointed out.
Kanto had more Gyms than the normal eight that most people would have heard of. I'd done some checking and some of the gyms I vaguely remembered from the anime existed in this timeline I'd found myself in. Brawly grimaced.
"Yeah but those other Gyms aren't worth talking about," Brawly said dismissively. "I guess it makes sense why it's us Gym Leaders that get to decide instead of the League."
The machine lit up, little symbols for our Pokemon appearing on the screen above.
"Give it five minutes," Brawly gestured at the healing station. He went and sat down on one of the benches. I went to sit opposite him.
"So you know I've gotta ask," he said. "Why'd you decide to become a Gym Leader. I mean you're strong, don't get me wrong, but you don't have any badges. At least no Hoenn ones."
He'd probably checked, I thought.
"I guess it was just something I felt I had to do," I replied. "I did a bit of travelling overseas and I did battle a couple of Gyms in some of the other regions, but I knew one day I'd have to settle down and I didn't want to give up my team or stop battling. Being a Gym Leader just seemed like the natural continuation of things."
It'd always been something on the back of my mind, I thought. The idea of having a Gym, staking a claim like that just appealed to me ever since I'd been little.
"How about you?" I asked. "Why'd you decide to be a Gym Leader?"
Brawly shrugged.
"I just sort of fell into it. Chuck and my dad went back a bit and dad used to be a Gym trainer here, so he got me a place there training instead of being cooped up in Dewford. Then I met Bruno and he bullied Chuck into letting him take me out to train for a few months. Apparently he liked me enough to put in a word with Fang, the last Gym Leader here and after a battle together Fang decided I was gonna be the one after him. Can't say I'm disappointed."
"I bet not," I said, looking around the room and thinking about the rest of the building. "Did it cost a lot to get this place like this?"
"A lot of it was already here," Brawly admitted. "I got a big loan and spruced things up when I took over, but the regular Gym membership stuff pretty much pays for all that on its own."
"Something I'll need to think about," I mused. I had a decent income and my team weren't exactly expensive to keep happy and healthy but building work was very expensive. A lot of Gyms doubled up as something else, providing some kind of service whether it was exercise here, offering schooling like Rustboro, Saffron and Mossdeep or something like running public shows like in Cerulean.
Writing wasn't exactly something I could provide as a service, maybe teaching writing? But I wasn't that good a writer, more of an amateur that stumbled on something that worked enough to make money.
Leah patted my knee affectionately, reminding me that I wouldn't be going through all this alone and I offered her a smile in gratitude.
"Anyway I guess you're gonna visit Wattson next? Doing the normal Gym route?" Brawly asked, glancing between myself and the Gardevoir beside me. I nodded.
"It seemed appropriate to travel and meet everyone. I suppose I could've just tried speaking to you all over videocalls, but that'd have been a bit rude I think."
"Yeah Moore and Winona definitely wouldn't have liked that," Brawly said humorously. "Word to the wise, Winona is probably gonna be your toughest sell, she's kind of… rigid I guess. Doesn't change her mind easily once it's made up."
The healing station beeped several times, indicating our Pokemon were healed.
"Hopefully she has the time to warm up to the idea," I said as I retrieved my two Pokemon and returned their balls to their place on the side of my belt, out of sight underneath my jacket.
"Well there's a first time for everything," Brawly joked. "Anyway enough about that, you got any other plans while you're here? Maybe check out the caves. You probably know we have some Mawile running about in there. Your Mawile could go say hello."
"She's not from around here but I'll see if she'd like to," I replied. Mawile were fairly solitary creatures and they didn't generally get on with the rest of their own kind. Ielle was pretty social with my team and other Pokemon we encountered, but I didn't expect her to want to check out Dewford's caves.
Brawly showed me around a bit more before I managed to say my goodbyes with a promise to come see him again for another battle at some point. The Gym Leaders met up a couple of times a year, at both the end and beginning of the yearly circuit so with only a month or so before the end of the current circuit I would hopefully be meeting him again sooner rather than later.
Now we'd visited Dewford Leah would also be able to teleport us here too as long as we were in the region. If I wasn't travelling as much I'd probably need to start thinking about my fitness as well. Maybe I'd get a gym membership. I could do far worse than coming here once or twice a week.
***
We returned to the hotel to spend the night before heading off towards our next destination. The hotel room was cool and quiet and large enough to bring out a few of my Pokemon. The hotel had specified a three Pokemon limit depending on size and so I decided to bring out the members of my team who'd performed today.
Happy and Ielle materialised before me as I sat on the edge of the bed.
Ielle was looking pretty smug after her victory. Happy despite not winning his battle hadn't lost his usual cheerfulness.
"Brawly says we have his vote," I told them both. "Good job both of you, you were brilliant."
Ielle cheered alongside Happy who didn't look much happier, but that was because his usual state of being was like that.
"Marill!" Happy said. He turned towards Ielle and began speaking to her.
I ignored the byplay and reached for Happy, the small blue mouse didn't resist as I pulled him into my lap and began feeling around for injuries. A healing station was good, but I would be a poor trainer if I let myself rely on it after Happy's battle. Brawly would undoubtedly be giving his Pokemon a look over too.
"Mar marrrill," Marill said, ignoring what I was doing and gesticulating towards Ielle as the other Pokemon listened. I only paid half attention. I could generally understand the tone of what my team were saying which was generally enough when I had context too.
Happy was clearly talking about the battle and how much he had enjoyed it. My little water mouse was a bit of a battle junky, it had to be said. Win or lose he came away with a jolly disposition and I wouldn't change him for the world.
Running my fingers through his fur showed no signs of injury. That was good, he'd taken a good beating from that Medicham which if they had access to their ability could be amongst the strongest of physical attackers. If it had used Thunder Punch more or a harder hitting Fighting type move, then Happy would probably have lost more easily. Medicham could learn High Jump Kick, but Brawly hadn't used it which was interesting. I might ask him eventually why he hadn't used that specific attack against my Marill.
All finished I taped him on his back and Happy clambered out of my lap to sit on the bed next to me, still babbling in Leah's direction who listened politely to his recounting of the battle but was rummaging through my bag for the compression capsule that contained some of my things.
"Mawile!"
Looking down I saw Ielle. The yellow Pokemon held her arms out, eyes wide and trembling as she begged for attention like a little kid.
"You know that doesn't work on me," I said dryly but I acquiesced to her request and reached down to pick her up anyway.
Ielle was a lot more durable than Happy was and she'd taken far less of a beating too. But a bit of pampering wouldn't go amiss. It'd been mostly due to being a lucky matchup on our part but she'd done splendidly in her battle against that Hitmonchan.
I set her in my lap and did some brief checks for any lingering signs of injury. She hadn't taken many hits so I really wasn't expecting anything and like Happy she was perfectly fine.
I moved my fingers to the juncture between her jaws and head. The thinner part was sensitive and Mawile relaxed almost immediately as I rubbed the base where it met her skull. Ielle's large black jaws lifted up almost immediately to rub my cheek. It was like the reaction you got when you tried rubbing the base of a cat's tail and Ielle slumped contentedly in my lap. If she could purr then I was sure she'd have started doing so.
I had two hands though and I reached to the side to rub behind Happy's ears, which I knew the Mouse Pokemon enjoyed. It interrupted whatever he was saying to Leah as he cuddled my side. Leah meanwhile had been going through my travel stuff, helpfully pulling out clothes for me to wear in the morning that she set to the side neatly. Finished, she came and sat on the other side of Happy, hugging my side and the four of us just sat like that comfortably for a bit.
"There's caves around here and Brawly suggested you might want to go explore them and maybe meet some other Mawile. Do you?" I asked my Mawile.
Ielle looked up at me and looked for a moment like she was considering it, but then she shook her head and leaned back against me comfortably. She was happy here.
I nodded. That had been the reaction I'd expected. I squeezed her to show I understood.
"Gaaardevoir," my starter suddenly said, gesturing to the clock. It really was getting late and realising the time was enough to make me suddenly yawn.
"Time for bed," I agreed. "Busy day tomorrow."
"Aaawiiile," Ielle complained, pressing her face into my belly and shaking it as if to say she didn't want to move. Then she gave off a little yelp as she was suddenly lifted in the air. She pouted across at my Gardevoir as she was set down on the bed next to Happy.
I chuckled as I headed into the bathroom to get changed and brush my teeth.
That was one Gym I'd got to agree to make this thing happen. Roxanne's test was still looming on the horizon and I was kind of dreading it, but that was in the future. Next up was Wattson and I couldn't help but wonder what he'd want from me.
***
He grabbed a beer from the fridge and then headed over to his den for his call with Moore. You didn't get a body like this without putting in the work. Wattson patted his belly and chuckled to himself.
This time the other man had had enough notice to be ready for the call so when Wattson activated the call Moore was already waiting for him.
"Wattson," he greeted. "How are you doing?"
"Good enough," the Electric type expert replied. "And you?"
Moore sighed. "I'm worried about Flannery," he admitted. "Do you think I should try hanging on for another year or two, make sure she's ready to take over from me?"
Wattson honestly didn't know.
"I'm sure whatever you decide will be the right thing," he said. "She's a good girl and a good battler but whatever happens as long as you support her she'll manage in the end." She took too much after her own grandfather to not cause problems for herself, but Wattson knew she'd pull through with the same fire that had seen Moore join the ranks of the Elite Four.
"I suppose," Moore said. "I think I might hang on for one more year, then let her take over properly then."
Wattson shrugged. Moore was going to do whatever he had been thinking of doing anyway. This was just him trying to get Wattson to validate his own opinion.
"Anyway," the Electric type trainer said, getting to business. "Now it's just the two of us, any thoughts about this new fellow?"
"Harry Hemming," Moore nodded, understanding what he was meaning. "I have to say it's well timed, don't you think?"
"Yes," Wattson agreed. "They certainly wouldn't have risked a repeat of last time."
He took a sip of his drink. It was less than six months after the previous Mossdeep Gym Leader had passed away, comfortably in her sleep. Liza, the older Liza, for whom her granddaughter had been named, had unofficially been the strongest amongst the Gym Leaders before her retirement and subsequent death and Hoenn was worse off for her loss.
Shortly after she'd sent that girl packing there had been a number of scandals that came to light and a number of other supposed accidents in the League and some linked organisation, all around the same time. There hadn't been anything to connect the events together of course, but it was known amongst the right circles who had been responsible.
The older Liza had indeed been a stunning, terrifying woman and Wattson wouldn't lie and say he hadn't once carried a bit of a spark for her, even though he'd been still a kid really.
So had Moore and Fang for that matter, but unfortunately for all of them Liza had been a Psychic and those types were very particular about who they let marry into their family lines. Actually being psychic was the first requirement. Moore, who'd been a bit of a hothead back then, hadn't taken that lying down. There had been a few comic moments over the years as Liza shut him down in increasingly dramatic ways during their occasional meetings.
Of course Moore had grown up and moved on eventually, they all had. It'd taken a few tries and two failed marriages but Wattson had found his own partner in the end. Elaine was everything he'd ever wanted in a woman. She was smart, confident, a good battler and best of all liked traps just as much as he did! The fact she was almost twenty years younger than him and an absolute stunner only made it better as Wattson got to watch other men seethe in jealousy.
"The twins will be able to figure out whether this Hemming boy's just got good timing or if he's another stooge," Wattson continued, repeating his comment to the other Gym Leaders the other day. "Between us both we can almost veto him on our own but the twins would potentially make three and Wallace will side with us too. Juan is old enough to remember last time and Wallace listens to him. So our positions are safe, if it comes to that."
They had enough to shut it down, even if Hemming did inexplicably make good friends with most of the other Gym Leaders. Six of eight was required between them for a new Gym Leader to be agreed so three would block it. That might need changing if they indeed added a ninth, or maybe not. They would all have to sit down and discuss things whether or not Hemming got the spot.
There ought to be a way to formally start the process, Wattson thought idly. Perhaps have it by invitation or a specific recommendation. More things to think about on another day.
Moore sighed and nodded tiredly.
"I'll miss battling like I used to but I certainly won't miss all the worrying over this sort of thing," he said wistfully. "With many youngsters coming in. I'm glad they've got you to keep an eye on things if something unexpected happens," he said, although it was more like a question really.
"Don't worry I certainly won't be going anywhere for a while yet," Wattson confirmed jovially. "But you're right we've got quite a few younger Gym Leaders now. I'll make sure they're looked after, but I'll leave Flannery for you to handle of course."
"Thank you," Moore said graciously but his expression betrayed relief.
He chatted with Moore for a bit about some of the older days before they both said goodbye. Moore was an old man, older than Wattson by ten years and those extra years hadn't exactly been kind to him. Wattson ended the call and then relaxed into his chair.
It was funny, he used to be the youngest of the Gym Leaders. The new kid pushing for progress and innovation, whether it was the smart thing to do or not… But once Moore was gone, Wattson was going to be the old man of the group. At least he'd look the part! He thought humorously as he brought his drink up to take another sip.
Then Wattson was suddenly startled as Plusle jumped onto his lap.
"Well hello there," he said, spotting Minun coming in through the now partially open door after her partner. "Does Elaine want me?"
The Plusle nodded, looking cheerful rather than worried.
So he wasn't in trouble then, that was good.
"Alright then," Wattson grunted, pushing himself up off his chair to follow after the two Pokemon.
Harry Hemming should be on his way to meet him soon, which would be interesting. Wattson wondered if he liked traps.
Not in the starting squad, but a Hatterene will likely make an appearance at some point.
Chapter 6
Isabel couldn't help but reminisce about the day she'd come out to this very Route they were on right now with a pair of "borrowed" pokeballs to hopefully catch her very first Pokemon. It had been the day she'd met Kaleb, purely by chance and they'd got on well at first. Both of them were there to catch the same Pokemon and they'd spoken enthusiastically about what they agreed were the cutest Pokemon that could be found anywhere around Slateport, Plusle and Minun. They'd chatted about the paired Electric type rabbits together for what felt like hours.
It had been all fine until they did spot said Pokemon. In hindsight it had been a very silly thing to do going out into the wild area without any Pokemon to protect them, but the Plusle and Minun pair she and Kaleb had encountered had been very friendly and after befriending them the two teenagers had asked if they would like to go home with either of them and the Pokemon had miraculously agreed. It had been quite an argument they'd had about who got to catch them before they had figured out the two Pokemon wanted to come with one of each of them respectively.
And obviously both Pokemon couldn't be kept apart for long. They were a matched pair of Plusle and Minun after all! So Isabel and Kaleb had agreed to meet up regularly so their Pokemon could see each other and the rest as they say, was history.
That was… a few more years ago than Isabel really wanted to admit but still, Route 110 held a lot of fond memories for them both. The forecast for today had said it would be a wonderful sunny day outside Slateport and because it was a weekend Isabel had decided she and Kaleb would bring the kids out for a picnic. He hadn't taken any convincing.
Any excuse to come out and enjoy a bit of nature with their Pokemon was practically a tradition these days and there was a reason she'd married the man. Their love of Pokemon had brought them together and like a pair of Plusle and Minun they'd been inseparable ever since they'd caught those first pair of electric types.
Back to the present, they had left at nine o'clock on the dot and made good time to the start of Route 110. Kevin carried little Kyle on his chest, the same baby carrier they'd used for Timmy when he was a baby. Their adorable little boy only looked more adorably in his cute Pikachu onesie as he looked around their environment with wide eyes. Isabel was the one carrying their picnic basket.
"Can I let Elektrike out?" Timmy whined as they set off through the electric doors of the checkpoint.
"Hmm," Isabel hemmed, looking towards Kaleb as she did so. She already knew the answer of course, but it was better that someone played the bad cop once in a while. Isabel knew full well that Kaleb certainly couldn't manage it. The kids had their father more or less wrapped around their fingers and Isabel was torn between disappointment that she'd yet to have a daughter and relief that she didn't. Because there was no way Kaleb would be able to say no to her if they did have a little girl one day.
"It can't hurt," Kaleb said, shrugging with a slightly cheeky look on his face as he knew exactly what Isabel was doing. She was the boring mum and he was the cool dad. The sun shone on his face and it made her heart flutter just a tiny bit.
"Alright then," Isabel said as if she hadn't planned for them to let their Pokemon out. "Let's let them all out then."
"Go Elektrike!" Timmy shouted enthusiastically, less than a moment later, throwing the Pokeball a bit harder than he really needed to. Isabel made a mental note to mention taking care of pokeballs properly to him later.
"Come on out everyone," Isabel said, releasing her own Pokemon. Plusle and Minun appeared beside the green Elektrike which barked cheerfully in greeting and then he jumped up at his young trainer. Timmy laughed as the electric dog tried to lick his face. It'd only been half an hour since they'd left home.
"Haha, gerroff!" Timmy complained, managing to push the dog down who ran in a circle around him, little tail wagging furiously while Kaleb released his own pair of Plusle and Minun to join Isabel's.
"Alright!" Isabel said. "Don't go too far, make sure I can see you both," she warned her son and his Pokemon.
"Okay!" Timmy said. "Race you Elektrike!"
Obviously the speedy electric type was faster than his trainer but that didn't stop Timmy from trying.
The two parents set off together with their own four Pokemon frolicking around.
***
The boat to Slateport was much better than the one between Rustboro and Dewford, it had air conditioning for one. I got some time to sit down with some of the materials Roxanne had left me, which was kind of headache inducing but if I needed to know this stuff then I needed to know it. Just being a Gym Leader didn't give me carte blanche and things like Building Regulations were still something I had to keep in mind, even if they were a lot more relaxed than in my first life.
Exactly how teleporting pads, electric forcefields, icy floors and other things I recalled didn't constitute breaches in proper safety I didn't know, but this universe had Pokemon which made things a lot different than a simple, mundane world. Pokemon that could heal most injuries easily probably made people a lot more relaxed about that sort of thing.
Roxanne had been pretty comprehensive about all the stuff she wound up dealing with as a Gym Leader and I appreciated what she had given me because trying to sort this all out on my own would've been a nightmare. This binder with everything in it would be my bible once it came to the point I was building my own place. I just wish there wasn't going to be a test on it.
The sun was shining and it was hot, but not quite as unbearably hot as Dewford had been as we came off the boat onto the mainland.
Slateport looked like any other resort city I'd encountered. In the distance from the pier we came in on there was a great big beach stretching out towards the skyline and tall buildings dominating the land alongside it. Slateport had been built up tremendously and was one of the biggest settlements in Hoenn, giving me vibes like it was Miami or something like it. In the distance through a window I could see beachgoers and Pokemon with them. They were too small to really see but it looked very busy.
But we weren't here to visit Slateport, just passing through. After making land I departed the boat and we got a taxi up to the northern end of town and from there it was time to make a decision.
Did I rent a bike and try to use the modern bridge over towards Mauville, or did I take the long grass and just walk it along the land trail.
The fast approach would be using the bike, but after spending the last few days around populated areas I had a bit of a hankering for nature, peace of quiet and a bit of fresh air too.
I set off north along the path of Route 110, leading north and to the nature trail that would eventually lead to Mauville. It was only a few miles and I figured we'd get there well before it was time for dinner.
The air was fresh, the scent of nature pervading the environment only dampened slightly by the giant cycle bridge overhead. It cast a shadow over everything but it didn't do much to obstruct the natural flow of things.
I also decided as myself and Leah set off to pull out a couple of Pokeballs to bring out some of my other Pokemon. It wouldn't be fair if it was just me that got to stretch their legs.
***
There were two paths they could take, either west towards Petalburg which was more forested and really a bit nicer or they could go east and towards the trail leading towards the other city. Mauville was nice, not as nice a place to live as Slateport for obvious reasons.
"Can we go on the path mum, pleeeaaase?" Timmy asked, his Elektrike helping with his best Lillipup eyes.
"It's a bit of a walk, but we could always rent some bikes for the way home," Kaleb suggested, already warming to the idea. She knew he really just wanted to see some wild Pokemon.
Isabel considered it for a few moments then nodded her head. They had their picnic prepared so they could have lunch part way across. It would be a bit late by the time they got home for dinner, although maybe they could order a takeaway. If they did walk all the way to Mauville and cycled back they'd, she'd, have burnt off enough calories to justify having something less healthy.
The exercise really couldn't hurt either. If she could get back into that bikini before July…
"Alright, but you better promise to get your homework done straight away tomorrow morning."
"I promise!" Timmy said. "Thanks mum!"
Isabel rolled her eyes but felt a smile creeping onto her face as they turned east towards the Mauville path.
A few minutes later they were surrounded on both sides by the placid waters either side of the path. There were railings to stop people falling in, but the water Pokemon around here were generally friendly so even if someone did fall in they wouldn't be in danger. They passed a fisherman lounging on a foldout chair who waved but didn't say hello. Isabel and Kaleb's attention was focused on either their son and his Elektrike playing or the Pokemon around them.
There were Wingull and a couple of Pelliper flying through the sky. Isabel even spotted a few Wailmer bobbing up out of the water adjoining the path and quickly pointed it out to Kaleb. Kyle pointed his little hands forward, making happy noises as he reached for the wild Pokemon.
"Oh you like the flying types little man?" Kaleb asked. "Maybe we have a flying type trainer on our hands…"
"It's a bit early to be pidgeyholing him, dear," Isabel said humorously and her husband chuckled. But still as they continued walking she couldn't help but admit their younger child seemed interested in the flying Pokemon more than others.
They eventually stopped for lunch along a grassy patch along the path. It was wide enough that they weren't blocking the way so they weren't worried about any other passersby being held up. It was a good spot for Pokewatching. They should've brought some binoculars, Isabel thought as she saw what might have been a Wailord in the distance.
"Oh thanks, I'm starving!" Timmy said before biting into the sandwich he was given. He liked Pecha berry jam and Isabel had made sure to make one for him.
They were probably six or so miles along the path by now. Not much further to Mauville and the family were quite happy under the warm midday sunshine. Their Pokemon were having a good time playing together and a couple of Wingull even came and perched on the railing which Kyle liked very much.
"See, he is a Flying type trainer!" Kaleb said as their little boy crawled a bit closer to the Pokemon. Kaleb was keeping an eye on their little boy so he wasn't in danger, but Isabel still felt a little bit uncomfortable with him being so close to the water.
"Wing win win," one of the Pokemon said, strutting along the railing and making her baby laugh. It was probably trying to get them to offer it some food, Wingull were like that.
Maybe they could get some Wingull toys for Kyle later. There were all sorts of plushies and such you could get in the markets and Wingull were very common in Hoenn, Isabel was sure she'd seen one or two before somewhere even if that Pokemon hadn't ever been one she'd particularly liked the look of. Wingull weren't exactly cute like her wonderful Plusle and Minun.
"Hey, who's that Pokemon?" Timmy asked, pointing the other way suddenly.
Isabel turned around to look where her son was pointing.
"I don't see anything," she said.
"It flew behind the cycle bridge," Timmy said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly and pouting.
"What did it look like?" Isabel asked with interest.
"Err, brown and white," Timmy said. "It was kind of far away and I only saw it for a second. It was flying in the air"
"That narrows it down a bit…" Kaleb said. "Maybe you should scroll through the Fandex and see if you can find it."
"Oh yeah!" Timmy said, accepting his dad's Pokenav. It was one of the newer models with online access even out here. Timmy knew how to work the device better than his father and he was quickly scrolling through the official online PokeFan encyclopaedia, commonly referred to as the Fandex. It wasn't a Pokedex, the scientific devices owned by powerful trainers and Pokemon researchers, but it had lots of information on Pokemon and there were forums for PokeFans to talk about specific Pokemon. Not a lot of people were really online with the internet only having just been set up a couple of years ago but the PokeFan community had got themselves a website pretty quickly so they could share their passion for Pokemon with even more people around the world.
"I think it's one of these," Timmy said. He held up the PokeNav to his mother and Isabel took a look.
He'd used the filters for colour and found two possible matches. Shiftry weren't the cutest of Pokemon and that was understating it. They had coarse, bark-like skin, a mane of unkempt white hair and generally carried a pretty unkind expression on their faces. You could sometimes see Seedott which were pretty adorable Pokemon around the Petalburgh area so it wouldn't necessarily be out of the blue to see a Shiftry even this far East.
The other possibility was a Whimsicott, a very rare Grass type Pokemon that some people thought might have a part Flying type, at least according to the information she saw scrolling down over its entry. There was some information on how to care for them and a bunch of pictures of an adorable little pokemon with a massive head of fluffy hair that resembled Mareep wool. Apparently Whimsicott liked to fly around in the air and were the evolved form of Cottonee, a fluffy Grass type Pokemon that could be found in the Petalburg woods.
"It must be a Whimsicott," Isabel said, holding out the PokeNav to her husband who looked at the article with interest.
"Wow Timmy, that was a really great spot!" Kaleb cheered, bouncing Kyle on his lap. He looked around where their son had been pointing but it appeared the Pokemon was long gone. "Would've been nice to see it in person," he said. "Those pictures here are really cute."
They all crowded around the PokeNav as Timmy scrolled through the handful of photos that had been uploaded of the Pokemon. Isobel felt a tiny twinge of excitement. Maybe if they headed off straight away they could catch another glimpse of it.
Isabel was so caught up in her own thoughts that she almost missed someone walking past. She hadn't heard anyone approaching and in her defence the man wasn't particularly exciting to look at. He was young, in his early twenties at most but probably younger than that. He wore glasses, an outfit indicating he was an office worker or a teacher maybe. It was instead the two Pokemon with him that caught Isabel's eye.
There was a Gardevoir, tall and svelte. It held onto the man's arm, looking quite content as it practically drifted through the air, its dress flowing behind it elegantly.
Seeing a Gardevoir alone would've been enough to make Isabel's day because they were very rare and rarer still to belong to a trainer, but she was rendered speechless by the second Pokemon walking on the man's other side.
It had white and pink fur and what looked like ribbons coming off around its collar and ears and it even had a little bow on the front of its neck. The ribbons ended with sky blue coloured tips, several of which were wrapped around the man's arm and torso. Isabel was completely transfixed as the man continued past.
"Hello," the unknown man said politely, looking in their direction for a moment and nodding before setting his eyes forward again and continuing on.
"Sylv!" The Pokemon said hello with a brightly cheerful wave of one of its ribbons towards the stunned family of Pokemon fans. It smiled at them and Isabel fancied for a moment that its teeth practically sparkled before the Pokemon continued walking past them. The trio of trainer and Pokemon continued on their way completely unaware of the reaction they'd brought out in both Isabel and the rest of her family.
"Who's that Pokemon?" Isabel asked softly, almost whispering as she watched its retreating form of the most amazing Pokemon she'd ever laid her eyes on. She silently applauded Timmy showing initiative in quickly activating the camera on the PokeNav to snap some photos of the retreating Pokemon and she finally managed to break her gaze to look at her family, hoping one of them might have the answer.
"I-I don't know," Kaleb replied, looking as dumbfounded as she felt. "Timmy, do you recognise it?"
Timmy shook his head, but his eyes were on the photos he'd just taken.
"It should be on here somewhere," he said smartly, turning back onto the FanDex website.
Isabel looked back up to take another look at the Pokemon and was about to get up to her feet to give chase but then… they weren't there.
"Where'd they go?" She asked. There was no way they'd have been able to walk out of view already, the path was pretty clear too.
"Could they have teleported?" Kaleb suggested, equally as surprised.
"Okay I've got the search page back up," Timmy said, recapturing his parents' attention.
Both the mother and father leaned over, baby Kyle not quite understanding what was going on but joining in anyway and Timmy quickly put in a search for the colour white, then pink, then even blue and each time as they scrolled through the FanDex list of Pokemon they didn't find anything that matched the image of what they'd just seen. Half an hour later they realised that going through the whole unfiltered list of Pokemon that the FanDex had didn't show up anything either.
"It's not on the FanDex," Kaleb said what they were all thinking. Those surprising words hung in the air for several long seconds because there was no way that a Pokemon that looked like that couldn't have a FanDex entry.
"Get those photos uploaded. Someone has to know what Pokemon that is!" Isabel said quickly. There was an incredibly adorable Pokemon out there nobody knew about and everyone needed to know!
Timmy obeyed, just as excited as his mother and the family quickly packed up to hopefully follow after the stranger and the unknown Pokemon.
Despite hurrying onwards they didn't find the man or his mysterious Pokemon and got all the way to Mauville before giving up the search.
Later when they got home the forum post was full of speculation about the mysterious pink and white Pokemon. Nobody knew what it was, but with every PokeFan in Hoenn now on alert for the mystery Pokemon, Isabel knew that it wouldn't remain hidden for long.
It had been all fine until they did spot said Pokemon. In hindsight it had been a very silly thing to do going out into the wild area without any Pokemon to protect them, but the Plusle and Minun pair she and Kaleb had encountered had been very friendly and after befriending them the two teenagers had asked if they would like to go home with either of them and the Pokemon had miraculously agreed. It had been quite an argument they'd had about who got to catch them before they had figured out the two Pokemon wanted to come with one of each of them respectively.
And obviously both Pokemon couldn't be kept apart for long. They were a matched pair of Plusle and Minun after all! So Isabel and Kaleb had agreed to meet up regularly so their Pokemon could see each other and the rest as they say, was history.
That was… a few more years ago than Isabel really wanted to admit but still, Route 110 held a lot of fond memories for them both. The forecast for today had said it would be a wonderful sunny day outside Slateport and because it was a weekend Isabel had decided she and Kaleb would bring the kids out for a picnic. He hadn't taken any convincing.
Any excuse to come out and enjoy a bit of nature with their Pokemon was practically a tradition these days and there was a reason she'd married the man. Their love of Pokemon had brought them together and like a pair of Plusle and Minun they'd been inseparable ever since they'd caught those first pair of electric types.
Back to the present, they had left at nine o'clock on the dot and made good time to the start of Route 110. Kevin carried little Kyle on his chest, the same baby carrier they'd used for Timmy when he was a baby. Their adorable little boy only looked more adorably in his cute Pikachu onesie as he looked around their environment with wide eyes. Isabel was the one carrying their picnic basket.
"Can I let Elektrike out?" Timmy whined as they set off through the electric doors of the checkpoint.
"Hmm," Isabel hemmed, looking towards Kaleb as she did so. She already knew the answer of course, but it was better that someone played the bad cop once in a while. Isabel knew full well that Kaleb certainly couldn't manage it. The kids had their father more or less wrapped around their fingers and Isabel was torn between disappointment that she'd yet to have a daughter and relief that she didn't. Because there was no way Kaleb would be able to say no to her if they did have a little girl one day.
"It can't hurt," Kaleb said, shrugging with a slightly cheeky look on his face as he knew exactly what Isabel was doing. She was the boring mum and he was the cool dad. The sun shone on his face and it made her heart flutter just a tiny bit.
"Alright then," Isabel said as if she hadn't planned for them to let their Pokemon out. "Let's let them all out then."
"Go Elektrike!" Timmy shouted enthusiastically, less than a moment later, throwing the Pokeball a bit harder than he really needed to. Isabel made a mental note to mention taking care of pokeballs properly to him later.
"Come on out everyone," Isabel said, releasing her own Pokemon. Plusle and Minun appeared beside the green Elektrike which barked cheerfully in greeting and then he jumped up at his young trainer. Timmy laughed as the electric dog tried to lick his face. It'd only been half an hour since they'd left home.
"Haha, gerroff!" Timmy complained, managing to push the dog down who ran in a circle around him, little tail wagging furiously while Kaleb released his own pair of Plusle and Minun to join Isabel's.
"Alright!" Isabel said. "Don't go too far, make sure I can see you both," she warned her son and his Pokemon.
"Okay!" Timmy said. "Race you Elektrike!"
Obviously the speedy electric type was faster than his trainer but that didn't stop Timmy from trying.
The two parents set off together with their own four Pokemon frolicking around.
***
The boat to Slateport was much better than the one between Rustboro and Dewford, it had air conditioning for one. I got some time to sit down with some of the materials Roxanne had left me, which was kind of headache inducing but if I needed to know this stuff then I needed to know it. Just being a Gym Leader didn't give me carte blanche and things like Building Regulations were still something I had to keep in mind, even if they were a lot more relaxed than in my first life.
Exactly how teleporting pads, electric forcefields, icy floors and other things I recalled didn't constitute breaches in proper safety I didn't know, but this universe had Pokemon which made things a lot different than a simple, mundane world. Pokemon that could heal most injuries easily probably made people a lot more relaxed about that sort of thing.
Roxanne had been pretty comprehensive about all the stuff she wound up dealing with as a Gym Leader and I appreciated what she had given me because trying to sort this all out on my own would've been a nightmare. This binder with everything in it would be my bible once it came to the point I was building my own place. I just wish there wasn't going to be a test on it.
The sun was shining and it was hot, but not quite as unbearably hot as Dewford had been as we came off the boat onto the mainland.
Slateport looked like any other resort city I'd encountered. In the distance from the pier we came in on there was a great big beach stretching out towards the skyline and tall buildings dominating the land alongside it. Slateport had been built up tremendously and was one of the biggest settlements in Hoenn, giving me vibes like it was Miami or something like it. In the distance through a window I could see beachgoers and Pokemon with them. They were too small to really see but it looked very busy.
But we weren't here to visit Slateport, just passing through. After making land I departed the boat and we got a taxi up to the northern end of town and from there it was time to make a decision.
Did I rent a bike and try to use the modern bridge over towards Mauville, or did I take the long grass and just walk it along the land trail.
The fast approach would be using the bike, but after spending the last few days around populated areas I had a bit of a hankering for nature, peace of quiet and a bit of fresh air too.
I set off north along the path of Route 110, leading north and to the nature trail that would eventually lead to Mauville. It was only a few miles and I figured we'd get there well before it was time for dinner.
The air was fresh, the scent of nature pervading the environment only dampened slightly by the giant cycle bridge overhead. It cast a shadow over everything but it didn't do much to obstruct the natural flow of things.
I also decided as myself and Leah set off to pull out a couple of Pokeballs to bring out some of my other Pokemon. It wouldn't be fair if it was just me that got to stretch their legs.
***
There were two paths they could take, either west towards Petalburg which was more forested and really a bit nicer or they could go east and towards the trail leading towards the other city. Mauville was nice, not as nice a place to live as Slateport for obvious reasons.
"Can we go on the path mum, pleeeaaase?" Timmy asked, his Elektrike helping with his best Lillipup eyes.
"It's a bit of a walk, but we could always rent some bikes for the way home," Kaleb suggested, already warming to the idea. She knew he really just wanted to see some wild Pokemon.
Isabel considered it for a few moments then nodded her head. They had their picnic prepared so they could have lunch part way across. It would be a bit late by the time they got home for dinner, although maybe they could order a takeaway. If they did walk all the way to Mauville and cycled back they'd, she'd, have burnt off enough calories to justify having something less healthy.
The exercise really couldn't hurt either. If she could get back into that bikini before July…
"Alright, but you better promise to get your homework done straight away tomorrow morning."
"I promise!" Timmy said. "Thanks mum!"
Isabel rolled her eyes but felt a smile creeping onto her face as they turned east towards the Mauville path.
A few minutes later they were surrounded on both sides by the placid waters either side of the path. There were railings to stop people falling in, but the water Pokemon around here were generally friendly so even if someone did fall in they wouldn't be in danger. They passed a fisherman lounging on a foldout chair who waved but didn't say hello. Isabel and Kaleb's attention was focused on either their son and his Elektrike playing or the Pokemon around them.
There were Wingull and a couple of Pelliper flying through the sky. Isabel even spotted a few Wailmer bobbing up out of the water adjoining the path and quickly pointed it out to Kaleb. Kyle pointed his little hands forward, making happy noises as he reached for the wild Pokemon.
"Oh you like the flying types little man?" Kaleb asked. "Maybe we have a flying type trainer on our hands…"
"It's a bit early to be pidgeyholing him, dear," Isabel said humorously and her husband chuckled. But still as they continued walking she couldn't help but admit their younger child seemed interested in the flying Pokemon more than others.
They eventually stopped for lunch along a grassy patch along the path. It was wide enough that they weren't blocking the way so they weren't worried about any other passersby being held up. It was a good spot for Pokewatching. They should've brought some binoculars, Isabel thought as she saw what might have been a Wailord in the distance.
"Oh thanks, I'm starving!" Timmy said before biting into the sandwich he was given. He liked Pecha berry jam and Isabel had made sure to make one for him.
They were probably six or so miles along the path by now. Not much further to Mauville and the family were quite happy under the warm midday sunshine. Their Pokemon were having a good time playing together and a couple of Wingull even came and perched on the railing which Kyle liked very much.
"See, he is a Flying type trainer!" Kaleb said as their little boy crawled a bit closer to the Pokemon. Kaleb was keeping an eye on their little boy so he wasn't in danger, but Isabel still felt a little bit uncomfortable with him being so close to the water.
"Wing win win," one of the Pokemon said, strutting along the railing and making her baby laugh. It was probably trying to get them to offer it some food, Wingull were like that.
Maybe they could get some Wingull toys for Kyle later. There were all sorts of plushies and such you could get in the markets and Wingull were very common in Hoenn, Isabel was sure she'd seen one or two before somewhere even if that Pokemon hadn't ever been one she'd particularly liked the look of. Wingull weren't exactly cute like her wonderful Plusle and Minun.
"Hey, who's that Pokemon?" Timmy asked, pointing the other way suddenly.
Isabel turned around to look where her son was pointing.
"I don't see anything," she said.
"It flew behind the cycle bridge," Timmy said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly and pouting.
"What did it look like?" Isabel asked with interest.
"Err, brown and white," Timmy said. "It was kind of far away and I only saw it for a second. It was flying in the air"
"That narrows it down a bit…" Kaleb said. "Maybe you should scroll through the Fandex and see if you can find it."
"Oh yeah!" Timmy said, accepting his dad's Pokenav. It was one of the newer models with online access even out here. Timmy knew how to work the device better than his father and he was quickly scrolling through the official online PokeFan encyclopaedia, commonly referred to as the Fandex. It wasn't a Pokedex, the scientific devices owned by powerful trainers and Pokemon researchers, but it had lots of information on Pokemon and there were forums for PokeFans to talk about specific Pokemon. Not a lot of people were really online with the internet only having just been set up a couple of years ago but the PokeFan community had got themselves a website pretty quickly so they could share their passion for Pokemon with even more people around the world.
"I think it's one of these," Timmy said. He held up the PokeNav to his mother and Isabel took a look.
He'd used the filters for colour and found two possible matches. Shiftry weren't the cutest of Pokemon and that was understating it. They had coarse, bark-like skin, a mane of unkempt white hair and generally carried a pretty unkind expression on their faces. You could sometimes see Seedott which were pretty adorable Pokemon around the Petalburgh area so it wouldn't necessarily be out of the blue to see a Shiftry even this far East.
The other possibility was a Whimsicott, a very rare Grass type Pokemon that some people thought might have a part Flying type, at least according to the information she saw scrolling down over its entry. There was some information on how to care for them and a bunch of pictures of an adorable little pokemon with a massive head of fluffy hair that resembled Mareep wool. Apparently Whimsicott liked to fly around in the air and were the evolved form of Cottonee, a fluffy Grass type Pokemon that could be found in the Petalburg woods.
"It must be a Whimsicott," Isabel said, holding out the PokeNav to her husband who looked at the article with interest.
"Wow Timmy, that was a really great spot!" Kaleb cheered, bouncing Kyle on his lap. He looked around where their son had been pointing but it appeared the Pokemon was long gone. "Would've been nice to see it in person," he said. "Those pictures here are really cute."
They all crowded around the PokeNav as Timmy scrolled through the handful of photos that had been uploaded of the Pokemon. Isobel felt a tiny twinge of excitement. Maybe if they headed off straight away they could catch another glimpse of it.
Isabel was so caught up in her own thoughts that she almost missed someone walking past. She hadn't heard anyone approaching and in her defence the man wasn't particularly exciting to look at. He was young, in his early twenties at most but probably younger than that. He wore glasses, an outfit indicating he was an office worker or a teacher maybe. It was instead the two Pokemon with him that caught Isabel's eye.
There was a Gardevoir, tall and svelte. It held onto the man's arm, looking quite content as it practically drifted through the air, its dress flowing behind it elegantly.
Seeing a Gardevoir alone would've been enough to make Isabel's day because they were very rare and rarer still to belong to a trainer, but she was rendered speechless by the second Pokemon walking on the man's other side.
It had white and pink fur and what looked like ribbons coming off around its collar and ears and it even had a little bow on the front of its neck. The ribbons ended with sky blue coloured tips, several of which were wrapped around the man's arm and torso. Isabel was completely transfixed as the man continued past.
"Hello," the unknown man said politely, looking in their direction for a moment and nodding before setting his eyes forward again and continuing on.
"Sylv!" The Pokemon said hello with a brightly cheerful wave of one of its ribbons towards the stunned family of Pokemon fans. It smiled at them and Isabel fancied for a moment that its teeth practically sparkled before the Pokemon continued walking past them. The trio of trainer and Pokemon continued on their way completely unaware of the reaction they'd brought out in both Isabel and the rest of her family.
"Who's that Pokemon?" Isabel asked softly, almost whispering as she watched its retreating form of the most amazing Pokemon she'd ever laid her eyes on. She silently applauded Timmy showing initiative in quickly activating the camera on the PokeNav to snap some photos of the retreating Pokemon and she finally managed to break her gaze to look at her family, hoping one of them might have the answer.
"I-I don't know," Kaleb replied, looking as dumbfounded as she felt. "Timmy, do you recognise it?"
Timmy shook his head, but his eyes were on the photos he'd just taken.
"It should be on here somewhere," he said smartly, turning back onto the FanDex website.
Isabel looked back up to take another look at the Pokemon and was about to get up to her feet to give chase but then… they weren't there.
"Where'd they go?" She asked. There was no way they'd have been able to walk out of view already, the path was pretty clear too.
"Could they have teleported?" Kaleb suggested, equally as surprised.
"Okay I've got the search page back up," Timmy said, recapturing his parents' attention.
Both the mother and father leaned over, baby Kyle not quite understanding what was going on but joining in anyway and Timmy quickly put in a search for the colour white, then pink, then even blue and each time as they scrolled through the FanDex list of Pokemon they didn't find anything that matched the image of what they'd just seen. Half an hour later they realised that going through the whole unfiltered list of Pokemon that the FanDex had didn't show up anything either.
"It's not on the FanDex," Kaleb said what they were all thinking. Those surprising words hung in the air for several long seconds because there was no way that a Pokemon that looked like that couldn't have a FanDex entry.
"Get those photos uploaded. Someone has to know what Pokemon that is!" Isabel said quickly. There was an incredibly adorable Pokemon out there nobody knew about and everyone needed to know!
Timmy obeyed, just as excited as his mother and the family quickly packed up to hopefully follow after the stranger and the unknown Pokemon.
Despite hurrying onwards they didn't find the man or his mysterious Pokemon and got all the way to Mauville before giving up the search.
Later when they got home the forum post was full of speculation about the mysterious pink and white Pokemon. Nobody knew what it was, but with every PokeFan in Hoenn now on alert for the mystery Pokemon, Isabel knew that it wouldn't remain hidden for long.
Binged and watched. Very much enjoyed this!
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing.
Fairy types are rare to begin with and I'm running with Sylveon needing Fairy type energy to evolve, either using a lot of Fairy type moves or regualrp roximity to Fairy types and their energy (like the mossy stone for leafeon etc). Seeing as Fary types weren't even known about until recently, nobody managed to make a Sylveon.
Chapter 7
The first thing to be spotted as you walk into Mauville was the evolved form of a gambling den, a casino. It stood out prominently in the sky near the southern edge of the city, daring anyone to enter and try their luck. It was like a slice of Vegas had been dropped down here and I chuckled as we passed it. Gambling wasn't something I'd done a lot of and it always struck me as a bit of an odd thing for them to have included in the otherwise child friendly Pokemon games. This world wasn't a game though. Adults still needed their entertainment, even some kinds that didn't directly involve Pokemon.
The town itself was an industrial center, providing electricity for the majority of Hoenn, but it was also very central, making it a bit of a transport hub with routes heading in all four cardinal directions. The centre of town had four roads heading off in those four directions, a crossroads. It appealed to me for some reason, the multiple routes on offer for travel and exploration, the promise of new people coming and going.
Of course there wasn't a road leading east, but I knew full well that a traveller could manage to ride a Pokemon across the water and then hike their way north towards Fortree. South was Slateport, west was Verdanturf town and north led to the desert that I wouldn't be risking trying to travel through but also the cave route leading towards Fallarbor town which I would be going up soon. For the moment though, my destination was in the city, the Mauville Gym.
It was a great big yellow building with the front door dominated overhead by the Gym's logo, a bunch of suitably obnoxious lightning bolts coming off a circular symbol. The central circle depicted the Dynamo Badge.
There was a thought. What would my badge look like? I'd always had the idea of something pink, it was Fairy typed after all, but beyond that I wasn't committed to anything.
I pushed open the front door and let it swing shut behind me as I entered. Like Brawly's Gym, Wattson's had a reception area with a few chairs to wait in and there was someone at a desk at the front. It was a woman in her twenties who looked very bored, playing around on her phone. She spotted me and startled slightly.
"Oh hi!" She said, eyes glancing towards Leah beside me for a moment and then back to me. "Are you here to register for the Gym challenge?"
"I'm not," I replied. "Wattson should be expecting me. I'm Harry Hemming."
"Okaaaay," the woman replied, tapping away at her computer screen. She nodded.
"Oh yes he mentioned for us to keep an eye out for you. Unfortunately he's in a meeting in the city centre right now and he probably won't be back for an hour or two. You can wait here if you like."
"Okay no problem," I replied. I wasn't exactly in a hurry. There was plenty of time before we'd need to find a place to stay for the night.
At her direction I went to sit down on one of the chairs to wait. I had my laptop on hand so I figured I could use the time and get some work done.
Tapping away at the keyboard it wasn't hard to get in the swing of things. The best places to sit down and write were quiet and comfortable with minimal distractions and this was good enough for me.
The secretary went back to not doing any work. Brawly had mentioned it was nearing the end of the season and the earlier Gyms weren't getting many challengers right now. So I didn't blame her slacking off. It seemed like there wasn't much for her to do except man the desk.
I was just getting around to finishing a new chapter of something when the doors swung open. A boy in a yellow T-shirt and blue shorts strode in.
"I'm here for my Gym battle!" He declared grandly.
Youngster used Dramatic Entrance.
But nothing happened…
I barely withheld a snort of amusement as the silence echoed around the room and his expression as the boy floundered.
"Wattson's not here right now so you'll have to make an appointment or wait if you want to battle him," the secretary said from behind her desk.
"But I'm here for a battle right now!" Ben said, aghast. "The Gym Leader's supposed to accept any challenger!"
"He's not here," the woman repeated herself. The boy pouted, looking very rebellious.
"I don't believe you," he said. "I'm gonna go find him and make him battle me!"
He turned towards the doors leading further into the Gym.
"If you try to go in without an appointment then the security traps will activate," the secretary said with the tone of someone who'd dealt with this sort of thing too many times already.
The boy froze in his tracks, torn by indecision over whether to continue on anyway. But this was clearly an obstinate one and the boy carried on to the doors. They opened for him and almost as soon as he tried to step through the door the sound of electricity crackling had him backpedaling with wide eyes.
"Wh-what gives!?" He demanded.
"That would be the first trap," the secretary said. "When Wattson isn't in they stay on one of the higher settings."
High setting hopefully didn't mean lethal, probably just close to it, I thought. It was probably meant to stop stronger trainers than this youngster from breaching into the Gym without permission.
This was actually pretty informative, I thought to myself. It was good to know I could get away with this sort of thing myself as a Gym Leader. Maybe Wattson wouldn't mind lending me some advice on how to nearly kill people I didn't want to deal with.
The boy returned to the secretary's desk appropriately cowed.
"I'd like to register to battle Wattson, err, please."
"You need to register an appointment," the secretary said. "I'll need your name, ID and number of badges." She sat up and began typing at her keyboard.
"My name's Ben and… I don't have any badges yet," he admitted.
The secretary didn't look surprised and didn't even stop whatever she was doing.
"A first badge challenge then," she said, like she hadn't figured that out herself already. "Do you have your Trainer ID?"
After a moment of panic, Ben rattled off the series of numbers and letters that everyone with a Pokemon had to know. It was a basic record system that the Pokemon Leagues used to record Trainers status, their right to own Pokemon and a few other details.
She pointed at the chairs where I was sitting. "Take a seat."
The boy came over and sat on one of the seats a few spaces to the side and opposite me.
I did my best to keep working, but with the silent interest of the boy on both myself and Leah, I could tell I wasn't going to get much done.
It didn't take long for his patience to break.
"Are you a trainer?" He asked.
"I am," I replied.
"How many badges do you have?"
"I never did the Hoenn Gym circuit, so none," I admitted, although it was a lie by omission. I did have a few badges, just not local ones.
"Then that means you're at the same level as me!" Ben exclaimed in pleased surprise. "How'd you get so old without getting any badges?" he asked incredulously. "My mum had four and she was only eighteen when she had me."
"I'm not old, I'm only nineteen," I replied slightly defensively and I was about to disabuse him of his misconception about our respective strength levels as trainers when he kept going.
"What Pokemon is that, anyway?"
"She's a Gardevoir," I told him, resigning myself to the conversation. Ben's expression turned confused.
"My mum says they're a bad Pokemon," he said, like it was gospel truth. Coming from his mother it probably might as well have been. That didn't mean I liked him badmouthing my friend.
"There aren't any bad Pokemon," I denied with certainty. "Only bad trainers."
Well, for a given understanding of the word bad anyway. Lots of Pokemon species veered in the direction of being malicious in some way. Ghost, Dark and Psychic types in particular often had associations with serious amounts of cruelty or unkind behaviour by human standards. Fairy types too could be pretty alien in terms of their attitudes and behaviour.
My words of advice made the youngster frown briefly before his expression became more serious and he jumped out of his seat. That boundless confidence he'd entered the building with coming back in force.
"Battle me! If you know so much about Pokemon, mister no badges, then prove it!"
I offered him a flat look.
"No," I answered and Ben's mouth dropped open in shock.
"But you have to battle me, our eyes met and everything!" He said it like it was some actual rule.
It was a traditional thing, a romanticising of how two trainers would come together and battle with their Pokemon and it was even a trope that I'd used in some of my writing, but it wasn't a rule.
I heard a giggle from beside me, Leah was enjoying herself. That made one of us.
"I'm not going to battle you," I said. "Anyway don't you want to be fresh for when you battle Wattson?" I pointed out.
Ben's lips pursed in sudden indecision, but only for a moment.
"It's been ages already! I've come all this way so if I can't battle him then I'll battle you instead!"
"You've been waiting for barely five minutes," I replied. Then I sensed the eyes of the secretary on me from across the room and I stopped myself from saying anything more.
Was this some sort of test?
I was supposed to be becoming a Gym Leader, I reminded myself. Interacting with overconfident and battle hungry kids that wouldn't accept the word no like this boy was probably part of the job. I had no way of knowing if this was a coincidence or not so I'd assume for the moment it was. I couldn't entirely discount the idea that Wattson wanted to see how I'd do against this kid and had set this up, but Ben's behaviour and reaction to the electric trap seemed genuine so far.
This was something I was going to have to get used to anyway, I supposed. I might as well get some practice in battling lower level trainers.
"Okay, I will battle you," I said, closing my laptop and putting it away in my bag. I wasn't going to get anything more done right now anyway. I could use the opportunity to impart some knowledge and maybe teach this kid something.
"Is there somewhere we can use?" I asked next, looking in the secretary's direction hopefully. She'd been paying attention and nodded.
"Yeah alright," she said, looking kind of amused. "You can use the small arena. I'll turn off the security system. Just don't make a mess."
She then gave us some directions and I thanked her politely.
"Come on then," I said to the boy.
"Alright!" Ben said, pumping his fist enthusiastically.
I grimaced.
We'd be seeing if he remained that eager after our battle.
***
The small arena was roughly a bit more than a third of the size of a regular arena. Which made sense if it was meant for weaker, lower level Pokemon. It was large enough for a pair of smaller Pokemon to stretch their legs in but not so big that some younger or just naturally smaller Pokemon would be completely dwarfed by the space.
"Have you done any battling before?" I asked the boy casually, just to get an idea of what I was working with.
"Yeah lots!" Ben replied. "I'm the strongest out of all my friends at school," he bragged.
Some experience had to be better than no experience but that didn't really tell me much either.
We'd have to be gentle, I decided and that meant there were only a couple of Pokemon I could trust to pull their punches enough to avoid really hurting Ben's if it came to that. I pulled out a Pokeball, conscious suddenly that this was something I was going to have to think about fixing soon. I'd had just my own team for a long time, I'd need to acquire new weaker Pokemon for the lower tier battles.
"Seeing as you came wanting to battle Wattson, I'll treat this like it's an official battle," I said. "Are you ready?"
"I'm ready!" Ben exclaimed, holding a Pokeball in one hand. "Go Zigzagoon!"
The Zigzagoon appeared on the arena, a very fluffy brown and cream coloured Pokemon and it called out its name eagerly, looking around for an opponent.
"Normally two battlers are supposed to release their first Pokemon at the same time which is why I asked Leah to start us off," I told the boy frankly and just a bit critically. "Now if I wanted to, I could pick a Pokemon to counter your own pick."
"Oh," Ben replied, looking surprised and a bit sheepish at the light rebuke.
I ignored the awkwardness and lifted the pokeball I was holding up to my lips.
"This kid's not a strong trainer so we need to go really easy on him, okay?" I asked quietly, covering my lips with the ball so Ben couldn't see. Then I threw it forward.
"Come on out, Robin," I said.
The Ribombee appeared. It was a small yellow and white insect Pokemon with little black arms and legs, transparent wings and he also appeared to have a brown scarf wrapped around his neck.
The Ribombee spun around in the air, waving hello to the Zigzagoon.
"Wow, I've never seen a Robin before," Ben said.
"No, that's his nickname," I corrected. "Robin is a Pokemon called Ribombee."
"Huh," Ben replied. "Why'd you call him Robin then?"
"I just do," I replied. "Seeing as you're the challenger I'll let you have the first move."
Robin turned to look back at me. I could see he could tell that this Zigzagoon wasn't anywhere near our level. It looked decently looked after, but it was probably on the chubbier side than the fitter, more leaner form I would expect of a well trained member of its species. I grimaced and nodded. "Keep your attacks on the soft side," I warned my Ribombee again. I really wasn't feeling comfortable about this. Robin nodded and then turned back to our opponent, who hadn't heard what I'd said to my Pokemon. Instead he was ordering the first attack.
"Use Headbutt!" Ben shouted enthusiastically.
"Zigzagoooon!" called out the Zigzagoon as it boisterously raced forward.
The tiny Racoon Pokemon leapt forward, a slight corona of energy around its head as it flew on a collision course with the small Bug/Fairy type.
Then… Robin flitted to the side, moving rapidly like a hummingbird.
The Zigzagoon sailed forward and without an opponent to hit it wound up, catching itself on the soft rubbery terrain. It was like a children's play area, meant to reduce fall damage and injuries. I fancied that when it was called the small arena that this was really meant for lower strength Pokemon like that Zigzagoon.
"Just because you get the first move doesn't mean I'll let you land a hit," I warned the boy. I decided not to use an attacking move initially. "Use Stun Spore."
Having the aerial advantage meant that the Zigzagoon wasn't in a position to do much but try and run away from the pollen as it fluttered down from above. The Zigzagoon couldn't outrun it and was left shuddering and tensing up as the spores were absorbed into its fur and lungs.
"Come on Zigzagoon!" Ben shouted. "Try another Headbutt!"
"Robin use Silver Wind, gently."
Robin spun around, a gust of silvery energy appearing around him and spreading outwards in all directions. It buffeted the Zigzagoon who was knocked backwards, rolling over and it had to brace itself on the floor against the attack as it passed over the Zigzagoon's body. Once it was done I was dismayed to see the Zigzagoon's legs buckle as it tried to get back onto its feet. It wouldn't survive another hit like that. It might not actually survive another hit like that.
I winced. I'd asked Robin to be gentle and he genuinely had been. I knew he could produce an attack much stronger than that. Silver Wind was the weakest attack he knew and even not trying too hard he'd still almost put that Zigzagoon out of commission. The difference between us was simply too great for this to be anything but a stomp.
"Oh no, Zigzagoon!" Ben shouted, recoiling himself like he'd been the one struck. "I thought you said you had no badges, how're you so strong!?"
This was why Gym Leaders used weaker Pokemon. It was pretty difficult to gauge my opponent's skill level like this.
"I said I had no badges in Hoenn," I replied, feeling annoyed at myself for not choosing to explain that. "But badges aren't necessarily a show of how strong you are either. Something I was about to explain to you until you changed the subject. Now, what are you going to try next?"
Ben pursed his lips as I gave him another opportunity to decide what he was doing while the Zigzagoon struggled to stand. I didn't have to do this, mind you. The taking turns thing of the games wasn't really how it played out in practice and I could've chosen to just have Robin finish it. A simple physical punch probably would've done enough at this point. I was pleasantly surprised by what the youngster decided on.
"Zigzagoon, return," Ben said, raising his Pokeball and withdrawing his Pokemon, silently admitting defeat.
It left a bitter taste in my mouth as I watched the boy's expression. I had known I'd win the battle but not quite so convincingly as this. I definitely needed some weaker Pokemon to hand in case I came across a weaker trainer another time and I'd definitely need some when I got my Gym going.
Ben took a step forward, but I realised after a second that it looked difficult for him. Zigzagoon hadn't fainted but it'd been awfully close to it and Ben was struggling now from the backlash, his skin becoming pale as I watched.
I quickly stepped forward onto the arena towards the youngster, Robin coming to hover worriedly somewhere next to my head. I could sense that the Ribombee was just as worried as I was at the sight before us because I recognised what was happening.
"G-good battle," Ben said, holding out his hand but looking at the ground. I reached out and shook it. I was impressed that this young boy had the dignity and determination to be a good loser, even if the situation had been so one-sided against him. I was also impressed that he was still standing.
Whiting out was a horrible sensation to go through and usually affected younger trainers after their Pokemon team were knocked out. The more Pokemon the worse the effect could be but this time it'd come on quite suddenly on account of the difference in our Pokemon's strengths. There wasn't enough time to get Zigzagoon to a healing unit before Ben actually did pass out, but I had an idea.
"Ben, can you bring Zigzagoon back out please?"
"Huh?" the boy asked, having not been paying proper attention, swaying slightly, but he nodded a few moments later and fumbled weakly for the Pokeball.
The Zigzagoon appeared, looking decidedly worse for wear.
I could've asked Leah to use a Heal Pulse, but I figured Robin would prefer to be the one to help make this all better.
"Robin, can you make a pollen puff for Zigzagoon?" I asked.
"Ribo," he said, holding his hands out and rubbing them together, forming a small edible puff of pollen. They were often used as an actual attack but when made properly, pollen puffs could act as a healing agent too. It was a bit like an Oran or Sitrus berry, only much stronger.
I accepted the small edible bit of pollen onto my hand and then squatted down to the Zigzagoon.
"Come on, eat up. This'll help," I advised the tired looking Pokemon.
The Zigzagoon sniffed the puff before opening its mouth and allowing me to place it on his tongue. The pollen puff dissolved almost immediately onto its tongue and the subsequent reaction was almost as quick.
"Z-zig zagoo…" The Zigzagoon got back onto his feet, looking a bit confused but far healthier.
"Zigzagoon, you're okay," Ben said, recovering now himself now that the Zigzagoon has aptly recovered. He hugged the Pokemon, receiving a couple of weak licks in return.
"Come on," I said, still feeling guilty. "Zigzagoon still needs proper healing. There should be a healing station somewhere, we can ask that secretary."
Ben didn't object as I gently steered him away and back towards the reception.
***
The enthusiastic message from Brawly this morning had been enough to let Wattson know the new trainer was at a top tier battling level. Now sat in a car on his way back to the Gym, Wattson watched through the cameras connected to his specially modified PokeNav as Harry Hemming escorted the kid trainer to the healing station. The young man didn't exactly look happy with himself, the battle had also been far too one sided. Truthfully Wattson was a bit annoyed to see Harry using his gym to have a battle in without permission. He'd be speaking to Jenna about letting them do that later.
Harry had gone out of his way to make his Pokemon take it easy on the boy and that still hadn't been enough to stop the whole thing being uncomfortably one sided. This was the reason people needed a way to judge their relative strengths with badges or terrible things could happen and it was a lesson their candidate had now learnt the hard way.
But Harry was doing a good job of looking after the boy, making sure he was okay and recovering after that near miss. His speedy intervention to stop the boy whiting out was a good idea too. Having a Pokemon on hand that could heal wasn't a terrible idea in general. Maybe he'd get a Chansey for the Gym, but they were pretty expensive to buy. The Joys controlled the supply of the healing Pokemon and weren't often keen on trainers having personal access to the healing Pokemon outside of Pokemon Centers. A Gardevoir would work, but if he got one of them then Elaine would probably stop cooking his dinners…
Anyway Harry was talking to the boy right now, hopefully imparting some advice and Wattson made a note to add some speakers into his camera system. Whatever they were saying though the boy was taking it well and listening, something kids that age often struggled to do.
Wattson honestly couldn't have hoped for a better accounting of Harry's attitude. There was no need to do anything else now he'd gotten the man's measure and Wattson decided then and there that he'd accept Harry Hemming's application to become a Gym Leader.
But that boy... He had a spark to him too and Wattson was impressed by how he handled himself there against a far superior opponent. Perhaps this was one worth spending a bit of time on.
The town itself was an industrial center, providing electricity for the majority of Hoenn, but it was also very central, making it a bit of a transport hub with routes heading in all four cardinal directions. The centre of town had four roads heading off in those four directions, a crossroads. It appealed to me for some reason, the multiple routes on offer for travel and exploration, the promise of new people coming and going.
Of course there wasn't a road leading east, but I knew full well that a traveller could manage to ride a Pokemon across the water and then hike their way north towards Fortree. South was Slateport, west was Verdanturf town and north led to the desert that I wouldn't be risking trying to travel through but also the cave route leading towards Fallarbor town which I would be going up soon. For the moment though, my destination was in the city, the Mauville Gym.
It was a great big yellow building with the front door dominated overhead by the Gym's logo, a bunch of suitably obnoxious lightning bolts coming off a circular symbol. The central circle depicted the Dynamo Badge.
There was a thought. What would my badge look like? I'd always had the idea of something pink, it was Fairy typed after all, but beyond that I wasn't committed to anything.
I pushed open the front door and let it swing shut behind me as I entered. Like Brawly's Gym, Wattson's had a reception area with a few chairs to wait in and there was someone at a desk at the front. It was a woman in her twenties who looked very bored, playing around on her phone. She spotted me and startled slightly.
"Oh hi!" She said, eyes glancing towards Leah beside me for a moment and then back to me. "Are you here to register for the Gym challenge?"
"I'm not," I replied. "Wattson should be expecting me. I'm Harry Hemming."
"Okaaaay," the woman replied, tapping away at her computer screen. She nodded.
"Oh yes he mentioned for us to keep an eye out for you. Unfortunately he's in a meeting in the city centre right now and he probably won't be back for an hour or two. You can wait here if you like."
"Okay no problem," I replied. I wasn't exactly in a hurry. There was plenty of time before we'd need to find a place to stay for the night.
At her direction I went to sit down on one of the chairs to wait. I had my laptop on hand so I figured I could use the time and get some work done.
Tapping away at the keyboard it wasn't hard to get in the swing of things. The best places to sit down and write were quiet and comfortable with minimal distractions and this was good enough for me.
The secretary went back to not doing any work. Brawly had mentioned it was nearing the end of the season and the earlier Gyms weren't getting many challengers right now. So I didn't blame her slacking off. It seemed like there wasn't much for her to do except man the desk.
I was just getting around to finishing a new chapter of something when the doors swung open. A boy in a yellow T-shirt and blue shorts strode in.
"I'm here for my Gym battle!" He declared grandly.
Youngster used Dramatic Entrance.
But nothing happened…
I barely withheld a snort of amusement as the silence echoed around the room and his expression as the boy floundered.
"Wattson's not here right now so you'll have to make an appointment or wait if you want to battle him," the secretary said from behind her desk.
"But I'm here for a battle right now!" Ben said, aghast. "The Gym Leader's supposed to accept any challenger!"
"He's not here," the woman repeated herself. The boy pouted, looking very rebellious.
"I don't believe you," he said. "I'm gonna go find him and make him battle me!"
He turned towards the doors leading further into the Gym.
"If you try to go in without an appointment then the security traps will activate," the secretary said with the tone of someone who'd dealt with this sort of thing too many times already.
The boy froze in his tracks, torn by indecision over whether to continue on anyway. But this was clearly an obstinate one and the boy carried on to the doors. They opened for him and almost as soon as he tried to step through the door the sound of electricity crackling had him backpedaling with wide eyes.
"Wh-what gives!?" He demanded.
"That would be the first trap," the secretary said. "When Wattson isn't in they stay on one of the higher settings."
High setting hopefully didn't mean lethal, probably just close to it, I thought. It was probably meant to stop stronger trainers than this youngster from breaching into the Gym without permission.
This was actually pretty informative, I thought to myself. It was good to know I could get away with this sort of thing myself as a Gym Leader. Maybe Wattson wouldn't mind lending me some advice on how to nearly kill people I didn't want to deal with.
The boy returned to the secretary's desk appropriately cowed.
"I'd like to register to battle Wattson, err, please."
"You need to register an appointment," the secretary said. "I'll need your name, ID and number of badges." She sat up and began typing at her keyboard.
"My name's Ben and… I don't have any badges yet," he admitted.
The secretary didn't look surprised and didn't even stop whatever she was doing.
"A first badge challenge then," she said, like she hadn't figured that out herself already. "Do you have your Trainer ID?"
After a moment of panic, Ben rattled off the series of numbers and letters that everyone with a Pokemon had to know. It was a basic record system that the Pokemon Leagues used to record Trainers status, their right to own Pokemon and a few other details.
She pointed at the chairs where I was sitting. "Take a seat."
The boy came over and sat on one of the seats a few spaces to the side and opposite me.
I did my best to keep working, but with the silent interest of the boy on both myself and Leah, I could tell I wasn't going to get much done.
It didn't take long for his patience to break.
"Are you a trainer?" He asked.
"I am," I replied.
"How many badges do you have?"
"I never did the Hoenn Gym circuit, so none," I admitted, although it was a lie by omission. I did have a few badges, just not local ones.
"Then that means you're at the same level as me!" Ben exclaimed in pleased surprise. "How'd you get so old without getting any badges?" he asked incredulously. "My mum had four and she was only eighteen when she had me."
"I'm not old, I'm only nineteen," I replied slightly defensively and I was about to disabuse him of his misconception about our respective strength levels as trainers when he kept going.
"What Pokemon is that, anyway?"
"She's a Gardevoir," I told him, resigning myself to the conversation. Ben's expression turned confused.
"My mum says they're a bad Pokemon," he said, like it was gospel truth. Coming from his mother it probably might as well have been. That didn't mean I liked him badmouthing my friend.
"There aren't any bad Pokemon," I denied with certainty. "Only bad trainers."
Well, for a given understanding of the word bad anyway. Lots of Pokemon species veered in the direction of being malicious in some way. Ghost, Dark and Psychic types in particular often had associations with serious amounts of cruelty or unkind behaviour by human standards. Fairy types too could be pretty alien in terms of their attitudes and behaviour.
My words of advice made the youngster frown briefly before his expression became more serious and he jumped out of his seat. That boundless confidence he'd entered the building with coming back in force.
"Battle me! If you know so much about Pokemon, mister no badges, then prove it!"
I offered him a flat look.
"No," I answered and Ben's mouth dropped open in shock.
"But you have to battle me, our eyes met and everything!" He said it like it was some actual rule.
It was a traditional thing, a romanticising of how two trainers would come together and battle with their Pokemon and it was even a trope that I'd used in some of my writing, but it wasn't a rule.
I heard a giggle from beside me, Leah was enjoying herself. That made one of us.
"I'm not going to battle you," I said. "Anyway don't you want to be fresh for when you battle Wattson?" I pointed out.
Ben's lips pursed in sudden indecision, but only for a moment.
"It's been ages already! I've come all this way so if I can't battle him then I'll battle you instead!"
"You've been waiting for barely five minutes," I replied. Then I sensed the eyes of the secretary on me from across the room and I stopped myself from saying anything more.
Was this some sort of test?
I was supposed to be becoming a Gym Leader, I reminded myself. Interacting with overconfident and battle hungry kids that wouldn't accept the word no like this boy was probably part of the job. I had no way of knowing if this was a coincidence or not so I'd assume for the moment it was. I couldn't entirely discount the idea that Wattson wanted to see how I'd do against this kid and had set this up, but Ben's behaviour and reaction to the electric trap seemed genuine so far.
This was something I was going to have to get used to anyway, I supposed. I might as well get some practice in battling lower level trainers.
"Okay, I will battle you," I said, closing my laptop and putting it away in my bag. I wasn't going to get anything more done right now anyway. I could use the opportunity to impart some knowledge and maybe teach this kid something.
"Is there somewhere we can use?" I asked next, looking in the secretary's direction hopefully. She'd been paying attention and nodded.
"Yeah alright," she said, looking kind of amused. "You can use the small arena. I'll turn off the security system. Just don't make a mess."
She then gave us some directions and I thanked her politely.
"Come on then," I said to the boy.
"Alright!" Ben said, pumping his fist enthusiastically.
I grimaced.
We'd be seeing if he remained that eager after our battle.
***
The small arena was roughly a bit more than a third of the size of a regular arena. Which made sense if it was meant for weaker, lower level Pokemon. It was large enough for a pair of smaller Pokemon to stretch their legs in but not so big that some younger or just naturally smaller Pokemon would be completely dwarfed by the space.
"Have you done any battling before?" I asked the boy casually, just to get an idea of what I was working with.
"Yeah lots!" Ben replied. "I'm the strongest out of all my friends at school," he bragged.
Some experience had to be better than no experience but that didn't really tell me much either.
We'd have to be gentle, I decided and that meant there were only a couple of Pokemon I could trust to pull their punches enough to avoid really hurting Ben's if it came to that. I pulled out a Pokeball, conscious suddenly that this was something I was going to have to think about fixing soon. I'd had just my own team for a long time, I'd need to acquire new weaker Pokemon for the lower tier battles.
"Seeing as you came wanting to battle Wattson, I'll treat this like it's an official battle," I said. "Are you ready?"
"I'm ready!" Ben exclaimed, holding a Pokeball in one hand. "Go Zigzagoon!"
The Zigzagoon appeared on the arena, a very fluffy brown and cream coloured Pokemon and it called out its name eagerly, looking around for an opponent.
"Normally two battlers are supposed to release their first Pokemon at the same time which is why I asked Leah to start us off," I told the boy frankly and just a bit critically. "Now if I wanted to, I could pick a Pokemon to counter your own pick."
"Oh," Ben replied, looking surprised and a bit sheepish at the light rebuke.
I ignored the awkwardness and lifted the pokeball I was holding up to my lips.
"This kid's not a strong trainer so we need to go really easy on him, okay?" I asked quietly, covering my lips with the ball so Ben couldn't see. Then I threw it forward.
"Come on out, Robin," I said.
The Ribombee appeared. It was a small yellow and white insect Pokemon with little black arms and legs, transparent wings and he also appeared to have a brown scarf wrapped around his neck.
The Ribombee spun around in the air, waving hello to the Zigzagoon.
"Wow, I've never seen a Robin before," Ben said.
"No, that's his nickname," I corrected. "Robin is a Pokemon called Ribombee."
"Huh," Ben replied. "Why'd you call him Robin then?"
"I just do," I replied. "Seeing as you're the challenger I'll let you have the first move."
Robin turned to look back at me. I could see he could tell that this Zigzagoon wasn't anywhere near our level. It looked decently looked after, but it was probably on the chubbier side than the fitter, more leaner form I would expect of a well trained member of its species. I grimaced and nodded. "Keep your attacks on the soft side," I warned my Ribombee again. I really wasn't feeling comfortable about this. Robin nodded and then turned back to our opponent, who hadn't heard what I'd said to my Pokemon. Instead he was ordering the first attack.
"Use Headbutt!" Ben shouted enthusiastically.
"Zigzagoooon!" called out the Zigzagoon as it boisterously raced forward.
The tiny Racoon Pokemon leapt forward, a slight corona of energy around its head as it flew on a collision course with the small Bug/Fairy type.
Then… Robin flitted to the side, moving rapidly like a hummingbird.
The Zigzagoon sailed forward and without an opponent to hit it wound up, catching itself on the soft rubbery terrain. It was like a children's play area, meant to reduce fall damage and injuries. I fancied that when it was called the small arena that this was really meant for lower strength Pokemon like that Zigzagoon.
"Just because you get the first move doesn't mean I'll let you land a hit," I warned the boy. I decided not to use an attacking move initially. "Use Stun Spore."
Having the aerial advantage meant that the Zigzagoon wasn't in a position to do much but try and run away from the pollen as it fluttered down from above. The Zigzagoon couldn't outrun it and was left shuddering and tensing up as the spores were absorbed into its fur and lungs.
"Come on Zigzagoon!" Ben shouted. "Try another Headbutt!"
"Robin use Silver Wind, gently."
Robin spun around, a gust of silvery energy appearing around him and spreading outwards in all directions. It buffeted the Zigzagoon who was knocked backwards, rolling over and it had to brace itself on the floor against the attack as it passed over the Zigzagoon's body. Once it was done I was dismayed to see the Zigzagoon's legs buckle as it tried to get back onto its feet. It wouldn't survive another hit like that. It might not actually survive another hit like that.
I winced. I'd asked Robin to be gentle and he genuinely had been. I knew he could produce an attack much stronger than that. Silver Wind was the weakest attack he knew and even not trying too hard he'd still almost put that Zigzagoon out of commission. The difference between us was simply too great for this to be anything but a stomp.
"Oh no, Zigzagoon!" Ben shouted, recoiling himself like he'd been the one struck. "I thought you said you had no badges, how're you so strong!?"
This was why Gym Leaders used weaker Pokemon. It was pretty difficult to gauge my opponent's skill level like this.
"I said I had no badges in Hoenn," I replied, feeling annoyed at myself for not choosing to explain that. "But badges aren't necessarily a show of how strong you are either. Something I was about to explain to you until you changed the subject. Now, what are you going to try next?"
Ben pursed his lips as I gave him another opportunity to decide what he was doing while the Zigzagoon struggled to stand. I didn't have to do this, mind you. The taking turns thing of the games wasn't really how it played out in practice and I could've chosen to just have Robin finish it. A simple physical punch probably would've done enough at this point. I was pleasantly surprised by what the youngster decided on.
"Zigzagoon, return," Ben said, raising his Pokeball and withdrawing his Pokemon, silently admitting defeat.
It left a bitter taste in my mouth as I watched the boy's expression. I had known I'd win the battle but not quite so convincingly as this. I definitely needed some weaker Pokemon to hand in case I came across a weaker trainer another time and I'd definitely need some when I got my Gym going.
Ben took a step forward, but I realised after a second that it looked difficult for him. Zigzagoon hadn't fainted but it'd been awfully close to it and Ben was struggling now from the backlash, his skin becoming pale as I watched.
I quickly stepped forward onto the arena towards the youngster, Robin coming to hover worriedly somewhere next to my head. I could sense that the Ribombee was just as worried as I was at the sight before us because I recognised what was happening.
"G-good battle," Ben said, holding out his hand but looking at the ground. I reached out and shook it. I was impressed that this young boy had the dignity and determination to be a good loser, even if the situation had been so one-sided against him. I was also impressed that he was still standing.
Whiting out was a horrible sensation to go through and usually affected younger trainers after their Pokemon team were knocked out. The more Pokemon the worse the effect could be but this time it'd come on quite suddenly on account of the difference in our Pokemon's strengths. There wasn't enough time to get Zigzagoon to a healing unit before Ben actually did pass out, but I had an idea.
"Ben, can you bring Zigzagoon back out please?"
"Huh?" the boy asked, having not been paying proper attention, swaying slightly, but he nodded a few moments later and fumbled weakly for the Pokeball.
The Zigzagoon appeared, looking decidedly worse for wear.
I could've asked Leah to use a Heal Pulse, but I figured Robin would prefer to be the one to help make this all better.
"Robin, can you make a pollen puff for Zigzagoon?" I asked.
"Ribo," he said, holding his hands out and rubbing them together, forming a small edible puff of pollen. They were often used as an actual attack but when made properly, pollen puffs could act as a healing agent too. It was a bit like an Oran or Sitrus berry, only much stronger.
I accepted the small edible bit of pollen onto my hand and then squatted down to the Zigzagoon.
"Come on, eat up. This'll help," I advised the tired looking Pokemon.
The Zigzagoon sniffed the puff before opening its mouth and allowing me to place it on his tongue. The pollen puff dissolved almost immediately onto its tongue and the subsequent reaction was almost as quick.
"Z-zig zagoo…" The Zigzagoon got back onto his feet, looking a bit confused but far healthier.
"Zigzagoon, you're okay," Ben said, recovering now himself now that the Zigzagoon has aptly recovered. He hugged the Pokemon, receiving a couple of weak licks in return.
"Come on," I said, still feeling guilty. "Zigzagoon still needs proper healing. There should be a healing station somewhere, we can ask that secretary."
Ben didn't object as I gently steered him away and back towards the reception.
***
The enthusiastic message from Brawly this morning had been enough to let Wattson know the new trainer was at a top tier battling level. Now sat in a car on his way back to the Gym, Wattson watched through the cameras connected to his specially modified PokeNav as Harry Hemming escorted the kid trainer to the healing station. The young man didn't exactly look happy with himself, the battle had also been far too one sided. Truthfully Wattson was a bit annoyed to see Harry using his gym to have a battle in without permission. He'd be speaking to Jenna about letting them do that later.
Harry had gone out of his way to make his Pokemon take it easy on the boy and that still hadn't been enough to stop the whole thing being uncomfortably one sided. This was the reason people needed a way to judge their relative strengths with badges or terrible things could happen and it was a lesson their candidate had now learnt the hard way.
But Harry was doing a good job of looking after the boy, making sure he was okay and recovering after that near miss. His speedy intervention to stop the boy whiting out was a good idea too. Having a Pokemon on hand that could heal wasn't a terrible idea in general. Maybe he'd get a Chansey for the Gym, but they were pretty expensive to buy. The Joys controlled the supply of the healing Pokemon and weren't often keen on trainers having personal access to the healing Pokemon outside of Pokemon Centers. A Gardevoir would work, but if he got one of them then Elaine would probably stop cooking his dinners…
Anyway Harry was talking to the boy right now, hopefully imparting some advice and Wattson made a note to add some speakers into his camera system. Whatever they were saying though the boy was taking it well and listening, something kids that age often struggled to do.
Wattson honestly couldn't have hoped for a better accounting of Harry's attitude. There was no need to do anything else now he'd gotten the man's measure and Wattson decided then and there that he'd accept Harry Hemming's application to become a Gym Leader.
But that boy... He had a spark to him too and Wattson was impressed by how he handled himself there against a far superior opponent. Perhaps this was one worth spending a bit of time on.
Chapter 8
Ben had recovered gradually over the last several minutes now that his Zigzagoon had been healed up with the Gym's healing station, the colour having returned to his cheeks. That didn't stop him looking uncomfortable though. I'd still given him a shock and the boy had been fairly quiet since then.
I didn't really know what to do about it. If Ben felt uncomfortable then the best I could do was try to put him in an environment where he didn't feel that way and that probably meant not here and not around me, the likely cause of any distress he might be feeling.
We reentered the reception room, but it wasn't just the secretary there this time. Wattson was in the room too and he was speaking to the woman who looked like she'd just tasted something sour. A Manetric was sat down beside him, watching the conversation.
Upon hearing the automatic doors opening, both Wattson and his Pokemon turned around. His expression turning cheerful quickly, but not quick enough for me to miss the stern expression he'd had just before.
"Harry Hemming!" The Electric type Gym Leader said. "It's great to see you."
"Likewise," I said to this city's Gym Leader and we shook hands. Ben next to me watched the byplay with interest.
"Do you guys know each other?" Ben asked.
"We've not met but I was expecting Harry here to drop by to meet up for a chat," Wattson said. "I didn't expect you to come around today though. Thought you'd stop around Slateport for a day or two first. Did you teleport?" He glanced towards Leah who had been following behind us.
"No, we walked," I said. "As for Slateport, I just didn't fancy it," I said, shrugging. "So I figured we'd walk the trail up to Mauville and that didn't take too long. Sorry if I caught you by surprise."
Slateport seemed a bit too busy for me, too commercial. There would be reasons to visit in the future, the bigger cities would have access to things I would need that smaller settlements probably wouldn't, but that was for the future. Wattson raised his eyebrows and then he chuckled.
"It's no problem. You managed the hike up faster than I could have though!" Wattson shook his head. "Anyway, young man," he addressed Ben. "I was told you came to try my Gym challenge. Is that right?"
"Yeah I did, but… I think I probably need to train more with Zigzagoon first."
I grimaced, the guilt returning. I didn't want to turn the boy away from battling completely but it looked like I had struck his confidence a bit too hard.
"I understand, losing like that can be a big eye opener when you're just starting out," Wattson said commiseratingly. He glanced in my direction. "I saw your battle on the cameras on my way here," he explained.
Oh, that made sense. I nodded, not entirely surprised there were hidden cameras scattered about the building. Wattson clearly enjoyed his security features and security cameras would likely be the simplest part of the electronics included in this building.
"Anyway what's your name?" Wattson asked and the boy replied quickly. "Well then Ben… Why don't you come back tomorrow and I'll help give you a few pointers on how to train your Zigzagoon. How does that sound?"
Ben's expression turned from confusion to surprise and then eagerness.
"Th-that'd be awesome!" The boy enthused, allowing himself to be gently guided towards the door.
"Great," Wattson said. "You run home now and maybe pop by the Pokemon Centre too on the way and get your Zigzagoon checked out by Nurse Joy. I'll expect you back here at half past ten tomorrow, on the dot!"
Ben was enthusiastically nodding and left with a smile on his face, probably off to go tell his friends what'd happened today.
Wattson sighed in satisfaction and then turned back to me.
"Come on, let's have a chat," the Gym Leader said. "Jenna… I'll see you on Monday."
The secretary, who had moved away from her desk, nodded. She looked relieved and quickly vacated the building with a few muttered words I didn't catch. Wattson led me to the doorway Ben had tried passing through the first time, the one with the traps. He pulled out a keycard and swiped it by the door.
"The traps are disabled now," he explained.
Wattson led me through the building. There was a lot of metal which didn't appeal to me, but this was an Electric Gym. We didn't go through to an arena or anything. Wattson led me to a large office, dominated by a number of screens on what I assumed must be his personal work desk and there were a pair of couches in one corner of the room.
"Sit down," the Gym Leader said casually, falling into one of the seats himself.
I sat comfortably opposite him, our Pokemon each sitting beside us. Leah was by my side and Wattson's Manetric by his feet.
It was an impressive specimen. I could see the Manectric was well cared for and large for its species but the Pokemon still showed signs of its age with a couple of light scars here or there. To have scars like that it'd likely seen combat that had dealt it serious injuries modern healing couldn't fully fix or there had simply not been easy access to healing at the time. This was a Pokemon that had seen some serious battles and perhaps not just traditional trainer battles either.
"Usually a Gym should only ever host battles with the Gym Leader's permission or one of the Gym Trainers present. It's my building after all," Wattson said. I grimaced and was about to respond but he put up his hand.
"No it's alright, Jenna gave you permission and you weren't necessarily to know. It's not like this comes up very often but with the season being almost over my Gym Trainers are on tour and there was nobody else about to handle things. Jenna made a… mistake, shall we say."
"Still I apologise," I said. "We could've gone out of the Gym and found somewhere if I'd really thought about it. It won't happen again."
Wattson nodded.
"I think you learnt your lesson anyway after that scare with the Zigzagoon," he said more kindly. "But seeing as you were the one who battled him, what did you think of Ben?"
I thought about my answer for a moment.
"He's a kid, obviously. A bit too eager, didn't want to take no for an answer," I said. "But he clearly cared about his Pokemon. I… didn't really see if he had any skills at battling, or how strong he is though."
Wattson nodded again.
"I agree, there simply wasn't enough of an opportunity for you to gauge his strength. Hopefully Ben will return tomorrow and I'll give him a battle more to his speed. We don't really expect much from the first couple of badge tiers as you probably know. Understanding type advantages or having a strong Pokemon is more or less all they should need to win. Later on it becomes more about the Pokemon's strength and strategy, but you'll get the hang of the level of strength a challenger should be showing with a bit of practice."
"I see," I replied, trying to commit Wattson's words to memory. "I'm starting to realise there's plenty more to having a Gym than I'd initially expected. Roxanne gave me this folder with a bunch of things I need to know or do for legal reasons, but there's a bunch of other less obvious things I'll need to think about too."
"There certainly are," Wattson agreed. "We all have our own individual challenges too. Mine is managing the local Electric types and making sure the city doesn't get overloaded or drained of power. Tate and Liza have to wrangle the local Psychics and their Pokemon and Roxanne of course has her trainer school that came about due to the number of inexperienced kids that go around challenging her. The job suits her though, I have to admit."
"Definitely," I said, remembering my conversation with her. "For a few moments I felt like I was back in school," I admitted ruefully.
"Ha! Roxanne does have that air about her. I'm not surprised she wants you to sit a test either, it's what she's used to doing." Wattson chuckled again and I found myself chuckling with him. Roxanne really was built for being a teacher. She had to be around my age and she still gave off those no-nonsense vibes.
"Do you want a drink?" Wattson asked suddenly.
"Sure," I agreed, hoping this meant I was endearing myself to the man. Wattson got up and went to an unassuming part of the wall which opened at a touch to reveal a minifridge. He pulled out a couple of bottles. Popping them open, he returned and offered me one and I thanked him before he returned to his seat.
It was some sort of ginger ale and I withheld my reaction to the taste. it wasn't a drink I particularly enjoyed, ginger was only for biscuits as far as I was concerned. I was at least glad it wasn't alcoholic.
"When I heard you were coming to Mauville I'd planned on having you run a few errands for me, but now I'm not so sure what I'm going to do," the Gym Leader admitted.
"Yes, I guess it's a bit out of the blue for you all," I admitted. I'd only really started this whole thing off a few days ago and already I was speaking to the third of the Gym Leaders.
Was I doing this all too fast? I needed to get going as soon as possible if I wanted to be even partly ready before the next season started.
"No, don't worry. Sometimes things sneak up on us," Wattson said, brushing off my concern. "Truthfully you chose the right time with the season coming to a close. The rush of trainers is more or less over and the higher badge challenges will be less frequent so Wallace and the twins shouldn't be too busy for a chat either."
"So what do you want to do?" I asked. "I could always come back later if you like." Leah knew how to teleport over longer distances so it wouldn't be trouble to make a return trip now she'd visited Mauville.
Wattson brought up a hand to his chin, fiddling with his beard hair.
"I'm not going to promise you anything," he finally said. "But there is something I'd like you to do. Come around tomorrow and see how I handle Ben. It'll be a good lesson on how to handle kids and a demonstration of what low level battles should look like."
"That would be great," I said honestly. It was less of an obligation and more of an opportunity to learn as far as I was concerned. Simply beating lower level Pokemon and occasionally trainers was one thing, but how to battle them properly at their own level was something I'd need to learn how to do.
Shortly after I said my goodbyes and went to find somewhere to stay the night.
***
Yesterday Ben had learnt a very valuable lesson about judging a book by its cover.
That little Pokemon the man had pulled out just looked cute but it'd been super strong. Mr Hemming's Pokemon had beaten Zigzagoon in just two hits and one of those didn't really count. He'd never really thought about whiting out before, but now Ben understood what all the fuss was about and he definitely didn't want to experience that again.
Now he was stood outside the tall yellow walls of the Gym again, and Ben wasn't so sure this was a good idea.
He swallowed audibly. It was a good thing he'd come on his own. Ben didn't want anyone to think he was a scaredy Meowth or something if he changed his mind at the last second. The memory of Zigzagoon only being able to brace against that Silver Wind attack shot past his eyes and Ben couldn't help but imagine what might have happened if that Ribombee had hit him any harder. Ben had been a bit upset when he'd overheard Mr Hemming tell his Pokemon to be gentle but he wasn't upset anymore, just grateful he'd thought to do that.
"Hmmmmm," He fidgeted, resisting the urge to turn around. Ben didn't want to see his Pokemon get hurt again or to feel that powerless against a much stronger foe like Wattson definitely was. It would be so easy to just turn around and walk away. He could try again another day, couldn't he?
But if he left now, then Ben wasn't so sure he'd be coming back.
He almost did turn around anyway, but the weight of Zigzagoon's shrunken Pokeball shifting in his pocket made him stop. This wasn't just about him, he knew. Ben had promised Zigzagoon they'd work to become strong together and Ben couldn't let his friend down.
The doors opened and Ben took a deep breath before he strode in. Ben didn't shout or anything like last time, he'd' felt a bit silly after the reaction when he'd done it yesterday. He'd wanted to make a grand entrance, like some of the# big trainers on TV, but the only people who'd seen it were that secretary lady and Harry Hemming and Ben had probably looked like a big goof in front of someone strong like him.
In Ben's defence he'd thought the man didn't have any badges and like his mum had said, it was the badges that mattered most for telling how strong someone was. Having four or five badges was really good. You had to be super strong to get six or more badges, hardly anyone was that strong.
Inside the secretary wasn't there. Instead Wattson was stood there chatting with none other than Harry Hemming.
Next to them was the Gardevoir that belonged to Mr Hemming and also a really big, tough looking Manetric! It had to belong to Wattson.
Ben really wanted a Manetric one day, they were super cool Pokemon and his dad used to have one too before it got sick when he was little and Ben just barely remembered playing with it sometimes. Zigzagoon was still great and Ben loved him to bits. But he still sort of wished he could find an Elektrike.
"Still trying to convince him to use something other than a Voltorb," Wattson said with exasperation, continuing whatever conversation they'd been having. "I mean they're decent battlers, don't get me wrong, but…"
"Self Destruct is a strategy, I suppose," Harry Hemming said commiseratingly and with maybe a hint of amusement. Wattson huffed.
"That'll be something for you to look forward to seeing a lot of, by the way," he said with a chuckle. Mr Hemming grimaced.
Neither of them had noticed him immediately so Ben stepped forward, ready to say hello. Then suddenly the memory of yesterday came back again and threatened to make him turn around and back out of it, but instead of doing that Ben somehow managed to square his shoulders and he bravely strode up to the two men.
"I'm here like you told me, Mr Wattson," he said, trying to not squirm as the gazes of both men landed on him.
Wattson's lips pulled up into a friendly smile. Ben couldn't tell what Mr Hemming was thinking.
"Ben!" Wattson said. "I'm glad you came."
The Electric Gym Leader really reminded Ben of his grandad as he smiled warmly at him.
"I did promise I was gonna come," he said, ignoring the rebellious thought reminding him that he almost hadn't. Wattson nodded, still smiling grandly and not aware of the inner embarrassment Ben was feeling.
"Well now you're here we can get started. I promised I'd show you a thing or two. Come on."
He started heading in the direction Ben remembered led towards the small arena where Ben had battled Mr Hemming before.
Mr Hemming came with them and for a moment Ben was worried he'd have to battle the other man again.
Zigzagoon's legs buckled, body going flat on the ground as a small tornado of silver tinted wind battered at him.
But that didn't make sense. Despite a slight rising panic, Ben was sure that Wattson wouldn't expect him to battle Mr Hemming again.
Right?
The other man didn't say anything as they followed the Gym Leader and Ben was proven right about his suspicions when they arrived in the small battle arena from before.
Was Mr Wattson really going to make Ben battle Mr Hemming again?
No! Ben wasn't going to let himself be intimidated, not now he's got here. If he was going to get better as a trainer then he needed Mr Wattson's help.
"After yesterday I thought you might like another chance to show what you're made of," the Gym Leader said, turning around. "Do you and your Zigzagoon feel ready for a battle against me?"
Oh, so he wasn't going to battle Mr Hemming, but Wattson wanted to battle him instead!
He kind of wanted to say no…
"A-are you sure I'm ready?" Ben asked. "I mean… you said you'd give me some advice."
"Oh I will," Wattson said. "But I'll need to know how strong you are already if I'm going to do that. So first we'll need to have a little battle."
"It won't be like yesterday," Mr Hemming piped in. "Wattson's going to use Pokemon strong enough for a first badge challenge, not Pokemon strong enough for seventh or eighth badge battles like I did."
"Oh," Ben said, feeling incredibly relieved. If that Ribombee had really been that strong then maybe a battle against a weaker Pokemon would be okay. "Okay then, yeah."
Mr Hemming seemed pleased he'd said yes and maybe a bit relieved before heading to the side. There was a small set of stands either side of the arena where people could sit and watch the battle. Ben approached his spot on one end of the arena while Wattson took the other.
Maybe one day it'd be his parents sitting there and watching him, Ben thought and not for the first time. He'd imagined that yesterday too before he'd lost so badly against Mr Hemming. Now there was someone actually sitting there it became a bit more real to have an audience.
The Gardevoir also went and sat down next to Mr Hemming and she waved with a kind smile on her face. Ben really didn't get why his mum had said they were a bad Pokemon. This Gardevoir seemed really nice.
"Righty ho!" Wattson said, recapturing Ben's attention. "Now I did some checking and you only have one Pokemon is that right?"
"Yes," Ben nodded. Did he need to have more? Wattson's expression didn't reveal anything but he nodded as his Manetric sat on his hindquarters by his feet.
"Right then in that case this'll just be a one on one battle to see how you do," Wattson said. "Go Elektrike!"
Ben was about to ask if they shouldn't summon their Pokemon at the same time like Mr Hemming had said yesterday, but then suddenly a Pokeball was being thrown forwards and Ben stumbled between hurrying to withdraw his own Pokemon while also looking at the Pokemon he'd always wanted.
"Triiiike!" howled the small dog-like Pokemon. It barked again before turning to look back at Wattson for a second before running around in a circle, chasing it's stubby tail in excitement.
Ben shook his head, realising he'd been staring.
"Go Zigzagoon!" Ben said.
Zigzagoon appeared on the battlefield. He looked around, seeing himself in the same place as he'd battled before but he didn't seem worried like Ben still kind of felt.
"This'll just be a friendly one on one battle," Wattson said. "Don't worry about winning or losing, I just want to see what you can do. We can start whenever you're ready."
"Y-yes," Ben said, nodding. "Alright… Zigzagoon, use Headbutt!"
It was the move he'd tried yesterday to absolutely no success but it was also Zigzagoon's strongest move. Ben had beaten a couple of other trainers using Headbutt and Zigzagoon had practiced it a lot on his own too.
"Use Quick Attack, Elektrike," Wattson ordered.
The Elektrike ran forward, faster than Zigzagoon was going and leaving a trail of white behind him. Ben braced himself as the two Pokemon collided.
Bam! Their heads bashed together, both Pokemon not giving an inch but it only lasted a moment before they fell away. Zigzagoon's attack had won out against the Quick Attack and knocked Elektrike back. The green and yellow striped Pokemon rolled as it landed on the floor but quickly got back on his feet.
"Zigzagoon!" Zigzagoon shouted confidently and Ben felt his fist clench.
This wasn't like yesterday. They could do this!
"Do it again Zigzagoon, I believe in you!" Ben shouted.
"Gooooon!" Zigzagoon cried, going to charge forward again.
"Not so fast!" Wattson said. "Elektrike, try a Thunder Wave!"
The Elektrike braced himself, leaning down on his paws before shooting out a spark of lightning from his tail.
"Dodge it Zigzagoon!" Ben cried out, but it was too late. Zigzagoon was too close and going too fast to avoid the hit. He stumbled, the corona of energy around his head faltering for a moment before he righted himself and kept on going!
Bam! The Elektrike was knocked back again, almost all the way back towards Wattson's side of the arena.
"Okay Elektrike you've taken a few hits but he'll be slower now. Circle around him and get ready for another Quick Attack."
Elektrike barked an affirmative and raced around to the side, Zigzagoon braced himself and turned to face it warily. Ben could see the little sparks running through Zigzagoon's fur, slowing him down.
"Get ready Zigzagoon!" Ben shouted. They couldn't go on the attack now. They would have to react to the Elektrike's next attack.
"Use Quick attack again!" Wattson suddenly ordered.
"U-use sand attack!" Ben said, thinking on his feet.
Zigzagoon was barely able to kick up the dust in time, flecks of sand being shot up from the ground despite it being a solid floor and into Elektrike's eyes.
"Ele!" The Pokemon shouted, almost missing his mark on account of the sand. He landed a glancing blow on Zigzagoon and then backed away. Shaking its head, the Elektrike stopped moving and reached up with a paw to try and rub the sand out of his eyes.
This was their chance!
"Quick, use Headbut again!" Ben shouted.
Zigzagoon was on the other Pokemon in a moment and landed a direct hit on Elektrike's side. The other Pokemon went flying and didn't roll to regather itself this time. It remained still, fainted.
"I won!" Ben exclaimed and a moment later Zigzagoon was jumping into his arms.
He laughed, hugging the Pokemon back as Zigagoon's big tongue licked at his face.
"That was very impressive," Wattson said, coming over. "Your Zigzagoon is strong, you've trained him well."
"Thanks!" Ben said, spotting Mr Hemming now coming in from the stands with his own Pokemon trailing behind him.
"Want Leah to heal that Elektrike?" He offered. "She can do the same for your Zigzagoon too," he offered to Ben."
"Yes please," Ben said quickly. He definitely wouldn't turn down a chance to make sure Zigzagoon was completely fine after the battle.
"Hmm yes, if you don't mind," Wattson said as well. He brought out the Elektrike again and the green and yellow dog Pokemon flopped down almost immediately, giving off a little whine of discomfort after the battle. The Gym Leader's Manetric approached and gave the Elektrike a long lick from head to tail.
Now they were up close to compare, it was a lot bigger than the Elektrike, Ben thought. That was a scary Pokemon Wattson had.
The Gardevoir knelt down beside the Elektrike and Ben watched, kind of amazed as a pink light came from the Pokemon's hands. It landed on the Elektrike who shuddered, but Ben could see already that the healing was working and in less than a minute the Elektrike was back on its feet. It was even better than that Pollen Puff the Ribombee had given Zigzagoon yesterday.
The Pokemon barked excitedly towards the Gardevoir and the Manetric said something else too, its voice a lot deeper and older sounding than the smaller green Pokemon. The Gardevoir nodded her head, replying with a smile on her face.
Zigzagoon squirmed in Ben's arms and he let his Pokemon down where it approached the Elektrike. They said something to each other. Ben obviously couldn't tell what they were saying but as the Gardevoir commented something in response that had the two Pokemon replying happily, it seemed like there weren't any hard feelings between any of them. She began healing Zigzagoon too.
"What did you think of our battle, Harry?" Wattson asked.
"I think Ben did a good job," Harry replied thoughtfully, looking back at the other Gym Leader. "Wattson's right your Zigzagoon's strong for your level, but if you want to get a Badge then either you and Zigzagoon are going to have to train a lot harder or you'll need more Pokemon."
Ben nodded seriously. There weren't any famous Pokemon trainers who just had one Pokemon, you needed a team if you were going to make it big. Off to the side the Zigzagoon and Elektrike were running circles around the giggling Gardevoir.
"That is more or less what I was thinking," Wattson said, nodding. "Usually a first badge challenge involves battling two or sometimes three Pokemon and I don't think your Zigzagoon would've been ready to take on my Magnemite after facing Elektrike."
For a moment Ben wanted to argue that maybe he could, but with Mr Hemming silently nodding in agreement he decided that maybe the Gym Leader was right.
"You'll need a full team eventually, something of a different type would be best, keep you rounded out as a trainer. Unless you plan to specialise in Normal types," Mr Hemming suggested.
"I-I could get another Pokemon," Ben said thoughtfully, thinking hard about how he could do that. He didn't want to specialise in Normal type Pokemon, there were tons of cool Pokemon out there and he didn't want to limit himself.
The biggest problem was his parents had told him he could only have Zigzagoon, but maybe he could hide another Pokemon somewhere and spend his pocket money to make sure it stayed fed. He'd need to catch one first. There was a family of Gulpin near his school the teachers didn't know about and they sometimes went and played with them. Maybe Ben could go and catch one of them.
"Now that is an idea," Wattson said in reply to Mr Hemming. "I saw the way you looked at Manetric and Elektrike before. Ben. How would you like to take Elektrike on as your second Pokemon?"
Ben's mouth dropped open and he looked between the Elektrike currently playing with his Zigzagoon and back to Wattson. Mr Hemming's eyes widened in surprise.
"D-d'you really mean that?" Ben asked. Wattson nodded.
"There's just one thing I'd like in return," the Electric type trainer replied and Ben braced himself for whatever the other man was going to ask of him. There was no way he could refuse no matter what it was.
"I'd like you to become one of my sponsored Gym trainers," Wattson said. "Now, you'll have to train hard and come and hel-"
"Yes!" Ben almost shouted, practically stumbling over himself to accept because that was something he definitely wanted. "I'll work super hard I swear!"
Wattson laughed. "I'll hold you to that young man. Elektrike, come here please."
Elektrike approached and sat on his haunches, looking up between Ben and Wattson.
"Elektrike, would you be happy going with Ben here and being his Pokemon from now on?"
Elektrike looked thoughtful for a few seconds and Zigzagoon came and sat next to it. It looked at Zigzagoon who looked just as excited as Ben felt and then it looked back to Ben.
There was a tense moment where Ben thought Elektrike might say no but then the Elektrike nodded, barking happily in the affirmative and Ben couldn't contain himself.
"Yes! Welcome to the team Elektrike!" He cheered, reaching down to hug the other Pokemon, ignoring the slight sting of static electricity on his skin because he was just so excited.
Elektrike barked happily into his ear and then Ben was bowled over as Zigzagoon jumped in to join them.
It was a couple of minutes before Ben managed to push the two happy Pokemon off of him. He stood up, wiping slobber off his face and saw the two adults talking off to the side, Mr Hemming was nodding to Wattson with a pleased smile on his face. They both shook hands.
Ben approached with his two Pokemon in tow.
Two Pokemon!
"Okay Harry I'll look forward to seeing you again in a couple of weeks," Wattson said. "Come on Ben, let's escort Harry out and then I suppose we need to go speak to your parents about you becoming one of my sponsored trainers."
"Oh, yeah…" Ben said, rubbing the back of his head.
This was going to be awkward. They didn't know he was here or anything about what'd happened yesterday.
But Ben was sure his parents would say yes, even if he probably would be grounded for going off on his own and challenging the Gym and stuff without telling them.
Because you didn't turn down an offer of sponsorship from a Pokemon Gym. It was the best way to get your career as a trainer properly started and his mum would definitely want him to try. She'd even been talking about enrolling him in a trainer school before it turned out they were too expensive. Now Ben was going to get loads of help with training and learning how to look after Pokemon and everything and it wouldn't even cost any money!
And he now had two Pokemon on top of all that! That would be great for now, Ben thought, but Mr Hemming's comments about needing more Pokemon came to mind as the man waved goodbye and the door and headed off to wherever he was going next.
"Man I should totally get a Gardevoir, they're kinda awesome," Ben muttered, watching the green and white Pokemon walking off beside the other trainer. A Pokemon that could do healing seemed like a really good idea to have. Plus they were Psych-
Wattson suddenly choked and began coughing.
"I'm okay," he said, trying to recover and holding up a hand to ward off any offer of help.
"Just, whatever you do," he said, continuing to cough and wheeze a little bit as he spoke. "Please don't say that to your parents."
I didn't really know what to do about it. If Ben felt uncomfortable then the best I could do was try to put him in an environment where he didn't feel that way and that probably meant not here and not around me, the likely cause of any distress he might be feeling.
We reentered the reception room, but it wasn't just the secretary there this time. Wattson was in the room too and he was speaking to the woman who looked like she'd just tasted something sour. A Manetric was sat down beside him, watching the conversation.
Upon hearing the automatic doors opening, both Wattson and his Pokemon turned around. His expression turning cheerful quickly, but not quick enough for me to miss the stern expression he'd had just before.
"Harry Hemming!" The Electric type Gym Leader said. "It's great to see you."
"Likewise," I said to this city's Gym Leader and we shook hands. Ben next to me watched the byplay with interest.
"Do you guys know each other?" Ben asked.
"We've not met but I was expecting Harry here to drop by to meet up for a chat," Wattson said. "I didn't expect you to come around today though. Thought you'd stop around Slateport for a day or two first. Did you teleport?" He glanced towards Leah who had been following behind us.
"No, we walked," I said. "As for Slateport, I just didn't fancy it," I said, shrugging. "So I figured we'd walk the trail up to Mauville and that didn't take too long. Sorry if I caught you by surprise."
Slateport seemed a bit too busy for me, too commercial. There would be reasons to visit in the future, the bigger cities would have access to things I would need that smaller settlements probably wouldn't, but that was for the future. Wattson raised his eyebrows and then he chuckled.
"It's no problem. You managed the hike up faster than I could have though!" Wattson shook his head. "Anyway, young man," he addressed Ben. "I was told you came to try my Gym challenge. Is that right?"
"Yeah I did, but… I think I probably need to train more with Zigzagoon first."
I grimaced, the guilt returning. I didn't want to turn the boy away from battling completely but it looked like I had struck his confidence a bit too hard.
"I understand, losing like that can be a big eye opener when you're just starting out," Wattson said commiseratingly. He glanced in my direction. "I saw your battle on the cameras on my way here," he explained.
Oh, that made sense. I nodded, not entirely surprised there were hidden cameras scattered about the building. Wattson clearly enjoyed his security features and security cameras would likely be the simplest part of the electronics included in this building.
"Anyway what's your name?" Wattson asked and the boy replied quickly. "Well then Ben… Why don't you come back tomorrow and I'll help give you a few pointers on how to train your Zigzagoon. How does that sound?"
Ben's expression turned from confusion to surprise and then eagerness.
"Th-that'd be awesome!" The boy enthused, allowing himself to be gently guided towards the door.
"Great," Wattson said. "You run home now and maybe pop by the Pokemon Centre too on the way and get your Zigzagoon checked out by Nurse Joy. I'll expect you back here at half past ten tomorrow, on the dot!"
Ben was enthusiastically nodding and left with a smile on his face, probably off to go tell his friends what'd happened today.
Wattson sighed in satisfaction and then turned back to me.
"Come on, let's have a chat," the Gym Leader said. "Jenna… I'll see you on Monday."
The secretary, who had moved away from her desk, nodded. She looked relieved and quickly vacated the building with a few muttered words I didn't catch. Wattson led me to the doorway Ben had tried passing through the first time, the one with the traps. He pulled out a keycard and swiped it by the door.
"The traps are disabled now," he explained.
Wattson led me through the building. There was a lot of metal which didn't appeal to me, but this was an Electric Gym. We didn't go through to an arena or anything. Wattson led me to a large office, dominated by a number of screens on what I assumed must be his personal work desk and there were a pair of couches in one corner of the room.
"Sit down," the Gym Leader said casually, falling into one of the seats himself.
I sat comfortably opposite him, our Pokemon each sitting beside us. Leah was by my side and Wattson's Manetric by his feet.
It was an impressive specimen. I could see the Manectric was well cared for and large for its species but the Pokemon still showed signs of its age with a couple of light scars here or there. To have scars like that it'd likely seen combat that had dealt it serious injuries modern healing couldn't fully fix or there had simply not been easy access to healing at the time. This was a Pokemon that had seen some serious battles and perhaps not just traditional trainer battles either.
"Usually a Gym should only ever host battles with the Gym Leader's permission or one of the Gym Trainers present. It's my building after all," Wattson said. I grimaced and was about to respond but he put up his hand.
"No it's alright, Jenna gave you permission and you weren't necessarily to know. It's not like this comes up very often but with the season being almost over my Gym Trainers are on tour and there was nobody else about to handle things. Jenna made a… mistake, shall we say."
"Still I apologise," I said. "We could've gone out of the Gym and found somewhere if I'd really thought about it. It won't happen again."
Wattson nodded.
"I think you learnt your lesson anyway after that scare with the Zigzagoon," he said more kindly. "But seeing as you were the one who battled him, what did you think of Ben?"
I thought about my answer for a moment.
"He's a kid, obviously. A bit too eager, didn't want to take no for an answer," I said. "But he clearly cared about his Pokemon. I… didn't really see if he had any skills at battling, or how strong he is though."
Wattson nodded again.
"I agree, there simply wasn't enough of an opportunity for you to gauge his strength. Hopefully Ben will return tomorrow and I'll give him a battle more to his speed. We don't really expect much from the first couple of badge tiers as you probably know. Understanding type advantages or having a strong Pokemon is more or less all they should need to win. Later on it becomes more about the Pokemon's strength and strategy, but you'll get the hang of the level of strength a challenger should be showing with a bit of practice."
"I see," I replied, trying to commit Wattson's words to memory. "I'm starting to realise there's plenty more to having a Gym than I'd initially expected. Roxanne gave me this folder with a bunch of things I need to know or do for legal reasons, but there's a bunch of other less obvious things I'll need to think about too."
"There certainly are," Wattson agreed. "We all have our own individual challenges too. Mine is managing the local Electric types and making sure the city doesn't get overloaded or drained of power. Tate and Liza have to wrangle the local Psychics and their Pokemon and Roxanne of course has her trainer school that came about due to the number of inexperienced kids that go around challenging her. The job suits her though, I have to admit."
"Definitely," I said, remembering my conversation with her. "For a few moments I felt like I was back in school," I admitted ruefully.
"Ha! Roxanne does have that air about her. I'm not surprised she wants you to sit a test either, it's what she's used to doing." Wattson chuckled again and I found myself chuckling with him. Roxanne really was built for being a teacher. She had to be around my age and she still gave off those no-nonsense vibes.
"Do you want a drink?" Wattson asked suddenly.
"Sure," I agreed, hoping this meant I was endearing myself to the man. Wattson got up and went to an unassuming part of the wall which opened at a touch to reveal a minifridge. He pulled out a couple of bottles. Popping them open, he returned and offered me one and I thanked him before he returned to his seat.
It was some sort of ginger ale and I withheld my reaction to the taste. it wasn't a drink I particularly enjoyed, ginger was only for biscuits as far as I was concerned. I was at least glad it wasn't alcoholic.
"When I heard you were coming to Mauville I'd planned on having you run a few errands for me, but now I'm not so sure what I'm going to do," the Gym Leader admitted.
"Yes, I guess it's a bit out of the blue for you all," I admitted. I'd only really started this whole thing off a few days ago and already I was speaking to the third of the Gym Leaders.
Was I doing this all too fast? I needed to get going as soon as possible if I wanted to be even partly ready before the next season started.
"No, don't worry. Sometimes things sneak up on us," Wattson said, brushing off my concern. "Truthfully you chose the right time with the season coming to a close. The rush of trainers is more or less over and the higher badge challenges will be less frequent so Wallace and the twins shouldn't be too busy for a chat either."
"So what do you want to do?" I asked. "I could always come back later if you like." Leah knew how to teleport over longer distances so it wouldn't be trouble to make a return trip now she'd visited Mauville.
Wattson brought up a hand to his chin, fiddling with his beard hair.
"I'm not going to promise you anything," he finally said. "But there is something I'd like you to do. Come around tomorrow and see how I handle Ben. It'll be a good lesson on how to handle kids and a demonstration of what low level battles should look like."
"That would be great," I said honestly. It was less of an obligation and more of an opportunity to learn as far as I was concerned. Simply beating lower level Pokemon and occasionally trainers was one thing, but how to battle them properly at their own level was something I'd need to learn how to do.
Shortly after I said my goodbyes and went to find somewhere to stay the night.
***
Yesterday Ben had learnt a very valuable lesson about judging a book by its cover.
That little Pokemon the man had pulled out just looked cute but it'd been super strong. Mr Hemming's Pokemon had beaten Zigzagoon in just two hits and one of those didn't really count. He'd never really thought about whiting out before, but now Ben understood what all the fuss was about and he definitely didn't want to experience that again.
Now he was stood outside the tall yellow walls of the Gym again, and Ben wasn't so sure this was a good idea.
He swallowed audibly. It was a good thing he'd come on his own. Ben didn't want anyone to think he was a scaredy Meowth or something if he changed his mind at the last second. The memory of Zigzagoon only being able to brace against that Silver Wind attack shot past his eyes and Ben couldn't help but imagine what might have happened if that Ribombee had hit him any harder. Ben had been a bit upset when he'd overheard Mr Hemming tell his Pokemon to be gentle but he wasn't upset anymore, just grateful he'd thought to do that.
"Hmmmmm," He fidgeted, resisting the urge to turn around. Ben didn't want to see his Pokemon get hurt again or to feel that powerless against a much stronger foe like Wattson definitely was. It would be so easy to just turn around and walk away. He could try again another day, couldn't he?
But if he left now, then Ben wasn't so sure he'd be coming back.
He almost did turn around anyway, but the weight of Zigzagoon's shrunken Pokeball shifting in his pocket made him stop. This wasn't just about him, he knew. Ben had promised Zigzagoon they'd work to become strong together and Ben couldn't let his friend down.
The doors opened and Ben took a deep breath before he strode in. Ben didn't shout or anything like last time, he'd' felt a bit silly after the reaction when he'd done it yesterday. He'd wanted to make a grand entrance, like some of the# big trainers on TV, but the only people who'd seen it were that secretary lady and Harry Hemming and Ben had probably looked like a big goof in front of someone strong like him.
In Ben's defence he'd thought the man didn't have any badges and like his mum had said, it was the badges that mattered most for telling how strong someone was. Having four or five badges was really good. You had to be super strong to get six or more badges, hardly anyone was that strong.
Inside the secretary wasn't there. Instead Wattson was stood there chatting with none other than Harry Hemming.
Next to them was the Gardevoir that belonged to Mr Hemming and also a really big, tough looking Manetric! It had to belong to Wattson.
Ben really wanted a Manetric one day, they were super cool Pokemon and his dad used to have one too before it got sick when he was little and Ben just barely remembered playing with it sometimes. Zigzagoon was still great and Ben loved him to bits. But he still sort of wished he could find an Elektrike.
"Still trying to convince him to use something other than a Voltorb," Wattson said with exasperation, continuing whatever conversation they'd been having. "I mean they're decent battlers, don't get me wrong, but…"
"Self Destruct is a strategy, I suppose," Harry Hemming said commiseratingly and with maybe a hint of amusement. Wattson huffed.
"That'll be something for you to look forward to seeing a lot of, by the way," he said with a chuckle. Mr Hemming grimaced.
Neither of them had noticed him immediately so Ben stepped forward, ready to say hello. Then suddenly the memory of yesterday came back again and threatened to make him turn around and back out of it, but instead of doing that Ben somehow managed to square his shoulders and he bravely strode up to the two men.
"I'm here like you told me, Mr Wattson," he said, trying to not squirm as the gazes of both men landed on him.
Wattson's lips pulled up into a friendly smile. Ben couldn't tell what Mr Hemming was thinking.
"Ben!" Wattson said. "I'm glad you came."
The Electric Gym Leader really reminded Ben of his grandad as he smiled warmly at him.
"I did promise I was gonna come," he said, ignoring the rebellious thought reminding him that he almost hadn't. Wattson nodded, still smiling grandly and not aware of the inner embarrassment Ben was feeling.
"Well now you're here we can get started. I promised I'd show you a thing or two. Come on."
He started heading in the direction Ben remembered led towards the small arena where Ben had battled Mr Hemming before.
Mr Hemming came with them and for a moment Ben was worried he'd have to battle the other man again.
Zigzagoon's legs buckled, body going flat on the ground as a small tornado of silver tinted wind battered at him.
But that didn't make sense. Despite a slight rising panic, Ben was sure that Wattson wouldn't expect him to battle Mr Hemming again.
Right?
The other man didn't say anything as they followed the Gym Leader and Ben was proven right about his suspicions when they arrived in the small battle arena from before.
Was Mr Wattson really going to make Ben battle Mr Hemming again?
No! Ben wasn't going to let himself be intimidated, not now he's got here. If he was going to get better as a trainer then he needed Mr Wattson's help.
"After yesterday I thought you might like another chance to show what you're made of," the Gym Leader said, turning around. "Do you and your Zigzagoon feel ready for a battle against me?"
Oh, so he wasn't going to battle Mr Hemming, but Wattson wanted to battle him instead!
He kind of wanted to say no…
"A-are you sure I'm ready?" Ben asked. "I mean… you said you'd give me some advice."
"Oh I will," Wattson said. "But I'll need to know how strong you are already if I'm going to do that. So first we'll need to have a little battle."
"It won't be like yesterday," Mr Hemming piped in. "Wattson's going to use Pokemon strong enough for a first badge challenge, not Pokemon strong enough for seventh or eighth badge battles like I did."
"Oh," Ben said, feeling incredibly relieved. If that Ribombee had really been that strong then maybe a battle against a weaker Pokemon would be okay. "Okay then, yeah."
Mr Hemming seemed pleased he'd said yes and maybe a bit relieved before heading to the side. There was a small set of stands either side of the arena where people could sit and watch the battle. Ben approached his spot on one end of the arena while Wattson took the other.
Maybe one day it'd be his parents sitting there and watching him, Ben thought and not for the first time. He'd imagined that yesterday too before he'd lost so badly against Mr Hemming. Now there was someone actually sitting there it became a bit more real to have an audience.
The Gardevoir also went and sat down next to Mr Hemming and she waved with a kind smile on her face. Ben really didn't get why his mum had said they were a bad Pokemon. This Gardevoir seemed really nice.
"Righty ho!" Wattson said, recapturing Ben's attention. "Now I did some checking and you only have one Pokemon is that right?"
"Yes," Ben nodded. Did he need to have more? Wattson's expression didn't reveal anything but he nodded as his Manetric sat on his hindquarters by his feet.
"Right then in that case this'll just be a one on one battle to see how you do," Wattson said. "Go Elektrike!"
Ben was about to ask if they shouldn't summon their Pokemon at the same time like Mr Hemming had said yesterday, but then suddenly a Pokeball was being thrown forwards and Ben stumbled between hurrying to withdraw his own Pokemon while also looking at the Pokemon he'd always wanted.
"Triiiike!" howled the small dog-like Pokemon. It barked again before turning to look back at Wattson for a second before running around in a circle, chasing it's stubby tail in excitement.
Ben shook his head, realising he'd been staring.
"Go Zigzagoon!" Ben said.
Zigzagoon appeared on the battlefield. He looked around, seeing himself in the same place as he'd battled before but he didn't seem worried like Ben still kind of felt.
"This'll just be a friendly one on one battle," Wattson said. "Don't worry about winning or losing, I just want to see what you can do. We can start whenever you're ready."
"Y-yes," Ben said, nodding. "Alright… Zigzagoon, use Headbutt!"
It was the move he'd tried yesterday to absolutely no success but it was also Zigzagoon's strongest move. Ben had beaten a couple of other trainers using Headbutt and Zigzagoon had practiced it a lot on his own too.
"Use Quick Attack, Elektrike," Wattson ordered.
The Elektrike ran forward, faster than Zigzagoon was going and leaving a trail of white behind him. Ben braced himself as the two Pokemon collided.
Bam! Their heads bashed together, both Pokemon not giving an inch but it only lasted a moment before they fell away. Zigzagoon's attack had won out against the Quick Attack and knocked Elektrike back. The green and yellow striped Pokemon rolled as it landed on the floor but quickly got back on his feet.
"Zigzagoon!" Zigzagoon shouted confidently and Ben felt his fist clench.
This wasn't like yesterday. They could do this!
"Do it again Zigzagoon, I believe in you!" Ben shouted.
"Gooooon!" Zigzagoon cried, going to charge forward again.
"Not so fast!" Wattson said. "Elektrike, try a Thunder Wave!"
The Elektrike braced himself, leaning down on his paws before shooting out a spark of lightning from his tail.
"Dodge it Zigzagoon!" Ben cried out, but it was too late. Zigzagoon was too close and going too fast to avoid the hit. He stumbled, the corona of energy around his head faltering for a moment before he righted himself and kept on going!
Bam! The Elektrike was knocked back again, almost all the way back towards Wattson's side of the arena.
"Okay Elektrike you've taken a few hits but he'll be slower now. Circle around him and get ready for another Quick Attack."
Elektrike barked an affirmative and raced around to the side, Zigzagoon braced himself and turned to face it warily. Ben could see the little sparks running through Zigzagoon's fur, slowing him down.
"Get ready Zigzagoon!" Ben shouted. They couldn't go on the attack now. They would have to react to the Elektrike's next attack.
"Use Quick attack again!" Wattson suddenly ordered.
"U-use sand attack!" Ben said, thinking on his feet.
Zigzagoon was barely able to kick up the dust in time, flecks of sand being shot up from the ground despite it being a solid floor and into Elektrike's eyes.
"Ele!" The Pokemon shouted, almost missing his mark on account of the sand. He landed a glancing blow on Zigzagoon and then backed away. Shaking its head, the Elektrike stopped moving and reached up with a paw to try and rub the sand out of his eyes.
This was their chance!
"Quick, use Headbut again!" Ben shouted.
Zigzagoon was on the other Pokemon in a moment and landed a direct hit on Elektrike's side. The other Pokemon went flying and didn't roll to regather itself this time. It remained still, fainted.
"I won!" Ben exclaimed and a moment later Zigzagoon was jumping into his arms.
He laughed, hugging the Pokemon back as Zigagoon's big tongue licked at his face.
"That was very impressive," Wattson said, coming over. "Your Zigzagoon is strong, you've trained him well."
"Thanks!" Ben said, spotting Mr Hemming now coming in from the stands with his own Pokemon trailing behind him.
"Want Leah to heal that Elektrike?" He offered. "She can do the same for your Zigzagoon too," he offered to Ben."
"Yes please," Ben said quickly. He definitely wouldn't turn down a chance to make sure Zigzagoon was completely fine after the battle.
"Hmm yes, if you don't mind," Wattson said as well. He brought out the Elektrike again and the green and yellow dog Pokemon flopped down almost immediately, giving off a little whine of discomfort after the battle. The Gym Leader's Manetric approached and gave the Elektrike a long lick from head to tail.
Now they were up close to compare, it was a lot bigger than the Elektrike, Ben thought. That was a scary Pokemon Wattson had.
The Gardevoir knelt down beside the Elektrike and Ben watched, kind of amazed as a pink light came from the Pokemon's hands. It landed on the Elektrike who shuddered, but Ben could see already that the healing was working and in less than a minute the Elektrike was back on its feet. It was even better than that Pollen Puff the Ribombee had given Zigzagoon yesterday.
The Pokemon barked excitedly towards the Gardevoir and the Manetric said something else too, its voice a lot deeper and older sounding than the smaller green Pokemon. The Gardevoir nodded her head, replying with a smile on her face.
Zigzagoon squirmed in Ben's arms and he let his Pokemon down where it approached the Elektrike. They said something to each other. Ben obviously couldn't tell what they were saying but as the Gardevoir commented something in response that had the two Pokemon replying happily, it seemed like there weren't any hard feelings between any of them. She began healing Zigzagoon too.
"What did you think of our battle, Harry?" Wattson asked.
"I think Ben did a good job," Harry replied thoughtfully, looking back at the other Gym Leader. "Wattson's right your Zigzagoon's strong for your level, but if you want to get a Badge then either you and Zigzagoon are going to have to train a lot harder or you'll need more Pokemon."
Ben nodded seriously. There weren't any famous Pokemon trainers who just had one Pokemon, you needed a team if you were going to make it big. Off to the side the Zigzagoon and Elektrike were running circles around the giggling Gardevoir.
"That is more or less what I was thinking," Wattson said, nodding. "Usually a first badge challenge involves battling two or sometimes three Pokemon and I don't think your Zigzagoon would've been ready to take on my Magnemite after facing Elektrike."
For a moment Ben wanted to argue that maybe he could, but with Mr Hemming silently nodding in agreement he decided that maybe the Gym Leader was right.
"You'll need a full team eventually, something of a different type would be best, keep you rounded out as a trainer. Unless you plan to specialise in Normal types," Mr Hemming suggested.
"I-I could get another Pokemon," Ben said thoughtfully, thinking hard about how he could do that. He didn't want to specialise in Normal type Pokemon, there were tons of cool Pokemon out there and he didn't want to limit himself.
The biggest problem was his parents had told him he could only have Zigzagoon, but maybe he could hide another Pokemon somewhere and spend his pocket money to make sure it stayed fed. He'd need to catch one first. There was a family of Gulpin near his school the teachers didn't know about and they sometimes went and played with them. Maybe Ben could go and catch one of them.
"Now that is an idea," Wattson said in reply to Mr Hemming. "I saw the way you looked at Manetric and Elektrike before. Ben. How would you like to take Elektrike on as your second Pokemon?"
Ben's mouth dropped open and he looked between the Elektrike currently playing with his Zigzagoon and back to Wattson. Mr Hemming's eyes widened in surprise.
"D-d'you really mean that?" Ben asked. Wattson nodded.
"There's just one thing I'd like in return," the Electric type trainer replied and Ben braced himself for whatever the other man was going to ask of him. There was no way he could refuse no matter what it was.
"I'd like you to become one of my sponsored Gym trainers," Wattson said. "Now, you'll have to train hard and come and hel-"
"Yes!" Ben almost shouted, practically stumbling over himself to accept because that was something he definitely wanted. "I'll work super hard I swear!"
Wattson laughed. "I'll hold you to that young man. Elektrike, come here please."
Elektrike approached and sat on his haunches, looking up between Ben and Wattson.
"Elektrike, would you be happy going with Ben here and being his Pokemon from now on?"
Elektrike looked thoughtful for a few seconds and Zigzagoon came and sat next to it. It looked at Zigzagoon who looked just as excited as Ben felt and then it looked back to Ben.
There was a tense moment where Ben thought Elektrike might say no but then the Elektrike nodded, barking happily in the affirmative and Ben couldn't contain himself.
"Yes! Welcome to the team Elektrike!" He cheered, reaching down to hug the other Pokemon, ignoring the slight sting of static electricity on his skin because he was just so excited.
Elektrike barked happily into his ear and then Ben was bowled over as Zigzagoon jumped in to join them.
It was a couple of minutes before Ben managed to push the two happy Pokemon off of him. He stood up, wiping slobber off his face and saw the two adults talking off to the side, Mr Hemming was nodding to Wattson with a pleased smile on his face. They both shook hands.
Ben approached with his two Pokemon in tow.
Two Pokemon!
"Okay Harry I'll look forward to seeing you again in a couple of weeks," Wattson said. "Come on Ben, let's escort Harry out and then I suppose we need to go speak to your parents about you becoming one of my sponsored trainers."
"Oh, yeah…" Ben said, rubbing the back of his head.
This was going to be awkward. They didn't know he was here or anything about what'd happened yesterday.
But Ben was sure his parents would say yes, even if he probably would be grounded for going off on his own and challenging the Gym and stuff without telling them.
Because you didn't turn down an offer of sponsorship from a Pokemon Gym. It was the best way to get your career as a trainer properly started and his mum would definitely want him to try. She'd even been talking about enrolling him in a trainer school before it turned out they were too expensive. Now Ben was going to get loads of help with training and learning how to look after Pokemon and everything and it wouldn't even cost any money!
And he now had two Pokemon on top of all that! That would be great for now, Ben thought, but Mr Hemming's comments about needing more Pokemon came to mind as the man waved goodbye and the door and headed off to wherever he was going next.
"Man I should totally get a Gardevoir, they're kinda awesome," Ben muttered, watching the green and white Pokemon walking off beside the other trainer. A Pokemon that could do healing seemed like a really good idea to have. Plus they were Psych-
Wattson suddenly choked and began coughing.
"I'm okay," he said, trying to recover and holding up a hand to ward off any offer of help.
"Just, whatever you do," he said, continuing to cough and wheeze a little bit as he spoke. "Please don't say that to your parents."
Chapter 9
New
After finishing with Mauville we headed out north straight away. The fourth Gym was Lavaridge which was run by Flannery in the games but currently under the control of Moore, her grandfather. He was a former Elite Four member and undoubtedly was a strong trainer with lots of experience. Wattson had said he wanted to battle me, so I had that to look forward to.
There were other ways to reach Lavaridge, but once again I had chosen to take the route prescribed by the games I remembered. Which meant I needed to head up the cable car to the top of Mt Chimney and then I would hike down the mountain and reach Lavaridge that way. I didn't think we'd manage it all today. We would probably stop and spend the night somewhere up near the mountain.
The tall industrialised buildings of Mauville became more sparse, shrinking down as we left northwards. Flora claimed more and more of the environment the further we walked and the paved road became a dirt path with more trees and the pleasing sounds of nature returning. Instead of the sound of cars and city streets I started to hear bird Pokemon twittering and the rustle of leaves in the trees. A Tailow flew overhead, inspecting us before continuing on its way and as we continued, a couple of grass Pokemon lazily sunned themselves near a lake and I saw a small house just off in the distance. Someone who probably wanted their privacy but wasn't willing to completely forego the benefits of being within easy travelling distance of civilization.
But nature wasn't entirely free of human progress.
The sounds of machinery and workmen were loud and we followed the noise to see what was going on. It was a building currently under construction, a tower of some sort and it was tall and sleek with lots of metal and glass. It was being partly built into the mountainside which surprised me as that seemed more difficult than simply building it somewhere else but it wasn't like I knew whether that was actually the case. Curious, I approached to get a better look.
As we came near Leah gestured to the side and I saw that I wasn't the only person interested in whatever building this was.
There was a woman and a man. The woman dressed in stylish short white pants that hugged her legs and a loose blue top while the man was dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt. The significant difference in their outfits made sense as he didn't need to be in front of the camera he was pointing at the woman, who with her microphone was clearly a reporter of some kind. Something felt vaguely familiar about them, but I couldn't place it. I decided to keep my distance, not wanting to disturb whatever report they were doing.
There were a lot of people working with machinery or by hand. I spotted a few Fighting types who were assisting the workmen, carrying heavy loads and mixing cement alongside their human partners. Despite the help of Pokemon to make some of the work easier it wasn't doing much to reduce the amount of noise being produced.
There was a woman wearing a hard hat and an orange high-vis jacket who was also holding a clipboard and seemed to be issuing instructions. She spotted me in the distance, stopped what she was doing and approached us.
"Woah there!" she shouted over the sound of machinery. She approached, holding up two hands and waving them as if to ward me off. I stopped, figuring that was what she wanted, but it wasn't like I was anywhere close to the building work.
I didn't know terribly much about construction. I'd never really done much manual labour in this life, or the one before for that matter. But still, I hadn't exactly approached too close and I was behind the boundary line they had set up with tape which I figured was to stop people, or at least to mark dangerous zones.
The woman arrived in front of me, close enough to speak more clearly. She was a tall, mature woman somewhere in her forties or fifties.
"You can't be here fella," she said, looking between myself and Leah. She had an accent that sounded vaguely Welsh for some reason. "This isn't a place for a battle, move along."
"I didn't come here to battle," I replied quickly, surprised that that was what the woman thought I was doing. "Don't tell me you get trainers trying to battle you guys out here?"
With a look of relief on her face that I wasn't going to cause any problems, the woman nodded.
"All the bloody time," she said. "Kids and even a few adults who won't take no for an answer I tell you. We put up signs, but I'm not convinced half of them can even read. That's before I get into the wild Rock Pokemon coming in when we're not looking and trying to drink the concrete while it's still setting."
Indeed, as she pointed behind herself I finally noticed there was a sign saying "NO POKEMON BATTLES," which I hadn't managed to see either, apparently, which was to my slight embarrassment. But even in my past life if I had come upon this situation as a tween I'd like to think I would have still had more sense than to enter an ongoing construction site to try and force a Pokemon battle like this site manager was describing.
"I know what you mean," I replied, thinking back to my encounter at the Mauville Gym. "What is this place going to be anyway?" I gestured to the half finished building.
"It's going to be a big battle center, multiple floors and all sorts," the builder replied easily. "A guy out of Johto wants to build somewhere to host battle tournaments and other sorts of contests. This was where he wanted it, not sure why." She shrugged.
"Sounds like a big project," I replied. The building itself was already several stories high as it stuck out of the mountain and I couldn't guess how tall it was going to be once it was finished. "Do you get a lot of projects like this? Places for Pokemon battles, that is."
"Nothing this big before," the builder admitted. "But I've done one or two stadiums and the Contest Halls are pretty much the same thing. Listen, anyway, thanks for not causing any problems but I've gotta get back to work." I nodded in understanding.
"Do you have a card maybe?" I asked, making the builder turn back to me. "I might have some work for your company soon."
"Yeah I do," she replied, sounding intrigued and a bit more friendly at the prospect of getting more work. "Wait there, I'll be back in a few minutes."
She went back and shouted some orders to her crew that I couldn't hear over the sound of the machinery at work and then came back a few minutes later with a plaster covered card in hand.
The woman offered me her hand to shake. "Call me Phil."
Phil had a firm grip and large hands that seemed to dwarf mine as I greeted her properly. They felt coarse against my softer hands, showing a bit of the difference in our respective professions. Pokemon battling did require a bit of labour here and there, but truthfully the majority of the work was done on the Pokemon's parts.
"Pleasure," I replied. I stepped back, ready to leave Philippa to get back to what she was doing. "Any idea when you'll be finished here to start on something new?"
Phil shook her head side to side, working over the answer.
"Give it a couple of months before we can start construction on something else," she said. "We're supposed to be finished here by then, but if you speak to our offices then they can start on the architectural side of things before then."
That didn't sound too bad. I'd probably prefer to be set up before the next season started but that might be wishful thinking. Construction projects tended to be bogged down in delays and unforeseen expenses exponentially proportional to their size. I doubted my own Gym would be ready in time even if I got things going right away today.
I'd struck lucky. might've found someone to build my own Pokemon Gym when the time came. I mentally chastised myself in the next moment. I should've asked Wattson before for any advice about this, Of all the Gym Leaders he would know more about construction, having been involved in building New Mauville.
I thanked Phil for her time and then said farewell.
"Keep an eye out for Graveller!" Phil shouted after me. I turned and waved, nodding in thanks before continuing on my way.
Heading back onto the path north towards Lavaridge I couldn't help but feel quite satisfied that I'd lucked out on finding a builder who seemed competent.
Also this battle tower, whatever it was, seemed interesting. Maybe once I was established as a Gym Leader we could come back and check this place out.
Wild Pokemon were often pretty territorial. There were plenty of examples of how interfering with the local environment could cause problems and people had mostly learnt their lesson about human encroachment. But with that big building being built I wasn't surprised that they had gotten worked up a bit regardless of whatever efforts Phil's people had done to minimise their impact.
So after the warning from Phil I took it to heart and decided to bring out some more members of my team. Robin was now out hovering higher up in the air and looking for trouble. Happy was out too, his Water typing might prove fortuitous if we encountered particularly strong Graveller or Golem which is what I anticipated but I remembered the small army of Diglett from the old anime that had protested the dam that was being built so I wanted to be ready just incase. Happy took a lookout spot standing on my shoulder, one of the benefits of being as small as he was.
It seemed my preparations were worthwhile because Robin floated down, gesturing to the side and telling us that there were some dangerous Pokemon approaching. A moment later a pair of Graveler suddenly burst out from behind a hill, only fifty yards or so away, apparently annoyed at our proximity.
Up for a fight, the two Rock/Ground types were already rolling towards us at speed with a Rollout attack.
"Robin, slow them down with Silver Wind," I ordered. I didn't want to hurt them too much. Silver Wind was Bug typed so the Graveller would hopefully not be hurt too badly if they happened to be too weak, regardless of how unfair it was for them to be attacking random strangers like this.
"Ribuu," my Ribombee said, hovering in front of us and frowning at the two Graveler as they came closer. He crossed his arms, not intimidated by their approach. He was far too fast for them to hit him, but that wasn't going to be an issue.
Halfway to us, the two Graveler bounced up on a rocky outcropping, doubtlessly intending to sail through the air and collide with us directly.
Robin spun around in a circle several times, building up the power of the attack before flinging a small tornado of Silver Wind towards the oncoming Pokemon.
The Graveler were heavy and they had momentum on their side which was why the Silver Wind didn't stop them entirely. They hit the ground far short of their destination and with their Rollout attacks interrupted the way it had been that was enough. Their weight and remaining momentum from rolling dug them partially into the ground, forcing both Pokemon to have to stop theri attack and dig themselves out of the earth.
"Grav!" Shouted the one on the right threateningly, looking to its companion which likewise looked very angry. Robin hovered in the air in front of me, arms crossed and a stern look upon his face as he told the belligerent Pokemon off, or at least that's what I assumed was happening.
It seemed like Robin's attack and subsequent warning wasn't enough to entirely put them off their aggression. More words were exchanged, the Graveler gesturing towards us, no me as they spoke and I felt Leah suddenly stiffen from her position holding my arm.
"Gard?" She asked, letting go of me and gliding forwards serenely, tilting her head as she beheld the two Rock types. "Garde voir voooir?"
A hazy sheen formed around her as she prepared an attack, Fairy energy building between her hands.
"Shit," I muttered. "Don't kill them," I ordered quickly. Leah could sometimes get overzealous if she thought i was being threatened and I could still sense the energy building.
Suddenly, Happy leapt from my shoulder.
The small blue mouse Pokemon sailed through the air over the Gardevoir who hesitated at seeing the Marill overhead. Happy appeared between the two Graveler, his tail already shining with the telltale sheen of an Iron Tail. In midair he spun around, dealing a harsh blow to each Graveller's side, the sound of metal on rock and that rock breaking as the bulb on Happy's tail struck true.
Both Graveler were sent flying several yards away, their weight not letting them travel far before they dug a pair of furrows in the terrain. Both were rendered unconscious.
The danger averted I approached and upon inspection they were injured, but alive. Rock types like these would be fine after eating some actual rocks, which made up part of their biology.
Hopefully these two had learnt their lesson about attacking random passersby. Meanwhile Happy had landed on his feet and then began to bounce up and down with a familiar delighted expression.
"Marill!" Happy called cheerfully. "Ma mari rill marill!"
I let out a sigh of relief as Leah's stiff posture relaxed, the tension in the moment dissipating along with the attack she had been preparing.
"Garde devoir," Leah said, sounding slightly put out as she spoke to Happy.
"Marill!" Was Happy's response. He bounced over and Leah was forced to catch him in her arms. The Gardevoir turned back towards me, she was pouting while holding the smaller Pokemon up against her belly, just under her chest horn. It was hard to be upset with Happy, he was just too cheerful.
"Good Job Happy," I said, making ready to quickly vacate the area and keep moving before something else happened. "C'mon, let's keep moving."
But I had spoken too soon.
"That, was, amazing! Did you get all of that?!"
We turned as one to behold the reporter and her cameraman from before.
"Sure did," the cameraman replied to the reporter's obvious excitement.
"Hi! I'm Gabby and this is Ty from PokeNews," the reporter said, coming a bit closer. "Your Marill isn't just strong, he's adorable too!" Gabby said as she came to a stop a polite distance away.
"Marill!" Happy said cheerfully, wiggling in place, still held close by Leah.
"Thank…you?" I replied, a bit nonplussed at the sudden attention. I hadn't noticed the reporters at all and it seemed neither had my Pokemon. Apparently my words were all the permission Gabby needed to step forward and shove her microphone at me.
"Can I get a few words about that battle we just saw? How did it make you feel?" Gabby asked.
Ah, suddenly I remembered. These were the duo that you found on Route 111 in the games. They jumped around the map a bit and you could battle them several times in the games. After battling them you could see a little report on your battle with them on any in-game Tv later on.
It looked like I wasn't going to be keeping as low a profile as I'd hoped… I thought to myself, mentally apologising to the Gym Leaders. Hopefully they would understand this wasn't deliberate on my part, but it looked like I was going to be on Tv.
***
It had been a long day of sorting out the Gym Pokemon. So many Slugma… They just kept breeding lately. Slugma were a staple Pokemon that Lavaridge gave out to the few kids that were good enough to get a beginner sponsorship from the Gym. Slugma and Magcargo were the hottest Pokemon they had in the Gym and they required very high temperatures to remain comfortable, beyond even Flannery's comfort level after a while. But lately the numbers had increased a bit too much and she'd had to spend a good few hours in their caves making sure they were all fed and comfortable. Flannery was sure at this rate that her grandpa was going to send her up Mt Chimney to release a bunch of them into the wild. It wasn't something they usually did, but it was necessary to keep the Gym running smoothly.
It wasn't like Flannery was against a bit of heat, she was well used to it given her specialty typing but it had gotten to be a bit too much by the end. So as soon as the day was over she'd grabbed a cold shower and then thrown on her PJs before flopping down on the couch to relax a bit before going to bed.
"Coal," Torkoal greeted her. She was sat waiting for her alongside a dozing Arcanine and Houndoom. Arcanine had his head lying on top of Torkoal's warm shell while Houndoom was curled up next to them both, leaning against Arcanine's furry side. A small puff of smoke came out of Torkoal's nostrils before dissipating into the air and then she went to rest her head back against the floor. The smoke could've been a problem but Flannery had had air filters installed. They were expensive but they made it so she could have her starter out in the house. Torkoal, Houndoom and Arcanine were her only Pokemon that didn't constantly pose a risk of setting fire to the house and were small enough to fit inside. No matter how flame retardant everything was or how careful they were, her Rapidash and Magcargo simply couldn't help themselves. Camerupt was unfortunately just too big, to her embarrassment the first time after evolving when she'd tried to get into the house.
Anyway, her grandpa was over at his poetry club so she had the house to herself. It meant she could watch what she liked for once.
The Tv turned on and it had been left on PokeNews, a news channel that was half journalistic news reporting, half just interesting Pokemon stories. Flannery probably would've just changed the channel but then she saw the current feature.
A Marill fell from above and in an impressive display of agility knocked out a pair of Graveller in one hit each. Flannery raised her eyebrows. She'd seen the excited messages from Brawly about Harry Hemming's Marill and when the camera cut to the interview with the trainer of the Marill on the screen Flannery was sure almost immediately that this was the guy. He fit the description to a tee which was office clothes, glasses and brown hair. The Gardevoir she spotted in the background holding the Marill in her hands was just extra confirmation.
"- a nuisance. Wild Pokemon don't often differentiate between different groups of humans and I suspect they were aggravated by the building works a mile or so back. I'm glad I encountered them before someone with less experience of wild areas did, otherwise they might've been taken by surprise and seriously hurt."
"You sound like you've got experience with wild Pokemon like this," the excited reporter replied. "Are you a travelling trainer? Perhaps on the Gym circuit?"
Flannery leaned forwards with interest. Hopefully Harry wasn't about to give the game away.
"Just travelling," Harry said, before shrugging. "I'm a writer so I've done a bit of travelling around the regions looking for inspiration."
Of course the next question after that was obvious. If Harry was a writer then what had he written? Harry paused for a few moments in indecision before apparently deciding to answer.
"Trainers Colliding," he said firmly and after a moment of surprise, Flannery's mouth dropped open.
Trainers Colliding was written by Hermione Hemsworth. At least that's what the title on the books said. Apparently Harry Hemming hadn't tried very hard at his pseudonym…
"I don't believe it," Flannery said as the reporter immediately pounced on the revelation because apparently she knew that series too. Flannery would never have guessed that the new Gym Leader guy would be the one who wrote her favourite book series, that he'd be the guy who'd decided what happened…
She suddenly jumped up to her feet.
"Come on guys, we're gonna get some training done!" Flannery declared with determination her Pokemon roused at her outburst and looked at her in confusion.
Her grandpa might want to battle him but he could just sit down and wait for his turn darnit! Flannery would never forgive Harry Hemming for killing off her favourite character!
"Don't worry Claudia, I will avenge you!" Flannery shouted, leading her bemused Pokemon out towards the training yard.
There were other ways to reach Lavaridge, but once again I had chosen to take the route prescribed by the games I remembered. Which meant I needed to head up the cable car to the top of Mt Chimney and then I would hike down the mountain and reach Lavaridge that way. I didn't think we'd manage it all today. We would probably stop and spend the night somewhere up near the mountain.
The tall industrialised buildings of Mauville became more sparse, shrinking down as we left northwards. Flora claimed more and more of the environment the further we walked and the paved road became a dirt path with more trees and the pleasing sounds of nature returning. Instead of the sound of cars and city streets I started to hear bird Pokemon twittering and the rustle of leaves in the trees. A Tailow flew overhead, inspecting us before continuing on its way and as we continued, a couple of grass Pokemon lazily sunned themselves near a lake and I saw a small house just off in the distance. Someone who probably wanted their privacy but wasn't willing to completely forego the benefits of being within easy travelling distance of civilization.
But nature wasn't entirely free of human progress.
The sounds of machinery and workmen were loud and we followed the noise to see what was going on. It was a building currently under construction, a tower of some sort and it was tall and sleek with lots of metal and glass. It was being partly built into the mountainside which surprised me as that seemed more difficult than simply building it somewhere else but it wasn't like I knew whether that was actually the case. Curious, I approached to get a better look.
As we came near Leah gestured to the side and I saw that I wasn't the only person interested in whatever building this was.
There was a woman and a man. The woman dressed in stylish short white pants that hugged her legs and a loose blue top while the man was dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt. The significant difference in their outfits made sense as he didn't need to be in front of the camera he was pointing at the woman, who with her microphone was clearly a reporter of some kind. Something felt vaguely familiar about them, but I couldn't place it. I decided to keep my distance, not wanting to disturb whatever report they were doing.
There were a lot of people working with machinery or by hand. I spotted a few Fighting types who were assisting the workmen, carrying heavy loads and mixing cement alongside their human partners. Despite the help of Pokemon to make some of the work easier it wasn't doing much to reduce the amount of noise being produced.
There was a woman wearing a hard hat and an orange high-vis jacket who was also holding a clipboard and seemed to be issuing instructions. She spotted me in the distance, stopped what she was doing and approached us.
"Woah there!" she shouted over the sound of machinery. She approached, holding up two hands and waving them as if to ward me off. I stopped, figuring that was what she wanted, but it wasn't like I was anywhere close to the building work.
I didn't know terribly much about construction. I'd never really done much manual labour in this life, or the one before for that matter. But still, I hadn't exactly approached too close and I was behind the boundary line they had set up with tape which I figured was to stop people, or at least to mark dangerous zones.
The woman arrived in front of me, close enough to speak more clearly. She was a tall, mature woman somewhere in her forties or fifties.
"You can't be here fella," she said, looking between myself and Leah. She had an accent that sounded vaguely Welsh for some reason. "This isn't a place for a battle, move along."
"I didn't come here to battle," I replied quickly, surprised that that was what the woman thought I was doing. "Don't tell me you get trainers trying to battle you guys out here?"
With a look of relief on her face that I wasn't going to cause any problems, the woman nodded.
"All the bloody time," she said. "Kids and even a few adults who won't take no for an answer I tell you. We put up signs, but I'm not convinced half of them can even read. That's before I get into the wild Rock Pokemon coming in when we're not looking and trying to drink the concrete while it's still setting."
Indeed, as she pointed behind herself I finally noticed there was a sign saying "NO POKEMON BATTLES," which I hadn't managed to see either, apparently, which was to my slight embarrassment. But even in my past life if I had come upon this situation as a tween I'd like to think I would have still had more sense than to enter an ongoing construction site to try and force a Pokemon battle like this site manager was describing.
"I know what you mean," I replied, thinking back to my encounter at the Mauville Gym. "What is this place going to be anyway?" I gestured to the half finished building.
"It's going to be a big battle center, multiple floors and all sorts," the builder replied easily. "A guy out of Johto wants to build somewhere to host battle tournaments and other sorts of contests. This was where he wanted it, not sure why." She shrugged.
"Sounds like a big project," I replied. The building itself was already several stories high as it stuck out of the mountain and I couldn't guess how tall it was going to be once it was finished. "Do you get a lot of projects like this? Places for Pokemon battles, that is."
"Nothing this big before," the builder admitted. "But I've done one or two stadiums and the Contest Halls are pretty much the same thing. Listen, anyway, thanks for not causing any problems but I've gotta get back to work." I nodded in understanding.
"Do you have a card maybe?" I asked, making the builder turn back to me. "I might have some work for your company soon."
"Yeah I do," she replied, sounding intrigued and a bit more friendly at the prospect of getting more work. "Wait there, I'll be back in a few minutes."
She went back and shouted some orders to her crew that I couldn't hear over the sound of the machinery at work and then came back a few minutes later with a plaster covered card in hand.
The woman offered me her hand to shake. "Call me Phil."
Phil had a firm grip and large hands that seemed to dwarf mine as I greeted her properly. They felt coarse against my softer hands, showing a bit of the difference in our respective professions. Pokemon battling did require a bit of labour here and there, but truthfully the majority of the work was done on the Pokemon's parts.
"Pleasure," I replied. I stepped back, ready to leave Philippa to get back to what she was doing. "Any idea when you'll be finished here to start on something new?"
Phil shook her head side to side, working over the answer.
"Give it a couple of months before we can start construction on something else," she said. "We're supposed to be finished here by then, but if you speak to our offices then they can start on the architectural side of things before then."
That didn't sound too bad. I'd probably prefer to be set up before the next season started but that might be wishful thinking. Construction projects tended to be bogged down in delays and unforeseen expenses exponentially proportional to their size. I doubted my own Gym would be ready in time even if I got things going right away today.
I'd struck lucky. might've found someone to build my own Pokemon Gym when the time came. I mentally chastised myself in the next moment. I should've asked Wattson before for any advice about this, Of all the Gym Leaders he would know more about construction, having been involved in building New Mauville.
I thanked Phil for her time and then said farewell.
"Keep an eye out for Graveller!" Phil shouted after me. I turned and waved, nodding in thanks before continuing on my way.
Heading back onto the path north towards Lavaridge I couldn't help but feel quite satisfied that I'd lucked out on finding a builder who seemed competent.
Also this battle tower, whatever it was, seemed interesting. Maybe once I was established as a Gym Leader we could come back and check this place out.
Wild Pokemon were often pretty territorial. There were plenty of examples of how interfering with the local environment could cause problems and people had mostly learnt their lesson about human encroachment. But with that big building being built I wasn't surprised that they had gotten worked up a bit regardless of whatever efforts Phil's people had done to minimise their impact.
So after the warning from Phil I took it to heart and decided to bring out some more members of my team. Robin was now out hovering higher up in the air and looking for trouble. Happy was out too, his Water typing might prove fortuitous if we encountered particularly strong Graveller or Golem which is what I anticipated but I remembered the small army of Diglett from the old anime that had protested the dam that was being built so I wanted to be ready just incase. Happy took a lookout spot standing on my shoulder, one of the benefits of being as small as he was.
It seemed my preparations were worthwhile because Robin floated down, gesturing to the side and telling us that there were some dangerous Pokemon approaching. A moment later a pair of Graveler suddenly burst out from behind a hill, only fifty yards or so away, apparently annoyed at our proximity.
Up for a fight, the two Rock/Ground types were already rolling towards us at speed with a Rollout attack.
"Robin, slow them down with Silver Wind," I ordered. I didn't want to hurt them too much. Silver Wind was Bug typed so the Graveller would hopefully not be hurt too badly if they happened to be too weak, regardless of how unfair it was for them to be attacking random strangers like this.
"Ribuu," my Ribombee said, hovering in front of us and frowning at the two Graveler as they came closer. He crossed his arms, not intimidated by their approach. He was far too fast for them to hit him, but that wasn't going to be an issue.
Halfway to us, the two Graveler bounced up on a rocky outcropping, doubtlessly intending to sail through the air and collide with us directly.
Robin spun around in a circle several times, building up the power of the attack before flinging a small tornado of Silver Wind towards the oncoming Pokemon.
The Graveler were heavy and they had momentum on their side which was why the Silver Wind didn't stop them entirely. They hit the ground far short of their destination and with their Rollout attacks interrupted the way it had been that was enough. Their weight and remaining momentum from rolling dug them partially into the ground, forcing both Pokemon to have to stop theri attack and dig themselves out of the earth.
"Grav!" Shouted the one on the right threateningly, looking to its companion which likewise looked very angry. Robin hovered in the air in front of me, arms crossed and a stern look upon his face as he told the belligerent Pokemon off, or at least that's what I assumed was happening.
It seemed like Robin's attack and subsequent warning wasn't enough to entirely put them off their aggression. More words were exchanged, the Graveler gesturing towards us, no me as they spoke and I felt Leah suddenly stiffen from her position holding my arm.
"Gard?" She asked, letting go of me and gliding forwards serenely, tilting her head as she beheld the two Rock types. "Garde voir voooir?"
A hazy sheen formed around her as she prepared an attack, Fairy energy building between her hands.
"Shit," I muttered. "Don't kill them," I ordered quickly. Leah could sometimes get overzealous if she thought i was being threatened and I could still sense the energy building.
Suddenly, Happy leapt from my shoulder.
The small blue mouse Pokemon sailed through the air over the Gardevoir who hesitated at seeing the Marill overhead. Happy appeared between the two Graveler, his tail already shining with the telltale sheen of an Iron Tail. In midair he spun around, dealing a harsh blow to each Graveller's side, the sound of metal on rock and that rock breaking as the bulb on Happy's tail struck true.
Both Graveler were sent flying several yards away, their weight not letting them travel far before they dug a pair of furrows in the terrain. Both were rendered unconscious.
The danger averted I approached and upon inspection they were injured, but alive. Rock types like these would be fine after eating some actual rocks, which made up part of their biology.
Hopefully these two had learnt their lesson about attacking random passersby. Meanwhile Happy had landed on his feet and then began to bounce up and down with a familiar delighted expression.
"Marill!" Happy called cheerfully. "Ma mari rill marill!"
I let out a sigh of relief as Leah's stiff posture relaxed, the tension in the moment dissipating along with the attack she had been preparing.
"Garde devoir," Leah said, sounding slightly put out as she spoke to Happy.
"Marill!" Was Happy's response. He bounced over and Leah was forced to catch him in her arms. The Gardevoir turned back towards me, she was pouting while holding the smaller Pokemon up against her belly, just under her chest horn. It was hard to be upset with Happy, he was just too cheerful.
"Good Job Happy," I said, making ready to quickly vacate the area and keep moving before something else happened. "C'mon, let's keep moving."
But I had spoken too soon.
"That, was, amazing! Did you get all of that?!"
We turned as one to behold the reporter and her cameraman from before.
"Sure did," the cameraman replied to the reporter's obvious excitement.
"Hi! I'm Gabby and this is Ty from PokeNews," the reporter said, coming a bit closer. "Your Marill isn't just strong, he's adorable too!" Gabby said as she came to a stop a polite distance away.
"Marill!" Happy said cheerfully, wiggling in place, still held close by Leah.
"Thank…you?" I replied, a bit nonplussed at the sudden attention. I hadn't noticed the reporters at all and it seemed neither had my Pokemon. Apparently my words were all the permission Gabby needed to step forward and shove her microphone at me.
"Can I get a few words about that battle we just saw? How did it make you feel?" Gabby asked.
Ah, suddenly I remembered. These were the duo that you found on Route 111 in the games. They jumped around the map a bit and you could battle them several times in the games. After battling them you could see a little report on your battle with them on any in-game Tv later on.
It looked like I wasn't going to be keeping as low a profile as I'd hoped… I thought to myself, mentally apologising to the Gym Leaders. Hopefully they would understand this wasn't deliberate on my part, but it looked like I was going to be on Tv.
***
It had been a long day of sorting out the Gym Pokemon. So many Slugma… They just kept breeding lately. Slugma were a staple Pokemon that Lavaridge gave out to the few kids that were good enough to get a beginner sponsorship from the Gym. Slugma and Magcargo were the hottest Pokemon they had in the Gym and they required very high temperatures to remain comfortable, beyond even Flannery's comfort level after a while. But lately the numbers had increased a bit too much and she'd had to spend a good few hours in their caves making sure they were all fed and comfortable. Flannery was sure at this rate that her grandpa was going to send her up Mt Chimney to release a bunch of them into the wild. It wasn't something they usually did, but it was necessary to keep the Gym running smoothly.
It wasn't like Flannery was against a bit of heat, she was well used to it given her specialty typing but it had gotten to be a bit too much by the end. So as soon as the day was over she'd grabbed a cold shower and then thrown on her PJs before flopping down on the couch to relax a bit before going to bed.
"Coal," Torkoal greeted her. She was sat waiting for her alongside a dozing Arcanine and Houndoom. Arcanine had his head lying on top of Torkoal's warm shell while Houndoom was curled up next to them both, leaning against Arcanine's furry side. A small puff of smoke came out of Torkoal's nostrils before dissipating into the air and then she went to rest her head back against the floor. The smoke could've been a problem but Flannery had had air filters installed. They were expensive but they made it so she could have her starter out in the house. Torkoal, Houndoom and Arcanine were her only Pokemon that didn't constantly pose a risk of setting fire to the house and were small enough to fit inside. No matter how flame retardant everything was or how careful they were, her Rapidash and Magcargo simply couldn't help themselves. Camerupt was unfortunately just too big, to her embarrassment the first time after evolving when she'd tried to get into the house.
Anyway, her grandpa was over at his poetry club so she had the house to herself. It meant she could watch what she liked for once.
The Tv turned on and it had been left on PokeNews, a news channel that was half journalistic news reporting, half just interesting Pokemon stories. Flannery probably would've just changed the channel but then she saw the current feature.
A Marill fell from above and in an impressive display of agility knocked out a pair of Graveller in one hit each. Flannery raised her eyebrows. She'd seen the excited messages from Brawly about Harry Hemming's Marill and when the camera cut to the interview with the trainer of the Marill on the screen Flannery was sure almost immediately that this was the guy. He fit the description to a tee which was office clothes, glasses and brown hair. The Gardevoir she spotted in the background holding the Marill in her hands was just extra confirmation.
"- a nuisance. Wild Pokemon don't often differentiate between different groups of humans and I suspect they were aggravated by the building works a mile or so back. I'm glad I encountered them before someone with less experience of wild areas did, otherwise they might've been taken by surprise and seriously hurt."
"You sound like you've got experience with wild Pokemon like this," the excited reporter replied. "Are you a travelling trainer? Perhaps on the Gym circuit?"
Flannery leaned forwards with interest. Hopefully Harry wasn't about to give the game away.
"Just travelling," Harry said, before shrugging. "I'm a writer so I've done a bit of travelling around the regions looking for inspiration."
Of course the next question after that was obvious. If Harry was a writer then what had he written? Harry paused for a few moments in indecision before apparently deciding to answer.
"Trainers Colliding," he said firmly and after a moment of surprise, Flannery's mouth dropped open.
Trainers Colliding was written by Hermione Hemsworth. At least that's what the title on the books said. Apparently Harry Hemming hadn't tried very hard at his pseudonym…
"I don't believe it," Flannery said as the reporter immediately pounced on the revelation because apparently she knew that series too. Flannery would never have guessed that the new Gym Leader guy would be the one who wrote her favourite book series, that he'd be the guy who'd decided what happened…
She suddenly jumped up to her feet.
"Come on guys, we're gonna get some training done!" Flannery declared with determination her Pokemon roused at her outburst and looked at her in confusion.
Her grandpa might want to battle him but he could just sit down and wait for his turn darnit! Flannery would never forgive Harry Hemming for killing off her favourite character!
"Don't worry Claudia, I will avenge you!" Flannery shouted, leading her bemused Pokemon out towards the training yard.