"Why?" I asked confused since as far as I could tell the battle with Roxanne had little to do with anything that would interest a fighting type specialist like Brawly. "You man! You made a statement to all of us gym leaders with that battle! You told us that you were here to conquer and you weren't gonna hold back until you reached the top! We all felt it and are stoked to accept your challenge!" Brawly said with a wide grin. I wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or if he was pulling this out of nowhere since I am pretty sure I must have looked like a statue in the recording.-

I mean I might have been projecting my ambitions but I don't think so. Brawly seemed to understand my thoughts and spoke up again "It's wasn't you that gave it away dude but your pokemon. When you get the the level us leaders are at you'll be able to see through the thoughts and personality of a pokemon at a glance. Your pokemon were practically oozing ambition and pride!" he said with a wide smile.-

"I won't deny my ambitions but they are a bit different than you seem to think." I said honestly. Brawly looked intrigued "Don't leave me hanging bro , what is it that sets your spirit surging like the waves during a storm?" he asked eager to know the answer. "I want to leave behind a legend! I want people to remember my name for the rest of time! I don't want to stand at the top of the world but to exceed it by so far that I become that thing others aspire to be , an icon , a legend so grand all other pale in comparison!" I say firmly and with pride.-

"HAHAHAHAHA YES! That's the stuff right there! That passion and confidence that makes me believe you will do it! That is what I want to face in battle and get crashed into like a tsunami!" Brawly exclaimed excitedly. It was hard to describe what airing my ambitions so openly felt like beyond freeing. It was as though a pressure was dropped off my shoulders and I could finally walk for the first time in my life instead of crawl. Surprisingly it even brought a change in my aura that flared up aggressively before settling down in a fiercer but oddly calm manner.-

'I'll have to examine that later.' I thought after sensing the change. "You will need to wait unfortunately as ambition doesn't equal strength immediately." I gotcha bro , everyone's got to start somewhere and you still need time to swell until you can finally crash down and shake up the world" Brawly said with a wide grin and a thumbs up. "So who do I talk to about setting up my appointment?" I asked changing the subject. This caught Brawly off guard and complete derailed his whole flow which was amusing to see.-

"Er probably Tod here if I had to say for sure." Brawly answered awkwardly while pointing at the blonde haired man sitting behind the reception desk of the gym. I nod and walk over to the desk "I would like to set my challenge around three weeks from now if that's possible." I said calmly and the man started to look through the appointed times for challenges. "Since most of the challenges are done with as little time as possible in mind all the dates exactly three weeks from now are empty." the man said professionally. I nod in understanding "Set me in for that Friday please." I say calmly and the man makes a few keystrokes on his computer before nodding to show he did.-

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Well I best be off then , on a bit of a schedule at the moment and I'd hate to make my ride wait anymore than necessary. I'll be back in three weeks for that starred badge." I say confidently to Brawly before leaving the gym. Walking over to the steep rock face I lean forward and allow myself to fall forward. A few people yell in horror at the seemingly suicidal move until I kick against stone face at the perfect time to negate most of my downward momentum and allow me to flip midair and land on my feet at the bottom of the path.-

It was an unnecessary maneuver of course since with aura I could briefly reinforce my body to be able to eat all the pressure such a fall would exert on my body without any issue. I wasn't planning on exposing my aura anytime soon however so this was the second quickest way to get down from the gym. It also would add to my reputation as quite a few people recorded that little stunt and were likely posting it all over the internet.-

I would latter find out that I was correct and the forums dedicated to physical fitness and martial arts would have various experts break down what it was that I did as well as how I did it. There would even be some big names involved such as Bruno and Koga that were both experts in their own rights. Anyways I walked over to the dock where Mr. Brineys boat was docked to see if he was there. I was in luck since he had just gotten back from wherever he had gone to wait for me which let us leave right away.-

There was a slight problem on the way to Slateport where we ran into some particularly aggressive Carvanha that saw our small boat as an easy target. I tried playing nice since I was in a good mood and threw out some berries for the group but they were clearly more interested in eating us so I released Rune to show them the error of their ways. After they died from electrocution I hauled their corpses on board before skinning and filleting them with Mr. Brineys help.-

He didn't mind the mess it made and I even promised him half of the meat which he agreed to since Carvanha were apparently good eating. I could believe it too as the fillets were clean white meat much like trout or catfish but way larger. It looked like a small slab of tuna meat size wise per fillet as the Carvanha were each a good foot and a half wide and three or four feet long. After a few hours on the sea we finally arrived at Slateport as the sun was starting to go down.-

I let Mr. Briney know when my challenge with Brawly was before he left me on the beach so he could head straight home since he would rather risk a night sail than stay at Slateport overnight. Knowing what I did about port cities and crime I couldn't blame him and wished him luck on the trip. 'Now I need to find us a spot to stay for the night.' I thought as I saw the bright city lights in the distance and started walking that way.