Daisy met us at the Pokemon Center the next morning. She stood outside the front door, holding a cardboard drink holder. Her smile lit up the moment we all stepped out of the Center.

"Hey, guys!" Daisy said, waving to us.

We all waved back, saying our good mornings. We were all wearing some portion of our battle outfits and had brought along our bags to carry the rest of them. I had two bags over my shoulder, one much thinner than the other.

When I stepped up to her, Daisy leaned forward and gave me a small peck on the cheek.

I flushed. I wasn't used to PDA at all yet, even though it had never bothered me when others took part.

Amy let out a gagging noise.

"Gross," they said, sticking out their tongue. The mischievous smirk they flashed showed that they were just teasing me, though.

"Come on, Ames," I chuckled. "You can't handle a little peck on the cheek? What are you going to do when Daisy and I-"

Daisy grunted loudly, going bright pink. "That's enough of that!" She said.

"I was just going to say," I was almost fully laughing now. "When we hug, like two good Legends-fearing young adults. What else would I have meant?"

Yuji, Hana, and Amy all started full-belly laughing at Daisy's embarrassed face.

"That's not what you meant and you know it," Daisy grumbled, lightly bumping me with her elbow in mock annoyance.

I grinned, winking at her. Daisy and I were new to a lot of this, but playful ribbing came easy to me, and she seemed to enjoy it.

Daisy started handing out the hot drinks she'd gotten for everyone, pulling out a small selection of pastries from another package in her bag. Amy almost melted when they were handed a big sugary donut.

I took a sip of my drink, raising my eyebrow when I got tea instead of coffee like everyone else had.

"Awww, Daisy," I crooned. "You remembered?"

"That you are an insane person who doesn't like coffee? Yes," Daisy reached into her bag, pulling a third package from within. "And there's an orange juice for after you finish your match."

I almost shed a tear. "Thank you," I gave her with real, genuine gratitude. "You really didn't have to do this."

Daisy shook her head. "I wanted to," she turned to the whole group. "This is a big deal for you guys, and I wanted to make sure you were taken care of for it."

Yuji nodded his thanks. "I appreciate the sentiment, Ms. Oak. I hope that one day we are able to return the favor."

"Seriously, Daisy," Hana said, taking a grateful sip of her coffee. "You're the best. If we can help with anything at all, let us know."

"Not at all," Daisy looked embarrassed at all the praise. "You were all very accepting of Derek moving up your schedule to get you here in time for our date. Think of this as my thanks for getting him to me."

Amy chomped on their donut. "Derek, your girlfriend needs to come to all of our gym challenges."

It was my turn to blush, and Daisy and I shared a look. Though we'd agreed we were dating, neither of us had said words like 'girlfriend' or 'boyfriend' yet.

I didn't mind it, and based on the smile on her face, neither did Daisy.

"Well, Amy," Daisy nodded. "I'll do what I can."

Amy looked satisfied. "Hell yeah! We should probably start headed over, though- hey, hey, hey!"

I looked over with worry, sighing when I saw what was going on.

"Wisp!" I called sternly.

Amy's donut had started missing chunks that looked suspiciously like bite marks for a significantly smaller creature than Amy. With a giggle, my Misdreavus reappeared. She took one last bite from the donut before quickly flying back into my shadow.

"Derek!" Amy whined, picking off pieces of their desecrated food. "Control your dumb ghost!"

I shrugged. "I think this is revenge for when you stole a piece of her cake, so it's kinda warranted."

Amy grumbled under their breath, not speaking up in their own defense. They knew they'd messed up when I'd released Wisp after our battle with Yuji and she'd been devastated to find an extra slice of her cake missing.

"However," I projected my voice behind me in the direction of my shadow. "She won't be doing it again. Turnabout is fair play, but you're even now."

Little girl giggles echoed from all around us, and the rest of the group shivered. They didn't find it nearly as comforting as I did.

We walked down the street, headed in the direction of the Pewter Gym. It was still early in the day, but there were noticeably more people moving in our general direction than there had been for the last few days.

Most of the people looked to be trainers, but there were a few civilians in the mix. Everyone was headed to the Pewter Gym.

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion when I caught a couple of people watching our group and whispering. I even saw a few people pulling out phones to take photos of us.

More specifically, of me and Daisy.

I tossed Daisy a questioning look. Was she okay with this?

She nodded, subtle enough that the onlookers wouldn't notice. Daisy slipped her arm into the crook of my elbow and we kept walking.

Yuji leaned over to us about halfway there. He was holding his Pokegear, and his brow was furrowed in frustration.

He was bothered about something.

"Derek," he said under his breath. "You wouldn't have recently checked the Pewter Gym Pokegram page, would you?"

I shook my head, raising an eyebrow at him. Yuji wasn't upset often, and whatever was there had him clutching his Pokegear hard.

He tilted the screen to show me.

There was a single post from today. It was what you'd normally expect, with a roster of the challengers battling Leader Brock today. It included eight challengers, accounting for my group, Terry's group, and one other.

The thing that stuck out, though, was that even though they were all marked for a first badge challenge, my name had an asterisk next to it.

*Challenge difficulty elevated to Second Badge team.

I nearly stopped walking, but Daisy kept me moving.

Gym Leaders had the ability to raise the difficulty of the challenge battle for certain trainers. This mostly happened when a trainer who'd already competed in a circuit came to challenge a gym, giving the Gym Leader the ability to fight at the level of their discretion. It was almost never used on rookies, though.

It explained why people were taking notice of me as we walked. I'd attributed it to Daisy being around but it was my fault that lines of people were pouring into the Pewter Gym, the same as they had for Mick's challenge.

I looked at the crowd with my jaw clenched.

Why the hell does Brock want to battle me with a stronger team?

----------------------------------------

When we made it to the Gym, my friends departed for the stands. Because we were actually battling the Gym Leader today, there was no need for the battlers to go to the locker room immediately. Only the person actually on deck needed to be ready to fight.

I headed up to the receptionist's desk.

"Hi, I'm-"

"Ah, Mr. Tracy," the receptionist interrupted me with a smile. "We've been expecting you! You're here for your meeting with Leader Brock, correct?"

"Uh, yes," I was unnerved by how they'd recognized me on site. "But I was also hoping to ask about why my gym challenge had been elevated to second-badge level?"

The receptionist smiled. "Leader Brock will be able to explain that to you. If you're ready, he'll see you now?"

"I- sure?" I looked up at the clock. I'd gotten there ten minutes before we were supposed to meet.

A different assistant led me around the counter, through a restricted hallway, and into the belly of the Pewter Gym.

While the inner halls were mostly what I expected in terms of the high industrial ceilings and white walls, there were also things I wasn't expecting to see. As we walked, I saw a set of crayons scribbles littering the walls, like what you'd see in a daycare. Near the end of the hall, the doors stopped being boring industrial doors and changed to traditional Kantonian sliding wood doors.

This part of the gym felt much more like a family home than a stadium.

Does Brock live here? And, more importantly, does he have kids?

He'd looked a little young to be a dad, but I wasn't going to judge. There were a lot of situations where someone could end up as a young parent.

The assistant stopped in front of a closed wooden door. "He should be right through here," they said to me.

"And I just walk in?"

They nodded. "I'll be waiting out here for when your conversation has finished to lead you back to the locker room."

I gave them a polite bow, which they returned, and slid the door open.

I was not ready for what was inside.

Brock, the stoic Gym Leader who I'd last seen fighting actual terrorists, was standing at a stove wearing a bright pink apron.

There were one, two, three.... at least nine different kids of various ages sitting at countertops or around a table, eating what looked like five different meals.

"Suzie! Eat your cereal!" He called to them "Yolanda, can you take Billy, Tilly, and Tommy to school? And I'm leaving the rest with you Forrest, I have a challenger who's supposed to be on his way."

I stood open-mouthed in shock as I looked at Brock's family. The oldest of the kids was maybe ten to twelve years old.

I know I said I wasn't going to judge, but he would've been like ten- Wait. Is that...?

"Harrison?" I said aloud.

All ten heads turned to look at me, including Brock.

"Yes?" The kids asked.

I shook my head. "No, sorry, I meant that Harrison. Wait, is that a last name?"

Brock sighed as all nine kids started talking at once, including the one that I knew as Harrison, who Brock had just called Forrest. I hadn't seen the kid since before the Team Rocket attack, mostly due to us skipping a few days at the waterwheel. I'd assumed he'd just gotten tired of waiting for us and had stopped coming.

Brock took off his apron, handing it to the second oldest child, and walked up to me. He extended his hand in greeting.

"Hell, Derek," he said with a smile. "It's nice to properly meet you."

"Yeah, same," I said lamely, still dumbstruck at the sheer amount of children here.

Brock glanced back at them and gave a sigh of understanding. "My siblings can be a lot. I have a few things I wanted to talk with you about. Would you mind if we moved this to the sitting room?"

Siblings.

These weren't Brock's kids, even if they were his family. That made a lot more sense.

So, wait, I slowly put things together. When Harrison- Forrest said his brother was a trainer, he'd been talking about Brock?

I nodded.

Brock walked back into the room, leading me through the room full of eating children to another quieter room. Inside was a couch and a set of chairs, and in the corner there was a little play area full of chests of toys.

Brock took a seat in one of the chairs, and I sat across from him on the couch. I left my bags on the cushion next to me, propping them up against the armrest.

"So, Derek," he started, "I'm sure you have a few questions, including why I've asked you here this morning."

"Yeah, something like that," I agreed. "But if I'm being honest I'm mostly worried about our battle later. Was there a reason you elevated my challenge?"

The Gym Leader nodded, removing a small toy pony from his seat cushion. "I have a few. First, though, I wanted to ask, how are you feeling?"

I frowned in confusion. It took Brock's concerned look to realize what he was referring to. The last time he'd seen me, I'd been deaf and in shock from Proton's final attack.

"Oh, uh, much better now. The emergency workers fixed up my ears pretty quickly and I've been doing some work to see a therapist."

Brock nodded. "That's good. I'd asked Nurse Joy but she hadn't mentioned you going in for a check-up afterward, so I couldn't be sure."

I raised my eyebrow at that.

Gym Leader Brock checked in on me?

We'd exchanged maybe a handful of sentences so far but I felt like I was already getting a handle on Brock's character. The guy was a caretaker, either by nature or necessity, and he seemed to genuinely care if some trainer he didn't know was actually okay.

"Thank you, sir," I said. "I actually had forgotten because of some other things that had come up."

And that was true. I probably should have gone the day Paige evolved, but I'd got caught up in our celebration.

Brock shook his head dismissively. "Brock is fine. And you should get your ears checked again, just in case."

"I will, sir- Brock, I mean. I'll get a look over from Nurse Joy tomorrow."

He nodded, seeming satisfied. There was a slight dip in the conversation, and I took the opportunity to ask about some things that had been bothering me.

"Brock, I- uh, I wasn't sure if it would be okay for me to ask..." I trailed off.

The Rock Gym Leader shook his head understandingly. "You want to know about the Rockets?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I know you probably can't tell me a lot, but I was wondering if any of the stolen fossils had been recovered yet, or if Aestus had said anything helpful?"

Brock picked up a tablet off of the table, clearing a few toys off of it first. "I can't say too much, as the League has strict protocols for information sharing, but I do believe that you deserve some broad strokes."

He flipped the tablet around, showing me mugshots of the Rocket that had been captured. Other than Aestus, no Rockets had been recovered at the battle on floor one. Two of the ones we'd fought outside the fossil lab had been captured, and Daisy had detained another four of them when she stopped the second truck from getting away. I did chuckle when I saw the last Rocket to be picked up was Kevin, the one I had knocked out in the security booth.

"We've received precious little information from them," Brock said. "Mostly only confirming that the fossils had been their main goal. They had very little to say about what they planned to do with them, and there's been no chatter about Team Rocket attempting to sell them, so that leaves us working with the worst possible scenario. They most likely have access to a Fossil Rejuvenation machine."

My heart plummeted. The League hadn't gotten anything of use out of the Rockets I'd helped capture, and the fossils we let get away would be used to become ridiculously strong battlers for a criminal organization.

"That's not to say that we haven't received anything valuable from them," Brock said, noting my demeanor shift. "Aestus in particular was able to give us specific information regarding how Proton acquired a Pokemon like Toxtricity, one that is rare in this part of the world. I can't say too much, but there's a Pokemon poaching ring in Saffron that's being hunted right now because of it."

I nodded to Brock, feeling a little bit better. He hadn't needed to tell me that, but he did.

Brock obviously felt that was enough information because he sat his tablet to the side.

"Now, about your challenge," he said. "I'll start by asking you a few questions."

I leaned forward, curious about where he was going with this.

"Derek, do you know what percentage of rookies drop off after failing to get their first badge?"

I lit up. One of the perks of my dad being who he was, I knew everything about the gym circuit.

"Fifty percent of all trainers fail to receive their first badge," I recited. "About ten percent of the remaining ones drop off before the second badge, and then ten percent again for the third badge."

Brock looked impressed. "That's right. And do you understand why the dropout rate is so much higher for the first badge?"

I hesitated. There were a lot of reasons that people stopped traveling so early, like a lack of experience or succumbing to frustration, but I was sure that Brock was asking for a more difficult answer.

"I guess," I slowly thought out, "That the first badge is kind of a marker to see if people are cut out for training at all?"

He nodded. "That's not exactly how I would have said it, but it's in the spirit of what I was asking. Each gym badge proves to both the Leaders and the League that a trainer is ready for the next set of commitments and challenges that we can throw at them. The first badge is simply a baseline test, the most basic challenge we can give."

I winced. Giovanni had kicked my ass.

Brock smiled apologetically. "Some Leaders choose to define 'baseline' a bit more harshly than others, but at the end of the day, getting that first badge only proves that you are able to take the most basic steps toward becoming a trainer. You have already proven that to me."

I sat back into the couch. Brock's simple affirmation left me feeling validated and warm. I got the feeling that Brock was kind, but he didn't offer out compliments freely.

"Honestly, if I didn't feel like it would be an insult to you and your training, I would have offered you the badge off of your actions in the museum alone," Brock laughed when my eyes widened in alarm. "Don't worry, that's not up for discussion."

"Good," I sighed with relief. I did not want to be handed a badge. It would feel less than earned that way.

"No, I will still battle you for your badge, but I will be treating you as though you already have it."

That made sense. In Brock's eyes, I'd already earned my first badge so of course he'd elevate the difficulty of my challenge.

That left me with only one thing leaving a sour taste in my mouth.

"Elevate my friend's challenges too, then."

Brock seemed startled at my request at first but quickly took on an inquisitive look. I met his eyes.

I'd seen Yuji's face this morning when he saw that I'd had an elevated challenge and he hadn't. He hadn't been worried about my chances of winning or confused about why it had happened.

He'd been upset.

I'd realized as we were walking in that I had never actually seen Yuji really frustrated before. But that look on his face when he'd been studying the challenge roster had been real.

Brock shook his head. "Your friends haven't proved to me what you have."

I did my best not to let out a frustrated sigh. "Look, sir- I mean, Brock. I know that I've been receiving a lot of praise for how I acted in the Rocket attack, but honestly, I was the least qualified of all of my friends to be there. Hana would have had a better plan, Amy would have helped the hostages more, and Yuji would've gotten the right guy. Of all of my friends, Yuji is the one that I know, above all else, is a better trainer than me. Just because he didn't get the opportunity to prove himself doesn't mean that he doesn't deserve this more than I do."

I continued on, telling the Gym Leader about each of my friends and how they'd helped me in my journey. I even tossed a kind word in for Terry, though I didn't have the knowledge of his actual battle skills to give him too much of a shout-out.

The Gym Leader actually listened when I spoke. He followed my words, considering while I continued to describe my friends.

I could see why people respected Brock so much. He was a lot like the rock types that he trained, stoic and sturdy. He seemed like someone that wouldn't be swayed easily but could be moved an inch at a time.

I saw the rock shifting as I started talking about Yuji's impressive improvements with Achilles, and how he'd gotten the fighting type to successfully beat a ghost type in a manner of days.

Brock held up a hand, quieting me down. He glanced at the clock on the wall. We had maybe fifteen minutes until we were supposed to be at the battlefield.

"I'll tell you what," he said, and I felt excitement surge in my gut. "If you defeat me in your challenge, I will give the next challenger the option to elevate their battle. If that person wins, then I will give the offer to the next person, and so on. Does that seem fair to you?"

I couldn't help myself from pumping my fist but quickly put it away in embarrassment. "Yes s-, Brock. I think that sounds more than fair. My friends won't disappoint you."

"Good," Brock said, standing. "I'll be holding them to the same standard that I'm holding you to."

"That's all I ask, sir," I bowed to him, face red when I realized I'd called him 'sir' again.

Brock shook his head, chuckling at my mistake. "I'll see you out on the field."

I grabbed both of my bags off of the couch and Brock led me to the front door where the assistant was still waiting. They brought me to the locker room so I could get ready with my team.

Several other trainers were there, getting ready for their gym trainer battles, so I tucked myself into a corner stall to get some privacy. I sent a quick group text to the others, including Terry, about the option I'd talked Brock into giving them. Responses and questions immediately started buzzing back, but I silenced my Pokenav+.

I need to focus on the upcoming battle.

I released both members of my team.

"Alright, guys," I said to both of them, kneeling to be at their height. "It's finally time for us to fight him."

Artis barked in excitement Wisp started twirling in circles. Both of my Pokemon knew how important this was, and they were excited to see the results of all of our training.

"We do have a problem, but I think we can handle it. Brock is going to use different Pokemon than we thought, and I'm not sure what his strategy is going to be. We're going to have to work on the fly, coming up with plans as we go. That means you especially, Artis. Keep an ear out for me."

"Pheal phe!" he said in agreement. He wagged his flipper, slapping the ground with anticipation.

"That's my boy," I smiled. "Now, we can't plan for exactly what he's going to do, but we can start getting a basic strategy down. Artis, I'm thinking we should make an entrance..."

----------------------------------------

The crowd roared when I stepped out from the challenger's tunnel.

The stadium wasn't full by any meaning of the word, but a few thousand people had shown up for my match today, some rooting for me to succeed and others for me to fail. Like yesterday, there were Mick fans in the crowd, and I could hear them booing me as I stepped out. Some people held mean signs, and I winced at ones that definitely couldn't be shown on TV.

There were even more people cheering for me. As soon as I stepped out, I searched for my friends. Amy, Yuji, Hana, and Daisy all sat as close to the front as they could, and they were my loudest supporters. A row behind them, Terry was clapping along with the crowd, hyping his companions up to cheer for me too. In the higher boxes of the stadium, I could see an entire swatch of the audience dressed in white. It took me a second to put it together, but a massive grin split my face as I saw a balding ginger giant among them. The Pewter Museum paleontology department had made a field trip to the gym for my match.

Outside of even the people I knew, though, there were so many that I didn't. My online handle was plastered on signs and shouted by other trainers and fans. It was honestly unnerving how many people seemed drawn by my short appearance on social media. What made me smile, though, was the number of signs that were giving thanks. The museum or 'Rockets' were mentioned on at least two-thirds of all the signs in my crowd.

The people of Pewter were grateful, and that meant a lot.

And though I still felt like I had done very little to actually earn that, I couldn't help but feel a little pride in myself. At the very least, their cheers were infectious.

I smiled as I walked forward, taking the tiny trek through the pitch with a spring in my step. I tightened my grip on the skinny bag slung over my shoulder. I'd left the other one in the locker room.

Just like yesterday, there were still other battles going on as people used the other three fields to do their gym trainer challenges, and the sounds of battle flooded my senses with anticipation.

That was going to be me in a few minutes, and I couldn't wait.

I stepped up to the challenger's podium, and Brock stood at the other end of the battlefield with his arms stoically crossed. He looked different than the caretaker that I'd just seen a few minutes ago. Instead, he radiated an aura of stability and durability. If a Proton's Toxtricity let off another sonic explosion, I doubted this man would be moved by an inch.

This was Gym Leader Brock. the same man who'd rocked up to a fight with dozens of Rockets with only one person to help him out.

He tilted his head forward as I stepped up, giving me that barest hint of a smile. He was putting it on for the audience.

I grinned back.

"Trainers!" the referee spoke, their voice being attached to the stadium's loudspeakers. "Release your Pokemon!"

I went first, releasing Artis from his ball. As we'd talked about, we wanted to make an entrance. As he hit the ground, Artis released a massive blast of powder snow underneath him. The attack was at a tenth of its power, at most, so all it did was send into the air a sparkling cloud of ice and snow that glittered under the stadium lights. It dissipated quickly, but the crowd roared at the beauty of his move.

Brock reached to his side and pulled out a grey Pokeball with baby blue spots, a Heavy Ball. Even his stoic facade couldn't hide his smirk as he released his first Pokemon.

Slamming into the ground with more than twice the weight of Artis was a purple monster of stone. It had a massive pointed red nose attached to its face, and it stood on two short rocky legs.

"Nosepass!" it shouted in an echoey metallic voice.

I gawked in excitement at the Pokemon from Hoenn. Brock had pulled out a Pokemon from my home region, just for me?

I bowed my head to him in appreciation, and he nodded back.

"Trainer Tracy!" the referee called to give the opening rules. "This will be a two-on-two single battle challenge against the Pewter City Gym Leader, Brock, for your first badge. Standard League challenge rules apply, and you are granted a single swap of your Pokemon. Are you ready?"

I took a deep breath, letting the sounds of the crowd rumble into the background.

It was time to battle.

I gave him a thumbs up, never letting my gaze leave Brock.

"Begin!"

Artis knew what he had to do, immediately tensing his whole body to set up a Defence Curl while I racked my brain for what Nosepass could do. Roxanne, the rock type leader from Hoenn, also used a Nosepass. I'd watch countless battles of her fighting off trainers with it. I grimaced as I thought about some moves it had access to that could spell bad news for my water type.

Nosepass stood stoically on the field, a shortened mirror of Brock himself, while a familiar sand vortex swirling around his feet.

Shit! I realized. I thought I was done with Sandstorm shenanigans after Giovanni!

Luckily, it didn't seem like Nosepass had the same mastery of the move that Sandshrew had because even though it was still going to be devastating against Artis in the long term, it was nowhere near as concentrated.

"Artis, Rollout!" I yelled when I saw he'd completed his Defence Curl. I normally would have called for a Snowout, but when I didn't already have one of the two moves for it already going, the charge-up was way too long.

Plus, I hoped the rock type energy would help with moves I suspected Nosepass had.

Artis zoomed forward like he'd done hundreds of times, propelled into action by his round and springloaded body. He barely winced at the damage from sand cutting into his fur.

"Nosepass, Thunderwave!" Brock called his first order.

The rock type began to glow with yellow electricity as it charged up the move.

I knew it!

Nosepass were magnetic rock types, some of the few that had electric type moves. Big area effects were bad because Artis couldn't really avoid them.

Unless...

"Artis, pull a Cubone!" I yelled, thinking of our first loss.

"Spheal!" he barked in understanding.

Artis slammed his spinning body into the ground, sending waves of dirt and gravel into the air.

Nosepass released the electrical energy with a Pass! and a swirling pulse of weak lightning weaving through the sandstorm. Thunderwave was meant to incapacitate, not harm.

When the wave reached Artis, it flowed over the channel he'd scraped into the ground with his body and kept going, dissipating a few feet later.

Brock wasn't going to let us have that victory.

"Nosepass, bury him! Rock Slide!"

I swore as Nosepass slammed his foot into the ground, cracking it in a wave. The shockwave rolled forward, carrying a tumbling avalanche of rocks and dirt with it.

"Get out of there!"

Artis blasted the ground with a high-power Water Gun, spraying the water with enough force to propel himself backward out of his own hole. The avalanche hit seconds later. The ground cracked and shattered, chunks of the field rolling to fill the gap he'd left behind. A spray of rocks shot up from the attack, striking Artis across his flank. He cried out in pain from the super effective move.

"Snowout into it!"

Brock raised an eyebrow at my order, not sure what to anticipate. He commanded Nosepass to use Iron Defense, which was basically Defence Curl on steroids.

Artis started his Powder Snow before he hit the ground and he flew into action as soon as he landed. He spun out with snow flaring behind him like tire smoke. Artis bounded across the field to where Nosepass was waiting, shimmering with his increased defenses. The two slammed into each other, shaking the rocky field around them.

Nosepass creaked under Artis' assault, stone arms flared forward as my Pokemon just kept spinning. His concentration was so intense that the Sandstorm dropped around them. Artis didn't let up in his Rollout, and it became a battle of wills between the Pokemon. They were both taking damage and if it continued at this pace, Artis actually stood a chance.

"Come on, Artis! You got this!" I yelled in encouragement.

"Pull!" Brock ordered.

Nosepass' hands snapped into position around Artis, grabbing him into a grapple. He spun around once, twice, three times before throwing Artis into the air.

I winced, but I wasn't too worried. Artis spent enough time in the air from all of his movement-based moves and oriented himself quickly.

No, I needed to focus on what was coming. This was going to require timing.

Sure enough, Nosepass slammed his foot into the ground, breaking off a basketball-sized chunk of rock and tossing it after Artis.

"Send it back!" I yelled. "Water Gun!"

My timing hit just right. Artis leveled out in the air, canceling his Rollout and releasing another burst of water. It hit the projectile at just the right angle and stopped it in mid-air. As they fell, the water stream spun over the surface of the boulder, sending it spinning back in the opposite direction and directly toward its sender.

"Hold!" Brock yelled.

Nosepass crossed its arms in front of it, the heavy stone slamming into its frame and pushing it back several feet. The rock type struggled to hold back the boulder, and I could see its arms vibrating with effort to hold it back. Water sprayed in every direction from the blast, drenching the field in mud.

"Don't let up!"

Artis braced his tail against the ground, pushing the water out of his snout faster than I'd ever seen him do in our training.

There was a loud crack! as the boulder shook from the hydraulic pressure of the attack, splitting right down the middle. The Water Gun blasted through the shattered rubble, striking Nosepass and pushing the rock type backward. It flipped through the air, slamming against the ground three separate times before rolling to a stop. It struggled to get to its feet.

Excitement pounded through my chest. It was on its last legs.

"Hit it one more time," I shouted. "Then take a breather for the next one!"

Nosepass struggle floundered under the constant water pressure, and both Brock and I could see that it wasn't going to last much longer. That didn't mean that Brock was going to let it go down without a fight.

"Nosepass!" Brock called. "Let loose! Spark!"

I cursed under my breath as the rock Pokemon started to glow with yellow light, but I didn't give a counter strategy. As long as Artis stayed up through this, it wouldn't matter anyway. He just needed to faint Nosepass.

The water pushing back Nosepass sparked and flashed with bright yellow and white electric light. It traveled up the Water Gun, making Artis strain as he kept his muscles from convulsing. Pride surged in my chest as I saw how well he was holding his ground.

There was the sound of crumbling rocks as Nosepass' legs finally gave out.

The rock type's knees buckled, letting the force from the Water Gun carry it up and away. It slammed into the far wall behind the battlefield, leaving cracks in the concrete barrier and causing a crash to echo through the arena.

The entire stadium went silent. Even the trainers on the other battlefields stopped to look at what had happened. Thousands of eyes turned to see Brock's first Pokemon fainted against the wall.

The crowd erupted.

The battle wasn't even decided yet, but cheers quickly overtook the silence. Brock returned his Pokemon, giving me a small nod as he did so. The referee waited for the crowd to quiet before speaking.

"Gym Leader Brock's first Pokemon is unable to battle!" they called. "Please send out your second Pokemon!"

Brock pulled a second Heavy Ball off of his belt, clutching it tight.

He smiled at me, calling loud enough that the crowd could hear him. "You've trained your Spheal well!" he said. "I rarely see a Pokemon with his body type be trained to have such mobility!"

I grinned. "Thanks! That's not all he has, though!"

Brock glanced back at the field and smirked. After he'd fainted the Nosepass, Artiss had immediately started on the last order I'd given him. 'Take a breather' was our code for him to use Rest. He was snoozing in the center of the field, his bruises and electrical burns already starting to fade as he healed himself. Based on what we'd gotten done in his training, he wasn't going to be able to do this again, but having him at full strength was going to be invaluable for whatever Brock tossed at us next.

"Well, Challenger Tracy" Brock hefted his Heavy Ball, "I've honored you with a Pokemon from your home region. Here's a token from mine!"

The Heavy Ball popped open and released a creature much bigger than Nosepass had been.

The ground shook as a creature that stood almost ten meters tall slammed into the ground. The serpentine body of the Pokemon unfurled itself, flexing its porous stone skin under the stadium lights. The Pokemon was easily a meter thick, and its every move cracked the dirt underneath it.

I grimaced as I recognized the Onix. On one hand, we'd been expecting a weaker one of these when we'd thought I would be fighting Brock at the first badge level. On the other hand, I'd seen firsthand what Brock's Steelix could do. The idea that this Pokemon could ever be that strong was terrifying.

The referee nodded, raising both hands above their head. "Leader Brock has released his Onix! Trainers! Prepare for the battle to resume!"

Brock crossed his arms once more, and I tensed in anticipation.

The real battle began now.

When the order was called, Brock lept into action.

"Onix! Bind!"

The serpentine boulder reached forward with its stony tail, wrapping it around Artis' sleeping form. I smirked. Because he was asleep, they'd assumed we were out of tricks.

"Buddy! It's time to Snore!" I yelled, covering my ears.

Artis' body trembled as it released a shockwave of noise. It echoed across the battle, shaking and cracking against Onix's rock form. Members of the audience cried out at the noise, Brock even wincing at how loud it was. Onix flinched at the unexpected attack, quickly dropping Artis and recoiling in pain. He flopped to the ground, waking up from the impact. Without waiting for orders from me, Artis immediately started to retreat using his Rollout, just like we'd planned. The 'shock-and-awe' was only going to work once, so he needed to make up ground in the confusion. As he spun away, a tiny ring of water floated into the air around him. A little insurance policy.

Brock recovered quickly, shouting "Onix, don't let him get away!"

The rock serpent pulsed once, letting shimmering energy coat its entire body. In its wake, Onix started to glimmer and shine. The Pokemon moved with increased speed from the Rock Polish, lifting its tail and slamming it into the ground around Artis. He managed to avoid it, but just barely. Dust and rubble showed the rest of the battlefield as Onix brought his tail down over and over again.

We couldn't just sit around and wait for Onix to hit. "Artis! Ramp up time!"

"Spheal!" I heard an affirmative squeak from inside the dust cloud.

Because we'd anticipated an Onix, we already had a plan for how to beat it. It was far too sturdy to try and outlast by taking potshots at its body, so we needed to hit it a few times, hard, in specific and planned places. One such location was its head, but therein was the challenge.

How do we get to a head that's ten meters off the ground?

Easy. You use the very natural ramp that's attached to it.

As Onix brought its tail down again, Artis let it get a glancing blow. He groaned in pain, but we both knew he needed to be close enough to the point of contact to take advantage of the attack. Artis never actually stopped his Rollout, spinning through the pain and continuing up Onix's tail, using the Pokemon itself as a road to victory.

"Snowout!" I yelled.

Brock realized what we were doing. "Onix, he's going for your head! Let him have it, Headsmash!"

Artis burst into white snow, cloaking himself and leaving a layer of frost on the lower half of Onix's tail. The rock type's head pulled back like a pitcher winding up, and it smashed its head into the part of its body where Artis rode. There was a collective groan from the audience, but I wasn't worried, even if the super effective attack left a pang of danger in my heart.

We'd planned for this, too.

Hana had pointed out that the Onix that Brock trained tended to have the Rock Head ability, which protected them from damage that their moves would deal to themselves. This made them reckless when they took dangerous strikes because they really couldn't hurt themselves. We took advantage of this. As soon as Onix had gone to slam into Artis, he'd been waiting to grab on.

An explosion of white snow blasted into the underside of Onix's jaw. It recoiled backward, but the source of its pain went with it. Artis was hanging from the bottom of its face, teeth and flippers grabbing on for dear life. He was bruised and battered, but the Aqua Ring we'd sneakily put up earlier was going to work. His smaller wounds were already healing as he struggled to climb onto Onix's head.

Once he got up top, Artis switched from ice to water. He gripped onto Onix's head and released the biggest Water Gun he could muster, even bigger than the one that he'd done against Nosepass just minutes before. Onix trembled from the water pressure, but the rock snake was proving more resilient than the one-badge one we'd planned for.

"You're tougher!" Brock called to his Pokemon. "Charge up before your next Headsmash!"

Onix heard him, ceasing shaking its head and instead just trying to endure the pain from the attack. I started sweating as I saw Artis struggling to keep up the high-powered Water Gun. Onix let a purple pulse of energy overcome its body, leaving smoke-like trails up and down the rock skin of the Pokemon.

I groaned as I recognized Curse, a ghost type move that would boost Onix's power and hardiness by dropping its speed. It was still faster than normal from the Rock Polish, so it could afford the trade-off. With the boosted attack, I wasn't sure that Artis could take another direct hit.

"Artis, we gotta end this now, bud!" I urged him. There wasn't much that I could do, though. He was already using one of the better attacks that he knew, and we couldn't afford to give up this positioning.

Artis shut his eyes tight, and I felt a glimmer of hope as he barked through his teeth. The water he was releasing shifted suddenly, ceasing to be fresh water and instead filling the air with the smell of salty seawater.

I didn't have time to celebrate Artis's use of Brine, as Onix realized that it couldn't afford to charge up anymore. The rock type lifted its entire body from the ground, leaping three meters into the air, and swan-diving into the ground. The battlefield split under its weight, crashing and shaking from the sheer amount of mass that had just been dropped on it. Artis disappeared under the avalanche that was Onix's collapsing form.

Everything was still.

Onix didn't get back up.

When the rubble settled we could all see that Artis' Brine had hit too hard for the young Onix. Its snake form was unfurled and messily stretched across the battlefield. The entire audience held their breath.

A portion of Onix's tail shifted and moved, and I almost beckoned for Wisp. I broke into a grin, though, when Artis's blue blubbery form pushed out from underneath it. He rolled forward, letting the tail slam into the ground from its weight alone.

"Sph- spheal!" he cried weakly, pushing his nose into the air and raising one flipper.

If the crowd had been loud when Artis had defeated Nosepass, it was on deafening when my Pokemon declared his overall victory. Hana, Amy, and Daisy all stood and shouted at the top of their lungs. The rest of the crowd followed behind them. Dr. Spinel led the paleontology department in a massive cry. Terry pumped his hand into the air, being careful to keep my camera steady.

I wanted to laugh, cry, throw up, or do something, but instead, I raised one fist high above my head, just like Artis had done. As the referee stepped forward to announce the results of the battle, I tightened my grip on the skinny bag I'd carried this entire time.

"Leader Brock's Pokemon is unable to battle," the referee declared. "The winner is Challenger Derek Tracy!"

Once the referee had called the match, I withdrew the package from within my bag. In one smooth motion, I extended the flagpole to its full height, burying it in the dirt of the battlefield. I looked toward the small camera setup to the side of the field, spiking the lens and looking directly at any audience at home.

The flag of Hoenn flapped proudly above my head.

There was a collective gasp from the crowd.

I felt heat start rising up my cheeks, but I pushed it down. I'd been planning this since the moment that Dr. Spinel had gifted me the flag in his office a week ago. It had only been reinforced by both positive and negative experiences since then. Daisy had told me that the people of Kanto were proud, sometimes to their own detriment, and they'd proven it to me when the xenophobic drunk had interrupted my date and told me to 'go home'.

I'd come to Kanto to prove things to both myself and my region. I could take on a region without the training and help of my family, without the crutches of my home. While I was at it, why couldn't I prove something to the people of Kanto as well?

This was my declaration. I wasn't going anywhere. On multiple fronts, and for multiple reasons, this was the first real step I was taking in Kanto. Giovanni had kicked my ass, but he'd really just been training for this moment. I was here as a real contender, and I was going to go all the way to the top.

And I'd just proven that by not only taking on a Gym Leader fighting a step above the power level I should have been on, but I'd won with one Pokemon.

Take that, Giovanni.

The stunned silence was broken by the sound of cheering. All the way up in the top seats, a person in a red uniform had started clapping. I smiled when I realized that it was Ace Trainer Karen. I hadn't even seen her watching.

The floodgates broke. My friends took up the cheer in seconds, and the rest of the crowd followed. Rounds of applause rumbled through the arena.

I took a bow.

Brock and I returned our Pokemon and we met in the center of the arena, as was customary. He had a small but worried grin on his face.

"That was a bold move," he warned as he shook my hand. "I hope you're ready to accept the attention that'll be coming for you after this."

I nodded. There was a weight in my stomach, but I was sure I'd done the right thing.

"Yeah, I figure it'll at least tell people what I'm about. Just a little message to the good people of Kanto. I have my first badge, and I'm coming for the rest of them."

Brock's worry melted from his face, and his grin solidified. "That's good. That's the kind of attitude that will take you far here."

The referee walked up to us and handed Brock a microphone. He cleared his throat, and the crowd quieted.

"Derek Tracy," his voice echoed in the stadium loudspeakers. "You have successfully defeated the Pewter City Gym Challenge. It is my honor to present you with the Boulder Badge."

The crowd roared in response to that, cheering so loud that I flinched a little, even all the way down on the pitch.

Brock pressed a small seven-sided sliver of metal into my hands and I couldn't help but grin like an idiot.

One down, seven to go.