My eyes lazily peeked into the wilderness as the sunrise began to break through the leaves of the massive trees above me. I dreaded the search for Pineco to begin once again, tired of the many uses of Self-Destruct I had taken to the face, back, extremities…just everywhere really. A tiny flash of heat on my right arm broke me from my early daze.
“Sssiiiizzzz” the pokemon wrapped around my arm quietly hissed at me, checking to see if I had awoken.
‘Oh. Right. I have a pokemon now! I’m actually (kind of) a trainer now!’ my brain had taken a moment to catch up from the previous day, my rhythm for the last week having been set in stone.
“Morning Stovetop!” I shouted with glee as I turned towards my new partner. Stovetop raised his head from my shoulder and I softly stroked the center of his forehead with a single finger. He let out a small, happy, hiss and leaned into my affections, better positioning his head so that I could continue. We laid there for a few minutes just enjoying each other's company before finally getting up and starting the day.
“I like to start the day with some tamato and rice, do you eat spicy food?” I prompted the fiery insect, to no avail. Stovetop merely stared back at me with a look of confusion, so I pulled a tamato out of my bag. The red berry’s spikes reminded me of Stovetop’s feet as I held it out in front of him. “Do you like these?”
“Sizz!” Stove’s eyes immediately lit up when they fell upon the apparently familiar red skin and he performed an excited series of nods.
“Okay then, that's another to add to the list!” I reached into my bag to pull out the small leatherbound journal that I used for field notes and turned to the page I had dedicated entirely to my new friend, adding ‘Tamato’ below meat in the preferred foods section. This was good news for my wallet, especially once we were on the road.
‘Meat’ would, much to my displeasure, need to be amended with the specific species when I returned home, because the truth was that I actually had no idea what I had fed my Sizzlipede. While recognizing that it wasn't actually any better, I preferred not to know where my meat came from. So much so that before leaving the market my parents would black out the label, often leaving just ‘Meat’ on the packaging.
I began building a fire using what remained of the dry wood that I had stashed away on the rainy days and as my hand went towards my bag to grab some flint, a realization dawned on me. “Hey, Stovetop” I began, turning back towards the bug “Do you know Ember?”
At the word Ember he flinched and immediately put on a more serious expression before giving me a quick nod. ‘That’s a bit odd, most pokemon don’t take the mere mention of a move so seriously’ but I kept my thoughts to myself for now.
“Okay then, show me what you’ve got, Ember those sticks Stovetop” I yelled, pointing at the pile of dried twigs and brush, and feeling a rush at ordering the use of a move for the first time.
The yellow rings on his underside dulled as Stovetop’s fiery whiskers expanded, becoming a small ball of fire. There was a short delay and then a burst of flame shot out and hit the kindling, instantly becoming a sizable fire. All told, using Ember took about 6 seconds.
‘We’ll definitely need to work on bringing that time down, but his mustache looks so funny when it starts expanding!’ I decided to keep these observations to myself as well. “Great job! That’s way easier than using a flint, you’re already a huge help” I praised as I crouched down to give him a light pat on his back.
Stovetop let out a happy little hiss and celebrated with me for a moment before I got to work cooking. When I finished placing the covered pan of hot water and rice over the fire I turned to him “Now we just have to wait for the water to get hot and the rice to cook” We sat and watched the water for a few minutes, before he looked back up at me with a questioning glance.
“No, it isn’t ready yet, water takes a little bit to go from being cold to being hot” I informed the impatient pokemon, but he did not seem to agree. A moment later he got up and coiled his body around the pan, laying over the fire as if it was a nice breeze. I saw the yellow rings of his body glow and suddenly the water quickly started to boil.
“Woah, woah, bring down the heat man!” I scolded, as I did not want overcooked rice, and waved him away from the cooking implement.
The heating coils quickly dulled, though the Sizzlipede let out an annoyed hiss as he wandered back over to the spot he had been waiting. A few minutes later I added some diced tamato and soon we were gorging on breakfast.
x-x
An hour later we were making our way to Azalea Town. I wanted to try to fight against some wild pokemon during the trip but all of the bugs seemed to avoid us, likely able to spot Stovetop’s glowing stache and coils from afar. We did see a few birds but after the previous day’s events neither of us were very keen on putting him up against another one quite yet.
As we passed the checkpoint into Azalea I picked up Stovetop and quickly ran past both me and my neighbor’s homes, instead going straight to the Pokemon Center. The Nurse Joy at the counter was familiar to me, as I had been here many times with Dad whenever the Farm’s Beedrill needed a check up.
“Terry!” the red headed woman behind the counter smiled at me before her eyes trailed down. “Is that a Sizzlipede in your arms?” she nearly jumped out of her seat and I gave her a shy nod. “Catching a rare foreign pokemon is a pretty big step up from your usual, is the farm expanding?”
“Oh no Nurse Joy, this wasn’t a family catch. I’m leaving with Mazie after her gym match this afternoon” I held him up on both hands like he was a trophy, “and Stovetop here is gonna be my new partner.”
“What an adorable name!” Nurse Joy shrieked and reached out her hands. “Just making sure he’s all good or was there something specific you were worried about?” she asked as I handed him over.
“Well, he was out in the rain for a few days, and almost got eaten by a Farfetch’d so I'd like to be sure there’s no lasting damage” I recounted to her.
“No worries, he’ll be in tip top shape in just a little while” Nurse Joy responded, with a disarming smile attached. I sheepishly thanked her and skulked off to the basement floor.
All Pokemon Centers allowed trainers to stay for free for 14 out of every 60 days, provided there was space available. I had never stayed in one of these rooms, but knew that certain amenities were required to allow people to stay here.
Within the basement was a collection of washers and dryers that were meant for trainers that were staying here but that I had used many times to hide the worst of my mistakes. Mud, dirt, webs, leaves, blood, and much more had been covered up by these machines and today would be no different, though I did have to throw away one outfit that had been completely destroyed in Pineco-based offensives. What Mom didn’t know, wouldn’t worry her.
A little over an hour later I returned to Nurse Joy, this time not looking like I had faced an Entei and lived to tell the tale. Her face gained a soothing smile as she saw my approach and informed me, “Your friend is perfectly healthy, with no lasting impacts from either of those worrying events, but there are a few things you should know.”
“Scary things?” I asked cautiously, concerned that something was wrong.
“Oh no, not at all. Stovetop is a near perfect example of his species, he even has the Gigantimax Factor” she said, trying to convince me of his health.
“That Galarian thing that makes Pokemon get all big?” I wondered, having heard of the phenomenon but never seen it as I did not keep up with the Galarian battle scene much.
“Have you been under a rock for the last week?” she asked with an eyebrow raised.
“Uhhh, well, no…but I was in Ilex all week, did I miss something?” I asked, embarrassed at my apparent lack of knowledge.
“Well let’s just say it's not gonna be just a Galarian thing for much longer, but I’m no battle expert, do some research!” she chided. “Moving on, you are not Stovetop’s first human. He was reported as a No-Chase Runaway nearly a month ago” this she delivered matter of factly.
“ Isn’t No-Chase usually for violent or ill-tempered Pokemon that run away from their trainers but aren't deemed dangerous to the general population?” I asked with a frown, the obvious question left hanging in the air.
“No-Chase is also a convenient out for trainers who mistreat their pokemon, or don’t want to wait to release them properly. Many Nurse Joys have been advocating for a change in legislation for quite some time” she informed. “I’ve detected no hostility from your friend here, so don’t jump to any conclusions about the poor thing!” the nurse commanded, her lips pursed.
Stovetop looked up at me, and I could see a fear of rejection in his eyes. “Don’t worry buddy” I picked the Sizzlipede up and put him up on my shoulder, giving the spot on the center of his head some attention. “Anyone dumb enough to leave you behind is a trainer that won’t go far. If we ever come across them you let me know and we’ll beat them up!” Stovetop let out another happy sizzling hiss and wrapped his lower half around my right arm, while the top half hovered over my shoulder like an old warlord’s guardian Arbok.
Nurse Joy got a reprimanding expression but before she could open her mouth I amended “...In a battle, of course!” She gave me a light nod and we headed back to my house to show off Stovetop and hopefully get my mother’s blessing to depart.
A few minutes later I walked into my house with Stovetop still perched on my shoulder. Mom and Dad were at the kitchen table, eating sandwiches for lunch while a few dozen documents pertaining to the honey business were strewn around their plates. Mom looked up first.
“Welcome back Honey!” she shouted, face lighting up beyond the purple hair cascading in every direction. Mom’s hairdo often fell apart when she dealt with work stress. “And I see you made your catch, what is it?” she jumped up and leaned in to inspect Stovetop, who leaned away from her in kind but did not hiss.
Dad, however, wore a more serious expression. “Terry, please tell me you did not blow your entire savings at a Breeder. Sizzlipede cannot normally be found in Johto, and your mother challenged you to catch an impressive bug, not buy one.”
“No way Dad, if I spent that money then I’d be broke for the start of my journey, I didn’t push so hard for this just to die of starvation week one!” I countered, understanding of my dad’s trepidation. Dad was an expert on bug types before I was even born, though he specialized further into specifically the Beedrill line as he got older. “I caught Stovetop fair and square” I said confidently, with a thumbs up.
Then I winced, in memory. “Actually to be fair I didn’t catch him” I admitted, slowly dropping the thumb down.
“Terry…” Mom began but I quickly interrupted her.
“So, I actually caught a Pineco but while I was doing so I saw this little guy about to get eaten! And I didn’t want to watch that happen so I threw the Pineco out of my net before it could be registered and used it as a bomb to take out that mean little Farfetch’d!” I got out the important details as quickly as I could, face reddened by the end of it. Stovetop nodded with a small hiss at each claim, backing me up.
Both of my parents stared at me for a moment with their mouths agape. Mom’s eyes searched my own and a smile came to her face as she realized that I wasn't lying, she looked over to Dad. “You think we should count that?” she asked with a smirk.
“The boy can catch and use a Self-Destructing Pineco as a weapon Castia, send him out into the world or he’ll become The Scourge of Ilex in a month” he replied flatly but, unable to keep a straight face for long followed that up with a booming laugh. He then turned to Mom “That’s 100 pokedollars to you dear, though I was so close!” He held up a bill that was immediately snatched away.
“I know my son” she giggled and stuck out her tongue at him.
“Uhhh, wanna clue me in to what’s going on here” I asked, slightly annoyed at being left out.
“We had a 100 pokedollar bet on what you would catch” her eyes glinted with satisfaction.
“I bet on a Pineco, they may not start out as powerhouses but they can be incredible defensive walls.” Dad said with a nod, confident in his reasoning.
“And my bet” Mom began “was that you would either return with no pokemon or something no one had ever caught in Ilex before.”
“How could you have known that?” I asked, dumbfounded. “Dad was right, I went for Pineco. Stovetop was a happy accident” I stroked the center of his head again as I said ‘accident’ hoping he wouldn't get the wrong idea.
Mom just beamed, gave me a wink and said “That’s just the kind of kid you are, Terry” and jostled the now deeply unkempt mop of black hair on my head. My parents spent a few more minutes gushing over Stovetop before returning to work and I went upstairs to start packing, Maizie’s gym match was only a few hours away.
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x-x
Azalea Gym was the largest building in the town. It housed a few dozen gym trainers, a bizarre spinarak based battle maze, and a large arena for Gym challenges. Maizie cleared the maze a few days before I left for Ilex and had then been allowed to schedule her official match.
Bugsy’s gym was often flooded with challengers in the beginning of the season, as he was considered one of the easier Gym Leaders, and today was no exception. My family and I (joined by Kurt) had to watch a few matches before Maizie went on. Stovetop stayed on my arm the entire time, letting out a hiss of satisfaction whenever one of the combatants landed a big blow. All of the matches were for the first badge and all of them ended in defeat. Bugsy had a reputation for going hard on people who went to him early, thinking that he’d be easy. He preferred the higher leagues of battle, but rarely got to engage in them.
Nearly every challenger was an Azalea Town native and used a Slowpoke on their team, as Slowpoke Well was the typical spot someone born here would get their first pokemon. Slowpoke were held in very high regard in Azalea, however, this always worked in Bugsy’s favor.
Slowpoke are part Psychic, which meant that every single pokemon Bugsy used had a type advantage against them. This led to Bugsy crushing many newbie trainers and their starters who wanted to begin at their home gym. Though the first gym match was a 2v3, with the challenger allowed to use one more pokemon than the Gym Leader, many trainers did not have more than their starter when challenging the first gym. Doubly so if they lived in a gym town.
We watched 5 trainers before Maizie came on. 4 of them had only a Slowpoke, all 4 of those trainers were easily defeated. Only one of them even managed to down one of Bugsy’s pokemon, a Kakuna and they were swiftly defeated by his Yanma.
A boy about my age, with short, spiky, blond hair and a blue windbreaker was able to put on an impressive show. His Cyndaquil made short work of Bugsy’s Metapod, but, after a drawn out battle, lost against Butterfree. The crowd was, however, nice and worked up for Maizie’s match, and was cheering much louder than they had for the previous challengers by the time the announcer called her name.
Maizie stepped into the grassy arena and, though I could see some color in her cheeks, she was doing a great job not looking too nervous in front of the crowd. She situated herself near one of the three Ilex Oaks that were scattered through the arena and spoke into her Gym provided microphone.
“I, Maizie Gantetsu, challenge you, Leader Bugsy, for my first Gym Badge!” She declared with a point at the man, trying to sound serious and intimidating, but ultimately coming across simply ecstatic to be here. Her bow-like hair flapped in the wind as she struck a pose, holding the point.
Bugsy, meanwhile, looked serene in his green outdoor garb, his large Cather’s Net held behind his neck with both hands, perpendicular to the ground. The man was in his mid-20’s but retained a youthful and somewhat gangly appearance. He gave Maizie a soft smile and a quiet chuckle before speaking “I admire your enthusiasm Miss Gantetsu, and I welcome you to my gym, it’s always a pleasure to host an Azalea Town native in my Gym” and he made a small bow towards her.
This was, of course, preferential treatment. None of the other challengers had nearly as gracious a greeting but I personally chalked that up to the Gantetsus, Kurt especially, being so well respected. The Gantetsus weren't a founding family of Azalea like Bugsy’s was, but they had been here so long they might as well be.
Bugsy calmly spoke again, delivering a series of lines that I was sure he had said thousands of times in his career. “This will be a 2 on 3 match, with the challenger allowed to use up to 3 pokemon. 2 switches are permitted from the challenger. Fighting will continue until all of one side’s pokemon are unable to battle or are withdrawn. Do you have any questions?”
“Nope, me and Sunday are gonna kick your ass, and then our journey can finally begin!” she sassed, pokeball in hand. I heard Kurt grumble from a few seats away.
The ref at the center held up both hands and as she brought them down the crowd erupted and she shouted “Begin!” before quickly scurrying off to the side of the arena. The Gym’s Barrier Mimes, situated in 4 equidistant locations at the front of the crowd, put up a protective barrier to prevent anyone in the crowd from getting splash damage. Trainers within the arena were offered no such protection, the threat of wild attacks an element of battle strategy, though targeting the opposite trainer was expressly forbidden.
Bugsy loosened the yellow scarf around his neck before plucking a pokeball from his waist and delicately opened the ball in his palm. A small green spider with a black pattern that resembled a human face on its back, and a small horn on its head, crawled down his arm and jumped to the ground. Upon landing it lifted two of its tiny legs into the air and let out a defiant “Spiiin!”
With another soft grin Bugsy said “Spinarak, I know you haven’t gotten a good fight yet today, but I’ve got a good feeling about this one, give it your all.” The spider gave a resolute nod and entered a ready stance.
“Go, Sunday!” Maizie shouted and tossed her pokeball directly up into the air. Sunday dropped onto the grass of the arena with a surprisingly graceful landing, eyes completely lacking fire.
The crowd of spectators quieted immediately. For all the respect the Gantetsu name carried in Azalea, they had watched trainer after trainer with a lone Slowpoke get the floor mopped with them, and expectations for a good fight cratered as soon as Sunday’s pink body hit the ground. This was not helped by him sporting the same blank expression as usual.
Maizie ignored the change in energy as she caught the still flying pokeball and held it up into the air, it was a blue pokeball with a depiction of a red floatation tube on its top.
“This is a Lazy River Ball!” she declared, presenting it for the crowd. “Inside of it is a simulated circular river and tubes that allow your pokemon to lazily float about within their ball. It’s the ultimate luxury for a Slowpoke found only at Gantetsu’s Apricorns for the low, low, price…” her mic was suddenly cut off as she delivered her pitch, and she animatedly flailed her arms in response.
“Sorry Miss Gantetsu, but I’m afraid this League season is sponsored in part by Silph Co, we can’t very well allow a competitor to advertise during a match” Bugsy delivered apologetically while rubbing the back of his head and then followed it up with a graceful bow.
“Fine, you guys heard the important part anyway” she responded, slightly deflated. But then she perked back up again and pointed outward at Spinarak “Sunday, use Water Gun, make it keep its distance!”
Sunday, still looking entirely oblivious, began to summon water directly in front of his face. Spinarak noticed the incoming attack and started running towards Sunday, hoping to strike before the Water Gun could fire. Bugsy instructed the Spinarak “Don’t go straight in, zigzag towards him and when you get close enough fire a string shot!” and the spider immediately moved as told.
Sunday finished gathering water after a few seconds and launched a burst of liquid but missed due to the Spinarak’s sudden flits in random directions. When the Spinarak got about 10 feet from Sunday it stopped and fired a stream of webbing at the Slowpoke, slowing him down.
“Ugh” Maizie huffed “Sunday, keep firing Water Guns for now, rapid fire, forget about causing pain.”
“Poooooke” Sunday whined.
Maizie rolled her eyes. “Fiiiine. If you can keep it under a second each you get a poffin!” she cried.
Sunday’s stance changed and his eyes sharpened, suddenly a lot more serious than before.
“Poke” he let out a burst that, though smaller, required no charging. “Poke. Poke. Poke” a round of bursts flooded out of Sunday, each accompanied by a vocalization. Shot after shot flew towards the Spinarak who was flitting about the battlefield in an attempt to dodge the sudden barrage.
‘I had no idea Sunday could fire off shots so quickly!’ I thought to myself in amazement, but it made sense. Maizie had been training Slowpoke since we were little kids, he would probably evolve quicker than most starters.
Finally one of the shots connected and pushed the Spinarak back another 10 feet. I saw Maizie’s thoughts click together as the metaphorical light bulb went off over her head.
“Sunday, use Curse as much times as you can while it's far away!” she shouted. Sunday’s body pulsed with a sickly glow and his muscles contracted.
Bugsy grinned “If she wants to go slow let her, run up and douse that Slowpoke in webs!” The Spinarak did as commanded and fired another stream of thick webbing, with Sunday’s body almost completely covered in the stuff.
Curse was a move that, when used by a non-Ghost, enhanced the user’s body with Ghost Type Energy, strengthening both their attack and defence physically. However the energy rejected a non-ghostly form and slowed the pokemon’s muscles down. String Shot launched webs that slowed the target down as well. The combination had left Sunday almost completely unable to move.
“Oh no, Sunday! Are you okay?” Maizie said in shock. The Slowpoke’s response could barely be heard within the crowd and Maizie’s expression darkened as she looked down towards the ground.
“My apologies Miss Gantetsu, but you need to be careful when using moves that can hamper your pokemon. Spinarak has used no damaging moves yet but you are now in a position where your Slowpoke is completely unable to avoid an attack, this fight is basically over.” Bugsy looked sad for her, and a little disappointed for himself.
“So…you think I should concede?” Maizie nearly wailed, she looked up and made eye contact with Bugsy, tears appearing to form as she kicked at the grass in apparent frustration.
“Unfortunately, I think you should try your best to not let Sunday get needlessly hurt.” Bugsy said with sincere pity, his entire demeanor relaxed now.
“But…but…” Maizie sputtered in disbelief putting her hands in her face. The crowd was silent, even Kurt who said nothing but maintained a focused expression.
“But Trick Room should be set up by now” her hands flew away to reveal a downright evil grin. “Sunday, Tackle it NOW!”
At that moment a box of purple light consumed the arena and Bugsy’s eyes widened in shock. Before he could say anything Sunday moved across the arena, almost imperceptibly fast, his body appearing to struggle against the webs but his speed entirely unhampered. *Crrack!* He rammed his whole body into the Spinarak.
Spinarak flew across the arena, crashed into the barrier at its edge, and slid to the ground. The spider’s legs twitched for a moment then stopped as it fainted. The crowd erupted.
All had been pulled in by Maizie’s ploy. All except Kurt, who now wore a smile that matched his granddaughter’s and let out a deep but joyful cheer. Stovetop rocked back and forth in amazement and joy, having long figured out which pokemon my family was cheering for.
Trick Room was a bizarre move that was often difficult to learn, even for a Psychic Type. It warped reality within an area, making slow actions fast and vice versa, but usually only lasted for about a minute.
“Spinarak is unable to continue, Leader Bugsy please send in your next pokemon” the ref chimed in. Bugsy was frozen for a second and then the man keeled over, laughing in near tears.
“Hahaha! Oh it has been a looong time since a rookie was able to play me like that!” he wiped back his long green hair from his face as he laughed aloud. “Let me guess, it takes Sunday a while to use Trick Room, right?”
“Our record is 10 seconds” Maizie beamed, her blue eyes glimmering under the lights of the Gym. “But it’s even slower when we’re in the thick of it.”
Bugsy held out another pokeball, and this time threw it up high and released his pokemon in the air. The same Yanma that was used earlier materialized in the air. The dragonfly’s wings, which normally beat hundreds of time per second, looked like they were moving too slow to keep it above ground, the time warping nature of Trick Room taking effect immediately.
“Congratulations Miss Gantetsu, I’ve decided to take this a bit more seriously” Bugsy said with an eerily calm smile before turning his attention to his pokemon. “Yanma, you’re in a Trick Room, stay in the air, its projectiles can be dangerous but if its body touches you, it’s over.”
“Hit it now! It’s only gonna be harder later, Sunday!” Maizie yelled out in response. Sunday fired another barrage of Water Guns that connected but seemed to do little damage, the Yanma still a safe distance away, slowly flitting about. “Stronger this time!”
“Struggle Bug, Now!” Bugsy commanded, as Sunday readied a stronger shot, and the Yanma glowed with a bright green energy. The energy coalesced and shot out at the Slowpoke in a barrage of tiny, insect shaped beams.
Sunday avoided some of the beams but unfortunately took the brunt of the blast letting out a “Slow!” as they hit, the super effective attack doing a number on him with just a single blow. However, Sunday held his Water Gun, his largest blast of the battle boomed out from in front of him a moment later.
The attack shot the Yanma out of the sky, Trick Room’s effect making it impossible to move quick enough to dodge. The Yanma was at first slowly drifting to the ground, as even the speed of a fall was effected, but it slowly started to gain speed. The Trick Room was ending.
“Run to its fall point and Yawn, it’s almost over!” Maizie hurriedly commanded, jumping up and down as she did.
“Struggle Bug again, put everything you can into it!” Bugsy shouted, realizing the battle's final moments had arrived.
Sunday rushed towards the Yanma as it hit the ground, but about 5 feet out Trick Room ended, leaving the Slowpoke trudging with a Curse hampered body covered in immobilizing webs. He opened his mouth, channeling all of his exhaustion into a cloud, and let out a “Pooooke” as he Yawned.
The Yanma hit the ground and was instantly wrapped in Sunday’s cloud of laziness, but managed to fire off another Struggle Bug as its eyes began to get heavy. The Slowpoke was completely unable to avoid the attack, slow as he was at the moment, and took it head on, causing him to collapse at the same time drowsiness took hold of Yanma.
The entire arena was silent besides both trainers shouting at their pokemon for one more strike to end it.
“Get up Sunday, you can do it. It’s right in front of you” Maizie cheered Sunday on, filled with hope.
“Wake up Yanma! Now is not the time to be sleeping!”
The next few seconds stretched for what felt like minutes. Members of the crowd began chanting for either Sunday or Yanma to get up. Suddenly a rumble from the arena broke the chants and the crowd fell back into silence.
“Slooooow” Sunday grumbled lowly as he rocked back onto his feet and pushed through the pain of the hits he had taken, the exhaustion wracked upon his body, and the stress of what was undoubtedly the toughest battle of his life thus far.
“I’ll give you HONEY, Yanma, please, don’t let it end like this!” Bugsy pleaded with his pokemon, face growing redder by the minute.
Sunday trudged forward.
“Wake UP!” Bugsy shouted as loud as he could, fear growing in his eyes as he saw the inevitable end arrive.
Sunday, having arrived at his destination, leapt into the air. “POOOOKE!” he screamed as he used what remained of his strength to come crashing down on the Yanma with one last Tackle, belly flopping onto his opponent.
The Yanma’s eyes shot open only to nearly pop out of its head as the force of the Curse amplified blow sent it right back into unconsciousness.
“Leader Bugsy is out of useable pokemon, Challenger Maizie is the winner!” the referee declared. The crowd burst out in excitement once again as Maizie recalled Sunday to his ball and gave them a deep bow.
A lifetime of friendship and I had never seen the joy written on Maizie’s face as she came back up from bowing to the crowd, her first Gym badge secured.