“What was that!?” Was the first thing Jess said to me after meeting me, and she hasn’t stopped talking about the match since.

After the applause from the crowd ended, I returned Cape to his pokeball and met Whitney on the edge of the field since the field itself was in no condition to be stepped on. We shook hands and Whitney awarded me the plain badge and the TM 70, which was Flash.

Whitney’s Gym Trainers then directed me to the place where pokemon that had serious injuries in the Gym Match went, the small and private Emergency Center inside the Gym.

I was the only person here for now.

The nurse at the counter that collected my information said that they were rarely needed in the morning since that was the time slot of the first and second badge matches, where serious injuries rarely happened.

Whitney is set to fight some five badge matches in the afternoon. These are the matches that fill the place.

As I was left alone in the small white lobby, the first thing I did was release Valley and Cryogonal and inform them about what happened. I asked them if they wanted to see the match now or wanted to wait for the breakdown that we would be doing with the others when they were all well.

Cryogonal was happy for us but decided to go back into the pokeball and wait for the breakdown. He was a little awkward inside human structures, being as big as he was. Valley, of course, wanted to see the battle right away, so I grabbed my laptop and entered the Goldenrod section of the Pokenet. I clicked on the page of today’s fights and played the video for her.

She cutely sat in the chair with the laptop in front of her. The chair easily had the space for both.

Soon enough, I met with the doctor in charge of my pokemon, a Joy, who informed me that Cape, who had his carapace broken in two places, a broken arm, and some light internal injuries—only the Legendaries knew what that meant—would have to stay three days to be fully healed. Mesa’s problem was exhaustion and he would have to stay the night.

Now, I was just waiting for Jungle, who just needed a couple of hours to heal his mild injuries.

Jess eventually made it past the crowd outside. Most of them, I heard from her, wanted to congratulate and take pictures with me, while some wanted an interview or some words about the match to print in a pokemon battle journal or another. The Gym Trainers that guarded the Center were sceptical of her claim that she knew me, and she had to call me to ask to add her to the visitor list.

Now, we were both sitting in the white chairs in the white room, waiting for Jungle to be released. The prediction from the nurse was that he will be discharged in half an hour.

Since Valley had finished watching the match, Jess sat down on her seat and brought the Minccino into her lap. Valley was so lost in thought after watching the match that she didn’t even protest.

“How on earth was Mesa able to do that scale of field manipulation?” Jess continued with the talk. “That was five badge-level shit!”

“If he wanted to continue the fight, then that definitely was too much, or ‘five badge level shit’ as you put it, but he put all he had left and more in that move so that Cape could use Rock Tomb.”

“Which he didn’t use a lot,” she pouted, “only at the end.”

She probably wanted to see what her Hippopotas could do with a field like that.

“We had to start with the big guns right away.” I sighed. “Cape is not good enough with Rock Tomb to use against that Jigglypuff… We thought Whitney would send out an easier pokemon to fight.”

“But then how the fuck he shaped those rocks at the end?” The swear word made a grey-haired nurse passing by glare at her. Not that Jess noticed.

“Emotion-fuelled strength. Cape hates moves like Substitute, and I knew his anger would empower that Rock Tomb.” I laughed. “I imagined that he would create a wall behind the Jigglypuff or something like that… Definitely not that.”

“Scott,” Jess said with a straight face. “He grabbed those rocks, Scott. He. Grabbed. Them.”

“Yeah… And he will probably try that again.”

“Not for a couple of weeks, he won’t,” Jess snorted, and then peeked at me. “… You know you’re blowing up in the Pokenet, right?”

I felt my body tense. “Ah, really?”

“Well, the match was just broadcast to Goldenrod for now, but’s already a big deal. Last I checked people from other cities are already asking why the Goldenrod forums are losing their minds. And when the League release the full official battle tomorrow for all the Region? Ohhh, then you will blow up for real.”

“Well, it was bound to happen.”

“I thought you were going to react badly. The last beginners who blew up like that were Red and Blue and you seem to hate them.”

“I don’t hate them. I hate what people made them out to be.”

Jess shrugged and turned back to her phone. I leaned back to rest a little since I was tired.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Who knows? Maybe you will show the youngsters that it’s all right to begin their journeys later.” I jumped a little when a recognisable voice came from behind our chairs.

We turned around in our chairs to see Whitney behind us, near the entrance of the Emergency Center. I checked my watch. Her morning slot must have ended ten minutes ago. I shook my tired body and stood up while Jess stayed in her seat since she didn’t want to take Valley off her lap.

“Gym Leader.” I said as I approached her.

She giggled. “We’re not in any formal setting, you can call me Whitney.”

“Of course.”

“I just passed by to say that I’m sorry,” she briefly bowed. “I may have taken things too far, as my League contact already yelled at me… But at the same time, I’m not sorry! That was a great battle!”

“It really was. I didn’t expect that you would use that pokemon, though.”

“Yeah, yeah, I knew about your Heracross from the mark report. I figured that if he wasn’t on par with Puff then she could just throw at some point. But she has been getting too much of a big head for a while so I hoped that you guys would really win… And you won!” She laughed loudly while placing her hands on her hips.

She attracted some attention from the medical staff behind the counter, but no one seemed to have the courage to tell the Gym Leader to quiet down. Regardless, it was just us here, anyway.

“Regardless, I am very sorry for your Heracross. He will be looking at two weeks of rest, minimum.”

“Cape will not mind; the fight was so good that he will be in the clouds for a month.”

“A fighting type through and through.” She nodded, still with a smile on her face, and then she leaned forward. “Whatever you’re doing with him, and your other pokemon I assume, keep doing it. That will make you reach far.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Whitney said. “Another thing before I go, you’re not getting another mark. The match was good, but you didn’t make it so one sided as to warrant making your next match a five-badge level match. Anyway, I wish you good luck on your journey. I will watch it, probably.”

She passed through the doors of the Emergency Center, waving a hand back. I walked back to my seat.

“Cape will become stronger again, right?”

Valley ears twitched, and her face twisted into a frown.

I took a deep breath. “Yeah.”

There was no way to know how much Cape would grow after this massive beating.

Half an hour later, Jungle was ready to go, and we left the Gym. Whitney was kind enough to let us use one of the back doors that employees of the Gym used.

*

A push woke me up. I looked over my shoulder and saw Valley’s scowling face staring at me. She stopped, both arms extended towards my body for another shove. Yawing, I rubbed my eyes and sat on the bed.

“Morning Valley, what is it?”

The Minccino spun around and pointed at my cell phone that was sitting at the bedside table. Curiously, I picked it up. The first thing I saw was the time, almost midday. The second thing I noticed was that I had ten lost calls and a lot of messages. I took off my bedsheets and got up while Valley ran up to the small bed fixed on the wall and laid down to sleep some more.

She had watched the match a lot of times and had slept later than me. She even had to learn how to click on the button on the laptop to replay the video.

I sat at the table and looked over the missed calls. There’s one from Jeremy, Alice, Clarisse, Dendra, some more distance friends from the orphanage, and some other acquaintances from my time working in the Pokemart and tournament arbiter.

Most of the messages, on the other hand, were from unknown people. Some were from the people with missed calls. The first messages that I read were from my friends. They said that they watched the match, and that they liked it very much. Jeremy told me that Taylor and Fancy were thrilled by the battle. Similarly, Alice also told me that Spike was running up and down in excitement. Clarisse and Dendra congratulated me. Dendra did use a lot more words than Clarisse, and talked about the reaction from her Makuhita, who was looking forward to fight with Cape again.

He probably will not like the result or will. I don’t know with those fighting types.

The next message that caught my eye was Professor Oak’s. His was a short and concise ‘Good battle, Scott. You’re doing great!’.

Most of the unknown messages were from people who just happened to have my number and decided to randomly congratulate me on the win. The next most recognisable one was from the mayor of Azalea, who I briefly talked to two times and saw a handful of times in closing ceremonies of tournaments. His assistants probably got my number from the arbiter registry for him—or more likely, his staff—to send this message.

The rest of the messages were from individuals I truly didn’t know, and I was perplexed about how they got my number. They said many things which I didn’t bother to read, not with an empty stomach.

Fortunately, there was one message, one more recent, from Jess. It asked if I wanted to eat with her and the twins in the lobby of the Pokemon Center. Normally I wouldn’t, but by how tired I am, I will have to give in to the bland food of the Pokemon Center.

Sighing, I changed out of my pyjamas and grabbed my wallet.

“Valley, I’m going to eat something in the Pokemon Center. You want to come or wait here for me to put the food later?”

No response, so I took it as a no. I was leaving with Cryogonal and Jungle in their pokeballs.

Upon leaving the room, I went down to the lobby. The lobby was big and, at this time, packed, but it didn’t take long for me to find Jess’ dark hair and the twins’ blond hairs on the ocean of people.

As I made my way there, I began to feel conscious of the fact that trainers were looking.

Of course that here, in the Pokemon Center lobby, there would only be trainers, some of them probably watched my match and then passed along for other people.

Now, half the lobby was watching me as I sat down by Jess’s side.

“Someone’s popular, teach.”

“Don’t start.”

“Well, after that spectacular battle I don’t blame them.” One of the twins said, Rebecca I think, said.

“I agree. My Flaaffy and I watched the final battle three times now.” Anderson said.

“Ah.” Seeing the twins here reminded me of something. “I forgot that we were supposed to leave the city after my gym battle, sorry.”

Anderson scoffed. “No apologies necessary, if I were you, I would actually be insulted if someone blamed me for what happened in that match.”

“Yeah, someone would need to be crazy to do that. And, again, we don’t mind waiting. As we said, we aren’t in any hurry.”

“Thanks for being so understanding. I am still sorry, so I will pay for the food at least, yours too Jess.” I smiled as they began to reject. “No, no, I also gained a good money from the Gym Match, so there’s no problem.”

That began a chat about what we could order from here. Soon enough, we were ready to order, and I waved a hand to get the waitress’ attention. We told him our order, and after a twenty-minute wait—the place was kind of full—that we spend discussing the match, the food came and we dug in.

I was in the middle of eating my enormous sandwich when I noticed that the twins were distracted by something or someone coming up from behind me. I turned to the side just as a little kid stops by my table. I didn’t know the kid, but his clothes were distinctive enough. His blue hair was also not easily found outside of Blackthorn. It was the dragon clan kid that had the battle that stopped the Battle Hall, Aiden.

He crossed his arms. “I want to travel with you.”