The grand day had come. It was time.

It was Thursday, the day of Maeve’s match with Roark, her grand debut as a Pokémon trainer. It had to be absolutely perfect if she wanted to gain attention for her future career. That grand debut would never come, however, if Maeve happened to be occupied in the forest…

“Oh my Arceus,” Maeve whispered as quietly as she could. “It’s too cute. Too…cute…”

A baby Starling, nestled safely on a tree branch, let out an excited squeak as Momma Staravia dropped a wriggling worm into her chick’s hungry beak. After gulping down the worm, the Pokémon triumphantly exclaimed, “Star…ling!”

We are supposed to be heading to the gym right now, Blue said pointedly, completely unswayed by the Starling’s cuteness.

I…know…, Maeve sighed, eyes locked onto the Starling dreamily. But…

Now! Blue gave her a firm nudge with his webbed blue hand, causing Maeve to reluctantly start along the road again. We’re never going to meet Lara in time at this rate.

Pulling up the last dregs of her willpower, Maeve trudged forward, leaving the Staravia’s nest behind. It was only right. Raising a chick was no easy task, and it was best for the Staravia to be left undisturbed.

Lizzie leaped up from Maeve’s shoulder and swatted a large green leaf out of the air, triumphantly catching it in her jaws. Dark veins crept out from Lizzie’s bite marks, and the entire leaf wilted, dropping to the ground as a dark, dead thing.

“Lizzie!” Maeve choked, eyes wide in horror. The Starling was immediately forgotten as she stared, agape, at the Salandit that dropped back onto her shoulder easily. Lizzie’s pale, reptilian violet eyes stared at Maeve in confusion. She was practically asking, What’s the problem? without actually saying it.

“W-well, you just killed the leaf…with your poison…” Maeve trailed off.

She probably mistook it for an insect, Blue huffed. It is Salandit’s natural prey in the wild, after all. Maeve could distantly hear him chiding Lizzie for…something. She couldn’t discern what, and she didn’t pry further.

“Oh, there you are,” Lara’s voice said. Maeve spotted the blond-haired girl approaching from the other end of the road. “It’s 1:30, so we’ve got half an hour before my match, and an hour before yours. There’s someone about to battle right now. Want to go and watch? It could give us some hints on Roark’s fighting style.”

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The current gym challenger was a gangly teenage boy, around twelve or thirteen years old, who constantly fidgeted with his fingers, eyes darting around the boulder-strewn sand arena anxiously. His hand almost constantly rested on one of his Pokéballs in particular, making Maeve guess it was his ace.

“3…2…1…go!” the commentator said through the speakers, before yawning loudly. It was obvious the employee was bored of announcing matches all day.

“Geodude, go!” Roark tossed a Pokéball onto the sand. It popped open with a hiss, revealing a medium-sized Geodude with alert brown eyes and stony hands already curled into fists. “I will reveal that this Geodude is provided by the Pokémon League, not part of my personal team. However, I have battled with him multiple times. He is no pushover.”

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Maeve could see the faint sheen of sweat as Roark’s challenger tossed his own Pokéball onto the sand, choosing not to announce it—or perhaps it was because of the faint trembling in the boy’s arms. The Pokéball popped open, revealing a Budew. “Bu…dew!” the Budew cried, practically bouncing up and down in excitement.

“That’s one of the most battle-enthusiastic Budews I’ve ever seen,” Lara remarked from next to Maeve. “Normally, the ones I meet are quite shy and completely engrossed with the forest they live in.”

“Maybe it’s the reason the Budew was caught,” Maeve theorized. “If the Budew ends up evolving, with the right mindset, a Roselia or Roserade could be a real boon to any trainer’s team.”

Lara made a thoughtful sound as both of them turned their attention back to the battle, which was already in full swing. Roark’s Geodude was hiding behind a boulder as a cloud of Stun Spores blanketed the area.

“Rock Throw!” Roark shouted.

With an affirmative grunt, Geodude’s muscles bulged as it lifted smaller rocks scattered across the sand. Then the Dual-type Pokémon threw, and the rocks blurred across the arena. Budew squeaked in horror as the first rock impacted it straight on the chest, throwing the Pokémon into the air. A second rock ended it as Budew collapsed, exhausted, onto the sand.

“That’s not even Roark’s personal team,” Lara noted, the faintest touches of worry creeping across her face. “Gym Leaders are no joke.”

“Yeah,” Maeve agreed, resisting the urge to shudder. “The TV doesn’t do them justice.”

The conversation cut off again as the boy released a Bidoof, which took one look at the Geodude, arms raised in a defensive stance, and crouched low to the ground, gnashing its teeth together vigorously. “C’mon, Ollie!” the boy shouted. “Growl!”

“Rock Throw again!” Roark countered.

Ollie started to growl, but yelped and leaped to the side as a rock narrowly missed his position. Geodude’s eyes narrowed, and Ollie’s unfinished Growl was shrugged off easily as the Bidoof dodged another rock. One more slammed into Ollie’s shoulder, but the Bidoof moved with the hit, lessening the rock’s momentum, and bared his teeth.

“That’s one hardy Bidoof,” Roark remarked, impressed. “Still. Geodude, Bulldoze!”

“Rollout!” Roark’s challenger countered, eyes widening. Ollie curled into a ball, gaining momentum, as Geodude’s fist slammed down on the ground. A ring of dust erupted from the Pokémon’s position, but Ollie rolled off a rounded rock, missing the worst of the attack and rolling straight into Geodude’s face.

The force of Ollie’s Rollout threw the other Pokémon several feet, slamming into the barriers around the gym. After a few moments, the commentator declared, “Geodude is unable to battle! Gym Leader Roark, please select your next Pokémon.”

Roark grinned, eyes gleaming, at his challenger. “Nice one, kid. Didn’t expect you to use the boulder. It was a good performance, so let’s up the game. Not to my personal team yet, but you’re close.” Roark returned Geodude, grabbed another Pokéball, and tossed it onto the field.

A Rhyhorn appeared, snorting and pawing at the sand impatiently with one foot. “Bulldoze,” Roark called. “I have to say, Rhyhorn here is probably the best of my League-provided team. He hits hard, though, and doesn’t hold back.”

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A couple minutes later, Roark’s challenger stumbled out of the gym, a bit of dust coating his face from a spray kicked up by Rhyhorn. The beast had managed to take down both of the boy’s remaining Pokémon, all with a manic battle-hungry glint in its eye.

“If I go up against it, the Rhyhorn is going to be a pain to take down,” Lara remarked.

“Tell me about it,” Maeve said, touching her palms to find them slightly sweaty. “That thing’s like a bloodthirsty killing machine.”

Lara quirked a brow. “What, a Porygon? I hear those are pretty dull. Must be, if it’s programmed with basic code only.”

Maeve shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. They’re supposed to be really good at surfing the net, though. Could probably hack into your device and steal all your secrets. You don’t want that happening, now do you?”

Lara shuddered. “Is that even a question?”