CHAPTER 251

I didn't know what I'd expected when I'd seen that my friends had arrived.

Running at them and wrapping them all in a big hug close to the gate? With my ankle the way it was? Maybe if Princess had been in a state to fly me there, it would have been possible. Plus, I knew I probably would have slipped on the pavement and broken another bone because of how hard it was raining. The sound it made falling on the street outside was almost hypnotic, and the soft, warm lights of the Pokemon Center made for a very cozy atmosphere.

Sitting in the Pokemon Center's lobby to wait for them to come was a lot less climactic than what I'd wanted, especially with the trainers harassing me. Harassing might have been too harsh. They were mostly trying to get Honey's evolution method out of me, and I didn't have a Pokemon to scare them away this time, since I had left Buddy in his bath. All I answered with was I'd been in a tough fight while I'd been traveling between Sunyshore and Pastoria and let them come to their own conclusion. My broken ankle certainly helped them think that a hard fight had something to do with it, but they also knew it couldn't have been just the battle.

My breath caught in my throat— which I then let go with a sigh when I realized I'd mistaken a large group of trainers for my friends. I constantly browsed my phone to see when they'd be arriving. I hadn't really picked the closest Pokemon Center available to the gate, and Pastoria's layout would mean they'd take longer to make it here.

But after a half-an-hour wait…

"Legendaries, it's fucking pouring," Chase gruffed. Water clung to his clothes and he swore under his breath, shivering from the Center's cold air conditioning.

Mira and Maeve followed next, although they were dry from Slowking and Alakazam shielding them from the rain. Louis, Cecilia and Justin had been protected by Gardevoir, although the latter was slightly wet. Save for Justin, they all beamed when they saw me, and hurriedly got to the couch I was sitting on so I wouldn't have to take too many steps. They were going to treat me like a damsel in distress, weren't they? That was going to be awful. Justin stayed in the back and gave me a simple, half-hearted wave, and I nodded back with a smile. Greetings were, well, greetings. Hugs all around, except for Cece, who got a very long kiss out of me while I wrapped my arms around her neck.

"You don't have to act so scared," I told her. "You can hug me tightly and stuff, as long as you don't jerk me around."

"Oh. Sorry, I just didn't want to make it worse."

"Goodness," Maeve sighed. "That looks a lot worse than the picture you sent. Maybe it was the angle?"

Louis crouched, ignoring the fact that Justin had already gone off to get his Pokemon healed and was getting a room. Back in Sunyshore, he would have been way too paranoid to ever let his eye drift away from Justin even if they were in the same room. Their travels together must have done wonders to mend that trust.

"At least you have an excuse to skimp out on working out now," Chase smirked.

I eyed him from head to toe. "Why are you wet? Did Sigilyph—"

He let out a frustrated groan, but Mira jumped on the occasion to explain.

"Little Sig exhausted herself training during one of his regiments, and he said he deserved to suffer the consequences for pushing her too hard."

Maeve stared at the floor. "Well, people are going to have to clean this up…"

"Bah, I'll help them if they really need to." Chase waved dismissively, accidentally sending water on Louis' jacket. "I thought I deserved it."

"Oh yeah, by the way, Sig?"

"Just a nickname I came up with," the pink-haired girl said with a shrug. "She likes it."

The discussion died down so they could all give their Pokemon to the Nurse Joys for the usual check-up. When Maeve, Justin and Louis decided to pack it up and go to their rooms, Chase called Mira back over before she called it a night so we could talk. Everyone was exhausted after their travels, but she was especially so, given that they'd basically jogged over here. It was a wonder, considering she had been so unfit when we'd just left Veilstone.

"Any idea of when Lauren's getting there?" Chase asked with a curious tint. The meeting about the poachers. "Williams is being slow, but I haven't heard of her."

"She'll come around. Before you throw us into a, " Cecilia lowered her voice, "suicidal mission, I'd like to go catch my sixth Pokemon. Preferably tomorrow."

"What?! But I won't have my team back tomorrow!" I whined. "Maybe I'll have Angel back, actually."

"Yes," she said with a devilish smile. "You can go and relax while you wait for us to come back. Maybe go do the UPAN work you were talking to me about. I'll be happy so long as you're in the city."

"Was this a plan of some sort?" I glared.

"A plan? No, we were just lucky that you decided to battle Barry Lane," Mira smugly said.

"Which was a great performance," Cece added. "It appears to me that I might be lagging behind a little, which is why I want to remedy that as fast as possible by getting started on training a sixth Pokemon."

"Chase'll be in the Safari Zone too. I'll be busy tracking down that Porygon guy. Uh, I don't know about Louis and Maeve." Mira said. "They looked somewhat hesitant."

"Any idea of what you're looking for?" I asked, turning to Chase.

"Meh. You know that's not how I do things. If a Pokemon catches my eye with its—" he winced, as if he knew I'd get on his case about pronouns. I knew he didn't care, but the effort was appreciated, "—their drive."

"Okay, well I actually have guidelines for you to follow. Like, a list of endangered Pokemon you shouldn't catch," I said.

Chase groaned, and Cecilia looked uninterested since she already knew what Pokemon she wanted, and there was no way Croagunk of all species would be endangered in Pastoria.

"I'll send it to the group chat," I said. "Don't look so annoyed, it's only a few Paldean and Alolan species." I rolled my eyes and stood up on my crutches. I restrained my usual pained grunt, because I knew they'd all freak out. "It's important we don't let them go extinct in the Great Marsh, or they'll be all gone from Sinnoh."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he said. "Uh, you want some help to go up, or…"

"I've been living here for days without you." I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "No need to treat me any differently unless I really look like I'm hurting."

"Well, you walk at a Slugma's pace, so—"

I hit him in the leg with a crutch, and he stared blankly.

"Was that supposed to hurt me?"

"No, it was supposed to make you stop," I said. "Anyway, we can go up. Obviously, I'm taking the elevator."

"We are," Cecilia corrected me.

I smiled, probably like an idiot. "Right."

—

"Man, I can't believe I let Rest screw me over like that," I complained to Cecilia. I'd been venting to her about the battle for the last twenty minutes, and she had been content to listen. "Well, at least I know I need Taunt to counter moves like that."

My girlfriend's hands tightened around me. My back was lying on her, and she was hugging me from behind. There weren't that many positions to cuddle with my ankle, but this worked. Buddy, who had finally recovered from the battle, was talking to Slowking about ways he could use water to his advantage beyond just using it as a hiding spot, but unfortunately, both of them had been slacking in their water typing lately.

"Lehmhart definitely would have overpowered Snorlax with Hammer Arm, but he's so strong the collapsing issue would have come up, still," I rambled. "I've been slacking too much in the TE department! I need to start… moving grass and water around to do things!"

"At the end of the day, it was close," she soothed me. "And you've learned from it."

"Yeah, I guess. I need to start studying Crasher Wake tomorrow, but I already have a better idea of how the heck I'm going to fight. Oh! You should definitely go and practice in that same arena, by the way! Get a feel for fighting in a field full of water."

"That was the plan as soon as I saw it on the stream. It's too good of an opportunity to just pass up." She poked at my cheeks and gently tugged at them. "You're angry."

"At the battle? Not really angry, just frustrated at myself. I could have won."

"No, no. You're angry that you're not going to be able to come with us to the Safari Zone tomorrow. You can be angry about multiple things at once."

"You can parse through what I'm feeling?" I asked. "Scary. But you know, I could go with Angel and Buddy."

She chuckled. "No."

"No?"

"No, you won't."

"Well, maybe I could stay near the entrance! Hang out with the wildlife there while you guys go off and try to convince Pokemon to become a part of your team."

It was the first time that Cecilia actually tried to catch a Pokemon this way, which was a wonderful improvement for her. Lehmhart hadn't been sapient enough to refuse. As I settled deeper into Pokemon activism, it would have been impossible to date someone who still treated her catches like she had Scyther.

Cece said nothing, but I knew her silence was a disagreement.

"Come on, I really wanted to see you convince a Croagunk to join you. What's your strategy? Just don't let Sol and Zerst get close, because they'll scare that Croagunk lifeless."

"Sol and Zerst wouldn't be able to navigate the swamp anyway," she sighed. "Their evolution would remedy a lot of the problems I have working them into my strategies, but it's also a terrifying prospect."

She paused, then chuckled.

"Maybe I'll have Slowking convince Croagunk with a pun."

The psychic turned toward us and spoke. I fear that might actually be counterproductive, as much as it pains to admit.

"I fear you underestimate yourself, but perhaps you might be right. Better play it on the safe side and just try to have you translate."

Talonflame can give them a list of pros and cons, Slowking said. Con, Zerst eats anything that moves. Pro, he's strangely endearing. Con, Scyther will look at you wrong just for being there. Pro, he's also strangely endearing.

Cecilia snorted. "Of course. By the time she's done, it'll be sundown already."

"Hey! You can't do inside jokes! Buddy and I don't get them!"

The ghost type rumbled, saying that he didn't really care to know another team's inside joke, but Cecilia explained anyway.

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"Talonflame has this thing where she makes every hard decision with a pros and cons list," Cece explained. "Granted, I think Slowking likes to exaggerate the translations."

Me? I would never! Slowking said with an indignant look.

"Okay, now I believe you," I told Cece. "You're a terrible actor, Slowking."

The psychic sighed. There goes my future career.

"Wait, what—"

"He's just fooling around," Cecilia cut in.

You say that, but we'll see who has the last laugh when I'm starring in the biggest movies. I'd make a mean main antagonist.

She scoffed. "You don't even want to do that."

He winked. I don't. Stand-up comedy would be nice, though.

Buddy's eyes dimmed, and he decided he'd be better off clinging to the ceiling like usual. He did not mesh well with Slowking's humor. After multiple calls to get him back down that went nowhere, I continued.

"Anyway, about Barry, I heard some interesting things about the Battle Frontier. I figured you'd want to know…"

—

"Be careful, okay? And remember, you need to be non-threatening. Speak softly and gently, and don't get too close at all. Not worth the risk when you're dealing with a poison type and I won't be there to advise you. And also, pay attention to the guide's advice. There should be a map they hand over to you— mhm!"

Cecilia bent down to interrupt me with a kiss. It was early in the morning, and the Pokemon Center's lobby was rather empty. Couches with just a few people filling them, a single nurse at the reception, and most trainers immediately entered the cafeteria to eat breakfast. Not that she would have cared if it was full anyway.

"Thank you love, but you've given the same speech to Chase and he left—" she grabbed her phone. "—six minutes ago, and I was right there. I've got to get going if I want to be back in time to sign up for my practical flying classes. Lehmhart's ready."

"Right, you're doing those," I said. "Uh, good luck. Don't go to the dangerous areas."

"You're the last person who should be telling me that," she laughed. My heart swelled when she did, even if she was technically calling me a hypocrite. It felt nice to just be like this, despite us knowing that there was underlying tension with Abel. "I'll see you this evening."

"I love you."

"Love you too."

Arceus, I was going to miss her when we went our separate ways. A week or two I could handle, but months? And this wasn't even going to be with phone calls, since I was going to be in the middle of nowhere the majority of the time. One crisis at a time, I thought. I knew it hardly constituted an actual crisis, but that sure as hell didn't stop it from feeling like one. Like a sinking feeling that would grow stronger and stronger as time went on. I waited until she was out of view to get back inside.

Just like I'd thought, Angel was ready to be picked up, and Sunshine was too. I had wondered if the potential water in his lungs would hamper his recovery, but it thankfully hadn't. My ankle could thank its lucky stars that I was going to get carried everywhere again. I was even happier when I saw that the Turtonator line was allowed in public in Pastoria. They were banned in cities like Veilstone and Jubilife outside of designated zones like Pokemon parks, but thankfully he could hang out everywhere here.

I released the two, along with Buddy. Angel was the same as always, not shaken up by the battle at all. His vines drooped slightly when I told him we'd lost, but he wasn't a competitive Pokemon and generally only cared about battles because I cared about them. Sunshine, though? His disappointment was palpable. His nose flared, and he couldn't stare me in the eyes.

"Hey. None of that," I chided. "Your loss is on me."

The dragon dismissively snorted and shook his head, launching into some kind of hypothesis about him not being able to use Focus Blast fast enough being the reason we lost.

"No. We lost because I failed to identify that the islands could collapse. Because I was tunnel visioning on Snorlax being so frustrating," I firmly said. "Look, it's true that we've relied on you being quite literally a thermal bomb to win fights and that we shouldn't have neglected your coverage moves other than Flash Cannon, but you had all of the tools to win. Both the fight against Snorlax, and Roserade after. I just didn't know how to use them, and I'm sorry for failing you."

I touched his scaly arm, which was a lot colder than usual.

"But I'll do better next time. And we know that you moving through explosions wasn't a one-and-done deal by that Turtonator up Mount Wela. You can do it too. You've been getting better at it. Without Snorlax dragging you down, you would have made it back up to land through Shell Trap. You almost have the power to stand at the Conference already, all you need is to refine your technique."

That seemed to have gotten him over the hump, although I knew he was still down in the dumps. I handed my crutches to Angel, allowed him to pick me up and we were on our way toward the UPAN Headquarters. I had already texted Alex that I was coming, and he seemed ecstatic. Part of him apparently thought that he'd scared me away by pressing on my lack of general knowledge about politics when we'd spoken, but that had already been forgotten. The reason? There was a rumor about me online that I held grudges.

Well, it wasn't wrong, but the rumor itself was grossly exaggerated. I wasn't going to dislike someone just because they didn't keep their reservations about me quiet. That'd make me really annoying to talk to. I pulled out my laptop and started opening up Pastoria's Gym website. It felt odd, to actually click the number seven. Like it wasn't real.

And yet it was. The battle for my seventh badge.

"Oh, right," I turned to Sunshine. "Whenever you're ready to go see Mudsdale, we can go."

He nodded, a little more sure of himself than he'd been before. Soon, then.

So.

Crasher Wake. An icon of Pokemon battling, mostly through his bombastic personality that made Candice look tame in comparison. Every battle was a show with him, and his referees acted like it, announcing things like battles were damn wrestling matches. They were more commentators than referees at this point, but they seemed to enjoy it. It was a part of their Gym's culture, and because of that, Pastoria's Gym was packed more than any other Gym in Sinnoh. Who wouldn't want to hear an insane ref talk about a first-badge Starly fighting a Buizel like this was the most important battle in the history of the entire world? Crasher Wake and his Gym were just fun, and they didn't take themselves seriously. Even for the eighth Gym Badge, battles were run the same way. There had been multiple complaints about the referees snapping people out of their focus and causing them to lose, but Wake just answered that it was a part of the test itself.

"Do you think people are quiet at the Conference?" He had answered with a hearty laugh. "The cheers and commentators are so loud there that you can hardly hear yourself think!"

The better lesson— at least in my opinion— was that Wake's Gym taught people (who weren't water type specialists) to fight on a completely disadvantageous field. A crucial lesson for any trainer wanting to reach the top.

A nice tidbit was that Wake was the only Gym Leader of this era who hadn't made it to the Conference even once as a kid. He'd stalled out at seven badges four years in a row and decided to become a Gym Trainer instead. Yet, he'd gotten to his position regardless through sheer perseverance and hard work. Anyway, I wasn't there to watch Wake's interviews, even if they were funny, especially when his husband was there with him and desperately attempting to stop him from saying something stupid or provocative. Jean-Pierre, he was called. Some Kalosian who'd met Wake when they were young, and he was actually quite involved with running the day-to-day at the Gym even if he wasn't a trainer. An administrator, then.

First, there was the arena. A giant, rectangular-shaped sea with five islands. Four at each corner, and a larger one in the center of the battlefield. All of them had at least a few palm trees and some vegetation, along with sandy beaches to potentially glass. Thankfully, these were a lot more solid than the ones in that shoddy swamp, so the chance of them collapsing was basically zero. They'd been built into the arena's foundation.

The problem with Wake was that even his least threatening Pokemon would be tough to beat with a Pokemon who couldn't go in the water. Buddy would be instrumental in this victory. Without him, I would struggle to nab a win, and that wasn't even a question. The seventh Gym Badge wasn't one where Wake would take pity and order his Pokemon out of the water to fight if he knew they'd lose up close— which they would against Honey, Angel, and Sunshine despite his fire typing. Princess was safe enough with her flight, and while Sweetheart could skip across water, I believed she'd take a backseat for this Gym Battle.

Of course, this was a six-on-six, so a backseat probably meant that she'd have to fight anyway, and I could… maybe teach her to propel herself underwater like a submarine? It would be nerve-wracking, but Buddy could supervise her and leave a part of himself with me to say if I needed to recall her or not.

In fact, I was better off training all of my Pokemon and their movement in water so they could escape back to an island in case they were dragged into the sea. Honey already knew how to swim, but he could get better. Sunshine could navigate with explosions, but he also could improve. Princess needed to learn how to float faster, and Angel could probably propel himself with his vines to reach some kind of proto-swimming. I didn't want Wake to blow one of my Pokemon into the water and be forced to recall them.

So, the threats. The Pokemon who went above and beyond and weren't just adept at using the water to their advantage (something I was sure I'd need to take inspiration from).

First, the heaviest hitters. Gyarados and Wailord. While their huge size would make them easy for Honey to take down, I doubted that Wake would ever let the battle end up with them facing each other. Every single attack from them would deal massive amounts of damage. Wailord's Water Spout was so powerful that it could rain back down all over the field with the same force it had while coming out of his blowhole, and if the water type ever hit your Pokemon with a Heavy Slam, they were basically done for. Gyarados, meanwhile, knew Hyper Beam, Hurricane, Hydro Pump, was deceptively fast with Dragon Dance and could easily snowball out of control with Moxie. He could also fly in the air to snatch flying types trying to keep their distance with Ice or Thunder Fang— so Princess would be in danger there. And he was way too heavy to even hope to stop with Psychic or gusts of air.

Without Honey, these two would have been unsurmountable opponents. With him, though, they could become manageable if I managed to set up the switches correctly. Their sizes would work against them and would make them easy to hit with Thunder.

Next up, two Pokemon that shone through the variety of attacks they could pull from, Starmie and Octillery. Their hold on every attack was solid, and that meant they could throw a wrench in any plan. Starmie could levitate— although not very well— and could use Recover, while Octillery could turn almost invisible through camouflage and had Lock-On. Basically, they were incredibly annoying to fight and made battles last a lot longer than they should, and their coverage was insane.

And yet, the referee and Wake still found a way to make them exciting for the spectators.

Gastrodon, Quagsire, Whiscash and Swampert were problems just because they could shut down Honey completely with sophisticated ground techniques, but luckily Angel would be able to deal with them if needed. I'd still need to watch for Ice Beams and Ice Punches, though.

Pokemon like Sharpedo or Gorebyss were all capable of Hydrokinesis like Volkner's Lanturn, so they could basically fly however they wanted. Jellicent and Alomomola could stall through Recover and Wish and whittle a Pokemon down with Toxic, but luckily for me I knew exactly how to take down a Jellicent. I had to admit that this one was a lot better than us at messing with water TE, though.

That's on the to-do list.

Of course, there was the biggest problem of them all. The wall. Palafin. A Paldean Pokemon that had a second form that could be triggered… uh, well, by the time I'd researched and watched six different videos with Palafin, I still hadn't figured it out. Every instance of the transformation had happened at different times— most of them late into the battle, but one super early in too, when three of Wake's Pokemon had fainted to take down one of his opponent's in what would have possibly been a sweep—

No… no, there was something there. A common link that was on the tip of my tongue, a strand I needed to grasp.

"I fucking have it," I said, exhaling in relief after five minutes of introspection.

The transformations had happened when the tide of the battle had turned against Wake. When victory seemed all but impossible. When all odds were stacked against him and it would take a miracle to turn things around. When this condition was met, Palafin would change into its Hero form and become a juggernaut capable of taking down virtually anything. This wasn't like Kingambit. It didn't matter how many Pokemon Wake had left. So long as things were desperate, Palafin would transform.

In its normal form, Palafin was… well not a problem. Just an average water type under Wake's care. Certainly powerful, but nothing to write home about. One of his weakest members on the seventh-badge roster.

In his Hero form? He could fly (without hydrokinesis!), bend water to his will, punch as hard as a fighting type, and hit hard from afar with moves like Ice Beam or Hydro Pump too. He was an Arceus-damned superhero, and he and Wake leaned fully into the persona. He felt so unfair that I'd even consider his Hero form to be a badge ahead when powered up by the rain, which was basically always.

That battle where Wake had lost three Pokemon to one? Palafin had singlehandedly turned it around, fainting after taking down another three Pokemon of his own. Wake hadn't even switched him out, probably to give his opponent a chance. I noticed that was a consistent pattern with Palafin. Whenever he switched forms, Wake would never recall him until he fainted.

But Wake's true constant strategy, the one that had sent so many trainers five badges and up packing was the weather. More precisely, the rain. He could call upon a deluge with basically any of his Pokemon to power up all of his water type Pokemon. Not just their attacks. Moves like Aqua Ring or Life Dew would also be strengthened. Hell, it seemed like even their non-water type attacks were stronger in the rain.

What was peculiar was that even with the rain, the islands were never completely buried underwater. Sure, they flooded a little, but they always remained. Did they have drains under the water? I supposed it would be a bit unfair if Wake could just turn his field into a full-blown sea with no land for non-water types to stand on. This was supposed to be one of the easiest Gym Leaders in Sinnoh? I didn't want to see what the hell the others did for the seventh badge!

I didn't have the time to finish my research by the time we'd made it to the UPAN building, but that could wait. I'd make sure to start learning the Pokemons' movesets later while my Pokemon trained. Alex was waiting for me out in front, and he gave me a short, lazy wave as I approached on top of Angel's head with Sunshine and Buddy in tow. The fire type didn't even greet him until I forced him to.

"Mornin'," he yawned. "Sorry, I'm sort of tired. Ready to go to work?"

"Yep! What are we doing today?"

"Making food and feeding our rescues, sticking pamphlets on walls, trying to do outreach by talking to trainers and civvies… I have a list of addresses to knock on doors, and we're just one of the teams doing this. We're kicking things back into high gear— oh, you have to join first to volunteer. Sorry about that, I forgot."

I stared at him with rising curiosity. "Difficulty sleeping last night?"

"More like I didn't sleep at all. I was busy catching up on paperwork for Ms. Webb. Me, her and a bunch of others stayed at the office the entire night," he said, pointing back to the building with his thumb. "Don't worry, though. You won't have to do any kind of paperwork."

"Oh. Was yesterday special or something?"

"I told you, didn't I? We're kicking things back into high gear, which means we had a lot of catching up to do. We're not even halfway done, but I'll get to go home tonight, at least."

"Because of me?"

"Yes, Grace," he smiled. "Your presence here is an opportunity to get some good work done. Now—" he yawned again. "—are you ready?"

I nodded. "Sure thing."