CHAPTER 59

“...third week of anti League government protests are underway with no signs of slowing down. Cities with the largest protests are Eterna, Hearthome, and Veilstone, but people in Jubilife and Sunnyshore have started organizing. There has still been no official response or acknowledgment from the League, but civilian governments are desperately trying to maintain order. Now with us, we have reporter Jensen here on the scene right in the heart of Eterna City. Jensen, what are you hearing on the ground?”

“Thank you, Mallory. As you can see behind me, people— both trainers and civilians alike— are angry. They want answers from the League, and they aren’t getting any, which begs the question. What is Cynthia waiting for? Now, here is one of the protesters who was willing to run an interview with us. What’s your name, sir?”

“I’m Willie, and I’m fucking pissed off—”

“Please refrain from swearing, sir.”

“Fuck you! What kind of government takes back the people’s freedom? Not my government! If they’re extracting team Galactic’s memories, it’s only a matter of time until they extract yours! Fuck Cynthia—”

The screen cut away, returning to Mallory in her newsroom.

“Well, sorry about that. One thing is for sure about Champion Cynthia, she’s going to have to come out of hiding eventually because she’s facing rebellion from within. The coalition government in the Directorate has collapsed, and the new opposition party has been floating the idea of voting Prime Minister Vernon out of power. Of course, to do that, they’ll have to get a majority vote, which they don’t have yet, but a few members have already dissented and joined the opposition. And remind me, Patrick, what does that entail?”

Patrick, her co-host, spoke up.

“Well, a Prime Minister opposed to the Champion has never been seen before, since there’s only been one PM, but if they are, then they’d have the power to start a vote with the intent of impeaching the Champion out of power. Granted, that would take two-thirds of the Directorate, so it seems like a long shot.”

“Still something to keep an eye on. Cynthia might be safe for now, but Prime Minister Vernon—”

I switched channels and slammed the remote on my bed out of frustration. I was waiting in my Pokemon Center room with Denzel while the others went to the airport to pick up their special food mix for their teams, and I, unfortunately, couldn’t help myself from listening to the news.

“This is bullshit,” I spat. “Did you see their faces? They’re enjoying every second of this.”

Denzel sighed and crossed his arms. “Well, this is Cynthia’s first big controversy, so they’re going to be running this story for weeks or months. The ratings must be through the roof.”

“Don’t they understand the danger that team Galactic poses?! Cynthia just wants to help the region!” I exclaimed with my fists clenched. “And the media’s just fanning the flames! Why don’t they go speak with the victims instead of these protesters?”

“You’re angry,” He simply said.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” I yelled. “These people are going to distract Cynthia from investigating team Galactic with these stupid political games. That means more people might suffer. People might die.”

“You’ve got to understand their point of view,” Denzel said. “They’re scared. Cynthia basically showed that she could just brute force their rights away.”

“It’s not their rights, she’s only using it against team Galactic!” I said.

“But that’s not how it looks from their point of view,” My friend sighed. “It looks like a power grab from the League side of government, and civies aren’t liking it. Hell, even some trainers are protesting. The forums are incredibly toxic, and that’s saying something. Plus, the League certainly isn’t helping by being radio silent.”

“I just… I hate this. It’s exhausting.”

“Why don’t we do something to clear your head? You haven't eaten fries in a while, want to go get some?” Denzel asked with a sad smile.

“I don’t know. I just feel like doing nothing today.”

“Come on, we at least have to go check out the gym!” He said. “The wait times are apparently crazy, so it’d be best to sign up as early as possible.”

I groaned. “Fine, I guess.”

We exited my room and made our way down using the elevators. I had gotten used to the smaller Centers of the outposts at both ends of Eterna forest, so I had almost forgotten how huge city Centers were. They were the tallest buildings in Eterna, bar a few exceptions. I breathed easy when I saw that the protestors had moved onto another street. I didn’t think I’d be able to contain myself if they were still there.

Unlike in Oreburgh, the Eterna city gym was easy to spot. It stuck out like a sore thumb in the city. The stadium-like building looked modern and smooth compared to the old, rustic architecture that dominated the city, and it was also the largest building in Eterna by far, dwarfing anything else in sight. Still, even though it was visible from anywhere in the city, it was still relatively far away from the Center we had picked to stay at. We chose this Center mostly because it was close to the other’s hotel, so it would be easy to meet up whenever we wanted.

Denzel and I stepped on one of the many trams that ran through the middle of Eterna’s streets. Unlike Jubilife or Oreburgh, the city was much more axed toward pedestrian life, which was impressive for its size. But if someone had to get far from where they lived, they’d need to use the trams. I lazily stared at one of the tram line maps plastered on the walls of the vehicle. We were far, but at least we wouldn’t need to do any line transfers. We rode in silence for twenty-five minutes, and then we got off.

I bit my tongue when I heard more protesters camped in front of the gym. It made sense, in a sick sort of way. Gardenia answered to the League, so protesting in front of her workplace was the best way to reach her.

“Keep your head down,” Denzel said as we squeezed through the crowd.

“I’m not going to start a fight,” I retorted. He probably didn’t hear me. A few policemen were stationed in front of the entrance, blocking the protesters, and asked for our trainer ID cards before letting us through.

Needless to say, there weren’t that many trainers inside of the gym lobby proper, but I could hear the chants and yells of the crowd sitting in the stand.

“Must be a good battle going on,” Denzel said. “Here, why don’t you sign up first.”

I nodded and approached the receptionist, who looked to be a trainer just as young as I was, or maybe just slightly older. Unlike Oreburgh city, the gym trainers here wore a green and white uniform, with a Pokeball on the white side of her shirt, which was obviously because of the grass type specialization.

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“Good morning, and welcome to the Eterna gym,” The girl said with irritation. “Before you ask, no, I cannot go and tell Gardenia to do anything about the protests.”

“Oh, I’m just here to sign up,” I hesitantly said.

The girl’s eyes widened. “Oh, Arceus, I’m so sorry! Um, here, trainer ID, please!” She stammered. I smiled. She was probably new here, and she reminded me of myself when I had first started out as a trainer.

“Sure, no problem,” I said, handing her my ID.

“Again, so sorry,” She professed as she typed something on her computer. “Oh, this isn’t your first badge! Um… oh, right! Here, you’ll only have to answer these, then,” The girl continued, handing me a questionnaire. “And if you lie on any questions, you can get disqualified from the Circuit.”

I stared at the paper intently. It was mostly a streamlined version of the questionnaire I had answered at Roark’s gym, with the same kind of questions, such as the number of Pokemon I owned. I answered them all honestly and handed the receptionist the questionnaire.

“Thanks! I swear, we need to start making you answer these digitally right away, it’s such a chore to input this manually…” She grumbled as she typed away on her keyboard. “And… there!” She exclaimed after a few minutes. “Your info’s all updated. Your battle is in seven days, at 6:20 pm. If you lose, or you’re late, you have to wait for two weeks to sign up again,” She smiled as she handed me my ticket. “Any questions?”

“Wait,” I said. “I don’t have to battle a gym trainer this time?”

“Well, you already have a badge, so we assume you know what you’re doing and won’t waste Gardenia’s time.”

“Oh! Sounds good! Thank you for the help,” I said as I left the counter.

I sat on one of the chairs as I waited for Denzel to sign up, glaring at the sliding glass doors that separated me and the protesters. One day, they’d all see that Cynthia was doing this for their own protection. I just wished that that day came sooner rather than later.

“There you go, I’m done,” Denzel said.

“Oh, that was quick. When’s your fight?”

“6:50 pm.”

“Ah, you got the timeslot right after mine.”

“Yup. Ready to head back?”

“Yeah, these people are giving me a headache,” I said, pointing my thumb toward the crowd outside. “Let’s get back to the Center.”

“Sure you don’t want something to eat? There’s this really cool fast food place that I noticed on our way here.”

“I’m not going to eat fast food in the morning,” I groaned. “Let’s just go tonight. If I’m hungry, I’ll grab something from the Center cafeteria.”

He nodded, and we quickly caught another tram before heading back to the Pokemon Center. I whipped out my Poketch and checked the time. The others were probably checking into their hotel by now, after which they’d go and sign up for the gym. I sat on the desk, setting the device against the wall, and grinned. I opened up the Eterna city gym website, where all of Gardenia’s battles would be stored.

It was time to study.

——

“What in the world is this?” I sighed as I watched one of Gardenia’s recent battles.

Luckily for me, there was a way to filter the battles by the number of badges the challenger had, so I didn’t have to scour the site to find what the gym leader would use against people of my level. I groaned as Gardenia’s Cherrim spat out a Leech Seed up in the sky at a trainer’s Wingull. The flying type cried out and crashed to the ground, and Gardenia finished it off with Magical Leaf. The first thing I noticed from watching all of her fights was that all of her Pokemon had Leech Seed. All of them. And they could hit you from any distance with incredible accuracy— including all but the fastest flying types. If they did, you were on a timer. Your Pokemon would be slowly weakened, and its energy would be slowly sucked away.

Next, Gardenia didn’t fight like Roark at all. Roark was a brutal trainer who’d keep attacking until either he or his challenger lost. He was always on the offense, and his Pokemon were trained to take as many hits as possible. Gardenia…

Gardenia fought like me. Well, that was insulting. It would be more accurate to say that I fought like a worse version of Gardenia.

She was methodical— no, she went a step forward. She was surgical. The start of her fights was always spent wasting time as she baited out her opponent’s moves. When she did, she ruthlessly shut them down with a strategy she probably crafted on the fly. Roark’s fights were often done brutally quickly, lasting just a few minutes. Gardenia’s fights usually went over ten. I could already feel the stress mounting, and the battle was still seven days away.

But at the same time? Gardenia was the trainer I wanted to emulate the most. Win or lose, I’d learn a lot during the battle.

The Pokemon she used the most against trainers with one badge were Turtwig, Cherrim, Roselia, Pansage, and Foongus, but tougher trainers also had to face her Grotle, Leafeon, Sunflora or Gloom, and that was just the tip of the iceberg. She used way more Pokemon than Roark did, and that meant that studying against her would be incredibly difficult and time-consuming.

I grinned.

It would come down to a battle of endurance. All of her Pokemon used Leech Seed, but she was also an avid user of spore moves as well. Gardenia started off the battle slowly and fished out your weaknesses. Hell, you might even take down one of her Pokemon in the process, but then she would take that sense of security and obliterate it. The woman also liked using Grassy Terrain sometimes, which would boost the power of grass type moves, but also heal both of our Pokemon over the course of the battle.

Next up, I noticed something I hadn’t seen before. Her stadium had no roof.

This was important because she was an avid Sunny Day user. The move made most grass types more powerful, but it was also a double-edged sword if one of her challengers had a fire type.

Or at least that’s what I thought until I saw her completely shut down a trainer’s Litleo with her Lombre’s Rain Dance.

That’s right, she had first used Sunny Day to boost her Gloom’s speed to take down her opponent’s first Pokemon, and then she changed the weather again— although it took a few minutes for her to be able to change the weather after having just done so. So not only did I have to contend with a surgical trainer that would take me down with a thousand cuts, I had to deal with her manipulating the weather to her advantage.

Oh, and her Sunflora also knew Solar Beam, one of the most powerful grass type moves that would probably take down Frillish in one hit.

Roark… Roark was an incredible trainer, but he was nowhere near this difficult. What was with the incredible jump in difficulty? I sighed and sunk deep into the armchair I sat on. How was I going to deal with this?

The trainers that won against her did so using two distinct strategies that I could find. Either they overwhelmed Gardenia with powerful Pokemon before she could get her footing and start counterattacking— which was something Cece was far better at doing than I was— or they tried using Pokemon fast enough to avoid her spores or Leech Seed. You could never go wrong with speed.

Well, for overwhelming power, I had… nothing, and for speed, I had Elekid. I’d have to beat Gardenia at her own game, which was something no one had figured out how to do yet. The one advantage I’d possibly have was that just like in my battle against Chase, I’d know almost everything about her, but she’d know nothing about me. The longer I used one of my Pokemon, the worse my position would get. And if I lost? Then the second battle would be at least twice as hard.

This fight was going to be a puzzle, and I’d have to use everything I had learned so far to win. I needed a plan against each Pokemon, and then a plan B, and probably a plan C for good measure, and that wasn’t even counting all the training I’d have to do to teach my team their new moves.

“Holy fuck,” I said with a slight chuckle. “This is insane.”

But I loved it all the same. The crafting of a strategy that paid off and carried you to victory. The rush of adrenaline, the elation after winning.

Seeing how strong I could become if I emulated Gardenia had just made me fall in love with Pokemon battling even deeper, and this was only the second badge. What kind of strategies did all the other leaders employ? What heights would I reach if I absorbed Gardenia’s fighting style to perfection? I licked my lips and started playing another video.

I probably was going to put off meeting with the others today. I was going to train and study all day instead. This was going to be the most intense seven days of training I was going to put myself and my team through. I wasn’t going to sleep tonight, but on the bright side, there’d be no nightmares.

Speaking of nightmares, I had to call Amanda to set up new sessions soon.