The rest of the week passed by in relative peace. Reconstruction of the town continued, and I was constantly amazed by how useful Pokémon were. With their strength and stamina being far beyond what most people had, the cleanup went by much faster than I had expected. It would still be a long time before Eterna City was back to normal, but certainly faster than anywhere back home could do.

Lucas and Ted both also had their Gym battles, which were almost as fun to watch as it had been to participate in. And I had enjoyed the battle, which was a little surprising to me.

Maybe I just hadn’t had the right experiences with Pokémon battles before now.

Ted had an interesting fighting style that I’d experienced first hand in our practice bouts, but had never really seen from the sidelines before. More than most Trainers I’d met, he believed in letting his Pokémon decide what they’d do in the battle. He’d give brief orders, which were really more like recommendations, but he preferred to have his Pokémon lead in the battles.

Lucas, from his position beside me in the stands, had explained that Gym Leaders had different teams depending on the strength of the opponent in question. Because I was a new Trainer, Gardenia had used a team that was comparatively weak, but still strong for my skill level.

Because Ted had a few badges under his belt, and was established as a Trainer; she could cut loose a little bit.

Ted had still won against her, but it had been a much more action-packed battle than I had been expecting.

Lucas’s battle went by very easily. He simply had the type advantage over Gardenia’s Pokémon, and it was no real challenge in the end. Lucas had a different style than Ted or I, but it was no less effective than either of ours.

Despite his brash attitude a lot of the time, Lucas was surprisingly reserved when it came to fighting. He relied on his Pokémon’s speed and agility to dodge a lot of the other Trainer’s attacks, then when he saw an opportunity, he would have his Pokémon pounce on it with massive attacks that did a lot of damage.

I wasn’t sure what the “meta” of Pokémon battling in this world was, but it would be interesting to see the differences between all of our different styles.

Perhaps the most interesting thing to happen that week, however, was my meeting with Gardenia.

/^\

I tried my very best not to sneeze as I sat at the cafe table, waiting for my lunch partner to arrive.

The El Café de Sinnoh was apparently one of the premier lunch spots in Eterna City, started by a Paldean expatriate who had moved to Sinnoh a few years ago. Lucas, who had been very jealous that I’d been invited out to lunch there, told me the Café’s owner apparently specialized in sandwiches and the restaurant had apparently been named one of the best lunch places in Sinnoh.

Privately, I wondered if the focus on sandwiches was more of a marketing ploy than anything else, as I’d learned that while Paldeans did eat quite a few sandwiches, they were far from the only food the nation was known for.

Apparently Paldea had tapas, and that was almost enough to get me on the next boat over there.

The Café had managed to escape the devastation from the mudslide, and had been providing free meals for the workers. Everybody else who wasn’t working still had to pay for their food, but that was a sacrifice I was willing to make today.

Of course, I was starting to rethink my decision the longer I had to wait for Gardenia. She had sent ahead one her Roselia to hold her spot, and while it seemed like a very nice and proper Pokémon, it still made me sneeze.

Eventually though, my salvation arrived.

“Sorry!” Gardenia’s cheerful voice said from behind me, and the Roselia disappeared with a flash of red light as it was returned to its Poké Ball. “I was trying to get caught up on some paperwork, and completely lost track of what time it was!”

She slipped into the recently vacated seat, and I had to suppress a smile at her appearance. Instead of her usual green and orange outfit, Gardenia was wearing much more normal clothes. A set of dirty denim overalls, a white t-shirt, and a red-and-black plaid flannel shirt made the woman look like a stereotype of a farmer. Gardenia had also accessorized by throwing on a pair of large sunglasses and a floppy straw sunhat.

I had met actual farmers who didn’t look as stereotypical as she did.

“No problem.” I said in response to her apology, trying to regain some kind of equilibrium. “I wasn’t waiting that long anyways.”

“Oh good! Have you ever eaten here? The sandwiches are divine.”

“Uh, no, I can’t say I have. This is my first time in Eterna.”

“Oh really? Well I’m glad we were your first stop in your Journey!”

Her face fell. “It’s just a shame you didn’t get to see it before the mudslide.”

“I was here for a little bit before then.” I reassured her. “Actually, I was supposed to watch one of my friends do the Quadrathlon, but that didn’t work out…”

“You’ve been here a while then!”

“Yeah, I guess I have. Almost a month now, even if it feels like we just got in a couple days ago.”

“I know how that feels. But if you don’t mind me asking, what do you think of my city?”

“It’s nice.” I said, humming quietly as I tried to gather my thoughts.

This conversation was not going like I’d thought it would.

“Very peaceful and quiet.”

“Good.” Gardenia said, leaning back with a self-satisfied smile. “That's what we’re trying to go for. Oh, the waiter’s here!”

Sure enough, a man in a black shirt and pants stepped up to the table, smiling politely.

“Good afternoon ladies, welcome to El Café de Sinnoh, can I get you some drinks to start off with?”

“A pitcher of mimosa for the table please.” Gardenia said, and I blinked at her.

“Unless that’s not okay?” She asked.

“It’s fine.”

“And how about food, have you had a chance to look at the menu?”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Just the usual for me.”

The expression on the waiter’s face was complicated as he nodded. If I didn’t know any better, I would have said it was a mixture of regret and disgust, but surely that couldn't be right.

“And for you?”

“Ah, I’ll take the tofu, cheese, lettuce, and tomato sandwich please.” I’d had plenty of time to look over the menu while I was waiting for Gardenia.

“An excellent choice! How would you like the tofu cooked?”

I froze, that hadn’t been on the menu.

My eyes cut back over to Gardenia, who winked and mouthed “fried.”

“Fried please.”

“Very good, those drinks will be out shortly.”

He disappeared deeper into the restaurant, and I turned back to Gardenia.

“So!” She chirped, and leaned forwards. “What did you think about our battle?”

“Is that why you asked me to lunch?” I asked, a little surprised.

Gardenia shrugged. “A little bit? Cynthia wanted me to get to know you a little bit better, she didn’t say why, but you gotta be interesting in some way. I did a little bit of digging, good job on trying to stop those poachers, by the way.”

“That's it? Just to get to know me?”

She held up her hands. “Isn’t that enough?”

I blinked a couple of times, then chuckled. “I guess so.”

“So, the battle?”

I hummed in thought, thinking back to the fight.

“It was good.” I said carefully, and Gardenia pouted.

“Your real thoughts. I promise I won’t get offended!”

I hesitated, then sighed. “Honestly? The fights up until yours were easier than I was expecting.”

She nodded rapidly. “That’s what I was thinking too. But no offense, that’s your problem.”

“Huh?” I said eloquently.

“Well, not a problem for you specifically, but really it’s more of an issue for stronger Trainers. Most of the Trainers I hire for my Gym are actually relatively new.”

“Like Caroline.”

“Exactly! When I know that I’m getting a more experienced Trainer coming through I’ll give the Gym Trainers some stronger Pokémon, but most of the time I’m getting newer challengers.” Gardenia shrugged. “Honestly? My gym is more focused on training my Gym Trainers than challenging the people passing through.”

I frowned. “Why though?”

The waiter returned with a pitcher of mimosa, and a couple of glasses that he elegantly set out on the table. He left right after pouring out the drinks, and I took a cautious sip.

It was delicious.

“Because Eterna City is in a tough spot.” Gardenia said bluntly. “We’re flanked on two sides by Mount Coronet and the Eterna Forest. The Rangers do their best to make sure that the paths are safe, but they can’t always stop wild Pokémon before they get to one of the outlying farms. The stronger my citizens are, the more experienced they are with battling, the safer they’ll be if the worst happens.”

She eyed me over the rim of her glass. “After all, you’d know about Pokémon getting out of control.”

“The Dusclops incident.” I said grimly.

“Exactly. If you and the Rangers hadn’t stopped that, the most likely place the Duclops would have gone would be the Old Chateau. Ghosts are attracted to negative auras, and the Chateau is one of the most powerful sources of that kind of energy in the region. From the Chateau, it’s a short hop over to my city.”

I leaned forwards. “Wait, so the Old Chateau actually does have Ghosts?”

Gardenia looked bewildered for a second. “Of course it does. Why wouldn’t it? It’s a haunted mansion, and we very specifically tell people to stay away from it. There’s even a Ranger outpost nearby to keep kids from sneaking in.”

“They do that?”

She rolled her eyes. “They’re young, dumb, and full of pep. Of course they think that sneaking into an abandoned mansion with a bunch of Ghost-types is some kind of challenge.”

It was my turn to give her a considering look over the rim of my glass. “And you never did it when you were a kid?”

Gardenia spluttered as she took a sip of her mimosa. “I, what? No, of course not!”

Her face was beet red, and I enjoyed a victorious drink of my own.

“This is besides the point,” she said. “Anyways, you might have had an easier time of it because I wasn’t sure how strong you were, so the defenders didn’t have my strongest Pokémon. After all, even though I want to make sure my Trainers are well prepared for the future, it wouldn’t do to have our challengers be defeated before they even had a chance to face me.”

“If you don’t mind me asking,” I said tentatively. “How did I do in our battle?”

“Hmm.” Gardenia took another sip.

“Not bad.” She eventually said. “A bit rough around the edges, but overall not bad.”

“Any pointers?”

“You let your Combee stay out too long at first. Sorry, your Vespiquen. Congratulations, by the way!”

I smiled. “Thanks, I’ll pass it on.”

“Anyways! You should have switched her out for your Eevee - who is very cute - much sooner. Instead you let the Leech Seeds take more of her strength than was necessary.”

“But she’s resistant to the Leech Seed.” I argued. “Venus isn’t, wouldn’t it make more sense to have her take the damage instead?”

“Ahh.” Gardenia said, wagging a finger at me. “That’s where you’re wrong. And no offense, but your inexperience is showing. Type matchups aren’t everything, not even close. They’re important, of course, but there’s a lot of other factors to consider.”

A lightbulb went off in my head. “The sunlight.”

“Exactly! I saw that you noticed how bad it could be when Genbu got off his Sunny Day, but more experienced Trainers should recognize that I was likely to set up a field condition.”

I rubbed at my forehead. “Caroline and her Cherubi. The very first thing that they mentioned were the effects that could come with different weather conditions.”

“Yes, that was on purpose. You saw that I had a Cherubi, and their ability is Chlorophyll - they get faster in sunlight. Knowing that, you should have anticipated that I would want to set up a Sunny Day. The longer you left your Combee out, however, the weaker she would be for the final confrontation. Combee don’t have any healing moves available to them, so there was no way for her to heal herself.”

“But why didn’t you lead with your Turtwig?” I asked, and Gardenia shrugged.

“It was a gamble. Genbu doesn’t know Leech Seed, and I wanted to chip away at your health first. It’s just my bad luck that you had a Combee with type advantages against me. Plus, even though I want to win, and I do try to win, it’s not my main goal.”

“No?”

“Of course not. If I stomped every opponent that came my way with my Pokémon, I would be investigated by the Pokémon League. After all, my goal is to let people earn their Badges, and to teach them a few things along the way.”

My brow furrowed as a new concern made itself known. “You didn’t let me win, did you?”

Her cheery expression vanished as soon as the words left my mouth. “You’re pretty new to this, I can tell, so I’m not going to take offense to that.” Gardenia said seriously. “But no. Gym Leaders don’t just hand out their Badges without testing their challengers first. Could I have beaten you? Yes, but that’s not the point. You proved yourself to me, and I judged you strong enough to earn the Badge, that’s all that really matters.”

I sat back, a little mollified.

“Sorry, I didn’t know.”

“Don’t worry about it!” Gardenia was back to her bubbly self in a second as she topped off her mimosa with the pitcher. “Like I said, I know you’re new. Now, here’s what you did right- oh! The food’s here!”

The waiter had returned with two plates. One he placed in front of me, whichI immediately began salivating at the sight of. Perfectly toasted ciabatta bread, fresh tomatoes, crispy lettuce, and thick slices of cheese. Fried slices of tofu topped the sandwich off, and the basil pesto smelled heavenly.

Gardenia’s sandwich, on the other hand, made my stomach do a flip.

Hard-boiled eggs, jalapeno peppers, cheese, the same kind of basil pesto I had on my sandwich, what looked like a heaping pile of plain white rice, lettuce, and even what looked like a latke was carefully arranged on the bread.

The waiter had also dropped off a small glass bottle with olive oil and another bottle with chili sauce, and Gardenia happily poured both onto the sandwich.

I nearly gagged, and the waiter shared a commiserating look with me.

“Nobody else makes sandwiches like these!” Gardenia said happily. “Itadakimasu!”

Without hesitating, she took a massive bite from the sandwich.

I began hastily reconsidering all of my new advice.