I sneezed, and tried my best to ignore the Roselia tending to the small greenhouse that was the Eterna City Gym’s waiting room.

It wasn’t the Roselia’s fault that it was a walking bunch of flowers and that flowers gave me a headache, but it was the unfortunate reality of challenging a Grass-type Gym.

Normally I would have loved sitting in the waiting room, feeling the warmth of the sun streaming through the large glass ceiling panels while the days grew colder outside, but I was more than a little nervous about the upcoming battles.

Ted and Lucas had tried to coach me with the ins-and-outs of Gym battling all of last night, which had been a mixed bag when it came to how helpful it had actually been.

In general, there were three main paths that a Trainer could challenge a Gym, although they all ended with the Trainer fighting the Gym Leader. The first was the classic Gym Challenge, which involved some chore or test that a Trainer would have to navigate in order to prove themselves before the fight.

Paldea and Galar in particular seemed to be big fans of the Gym Challenges, although I had frustrated memories of trying to solve Lieutenant Surge’s trash-can puzzle in the Kanto games.

The second method was an endurance test, where the Trainer would have to fight the Gym Trainers in a gauntlet, before taking on the Gym Leader. While most Gyms offered this as an option to Trainers, Gardenia had used her position to make this the required method to challenge the Eterna City Gym.

The final method was simply to schedule a fight with the Gym Leader directly, and to skip the puzzles and tests. This was what most of the more experienced Trainers like Ted did when available, in order to make the process of challenging the gyms as easy as possible while traveling cross-country.

The lore dump they had given me was interesting, but it didn’t really help prepare me for my Gym battle, although my two friends didn’t seem to be too worried about it.

“It’s just the first Gym.” Ted said offhandedly. “They’ll go easy on you, it’s really just to see where you’re at as a Trainer rather than an actual challenge.”

The fact that Ted and Lucas were going to be watching me battle didn’t help my nerves either. Apparently while the big knock-down Gym battles for famous Trainers would be filmed and televised, gyms allowed an in-person audience for the less important battles.

Many people didn’t bother going, but if a Trainer had friends or family nearby, there was some stadium seating for them. Since Ted and Lucas didn’t have anything better to do, they had insisted on sitting in for my first Gym, even though I had all-but begged them not to.

They were already seated in the stadium, waiting for the challenger before me to finish their battles.

I had even dressed up nicely, wearing a nice black skirt and white blouse. Some of the more popular Trainers tended to have a specific style they stuck to, but I figured that just a nice, business-casual look would be appropriate for a first Gym battle.

Maybe if I went down this path and became a full-time Gym challenger I would change up my look, but that was a long time from now.

A soft bell chimed, and the receptionist in the greenhouse-slash-waiting area looked up.

“Alina Knighton?” He called, even though I was the only other person there.

“That’s me.” I said, standing up and smoothing imaginary wrinkles on my skirt.

“The Eterna City Gym is ready for you.” He gestured at a doorway. “Please, enter through there.”

I nodded jerkily, and stepped through the doorway.

This is stupid. I thought to myself. I’ve faced Kane twice. I fought a Dusclops for crying out loud. Why am I so nervous?

The hallway was short, and I took a deep breath, trying to steady my racing heart, then stepped through the next doorway into…

A rather boring looking stadium.

I blinked, looking around in surprise. It honestly reminded me of a high school basketball court, and nothing at all like I had expected having played the games. The more I looked however, the more I started to see things that looked like they didn’t belong.

The center of the room was the battling arena, the same size and material as the ones out by the Pokémon Centers in most towns. Those arenas by the Pokémon Centers were made from a pale-green material that was kind of like the asphalt of a running track covered the ground, providing plenty of traction for the battling Pokémon while being tough enough to withstand their moves and effects.

Gardenia, however, had clearly ripped up the standard floor to replace it with real dirt and grass.

Trees in large clay pots were placed regularly along the walls of the Gym, along with some bushes and flowers. The ceiling was almost entirely made of glass, letting the sun wash down and warm up the entire Gym.

All of the more interesting aspects of the Gym looked like they had been added on later, and I was pretty sure that this had been a pretty boring stadium that Gardenia had tried to “Grass-type” up as much as possible.

Wood and steel bleachers were mounted on the two long sides of the rectangular court, and a small scattering of people and Pokémon were seated on them. Most looked bored, but Ted and Lucas were sitting near the front row. Lucas looked excited, waving happily as I saw him, and Ted nodded reassuringly.

Kōjin barked happily from his seat next to Lucas, looking down intently at me.

There was a whole book of rules and regulations for professional Pokémon battling, but one of the ones I’d learned yesterday was that there was a limit on how many Pokémon could be used per Gym battle. For my first Gym, I could only bring two Pokémon with me.

While Kōjin and his Fire-typing could have made a big difference against the Grass-types of the Eterna City Gym, the fact remained that he was simply too inexperienced as compared to Venus and Zetian, and so he would sit out and watch how we did.

I gave them a short wave, then blinked as one of the clay pots wiggled a little bit, and a Baltoy stuck its head out slightly.

It spun a little bit as it saw me looking, then a soft purple wall emerged from it, connecting to another clay pot. Another Baltoy, I guessed.

The purple wall shimmered before turning invisible.

Protection from Pokémon moves. I realized.

It wouldn’t do to have the crowd be vaporized by a stray Solar Beam after all.

I steeled myself, shaking away the fascination with all the little unique aspects of the Gym, and looked at my opponent on the opposite side of the court.

It wasn’t Gardenia, instead it was one of the Gym Trainers, a surprisingly young girl wearing what looked like a school uniform.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

“Hi there!” She chirped. “I’m Caroline, I’ll be your first challenge today!”

“Uh, hi.” I said, briefly waving. “I’m Alina.”

“Nice to meet you!”

The enthusiasm was… a lot.

A tall, serious woman in a black and white striped shirt coughed from the sidelines. “This will be an official match.” She called.

“The rules will be held in accordance with Pokémon League regulations. It is a one-on-one match, with no substitutions or items. Do both of you understand?”

We both nodded, and I nervously fidgeted with Venus’ Poké Ball. Zetian, as a mixed Bug-/Flying-type, would be a great counter to most of the Grass-types that the Gym would be using. However I didn’t know exactly how tough the fights would be, and I wanted to make sure she was feeling as strong and rested as possible for the final bouts with Gardenia.

“Trainers, release your Pokémon.”

“Cher, go!”

I took a deep breath. It was cheesy, but this was my first Gym battle, I couldn’t not do it…

“Venus! I choose you!”

Our two Pokémon materialized in flashes of light. Venus looked around in amazement at the bright lights and open space of the Gym, before focusing in on the opponent. It was a rather cute Cherubi, the pink skin vibrant against the earthy green and brown tones of the Gym’s walls.

It squeaked adorably, waddling from side to side on its stubby little legs, but then frowned in concentration at Venus.

My Eevee, for her part, lowered herself into a fighting stance, ready to pounce at the Cherubi.

I felt a little weak in the knees as I realized that, for the first real time, I would have a large audience for my battle. I tried to inconspicuously wipe my sweating palms on my skirt, and a small, wildly distracted part of my brain realized that this was probably why so many Trainers had fingerless gloves.

Maybe I should pick up a pair after this? It wouldn’t be perfectly matched with my outfits, but maybe-

“Begin!”

“Cher! Tackle!”

Venus and I had worked out a rough plan of attack last night, and I didn’t even have to give an order as she jumped to the side, not even bothering to use a Quick Attack to dodge the blow.

The Eevee then blurred into motion in a flash of white light, slamming into the Cherubi’s side.

Even its grunt of pain was oddly cute, as the Cherubi toppled to one side, rolling for a second before standing up on trembling legs.

“Again!” I called.

“Evade and Morning Sun!” Caroline called, but it was for naught.

Even as motes of glowing lights began to rise from the Cherubi’s stem, Venus was already pouncing, knocking Cher to the ground.

It struggled weakly for a moment, then relaxed, knocked unconscious.

There was a long beat, then the announcer held up an arm.

“Trainer Caroline, recall your Pokémon. By knock-out, Challenger Alina is victorious! Challenger Alina, recall your Pokémon!”

I blinked.

That was it?

I numbly pulled out the Poké Ball again, and recalled Venus. She went back in with a look of stunned pride, much like my own.

Maybe I had hyped up the Gym battles a little too much?

Caroline pouted, but brightened again as she retrieved her own Pokémon.

“Good match!” She called. “Your Eevee’s really fast! And really cute too! Not as cute as my precious Cher, but still cute! Good job on avoiding my attacks, that’s a really important thing for Trainers to learn!”

She took a deep breath and her eyes unfocused a little, like she was trying to remember a script. “You beat Cher before she could get Morning Sun off, that’s good! Morning Sun is a healing move, which changes how much a Pokémon is healed based on the weather! In a closed space like this with no weather effects, it wouldn’t have helped too much, but every little bit counts! In other instances, I could have healed Cher a lot, and dragged out the battle! Make sure to keep an eye on the weather and the environment of the battle, as it may have bigger effects than you realize! But, uh, you might already know that.”

I blinked at the speech, before realizing what it really was.

This is a tutorial!

They were treating me like any other Trainer who was challenging a Gym for the first time, and so they wanted to introduce me to some of the more complicated aspects of battling.

I smiled at the expectant girl, and bowed slightly. “Thank you for the battle and the information! It was a good match.”

She beamed, and bowed back.

“Have a good one!” Caroline waved, and almost skipped out of the battling courts.

“Challenger, are you ready to continue?” The referee asked, and I nodded.

She reached down, and clicked a radio, speaking quietly into it.

A few moments later, another woman walked out, this time wearing a nice white blouse and a long green skirt.

“Hi there!” She called. “My name’s Jenna, and I won’t hold back, so you better be ready!”

I nodded.

“Nice to meet you! I’m Alina, and I’m more than ready!”

“Let’s see about that!”

/^\

Jenna had a surprisingly fast Budew, who was more than happy to try and fill the air with Stun Spores. Unfortunately for it, despite how fast the Budew was, Venus was faster, and was able to knock it out relatively quickly.

Some of the spores did end up getting trapped in Venus’ fur, however, and during the next fight she was fully affected by the Paralysis effect.

Luckily for her, the Budew’s Paralysis was nowhere near as potent as the one from Kane’s Elekid, but there were still several moments where Venus froze in place during the fight.

My opponent that time was Angela, who had a Roselia that took advantage of the Paralysis to launch several waves of poisoned needles.

It was a close call, but Venus came out victorious, albeit wobbling slightly from the aftereffects of poison coursing through her body.

“Sorry about that.” Angela said. “We do offer free Antidotes, but your Eevee’s going to have to wait until after the challenge is done to get one.”

“Thank you, I really appreciate that.”

She smiled, and waved as she walked out of the gym.

That left just one last challenge, and I took a deep breath.

“Good job.” I said, holding Venus’ Poké Ball up to my face so I could speak to her. “You got through a lot, but it’s time for you to rest, okay?”

The Poké Ball wobbled for a second, but settled down soon enough.

“You did your job, and you did it perfectly. Thank you.”

It wiggled one more time, and I replaced it on my belt. My hand drifted over to the next Ball, which was vibrating slightly.

Zetian was more than eager to get going.

The door on the other end of the Gym opened, and a red-headed woman in a green and brown outfit came skipping towards the court.

“Hi!” She called. “It’s great to finally meet you! I’ve heard a lot about you, and I’m eager to see what you got!”

That caused a soft wave of whispers to go through the crowd, but I wasn’t paying any attention to them.

Gardenia was… excitable.

I knew that was her general personality from the shows and games, but they didn’t quite manage to get what that would mean in real life across.

She was bouncing up and down on her toes, eyes sparkling as she stared eagerly at me. Her green short-cape’s edges fluttered as she did so, and I was reminded of nothing so much as a butterfly’s wings in the wind.

The orange cut-off cargo pants were… a choice, but I could see that there were dirt smudges on her knees and the green boots she wore. She must have just come from a garden or something.

“This will be an official match.” The referee repeated. “The rules will be held in accordance with Pokémon League regulations. It is a two-on-two match, with one substitution per Trainer, and no items used. Do both of you understand?”

That was a little different than the past couple of times, but relatively simple as far as these things went.

I took a deep breath, and palmed Zetian’s Poké Ball. Meeting Gardenia’s eyes, a shock of electricity seemed to run through my body, and tingles of excitement ran down my spine.

I began to understand what people saw in the Gym challenges.

A smile spread across my face, and it was mirrored by Gardenia.

“Ready.” She said, and I took a deep breath.

“I’m ready.”

“Release your Pokémon!”

Zetian took to the air, her wings beating furiously as she darted around, getting used to the space.

A form materialized on Gardenia’s side of the field, another Cherubi.

This one was much more weathered than Caroline’s however, its pink skin darkened to something closer to a purplish-red, and its eyes glinted under the artificial lights of the Gym.

The referee took a deep breath, and the world seemed to narrow down to just the battling court.

“Begin!”