“I need your help, Nims!!!” Cyan’s voice rang out from Miles’ case in a shrill tone.

“Gee sis, how are you doing? We don’t see each other nearly as much now that you’re at school. Oh, calling to ask how I’m doing? Thanks, that’s so kind of you-”

My sister cut me off, countering in an affronted tone “We talked just last week. Now, please will you help me train my Pokemon?”

I blinked, surprised by her sudden request. She hasn’t mentioned anything like that in the past month she’s been at Uva Academy. I wonder what changed? “Sure, I’d be glad to help. Just two questions: Aren’t you stuck at the Academy and why are you suddenly looking to train up your team?”

She groaned “Ugh, don’t remind me. The course load is super heavy at Uva. The teachers are trying to shove as much information as they can in our heads before we go out on our Treasure Hunt since that’s basically a full term of class where we aren’t guaranteed to be studying anything.”

Maybe you shouldn’t have filled up your schedule with so many courses then? She complains so much about me overworking, but I’ve seen every course she applied for. Uva was unusual in that it covered a vast age range, and had the aforementioned Treasure Hunt, so student schedules were far more flexible and varied than a Primary or Secondary school would have been in my first life.

Continuing, Cyan explained. “Mindy- well a bunch of other girls on my floor were talking about how much more successful they were going to be in collecting Gym Badges during the Treasure Hunt than me. Which is just ridiculous, she’s just jealous that I did better on our chemistry paper than she did-” I tuned out the next part of her rant, well aware by now of how she could go on and on about little details like that.

“Alright, so you want to prove some mean girls wrong, I can get behind that. I could send you a training plan, but it would be better to see your Pokemon and train in person.” I vigorously defended the advantages of guided training. Each pokemon has their own personal flaws which you then iron out slowly over time while bolstering their strengths.

Chuckling, my sister said: “You just want an excuse to show off your new battlefield to me again,huh?”

“Yup,” I admitted shamelessly. It’s so cool! I can’t believe my parents got me a Conference tier battlefield for my birthday and had it installed while we were out on vacation! I mean, I can, in fact, canon Nemona had one in the game, which honestly was kinda weird just sitting there on the beach. “Huh.”

“What’s up?” Cyan inquired, making me realize some of my thoughts were slipping out loud.

“Just thinking up training plans,” I fibbed, distractedly. It’s odd, thinking about how something in the games might have felt odd in my last life but just feels awesome and perfect now. I guess it’s just a sign of how I’m becoming a different person.

It was to be expected, everyone changed over time and circumstance, and I’d had plenty of changes to both. Some slight melancholy feeling still lingered, but I pushed it to the side to focus on my sister’s new training, barely catching Cyan saying how she was going to cram her studies and skip dinner to take a quick flying taxi over in the evening. Then she hung up before I could chide her for skipping dinner.

“Rude,” I said to myself. Technically, I was speaking to the Pokemon I had out with me, but…

Gligar was drifting along, upside down above the battlefield, completely tuning me out. Carbink on the other hand was floating a foot away from me, staring unblinkingly, with no sign they understood what I was saying.

Taking a step back, I clapped my hands together. “Alright! Cyan is coming over in a few hours, so let’s try to get some good training in before then, how about it?”

The two newest Pokemon on my team seemed… at least interested in the thought of more training. “Let’s practice some of the TMs I gave you. Notch,” I said to Carbink, named after the mark on one of their ears (and a lack of resistance or reaction to any nicknames I offered). “Set up Reflect as quickly as you can. While Ace?” I tried, to Gligar’s immediate disapproval. “Ok, we’ll shelve that name for now. At the same time, you will attempt to break it with Psychic Fangs. Make sure to give them time to actually form the barrier, ok?”

She rolled her eyes and nodded as if I hadn’t needed to tell her that three times in training so far. “After you two have done that enough to get tired, we’ll switch with Notch attacking with Body Press while Gligar practices evasive maneuvers.”

Both of them complained, Gligar shouting her name and stomping the ground hard enough to crack it, while Notch tilted slightly on their side. Given how little Notch emotes and how much Gligar overreacts, I feel like this is probably an equally large reaction from both of them. “We’ll practice other things later!”

With the two of them still a little reticent, I explained. “Over dinner, Gligar can hold the new Toxic Orb, with a few Antidotes sprayed on her throughout the meal, while Notch can practice their Psychic control with the minerals they’ll have. Good?”

They perked up quickly, with Notch’s ears flapping up a little and Gligar… immediately latching onto Notch and sinking fangs covered in pink Psychic energy into their rocky body. “Dammit! What did I just say about waiting?!”

After a short lecture (to which Gligar did look at least a little chagrined, before eagerly switching back to her usual aggressive self), I watched their progress.

Notch was raising Reflect very quickly, able to surround themselves in a near-invisible barrier in a matter of seconds. The Move is very similar to Light Screen, which Carbink learns naturally and Notch already knows. They can almost summon Reflect as fast as Light Screen now, which will be good. Carbinks are naturally slow physically, but their minds are just as fast as any. Notch becoming capable of learning these mental Moves speedily will be a key factor in their success in battles, to make up for that issue.

Gligar herself had little issue keeping up even as her opponent used Moves at the speed of thought, however. Her natural speed let her zip around, twirling through the air before curving around and striking into Notch once more. Her small fangs ripped through the barrier surrounding the Rock Type and her attack left small gouges on Notch’s body.

I’ve got to keep an eye on that, Notch doesn’t understand self-preservation enough and has seriously pushed themselves in the past. Gligar is only piercing Reflect about seven times out of ten, and only half of the attacks break the barrier entirely, though she’s getting good power out of the Move. That will be helpful for the future when she evolves.

Gligar could learn any of the fang Moves through Technical Machines, but she’d naturally learn all the elemental ones upon evolving into Gliscor. My hope was that Psychic Fangs would give her a good grounding in those attacks and also be something useful for the future.

My training method might have accepted using my family’s money to its fullest, but I still had no desire to ‘waste’ any of it. Especially since my savings were massively depleted trying to get everything I needed to start our first round of training for my new Pokemon and to continue to up the power of my older companions.

Notch had been given more TMs to learn than I had expected after a bit of research had uncovered Body Press and what it could do. I only used Carbink in Gen 7, and they were great during my fairy mono-run in Ultra Sun, but a very defensive set-up Pokemon. Body Press is huge, giving us a way to leverage their incredible defenses. With that also came Iron Defense to make them even tankier, and thus hit harder. Reflect to round out the defensive barriers Notch could raise. Stealth Rocks for arena control, and finally Psychic, Notch’s personal favorite.

I had nearly picked Dazzling Gleam in the checkout cart until Notch pushed my hand away repeatedly and made it clear there was a different Move they wanted to learn. It had still taken me some time to understand the fae Pokemon’s intent, but after we went through the list of Moves they could learn, I eventually figured it out. In retrospect, it makes perfect sense that a Pokemon obsessed with wanting to gain hands would seek out a Move that lets them manipulate things telekinetically.

Psychic was a powerful Move, and would take a ton of practice for a non-Psychic Type to control it on a precise level, but I had faith in Notch. Glancing back at them, I saw the Fairy try to conjure up Reflect once more as Gligar dived down for an attack, but after half an hour of repeated assaults, the Psychic energy failed to manifest in time. Gligar clamped on and sunk her teeth in again, invoking a minute wince from Notch.

“That’s enough!” I called out sharply. The two of them disengaged, awaiting my verdict. “Notch, keep your eyes open while making the barriers. A couple of times I noticed your eyes scrunched up a bit. That might help concentration, but in a fight, you’ll need to keep your awareness on the battlefield. Otherwise, just keep working on the power of your Reflect, you’ve nearly got it mastered.”

With the easy critique down, I turned to Gligar, standing patiently on the battlefield. “You're doing well with Psychic Fang, though I noticed you always latch onto the face before biting. Going for flyby attacks should improve your speed-” Seeing her shaking her head vigorously, I stopped.

“What’s up?”

“Gligar! Lig. Ar ar.” She said, mimed a swoop to open air, and then kicked with her legs.

“Oh, I see. A hit-and-run would slow you down or limit the power of the attack and you use your feet to kick off after landing on the foe to speed away.” My guess was confirmed by her nod.

“Alright then, in that case, keep on latching but work to avoid landing on spots where the opponent has an easy time striking you back.” Gligar gestured a pincer at Notch as if to say ‘nuh-uh.’ “Even Carbink’s have natural defenses on their bodies. They can fire beams from the crystals on their bodies.”

Gligar’s eyes widened at that, whipping around to stare at her teammate. Notch closed their eyes and lifted their ears up in the approximation of a smile that I believed was far more sinister than it outwardly appeared.

“So for the future, when you latch on, try to avoid landing on the crystals on their body.” With a shiver, she agreed. Not that Notch knows Power Gem yet, but it is a Move they’re famous for.

“Also, just be careful about your partner while training,” I lightly chided. Gligar looked downcast, a little guilty at that reminder of her last attack. “I understand your instincts will be to lunge in when you see a weakness, but you need to have the control to pull back if you see they’re in danger.”

“Li gar,” she argued mildly. It was hardly as heated as our previous spats or disagreements, but it was clear she was still quite headstrong. With Notch it’s the opposite problem, they won’t speak up even if they’re hurt or they think they have a better battle strategy or way to use a technique. Still, I should focus on the fact that both of them are improving in those areas, slowly but surely.

Speaking of that improvement, while I still couldn’t understand Gligar nearly as well as I did Dun, I thought I understood the gist of her point here. “Yes, having drive is important in a battle, but with control, you’ll be able to use the most of your power no matter what situation. If you let yourself get carried away, you could end up falling into a trap.” Could also end up seriously hurting someone you don’t want to hurt. Or maybe just someone I don’t want to hurt, I’ve noticed those arguments don’t work as well for her, and I have to focus on pragmatic reasoning.

Casting my gaze past the battlefield and over to the beach, I saw Dun and Miles practicing their own Moves perfectly, not needing my direct supervision at all. I know it’s unfair to expect Pokemon I’ve barely known for a month to be as well-behaved and trained as them, but boy is this a lot more work. Still, I wouldn’t trade my new friends for anything… even if they’re driving me mental.

“Dun, come over here for a second!” I shouted, and they ceased slapping the waves with their tail, slithering over to my side. He looked eager as he slid over the battlefield. Happy with how his training is going, looking for a match, or just both? It was hard to tell sometimes who was happier with my birthday gift, myself or Dun, but it was clear he adored fighting on it.

The smooth surface of it is certainly nicer than the sand. Cooler too - even with the hot sun beating down on it, the battlefield maintains an even temperature that’s only impacted by Moves. Even most of those, except for terrain Moves and the like don’t last long, the field ‘resetting’ to base conditions over time. It’s a marvel of engineering and I can still barely comprehend how all of it works.

Alongside the actual Battlefield, I got a hefty guidebook detailing its construction and how it worked. Most of any potential issues that could crop up the book said to call an engineer to fix, but I was tempted to try myself (even if I knew given how sturdy it was that it would take a lot of use for something to go wrong accidentally).

“Dun, I’d like you to use Tailwind to help Notch keep up with Gligar for the next part of their training, and to keep an eye on them as I check in with Miles.” My starter nodded dutifully, even though I knew it couldn’t have been his favorite job in the world. For her part, Gligar slumped a bit, recognizing that with the Tailwind boost, she’d have to work to avoid Notch landing a physical Move on her.

“After that’s done, I think we might wrap up before dinner with a little two v. one. Dun versus Notch and Gligar.”

“Dun dun dun,” the land snake grinned viciously, while Gligar hissed in fear. She’s learned to watch out for my starter. Well both of them have really, but it’s hard to get a read on Notch. Even now they just stared at me, not reacting to the announcement at all.

With those two in good hands (or rather wings?) I went over to Miles. They were in their Wash Form, firing out jets of water into the ocean. There were no aquatic Pokemon nearby, however, and for good reason, as I saw one of the blasts make a large patch of ocean water around where it hit bubbled, steam rising above it.

“The new Drive the company gave you working well?” I asked, to which I got a cheerful buzz from them. They opened their washing machine front door to let out a far larger blast of cold water chilling down the water temperature before raising the hose that floated out the back and firing a scorching hot jet of water out of that.

Not all the ideas I pitched worked perfectly, but this one honestly worked even better than I thought. Miles has gained Scald in this form without even losing Hydro Pump! The theory the ‘egghead squad’ came up with is part of why it’s so easy to add on is due to how regular washing machines can run hot or cold loads.

The experiments with Refrigerator eventually turned into a straight-up ice machine and snow blower. They weren’t all bad, giving access to Hail and Snowscape, but unfortunately, they lost Blizzard in the process. Drone and Radio Forms still needed work, but I was happy to see some results already.

A crunching sound behind me drew my attention, and I pivoted to see that Notch had landed a nasty hit on Gligar’s right-wing, grounding the FlyScorp Pokemon. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. “Hang on a moment,” I called out, pulling a Potion from my bag.

***

Dinner proceeded as usual (Gligar needed three Antidotes and still nearly puked from the poisonous energies the Orb leaked out and Notch nearly sent a piece of Iron they were supposed to be eating through a window when their Psychic control slipped), with Arven regaling myself and my parents about a local youth soccer team he joined.

That’s nice for him. I remember playing soccer when I was a kid in my old life, all the way to a young adult. It was fun, even if I never got very far with it. Not something I have time for here though, not with all my training. Speaking of that…

“You know Arven,” I said sweetly, turning to the boy across the table as I finished my dinner. “We haven’t done enough training recently.”

“O-oh. I hadn’t noticed,” he said nervously, his green eyes not meeting mine as his gaze darted around the dining room as if looking for an escape.

“Yeah, it’s been a shame, Dun and Miles have been a bit too strong for Maschiff… but luckily I’ve got two new Pokemon that he could play great with.” The dog in question raised his head up from behind the table giving me a plaintive whine that I ignored. “Plus, Cyan is coming over for some training soon, so you can warm up against her.”

Arven slumped as he heard me talking about this like it was a done deal. Billy and O’Nare cheered it as ‘such fun’ and made sure to ask me to let them know about future times my sister would be coming over. They must be missing her as well. Even if they’re busy with their work and wouldn’t have much time to see her, a few texts and emails a day aren’t the same as seeing someone in person.

We left for the beach to see Cyan descending from the Flying Taxi. “C’mon, hurry up!” The white-haired girl called out, seeming just a tad manic. “We’ve only got a few hours of training before I have to go back.”

“Are you alright?” I asked, a little concerned at how she was acting, which is why I was surprised when she ran forward and wrapped her arms around me. “Oh.” Surprised, I made sure to hug her tight. “What’s wrong?”

“‘M fine, I guess. Just…” She disentangled herself from me. “I thought it would be fun, to have so many other kids to hang around. We always just had our tutors but never got to make friends. The people at Uva though, they’re mean.”

Arven gasped beside me as if that was the biggest accusation one could make, which surprised me until I remembered that he was eight. Cyan, for all her maturity, is only thirteen too. Still, I wonder if this is a sign of the bullying that would become rampant in a few years. “Not to sound like a cliche, but did you talk to the teachers about it?”

My sister nodded. “The teachers didn’t care at first. It was fine at first, I was just getting used to things, but then this group of girls led by Mindy,” she said the name with such venom I did a quick check to make sure she hadn’t become part Seviper. “She started teasing me and calling me names, hating me just because of our family! Which was the only reason why the teachers cared when I eventually brought up my name.”

Sighing, she looked out at the ocean. “Now they leave me alone, but everyone does. The rest of the kids won’t talk to me and they’ll still make comments in the hall, anything deniable they can say to make digs at me. Like how ‘rich kids might start with powerful Pokemon, but they never get far in the Gym Challenge.’”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“And you want to prove them wrong. Well, it probably won’t solve your issues with the other kids,” I warned. She set her fiery gaze on me and shook her head.

“Maybe not, but it’s a good sign of your commitment and drive regardless. And I just want to show off to them. I want to get five badges in my first Treasure Hunt!” She declared boldly. “I know you could do something like that easily, so will you help me?”

“Of course! I’ll turn you and Arven into powerhouses the likes of which the world has never seen!”

“Leave me out of this,” the boy moaned, unable to free his wrist from the iron-like grip I had it in. He had tried to escape during my talk with my sister but ~~prey~~ friends couldn’t get away from me that easily!

“First off, let’s release your Pokemon and start them with some warm-up exercises. Then we’ll go over your strategies for taking on the gyms.” Cyan released her three Pokemon, Popplio, and her newly given Quaxly from Uva were released on the Battlefield, while Horsea was let out in the water not so far away.

I released all of my team, directing Miles to keep an eye on Horsea in the water. I doubt she’s in too much danger there, but if any of the ocean Pokemon tried to start a problem, Miles could deal with it. It does raise another issue, however.

Popplio and Quaxly were set to run laps around the arena while Horsea swam a small circuit in the ocean. Maschiff already had some training, so I told him to run on the beach for more resistance. “Alright, let’s talk about the biggest hurdle first: You’re a Water Type specialist.”

“Is that a bad thing?” My sibling tensed up a bit, suddenly nervous.

“No, but it does present a slight problem in Gym Battles. Except for Water Type Leaders, most Gyms only have to have small sections of water on their arena. This limits the movements of some of your team.” Looking out on the field, I saw that the blue-and-white duck-like Pokemon Quaxly was starting to outpace Popplio, despite her starter having been with Cyan longer.

“Even Water Types that can go on land like Popplio are going to be slower than they would be in the water, only a few like Quaxly will be just as fast.”

The teenager grimaced. “I’ve heard rumors that Kathy is super tough to face too.”

“Oh? I thought you’d go up against Brassius first since he has a Type advantage and all. Good on you for saving him for last.”

My statement confused her because she frowned, and Arven chimed in with the same confusion. “Wait, why would she be facing Brassius last? And why is it better to face a Gym Leader with Type advantage early on?” As I turned to face him he mumbled “Thought that it would be tough to handle a Gym Leader with Type advantage when you don’t have the Moves or experience to deal with it.”

“You’re absolutely right! Unfortunately, Gym Leaders get tougher at higher levels too. Facing an Eighth Badge Gym Challenge is always going to be tough, but it becomes incredibly tough when they have the edge on you. If you haven’t had much practice then facing them early on can be like running headfirst into a wall and block out a lot of young Trainers, but with a bit of work they’re like a small hurdle to hop over. Really, just having a coverage Move clears a ton of the challenge for the first badge.”

“So, what should I do to beat my first Gym Leader, Brassius?” Cyan said without a hint of joking in her voice.

“Noooo! You were supposed to be the chosen one! Face on the greatest challenges rather than take the short and easy path!” My wails were cut off by my older sister poking me in the forehead.

“Dolt. If anyone is the ‘chosen one’ it's you. I just want to get as many badges as possible and shut up those girls at school. Now tell me how to win!” She demanded.

“Ugh. Well, there’s no guaranteed strategy to win a Gym Battle or everyone would do it.” Or rather, any strategy that does exceptionally well gets patched up by the leaders. However, if she’s looking for a strategy designed to win as much as possible… With a sigh, I admitted: “You should face Brassius then backtrack through Mesagoza to face Kathy.”

“Usually, most students start out in Mesagoza and loop around one way or the other across Paldea to complete the Gym circuit.” Left unsaid in my explanation was that few Trainers actually made it all the way through on a loop. Which is part of why I think Paldea has fewer top tier Trainers - the Treasure Hunt style ‘circuit’ simply gives less time to take on the Gyms than other regions’ circuits, even if theoretically our Gyms are open all year round.

Continuing to address my sister’s question I said. “Brassius has only been the Gym Leader for a couple months, and he almost always has a Sudowoodo he Terastalizes into a Grass Type on his first Badge challenge. Your Water Types can force out that Terastalization early. With only two Pokemon for most of that level challenge, you can use Popplio and Quaxly who can both walk on land, and both learn Moves that Grass Types are weak to.”

“As for Kathy, she’s not quite as new, having trained under Kofu and having a year of experience already. Still, she’ll be less used to the nuances of a second Badge challenge than a first, since most of the people that have faced her were first badge challenges, or were much later ones. She’s likely to err on the side of caution and use a slightly lower challenge than she might otherwise.”

Both Arven and Cyan were looking at me wide-eyed as I finished, my sister even having whipped out a pen and paper and jotting down notes. “Whoa, how do you know so much about Gyms and the like? I get that you’re a battle freak but this is something else.” Before I could answer she cheered “With this the Gyms are going to be super easy!”

Shrugging I responded “It’s just a lot of analysis of different battles, and don’t think it’ll make every win easy - all Gym Leaders are tough.”

“Where do you find all those battle videos?” Arven inquired.

“Poketube. Almost all Gym leaders post videos online of the different challenges they give.” Though they tend to post challenges a few months out of date, changing up basic strategies every so often. But most Gyms gather large crowds who watch in person so you can find lesser quality but more accurate footage with a bit of searching there and on Forums like Pokemon Trainers Online.

I continued. “Plus, I hear some stuff from Hassel. Oh, speaking of which, make sure to say hi to Brassius from me. He’s Hassel’s friend, the one who critiqued our comic.”

“He’s that artist friend Hassel had? Huh.” Cyan commented while Arven just looked a little lost.

“But back to the training - having a solid strategy for the future means nothing if you can’t utilize it. We need to work on the strength of your team's Moves, and ways they can leave large sections of water on the field for Horsea to use. She’ll be able to float once she becomes a Kingdra, but that’s a long ways off.”

With the warm-ups done, I started organizing the two children and eight Pokemon between us into their drills. “Here we go!”

***

“So this is Artazon,” I commented as we stepped off the flying taxi by the southern entrance to the city. The barriers that defined it were more natural than man-made, with hills and cliffs rising along the sides guiding development inward.

The most notable trait of the city was how green it was. Even amidst a bunch of shops and stands in the center, there were massive flower beds and benches all around to let people appreciate the abundant nature around them. This extended to the roads, while some were brick, many others including some major pathways, were dirt paths, with large expanses of grass beside them.

Even the playgrounds had very nature-inspired designs, with flowers and vines painted on the sides of the wooden jungle gyms. Of course, the most prominent aspect of this was the new Gym Leader’s latest art piece, ‘The Surrendering Sunflora.’ It was a statue carved of the named Pokemon, its body bending backward as if it cowered against some unseen force high above. I know from the games that it’s supposed to be about Brassius’ own struggles with his art, but I can see why people are currently speculating about it being some unknown Pokemon that’s menacing the Sunflora.

The Gym Building was fairly easy to spot, the modern building sticking out like a sore thumb against the rest of the city’s general architecture. It’s taller than most of them too, with only the big windmill matching it for size nearby.

I was tempted to just head straight to the windmill, suspecting that Brassius would be hosting his battle in the arena in front of it, but since I couldn’t spot him standing up there, I figured we had time to go to the official building. Plus I don’t have an excuse to tell my parents why we’d go there first anyway. Not that I’d likely need an excuse, given how distracted they are.

The Glitterati couple were awed at the sights… of all the regular folks, doing regular things. Veggie dogs from a cart nearly left Billy hyperventilating, and I had to drag them along before we would waste too much time here. Cyan’s match should be happening soon, she messaged us that she was just taking on the Gym Challenge.

She hadn’t elaborated on what the challenge was, however, and my meta knowledge couldn’t help me here. While Artazon had a thriving population of Sunfloras, both naturally and from the prior Gym Leader, Brassius hadn’t made several Sunflora statues yet. In fact, there are quite a few empty spaces I can see around the city. No hedge maze, for one. I guess those must be places where some features the old Gym Leader built up were. I could see a few trainers measuring those plots and sketching the land out.

Stepping inside the Gym Building itself, I saw a number of citizens hanging around. Some were just there to watch the battles on the televisions inside, others were trainers (mostly students) waiting to challenge the leader, and a few others were people with requests to make of the Gym Leader.

Billy and O’Nare marched straight to the front of the line, and I followed in their wake, nervously stammering out apologies for my parent's actions. At the desk, Dad asked the receptionist

“Where is our daughter, Cyan? She’s supposed to be battling the Gym Leader and we must see it.”

“Excuse me, sir, but there were other people waiting-” the receptionist began, before a door leading to the back with ‘staff members only’ written on it, opened up. A green-haired man I’d seen once before in this life, and only over a screen in both lives appeared before us, dynamically striding forward.

“Mr. and Mrs. Glitterati? I’ll be battling your daughter shortly, if you wish to watch, then follow me.” He declared, stumbling for a second as he passed by my parents and saw me. “Ah, Nemona, it’s good to see you as well.”

We trailed after him, having to jog every so often myself to keep up with his brisk strides. “Good to see you too, Brassius. Congratulations on your artwork, and of course, on becoming a Gym Leader.”

A soft chuckle came from the man. “I should be thanking you, the artwork you submitted to me helped inspire me to break me out of my creative rut. From there, it wasn’t hard to take on greater challenges.”

“You mean Hassel convinced you,” I quipped, keeping my tone light even as my mind raced. Did I really-? No, no way. He would have become a Gym Leader regardless, with that same statue he made, even. I didn’t impact that by sending him a few bootleg Spider-Man comics… probably. I can’t be certain that this isn’t earlier than he would have been Gym Leader, admittedly.

“Yes, Hassel did suggest this would be a good way to kick off my fresh start, and so far I have to agree. The challengers have already given me so many new ideas that I can barely keep up, especially with all the other duties calling to me as a Gym Leader.” I couldn’t see his face, but he waved an arm out at the scenery around us.

“Are the duties extensive? I noticed the Gym building was fairly large, even though you don’t battle there.”

He ‘hmm’d.’ “Somewhat. There’s definitely been a learning curve. Most of the activity there is that of the Rangers, who use the upper parts of the building as a base. It gives them a place to stay when fresh out of the wilderness and helps us and the rest of the League coordinate with them if any situations should arise.”

Huh. Hadn’t thought of that, but it makes a lot of sense. The Rangers have alerts they send out to our phones every so often, for cases involving truly dangerous Pokemon nearby, or unusual situations. For more general updates on how things are going in the ecosystems beyond our little cities, having the Rangers connect with the Gyms would work well. Especially for if they need a bunch of proverbial firepower immediately, the Gym Leader can be on tap.

We reached the battlefield, a crowd already starting to gather around. Most of them were people native to the city, but there were a few tourists and enthusiasts from other cities. With the Treasure Hunt just starting, people knew that this was one of two Gyms that would be seeing tons of immediate attention, and many fans wanted to get the first scoop on who was going to perform well on this ‘circuit’.

Brassius bid me farewell as he began getting in position, which entailed climbing up the windmill. The maroon jacket he wore must have a surprising amount of lean muscles because even with slightly jutting out bricks for a path up, it still appeared to be a tough climb.

My parents arrived, panting and out of breath from the brisk jog across the city. “Where did he-” O’Nare began to ask before she pointed at something on the other end of the field. “There!”

Turning around, I followed her gaze to see my sister, stepping up to the green arena, looking around confused. She was wearing a black checkered jacket over her Fall school uniform, the late Winter weather just brisk enough to justify it. Right as she saw us, her eyes widening in shock, Brassius leaped down, flipping through the air and landing in a three-point stance before the girl.

“Wh-what?!? Mom, Dad? What is going on? Nemona?!” My sister wailed, caught off-guard and trying to process all of this.

Our Parents decided to help by simply cheering Cyan on. “You got this! Show the world your Glitterati might!” “We love you, baby girl!” My sister just blushed, brushing the singular red lock of hair out of her face. The sound of Brassius’ snapping whip brought everyone’s attention back to him (though he didn’t crack it anywhere near my little sister or else we would have had words).

“Miss Glitterati, are you ready to begin with your Gym Challenge?” He announced, his voice not raised but carrying loudly and clearly across the arena.

“I- yes! I’m ready to battle!” Her voice squeaked a little but there was a burning determination radiating off of my sister’s Amber eyes. She drew her Pokeball and readied herself. Brassius stood up, mostly hiding a wince as his leg twinged. I guess jumping down like that isn’t very kind on his knees, but he’s probably fine. We see him doing that in the games, and that’s years from now, so I guess he just gets tougher? Thank goodness for anime-tier bodies.

The Gym Leader and challenger took their places, each of them releasing their first Pokemon. Brassius revealed a small yellow and black sunflower seed-looking Pokemon, while Cyan chose her starter.

Popplio gave a proud cry as he slapped onto the arena, water already forming beneath his flippers. The Grass Type facing him shook their leaves dismissively.

“Let’s begin!” Brassius declared, starting the battle. Cyan capitalized on this, her first command leaving her mouth almost before the Gym Leader had finished announcing the start.

“Aqua Jet!” Like that, Popplio was off, racing ahead with conjured water pushing him forward. A sharp note had his head surrounded by a bubble of water as he smacked into the Grass Type, knocking the small Pokemon up into the air.

“Good job keeping the initiative, but do you have the follow-up?” I questioned out loud. My voice was low, and with how focused my older sister was on the battle, I doubt she would have heard me even if I had been shouting, but she answered with her next move in any case.

Pointing up at the Sunkern in the sky, she shouted “Ice Beam!” Gathering pale blue energy in front of his nose, Popplio aimed at the falling seed. Just before they hit the ground, he unleashed the beam, and while Sunkern did their best to avoid the shot, lacking any means to maneuver mid-air, they were still hit by the ray of sheer cold, ice crystals coating their body.

“Hang on, Sunkern!” Brassius called out, and to my amazement, the weak Grass Type managed to tank the hit. They gave a defiant cry as they righted themselves from the fall, shivering as it was from the cold.

Brassius proved he didn’t get the position of Gym Leader for nothing, following it up with a quick “Grassy Terrain!” Sunkern scrunched up their tiny black eyes and green energy radiated out of them, hovering just over the ground. They let out a small sigh of relief as it had already begun to heal their wounds.

“Icy Wind, wipe it away!” Cyan called out, and Popplio spread his flippers out wide, waving them hard, whipping up the frigid wind that washed across the field. Sunkern winced as it was barraged by it, more ice crystals forming on them, and all around on the field. It wasn’t enough to wipe away the terrain effect Sunkern had conjured, but I thought I saw it fluctuate for at least a moment.

Well, I could hardly stop her from getting TMs and using them if she wanted, but I’m glad about the compromise we reached about making sure Cyan helped Popplio master most of his natural Moves too. While it didn’t quite work out here, having Icy Wind as well as Ice Beam offers more versatility and should be useful-

“Sorry miss, what were you muttering?” A boy about my age asked, pulling me out of my apparently out loud thoughts. Glancing over at him, I saw he was wearing glasses and the same uniform my sister was. He had brownish-orange hair and before I could answer he was turned back to the battle, excitedly gasping at some of the attacks my sister’s starter was unleashing upon Brassius’ Pokemon.

Ugh, so embarrassing, just call me Midoriya. Still, there’s something wrong here. How is that Sunkern standing? I wasn’t one to dismiss a Pokemon just for being unevolved, but Sunkern were noted for being especially weak before they evolved. There were other factors, like the Grass Type having decent speed in enacting some Moves, but just sitting there a lot of the time and not having the power I would expect from a Pokemon capable of weathering those Moves Popplio was using. In fact, he’s not using any attacking Moves at all.

The answer came to me in a flash, and I opened my mouth to shout it out, to warn my sister, before I caught myself. No, she needs to win this on her own. I’ve given her all the training she needs, if she can’t beat an Endure/Grass Terrain combo, that will be on her. I silently prayed that she would figure it out before he managed to pull off the Bide that he had been subtly building up.

Thankfully, she did, cutting off her attack just as the seed Pokemon started to glow. “Sing!” Popplio popped up on his tail and began belting out an enchanting melody, the words causing a light mist to spread out through the air.

As Sunkern launched itself through the mist at Popplio, their eyes almost instantly shut, the first of Brassius’ Pokemon crashing into Popplio from the inertia, but with much less force than he would have otherwise been hit with. Before Popplio could fully take out his fallen foe, Brassius recalled them.

“Well done. You impressed me with your artistic skills, both before and during your Gym Challenge, but now I see you’re a capable battler as well,” he complimented Cyan.

My sister blushed at the praise. “Thank yo-”

“But now we will find out if your skills are truly avant-garde!” Brassius dramatically shouted, catching my sister off-guard. “Go, Sudowoodo!” From another Pokeball, he released a Pokemon that looked eerily like a tree. I knew better, however, and that the thin brown Pokemon with green orbs on its ‘hands’ was actually a Rock Type.

My sister knew that as well, which is why the first thing she called for was another Aqua Jet. The musical sea lion Pokemon slid across the ground like it was a waterslide, but before he could connect with Sudowoodo, the opponent split into two, identical copies staring him down.

Popplio crashed through the fake, popping it into smoke as he slid on by. Before he could regain his bearings, Brassius shouted “Substitute, again!” Another fake appeared, and then they split off again, forming more substitutes.

“Ahh! Where’s the real one? I-” I winced as Cyan froze up, it was painful to see my sister acting like this.

You know the answer to this, we’ve practiced it! “C’mon, big sis!” I yelled above the crowd. “You can do this!!”

Her eyes snapped to focus. “Right! Popplio, Hyper Voice!” Once more Popplio lifted himself up on his tail, but this time his words were no melody, but a discordant screech.

The sound created watery waves in the air, washing over the field and crashing through all of the substitutes, as well as the real Sudowoodo itself. The ace of the first badge challenge wouldn’t be bested so easily and quickly righted itself.

“Avant-Garde, truly! But allow me to show you the fruits of my passion as well, Terastalize!” Pulling out a Tera Orb, he tossed it over his Pokemon, where it broke open and crystals engulfed Sudowoodo. When they shattered, the Pokemon was a Rock Type no longer, with a crystalline sheen coating its body and crystal flowers in a crown above its head.

“Icy Wind, freeze him in his tracks!” The wind bit harshly into the new Grass Type before they managed to lift some rocks out of the ground and use them as a barrier.

“Whoa! She reacted to the Terastalization instantly!” The boy beside me commented, frantically typing some notes on his phone.

“She should, we’ve been practicing it for a long time.” At the wide-eyed look behind his glasses, I added “I’m Cyan’s sister, by the way. Nemona,” I introduced myself.

“I’m Hohma. This is so cool! I’m too nervous to battle Gym Leaders myself, but I love watching them. I can’t wait to tell everyone online about this! I think she’s going to go far.”

I chuckled softly at that, not disagreeing in the slightest. She's come a long way, I thought as I saw Popplio level Ice Beams across the battlefield. Even as they were blocked by rocks and more stones were tossed at him, Cyan was unfettered.

“Aqua Jet through the rocks, then Ice Beam again!” Chaining Moves together for a combo, good. That saves on time in a battle and lets your Pokemon enact the strategy you need. From the flashing of Brassius’ wild eyes, however, I saw that Artazon’s Gym Leader was about to teach her the weakness of such tactics.

“When she breaks through, Wood Hammer!” Sudowoodo raced forward, its body wiggling weirdly with how tall it was with such stumpy legs. The oddity of its movements in no way weakened the power of its blow though, as it reared back, letting Popplio crash through the stone on a wave of water before hitting it with its arm. The arm was wreathed in thick green energy and came down like a hammer blow atop poor Popplio’s head, sending the Pokemon sprawling.

Even Brassius grimaced a little, but he shook it off to say “Return your Pokemon and release your next- what?!” Everyone’s attention was on Popplio, the small Water Type pushing himself back up. That would be surprising enough on its own, but he was also glowing.

In a flash, he grew drastically. His skin became a paler shade of blue, while the ring around his neck moved down to his torso, with several new rings joining it.

“Popplio…” Cyan breathed out, a grin slowly stretching across her face. “No, Brionne, Ice Beam!” Her evolved starter let out a cry of victory, unleashing a point-blank ray that burst out like a brilliant cone as it hit the Sudowoodo.

When we could blink our eyes clear of the icy mist that had exploded out from the field, the sight before us was of Sudowoodo trapped in a massive block of ice. There was silence, before slowly, Brassius started clapping.

“Congratulations Cyan. You have won, your first Gym Badge!” With that, the crowd went wild, and no one was cheering harder than me or our parents.