Gym Leader Kev stood with his hands on his hips, grinning in welcome down at Cashe, Emilia, and Lindon. His floral patterned shirt and broad smile helped the shock that came with being greeted by a gym leader, but it was hard not to be a little intimidated.

Lindon gave the man a stiff little wave.

Gym Leader Kev’s grin widened, “I know it’s not normal to be greeted by a gym leader, but people don’t usually react like they've just had a Gengar jump out of the shadows at them.”

Emilia blinked and put her hands on her hips, pulling herself out of her surprise, “My sister told you to meet us?”

Cashe tried not to smirk and failed. She still managed to be upset that her sister was helping her out, even though she asked Elise for the assistance in the first place.

“She mentioned you were coming, but is it really so surprising that the Champion talked to her gym leaders?” Kev’s smile slipped from teasing to something more calming, clearly reading between the lines regarding Emilia’s aversion to nepotism, “She mentioned you were planning on visiting the gym today and I thought I would come say hello. Not even gym leaders get to meet future champions every day, you know.”

Emilia let herself a small smile at the obvious flattery, until Cashe ruined it.

“How do you know Lindon is going to be a champion?” He said, “Honestly, he’s barely been tested.”

“Ha!” Kev laughed as Emilia tried not to scowl at Cashe and offend Lindon at the same time, though it was unnecessary. Lindon recognized the teasing for what it was and had a big smile on his face. Gym Leader Kev waved a hand over his shoulder and turned away, beckoning the group to follow him, “I’ve battled his father once or twice, so I know he’s got a good role model.”

“I actually had a question about that,” Cashe said, making conversation as they followed the large man through the gym. It was much like every other stadium he had been in, with a wide open entrance leading the small corridors that branched to lead to the arena, concession, washroom and employee only areas. The last was where Kev led them, pulling a keycard from his shorts and buzzing open a door that brought them into another long corridor.

“About good role models?” Kev said, his voice light.

“About testing trainers,” Cashe said, “I’ve been a little confused about how things work on the circuits.”

The gym leader led them down the corridor and into a sparse office. It had a trio of plain but comfortable chairs set up facing a desk, behind which a much used and worn office chair sat. There was a laptop on the desk, but not much else, with only a row of around twenty pokeballs resting on a singular shelf to the side of the desk. Going by the state of the chair, it seemed that the gym leader spent a lot of time in the room, but going by everything else, it seemed that wasn’t by choice. Gym Leader Kev collapsed into the chair, eliciting a squeak of protest from it, and spun around to face Cashe as they sat.

“How so?” Kev said, leaning back and causing his seat to creak again.

“Emilia and I had good challenges when we battled in the Iki Town gym, but Lindon’s opponent was underwhelming,” Cashe said, “From what I saw when we were doing a bit of scouting, it looked like most of the gym trainers were chosen to match their opponents, but not all. One Second Circuit gym trainer was wiping the floor in his match and it sounded like there was a heavy loss ratio in the gym, at least according to the few people who spoke to me about it.”

“I think I see what you are getting at,” Kev said, clasping his hands over his chest and tapping his thumbs together as he thought. He frowned and leaned forward in his chair, eliciting another squeal from it. “Being a gym leader is more than winning battles and handing out gym badges,” he finally said, “We are entertainers, mentors, even protectors on occasion. Sometimes we even fill the role of Poke Rangers and other conservationists. Other times we are gatekeepers. There is a lot that goes into this job.”

“I get that it’s more than what it appears to be,” Cashe said, “But I’m just wondering-”

Kev held up a hand, “I am not finished explaining.”

Cashe shut his mouth and Emilia poked him in the side, teasing him like he had just been caught speaking out of turn in school.

Kev saw the interaction but didn’t say anything about it, continuing his explanation, “I don’t know exactly how Hau does it in Iki Town, but I employ a small team to scout and research everyone who registers for the gym. I use those reports to match gym trainers to challengers. This is mostly to fulfill my duty as an entertainer.”

“Which makes sense,” Cashe said, “Close battles are more entertaining, so if you can match a challenger’s skill level, the battle will be more exciting. But Lindon’s battle was not. Nor were a few others we watched.”

“I think in the case of Lindon here, it was more due to a lack of information than anything else,” Kev typed a few things into his laptop and flipped it around so they could see it. It displayed Lindon’s trainer profile, “As you can see, there isn’t much to go on. A few battles over the last few months, but most of them are in the True Rookie Tournament while others were against trainers traveling the routes, without a single gym victory to their name. That’s not even mentioning the known pokemon here.”

Kev pointed to the screen. Cashe saw what he was talking about. Lindon had not used Magneton in an official battle since its evolution, all the way up to his gym battle. His other battles were sporadic, and not all victories either. Cashe could see how someone might underestimate the kid. He also saw a problem.

“That doesn’t explain everything,” Cashe said, “My opponent knew I had a Sneasel that I only received a week prior, and Lindon’s opponent obviously didn’t know he had a Magneton.”

“And he was mean to Dalia,” Lindon said, crossing his arms.

Gym Leader Kev spared Lindon an amused glance, “While I don’t know exactly how Hau does his scouting, I am sure he does the same as I do in at least one regard: my scouting is for me. If your opponent knew you had a Sneasel, Apollo, that is a point in her favor. I feel I should also mention that Hau’s gym has a large, public practice area, right outside the gym for a reason. In fact, many gyms do.”

Cashe crossed his arms and frowned, sitting back in his chair. Emilia leaned close and whispered into his, loud enough for everyone to hear, “It’s so the gym trainers can do their own scouting.”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Cashe snorted, “I got that, thanks.”

Kev smiled, “It’s part of what I do to fulfill my duty as a mentor. It helps my gym trainers learn, even if sometimes it means their battles are less entertaining. Do you understand what I’m getting at?”

Cashe nodded, “You’re saying that sometimes the intersection of your duties means they can’t all be fulfilled the way people on the outside might expect. I take it that the enormous loss ratio is due to Hau’s duty as a gatekeeper?”

“No, actually. Not unless the losses are very one sided,” Kev said, “We take pride in teaching our gym trainers. Even in close matchups, our expectation is for them to win, especially at the level of the Third Circuit. Nearly all potential trainers drop out in the Third Circuit, they just aren’t good enough. You’ll see the challenger loss ratio drop off a cliff as soon as you enter the Second Circuit. Ironically, that’s where most of the gatekeeping comes into play. Moving from the Second Circuit to the Gym Circuit is closely monitored. At that point, battles become spectacles and trainers become celebrities and, more importantly, assets. The League is cautious about who gains those kinds of positions within society.”

Emilia and Lindon were nodding as though it was natural, but Cashe’s frown deepened, “Wouldn’t that mean deserving people never make it to the highest level?”

“There is no holding back the truly talented,” Kev shrugged, “But if the cost of stability is taking a bit away from the meritocracy, that is a fair price to pay.”

It didn’t feel right to Cashe, but he held his tongue. He knew Earth’s meritocratic ideals existed in name only, but that didn’t mean he thought those ideals were wrong. Except this wasn’t Earth.

“Does that answer your original question?” Kev said, when Cashe did not speak, “With so many things to monitor, it can be difficult for us to make everything perfect. In my estimation, Hau is an excellent gym leader.”

Cashe continued to frown and Kev raised an eyebrow, “You don’t agree?”

“I don’t know,” Cashe said, “Are maintaining fair matches part of a gym leader’s duties?”

Gym Leader Kev crossed his arms, “Of course.”

“Well, then, he isn’t great,” Cashe said, “The official who oversaw my match was clearly biased towards my opponent.”

“She was?” Emilia looked at him in surprise, “You didn’t say anything! You could have brought it up with my sister when we saw her.”

“How do you know?” Lindon said, looking at Cashe with no small amount of skepticism, “The first thing people say about my dad when they lose is that the officials were unfair and that’s why they lost. People actually believe them, too, because of how my dad acts on stage.”

“It’s something we all hear,” Gym Leader Kev said, raising an eyebrow, “Though, as Lindon alluded to, not usually from winners.”

“I wasn’t thinking about it before, to be honest,” Cashe said, answering Emilia’s question first, “With the excitement from winning, your match and Lindon’s, the storm and your birthday, it kind of slipped my mind.” He turned to Lindon, “And I know because it was obvious. The official was calling my opponent by her first name the entire time instead of Gym Trainer Kiana. Plus, when Kiana wasted the time of Sunny Day during a pokemon switch she didn’t say anything until I pointed the tactic out, but when I tried the same thing with my poison, she yelled at me like I was breaking some sort of rule integral to the battle. It was biased.”

Lindon scrunched up his face as he considered it, eventually nodded, while Emilia looked angry. Kev however, only nodded and sighed, “Ah. I see.”

“What, you think that’s okay?” Emilia said.

“It does sound like bias,” Kev allowed, holding up a hand as Emilia made to interrupt him, “But she didn’t break any rules, at least not in a way that she can be punished. To me it looks like a case of conflict of interest. Those are very hard to avoid.”

“Shouldn’t that be a League priority?” Cashe said, “Why assign an official to the gym in the first place if she clearly has favorites?”

“She likely didn’t have favorites when she was assigned here,” Kev explained, “Officials are assigned to regions for two years at a time. They teleport around the regions to different gyms to keep things as fair as possible, but there are only so many gyms, and there are only so many matches. Eventually friendships and comradery develop in the same way they would in any workplace. It is not an uncommon problem for the circuits and it is extremely hard to detect at the lower levels, with so few people watching. Especially with so many of the battles going in favor of the gym trainers anyway.”

“You should complain,” Emilia said.

“I can take that complaint,” Kev flipped his laptop back around and tapped through a few things on it, “But don’t expect much to come of it. The best you can hope for is that she won’t be paired with Gym Trainer Kiana anymore.”

“Forget it,” Cashe said, “If Hau is as good as you say he is, just let him know and I’m sure he’ll sort it out.”

“That’s trusting of you,” Emilia said.

“I figure when it comes to trust, it’s better to be disappointed than cynical.” Cashe said.

“Easier to get hurt that way,” Emilia pointed out.

Cashe smiled and looked at his friends, “I don’t know. Seems to have worked out so far.”

Lindon grinned back at him and Emilia turned away, a small smile on her face as well. Across the desk, Gym Leader Kev brought his hands together, “I think I agree. It just so happens that I have something I would like to trust you with as well.”

***

“And it just appeared like that one day?” Connie said, looking up at the tree. It was nowhere near as big as the tree on Akala Island, and while it was producing berries - a very unusual trait for something that was not a berry tree - it had none of the grandiose presence that the first tree had.

It did have other strange traits, however. For one, it was missing its bark. Daryl didn’t know how that might have happened, or why, but the tree was just smooth wood. It was unblemished by bugs, animals, or pokemon. A rarity, even for trees with all the bark they could want.

“Not exactly,” Holston said, scratching his chin, “My son was working on one of our projects in the yard and talking to himself. It helps keep the mind sharp,” Holston explained, “All of a sudden, he heard the chime of a bell and a voice in his head and light rose from the tree and all the bark fell away!”

“Interesting,” Daryl walked over to the tree and rubbed his hand down the wood of the tree. It came back sticky. He sniffed it and made a face.

“Do you know what he said?” Connie asked, glancing at Daryl. He met her eyes and nodded. It sounded like Jirachi all right, at least going by the records.

Holston shrugged, “He was complaining about being hungry, I think. You know how young men are. Always thinking with their stomach.”

“That’s not my experience,” Connie joked, nudging Holston playfully in the ribs.

He gave her a small smile that still managed to reach his eyes, “I have no doubt, young lady.”

“Alright,” Daryl said, stepping away from the tree. He turned to Holston, “I think we have everything we need for now. We just wanted to introduce ourselves and see the tree. We’ll be back tomorrow with our equipment, if you don’t mind the intrusion.”

“Not at all,” Holston said, nodding graciously.

Connie and Daryl took their leave, speaking little as they made their way back to the hotel. When they arrived, Daryl washed his hand off in the bathroom and flopped down on their bed with a great sigh.

“You noticed, too?” Connie said.

“Of course,” Daryl groaned, “It was obvious.”

“You look sad,” Connie hopped onto the bed with him, bouncing on it instead of laying down, “Don’t be sad. This is exciting!”

“It’s not exciting. It’s going to be the Iron Treads thing all over again.”

“Oh! That would be very exciting.”

Daryl sighed again. Of course Connie thought that. She was bouncing with excitement at the very thought of it, but Daryl couldn’t match her energy.

Holston was lying to them, and now they had to find out why.

*****