“Jonas, are you sure you want to do this? The Pokéball Run starts in two days. There are easier ways to make money,” Adelaide questioned Jonas as they walked toward the Nova City gym, her normal confidently gone.

“I’m positive. Flint and I can do this. We have to. Besides, even if I can’t win enough money to help my parents right now, I can at least make enough to stay in the race. Besides, we studied,” Jonas replied firmly, striding down the street with determination.

It was true. He had awoken while it was still dark out and spent the past few hours reading by lamplight. He had scoured the index pages on growlithe and venipede, noting with some certainty that the venipede entry was inaccurate, as it made no mention of their incredible speed. Unfortunately, the entries offered little in the way of useful information, aside from the fact that venipede learned a move called protect. Regardless, Jonas marched toward the gym confidently, certain that this battle would not go the same way as the one with Victor had.

Jonas and Adelaide passed a small construction site where a lively group of timburr chattered happily among themselves, proudly eyeing the wooden wall they had recently erected. The gym was at the heart of the city, near the site where the Nova Tower was being built, though Jonas was unprepared for the amount of other, smaller construction jobs in the area.

“It’s so they don’t look bad by comparison,” Adelaide explained, catching up to Jonas’s hurried pace. “Can’t have ugly old stores making the shiny new tower look bad, right?”

Jonas eyed the stores as they passed, noticing that they were decidedly neither old nor ugly. In fact, compared to some of the storefronts of Canis Creek, they were as shiny and new as the tower would be when completed.

“It’s sure something to think about, isn’t it?” Adelaide continued, her dreamy confidence returning to her voice. “Having the eyes of the whole world on you, I mean. The spectacle of it all is amazing! People and pokémon coming together to make Nova City look the best it ever has. It’s kind of like a performance when you think about it. A coordinator and their pokémon wearing flashy costumes and pouring their entire hearts into looking their best for the judges. It’s the best feeling.” Adelaide sighed wistfully, staring at the incomplete structure that towered overhead. “Five more years… I hear Old Man Steele has something special planned for then.”

“Adelaide…” Jonas interrupted cautiously, curiosity taking hold of him. She had spoken at length about being a coordinator, but in the short time he had known Adelaide, he had yet to see her pokémon. “Do you have a pokémon?”

“I never introduced you to Bisou?!” Adelaide shouted. She stopped in the street, her hand flying to her mouth. “Well… it’s probably best if we wait until we’re somewhere quiet. He tends to get dramatic if he has a crowd,” she rolled her eyes. “Besides, you’ve got your gym battle to focus on.”

***

Jonas felt a flutter of anxiety as he approached the massive brick and steel building. Unlike the other buildings surrounding it, the Nova City gym was short, only two stories, but it covered more land than any of them, and Jonas was quite certain that the entire orchard would fit inside. He swallowed hard, opening the glass doors and stepping into the lobby where he was met with a wave of heat. The sound of hammers falling on metal rang through the air, and Jonas couldn’t help but think of Old Man Crandall’s tinkatuff.

“I probably should have warned you!” Adelaide shouted over the noise. “Ferris’s gym is also his workshop. In addition to being a gym leader, he’s also a blacksmith.”

A sudden hissing noise came from somewhere Jonas couldn’t see, and the air was filled with smoke. He wiped his palms on his pants again, though he was unsure if the sweat was due to the heat or his nerves. A door to their right swung open, and a man entered the lobby coughing, steam billowing through the door behind him .

“Hello there,” he said once the coughing had subsided. “I’m sorry I didn’t hear you come in.” he coughed again, “Gosh, you’d think I’d be used to the smoke by now but… Anyway, I’m Ferris.” He removed the thick leather glove from his right hand before extending it for Jonas to shake.

“I’m Jonas,” he replied, struggling to believe that this man was Victor’s brother. Ferris was short, no taller than Jonas, but wide, and muscular. He wore simple clothes that were stained with soot and sweat, and a thick leather apron. His face was mostly hidden beneath his thick beard and black streaks of soot. He smiled when he took Jonas’s hand, and much to Jonas’s surprise, it seemed genuine.

“Nice to meet you Jonas. I gather you’re here for a gym battle. Or is it you, miss…?”

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“Adelaide Sinclair,” Adelaide responded with a curtsy, and Jonas thought he saw her blushing.

“Well, then Jonas. Adelaide. What can I do for you today?”

Jonas took a deep breath, feeling that familiar flutter in his stomach as Ferris eyed them expectantly. Exhaling, he finally spoke, hoping it sounded as formidable out loud as it did in his head.

“I’m here to win your badge, Ferris. Let’s battle.”

***

It was hot on the battlefield. Steel beams jutted from the floor at odd intervals, and large blast furnaces lined either side of the room, smoke churning from their exhaust ports and billowing high, nearly blocking the view of the crisscrossing girders overhead. The room was bathed in an eerie red-orange glow from the fires, and the sounds of ringing hammers and hissing bellows were constant.

“Watch the vents,” Ferris said over the noise, gesturing to a slotted section of the floor from which steam erupted. Jonas swallowed hard and made sure to keep an eye on the floor as they walked. He found himself wishing Adelaide was still with him, instead of safely in the spectators area. Glancing up past the furnaces, Jonas found her leaning against the railing, her expression a mixture of worry and awe.

Jonas was surprised to find himself smiling at this, realizing just how quickly he’d grown to consider the girl a friend. He had only known her for a day, and knew next to nothing about her, but she had been helpful and seemed genuine, and Jonas felt certain he could trust her.

Turning his attention back to the polished metal battlefield, Jonas’s eyes fell on a man in a vest and tie, his jacket draped across the back of a chair. The man was sweating profusely, occasionally dabbing at his forehead and neck with a handkerchief.

“We have a challenger, Jude. This is Jonas.” Ferris said to the man, looking back over his shoulder. “Jonas, this is Jude. He’s a league official. Oversees the battles and makes sure we follow the rules.”

Jonas nodded at Jude who gave him a half smile in return, fanning himself with one hand.

“Challenger Jonas, welcome to the Nova City gym! This gym conducts single battles, and specializes in steel type pokémon. Gym leader Ferris follows standard league rules for team size. You may use as few as two, or as many as four pokémon. Please select your pokémon.”

Jonas reached into his bag and sheepishly pulled out Flint and Dash’s balls.

“I’ll use two pokémon,” he said, not mentioning that they were the only pokémon he had. The league official eyed their balls carefully, smiling slightly at the friend ball, then returned them to Jonas. He turned to Ferris, who had already selected two pokéballs from a type of holster on his belt. Ferris’s pokéballs were much like Victors, or the ones Jonas had received during registration for the Pokéball Run. They were smooth and metallic, and didn’t seem right to Jonas at all. The official looked them over quickly and returned them to Ferris, Jonas noting that he was much less thorough with the gym leader’s selection.

“As with all league sanctioned gym battles, the battle will continue until both of a trainer’s pokémon are unable to battle. There will be no substitutions allowed during this battle,” he eyed Jonas sympathetically before continuing. “For each of the leader’s pokémon the challenger defeats, the challenger will be rewarded two-thousand pokédollars.”

Jonas’s jaw dropped open at this. Two-thousand wasn’t a lot of money, certainly not enough to solve his family’s financial problems, but four-thousand was almost an entire month’s mortgage payment. He found himself wishing he’d caught another pokémon before challenging this gym, imagining the look on his dad’s face if he could have sent five-thousand pokédollars.

“Are you ready, Jonas?” Ferris glanced sideways at Jonas who collected himself, responding with a nod. The three of them walked away from the desk and back onto the battlefield, Jonas noting that the steam vents Ferris had warned him about also occupied the battling area.

Reaching the center of the arena, Ferris again extended his hand for Jonas to shake.

“Good luck, Jonas. It’s not often I’m someone’s first gym battle,” he said with a wink before turning and walking toward his end of the arena. Jonas stared after him in disbelief. How did he know? I never said anything about that. Is it that obvious?

Jonas turned and began to approach his own end of the battlefield, feeling butterfree in his stomach as his heart pounded heavily.

Ferris threw one of his balls into the field, white light bursting forth and taking the shape of a short, pink, pokémon wielding a massive hammer.

“Tinkaton, let’s win this!”

Jonas swallowed hard, seeing the final evolution of tinkatink for the first time. He couldn’t imagine Old Man Crandall’s partner ever looking so formidable.

He responded, reaching into his pack and grabbed a pokéball of his own.

“Steel types aren’t that fast, buddy,” he whispered. “Let’s use that to our advantage.” Dash emerged from his ball, hissing as he landed on the metal floor and clicked inquisitively at the tinkaton.

Jonas glanced again at Adelaide. Her hand covered her mouth and she shook her head, her brow furrowed. Exhaling slowly, he turned his attention back to the battlefield, where the pokémon eyed one another intently. Finally, Jude spoke.

“Let the battle begin!”