Chapter Sixteen - Gym Trainer Fight Part One!

Jazz felt like her stomach was about to explode. She'd woken up in the middle of the night with a cold sweat and had to discreetly ask one of the nurses at the pokemon centre if they had anything for heartburn.

Next to her, Broccoli was skipping, her face set in an easy smile and her step as light as could be.

Jazz kind of wanted to smack her friend around. This wasn't the time to be all carefree and joyous, it was time to sweat and freak out a little. But no, that wouldn't be nice, and Broccoli had been more than a little accommodating and helpful.

Together, they walked across the centre of Violet City, past little homes with picket fence yards and a few little stores where the owners were outside, brooms in hand to brush off the steps before the workday began.

Then they reached the gym, and Jazz found herself tilting her head way back to stare at it. Coming here to watch a fight hadn't been this bad, but it was to watch, not to participate.

"Are you okay?" Broccoli asked.

Jazz swallowed. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said. It was just a trainer battle, nothing huge. "Let's do this."

They entered the lobby where she found a bird-trainer behind the counter. A young man who was cooing at a tiny little pidgey in a cage. "Oh, hello," he said, looking up as they approached. "Leader Falkner isn't doing any gym battles until this afternoon, if you're here to spectate. Or are you here for your badges?"

"We just wanted to try a trainer battle," Jazz said. "And maybe, if we succeed, book a battle with the gym leader?"

"Perfect!" the trainer said. She glanced at his nametag. Rod. "I'll need both of your Trainer IDs, and for both of you to fill out... these. And yes, I know, it's on paper. We're working to digitize everything but it's taking a while. Here, pens! You can keep those."

Jazz blinked as she took one of the pages from the gym trainer, then a pen. It was a cheap plastic thing. The back was shaped like a swooping bird, and it had the gym's name and logo on the side. The strange shape made it hard to hold.

"Okay, we'll just... are there desks?"

Rod shrugged. "Not really?"

Jazz sighed and set the paper down on the counter. At least it wasn't busy in here and the form wasn't anything too complicated.

Violet City League-Sanctioned Gym

Battler Information Form 014-04a Trainer Name Jazz Poison Badges 0 Previous circuit season badges 2 Number of active pokemon 2 Additional notes: Poison-type specialist. Please ensure that all information entered is correct. Purposefully entering wrong information can lead to a trainer's disqualification from the League Circuit and a fine up to 10,000 pokedollars.

She glared at the page for a moment, then flipped it over. There was more information requested on the back, but this time it was just checkboxes. Honestly, she'd filled out more complex forms visiting the dentist.

A glance to the side showed Broccoli finishing up her own, then handing it to Rod. Jazz did the same.

"Thank you!" he said. "So, two trainer battles... no badges. Out of curiosity, are either of you bringing particularly strong pokemon?"

"Do people do that?" Broccoli asked.

Rod shrugged. "Sometimes. There's a small prize for winning a trainer battle. So it's not unheard of for some kid to bring in their parent's old league-team of fully evolved pokemon to try to make a bit of change. I mean, it happens, you know? But you can only do one trainer battle every two weeks, and we're not dumb you know?"

"That does seem kind of rude," Broccoli agreed. "But no, it's just me and Buneary today! And Jazz only has two pokemon with her too."

"Alright!" Rod said. "So... ah, I'll book the gym leader battle now, if you want?"

Jazz didn't, but Rod was already typing something up and was done before she swallowed past the lump in her throat.

"And done! Two battles, back to back, in six days. That sound good?"

"Sure!" Broccoli said. "That's a long time from now."

It wasn't nearly long enough. "Can we cancel that if we don't do well today?" Jazz asked.

Rod waved dismissively. "Oh, yeah, don't worry about it. The circuit is still in its start, but it's not wild right now. If this was in the first month we'd be overbooked, but we're mostly calm."

"What's the average badge level now?" Jazz asked.

"We have trainers coming in from Blackthorn and some from Eruteak and Goldenrod mostly. We're kind of in the middle, so it's usually split between trainers that have done all of the western Johto badges and those coming from the east. Basically, we have a lot of second and third badge challenges. There's almost no one that comes here for their final two."

Jazz took note of that. It made some amount of sense, she supposed. Even assuming no travel issues, who wanted to take on a Flying-type for their final badge? Falkner had so many options for pokemon to choose from that he was basically a generalist that happened to all be capable of flight.

Which... was not something she had to worry about, not when she wasn't even at the first badge level.

"Okay! Follow me, I think you'll be up against Abe this morning."

Rod led them out of the lobby and into the back, through a different entrance than the one leading to the stadium. After following him for some time, Rod paused before a doorway labelled "Trainer Room One."

"Do you guys mind doing back-to-back fights? Or did you want separate ones? We'll be using the same field either way," Rod said.

"We don't mind back-to-back, as long as it's still counted as two fights," Jazz said.

"Alright!" Rod said. "Go on in! The close side is yours. Abe will be with you shortly."

Unlike the stadium where Falkner fought, the room they were let into was a pretty normal battle arena. The ground was packed earth, with a small pond of still water in the centre. There were two 'baskets' for the opposing trainers to stand in, each one about three feet off the ground. The room was maybe a little taller than the standard arena, but that was it.

Broccoli moved over to the basket, then looked down. "Just dirt, huh?"

"It's usually not too compact, so that a falling pokemon won't be hurt," Jazz said. She touched the pokeballs at her hip. She had a whole plan for this already.

Broccoli hummed a little ditty and seemed entirely unbothered while Jazz tried not to fret. It didn't take long for another trainer to enter the room, this time at the far end. He was similar in build and appearance to Rod, though that might have been the gym trainer uniform.

Stolen story; please report.

"Hello!" he said. "I'm Abe, and I'll be your gym trainer for today. I'm fighting both of you in turn, correct?"

"Yup!" Broccoli said.

"Perfect. Keep in mind that assisting each other isn't technically allowed. This is pretty casual as far as gym battles go, however. Ah, one thing of note, Miss... Bunch? I saw on the form that this is your first ever gym trainer fight!"

"It is!" Broccoli said.

"Great! Just so you know, gym trainers are here to help! We tend to give a bit of advice after the fight, but you don't need to stick around for that."

"No, that sounds nice," Broccoli said. "Always trust an expert in their field."

Abe smiled. "Alright, so, who's going first?"

"I am!" Jazz said. She had to get this over with, work past the nerves. "Uh, if that's okay?" she asked.

"Mhm!" Broccoli said before she stepped back and hugged Buneary close to her chest.

"Alright," Abe said. He had three balls on his belt. "This will be a two-on-two, zeroth badge level fight. Take as many switches as you want. Otherwise, standard league rules. Understood?"

Jazz nodded. "Understood."

"Send out your first pokemon!"

Jazz unclipped a pokeball, then tossed it forwards. There was a small burst of red light, then Bellsprout appeared on her side of the field with a happy "Bell!"

Another burst of light, this time in midair, and a spearow appeared.

Spearow, from her reading and from what she picked up via cultural osmosis, were pretty aggressive Normal/Flying-type pokemon. They tended to fly in flocks and were sometimes led by the impressively aggressive fearow, their evolution.

Abe's spearow was a little guy, with bright red plumage over his wings and keen eyes that locked onto Bellsprout. "Spea-row!"

"Battle... begin!" Abe said.

"Bell, like we practised!" Jazz shouted.

Bellsprout's head inflated, and then the flower-like pokemon planted its roots into the ground and waited.

"Spearow, fly in and Peck!" Abe called out.

Spearow's beak glowed with a faint blue-ish energy and it swooped down towards Bellsprout. When it landed, it immediately flicked its head forwards and stabbed at Bellsprout.

Which was when Bellsprout exploded... sorta. A cloud of pinkish dust burst forth from his flower and coated the birb pokemon who flapped its wings and flew back. It was coughing, however, and Jazz knew she had it. "Nice work!" she said. Some of the tension bled out of her. Bellsprout was hurt by that Peck, but he still had some fight left in him. "Vine Whip! Quick!"

"Bell!" Bellsprout agreed before he flicked his roots out ahead, they glowed faintly, a greenish tint to them from the Grass-type energy that allowed him to use the vines so easily.

Spearow cawed angrily as the vines snapped at its chest and head.

"Sand Attack," Abe said confidently. "Then circle and Peck again."

Spearow coughed, but did listen, turning around and flicking sand at Bellsprout's face, then the pokemon took flight, circling around Bellsprout who was shaking sand out of his eyes. "To your left!" Jazz said.

Bellsprout turned his face that way and whipped his vines out again. This time, they mostly missed, at least until the spearow was right on him. Another Peck, and then another, and Bellsprout was looking pretty awful with some gashes cut into his flower.

Just as Jazz thought the fight was over, spearow stumbled back, swayed, and then fell onto its side. The poison had worked!

"Well done, Spearow," Abe said as he recalled his pokemon. He re-released the bird at his feet and knelt down while pulling a small inhaler from his pocket. Antidote, Jazz recognized. She had a few of those on herself too.

"I'm recalling Bellsprout," she said. He could still fight a little, maybe, but his victory wiggles looked a little rough, and she didn't want him to be too hurt, not if the only thing she'd gain from it was maybe one solid hit on Abe's next pokemon.

"Good call," Abe said. "Don't hurt a friend for such a casual fight. I'm sending out my next pokemon."

Jazz nodded, then did the same.

Sage appeared on her end of the battlefield with a dark chuckle.

Across from him came a pidgey who swooped around in a big circle with an excited cry. The little bird pokemon was a beige and brown blur until it settled in for a landing on Abe's side of the field.

"Ready?"

"Ready," Jazz replied.

"Then... fight!"

"Sage, Hypnosis!"

"Pidgey, flying dodge, come around for a Tackle!"

Sage's Hypnosis wasn't a very quick move, not yet, but he tried anyway. The ghost was entirely unconcerned when the pidgey came around and Tackled him, not when that Tackle did nothing but disturb some of the ghostly material he was made of.

Abe looked like he'd bitten into something sour. "Alright, this is gonna suck," he said. "Pidgey, remember that move we've been trying to learn? It's now or never bud, nothing else will work on that gastly! Gust!"

The pidgey came to a standstill in midair with great big flaps of its wings. It called out its own name as the air began to gain a bit of a blue glimmer and shifted faster and faster, but it wasn't a move that it was well-practised with.

"Sage, hit it with Confuse Ray, quick!" Jazz said.

A wide ray of ghostly energy warbled through the air ahead of Sage and struck the pidgey.

Then it released its Gust. Dust flung off the ground in twin tornados and Jazz squinted to see what was happening. Sage, made entirely of gas as he was, was flung around the arena until the move passed.

Pidgey blinked, staring around itself in a daze. It had been spun around by the wind too, either because of a lack of practice, or because of Sage's confusion. Either way, it was an opening. "Get in close, give that dumb bird a Lick!"

"Hey now!" Abe shouted. "Pidgey, fly around!"

It was too slow. Sage was behind the pidgey, his massive tongue lolling out to lick up the bird's back. Feathers were sent the wrong way, and the pidgey shivered in mid-air before plummeting to the ground. Sage's licks wouldn't damage the pidgey physically much... but they took a strong psychological toll.

"Again!" Jazz said. "Don't stop, just... Lick it down!"

It was the only damaging move they had. She took some pity on the poor pidgey who looked up at the incoming ghost with horror, but there was nothing it could do.

The fight ended a few moments later, with a crying pidgey smacking the ground with a wing to say that it gived.

"Huh, well done, I guess," Abe said.

Jazz felt all the stress suddenly melt away. She'd done it! "Thank you!" she said before recalling a smug Sage. "Thank you! We did it!"

Abe laughed. "Yeah, yeah, but don't expect Falkner to be as easy. His first-badge team will definitely have counters to ghosts, and his moves will come in faster and hit harder. And I don't think you'll be able to Lick his one-badge pidgeotto down."

Jazz nodded. That was true. She had six days to figure out a tactic that was a lot more sound than what she had now... that was... doable, maybe!

***