Chapter Thirteen - The Bird Master

"What have we got next?" he asked as he looked over a tablet. It was an order to a group of League associates based out of Vermillion in Kanto. There was a Flying-type breeder from Galar who had brought a trio of Rookidee chicks to the region, and he absolutely wanted one.

Sure, it was a little pricey, but with a bit of training the pure Flying-type pokemon could slot into his three-badge team fairly well, and it would give any trainer tackling that team something interesting to fight.

As the Rookidee grew and evolved--if it fit his team well and took well to training--it could be moved up in badge ranks. He wasn't too experienced when it came to Steel-type moves, with Rookidee gaining that type in its final evolutionary stage, but he could always ask Jasmine for advice.

He lowered the tablet. That would be a long-term project, not something he had to worry about right now.

One of his fellow bird keepers was standing by the entrance to his office, a heavily-gloved hand held up to his side for his natu to hold on while he looked at his own tablet with the other. The tablet was covered in talon-scratches from being carried around the gym by various bird pokemon. "Uh, let's see. You're booked for just one more fight today, three tomorrow though."

"Have they gotten past you?" Falkner asked.

"Yeah, they're not bad. A three-badger kid from Goldenrod," Rob said. He tucked the tablet under his arm, then gave his natu a scritch behind the neck. "Probably not gonna be much of a challenge. Did you want any details?"

"No, it's fine," he said as he stood up. "When's the fight to start?"

"You've got ten," Rob said.

Falkner nodded. Best to get ready, then. Before any fight, he liked to meet with the birds he'd be fighting with. For a three-badge battle... he considered who to bring as he left his office and made his way over to the aviary.

For a three-badge challenge, something like... pidgeotto, wingull, and maybe something slightly tougher to throw the trainer off? One of their noctowl had just evolved and was probably going to be slated as a four-badge pokemon, so that might do.

He walked into the massive aviary at the back of the gym, and couldn't help but smile. The room was a large indoor forest, with plenty of natural trees, and several made of wood with cord-wrapped branches for pokemon to grab onto. There was a large fountain at the centre, and several dozen bird-feeders throughout the room. There were also openings above, letting the bird pokemon slip out into the outdoors if they needed to fly.

The room filled with squawks and birdsong and even some cackling from a nearby honchcrow and his murder of murkrow. "Hey everyone," Falkner said. A few of the more extroverted little pokemon flew over, and he soon had a pidgey on one shoulder, a spearow on the other, and a large hoothoot stationed on his head.

This gym had been his father's once, but he shared the old man's love for birds. More, even. These guys and girls were his passion, and he hoped that he could continue to show the people of Johto the glories of flight.

After getting to the small room to the side of the aviary where pokeballs were stored, he recalled the team he had in mind for this fight, then released them again in front of him. There wasn't much time left, so he kept the pep-talk short. This was a three-badge team, they were pretty well trained and professional. The much younger pokemon he used for first-badge battles sometimes had flighty attention spans.

With the team all prepped up, Falkner recalled all three, then made his way out of the aviary with a few promises that he'd come back later. He left just as Matt, another of his gym trainers, was moving in with a caged pidgey that had its wings all bandaged up.

He nodded to the trainer, then made his way to the elevators at the back of the gym.

As it rose, he looked himself over in the mirror on one wall of the elevator and adjusted his uniform and hair. There was a certain level of presentation required in this job.

Stepping out, he found himself in the small lobby area just before the main gym's stage. There was a timer on the wall. Two minutes to go.

Falkner did a few last minute stretches, then jumped on the spot a few times. This was probably going to be an easy one, win or lose.

He met with the gym's referee who was on the way up to his box and asked about the crowd. It was pretty small today, some locals, some out of towners, a few fans of his, nothing too special. While people tended to follow trainer news a lot, and kept a close eye on the circuit and the growth of some trainers, there wasn't usually that much interest in a third-badge fight.

Now, if he was fighting one of the kids that got to their seventh badge, or an eight badge battle, this early in the circuit? Yeah, the gym would be packed, and he'd probably have to deal with the media.

Part of the curse of being a gym leader, he supposed as he fixed his microphone on, then made sure he had his pokeballs at his hip.

A light went green, and Falkner felt himself go cold as he stepped out through the doors and onto the stage.

The gym was a large oval, hanging some three stories above the ground by a few large, metallic struts. A pool sat in the very centre, for those few pokemon that needed water to survive, but otherwise his gym was almost entirely devoid of any landscaping.

This was a Flying-type gym, and it was all about open air and open spaces.

Across from him, on a similar platform, was a young man in his mid-teens who looked like he was desperately trying not to look over the edge of his platform. He was a bit green.

"Ladies and gentleman!" the referee's voice rang out. "Prepare yourselves to see the true elegance of pokemon in flight!"

The crowd clapped. Falkner glanced at them, but didn't let his attention linger, that would be disrespectful, but he still waved to his fans who were cheering and waving a few little signs. Some had messages that... well, they were something.

The League's PR department were always quick to remind him that he polled very well amongst the 40-60 year old female demographic. He did his best to pretend he didn't know.

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Falkner grinned. "Are you ready, trainer? This will be a three-on-three battle with two switch-ins. The death of a pokemon will result in the immediate cessation of any fighting and a possible disqualification from the league."

There was a loud thump as a massive wall-mounted timer started up, counting down from twenty. Below it, his name and the trainers, as well as bright red pokeballs representing their unused pokemon.

"I-I'm ready!" the trainer said.

Falkner glanced at the name on the board. Jimothy Shmithothy. Well, he'd be giving this kid a good fight, he hoped, and a good challenge.

Unlike some other gyms, where the gym leader had to think about how to challenge the trainers that came to them, he had it easy. Being able to fly alone was a hard counter to a lot of pokemon, and a challenge that plenty of trainers didn't know how to handle.

"Trainers, send out your first pokemon!" the referee shouted.

Falkner picked a ball, then threw it.

It burst in the air ahead of him, the ball flung back his way where he caught it while a pidgeotto flew forth.

Pidgeotto was an old favourite of his. The second pokemon in the evolutionary line that started with pidgey, and a fantastic Flying/Normal-type pokemon. They were common as dirt, but loyal and fierce all the same.

Jimothy on the other end sent out his own pokemon atop the gym's platform. A small yellow mouse-like pokemon that Falkner immediately recognized. A pikachu. The kid was going right for the type-advantage, then.

"Battle... begin!"

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Jimothy shouted.

Falkner knew there would be no dodging that. "Quick Attack!" he replied, letting the microphone do the work of projecting his voice.

The pikachu concentrated, little arms coming in close to its cheeks before a big burst of electrical energy flickered out and smashed into the pidgeotto. The bird convulsed in mid-air, but soon kept flying.

Energy gathered around it, and soon the pokemon was charging right at the pikachu.

"Dodge!" Jimothy shouted.

The pikachu jumped aside, narrowly avoiding the Quick Attack.

"Air Cutter," Falkner said.

The pidgeotto spun in mid-air, type energy gathering on its wingtips before it zipped across the arena and sliced across the pikachu's back.

"Pikachu!" the trainer gasped. "Thunderbolt again!"

Falkner ordered a quick attack to get out of there, but it was too late. His bird came crashing down.

"Pidgeotto is unable to battle. Gym leader, please call out your next pokemon!" the referee said.

He nodded, then considered. He was going to send out wingull next, but wingull was a Water and Flying-type. Against an Electric-type, that was just foolhardy.

"Go, Noctowl," he said.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" the kid shouted.

"Psychic," he said.

The pikachu started to charge up his attack, but Falkner had noticed that it took several seconds. His noctowl hooted, and the little pikachu screamed, electrical energy discharging around it uselessly.

"Pikachu! Try again!"

Well, he was starting to see what kind of trainer this kid was. He glanced at noctowl. The pokemon flapped its wings a couple of times and shook its head. Psychic was a hard move for it, it wouldn't be using that again, not with the same level of strength. "Noctowl, Shadow Ball."

The owl-like pokemon gathered a ball of growing shadows in its beak, then let it loose.

The pikachu tried to dodge, and it did manage a very quick little thundershock that zipped across the arena towards noctowl and singed a feather, but it was clipped by the Shadow Ball and sent flying.

"Trainer! Your pokemon is unable to fight, send out your next pokemon!"

The trainer glared. Clearly his strategy was messed up now. "Go, spinarak!"

Falkner blinked as a small green spider pokemon appeared on the arena. What happened next was pretty straight-forward. The spinarak was surprisingly agile, and was able to dodge some of noctowl's attacks, but it was still taken down in short order.

By the end of that fight noctowl was a little ruffled, covered in a bit of web and spinarak had gotten off a good Absorb, but he was still fighting-fit.

The trainer's third pokemon was a quagsire. The trainer's ace, maybe? The big blue pokemon looked like little more than a standing blob with a dopey face.

"Extrasensory," Falkner said.

"Quagsire! Quick Mud Shot!"

Noctowl used Psychic energy to ravage the quagsire, but it didn't stop the pokemon from summoning a fast-moving lump of mud that smacked the owl down.

"Now, quagsire!" the trainer shouted.

Quagsire charged across the area surprisingly quickly. Falkner ordered his noctowl back into the sky, but it was dealing with a mud-covered wing and didn't have time to fly away before the quagsire spun around and smacked it with its tail covered in Water-type energy and swirling mud.

"Noctowl is unable to battle. Gym leader, please call out your next pokemon!" the referee said.

Falkner nodded. That was a clever way of dealing with a Flying-type. Maybe this trainer wasn't a one-trick-ponyta after all. "Go, Wingull!" he said.

"Again, quagsire!" the kid said.

Falkner held back a sigh that his microphone would definitely have picked up.

The remainder of the fight was kind of sad. His wingull flew circles above, slashing down with Air Cutter and sometimes Bubblebeam while quagsire tried to splash mud up to it and failed to catch the Flying-type.

It was a tough little guy, though. "Quagsire, use mist! Then Mud Shot!"

Falkner hummed as a mist filled the arena. Wingull flew through it, but without good visibility he failed to dodge the incoming Mud Shot and plummeted down.

"Again, quagsire! More Mud Shot, then Aqua Tail!"

The fight ended rather anti-climatically, but Falkner wasn't too upset. The trainer had some ways to go, and at this rate wasn't going to get a fourth badge unless he grew a lot more clever, but he had room to grow in and some small amount of potential.

The crowd cheered as the two stands on either side of the gym were lowered and he walked to the centre where he shook Jimothy's hands and gave him the badge he'd just earned.

Just another day's work.

***