“A Pokemon gym?!” Quinn was floored by this revelation as he looked at the picture that Mabel was handing him. It was in black and white and showcased a man with a smile almost as big as his face. He was holding an ornate trophy over his head on a podium with what looked like his Pokemon team. The man was broad-shouldered and wore a button-down shirt with a wide pointed collar. His pants were bell-bottoms that covered the majority of his black boots. To his left stood a Nidoqueen, Bisharp, and Armarouge. To his right, an Aegislash floated next to him with a Slowking and Alakazam to finish up the lineup. All the Pokemon looked as happy as the man did.
“This is my father-in-law and the founder of The Royal Gym, Thomas Royal. The picture was taken around 50 years ago when he won the Vorunda Championship. As you can probably guess, this was his team that he won it with,” Mabel explained as Quinn took the picture to give a better view to Phanpy.
“Thomas was a spectacular trainer whose presence demanded the spotlight wherever he went. He spent many years challenging gym leaders and competing in the Vorunda League, and in 708 he finally broke through and won it all.”
Quinn connected more dots as he focused on Thomas’ Pokemon. “So was he actually royalty?”
Mabel chuckled. “Oh heavens, no. Do you think I'd live here if my husband was a prince? Thomas was abandoned on the steps of a church when he was a baby. When he was 18 he decided to change his last name to Royal, because he liked to imagine his parents were a king and queen in exile. He leaned even more into the name with the Pokemon he caught. Nidoqueen and Slowking were the royal family, Bisharp and Armarouge were the knights, Alakazam was the court wizard, and Aegislash was his mythical sword and shield.”
Quinn couldn’t remember the last time a themed team won the Vorunda League Championship. Nowadays, battling was all about type coverage and raw power. Quinn’s eyes got larger as he thought about Thomas’ Royal Court in a championship match.
Mabel noted the awe in Quinn. “Most people had the same reaction to Thomas and his team that you are having right now. It became his brand and his matches were always well attended. In fact, the Moon Stone and King’s Rock that he used to evolve Nidoqueen and Slowking were gifts from his fans,” Mabel’s eyes drifted as she continued. “Thomas wasn’t able to defend his title in 709, but he's one of the few that ever reached the pinnacle of battling. After that, he came back to Havenwood, his hometown, and started a Pokemon gym.”
“The Royal Gym,” Quinn said under his breath.
“Exactly. Using his winnings, he built the Royal Gym just down the street. Because he was a League Champion, he didn’t have any trouble with the qualifications to become an 8-Badge gym. He didn’t rest on his fame though. He developed a reputation for creating original unique Pokemon moves. Thomas was swamped with challengers who wanted to battle his iconic team and apprentices who craved to learn his unique moves or get guidance on creating their own. The Royal Gym was the crown jewel of Havenwood, and West Havenwood especially benefited from the influx of tourism. For 20-plus years, we had monthly block parties and you couldn’t find a boarded-up window anywhere.”
“So what happened?”
“A heart attack. We should have seen it coming, seeing how Thomas was 77, but he never slowed down. He was the gym leader on the day he died,” Mabel opened the newspaper and handed it to Quinn. “At the bottom of the page, you can see an ad that my husband James took out a couple of years after Thomas passed away.”
Quinn looked down at a man he presumed was James in a dorky knight's costume riding a galloping Gogoat while wielding an older-looking Aegislash in his hands. In big block letters underneath the image, it read “Come test your mettle at the Royal Gym!”
“James hated that costume, but I think he looked good in it.” Mabel chuckled again. “He had grown up working in the gym, but he was never the trainer Thomas was. As Thomas’ Pokemon got older, James couldn’t train others of their caliber as replacements. The gym lost a lot of its reputation over those years and it was downgraded to a 4-Badge gym.”
This reminded Quinn that the Aquacrest Gym, Havenwood’s current top gym, only was a 4-Badge gym.
“It could have gotten worse, too, if not for Paul coming back from college. Paul had the knack for battling that his grandfather did and he helped the Royal Gym settle in as a respectable 6-Badge gym for the next few years.” Mabel paused to take a sip out of a water bottle as the long story started to tire her vocal cords.
“James could see the writing on the wall as Paul surpassed him as a gym leader, so we decided to retire and give the gym and its Pokemon to Paul. We didn’t know it at the time, but that was the biggest mistake we ever made. One morning, we woke up to news vans outside our house asking for our comments on the ‘Royal Gym Scandal,’” Mabel used her fingers to create air quotes.
“It turned out that Paul had been taking bribes to throw his matches and a reporter had posed as a challenger to expose him with video recordings of him taking the bribe and then throwing the match. The evidence was so damning that it threw the entire reputation of the Vorunda League in the toilet. The next day the League announced that the Royal Gym was stripped of all accreditation and would be banned for five years from reapplying for accreditation. Paul was also banned for life from ever battling in any Vorunda League-sanctioned match.”
Mabel couldn’t hold back the tears anymore as they streamed down her face. Amanda was quick to pull out a handkerchief and Quinn felt even worse for his earlier outburst. He was starting to see that Paul’s presence wasn’t something to be missed.
Mabel steadied her breathing enough to get out one more sentence. “James’ health declined significantly after the scandal, and a week after finding out that Paul had sold Thomas’ Aegislash and the rest of the gym Pokemon, James passed away.”
Hearing this, Phanpy raced around the coffee table, jumped up next to Mabel, and put his head on Mabel’s lap, letting her tears fall on his hat. Mabel didn’t say anything for a while as she held on tight to Phanpy. Even the ever-urgent Amanda knew not to interrupt.
After settling down with the help of Phany, Mabel tried to put on a smile but it looked more like a grimace. “Enough of my stories. Quinn, you need to see the real thing.”
“Wait — we've got a lot of details to still get through,” Amanda put up her hands in protest.
“Pish posh! Quinn has seen numbers before. I guarantee he hasn’t seen a gym he owns before.”
Mabel used the armrest to get off the couch and set off out the front door with Quinn and Phanpy eagerly behind her. Quinn could hear a rustle of papers behind him as Amanda muttered under her breath.
“Come on, Gogoat. We're going to show Quinn and Phanpy where you got so strong,” Mabel gestured for Gogoat to come to her at the top of the porch. Gogoat dutifully came over and allowed Mabel to use him as a cane down the stairs and out of the yard. Mabel’s sedated pace gave Quinn the time he needed to comprehend what owning a Pokemon gym would even entail.
Quinn knew that gyms were the backbone of the Pokemon League, serving as both places for trainers to improve and prove themselves. League trainers had from the start of February to the end of the year to collect the eight badges necessary to qualify for the playoffs. While each badge needed to be earned at a different gym, eight battles in 10 months left a trainer with months of free time, even accounting for traveling. The best trainers spent that time training in gyms.
Most gyms had a type specialty to attract trainers. The Ashfire Gym in Ashford was one of those gyms. Growing up, Quinn met a fair share of league trainers that trained at the Ashfire Gym, and 90% of the time the trainer was there to either improve one of their Fire-type Pokemon or figure out how their Grass-, Bug-, Ice-, or Steel-type Pokemon could deal with the type disadvantage. Other gyms specialized in a specific move or a Pokemon attribute like speed or special defense. And very few gyms worked off a theme like the Royal Gym.
But a gym’s cash cow was the badge battles. To compete in a badge battle a trainer had to pay a challenge fee to the gym. The fees were standardized by the League and increased with the amount of badges. Gyms would sell tickets to the badge battles and the best gyms even had TV contracts to air each battle. The more powerful a gym leader, the more badges their gym has, the more money their gym can earn.
Coming out of his own thoughts, Quinn asked, “Mabel, you said that the gym was banned by the League. How did it stay open?”
“After the ban and James’ death, I didn’t want anything to do with the gym. All I know is that some trainers would come to work out with their Pokemon and Paul kept it running for 10 years until his disappearance. Luckily, Paul was too cheap to ever switch the locks, and the copy set of keys I have still works.”
Quinn’s stomach dropped at another mention of James’ death. Quinn opened his mouth to apologize for his earlier outburst, but the words never came out.
“Well, here it is.” Mabel nodded at a sizable building ahead of them.
It was a red brick building that took up the majority of the city block and was dotted with crude works of graffiti. Quinn guessed it was 300 feet wide and 50 feet tall with windows lining the second level. The first story was straight brick except for a glass storefront on the left side of the building that currently had an iron security gate in front of the glass. Above the glass storefront was a faded sign that read “The Royal Gym.” The letters were painted what Quinn guessed was a royal blue at one point but now looked gray with a blue hue. Hanging off the top left of the “R” was a painted crown and the “L” had a sword leaning against it.
“Quinn, would you mind unlocking the gate and door? The last time I had to open it for the police, I swear I tried every key on this ring at least twice.”
Quinn blinked back at Mabel before he said “Yes, of course.”
Amanda took the opportunity to talk while Quinn started working through the many keys on the key ring. “The Royal Gym is still the largest gym in all of Havenwood. Not including the track on the second floor, it has a total of 108,900 square feet. With no current mortgage taken out on the building, the only debts the building has are for the property taxes and the utilities that haven’t been paid since Paul’s disappearance. While I doubt you could find a buyer that would be interested in purchasing it to keep it as a gym, you should be able to find people who are interested in converting it into a warehouse or factory.”
The new information made it harder for Quinn to locate the correct key as Amanda continued. “As the executor of the estate, I'd be able to coordinate the sale and liquidation of any assets found inside the building. This process can be very seamless with you not needing to come out to Havenwood again.” Out of the corner of his eye, Quinn saw Mabel’s head dip at Amanda’s pitch, but she didn’t say a word.
Already overwhelmed at the thought of owning a Pokemon gym, Quinn paused as he considered telling Amanda to sell it and hopping on a train back to his comfortable life in Ashford.
Phanpy then pulled on Quinn’s pant leg with his trunk and let out a soft whine, asking Quinn to open the gate. “You're right, Phanpy. There's no harm in checking the place out. Do you think we’ll get to see Thomas’ League Trophy?” Phanpy trumpeted a yes at Quinn’s question.
Mabel perked up with a knowing smile. “I think Phanpy may be right.”
Quinn eventually got both the gate and glass door unlocked. He opened the door and a chime above him rang and softly echoed, alluding to the vastness of the structure. The inside didn’t offer any respite from the summer heat. Quinn looked at a dust-covered reception area that had a desk in the middle with two doors behind it and chairs lining the left wall. The area to the right opened up into the main expanse of the gym. Not wasting any time, Quinn walked over to see what could possibly fill this enormous building.
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Sunlight came in from the many windows on the second floor and illuminated the entire building with only the periodic support columns to block Quinn’s view of the outer walls. Immediately in front of him was a torn-up dirt battlefield the size of a basketball court with a black steel chain curtain hanging above the perimeter. Metal bleachers covered in trash sat in between the battlefield and the north wall that faced Azalea Lane.
“This place somehow looks even messier than when we were here a week ago,” Mabel said as she caught up to Quinn. “I won’t be a great tour guide, but let me try and give you the broad strokes of how the gym was set up by Thomas and James throughout the years,” Mabel continued walking past Quinn and onto the battlefield. “This is the main battlefield that was center stage for some truly amazing battles when Thomas was the gym leader. They had a butt in every seat and just as many people standing and watching. The chain curtain was installed by James after it got harder to find Psychic-type Pokemon that were strong enough to put up protection barriers. The steel links are thin and painted black to give the best view possible while still strong enough to stop errant attacks. You can bring down the curtain by pulling on the chain hoist next to the bleachers.”
Quinn did just that and was surprised to see how smoothly it came down. As the curtain unraveled, he could see holes that an Aerodactyl could fly through. “Looks like it doesn’t protect the whole crowd.”
Mabel unenthusiastically agreed. “No, it definitely doesn't. Unfortunately, that will be one of the easier repairs if you want to bring the gym back to its former glory.” Quinn tried to imagine epic battles taking place on the field in front of him, but the shattered beer bottles made it hard.
“Above the bleachers, you can see the track that runs along the entire outer wall. Four laps around the track equal a mile. It’s hard to see, but there are obstacles on the track and hanging from the ceiling above. I always thought the obstacles were unnecessary, but James said that they were mandated by the League.” Mabel moved to the center of the gym with Gogoat. “Behind the reception desk is a breakroom and a couple of offices. Next to those are the women's and men’s locker rooms.”
Quinn strayed over to the men’s locker room to get a look inside — Phanpy stared at him but stayed by Mabel. Quinn wondered if Phanpy was warming up to the idea of Mabel as his grandma until he took one step into the locker room and a putrid smell hit his nostrils.
“Dang, Phanpy. You could have warned me that something died in here.” Quinn immediately plugged his nose and backed away.
The women's locker room didn’t offend Quinn’s nose like the men’s did, so he used his hand to guide his way into the dark room. Using the light on his phone, he located four light switches and turned them all on. This locker room looked as bad as the men’s locker room smelled. Bathroom stalls were missing doors, there were cracked mirrors, shower heads were leaking, and there was trash everywhere. Quinn tested the closest sink and was surprised to see running water come out.
Making his way back to the main part of the gym, Quinn asked Amanda, “Why is there electricity and running water? You said that utilities haven’t been paid in six months.”
“Initially that gave me hope that someone was paying the bills, but I checked with the city twice and they verified that the debts are outstanding. When I asked why utilities haven’t shut off, they gave me the runaround. I've searched all the offices with Mabel and we couldn’t find any sort of accounting records to try and get an understanding of how this place was run.”
With no possible theories coming to mind, Quinn peeked into the breakroom. It reeked of cigarettes and alcohol, but Quinn was pleasantly surprised to see the kitchen was outfitted with a full-size fridge, microwave, hot plate, sink, coffee pot, and plenty of cabinets.
Turning back to Mabel, Phanpy, Gogoat, and Amanda, Quinn looked past them and saw the opposite wall had ground-floor windows that weren't letting in sunlight. They were very dark, but Quinn squinted and saw what looked like people on the other side.
Mabel tracked Quinn’s eyeline and sighed, “Oh, James was so proud of the range.”
“The range?” Quinn walked over to get a better look.
“Yes, it’s an area for Pokemon to practice their ranged attacks. It’s hard to see, but those figures are target dummies. James spent a pretty penny to install those dummies and that glass is even bulletproof.”
Looking through the window, Quinn could see that the range was completely made out of metal, excluding the windows, and ran half the length of the wall, making it around 150 feet long. On the left side of the range were eight firing lanes where Pokemon could shoot the dummies. Each dummy sat on a pole that came up from the floor and varied in height. He could see that the poles were set on tracks that were flush with the metal floor.
“I doubt it still works, but the most impressive thing about the whole range was the pitching machines located in two of the lanes. Pokemon would stand in the middle of the range with a tracker attached to their body and the machines would shoot tennis balls at them. James could even turn up the difficulty and have the pitching machines predict where the Pokemon would be and shoot there. It was cutting-edge technology at the time and we even got a trainer and his Dragapult from the Lusterdaunt Region to come train here for a month because of it.”
Quinn was awestruck at the idea of a real Dragapult training in this gym. The last time he could remember watching a battle with a Dragapult was in the last World Cup. He could have been fooling himself, but he thought that Dragapult was also from Lusterdaunt.
Wanting to get a better look at the pitching machines, Quinn hustled over to the firing lanes with Phanpy. He was disappointed to find each machine had spots of rust and looked to be completely out of commission. While he was let down by the pitching machines, Phanpy was lining up his trunk with the targets downrange.
Phanpy unleashed [Water Gun] after [Water Gun] with clinical accuracy, hitting each dummy at an increasing distance. He finally missed a target around 100 feet downrange and that was only because the water dissipated into a mist before it traveled far enough.
“Nice aim, sharpshooter! We should have found a range for you sooner,” Quinn hollered out a cheer. Phanpy glowed at the admiration and used his trunk to tip his hard hat in thanks.
Behind the firing lanes were six pylons laid out in a five-pointed star pattern with one pylon in the middle. Faded lines connected the pylons with a circle around the outside. Quinn, feeling like a kid in a candy shop, moved to investigate the pylons more until he heard a loud and low-pitched “baa” coming from near the locker rooms.
“Gogoat, you found your old friend,” Mabel said.
Gogoat was nudging his horns against a hundred-pound punching bag, except the punching bag wasn’t hanging from the ceiling. It was attached to an oversized swing set. It was attached with a thick metal rod and looked to only rotate on one axis.
“What's that for?” Quinn asked.
“It’s a way for a Pokemon to test how strong they are. A Pokemon stands in the circle underneath the bag and hits it as hard as they can. The bag then rotates and the little metal arrow on the fulcrum records the apex. You can also use the winch on the side to lift the bag by itself and then release it with the Pokemon standing in the circle. The Pokemon then has to absorb the blow without leaving the circle.” Mabel answered. “I think its real name has something to do with pendulums, but I can’t remember. Thomas always just called it the ‘swing.’ He'd always tell his Pokemon to go play on the swing or tell other trainers to go swinging with their Pokemon. He always bragged that his Bisharp was the best swinger in Havenwood.”
Amanda blushed at the phrasing and Quinn chuckled at the use of the word.
Mabel, not understanding why he was laughing, continued, “Oh yes, it was quite silly to call this huge device a swing. Thomas himself would even swing with two or three other trainers to see how high they could get it.”
Quinn couldn’t contain himself and he let out a howl of laughter followed shortly by laughs coming from Mabel and eventually Amanda. He vowed never to explain to Mabel why he was laughing and made a mental note to come up with more innuendos later.
Quinn eventually calmed down enough to ask Gogoat, “Do you mind showing us how it’s done?”
Gogoat didn’t show much emotion, but he quickly got into position and waited for Mabel.
“Okay, this might hurt, but show them how it’s done. Use [Double-Edge].”
Gogoat squatted slightly as red wisps of smoke licked off his entire body. He then exploded forward like the bag wasn’t even there. With a screech of metal, the bag shot rapidly to the pinnacle of the rotation before stalling for two seconds and falling back down the way it came. Gogoat, already out of the way of the bag, gave out a frustrated snort.
“That’s okay, Gogoat. With some needed oil, I'm sure you'd have easily cleared the top.” Mabel assured Gogoat before telling Quinn under her breath, “In his heyday, he could get it around three times in one hit.”
Quinn turned to Phanpy to see if he wanted to try, but Phanpy had already moved on, not wanting to compare himself against the tank that was Gogoat.
To the south of the swing was an expansive weight-lifting area with mostly intact full-length mirrors on the east wall. The area had barbells, dumbbells, plates, squat racks, bench presses, and even a semi-modern 50-inch TV hanging above the mirrors. The brands of weights were mismatched and some weren't racked, but this was by far the cleanest area in the entire gym. “I guess even Paul didn’t cut corners when it came to the gym’s weights.”
Phanpy trumpeted for Quinn’s attention at the very back of the gym next to a dark oak trophy case. The case was cluttered with trophies, medals, and plaques ranging in a variety of sizes. The bigger trophies all had photos placed next to them showing off either Thomas, James, or Paul with their respective Pokemon teams. But the centerpiece, next to a picture Quinn had already seen, was what grabbed his attention.
The plaque on the ornately carved walnut base of the three-foot-tall trophy read “708 Vorunda League Champion. Thomas Royal, Aegislash, Alakazam, Armarougue, Bisharp, Nidoqueen, Slowking.” Ascending from the base was a silver stem, which widened and tapered in a stately manner. The stem featured etchings of the three legendary birds: Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos, all flying to the top. Two silver handles molded as waterfalls framed the sides of the trophy. At the pinnacle of the trophy rested a silver sculpture of a Pokeball. The Vorunda League still awarded new champions with trophies of the same design. The silver had been muted by age and dust, but it didn’t take away from the gravity that the trophy gave off.
“We saved the best for last. I said a long prayer of gratitude when I saw Paul never sold these trophies. I hope he kept them to honor the family legacy, but I suspect it was his pride that safeguarded them,” Mabel somberly added context.
And then, for the first time, Quinn allowed himself to genuinely consider restoring the gym to the former glory that sat in front of him.
His life in Ashford was fine. He had a steady job, a roof over his head, and pleasant acquaintances. But his life was simple, bland… It was gray.
Quinn wasn’t fooling himself — he didn’t think his newly discovered bloodline destined him to become a Pokemon Champion. But this was a realistic chance.
When his mom got sick, he shelved his dreams. Sports, college, and training all were gambles that he couldn’t afford to take. He didn’t regret his life. Those decisions kept him, Phanpy, and his mom comfortable until the end, but the what-ifs that had always been in the back of his mind now blazed bright. What if he could fix this place up? What if construction wasn’t his ceiling? What if he could run a business? What if those hours of combing through forums and watching battles were good for something? What if he could win a battle? What if he became a gym leader?
Amanda broke the long silence that had settled in while Quinn stared at the trophy case. “Just so you know, a partial sale of the estate is completely feasible. These trophies and anything else you want don’t need to be sold with the gym.”
Quinn furrowed his brow and turned to look Amanda in the eye. “Amanda, you've been incredibly helpful throughout this whole ordeal and I can’t thank you enough, but I have to ask. What do you get out of me selling the gym? A commission? A percentage of the sale?”
“What’s in it for me?” Amanda asked incredulously, breaking her professional persona. “The only thing in it for me is more tedious work and headaches. If I were like any other person in this forsaken city, I'd have skimmed what I could from Paul’s estate and dumped the rest with Mabel.”
“I didn’t mean… I’m sorry,” Quinn hung his head in shame at the implication he delivered.
Amanda let out a huff and regained her composure. “Quinn, I’m from a city down south — Mirthlyn. This case is actually my first case in Havenwood. I have only been here two months, and I can already see that Havenwood doesn’t run everything by the book, but I don’t work that way. It may seem like I’m pushing you to sell, but that’s because selling makes the most sense. Look outside — this isn’t a hotbed of aspiring entrepreneurs. This is a dying neighborhood that doesn’t have the once-legendary Royal Gym to prop it up. I have looked over everything I could get my hands on and how Paul kept this place going is beyond me. Owning the gym outright is the only reason it might be possible to break even as a gym without any badges.”
Quinn noticed the caveat. “What if it was a badge gym? Even just a 1-Badge gym?”
Amanda rubbed her forehead. “I don’t know enough to know what it would take to get accreditation from the Vorunda League, but I can’t remember the last time a badge gym closed up shop. Theoretically, if you could make the Royal Gym an accredited 1-Badge gym, then I could see you living off the profit.”
Quinn got on one knee in front of Phanpy. Both of them looked at each other with wide eyes before Phanpy let out a triumphant trumpet that echoed off every wall in the gym.
Quinn didn’t see it, but Mabel, who had been silent the whole day whenever the idea of him selling the gym came up, sniffled and wiped her eyes at the scene in front of her.
“Let me see what I can do with the city. There are forms that I can file to try and get the overdue taxes and bills waived based on owner abandonment. Just promise me that you will call me if it isn’t working out,” Amanda said with a warm smile.
Quinn stood up and looked with reverence at the dust, the trash, the grime, the broken bottles while inhaling the stale and stagnant air. “Phanpy, I think we just became royalty.”