"Razor! Use Quick Attack!"

1vs1. Some random one badge trainer that came in from Route 20. My opponent was a Tranquill. The girl who sent it out scoffed when I sent out Razor against it. She's not scoffing now.

"Quickly, Lizzie, use Air Cutter!" The Tranquill tried using a full-power Air Cutter but couldn't. One of its wings had been damaged by an earlier Quick Attack.

I made absolutely sure I had the timing right to hit the weak spot of its wing. A little area of flesh between feather and bone that I knew was fragile. It was a bit of a gamble getting that close into this girl's guard, but since the other bird was bigger, there was more target to hit.

Razor pulled it off, so now all he had to do was: "Roll!" It was a variation of the Side command I was teaching Styx to pull off. Since, with Razor's wings he couldn't physically turn his path sideways at the drop of a hat, I had instead instructed him to do a sort of spiral mid-flight. It wasn't really a roll but it got the job done and he was back on his original trajectory soon enough.

He flew through the Air Cutter, all but one of them missing. Razor didn't even falter when getting hit, heading straight for the other wing who was now exposed due to the Air Cutter attack.

"Lizzie, drop!" The Tranquill stopped flapping her wings to stay in the air, inducing a free fall, but Quick Attack was called Quick for a reason.

It hit anyways, just not at the weak spot we wanted. The battle would go on for a little while longer.

"While you're in its guard! Use Wing Attack!"

"Leer!"

Like that would stop Razor. His defenses might have been lowered, but as the Tranquill fell down Razor slapped a Wing Attack to its head, sending it careening into the floor. Surely that wasn't enough to beat it.

"Don't let up! Use Quick Attack again!"

"Lizzie, dodge!" Lizzie had hit the ground pretty hard, taking her sweet time to recover and get back in the air.

Once again, we didn't get a weak spot, but the hit was enough. Now that both of them were back in the air, things would get a little dicey again, but with one of Tranquill's wings out of commission, this match was as good as mine.

"Lizzie, use Roost!" Or that.

Okay then. You want to play the attrition game? Fine. Let's go. "Growl!"

The damage that Tranquill sustained on its bad wing was mending, the bruise gone, the ruffled feathers realigning. It caught the Growl, lowering its attacking power. But that didn't mean anything for its Air Cutter.

"You can do it, Lizzie! Air Cutter!"

"Growl and Roll!" Razor I knew didn't have enough experience to know how to follow two orders at the same time, but what he came up with was definitely good enough.

He Growled first, then proceeded to try and dodge the Air Cutters, with mixed success. Much more than the previous one managed to connect. In the meantime, he had gotten closer and closer into Lizzie's range.

"Use Wing Attack! On its weak spot!"

"Lizzie, use Wing Attack too!"

Even though the Tranquill's attack had been significantly lowered Razor still took a hard hit even as he delivered a mean one of his own.

He had remembered to hit the weak spot he got the first time, rendering the wing she didn't use to attack useless.

It didn't do Razor any favors. He was smacked to the ground, and for a second I thought the match was over until he, a little while later, flew back up into the air.

Okay. Last ditch. Either two more hits, or— We're gonna have to try it. No choice. One more hit and Razor's basically out. It would be a gamble still.

"Finish it, Lizzie! Use Quick Attack!"

The Tranquill rushed.

"Endeavor! Now!" Razor lit up with Normal-Type Energy.

Just as the Tranquill hit Razor's body out of the air the Normal-Type Energy converged onto the other bird, encroaching onto its body and destroying its health.

It was a fairly short process, but both birds were now on the floor. They didn't look to be getting up.

Endeavor worked differently than it did in the games, although they are still very similar. Here, it requires physical contact with the opponent the move is cast on. Not only that, it doesn't equate the user's HP with their opponents. Instead, it deals damage equal to the amount of what the attack would have done on the target.

Essentially, it was a less effective Counter. The benefit to this move over Counter however would be if the move was more powerful than the damage Counter could do. It was only a little bit complicated, but it worked one way or another.

That Quick Attack would have done tremendous damage, even with the Growls. But it was definitely enough to knock out Razor, so I wasn't confident in my chances that I would win this match.

A draw was all I could hope for. If her Tranquill got up, I effectively lost.

None of them looked to be getting up, but the Pokedex naturally allowed a grace period, so it would wait.

"Lizzie! Get up!" No sign of moving. "You can do it, Lizzie! All you have to do is stand, and we won!"

Crap. The Tranquill twitched, and slowly, it recovered enough to be able to plant feet on the ground. It would lift its body.

No choice. It would get up soon. I desperately didn't want to lose against this girl, and if anyone among my team could get up again, it would be him.

"Razor!"

No response.

"Razor! Your opponent is in front of you. Your match isn't over!" That induced a response. Just a tiny wing movement. Lizzie was almost entirely up on its feet now.

"Razor! Stand up and fight!"

He lit up again. This time, it wasn't Normal-Type Energy. It was something different entirely.

He started shapeshifting, changing, transforming.

Evolving.

He grew larger and larger, until he was at exactly his opponent's height.

The light faded, and a proud Staravia stood on its own two feet, an imperious gaze looking over its opponent, despite the injuries it sustained.

I smirked. "Razor. Finish him."

His wings lit up with Flying-Type Energy, more potent and wild than before and struck down on the Tranquill, completely knocking it out.

My Pokedex lit up green.

"Nice, Razor."

"Kraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" He let out a screech of victory.

Just as he fell over. I returned him to his ball, looking at my new status.

David Gale, Pokemon Trainer. #25,441,672 W14/L1/D1

Most new trainers went to the first gym about two weeks into their run. Today was the first day of the fourth week for me.

I have three Pokemon now. One of them had just evolved. I've been beating trainers with one badge consistently. I think I'm ready.

"Hey. That Starly, no that Staravia…. That was insane."

I looked up from my Dex. It was the girl I was just battling. "You are?"

She didn't look all that happy with my response. "One of you. You're the Hero's son aren't you?"

To be honest I hadn't really paid much attention to her at all. All I saw was another overconfident trainer to beat. She had short dark brown hair and slanted eyes. Olive skin. A green jacket and hiking pants completed her outfit. She struck me as the practical type. I scanned her again.

Kai Ochoem, Pokemon Trainer. #27,932,356 W11/L4/D0

Details

Circuit: Vertress

Origin: Orre

Sponsor: Orre General Ambassador Sponsorship

Pokemon: 3

Badges: 1

Not bad. Not great. Decidedly average, actually. Especially for the records I've seen so far from Orre trainers.

"You've seen my last name right?" I was already getting tired of having my identity equated to "the Hero's son."

That irked her. "You're always this rude to people you just met?"

"Only the ones that want something from me based on who my father is." I responded.

"Well I can assure you it's not that." We'll see.

"Okay. Go ahead."

"You were with Sarah, right? When she was taken." A beat passed. I sighed.

"Yeah. You know her?"

She looked away, a hand on her arm. "Sort of. We grew up on the same street. We were rivals, of a sort."

"I'm sorry." I never knew what to say in these types of situations. Loss was a concept I felt, but never understood.

"Don't be. Anyway, that's not what I'm here for." She shook herself a bit. "Sarah was taken. And I need to know why and by whom."

"I really wish I had the answer to that." We walked away from the training fields, allowing another set of trainers their turn.

I sat down at a bench facing the battlers, presumably for spectators. She took a seat beside me. I had chosen to stay away from the main battling crowd and instead remained close to the Pokemon Center. Less chance of running into the crazy strong ones that way.

"You're saying you don't know anything? At all?"

"I don't know why she was taken. But I have a hint towards whom." I watched a Bug Trainer send out a Shelmet to combat the opposing trainer's Mienfoo.

"Who are they?"

The Shelmet started setting up a Curse, the Mienfoo preparing a Focus Punch. "They're organized, and they're strong. I'm 100% sure I met another one on Route 20. It was angering a Sawsbuck."

Her brow furrowed. "I think I saw that, in the Dex. There was a warning about a rampaging Sawsbuck. That was them too?" The punch didn't do too much damage.

"They hurt my friend. Used some sort of wireless technology to make it go berserk. He's still in the hospital right now." A Force Palm separated the two, creating distance.

"You're sure it was them?"

I faced her. "I saw the look in his eyes. He was the one who ordered his Starmie to attack Sarah. A thunderbolt, point blank range. She screamed. The Starmie didn't let up. She dropped to the floor as if she was a puppet and her strings were cut. The look in his eyes was the same."

She shivered, head downcast, and I realized I went too far. I went back to watching the Mienfoo and Shelmet fight. "I'm sorry. It just— It plays back in my memories constantly. I can't get it out of my head."

The only time I stop thinking about it is when I'm training, or in the wilderness looking for a Pokemon. Jack was as much a motivator as an excuse not to have to think about it.

"That's—something. I can't stop thinking about it either. Why then? Why her? Just, why?"

The Shelmet eventually ended up outlasting the Mienfoo. The Mienfoo's trainer returned it and sent out a Darumaka. "I do know something. I know that they're not done. We're not the only ones that are gonna feel that terror. They're planning something. I just don't know what."

"How do you know all of that?" The little Fire creature used Fire Punch. Impressive. They likely both have more than two badges, at least.

"Like I said, they're organized. Too organized to be doing simple raids and causing general havoc. There's someone behind this, with a larger goal. We just haven't seen it yet."

"Like a Team?"

Hot damn it's a Team. "Huh. Yes, exactly like a team. Unova's Legendaries are accounted for, right?" The Shelmet caught a burn from an Incinerate launched at it. It wouldn't last long now.

She snorted. "Hardly. Reshiram and Zekrom are with Hilda and N, wherever they are. The weather guys are still annoying and proud about it. The last sighting was two months ago. Thundurus near Lacunosa Town." The Shelmet fainted. Its replacement was an excitable Larvesta, its body tilting this way and that.

"The Swords? Kyurem?"

"Kyurem is being guarded by the League. The Swords… no one's heard anything for quite a bit. You think—" Unluckily for the Larvesta, the Darumaka knew Rock Tomb. It wasn't fast enough to dodge.

"It's possible. Keep an eye out, regardless." All of this was wild speculation at this point, but the trend usually meant that if there was an increase in organized crime, an incident with a Legendary usually followed.

Team Aqua and Team Magma were famous for it. It took a long time to rout them out, even after the disaster Rayquaza managed to stop.

It usually left a giant mess behind, with a not at all flattering amount of casualties. It was tragic and horrible, but it gave me a good indication for where exactly the timeline is supposed to be.

Obviously Emerald happened, but Platinum didn't. Cyrus summoned Palkia. Just Palkia instead of both Palkia and Dialga. Then at the same time, both Black and Black 2 were just a few years ago, but the events of Pokemon Y were just before I was born.

But then the anime randomly factors in, but sometimes it doesn't? The whole Zygarde event never happened, (internet searches for Zygarde turned up nothing about another form) but then Hunter J was a thing, and then the Battle Frontier most definitely exists.

The games are wonky too. Iris was never a champion, but instead became a member of the Elite 4, replacing Grimsley. Team Rocket's still around in some form or another, though their presence in Johto and Kanto has been severely diminished. Jessie and James are around too. I still don't know what to do with that information.

All in all, everything's a mess and I have no idea what's going on. The fact that there's likely another team skulking around Unova that doesn't resemble Plasma in even the slightest way is highly worrying, especially when so far they've been much more discreet than them.

"That's all we can do? Have you reported your suspicions to anyone?"

I thought about my sister. She had already left, wrapping up her investigation yesterday. The pensive expression she left with did not reassure me for a bright future. "It's likely they already suspect something, if not know much more than we do." The Larvesta lost handily, the Darumaka the sole winner.

"So in the end, I got more worries than I started with."

"You started out lost. Now you have a working base of knowledge to go off of." Pokedexes flashed red and green. The match was over.

"That sounds like you're telling yourself that, more than me." I watched the trainers shake hands. One excited, the other rueful.

"Maybe I am." I stood up. "Regardless, that's all I know. I'm sorry if it didn't bring you any of the comfort you were seeking."

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She stood up as well. "Comfort? No, I want nothing like that." She locked eyes with me. "I wanna strike back. Hit them where they hit us. Make them regret ever targeting us." Her intensity almost scorched, and it was such a strong turnaround it left me a little shocked.

But I understood the feeling. For both Nate and Sarah's sake, I couldn't let them go without a little iota of revenge, now could I? I lifted my Pokedex to her. "My Xnumber. Reach me if you've found a development. You're not the only one with a bone to pick."

She took my Pokedex a little warily and entered her own info. "I thought you would call me foolish. A one badge trainer trying to take on a Team? It's a dumb idea." She handed me back my Pokedex.

Kai Ochoem, also from Phenac. "Well, since I don't have any badges, that would make me a bit hypocritical, no?"

Kai smiled. "I'll get in touch with you, alright? Lemme know if you find something on your end too." I nodded at her and she turned and left.

I have an ally now. Not a friend, necessarily, but someone who wanted the same thing as me and was working for the same goal. I don't hate that.

I myself headed back to the Pokemon Center to heal my new Staravia. Once Razor healed I would head back to Aspertia.

I had a badge to grab.

----------------------------------------

Once I was well out of the city limits I released all my Pokemon and let them breathe in the fresh air. Virbank was many things, but refreshing it was not. It was nice breathing in actual oxygen again. No, I don't care if that's not scientifically accurate.

"Nice going, Razor!" I complimented him as he strutted his new form for us. "The first one! Look at that! A true warrior's form!"

He was absolutely loving the attention, turning up his beak at us like he was a royal and we were the lucky peasants that were, for the one and only time in their miserable little lives, allowed to bask in his presence.

"Jiiii~" Eevee looked at his new form with a little bit of envy. Her time would come soon, hopefully. An Umbreon at this stage would be ground breaking. I wouldn't lose a match.

You know, like Jack right now. That ruined my mood a little.

Excess looked around at her new surroundings, a little confused. Seems she's still getting used to the concept of Pokeballs and their weird time physics. To be honest, I didn't really get it either, but Razor caught on quickly, adjusting by the second day already, so I'll have faith that she will too. In more ways than one.

"Excess. How do you feel about walking around with us to our next destination? You know, get a little sightseeing in?" She stared at me with the same confused look, then nodded. Hatenna as a species were generally isolationist, and didn't tend to migrate or even travel all that much from their home. Having her first get acclimated to the fairly samey tree-filled environment that was Route 20 would be best for now, when we started exploring a heck of a lot more interesting sites.

"Great. Alright, Styx, lead the way. We're going."

And so we came to a formation of sorts. Styx would lead us in the front and warn us with her ears if there was any hidden nearby danger and Razor would do the same with his viewpoint in the skies. Excess would stay by my side. I didn't want to deal with trainers at the moment, so I instructed both of them to get us a route around them. Sure enough, we didn't run into any people for the next hour.

In that hour I did notice something… peculiar let's say. Excess was, aside from her head swinging this way and that to take in her new surroundings, a little… well, slow.

Her legs were tiny, and clearly weren't used to much use. Eventually she started using her hair as some sort of walking stick, but she got tired of that pretty quickly too. Then, she started falling behind. After another twenty minutes I decided to call a break.

"Hey, Excess. Are you doing okay?"

"Haaaaaaaa!" She sort of vocalised, sort of sighed. She was tired, clearly, but we still had the entire rest of the day of travel ahead of us if we wanted to reach Floccesy before the sun went down.

Maybe it's time to put her back in a Pokeball. Or, just maybe, it might be another opportunity for training.

"Excess. Can you levitate already?" Her head turned to me and tentatively nodded. After she rested for a bit, catching her breath, she started gathering psychic power. It built up and up, just under her feet before it lifted her into the air.

Wow. Just like that. A whole foot off the ground. "Do you think you can hold it for long enough to travel with?"

Her face became constrained. That was likely a no. "Can you try anyway? This might be a good way to exercise your longevity. It's also good to get you in the habit of levitating instead of walking. You're not going to be doing much of that when you've evolved, after all."

She took a while to answer back. Razor up above started getting restless in the air, flying in circles. I noticed it was much easier for him to speed up and slow down now, even if turning at sharp angles became even harder for him. Staraptor in general are birds more built for speed than agility and it was already showing in Razor as a Staravia.

Excess seemed to make up her mind as she moved forward using levitation. It was slow, not going to lie. Slower than her walking speed even. I didn't really care to be honest. It was already massive that her psychic power was developed enough to do it in the first place, even if it meant we had to camp for the night.

Apparently, Excess was just over nine weeks old. Younger than even Styx, who was sitting at a hearty twelve. It was probably borderline irresponsible to send her into battle already. She still had a lot of growing to do. I had to do more research on the Hatterene line, but the fact that she's been keeping up this well is a testimony to the potential she has in the future. I'm sure of it.

Either way, I won't be sending Excess out into the next Gym Battle, that's for sure. Even still, if I wanted to keep my Win/Loss ratio high, it would also be better to refrain from taking her into ranked battles for now. As she is, she can't do a whole lot of dodging and her bulk is nowhere near the level it will be as a Hatterene. She'd have to rely purely on offensive power to get through a fight, which only works in very specific scenarios.

I might even get my second badge before Excess becomes mature enough to participate fully. Some would consider spending that much time on a Pokemon this early a bad thing, but I had two battle-ready Pokemon available to me and a planned third. I would be fine.

After less than half an hour Excess buckled back onto the ground, exhausted. I had felt her power waning for a bit, but I wanted to push her to make this a habit sooner rather than later. If she can get used to levitation early in life, it will become instinctual to use later on. Once she gets better at it, she might not even need to use her legs anymore.

"You did a great job, Excess. Rest now." I returned the puffed-out Hatenna and faced my other two Pokemon. "Time to set up camp. I don't trust the night enough to travel through it."

They both assented, coming back to my side as I layed down the materials for my tent.

----------------------------------------

Floccesy Town, unsurprisingly, didn't change a lick. It was still a little desolate feeling. A little empty. There were homes, there was a school and there was a small market, but not much more than that. I knew Alder lived somewhere here but I honestly didn't care enough to try to seek him out. What would I even do when I met him? Ask for an autograph? Pass.

I made sure to visit Nate on my way through, though. He was still bedridden, but his injury had gotten much better since the last time I was here. His smile wasn't strained anymore, thankfully. His eyes did overflow with longing when he saw the changes to my team. I hoped he would get out soon.

"Hey! The doctors said I should be able to try going outside in a few days! When you get back from Aspertia, we should try battling again! I'll definitely beat you this time!" He exclaimed, a fist raised.

I agreed, even as my heart told me I would win. I had faced twice the amount of opponents I had done since before the incident. Experience like that couldn't be understated.

Leaving the hospital this time was a different kind of hurt. I will be back soon. Hopefully he will be walking by then.

On Route 19 later that day I had Excess try levitating again. I recorded for how long she would last on the stopwatch app in my Pokedex. She beat her previous high of 32 minutes, levitating for a whole 38. I'm assuming the jump in time is because she wasn't exhausted from the walking she had to do earlier, meaning she could last longer. Or, I could be more optimistic and see how she would do on the third day. If she made the same substantial gains, this training might pay off more than I thought.

We reached Aspertia City with no problems. No trainers challenged us, even as we ran into a few. I wasted no time going to the gym. I wanted to get in and out as fast as possible.

I had already made my appointment online, so all I had to do was wait for my time slot.

Cheren's gym was fairly straightforward. There was no trial or challenge before it, with the condition that if your Pokemon had obvious signs of mistreatment, or your way of handling them was a clear indicator of abuse they could revoke your Trainer's license for the season, regardless of whether you ended up winning or not.

Since many trainers did their first badges here, it was another gatekeeping method to make sure the bad eggs were routed out fast before they became a problem.

For the people at his trainer school, it was another story entirely. They had to pass a written exam first, and then they could either choose to do a practical exam, or battle Cheren directly. On the surface it seemed like a worse deal than if you just started out your journey like normal, but Cheren's trainers school was one of the best in the region, the program wasn't that long and it was league-funded. Meaning free. Droves of people still went every year to get an edge over the regular beginners. How much of an edge that truly is, is debatable. Either way, I would make my challenge without it. I trusted my standard education enough to get me through.

I passed through the Trainer's School. It was busy. There were so many people walking through the halls it shook me up a bit, having just come from the relative peace of the road. The gym proper was no different. Despite reservation slots being available online, there were still over a dozen people waiting in the lobby and a small line leading up to the front desk. The same front desk I have to sign myself in at.

I sighed. This was not at all what I envisioned the start of earning my first badge to look like.

I waited for twenty minutes in an awkward line, just to be given a number and told to sit back down on the bench. What is this, the DMV?!

Another thirty minutes later, and 15 minutes past the start time of my slot I finally got called into the field.

Cheren's gym was as utilitarian as it could get. It was outside in the open, trees being the only thing shielding it from the regular path. Three fields and a spectator's stand made up the rest. I could see two other battles going on.

There weren't that many people spectating. I could see a few parents eagerly cheering their children on, a child with a Skitty on his lap, and some lady on her phone. Glamorous.

They told me to head to Battlefield Three. On the opposite side of my assigned field stood a guy with red spiky hair in a dress shirt and pants, an orange tie going down to his waist. He didn't look familiar in the slightest. He was scrolling through his tablet, seeming not to have noticed I walked up at all.

"You David? From Orre?" He spoke up, attention still focused on the tablet.

"Yes. I'm here for my gym challenge. Where is— "

"Cheren's over there. Battling some guy for his seventh badge. Been going since 7 AM." He pointed to his right.

I didn't recognize him at first, but I saw it now. He was wearing the exact same outfit as this guy, but his hair was blue and had this overgrown feel, reaching past his shoulders and going down. His eyes, through his glasses, were sunken, but sharp. Wholly focused on his opponent and what he would do next.

A Bouffalant rammed into what remained of a Heatmor, sending it crashing outside of the boundaries of the field at his command. Wow.

"We've been slammed with trainers these past few seasons, so for the first month or two, the Gym Trainers will be taking over the less important challengers."

I pretended like that didn't offend me. "Now, if that's all the preamble out of the way, are you ready?" He said, finally facing me.

There was really no other answer. "Sure."

He raised his voice. "This will be a 2 on 2 single battle. There will be no referee, so our Pokedex will decide whether or not the match has ended. We will send both of our Pokemon out at the same time, but you can have one switch in. Got it?"

"Yes. I do."

"Alright. Let's begin." He produced a Pokeball from his belt and threw it just as our Pokedexes lit up green.

"Lillipup. Your turn."

"Styx, you're up!"

A little puppy of a Pokemon came out to face Styx, who was ready and set for battle. It looked even younger than Styx was.

"Begin with Work Up!" A red type of haze started enveloping the Lillipup.

"Disrupt him! Swift!"

Stars came out of Styx's neck fur, thrown into the Lillipup's path. The tiny dog did absolutely nothing to try and dodge, preferring to get a stat boost in, but the Swift was apparently too powerful for it, disrupting the Work Up and bombarding it.

A cry of pain came out of Lillipup. "Capitalize, Quick Attack!"

"Bite!" Just as Styx came rushing in, the Lillipup recovered and latched onto her neck fur, missing the Lillipup entirely. The dog pulled the hair in its jaws.

Styx cried out. That must hurt quite a bit. "Quick Attack into Side!"

Despite the pain, Styx obeyed me and whipped up more Normal-Type Energy. Through the rush, she rolled abruptly to the side, falling onto a holding-on-for-dear-life Lillipup.

Being essentially squished did nothing for its perseverance to holding onto Styx, not letting go even though its entire body was now bruised.

This guy's not going to order it to do anything else? Seriously?

I stared at my opponent. He was scrolling through his tablet. Is he for real right now?!

"Styx. Swift. Full power." This guy wasn't going to give orders, so Styx had enough time to sit there and charge up her energy, launching it directly into the Lillipup's mouth.

This time it let go. So much so that it flew out and fell back to its trainer's side, clearly fainted.

"Nicely done." He returned the Lillipup and threw out another Pokeball.

An Aipom. "Aipom. Use Agility."

The long tailed Pokemon ran straight at Styx, speeding up the more distance he crossed. He's just coming straight at me? Not even attacking?

"Sand Attack!" Styx had no trouble aiming the mound of sand straight into the Aipom's face, getting plenty of it into its eye, disorienting it enough that it veered off course, missing her entirely.

"Now! Use Swift and start running! Don't let it be able to find your location!" Stars spun out of Styx again, hitting a confused Aipom from behind and onto its back.

The accuracy was getting so much better. Almost all of them hit that time.

The Aipom turned around and started trying to rub the sand out of its eyes. I could probably get one more attack in.

"Styx! Tackle!"

She ran in on its blindspot, head gearing up to knock him as far back as she could.

"Tail Slap!"

The Aipom didn't question the order, Normal-Type Energy reflecting off of its overly large tail and, in inhumanly quick succession, slapping Styx three times before smacking her away from the Aipom.

That did a whole lot more damage than I'm comfortable with. Styx struggled getting up, allowing Aipom to get rid of all the sand in his eyes, and suddenly, we were in a way worse position than before. Time to switch tactics.

"Styx! Use Growl!"

"Aipom. Use Tickle." The gym trainer was looking up at the battle now. His tablet was still in his hand, but he was a lot more focused than he was before. Not a good sign for me.

Aipom rushed at Styx with an Agility enhanced speed, letting the Growl hit it face-first. It did absolutely nothing for his eagerness to perform his trainer's orders.

I waited for it to leap at Styx before I shouted the next order. "Side!"

She rolled expertly to the side, Aipom missing her entirely. Even though it missed, Aipom didn't lose any momentum. Just changed direction to come at Styx from a different angle. Thanks to its Agility, it managed it handily, coming into Styx's guard.

No time to think. "Quick Attack!" Normal-Type Energy collided between Aipom and Styx. They both backed up from each other, glancing warily.

Without a run up from Styx I knew Quick Attack wouldn't do that much damage. But the goal wasn't power, it was deterrence.

Looking at her she didn't seem at all fazed from the attempted Tickle attack. (It's really hard to take a move named Tickle seriously omg) Good. The ball was back in our court, now it was time take advantage.

"Use Swift!"

"Sand Attack!"

Sand exploded everywhere as it was shot out and away to all directions by the glowing stars meant to hit the Aipom, obscuring visibility.

That Aipom managed to throw a heck of a lot of sand. "Now! Use Scratch!"

A flash of purple came through the smokescreen of brown, the tail's digits scrunched up into a claw heading straight for Styx's head.

"Don't let up! Swift!" Styx started putting out more stars, some hitting Aipom directly in the face. That didn't deter it from scratching Styx's face through, forcing her head to the ground.

"Tail Slap!" Oh no you don't!

"Side into Tackle!"

Styx rolled before she heard the next part of my command, her paws hitting the dirt and reorienting to launch herself for a Tackle, successfully evading the battle-ending strike coming from her opponent.

"Use Agility to dodge!" Even from this close of a range, Aipom managed to dodge Styx' tackle, even as she clipped part of its tail.

It didn't seem to hurt that much. The angle was awkward, and the momentum was off.

Aipom started gathering enough speed in its legs to have a noticeable pink sheen around them. Agility is technically a Psychic-type move, so I'd be very surprised if he could pull off another one.

The Gym Trainer's tablet was now at his side, completely forgotten as he analyzed the battlefield. "Cause a distraction! Sand Attack!"

A giant ball of sand uprooted from its tail was flung at Styx. It looked closer to a Mud-Slap then a Sand Attack. It might actually cause some harm.

No point countering. "Dodge and use Growl!" If he gets his attack lowered again he won't be able to resort to using the quicker and easier to use Scratch to take me out. It'd be too risky if he misses or it doesn't do enough damage, meaning he has to commit to Tail Slap, meaning—

"Tail Slap!" The growl meant that, even though the Aipom was coming at Styx very fast, the tail itself moved languidly.

Not that it would matter too much. Styx had taken a few hits already. If this hit, it was game over for her. Not that I would let it be.

"Styx! Sand Attack again!"

It hit with just enough force to send Aipom back, frantically clawing at its face to clear the sand.

He wouldn't be fast enough. "Finish it with Quick Attack!"

Normal-Type energy erupted out of Styx's legs and beat the ground like a drum as she rammed into the Aipom as hard as she could.

The Aipom flew a meter into the air as the force of the attack carried it backwards, falling onto the ground and rolling all the way back to the Gym Trainer's feet.

It wasn't getting up from that.

My Pokedex dinged green. I had won.

I had just won my first Gym Battle.

"Styx! We did it!" I ran over to her and scooped her in my arms. I had pushed her pretty hard in that last match, so her response was a little more muted. She licked at my cheek to express her happiness.

"Well done." The Gym Trainer smiled at me as he walked up. He had already returned his Aipom. "Haven't seen custom orders being so well-executed from a novice before. You must be training her pretty vigorously." Did not like the implication there. Styx was still young. Training too much would cause some serious strain on her body and have long lasting effects well into adulthood. Styx right now was the equivalent of a preteen. I had to play it safe in regards to how much time she spent battling and training if I wanted her to grow up healthy.

"Nah. Just the normal amount. She catches on quickly, thankfully." Styx was talented. Not just at battling, but receiving and adapting to orders is like breathing to her. It makes training her a breeze. The perfect starter.

"I see." I gave him a queer look. Quite the change of attitude from before. "Don't stop training her. You could really make something of yourself with that."

"Thanks." I replied guardedly.

He shrugged. "Anyway. Here's your gym badge. You did well. Even had me serious for a moment." I could tell. The match suddenly got a lot harder the moment he decided to use Tail Slap. Didn't do anything for his chances at victory, though.

In his hand he had cupped a small piece of vertically aligned metal. It was brown, with a faded gold on the edges and three lines running through the middle, making four distinct boxes.

I tentatively took it from his hand.

You know I used to think badges were kind of dumb. Why did we have to carry around a small easily lost little piece of metal to prove we conquered a gym? Your win is recorded in the League systems. You don't technically need the badge for anything except showboating, which helps no one. But, now that I have it in my hands, I kinda get it.

A badge is like a medal. It's satisfaction. It's a symbol of your hard work and achievement given physical and tangible form. It feels… good—to hold it.

"Congratulations. You've earned the Basic Badge." The Gym Trainer, whose name I still didn't know, commended me. "Now get out of here. I have thirteen other trainers to get to today." He made shooing motions at me with his hands.

I took the badge and pocketed it for now as I made my way out of the gym. Gotta say, overall experience? 2 out of 5 stars.

Not good.

Now I had a trip back to plan. Cutting through the swath of people entering and exiting the gym was almost a relief. It meant I didn't have to deal with any of that ever again.

I made a mental note to postpone my next match by at least a few weeks to lose the crowds. I wasn't particularly claustrophobic, but that place absolutely tried me.

Once I was outside again I headed for the Pokemon Center, intending to get Styx treated immediately.

There was nothing for me in this part of the region anymore, so it would be best if I just left now, instead of searching for anything else to do.

I had a specific Pokemon in mind for my fourth, and I would need to travel quite a bit to get there.

Wading through the streets I decided I realized I wasn't gonna miss this place all that much. Every time I looked at the sea from a cliff I was reminded again of what happened. It was a little depressing honestly. Getting as much distance as possible from it was the priority right now. If I just didn't have to get on a ship to do so….

Thinking about it, this was really the first time I took the time to take in my surroundings since I got to Aspertia.

The city itself really couldn't be called a city. It was a city purely because of the population density and not really the size. From the hill I was standing on I could see the outskirts already, leading into the forest and Route 19.

The only thing that really set Aspertia City apart from any other place were the disproportionately big apartment buildings compared to everything else and the municipal gardens you would pass every once in a while.

It was peaceful. There wasn't much going on in Aspertia. People mainly came here to get away from the hustle and bustle that was most of the rest of Unova, although that was rapidly changing as a result of so many people immigrating here.

Kinda funny in a way actually. I looked up to the sky. There was a single cloud up there, just lazily swinging up there. It was relaxing.

Styx had fallen asleep in my arms by the time I got the Pokemon Center. There was a small line just outside of the door, so in order to spare her noise I returned her into her ball.

As I was waiting, a shadow fell over the nearby buildings. I thought it might have just been a plane passing to get to the airport near here, or the sun hiding behind the clouds, but I just established that there was only one. A small one.

And the shadows kept getting longer, so it wasn't an airplane.

Strange.

I looked up at the sky.

Thousands and thousands of birds were on the horizon, heading for the city.

An entire curtain of Pidove, Tranquil, and Unfezant. Heading straight for us.

People started pointing at the sky. Someone dropped their drink. The girl in line next to me screamed.

And then, their wings started lighting up, and thousands upon thousands of Air Cutters rained down upon the city.