The interior of the building was cooler than the outside by a noticeable margin, even through my hoodie. My breath came out as a plume of vapor in front of me, which vanished almost instantly. I felt something like needles trace their way down my spine, and I shivered, clutching the metal box in my arms closer to my chest. I wasn’t sure why I’d expected anything different from a ghost-type gym, really.
The interior was a mix of purples and blues, constructed mostly of what appeared to be stone blocks ranging between the two colours. Large carpets lay on the stone floor, covered with Pokemon patterning that resembled more than a few ghost types. There were decorational torches that burned blue on stone pillars that rose up to the roof high above my head, but the primary light came from cleverly concealed lights scattered here and there throughout the room. Stained glass windows, lit softly from behind, decorated some of the outward-facing walls. Looking closer, it appeared that the windows more or less lined up with the banners on the exterior. Explained how the light behind them was relatively dim, despite it being a clear day outside.
Across the main room, there were a number of plush chairs and dark wooden tables, with a scattering of trainers and Pokemon. A few glanced in my direction, and while some looked away again, I felt the careful gazes of a few of them. Being perfectly fair, I was a guy with a Dark type that walked in with a metal box, that has to look at least somewhat suspicious. I tried to push it out of my mind, as I focused on something a lot more important to my current situation.
On the other side, tucked in between two pillars and against the far wall, there was a long reception desk. Behind the desk was a person in a black and purple jacket, emblazoned with the triple-circle emblem that adorned the exterior of the gym. They didn’t seem to be paying me any mind, focused on a computer on the desk in front of them, but the Misdreavus over their shoulder seemed to be giving me a measured look. It spun slowly in the air, watching me, but didn’t seem to have any particular feelings one way or the other. Occasionally, the trainers in the room would send it nervous looks, which it ignored.
I hesitated. Gym leaders were the strongest… Was it right to call them trainers? More or less, I supposed. Regardless, they were the strongest in the area their gyms were in, though I wasn’t sure how that related to law enforcement. Were Gym leaders just representatives of the League in their particular cities? Head of law enforcement? Something closer to a feudal lord? I didn’t know, hadn’t taken the time to look it up, and now it was biting me in the ass. All I knew was that I was being chased, and having the strongest in the city to back me up might not be a bad idea.
I felt a nudge at my ankles, and I looked down to find Drake staring up at me, determination plain in his eyes. I smiled down and nodded, then turned my attention back up, taking a deep breath and walking towards the reception desk. When I’d passed the halfway point, the receptionist noticed me, drawing their attention away from their work and giving me a once over. Their eyes lingered on the battered metal box in my hands, and on Drake at my side, their eyebrow raising slowly. I stepped up, gently setting the metal box down on the desk.
“Uh, I think I need to talk to…” I didn’t know the Gym leader’s name. “The Gym leader?”
“Battles are by appointment only.” His eyes flicked to the Pokeballs at my waist, and Drake at my side. “Would you like to schedule one?”
“No? I just- sensitive situation?”
He frowned at me. “If you have something to report, this isn’t a police station. I would suggest contacting them.”
“Yes, that would be very convenient.” I glanced nervously at the doors, but my pursuers hadn’t come through yet. Small relief. “If I hadn’t been attacked and then promptly grabbed their Pokemon before running off? I think they, uh, might still be chasing me.” I hesitated. “That sounds really bad? Look, I’ve got… a League affiliation. If that helps.”
He stared at me for a long moment. His eyes slowly went to the box that I’d put down on the desk, except now he regarded it with much the same look that one would an active land mine. His hands twitched, then one slid under the desk, and I could hear a very soft click. Which would typically worry me, but honestly, I was at the point that I would probably have to tamp down the desire to hug the first authority figure I saw. Atypical, as far as I went, but there it was.
“You have an identification?”
“Oh, yeah-”
I fumbled with the side pocket of my pants, taking out my card case. I opened it up and prized out my affiliate card, holding it out to him between two fingers. He took the card, looked it over, then inserted it into a reader at the side of the monitor on his desk. After a few tense seconds, the PC beeped, and he nodded.
“Seems well enough in order… leader Fantina will be out in just a moment.”
“Thanks, seriously, this has been a stressful day.”
Ugh, and wasn’t that an understatement. First the onix, and now this garbage. Life as a trainer was starting to look more or less as difficult as the anime or the games portrayed it, just without the implied time skips between crises. I accepted my ID back from the receptionist, and slid it back into its slot in the case before returning it to my pocket. The receptionist returned to work on his PC, while I stood there awkwardly, waiting for this Fantina to make her appearance. Drake sniffed the stone floor a few times and looked around, appearing to be getting a measure of the Pokemon that had been here or were here now.
Would I want to challenge this gym? The idea appeared in my head without real prompting, and most likely because I didn’t have anything to do but stand here and mess with the feng shui. With Drake as my only Pokemon and no badges… I might actually stand a chance? If I wanted to challenge Gyms in the first place. I had a type advantage here, but was this the person who played Pokemon games speaking, or the person that was here and now in this location?
I looked across at Drake, who was carefully examining every trainer he could see. If I did challenge this Gym before we crossed Coronet, and that wasn’t something I wanted to set in stone right now, then it would be for him, not myself. If I could beat a Gym with just Drake, I had no doubt in my mind that that would be good for him, not to mention the work to do just to build up to the battle. I hadn’t done any training with him, hadn’t even had the time in the… what, less than a day we’d known each other? After this crisis is done and over with, it might be a good idea to take it slow, get a feel for each other in a slower situation without real stakes. Training for a Gym battle was a good reason for it.
I think… that the right thing to do would be to ask him. If Drake wanted to challenge the Gym, if he felt like he could do it, then it was my duty to give him the tools and training to do it. If he didn’t want to, then, well, no harm done. We spend some time training for the crossing of Coronet, and then we leave. I wanted to make it clear to him that he had a choice, that he could actively choose not to fight here if he didn’t want to. That it was his choice as much as it was mine.
My line of thought was interrupted as Drake’s head snapped around, his ears perked. I turned my head back towards the receptionist, though before I could ask him what he heard, the door behind the desk slid open and a person walked through.
Her purple dress, and the yellow X that appeared to be made of brass, sparkled in the dim light. She was nearly as tall as I was, maybe just an inch or two shorter. Her hair was done up in what appeared to be four large, bound-up ponytails, cascading down her back. As she came through the door, her eyes immediately traced over my form, her hand twitching towards the small of her back.
“Sauvez-moi des formateurs trop zélés.” She muttered, low enough that I barely heard it. Was- was that French? Wait, would it be Kalosian, or something to that degree? She stepped up to the other side of the reception desk, eyes moving to Drake, then to the box, before returning to my face. “So. What seems to be the issue, then?”
“League affiliate, ma’am. Was apparently attacked, managed to get ahold of their Pokemon before getting away.”
Her face turned, mouth drawn in a thin line. She tapped the box, raising an eyebrow.
“In here, I presume?” I nodded. “That’s dangerous. Clever, though.”
“Was the only thing I could think of at the time. Just… saw the box, and went for it. Didn’t know what else to do, and once they were in the box, I figured…” I shrugged.
“Hm.”
She tapped the lid of the box in thought, then fixed me with her gaze. The misdreavus orbited above our heads lazily, watching with apparent interest. I guess that there wasn’t exactly a huge amount of entertainment that happened here. I suppose that people knew better than to start trouble on a Gym leader’s front lawn.
“Give me a full breakdown of what happened.”
I nodded. “Was coming down, uh…” I frowned into the air, trying to remember. “I think it was seventh street, between… Persim and another street. Just exploring the city, testing out new gear we’d bought, with some idea of finding our way to the Center eventually to book a room for the night. This woman stepped out, with an electrike-” Fantina perked at that.
“Electrike? Woman with a white jacket and red highlights? Accompanied by a man dressed similarly?”
“Um, yes?” I said, hesitant.
“Le culot de cette femme.” She waved her hand. “Keep going.”
“... Okay. So, uh, she said something about not tolerating the teams here, maybe implied that I was a part of Galactic.”
“Did you say nothing about your League identification?”
“Did. They didn’t appear to care, stated that she didn’t want to see a fake card. Then they demanded I hand over my Pokemon and leave the city.” Fantina swore, causing the receptionist to raise their eyebrows in surprise, then motioned for me to continue. “I, well, refused, of course. Wasn’t going to hand over Drake. Over my dead body.” My hands balled themselves into fists, and, to my surprise, Fantina nodded in approval. “I realized at that point that there wasn’t going to be a peaceful resolution to this, and I was probably going to have to fight my way out. I didn’t know how far away help would be, and I realised that even if Drake and I won out against the first Pokemon, they’d keep sending them out until Drake collapsed and I couldn’t fight anymore. So, I, uh, resorted to… desperate measures.
“Before the fight started, I directed Drake to down her electrike, then turn on her the moment he could.” Fantina sucked in a breath through her teeth, but didn’t interrupt me. “So… he leaped up the moment her electrike hit the ground, punched the buckle of her belt with his nose, and swiped it right off of her. The moment he had it, we ran, I found the box and stuffed the Pokeballs inside to prevent the Pokemon from popping out and attacking us. We meant to find our way to the Center, I figured there’d be enough strong trainers there to ward them off until we could call in an authority, but we got turned around in the streets and ended up here, instead.”
I stood there awkwardly, waiting for her reply. It suddenly occurred to me that there was a lot of research that I hadn’t done about laws in this world, and now that ignorance was coming back around to bite me in the ass. I could probably use the excuse of remembering as far back as last night. Being perfectly fair, as far as excuses went, I thought that that was a pretty good one.
Fantina stared at me, then brought up her hand and pinched the bridge of her nose with two fingers. She said a string of words under her breath that I didn’t catch at all. From the way that the Misdreavus giggled to itself, I imagined that the phrases weren’t exactly polite, whatever they were. Finally, she lifted her hand away, giving me a level look across the desk.
“Thankfully for both of us, this isn’t the first time I’ve heard of these two doing exactly this. They’ve gone after a few trainers with Dark or Poison types, accusing them of being members of Galactic and coercing them into battles. We’ve managed to reunite Pokemon with trainers in these cases, but there’s been no hard evidence against them.” She patted the box. “Between this and their history? More than enough. I just wish that it was less of a headache.”
I let my breath out in a stream, feeling relieved. I’d had a worry, no matter how small, that they might decide that I’d been fabricating events… ah, Ghost-type Gym. If I had to guess, Ghost-types weren’t much less maligned than Dark or Poison. Fantina is someone that I imagined had dealt with similar things in the past, both directed towards others and herself.
“So, that’s it? My version of events wins out?”
“Well, they’re acting as vigilantes in my city, targeting innocent people. This time, however, they’ve gone after a League affiliate, who then captured their Pokemon, linking them intrinsically to the event in a way that they cannot hope to escape.” She smiled, and it was needle-sharp. “Pas d'issue. They’re stuck in a trap of their own making.”
Her eyes went over my shoulder. Listening, I heard the automatic doors at the entrance slide open. I swallowed and gave Fantina a nervous glance, then turned around.
The girl came through the doors first, straight up carrying her electrike. The little electric hound was looking downright pissed, staring daggers at me the moment he saw me. Her male companion followed right behind her, hesitating the moment he was through the door, his eyes moving rapidly between me, Fantina, and the box on the desk. He grimaced and reached out for the woman’s shoulder, but she shoved right past it and marched towards us. If looks could kill, her stare would’ve already burned a half-meter diameter hole through me with just its sheer intensity.
“Leader Fantina.” She said it as if it was a proper noun title, and now that I thought about it, I did wonder… questions for later. “This individual, most likely a member of team Galactic, was sneaking through the city when I challenged them to a battle. They offered me a falsified League affiliate’s identification, before then ordering their Pokemon to attack me the moment my first Pokemon was down, an order they followed without question or hesitation. Then they stole my Pokemon from me and fled.”
Fantina actually seemed off-balance for a moment, nose slightly scrunched as she narrowed her eyes at the woman in complete confusion. Honestly, I somewhat agreed on that point: it was one thing to accost me out of nowhere and force me into a battle. However, marching up to Fantina in the aftermath and confidently asserting that she was the victimized party? I wasn’t sure whether to be impressed by the sheer chutzpah, or just bewildered at someone who could only be delusional.
“... I’m afraid that I’ve checked this individual’s identification, and it is quite real.” Fantina finally said, once she’d gathered herself again. The woman scoffed without a moment’s hesitation.
“Please. A Dark-type user-” she spat the words as if they burned her mouth just passing through- “could never be someone endorsed in any direct sense by the League, not in good conscience. I knew they were lying the moment that they said such a preposterous thing.”
“Need I remind you, Jade, that not all share your opinions and presuppositions?” The confusion had faded, and now I could hear the anger in Fantina’s voice. Cold, assured, controlled. “This isn’t the first trainer you’ve assaulted like this, but I’m determined to make it the last.”
“Assaulted!?” She rounded on me, eyes flashing, lips pulled back in a snarl. “What have you been telling her!?”
I took a step back at her sheer intensity, finding myself backed up against the desk as it bumped against my lower back. She took a step forwards, nearly in my face, and for an irrational second I was worried that she’d try to bite my nose or something. I wondered briefly if rabies was a thing in this world, and if it was transmittable by humans. I hadn’t had my rabies shot recently- I shoved the hysterical and nonsensical line of thought out of my head.
“Trainer Jade.” There was something dangerous in Fantina’s voice that made me want to make myself into a small ball and hide in a corner. Even this Jade person visibly flinched, though the fire in her eyes didn’t dim any. “If you do not back off right now, then under my authority as Leader, I will be forced to detain you until investigations are complete. Do you understand?”
She gave me another glare, grinding her teeth, and reluctantly took a step back. I let out a small breath of relief, Drake growling at her besides my feet. She cast him a poisonous look, then traded her gaze for Fantina. Watching, I could see her eyes trace across the desk, pausing at the metal box that contained her Pokeballs, then returning to the Leader. Capital L, proper noun, I supposed.
“I would like to request the return of my Pokemon, then.”
“Vous êtes un idiot.” Jade bristled, straightening. I might not speak French- Kalosian? Whatever the case, ‘idiot’ was hard to misunderstand. “Your Pokemon will be detained until such time as the investigation completes, and it can be concluded whether they have been complicit in criminal acts.”
“That’s- that’s not fair!”
“I am sure that’s what many have said to you, since you came to my town. Now, get out of my sight, and out of my Gym. I will contact you when needed.”
Jade shook, clearly just about ready to start throwing punches instead of Pokeballs. Before she could be turned into a grease smear by the suddenly laser-focused misdreavus hanging directly above our heads, however, the man grabbed her shoulder and started pulling her away. The woman started swearing, struggling against his grip even as he pulled her across the lobby area and out the front doors. I stared after them, somewhat disturbed by the entire display, then turned my head as I heard a sigh.
Fantina didn’t look angry, or upset, or really any of the emotions that I would expect. Certainly, there was something of a frown and the furrowing of brows about her, but I didn’t see it. Of course, not that I was much of an authority on the matter, but still. She gazed after the two of them for a long few moments, then looked up towards the misdreavus.
“Take the box to one of the contained arenas. I’ll gather a team and see what’s in there in a few.”
The Ghost-type bobbed in place, letting out a cooing little trill, then swept down on the box. Its hair touched the metal, acting like little tentacles. I figured that it was going to pick the thing up and carry it off, but to my surprise, instead both it and the box phased down through the desk and out of sight. I supposed that physical obstacles weren’t much of a problem for a Ghost-type. Fantina stared at the spot where the box had rested for a few moments, thinking. When she turned her gaze on me, I felt my feet frozen in place. She examined me, up and down, raising an eyebrow at my clothing.
“You’re new, aren’t you?”
“You’re not the first person to say that to me.” I shrugged. “I’m not sure if I’m new, per say. What I am is… something of an amnesiac? I essentially woke up in Vinewood sometime last night.”
“Vinewood?” Fantina’s gaze turned sharp as she looked me over again. “Chanceux. I’d heard about what happened there, very unfortunate for anybody in the area. Ranger patrols are still rounding up people and Pokemon, and they’ll probably be stationed there for a few days until everything’s smoothed over.” She blinked, her eyes meeting mine. Uncomfortably, I stared at her forehead. “Come to think of it, there was mention of a trainer that recruited a poochyena and retrieved the Ranger detachment that secured the town. Would you know anything about that?”
I shuffled in place. “Yeah, that was Drake and I. I found myself outside of Vinewood, on a forest path. I basically stumbled into town, and then into the Center, where I realized exactly how bad things were. I figured that I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing, so I convinced Drake to try and fight our way out together, and…” I shrugged self-consciously. “Well, we’re standing right here now, so you can guess how it ended up.”
“... une performance impressionnante. How many Ghost-types do you think the two of you faced in a row?”
“Uh…” I frowned, staring upwards. “Maybe, five, six? Much as seven. The last was a gengar that I think was the leader of the pack- he underestimated Drake and let us get a drop on him. He fled after Drake got a good bite into something important, and they left us alone after that.”
“Downing that many wandering ghosts…” she murmured. “Did you have these clothes when you woke up, in the forest?”
I nodded. “I was told that they more or less matched the clothes of a Dark specialist, but ultimately I have no idea about that. No experience, no knowledge. I might as well be a blank slate, as far as things like that are concerned, though I kept the important things, thankfully enough.”
“Important?”
I nodded again. “Well, I’m talking to you right now, aren’t I?”
“Ahhhh. Excellent point.” She hummed to herself. “Whoever said that about your clothing was right; you’re dressed in a style that more or less matches those with a Dark specialization.”
I stared at her expression apprehensively, wishing I could make out what it meant. “Is that a bad thing?”
“Mm.” She tilted her head slightly one way, then the other. “For most specialists, the announcement of their type is tradition. Generalists tend to be more loose about their clothing and theme choices. For the likes of Ghost and Dark, however, they tend to avoid the themes generally associated with their chosen typing. Poison, as well.” She nodded to the doors. “I’m sure I don’t have to tell you why.”
My hands clutched at my hoodie as I frowned. “So… a bad thing, then.”
“Not necessarily. Depending on the place, you may be avoided more often than bothered. Dark types have a reputation for short fuses, and some of that stereotype extends to their trainers. However, there are many who will just as readily start a fight with a Dark-type specialist merely for daring to exist in their presence. A lot of people have problems with Dark-types, for one reason or another, no matter how little sense it makes. If you’re looking to avoid those sorts of problems… I would replace your jacket, at least.”
“Was that what was going on with those two, then?”
She frowned over my shoulder at the door, her attention drifting to it, then back to me.
“... No. But I wouldn’t concern yourself with them, they’re my responsibility as Gym Leader.” She spread her arms. “Consider my advice. Perhaps you should put your name in for a battle; I’ll need you to stick around town for at least a few days anyway. If I should need a statement from you, it would be much easier to collect if you are still in town when I need it.
I hesitated. I doubted the two of us were ready for a Gym battle right now, even if the idea had appeal when it had come to me. We needed to train and prepare, and that was assuming that Drake was even willing. I hadn’t been planning on challenging any Gyms until after Sandgem, but if we were here anyway… I crouched, bringing myself closer to the level of Drake, whose ears were perked. He’d been listening closely for the entire conversation, and now he turned that attention onto me.
“What do you think? Do you want to challenge this Gym?”
He weighed it for a moment in his mind, turning the question over. I could see the gears spinning in his head as he thought about it, sweeping his gaze over the trainers and Pokemon in residence and finally landing on Fantina herself, who was waiting patiently. His head turned in my direction and our eyes met, and I could see the fire in them, the determination. He nodded.
“We might lose, you know. And regardless, we’ll be spending the entire week training and maybe having a few battles with other trainers, just trying to get a feel for fighting something other than wild Pokemon. You did well against that electrike, but I want both of us to be as ready as we can be.”
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He scoffed at the idea of losing. I could tell that he didn’t care so much about that, didn’t measure himself by winning or losing to the definitive strongest in the city. Win or lose, he wanted to see how he stood against her Pokemon, and I felt something in me stir at that. More than anything, from the fire in his eyes and the expression on his face, he wanted to prove himself, that he was brave enough to stand up for this. I placed my hand between his ears and rubbed, smiling.
“If you’re sure, buddy.” I stood up. “I’ll be in town for a week. Is there a slot about seven days from now?”
The receptionist turned his attention to the PC, typing out several quick commands. His eyes flashed over the screen in front of him, and he nodded.
“We’ve got one for noon. Is that desirable?” I nodded, and he hit a few more keys. A small printer buzzed next to him, and he tore a small piece of paper from it, handing it over. “Here is your date and time for the match. If you miss it, you’ll have to reschedule.”
Fantina smiled. “Fantastique. I must say, I look forward to your challenge and seeing what the two of you can do. Would this be your first Gym challenge, then?”
I hesitated. Doubling down on my cover story was most likely a good plan, here.
“Probably. If it isn’t, then I don’t remember the previous challenges and don’t have the badges, so they might as well not count. As far as I’m concerned, whatever happened before Vinewood might as well not have happened, if I can’t remember it.”
She nodded, something more solemn in her expression than before. “I will ensure that your first badge is a worthwhile one.”
Fantina waved her hand, then turned and walked back through the door behind the desk and into the deeper parts of the Gym. I lingered a moment longer, uncertain whether I should just go now, and feeling a little awkward about it. Thankfully, after a moment, the receptionist spoke up again.
“If you’re looking for training materials or devices, the Gym has a few that are available to League affiliates and higher-grade trainers. We also have publicly available battle arenas, for training battles between any trainers that show up.” He waved his hand towards a door off to the right side of the room.. “If you follow that in and down and watch for the signs, they shouldn’t be hard to find.”
“Thanks.”
I lingered a moment longer, then walked away from the desk and towards the door, Drake following at my heels. I crossed the room without particular attention from the trainers present, the door sliding open automatically in front of me as I stepped up to it and through. Immediately, I noticed that it was a few degrees warmer in this room than it had been in the lobby area, and I wondered if there were more than a few Ghost-types hanging around to keep the temperature down or if that was a deliberate air conditioning choice. Worked well for a Ghost-type Gym, I supposed.
“I think that, even if we don’t have any battles or use the training equipment today, we can at least get a look at it. Maybe figure out what we want to do tomorrow, and, in a general sense, in the week leading up to Fantina.” I felt the familiar twisting sensation of anxiety, at that thought. I pushed it aside, however; I didn’t have time to feel nervous. “Hell, you can learn a lot just by watching other people fight.”
There was signage in the corridor that directed towards the restrooms, deeper into the Gym, or onwards towards the training equipment or the more publicly available battle arenas. The door that led to the latter was sealed with a magnetic lock, a card reader mounted on the wall next to it. A small sign read ‘C grade trainer’s license or better, or League affiliate’s identification, required for entry’. One of the advantages of having one, I supposed, though I’d have to look up how trainer’s licenses worked later. I took out my affiliate card and swiped it through the reader, and it beeped, the little red light changing to green. I pushed the door open, letting Drake in first before following him in, letting the door close behind me. A simple T-junction formed the end of the corridor, training equipment to the left and arenas to the right.
“I think we should go see if there are any other Pokemon here, yeah?”
Drake nodded, turning right and padding down the stone hallway. I noted that despite the metal exterior of the building, the theme of stone blocks carried pretty consistently for much of the interior. I wondered if most Gyms were like this, with specific internal construction themes, but consistent external designs. Thinking about it, the Vinewood and Emeragrove Centers had been nearly identical from the outside, if not for the differences in size. Consistent architectural design probably simplified things greatly, when you needed to identify a building on sight.
As the both of us approached the door at the end of the hall, leading presumably out to where the arenas were located, I slowed. Drake passed me and went a little farther down before stopping and turning, an expression of concern on his face. I simply waved it off, then undid the straps of my backpack, setting it on the ground next to me. I unzipped my hoodie, stripping it off and tying it around my waist by the sleeves: it had caused enough trouble for me today. Maybe without it, people would hesitate just a little longer before jumping the gun on me. I slid my pack’s straps back over my shoulders, then nodded to Drake and stepped towards the door.
Like the previous one, it opened with a soft hiss as we approached it. I stepped out beyond it with Drake right next to me.
The space beyond was… large. It was still enclosed, but instead of a dim stone room, the top opened up with a huge skylight that let the afternoon sunlight through the glass. There were huge stadium lights bolted high up the walls, which I presumed were for using this space at night, after the sunlight faded. All around the walls and lining the edges of the large space were bleacher-like structures made of stone. In the center, marked out by strips of stone between pockets of sand, were what I presumed to be the actual arenas.
A few trainers were battling each other, as we walked through the doors. Some appeared to be training together, comparing the strength and look of attacks. Others sat with their Pokemon around the edges of the room on the raised stone seats, either watching the ones in the center fight or train, or speaking with their Pokemon or others. Looking closely, it was obvious that some teams and their trainers were gathered around devices, which the trainers would gesture to as they spoke.
There was a bone-rattling CRACK, and I jerked my head back to the fighting arenas. There, a lopunny wearing what appeared to be a red and white sports jacket was trading blows with a hitmonlee. Every so often, they would stop, and the jacket-wearing Pokemon and its trainer would correct the hitmonlee’s stance or demonstrate a particular move. The moment they’d finished however, they’d be back at it. Watching closely, I realized that the lopunny’s kicks were the source of the noise, striking out with such speed that they forced the air out of the way and produced a sound akin to a gunshot.
I shuddered a little. This was training? I remembered the sign outside, and I connected the dots: the trainers in here would be vastly weighted towards the highly experienced. They’d mentioned similar arenas around the Center, but I imagined that those would be populated by local trainers, or those just beginning their journey. I’d just walked into the big leagues with no inkling of what I’d been in for.
I shuffled to the side, Drake taking a moment to stare at the Pokemon in wide-eyed awe before he realized I was going somewhere and followed me. Still, I could see him watching the training Pokemon intently, observing their movements, their decisions, their trainers. As I settled onto a stone bench to watch, he didn’t break his eye contact with them again.
I could understand why, it was hard to look away. Every single motion or strike that I saw the many Pokemon in the room make was made with purpose, with strength and power, with control. There were physical strikes that forced air out of their way, like the lopunny’s. There was a luxray that manipulated its electricity with such tight control that fingers of lightning would streak around its opponent during a fight, not a one actually hitting even though they came centimeters away. In one arena, a medichan and a swellow duked it out. The bird was weaving around blows both psychic and physical with such skill that not a one hit, and such speed that you could barely see it happen.
I narrowed my eyes, looking closer. I could make out the faint white of Normal around its wings, but when it attacked, it was replaced by a sky blue around its wings or talons. Presumably, that was Flying TE, and as I watched, I realized that the swellow slowed slightly every time. When I looked closer, right at the time of attack, I could just see the blue of Flying supplant the white of Normal around its wings.
“See that?” Drake looked up at me quizzically, and I pointed out where the swellow had just flipped over a punch, then retaliated with a blurred strike of a wing that the medichan had bent under. “There’s a moment there, where they can’t hold the Normal and Flying type energy in their wings at the same time. Maybe that’s a limitation of the technique?”
Drake narrowed his eyes, watching closely as they moved. The swellow was undoubtedly using quick attack, the Normal move giving it the speed and maneuverability to dance around the mix of Psychic and Fighting energy that was being thrown at it. However, whenever it actually went to attack, it summoned Flying TE, which appeared to push the Normal energy out of its limbs. Thus, the bird would slow every time it would attack, leading to the nearest misses. However, now that I was watching intently, I could see that there was a flickering whenever it happened, and a slight grimace on the swellow’s face. Every so often, the two energies would layer, then fall apart, which is typically when the Flying-type retreated or had to eat an attack.
Was that the goal that the bird was reaching towards? Layering different kinds of TE, to stop the slowdown that happened when they went to attack with an energy that disagreed with the Normal of quick attack? I glanced at the lopunny, but, of course, they were a Normal type, and thus no conflict in the energy. Instead, their Normal-type moves seemed to layer over each other, the energy coming quicker and in slightly thicker amounts when it was already flowing out for quick attack. The medichan that the swellow was fighting seemed to have relegated its legs to Normal TE, and was using its arms and hands to channel Psychic or Fighting. Swellow, however, had to channel the Normal through the same limbs that it was using to attack, which was causing it to slow at critical junctures and miss attacks it would’ve otherwise hit.
“We’ve been using tackle like that.” I muttered to Drake. “Quick attack is better for the purpose, but tackle does well enough.” I hummed, leaning forwards, resting my chin on my laced fingers. “I wonder if it’s possible to layer a quick attack for speed, then tackle to suddenly change direction?”
Staring at the luxray gave me a different perspective on things, still. The white of Normal was entirely absent, and instead he was completely wreathed by the yellow of Electric. Not just for their attacks, interestingly, but for every single movement. An aura of Electric would flare around their muscles every time they went to make a move, and they would blur, static arcing off of their fur. They appeared to be using Electric in place of Normal TE for the purposes of movement, and as I watched closely, I saw none of the hitching and slow down that plagued the swellow. Using a single type energy, especially one the Pokemon was closely aligned with, appeared to work a lot smoother than trying to layer multiple different kinds. I dug around in my pockets and drew out my ‘dex, jotting the thoughts down as I had them, speaking to Drake as I did.
“You’re a Dark type, which isn’t necessarily out of alignment with Normal.” I pointed out the hitmonlee, who I’d noticed hadn’t really used any Normal TE. “Not like they are, anyway. You can already use tackle as a movement technique, much like they’re using quick attack, so you already have the basics. We just need to work you into being faster with it.”
I wasn’t sure what, precisely, separated quick attack and tackle. From what I could see, it was like using the Normal type energy made them faster without a loss of dexterity, so long as they could keep it up. Faster reactions, faster movements, an all-round physical boost. I circled the word ‘electric’ in my dex’s notes; in the games, Electric types were the fastest besides maybe Flying. Here, however, with what I was seeing, I wouldn’t be surprised if they found a close match in Normal types. There was no type energy conflict between things like tackle, quick attack, or extreme speed, and the actually damaging attacks they might be using. By raw speed, I would bet that an Electric type could beat out just about anybody. In technique, however, it appeared that Normal type had a real edge, with synergy like that.
Focusing in as much as I could, I watched the lopunny and hitmonlee closely. The rabbit easily avoided every attack and dodged around every blow, but when the hitmonlee lashed out, I could just make out where the red of Fighting contacted the white of Normal. Where the two overlapped, I could see the Fighting energy interrupting the Normal, causing it to swirl and dissipate.
Maybe that was what happened with super effective attacks? If I compared type energy and aura to, say, Nen, then maybe it wasn’t so much that you took more damage from super effective energy. Maybe, it was that Pokemon typically softened blows with their type energy and aura, and type energy that was anathema to theirs could penetrate straight through their defenses and hit full force. In addition, I would imagine that type energy that was opposed to them might disrupt the nature of their being, causing additional damage on top of that. Did that mean that it was possible to soften super effective damage, if you learned how to channel the same type energy and used it as a shield? I jotted it down for later.
The longer I watched, the more that I got the sense that what I was seeing wasn’t typical. This wasn’t the average, these were the higher grade trainers and their teams, using techniques and strategies that wouldn’t be seen in the lower levels. I hadn’t seen any of this from any of the Pokemon that Drake and I had fought or fought besides: the manipulation of type energy, the sheer skill on display. Many Pokemon here did things with ease that made Drake’s eyes go wide, and I figured that he was a lot more knowledgeable than I was about what was the approximate norm.
If this was what the higher tiers looked like, then the both of us had a long way to go. As I watched these Pokemon move and fight, I felt like I was at the base of a mountain, looking up at snow settling on a peak far above me. And I would be willing to bet that what was displayed here wasn’t even the pinnacle of strength, as far as Pokemon went. For the first time, I truly appreciated that this world was a world of titans, that practically any Pokemon could reach such heights.
It intimidated me.
It excited me.
I gripped the dex in my hands, glancing down at Drake, seated on the bench just below me. He leaned forwards, eyes laser-intent, watching Pokemon move so quickly they could barely be seen.
“Drake.” I whispered. He looked at me, and I met his gaze. “One day, you’ll be one of them. I promise it.”
His eyes widened, and he sat up, back ramrod straight. There was nervousness behind those eyes, but there was even more excitement, and determination. These were the heights to aspire to, the mountains to climb, and I could see that he saw it just as I did. And just like I did, he felt the desire to climb them, to see the view from the top.
“Well… we could just sit here and take notes. Or we could…”
I gestured out towards the wider room. Drake’s head turned, surveying it, then went back to me. He nodded, and I smiled, taking off my bag and leaving it behind as I tucked my dex away. I pushed myself to my feet, stepping down to the ground, and cast my gaze across the present trainers and their Pokemon.
There was a wild mix of species and types present. It was a large room, but I noted that the only things that were actually given real space were the couple of actual battles going on. Pokemon training on their own, or in groups of two or more, were packed into the remaining space as tightly as could be safe. Often, they were grouped up by general body type quadrupeds with quadrupeds, bipeds with bipeds. I supposed that it made sense, as it was hard to practice stances and such if all involved had entirely different body types. Quite a few had mechanical devices mounted to their limbs, which I recognized as training braces; trading speed for additional muscle training. A few of them gave us glances as we approached the training area, staying beyond the edge of it to ensure that we weren’t getting in the way, but most of them were focused entirely on their efforts. Even the ones that glanced in our direction didn’t pay more attention to me or Drake than that. I got the sense that they’d taken our measure, and then dismissed us without a second thought.
Maybe if I had an ego, that would have stung. But considering some of the things I’d seen the Pokemon here do in just the last twenty or so minutes I’d been here, I held no real illusions about the fact that just about any of them could pick us apart without any real difficulty. Disregarded as a threat less because we were trusted not to be and more because we legitimately weren’t wasn’t the most glamorous thing, but I welcomed it a lot more than suspicious staring. Casting my gaze across the crowd, I realized that Dark types were relatively rare. I sighted a sneasel practicing a slashing attack against a lairon, and there was a liepard that was standing by its trainer’s side while they spoke to another trainer, but I found myself hesitant-
“Looking for somebody?”
I twitched and spun in place, surprised. There in front of me stood a trainer in a brown cap and a blue jacket, looking somewhat amused at my surprise. At their feet, a long black and white Pokemon gazed up at me curiously. After a moment, I recognized it as a Galarian linoone, red eyes with black shooting star patterns in the fur around its eyes. As I looked at it, it poked its very red tongue out at me. I blinked in return, then twitched my gaze back up as I heard the trainer huff in amusement.
“Never seen a Galarian Pokemon before?”
“Oh, uh… not really.” Wasn’t it a Dark type? “Not a lot of fondness for Dark types either, I’ve found.”
A little bit of the levity vanished from his face, and he shrugged. “Yeah. Not in our home region, either.”
Now that I was listening closer, I could identify a small amount of British accent about his phrases and voice. A native of Galar, then? That meant that he’d probably caught that Pokemon as a zigzagoon, instead of trading for it. His starter, maybe?
“Isn’t there a Dark-type Gym in Galar, though?” Marnie’s brother, the kinda handsome one. Punk rocker. Couldn’t remember his name, though.
“Yeah. Fallen on hard times, though. Of the Gyms of Galar, it’s the least of them.” He shook his head. “Far as Dark goes, I just have Jive here, but I still feel for Piers. Poor guy tries, but there’s only so much he can do, swimming against the tide.” He gave me a look, eyes darting down to Drake. “Surprised somebody outside of Galar knows about it, honestly. Not many non-Galarians even know much about the Gym circuit there unless they’re looking to try for it, and the Spikemuth Gym’s the least popular and least known of the lot, even among the natives.”
I shifted uncomfortably. “Well, I’ve just got Drake, he’s my starter.” Drake chuffed, examining the linoone curiously. “Figured that I might as well do some real research about known Dark-type trainers out in the world, and Piers showed up on the list.”
“Ahhh… poochyena as a starter? Rough.” Drake growled, and the guy held up his hands. “No offense intended! I’m actually impressed, you’re a braver man than I, and you-” he addressed Drake, crouching down closer to his level. “You seem like a great Pokemon. I’m sure you’ve already served your partner well, yeah?”
Drake sat up proudly, puffing out his little chest some. Honestly, it was kind of adorable, and I coughed slightly to hide the little smile on my face. The little hyena gave me a disgruntled look and bumped my ankle with his shoulder.
“We’ve actually only known each other for… a day, maybe?”
The guy’s eyebrows disappeared underneath the brim of his hat, and he glanced back and forth between us.
“Huh. I wouldn’t have expected that. You two act like partners that have been together longer than that. Obvious to me that you’ve got a mutual understanding that I’ve not seen in people and Pokemon that were together for a lot longer.” He paused. “Ah, I’m getting ahead of myself…” he stuck his hand out with a grin. “Blake.”
I took it and shook, returning his smile. “Cam. Nice to meet you.”
“Yeah, likewise! So, anyway, what brings you two here?”
“Well, um… we registered for the Gym, a week from now.”
His eyebrows went back up again. “You two are together for a day and you’re already challenging Gyms? Are- no, I’d ask if you were doing the test rather than a battle, but if you’re here…”
“Test?”
“Oh, wow, alright. Uh. A test is… it’s essentially a task that you and your Pokemon have to carry out, themed around the typing of the Gym it’s held in. Anybody younger than a certain age gets them…” He tilted his head. “You seriously challenged a Gym without knowing this?”
I looked up and away, clearing my throat. “Well, uh, there are… reasons for that. I don’t really want to talk about it.” I rubbed my neck, feeling somewhat embarrassed. “I just thought… Well, we essentially faced something like a running Gym battle with a bunch of wild Ghost-types and came out okay. We just happened to be passing through in the direction of Sandgem, we have to wait here for a while to see if there are any Ranger patrols we can run with, so we have to be in town for a while anyway…”
He shook his head. “Incredible. I trained with Devi, my starter, for about a month before we tried our first Gym, and we got flattened.” He grinned. “Gave enough of a good show to still get a badge, mind, but we sure put a lot more effort into it afterwards.”
“Ahhhh… I’m not as sure about our chances now.”
“Well-” Blake looked around in thought. “Alright, come this way.”
He turned away and walked towards an unoccupied section of sand. Jive looked up at me, poked out his tongue, then turned in a motion that showed off the sort of flexibility that I typically associated with rubber hoses and scampered after their trainer. Drake and I exchanged a bemused look, then followed after the two of them. Blake cleared the section of sand, smoothing it out with his foot and checking the sand for something, before nodding to himself. He walked over to the edge of the sand, Jive wiggling after him and settling around his ankles, then waved us over.
“You stand by me. Drake, stand in the center of the sand.”
We exchanged another look, then moved to do as he said. I stepped up to his side, and Drake walked out into the center of the sand pit, sitting down and cocking his head at the other trainer. The guy nodded, then glanced at me, seeming to seek permission. When I hesitated, he spoke up.
“I’m gonna need to give Drake some orders, to see what he’s capable of. Is that okay with the both of you?”
“Oh.” I looked at Drake, the hyena nodding without a moment’s hesitation. “Yeah, I think that’s good with us.”
“Alright!” He turned back to Drake, folding his arms over his chest. “Okay, can you give me a bite?”
Drake nodded, and streaks of black energy flowed around his jaws before he snapped them closed. Dark energy flowed around his jaws, in and among the teeth like mist. Blake let out a whistle.
“Wow, that’s brutal. Get a good shot in with that one and you might disable somebody in one hit.” He glanced at the Pokemon at his feet. “What do you think?”
The weasel Pokemon chuffed, then snapped his jaws a bit. Blake nodded thoughtfully.
“Good energy, then. And good effort. Drake already knows a little bit about shaping his type energy and aura, I assume?”
“He had a trainer before me, they might have taught him.”
“Oh, really?” He rubbed his lower jaw. “Yeah, that makes sense. If he was trained by somebody else first, then… how’d the two of you end up together, then?”
I sent a glance at Drake, whose ears had flicked back. He was looking down towards his paws, pawing a little bit at the sand. Blake noticed after a moment, glancing at my pained expression, then grimaced.
“Never mind, I shouldn’t have asked. Forget I did.” The linoone chuffed again, bumping their head against their trainer’s ankle. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. What else can you do?” He asked Drake.
The hyena shrugged, standing up and shifting his stance low, then letting out a snarl. The pulse of Dark energy didn’t quite reach us, but it was enough to move our hair a little, even from this distance.
“Wow, was that…?”
“Snarl.” I said, somewhat proudly.
“It’s not an uncommon technique for some Dark types to learn, but it’s not easy, particularly for younger Pokemon. If you’re not learning it naturally, then it must’ve either been a TM or something that another Pokemon taught him.” Drake nodded at the second. “Taught, huh? That’s impressive!”
The hyena had to restrain himself from preening, and I felt an inkling of that pride again. Not that I could claim credit for Drake learning that kind of move, but it was more that I was proud of him, not so much proud for him. If that made sense.
“Is there anything else?”
“Sucker punch, and tackle- I think that’s pretty much it.” Drake flared a bit of Dark energy and let out a huff.
He nodded. “A solid lineup, especially for a rank one. You could probably get to a rank… two or three with that, I’d guess, and pretty easily. I’d suggest that you round it out with the quick attack technique, that’s always useful no matter the Pokemon, but otherwise it’s pretty perfect.”
“We’ve been able to get by so far with using tackle as an ad-hoc quick attack, gives a nice little burst of speed or an instant direction change. Been useful for dodging things.”
“Huh. Not bad, I have to admit.” He gave me a sideways look. “Are you sure this is your first go ‘round? You have some of the hallmarks of having at least a bit of experience with this. There aren’t a lot of people that bother with that technique. Not many with enough knowledge or know-how to make it work in the lower ranks, and by the time that they or their Pokemon have to experience to recognize that they could, they’ve probably already moved on to quick attack.”
I shrugged. “For, uh, the same reasons that I don’t really want to talk about, I can’t really say.”
That got me another lifted eyebrow, and a look of curious consideration from the slinky of a Pokemon wrapped around Blake’s ankles. Thankfully, however, they refrained from asking, Blake instead turning his attention back to Drake with a considering hum. After a moment, he shook Jive off of his feet, the Pokemon letting out a disgruntled noise as they were shifted onto the concrete.
“Hold on, I’ll be right back.”
Jive grumbled to themselves as they folded themselves into a ball, watching the Pokemon and trainers around us. I stepped down from the concrete and into the sand, walking over to Drake and crouching, putting my hands on my knees.
“What do you think, huh?” I asked him in a low voice, trying to ensure the sounds of all the people and Pokemon surrounding us drowned me out a bit.
Drake looked up at me, then glanced at Blake’s retreating back, getting my meaning immediately. He contemplated a moment, then tilted his head one way, then the other. Finally, he gave me a confident look and nodded.
“So, you think he’s alright, then?” Drake nodded again, and I smiled. “Yeah, I’m happy to have found somebody that might give us a bit of guidance. No offense to you, buddy, but…” I pursed my lips. “I’m just worried. I kinda jumped into this, and I’m concerned that we’re just not prepared for a Gym battle as we are.” he gave me a look of disapproval. “No, no, I mean that- we’ve fought one Pokemon battle together against another trainer, and we only fought one Pokemon before fleeing, and that was hardly her ace. I guess I’m just… anxious, that we’re not ready for this. I don’t have the experience directing you, and we don’t have the experience working together. Even if you’re strong enough to carry the battle on your own…”
I swallowed self-consciously, considering my words. It wasn’t easy, expressing my anxious thoughts.
“I want to contribute, you know? I want it to be us fighting Fantina, not just you doing what you can while I look on anxiously. I want to be right there with you, I want it to be a team effort, something of you and me. You know?”
The disapproving look softened and changed into something thoughtful. Drake nodded, slowly, a far away look flashing across his face. He shook it off after a second, pushing himself to his feet and stepping closer, licking my hand. I smiled a bit, scritching him under his jaw, then moving up to the top of his head.
“I guess all we can do is try, huh? Win or lose, the worst we can do is prove we’re willing to go the distance- and at least determine how far we need to go before we can jump the first hurdle.” I huffed a little laugh. “Hell, who knows, maybe we actually win, or at least prove ourselves enough for the badge. Anything’s possible really.”
“Alright, here we go!”
I turned around to find Blake holding up what looked to be… a substitution doll? I stared at it in confusion, then traced my eyes up to his face and raised my eyebrows. In response, he hefted the thing, carrying it over and setting it in front of Drake. It landed on the sand with a surprisingly loud THUMP, sending up a tiny cloud of disturbed particles.
“And… that is…?”
“Aura measuring device. Basically, when a Pokemon attacks it, a box of sensors inside the doll records the type energy and aura output, then sends it to an external device.” He waved a small tablet, which was showing a number of flat lines and zeroed readouts that occasionally flickered in small amounts. “Once we have a baseline after a few hits, we compare that to all data on poochyena, and then we can figure out exactly where Drake is relative to the average for his line and evolutionary stage for the power of a specific technique. From there, we can figure out what you need to work on and how.”
“Huh. Huh! That’s… shockingly useful, actually.” I crouched and rubbed one of Drake’s ears. “What do you think, ready to try it?”
He nodded, excitement written all over his face. I couldn’t deny that I felt much the same way.