“I’ve come to challenge the gym!”

The words echoed through the reception room. The trainer’s words were a proclamation, intended to give pause to all who heard them. It cast the moment into people’s memories. This would be the day this trainer would face the gym and hopefully overcome it.

In truth, the words themselves were a formality from a bygone time when the cities of today were little more than small towns. Each their own hub of life that sheltered the residents from wild pokemon and others that might seek to harm them. From a time before the unification of Kanto.

It was a period of history that was not very well understood but nevertheless espoused in history lessons. The trainer that was standing before us was the same one that I’d fought towards the end of the circuit. He’d obviously been in a rush back then with the circuit coming to a close. Now he stood before me far more confident. His gaze was intent to a degree that had Alexa sitting up unconsciously.

“Your match has been scheduled. To confirm, this was the Fourth badge Challenge, and you wanted to run the Gauntlet?” she said seriously to the young man.

The trainer nodded. “Yes, I’m ready to start now. Who will I be fighting?”

Behind a one-way mirror that was directly behind the reception desk I turned to Missy and nodded at her. “That’s your cue.”

With that, Missy rose from one of the chairs in the lounge area for the gym’s trainers while the circuit was on. It served to let them monitor the front desk as a backup if needed while also giving them a spot to relax in between fights. I sat with Rocko, Dennis, and Jackson.

“You know today is technically your day off, right?” I said to the extremely tanned teenager. Jackson grinned, his white teeth a stark contrast to his bronzed skin.

“It’s fine! I want to feel the start of the circuit! It’ll help me get into the swing of things.” Jackson nearly vibrated in his seat. I chuckled at his enthusiasm. It was good to have the first trainer I’d sponsored back in the gym.

“So how much tanning lotion did you use?” Rocko said while wiping a finger over Jackson’s arm. He then inspected the finger as one would when dusting a cabinet.

“Shaddup! I had beach babes offering to rub it into me! I wasn’t going to say no! I like how I look anyway!”

Dennis and Rocko shared a look before bursting out into laughter.

I shook my head before waving them to join me in the other gym trainer area that overlooked the arena. Missy had been thrilled to be the opening match of the season, and I was looking forward to seeing how she handled her first match as a gym trainer.

She moved to the podium and twisted while thrusting her chest out, pokeball in hand enlarging as she did. “Think you’re getting through me? Think again!” she called out.

The small crowd of fans that had gathered for the first fight of the circuit cheered at the banter.

“Oh nice, she’s got some decent smack talk!” Jackson said happily. He nudged Dennis. “Remember Celia’s attempts?”

“I thought she was just insulting them?” said Dennis with a slight frown.

“Yeah, I think she called at least three girls flat-chested and one woman a miltank accidentally,” I said, remembering the way it had made the fights way more intense.

The crowd began to become more engaged, and the cameraman that had been employed to catch this circuit’s matches was giving a huge thumbs up. I chuckled at that. In truth, I could have had him out of the way in the video room, but then he’d have access to the other security features. I hadn’t been expecting to be offered a television deal, but apparently fighting Lance in an exhibition match was worth the local station setting one up.

I was still trying to work out how to get alerts sent out for people that wanted to stream the matches live. Some workplaces had no issues with showing matches on their televisions, so I thought it might be a good idea. It sort of reminded me of how things worked with rugby when I went to New Zealand in my old life. Everyone there got to watch their local clubs on the television. Why should this be any different?

Plenty of people, both locally and regionally, would like seeing the small fries fight and I would be able to pay out better to winners with the buffer of more funding. It was a huge win for everyone. I might even get more takers for the Doubles battles and the Gauntlet runs. Those paled in comparison to Elite Challenges or Ace Trainer challenges though for popularity.

Put those on television? Huge money makers.

However, that was still in the works and would be something for the gym to work on. I looked to the referee podium and was happy to see Forrest in position. He looked at me and raised his hands when I nodded. “Challenger Gio! Are you ready?”

“Yes!” shouted back the challenger.

“Gym Trainer Missy! Are you ready?”

“Yes!” she said, flicking her hair over her shoulder.

“Release your pokemon and begin!”

“Go King!” a pokeball was flung forward and a Nidoking materialised with a roar. He impacted the ground and swung his tail about. His skin shone under the stadium lights, the air whooshed as his tail swept through it.

“Go Rhydon!” answered Missy. Her bipedal rhino landed with a thud that shook the ground. She rose up to her full height with a snort before Missy swept her arm forward.

“Rock Throw!”

“King, match it!” Rocks ripped from the stadium ground and began to hurtle away from each pokemon before impacting in the middle of the arena. Explosions of dust resulted, and within a few seconds a dust cloud was set up in the middle, obscuring the battlefield.

“Close the distance!” shouted the challenger. Nidoking surged through the dust, appearing suddenly.

“Mega Punch!” Only to meet a glowing fist that rocketed forward from Missy’s Rhydon.

“Protect!” shouted the challenger. A globe of blue hexagons shot into existence and absorbed the hit causing Rhydon to stall out. As it reeled back to catch its footing, the challenger pressed the attack. “Fury Attack!”

One-two-three hits landed with a furious tempo into Rhydon, forcing it further and further back. “Rhydon, leap back!” Instead of trying for a small space that Nidoking was crowding into constantly Rhydon heaved itself and gained some breathing room.

“Use Dig!”

The challenger smirked, and I knew he’d come prepared for that this time around. “Earthquake.”

I chuckled before turning to Rocko. “Make sure to work more out of him. See if you can trip him up with the Protect timing with some fake out attacks. See if he’s ready for that.” Rocko nodded.

It wasn’t something that we advertised, but when you ran the Gauntlet you also had to adapt to the trainers you’d face next observing your fights and prepping their team. We also made up strategies to shake up their confidence. This wasn’t something I got to do with people that were just going for the singular battles, for the real experience, it was always better to do the Gauntlet run.

And not just for the payout if you won at the end of it. Trainers that typically challenged the gauntlets exclusively almost always ended the season ready to take on for the Ace pro circuit and start advancing up the duelling leaderboard.

I watched as Missy’s Rhydon proved why she had chosen it for the first match. Dragging Nidoking into another slugfest before falling finally. Interestingly, the Nidoking only looked more fired up from the fight. “Looks like he used that as a warm-up.”

Nidoking all but flattened the Onix that Missy chose to follow up with. It staked its claim on the arena with a tilted head and a roar that echoed.

A few people that I recognised as serious fans of the Gym cheered the young man’s success or just the good showing of a pokemon battle. I smiled fondly down at them from the rail I was leaning on. In another sporting arena, this would probably serve as a VIP area but I kept it rather utilitarian.

I patted Rocko on the shoulder. “Your turn.”

Rocko went in with a practised swagger that just made trainers want to throw down on principle. Nidoking turned to watch Rocko make his way down and trade out for Missy. Missy departed with a forlorn look. I held in the chuckle.

It never quite stuck with the new hires that they weren’t supposed to win each fight. For them, it was as if the honour of the Gym was at stake with each showing. It would take a while, and I’d need to make time for them, but eventually, they’d understand it wasn’t about winning but allowing the trainers the chance to grow.

“Hey, great show out there,” I said with a smile when she made it to the Gym lounge.

“I lost…” She gripped her opposite arm with her hands and almost huddled into herself.

I shrugged, “And that’s fine. You fought hard. I imagine that was a good experience for your Rhydon. She held up way better than our Onix sadly.” I looked straight at her before tapping her on the nose, bonking her out of her depressive thoughts. “Hey, look down there; look at the crowd that are cheering and laughing. They loved the show.”

“Was that what it was about? Putting on a show?” she said hesitantly.

I shook my head. “They’re nice, but it wouldn’t matter if the stands were empty, and this was just on an empty plain.”

I pointed towards the challenger. “That young man was horribly out of sorts last season. He came to this gym and only challenged for the singular challenge for his fourth badge. His showing was, in a word… rough.” I turned my hand over as my smile grew. “But look at him now, he’s evolved his pokemon and put some serious work into it. I’m looking forward to testing him, and that’s what we’re here for. To test trainers and help them grow, not smack them down or put on a show.”

I pointed towards her. “You put on a great test for that young man and he’s going to remember it cause this is his new starting point for the year.”

Missy chewed her lip. I could still see the doubt. It had been the same with Celia when she’d tried her hand at being a gym trainer for the experience. Dennis watched from off to the side and let me do the talking, “Give it time and know that I’m proud of how you performed down there.”

“Thanks, Brock,” she said before turning and moving off to work through her feelings on ‘successfully’ having lost.

I turned back to watch Rocko. I laughed out loud when he threw down Onix as his first choice before making it use Bide. It wasn’t something I typically used, but Rocko employed this method fairly often. It seemed to suit him in some odd way that just seemed right. I couldn’t put my finger on why that was.

Nidoking got a solid hit in and Onix did a great job of making it look like it did a lot more than it did before groggily getting up. Rocko grinned. “That’s it! Hold in there buddy! One or two more and you can cream that Nidoking!”

The entire stadium leaned forward to watch what would happen next. Gio’s eyes dilated for a moment only to hiss in a breath of air. “King! Back off! They’re bluffing!”

Nidoking backed off with a leap that mimicked the earlier Rhydon only for Onix to charge in and pursue. Rocko leered from atop the podium. “You ain’t getting away that easy boyo! Onix give it back!”

Onix lunged, committing to the attack.

“Protect again!” The shield formed once more, but it did so with a small fluctuation in it. While he’d been allowed a few minutes for Rocko to strut down for the challenge, that wasn’t enough time to let the weakness in Protect fade. It was still enough to stop Onix however.

The rock snake slammed into it before keening out annoyance at being denied the hit. Rocko maintained his expression, however. “Pivot into an Iron Tail!”

Onix turned, his head acting as the pivot point to let almost his entire length swing around. Gio saw this, “Leap forward out of the attack!” And responded the right way. His Nidoking leapt forward, dodging the glowing tail.

“Flex around Onix,” Rocko didn’t let it end there however and Onix contorted as Nidoking flew over his head.

This time, Nidoking had nowhere to go and had to take the hit. The large purple pokemon flying into the barrier before rising with a growl. Onix returned to an upright position and matched its growl with one of its own.

The crowd roared their approval at the exchange. Gio blinked at this, caught off guard by the noise.

“Dragonbreath Onix!”

“Eh!? Damn it! Nidoking, use Earthquake!” His pokemon slammed its paws into the ground and unleashed a powerful shockwave into the arena.

The attack also silenced the crowd as they felt their seats vibrate. In truth, they weren’t actually feeling the effects of the attack but rather mild vibration features I had installed to enhance the crowd’s experience.

The flame washed over Nidoking and he screeched in pain. Onix was tossed to the side only to rise up without too much issue.

“Damn it! Nidoking, use Toxic!” Gio flourished his hand out and Nidoking rose up with his horn glowing a sickly purple. Then he threw his body forward, flicking his horn and causing a splatter of purple to fly outwards and splash all over Rocko’s Onix.

Gio then raised his pokeball. “King! Return!”

Forrest raised his hand. “The challenger has withdrawn his pokemon! He has five seconds to—”

“Go Poliwrath!”

I whistled as another strong-looking pokemon emerged. Taking in the grimace and the quick glance he shot my way, I got an idea of his plan.

“I do believe he was going to hold onto that one until he reached me.” I nodded at Rocko and Missy. “Also Missy, yours and Rocko’s fight help set me up to look way cooler.”

That got a snort from her and a giggle from Crystal, who’d apparently just joined us.

“Swimmer! Use Aqua Ring!” The swirls on the pokemon’s belly whirled around for a long moment. Rocko clicked his tongue.

“Use Bide!” Rocko said before clicking his tongue in annoyance. A shimmer went over the Onix. Gio gritted his teeth. It looked like he either had to bull forwards or he had to back off with the shimmer of bide in place.

The poison ticking over on Onix made him make his move. “Swimmer, use Water Gun!”

The attack hit and Onix reared back at the super-effective move before collapsing onto his side, unconscious. Gio pumped his fists only for Rocko to raise up another pokeball.

“Ready for the next round?” Rocko flicked his pokeball and a Graveler with small sparks arcing off it landed with a growl. I had to hope the cameraman’s microphone wasn’t sensitive enough to pick up on Gio cursing under his breath.

“Water Gun again!”

“Use Thunderwave,” ordered Rocko in response. From the Graveler, a large arc of electricity shot out. It was slower than the water gun, and Rocko had to order a dodge, but the Graveler did so quickly enough.

“Swimmer! Roll under it!” said Gio. His poliwrath dutifully rolled forward, attempting to dodge only for its leg to get caught in the electricity. It went down with a spasm as electricity arced over its body.

“Graveler, use Discharge!” The attack hit and this time the challenger had to withdraw one of his pokemon as the Poliwrath went still as it fainted.

“Return King! Clean em up!” Once more his Nidoking returned to the field causing another burst of power. I noted, however, that it wasn’t as strong as its first appearance. The pokemon was tiring.

“Rock Throw!” called Rocko to start this round off.

Nidoking quickly matched the attack, much like he had against Rhydon earlier. Only this time when he tried to burst through the cloud, Graveler was counter-attacking with a charge of its own. Both pokemon slammed into each other, causing the dust to be blown apart from the impact.

Nidoking proved to have more inertia however and the boulder pokemon began to be pushed back. Then it buckled lower and got the chance to grip into the ground with its smaller hands.

“Fury Attack! Loosen that pokemon’s grip!” Gio called, ordering his pokemon to end the tackle and go for body blows that shook them both. Four rapid-fire hits impacted the Graveler, causing it to skid back. It stood upright shaking its head.

Gio proved his offseason wasn’t wasted, pressing the advantage. “Use Seismic Toss!”

Nidoking gripped the Graveler, and before the extra arms could grip in once more, the pokemon was lifted like a weight in the gym before being thrown across the floor. Graveler landed with an almighty boom.

It stood while cradling one of the smaller arms. I narrowed my focus on that and grunted, “Huh, landed awkwardly; it might have jarred or even dislocated its arm.”

“Thought you couldn’t force a boulder pokemon like them to land awkwardly. They’re mostly round?” Daniel chimed in, having just walked into the trainer area..

“Nah, Graveler and Geodude can’t retract their arms like Golem can. They’re tough but they can still land poorly,” I said before following up with, “How’d your patrol go?”

“Eh fine, there were no problems. Looks like I missed Missy’s fight though.” He glanced in her direction and she gave a small smile.

“She did fine,” I said happily.

On the field, Rocko raised his pokeball and withdrew his Graveler. I nodded when he shot a look my way before relaxing. He could have pushed on with the fight for more ‘style’ but he did the right thing by looking after the pokemon.

Rocko raised a hand openly to Forrest and Forrest blinked before remembering the meaning of that gesture. “Rocko has conceded Graveler! The Challenger wins!”

This round didn’t get as much applause due to the rougher ending. Rocko made sure to bring Graveler back out to the side of the podium. I watched as he explained to the pokemon why he didn’t keep fighting. Graveler seemed annoyed but eventually nodded, still cradling its arm.

On the field, Nidoking watched on before snorting and nodding his head at his prior foe. This got some more applause, which continued when Graveler was led out of the arena and into the medical area. He’d be back up by this afternoon in truth, but we’d still have him off to Nurse Joy to have it checked before he fought again.

I let Gio have a few more moments before pushing a button that dimmed the lights. Then I strode to the staircase. I activated the microphone and spoke, “So, you’ve returned to challenge me have you?” Lights focussed on my position while also highlighting Gio and his pokemon.

Gio stood tall and looked up at me. I grinned down.

And just like that, two trainers locked eyes.

In moments like this, I wanted to have proper gym music start up. Or something iconic like ‘we will rock you’. I still hadn’t found a good enough rock band to interpret my frankly terrible memory for music though. They all waved it off as a bad idea.

Instead, I marched forward as the crowd cheered my name. When I reached the arena I didn’t cross the floor but instead leapt up onto the podium in a display of strength. The crowd loved it. I stayed focussed on Gio.

“You’ve returned.” I made a show of looking over Nidoking before selecting a pokeball. “Let’s see how strong you’ve grown, Go! Graveler!”

The Graveler that just so happened to knock out this Nidoking last time emerged with a solid thump. It rose and locked eyes with Nidoking. It seemed to recognise him despite his evolution. And like the perfect heel, he smirked and raised a hand in a ‘come get’ gesture.

Nidoking snarled, and the battle began. “Rock Throw!”

“Stone Edge!” I ordered. This time, instead of rocks floating up into the air from both sides only Nidoking’s rocks floated upwards. On my side, a trio of rocks jerked up as if ripped by my pokemon. Graveler grinned before hitting them at Nidoking with an open palm. They shot straight at him as though blown out of a cannon, and it was all Nidoking could do to throw himself to the side and roll away from the attack.

Nidoking’s own attack shot forward much more diminished, only to have Graveler idly roll to the side. The attack was cleanly evaded with far less movement being needed.

“Toxic!”

“Quick underground!” I ordered my pokemon, the order specifically designed to have him skimming low.

Gio gasped before clenching his hands and ordering an Earthquake. I watched him, not saying anything as I knew my pokemon was taking a lot of damage.

Then Gio stopped, and instead of ordering the move again, he gained a shrewd look. “Continue to cover the arena with Toxic, King!”

That got a nod of approval from me as his pokemon used his poison move to trap the field. When Graveler emerged, it had no choice but to slam into Nidoking before bouncing back into the small ring that Gio had created around the centre.

Perfectly in range of his brawler of a Nidoking. “Fury Attack once more!”

“Defence Curl!” I ordered once more. Graveler dug in forcing the hits to impact but not allowing Nidoking to follow through with Seismic Toss like he would have on his previous foe.

Three hits landed. “Again!”

“Another Defence Curl,” I ordered, more than happy to build up stages of defence and make his attacks weaker. With his blows petering out, Gio clicked his tongue. “Finish spraying the field with Toxic!”

This time my Graveler took the hit with nowhere else to go. Gio then ordered the Nidoking to close in once more.

“Use Dig,” I said, deciding I wanted to put down as much damage as I could. I was already formulating a potential second pokemon to take over. I had one that could outright ignore the poison ‘field’ he’d set up, while another would make things much rougher. The first sadly would probably be a bit much for a trainer, even one challenging for their fourth badge.

Maybe if he’d gone Elite level, or if he was going for more than his fourth badge I might have called out my Quirina. The Solrock serving perfectly to ignore his trap field with his ability to levitate.

“Swift!” ordered Gio, making my choice to go under the earth cost me further. I was glad to see he still had a lot of the moves up to some degree of skill from our previous fight. I hadn’t seen anything for buffs however.

Graveler leapt out to tackle Nidoking from the earth, looking much worse for wear. Nidoking happily accepted the tackle before rolling them through the poison that was on the ground. One of Nidoking’s arms got free, and Gio used that to deliver more Fury Attacks into my Graveler’s side. Graveler locked down with his front arms and used his upper arms to punch back, turning the fight into a brawl.

Even with Nidoking’s earlier fights exhausting him however, it was my pokemon that fell first. I withdrew him, and nodded at Gio and his Nidoking. The Purple pokemon heaving in huge lungfuls of air. I grinned as my eyes spotted the tunnel Graveler had shot up out of. That spot didn’t have any poison on it due to upturned earth.

“Go Chou!” I shouted releasing my Omanyte onto the field. The crowd ooh’d theatrically at the ancient pokemon appearing. I waved my hand forward. “Use Surf!”

The attack drew on the small grated water channels around the arena edge but also some of my pokemon’s energy to create a large tidal wave. A wave that swept the poison off the field before dropping ontop of King.

This time, King went down for the count.

“BROCK!” WOAH!” “ANCIENT POKEMON FOR THE WIN!” My little Omanyte happily trilled at the praise before posing with fake muscleman poses for the crowd.

Gio glanced around at the roaring crowd. I looked over to him. “Hey, don’t sweat the crowd Gio. This is little compared to the big leagues. Ignore them and focus on what you came here for.” I crossed my arms and gave him a smirk, allowing him to focus on me, his goal. I was his barrier here and now.

He nodded, hand sliding to one pokeball before stopping. He blinked before chewing his lip in thought before selecting another pokeball.

“Go Raticate!”

“Raticate!” shouted the pokemon as it appeared. I hummed with interest, he hadn’t had that pokemon the last time he’d faced me.

“Raticate! Use Thunder!”

“Dig,” I replied instantly. Before my pokemon could be touched, it vanished into the earth. Gio looked at that before looking up at me. “It doesn’t have an earth type! It has a Rock-Water typing doesn’t it?”

I smirked. “Who knows?”

“Raticate! Use Focus Energy! Be ready! We’ll end this in a single attack when he emerges!”

“Chou, use Rock Polish.” I said with a shout.

That got a click of his teeth from Gio. I raised an eyebrow as he chewed his lip before ordering another Focus Energy.

“Chou, use Water Gun to take him out!”

“Raticate use Assurance!” Gio crowded as Chou shot out of the ground using Water Gun to propel his body backwards at speed. Raticate turned in time to take the hit on the side instead of the back of his head. Then, at the moment that Chou would have shot past, Raticate’s entire body surged with dark-type energy. The energy lashed out and struck Chou down, inflicting double damage.

My smallest ancient pokemon hit the ground and fell unconscious. I raised my pokeball and withdrew him. Then I looked at Gio. “Looks like you’ve grown up very well indeed.” I hit a button and to the side, the screens that showed the fight exploded with the words ‘Challenger wins’ shooting across them.

The front of the podiums opened, and Gio threw himself at Raticate. “We did it! You did it! You were amazing!”

I grinned at the kid's antics. It was always good to overcome a challenge that had previously stopped you flat. I made sure to walk slowly over to the kid as the crowd cheered for him. Forrest’s referee podium lowered, and he met me next to Gio with a small case in hand.

“Congratulations on your victory Gio. I’m more than happy to confer onto you the Boulder badge. You earned it.”

Gio looked at me and then the badge before accepting it. He took it and cradled it close.

“Thank you!” he said reverently.

“No thank you for the great match.” I then gestured over my shoulder. “Also, now the crowd is all yours. Give them a wave.”

Gio looked up, surprised to find that I was right. The crowd that had gathered at the start of his gauntlet run was now much bigger. They chanted his name and his pokemon’s name. He cried fat happy tears before raising his Raticate up onto his shoulders, where the pokemon grabbed his head. He then raised the badge aloft as the pokemon grinned happily. Hmmm perhaps he had this pokemon and hadn’t brought it out against me last time… That or he’d really developed a bond with the pokemon in the threeish months since I’d last seen him.

The crowd cheered louder.

I let it go on for a few minutes before raising my own hand. “I will now complete the less fun paperwork. Thank you all for coming and watching Gio’s matches! Our next scheduled match will be in half an hour if you’d like to head out or stick around!” I gestured to a doorway. “Let’s get your winnings. Interested in some feedback as well?”

Gio nodded his head. I led him into the room. “Well, first off, you were right in that Omanyte wouldn’t have handled Thunder at all, so good read on him not having the earth typing. His water typing would have seen that being a one hit k.o.”

I then made a circle. “You’ll need to get used to using the Gauntlet runs for trainers to scout you out. I imagine your Poliwrath was going to be your ace against me, but instead Rocko dragged him out early. This is much like a smaller tournament. Every method you use can be adjusted for. This is worse than the tournaments, as you can’t change out your team of six so be ready to have something tailored against you and know how to adjust for it.”

I tapped away at the computer before looking at him. “Cash or digital?”

“Cash… if it’s all the same to you.” I nodded and punched in the amount. The computer whirred to life and from a chute, a tube of money with the exact amount popped down to me.

I inspected it before laying it out, casually counting it out. Gio stared at it. “That’s… more than last year.”

“I too had a very successful off-circuit,” I said smugly.

Gio laughed before nodding. “Yeah, you were crazy… I wasn’t game to try your Elite Challenge.”

I waved my hand. “You’d only get the prestige badge on the first challenge, but the payout might have been worth it if you managed it on the third or fourth. It would have been a different beast. As strong as Chou and my Gravelers are, it's a different climb up a much steeper mountain for trainers when I’m using one of my top pokemon.”

“Any other advice?” he asked, looking at me hopefully. This caught me slightly by surprise, people usually only accepted the first few pieces. Perhaps my win over Lance had other benefits with my street cred being high enough that people would actually listen when I spoke.

That’d be a weird sensation.

“Well, I mainly thought I’d repeat that you did a good job getting your team to that level in a few months. I think your Nidoking is seriously stronger, as is Poliwrath and Raticate. That’s the beginning of a solid team.” I considered him for a moment. “How’s your stable situation?”

“I had to lose access to them. I’m restricted to just six pokemon… I currently only have five that are up to strength.” He chewed his lip and gave me another furtive look before swallowing. “I… don’t suppose my showing here was good enough that I could apply to be part of your ‘stable’ this season?”

I sat back and considered that. “Your showing was good… however you are a trainer that has been out for a year now. You’ve had a few runs at gyms.” I brought up his battle history and looked it over. “You’ve got a fairly even win-loss ratio on here with a lot more wins piling up, but that might change as you move around.”

I rubbed my chin. “You got two of your now four gym badges from ‘small’ gyms.” I turned that over in my mind before deciding, “Tell you what, win another two gym badges through the gauntlet from the big eight without losing a match on any of the runs and I’ll offer a partial sponsorship. Sounds fair?”

Gio grimaced. “I really regret taking Cerulean and Celadon off my list of potential gyms. That will only leave Surge.”

“It will depend on your strategy for sure. You have Surge, Giovanni, Blaine, Koga or Sabrina to overcome if you want stabling rights from me.”

“Urgh, no way am I challenging Sabrina!” Gio shivered. “She’s scary! I tried her for my fourth badge and she was so powerful! And skilled! I’ve never seen psychic pokemon do the stuff she got them doing!”

I nodded in commiseration. “There’s a reason why I sparred with her in the lead-up to my match with Lance. She’s strong.”

Gio considered that before sighing. “I can still get two from the smaller gyms… but that’d be the easy way out.”

I stood. “Well it depends on what you want to get from this. You’ve won a hard fight from me. You don’t absolutely need more than six badges from the big gyms to make a good showing at the Indigo Plateau but it would help. Look around and see what your options are, but most of all keep your end goal in sight.”

Gio nodded, walking out to the front desk. “Now, let’s smile for the camera. You are the first trainer to earn their badge for the circuit this season!”

Gio looked up in surprise to see Rachel ready with a polaroid camera. With a quick photoshoot, Gio departed.

I sighed. “And off he goes into the world.” I looked back to Rachel. “Alright then, who’s next?”

And just like that, I moved on with my day, preparing for the next challenger to earn their badge.

I only had two that day, but it was a nice start to the season. I personally chalked up another win by having no-one knock on my door in an attempt to challenge me.

It was a small win, but I’d take it. I knew it wouldn’t last, sadly.

In the end, Missy won the first part of the bet she’d made with the others as I got a challenger knocking on my door late at night, exactly four days into the circuit. I sent them scampering off and resigned myself to having this happen much more frequently from now on.

I just hoped she didn’t also win the second part of the bet.