Cindy’s sonata of awakening roused the pokemon the next morning and I started the routine warm up for them before jogging around the plateau. When I spotted the two rostered trainers on the breakfast shift, I jogged up.

“Morning Daniel, Jackson! Ready to start up?” I said loudly.

Both men nodded their heads, and Jackson stretched to the side. “Which ones do you want me to take boss?”

“I’ll give you the tougher job with the first badge pokemon for order practice and then have you limber them up. If any are too good though...” I trailed off.

Jackson nodded, “bump ‘em up and make a note of it! Roger boss! Little ones! You’re with me. We got some fun games to work through. Come!” he said while rolling his arms around.

Daniel bounced up and down. “Who’ve I got boss?”

“I’ll give you the fourth-tier badge pokemon to train,” I said. Technically they were the easiest to train as you didn’t have to hold back with them. Daniel grinned.

“Ladies and Lads you’re with me! Over to the plateau!” he led his pokemon off for a simple warm-up drill and practising of moves. Some of them would be working on their Digs, their Stealth Rocks and then going through their special movies. Challenger, the Graveler that was ostensibly Scyther’s rival, was front and centre pushing to work hard.

I hummed and turned to the two and three badge challengers. “Alright! Who’s up for some trick moves?” A few of these pokemon were starting to figure out how to work Sand Attack and Rollout together while others had Defence Curl into the traditional Rollout down to an art form.

This made them tough to close in on. I also had some of the stronger pokemon start to work Stealth Rock into their arsenal of moves while other pokemon like the Rhyhorn and Aron were working in metal moves or powering up their Tackles into Takedowns.

In a different area of the field, some of the Onix were practising a different form of securing Bind by straightening out and rolling like giant logs over and over. A smaller group of Aron and Rhyhorn got a workout in by jumping over them, making it seem like a big game to them. I joined in and was rather enjoying myself as well.

“Let’s join in Pikachu!” shouted Ash.

I stumbled and had to throw myself over the next in a bit of an ungainly jump due to the surprise. A moment later I found myself joined by the pokemon protagonist as he and Pikachu leapt over the pokemon joining in on the training game I had set up.

“What does this training do?” he asked loudly.

“It strengthens the legs, along with having them judge distances and timings!” I said as I jumped over the next Onix.

“Ash where did you… oh… I should have known,” said Misty as she walked up to me. I waved at her and Greta as I performed another jump. “Morning girls! Sleep alright?”

“Uhmmmm yeah?” Misty said while incredulously watching me hop backwards or sideways over the oncoming Onix while Ash and Pikachu got caught on top of one.

They started running on it like one of those log tricks on a game show. Huh, I wonder if I could set up a gag game show for the trainers. Sabrina would find it funny. Maybe when the trainer surge settled down I could try it. Then again, it might make for a fun event with more people to take part in? I could do a charity event? I’d pitch it to Rachel and see what she thought. She was keeping busy taking lots of pictures with trainers and getting out awareness of some of the matches that were taking place around the gym.

I kept hopping over the Onix while rubbing my chin.

“Awah!” shouted Ash as the Onix stopped rolling only to send him toppling over.

I drew out a whistle deciding that was enough for the warm up. A short burst had all the pokemon stopping and hurrying over to grab some food before they got put away. Jackson and Daniel saw to that as I collected the food for my Elite team. I made sure to include another large bucket of food for my new Elite Onix that had joined the team in their training.

Ash started to follow me, no doubt to hound me for a match only to get distracted as Greta started feeding an Aron from her hands “Who’s that pokemon?” he whipped out his pokedex and got to scanning. I left him to it and saw to my own pokemon’s needs.

I found Titan sloughing off some mud while Bertha was happily wallowing in a mudpit that no doubt had to do with Hypnotoad or Shrek. I whistled. “Breakfast! Bertha get rid of that mud or no meal! You know the rules!”

She grumbled and hopped out of the mudpit to shake herself off like a giant dog. The other pokemon groaned as they copped some of the flying mud. Don screeched when he had to dodge around some, while Selene merely blocked the oncoming mud with a barrier. Titan tapped Selene on the shoulder and she turned her attention to the rest of the splattered mud. It rose up and was thrown back into the pit leaving the area somewhat tidy and my pokemon mostly clean.

I set out the meals on large metal plates onto a raised flat rock that worked as my pokemon’s table. I felt like a bit of a waiter like this. REally all I was doing was piling the food up on colour coded plates. When everyone had their meal Titan barked out a cry and everyone began eating. I stood next to him and started laying out the important information for the day.

“Alright gang, there’s only one Ace trainer challenge today. I think I’ll be fighting them with Selene, Onix, and Don.”

All three pokemon perked up at this with Don puffing himself up. Selene merely bobbed her head while Onix leaned in and tilted his massive head. “Ooooon?” he said.

“Yeah, I’m going to back you now bud. I want to see what you’ve got. Advancing to this level means you will be called into action.” I glanced at Shrek and Hypnotoad. “I think I will come over here tomorrow morning to remind myself of your move pools. Hypno, you kept your Hypnosis practice up yeah? I asked the surf lifesavers that needed to borrow you to keep working that into your training for a reason after all.”

Hypnotoad nodded her head and the swirl on her belly began to spin in a distracting manner that made me want to stare. I shook myself and nodded. “Good, I think I will have you two back into the roster soon. Might bring you out with…” I glanced over my pokemon and pointed to Shin.

Shin perked up. “Might go for a water-style battle to throw some people off,” I said with a smirk.

I approached Titan. “Any problems buddy?”

Titan chewed his food while rubbing his chin. “Ty, tyran… tar,” He pointed to Hypnotoad and Don.

“They got into a tussle?”

He nodded his large, scaly head, and I sighed. “Course they did. I’ll work on some training programs this afternoon and show them what I want them to focus on. Might have Onix work with Don to give them both something different to work on, should keep them distracted.”

Titan grunted before going back for another mouthful from his plate. When everyone else was done I had most of them return to their resting areas. I returned Don, Selene and Onix for later though and also decided to keep Bertha with me today. I patted Titan as he returned to his cave earning a croon of goodbye.

When I returned to the other area Jackson and Daniel had also started returning the pokemon into their balls. I hummed as large swathes of pokemon returned and were then placed into set up racks that would make it easy for the gym’s trainers to adjust which pokemon they needed depending on the challenge we were going to face.

“Not as many gauntlet runs today so might be worth letting half stay out,” I said before the boys could get too into it.

“That so? Hmmmmm,” Jackson looked over the group before shrugging. “Reckon that’ll do for them.” He then pointed out three pokemon. “Those ones need to spend some time with Chansey and rest up longer as they’re lame,” he said, pointing out a Rhyhorn, a Graveler and an Aron. I watched the pokemon sheepishly try and hide their injury only to draw further attention to themselves.

“Yeah I can see what you mean,” I approached and started probing the rhyhorn’s front left leg. When he barked a cry and leaned away from me I grunted. “Hurt his middle toe… need to get that looked over. Might be out for the next few days.” I stood up and dusted off my hands. “What’s wrong with the others you think?”

Jackson scratched his chin. “Aron’s shell is cracked and Graveler has a rock mold I think… I’m gonna have to keep an eye on that in case it is infectious.”

I snapped over to Graveller and saw the odd reddish-brown patch. “Yeah good call, get em to Chansey to look over.”

All three pokemon groaned. I rolled my eyes and clicked my tongue, pointing to the backdoors of the gym. “Don’t give me that sass! Go on now!”

Jackson and Daniel laughed as they led the pokemon into the medical bay. I turned my attention to Ash, Misty and Greta.

“So that eager to get out and train again eh?” I said with a grin.

“Ash couldn’t sleep in,” Misty said with a slightly heated tone, before glancing happily towards my water pokemon. “But yes, watching your Poliwrath, Lapras, Swampert, and Kabutops train is just wonderful!”

Ash nodded. “Yeah! Also, I wanted to see if you’d changed your mind at all!” He clenched his fists. “So have you, can I face you early? I’ve trained a heap since I last asked!” I could hear the sound of Misty’s palm impacting her face along with Greta’s giggling at Ash’s obstinacy.

“Nope!” I said with no shame.

“Awwwww,” said Ash sadly. Pikachu patted him on the leg consolingly.

“Give any thought on going to the next gym and then doubling back?”

Ash straightened up. “Nope!” he said as though proud of not planning out his route a little more efficiently.

I rolled my eyes at him but it was obviously lost on him. “What, are you trying to match the old Legendary Hero’s route by getting your badge here first?”

“Legendary… hero?” Ash said with a confused expression. Pikachu matched his trainer in tilting his head.

“Pi pi ka chu?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Never heard that story?” I said in surprise. Ash, Misty and surprisingly Greta all shook their heads causing me to make a little noise of surprise. “Huh, usually they tell it to kids in school.”

Misty tapped her lips. “I… think I remember something but… it’s been years… It was the founding myth of Kanto wasn’t it?”

I nodded and Misty scrunched her face up. “Something about the route a young boy took to heal and bring together the land… I think?”

I glanced at Greta to find her humming. “I know the first bit which is that the Hero of legend emerged from the south during a time when the land and people were fractured. They thought themselves whole but they were closed off from others and in their own minds…”

She chewed her lip. “I know I’m garbling this horribly but I think the Hero loses a friend to the conflict and at first he wants to vow revenge only for his friend to be a gentle soul that asks for him to not cause more hardship but instead heal the land and people… The Hero then sets forth with their pokemon, which most people think was a Bulbasaur, while some others think it might have been a Rhydon for some strange reason.” Greta shook her head.

I smirked to myself having an inkling as to why Rhydon could potentially have been one of the first pokemon thought of for the Legend.

“Others claim Squirtle or Charmander of course but it’s not really well known. What is known is that he first challenges Viridian’s leader to see his way only for the leader to reject him and cast him out believing that no one would follow him. The Hero then comes north to Pewter only to have to flee through the forest and the pokemon reject him. The Leader of Pewter however arrives and saves the Hero. When he asks what the hero is doing the boy explains his goal. The Leader of Pewter laughed at the boy's dream and rejected it only for the boy to challenge him and lose. The Leader of Pewter at the time however is not unkind and advises the young boy how to grow stronger. The boy learns from this and challenges him again, this time winning and earning the Leader’s respect.”

She then coughed. “At least that’s how I think it goes? It was really long and I didn’t have as much interest in it back then…”

“Oh it was long and boring!” said Ash with a fist meeting his palm as he understood why he probably hadn’t heard of it. “I probably fell asleep during it!” Cue another facepalm and groan from Misty.

I merely shook my head. “Well there are probably story tellers and songs about it being performed if you wanted to learn more. I think some of the older ladies like to do recitals in the park. You’re not wrong that it's a long story, but it's good.” I smiled at Ash. “You can pick up a lot if you pay attention to it,” I said leadingly.

Ash shrugged. “Yeah, I think I’d rather battle some other trainers. Poetry is sissy stuff!”

I shrugged. “I wouldn’t call it sissy. It’s not useless to have a clever turn of phrase ready to use that rolls off the tongue. I rather enjoy it despite my lack of talent. But if you’d prefer to get into some trainer battles then go nuts, but just watch out cause some of them will be much stronger than the others. I’d recommend training up or catching another pokemon perhaps?”

Ash frowned and I watched him. “Or, if you want, you can also sit in the stands today to check out some of the matches?”

I reached into a pocket and drew out a notepad that I scrawled a note and then signed it. “Here, just show this to the Gravelers on the doors and one of the trainers will let you into the gym trainer section to watch the matches. Greta has watched a few matches already.”

I directed a look to her. “Would you say it was worth sitting in on?”

She nodded her head sending her auburn hair bobbing up and down. “Yeah! So worth it! The atmosphere alone is completely different, especially in the Ace challenges! It’s so cool having the stronger pokemon throwing down!”

Ash perked up at this. “Strong pokemon?” he said.

Misty shook her head. “Typical boy,” she said. I nodded towards the back door.

“Want some breakfast again?”

Greta and Misty raised their hands to politely decline only for Ash to grin. “Sure thing! Last one there is a rotten Exeggcute!”

I laughed, chasing after him, causing Misty and Greta to be the rotten ones that came in the door together with haughty sniffs of disapproval. I grinned into my tea, not commenting on how they had both subtly tried to knock the other behind them on the way into the door.

Breakfast was a rather loud affair with my sibling being led in by a happy-looking Flint. They happily munched away on their food and then took to entertaining themselves. It made for a very loud start to the morning but I was used to it.

“Flint! I’m putting the lunches in the backpacks! Make sure they go with the kids for school today!” I said as I did just that.

“Oh!? Anything I can help with?”

“Nope I have it handled. Do you know which schools to go to? I’ll send Graveller along with you to—” I kept up a stream of chatter at him as I moved around the kitchen eating and cleaning where I needed to.

Flint nodded along before coughing. “What does it mean when Suzie comes and puts her hand on me? I was leading them to school yesterday and got talking with an old friend I hadn’t seen in years and she put her hand on my arm but then got upset with me.”

“Ahhhh,” I said, understanding the issue. “I have them do that when they want something from me but i’m talking with someone else. If they want me they put their hand on my arm and I put mine on top of theirs. That shows that I’m aware of them but that I want to keep talking with the other person. It acknowledges them but says that, unless it needs to be handled right now, I’m doing something and will be with them in a moment. Helps them be patient.”

“Huh,” said Flint thoughtfully. “Where’d you pick that up from?”

“Books,” I said easily. Flint nodded and looked at a nearby shelf only to notice how many were ‘an idiot’s guide to’ series for parenting.

“Mooooorning!” yawned Forrest as he slumped into the room. He sat down still in his pyjamas and scratched at his leg only to turn and find Misty sitting next to him. He hissed in surprise and almost toppled off his chair, only to catch himself at the last moment.

Misty smiled at him. “Morning Forrest!”

Ash swallowed his mouthful of egg. “Morning! Nice pyjamas!” Forrest twitched and glanced down at his brown and yellow pyjamas that were littered with different types of pokeballs. He opened his mouth to say something snarky to Ash only for Ash to grin and compliment him. “Are those limited edition Pokemon League PJs? I applied for them but wasn’t able to win.”

Forrest stiffly nodded. “Yeah…yeah they are. I got lucky.” He flicked his eyes to Misty to see if there was any scorn and relaxed when she merely hummed thoughtfully. He notably perked up when she gave them another look over. I chuckled in the background.

“I’ll say! When they ran the competition for this cap I sent in like a bazillion letters to give myself a better chance!” Ash said, tapping the cap that, oddly, was sitting next to him but notably had no stains or smears on it. He must take good care of it.

Misty turned her head. “Oh really? That’s a limited edition? Huh, I’d forgotten about that competition.” She put her hand to her face. “I only sent in one!”

“Oh, did you try for the swimsuit that’s coming out?” Forrest asked.

Ash perked up. “They have a swimsuit? I should send in for that as well!”

Flint and I snerked loudly as Forrest coughed. “Uhm… it’s a one-piece for girls with water pokemon…”

Misty perked right up at this. “I’m definitely applying then!”

Flint and I shared an amused look as Forrest offered to help. Flint put a hand to his chin. “Ah water types, truly they’re a Rock type’s greatest weakness.”

I snorted only to recall that Lola had once advocated for the gym to become a water-type gym and I lost the feeling. I turned back to working through what I had to and before long my family was packed away and Forrest was changed and ready for the day.

“So any gauntlet challenges?! I’m looking forward to having some matches!” he said.

I rolled my eyes at him. “You got the morning off school to help out but there’s no matches like that scheduled for today. How about you ride to catch up with the others and remind Flint that you’re supposed to have gone and caught a pokemon together.”

Forrest sat bolt upright at that. “Oh! Yeah!”

Ash also perked up. “Then we can have a proper match!”

Forrest snorted. “Please my pokemon would crush yours in a one-on-one!”

“Well you drew to me last time, and I know how to beat you this time!” Ash said smugly.

“I’m not going to fall for that this time!” said Forrest hotly.

“Urgh boys!” said Misty as she looked at Greta with a roll of her eyes.

I hummed and set my now empty cup into the dishwasher. “Well you go do that Forrest, and meanwhile everyone else is going to have to vacate. I have some paperwork to see to before the first match of the day and I don’t want you lounging around the house. Why not go see if there are any trainers you might test yourself against? Use that note to gain entry later when you’re ready.”

Greta, Ash and Misty all perked up and joined Forrest on his way out the door. I locked up and then turned to stalk through the house and give it a quick tidy up before moving on to the paperwork. Alexa met me in the Gym and I started to get into the day proper. I drew up an image I had enlarged a few nights ago.

“Alexa, when this trainer or these people around him enter the gym send me a message. They’re scoping us out in preparation and trying to be clever about it.”

“Isn’t… that a good thing to scope out the gym?” Alexa said carefully.

“It would be if they were just going for the Ace challenge which affects Ace standings points. I think they’re bankrolling a few people to challenge me and then see what pokemon I have, what their moves are, and any tricks to watch out for specifically for their team,” I said.

She blinked. “How would you even… the psychic pokemon you’ve been facing?” she asked with a slight frown. I nodded. And she looked down at the picture of faces. “I have seen these people around… is what they’re doing… illegal?”

“No, just highly unsporting. It’s throwing money around to get results. If what I otherwise suspect also occurs? They’re going to be trying to make a bid for the Elite Four. But they’re uncertain about beating me and are trying to improve their odds by getting as much information specific to my team as they can.” I pointed to the photo.

“I can’t stop them from doing it unless something goes wrong, but it’s worth having it documented and when they submit their details I will put it on their file for any employers or the league to review.”

“I’ll notify you immediately if I spot any of these faces,” she said seriously, staring at the photo to commit their faces to memory. “Are you going to do anything else?”

I smiled and finished up the last form I had to do for the morning. I was well ahead of schedule with Flint taking the kids to school. “Me? Oh nothing out of the ordinary…” I smiled like a Meowth that had dividends coming due on their cream company buyout. “It just so happens that my ordinary elite training sees me interacting and sparring my pokemon against Sabrina from Saffron.”

Alexa straightened. “Oh! I see! Well, I’ll be looking forward to your coming matches Gym Leader!” she said collecting the paperwork and setting about sorting it where it needed to go or sealing it in envelopes for later mailing.

I got up and made my way up around the gym. The shelves of pokeballs were all being judiciously worked through with Jackson leading two other trainers in opening the storage port on each pokeball. It was a small button that clicked open and allowed you to attach an item to a pokemon. But we mainly used it to feed pokemon a small food capsule that would see them able to stay in their pokeball for a few days. It wasn’t something you could use reliably for long periods of time as otherwise the pokemon atrophied from lack of movement and proper nutrients but it worked for large stables where the pokemon could be rotated.

With that checked in on I headed up to the trainer lounge where I had a whole half an hour of sitting around waiting with Jackson and Missy.

When it finally came time for the first match there was a small crowd that Missy was more than happy to hype up with her introduction. “From New Bark town! We have the challenger! Ethaaaaaaaan!”

The crowd gave a few cheers and a good amount of applause before they turned towards where I was. I descended and they cheered for me. Poor Ethan swallowed heavily as the moment got to him. I leapt over the railing and landed on the podium to lock eyes with him.

“Trainer, are you ready?” I said as the podium lifted up, throwing on the cocky attitude that had Ethan firming up like a kid to a bully. I gave a small nod at him and my smile grew a touch more honest.

In the middle of the field one of the new hires raised their flags.

“Go! Totodile!” Ethan shouted.

“Onix! Come on out!” I threw forth my Onix to start things off for the week. And just like that things clicked into place.

“Totodile, use Bubble!” “Onix! Sand Attack! Go for the eyes!” We both shouted as soon as the flags dropped.

I grinned as Ethan set the field up with watery bubbles that stopped the sand attack from connecting and started to close on my pokemon.

“Onix, use Bide!” I said as I set up a trap. Either Ethan had enough strength to push through and knock my pokemon out or he would back off, or… if he wasn’t up to snuff his pokemon was going to get smashed.

It turned out to be the latter case as he pushed for the victory with his pokemon spamming bubbles into my pokemon that had it tighten up on itself before unleashing in a coiled whip that swung around and slammed Ethan’s Totodile away.

The Totodile slammed into the walls and hit the ground only to defiantly rise up with a growl. I nodded. “Your pokemon has endurance, but lacks strength.” I said aloud.

“We’ve got plenty of strength! Totodile! Onix is on its last legs, use Bubble!” he said. His pokemon shot some bubbles and I grunted as they impacted. Onix at this stage was too slow and going into a Dig would have been a bit too rough for a first badge challenge. Ethan had obviously done some training with his starter but he needed to get their special attacks up. Bubble was a good move to create a visual field effect or stopping some other attacks but he would need more.

Before Onix could become too spent from the bubbles impacting him I raised his pokeball. “Return Onix.” I raised another pokeball and tossed it forth to reveal an Aron.

The small metal dog growled.

Ethan brightened up at the new pokemon and I hummed. Interesting, I thought, he must have a plan ready for Aron.

“Aron! Tackle!” I said, causing the small pokemon to throw itself forward into a sprint.

As it closed in on the weakened Totodile Ethan pointed to the side. “Now! Roll to the side and use Mudslap!”

The gator rolled and tried to follow through with the move but it couldn’t do both well enough. The attack whiffed over my pokemon and Aron’s attack just clipped Totodile sending him spinning away with a cry of pain. I breathed a sigh of relief. That move would have been four times as effective against Aron.

It seems Ethan truly had done his research into the first-tier team I typically assembled. He just needed to spend more time training if he was so reliant on one pokemon. As that last move had been very rough.

Despite taking the hit, Totodile straightened up. Ethan leaned forward and grimaced before raising his pokeball. “That’s enough Totodile! We’ll hold you in reserve!” I nodded at the move as Ethan returned his pokemon.

He soon tossed out another pokeball to reveal a Mankey. It hopped from foot to foot as my pokemon growled.

“You’ve done your homework,” I said.

Ethan grinned at me. “I’m leaving here with a badge, Gym Leader Brock!”

“Well I’m not giving them away!” I said loudly back. “Aron, Growl to weaken it!”

“Close in with Karate Chop!” Ethan replied with.

My pokemon growled and then leapt to the side as I ordered it to roll to the side. When Mankey overcommitted I punched forward. “Tackle again, Aron!”

“Take the hit and use Karate Chop to end it!” said Ethan.

His pokemon did so causing the two pokemon to exchange hits with Aron coming off slightly worse for wear.

“Growl again!” I didn’t really want to make this a slap fight but thankfully I had more options than just Tackle and Growl available to me.

“Aron, use Rock Tomb!” beneath the Mankey rocks ruptured upwards and threw Mankey up into the air before he was sent crashing down.

“Uh! Mankey hold on!” Ethan said in shock. Mankey got up and shook its head only to slap its face a bit and screech in anger. Ethan grinned, “Hah! That’s it, use your Rage!”

“Rock Tomb again!” I said only for the hit to end up launching Mankey towards us. Aron gave a metallic yelp as the Mankey came down atop it and began hammering its fists into Aron’s metal body.

I raised my pokeball knowing how this would end. “That’s enough! Return, Aron!”

The small dog vanished from its beating causing Mankey to twitch its body side to side in search of its foe. When it spotted me standing with the pokeball it screeched and made to charge me. Thankfully I didn’t need to punt a raging Mankey as Ethan quickly returned his pokemon and I nodded at him.

I marched up to Ethan and looked him over. He seemed about Ash and Forrest’s age but he had a bit more maturity to how he stood. Like he was confident in what he was.

“Congratulations on your victory and good match. That was a good showing out there. You really showed that you understand type matchings with the moves you used. You would have been able to do a lot of damage to my pokemon with Totodile.” I handed him the boulder badge and he grinned.

“Want some advice?” I said carefully. Some kids got sort of touchy about beating you and then you offering advice. Ethan perked up though.

“If you have any for me, please!” he said happily.

I nodded at him. “Your pokemon tactics aren’t bad but I think you need to work on them a bit more before you come into a match. You had two for your Totodile it seems, but you need a bit more adaptability. There is terrain your pokemon could and should have used during our match.” I point at the water and the rocks.

“It sort of feels like you settled for merely good enough before coming to this match.”

He laced his hands behind his head. “Hahaha! You got me there! I was too eager to get here but I'm glad I did, cause any longer and I might have had to wait an entire month!”

I nodded at that before pointing out the last flaw I had seen. “You also try to charge your way through hits too much. Dodge what you can because you’re not always going to know the effects of certain moves. I saw some good blocking and some attempts but then you dropped it to have Mankey just charge on through. Mankey can be a great berserker pokemon but don’t fall into that trap and train them to contain themselves as much as you can before it becomes a Primeape. If not, you might find it pounding on you much faster than you’re ready for.”

Ethan nodded his head. “Hmmm yeah that’s… I hadn’t considered that. Thanks!”

I smiled. “No problem. You’re a promising trainer and I think if you keep showing this level of thought you’ll do well.”

“Not great though?” he said, catching my word choice.

“You’re gonna have to dig deep for that,” I said firmly. I rubbed my chin. “Think of coming back for the Elite challenge towards the end of the circuit and see how far you’ve come and how far you still have to go.”

He nodded. “I’ll think about it.”

I hummed before taking a picture with him and his team. The Mankey tried to kick me only for me to slide my leg out of the way and for the Mankey to eat dirt. The flash went off perfectly and I chuckled knowing that would make a rather candid moment. Ethan seemed happy enough with it as he decided to accept it as it was instead of retake it.

Then he was off.

I returned to the podium.

One down. At least five more before lunch.

I settled in as the clock ticked down.

And waited.

….

And waited.

…

And waited.

I glanced at the clock and the restless crowd. Then I looked to the referee stand. The man shook his head and spoke into his mike. Around the gym his voice rang out.

“Would the next challenger to the gym please step forward for your allocated time?!” the man squinted at the form he had and then looked at me.

“Brock, I can’t make out this person’s name.” His voice boomed around the gym and I chuckled as he sheepishly toggled the radio from ‘gym-wide’ to just me.

“Well let’s give them another few minutes then just call it a forfeit from no show,” I said. It wasn’t common and I would have thought people would have been much more zealous of their time slot due to the trainer surge.

In the stands, I could almost see Ash twitching to throw himself down to ‘fill the slot’. Him and most of the crowd in truth.

The time passed and the crowd continued to grow more restless. I sighed as people started calling out that they’d fill the slot. I looked at them and shook my head. I looked to the ref. “Call it from a ten count.”

“Alright. The Challenger has ten seconds to appear or their match is forfeit by League rules! Ten!”

I glanced around and looked for anyone that was hurrying. In the tunnel Missy was looking around but she glanced back with a shake of her head.

“Four!”

“Three!”

The crowd had taken up the chant.

“Two!”

“Stop! We got them here!” shouted Rocko as he emerged from the doors at the back of the gym. I frowned at him as he waved his hands behind him. The doors opened and from them, Daniel emerged and at his side the startled-looking trio of Jessie, James and Meowth stared at the arena they found themselves in.

I blinked. What the hell were they… I trailed off as I felt a dark emotion surge through me. Had they been looking to steal from me? I’d known they were going to be no good thieves that sometimes stepped up to the plate when they had to but they were still crooks.

Especially at the start of the story.

I gritted my teeth and leaned forward. “What is going on?” I said.

Damn it all I had been trying to be more active. I was trying not to be passive about things only to have this slip past my notice with the surge, and Ash, and Flint… damn it that was no excuse though!

My tone must have conveyed how very close I was to anger as Rocko took a step back in surprise. Daniel, less used to me, stepped forward.

“Hahaha! Sorry boss, I was showing around my old friends here! I didn’t realise they had challenged the gym!”

What?

Daniel knew Team Rocket? That instantly sent my mind burrowing after small instances that I had been ignoring in a fevered mad conspiracy web plot. Everything he’d ever said and done now became questionable.

Jessie, ever the Leader of the trio, stepped forward when Daniel made to wave them forward.

“Hello! I’m sorry I am… Jessadia! Your Challenger!” she said confidently.

I narrowed my eyes at her. There was a long tense moment where I ignored the crowd, ignored the others and stared into Jessie’s eyes. She held my gaze despite quivering slightly. If anything she slowly became firmer in her stance and more resolved in her conviction to fight me.

Interesting.

“Very well, step forth onto the podium,” I said after giving it a moment’s thought. Perhaps it was madness but I did want to see what she was made of. I’d decide what to do with her while we fought. Jessie didn’t understand what was about to happen but her very character was about to be tested by this fight.

She better not leave anything in doubt.