Pokemon - Solo's Strange Journey

I wake up.

Buneary is still asleep on my chest. 

Lucario's egg is snuggled up right between her and Salandit.

Salandit pretends to be asleep. But it was her tail that woke me up, so I poke her snout to tell her that she's a bad girl.

In retaliation she (lightly) smacks my balls with her tail, while she continues to pretend to be asleep.

Unbelievable.

Anyway, I check my phone before I start waking up the whole room with my morning rituals.

An alarm is scheduled to ring in 1 hour and 26 minutes. Weird.

Zoey sent me a message before she went to bed yesterday.

Zoey: "Good luck tomorrow. *Victini" A small sticker of a Victini is attached to the message.

Good luck? Why? 

...

Oh shit! The gym challenge!

I sit up on the couch and the usual, comforting panic starts settling in. 

Buneary and Salandit are tossed off from my body in a mess of complaints and growling.

Time seems to rush by.

The girls complain about me stressing out.

I use the pellet press to make a small breakfast for me and the pokemon as well as a small lunch for later so we don't run out of energy in the middle of battle.

The alarm goes off because I forgot to turn it off and Dawn complains again about being woken up a second time already.

I give myself, Buneary and Salandit a quick bath and scrub to make us all very presentable.

It's then that I realize that I still don't have specialized oils for Salandit yet and panic grows even more.

Now her skin won't be perfect for the battle!

Akari is nice enough to hand me something she made herself... I'm not sure how she does that stuff all the time, but I take what I can at this point.

Buneary's fur is shiny and smooth. Salandit's skin sparkles and looks almost perfect.

My own suit pants and dress shirt come freshly ironed out of my infinite space bag. Good thinking Past-Swole; I'm glad I got that done in Jubilife City before heading out.

I get dressed and pull my sleeves up. Then toss up my hair a little to make it wilder...

It looks awful. Dreadful, really.

"Dawn! I need your help!"

She crashes through the bathroom door. "What!? What happened? Did you hurt yourself?"

"No. I need your help with my outfit. It looks wrong!"

"You look nice."

Just nice?! "I need to look perfect!"

"OMA, what the fuck is wrong with him." She quietly says under her breath.

"My outfit is wrong."

She rolls her eyes but still rolls down my sleeves before rolling them up properly.

Then she tosses up my hair, so it looks wild in a proper way.

"There you go!"

"Thanks! You're an angel."

"It looks exactly the same as before."

"Nuh uh. It looks much better now."

"Uh huh. Wait here for a second, I'm getting my hairspray to set your hair. Oh, and do you have a razor? You need a shave."

I do!?

Yes! I do! There are a few beard hairs growing on my cheek and upper lip! Sweet!

"But I don't have a razor." It wasn't an issue before.

"Alright. Then I will just get my tweezers and we can pull them out."

... Did I hear that wrong?

She- She wants to pull out my beard?!

"Don't be a baby. They regrow."

"Don't you have a razor?"

"Well... I do... But that one is for my legs and... stuff."

What's stuff? Arms? "I don't mind legs and stuff. If you don't mind sharing... I would prefer it a lot over having them pulled out."

"Sigh-- I mean, good grief. Alright."

Is she stealing my style? Well, she's doing me a favor, so I shall let it pass.

"By the way," Dawn starts as she applies some hairspray on me. "What show was that from? You used to talk about it all the time."

"You said you watched it!"

"Oh... right. I lied. But now I want to watch it. It was something-something Strange Journey, right?"

Girls... "It's called Jojo's Bizarre Adventure."

My eyes widen for a moment when I see the razor come closer to my face but I relax again and just let Dawn do her work.

Dawn knows what she's doing. She wouldn't cut me.

And after 3 short swiping motions, my beard is gone... I will miss you, my precious. Until we meet again.

"Now, let me take a look." Dawn says once everything is done.

I step back and see Akari and Marley sneaking some peeks through the doorway.

"Wow! You look nice! - Perfect, I mean, of course. With how much effort you put into today, I really think I will need to improve a lot before my next performance! What do you think about some eyeliner? It would bring your eyes out even more."

"Thanks! And no thanks. I'm not gay."

"Lots of men wear makeup."

"And they are all gay."

"I'm not suggesting you put on blush and lipstick. Just a thin black line on your eyelid. Like Marley wears it."

I look towards the door where Marley hides behind Akari after being mentioned.

Her eyes do look very pretty. And they do stand out. 

But they look incredibly feminine too. "No way. I don't want to look like a pretty girl. I'm a manly man."

I do another quick check-up on the time and hold out the phone for Dawn to see.

"Besides, I don't have much time left. We need to get going."

"You still have almost 2 hours."

"Just barely 2 hours."

She rolls her eyes but leaves me alone with my own eyes unmolested by her eyeliner.

I do one last check in the mirror and make sure Buneary's and Salandit's pokeballs are clearly visible on my belt. 

I also remove the emergency pokeball and put it in my backpack.

"Can you hold on to my bag and egg later? I'm not sure if I can just leave it anywhere."

"Sure."

The final thing to consider... "Should I enter the arena with my pokemon out, or in their balls?"

"Urgh. Unbelievable." Dawn mutters. "Leave them outside. It's more you. Now, get on with it or your 2 hours will actually run out."

Oh shit! She's right!

I need to hurry!

---

The sliding door shuts behind me.

My heart is pounding through my chest. Adrenaline is pumping through my veins. My fingers are jittery.

The 20-something year old lady is seated at her desk in the lobby of the gym. She looks up as she notices our approach.

"Oh? You didn't decide to make a runner?" She says instead of a greeting and I hear Dawn miss a step and stumble slightly. "Color me surprised. And here I thought you pissed your pants last time and ran off back to mommy."

She's unfazed by the glare I send her and leaves her seat before walking around the table to talk face-2-face with us. She's a tiny bit taller than me.

As she steps in front of me, I start my counter attack. "Sorry to douse your hopes. But I guess you can't avoid having your gym humiliated today after all."

Instead of getting pissed off, she just grins at me.

"And look at you! Dressed up like a little man, with your little girlfriends."

Wow, she's really pissing me off now.

"Hey-" Dawn starts but gets interrupted by her.

"The changing room is that way." She points out a wide corridor that leads deeper into the building. "You can use it for some last minute preparations. And there are no cameras inside, so you can even discuss your tactics inside."

Cameras? Oh shit! Did the spectacle already start?

"Come on Dawn. She's not worth the effort. Let's get going."

"Humpf. If you say so. Let's go."

We start walking off as a group, past the pillars in the lobby and head down the corridor.

Dawn tries to say something but I motion her to stay quiet until I shut the unisex changing room behind us.

The insides are like a mix of a clothing store changing area and a sports changing room.

It has benches to sit on for team-discussions and the ceiling is very high, likely to fit even taller pokemon like Charizard.

One part of the room has a retracted curtain; The actual changing would happen in there, but I am already ready.

Dawn sits down on the bench and crosses her legs. Sadly, still wearing jeans.

"What the hell was that about? Why was she such a fucking bitch?"

Akari agrees. "She was indeed not very pleasant. Did you have a fight with her beforehand?"

"I think she's playing a character."

"Huh?"

"It's all a show. She mentioned that there aren't any cameras in here, right? That means they were there outside. Either she's actually a total bitch, or she's playing our fight up for the audience."

"That's ridiculous. There's no way--" Dawn starts but is cut off when the door opens up again.

"That's correct!" She eavesdropped on us. "Hi there. I'm Seraphine Tougan, well I will be in a few months. But people call me Sera. It's nice to meet you!"

She waves her hand and I think she's doing that specifically to try to show off her engagement ring.

"So... the last time I was here, it was just a show too?"

"You didn't know? B-but you... played your role pretty good."

Because you pissed me off for real! 

Is what I want to shout out. But with a whole lot of self control, I manage to calmly say this instead: "Because you pissed me off for real."

"Haha. Woups."

'Haha. Woups.' She says. I can't believe it.

"Anyway, you, Ash Ketchum and Paul Shinji have become surprisingly popular here in Sinnoh after your battles in the pokemon school tournament. And I'm here to capitalize on that."

For real?

No way. I'm actually popular?

Holy shit! That's so awesome!

"Wait, what about Akari? Shouldn't she be more popular than all 3 of us? She won."

"Ehhh." Sera looks at her through the corners of her eyes. "She is a little popular because of her tactics... but her interview was boring. Tactics are not the most compelling feature of new trainers."

Oof.

"I do not mind it. I believe I had rather not have half the world know who I am either, to be honest."

"Anyway, it's Byron's job to make the gym battles difficult enough. Meanwhile one of my jobs is to make sure they are entertaining for the viewers! And personally, I believe the context around the battle is half the entertainment. And you did a pretty nice job, in my professional opinion."

"Heh. Thanks."

I didn't even know there was so much publicity around me already.

Dawn didn't know either because she asks. "Is that unusual? I never really bothered to keep up with the kiddie-league." 

... The kiddie league... The unofficial name for the matches of trainers who have never gotten 8 badges or 5 ribbons in a single season.

The noobs. The trainers who suck. And us fresh out of pokemon-school trainers.

"Not really. Every year there are around a dozen new trainers worldwide who get some more publicity. The public loves underdogs after all. People are already betting on how many badges you manage to get."

"Really? What are the rates for me to make it all the way?"

"No idea. You're gonna have to check it yourself. I can't imagine they are good though... Why? Planning to make a profit?"

"Haha. Fuck yeah, I am."

"Good luck then. But you're going to need to win the Mine Badge first. Fight starts in... 26 minutes. You're going to need to go through that hallway." 

Then she points out a long corridor that is brightly illuminated with white LED ceiling lights.

"Do you want your entry to be bright? Because I can turn the lights off and you can emerge from the shadows. I think that would be very cool."

Uhhh... that would actually be very cool.

But wouldn't I be the villain then?

"I'll... I'll take the shadows! With Buneary by my side, I'd make a pretty good villain."

"Salandit!"

"And with you too, of course." I lied. It's just Buneary who has a villainous aura. Salandit is more like an alley rapist. Evil, sure, but not villainous.

"Hell yeah! Finally! There are way too few trainers with a good sense of theatrics. Alright! Good luck with your fight! I'll leave you and your little girlfriends to chat a bit more and then come to send you out at the right moment."

And with that she leaves. 

And shortly after, the lights in the hallway turn off. Turning it into a pit of darkness with only uncertainty ahead.

---

"Well. I would say that this was quite something."

"Haha." Dawn agrees with Akari. "You can say that again."

"Oh? Alright. I would say that this was quite something."

I can hear a face-palm going off but when I look at the source, I just see Marley hiding her face behind her hands from the sudden attention she receives.

My heart is still beating loudly in my ears but strangely enough, the talk with Sera actually managed to calm me down a little bit.

For the next few minutes the girls tried talking with me, probably trying to calm me down further but my head is already in the game.

I sit down on a chair and go through all the tactics we plan to employ one last time.

...

Eventually, Sera comes back in and it's like my mind shuts out everything else. 

I can't really hear what she says to me as I'm being led closer to the pitch black corridor.

At the edge of darkness, I am not alone.

Salandit has her spot on my left shoulder. Buneary on my right. 

But everything else is gone.

I move forward and have a surreal experience as nothing but the echoes of my steps fill the void. Nothing else exists. 

Nothing, except my goals in front of me.

Step. Step. Step.

It's the end of the tunnel. Bright, white light cuts off the darkness and prevents me from seeing what's ahead.

Step. Step. S--

My final step is measured.

With a long gait, with my back straight and one hand in my pocket; This is how I emerge from the shadows.

No thunderous applause comes to greet me as the villain enters the stadium.

A massive rectangle is painted into the ground with white chalk and large boulders are positioned within the rectangle and outside of it.

Some boulders are connected with construction steel beams and a few thick sheets of metal are struck into the ground.

Blue sky, dotted with just a few white clouds, is above us.

... The perfect arena to show the world who I am.

From the corners of my eyes, I notice a Rotom Drone filming our entry.

On my right side is a referee with a Kadabra as his assistant and a little further to my right are the only spectators to my match. His words of my introduction are just static noise to my ears.

Akari, Marley and Dawn with Lucario's egg are sitting in the first row of seats. 

Sera and Byron himself are also in the first row but seated away from the girls. And a small group of 5 gym assistants is further up the rows of the stadium.

The assistants all look like construction workers and electricians in their uniforms.

This is the first time that I'm seeing Byron in real life and not just on TV... I wonder if his hair and beard are dyed. Red, almost pink. And he wears a cape and carries a shovel.

Beside those people, the stadium is eerily empty.

Without breaking my stride, I walk up to my spot in the arena.

Salandit then jumps off my shoulder and lands in front of me, ready for battle and showing off by flaring up her igniphores and hissing out an aggressive hiss.

I look up and see my opponent.

Another gym assistant. This one with a 5 O'Clock shadow and brown hair sticking past his yellow hard-hat. He is dressed like a construction worker.

He's standing with his arms crossed and with 3 standard pokeballs on his belt.

"... With a ruthless ambition that knows no bounds, he is the embodiment of darkness, with a gaze as cold as ice and a heart blacker than night; The ultimate villain!" The referee calls me out of my distracted state with an amazing description for my character!

"Swwoole Solooo!"

I really hope they add cheering in the editing. Because I can only hear Dawn and Akari cheering. Marley is adding some very quiet background noise.

The next person to talk is the trainer in front of me. "You came to Canalave City to stir up trouble, huh? Let's go, Shieldon!" He shouts out as he tosses his right-most pokeball into the air.

Out comes a hip-high fossil pokemon, which has a dark gray metal shield instead of a face and a tiny, yellow, 4-legged body behind it.

"Let's show the kid how the adults fight!"

Despite getting pissed off, I remain in character: 'Cool, aloof and apparently very evil'.

I can't think of a good, insulting response in the heat of the moment, so instead I just ignore him and try to look as unbothered as I can.

No- Actually, I can think of a good response. I glance obviously to the right, to where Byron is seated.

"A fool and his pet rock? This is the best you could prepare? Your incompetence is showing. We can't have our Sinnoh gyms be this pathetic now, can we?" This is so bad, if I lose. "Show them the new standard, Salandit."

Maybe the pause between his insult and mine was too long but hot damn, if that wasn't so fucking cool! 

And the guy's fists are actually shaking in anger!

"Enough with the playground insults." The referee calls out. "Are you both ready for a fight?"

"Yes. Let's start this." Sounds out from across the battlefield, immediately.

I check up on Salandit before giving my response. Her eyes are transfixed on Shieldon and her head gives me a subtle nod.

Another glace is given to a large clock and status display that is built into the side of the stadium.

It's showing 5 pokeballs; 1 with Salandit inside, another with Shieldon inside and 3 with ?-Unown as a placeholder.

But more importantly, the clock shows that it's currently 11:58 on the dot.

"We're ready."

---

"Beeegin, the fiiiight!" The referee shouts out before a buzzer sounds out to begin the match.

"Poison Gas!" - "Take Down! And dodge the attack!"

Before I even finish the first syllable of my order, Salandit is already running towards the closest steel-beam pillar and climbs up it.

Shieldon starts running across the battlefield with a white glow around his body.

"Hah! You think I don't know about Salandit's ability?" He says but doesn't realize our strategy doesn't even rely on his incompetence anymore.

Once Salandit reaches the very top of the steel pillar, she jumps up a little further into the air and releases a glob of poison, aimed into the path of Shieldon's charge.

"Dodge it!"

His turn radius is too large.

The glob misses by a long shot. However, when the glob impacts the ground, it quickly expands into a large cloud of poison and Shieldon runs into the edge of the cloud.

When he comes back out of the cloud, just a moment later, he has some obvious discoloration on the metallic surfaces of his body.

Salandit is still falling from her jump, but without another order, she has already begun glowing a soft, white light.

I take another look at the clock. 11:59:34.

Shieldon is just a meter in front of Salandit, when suddenly a translucent shield appears between them.

Shieldon smacks into it. The shield fractures into a spiderweb of fragments and then dissipates. But his momentum is gone.

And Salandit is already running away and charging her next attack.

"Rock Blast!"

Instead of running after Salandit, a small boulder is seemingly pulled out of the ground and Shieldon smashes his head against it.

He smashes the boulder into smaller pieces that are propelled at incredible speeds, in an almost straight line across the battlefield.

But just moments before hitting Salandit, she disappears from sight because of how fast she has suddenly become.

She zooms past the Rock Blast and hits Shieldon in his face, but Shieldon barely feels it.

11:59:58

"Headbutt!" 

Sweet! He didn't notice it.

Salandit readies herself and takes the hit.

Headbutt's damage was denied but she is still knocked back by a few meters from the heavy impact.

However, Salandit learned to take the physical hits from Buneary and manages to land back on all fours.

Her igniphores blaze up and she prepares her next move.

"Shieldon, use Protect!"

Hah! He still hasn't realized it!

3 balls of purple glowing fire shoot out of Salandit's mouth and home in on Shieldon.

"Sh-Shucks! Get behind something!"

Fuck. He saw Protect is failing? "Salandit, block his escape with Scratch!"

Shieldon is slightly faster than the Will-O-Wisp orbs but Salandit is much faster than both of them and she gets in Shieldon's way.

A hasty Scratch connects with his face but he just tanks it and barrels through her. 

But the obstacle slowed him down enough for Will-O-Wisp to catch up and envelop him in a blazing inferno for a short second.

"Perfect! Phase 2, Salandit!"

Salandit scrambles up from the ground and starts running away.

"No! F-Fudge! Shieldon, run after it!"

'It'!? Asshole!

"Salandit! Let's humiliate him!"

Salandit runs behind a solid steel sheet and disappears from view.

Shieldon is hot on her tail and runs after her. A second or two later, he reappears on the other side of the steel obstacle. 

With Salandit nowhere in sight.

He continues running.

After he completes a full circle around the metal sheet, he stops running and looks around in confusion.

Salandit then climbs on top of the metal sheet and pokes her head over it and shoots out a short and weak Ember attack.

"Look out! Above you!"

Just when Shieldon looks up, a few Ember bullets hit him in his ass and Salandit hides behind the metal sheet again and her hissing laughter sounds out from her hiding spot.

Was that a Critical Hit? He jumps forwards in pain as if it was.

"Knock it off with Iron Head!"

Shieldon bites through the pain and pulls himself together. His head takes on a metallic sheen while he gets ready to ram into the steel obstacle.

"Salandit, get out of there!"

Too late. Shieldon rams into the metal and with a solid Bang of metal against metal, he rips the whole obstacle out of the ground and tosses it across the arena.

"Salandit!" My heart drops to my stomach at the thought of Salandit getting stuck underneath it.

But luckily, Salandit is nimble enough to just barely avoid getting crushed. Instead she falls to the ground in a small heap, outside the chalk markings of the arena.

Which, contrary to popular belief, isn't a disqualification. The markings only exist to make sure everyone knows where to stand at the beginning of the battle.

"Are you alright?"

"Sa!" She replies as she gets back up on all fours before hissing at Shieldon.

"That's my girl!" A quick look at the battle-display shows it's 12:03:02. Just a few more seconds before Salandit can use Protect again. "Prepare to tank, Salandit."

A code-phrase.

Salandit is pretty smart and unlike Buneary, she can keep track of strategies, code-words and phrases.

"Tank that, you id- you fool! Shieldon, use Bulldoze!"

Once again, Shieldon charges across the battlefield; This time shaking the ground with each stomp of his super-heavy, little feet.

Salandit simply digs her front claws into the ground, squares her shoulders and stays firmly in place. 

Shieldon slowly but surely stomps closer but suddenly, Salandit's claws come back out and a fine mist of sand is tossed into Shieldon's eyes.

Sand Attack.

Shieldon continues his attack with closed eyes in a straight line and Salandit easily dodges the attack despite the unsteady ground.

"To your left!" His trainer calls out but Shieldon can't turn far enough and his move runs out of steam without hitting Salandit.

Next, a pink mist comes from Salandit's body and gently floats towards Shieldon.

"Get away from there!" But he cannot.

Shieldon was too busy rubbing at his eyes to take in the order and move out in time.

Sweet Scent envelops him and his movements become slow and delayed. As if heavily drunk.

He continues to claw at his own face but with his balance impaired, he falls over.

Struggling to get up, he writhes in pain while his trainer stands in silence.

Probably thinking of a solution.

"Damn it! Shieldon, return!" A red beam of light envelops Shieldon and returns him back into his trainer's pokeball.

A loud buzzer rings out and the referee calls out. "And Salandit wins the first round! Unbelievable!"

Fuck yes! First win down, 2 more to go!

"Salandit, get back into position."

She obeys despite the building up fatigue. 

Salandit is a glass cannon. Despite not a single attack connecting directly, she's already close to defeat.

12:03:57 shows the battle display.

Shieldon's pokeball is also grayed out now and crossed out with a thick, red X.

---

"This battle requires some speed. And I know just the right choice!" The trainer states before selecting the middle pokeball on his belt.

As if he had so many options to choose from.

"Pawniard, finish this!"

The ball is tossed high into the air and the beam releases Pawniard directly on the ground.

The red beam dissipates and a small humanoid figure remains in its place. He's just a little bit shorter than Buneary, is covered in metal blades and appears to wear a red helmet.

Very edgy.

He slides his bladed hands along each other to create a high-pitched, harsh sound.

An edgy, dark and steel type pokemon. Perfect for Buneary's fighting type attacks.

"Are you both ready for the next round?" The referee asks.

"We are." I call out.

"Yes." The other trainer replies.

"Staaart the round, GO!" And a buzzer sounds out again.

"Salandit, we're not changing tactics. Poison Gas."

"The same shi- stuff won't work twice! Pawniard, Aerial Ace!"

Pawniard's body begins glowing in a soft, blue light.

"Salandit, you know where to aim."

This might be it. The moment that decides the fight.

My nails bite into my palm as I await Aerial Ace.

Suddenly, Pawniard disappears and instantly reappears behind Salandit.

In the same moment, a transparent shield appears to protect Salandit.

Protect fractures into millions of pieces and Pawniard's momentum carries him into Salandit's back but all the flying type energy was wasted on the shield.

Salandit tumbles over a few times but she bites through the pain and her back starts glowing up at the same time as she returns to her battle-ready stance.

"Now! Incinerate!"

Come on...

"It's not Poison Gas? Tank it! And use Assurance!"

Yes! You fucking idiot! You fell for it!

Will-O-Wisp moves out of Salandit's mouth and converges on Pawniard. 3 small balls of fire become a short but blazing inferno and leave Pawniard with the burn effect!

Right after, Pawniard slaps Salandit in her face with a blackened claw.

The dark type move becomes stronger if the user tanks damage during the charging period, but status moves don't count!

And with burn's side-effect of reducing attacking power, even Salandit is capable of tanking the move...

She is still flung across the battlefield and is left in a heap, struggling to get back up.

"I use my swap!" I call out loudly for the referee to hear.

"Bullshit!-- Fffudge, I mean, bullshucks." The other trainer curses out while the referee makes the motions for a timeout.

Behind the referee, I can see Sera shaking her head in disappointment and Byron struggling to keep his laughter from escaping.

Salandit takes her sweet time while walking back to me.

My one free swap as a challenger to a gym battle. As the challenger, the standard rules apply to me. 

I get half as many swaps as I have pokemon on my team; Rounded down, but since I just have 2, it's 1 no matter what way I round.

The gym leader, or assistant in this case, doesn't get any.

"Oh, come on! Return it to your pokeball already!"

I could call her back to her pokeball, but I'm trying to waste time here. 

Burn will continue to deal damage while we take our sweet time.

The rules don't state that I need to fight with pokeballs. Hehe.

Once she has returned to my side, Buneary jumps off and hops to our starting spot in the arena.

"Time to show them how a real brawler fights, right Buneary?"

"Grrrr! Bun!" She growls out as intimidating as she can, but it doesn't affect Pawniard.

These pokemon are actually really well trained, compared to what we battled before.

And the trainer isn't actually bad either. No unnecessary movement, no time wasting, no missed opportunity.

Hehe, but we're simply better. I can't help but let my own manic grin spread on my face to match Buneary's mood.

"Are you both ready?"

"Yes! Get on with it!"

12:05:15

I pick up Salandit and place her on my shoulder before giving my signal. "Yes!"

"Rooound 2, continue!"

"Slash!" - "Fake Out!"

Buneary starts glowing in the same color as Pawniard's claw.

"Change...-- Change to Quick Guard!" He's becoming unsure of his orders.

Pawniard aborts his attack and Buneary speeds across the battlefield.

Buneary smashes a paw-ful punch into Pawniard but he blocks the attack with his arms crossed. A blast of fighting type energy dissipates from the contact area.

"Low Sweep!" - "Splash into Jump Kick!"

Pawniard kicks at Buneary's legs but she simply hops over the attack with a small burst of normal type energy.

Way up in the air, she starts charging Jump Kick immediately.

The guy's eyes widen in shock as he realizes the danger his pokemon is in. "Dodge!"

Pawniard jumps back but Buneary still connects with a glancing hit. Her Jump Kick strikes against his leg before smashing a small crater into the ground.

"Double Kick!" Without giving Pawniard even a second to think, Buneary's kicks land upon his body. 

Sadly, the first hit smashes him away and into a boulder already, leaving the second one to dissipate into the air.

"After him with Quick Attack!" She speeds after him.

"Quick Guard again!"

"Abort, change to Pound!" Her speed slows down but the last few steps are easily made and she smashes her ears into Pawniard.

His Quick Guard fails him against the move.

"Headbutt!"

Finally! A strong move! "Protect!"

Pawniard's head smashes into Buneary's Protect. With him cornered by the boulder, this gives us the perfect opportunity.

"Jump Kick, again!"

"Get out of there!"

But our most well-trained move is too fast. Buneary drop kicks Pawniard and he crashes through the boulder, scattering a cloud of rocks of various sizes around the arena.

"Pawniard, no!" 

I can't see him past the debris.

"Buneary run through there and--" A loud buzzer interrupts my order.

"Pawniard is unable to continue to battle! Buneary wins the second round!"

12:07:03

Holy crap.

My heart is racing.

That... that was too fast! Salandit still needs time to recover for the next use of Fake Out. 

Our strategy relies on it being ready!

She got her recovery time for that move down to 13 minutes and 30 seconds... FUCK! Buneary needs to hold out for 6 more minutes in the last round!

Buneary is already breathing heavy too.

This is bad!

That fight was way too intense.

Buneary is back in her place in the arena. Her breathing is very noticeable. 

"You doing alright?" I ask her. 

As long as the opponent's pokemon isn't out, I'm free to communicate with her.

"Bun!"

"You need to hold out for 6 minutes. Can you do it?"

"Bun!" She replies without hesitation.

Her determination is infectious.

That's when I notice the other trainer's hand going to the 3rd and last pokeball on his belt.

---

"Oh? It looks like our defending champion is ready to release his 3rd and final pokemon!"

The referee is providing some commentary, while the 'champion' unclips his 3rd ball and expands it.

"I wonder what it's going to be? Right now, it's a humiliating 2-0 against the Canalave City gym! Will the hero pull through and prevail in the final round? Or will the villainous usurper reign supreme and move on to humiliate the next gym?"

'Villainous usurper'? Sounds cool.

"Defender! Release. Your. Pokemon!"

With a flourishing back-swing of his arm, the defender leans back and throws the ball as high as he can.

Mid-air, the ball pops open and releases a pokemon.

A steel-gray pokemon lands on 6 metallic legs on the other side of the arena.

She is shaped like a gigantic ant. A Durant.

Her pincers snap closed a few times with sharp, metallic clangs and her red eyes shine with malice at Buneary.

One of her legs stomps on a small rock and smashes it to dust.

The arena itself has seen better days already. 

One steel-sheet obstacle is stuck inside the left arena-wall and one rock obstacle has shattered into hundreds of pieces and has covered the arena in sharp rocks.

A jungle of steel-beams and other obstacles still remains and can be abused for fighting.

I know that Durant is a bug and steel type pokemon, for which Salandit is a really good counter. But a look to my left shoulder confirms that she still needs more time to recover.

Buneary's normal type will be as useless against it as it was against Pawniard because of the steel type. The fighting type and dark type are both merely 100% effective.

I think the only super effective type against Durant is fire?

So we really do rely on Salandit to carry the match.

"Are both contestants ready?" The referee begins to press for time.

My heart is thumping.

"Yes!" The other trainer calls out.

No more stalling.

"We're ready!"

"Let the final fight... begin!"

Bzzzt!

"Start with Agility!" 

That's bad! "Interrupt with Fling!"

Buneary stops running across the field and picks up the nearest rock instead.

As quickly as Buneary can, she charges up some dark type energy and throws the rock across the arena.

Durant, who needed to relax for a moment in order to use Agility, fails the move when she skitters to the side to dodge the projectile.

That was close. Durant is a fast little critter already. If Agility came through, that would have been it!

"Quick Attack, Buneary. Start the brawl!"

She resumes her sprint, this time even faster with normal type energy empowering her.

"Use Metal Claw and kick it away!"

Two of Durant's legs start shining with a metallic silver light.

Without the burn status effect, we can't trade anymore, so I wait until the last possible moment...

"Up and Double Kick!"

Buneary's reaction time is almost instantaneous and she easily vaults over Durant's attack because of how small the ant pokemon is.

Pang!

The first kick hits the hard, metallic surface of Durant's back.

"Attack up!" But the angle is too bad for Durant.

Buneary has no trouble sneaking past her counter attack and hitting the second kick as well.

Pang!

Durant's back might be harder to damage, but she can't counter attack if we attack her from above.

Actually, she's metal all over! Does she have any weak-spots? Her antennae? Her eyes? 

Her eyes, I bet!

"Bite!"

"Dodge and counter attack with ... Double Hit and Pound!" Fuck! I don't have enough good options!

Durant's jaws clamp down on thin air since Buneary is just slightly too nimble and fast for her to hit.

Ping. Ping.

Too much defense.

But we just need to bide our time. "Then retreat and use Baby-Doll Eyes."

Ping.

Three hits connect but I doubt they really did any damage. Right after landing Pound, Buneary jumps on a nearby boulder and starts collecting fairy type energy.

"Use dig to get below ground!"

Not good.

Durant starts clawing at the ground and starts digging at the same time as Baby-Doll Eyes pink energy starts seeping into her.

"Buneary, get somewhere safe. Get on the pillar behind you, then use Defense Curl."

She hops from the boulder to the pillar in a single jump and starts doing sit-ups. Her body is just barely small enough to not fall off while doing that.

12:11:33

Still 2 minutes before Salandit can use Fake Out again... And 6 for Buneary. When was her last Protect?

"Another Defense Curl."

It was to help finish off Pawniard; 12:07:something.

So 1 minute 30 seconds to be on the safe side. Not earlier. Failing Protect would be even worse than simply tanking something.

The other guy is grinning at me as if I didn't know that Durant is using Agility and maybe even Iron Defense down there.

"Do your 3rd Defense Curl."

This manages to wipe his grin off at least.

"Didn't expect us to do 3, huh?" My own smirk grows back.

In response, he just frowns a little. If he's anything like me, that means he's going through some numbers for his next move.

But then he facepalms himself before settling on a smug grin again... 

He has a plan. And it's not affected by Defense Curl... 

I don't like it.

"Buneary," I whisper out while keeping my eyes laser focused on the guy. "Prepare Charm. Keep it ready for when Durant comes back."

He's staring back at me with his own laser focused eyes. 

There's no way he didn't notice me giving Buneary a command just now.

... Durant has been gone for some time already. Is she still not ready to attack?

What is she doing down there?

Aura! Oh right! I can use aura to check what Durant is doing!

I close my eyes and try to focus as hard as I can. 

I ignore my racing heart, the noise of the Rotom Drone and the sudden, rising feeling of dread and just focus on my sixth sense instead.

...

Wait... what is...

Oh no.

"Jump away! Buneary!"

Fwooosh!

All of a sudden, the pillar of steel is replaced with a pillar of metallic light shooting up to the sky!

What the fuck is that!?

The entire stadium is brightly illuminated by this strange metallic light show.

Is Buneary alright? Did she get hit by that? Oh Arceus...

Eventually, the pillar of light becomes thinner and thinner until it disappears.

The steel beam which used to be Buneary's platform is gone. 

Instead there is now just a shallow hole in the ground, filled with red glowing slag and with Durant heavily breathing in the center of it. 

And far up in the sky, there is a hole in a cloud.

The power of pokemon... Incredible.

That move... Was it Flash Cannon? For a first gym badge?-- Buneary!

Buneary is... 

She must have obeyed without a single moment of hesitation.

Buneary is fine! She's back on the boulder again.

Her mouth is wide open, mirroring my own shocked amazement.

Her body still keeps a slight pink glow from holding in Charm.

"What?! How did you dodge Flash Cannon! Damn!"

I ignore him. "Buneary, use Charm!"

Buneary snaps out of her overwhelmed state and a large amount of pink energy zooms across the battlefield and soaks into Durant.

"Ahh! Shucks! Durant, get your head back in the game! It's not over yet!"

Durant shakes her head to shake off her onsetting exhaustion. 

They must have hoped to finish the fight with that move.

But considering Buneary's really good special defense, that seems unlikely at best.

12:13:07 Protect is ready.

Phase 2 starts now.

"Another Charm!"

... A rather anti-climactic choice for the beginning of phase 2.

"No way! Don't let it go through with that! Use ... Thunder Wave, quickly!"

Huh? Do they have no other ranged options? Does she only know Flash Cannon as a ranged move?

After Agility, Durant is actually fast enough to fire off Thunder Wave long before Buneary gets out her second Charm attack.

But the move just washes uselessly over Buneary and then a second Charm seeps into Durant.

"Damn it! Did it even get paralyzed!?"

Heheh, nope. But he doesn't have to know that for sure. "Use Fling."

"Just dodge it. And then attack it with Fury Cutter!"

Durant manages to dodge another small rock without any issues at all. Her speed is just too great. And Buneary's aim is too bad in the heat of the moment.

Durant sprints across the ground and then up the boulder. Each step driving her metallic legs into the rock-surface and puncturing holes into the boulder.

"Dodge up and Double Hit."

Fury Cutter misses by a hair's breadth and Buneary manages to punch Durant's back once, before she skitters off with incredible speed to reposition herself on the other end of the boulder.

"Follow up with Pound." - "Bite! Don't let it outmaneuver you!"

Buneary once again tries to jump over Durant's head but this time, she is not fast enough. 

Durant suddenly shoots forward and her pincers clamp down around Buneary's leg.

Flinch.

Buneary screams out in pain and the white energy from her ears dissipates into thin air.

"Don't let it go! Keep biting with Bug Bite!" 

"Protect! Then Jump Kick!"

A shield suddenly appears; It manages to push Durant away with a great force but her jaws had kept a strong hold on Buneary's leg. 

Twin streaks of blood spout out from the contact points and chase after Durant.

The ant pokemon is pushed off and tossed down the boulder.

Buneary bites through the pain and jumps down right behind her.

Boom!

With all her might, Buneary smashes into the unprotected underside of Durant's body, smashing her into the ground and creating a small crater in the process.

"Metal Claw!" - "Tank it and Double Kick!"

Durant is still laying on her back and Buneary is right on top of her.

The claws are faster and slice into Buneary twice but Buneary tanks it like a champ before kicking into Durant's underside twice.

"Bug Bite!" - "Keep tanking, Double Hit and Pound!"

Durant chomps down on Buneary's hurt leg once more!

Buneary ignores her and pummels her in retaliation!

"Keep up the hits, Double Kick again!" - "Bite!"

Screams of pain and frustration echo through the stadium but Buneary keeps kicking Durant in the head with her good leg.

"Fury Cutter!" - "Flail!"

Durant's legs start shining in a dangerous looking green color but Buneary's Flail is outshining it.

One leg stabs into Buneary but that only fuels Flail further.

With all her limbs, Buneary starts smashing into Durant wildly; With no sense of self preservation, she gets stabbed over and over again by Fury Cutter.

Smash, stab, punch, strike, stab...

It just keeps going and blood starts spraying with every stab.

Then dust is kicked by their brawling and hides them from view.

But neither of them are giving up. The sounds of battle keep ringing out from the cloud of sand and dust. 

Blood keeps spraying out in small spurts of crimson.

But eventually... their energy runs out. 

Buneary is out of normal type power. 

Durant is out of bug type power.

The dust settles...

Revealing both pokemon in a terrible state.

Buneary is blood covered from ears to toes.

Durant is covered in dents and fractures.

Neither can breathe properly.

But neither are KO.

But ... I can feel Buneary's determination.

"Grrrrr." A low, wild and savage growl fills the silence of the stadium.

Her will to win. It's palpable. 

This isn't over for her. 

This isn't over for us!

"Jump Kick! Finish this!"

"No! Get away from her!"

Buneary jumps up, as high as she can with her battered body.

Her legs are slick with blood but sparkling with power.

At the very top of her vertical jump, she appears like a truly savage fighter. 

My battle angel.

Her legs come down again and Durant cannot escape.

Her legs can't get a hold in the sandy crater and she's struggling like a Turtwig on its back.

Boom!

Critical Hit!

"WRRYYYYY!" A blood curdling scream tells us of the result of the battle.

Buneary won.

Thump Her muscles visibly relax. She falls face-forward to the ground.

The buzzer rings out, confirming the end of the battle.

On the ground are both pokemon, passed out, blood covered, dented, broken and battered.

But despite being passed out, I just know that Buneary is satisfied.

"Durant and Buneary are both KO!" The referee's voice rings out. "However! With Durant passing out first and Salandit still in battle-ready condition, the challenger wins the fight!"

---

Cheering, booing and the noise of my own blood pumping harshly through my veins overwhelms my ears.

A red light flashes through my vision as I take slow and shaky steps forward.

I did not have to walk far to reach Buneary.

... Even though it's the 4th time now, seeing her half-dead on the ground doesn't really get any easier.

Bidoof. Ariados. Quilava. Durant.

Oh! And the random space-time distortion. The 'Space Time Convergence' where she just hit her head, if that counts. That's 5 then.

As gently as I can, I pick her up. "You did extremely well. Good job. Now get some rest." And I give her a little kiss on her forehead.

"Salandit!"

"And you too. Your fight was really good."

After pressing the button of her pokeball on my belt, red light envelops her inside my arms and she disappears.

"... Salandit!"

"You want a little kiss too? Alright. Just this one time." And I give her a little kiss on her cheek.

As soon as I'm done here, I'm going to head straight for the pokemon center.

... Speaking of done here, Dawn has started a commotion in the viewer seats. She has started to insult the gym assistants for booing at me.

Sera is observing the situation and Byron is talking with my opponent right now.

Never mind. Just as I looked in their direction, they began walking towards me.

"Humpf." Byron makes a rough and deep sound before talking. "It looks like our gym really is falling off if a punk like you can just do whatever he wants. Here."

He holds out the Mine Badge.

Which is a thumb-sized brooch. It depicts 3 blue pick-axes around a brownish-red piece of rusted iron.

"Take it and leave us. I will need to whip my trainers thoroughly into shape; But don't think you can defeat all of us this easily! My brother Roark is the gym leader of Oreburgh City. You won't stand a chance against him."

O M A!!!

I GOT MY FIRST GYM BADGE!!!

Deep breaths, Swole Solo. You have your role to play.

Oh my Arceus. It's so hard to keep myself from grinning.

"Th--" Don't say thanks! "Then you better tell him to give me a better challenge."

My hand is unsteady and shaky as it reaches towards the badge.

Watching it move feels so surreal. Watching it grasp around the cold, steel badge.

The Mine Badge. It's mine now. "Heh." Fuck!

Play it off! "Heh. 7 more to go."

With that I turn on the spot and walk away.

My hands, pulled into tight fists; The edges of the badge are biting into the skin on my right hand.

I feel Salandit's tail swishing around nervously on my back.

The corridor is still cloaked in darkness and I disappear through it and return to the shadows from where I came... 

Sweet Mew, that's so edgy.

"Cut!" Sera's voice rings out loudly from the stadium. "Swole, can you come back?"

Almost immediately I can feel my face stretch into a massive grin.

With almost a literal spring in my step I go back inside the stadium. 

Sera is now standing beside Byron and the construction workers and electricians have grouped together, giving me applause and cheers.

"Hahaha! That. Was. Amazing!" I can help but shout out.

"Dude!" Dawn shouts as she gives me a surprise hug from the side. "That was sooo cool!"

"Hahaha! I know, right? Holy shit, I'm still shaking."

"That was indeed very cold. Watching your battle did give me the 'chills' as they say." Akari agrees but doesn't hug me.

"... I like your style..." Marley finishes the round off.

"Come on kids, stop flirting." Sera interrupts us. "I'm sure the future champ wants to get to the pokemon center quickly. Let's wrap this up."

... But nothing happens. 

Sera is standing around, waiting for something. Byron leans a little on his shovel while stroking his beard with his other hand.

Then she starts glaring.

What do they want?

She elbows Byron in his side.

"Oh! Yes. That was my cue. I get it..." His voice is just as rough and deep as when he was acting. 

"First off, congratulations on winning the match, it was a really good fight for your first gym battle and the usual 10.000₽ payout for winning a gym battle will be on your banking account by the evening."

Fuck yeah! Money!

"And, since the league has decided to up the difficulty this year; They have also upped the rewards."

He puts his hand into a pocket which is sewn into the inside of his cape. "This." He slowly pulls something out. "Is the TM Flash Cannon."

What!? No fucking way!

Please don't fucking prank me, bro.

"And it is yours now."

Fuck yeah! "Holy Mew! Thanks!"

"No thanks needed. You deserve it. The difficulty can barely be compared with last year. I had personally raised Shieldon and Durant. Last year, Shieldon would have been the 'boss fight' for a gym battle and Durant a 3rd and 4th gym-badge fighter."

"And you did it with just 2 fucking pokemon!" The trainer who fought me says while Sera glares holes into him. "Man, I honestly thought I was gonna fucking win this. Mighty impressive!"

"Hehe. Thanks!" I end up scratching the back of my head.

The praise is just too much. Hehe.

"And, Dawn, right?" Sera asks. "Well done, starting to fight the other assistants. I saw Swole breaking character and your distraction was the perfect excuse to look away with the cameras. Good thinking!"

"Ha. Ha. Yes. Good thinking. Right..."

"Anyway; As nice as this is." I say with a bright smile still plastered on my face. "I really do want to get Buneary some treatment as soon as I can."

"Uhahaha." Byron's loud and deep laugh echoes through the stadium. "Don't let us keep you. Goodbye, trainers."

"Bye!" - "Farewell." - "Bye..." - "See you someday. Bye."

We all give our own goodbyes while Dawn hands me back my egg and backpack. 

Sera gives us a friendly wave and then, together, we all head out towards the entrance, where I came from. 

We step into the darkness.

Freshly coming out of the stadium, my eyes are too used to the light and the inside of the corridor is way too dark for me to see anything.

But still, Salandit notices something is off. She taps my shoulder to gets me to stop.

Then suddenly, blindingly bright yellow light shines out from somewhere ahead of us, causing me to put my hand in front of my face to protect my eyes.

Slow and steady applause sounds out.

"Well done, son. You chose your pokemon well." A calm and rock steady voice rings out.

"D-dad?"

"I saw your match." I open my eyes and try to see past the glaring brightness.

It's dad's Ampharos. The yellow electric pokemon's bulbous tail glows like a light-house.

Next to him is my father.

He's wearing a gray Team Galactic uniform-- No, not just a uniform. Like Mars, he wears a custom outfit in Team Galactic's colors and style. 

He's an officer in Team Galactic?

A gray business suit with a few yellow lines and symbols.

His eyes are scanning each of us carefully but I can't tell what he focuses on because of the glaring light.

"Don't worry about getting a wristwatch." He says. "I will send you a proper one."

What?

"Akari Platinum. And Marley Diamond. I am here to pick you up. Your mission begins today."

What?

"Yes... sir." - "Yes, sensei." 

Dad is their boss? What's going on?

"Hey, wait a second!"

I thought I would have some more time with them... I pull something out of my backpack. 

I had gotten some jewelry for all of the girls.

For Marley, the seller in the harbor had these cute little black and white Ledyba earrings.

And just like with Akari's ring, I just had this feeling like this was perfect for Marley. "I got them for you."

"Uhhh! They are so cute! Thank you so much!" She gives me a hug. "Ahem... I mean..." She immediately retreats back after just a second of intense hugging. "Thanks..."

"Heh." My dad lets out a weird sound that might have been a chuckle. "Like father, like son. But Miss Platinum; I hope you know what a gifted ring on the left ring-finger means?"

"I am aware. And it is Mrs. Platinum."

Dad's piercing gaze changes to me and he waits expectantly for my answer.

Put on the spot like that, I can do nothing but nod my head.

For just a moment, it appears as if a big smile crosses his face; But that was probably just a trick of the light.

"You should tell Elizabeth."

Oh shit! He's right! I forgot to tell mom!

Then he turns around and leaves.

Marley says a quick and quiet goodbye to Dawn and me.

Akari gives me another short and tender kiss on the lips. 

"Another one?"

She gives me 2 short and tender kisses on the lips. 

"Farewell." But then she follows after Marley to keep up with dad's long stride.

Ampharos' light recedes and Dawn and I are left behind in the darkness.

...

"Goodbye..."