I arrived in Mauville the day before my registered slot. The room I had reserved in the Pokémon Center was available, so I actually had a place to stay.

And the most wonderful thing about it was that now that the season had started, rooms and meals were free.

It was exactly what I was waiting for. I got a taste of free boarding when I stayed with Wally's family for a month, but actually staying in a Pokémon Center for free?

Bliss.

The best part was that this was Mauville, the city with all the extra amenities in their Pokémon Centers, and I didn't have to pay for anything.

Technically I did pay for it when I paid taxes back when I worked in the Pokémart, but Pokémon Trainers aren't taxed. I would be tax free as long as I stayed as a Pokémon trainer.

Of course I had to be on standby to command my Pokémon in emergency situations, but I was so happy to live here for free. With the added savings and free meals (for trainers, not for Pokémon), I had more than enough funds to feed my Pokémon and reduce the number of jobs I had to take.

Plus, if I successfully beat the gym, I'd get a big wad of cash as a reward that would go a long way in funding my team.

I had already called Steven's assistant to obtain a grooming kit for Flabébé, so all of my Pokémon were in perfect condition. I was shocked to find out that not every trainer took care of their Pokémon as much as I did. I spent time on the Pokénet asking around and looking up methods for the best way to groom my Pokémon, but hadn’t found much. Most trainers sent their Pokémon to a professional Groomer every other month or so. Clearly they’ve never seen a Pokémon run around in joy after a bath, like Vulpix, or pretend to not like getting washed despite absolutely loving it, like Marill.

It might have been more expensive to do it my way, since even with the free grooming kits I still had to buy shampoo refills, but my Pokémon looked amazing and it helped me get closer to them.

Flabébé, the newest and sweetest member of my team, fit in well. She wasn’t the biggest fan of battling, but ever since she witnessed the battle with the Poochyena on the day she joined us, she had wanted to get stronger. I doubted she would ever be the strongest member of my team, not because she was weak, but because she didn’t have the same drive and love of training that my other team members did. She’d be powerful, but not necessarily an elite Pokémon like what both Vulpix and Marill were striving to be.

When it came to Flabébé’s interactions with my other Pokémon, she got along well, mostly. Flabébé and Vulpix were fast friends, with Flabébé even riding on Vulpix’s back when I walked from Verdanturf to Mauville. She spent a lot of time with Vulpix, and when I was focusing on developing Marill’s Huge Power ability, I noticed that both of them were training their “wind” moves together, trading insights for Icy Wind and Fairy Wind to improve the other Pokémon’s move.

Flabébé didn’t get along as well with Marill as she did with Vulpix, but it wasn’t too bad. For the first few days that Flabébé was on the team, she hid from Marill. Marill’s constant look of shadowed rage intimidated Flabébé but once Flabébé realized Marill wasn’t actually angry, she started trying to to talk to Marill. Marill tended to brush her off, but was slightly more receptive towards Flabébé once Marill realized that Flabébé was impressed by her strength. They got along alright after that, but nothing too close.

I also appreciated Flabébé because I had vastly overestimated how much she would eat. I only had to water her flower and buy a single can of food for her each day, unlike Vulpix and Marill who ate more than one can for each meal. She liked sweet foods so I made sure to sustain a small Pecha berry stock for her. I included a small piece of a berry in each of her meals. I thought it was just her small size, but her food was actually supplemented by energy she exchanged with the flower she rode on. It was a form of symbiosis that would increase as she developed into later evolutionary stages.

When it came to training my Pokémon, everyone was improving at a decent rate. Flabébé was still too weak to use in the Gym Battle, but I hoped that she could get some experience in the Gym Trial. Marill and Vulpix were a different matter.

Vulpix had basically perfected the usage of all her moves, able to use them quickly and also while moving. I was happiest with her improvements with Baby-Doll Eyes and Confuse Ray since she mastered them so well, it was hard to tell when she actually used them.

Marill’s Huge Power was finally fully developed as well. In the games, Huge Power was a two times multiplier to the attack stat, but in this world it made Marill a little ball of destruction. If she wanted, she could crack the ground with just her Slam attack, and with enough strength training, she would probably be able to lift boulders. Her prowess in melee combat was nearly unmatched at her level of power.

Vulpix and Marill would be key for the upcoming Gym Battle, since unlike the Gym Trial, there was a limit of two Pokémon for the first Gym Badge. We would be able to get a feel for how Electric Type Pokémon fought in the Trial, then take on the Gym Leader at our scheduled time the next day. With their relative strength for my experience as a trainer, it shouldn’t be too difficult, although we were behind in battle experience.

We spent the day before the Gym Trial training in a massive training room within the Pokémon Center. Unlike other cities, Pokémon Centers were situated in skyscrapers and took up multiple floors with spaces dedicated to trainers. Those facilities were one of the reasons the city was so packed during the season break, and I made sure we took advantage of them.

When it finally came time for our scheduled Gym Trial, my team and I felt more than prepared to take on anything that came our way.

The Mauville City Gym was located in the center of Mauville. It took up a large portion of the mall, requiring a large space for both the Gym Trial area and the Gym Leader battlefield. The Gym building itself was made out of yellow metal and had stylized lightning bolts as decoration. There was a large open space immediately past the sliding glass doors with rows of chairs that acted as seating for reception.

When I entered the Gym for my scheduled Trial, it was packed. Every single seat was taken and the edges of the room were filled with trainers without a seat standing and waiting. There was a decent sized line at the receptionist’s counter that seemed to just be people registering for a future challenge, or people complaining about the lack of available slots.

When it got to my turn in the line, I informed the receptionist that I was present for the challenge, and asked him why it was so crowded. He was the same receptionist I had met to schedule my slots a month prior.

He leaned forward and spoke in a hushed voice to explain the situation.

"Well Mauville is the second most popular city to start the season, the first being Rustboro. Most people here weren't aware that Gyms use preset schedules for the first few months of the season to manage demand, so they're waiting for a free slot. Trainers occasionally don't show up for their scheduled time so we have a lottery for one of the present trainers to take it.

"Some argue it's unfair to use a lottery system instead of a first-come first-serve basis, but I say they should have scheduled an appointment."

He sat back up and returned to his normal speaking volume.

"Alright Alex, thanks for showing up on time. Your Trial is already set up, simply enter through the doors in the back and take the first door on the left."

I thanked him and headed over to where he told me to go. The people watched me enter and I heard quiet groans echo throughout the room.

Clearly they were hoping for a no-show.

I entered a long metal hallway with a series of garage-like metal doors along the walls. Several of the doors were open, but most were closed. I entered the door immediately on my left as instructed, and the door slammed shut behind me.

The room was plunged into darkness as the door closed. A soft glow of weak fluorescent light bulbs lit up a small platform on rails. A robotic voice came out of a set of speakers above me.

"Please step onto the Platform and release your Pokémon around you."

I complied and did as asked. All three of my Pokémon were sent out since this was a Gym Trial with no limits on the number of Pokémon out at once, other than the League-standard six Pokémon carry limit.

The ground shifted as the platform grinded forward, forcing me to grab onto the single bar that served as a railing to keep me steady. The robotic voice spoke up once more before we were out of audible range.

"Hit the targets to open up the gates that block your path. Fail, and be forced to fight a trainer."

Gym Trials tended to be pretty straightforward, but would increase in difficulty as challengers gained more badges. Since I had no badges, it was a simple test of accuracy for my Pokémon on a slow moving platform. If I had more badges, I guessed there might have been more targets, requirements to identify the correct target, moving targets, or a faster or more violently shaking platform. The platform wasn’t that large either, so that was also probably a mini-trial within the trial to just figure out what Pokémon to keep out if your team members were too large.

We moved down a small barely lit up tunnel, leaving us in darkness for small periods of time in between each light bulb. The atmosphere reminded me of an amusement park ride.

Up ahead I could see a fork in the rails, a track leading off to the side, and a gate straight ahead. The rail was already aligned to move our platform off the main path, and I saw a small green target light up on the wall above the gate. Looking around, I could actually see a number of targets on the walls not lit up as well. They were probably used in higher levels of the Trial.

Rather than hitting the glowing target, I pointed to a random darkened one and called out for Marill to hit it.

While we hadn’t focused on training her ranged moves, I still wanted Marill to improve her accuracy. When I pointed to the target, she took a moment to search it out in the darkness and fired a Bubble Beam at it. Her attack wasn’t dead center, but it did hit the target.

I pointed to a different target afterwards.

“Good job Marill. Now, Vulpix, hit that one with Icy Wind!” It would have been easier to hit the target with Powder Snow, but mastering a directed Icy Wind would be crucial for Vulpix to learn Aurora Beam, the next Ice Type move I wanted her to learn.

Vulpix sent out a breath of Icy Wind. It hit the target, but also a large area around it as well.

She let out a disappointed “‘Pix.”

“It’s okay girl, you hit it dead on, we just have to work on not hitting the area around the target as well.”

She nodded sadly, upset her attack wasn’t as narrow as she would have liked, but still motivated to try again and do better.

I also had Flabébé hit a target with her Fairy Wind move. It also hit a large area since she had the least practice out of everyone in our team.

We continued practicing ranged moves like that, hitting the incorrect targets as the platform slowly continued forward. With a lurch, the platform shifted to the unblocked fork in the rails and sped up to quickly bring us to another room.

Rather than a tunnel, we emerged in a large empty room with a flat ground painted with white lines, forming the classic Pokémon battlefield. It was significantly smaller than usual, but the trial probably didn’t require that much extra space since it was just a “bonus” area. At the other side of the miniature battlefield was a woman wearing a yellow and white track outfit, which signified that she was a Gym Trainer.

When the platform arrived on the challenger’s side of the field, she gave me a confused look.

“Did you just miss every target on purpose?”

I shrugged. “Well, yes. It was good practice for accuracy and I didn’t want to pass up this opportunity to challenge a Gym Trainer. You’re a step above other trainers at my level.”

She mumbled a few words of brief annoyance under her breath.

Each Gym Trainer in the trial would use one Pokémon each, for a total of three battles before the trial ended. Gym Trainers were trainers that were either exceptionally skilled, or trainers who had earned a number of badges and were now employed under the Gym Leader. For a badgeless trial like this one, they would use loaned weaker Pokémon to face me, but their experience as a Trainer would make it more difficult for me to win. It was the perfect experience to train my Pokémon, especially for Flabébé who was still learning how to fight.

Since this was the first Gym Trainer, her Pokémon would be the weakest of the three I would need to beat. Flabébé followed my instructions and floated down off the platform to get ready for the battle. She only had two moves, Fairy Wind and Vine Whip, so her utility in battle was limited. This would be her first battle outside of sparring with Wally’s Ralts, so she had plenty to learn.

“A Flabébé? Hm, haven’t seen many of those. Alright, go, Minun!”

The Gym Trainer released her Pokémon, a small blue and tan mouse with a minus-like tail and similarly shaped cheek markings. It held up its hands as if it were cheering and looked around for a partner. Seeing it was alone, it struck up a battle pose instead.

“Minun, Quick Attack, and follow up with Spark!”

“Make it trip with Vine Whip, Flabébé!”

Since I had no Gym Badges, trainers in the trial weren’t allowed to use status condition moves. I would have worried if it could use Thunder Wave or Nuzzle, but it was a low level Minun so it would be limited to close ranged moves like the two the Gym Trainer had just ordered.

Minun rushed forward in a white light, increasing its speed and running towards Flabébé. A green vine extended out from the red flower Flabébé sat on and straightened out in the air to form a tripwire for Minun to get caught on.

Minun, going too fast to change speeds or slow down, hit the vine and face-planted into the ground, sliding and coming to a rest right in front of Flabébé.

“Back up and move!” I shout, “Use Fairy Wind!”

Noticing its position, the Gym Trainer shouted orders at Minun as well. “It’s right there! Hit it with Spark!”

Glittering dust shot out like pollen from Flabébé’s flower, but it wasn’t enough to faint Minun. Minun charged in and latched onto Flabébé as electricity shot out from its body at random. Flabébé yelled in pain but the damage was low enough to not knock her out instantly.

“It’s right in your face, Flabébé! Use Fairy Wind at its eyes!”

“Minun! Drop down low!”

Flabébé used Fairy Wind through the pain of Spark, but Minun lowered its head to be beneath the flower. The attack didn’t hit its face, but still impacted its ears and back, at least partially damaging Minun.

Unfortunately, Minun’s electricity caused too much damage with its attack and Flabébé fainted from the constant stream of electricity. I recalled her to her Heal Ball to give her a short break. For her first fight, and one against a Gym Trainer at that, Flabébé did better than expected. Minun was panting and suffering from its injuries. If Flabébé got another Fairy Wind off, she would have likely won.

Since this was just a Gym Trial, I sent out my next Pokémon.

“Marill, finish it off with Aqua Jet.”

“Minun, Play Nice!”

Minun didn’t have a chance to do anything, as Marill disappeared in a burst of water and slammed its entire body into Minun, knocking it back and unconscious.

As the Gym Trainer returned Minun, she smiled and gave me some advice. “It was smart to try to get Minun off of Flabébé by attacking a vulnerable spot, but you should remember it’s easy to dodge ranged moves when a Pokémon is close to their opponent. Next time, tell your Pokémon to aim at the center of mass. That makes it harder for your opponent to dodge.”

I thanked the trainer and sent Flabébé out once more now that the battle was over. I told her she did a good job. She was almost on the verge of tears since she lost, but I explained how difficult the challenge was to fight a Gym Trainer as her first battle. I used a Potion to help with her wounds and told her the feedback we received from the Gym Trainer. After only a few more moments to let us recover, the platform moved back to the main path to continue the Trial.

The rest of the Gym Trial passed by easily enough as I continued to use the darkened targets as aiming practice while we waited for the next Gym Trainer battle. The platform slowly sped up as we went further along the rails, but as a challenge for a trainer without any Gym Badges it was still easy for my Pokémon to hit the targets even at the slightly increased speed.

The second battle was against a Plusle. Marill took care of it in two moves by getting in close with Aqua Jet and finishing it off with Slam. Marill did take some damage when Plusle used Spark against her, but it wasn’t nearly enough to take her out.

The third and final battle was against a Pikachu. I sent out Vulpix since I wanted to give everyone on my team a chance to fight. We followed the basic strategy of running away and using Icy Wind and Powder Snow, but there was a close call when Pikachu was almost able to keep up by using its own Quick Attack. Luckily, a few Icy Winds later and Pikachu was slowed down enough to be kept at a distance, netting Vulpix the win.

As the platform reached the end of the tunnel, I was greeted by the three Gym Trainers I faced. The two that used Plusle and Minun were chuckling while the Pikachu trainer was reading a note, confused.

“You took on this trial and have a battle schedule with Wattson tomorrow?”

I stepped off the platform to finally stand on solid ground. I returned both Flabébé and Marill but let Vulpix stay out by my side.

“Yeah, I wanted the experience of a Gym Trial to train my team. I’ll earn the Gym Badge by battling Wattson.”

“You know by completing the Gym Trial you already earned the Gym Badge, right?” he asked.

“Like I said, I want to earn it by battling Wattson.”

The Gym Trainer looked back at the other two trainers who just shrugged with an amused look on their face.

“Well since you haven’t technically earned the Gym Badge, there’s no reward to give you. So I guess you’re free to go?”

I had known I wouldn’t get a reward from completing the Gym Trial so I wasn’t disappointed. I was glad to get my team the experience of Gym Trainer battles, even if it was pretty easy for both Vulpix and Marill. I knew that Flabébé learned a lot.

As I went to leave, the first Gym Trainer who used a Minun called out to me. “Ignore Kirk, this is his first year as a Gym Trainer. He isn’t used to crazy people who sign up for both like you. You did a good job. Not an incredible job, but pretty good regardless. Good luck against Wattson, I know I’ll be watching the recording after.”

I thanked her and went on my way. I needed to take my Pokémon to the Pokémon Center to rest up for the battle against Wattson tomorrow.

I returned to the Mauville Gym the next afternoon. The room was packed the same as the previous day, and I followed the same process I did before. After waiting in line, I was directed to a different door that led to the main battlefield. As I moved to open the door, I heard someone shout behind me.

“Hey, I saw them enter yesterday! Why do they get to go again?!”

A murmur broke out through the crowd as people began to talk. Confused about why this would be a problem, I turned to the receptionist. He noticed me looking, so he stood up and cleared his throat to gather everyone's attention.

“For the first few months of the League, all challengers are required to reserve a time to challenge a gym. Some challengers reserved slots to challenge both the Gym Trial and the Gym Leader, thus it may be possible to see repeat challenges within a short time frame.” He sat back down as the murmurs turned less angry and more upset about their own situation. I wanted to move on and continue my challenge, but an unfamiliar trainer approached me.

“Excuse me, fellow Pokémon Trainer. Did I hear correctly that you already attempted this Gym already?”

He wore an expensive navy suit and had stylish windswept blonde hair. He had an air of wealth to him, and spoke loud enough that the other trainers could easily hear him. He couldn’t have been more than 17 or 18 years old, so to me he just looked like a kid trying to seem important.

“Not the Gym Leader, I challenged the Gym Trial yesterday.” I replied.

“Then am I correct that you did not receive a Gym Badge yesterday?” He had a smug grin on his face as he said that. I was already annoyed by him.

“Yes, but I-”

“Surely you can’t think that if you failed to obtain a Gym Badge in the trial, that facing the Gym Leader will have a different result?” he interjected. “There are a number of people waiting here, it would be extremely kind of you if you were to relinquish your registered slot, or at least let someone else who hadn’t had a chance against the Gym take your slot instead.”

“That’s not how it works,” I replied, exasperated, “if you take on the Gym Trial you don’t-”

“Trainers like you who selfishly reserved not one, but two different slots are taking up times that could be used by successful trainers. Clearly you must have at least a smidgen of kindness in your heart to give up your time to someone else?”

I really wanted to punch this guy in his smarmy face but I had to have some tact, unlike him who was spewing garbage from his mouth.

“What, do you want me to give up my slot to you?” I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes at his poorly disguised attempts to manipulate the situation to get what he wanted.

“Well then, if you’re offering.”

Before I even realized what he said, he shoulder checked me out of the way and marched on into the hallway I was about to enter. He closed the door behind him and I found that it automatically locked so I was unable to go through. Shocked, angry, and in sheer disbelief that someone was actually that arrogant I turned back to look at the receptionist, who waved me over.

“Did that guy just take my reserved slot?” I asked, shocked.

The receptionist frowned and nodded. “There’s always at least one each year. Don’t worry about it, battles aren’t back to back since the Leader and his Pokémon need time to rest between them. You’ll have your chance soon. His battle should be over pretty quick. Wattson was looking forward to battling you, and I bet that kid isn’t expecting to battle a higher star team.”

I cursed internally.

“Great, so Wattson was interested in battling me?” I paused. “And wait, higher star teams? What does that mean?”

“Oh, we grade trainers on a star ranking to see what badge equivalent your team’s strength is equal to. Zero star is equivalent to a trainer with no badges, while an 8-star team is equivalent to a trainer that earned eight Gym Badges. The star values go all the way up to 12-star, which is where all members of the Elite Four are ranked. For most teams it’s unlikely their strength will go above eight or nine stars, but the Champion is the exception. Steven’s ranked at 15 stars.”

He paused a moment to check something on his computer before continuing.

“It’s mostly used to rate the relative power of teams to prevent someone with a strong team and no badges from coming in and sweeping all the Gyms without any effort. You were judged to have at least 1-star from your showing in the Gym Trial. Wattson was interested in battling you, so he was going to use his 2-star team in your challenge to make sure to give you a decent fight for your badge. Gyms generally provide a challenge one tier above the level of their challengers, so that's nothing unusual.”

I ran my palm down my face. “And did Wattson say why he was interested in battling me? I have no Gym Badges.”

The receptionist furrowed his brow before he responded. “Huh, that is a bit strange. Did you do anything to catch his interest?”

“I can probably think of something,” I groaned.

So much for having a normal Gym Challenge this year.

At that moment, the doors to the main arena slammed open and the blonde trainer wearing the navy suit stormed out. His eyes scanned the room before landing on me and he marched over.

He stuck his finger in my face before glaring at me angrily.

“Don’t think I’ll forget this. You’ll regret setting me up.”

Then as suddenly as rushed past me to enter the arena, he marched out.

The receptionist and I looked at each other before he spoke up.

“Looks like his challenge ended in a loss. You can go ahead and enter now.”

Still reeling what that whole... experience, I went ahead and entered the hallway to the main arena, finally on my way to challenge my first Gym Leader.