The suggested talk with Cliff didn’t happen, as he wasn’t around when we returned to the Centre after dinner. There was a note waiting for us, scheduling our test at the Gym for the next morning, prompting us to get an early night. To battle against another trainer, not just wild Pokémon, for the first time, just the idea was making me nervous. Luckily, the battle would merely be to check that both of us were competent, nobody expected us to actually beat a Gym-Leader. Given that they were tasked with defending the town, if necessary, their teams were well-trained and powerful, placed among the top contenders of the yearly Pokémon-League Conference.

It took me a long time to finally find sleep, and once again, phantom-images plagued my sleep. Images of battle, of Pokémon struggling against impossible odds and overcoming them. There was Charm, resplendent in his fiery glory, wings unfurled, as he soared through the sky, his fiery breath bringing destruction to lowly foes. But there was no context, no information beyond images, along with a burning desire. A desire to keep moving forward. To be the very best. Like no-one ever was.

When morning came, I was bathed in sweat but felt strangely light. As if there was nothing to worry about, not from a simple Gym-battle, as if it was merely a step on the road. One that I had taken countless times in the past.

Standing under the hot shower, I collected myself. Getting arrogant due to weird dreams would just not do, Prince Charming and Vio both relied on me keeping a cool head and giving them the right directions. They did the fighting, I did the thinking. And thinking that we’d already won, would make us lose.

Claire and I visited the pancake-place for breakfast and arrived at the Gym with quite a bit of time to spare. Looking around, I noticed Lucas sitting around, chatting with an older couple, who had the look of seasoned trainers, maybe ten years our senior.

Making eye-contact, I gave him a nod, trying to indicate I wanted to talk without actively interrupting their conversation. He simply waved me over, the grin on his face making me fear mischief. It was the same he had when serving me the Dragon Tea for the first time.

“Good morning.” I greeted all three of them, before focusing on Lucas. “Professor Rowan told me you are looking for a companion. I might have a lead on one who recently started their journey and arrived in Sandgem Town yesterday.” I told him, causing a bright smile to appear on his face.

“Oah, Dani, you care.” he beamed, “And here I thought you’d want nothing to do with me.”

Surprised at his enthusiasm, I was taken aback for a moment. “I am not talking about myself.” I interjected, causing the older couple to chuckle. The look of dejection that flashed across Lucas’ face made me want to giggle, but I managed to remain serious. Well, mostly.

“The person’s name is Cliff and as I said, he recently arrived from Twinleaf, making the journey on his own. I will send him in your direction, if at all possible.” I told him, noticing the negative reaction to the statement that he had travelled alone.

“I’ll talk to him, we should be able to at least make the first leg of the journey together, if we aren’t compatible, we’ll likely have more luck finding someone in Jubilife City.” he decided, before looking at the couple.

“Marcy, Harald, it seems I don’t need to convince you to take me to Jubilife after all.” he told the couple, his voice relieved.

“Standing on your own feet is always preferable.” Harald agreed, his voice rumbling like a landslide.. “Getting escorted is for merchants and those who can’t cut it as Trainers.” he added, with Marcy nodding along.

“Excellent. I will return to my companion, we have our Gym-challenge scheduled for the morning.” I excused myself, receiving well-wishes from Lucas and a slightly weird look from Marcy and Harald.

“That was Lucas?” Claire asked, when I caught up to her at the counter.

“Indeed. I think he was trying to get someone to escort him to Jubilife, to look for a companion.” I explained, and Claire shot another look over, before shrugging.

“Hopefully, he’ll get along with Cliff.” she muttered, to which I could only agree, as a cold shiver ran down my spine.

“Claire? And you are Dani?” the attendant asked, this one I hadn’t seen before.

“Yes. We are here for our Gym-challenge.” Claire told him, expectation glittering in her eyes.

“Excellent.” he looked past us, at the couple I had only just left.

“Marcy, Harald, you are up.” the attendant called out and the two gave a quick nod to Lucas, before making their way over.

“These are Marcy and Harald, two experienced travelling trainers. They’ll be your opponent for today, one for each of you.” We exchanged nods and I understood the earlier, weird look.

“Dani, you will face Marcy. Claire, you will face Harald.” the attendant explained. “You know the drill, it’s their first challenge, so explain things to them and give them some guidance.”

“Of course. Dani, let’s do this.” Marcy told me, while Harald simply studied Claire.

“Good luck.” Claire wished me, giving me a quick hug.

“You’ve got this.” I quietly told her, returning the hug.

“We are ready.” we said in unison, following our opponents as they moved deeper into the building, obviously knowing where to go.

Marcy entered a non-descript door, with me following behind, noticing that Harald opened the next door, with Claire in tow. The room was, quite frankly, amongst the least interesting places I had ever seen. There were two transparent shields near the corners, with markings on the floor behind them and grates set in the floor and ceiling. Other than that, it was blank concrete.

“Nothing fancy, but it’s heavily reinforced so unless you’ve got some incredibly powerful Pokémon, it won’t get damaged.” Marcy explained, pointing me to stand on one marking. They were at opposite corners, giving the Pokémon in the middle as much space as possible.

“You’ve got two Pokémon?” she asked, glancing at my belt.

“Yes, I do.” I nodded, ”Does that change anything?”

“No, as long as people don’t try to raise too many Pokémon at once, nobody cares. But it’s the League’s mandate to promote a healthy relationship between People and Pokémon, so they try to limit everyone to only six at a time. Makes sure you’ve got enough time to care for each of your partners.” she explained.

When I nodded in acceptance, she pulled a Pokéball off her belt.

“Well, I’ll start with this one, do your worst.” she grinned, and I decided to start things off with Vio.

“And I’ll lead with her.” I replied, pushing the button to send out my partner. Two flashes of red light lit the room for a moment, and Vio appeared, giving me a glance before focusing on her opponent. It took me a second to recognise it, the purple slug-like monster one I wasn’t too familiar with, but it had been part of my training. Shellos, primary water-type, weak to Electric- and Grass-, resistant to Fire-, Ice and Steel-attacks. Not that I had access to any but Fire, and I was glad it wasn’t Prince Charming facing the slug.

“Shelly, Harden.” Marcy ordered, without a starting-signal given.

“Vio, Confuse. Try to muddle its senses.” I ordered, trying to play to my partner’s strengths. The slug should be rather slow, so we might be able to take the initiative. It helped that I was reasonably certain Harden only worked against physical attacks.

Vio’s horns were surrounded with a purple sheen, while the Shellos tried to make itself as small as possible, white light glowing around it. Vio’s light mixed into the white, the purple sheen starting to give it an odd tinge and moments later, the white light shattered, as the purple around Vio’s horns was fading, too.

“Shelly, fire.” Marcy ordered, the slug-head coming out of its hiding-space. Reacting quickly, I called out.

“Vio, down.” There was no hesitation on Vio’s part, she simply dropped back, letting the sudden jet of water pass harmlessly over her.

“Up, Confuse again.” I ordered, trying to stick to my tactic.

“Shelly, Mud Slap, wide area.” Marcy ordered, and an earthen-brown glow surrounded the Shellos, even as Vio tried to confuse it again. The purple glow stuck, but the Shellos didn’t even try to hit Vio, it simply scattered Mud all over the area, trying to get it into Vio’s eyes. And everywhere else.

“Jump!” I ordered, trying to get her above the worst of it. Vio jumped, but there was only so much height she could gain, her legs getting splattered. The glow around her horns vanished for a moment, only to spring back up, stronger than ever before. Focusing on the Shellos, I noticed that it seemed to be a little cross-eyes, making me think that Vio’s work was having an effect.

“Keep at it, draw it in with your voice.” A smile appeared on my face, realising Vio was well and truly mad now. Pushing herself, she kept the Confusion going, the Shellos starting to sway and no longer even reacting to Marcy’s calls, scattering water and mud in random directions. Some of it hit the shield before me, a few splatters reached Vio, but she kept singing and messing with the Shellos’ mind. Finally, as Vio’s voice was already breaking and she was swaying back and forth almost worse than the Shellos, it slumped down, no longer moving.

“Shelly’s down…” Marcy called out, sounding impressed. “Well done.” she nodded, and I stepped forward, into the field of battle, Vio looked a mess and she quickly moved over to me, dejected and exuberant at the same time.

“You did great, little one. Really, really great, I’ll make sure you get a shower later. For now, take a rest.” I knelt down, not caring about the dirt on the floor, petting and hugging my partner.

Once she was safely stored in her Pokéball, I checked that Marcy had taken care of her Shellos, before returning to my position.

“Good fight. Impressive willpower on your partner. The Ralts really wanted to win.” There was a smile on Marcy’s face.

“Let’s see how you deal with this one.” she added, taking another Pokéball from her belt.

“Well, not like I got options.” I returned the grin, Prince Charming’s Pokéball in my hand.

“Be my luck, Charm.” I softly muttered, pressing the release-button and sending my dear partner onto the field of battle. Across from him, a cream-and-purple Pokémon appeared, similar in size and statue to Claire’s Twiggy. Again, it took me a moment to recognise it, only to realise that the match-up was utterly neutral. Neither side held an advantage, again.

“Charm, light and close in.” I called, trying to make my instructions as oblique to Marcy as possible. Charm would understand me, I knew it.

And he did, as Marcy ordered her Stunky to hide with a Smokescreen, Charm was already moving, while blasting burning embers at his foe.

They didn’t quite get there before Stunky belched out dense smoke, but enough had been on target to leave a few, glimmering dots in the purple fur, giving a nice, moving indication where our foe was. Not perfect, but good enough to give Charm and me an idea.

The Stunky managed to avoid the scratching claws and gain some distance, running away as quickly as possible.

“Dodge and weave.” Marcy ordered, her commands not giving her plans away, just as I was trying to hide my own. Seeing the Stunky through the smoke was almost impossible, but I thought the embers bunched together a little, as if it was preparing to leap.

“Disrupt and dodge.” I told Charm and as the embers attached to the Stunky came leaping out of the smoke, Charm was already Growling loudly, the sonic attack not caring where the foe was. Not being able to directly focus it lessened the effect, but I could see the Stunky falter for a brief moment, allowing Charm to dodge to the side, avoiding most of the attack.

“Now, stinker.” Marcy ordered, and suddenly, the Stunky turned, unleashing a puff of vile, orange-purple gas towards my partner, catching him right in the face.

Mentally cursing and cussing, I realised what had happened. Poison, we now were on a timer.

“Burn, all out.” I ordered, getting even more economic with my words. Charm understood regardless, giving up all defence and purely attacking, even as the poison was running through his system. Sticking to the surprised Stunky, he kept ripping into it with his claws, ignoring the Feints and Tackles hitting him, even as he kept shooting burning embers into the Stunky’s fur.

It was a brutal, snarling melee and within a minute, neither side was moving all that much. Staggering, Charm tried to keep from falling, even as the Stunky sagged to the ground.

“Enough.” Marcy called, her Stunky disappearing in its Pokéball.

“Well done, Charm. Rest, we’ll get you help immediately.” I promised, calling him into his own ball.

“Can we continue once he is getting taken care of?” I instantly asked, not caring if there was anything else to do.

“Of course, I’ll have to let mine be checked, too. You did quite a number on them.” Marcy complimented, as we both hurried to the door and back into the Gym-proper. Maybe there was a good reason why the Centre was right next door.