The roar of the crowds was palpable even from outside the stadium, with the rhythmic thump, thump, thump of clapping hands and stomping feet providing a music all its own. Light flared as the energy curtains around the edges of the arena powered up, protecting the audience from the powerful energies that would be released within.

The cheering of the crowd swelled to a crescendo as floodlight after floodlight came on and the gigantic screens flickered into life. Test patterns bathed the crowd in a kaleidoscope of light then settled down to brilliant white before fading to black... to fade in again with the stone badge, spinning end on end. The badge shrank to give space to little action shots of the year so far, and notable bouts from years before. Lots of challengers, lots of claimants, not all of them pulling it off.

Ed waited in the semi-darkness as he'd been instructed, trying his best to keep his breathing under control. As a first-time challenger, for his first badge ever, to be treated like a real trainer was almost heart-stopping. Suddenly a buzzer went off, and the powerful strip lights in the walls clattered on audibly one after another along the entrance tunnel.

This was it. No turning back. Ed fingered his belt, now wrapped over his shoulder bandolier style, nervously plucking at each of his pokémons' balls, still shrunk down to their travel size. He could do this. He was ready.

With a heavy, final clunk, the double doors at the end of the tunnel opened by themselves, letting in light, fresh air and the palpable hammer-like intensity of the cheering crowds.

"I can't do this!" he whispered to himself, as the large duelling arena before him was slowly revealed. He walked in anyway, legs like lead and heart in his mouth. Three heavy arc spotlights lit up, one after another, to train themselves on him as he passed the threshold. Three more, at the same time, lit to centre on a female figure at the exact other end of the arena, a girl with two large bobs in her hair, dressed in red tights and a black skirt.

"Roxanne! Roxanne! Roxanne!" chanted the crowd, interspersed with "I love you!" and "beat 'em to a pulp Roxy!" and the like. Ed swallowed, hard.

"Welcome!" came a loud, male voice, echoing over the suddenly silenced din. "Welcome, one and all, to the Rustboro Gym! We've got a number of seasoned trainers for you all today, all competing for the local cup in a series of friendly exhibition matches, and between matches we have some local contest participants here to strut their stuff... but before that! And in addition! We have some newbies just starting out who've come here to try their luck against the Rock of Rustboro! Give it up for all our new trainers!"

The crowd went from barely constrained fervor to an eleven on the dial as Roxanne took her place, the pop and brief squeak of feedback enough to get the crowd's attention. She fastened her eyes on Ed, and grinned. She pointed, imperiously, then beckoned him in. "Welcome to Rustboro Gym, challenger! I’m Roxanne, the rock-steady leader here!"

The video screens flickered to life once more, first plastered with the spinning badge, before a rotom-camera drone zoomed in on her face.

"State your name!"

"I’m, uh, Ed, from Mauville!" Ed spoke up, trying to keep the wavering out of his voice. He wasn’t sure where the pickups were, but his voice came out loud over the P.A. system.

"Ed! Ed! Ed!" came the chants, along with a few "Mauville represent!" and not to mention a few "crush that punk, Roxy!" and the like.

"And how many badges do you have, Ed?"

"Um, none?"

The crowd answered that with an "Ooooo!" As the whispers along with private — and not so private — betting started.

"This is my first gym. E-ever. D-do I... go there?" Ed pointed to a raised platform almost identical to Roxanne's, with a short set of stairs leading up from the back and a railing to lean on. There were some jeers and laughter, but the applause swelled again as Ed moved to take his place. More energy shields flickered into life around him, although they were weaker, more pliable, to allow him to throw his pokéballs out.

"Indeed you do, challenger. I shall explain the rules of this bout as you take your position." Roxanne's voice echoed above the tumult of noise from the onlookers. "As this is your first badge, I shall challenge you with two Pokémon only, and shall make no substitutions. The first of us to have all their Pokémon faint or otherwise be unable to battle, loses. You may use up to six Pokémon and you’re free to swap them out as you choose. Of course, if you recall a trapped or otherwise surrendering Pokémon then that is the same as them being knocked out. Are these rules understood?"

"Yes!" squeaked Ed, hoping his voice sounded manlier to the audience.

"In that case, judges, if you would?"

A number of drone rotoms took up positions around the field, and one of them hooked itself into the sound system.

"This bout is for the Rustboro Stone Badge! Trainer Ed of Mauville versus Gym Leader Roxanne of Rustboro! Battle... start!"

Roxanne, without hesitation, snatched a ball from the belt around her waist and thumbed it larger. "Geodude, your time to shine... with a rock polish!"

Roxanne threw her pokéball high into the air, over-arm. It popped open and in a flash of white light, a geodude formed in the middle of the stadium. There was a glint of light, and the geodude took on a more shimmery appearance, with what appeared to be semi-precious stones in the veins on its outer layer.

Ed took a deep breath, and plucked a pokéball of his own, slicing it through the air in a wide, easy under-arm. "Then I choose you, Ziggy! Soften him up with an iron tail!"

Ziggy was already growling as he reformed, bunching up his body as he took a four-footed stance before speeding across the arena floor towards Geodude. The rock Pokémon he was facing drew back an arm to punch the zigzagoon as Ziggy leaped, spun, and slammed his tail into the floating rocky golem Pokémon.

Geodude was flung down at an angle, a loud explosion of rock and sound heralding the creation of a new crater, as Ed then called out the follow up move for his Pokémon.

"Ziggy! Surf!"

The zigzagoon, who had sped past the geodude carried by sheer momentum, slid on all four paws, then scrabbled to build up speed as he took a deep breath and summoned the essence of water from the ether. As he advanced on the geodude who was still at the bottom of the crater, a rumbling, growling, crashing wave of water picked up Ziggy and swept him triumphantly on and over the hole, filling it with murky, muddy silt. The geodude emerged out from the hole as most of the water drained away to the nowhere it had come from.

"Hey, hey, hey, timeout! Timeout!" yelled Roxanne, to hushed whispers and loud jeers. "Hold up, hold up... kid, I thought you said this was your first badge?" Roxanne held a hand up. The rotom drones floated around, buzzing loudly, as the screens showed a montage of shots from the fight so far — short as it had been — along with closeups of Ed and Roxanne.

"Umm, umm, it is? Did... is surf not something I sh—"

"Oh, dude, it’s not that you can or can’t use a particular move, just I thought you were here to win your badge, not to cheese it."

The crowd agreed, a swelling murmur of surprise, disapproval and betrayal making its way around the arena.

"I, er, I..." Ed felt his face boiling with shame.

"Hey geodude!" Roxanne’s voice rang out loud and clear across the arena. The geodude in question dragged himself further out of the now-pond and shook the water off himself before looking up at Roxanne expectantly.

"Geo-geo?"

"Little punk thinks he can cheese the gym. Pull out all the stops! Alright kid, you wanted a fight? We're gonna fight! Time in?"

"T-time in!" agreed Ed, finding his voice.

The cheering and jeering from the massed peanut gallery swelled to a new crescendo as the geodude slammed one fist into another repeatedly, grinning wickedly. There was a resounding boom as geodude then launched himself towards Ziggy by punching the ground.

"Ziggy! Irontail!" yelled Ed. Ziggy barely got the move off in time before, with a clash of sparks, geodude’s other fist slammed into the zigzagoon. With a heave, Ziggy deflected the rotund rock Pokémon skywards

"Think you’ve got another one in you?" yelled Ed.

"Zigzig!"

"Then batter up!"

Ziggy yipped his agreement and spun in place, as with another shower of sparks he sent geodude downrange.

"Are you gonna let him get away with that?" shouted Roxanne, a savage light in her eyes, now obviously fired up. "Rockthrow! Rollout! Bulldoze!"

"Wait, wait!" Ed shouted, to no effect, as the geodude slammed his fists into the ground and pulled out a huge lump of rock. The pokémon spun around in a circle and then lobbed it back towards the zigzagoon, who did his best to dodge.

Ziggy threw himself to the side, but too late realized he’d been baited by the rock throw, as the geodude — who'd all but launched himself like a canon ball back down the arena — rolled into and through him, sending him flying, before the round rock-type rapidly punched the ground near Ziggy and proceeded to steamroll through where the zigzagoon landed.

Ziggy was sent flying again. When he landed, he dragged himself to his paws for a brief moment, then slumped.

"Ziggy, Return! Tully! Boomburst! Make some noise!"

There was a flash of red light, followed by a flash of white, as the zigzagoon was sucked back into his pokéball to be replaced by the swellow, who immediately swooped down, up and around. The flyer took a deep breath, swept his wings back, and then slammed them forwards, giving out a loud, resonant trill. The almost physical wall of sound slammed into the geodude, picking up the rotund round golem as well as a whole mass of dust and pebbles, and slammed him into the hitherto-invisible energy walls surrounding the arena. When he fell, he rolled to a stop and didn’t get up.

"Good job, but if you thought flight would save you, I’m sad to say it won’t. Come on out, Nosepass, and remember! We’re pulling out the stops! Give ‘em a great show!"

With another twinned streams of red and white, the spherical golem was replaced with a strangely sculptured almost-facelike creature. It had two stubby arms, two stubby legs and a bright red nose.

"Get that flyer where you can hurt him!" shouted Roxanne.

"Nose... PASS!"

There was a series of explosions, and several volleys of wide-bore shrapnel were lobbed skywards.

"Swell!" cried Tully, as he lost several pinion feathers and a lot of height. He slammed into the ground and bounced. The flying pokémon’s misery was compounded by Nosepass lifting both stubby arms skywards and then bending his whole body horizontal to slam his fists into the arena. Tully was entombed in a wave of crushing rock. When the dust settled, Tully was breathing, but otherwise motionless.

"Ready to give in?" taunted Roxanne.

"Not until my last Pokémon is down," replied Ed, gritting his teeth as he recalled Tully. He leaned into his next pokéball pick, and whispered, "Barb, do your best... I want you to poison that nosepass. GO!" Ed lobbed the pokéball with a wicked curve and backspin, catching it expertly as the nidoran appeared on the field, already running.

Roxanne’s nosepass attempted to stop the nidoran with actinic bolts of electricity that he sent sparking towards her, but Barb dodged lightning bolt after lightning bolt to finally launch herself right at the nosepass’ huge nostrils.

"Pass!" the nosepass yelled, flailing as he fell backwards. He did, however, get a good solid wallop in with one of his stubby arms that sent Barb flying.

Scrabbling to her feet, she bunched herself up and launched herself at the face-like pokémon and made another determined attempt to pierce the nosepass’ septum. For her efforts, she was lit up like a winter ornament by the nosepass’ multiple, angry discharges.

She was swiftly returned by Ed, her task successful. Nosepass staggered slightly, a sickly sheen on his previously stoic expression.

"You did good, Barb," whispered Ed, as he shrunk her ball back down. "You've all done good. Tully, Ziggy, couldn't have done this without you." He caressed the three fainted pokémons' balls, then plucked his fourth. "Guy, get out there and give that nosepass something to think about!" called Ed loudly, as the ghost-type took the field.

"Are you just throwing Pokémon at mine until my nosepass faints? Bad form!" complained Roxanne. "Keep it up and I’ll use a restore!"

"Guy’s just new, I want him to get a little exposure," retorted Ed. He could 'rock' this, being the heel.

"Sure you’re not just stalling for time?"

"Tell you what, I won’t use my totodile!" offered Ed, blushing, though his voice was steady.

"Accepted," replied Roxanne.

Above, the screens flickered to show the current pokémon on both Roxanne's and Ed's team. Another pokéball went dim on Ed's side, for a total of four. Two were left lit.

"I was going to, but if you want this to be a real fight, I’ll give you a fight! I didn’t think when I used surf earlier," Ed carried on, as Guy swooped down, firing shadow ball after shadow ball at the nosepass. Sparks flew as he licked at the gravelly creature. "I didn’t mean to try to... to cheese anything! Guy, return! Lux, it’s all up to you, girl! Agility!"

Ed recalled Guy and sent out Lux, who — like Barb — appeared on the field at full tilt. She jinked side to side as the nosepass once again sent out spark after spark at his opponent.

"Go for the nose! Barb’s hurt him already, he’s weakened!"

"Won’t be so easy, kid," retorted Roxanne, and she was right. Lux dived for the nosepass’ bright red nose, teeth chomping it in a good, solid bite, but yowled in pain as nosepass used his party trick, a powerful discharge of electricity that made Lux’ fur stand on end, little jolts of lightning sparking out from each pointy tip.

She leaped clear, shaking herself to shake off some of the confusion and paralysis brought on by the high voltage attack, before circling, growling low. She yelped and was forced to retreat when Nosepass lobbed a massive boulder at her, with a rock throw, but it missed by a whisker as she ducked under it.

"Alright Lux, prepare to hit him again!" called Ed.

"Didn’t work last time, won’t work this time! Discharge!"

"Dig!"

As the nosepass sent out wave after wave of powerful electrical energy, the little eevee disappeared beneath the arena’s surface. The wash of voltage passed harmlessly overhead.

"Come up and hit him with everything you’ve got!" yelled Ed, cupping his hands to his mouth. Lux complied, as she exploded out from under Nosepass in a veritable volcanic eruption of rocks and dirt. "Hit him! Hard! Now!"

Lux yowled triumphantly, and swept her whole body into a massive shove that somehow picked up a whole barrage of rocks, pelting the nosepass with her own rock throw, before she dashed in, eyes shining, as a golden yellow corona of electricity burst from all four of her paws, enveloping the nosepass in a nimbus of power.

When it faded, Lux stumbled from left to right, then slumped. Very slowly, on the other side of the field, nosepass fell over, prone.

"Well, well, well," said Roxanne, crossing her arms, as Ed grinned. There was a sudden hush in the audience.

"Guy! Make sure he’s down." Ed once more plucked the second to last of his pokéballs, and lobbed it, setting the ghost type free once more. Then he crossed his arms too, the triumphant grin now wide on his face, as the roar of the crowd reached a triumphant crescendo.

Roxanne nodded as both trainers took in the applause. "Very nice. I’m out of usable Pokémon and you’ve got one left. I am delighted to give you the Stone Badge, You’ve very much earned it. That surf was a cheap shot, but you took on my team with a handicap after they stopped sandbagging. Well done!"

"I did it? I... I did it!"

"You did indeed, kid. I'm proud to present you with the Rustboro Stone Badge! Wear it with pride. And... I don't know if you already have this one, but may I also present you with a special gift... Cut!"

The rotom drones buzzed over and dropped into his hand an angular, brown and red object. The weight of it surprised him. He clutched it tightly, and grinned, as a small, silvery disc also dropped into his posession.

He'd done it.

Ed slumped down in the pokécenter’s seat, then nonchalantly put his feet up on the chair opposite.

"Oh, I see how it is," joked Becca as she side-eyed his slouching posture. "Kid gets a badge, thinks he’s hot stuff, huh?"

"That," replied Ed, slowly turning to look directly at her, "was the single most stressful thing I have ever done in my life."

"So far," added Sly, as he plonked himself down next to Ed. "Got some great shots of you and Roxanne," he said.

"Don’t remind me," murmured Ed, as he waited for his Pokémon to be healed.

"What, of the fight? It was great!" Ed and Becca both theatrically rolled their eyes.

"You know what I mean! And I’ve got to do that what, seven more times?"

"At least, and each time the gym leader you face will pull out more and more powerful opponents," agreed Sly, as he flipped through various shots of the battle Ed had just had.

"No wonder so many trainers just... quit," Ed said morosely, dropping his head into his hands.

"Ah, come off it!" Becca punched Ed in the arm, laughing. "I’m sorry I got you in trouble enough for her to stop sandbagging, but you fought her Pokémon at full power! That was pretty cool!"

"You know, you’re right. That was pretty cool!" Ed looked up at Becca, nodding slowly. He rubbed his arm ruefully. "Never make me do that again!"

"Nobody made you use Surf," retorted Becca, sticking her tongue out at the boy.

"Yeah, but nobody told me not to, either! And somebody certainly did help me get it!"

"Excuse me, sir?" Nurse Joy asked, as she approached, her Chansey slightly behind her, holding a tray with six pokéballs on it. "Your Pokémon are fully healed, thank you for waiting!"

"Thank you, Miss Joy!" Ed said, a smile suddenly on his face as he took and shrunk the pokéballs before fixing them on his belt. "I hope they weren’t too badly hurt, we took on Roxanne. I won the stone badge!"

"Oh? Well done! They did seem a little banged up—"

"That’s because she pulled out all the stops!" interjected Becca. Joy’s eyes widened as she took that in. "I know she’s got a bigger team for trainers with more badges, but she didn’t pull her punches with the normal team this time either."

"My word! Then you did extremely well! But don’t worry, Pokémon are much hardier than most humans. You should take things easy for a day or two, the recovery machine can only do so much, but they’re all doing just fine. Now you’ve got your badge — it’s your first one, then? — what are you planning to do?"

"Well, I think... hmm. We’re not really expected anywhere, so I think we’ll either head across to Verdanturf, or... up to Meteor Falls? What do you think, guys?"

"Well," said Sly, thoughtfully, "I’d like to photograph Meteor Falls, but I’ve got no serious plans. If you’ll let me tag along with wherever you guys are going, I’d appreciate it. No Pokémon of my own, you know?"

"I think," said Becca, suddenly rather quiet, her voice smaller than normal. "You’re going to think this is just... typical girly nonsense, aren’t you?"

"What?" asked Ed, nudging his friend, "you can tell me!"

"Well, I’d... like to try a few contests, you know? And... and if we go up to Fallarbor, I won’t be able to compete there without a few more ribbons. We’ve also got those VIP tickets for the cruise, so how about Verdanturf, Route 117 to Mauville and then down Route 110 to Slateport?"

"There’s normal gyms along the way, right?"

"Of course."

"How about it, Sly?"

"I think I’ve still got an open tender for some publicity shots onboard the S. S. Tidal, so if I can pick that up, I’ll even be able to pay my own way," said the photographer, with a grin.

"That sounds like a plan, then!"

"Tomorrow!" agreed Ed, plaintively, as the trio exited the pokécenter to a round of laughter.