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As Shoji hypes up the crowd and Citro prepares to throw out his next pokemon, the guest host, Miss Sarada, scowls, “I’m sure the Cinderace is popular, but I suspect the new Lavaridge Gym leader is going to be facing fines on his first day, for his first standard match even.”

Many in the crowd choke on their cheers and turn their attention to the caster desk.

Naomi shouts, “Damn Right!”

While I’m sure everyone wants an explanation, the match doesn’t wait.

Citro sends out his Salazzle, “Time to show ‘em who's boss Mephi!”

The fem fatale of poisonous lizards licks her painted claws with her forked tongue then bats her eyelashes towards Cinderace. Torch’s rabbit just crosses their arms with an unimpressed raised brow. It even pulls out a berry to munch.

Shoji laughs, “Sorry Miss Salazzle, that was a sneaky Hone Claws but your Attract failed. That Cinderace is a female folks.”

Salazzle hisses at the haughty rabbit.

Citro shrugs, “Noibat set you up girl, give it all ya got!”

Cyclones are dancing around the steam vents. Everyone can feel the heat. With a menacing chuckle, Mephi takes a deep breath.

Torch shouts over the howling wind, “Stop her with Flame Charge!”

Cinderace nearly makes it to Salazzle when the lizard exhales a stream of deep purple gas and smoke.

Not only does the rabbit get a face full of it, the winds carry the gas across the entire field! Arena attendants have their Solrocks quickly refresh the barriers.

Gaps in the toxic gale reveal Torch’s Cinderace having a coughing fit while Salazzle has completely disappeared!

Citro calls out, “Hit ‘em with a Poison Jab!”

A streak of purple darts from one of the spindly gas twisters.

Torch calls out, clearly pissed, “Counter with Headbutt!”

“Slide, Poison Tail!” Salazzle flawlessly slips under the rabbit’s attack with a spin that whips her tail right into the overextended face. Cinderace takes a nasty hit to the eye!

Shoji shouts over the groaning crowd, “The heavy poison is really slowing Cinderace down! Salazzle was already on par, now she has a clear advantage.”

Citro isn’t giving an inch, “Drench and withdraw.”

A spray of tar like gunk covers Mephi’s retreat back into another gust of poisonous gas. But the winds are dying down now so she won't be hidden for long.

Torch practically growls, “Pyro Ball the whole damn thing.”

Naomi grips my arm, eyes locked on the swirl of gas shrouding Salazzle.

Cinderace starts forming a flaming orb.

Citro smirks, “Scald.”

What?

The pyro ball gets kicked off at the same time as another flash of flames ignites the toxic gas.

No one can see if the Pyro Ball connects or countered as clouds of dense steam geyser from all the thermal vents on Citro’s side of the field. Any lingering flames are completely doused. A dense fog layer falls across the battlefield like a wave. All of the poisonous gas has been washed out.

The audience is silent, waiting to see how this ends.

Torch shouts out, “Jump up!”

… but nothing happens.

Everyone can see Citro’s smug grin, and as the last breath of the wind is clearing the steam.

We spot Cinderace, ears flopped loose, breathing heavy, both eyes closed, barely standing. Rising from the fog just behind the rabbit is Salazzle, she gives a hissing laugh before gently shoving Cinderace forward.

Torch’s pokemon collapses to the ground with a wave of mist. I don’t think Cinderace even touched Salazzle.

“Gym Leader Torch’s Pokemon is unable to battle, Challenger Citro wins!”

Most of the crowd erupts, I catch sight of Torch’s fan club in tears.

Shoji erupts, “Awesome Climax! Citro’s Salazzle flawlessly sweeps Cinderace and with some serious style. Get that pokemon on the contest circuit!”

Salazzle scurries to meet Citro as he starts to cross the field. She climbs up his side and drapes across his back, flicking her tongue at the approaching Gym Leader. Our boy laughs and returns her before reaching to shake Torch’s hand.

Even from here I can see the young Fire Type expert is aware he might have messed up.

While proper courtesies play out on the field, Shoji brings attention back to the caster desk.

“That was one blast of a Third Gym badge folks!”

Miss Sarada doesn’t look so enthused, “Exactly, that was just the kid’s third badge. Nothing about Torch’s final pick was acceptable by league standards. He brought out a pokemon clearly above grade. Instead of clearly stating his moves, he actually used an advanced, custom combo move. Furthermore he did all of that out of sight of his challenger.”

Jane and Naomi eagerly nod along while I can see many of the locals grimacing. League rules aren’t obscure, nearly everyone growing up in a League ran region learns them.

I spot Torch handing a pair of flash drives and a badge over to Citro before flinching at something near the stands. Following his eyes I can see a woman in a wheelchair. With short red hair and a black robe, looking ready to shave her son’s head to match. One hand is taping her armrest while the other is bandaged in her lap.

Shoji sighs, “Looks like there will be an extended delay before the next match folks. Don’t let that get you down though, everyone can head for the snack stands for one free purchase on us! Let's give a final round of applause for the Challenger!”

Most clap, some get ahead of the rush for the free food. My rumbling stomach expresses its jealousy.

Jane grumbles, “Pretty boy better not pull that shit with me. How much is the fine for punching a Gym Leader?”

Naomi snorts, “Not worth it. Besides, you’re already on hook for a boss battle. Also, those rules he broke no longer apply for you, Miss Badge Number Five… Well, except for the obscured release, that was dumb.”

I remember getting a warning for sending out Blue underwater in Dewford.

Eventually, we meet up with Citro and get lunch while our pokemon spread out to enjoy the nice weather. He doesn’t seem upset about Torch, in fact, he’s excited.

“Strange Steam, Tar Shot, and Burning Jealousy are awesome TRs for Mephi! It was hard enough getting any standard TMs to Alola, I hear Galar’s unique TRs are even more rare here on the mainland.”

Watts viciously stabs a piece of roasted Unfezant, “Doubling the reward was the least he could do.”

I picked up a special TR for Lunge, myself. It’s an interesting document detailing how various trainers have combined the leaping bug type attack with moves like Metal Claw or even Wild Charge.

Naomi got the same for Blaze Kick. She was pretty stoked to collect her Ponyta and start working on it. Jane will probably get some fire records for her Marowak heading into our next badge.

Shifting topic a bit, “So we have two weeks to practice with our line ups for Fallarbor? How long does it take to get there?”

Jane hops on, “I’ve never driven there. Do we know the battle formats?”

Pulling out her tablet and pointing to Citro first, “2v2 Double Battle for you, 3v1 WPC Boss Battle for Kurt and I. Jane, you have a straight 4v4. The order is Citro, Jane, Kurt, then I’m last. Don’t expect Any mercy from Ourboro… A lot of the online hype compares him to Giovanni when the man gave a shit about the Viridian Gym.”

She sets down her tablet to eat another bite before pausing, “Oh, and it takes most of a day to get there, but we'll be taking it slow to get in some training at a few unique spots. We’ve booked training grounds here for the next five days.”

We miss most of the next matches helping Jane prep for her battle. Ares the Aerodactyl gets a hard stone to munch on. Triton the Golisopod is getting his claws and shell filed to razor edges. Last, Crooky gets a soft sand bath while we chat about what Torch will probably use.

Naomi looks at Jane like she’s missing half a brain, “No possible way he uses that eyesore, Coalossal. It’s a guarantee, opening day for Lavaridge Gym will cap off with a Blaziken.”

She takes a calming breath, “Always has, always will. That’s why Max was insistent you bench Onix for this one. Marble wouldn’t land a hit.”

The squatting Golisopod in front of Naomi jerks in shock, turning his head to Jane and chirping for confirmation. Giant arthropod antennae waving in concern. Naomi swats his arm, “Face front.”

He obediently sits still for more shell sharpening.

Jane grunts while keeping up the sand scrubbing for her preening Krokorok, “You don’t need to worry bud, a Blaziken won't crack through your shell. Just smash it with a Razor Shell and use Aqua Jet to maneuver.” She smacks the back of Crooky’s head, “Focus ya lug.”

Salazzle bursts with that hissing laughter before sticking her forked tongue out at Jane and going back to batting eyelashes in the croc's direction.

Scraggy bursts from his pokeball ready to charge his new rival. Poor guy dashes past me, the big red spider beside me doesn’t like interruptions to snuggle time. A String Shot pins the lizard to the floor.

Citro returns the struggling Scraggy and goes back to applying ointment to Noibat’s patches of burnt off fur.

A thunk behind me shows Blue getting frustrated with one of the Torii gates, smacking it with his staff, “Those paper tags mean you can't haunt that wood bud.”

Blue eyes all of the onmyoji seals made with the exact purpose of preventing ghost pokemon from meddling with the local architecture, then sulks back to return to the pokeball.

Jane’s phone alarm goes off, “Time to clean up,” scratching behind Crooky’s neck to his delight, “Let's go crush a bird brain and his Blaziken!”

Naomi holds Golispod’s smaller claws, “You got this big guy!”

Apparently you have to be very encouraging with the naturally shy water bug. Triton nods excitedly as Jane returns him and Crooky.

The crowd has picked up since this morning, some folks are even waving to us.

“Good luck Jane!”

“Go rebels!”

“Beat ‘em up Crooky!”

Jane is feeling so much team spirit even her face is turning bright red.

She glares my way, “What are you snickering at, Old Man?”

“Your face.”

Naomi snorts while Citro finds something off in any other direction to look at.

“Gaaah!” she hops forward a bit, “I’m heading in already!”

Watts cheers, “Kick his Ass!”

“No,” flicking Naomi’s head, “Bad Princess.”

We enter the stands just behind Jane’s side of the field.

The caster desk is still set up with Shoji and Sarada, “It’s time for the final fight of the night folks! Torch has given us a good showing this afternoon. Will Jane of LaRousse City end our gym leader’s debut with a loss? Or will Torch channel some of the energy from his fan club to pull out a proper win?!”

A still gathered crowd of girls on the opposite end of the stadium cheer with all their heart.

Sarada hums, “I didn’t know Jane hails from the Hoenn Battle Tower. I’m looking forward to some advanced strategies for this fifth badge challenge.”

Oof.

Shoji agrees, “Well folks, we can hope, but who needs strategy when you have an Onix?!”

More cheers erupt, “Jane! Jane! Jane! Jane!...”

Our girl takes the field while smirking at the stands and waving. Torch enters as well, I think his fan club are bursting eardrums over there.

The Judge takes position.

Torch releases his pokemon with a flame like light. A Blaziken strikes a power pose on the field.

Bird of prey eyes glare our way only to shoot open in surprise, the big bird turns and squawks something towards Torch.

A hot mic catches his side of the conversation, “Really?! Tell me you’re joking.”

“Ziken.” and a nod.

Torch sighs, his eyes find me before returning to the field, “You can say hello after the match. Now focus please.”

“Trainers, are you ready?”

Jane sends out her Krokorok.

He’s quickly become a fan favorite, “Crooky! Crooky! Crooky!”

It’s hard to miss the big lizard’s tail wag like a dog at the excitement.

Jane smirks across from a determined Torch.

“Battle Start!”

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