With the two-hour gap I had at the end of the day, I decided to invest that into some training with my elite team.

Specifically, the pokemon that would be fighting in the Elite Challenge.

Sadly, not all of them were confident of their chances.

Gawain stood to the side, shifting back and forth as he eyed Missy, Greta, and A.J., all of whom had smirks on their faces.

Greta in particular made me pause. She’d created a combination move with her Ivysaur, perhaps it was time I did some work for another myself.

Bertha was the main Pokemon known for combination moves, but nothing was stopping me from training others in this feat. Perhaps a Stone Axe into a Sand Attack or Stone Edge? Agility into Stone Axe? Tilling the field so to speak? What about other pokemon? They’d need some moves to give them further edges beyond their power.

Jorm loomed next to Gawain while my other elite pokemon watched on from the side. I nodded, ideas already forming in my head. I might not get time today, but I could make time for future sessions.

The other pokemon shared a look when I shot them a grin. They’d get their turns tomorrow for me to officially test them out but for now, I was going to just focus on Gawain and Jorm. With how Jorm could Mega-evolve he seemed unphased, which left Gawain as the newest pokemon on my roster to feel like he was out of his depth.

I rubbed my chin in thought. I needed a way to reassure him, but first I needed his attention. “Let’s ignore them for the moment,” I said to him.

Gawain continued to watch the other three and I sighed, putting a hand on his rocky shoulder and tugging him to turn and look at me. “So the thing about the Elite Challenge is that I will only be able to use pokemon that can represent the Gym. In this case, that means rock type, or former rock types. So, Titan, Bertha, Knight, Don, Jorm, Selene, Shin, Sanchez, and you will be representing the Gym.”

Gawain nodded slowly, his eyes beginning to dart to the side before he locked onto something. He perked up and waved an axe to the side. “Kleav?” he asked, indicating Empress.

I coughed. “I don’t think she’d be able to hold back as well against some of the weaker pokemon. I want them roughed up, not permanently injured. Now the others have all had experience with this and know what it entails, but this will be new for you,” I said, making sure to keep our discussion calm for his sake.

I held up a hand. “Now, it's true that you don’t have anything close to the others' experience in fighting like this, but you’re not as at risk of losing as you might think!” I said firmly.

“Stone Axe is a wonderfully versatile move that is strong as both a weapon but also a set-up move. No one else in my pokemon roster apart from Titan has this, and for him it’s very visible when the Sandstorm gets going. It’s not subtle, which can make a lot of difference,” I said.

Gawain lifted his head up a little. “Vor!” he said.

I nodded, more than ready to continue to sing his praises. “You also have X-Scissor which is going to be great against grass-type pokemon, a common enough type that people will try to use against us. Only Don has as much ease thanks to his flying typing.”

To the side, Don raised his wings and screeched happily at being included in the praise. I didn’t mention how Bertha also had Surf and Ice Beam, but instead kept building up Gawain.

With his Agility, Protect and Stone Edge, he had some good moves which I could possibly build on with some fighting-type moves. The only other move he’d learnt thanks to his friendship with Link and tutoring under Quirrina was Baton Pass, which sadly wasn’t applicable in the Elite challenge.

Once Gawain was out, that was it, he was the pokemon slated to face down six others.

His biggest issue would be facing off against Steel or Water type pokemon. Hopefully, the fear of Sanchez and Bertha would keep most people away.

I rubbed my chin. “I might also cap the number of people that can take the Elite Challenge a day to only three,” I said, causing Gawain to perk up.

I nodded, liking the sound of it, as otherwise I could end up with a lot of fatigue in my pokemon. I’d also have to block one of the pokemon off the wheel of chance after they fought.

It really depended on how many people we faced.

I sighed and considered something I hadn’t thought about in a while.

“Hey gang, gather up for a second,” I said, indicating that everyone, pokemon and people, should gather around.

They did so, with the humans forming an inner circle, the larger pokemon looming. In the middle, much smaller, younger pokemon looked up at me. Gible, Zubat, Tirtouga, Cranidos and Cradilly all looked up to me. Gible did so with a toothy smile which was mildly terrifying when I stopped to count how many teeth he had.

I cleared my throat, drawing my attention away from the maw of teeth staring at me and back to what I was supposed to be doing. “The Elite Challenge… I didn’t design it to be unbeatable,” I said sheepishly.

“When I first took over the Gym I had created, the Elite Challenge was a way for young trainers to understand that there was more to gyms than just the badge challenge. This was mainly because we were the first badge gym and that was it. They’d come through once and then think they were done with us.

“The Elite Challenge was a way of bringing them back later in the season when they were more experienced. It was meant as a way to keep things moving a little in the gym, and yes,” I nodded towards Bertha and Titan. “It was also meant as a way to keep our skills sharp.”

I locked eyes with my pokemon, before looking to the humans. “The Elite Challenge is not something that I expected to remain undefeated in. We can perhaps thank our prior ignominy. Most people didn’t want to ‘return’ to the starting Gym for a better badge. Those that did were the proud few that either pushed themselves or wanted the best for themselves and their pokemon.”

“As it stands?” I clenched my fist a few times. “We’ve exceeded any expectations I had on that, and this year is going to be tough. There are a ton of great trainers that are extremely aware of us and the challenge we have, which no one has yet won. I don’t think that we’ll be able to outlast them this year, some of the trainers are just that good,” I said.

This caused a ripple to move through the group and I nodded sadly. “So, if the defeat comes from any of you, it doesn’t matter who it comes from.”

I made sure to lock eyes with each of the relevant pokemon as I said their names. “Titan, Bertha, Gawain, Jorm, Don, Knight, Shin, Sanchez, or Selene, if any of you fall this year, I won’t be mad. This is going to be a tough end of the year coming up for us, but our objectives for it were and will remain to staysharp and to be a very tall cliff for some trainers to experience so they understand that there is a serious difference between the Gym Circuit, and the Ace or Elite Four trainers.”

“If I lost my undefeated streak I’d be kinda miffed,” admitted A.J. and I knew that coming from him that was an understatement. The boy prided himself on going on win streaks. It was how he measured his growth.

I nodded my head, conceding the point. “I think in the moment, I will be a little sad when it comes time for us to hand over a Bejewelled Badge, but not that sad. I know that I can be proud of my team and that the odds are going to be heavily stacked against us. There are that many trainers this year and there is so much attention brought our way that it won’t be possible to skate past with only thirty or forty trainers coming back.”

“We, both you,” I said, gesturing to my pokemon, and then to myself, “and I, are going to have to be at our best for quite a while. I will do my best and I hope you will too, but don’t be surprised when it’s not enough. This Challenge was meant to be tough for them and us. I designed it that way,” I said firmly.

“Now, in the coming weeks, I just want you to try your best, we’ve come a long way since last year, and I think we’ll go far. Give me your best here and on the battlefield, and we’ll do great.”

I then shot them a smirk. “But remember, that this is just training again for us, for pokemon and trainers. We’re in this to work at the process of getting stronger. The things we do here are not just because you’re gym pokemon but also Ace pokemon, you are my Elites.”

I swept my hand to gesture at all of them. “This training is to give us the edge in higher-tier matches. To give you endurance and power beyond what any other pokemon has. This more than anything else is what made us capable of standing up to Lance and smacking him down last year!” This declaration earned a cheer from my pokemon and a straightening of spines. By shifting the objective I would also hopefully take the sting out of any loss.

I’d just need to repeat this mantra to myself when I lost. This was a process, not the end result, and with the calibre of trainers coming my way, I knew there were going to be some tough times ahead.

There was no way I was going to have it easy with trainers like Brawly, Bugsy, Ritchie, Ash, Gary, Roxanne, and Flannery to name a few. This would be the gauge with which I found out who had the best odds of taking on the end-of-circuit tournament.

I swallowed and waved my hand. “For now, we have a match coming up that will lock us into the tenth position against Arthur, that is what these training sessions and the Elite challenges are for. Matches have been easy lately, but that was because we slipped back into a tournament where we were against people way beneath us. They still gave us some trouble, though, so we’ll need our A game against Arthur.”

I locked eyes with the trainers who were sitting in the middle. “You’ll be all helping me with this as well, I know it’s going to be tougher than the usual training you take part in with the Gym’s pokemon, but it matters a lot.”

I grinned and clapped my hands, breaking up the serious moment. “Now! Let’s throw down with some battle training! Jorm and Gawain? You’re up for today, we’re going to cycle through fighting six pokemon and work on it from there. Missy, Greta, and A.J? You can use any of your pokemon or the Gym’s pokemon, alright?”

That got some smirks from them with A.J. getting an extremely predatory look in his eyes. He was totally going to try and one-shot me with Fissure, wasn’t he?

I waved Gible and the younger pokemon to the side while setting up Titan, Bertha, and Shin to observe the match that was about to unfold. The others would be running their own gauntlet of endurance and power drills off to the side with my non-rock type having an almost easier time. Then again seeing their counterparts working hard always seemed to motivate them to work harder themselves.

I cracked my neck, getting ready for a harsh round of training. It would be rough for everyone, but it should help A.J. and Greta for tomorrow as well, so it was a win-win in my book.

“Let’s go Gawain!” I called sending him out against Missy’s Rhyperior. “Huh,” I said, “maximum effort straight out of the gates huh?” If nothing else, this would work wonders for Gawain’s endurance.

I stabbed my hand forward and sent Gawain into the fray.

Tomorrow A.J. and Greta would face Cerulean. Today we trained.

When we teleported into Cerulean the next morning, Greta had a confident smile on her face whereas A.J. had a surly scowl. Yolanda and Crystal were also along to support their friend.

I ignored the girl’s chatting away to give A.J. a look before turning my attention to Greta.

“Has he seriously been like that since yesterday’s training session?” I asked.

“Yup!” said Greta with a giggle. Yolanda huffed, whereas Crystal shot him a smug look and tried to fade into what she must have assumed was a blind spot to poke her tongue at A.J. She really hadn’t taken losing to him the other day well.

I turned my head and shot her an unimpressed look, making her whistle innocently.

I sighed and turned back to A.J. “Hey, come on, it was a legitimate move to stop you from getting away with a Fissure against Jorm,” I said, clapping A.J. on the shoulder.

“You weren’t supposed to block it,” he said with a growl.

“Yeah, but I did,” I said. “You need to get used to people having Protect, Detect, and Endure more often. Protect wasn’t the only way I could have gotten out of that situation and you know it. You’re mad that you fell for the bait and got punished.” I dragged him in close. “You need to stop thinking about yesterday and start thinking about today!” I said firmly. “Out of you and Greta, you’re the one I’m more worried about.”

“What?! I’m the better trainer!” he said furiously.

I raised my hand and made a so-so gesture. “You haven’t caught any more pokemon since you joined me, you’ve evolved a single pokemon. Your pokemon move list has mostly stayed the same apart from learning a few moves for your Raticate. If we were judging by growth? Greta has come a lot further than you,” I said easily.

A.J. gave Greta a look I’d seen all too often to ignore. “No fighting her today,” I said, jerking him into lock step with me and closer to the Cerulean Gym. “We’re going to let you go second to give you the proper—”

“I want to go first!” he said heatedly. I locked eyes with him and for a moment a battle of wills played out, before I decided not to fight him on this if he was going to be this passionate about it.

“Alright, Greta? You got an issue with going second?” I asked.

“Nope! Then they’ll be warmed up for me!” she said.

I paused and glanced over to find the girls all biting their lips while A.J. now sported a highly conflicted look. Did he go first and lead the way, or allow the Cerulean Gym to ‘warm up’ first against Greta.

I rolled my eyes at them, amused and exasperated at how they were toying with the boy. I made a light chopping motion in the air at them and signalled for them to ease up on him.

“Sounds good! You’re up first A.J.!” I said, leading him through the doors of the very flashy Cerulean Gym only for an extremely scarred man to meet us in the foyer.

“Brock,” the man grunted at me. His eyes flicked over the kids and landed on Greta and A.J. He pointed at them. “You two, with me, we’ll get you posted for your matches,” he said. He then waved a hand. “Spectator seating is up those stairs,” he said dismissively.

Yolanda tilted her head. “Well, that was certainly… different?”

“Rude, more like!” said Crystal.

I shook my head. “We’re here before they’re open to the public so they wouldn’t have receptionists here to greet us. Remember, for them the surge is over and they’ve been able to really drop back their opening times,” I said.

“Oh, that makes more sense,” Yolanda said.

“Still doesn’t mean he needed to be that rude!” said Crystal, determined to be grumpy it seemed.

I led the girls up into the stands, finding it rather amusing to be the one in the stands rather than on the podium fighting for once. Before too long Daisy, Violet and Lily sashayed their way out. “Like, hi there to our fellow gym trainers from Pewter~! “ said Daisy with a grandiose wave.

When neither of the girls reacted I cupped my hands and decided to be ‘that fan’ by shouting, ”Yeeeeeeeeew! Pewter City! Let’s go!”

Yolanda blanched, not expecting me to be so boisterous while Crystal laughed and joined in, my reaction giving her licence to play around. “Yeah! Kick their butts! Let’s go Greta … and A.J. too I guess!”

The Cerulean sisters shot us amused looks but then directed their attention to Greta and A.J. “So, Daisy is going to fight you both, are you both ready?”The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Yes! If you have a Gauntlet I want to do that!” said A.J. firmly.

The girls scratched the back of their heads sheepishly. “Uhmm, we’ve only just started doing that cause Uncle Jeffrey was getting left out, but if you think you can handle Uncle before us then that’s fine?”

A.J. turned his head to lock eyes with the old man who had met us in the waiting room.

I sighed. “That kid, he always has to take the hard way, doesn’t he?”

“Do you know that man?” asked Yolanda.

“He’s a former Vice Commander of the Cerulean Coast in the Rangers, extremely well-read on water types. Without a doubt he’s probably the strongest water-type trainer in the Gym,” I said.

Yolanda facepalmed. “And A.J. just demanded a fight with him.”

I nodded, watching as the two males went to their podiums.

Violet stepped into the referee’s podium and glanced at both of them. “You know what to do, right?” she asked as she raised the flags.

I chuckled while ‘uncle’ facepalmed. “Just because they’re gym trainers doesn’t mean you should slack off, Violet,” he ground out.

I shook my head in amusement as Violet, now chastised, started listing off the typical pre-match rules. When she was done she raised her flags. “Let’s do it, to it!” she called, causing Jeffrey to sigh but select a pokemon nevertheless.

“Go Butterfree!” called A.J.

I smiled nostalgically, remembering when I’d been a child in another life and I’d use Butterfree as one of my early game pokemon. Sadly it and Pidgeotto always would struggle against the Cerulean Gym, at least in Red and Blue, but that didn’t make me like them any less.

“Go Starmie!” growled Jeffrey, revealing a blue and red Starmie instead of the typical purple, gold and red colouration of the pokemon.

“Oh nice, “ I said as the revealed shiny pokemon glinted in the lights of the Gym.

A.J. wasn’t deterred though, if anything he seemed pleased with this. “Go for Bug Buzz!” he crowed. Butterfree snapped its wings forward and shot out a wave of greenish energy that Starmie cartwheeled away from, all the while staying on the platform.

“Hmmm good grouping of attacks, if a little slow,” said Jeffrey. “Counter with Thunder!”

Starmie sparked up and unleashed a powerful bolt of electricity at Butterfree. My mind instantly conjured up ways I’d avoid the attack with Protect, or by having Butterfree attempt to divert the attack with Confusion.

A.J. did neither of those. “Dive hard into the platform and flip it!” he called and Butterfree dropped faster than a stone straight into the platform that Starmie was on, flipping it over and making the floating platform into a barrier against the thunder.

Butterfree swept out the other side before the platform could fall back to the ground without a hint of damage.

“NICE!” I called loudly.

Yolanda and Crystal nodded along, even clapping.

Stamie, who’d been launched into the air, wasn’t idle however, as Jeffrey chopped his hand down. “Bubblebeam denial of space!” he called, and Starmie merrily projected itself back while creating bubbles about, making it harder for Butterfree to fly.

“Gust! Blow them away!” called A.J.. Once more the attack was denied easily and I had to applaud his cool head.

He’d been exposed to this tactic before with some of my water-typed pokemon, but with the earlier Thunder and lack of traditional space to move it would have been easy to flub things.

“Bug Buzz again!” called A.J. keeping on the pressure.

“Minimize!” said Jeffrey. His Starmie vanished as it shrunk in size, becoming a much tougher threat.

A.J. growled at this before sweeping his hand out. “Blanket the field! Stun Spore!” he called and Butterfree quickly swept back and forth in quick darts casting green spores under it.

I leaned forward, interested in how he’d handle this issue. He had been highly vocal about my handling it, now the shoe was on the other foot.

When nothing seemed to happen A.J. clicked his tongue, “fly low and hover, watch for it!” he called. Butterfree did just that, hovering in the air with languid wing beats.

Then, it suddenly twitched and fired off a round of Bug Buzz.

Jeffrey clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Get in the water and heal up some!”

“Stop it with String Shot!” barked A.J. and his Butterefree surprised everyone with how fast it unleashed its string, firing it straight from its mouth to nail what must have been Starmie, as a second later Starmie was tossed into the air and nailed with another Bug Buzz.

A soft plop announced Starmie hitting the deck and with the line of String Shot still attached, I could just make out it standing up once again. I had to give it to Jeffrey, that was a strong Starmie.

“That’s enough Starmie, he’s shown enough skill to advance past us,” Jeffrey said, returning his pokemon.

A.J. stiffened. “Hey! Wait! I don’t want your pity, old man!”

Jeffrey turned and shot A.J. a singularly unimpressed look. “You’re good for your age, kid but if I wanted to I could crush you.” Jeffrey walked away, dismissing A.J.. “Come back when you’ve had another year or two and I’ll spank you properly then, until then I won’t face you properly.”

A.J. growled at this, annoyed despite Violet announcing his victory. I just knew that A.J. was forming a list of people he’d be returning to face when he was stronger, and Jeffrey had just made it.

I had no doubt I was on that list too.

By the smirk on Jeffrey’s face, he knew he’d earned A.J.’s enmity, but was playing a longer game. It seemed Jeffrey was fitting in well as a gym trainer with how he was motivating youngsters to get stronger.

When Daisy stepped past Jeffrey, the older man paused and whispered something into his ear. She tilted her head before nodding.

“Alright! Like, you’re facing me now!” she said with some bounce. Other boys would have been lost in her… assets, but A.J. just scowled.

“Whatever, let’s get this over with.”

“Go Dewgong!” said Daisy, causing me to cough in surprise. That was a bit stronger than a two or a three-tier challenge.

A.J. narrowed his eyes, obviously aware of this, and opened his mouth to give a command, only for it to not matter as Daisy swept her hand out. “Icy Wind!” she called.

Dewgong unleashed a wave of cold that locked up Butterfree and ended the first exchange.

Yolanda and Crystal sat up in shock.

A.J. openly gaped, having not expected to have sweet little Daisy give him so much trouble.

“Damn, Daisy got herself some claws,” I said.

A.J. returned his pokemon and frowned before shaking it off. “Let’s go Beedrill! We need your speed!” he shouted.

“Like, repeat!” called Daisy with a wave of her hand, unknowingly committing an error as Beedrill was not Butterfree with the weakness to ice moves.

“Assurance,” said A.J., before following up with, “stay in close!”

Once more the arena was scoured with Icy Wind, forcing Beedrill who’d charged forward to take some damage, only for the bug-poison-type pokemon to push through the damage and slam an effective move into Dewgong’s face.

“PJ!” snapped A.J., and Beedrill raised a glinting stinger before hammering it into Dewgong repeatedly.

Dewgong cried out in pain and Daisy much to my surprise leaned forward. “Sheer Cold,” she said, and I could only gape.

“She’s taught her pokemon a one-hit K.O move?” I asked aloud.

A.J. must have recognised the threat he was in as he snapped a hand forward. “BEEDRILL GO!” he shouted.

Beedrill stopped hammering its stingers into Dewgong, who’d been ignoring them anyway, and drew back, stingers primed for the next attack.

Dewgong for its part created a small snowflake that formed up above its nose where it started to pulse.

For a moment, the battlefield held its breath.

Then Beedrill went from standing still to accelerating a second later, as it caught Dewgong around the throat and shot across the battlefield before slamming Dewgong into the barrier where it slumped.

I shot A.J. an amused look. Yolanda, who’d stood during the final exchange, looked at me. “Was that Giga Impact?”

I nodded. “He’s been learning more than he’s been letting on,” I said, pleased that this was the case and that he’d shown my earlier words to be false.

“Kid is going to be a monster if this is what he’s been hiding. That was a good call, Dewgong would have had a one in three chance of pulling it off at base level but depending on its strength it would have greater odds. It was still a serious threat that he neutralised well.”

Yolanda nodded and sat back down.

A.J. turned from the fight for the first time and sought out my eyes. A look of fear flashed across his eyes, which made me wonder a little about what he had to worry about. Was I missing something here? What was making him react that way?

I decided to just smile and nod for now

“Way to go! Great call!” I called.

A.J. relaxed and turned away from me quickly, but not quickly enough to hide the pleased flush that had come over his face.

Poor kid forgot about the big screen most gyms had these days.

“Like, nice one! I wasn’t expecting to have Dewgong go down like that!” Daisy said as she returned her pokemon.

“Let’s see how you handle this one!” she said as she sent out a Seaking.” Water Gun!” she called, going straight back into the fight.

Beedrill, who still hadn’t quite recovered from Giga Impact, hovered and took the hit. It shook itself off, but it was obviously on its last legs.

A.J. grimaced. “String Shot! Like we planned!” he called, crossing his arms. From each of the stingers, String Shot out and bound up the trio of platforms, creating a slightly larger island in the middle of the battlefield.

Doing this sadly left his pokemon open for another Water Gun, which knocked Beedrill out.

I considered the set-up before nodding my head. “He’s got this,” I said easily.

Yolanda frowned before nodding her head. “He’s copied Mia and Silly Mouse?” she said. I nodded and Crystal, who’d never met Mia or Silly Mouse, snapped her head from me to Yolanda with a growl.

“Who’re they? And what did they do that’s so special?” she asked.

I signalled for her to wait a moment, and A.J., as I had expected him to, sent out a Rattata onto the central island.

“Dive down and surge up with Horn Attack!” called Daisy. Her pokemon dove down, vanishing under the water and becoming a dark shape.

“Stack up the platforms!” A.J. called, a plan in mind.

Rattata, with the String Shot attaching them, reeled in the platforms and had them haphazardly stacked up. Ratata then positioned himself atop the central point where the three platforms overlapped.

When Seaking shot up, instead of a thump and a hurled platform, this time a soft whump sounded out as Rattata was lightly bounced upwards.

“Huh, they weigh enough to float, but also act as barriers from attacks above and below. I never thought about using them that way,” I said.

“A.J. and Greta have been talking about this fight a bit over the last week,” Yolanda supplied. “Greta… might have looked into things a bit more, and A.J. has been using that knowledge.”

“Huh, teamwork for the win,” I said, hoping that A.J.’s good showing wasn’t going to cause Greta to crash and burn.

I glanced over and found Greta staring at the platforms fixedly, a notepad out that she was scribbling in with Ivysaur at her side.

“Dip your tail in and light it up!” said A.J. and just as I’d predicted, A.J. made the most of Rattata’s normal typing to dip its tail into the water before lighting up with Thunder.

I nodded. “He got Seaking to commit to an attack only to get it in close before doing that, nice.”

A moment after the lightning stopped Seaking emerged to the side, belly up and passed out.

Daisy sighed and returned her pokemon. She considered A.J. for a moment before smiling. “I think that’ll do it for now! Like, great work! Those were some tricks we haven’t seen before!” she said and a banner emerged on the screen, announcing A.J. as the winner.

I leaned back, pleased at this turn of events. When Daisy began to lower the podiums A.J. waved her off. “I want to wait until after Greta’s match… if that’s alright,” he said tacking on the last bit after catching Greta facepalming.

Daisy giggled. “Sure thing, you little cutie! Your girlfriend can have her turn now!”

“She’s not my girlfriend/He’s not my boyfriend!” said A.J. and Greta over each other.

Daisy and her sisters giggled at this and Greta stormed up to the podium to take her place. When she reached the top A.J. leaned in and whispered a few things.

Greta relaxed and gained a thoughtful look.

I leaned forward. “Proper teamwork, eh?” I said, happy to see them trading notes and making the most of A.J.’s experiences. It said a lot that despite the banter and back and forth they had, A.J. was sharing and Greta was listening. They wouldn’t have done that a few months ago.

A.J. departed from the podium and made his way up to us. Crystal was in his face instantly. “What did you tell her?”

“My observations for the water and the podium. I think it’s possible to judge distance and speed. It’s not like a creek or the ocean where things darken and become murky.”

“Oh, that’s ‘cause of this battlefield doubling as a show aquarium for them. Their shows are very nice. Lots of skilled choreography that you could learn a thing or two from,” I said.

A.J. blinked. “Oh, we… hadn’t considered that.”

I snorted and turned back to the match. Greta was bouncing from foot to foot nervously with her pokeball in hand. Across from her, Daisy still stood, making this a straight Gym Leader challenge instead of a gauntlet like A.J. had gone through.

Jeffrey was to the side, directing a pair of Krabby to snip up the String Shots to not impede either trainer and give Greta a standard start with three platforms.

Greta waited until Violet ran through the same starting spiel as usual before asking the trainers to send out their pokemon.

Greta released her Ivysaur, making me confident, but Daisy surprised me by sending out a Golduck.

Huh, I don’t think she got the memo that this was supposed to be a fourth-tier match, not a second-tier match.

Oh dear. I glanced over to find Greta not looking too worried however, if anything she seemed cool and collected. I decided not to shake her confidence and keep quiet for now.

“Golduck! Aqua Jet!” Daisy said starting things off instead of waiting.

“Ivysaur! Vine Whip on the front of the platform!” Greta called and her pokemon did just that, causing her platform to buck. Ivysaur timed it perfectly to use the buckling platform to jump, causing it to be launched up and over the oncoming Golduck. Golduck swept past where Ivysaur would have been, only to come to a stop having done nothing.

“Turn and go again!” Daisy said and Golduck spun, ready to repeat the attack.

“Vine Whip again!” Greta called and this time, from the central platform, Ivysaur slapped a platform, only this time it slapped the platform Golduck was on, tripping up Golduck and causing it to crash into the water with a hard splash.

“Slap it hard when it emerges!” called Greta and Ivysaur raised its vines up, coiling them like snakes.

Golduck burst out of the water with a gasp, having not been ready to dive like it had, only for the Vine Whips to lash it, smacking it around and dealing significant damage.

When Greta realised this wasn’t going to do Golduck in, she switched it up. “Grab it and launch it high!”

Ivysaur wrapped Golduck before it could dive and hurled it up high, causing the evolved duck pokemon to quack furiously. Greta stabbed her hand forward. “Razor Leaf!” she cried out, and Ivysaur unleashed a barrage of leaves.

“Blast them with Water Gun!” called Daisy desperately, only for it to not be enough. Golduck fainted in the air, only to be returned before it could even hit the water.

“That was a good showing Golduck, but our opponents have done their research” Daisy said to her pokeball.

Daisy raised another pokeball and nodded her head. “Let’s see how you go with something a little more your style?” she said. She then released a Cloyster.

Greta hissed in worry. “Sunny Day!” she said, causing Ivysaur to unleash a small orb of reddish-hot energy into the air above the battlefield. I could feel the heat even from here and Ivysaur perked up as the leaves on its back began to twitch.

Daisy had to know what was coming next as she smirked. “Hmmmm, alright then, if that’s how you want to play it!” Daisy said. “Cloyster! Aurora Beam!”

“Solar Beam!” came Greta’s response and I grinned as both pokemon unleashed powerful beam attacks. For a long moment, both attacks held in the centre, only for Greta to begin screaming her support.

“Come one Ivysaur! Remember our training! I know you can do this! This is all you! You have this!”

Ivyssaur braced itself and leaned forward, and a moment later the Solar Beam blew through the Aurora Beam and landed a super effective attack straight into Cloyster’s surprised face, blasting it back and slamming it into the rear wall.

Daisy sighed as her pokemon fell to the ground. “Well, it looks like it’s two for two, you kids sure are something!”

I chuckled in relief, that… hadn’t been how I’d expected things to go. I felt my heart hammering in my chest as I took a moment to inhale and exhale. That could have gone bad pretty quickly, but it had worked out.

I shook my head and stood to applaud and watch on as Greta and A.J. got their Cascade Badges together.

When they were done we made our way down to talk with them and the Cerulean sisters. I had to give it to them, they’d really stepped up their game if this was how they greeted challengers these days.

It was a welcome surprise.

As was Greta and A.J.’s growth. I hadn’t been sure about sending them out now, but seeing them in action and how they’d grown? I knew I’d made the right call. They needed to spread their wings a little and show what they’d been working on.

When Greta presented the Cascade Badge to us I nodded happily. “I’m surprised you didn’t use your new combination move?”

Greta coughed. “I wanted to test out other methods while I had the chance. I felt like using the Power Leaf move was too… easy,” she said.

I nodded, mentally noting down the name she’d settled for.

“Nicely done,” I commented before nodding to the front doors. “I think there’s a cake and some other people that will be interested in finding out how you di.”

Yolanda swatted me. “Brock, they weren’t supposed to know about the cake!” she said and I chuckled.

Whoops, I shouldn’t have let that slip.

When A.J. and Greta blinked at me I just winked and led our group back to the teleport facility. When we returned home most of the gym trainers were there with cake and banners to celebrate the pair's victory.

The kids all lit up and I grinned at getting one over them with this surprise. I rather enjoyed how they took to gushing, or in A.J.’s case, calmly recounting the battle he’d had with Jeffrey and then Daisy to Dennis and Rocko, who both nodded along attentively.

When I produced a cake, both Greta and A.J. blushed but were happy to take a slice each.

They might have grown a lot in the last few months, but they were still kids.

Then again, there was nothing wrong with enjoying a party.

With that in mind, I released my pokemon roster to share in some of the good vibes.

“Oh, that’s why you ordered such a big cake,” said Alexa as suddenly the room filled with pokemon who all happily lined up for some cake. I chuckled and nodded.

With my own cake in hand, I settled in to enjoy myself with a well-earned break.

Tomorrow could wait, today was too good to not enjoy.

I lifted a spoon of cake to my mouth only to pause as a whine escaped a small pokemon. I glanced down and found a messy-looking Gible staring at me with Baby Doll eyes.

Damn my sisters were scary. Somehow they’d taught a dragon type a fairy type move.

Too impressed to care, I handed over the rest of my cake, amused at this turn of events.

Rocko saw this and just laughed, but I was too amused to care. So what if I was soft in some places?I didn’t always need to be hard. I lifted Gible up and grabbed another slice of cake, this time to share.