Author's Note: Welcome to my new story! Thanks for clicking, I'm Rhyme. I've published extensively on other sites but this is my first story on FFN... There will be many OCs, and some canon characters. The story will be updated weekly, so I hope you'll come along for the ride! I'm not a fan of overly long author's notes, so shoot me a comment or a message if you want to chat. And without further ado...
I leaned against the wooden platform and did my best to stifle a yawn. You know how it is, professional decorum and all that. It would be rude to show how bored I really was when the kid across the room was giving it his all…
It made me a little sad that his all wouldn't be nearly enough… but that's just life sometimes.
"It's not too late to give up," I said. "You proved your point."
"No! Ivysaur, use Razor Leaf!" The kid threw his fist in the air, and his Pokémon grunted in response.
"Hilda, watch your eyes." I turned around and raised an arm to shield the back of my head. I've been a Gym Leader for seven years- in seven years you learn better than to take any chances when it comes to rookie trainers commanding their rookie partners to use projectile-type moves.
Hilda, my Ursaring and my oldest and boldest partner, growled a great growl and brought a furry arm up to cover her own face.
The young challenger's Ivysaur cried out again and loosed a cloud of leaves, sending them whipping in the Ursaring's direction. Most of the razor-sharp leaves missed their mark; a few didn't. Hilda growled again as the small projectiles buried themselves in her hide; I spun instinctively as she grunted in pain, but Hilda had not given up any ground.
"Alright, Hilda. That's enough," I said.
I happened to glance at the kid at that moment, and I saw the hope in his face fade as he realized I wasn't actually calling my Pokémon off. No, Hilda took a running step forward.
"Ivysaur, dodge!" said the boy, but his partner could barely stand.
As the Ursaring rushed forward she let out a roar, and I felt the floor vibrate as she planted a foot and wound up for a strike.
Maybe once upon a time I would have allowed myself a smile… but today my heart wasn't in it.
"Hammer Arm," I said, quietly.
Hilda bellowed and slammed a mighty paw down at the struggling Ivysaur; the small creature flew backwards and skidded across the ground to its master's feet. It did not move again. The boy scrambled to open his backpack, trying and failing to find something, do something.
I felt another twinge of sadness for him; I knew the feeling.
"Nice job, Hilda. Take a break," I said.
The Ursaring let out a barking sort of growl and looked down at the boy and his Ivysaur, concern in her expression, but she took a few steps back and sat on the ground to lick the scrapes on her arm.
"Hey, what did you say your name was?" I said.
"K-Kevin," the boy muttered, cradling his Ivysaur.
I walked across the polished hardwood floor to a cabinet on the wall, and I swung it open to rummage inside.
"Kevin, this is a Normal type gym. You came in here with two Bug type Pokémon and a Grass type… couldn't you have camped out for a weekend and at least tracked down a Scraggy or something?"
Kevin stammered again… and I pulled an item out of the cabinet and tossed it to him.
"Here, take care of your Ivysaur. That was a good-looking Razor Leaf; it isn't his fault you were fighting out of your league."
The boy caught the item and looked down, wide-eyed.
"But… Miss Krista! A Hyper Potion? I don't even have any money for the battle…"
I waved a hand.
"If I was worried about money, I would have washed up years ago." I turned my back on him again. "Keep training, come back in a year."
The young trainer collected himself and his Pokémon and hastily exited the Gym, presumably making a beeline for the Center, or to his mom… or something like that. Wasn't any of my business once he left my Gym.
Hilda growled again from where she was sitting on the arena's floor, and I looked over my shoulder; I realized somebody had entered the Gym just as Kevin was leaving, and now stood in the shadows cast at the room's entrance.
"Gym's closed," I called over my shoulder.
"Man, oh man," said the newcomer, and I frowned as I recognized his voice. "Krista, has it really been that long?"
Yes, as he stepped into the light there could be no mistaking it; that red and black jacket, that slicked-back hair, that smarmy smirk…
"Grimsley, what are you doing here?"
"What, I'm not allowed to drop in and say hi to an old friend?" he said, spreading his hands. "Also, I'm still your boss."
"Technically," I said. I busied myself pouring dry food and water into a pair of red-and-white bowls on the floor, just so he wouldn't get the impression I was actually interested in chatting.
"You really let that kid have it," said Grimsley. He walked over to Hilda and scratched her behind the ears- she bared her teeth, but she knew better than to react any further. "I gotta say, your Ursaring is still top-tier."
"Her name is Hilda," I said.
"We're getting a lot of complaints about you, you know," he said.
'We' meaning the Elite Four. They were the bunch of pricks that fancied themselves the strongest trainers in Unova, and they had complete oversight of all the Gyms in the region… including my own. It didn't help that they actually were the best of the best.
"File a complaint with City Hall. I can't help you," I said, unenthusiastically.
Grimsley paused.
"You can't help me… but can you come join me for dinner?"
"That's certainly not happening," I said.
"Not even if the League is paying?"
I hesitated.
"Alright, but we're going someplace that sells booze."
"I'll expense your bar tab. Boss man won't like it… but it's worth it for a chance to get the great and powerful Krista Strauss out of her self-imposed exile."
I turned up my nose, but half an hour later Grimsley and I were seated on the street at a nice café, waiting for our dinner. I had a drink in my hand and Hilda sat on the street next to me, daintily snacking on a pile of berries. That was the nice thing about Castelia City; almost all of the restaurants were Pokémon-friendly.
"So, about those complaints," said Grimsley. "When's the last time you gave out a badge? A… uh…"
"A Monochrome Badge." I finished his sentence for him. "I don't know… three, four weeks ago? It was the week Hilda was down with Pokérus, she wasn't in fighting shape."
"That was one of the complaints. People are getting mad that you only ever seem to fight with your Ursaring. They say they have no chance of ever beating her." Grimsley reached over and scratched Hilda's ears again; she turned up her snout and popped another berry in her mouth.
"What's the point of running a Gym if you're just going to lose all the time? Look at the other Gym in Castelia. When's the last time Burgh actually won a battle?" I said.
Grimsley paused.
"Krista, do you know a trainer by the name of Chase?"
I thought for a second.
"Short kid, a little scrawny, fights with a Steelix?"
"So you do remember him." Grimsley nodded, watching me a little too intently.
"Yeah, sure. He used to hang around my Gym. He never actually managed to beat me, though."
"Krista, when's the last time you lost a battle? And I mean honestly lost."
"Grimsley, I fight ten-year-olds." I shrugged.
As glamorous as the life of a Gym leader may seem, it's a job like any other. There's a lot of day-to-day maintenance, and sometimes the endless flow of subpar "challengers" can wear your patience thin. I was fortunate, of course; not many people get to make a living doing what they love. But ninety-nine out of one hundred battles for my precious Monochrome Badge were not the pulse-pounding clashes I had once dreamed of.
"Say, whatever happened to Chase?" I said after a minute, as nonchalantly as I could.
"He challenged the Elite Four yesterday," said Grimsley. "He beat us all, made it all the way to the Champ. He couldn't go all the way…"
I nodded in approval.
"Still, not bad."
"He credited you with all of his success," said Grimsley. "He said it was all because of his time spent under your wing… like you said, he never beat you, though."
I studied Grimsley's face.
"What are you saying, exactly? Are you trying to say you think I'm Elite Four caliber?" I said.
Grimsley let my question hang for a minute, then took a coin out of his pocket. He flipped it and caught it on his wrist, hiding the result from me, before he answered.
"I think you could be, if you applied yourself," he said.
I laughed.
And laughed.
And about twenty seconds into my laughing fit Grimsley got up and pushed his chair in. He walked away without saying goodbye; the waiter later told me that he had taken care of my tab on his way out.
Once I could breathe again, I turned to Hilda; all the other people in the café and on the street who were now staring at me could go to hell.
"He's crazy, Hilda. I'm just a normal trainer, right? I'm happy with my Normal Gym, my Monochrome Badge. We have a good thing going here."
Hilda's sympathetic growl offered no answers.
But anyway, I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Krista Strauss, I'm a trainer. Always have been. I'm twenty-nine years old, and all I have to my name is a fistful of Pokedollars, an apartment subsidized by the Pokémon League, and the three strongest Pokémon in the Unova region- I believed that, without reservation.
That should have been plenty, right? At least… it should have been something.
But let me tell you, as I sat there on the street, drinking with my Ursaring on my boss's dime, I felt utterly and helplessly normal, more hopelessly normal than I had in years.