Hugh awoke with a jolt at the sound of his alarm. Oh boy, 3 AM! He thought excitedly to himself. Team Mystic won't know what hit them.

Hugh made his way down the stairs as quietly as possible, not wanting to wake the others. He was almost to the bottom when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped.

"Watcha doing?" Asked Millard.

"Ugh, Millard. Why do you always have to sneak up on people like that?" Hugh whispered fiercely.

"It's just who I am. That's like asking why you have to control bees." Millard replied, then paused. "But seriously, what are you doing out of bed at this hour?"

Hugh let out a sigh. "Well, if you must know, I'm taking over the Smart Aid Gym."

"Oh. Mind if I tag along? We're both on Team Valor, after all." Millard's face was invisible, of course, but Hugh was sure that the dork was smiling like an idiot.

"I don't see why not."

"Great!" Millard said excitedly, and the pair made their soft descent down the remaining steps and out the door.

They walked in a comfortable silence, save the buzzing of Hugh's bees and the sound of their footsteps on the pavement. The Englewood Bible Church along the way just so happened to be a Pokéstop, where the two restocked on Pokéballs. They caught a few Pokémon on the way, but nothing special; some Clefairies, a few Eevees, and of course, lots of Rattatas.

Eventually they reached their destination. Hugh sized up the Gym. It only had one Pokémon guarding it, a 1179 CP Vaporeon named 420. Both of the peculiars' best Pokémon were in the 400-600 CP range, but with the two of them working together it'd be no problem. He tapped the fight icon.

"Ready?" Millard asked.

"Almost, hang on." Hugh stared at the six selected Pokémon before deciding to switch out his Flareon in favor of a Weepinbell named Fiona.

Millard peered over the other boy's shoulder. "You named your Pokémon after...?"

"Yes." Hugh muttered. "I know, it's stupid."

"No, that's actually really sweet."

There was an awkward pause.

"Alright, let's do this!" Millard shouted.

The two rapidly tapped their screens, slowly bringing 420's health down.

"Come on, come on." Hugh growled, as if that would make his special attack bar fill up any faster. Finally, his Beedrill used X-Scissor on the Vaporeon, bringing its health down to three fourths.

"Noooooo!" Millard cried out as his Gengar fell. Hugh's Pokémon was close to fainting, too. He was able to get one more special attack in before it disappeared in a flash of light and was replaced with his slightly weaker Jolteon, but at least that could do super effective damage against 420. It was taken out in under 20 seconds. Next up was his Butterfree.

Hugh glanced at the yellow health bar. "Halfway there."

"We can do this!" Millard yelled

Hugh started building up his special attack bar again, eager to do some damage. He couldn't be bothered to dodge. That would just mean less time to attack! He shot his Signal Beam at 420.

"How many do you have left?" Millard asked.

"Three, Butterfree, Pidgeot, and Fiona." Hugh said. Just then, his Butterfree got knocked out. "Oh, make that two. And you?"

"This is my last one."

Seeing 420's health bar depleting so sluggishly formed some doubt in Hugh's mind. It wasn't even down to one fourth yet and he only had two Pokémon left. He blasted Hurricane and fainted immediately after.

Lastly was Fiona. She was doing super effective damage, bringing 420's health down to the red.

"I just died." Millard said. "It's all up to you now."

Tapping his screen now with added vigor, Hugh refused to let Team Mystic keep this gym any longer. His special attack was ready. With trembling fingers, Hugh held down the screen, unleashing Fiona's power. And with that, the gym was defeated.

"We did it!" Millard cheered.

The two high fived, celebrating their victory, even if it was pathetically nerdy compared to the other triumphs they've had.

"Alright now we just have to- are you kidding me?!" Hugh shrieked.

"What is it?"

"Team Instinct just claimed it!"

"Really?" Millard asked, looking down at his phone. Sure enough, the Gym was lit up yellow. "Well, where's the person who claimed it?"

Hugh turned on his flashlight and looked around. "Over there!" He said, pointing to a hooded figure in the distance, on the other side of the church.

"You don't think they can see a floating phone from all the way over there, do you?"

"Probably not, but get behind me just in case." Hugh sighed. "I really hate this game."