Henry Corduroy was pleasantly surprised to find out that the Gravity Falls Public Library was a Gym in Pokemon Go. He'd gotten into the game a few weeks back, initially trying it out just to see what all the hype was about, and had gotten sucked in quickly. Upon discovering the Gym, Henry convinced his new boss Mr. Hasegawa to let him put up a sign welcoming Pokemon Go players and took it upon himself to conquer the Gym in the name of Team Mystic. He found a deep satisfaction in watching the Gym marker turn blue, in seeing all his work winning battle after battle pay off, in knowing that he had ensured that the town library was controlled by the team of intellect and reason, as was only fitting.
He was less satisfied upon coming into work the next day to find that the Gym had already been taken back by Team Instinct.
He reclaimed it immediately, of course, helped by the fact that only one person had put their Pokemon in there, and that lone Clefable was easily felled by his Poliwrath. But it was taken back overnight the next day as well, and the next day. He hadn't expected such resistance- the town was small, and most of its residents uninterested in the game. Indeed, there were few users to be found in the handful of Gyms local to Gravity Falls; it was rare for him to see the library's Gym with more than one Pokemon in it, whether on his side or on Instinct's, and not once did somebody claim it for Valor.
But that one Instinct player always came around to thwart him.
Their name in the game was GlitterStar. They used the more feminine avatar, and covered that avatar with a mishmash of bright clothing, patterns and colors that the designers surely hadn't made to go together, and yet somehow the ensemble worked. And she only ever put in that one Clefable, which he saw grow steadily stronger as the weeks went by.
The Gym claiming didn't always happen overnight. Sometimes Henry would see it change colors mid-day, taken from him in the middle of his workday. On more than one occasion, he had spent his lunch break claiming and reclaiming the Gym from a determined GlitterStar, watching the Gym flicker from blue to yellow and back again. (GlitterStar never, he noted, tried to put their Pokemon in the Gym just after he had defeated it, content to take turns rather than rush in for a cheap advantage.)
One brisk September evening, after a day in which his adversary had taken over the library's Gym time and time again, Henry exited the library and saw a brunette in a hot pink sweater jabbing energetically at her phone's screen while leaning against a pine tree.
Henry was pretty sure he knew what she was up to.
But rather than asking, he simply sat down on a nearby bench and started trying to take the gym for his own.
The Gym's prestige rose and fell as they each fought for their teams, but eventually Henry managed to take it down and put in a Pokemon of his own. Right after that, the woman slipped her phone into her skirt pocket and walked over to him. Her height while standing wasn't far off from his own while sitting.
"Are you playing Pokemon Go?"
Henry paused for a moment before setting his phone down and responding. Their eyes met; hers were a deep brown, their earthy tone a stark contrast to her technicolor outfit, and while he wanted to give a more eloquent response all he could manage while looking at those dark eyes was an uncertain "Yeah..."
"Then you must be the guy who keeps stealing the Gym from me." The woman playfully wrinkled her nose.
Henry stood up brusquely, arms dangling at his sides. "Well, I work here, so I'd say you're stealing it from me, not vice versa."
The woman snorted. "A library worker, huh? No wonder you go by- booklover618, is it?"
Henry could feel his cheeks turning red and warm. It wasn't the most exciting username, to be sure, but it was all that had come to mind at the time. Now, though, he wished that he had thought of something more interesting. "That's it, yeah. And you must be GlitterStar, then?"
"The one and only!" The woman stood straight and tall, or at least as tall as her five-foot frame allowed, putting her hands on her hips.
Henry thought of several possible retorts, but the one that slipped out of his mouth was "...why the Clefable?"
"Because Clefable is the best Pokemon!" She raised one finger to the air. "Don't even get me started. I will fight you on this, I swear."
Henry raised an eyebrow. "Like you've fought me a hundred times already?"
"...right." The woman shot him a sheepish grin.
"So, uh..." Henry scratched the back of his head nervously as he tried to prevent the conversation from grinding to a halt. "What's your name? Besides GlitterStar, I mean."
"I'm Mabel, Mabel Pines!" Mabel extended her hand, which Henry gladly shook; her skin was rough, covered in scars and callouses, and her handshake was strong and energetic.
"Henry Corduroy." He paused before adding, "Pines, you said? Like the Pines Library on the edge of town?"
"Right in one!" The grin on her face was wide, wide and warm and genuine.
Henry let out a soft laugh. "So this isn't just team against team, then. It's one library against another."
"Guess so. We've got a Gym too, actually. Go ahead and check it out- just try and take it down, I dare ya." Mabel stuck her tongue out.
"Oh, I will. I will."
"I look forward to it. Let's see who's REALLY the best library in town!" Mabel burst into laughter, and after a moment Henry couldn't help but join in; there was a beauty to that laughter, a beauty that he never wanted to let go.
"Well then." Henry retrieved the phone from his pocket and nodded in Mabel's direction. "Let the games begin!"