A/N: And here's the Gym chapter! Little bit crazy, but I hope you enjoy!

"Fine! It's really, really awful!" Tochi shouted over the howling winds. Loose snow whirled around him and stuck to his fur. Tochi's fire could barely keep it at bay.

It was a blessing in disguise that Sepal had evolved first. Tochi rode on his back (this was becoming a trend); the Braixen was just too short to wade through the snow. Sepal played the role of Mamoswine - who had refused to carry them across because they weren't Trainers, by the way - and tramped through snow that was borderline physically painful. Bub was the only one having any semblance of fun. She slid around on her stomach, occasionally crashing into boulders or getting buried by snowdrifts.

"This is the worst route," Sepal shivered. "The worst route."

Tochi kicked snow off of his back. "Yeah, I'd say so."

"Ahoy there!" somebody shouted. Startled, Bub skidded off course and ran over a Delibird.

It was Campbell. He waved at them from on top of a frozen rock, looking warm and comfortable, despite his only protection being slightly thicker fur than usual.

"Campbell?" Tochi repeated, squinting through the blizzard. "How'd you get here?"

"I flew. And then it got too cold, so I racked my brains for Cotton Guard." Campbell indicated his fur. "I know Flame Charge, too, so I've been using that every once in a while."

"Does that work?" Tochi burst into flames as a test. He was immediately warmer, of course, but Sepal irritably bucked him into the snow.

"Quit using Fire-type moves on top of the Grass-type!"

"Sorry! It worked for Petal Dance."

Bub stuck her head out of a snowdrift. "Do we know you?"

Campbell saluted. "The name's Campbell. I met up with Tochi and Sepal there back in Camphrier."

"He's out collecting moves," Sepal explained.

Campbell squinted at Bub. "I've never met an Empoleon, actually. What moves do ya got?"

"Surf, Yawn, Drill Peck -"

"Haven't sketched that one!" Campbell hopped off his perch. "Lemme see."

Bub demonstrated as Tochi picked himself out of the snow. She had better control over her Drill Peck than she did as a Piplup, though not by much. Campbell didn't seem to mind. His dark green tailed flashed white. "And that's number five hundred and twenty-seven! I think we'll get along fine. What's your name?"

"Her name's Bub!" Tochi jumped in.

"It's Bubbles!"

"Nice you meet you, Bub."

The Empoleon gave Tochi a look. He just grinned in response.

Travel was no less difficult but a lot more fun with Campbell along for the ride. He practiced Fire moves along with Tochi ("seriously, why do you have Blast Burn when I don't?") and interrogated random Sneasel - he still needed Snatch, he explained. Bub slipped and slid around like she was in a water park. As for Sepal, he kept miserably marching along.

At nights - and they spent at least four of them camping out on Route 17 - Tochi and Campbell built rings of fire and melted as much snow as they could in a twenty-foot circle. There was no way to keep a campfire lit overnight, with the wind and the neverending snow, but adding Tochi's unburnable stick to the blaze helped, even if Tochi insisted on sleeping practically on top of the fire to keep his stick from blowing away. In the morning, all of them were covered with icicles and buried under snowdrifts. It was a wonder any humans could cross the place, really; maybe the Mamoswine had some shortcuts they weren't telling anyone about.

"Campbell, couldn't you just Fly us the rest of the way?" Sepal begged eventually.

Campbell frowned. "I think a Venusaur, a Steel-type, and Tochi would be too heavy for me to carry even with Strength. 'Sides, we're only about ten minutes from Anistar, from what I can tell!"

"He's right," Bub realized, standing up off her stomach for the first time in five days. "The snow's getting thinner!"

And it was. By the time they reached the gate, the ground was clear, even though a light snow continued to fall.

Anistar was the most beautiful city any of them had ever seen - mostly due to the fact that they had been in the mountains for almost a week. The four of them went straight to the Pokemon Center to warm up. As usual, several humans recognized them, but only Bub waved back.

They let the nurse heal them with her little machine; Sepal did the honors of breaking Campbell's temporary Pokeball as well as Tochi's. Afterwards, they took a break in one of the Center's hotel rooms.

"Sorry to rush right before your battle, but I'm off to find some moves," Campbell said. "Er, that reminds me: Sepal, how you feeling? About Olympia?"

"Oh." Sepal had been so sick of the cold that he'd forgotten about the Psychics. "Pretty scared, I guess…"

"It's the whole being-submitted-to-Psychic-attacks idea now, not the fact that Psychics exist," Tochi explained. "But I'll be there for him."

"Bub?" Sepal called. Bub was off playing with the taps in the bathroom.

"It's Bubbles!" She stuck her head into the room. "Yeah?"

"How do you feel about taking a big role in the next Gym battle?"

"Cool!" she grinned, then ducked back out of sight.

"...She's okay with it," Tochi decided.

"I see the appeal, but battles have never really appealed to me," Campbell said thoughtfully. "Guess I'm more of a contest fellow."

"Sure you don't wanna watch us?" asked Tochi.

Campbell shook his head, glancing at Sepal. "I've heard some things about Olympia's gym. Don't think I'd wanna go inside."

"Oh," Sepal said. "Great."

"Nothing that bad!" the Smeargle said hastily. "Just different."

Sepal didn't look reassured. "Let's go before I change my mind."

~*Q*~

Bub, Sepal, and Tochi looked at the gym from the outside.

"Something feels...odd," Tochi remarked. "Psychic-y."

"Well, that's reassuring," Sepal said.

"Probably nothing to worry about!" Bub stomped around until the sliding doors activated and led them inside.

"Sick, man!" the Gym Guide said upon spotting them. "Hey, my brother called me and said our brother told our brother told our brother told our brother told our brother to tell him you were coming!"

"...How many what now?" Bub asked.

"Chill. Don't let me stop you." The human gestured at the Gym's interior, which took the form of...a room. A plain, tiny room, really, with no Trainers or Gym leaders in sight.

"This is definitely not all of it," Tochi said, ears pricked. "I may not be a Psychic-type yet, but even I can feel the energy in this place."

Curiously, Bub stepped towards the center of the room.

Tochi zeroed in on a design in the middle of the carpet. "Wait, it's coming fro -"

The second Bub stepped on the insignia, reality shattered around them. Tochi and Bub gasped, and Sepal screamed outright as the walls fractured and spun away into nothingness. Suddenly, they were left on a tiny square of ground as the rest of the world distorted into a huge globe-shaped void. It was studded with constellations like the night sky, while glowing, layered catwalks formed around them.

"It's like...a snowglobe," Tochi said in awe.

"Make it stop!" Sepal panicked, squeezing his eyes shut.

Tochi touched his head. "Hey, it's okay. Stay with me."

Bub was already up ahead, testing the glowing catwalks' weight. "Hey, guys!" she called, stepping on a yellow square. Before she could continue, the square teleported her away.

Tochi glanced at Sepal. "Valerie flashbacks?"

"Valerie flashbacks."

They caught up with Bub. She had already antagonized a Gym Trainer into battling. His Exeggutor hopped from foot to foot as it blasted out Psychics and was mercilessly beaten with Drill Peck.

"Bub!" Tochi called. "Can I take over?"

"U-um, s-s-sure!" The Drill Peck made her voice vibrate.

Tochi stepped forward and expertly knocked out the Exeggutor with a barrage of Embers; the narrow path made it nearly impossible to dodge. The Trainer recalled his Pokemon grudgingly, and Tochi waited. He had a good feeling…

Sure enough, the white light started to form around his ankles. Sepal and Bub looked at each other and back up to give him room.

Tochi felt himself getting taller. Extra fur grew around him, turning him into a carpet. When the light died, Tochi the Delphox stood in the middle of the Anistar City Gym.

"Awesome!" Bub squealed, clapping her flippers together. "How do you feel?"

"I -" Tochi collapsed.

Sepal, who had been hanging back nervously, rushed to his side. Tochi's eyes, flickering with pink light, opened. "...Sorry," he managed. "There's...there's a lot of energy going on in this gym. Now that I'm a Psychic too, it's...kind of hard to take in."

"Take your time."

Eventually, Tochi stood up, rubbing his new giant ears in discomfort. He was still the shortest of the group, not even topping five feet, but it was unlikely that Sepal could carry him around with as much ease. The first thing Tochi did was reach into his sleeve and pull out his new-and-improved wand. He examined it and smiled. "This'll do."

"You look pretty!" Bub commented.

"'Pretty?'"

"Absolutely."

"...Well, I'm going to be a Delphox for the rest of my life, so I might as well get used to that," Tochi sighed.

"Are you okay to keep going?" asked Sepal.

"My ears are ringing, but it's fine. I want to see what Olympia has to offer."

~*Q*~

Bub handled the rest of the Trainers they ran into. Sepal had a type disadvantage, and Tochi's attacks just blew up in his face. The mystic maze ball arena seemed to be messing with him.

The starters stepped onto another yellow teleporter. What they weren't expecting was to be deposited straight in front of Olympia. They jumped, but the Psychic Gym Leader merely regarded them coolly.

Tochi looked at the others, then stepped forwards himself. "Hi...We're here to challenge you." Olympia kept staring. Tochi broke eye contact.

"Young challengers determined to change the world's fate," she said finally, in a low, musical voice. She swept her cloak forwards, and a Pokeball appeared and arced to the ground in slow motion. "The battle begins!"

In an equally controlled manner, the Pokeball burst open, revealing a Sigilyph. After a quick debate, Bub stepped forwards.

"I accept your challenge!" she announced, a bit too grandly.

Bub stared the Sigilyph in the eye - she thought she was, anyways. The Pokemon constantly jittered up and down, so her entire body looked like it was winking or looking in different directions. Bub settled on staring at a fixed spot - the black thing on top of her green ball thing - before she went cross-eyed.

Olympia didn't command her Pokemon, merely gestured for her to move.

Sigilyph flashed a dozen different colors, making Bub raise a wing to shield her eyes. The light coalesced in front of Sigilyph, settling into a smooth pink shield before flickering into invisibility.

"Light Screen," muttered Tochi. "Where have I seen that before."

The Sigilyph went straight to work on a similar Reflect, but Bub didn't want to give her the opportunity. Remembering the success of the previous battle against Miss Shana, Bub formed an Aqua Jet around herself and body-slammed the Sigilyph head on. Through the watery coating, the flickering Sigilyph appeared a blurry, colorful mess.

After pinning the Sigilyph to the floor, she wasn't actually sure what to do. So Bub went the simple route and and Drill Pecked her in the face(?) over and over. The Sigilyph thrashed around until Bub missed and got her beak caught in the glowing floor. As she struggled to pull it free, the Avianoid Pokemon pelted her with Psychics until she wiggled away.

As Bub attempted to use Aqua Jet again, Sigilyph caught on to her strategy. She used Psychic to control Bub's trajectory and veer her into the ground. The Aqua Jet lost its form and rained off the catwalk and out into empty space.

Sigilyph's attempts to use Psychic directly on Bub were met with a Whirlpool that swept Sigilyph in circles until she was too dizzy to fly. Bub stood back and fired powerful Flash Cannons that were nonetheless dampened by Sigilyph's Light Screen. Still, the second the Whirlpool died out and Sigilyph looked like she was shaking away her unsteadiness, Bub leaped forwards to Drill Peck her into unconsciousness.

Tochi nodded approvingly. "Nice."

"That was pretty easy," beamed Bub, puffing her chest out slightly. "Next?"

Without a word, Olympia recalled the fallen Sigilyph and sent out a Slowking - a female one, though, so whatever she wanted to be called. It was like that Mr. Mime was haunting them all the way from Laverre.

Slowking blinked at Bub. "Hello there."

"Hi!"

"You're tired, aren't you?"

Bub frowned. "No, um...not really…"

"I bet you are. I bet you just wanna sleep."

"...no…"

"Oh yes. In fact…" Slowking's face twitched.

Bub covered her ears. "Oh no you d -"

Before she could finish, Slowking let loose an earsplitting yawn that made Bub's eyes droop. Two could play at that game, though. The shiny Empoleon Yawned right back. Slowking actually seemed pleased for an excuse to sleep. The two Water-types swiped halfheartedly for a few seconds before their exhaustion overcame them.

Olympia, Tochi, and Sepal stared at the "battle." Neither Pokemon was showing signs of waking up. Tochi started to tap his foot impatiently.

"That's it," he said finally. "I'm going out there."

"Water-type, Tochi," Sepal reminded him.

"She's asleep. I'll hurry."

Sepal dragged Bub off of the battlefield with his vines as Tochi went straight to work. Close proximity to Olympia had somewhat numbed his sensitivity to the Psychic environment, so, as he'd thought, his moves were just about back to working order. He held his stick in front of him and attempted to use Psyshock, but something unusual happened - instead of Psychic energy, Ghost-type energy formed into a ball and solidly thwapped the sleeping Pokemon on the head.

"I know Shadow Ball?" Tochi said, amazed. "Delphox rock!"

He used his free opportunity to stand there and shoot Shadows Balls over and over. Slowking slept through it all. She slept for so long that Tochi eventually started trying out new moves just to alleviate the monotony. He tried to use Fire Spin, but like before, the move warped; by waving his stick in a circle, a particularly hot fire flew forward in a perfect loop. He inherently knew the move was called Mystical Fire. And it was awesome.

Finally, Slowking stirred herself awake. She looked around dreamily, only to be hit in the head with a Future Sight that Tochi had cast a minute or two ago. "Wh - hey! All...all right...you asked for it..."

Her head glowed. Slowking faced Tochi's direction and assaulted him with Power Gem, a stream of artificial, reddish rocks. Most of them hit Tochi, making him stumble backwards, but it felt like an edge had been taken off of the attack. The Mystical Fire hadn't burned Slowking, exactly, but instead left a lingering heat of sorts that sapped the energy from her long-range attacks.

Slowking settled back. Tochi thought she was about to fall asleep again, but she radiated a gentle glow as she appear to meditate. It was Calm Mind, and Tochi only realized this when he hit her with a Shadow Ball and watched it dissipate against her stomach. Then Slowking exhaled calmly and unleashed a storm of Power Gem that almost sent him toppling into the abyss below.

The battle was suddenly a lot more difficult. Slowking didn't use any Water-type attacks, but Power Gem did the trick anyways. Tochi had to rack his brain to avoid get buried in a rockslide. Remembering the technique Mr. Mime and Sigilyph used, he used the tip of his stick to trace a glowing wall in midair. He had never tried a Light Screen before, but to his surprise he pulled it off on the first try. The Power Gems slowed considerably when they slammed into the screen; it didn't stop them from hitting, but it was good enough.

Physical attacks were the way to go, but neither Psyshock nor Flame Charge would do much good. Still, Tochi waited for an opportunity and set up a Future Sight as he continued to dodge the Power Gem onslaught. A minute later, as Slowking reeled from the attack, he rushed in with Flame Charge and battered her with Psyshock - that one was a nasty combination because of Tochi's sudden prowess with Special moves.

The Power Gem nearly did him in, but in the end Tochi's earlier barrage of Shadows Balls finally caught up with the Slowking. Halfway through charging up a massive Power Gem boulder, her endurance simply reached its limit. Slowking just dropped her arms and dozen off; the spectators waited for a minute to make sure she hadn't just Yawned on herself.

"Huh?" Bub mumbled, jolting awake. "Did we win?"

"Nah," Tochi said, steeling what was left of his stamina. "One Pokemon left."

"Wait," Sepal said.

"Huh?"

"I...can I fight?"

Tochi's arms dropped to his sides. "You? I - I mean, are you sure?"

"I'm sure," Sepal said, none too confidently. "I don't know if I told Professor Sycamore and not you, but...well, my dad had a history with Olympia's Meowstic. So...if it's okay...I just want to try."

"Family bonds strengthen the greatest of gaps; courage runs in the blood," Olympia murmured, startling them. They had all but forgotten she was there.

"If you're positive, then I believe in you, Sepal," Tochi said, and backed out of the way. "Go for it."

Sepal stepped forward, trembling.

The Meowstic was small, lithe, and almost cute, but she still looked deadly. Her eyes suggested that she knew more about Sepal than most would at first glance.

"I heard you talking from inside my Pokeball," Meowstic said. "Did I fight your dad?" Oh.

"Y-yeah," Sepal squeaked.

Meowstic studied the Venusaur. "Hey, are you all right? I mean, I don't see many Poison-types around here, but…"

"Stage fright," Tochi said briefly. "He's got this."

"Is that so?" Without warning, Meowstic whipped forward and used Fake Out, clapping her paws over the tip of his nose. To be honest, the move would have had the same flinching effect if the cat Pokemon had clapped from the farthest corner of the catwalk. A Sepal jerked back, she used the time to breathe deeply, mimicking the Slowking's Calm Mind from earlier.

"You saw what Slowking did, Sepal!" Bub encouraged. "Just make it your strategy to mess up their strategy!"

Sepal was feeling jittery and rushed. Instead of aiming for Poison Powder or Growth as usual, he went straight into a Petal Dance and charged. He was afraid to give the Psychic-type a second of spare time to attack.

The powerful Petal Dance swept Meowstic off her feet, and a horde of sharp (yet fragrant) petals cut into her side. Still, for Sepal, it ended all too soon. The constant swirling made him dizzy, and he shut the petals down as soon as he felt the warning signs towards confusion and switched to using Razor Leaf. Razor Leaf still hurt, but it was far easier to dodge. Meowstic backed up to try and use Calm Mind again, but Sepal recklessly ran forwards and Double Edge-d her.

"Ouch," Meowstic winced, leaping out of the way as Sepal turned and tried to run her over again - Sepal's evolved form was big but not very agile. Meowstic landed lightly on the other side of the platform. Sepal skidded a halt and opened fire on her with Razor Leaf, but the Meowstic got the idea of using Psychic to turn the leaves away from her. At the same time, she charged up two Shadow Balls and sent them flying into Sepal. Sepal blocked one of them with his vines.

Meowstic launched a bolt of pure Psychic energy at him. He blocked that too, but he could feel the attack resonate up his vines and throughout his body. Sepal's heart was racing. That...hadn't actually been that bad.

It had the same burn as a Flying- or Fire-type move did; painful, but not life-ending. Heck, those five days he spent wading through nothing but snow? That hurt way more than a Psychic. There were no other ill effects. It just...kinda hurt.

Sepal froze, then started giggling.

"...Sepal?" Tochi asked.

The Meowstic put her paws on her hips. "Miss Olympia, I think we broke him."

Sepal cleared his head and used Petal Dance again, twice as powerful as before. The Meowstic tried to control the petals with Psychic, but Sepal replaced the ones she pulled out of orbit so that hundreds of petal soon spun around him, while dozens more littered the ground. They flew so thick and fast that the Meowstic's attacks were shredded. Sepal just stood there, one foot on Meowstic, as she was caught in the center of the storm. Even when the spinning petals thoroughly Confused him, he crossed his eyes but stayed in place, keeping the Petal Dance going.

"Sepal!" Tochi called urgently, but Sepal was too confused to hear him. "Sepal, move!"

While weathering the storm, Meowstic used Calm Mind for a minute straight, raising her defenses enough so she could practically ignore the flurry of petals. She was still trapped by Sepal, but she raised her ears and bombarded him with Psychic blasts, which he ignored, even though he was drastically weakening.

Psychic met Petal Dance and sent it whirling out of control. Tochi had to intervene, burning the petals away as they collected in huge piles. Olympia had her eyes closed. Apparently, petal overload was not incredibly unusual for her.

When Tochi cleared the field, Sepal had fainted. Meowstic was just barely staggering to her feet.

"Oh, for goodness' sake," Tochi said, and hit her clear off the catwalk with Flame Charge.

Olympia recalled her and held out the Psychic Badge without a word.

Tochi accepted it absently. "Bub, could you get Sepal?"

"No matter, I can warp you back to the entrance," Olympia said. "Would you like to go?"

"Yeah, thanks," Tochi said. Olympia raised her arms, and the patterns of her cloak swirled. There was a bright flash of light, then darkness.

~*Q*~

Sepal woke up on a floor. He looked around at his surroundings: their room in the Anistar Pokemon Center. "Did...was I out for that long?"

"Yeah," Tochi admitted. He sat on his knees on the bed. Bub lay on the floor near them, propping her head up on her wings.

Sepal closed his eyes. "Psychic, right?"

"A lot of it."

"And I'm okay."

"Yeah."

"Okay."

"Is that it?" Tochi asked. "You're not scared?"

"I think…" Sepal shrugged. "Not really. I don't know why, but…"

"You did awesome, though!" Bub piped up. "You would've won if you weren't confused."

"We won, though, right?" Sepal asked.

"Yeah!" Bub said. "And then we got you back to the Center. There were all kinds of people out there, though. They sorta freaked when they saw that you had fainted."

"Very newsworthy," explained Tochi.

Sepal got to his feet. He felt great - the Nurse Joy here must have done her thing. "Well, the only thing to do now is get to Snowbelle."

Tochi was surprised. "Really? I mean, I'm all for it, but -"

"Come on, Tochi!" Sepal said with a grin. "You just evolved! We only have one badge till the Elite Four!"

"Already?" Bub bounced to her feet. "I wish I had been with you guys for longer!"

Tochi relaxed. He had been expecting something worse from Sepal - a freakout, a revenge quest, something. But Sepal had made his peace.

"Then let's get out of here. At least the next route won't be in a blizzard."

~*Q*~

A/N: Fun fact: Olympia speaks entirely in haikus in the games (just count her syllables), which makes my job that much more difficult. Thanks, Olympia.

Also, during Slowking vs Bub, I swear I am not lying when I say that while I was writing that scene, I yawned a lot, and then fell asleep for ten minutes. I was just that tired. Curse you, psychological effects of Pokemon!

Oh yeah, and Tochi evolved or something.

~*Akirys*~