Chapter 21: Loopholes

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.

POKÉMON

The Gym was bigger than Misaki and her friends had ever expected, and much more beautiful. As the bland automatic doors slid out of the way and the massive space that extended beyond the whitewashed exterior spread out before them, they sighted the most magnificent stadium that they had ever seen sprawled out in front of them.

It was, in effect, a massive flower garden filled with a few crystal clear ponds and all kinds of different flowers that gently blew in the breeze that came from the large open windows along the sides of the arena. The large glass roof overhead let in the bright sunlight from above and the three Trainers could have sworn that they heard numerous bird-like Pokémon chirping from the trees that dotted the arena.

"Welcome!" a sunny, feminine voice called out as all three Trainers stepped inside the massive indoor garden. "You must be challengers! My name is Titania. I am the Gym Leader of Faeria Gym."

Just at that moment, a woman of about 20 years of age walked out from behind a tree, her long, light pink dress trailing behind her. Misaki, Tomoko and Mason had to concur that the Gym Leader was just as beautiful as her Gym. Blue eyes stared at them as long, wavy blonde hair was pushed out of her face that trailed down her back, slightly covering the large pink bow that held her dress together around her waist. The dress parted at her knees and spread out, leaving the back of the dress touching the floor and revealing her milky white skin. Her feet were bare and she slowly walked onto the arena in the middle of the field to meet them.

Misaki stood forwards, undaunted by the beauty of the woman before her. "My name is Misaki. I'm here for a Gym battle."

The woman giggled slightly. "My, my… So straight to the point… I like that in a challenger!"

To be perfectly honest, Misaki was almost taken aback by the woman's nature. Something about her giggly nature almost… sickened her. Despite all her beauty and apparent power, Misaki still found herself wondering if such a person was suited to be a Gym Leader at all.

Before Misaki could say anything more, Tomoko and Mason had already left her to go to sit in the stands and Titania had already raised a Poké Ball, beckoning Misaki onto the battlefield with the promise of a fight.

Misaki quickly hurried down the steps and onto her side of the battlefield, pulling a Poké Ball from her belt as she did so. Titania, however, was the first person to throw her Poké Ball onto the field. The capsule burst open in a flash of light and, in its place, a small, pink, dog-like creature appeared as the Poké Ball flew back to Titania's hand.

"Snubbull!" the Pokémon called out.

Misaki was quick to retrieve her Pokédex from her bag. The device slid open and began to speak in its usual robotic, feminine voice as an image of the new Pokémon appeared on the screen in front of Misaki.

"Snubbull, the Fairy Pokémon. While it may appear gruff and grumpy, deep down, Snubbull is a kind and caring Pokémon."

"Snubbull…? I've never seen one before, but…" Misaki trailed off, a thought in her mind, but she was too hesitant to state it out loud.

"But what?" Titania prompted with a childish frown, cocking her head to the side slightly.

"But… I was expecting a Fairy-type to be…" Misaki trailed off again, but Titania smiled slightly, knowing exactly what she was talking about.

"Ah! You expected a Fairy-type to be prettier!" she exclaimed. Misaki nodded dumbly, prompting Titania to continue. "I suppose that…" Titania fell into thought, as if wondering how to word her next sentence. She quickly raised a finger as the correct words came to her. "I suppose that beauty is in the eye of the beholder!" she giggled.

Misaki let out a sigh, deciding not to draw out the conversation any longer. She raised her Poké Ball and threw it, watching as it burst open in a flash of light. "Let's go, Wingull!" Misaki watched as the seagull-like Pokémon stretched its wings and squawked as it appeared on the field.

"Wing… gull!" it exclaimed as it narrowed its eyes, glaring at its opponent.

"Wow! A Wingull!" Titania suddenly exclaimed. "It looks so cute!"

Misaki's firm belief that her attitude was unbecoming of a Gym Leader was only cemented further by that comment. Surely she should be focusing on the battle ahead and not on the cuteness of her opponent's Pokémon!

'This battle is going to be easy… She isn't even serious!' Misaki thought angrily to herself as she watched her opponent grin.

Meanwhile, up in the stands, Mason narrowed his eyes at the scene unfolding before him. Tomoko turned to face him, a frown on her face as she did so. She leaned over and whispered so that they wouldn't disturb the battle.

"Is everything OK?" she asked.

"No… Not only is Misaki not ready, but she's underestimating her opponent…" Mason responded, glancing at the Gym Leader.

"But… she doesn't even seem to be taking this battle seriously…" Tomoko retorted, gesturing towards Titania.

"She should be concentrating, but that doesn't mean that she won't be a powerful opponent. Don't forget – the match hasn't even started, yet…" Mason told her.

"What do you mean?" Tomoko inquired.

"The match hasn't started yet. She'll start to focus on the battle when it begins. This is just a diversion for Misaki's mind. A throw-off tactic, if you will…" Mason stated, crossing his arms.

Tomoko frowned. "You know a lot about Gym Leaders…"

Tomoko watched as Mason's eyes narrowed further, his face becoming stony and serious. She quickly leaned backwards in her seat, taken aback by the sudden and unexpected change in Mason's behaviour.

'I've never seen him act like this before…' she thought as Mason swallowed heavily as if he was avoiding a lump in his throat.

"… Yeah…" he finally spoke, his voice suddenly becoming shaky and his tone one of hesitation. "… Maybe I do…"

Their attention was quickly drawn back to the back to the battlefield as the first order of the battle was delivered by none other than Misaki, herself. The two friends watched as Misaki gestured towards her opponent's Pokémon.

"Alright, Wingull! Use Water Gun!"

"Wing… gull!" the Pokémon shouted as a stream of water shot forth from its mouth.

"Dodge it, Snubbull!" Titania countered, her behaviour suddenly changing to one of a serious Gym Leader.

Misaki watched Titania, shocked by the sudden change in her behaviour. She took a step back as Snubbull gracefully stepped leapt out of the way of Wingull's attack, landing lightly on its feet as it did so.

'Her behaviour has totally changed…' Misaki thought to herself, slightly stunned. 'What happened to her?!'

Meanwhile, Tomoko spoke up, forgetting to whisper. "Wow, Mason!" she exclaimed. "You were actually right!"

Mason nodded sagely, sitting back in his seat with his arms and legs crossed. "That's not something to be excited about."

"But -" Tomoko was cut off as Mason continued to speak.

"This woman is an expert at throwing people off her trail. Now, Misaki's been caught off guard. She isn't prepared for the onslaught that's going to follow," Mason told her, turning to face Tomoko as her expression changed to one of horror.

"So… Misaki's at a disadvantage!" Tomoko called.

"Exactly. Also, notice that this Gym has no referee," Mason began, gesturing to the field.

"… Yeah… I noticed that… What about it?" Tomoko inquired with a frown, not understanding the situation.

"This Gym has no referee. This means that it does not operate under the Referee Guidelines," Mason stated.

"The Referee Guidelines?" Tomoko parroted in curiosity.

Mason nodded. "Yes. The Referee Guidelines are a set of rules that all League-appointed referees must follow. One of the rules is that, in the case of a declaration of false victory – that's when a Pokémon is declared to have apparently fainted, but can still battle – the referee must recall the verdict."

"Ah! That's what the referee in the last Gym told us!" Tomoko exclaimed as the memory drifted back to her.

"So, you know what I'm talking about. That makes things a lot easier…" Mason continued as his eyes narrowed further. "As I was saying, a false victory must be recalled in the event of an occurrence. In the case of a referee-less Gym, that rule does not apply."

"So, that means…" Tomoko trailed off, her eyes widening at the realisation.

"Yes. It means that there are no rules for this fight. Any false victory declaration – as declared by the Gym Leader, of course – is final," Mason told her.

"But… what if she's biased?! What if she waits longer for her Pokémon to stand up but intentionally declares Misaki's Pokémon to have fainted on sight?!" Tomoko cried out, suddenly standing up.

"There's nothing we can do about it. I mean, it could be reported to the League as a case of malpractice on the part of the Gym, after which they would most likely send out a referee, but the Gym usually doesn't have one if the Gym Leader is considered to be a competent referee," Mason informed her.

"Oh… So… she could be a fair fighter, then?" Tomoko asked.

"She could be… Of course, some Gyms slip under the radar for… a variety of reasons…" Mason choked, his voice quickly becoming shaky again.

Tomoko stared, unable to take her eyes off Mason as his behaviour suddenly changed again. Mason didn't usually act like this… What has causing him to change…? Tomoko leaned forward slightly and began to whisper again.

"… Are you OK…?" she asked quietly, glancing down at the stationary Trainers and Pokémon as Misaki seemed to be making up her mind on what to do next and the Gym Leader, surprisingly, let her.

"Yes… I'm fine…" Mason coughed, quickly adjusting himself from his position where he had been sitting as still as a statue, his body more rigid than he had noticed.

"Hey…" Tomoko suddenly began as she stared at the field in front of her. "Why isn't the Gym Leader taking advantage of this…?"

Mason continued to stare at the field, unable to remove the wry smirk from his face as he watched the scene before him unfold. He shifted again and glanced at the Gym Leader knowingly as if he had seen it all before.

"… She knows…" he stated quietly.

"Knows what?" Tomoko frowned.

"… She's confident… She knows that she's not going to lose…" He turned to look at his friend who stood on the battlefield, a droplet of sweat running down her face as she assessed the situation. "… Not to someone like Misaki…"