Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, or any other property in this work that I didn't make myself.

Bea and the autistic gym challenger

Chapter eight: Clearing the first hurdle and odds being made

My friends and I were not twenty steps into Route 3 when Marina pointed out to us that we could just take Corviknight taxies to Turffield. I'll admit I had also smacked myself in the forehead because I didn't think of that. Anyway, we had to call two since they only seat two passengers at a time, but regardless we were able to arrive in Turffield in record time. The first thing that Sashay wanted to do was challeng Milo's gym, but I told her since Milo had just taken part in the opening ceremony like I had, chances are that Milo isn't even at his gym.

Sure enough, when my friends met up with in in the mini cafe located in the Turffield Pokemon Center, Marina explained to me that the sulking look on Sashay's face was related to how she had been told that Milo's gym can't take any challengers right now because Milo himself hadn't arrived back in Turffield; the soonest that Milo can take his first challenger would be eight thirty tomorrow morning.

So it was decided that the girls would be staying in a hotel in Turffield for the night; I'd hang with them for a few hours then catch another Corviknight taxi to Stow-on-Side, as I needed to make sure that things were ready for when I took on challengers who came to face me for the Fighting Badge. As we relaxed, our attention was caught by the telly that was mounted to the wall, as it was playing a news discussion on the opening ceremony.

"Hoo boy, there sure are some impressive youths taking part in the gym challenge this year, Ben," the first news discussion anchor who is blonde said to the second one, who was a brunette named Ben.

Nodding in agreement, Ben said, "Indeed, Chet. Here you can see footage of all of this year's gym challengers walking out onto the pitch." The discussion then showed footage from the opening ceremony where all of the gym challengers were seen walking out onto the pitch. The news then paused and got a close-up of the scene. A red circle was drawn around a few of the challengers as they were pointed out.

"Here you can see Gym Challenger Bede, who has been endorsed by three members of the commissionery board for the Galar Pokemon League," Ben said, "With that many big wigs who run the league vouching for him, you just know he'll mow the competition!"

"We actually got five notable gym challengers from Stow-on-Side taking part this year," Chet said, "Three of them, Sashay, Rosie and Marina, being the daughters of commissionery board members."

Rosie hopped up and down in her seat as she pointed to the telly. "Holy crap that's us!" Similar to Rosie, both Sashay and Marina were giggling like excited rodent Pokemon that had been hopped up on a gallon of espresso each.

"The other two gym challengers from Stow-on-Side, Harry and Darnell, are said to be no slouches either," Chet went on as Harry and Darnell were circled on the paused image of all of the gym challengers coming out onto the pitch, "Given that they both were able to get the endorsements that they needed to enter. And it's been confirmed that all five of these Stow-on-Side native gym challengers are all students at Stow-on-Side middle school, same as the Stow-on-Side gym leader Bea. Looks like Bea may potentially have to face down some of her friends from school during the challenge, wouldn't you say?"

As my friends and I watched the news discussion, it reminded me that five notable gym challengers this year were friends and classmates that go to school with me. That will not stop me from doing whatever I can to make them work for the Fighting Badge, though, and I will not hesitate to defeat any of them if I see the chance to do so. They will be allowed to try again if any of them fail to beat me on their first try, though.

"Stow-on-Side isn't the only city in Galar putting in multiple gym challengers into this year's gym challenge," Ben said as the paused image of all of the gym challengers coming out onto the pitch moved slightly and circled two familiar girls, "We got two young ladies from Spikemuth as well, Marnie and Nina."

"Oh yeah, and both of them are rather notable too," Chet remarked in a conversational tone, "Marnie is actually the younger sister of Spikemuth's gym leader Piers, who was seen taking part in the opening ceremony today for the first time since his first year as a gym leader. And as for Nina, she's actually something of a special case."

Nodding in agreement after the paused image was taken down, Ben said, "That's right. Nina is actually a special needs citizen due to how she has autism. Normally she'd be barred by law from entering the gym challenge period, but a majority portion of the commissionery board had signed forms to grant Nina special permissions to take part anyway. Not only that, but Nina got her endorsement from Champion Leon himself!"

To the embarrassment of my friends (mostly Sashay and Rosie), the news discussion then showed some footage, obviously amateur quality but it was still serviceable enough, of Nina going through the battles against all of us back in Spikemuth the day we had that field trip, although it only showed the part where Nina defeated Rosie. "We had this footage sent into us by an anonymous source of Nina defeating Rosie, Marina and Sashay before defeating Gym Leader Bea in an exhibition battle to prove her competency as a trainer," Ben went on, "So it's clear she can battle with the best of them."

I could feel Sashay trembling with anger, which is odd considering that we got Rosie and Marina between the two of us. "They...They actually showed that," Sashay said in disbelief, "They had actually shown us losing to Ninny Nina. What the actual hell?"

Back to the news discussion, Ben and Chet then showed a bracket that had all of the gym challengers taking part in the gym challenge this year ranked by their likelihood of making it to the championship tournament at the end of the gym challenge. To my surprise, all eight of the notable gym challengers this year that Ben and Chet had been discussing were at the very top of the list. Bede was ranked at number one, and second through eighth respectively were Sashay, Marina, Marnie, Nina, Harry, Rosie and Darnell.

"I'm ranked lower than Ninny Nina and one of the doofus duo members from our school?!" Rosie hissed, clearly fuming. As Sashay was laughing at Rosie's expense and Marina was trying to console Rosie, I was deep in thought; Nina had beaten all three of my friends and me that day, yet Sashay and Marina are both ranked higher than her in the bracket? Is it due to how the video clip only showed the part of Nina defeating Rosie? Or are the people organizing the bracket viewing Nina as a lesser trainer due to her being a special needs citizen?

Questions for later.

After I had bid my friends goodbye as they went about getting dinner before they checked in at a hotel local in Turffield, I caught a Corviknight taxi back to Stow-on-Side. After I had arrived, I went straight to my gym. I checked a few things and, after seeing that everything was all to my specifications, I sat down on a bench in the lobby of my gym.

As I drank from a bottle of grape-flavored sports drink (I don't know why it's not a very popular flavor; it's actually my personal favorite), one of the gym trainers who worked under me, a girl named Claire, came up to me while carrying her smartphone. "Hey Bea," Claire said, "A video that one of the workers who works in the mine between Routes 3 and 4 recorded on their phone has just gotten a lot of attention by everyone all over Galar who are glued to their tellies while watching the gym challenge."

Curious, I allowed Claire to show me the video that she had pulled up on her phone. It showed gym challengers Bede and Marnie battling each other, with a few of those Team Yell hooligans and Nina standing by and watching. The end of the video showed Bede begrudgingly admitting defeat after Marnie's Morpeko took out his Hatenna, to the partying cheer of Team Yell and Nina who right away covered her ears with her hands.

Pausing the video as she had shown me all she felt I had to see even though there were a few seconds left, Claire said, "One of those Spikemuth girls just defeated the gym challenger who's ranked at number one. This already has people all over Galar talking."

"Yeah, I'd say," I replied, "The most favored gym challenger in Galar right now lost to someone a few spots on the bracket below him. But then again I had it down that Bede is a psychic Pokemon user and that Marnie is a dark Pokemon user just like her gym leader older brother Piers. Bede had gone into a battle against an opponent who had a very strong type advantage against him."

As Claire nodded in agreement with me, I wondered about how much worse it would have looked for Bede if he had battled and lost to Nina instead; not only is Nina ranked a few spots below Marnie, but Claire told me that Nina is as low in the top eight ranking as she is because a lot of people in Galar are thinking Nina to be unlikely to make it very far in the gym challenge since the news discussion confirmed that she's a special needs citizen.

I imagined Nina in that battle against Bede instead, and she sent her Obstagoon or shiny Theivul out to face Bede's psychic types. I allowed myself a chuckle, as I'm not all that particularly fond of psychic Pokemon. For obvious reasons, of course. That Polteageist of Nina's would also be a terror to Bede, but dark Pokemon are flat out immune to psychic attacks, which is why I chose Nina's dark Pokemon that I'm aware of.

I can't imagine Nina having something that would be more of a total nightmare for Bede to face in a battle.

Anyway, with what business I had at my gym finished, I left for home, and when I got home I saw my parents in the living room. Dad was trying to ease mother into relaxing, and from what I heard mother hiss it seems like she had caught wind of Bede's loss to Marnie in that casual battle over in the mine between Routes 3 and 4. I got a quick bit of dinner before turning in for the night. I wanted to try to be up early so I can catch the first Corviknight taxi to Turffield so I can cheer for my friends as they each had their respective battles with Milo.

(Four years ago)

My parents' bid to have me lose my chub paid off splendidly, as I was now slender and lacked even the barest scrap of excess body fat. I had even risen to the top of my Galar karate class due to the sheer skill I had cultivated compared to the rest of the otherwise boy only class, and it always gave Master Teriyaki a bit of a chuckle when people expressed surprise when he told them that the lone girl among his students is his best student.

Additionally, mother had started making me use contact lenses with the same prescription as my glasses, saying how I'd look cuter without glasses. My hair had grown a bit in the one year since I had started Galar karate, so mother took me to a barber and had them give me a haircut that, in mother's words, was cute. Thus I got the haircut that ended up being the style I sported since that day. I also developed a bit of a tan due to a lot of working out and practicing that I had done outside.

Eventually, I got back to Stow-on-Side elementary, and already I was turning heads. As far as all of the students could tell, I was someone who had never even stepped foot into Stow-on-Side elementary until that day; my transformation was complete, the girl said in a dry tone. But all of that business is for later. The moment of truth happened before I could expect it, as I had been approached by Sashay who was leading Rosie and Marina.

"Hey new girl," Sashay said casually, "You look like you're hot stuff. What's your name?" I could tell full well that Sashay, as well as Rosie and Marina, completely had no idea that a little over a year ago I was that chubby geeky girl with slightly pale skin.

At the very least, I'd figure that they'd recognize me when I told them my name, but no all three of them had either wholly forgotten my name or, more likely for Sashay, never even bothered to try and remember it at all. They got me talking and, after I told them what my mother did, they all lit up with piqued interest.

"Oh, you have a parent on the Galar Pokemon League commissionery board just like me, Sashay and Marina!" Rosie said. Turning to face the other girls, Rosie said, "Oi girls, you think we ought to bring Bea here along with us?"

"I was just about to invite her to join us, actually," Sashay remarked in a casually amused tone. And so it was I had more or less been shanghai'd into Sashay's clique, a circle that I ended up staying as a member as since that day.

(Present day)

I woke up in my bed, looked at the clock on my nightstand. I woke up at around the time I was hoping for, so after quickly getting myself ready, I left home and caught the first Corviknight taxi to Turffield. My friends would all be aiming to take on Milo's gym today, and it wouldn't do if I wasn't there to cheer for them. Luckily for me my 'incognito' outfit helped me avoid any undue looks as I arrived in Turffield.

I met my friends at the hotel where they stayed at overnight. The hotel roomed gym challengers for free during the gym challenge, and I saw when I entered the hotel dining room that my friends had been served a rather top breakfast. Joining them I made a comment about the spread that they were eating, and Sashay, as she smugly drank from a mug of coffee, sat there radiating all of that smugness as Marina explained why they got such a spread.

"The top eight favored gym challengers, though none of us have dropped out of the top eight, did change spots a bit since we saw the news discussion yesterday," Marina said as she pulled out her phone and pulled up something to show me. It was the ranking bracket of all of this year's gym challengers, and as Marina had just said none of the top eight had dropped out of the top eight.

But the ordering did change, again like Marina had said; now Sashay was the most favored gym challenger in Galar at the moment (which would explain why she was so smug right now), and following her in order from second to eighth was Bede, Marnie, Marina, Nina, Harry, Rosie and Darnell. So Sashay and Bede switched spots, and Marina and Marnie switched spots. The rest of the top eight gym challengers remained unchanged. Some would figure more would happen, but it was just one casual battle, so drops and rises weren't going to be too extreme especially since it was a battle between the (at the time) numbers one and four.

If Bede had lost to Nina or someone ranked below her at the time that he was number one, then a more extreme change might have taken place.

...

Following my friends in my 'incognito' outfit, we made our way over to the Turffield gym. Sashay said that she'd be going first out of her and the others, citing her status as the current number one favored gym challenger and the fact that as a bug Pokemon user she'd make quick work of Milo who is a grass Pokemon user. I also saw that, since I had last seen her and the other girls yesterday, Sashay had added a Sizzlipede to her party; they are found on Route 3 and are part fire type. A dual bug-fire Pokemon like Sizzlipede would be hell on Milo, so Sashay's choice to go out and hunt for one was a very wise move on her part.

As we all made our way over to the Turffield gym, we saw a large crowd that included some news and media personnel gathered around the front entrance to the gym, obviously trying to see the persons that the news and media personnel were trying to get a word from. As my friends and I got close enough, we saw that everyone was crowded around Milo, Marnie and a clearly cowed Nina. Also, Marnie's Morpeko was hanging on her right shoulder, and there was a Corviknight standing next to Nina.

"Yeah, Gym Challenger Nina was not only the first gym challenger that I had battled in the gym challenge this year so far, but also the first one to earn the Grass Badge off of me," Milo remarked casually to the news and media personnel as if admitting that he lost was no bother to him, then added while gesturing to the Corviknight standing next to Nina, "Beat me on her first try too by using her Corviknight here." The Corviknight, which was confirmed to be Nina's, gave a bit of a cry as it fluttered its wings a bit.

Seeing now that Nina also owns a Corviknight, I was beginning to worry about if Nina reached my gym over in Stow-on-Side; even though it's part steel type, Corviknight is still a flying type and thus can pose a huge threat to my gym challenge party. It could easily assist both Alcremie and Polteageist in facing off against my fighting type Pokemon. Of course, I'm not worried about potentially losing to Nina.

I'm worried about how mother will react if Nina earns the Fighting Badge from me.

One of the news media persons pointed a microphone at Nina's face before he asked, "Gym Challenger Nina, how does it feel being the first gym challenger taking part in the gym challenge this year to earn the first gym badge?"

"I, umm, well," Nina began, clearly a bit overwhelmed by all the attention. She relaxed a bit when her Corviknight nuzzled against her a bit, and gave a bit of a giggle. "...Well, I'm still surprised that I won on my first try. I mean, the gym leaders of Galar are all super tough, so I was going in thinking that I might have lost to Milo." Petting her Corviknight along its neck, Nina added, "But I was able to win thanks to Sir Raven here."

"How did you feel when you dynamaxed your Corviknight during your battle against Gym Leader Milo?" asked a different news media person.

Breathing a little bit to steady herself, Nina then replied, "Umm, like how I felt the other times I made my Pokemon go dynamax or gigantimax? The enlarged pokeball feels a lot lighter than what someone seeing it for the first time would expect, so I think that's part of why trainers who use dynamax and gigantimax are able to throw the enlarged pokeballs so far into the air."

A third news media person, this one a woman unlike the last two who were both men, asked, "I bet that you must be very proud of...umm...you said your Corviknight's name is Raven, right?"

"His name is Sir Raven," Nina corrected right away, showing more firmness and confidence in answering that question than any other so far. As for Nina's named Corviknight, he held his head up and puffed his chest out a bit, looking rather smug about how he had a noble title in his name that Nina gave him.

Smiling a bit, the news media woman said, "Yes. Anyway, you're proud of Sir Raven for defeating all of Milo's party on his own, aren't you?"

Nodding a few times, Nina replied simply, "Yes. I am."

Turning to face Milo, the first news media man said, "Gym Leader Milo, when will you be ready for the next challenger who will come to face you for the Grass Badge?"

"I already treated my Pokemon with Revives and various potions, so they're fresh and rearing to go," Milo replied, then added while gesturing to Marnie, "And I had already told Gym Challenger Marnie here that I'd face her after my battle with Nina. So I hope our battle will be just as grand as the one Nina and I had!"

The news media persons clamored to ask more questions, but they got roudy enough that some people who worked at the gym had to try to make them back off; some of the guys from Marnie's Team Yell hooligan group helped the Turffield gym workers with this while some of the girl Team Yell hooligans, at Marnie's bidding, escorted Nina out of there as she looked to be getting a bit overwhelmed while Nina's named Corviknight followed.

As this was going on, Sashay scoffed in disbelief and some mild annoyance. Gesturing to the scene in front of the Turffield gym, Sashay said, "So Ninny Nina not only beat the Turffield gym on her first go, she's also the first gym challenger this year to earn a gym badge? And what's more I have to wait behind that Marnie girl who's got her own personal fan club!" Sashay folded her arms over her chest, scoffed bitterly. "What a bloody mess this is."

"Well I still say we should watch Marnie battle Milo," Marina said, clearly sounding like she was trying to be helpful, "After all, it'll give us a peak at what to expect from Milo for when we have our challenges against him."

Sashay relaxed at this, seemed to like the idea. "...Good thinking, Marina. We can not only do a bit of recon on both Milo and one of our rival gym challengers, but get a decent show out of it to boot." To the rest of our group, Sashay said, "Girls, follow me. We got us a gym battle to watch." The girls and I made our way into the Turffield gym and got seats to watch the upcoming battle between Marnie and Milo.

Marnie ended up defeating Milo on her first go, using a Scraggy and a Croagunk to take out Milo's Gossifleur and Eldegoss. The Scraggy made sense as Marnie is shaping up to be a dark Pokemon user like Piers, and my guess at why she has that Croagunk is to cover various weaknesses that dark Pokemon have. Either way Marnie earned the Grass Badge, and the girls saw both what to expect from Milo and more of Marine's party.

Sashay went next and, after clearing the trial prior to facing Milo, faced Milo himself. Sashay's Sizzlipede cleared the stuff before Milo, having virtually no trouble with the gym trainers as it had a times four resistance to grass. By the time it knocked out Milo's Gossifleur it was looking tired. Luckily for Sashay she saw this so she swapped Sizzlipede out for her Butterfree, which ended up taking out Milo's Eldegoss even though Sashay didn't dynamax it as she lacked the Dynamax Band to do so.

Rosie would have gone next, but that Bede fellow had beaten her to the punch. Bede defeated Milo no problem, as expected of a Pokemon battle prodigy such as himself. Then after Milo was Rosie, who used a mix of her Toxel and a Pikachu that I later learned Rosie caught yesterday evening before she retired for the night to beat Milo, although she was clearly banking a lot on her Toxel, which is part poison thus is strong against grass types.

Marina ended up facing Milo next and, similar to the others, she won on her first go. Those Harry and Darnell boys in the same class as me and the girls went after Marina, in the order of Harry and Darnell. Both boys, specializing in types strong against Milo's grass Pokemon, won on their first goes against Milo. Thus it was that all eight of the top eight favored gym challengers this year had cleared their first hurdle in the gym challenge.

Seeing Milo lose so much might make people question his competency as a gym leader, but he's the first gym leader that gym challengers are set to face during the gym challenge; he's also known for going easy on those just starting out on their gym challenge journies. If one ever wanted to seriously question Milo's competency as a gym leader, I'd tell them to just watch him battle in one of the championship tournaments. That'd get those dimwitted idiots to shut it.

The second gym that gym challengers during the challenge are slated to face, Nessa's gym over in Hulbury, will be a bit tougher. But from what I've seen from the gym challengers, especially the top eight favored, then they should be able to clear Nessa's trial no problem. I will admit that I'm rather excited about getting to see Nessa test the new talent this year. I've always sort of looked up to her ever since I was eight. I still idolize her to an extent, as she is someone who I had always sought to emulate.

To tell the truth, I didn't think I'd be a gym leader like her rather than a model. Not at least back when I first wanted to be like Nessa.

END, CHAPTER EIGHT

Author's notes;

You know the meme that features a smug looking baby sheep? Yeah, that was the expression that Sir Raven the Corviknight had when Nina corrected the lady who got his name wrong. Well anyway, that's the first gym cleared by the named gym challengers in this story. Milo is stated to be easy, so that's why all of the named gym challengers won on their first try against him.

The ranking bracket introduced in this chapter will also be cropping up here and there over the course of the story as it will be playing some role. Additionally, the Bede battle that occurs in the mine between Routes 3 and 4 was fought by Marnie here to help sell her name to the people who are following the gym challenge in the story; other Bede battles in the story will also be fought by Marine, so look forward to that.

Anyway, that's it for this chapter. Next time we'll see Nessa crop up.