AN: Here we are! Three chapters in one month! I think that's a record for me. Big thanks to my beta Noxy88!

As usual, hit me up if you notice some spelling/grammar mistakes, or even if you just want to talk about the story.

Chapter 15: A Rival

Finn stepped forward.

Normally, it was Alan who was the first to initiate battles against the traveling trainers they passed by on the routes, using those battles as a substitute for the shorter training sessions his team underwent each morning. This time, however, Finn felt like he had something to prove against the Cherrygrove runner-up.

"Long time no see," Finn said, tilting his head towards the red-haired trainer in acknowledgment.

Silver paused, his face quietly bewildered. "Do we know each other?" he said, a slight edge to his voice.

It wasn't unusual for trainers to have a gruffness about them, especially those who were traveling alone. Aside from the ever-present danger of wild pokémon, solo trainers had to worry about muggings, finding safe places to sleep, among other things. They also tended to be the more introverted types who preferred to be on their own.

In this case, Finn couldn't help but feel incredulous. Of course that asshole wouldn't remember him.

"Really, you don't remember our match back in Blackthorn?" said Finn, allowing a small half-smile to form on his face as he remembered his first real win as a trainer. "I was hoping you'd like a rematch?"

At the mention of Blackthorn, Silver's eyes widened in recognition.

"Huh, I guess I do remember something like that," said Silver bemused, before he smirked. "I didn't see you at Cherrygrove, so I just figured you were a fluke. I mean, how many badges do you have anyway?"

Finn felt a touch of frustration as Silver rebuffed his challenge. He growled out, "I only have one badge for now, but it doesn't matter. We're both rookies this year and have trained for about the same amount of time. What do you say to a two-on-two?"

Noticing Finn's impatience, Silver egged on, "Well, I already have three badges, so I'm not sure it's worth my time to face down some chump."

Finn's eyes narrowed. "I'll show you who's a chump. Let's waive the plus one requirement and battle already."

Silver's smirk grew into an unsettling grin. "You're on, it's your money."

Finn didn't understand why, but something about Silver made his hackles raise. It wasn't even that the other trainer was rude. He'd met plenty of cocksure trainers while traveling. Maybe it was the sheer smugness of the other teen.

The two trainers faced each other, looking across the hard-packed dirt that comprised the trail on the heavily trafficked route. Alan and Orion stood off to the side, opting to act as referees for the match. Breloom and Drake hovered nearby, one curious, the other indifferent to the battle.

Finn took the minute that he had before the fight started to think. He remembered that the arrogant trainer had a powerful cyndaquil that took Blackberry Street by storm, defeating trainer after trainer until he fell to a combination of Benedict's hypnosis attack and some of Felix's mud slaps. By now, who knew how powerful the fire type had become.

Sadly, Finn only really had two battling options at the moment. Quake was out of the question. His larvitar would cause too much of a fuss, and Silver was a sketchy character at best. His new mareanie, Aegis, continued to struggle with training outside of the ocean, although she'd made decent progress recently. Lastly, Benedict was still recovering from the bug attack.

He'd have to use Felix and Dixie—but which to use first?

Behind Finn, one of Dixie's talons was incessantly tapping on the ground, a surefire sign that she was antsy to get started. The only problem was that Dixie had already been outside of her pokéball when Silver had walked up, so unfortunately the other trainer had an advantage of seeing part of his team. If he wanted any element of surprise, he'd have to go with his piloswine.

To their left, Orion called out, "Ready! Set!" both trainers put their hands on one of their pokéballs, indicating their first selection. "Battle!"

Felix appeared with a loud trumpeting noise, raising one of his dual-clawed feet, and stomping it into the ground in anticipation.

He still couldn't help but be proud of what his starter had become. After evolution, he'd surpassed Dixie as his team's strongest member, and not by a small margin. The swine pokémon's bulldoze could one-shot most wild pokémon they found, and his icy wind was becoming especially formidable. Felix was powerfully built, and this physicality was tough for any opponent.

That wasn't all though. His starter had become a leader for the team, taking time to corral Quake if he became too snarky or to encourage Benedict as he struggled to heal.

Across the route, Silver's choice materialized.

It was horrifying.

Seemingly growing from the ground, a dark purple cloud of miasma coalesced into a rictus of a smile. Its teeth were jaggedly sharp, and two abnormally large sets of claws served as arms for the haunter. The creature opened its jaws and let out an almost human cackle of laughter.

"Haunter, confuse ray," said Silver.

'Aw shit, this guy uses status effects,' though Finn, trying to decide what strategy to use.

Finn took a moment to reach out with his type ability, sensing the energy of the battlefield. The ground was incredibly hard packed, and he thought that there was a chance that Felix might have some difficulty burying himself underground if he needed to.

Although, it was their best shot.

"Underground, now," said Finn, hoping the terrain wouldn't be as big of a problem as he'd originally thought. "Try to distract it with bulldoze."

Felix surprised him and was able to move well within the hard dirt. Even so, it was almost comical how the piloswine buried himself. Since Felix couldn't use a true dig attack yet, his largest hump was still exposed to the air like an island of brown fur in the center of the route.

The ray of ghostly energy struck, and Finn was able to reach out with his type ability to sense how Felix was faring. Through the connection Finn could vaguely discern that his starter had taken some mental trauma, but there was an icy determination that told him Felix was far from out of the fight.

The dirt around Felix warped, and a five-foot-tall wave of earth erupted from in front of him and shot across the field towards the ghost-poison type.

Now, Finn wasn't stupid. He'd watched enough of Morty's gym battles to know that the gastly line was invulnerable to ground type moves. What he was doing was hopefully blocking his pokémon from view for long enough so that Felix could perform his newest fully formed technique.

Since leaving Violet and solidifying bulldoze in Felix's arsenal, they'd worked extensively on perfecting icicle crash. The move had been too difficult for him to learn as a swinub, but in his evolved form, the piloswine was able to form wickedly sharp icicles attached to his tusks. The only problem was that he still needed a few seconds to prepare before initiating the technique, thus the bulldoze attack.

"Icicle crash!" called Finn.

At the same time, Silver said, "Shadow Punch."

The haunter only stopped momentarily before phasing right through Felix's bulldoze, dematerializing and appearing right next to his pokémon. Luckily, the distracting wave of earth waylaid the ghost just long enough for Felix, who'd been working on his icicle crash all the while, to violently whip his head around, crushing the shards of ice into the ghost type's side. Upon contact, the haunter shrieked in pain and parts of its ephemeral body seemed to fade, becoming a lighter shade of purple.

After a moment of recovery, the haunter's ghostly fist smashed into Felix's side, eliciting a rough grunt from his starter.

"Icy wind, slow it down while it's close. Then, another icicle crash!"

"Knock it off Haunter, use lick!"

It was then that Finn realized that Silver's haunter's only damage dealing moves were close range. He could work with that.

The haunter was fast. Closing in on Felix just as a cloud of ice and snow blasted from his pokémon's jaws. Felix shuddered when the long pink tongue raked the side of his body.

His pokémon was visibly frustrated by the speedy ghost, and he put that anger into his icy wind, which violently blasted the haunter back towards its trainer.

At one point, when the haunter had been close to Felix, Finn was able to reach out and feel the monster with his type ability. It was confusing. The area around the pokémon was like a negative space to his senses, having no connection to the earth whatsoever. That must have been why its species was immune to ground attacks.

Unfortunately, Felix's formed icicle crash had no opponent to run into for the haunter was back on Silver's side of the field. Finn took the second he had to scan the haunter for damage. The icy wind had caused the ghost's color to dim a few more shades, and it was panting heavily.

Felix was not undamaged. The muscles along his right side were spasming in the place where the ghost's tongue had landed.

Across the battlefield, Silver's eyes went from his pokémon to Felix, and hardened.

"Curse!"

Off to the side, one of his friends let out a rude expletive.

The haunter cackled again in delight at the command, its left hand glowing a deep red.

Felix reacted without prompting by his trainer. He could feel Finn's anxiety over the oncoming attack through the link they shared, and moved of his own volition.

His starter cracked the two sharp icicles protruding from his tusks, and bucked his forelegs forwards in a kick, sending the pieces of ice shooting towards the haunter.

'Was that an ice shard attack?' thought Finn excitedly. The super-fast move was apparently quite hard for the swinub line to learn.

Just as the shards were about to impact the haunter, the ghost's glowing red hand sharply sliced across its own neck, causing the pokémon to fade into a barely discernible shadow.

As Silver recalled his pokémon, a sinister red light enveloped Felix, causing the swine pokémon to begin panting heavily in exertion. The twitching on his flank from the lick attack doubled in intensity, eliciting a gasp in pain from Felix.

What was worse was that Finn could sense how hurt his starter was. The curse was insidious, spreading throughout his starter's body. Finn almost thought that the curse was testing the edges of his and Felix's connection, trying to infect him as well.

Finn heard Alan call out, "What the hell man, nobody lets their pokémon use curse in battle?"

Silver laughed. "There's no rule against it though, is there? C'mon out Quilava!"

The second evolution of the fire type species that Professor Elm handed out each year to his scholarship students appeared by its trainer. Flames swirled around its neck and hindquarters. The creature was easily four times bigger than it had been as a cyndaquil.

This was the most high-level battle that Finn had been in since the emergence of his type abilities, and Felix had never been this hurt. He wasn't sure what to do. Even though he could tell that Felix was still unwavering in his desire to battle, the pain stemming from the curse forced Finn's hand.

"Great work Felix, take a break!" he said, aiming his pokéball to recall his pokémon. "Dixie, you're up."

His combusken's demeanor changed to excitement in a flash, and was standing at the ready in seconds. It was curious that this battle would be a contest between the scholarship starters from Johto and Hoenn.

"I never did ask how you got that quilava of yours. Did you rank top three in Johto?" Finn asked.

The other teen ignored Finn, and ordered his pokémon. "Quilava, quick attack!"

Faster than Finn could follow, the opposing quilava dashed towards Dixie and slammed into her side, knocking her to the ground.

'Damnit, if he'd been paying better attention rather than trying to start a conversation during the battle Dixie would've been ready for that!'

The battle was going to be atypical. Fire type moves wouldn't be effective, so Dixie's ace attack, flamethrower, would be nearly useless.

"Dixie, quick attack! Get your speed up, then double kick."

Dixie blurred and barreled herself into the quilava, who gritted its teeth and hissed, slinking left and right with its weasel-like body. Dixie pivoted herself, performing a double spinning kick, impacting her opponent, who was sent sprawling to the ground.

"Flame charge!"

"Quick attack Dixie!"

With nimbleness that surprised Finn after such a fierce combo attack, the quilava rolled itself into a ball of flame and hurled its spinning body at Dixie. His pokémon, whose speed had been slowly quickening as the battle went on, was clipped on her right side by the attack, twirling her body in a pirouette. She righted herself before launching another quick attack.

By this time, both pokémon were breathing heavily. Dixie was letting out high-pitched squeaks with each exhalation.

'You've got this Dixie, get in there for another double kick!"

Silver was beginning to see the writing on the wall with his pokémon's diminishing endurance and Dixie resisting most of his pokémon's attacks. A crease of frustration appeared on the red-haired trainer's forehead as he thought through his next steps.

"Dodge it!" said Silver. "Prepare for our new move!"

Nearing her top speeds, Dixie almost teleported next to her opponent, striking out with her talons in a fast double kick.

Quilava attempted to jump back to avoid the attack, but was hit by the second kick. Dixie embellished on Finn's commands, lunging forward with her beak extended in a peck attack before sprinting away from the quilava who looked to be preparing for something.

The muscles under the quilava's dark fur flexed in preparation, and a spark of electricity danced across the fire type's back.

'Oh, what's this?' thought Finn.

Before Finn could call out another attack command, Silver's pokémon wildly hurled itself across the field, electricity arcing along its entire body.

Dixie had felt the spike of nervousness from her trainer and was ready for the incoming attack. She used her increased speed and a quick attack to move to the right side of the field, while the quilava's body skipped across the dirt like a stone over a pond, shocking itself badly.

The fire type didn't get up. Silver's pokémon was bleeding where its skin had scraped along the ground after the unsuccessful wild charge.

It was an attack that he'd only seen in high-level battles in Gyms or at the Conference, and even then the user usually took some damage. Silver's quilava was clearly not trained to the point where it could safely harness the powerful electric type move.

Finn didn't feel elation at beating Silver. He didn't feel good at all. Those moves that the other trainer was using had hurt his own pokémon.

"Dude, what the fuck is wrong with you," asked Orion, face scrunched up in anger. Finn didn't blame him.

Silver recalled his starter and turned away from the outraged pair of trainers that had refereed the match. He walked over to Finn and held out some cash.

Absently Finn took it, before saying, "Man, I'm not one to tell other trainers what to do, but think about your quilava next time you use that move."

"Mind your own business," said Silver, snidely. "My pokémon was just too exhausted to use it properly, otherwise you'd have lost. Quilava will have it mastered next time we battle—There will be a next time."

Alan walked up at that point. "If I ever see you torturing your pokémon with a dangerous move outside their skill level again, you better believe I'll be calling the Rangers."

Silver briskly walked past his blonde friend, knocking him in the shoulder and continued down the route.

Finn, Alan, and Orion shared a look of disgust.

That guy had issues.

The trio walked for an hour or so before the beginnings of Azalea could be seen on the horizon. From their higher vantage point, the view was stunning. Situated in a circular clearing, walls two stories high surrounded the relatively small town. All around Azalea were orchards full of green, red, and blue apricorn trees. Beyond the town, as far as the eye could see was a vast forest.

"I still can't get over how messed up that guy was. He had to have used a TM right?" said Alan, looking over at Finn and Orion.

"It's common sense not to teach hyper beam to a rattata, and everyone knows it," said Orion, continuing the rant. "He either doesn't care about his team, or was way overconfident."

At this, Finn chimed in, "Guys, we don't know anything about him, or his team. Don't get me wrong, he's an asshole, but we all train really hard and push our teams to be better. For all we know, his quilava is normally able to use that move." Finn scratched at the dark stubble that had formed on his chin during their days of travel. "And he was right about the curse attack—just because Morty and Agatha have never used the move in public matches, doesn't mean it's illegal to do so."

"But that's it! If Morty and Agatha won't do it—and they're the best ghost type specialists in the country—then it must be wrong!" said Alan, with exasperation.

"I gotta side with Alan on this one, man," said Orion. "That guy was bad news."

As the route continued meandering down a hillside towards the town, the group passed by what looked like a large cave opening into the hill itself. Just outside, a man with graying hair was stretching his legs, as if he was going to go for a jog. The man was around fifty years old, and was wearing a light blue workout outfit. Clipped to his belt were four intricately designed pokéballs.

"Oh, hello there," he called softly over to the trio.

Upon seeing the man, Finn was distracted for a moment, causing him to trip on a loose stone on the route. He barely caught his balance in time to reply to the man.

"Hello, sir. How's the route been?" said Finn, embarrassed over his almost fall. He glanced over at his friends. "We've got to be pretty close to town now, right guys?"

With a grave nod, the man said, "Yes, it's about thirty minutes to town from here. As for the route—that remains to be seen."

"What do you mean?" asked Orion.

"The slowpoke in the rivers and lakes around here have gone missing," he said. "They have just up and disappeared. This cave here leads to the well that feeds Azalea most of its water. It also happens to be where a lot of slowpoke breed. I'm going to investigate."

At that, the man dropped the green and white pokéball with yellow spots around the sensor, and out emerged a rather large slowbro.

"Heh, well good luck," said Alan. "We'd offer to help, but we've been out on the routes for over a week and a shower is calling my name."

"Think nothing of it, son." The man beckoned his slowbro to follow him. "Enjoy your time in Azalea."

As the man disappeared into the well Finn turned to his friends. "We didn't even get his name, huh?"

Finn could not overstate how wonderful reaching the Pokémon Center was. After all these months on traveling, he was psychologically conditioned to feel euphoria upon seeing the distinctive red roof of the pokémon hospital. It meant that it was time to sleep and to clean away the grime from the road.

Upon reaching the Joy at the reception desk, Finn paid for a three-person room for the week. Finn's first payment from the League had come in, and he was splurging. While he hadn't told his friends about his new windfall, he claimed a preemptive celebration for completing the two-badge requirement before the year was up.

Hours later, a refreshed trio of trainers signed up for time slots for a second tier Gym battle against Bugsy. The bug type master's wait time was only two days, so Finn, Alan, and Orion all decided to train on their own time until the day came.

Finn had some thinking to do. Bugsy liked to challenge trainers to three-on-three matches, and Finn didn't really have three pokémon that he was able to use in that kind of challenge.

He was about to gather some supplies to go train in the forest, when Orion barged into their room.

"Finn, someone's calling for you!" he said, voice breathy from having clearly run up the stairs.

Finn picked up the device and spoke, "Hello, this is Finn."

"Mr. Abernathy, it's good to get in touch," said a distinctively androgynous voice, before whispering. "Are you alone right now?"

He looked up at Orion and made a shooing motion with his hands and mouthed 'sorry' to the other trainer.

"I am now. Can I assume this is you, Leader Bugsy?"

"You sure can," the bug trainer said, "I've been made aware of your condition by our mutual acquaintance in Blackthorn, and have been monitoring my challenge log until you arrived. I'd like to extend my congratulations on reaching your type core, so early as well. Also, I would like to take you on a short training trip, to train yourself just as much as your team."

Finn's eyebrows were in trouble of being lost underneath his dark bangs. "Sir, thank you, but are you sure? It's the middle of the League season, can you afford to be away from the Gym?"

"Oh, we'll only be gone until tomorrow morning. There's no need to worry about my schedule. Meet me at the east exit of the city in an hour, and we'll get going."

The phone clicked.

Finn felt decidedly odd as he walked towards the eastern exit to Azalea. He'd been forced to tell his friends that Bugsy wanted to see his larvitar in action in order to waylay any questions.

Personal training with a Gym leader? It was something that Finn's wildest dreams were made of, and he couldn't help but be excited.

'Make nice with as many type users as you can.' Clair had said.

Finn was so lost to his thoughts that he barely had time to take in the scenery of Azalea. Towering pines and all manner of ferns lines the streets. Most of the buildings were wooden, with few exceptions. It was a style within the town to have steep roofs that criss-crossed where they met at the ridge, extending to small points.

While Finn waited at the edge of town he had Aegis out of her ball. Spray bottle in hand, Finn tried to help his newest pokémon feel more comfortable outside of the water.

"How're you doing today, Aegis?" asked Finn, spraying some water onto the starfish-like pokémon.

The water-poison type was quite small, at only a little over a foot in height. She had ten purple and sky blue barbed tentacles trailing down from the top of her body. Her pendulous purple head and torso hung in-between her limbs, protected from outside attacks by the powerful appendages. A pointy yellow horn protruded from the crown of Aegis' head.

The creature cooed affectionately at him, and like a spider, maneuvered her way over to him. The leg in front of her face was shorter than the others, allowing Finn to glimpse her adorably large yellow and blue eyes and sharp teeth.

"Alright, you do look better today. Do you think we'll try some training out later?"

Even though he'd only had Aegis for a short while, his type abilities allowed him to faintly grasp that his pokémon was willing.

"My goodness, is that a mareanie?" asked Bugsy, walking over. "I haven't seen one of those in a while."

Finn pulled up from his crouch. "Yep, this here is Aegis. My newest teammate," he said, smiling down at the creature. "She's not quite used to living outside of the ocean yet, are you Aegis?"

Aegis wrapped one of her tentacles around his leg, and Finn had to force himself not to fear getting stung by one of her barbs.

"Well, she appears to be well on her way," said Bugsy. "And so must we be, if we'd like to get anything done!"

The two began walking and were soon shadowed by the soaring canopy of Ilex forest. Bugsy led him away from the standard route, and onto a sparsely used foot-trail where thick foliage made it difficult to keep an eye out for predators. It was only the dangerous presence of Bugsy's scizor, Axel, that calmed Finn's nerves.

"Where are we going?" asked Finn, after twenty minutes of walking.

The trees were growing even more massive, and the bug type trainer showed no signs of slowing down.

"Oh, just enjoy the scenery Finn!" singsonged Bugsy. "The majesty of the forest knows no bounds. Ah, here we are—."

Moments later, they emerged from the underbrush into a small clearing. Wildflowers of every kind imaginable were in full bloom. Towards the back of the clearing there was an ornate wooden construction.

Intricately carved beams held together a twenty-foot raised platform. Above, a red and blue tiled roof met at the ridge like swords crossing in battle.

"It's something else, isn't it?" said Bugsy. "This shrine was built for a mythical pokémon that has been said can heal even the gravest of wounds—even death."

"How have I never heard of such a myth?" asked Finn, peering curiously at the beautiful shrine. "You'd think a pokémon that could do that would have a big following."

Bugsy's gaze was fixed on the building as well, almost in reverence. "Not many still come here. There's only a handful of people left in Azalea who continue to manage the upkeep. This will be our first stop on your introductory tour of the Ilex forest!"

Not for the first time was Finn reminded that Bugsy was only a few years older than he was. The bug trainer held a youthful exuberance to him that many of the older more veteran trainer's he'd met seemed to lack.

"What would you have me do? The meditation technique that Reginald taught me?"

"So eager are you? C'mon, follow me," said Bugsy, who traipsed across the clearing towards the shrine.

Finn followed the Gym leader towards the construction. A ladder was there for easy access to the platform above.

Bugsy crouched low and then leapt twenty feet into the air and onto the platform above, the movement strangely reminiscent of a joltik's jump. At this he turned to Finn, and waved.

"Come on up!" he laughed. "Bug type users have some perks of their own!"

He tried not to look too impressed, but failed. Then, Finn easily maneuvered up the ladder, and asked, "Doesn't this feel—I don't know—wrong?" He looked around the shrine platform, where offerings of fruit and other trinkets were meticulously placed in bowls. "Like we're trespassing?"

There was a respect imbued into the placement of the items, intricacy of the carvings, and tidiness of the place.

"No, no, don't worry about that. People come here all of the time to pray, and to become one with the forest. We will be doing something similar." Said Bugsy. "Now sit down like you do when you meditate."

Finn did as he was told, a bit unsure as to how this would even work. They were twenty feet above the ground, which was where the essence he would be trying to gather came from.

"Ground type users have it easy! The essence they need is everywhere! For me, the largest traces of bug essence only linger in places bug pokémon have made their homes for a long time. When I'm stuck in Azalea, I have to really work to gather even the barest of essence. Although training like that eventually makes you stronger, it's a large part of the reason I spent much of my journey out in the wilds."

That was interesting. It made Finn wonder about where some of the more esoteric types' essences might be found. Fairy types, dragon types, electric types—they all sounded like they might be hard to find.

"So this is going to be a bit of a challenge for you Finn. Release your ground type pokémon beside you. I always find it easier to focus when I have a large source of bug energy to focus on."

At this, the Gym leader released his scizor back out as well as a small caterpillar type pokémon that he'd never seen before. The creature had fuzzy white fur and red horns all along the crest of its head.

Bugsy saw Finn's gaze and nodded. "This guy is Kiln, my larvesta. I won't tell you how long I've been wanting to train one—took me all off-season and the one before that to find him."

Finn honestly wasn't sure what was so great about the pokémon, but he trusted the confident look the Gym leader bore.

He released Felix and Quake onto the platform.

"Okay, guys time to be serious. We're going to be doing some training up here. No falling off the side, and no rough-housing, okay," said Finn, a stern stare fixed upon Quake. "We'll be doing some meditation. That means stay still."

"A larvitar, how unexpected. You're full of surprises, huh?" said Bugsy. "Your piloswine looks to be in excellent shape as well. A recent evolution?"

At Finn's nod, he said, "Excellent. And to think that there will soon be a tyranitar trained by a ground type user. That should be something."

Sheepish, Finn replied. "Thanks—I don't know about soon. Quake here only hatched a couple of months ago."

"Well, maybe soon-ish would have been a more apt thing to say," said Bugsy. "Any-who, that's enough team admiration for now. I want you to focus on your pokémon. Concentrate on the energy that flows through their body, and then I want you to reach for it all around you. Ground essence will be hard to find up here, but it is here. You just need to expand your ability and understanding of the type."

Finn set his jaw in determination, and focused.

At first, all he could feel was the chaotic swirling of ground and ice and rock coming from his pokémon partners. Larvitar was on the verge of sleep, and Felix was content to lay on the platform gazing out into the forest and keeping an eye on his rebellious brother.

There was very little ground essence in the air. The energy was so dispersed that Finn was struggling to collect even the smallest amount to bring into his body.

He concentrated downwards, like he normally would, trying to extend the range of his ability so he could reach the forest floor below them. It was like punching a brick wall. Nothing would be able to push the edge of his senses outwards.

Bugsy must have had him take his pokémon out for a reason, so Finn asserted his focus back onto them. A healthy thrum of energy whirled inside them. Where did so much ground energy come from? Was it internal?

Disrupting his thoughts, a gust of wind came up through the cracks in the wooden platform, but the platform didn't sway. It was stable.

Finn blinked and glanced over at the Gym leader who sat in a meditative pose. "There's nothing up here. All of my pokémons' essence comes from within themselves…" he said.

Lavender eyes opened. "Oh, does it? That's not where my bugs get all of their essence from," said Bugsy with a small chuckle. "Look deeper Finn."

At this, Finn went back to it.

Icy energy, ground energy—it all moved throughout his piloswine. Finn concentrated on the outside of Felix's body, trying to see if any ground essence was entering his pokémon from other sources.

It was faint, but the barest trickle of light-brown essence was stemming from the platform around them.

How could that be? Finn was thinking furiously. The platform was made of wood. It was high in the air, and probably hadn't touched the earth in years. So what could it be?

Another gust of wind buffeted the shrine, and Finn heard the trees sway in the distance.

The breezy air gave Finn an idea. The platform was able to hold steady against the elements. It was stable just like the ground below him. The platform was made of wood, and trees were once connected to the earth and held firm by their roots. Maybe the platform held a more multifaceted connection to the ground type, and that was what created the essence.

As the concepts came together in Finn's mind, the trickle he'd seen around Felix thickened into a small stream. In moments, there was enough essence in the air for Finn to meditate.

Now, that certainly didn't mean that it was easy. This newly formed energy was more wisp-like and felt harder to collect somehow, as if Finn didn't understand it enough to fully take hold of it.

His meditation on the ground was certainly more productive, but this was something new entirely.

He pulled the energy into himself, and moved it throughout his body before it settled into his core. At this, a new sensation became known to him. It wasn't much, but he felt secure, more firm in his ability to remain on his own two feet.

He gasped. "I think I did it!"

Bugsy just smiled and nodded. "Now, keep going."

An hour passed with Finn deep in meditation, all the while firming his newfound conceptualization of what 'ground' actually meant. While the essence never gained the potency of what he could find below the platform, it gained something else, a meaning beyond just what he knew the words 'the earth' or 'the ground' to mean.

The ground type was stability made perfect, it was a cradle to protect plants from the elements, it was where life decayed until new life could form.

All of these ideas came alive when he condensed the misty light-brown energy into his core, granting Finn and enlightenment of sorts. He didn't feel like he had more knowledge, he just felt more. The energy within him sung with a sharper tune than before.

While the two trainers had been training, rain began to leak from the sky.

The wind he'd felt before had been the precursor for a storm. Eventually, a torrent fell from the sky and squalls of wind buffeted the structure interrupting even the most focused of meditation. Had the shrine not been as well made as it was, there would certainly have been rain streaming through leaks in the ceiling.

Quake was not happy with the water disrupting his slumber and he began pawing at Finn to recall him into his pokéball. Felix just used Finn as a shield from the wind, remaining a stalwart presence on the platform.

"Well this was unexpected, but we get big storms like this pretty often in the summer," said Bugsy. "We'll just have to ride it out here. Then, we can train your team up a bit."

Finn was a touch upset that the rain was causing him to miss out on critical training time with a Gym leader. Who knew how many opportunities like this he would get?

Bugsy eyed Finn's poorly hidden disdain for the weather, and said, "After we train, what would you say to an impromptu Gym match out here in the forest? I normally don't let trainers skip in line, but why don't we get this battle out of the way in the morning?"

Finn's head whipped around. It looked like he'd need to be ready to win his Gym badge a bit sooner than he'd expected.

AN: Alright, the first real rival battle and the intro to the Azalea arc! Plus, we went over 100,000 words! Who would've expected that after my COVID hiatus? I'm pretty excited about this arc, as I have some ideas that I'm not sure have ever been used in the fandom before. I'm a bit worried about how it will go over, or if I'll be able to pull it off, but that's half the fun of writing this.

I'd love to hear your thoughts via review or PM!

Finn:
Felix - Piloswine
Benedict - Exeggcute
Quake – Larvitar
Dixie - Combusken
Aegis - Mareanie

Orion:
Darya - Horsea
Magikarp
Drake - Grovyle
Tufts - Flaffy
Charmander

Alan:
Phanpy
Breloom
Luxio
Charmander