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 thirteen: Stow-on-Side arc part three- Taking on all challengers

The grand opening tournament for Commissioner Kankuro's stadium restaurant had just wrapped up earlier today, but talk of it was still going around. Many people who had made bets on the tournament were upset due to the fact that the gym challengers that they had bet on had lost. From what I had been able to gather on the subject, from a mix of my gym trainer Claire talking about it and through hearsay, most bets made on the grand opening tournament were made on either Sashay or Bede winning. But neither made it to the final round.

In fact, Sashay was eliminated in the first round by Nina, who ended up winning the grand opening tournament.

According to Claire, there was only one person who had bet on Nina winning the grand opening tournament. I later learned that it was Piers, my fellow gym leader, who had bet on Nina while also placing a separate bet on Marnie. Piers had time to burn before worrying about having to deal with any gym challengers, so he was deciding to stick around on the basis of wanting to be there to cheer his little sister on.

Piers wasn't the only one sticking around Stow-on-Side; former Gym Challenger Hop was also sticking around as well, and his reason for doing so was of little surprise to me. He wanted to watch all of the official challenges to my gym that the gym challengers who had made it past Kabu were going to be making starting this morning. He must want to watch said battles live, is what I had figured. I cannot blame Hop for this, though; there's just something about watching battles live that trumps watching them at home on the telly.

Oh, speaking of Kabu, I got it down that no other gym challengers had been able to overcome his gym, and as such they all withdrew from the gym challenge. That means that only those nine who had been able to defeat Kabu were the only gym challengers left; after all of them either get past me or drop out due to not being able to beat me, I'll have free time to work on making sure I'm ready for the championship tournament at the end of this gym challenge. It'll also give me time to see my friends make their way through the remainder of the gym challenge after me.

I went to the local Pokemon Center to have my gym challenge party looked at, a simple check up to make sure they were ready for all of the challenges to my gym that they would have to be fighting in. While my Pokemon were being looked at by the nurse, I looked over at the Poke Mart and saw Gym Challengers Marnie and Nina there, with Nina selling the one dozen Comet Shards she had earned by winning the grand opening tournament at Commissioner Kankuro's stadium restaurant earlier today.

Seeing two of the nine gym challengers that I was expecting to face, it got me thinking about who all I would be facing starting first thing tomorrow morning. A total of nine gym challengers; Marnie and Nina, as well as that Bede fellow who was endorsed by the collective will of mother and Commissioners Rosalia and Robin, then there were my friends Sashay, Rosie and Marina, and finally my classmates Harry, Darnell and Ginny. Quite a line up, to be sure.

I also knew about what kind of Pokemon all of them favor. Marnie uses dark types, so she'd be easy for me to face, at least in theory; she also owns a Toxicroak, and I know she had recently evolved her Morgrem into Grimmsnarl which is part fairy type, so I need to be wary of that.

Marina uses ghost Pokemon, Sashay uses bug Pokemon, Bede uses psychic Pokemon, Harry uses flying Pokemon and Darnell uses poison Pokemon; all of those either are strong against fighting Pokemon which is what I use, or are resistant or immune to fighting attacks. My party for gym challenges is equipped to help mitigate various disadvantages like that, so I should be able to fight back fairly well, depending on the gym challenger in question.

Then there's my friend Rosie, who uses electric Pokemon; electric and fighting Pokemon are neither strong nor weak to one another, so I should be able to fight Rosie evenly. Same goes for Gym Challenger Ginny who I learned is a water Pokemon user, similar to Nessa. Against the two of them, I should be able to give them a run for their money, especially if I fight wisely. But then again, I intend to fight wisely against every gym challenger who comes in to try to defeat me to earn the Fighting Badge.

...The gym challenger that worries me the most is Nina, for multiple reasons. First off, there's the fact that the reason Nina is even competing in the gym challenge this year at all, despite her status as a special needs citizen of Galar due to being autistic normally being grounds to bar her from entering, is because she defeated me in that exhibition match back in Spikemuth. Even though I had used my friendly exhibition battle party, Nina still soundly won.

Second off, unlike the other gym challengers who are still in the gym challenge, all of whom specializing in a single type each, Nina has been observed to use Pokemon of all sorts of types; in addition to the Alcremie, Polteageist, Obstagoon and Perrserker that Nina was seen using that day back in Spikemuth, I've learned of her also owning a Corviknight, Flapple, Sandaconda, Stonjourner and Dragapult. Quite a collection, to be sure.

Then there's the third point that has me worried about Nina; if she does beat me, there is no way that mother will be pleased. Mother had made her displeasure towards someone like Nina being allowed to take part in the gym challenge at all quite clear to me. Mother had stressed to me on more than one occasion that she doesn't want me to lose to Nina, doesn't want the special needs girl from Spikemuth to make it all the way through to the championship tournament at the end of the gym challenge.

(I shudder to think how mother would react to it if Nina does defeat me.)

As I thought about what I could do when Nina battles me for the Fighting Badge, I saw Nina and Marnie talk to some lady with long brown hair, and wearing light colored pants and a long sleeved green top of some kind. The lady also handed what looked to be a soup thermos over to Marnie, saying something about how Nina had been a big help in gathering mushrooms on the island where she (the lady) lives with her husband.

"My darling hubby and I have been rather eagerly watching everything related to the current gym challenge on the telly, you know," the lady said to Marnie and Nina, "We're both very excited to see how well you girls do in the rest of the challenge. You especially, Nina dear."

I saw it when Nina, overcome with embarrassment, ducked her head and tried to cover her face with that purple scally hat of hers. Marnie smiled and said, "Nina's just overwhelmed with all of the positive attention she's been getting over the course of the gym challenge thus far. She'll be fine, Miss Honey." Looking at the soup thermos that she was holding, Marnie said, "So all I have to do is have my Grimmsnarl eat all of this soup?"

The lady, apparently called Honey, nodded in the affirmative. "You'll be amazed with what your Grimmsnarl will be able to pull off after eating that serving of Max Soup." Max Soup? The hell is that? I'll have to look into that later. Regardless, I was called by the nurse who told me that my gym challenge party was ready for what all they had to do starting tomorrow morning. I picked my Pokemon up, thanked the nurse, then took my leave.

I wanted to get as much rest as possible tonight. I do have a big day ahead of me tomorrow, after all.

I awoke early, a few minutes before six in the morning. The grand opening tournament over at Commissioner Kankuro's stadium restaurant yesterday was still going on through my mind, and I have no doubt it was going through the minds of many gym challenge fans all over the region. But given that starting today I'll be taking on gym challengers at my gym in their efforts to try to earn the Fighting Badge, I think that I'll be the talk of Galar for the immediate foreseeable future.

My gym won't open until eight AM sharp, partly to give TV crews time to set up in my gym so that they can broadcast the battles I'll be having against the gym challengers I'm expecting to face live. In fact, I think that some of them might already be setting up. After I woke myself up fully, did all of my getting ready routine, I made my way right over to my gym. Sure enough, I saw the TV crews ready to broadcast the official challenges to my gym starting in a little under two hours from now.

I was also greeted by Claire, one of my gym trainers. "Did you see the line of fans waiting to come in and get seats to watch you battle all of the gym challengers today?"

I nodded once in the affirmative. "Yeah, I got a total of nine gym challengers who I will be expecting to see come in to try to earn the Fighting Badge off of me."

"You think you can at least make them work for it?" Claire asked.

I chuckled at that. "Claire, you forget who you're speaking to. Hell, I may very well even defeat one or two of them on their first tries at me."

Claire would have said something else, but a commotion outside of my gym got our attention. We both ran out to see what was up, and to a lack of surprise on my part, my friends were all here, being swarmed by eager gym challenge fans. As I expected, Sashay spotted me right away. "Hey, Bea! I'm here to challenge you now!"

I smiled at that in a mildly amused manner. "You'll have to wait until sign ups start, Sashay. But they are on a first come first served basis." Sashay smiled in an amused manner at this. Not long after that, the other gym challengers that made it past Kabu started showing up; first was that Bede fellow, then my classmates Harry, Darnell and Ginny, and then finally the girls from Spikemuth, Marnie and Nina.

At seven-thirty AM sharp, the sign ups to face me started, and most of the gym challengers actually ran to try to beat each other to be first; only Bede and the Spikemuth girls took their time to walk over to sign up. As such, due to how there was a rush, I would be facing all of the gym challengers in the following order; first Sashay, then Rosie, Darnell, Harry, Marina, Ginny, Bede, Marnie and last but not least Nina.

...Well, the order was set. I went to the locker room of my gym, where I would wait until I would have my first battle against a gym challenger.

"This battle will be between Gym Challenger Sashay and Gym Leader Bea!" A league official had been sent over to act as referee for the official challenges to my gym for the Fighting Badge that the gym challengers would be making. The league official was very professional, I have to say. "Each trainer may use their respective whole parties in this battle, but only one Pokemon at a time each! Also, only Gym Challenger Sashay can switch Pokemon out at any time! The battle is over when all of one trainer's Pokemon have been defeated! Now then..." The league official threw his left hand up quickly. "BEGIN!"

"Hitmontop, I choose you!" I send my first Pokemon out to battle Sashay.

With a smirk, Sashay tossed up the pokeball that held her first Pokemon. "Araquanid, I choose you!" So she's starting off with her relatively new Araquanid. I have to wait until Hitmontop goes down before switching him out, and three of his four attacks are resisted by a bug Pokemon such as Araquanid. Not a good start for me.

Still, there was no way I'd simply roll over. "Hitmontop, use Quick Attack!"

"Araquanid, use Bubblebeam!" Sashay ordered. Hitmontop rushed in and rammed very quickly into Araquanid, but he took a Bubblebeam at point blank range immediately after. Still, both Pokemon were far from done. "Araquanid, use Headbutt!" Sashay called out.

"Hitmontop, use Quick Attack again!" I ordered. Hitmontop rushed in and dealt another attack that had increased priority. But Araquanid took it once more before retaliating with a rather devastating headbutt. Hitmontop stumbled back a few steps, but he regained his composure soon enough. "Hitmontop, Quick Attack!"

"Araquanid, use Bug Bite!" Sashay ordered. Hitmontop rushed in and rammed Araquanid one more time, but he immediately afterwards was bitten by Araquanid in a nibbling manner. Sure, fighting Pokemon like Hitmontop resist bug attacks, but given how much damage Hitmontop took prior to that Bug Bite, he ended up going down anyway.

Raising his left hand up, the league official called out, "Hitmontop is unable to battle! The winner is Araquanid!" Sashay cheered as she had knocked out the first of my Pokemon. I recalled my fainted Hitmontop; we're both allowed our full parties, but I only had four Pokemon in my gym challenge party to the five Pokemon Sashay brought with her, and my Hitmontop had just gone down. Sashay already has a lead on me.

Tossing up the pokeball that held my second Pokemon, I called out, "Sirfetch'd, I choose you!" My Sirfetch'd came out, eyeing up Sashay's Araquanid. Sirfetch'd knows Brutal Swing, which is a stronger attack than Quick Attack and is likewise not resisted by bug. But I wasn't going to go full frontal assault just yet. "Sirfetch'd, use Swords Dance!"

"Araquanid, use Bubblebeam!" Sashay commanded. Her Araquanid was quicker, blasting my Sirfetch'd right in the face as he got his Swords Dance off. But now Sirfetch'd attack had been boosted, so his attacks will deal more damage.

Pointing right on ahead at Araquanid, I said, "Sirfetch'd, use Brutal Swing!"

"Araquanid, use Bubblebeam!" Sashay called out. Once more, Araquanid blasted my Sirfetch'd in the face with a Bubblebeam, but Sirfetch'd was still able to strike Araquanid with a boosted Brutal Swing that, combined with what Hitmontop had done earlier, was enough to take out the first of Sashay's five Pokemon.

Holding up his right hand, the league official said, "Araquanid is unable to battle! The winner is Sirfetch'd!"

I saw the look of annoyance on Sashay's face as one of her Pokemon had gone down during her battle against me. She tossed up another pokeball, this one calling out Sashay's Orbeetle. A bit of a risky move, since Sirfetch'd knows the dark type move Brutal Swing, and his attack's been boosted. But Orbeetle is part psychic type; if Sashay is lucky, her Orbeetle can blast Sirfetch'd with a psychic attack and take him out. He's hurt from two Bubblebeams, so a super effective move would be sufficient to best him.

Pointing right at my Pokemon, Sasahy said, "Orbeetle, use Psychic!"

"Sirfetch'd, use Brutal Swing!" I called out. Sirfetch'd charged at Orbeetle, but his opponent was faster, plus it was using a ranged special move and had the advantage of distance. Orbeetle blasted Sirfetch'd with that potent Psychic, and as such Sirfetch'd ended up going down.

Raising his left hand, the league official announced, "Sirfetch'd is unable to battle! The winner is Orbeetle!" Sashay seemed happy that she defeated my Sirfetch'd after he had taken out one of her Pokemon; I've known Sashay for years, and I do know her to be in possession of some level of pettiness. I wasn't surprised by her amusement at my Sirfetch'd going down in the least.

I recalled my fainted Pokemon and sent my third of four Pokemon in my gym challenge party out. "Pangoro, I choose you!"

"Orbeetle return! Centiskorch, I choose you!" Sashay was switching her Pokemon out, most likely because my Pangoro being part dark type would be a threat to the part psychic Orbeetle. Since she's a gym challenger, Sashay is free to switch her Pokemon out whenever. Pointing right at my Pangoro, Sashay called out, "Centiskorch, use Flame Wheel!"

"Pangoro, use Work Up!" I ordered. Centiskorch hopped up, formed a wheel out of its own body, then rolled at Pangoro while setting itself on fire. As for Pangoro, he looked up as he held his clenched fists at around the level of his pecks while shouting skywards, like those martial arts alien humans from that one anime when they raise their power. As Pangoro charged up, he was not only struck across his gut by Centiskorch's Flame Wheel, but he was inflicted with a burn as well; damn it, that's not going to help.

As my Pangoro flinched in pain due to being hurt by his burn, Sashay said, "Centiskorch, use Bug Bite!"

"Pangoro, use Night Slash!" Centiskorch lunged forward to strike at Pangoro, biting down on his burn mark no less and inflicting a nibbling bite. Meanwhile, Pangoro slashed at Centiskorch with a black slashing attack that, even though boosted a little, was still halved in power due to the burn. After that exchange, Pangoro was hurt by his burn again.

Another attack and some more burn damage at this point would take Pangoro down, but like hell we'll go down without swinging. "Pangoro, use Night Slash!"

"Centiskorch, use Flame Wheel!" Sashay commanded. Once more, our Pokemon charged at one another, but Centiskorch was the quicker, and landed a Flame Wheel on Pangoro's burn mark. It must have been a critical hit, because Pangoro stumbled back before falling over and passing out on the ground.

"Pangoro is unable to battle! The winner is Centiskorch!" the league official announced. I recalled my fainted Pangoro, then sent my last Pokemon out. It was my Machamp that I kept in my gym challenge party; the Machamp that I keep in my championship tournament party, which was my first ever Pokemon that I got as a Machop, is quite a bit stronger. Even so, my Machamp here should get the job done.

"You know, Sashay," I said, "It's a darn shame that you don't have a Dynamax Band." Right away, I proceeded to use my Dynamax Band to work with my Machamp; I called Machamp back to its pokeball which became giant, then I tossed it into the air behind me. Machamp came out, but grew larger and changed form slightly before the gigantimax was completed. I pointed right ahead at Centiskorch. "Machamp, use Max Strike!"

"Centiskorch, Flame Wheel!" Sashay commanded. Her Pokemon was quicker, and did hit my Machamp. But Machamp was far from done, and it rained down a massive attack on Centiskorch, knocking it out.

Sashay scoffed in annoyance as she recalled her fainted Centiskorch when the league official announced that Centiskorch had gone down and Machamp won. Sashay sent her Crustle out next. "Crustle, use Slash!"

"Machamp, use G-Max Chi Strike!" I called out. Machamp was quicker and struck Crustle, but it wasn't quite enough to knock Crustle out. Must be due to Crustle's defenses plus how being part bug type allowed it to mitigate fighting type damage to an extent. Crustle then went on to slash at my gigantimaxed Machamp, damaging it but not enough to be significant. I figured one last attack ought to take Crustle out. "Machamp, G-Max Chi Strike!"

"Crustle, use Slash!" Sashay called out. As it was before, Machamp's attack went off first, and it knocked Crustle out before it could attack. That would be three of Sashay's five Pokemon down, but as Sashay recalled her fainted Crustle, my Machamp's gigantimax had run out, reverting it back to normal, and it was now feeling the sting of the damage it had accumulated a bit more. Sashay obviously jumped at the chance.

Tossing up a pokeball, Sashay called out, "Orbeetle, I choose you!" Her Orbeetle came back out, and I was a bit worried, given its Psychic attack could make quick work of Machamp, even more so right now. Pointing right ahead at my Machamp, Sashay said, "Orbeetle, use Psychic!"

"Machamp, use Knock Off!" I called out. Orbeetle, once more due to the speed and distance advantages it held, blasted my Pokemon with a super effective attack that took my Pokemon out before it could get close enough.

"Machamp is unable to battle! The winner is Orbeetle!" the league official declared, "Victory of this battle goes to Gym Challenger Sashay!" I did not blame Sashay for jumping up and down as she cheered over how she had defeated me in her challenge to my gym; I had made her work hard for her win, but she won all the same. Being the professional that I am, I took the initiative to offer Sashay a congratulatory hand shake, as well as hand her a Fighting Badge.

Sashay now had half of the badges she needed to qualify for the championship tournament at the end of the gym challenge. After Sashay was shown out, I went to the locker room, where Claire assisted me in treating my gym challenge party with revives, various potions and a few elixers to get them to a perfectly fresh form for the next gym challenger, who if I recall correctly ought to be Rosie.

Similar to Sashay, Rosie won against my gym challenge party and earned the Fighting Badge on her first try. However, she came really close to losing to me, and I have no doubt I would have won had my Machamp's gigantimax not run out prior to Rosie sending in her Toxtricity. To make things worse for Rosie, her electric Pokemon kept inflicting my Pokemon with paralysis, and she still just barely won. But barely winning is still winning all the same.

After my Pokemon were treated again, we had our third battle against a gym challenger, that being my classmate Darnell. He had a somewhat easier time against me than Sashay, and as such he ended up defeating me with only his Vileplume going down. That's the beauty of taking on a fighting type user with poison type Pokemon; poison resists fighting and can inflict poison, hurting your Pokemon over time. Regardless, I gave Darnell his rightfully earned Fighting Badge.

Following Darnell was my classmate Harry, who defeated me without any of his Pokemon going down even though I gigantimaxed my Machamp as I did against Sashay, Rosie and Darnell. Harry was wise to come at my fighting Pokemon with flying Pokemon. He essentially sicced a swarm of birds on my team, with his flock led by his Noctowl, which was obviously Harry's best Pokemon. Hopefully he has a plan if and when he faces Gordie.

The last of my friends, Marina, came after Harry. As did all of the others before her, Marina defeated me despite how I had the advantage of a Dynamax Band. This was due to how Marina uses ghost Pokemon, so a lot of my Pokemons' attacks were useless. Marina seemed notably happy when she defeated my Machamp with her Chandelure, thus earning the Fighting Badge off of me. I'd say that out of my three friends, Marina had the easiest time in defeating my gym challenge party.

Ginny was the last of the gym challengers I fought before things started getting really tricky for me. Gym Challenger Ginny, uniform number 707, was able to defeat me with only two of her five Pokemon going down. A water type user like Nessa, but Ginny's Pokemon had a fair bit more bulk to them, allowing them to tank my Pokemons' attacks a bit better. I handed her the Fighting Badge that she had rightfully earned by defeating me.

The reason why I say that Ginny was the last of the gym challengers that I fought before things started getting really tricky for me is because all three of my remaining opponents that I was set to face all had Dynamax Bands, same as me. I knew ahead of time that the Spikemuth girls each had a Dynamax Band, but Bede had one as well. No doubt an arrangement that was pulled by mother, as well as Commissioners Rosalia and Robin.

Bede's psychic Pokemon soundly won against my fighting Pokemon without one among them going down. His Hattrem dynamaxed during the gym battle, and made quick work of my gigantimaxed Machamp. At least Bede had the decency to be respectful when he won. As I did with all of the other gym challengers before he had defeated me, I gave Bede the Fighting Badge that he had earned.

Following Bede was the first of the two girls from Spikemuth, that being Marnie. She's a dark type Pokemon user, so I had an innate advantage against her. But she mixed things up by using her Toxicroak, and some of her Pokemon carried the move Fake Out which helped her keep up with me. What really surprised me though was when Marnie had gigantimaxed her Grimmsnarl against my Machamp which also gigantimaxed.

I had no idea how Marnie's Grimmsnarl, caught in the Glimwood Tangle as a Morgrem, was able to gigantimax. Maybe it's unique in that way. Regardless, Marnie ended up defeating me despite being at a type disadvantage. That made Marnie's win all the more impressive if you ask me. As such, I did not begrudge Marnie for defeating me, and gave her the Fighting Badge that she had rightfully earned. Marnie seemed happy to have taken one step closer to reaching what waited at the end of the gym challenge.

...As for myself, I had one gym challenger left to face.

My gym challenge party was restored in anticipation of the last gym challenger that would be seeing me. I stood in the hallway leading out into the pitch, with Gym Challenger Nina standing next to me a few feet to my left. "...I will be coming at you with a lineup that's stronger than the friendly exhibition battle party I used when we had our battle back in Spikemuth," I informed Nina, "I hope you're ready for for a stronger challenge."

The special needs girl standing next to me nodded once in understanding. "This battle is different than the one we had back in Spikemuth. I know I should be expecting a different party from you."

I nodded once in acknowledgement, glad to see that Nina got the picture. "...My dad and little brother at home have been paying attention to the gym challenge so far on the telly." A voice in my head asked me why I was sharing this with Nina. "From what my dad has told me, you're the gym challenger that my little brother likes the most. He's become quite a fan of yours."

"Your little brother likes me?" Nina asked, sounding genuinely surprised that anyone would be a fan of hers, "I have a fan?"

"People all over Galar are fans of the gym challenge, and to an extent gym challengers such as you," I pointed out, "But yeah, my six-year-old little brother has really loved watching you make your way through the gym challenge. You've become something of an inspiration to him given that, same as you, my little brother has autism."

Nina's eyes widened at that news. "...He's just like me."

I nodded once to that. "...Well anyway, that's all the more reason the two of us have to give our all in this battle. His big sister is going to fight his favorite gym challenger, so we need to make it as big of a show as possible." Nina smiled, looking to be on board with wanting to give my little brother at home one hell of a show. With everything out of the way, we walked out into the pitch, made our way to the center of the arena.

We faced one another, and I could tell Nina was wincing under all of the loud noise and cheers of the audience. But she was clearly trying to power through it all, and I think what I had told her was giving her some measure of strength in that regard. We both turned around, walked to our respective ends of the battlefield to take our places. The league official proceeded to give off the usual announcements, then the battle was officially underway.

"Hitmontop, I choose you!" As always in official challenges to my gym, I started off with my Hitmontop. I looked ahead at Nina, who held the pokeball that contained her first Pokemon that she would be using. She looked at it, then looked up at me, confidence clear in her face, as if she was working with something that was in her element. It was a look that I hadn't seen for a very long time.

"I really want a Scorbunny."

Nina pulled her arm back to send out her first Pokemon in her bid to try to defeat me to earn the Fighting Badge off of me.

"Yes, if I ever did get a Scorbunny I would name it. If I got a girl Scorbunny I would name her Carrot, but if I got a boy Scorbunny I would name him..."

"Go on, Usagi! I know you can do it!"

*BWUUSH*

"CINDERACE!"

END, CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Author's notes;

This is the chapter that finally has Bea taking on the gym challengers that had reached Stow-on-Side. Given the sheer number of gym challengers, there was no way I'd be able to fit all of them battling in one chapter; hell, I wouldn't be able to come up with decent plots for all nine, so I had to only show Sashay's battle while giving cliff notes on the battles for Rosie, Darnell, Harry, Marina, Ginny, Bede and Marnie, and pushing Nina's battle off until the next chapter.

Speaking of, Nina using her Cinderace here has multiple reasons behind it. That's why I've been saving it for Nina's battle against Bea to try to earn the Fighting Badge. But that is a battle that will have to wait until the next chapter.