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 fifteen: Stow-on-Side arc part five- Suspicious Circumstance

I was chatting with former Gym Challenger Hop about what all has gone down in the gym challenge this year so far. At one point, our discussion reached the point of talking about how the gym challengers that are still in the gym challenge are ranked right now.

As we discussed the rankings, we talked about how the positions on the rankings list had changed so drastically due to what all had happened in Stow-on-Side, mainly the grand opening tournament over at Commissioner Kankuro's stadium restaurant and how well the gym challengers did when they all had their goes at my gym.

As Hop went on about how amused he was after seeing all of the gym battles that I had fought in, I brought up something that had been weighing on my mind somewhat ever since the rankings list for the top eight favored gym challengers had been released. "...I'm surprised that Gym Challenger Nina is as low down on the list as she is."

Hop had a look of piqued interest on his face as he turned to face me. "...What do you mean?"

I turn to face Hop, give him a serious look. "...She's been pretty ace all throughout her go at the gym challenge thus far. There's also the fact that the tournament that was held at the grand opening of Commissioner Kankuro's stadium restaurant was won by Nina. And yet despite her record, she's only the fourth most favored gym challenger at the moment."

Hop seemed to agree with me, if the look on his face was any indication. "...Yeah, she has proven herself, alright. I'm a mite curious as to why she's only ranked fourth, despite how she ought to be ranked higher from what all appearances suggest." As we were walking, the two of us came across a sight that got our attention; Gym Challengers Marnie and Nina were getting sodas from a street vendor.

Hop moved to suggest that he wanted to go talk to the girls, but he stopped short when he and I saw my friends walk up to the Spikemuth girls. I was right away alarmed, as there's no way that this is going to end well given how all three of my friends (to my knowledge) are not fond of the two Spikemuth girls in the least. I proceeded to walk towards the scene, but I didn't get three steps forward before I stopped short due to what my friends all did in unison.

They bowed their heads in apology.

...What now?

"We'd...like to apologize to you if you'd be willing to hear us out, Nina," Sashay began, sounding like her attempt to apologize, although she was embarrassed to do so, was trying honestly.

Nina, for her part, looked honestly confused. "Why are you apologizing to me? Did you do something bad to me?"

"Yeah, what are you girls up to?" Marnie demanded more than asked.

Rosie let out a troubled sigh. "...You're the same Nina who used to live here in Stow-on-Side a while ago, aren't you? The one who was bullied a whole lot back in elementary school?"

Nina visibly flinched back at that, as if what Rosie had said brought something troubling to her back to the forefront of her memories. I had a decent idea as to what it could be, given what all I had been remembering about my days back in elementary school. "Y...Yeah, I did use to live here a while ago. I was also bullied a lot, too. Why do you ask?"

"We...we think that we may have been mean to you a few times back then," Sashay admitted, looking rather embarrassed, "We...we've long since come realize that we were being really dumb back then."

Nina took a step back from my friends, although Marnie looked at my friends suspiciously. "So you three admit to have been mean to Nina before she moved to Spikemuth.

"We're all really sorry!" Marina practically exclaimed, bowing her head towards Nina, "We never should have done any of that stuff to you! You never deserved any of it, especially given how nice of a person you are!" It was very much obvious that Marina was truly sorry for what all she may have done in the past to be mean to Nina.

Marnie continued to be suspicious of my friends, but Nina looked like she was relaxing, like she was opening up little by little. "...I...I think that, if you really are sorry, and that you promise that you won't be mean to me anymore, then I can forgive you."

My friends all lit up at Nina's offer to forgive them, Marina especially so. My friends straightened up a bit, and Sashay was the first to speak. "Well now, I think this calls for a celebration!" Clapping her hands together, Sashay went on, "My place has a private mini theater room, so we all should have a slumber party over there. The theater room can sit up to ten, by the way."

"We also ought to get snacks before heading on over," Rosie suggested, "The convenience store nearby has some snacks that I really enjoy."

Marnie still looked at my friends with some degree of suspicion. "...You said the theater room can sit up to ten, right? I'll bring five of the girls from Team Yell along, that way we'll have a full audience for a girls' only movie night."

"Fair enough," Sashay replied, "Anyway, I'll go on home to get things ready." Turning to Rosie and Marina, Sashay said, "Can you girls take Nina and Marnie here over to grab the snacks while I get things ready?"

"Sure, no prob," Rosie answered as she and Marina proceeded to lead Nina and (a still rather suspicious) Marnie over to the convenience store to grab snacks. As the girls took off, thus leaving the scene, I couldn't help but think that something was up. My friends, especially Sashay and Rosie, have had nothing but disdain for Nina. But now they were apologizing, offering Nina a big gesture of friendship like that girls' only movie night slumber party?

Something was up. I could tell.

Over at the convenience store, Marnie and Marina were inside while Rosie and Nina waited outside. As Marnie and Marina browsed the shelves, Marnie asked, "Hey, why did that Rosie girl want to wait outside with Nina while you and I went in here, even though Rosie said that there were snacks here she had her eyes on?"

"Rosie still feels bad over what all she had done to Nina in the past," Marina explained, "I think that she wanted to apologize some more, maybe for certain incidents. Don't worry, I know the snacks that Rosie wants. Oh!" Turning to face Marnie, Marina asked, "Do you know of any snacks that Nina likes a lot?"

"She likes cookies n' cream bars," Marnie explained, "As well as muffins. The big ones here that are blueberry or chocolate chip will really make Nina happy. She also likes that root beer with the smooth, creamy taste." A bit of a scowl appeared across the face of the Spikemuth gym leader's younger sister. "...My older brother Piers also had to go and get Nina hooked on those pretzel bits that are honey mustard and onion flavored."

Marina had a mildly surprised look on her face. "I think my dad likes the ones that are Bouffalant sauce flavored." Gently shaking her head, Marina said, "Regardless, we'll just grab what all Nina likes. I bet she'll love it."

"She will," Marnie replied in a slight matter-of-factly tone. The Spikemuth girl looked curiously at Marina. "...You seem rather keen on trying to be nice to Nina."

Marina wore a resigned look on her face. "...I still feel bad over what all I had done to contribute to being mean to Nina back when she still lived here in Stow-on-Side. I'm surprised that she seemed to have forgotten about it until the girls and I had brought it up earlier." A hint more sadness had entered Marina's expression. "Nina's been nothing but nice. She even gave me that Dusk Stone that I ended up using to evolve my Chandelure. I was able to earn the Fire and Fighting Badges by using Chandelure in both battles."

"So you feel as if you owe Nina to an extent for how she had helped you." Marina nodded in the affirmative to Marnie's statement. "Yeah, people tend to-"

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

"HEY, THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?! GET BACK HERE!"

Marnie was cut off when she and Marina heard Nina cry out in alarmed fear and fright while Rosie shouted angrily and vengefully at someone. The two girls ran outside, aiming to see what had gone down and fearing the worse.

Hop and I were distracted by some gym challenge fans who spotted us together and came on over to see us and ask why we were together. I explained to them that I was discussing all of the current gym challengers with Hop, bouncing a few ideas and theories off of him. As we talked, we heard a panicked shout coming from a short ways away, followed by my friend Rosie angrily shouting. Hop and I recognized the panicked shout as coming from Nina, so we ran right over to where the shout had come from.

By the time that Hop and I, followed by a few gym challenge fans, reached the scene, what we saw shocked us; Marina was trying to calm down a panicked and crying Nina while brushing trash off of her as Rosie looked like she was explaining to Marnie what had happened. I saw a knocked over trashcan laying on the round under one of the large windows of the convenience store that the girls were outside of.

...Oh no, this was looking bad.

"Oi! What the hell happened here?!" Hop said as he ran towards the girls, with me following along behind him.

Rosie and Marnie turned to face Hop and I as we came forward. "I just saw that Bede jerk have his Hattrem use Psychic to levitate a trashcan and shove it down right onto Nina!" Rosie said, "He ran off before I could catch up to him!"

"Bede did what now?!" Hop said in an angry, demanding tone.

...

Sashay came over not long after as she forcefully led Bede along. They were followed by a group that was a mix of gym challenger fans and some girls from that Team Yell hooligan group that follows Marnie, as well as a few league officials. "I keep telling you, this is preposterous!" Bede exclaimed, "I did no such thing!"

Bede's volume made the already panicking and upset Nina cry and fall back a few steps, with Marina and Marnie both standing in front of Nina in a protective manner, their backs to her. Rosie pointed an accusing finger at Bede. "Don't play dumb! I saw you have your Hattrem use Psychic to levitate a trashcan and shove it down right onto Nina!"

"My Hattrem doesn't even know Psychic!" Bede shouted angrily. All that Bede's shouting did was make Nina cower and cry more, and that didn't make Bede look good. The people who had crowded around were muttering amongst themselves, their words making it clear that they were not all that keen on believing the Pokemon battle prodigy. In particular, the Team Yell hooligans looked fit to go right up to Bede and rip his head off.

As the people muttered amongst themselves, I heard Commissioner Robin call out, "What is going on here?"

Everyone turned to see one of the commissionery board members of the Galar Pokemon League come walking up. "Hey mom! You aren't going to believe this!" Sashay called out, getting her mom's attention. After a few moments, Sashay with Rosie backing her up explained what all had happened.

Robin turned to face Bede, shooting him a disappointed look. "Did you really act in such a manner, Bede?"

"This is total nonsense!" Bede insisted, "I did no such thing to Gym Challenger Nina! My Hattrem, as well as all of my other Pokemon, doesn't even know how to use the move Psychic!"

"He could have very easily made Hattrem forget Psychic in the time between him carrying out his crime against Nina," Sashay began to point out, "And the time I caught him after I got a text from Rosie telling me to look out for him."

A female league official stepped forward from the crowd surrounding the scene. "There are multiple people who claim that Bede is guilty, ma'am," the league official said as she came forward, "And Bede alone is the only one who claims that he is innocent."

Robin held a look of grim contemplation on her face. "...I'll have to discuss it with Malty and Rosalia, but given what has happened here, I think that they'll agree with me that revoking the endorsement that we gave Bede is warranted here."

"WHAT?!" Bede exclaimed, clearly freaked out that he was being essentially kicked out of the gym challenge.

"Hold on a second there mom," Sashay said, getting her mom's attention, "I have a proposition."

Robin gave her daughter a curious look. "...Go on, sweetie."

"Bede claims that he's innocent, so why not let him try to prove it?" A number of people that had gathered all looked to Sashay as she spoke. "I propose that he has a battle against one of the other gym challengers. If he truly is innocent, then he'll prove it by winning."

"Hmm...an interesting proposition, Sashay," Robin replied. Clapping her hands together, Robin said, "Very well. Bede, if you truly are innocent, if you truly wish to remain in the gym challenge, then you better prove it by defeating whoever it is that battles you. If you do win, then it will be considered as proof that you got your point across, and you shall be allowed to continue staying in the gym challenge."

This is getting out of hand. The people were getting riled up against Bede; it was looking to turn into a circus if things kept going like this. Especially so since Bede was forced into a spot where he has to battle one of the other remaining gym challengers and defeat whoever said person is if he wants to remain in the gym challenge. Depending on who it is, Bede will either win well or lose horribly.

Bede's best bet would be if he battles Darnell; Bede is a psychic Pokemon user and Darnell is a poison Pokemon user, so Bede would have the advantage. Ginny, Harry and Rosie use water, flying and electric Pokemon respectively, so the type match ups would be fair for both sides. But a supposed Pokemon battle prodigy such as Bede should still be able to pull off a win just fine, especially since his journey through the gym challenge is on the line.

...But given how vengefully everyone is looking at Bede, chances are he'll be given as hard of a time as possible trying to 'prove his innocence by winning a battle'. I suspect that either Sashay, Marina or even Marnie, who use bug, ghost and dark Pokemon respectively, will be selected to battle Bede, putting him at a disadvantage. Sure enough, I saw Sashay step forward towards her mom, as if to offer something.

"If I may be so bold, mom," Sashay began, "I suggest that I be the one to face Bede for him to prove through battle that he's innocent."

The people in the crowd were muttering amongst themselves at this, the talk going about making it clear that the people were liking how Sashay was offering to stand up for Nina against her (supposed) tormentor. From what I was figuring, Sashay was jumping at the chance to try and look good, try to boost her popularity among the gym challenge fans all over Galar. But as Sashay turned to face Bede, everyone stopped short when they heard someone speak up.

"No."

Everyone, with mildly surprised looks on their faces, all turned to look at a still upset Nina, all trash having been brushed off of her but her clothes were a little stained. She probably also wanted to take a shower as well. But that's besides the point. Nina, despite clearly trembling a little, had a determined look in her eyes, a look that someone has when they want to step up to bat and take charge.

Nina took a few shaky breaths, clearly trying to calm down. "...I want to battle Bede." The special needs girl's declaration took a number of people by surprise. "I've never stood up for myself before," Nina said, "I've either run and hid, or an adult handled it for me, or someone who is nice to me stood up for me. I've never stood up to a bully before." She turned her head slightly to look right at Bede. "I want to start now."

This got the crowd even more excited in their muttering amongst themselves; rather than something standing up for a victim against their (supposed) tormentor, the victim wants to try and stand up for themselves. Sashay and my friends were surprised by Nina's declaration, but strangely enough they were backing down and allowing Nina to take charge. Maybe it was due to the crowds sounding like they like the idea or the victim trying to stand up for herself, but I was betting it was due to how my friends knew that Nina was a powerful trainer.

As such, it was decided that Nina would battle Bede to see if he would be allowed to remain in the gym challenge. Granted Bede's screwed either way in this situation; if he does somehow win, thus being allowed to stay in the gym challenge, then the people of Galar will view him as a bully getting away with being a jerk to a special needs person. But if he loses, then he's out of the gym challenge.

He's stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Everything was moved to the park where the Stow-on-Side historical mural was last year before two gym challengers at the time accidentally destroyed it while having a battle; one challenger's Machoke threw the other challenger's Copperajah into the mural without meaning to actually hit it during the battle, thus breaking it and revealing some statues that were hidden behind the mural all that time. Professor Sonya, who wasn't a professor just yet at the time, reached some manner of breakthrough in her investigations because of this.

But that's besides the point. The point here is that Bede and Nina were standing far apart while facing one another, getting ready to have a casual battle that would determine the fate of Bede's paths through the gym challenge. The Pokemon battle prodigy looked like he was acting without any choice in the matter, but he sent his first Pokemon out either way. His Duosion was the first of his Pokemon to come out.

Sure, Bede is a prodigy, and he has some evolved Pokemon. But he only has four Pokemon; his Duosion that he has out now, plus Hattrem, Gothorita and Galarian Ponyta. I remember this from when I had battled him in his bid to earn the Fighting Badge, and I saw him battle at the grand opening tournament at Commissioner Kankuro's stadium restaurant. Not one of any of the Pokemon that Bede has is fully evolved, and the Galarian Ponyta is actually unevolved.

As for Nina, she's been known to always carry a full party of six Pokemon, and all Pokemon of hers that I am aware of are fully evolved, as well as being of a mix of types. In particular, she owns an Obstagoon, as well as a shiny Thievul; two dark types like that would not only make quick work of Bede's psychic types, but would be in no danger themselves from psychic attacks. I saw Nina hold the ball that held the first Pokemon that she was going to use, but I couldn't see from the distance and angle I was at what kind of ball it was.

Either way, Nina is set if she uses Obstagoon or Thievul, as I can't imagine any Pokemon of Nina's being more of a total nightmare for Bede to face in a-

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

Nina's Pokemon came out, a large black simian thing with a long slender tail, and what looked to be green vines wrapped around parts of its forearms. The Pokemon that Nina had sent out screeched challengingly at Bede's Duosion, clearly ready to battle. As for Bede, he took a surprised step back as Nina's Pokemon came out, clearly having no idea what it even was. He wasn't the only one; looking around, I could tell that no one had any idea what Nina's Pokemon was, myself included.

However, judging by the look on Marnie's face, she had some idea about Nina's Pokemon. Turning to look at Hop who stood next to me, he clearly could tell what was going on. "Wow, Nina must really want to show her bully what's what by sending her Zarude out to fight Bede's Pokemon."

I turned to face the former Gym Challenger. "You know what that thing is that Nina sent out."

Hop nodded in confirmation. "Yeah. Zarude is a mythical Pokemon. And it's a powerful one at that." Hop gently shook his head. "Bede can kiss his gym challenge goodbye, especially since Zarude is part dark type." What?! That Pokemon of Nina's, which is apparently called Zarude, is a mythical Pokemon?! Those tend to be on par with legendary Pokemon, both in terms of power and how many folks think them to exist only in lore! That puts Zarude in a rather lofty spot that is comparable to where Urshifu stands!

And Zarude is part dark type according to Hop; yeah, Nina must really want to beat Bede into the ground for his (supposed) actions against her. Still, despite how stacked the odds were against him (he clearly had no idea just how badly they were stacked), Bede was not going to back down from the battle. "Duosion, use Psybeam!" Bede called out.

"Zarude, use Stomping Tantrum!" Nina cried.

Quicker than Duosion could act, Zarude stomped on the ground and occasionally slammed the sides of its fists onto the ground as well, doing it so hard that it triggered a mini quake of sorts. Mini being a subjective term here as the quake could easily measure up to the quakes a good number of Pokemon that I've seen could cause by using Earthquake. Regardless, the seismic waves slammed into Duosion and knocked it out before it could do anything. Not that Psybeam, a psychic attack, could harm a dark type like Zarude. But I guess Bede doesn't know what type of Pokemon Zarude is.

Bede recalled his fainted Duosion, sent his Galarian Ponyta out next. "Ponyta, use Agility!"

"Zarude, use Seed Bomb!" Nina called out. As Ponyta moved from side to side quickly as it relaxed itself to boost its speed, Zarude simply generated a large sphere of a seed that it threw at Ponyta, the giant seed exploding upon making contact and blasting Ponyta, throwing it back and making it hit the ground defeated.

Bede recalled his fainted Ponyta, a look of mild panic on his face since two of his Pokemon are down. He sent his third Pokemon out, Gothorita. "Gothorita, use Rock Tomb!" Bede ordered.

"Zarude, use Drain Punch!" Nina ordered.

I was a bit confused as to why Nina would order a fighting attack on a psychic Pokemon. But Zarude quickly rushed Gothorita and slugged it in the gut with a glowing fist that was draining its health away. Despite the lack of type effectiveness, Zarude's attack still knocked Gothorita out, making Gothorita collapse on the ground.

Bede recalled his fainted Gothorita and sent out what I knew was his last Pokemon, his Hattrem. When it came out, a few of the people in the crowd watching the battle booed at the Hattrem, jeering at it for daring to help Bede bully Nina. I even heard one middle-aged man in the crowd shout for Nina's Zarude to strike Hattrem in its 'down under' that Hattrem, being a female only species, doesn't actually have.

Bede was clearly panicking, but he still tried to keep himself cool. But not cool enough it would seem. "Hattrem, use Psybeam!"

"Zarude, use Crunch!" Nina cried.

As Hattrem conjured her attack that was going to fail regardless, Zarude rushed up and lunged its open maw at the psychic Pokemon. It bit down hard on Hattrem, hoisted her up, then threw its head as it opened its mouth, releasing Hattrem and sending her slamming into the ground, clearly knocked out.

Everyone went silent as the battle had ended. Many were at a loss for words, Bede most of all. Nina had just won their battle, thus it meant that Bede would be disqualified from the gym challenge. Bede simply recalled his fainted Hattrem, walked over to where Robin stood. He quietly handed her an envelope that I guess held his endorsement forms befor turning to walk away, my guess to the Pokemon Center to have his Pokemon treated.

He left without a word.

As some mutterings began to spring up from the gathered crowd, Nina recalled her mythical Pokemon. She stood there, looking at the ground silently for a few moments. Breathing shakily a bit, Nina then proceeded to start crying, clearly overwhelmed. Marnie proceeded to make her way to Nina, and escort her out of there, followed by the Team Yell hooligans that were present, as well as my friends.

Things had just taken a severe turn in the gym challenge, it would seem.

The next morning, after I got up and got ready to go about my day, I saw a lot of news dropping about Bede's disqualification from the gym challenge, as well as the reason for it being his bullying of Nina. I saw a report on the morning news on the telly about the battle Bede had that would have determined if he stayed in the gym challenge or not, given that the news station had been sent some amateur quality recorded footage of Nina defeating Bede, which was shown on the news.

There was also some footage from a press conference held late yesterday evening, where mother as well as Commissioners Rosalia and Robin explained why they had to revoke Bede's endorsement and disqualify him from the gym challenge. They also apologized on Bede's behalf for what he had done to Nina. It was clear that this media circus was going to be the talk of the gym challenge fans across Galar, at least until the gym challengers still in the gym challenge took on Opal's gym over in Ballonlea.

After the morning news showed footage from the press conference, it showed some of the amateur quality footage of Bede's battle with Nina yesterday once more, pausing on a clip that gave a good shot of Nina's Zarude. The news panel then explained what exactly Zarude was to the people watching the news at home on the telly, bringing in a Pokemon lore professor to help explain things. Now people all over Galar knew that Nina owns a mythical Pokemon.

On a hunch, I checked the rankings of the top eight favored gym challengers, or rather, the eight gym challengers that remain in the gym challenge since Bede was disqualified and no one aside from Bede and those who still remain were able to get past Kabu. Nina was now the most favored gym challenger in Galar, no doubt because of the recent media circus and the fact that she has been revealed to own a mythical Pokemon. Following in order from second to eighth was Marnie, Sashay, Marina, Harry, Darnell, Rosie and Ginny.

...I still couldn't help but shake the feeling that something is up here.

...

As I was walking about in a casual outfit, I ran into Hop. "Oh, hey Bea," Hop greeted, "I'm on my way to catch a Corviknight taxi to Wyndon to meet with Lee. He's fit to blow a fuse after what all he's heard about what happened to Nina. From what Marnie's told me, her own big bro is of a like mind as Lee." That certainly got my attention; in all the time I've known him, Piers had never been seen getting legitimately angry. And Leon's got a reputation of being unflappable.

But given what's been going on in the news since late yesterday evening, even Piers and Leon can't be blamed for getting angry. "Yeah. I mean, Nina was bullied, and it even made regional news since it took place during the gym challenge."

"...Lee is also suspicious of the whole mess," Hop informed me. Huh, so I'm not the only one who thinks that something is up here. "Don't tell anyone about this, but Lee's got some guys secretly looking into things for him. He has reason to think that, even though Nina was bullied for real, that someone else had done it and just used Bede as a fall guy."

Someone had set Bede up? Who could it have been? I would rather not think about it, but my friends might have done so; they were acting very suspicious in my opinion, what with being nice to Nina and all. They had also been the ones to accuse Bede. All things considered, I think that it might be a possibility that my friends decided to frame Bede for the crime to get him kicked out of the gym challenge. But why would they do so, assuming it really was them?

But there could be any number of other possibilities; there was one incident a few years before I became a gym leader where some fans of a competing gym challenger at the time had framed the guy's rival for some horrible act and got said rival disqualified from the gym challenge. This wasn't uncovered until a few days after the championship tournament that Leon won anyways, but it still made the news. This mess that Bede had trusted upon him might be a repeat of that whole unfortunate mess.

But all of that is besides the point. It'll be resolved later, if at all. For now, eyes all across Galar are eagerly awaiting for when the remaining gym challengers make their way over to the gym in Ballonlea, where they would each try their hand against Opal to try to earn their respective Fairy Badges. No doubt that the people watching the battles, both live and at home on the telly, would be hoping for even more excitement now that the best of the best had made it over the halfway point in their gym challenge journies.

END, CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Author's notes;

With this, Bede has been booted from the gym challenge, but if you've played the games you ought to know that he'll make a comeback. However, given how things went down here, the comeback will be different. Anyway, I have multiple reasons for Nina having Zarude here, some of which will play out later; let's just say one of said reasons is Zarude being on Nina's team throws a monkey wrench into the plans of some certain nay-sayers.

Anyway, the next chapter will see the plot finally move from Stow-on-Side and over to Ballonlea, where Opal will step into the spotlight. I originally had a different plan for the spot that Opal's character would end up in, but I'm just going to go with what actually happens in the game, only changing one or two minor details that don't actually matter in the long run.