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 twenty-seven: Bringing an end to the madness

Over in Turffield, a pair of terrorists were backing up out of fright as Milo confronted them, having bested them in battle. The grass type user, with his Flapple and Shiftry out, had his usual smile on his face, but it was obvious that a brewing storm laid behind that smile. Milo walked up to the terrorists, cracking his knuckles all the while, his (seemingly) friendly expression never so much as wavering.

"Well now, boys," Milo said, "I suppose you know why I'd be interested in getting my younger brother Neville back, hmm?"

The two terrorists, with nothing to protect them, were unable to resist when Milo proceeded to subdue them for the regional police to collect. While Milo was doing all of that, his Eldegoss that he keeps in his championship tournament party found and freed Neville, who stuck close to his older brother while all of the chaos that was going on was taking place. Milo was sure to not let his younger brother out of his sight.

...

"My babies!" Melony hissed angrily at the two terrorists she and her son Gordie encountered at the Circhester gym, "Give me back my babies!"

"Uhh, yeah," Gordie said to the terrorists, "I'm wanting my little bros back as well, and for your own sakes I strongly recommend you stand down and surrender peacefully otherwise my mom here will tear the both of you multiple new ones each."

The terrorists were surrounded by Gordie's Coalossal and Tyranitar, neither of which were in a good mood with the terrorists. While the large rock Pokemon had the terrorists subdued, Gordie and Melony heard Shuckle and Frosmoth cry out; turning to see, the mother and son pair found their respective Pokemon had found and freed Melony's three very young sons, with the smallest boy of the trio crouching in front of Shuckle as he gently petted his older brother's Pokemon on the head.

Melony rushed right over to her three very young sons while Gordie kept a stern, serious eye on the terrorists his Pokemon were subduing.

...

"Bwhuhahaha!" Opal laughed in casual amusement as she talked with Ballonlea police after she had subdued the terrorists over at the Ballonlea gym, "Those young boys were no trouble for me to handle, officers. Why, I'd say my successor right before I had gotten a hold of him could have taken those two men down without too much difficulty."

The two police officers nodded in thanks to the former Ballonlea gym leader. "Thank you for your assistance in this matter, ma'am," the first officer said, "Could we get some contact info in case we need to ask you some follow up questions, maybe get testimony from you for when this whole mess goes to court?"

Opal nodded in understanding to the first officer. "Well since I've got loads of free time since I've stepped down, I'd be glad to have some visitors." As Opal proceeded to give the officers the info that they asked for, a few more officers were leading the captured terrorists out of the Ballonlea gym, although they had to push away a few nosy members of the press.

...

"Why am I not surprised?" Piers said dryly, as he and a load of Team Yell grunts had a few terrorists and Commissioner Robin surrounded and defeated. "I would figure that one of the lady commissioners who was against Nina entering the gym challenge would be behind such a bad concert like this," Piers went on, "I'm willing to bet the other two are involved as well, hmm?"

"Are you insane, Piers?!" Robin screamed, "There's already an extreme risk to Galar's image because you were able to convince a majority share of the board to let a non-person like that freak girl parade around the region! Do you even care that the people of other regions will look down on Galar if that freak continues playing around on the regional stage?!"

The leader of the Spikemuth gym gently shook his head in disappointment. "...I knew that I should have been more mindful of you and those other dotty women. This will be going to the rest of the board, don't have any doubt about that." Robin and her terrorist followers cried out in outrage as Piers proceeded to go report them, Robin especially so, for their part in the chaos that they tried to have engulf Galar.

...

Even though the terrorists at the Hammerlocke gym outnumbered the trainers who had come to confront them five to two, the two trainers in question are Raihan, the strongest gym leader, and Leon, the undefeated champion. Truly there was no stronger tag team in all of the Galar region.

"You pick the wrong gym, foo," Raihan said as he and his rival confronted the terrorists, "I fight against Leon normally, but this time I'm fighting with him!"

"We're going to be having a champion time saving Galar from whatever madness it is that you and you group were planning to unleash on the region!" Leon declared as he sent out his Charizard while Raihan sent out his Duraludon. The five terrorists backed up out of fright, as they knew that they were in for a bad time.

...

Kabu, accompanied by Ginny, made their way into the Motostoke gym, but when they got there they saw that all the terrorists were subdued and captured by the local police and a blonde-haired girl who looked to be the same age as Ginny. The blonde girl's threadbare clothing was a hint that she wasn't from a family that had a lot of cash. Additionally, the blonde girl had with her an Inteleon.

"Ah, Kabu," the first officer said, "The lads and I had just wrapped up subduing the terrorists here at your gym." Pointing to the blonde girl, the first officer went on, "A local youth, that Kaoru girl, even helped us out. That Inteleon of hers is right powerful. I doubt the boys and I could have done it without her before you got here."

Kabu, as well as Ginny, saw Kaoru and her Inteleon approach them when they saw that they were being watched. "...Yeah, Gandalf and I heard some noise coming from here so I decided to swing on by to see what the noise was," Kaoru explained.

The Motostoke gym leader nodded in thanks to Kaoru. "You've helped with stopping to foil a plot that was endangering Galar, young lady." Kaoru, along with her Inteleon named Gandalf, took off after everything was taken care of. Kabu couldn't help but wonder what kind of trainer that Kaoru girl was exactly, but she was one that he wanted to keep an eye on.

Over at Rose Tower in Wyndon, Nina and I had met up with Bede, Marnie and Hop. All of them had been successful in subduing the terrorists that they were dealing with. As Nina and I saw the others round up the terrorists that they had dealt with, I explained to them what all Nina and I had to deal with. The looks of shock on their faces of the boys, Bede especially so, was quite evident, although Marnie looked a bit underwhelmed.

"...Yeah, Piers shared with me some of his concerns about Commissioners Malty, Rosalia and Robin," Marnie explained, "He's never trusted them." Marnie turned to look at me. "...Your mom is Commissioner Malty, and you encountered her with Nina at the top of Rose Tower here while she had one of those terrorists with her helping her out. I'd say that's enough evidence to make sure she and all her fellows are taken down."

"I still can't believe it," Bede said, a look of mum mildly shocked surprise on his face, "And she was one of the three commissioners who signed the letter of endorsement that I was given to take part in the gym challenge this year..."

Hop turned to face me, a curious look on his face. "Oi, shouldn't we keep an on your mom, Bea? She is one of the major players here, after all."

I gave a gentle shake of my head. "There's no need to worry about that, Hop. I have two of my Pokemon keeping an eye on my mom and her terrorist partner for me for the time being. For now, there's something that I really want to do first."

Marnie gave a single nod of understanding as she faced me. "You want to find your little brother, don't you Bea?"

...

It didn't take us very long to find the room that Allister was being held in. He was still asleep in the chair he was tied to, and after we undid the ropes, I got them off of Allister and proceeded to gently wake him up. "...Mmmmmmm..." Allister moaned as he woke up from his nap. Opening his eyes, he saw me looking right at him with relief clearly painted on my face. He gave a small and cute smile as he hopped off of the chair and threw his arms around my waste.

"Bea," Allister said, still a bit tired but clearly was happy to see me. After letting go, he looked around the room we all were in. "...This isn't home," Allister said, "Why are we here? Why do you have so many friends over? Where is-" Suddenly, Allister let out a surprised gasp and covered his face with his hands.

"Hey little man, are you okay?" Hop asked, concerned to see my little brother seemingly freak out for no reason.

"Nina's here," Allister said, "She's the coolest trainer in the gym challenge this year!"

I smiled a bit at that. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that." I turned around to face the others who were here. "Anyway, we ought to-" I stopped short when I saw that Nina was acting similarly to Allister, being all embarrassed and whatnot. "Will you be okay, Nina?"

"I forgot that people think I'm cool since I'm in the gym challenge this year," Nina said as she continued to act embarrassed. The rest of us all had good natured laughs, sincerely amused by how bashful Nina and Allister were both being. It was one of the instances of sweetness in this otherwise entirely bitter mess. All in all, I'm glad that we were able to save Allister and stop part of the plot mom and her group tried to carry out.

But the night wasn't over yet.

Bede, Hop, Marnie, Nina and I had mom and the terrorists from the chaos over at Rose Tower sitting outside on the ground, all of them hog-tied. I didn't want Allister to be seeing any of this, so I had my Hawlucha and Falinks, who had kept an eye on mom and her terrorist partner while I located and saved Allister, keep him occupied while also keeping an eye on him, making sure he was kept calm.

As the police helped to round mom and the terrorists up, my group and I got it that the chaos at the various gyms had been subdued, even some surprise chaos over in Spikemuth which meant that it was a good thing Piers went to check on his city anyway. It was through that the others and I had learned that Commissioners Rosalia and Robin, who are the respective moms of my friends Rosie and Sashay, were also involved in the terrorist plot.

I...I still can't believe that mom and the others would go so far, simply because they don't like Nina at all due to her not being a 'normal' kid by their standards.

As we talked to the police, my group and I were approached by, of all people, my dad Landors. He came up to me quickly, a worried look on his face. "Bea, I got the call from you and got here to Wyndon as I could," dad said, "Now what's this about your mom and some other women from the commissionery board taking part in the terrorist act that hit the news earlier today? And can you tell me where your little brother is?'

Hop proceeded to explain to my dad what all had happened, with myself and the others adding bits and corrections as needed. It took a bit of time, but we got it taken care of. When the story was done, dad let out a resigned breath. "... I always had my suspicions that your mom didn't care for Allister," dad said, "But to say all of those things? To scream them? Take part in an act of terror that had all of Galar on the edge of its seat?"

The rest of my group and I watched my dad gently shake his head. I even saw a tear run down the side of his face. "...Well, can I first at least see Allister? For now, I would like to know that my boy is alright."

I pointed out where Allister was, and he was seen having fallen asleep while sitting on some grass, laying against my Falinks which was also asleep. Hawlucha was still awake, sitting cross-legged on the grass and turned to face us. Dad was relieved to see that Allister was safe and sound. Quite frankly I don't blame dad; I was similarly flooded with relief back when I had found Allister while my group and I had raided Rose Tower.

My dad turned back to see me and the others, then asked who he had to talk to so he could look into taking Allister home. The police officer with the others and I said that they needed Allister to stay here for a bit because they needed a statement from him, but dad being here made things loads easier since he could just grant the officers the okay to do certain things to speed up the statement gathering process or whatever.

Look, I didn't really know all of the exact details, and at this point I was just too damn tired to care. Everything's been handled, everyone's safe, and I felt as if a weight I had been carrying for years had finally been lifted from me. I was also tired to no end, and as soon as I was given the okay to go, I planned on finding the closest bed I could use, probably the one in the room that I have at Rose of the Rondelands, and collapse into it.

It took way too long for my tastes for everything to be cleared, but finally I was able to leave, as were Hop, Bede, Marnie and Nina. Things would have to be sorted in the morning, but that was the morning's problem, not the problem of right now. We could clear that stuff in the morning, where some of us would not feel fit to rip off a head or two. While Hop and the girls contacted their respective families to let them know that they were okay, and Hop contacted Opal over in Ballonlea, I had to see dad and Allister off.

After I told them that I'll call them in the morning, I took off for my room over at Rose of the Rondelands, then I crawled into bed and promptly passed out.

I had a weird dream after I had passed out in bed, one where it was set back when I was still a chubby geek in elementary school. There, for some odd reason I wasn't as afraid of Sashay as I had been back then; I stood up to the mean girl she used to be, even got her as well as Rosie into trouble when I had actually reported them as the ones who had shoved that trashcan down on top of Nina that day so long ago.

Things weren't too different, though; Nina still moved away because her mom had it with how she was being picked on in Stow-on-Side, I was still put into that Galar karate class in a bid to lose weight, and most other things that happened for real ended up happening anyway. But there were some rather notable differences, differences that made me wish that my dream is how my life had ended up for real.

Like how I had actual friends.

I for some reason saw Sashay and Rosie fade away into mist, and taking their place were Hop, Bede, Marnie and Nina; Marina stayed for some odd reason, and although I didn't know why, I felt that it was the right thing. Things also ended up a lot healthier (socially and emotionally) for all involved than what life ended up being for real. It didn't feel controlled, forced, rigidly set up and on a set course that allowed for no deviations at all.

I liked it.

...

I awoke with a start, shooting up out of bed, because I heard my alarm on my phone go off. I seldom ever slept long enough for my phone to wake me, but I disregarded how I had to rely on the safety net I had set up to ensure I'm up by the time I needed to be. I took a quick shower and then got dressed, putting on my gym leader outfit. For some odd reason, my gym leader outfit felt a bit...off to me. I disregarded that, then headed out to go deal with the fallout of what mom and her likeminded fellows had tried to pull off most of yesterday.

I had a strong feeling that I wasn't going to enjoy most of today.

"They fed tainted Pokemon food to Raihan's gym challenge party Pokemon?!"

I was getting a complimentary breakfast in the dining room of Rose of the Rondelands when I was met up by Hop. He wore a grim look on his face as he nodded in confirmation. "...Yeah, I got it from Lee who had some guys looking into it. Apparently, when it had been just Nina who had beaten Raihan, many all over Galar were under the impression that the other seven at the time weren't going to qualify in time for the Champion Cup, given how hard Raihan had been going in a bid to try to reduce competition he would have for the shot at battling Lee."

Hop let out a troubled, resigned tone. "...That's when your mom plus Commissioners Rosalia and Robin, acting under the guise of good faith, had some people working for them bring food to Raihan's gym challenge party Pokemon for them to have for breakfast. In reality, the food was laced with a drug that inhibits the strength of the Pokemon who takes it. I don't think I need to tell you why the drug is illegal in Galar."

"Because it inhibits strength of the Pokemon who takes it," I said, understanding full well why it would be such a threat, "So sneaking it to an opponent's Pokemon prior to a big battle in order to make them easier to take down would be a blatant form of cheating."

Shrugging, Hop said, "Well yeah. Lee, upon hearing about the drug having been used on Raihan's gym challenge party Pokemon, told me that there had been three scandals in the history of the Galar Pokemon League involving that drug, although he's only been the champion when one of said instances had gone down." Crossing his arms over his chest, Hop went on, "None of the gym medalists had any idea what those three lady commissioners had done, so they can't be punished in any way for it."

Looking up to me with a serious look in his eyes, Hop went on, "But all of the gym medalists who beat Raihan for the Dragon Badge, aside from Nina who won without Raihan's Pokemon being drugged, are going to have to surrender their gym medals on a count of how their Dragon Badges were earned by cheating, even though it wasn't their cheating and they had no idea that it had happened at all until now."

That was logical, as the Galar Pokemon League takes all forms of cheating very seriously; given that Pokemon battling is a major sport here in Galar, certain things had to be enforced. It's really terrible that my friends, plus three of my classmates from Stow-on-Side middle school and Piers's little sister, are all being punished for something they didn't know about, had no part in, and was beyond their control. But due to how their respective gym medals were tainted, there's no other choice.

At least there was no taint to speak of in Nina's gym medal.

With a look of curiosity on his face, Hop went on, "Also, the drug on its own normally isn't fatal unless so much was poured into the food given to Raihan's gym challenge party Pokemon that it would be very easily picked up before Raihan's Pokemon ate any of it." Gesturing to me, Hop further explained, "However, after Raihan's Pokemon ate, they got ready for the seven looking to rematch Raihan in the hopes to earn the Dragon Badge. You remember who was the first of the seven to rematch Raihan?"

After thinking about it for a bit, I remembered. "...Ah! It was my classmate Darnell."

Hop nodded in confirmation. "...Yeah. Anyway, during his rematch against Raihan for the Dragon Badge, your classmate Darnell had his poison Pokemon all use Toxic on all of Raihan's Pokemon, with Salazzle being able to bypass Duraludon's steel typing thanks to its Corrosion ability. That toxic poisoning, when it mixed with the drug that by then was well in the systems of all of Raihan's gym challenge party Pokemon, super charged it. It made the drug work not just harder, but faster as well."

"So Darnell unintentionally made things worse," I said.

Hop grimly nodded in confirmation. "Darnell cannot be held accountable since no one had any idea what your mom and those other lady commissioners had done, but it doesn't change the fact that his use of poison Pokemon led to two of Raihan's gym challenge party Pokemon needing to be euthanized. Oh, on a related note, Raihan's Sandaconda and Gigalith were saved, but due to how badly the stunt the bad lady commissioners had pulled had savaged the two of them, they're going to have to be permanently retired from use."

I let out a resigned but relieved sigh; so the Sandaconda and Gigalith from Raihan's gym challenge party were successfully saved, thank goodness for that. But it's still terrible that they can't be used anymore. Raihan will have to train up an entirely new gym challenge party for the gym challenge next year. One can only imagine how badly Darnell must feel given his role in what happened to Raihan's Pokemon, even though he had no idea what was going on.

"Oh, the next few bits relate to Bede," Hop said, "You know how your mom and those other bad lady commissioners were the ones who endorsed him to take the gym challenge?"

"Yeah, I know," I replied.

"They found him and, seeing that he had a lot of skill and talent, figured that he'd be a great ace in the hole in their bid to try and mess with Nina's go through the gym challenge," Hop explained, "Because everyone now knows how the bad lady commissioners were by no means fans of Nina taking part in the gym challenge. Of course, whenever Bede did encounter Nina and those she traveled with, he always got smacked around by Marnie."

I nodded in confirmation, well aware how badly Bede fared against Marnie back when he was still a psychic Pokemon user. "By the time of Bede's first loss to Piers's sister, I knew that Nina had both an Obstagoon and a shiny Thievul, so she would have torn him apart. Then by the time Nina actually did have her first battle against Bede-"

"Her immediate response was to send out her Zarude into the battle first thing," Hop finished for me, "Because she as well as everyone else was under the impression that Bede had terribly bullied her. But then Lee confirmed his suspicions that Bede was set up somehow and was able to clear Bede's name, even though the imposter wasn't found out yet at the time." Hop stopped short, gave me a dry, knowing look. "...Your mom and her friends like to cut their losses."

My eyes widened out of shocked surprise. "My mom and Commissioners Rosalia and Robin had gotten Bede set up?!"

Hop nodded in the affirmative. "Yeah. It turns out that they didn't like how Bede was failing to do anything to stop Nina, or Marnie as the case is since she always battled him until he got set up and Nina introduced her Zarude to him. So they had decided to arrange that whole entire show back in Stow-on-Side in order to fabricate a reasonable excuse to revoke his endorsement and have him disqualified from the gym challenge."

"How did Leon and his men he's got working for him find out?" I asked, fearing that I wasn't going to like the answer.

Hop let out a troubled breath. "...Actually, we didn't learn it on our own. The answer was given to us when your friends Sashay, Rosie and Marina all came forward to me and Lee and confessed that the bad lady commissioners got them to act. That whole bit about Bede using his Hattrem to use Psychic to levitate a garbage can and shove it right down over Nina? Yeah, that was really your friend Sashay and her Orbeetle."

"THEY DID WHAT?!" I practically bellowed at the top of my lungs. I couldn't believe it; my friends had participated in a major offense during a gym challenge, helping to carry out a scheme to get an innocent gym challenger kicked out of said gym challenge. I had figured that they were all acting weird when they all apologized to Nina that day and started acting nice to her; it struck me as especially weird for Sashay and Rosie.

But now I knew that they were helping to carry out the bidding of my mom, as well as Sashay's mom and Rosie's mom. Hell, I'm surprised that they bothered to come forward and confess, so I had expressed as such to Hop.

"...Well here's the thing," Hop began, "First off, your friend Marina had actually always thought that Nina was a nice person and legitimately wanted to be friends with her. It's just that due to circumstances she found herself in, she couldn't exactly break away and act as she wanted, act as a real friend to Nina."

Hop leaned back in his seat in front of me a bit. "As for Sashay and Rosie, they ended up developing genuine respect for Nina, starting from when she used her Zarude to thrash Bede back in Stow-on-Side and going all the way to what all Nina did to help stop the terrorist act that the bad lady commissioners had tried to pull off."

"Has Nina said anything on my friends yet?" I asked.

"...Actually, yeah," Hop answered, "She's upset with what all that the three of them had done, and she says that she needs to think for a long time about if she wants to forgive them. However, Nina told me in private, after I had explained to her how Marina had legitimately always wanted to be her friend and how Sashay and Rosie had grown to genuinely respect her, that she strongly thinks that she'll be be able to forgive Marina first for what all she had done to her, and that it might be soon. Nina said she'll probably take a bit longer on Sashay and Rosie, and this all only covers what the three girls had done to her personally. What else they've done is another story."

I nodded in understanding. "...Yeah. There's no denying that my friends will get into some legal trouble for participating in the scheme to get Bede kicked out of the gym challenge." They would also get into trouble with me, because I seriously cannot believe that they would do something like this. Well, Sashay and Rosie prior to cleaning up their acts, but those two as they are now, as well as Marina who's always been nice?

If it wasn't for Nina being willing to consider forgiving the three of them for what they had all done to her personally, then I don't think I could ever forgive them myself.

Stretching as he got up from the table we sat at in the dining room, Hop said, "Well, there's a lot of clean up going on. But Lee tells me that enough will be taken care of in three days to permit time for the Championship Match." Hop turned forward to face the direction he was going to be leaving in. "...There was also a three day break between Nina and I stopping the Darkest Day and my own Championship Match against Lee. Weird."

Hop held a hand up as he walked away from me, waiving and saying that he'll see me later. After I was left alone, I looked down at my plate. I had a lot to think about right now, which I guess is one of the good things about there being three days before the Championship Match between Leon and Nina. Hopefully things will regain a sense of normality by that time, because I could really use the breather.

END, CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Author's notes;

The actions of the group that Malty, Robin and Rosalia were getting up to were stopped, and all bad persons arrested. But things are far from over, as there's still the Championship Match to happen, and there's going to be more fallout from what all had happened, had been revealed. It's going to be a bit of a trip.

Later, skaters.