ROUTE 201, 08:31

It was the dawn of another day, and Claus was up and ready as he always was. Barry was up and ready, as well, as he rarely ever was.

"Yeah!" whooped Barry, facing down Route 201 with unbridled enthusiasm. "We've traveled to Sandgem so many times, Claus. Heck, we even did it yesterday! But you know, it feels so much better to do it with a Pokemon at our side!"

Claus rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. Barry had rarely ever shown this sort of enthusiasm so early in the day before yesterday. If this was going to become a pattern, and his work ethic matched his excitement, he would be a force to be reckoned with in the gym challenge. "We had Lucy with us yesterday," he pointed out.

"That was dad's Pokemon! Not our Pokemon! This is different," insisted Barry.

Their families had been sad to see them leave, of course, but they weren't really too surprised. The two of them would have gone sometime within the week, regardless. Claus's mother had received the news with her usual indifference, except when she had met Pello. Her smirk had grown suddenly wistful at Claus's explanation, and he had caught her wiping at her eyes more than once when she thought he wasn't looking.

Barry and Claus were accompanied by Roy and Pello. Roy could keep up with their bikes easily, but Pello would have had more difficulty, so they pedaled slowly. Roy didn't take issue with the pace, taking ample time to examine his surroundings.

"How did you name him, anyways?" Claus asked Barry. He had a suspicion, but…

Barry confirmed it. "Roy's a Fire Emblem character," he explained, and Claus sighed. "Hey, don't give me that! I'm telling you, if you tried Fire Emblem, you'd totally love it!"

Claus shook his head. "I already have tried it. I hated it. Isn't Roy the character from the game you made me play, too?"

Barry groaned. "But that's the worst game! Try a different one, you'll love it!"

"Yeah, yeah."

In an extraordinary stroke of luck, the trip back to Sandgem was even more uneventful than the one they had taken with Palmer. Though, perhaps it wasn't entirely luck. After all, the two of them were familiar faces, having recently passed through with a very strong Masquerain, and it was certainly possible that the Pokemon on the path recognized them and gave them a wide berth. Barry even claimed that he recognized one of the Ducklett that had harassed them the previous day, but how he was so sure of that, Claus had no idea.

Of course, this shut out most possibility of them catching a wild Pokemon on this route, unless they were willing to go out into the wild to search for one themselves. It didn't matter very much, though, since neither of them had any Pokeballs on them other than an old orange-and-yellow Apricorn ball, practically a relic by now, that Barry had brought with him from home.

"It's lucky," he insisted. "I'll only use it when the time is right."

When the two of them arrived at Sandgem, they set out to Rowan's lab once again to meet up with Dawn. It was an unwritten rule that trainers should travel in groups during their gym challenges, especially at the beginning when they and their Pokemon were inexperienced, so that strength in numbers could make up for it. For the few trainers who started out in more dangerous locales, even that advantage wasn't enough, and they would have to rely on the aid of volunteers with more experienced Pokemon to traverse areas such as Mount Coronet.

Dawn was ready and waiting in front of Rowan's lab, her own Pokeball in hand.

"The Professor is busy right now, but he asked me to convey his best wishes to the both of you," she said, handing Claus a slip of paper. "And he gave me his contact information, as well, to pass on to the two of you."

Claus started reading it.

Claus and Barry, my Dex ID is SGC-65800, and if you-

Barry snatched the paper from his hand, and started reading it out loud himself. Claus huffed.

"Claus and Barry, my Dex ID is SGC-65800, and if you send me a message, I will provide you with my emergency phone as well, which I hope you will use only for its intended purpose. If you need to use it, however, please have no qualms." Barry wrinkled his nose, lowering the note. "Dang, I get that he's trying to be nice, and I appreciate it. But does he really have to use so many ten-dollar words?"

"Don't be a baby," said Claus. "We both know that you know all of the words he used." He looked across to Dawn. "Anyways, Dawn, when would you be ready to start to Oreburgh? We're going to Jubilife first, since it's on the way, so we have time. We'll get there today as long as we don't start, like, past six."

Dawn shrugged hesitantly. "I mean, I don't want to hang around in Sandgem any more than the two of you do. I'm excited to see Sinnoh, so if you two are ready, then I am as well." She smiled, bouncing on the balls of her feet, and her enthusiasm was contagious. "I'm really so excited! A lot of people say that the joy of the gym challenge is in growing stronger as a person and a trainer, but I'm more excited to see all of Sinnoh! The thought of going on a journey to find yourself and learn… It's rather romantic, isn't it?"

Barry grinned widely. "Well, I'm sorry, but I don't swing that way!"

Dawn stared at him, all her momentum destroyed in a split second. Claus groaned.

"That's not the only meaning of romantic, you moron-"

"I know, I know! It was a joke! Man, you are such a stick in the mud."

Dawn giggled at the withering glare that Claus shot at Barry. "I was rambling anyway. My point is that I'm excited to get started."

"Aren't we all?" Barry pumped his fist in the air. "Let's get going!"

Claus opened his mouth to agree, but Barry was already dashing down the road. "Hurry up! If you're late, I'll fine you a million dollars!"

"Don't even bother," Claus said to Dawn once he was out of earshot. "I'm pretty sure I already owe him more money than the Aether Foundation has. Plus, he's gonna come back once he realizes that he forgot to stop at the Pokemart."

SANDGEM POKEMART, 11:46

Barry, in fact, did not come back once he realized that he had forgotten to prepare for the journey. Claus looked at his Pokedex as it buzzed and made a chiming sound, like a bell.

SGC-94537: hey claus this is barry

SGC-94537: i am talking 2 claus right

Claus opened the message, quickly typing in a contact name for Barry before replying.

Claus H: Yeah, this is Claus

Claus H: Why didn't you just use your phone

Claus H: And did you finally realize that you can't just sprint to Oreburgh

It was a moment before Barry replied, so Claus took the opportunity to ask Dawn for her contact information as well, adding her as "Dawn M," for Mercier. This new information made it clear that Dawn was from Kalos, but a glance showed Claus that she was invested in scanning the shelves of the Pokemart as her Helioptile chirped quietly from her backpack, so he decided to save his inquiries for later.

Barry G: we need 2 get used 2 our dexes

Barry G: the prof is counting on us man :(

Barry G: and yeah lol oops, can you pick up some stuff 4 me

Barry G: ill pay u back ofc

Claus H: Typical

Claus H: What do you need?

With Barry's own shopping requests added to his list, Claus continued looking through the store, picking up medicinal items, Pokeballs, and more. When he got to the area of the mart that sold Pokemon food, he assessed it critically for a moment before releasing Pello to see what his preferences were. The little Turtwig looked at the assorted goods before dragging one bag over to Claus with his beak.

"Thanks," said Claus, leaving Pello out of his ball for the remainder of his shopping. There were no restrictions on having your Pokemon out inside most buildings, unless they were large enough or rowdy enough to endanger people or property. Pello, like Dawn's Helioptile, was neither of those, so he was all right.

After the two of them were finished shopping, they exited the Pokemart, heading to the place where Jubilife met Route 203.

"It makes me kind of sad to leave behind Jubilife without getting to experience all the things that it has for people to enjoy," said Dawn. "We didn't get to see Jubilife TV, or the Poketch factory, or the GTS, or anything."

Claus shrugged. "Yeah, it's a shame, but Jubilife gets a lot of that because of its location," he explained. "It's kind of out of the way for anyone in Sinnoh who doesn't start their gym challenges from Sandgem or Twinleaf, and it doesn't have a gym either. Most people tend to visit after they're finished with their challenges."

Dawn nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense."

Claus looked at her. "Is there something you wanted to see here?"

Dawn blushed. "Ah, well, I was hoping I would get to see Jubilife University," she confessed. "I was hoping I might be able to go there in the future and study ecology."

Claus nodded. Jubilife University was a premier destination for those who wanted to commit themselves to higher studies after high school and the gym challenge. "That's pretty cool. I'm sure you'll get opportunities to visit it." He thought for a moment. "Probably even during the gym challenge, honestly."

"Oh?" asked Dawn, interested.

"Yep. We could theoretically go straight to… Actually, this is probably a conversation that we should have with Barry around too."

Dawn shrugged. "That's fine."

Luckily for Dawn, her curiosity would be satisfied quickly. Barry was waiting for them at the entrance to Route 203, bouncing in excitement.

"Hey, Slowpokes," he said when they caught up. "I was tired of waiting for the two of you to come back, so I went out and caught myself a Pokemon!"

Claus started to roll his eyes, but then he realized that Barry was actually serious. "Wait, really?"

"Congratulations!" added Dawn. "What species?"

Barry grinned. "A Starly! Her name is Lyn." He pulled out-

"What," Claus said, not bothering to hide his disbelief. "You actually caught something with that piece of junk?" The "lucky" Apricorn Ball that he'd brought from home rested in his hand, the button glowing with the telltale white light that distinguished occupied Pokeballs from empty ones.

Barry stuck his tongue out at Claus. "Ha! I told you, it was lucky!" He pushed the button, and the ball clicked open. The flash of white light took a full four seconds to materialize into the Starly, and Claus almost laughed. What an old Pokeball.

"You could have waited fifteen minutes and used a decent Pokeball," said Claus. The Starly blinked up at the three of them, before seeming to decide that they weren't interesting and hopping away to peck at something on the ground.

"I caught her in the city, so she's more or less used to people," explained Barry. "So I hope that means she'll warm up to me quickly!"

Well, then. Barry was certainly taking the initiative with his gym challenge, having already filled out two of his four team slots. Starly were a fairly common Pokemon, and many tended to overlook them because of the common misconception that common Pokemon were weaker, which meant there weren't many trainers that used their evolution line. Claus was eager to see what Lyn would do in Barry's hopefully capable hands.

"Claus said that he would be talking about something," said Dawn, and Claus nodded. Right.

"Okay, so we know that we're heading for Oreburgh first," said Claus. "It's the closest gym, so it would only make sense." The two of them nodded, so Claus continued. "But what are we going to do after that?"

Barry shrugged. "The next closest gym is probably Canalave," he pointed out. "But I think I'd rather save that for later in our gym challenge, so that we're strong enough to train on Iron Island as well."

Claus and Dawn nodded. Iron Island was a famous training spot for late gym challengers, with its aggressive and tough wild Pokemon.

"Other than that," Barry continued, "Hearthome is pretty close to Oreburgh, if we're willing to cross Mount Coronet for a while."

"Hold on, let me pull up a map," Claus said. He turned on his Pokedex, flicking through tabs until he found a map of the Sinnoh region. The map showed mainly habitats where different species of Pokemon lived, but it had cities and towns labeled, so it would work.

"I was thinking we could go to Hearthome, like Barry said," Claus continued, tilting the screen so that Dawn and Barry could see it as well. "After that, we could keep on heading east to Veilstone."

Barry frowned. "Why would we do that? We'll have to come back to Canalave eventually, and the way you're suggesting means we'd have to use way too much Corviknight taxi for a gym challenge."

Claus shook his head. "You're forgetting Snowpoint."

Barry slapped his hand on his forehead. "Right. I always forget that place."

"Understandable," said Claus, snickering. "Half the residents are probably Beartic. But yeah. After Veilstone, we visit Snowpoint, circle back around to Eterna and Canalave, and finally take a taxi or two to get to Sunyshore."

Dawn had been listening with wide eyes. "This is… extremely complicated," she admitted. "I had no idea a gym challenge took this much planning. In Kalos, most people just… get to Lumiose, and then do whatever they want."

Claus grinned. "What can we say? There's a saying among Sinnovans…"

Barry laughed. "The mountains are Groudon's fingers, and Coronet is the middle one!"

NOTES

Pello... Claus's mom... Claus's dad's Torterra... sad

I am a Fire Emblem fan, which means I have to make my main character talk shit about it. (I actually didn't like Binding Blade at all but that's a different story.) But yes, Barry's name theme is Fire Emblem cause I love it

lol Barry "I recognize that Ducklett!" He's back on his bullshit

SGC stands for Sandgem City, you might see other dex IDs later that have different area codes

Again, Barry and Claus have SGC because their dexes are from Sandgem, before someone says "HEY why wasn't it TLT?" dw I made that mistake at first too

"Ten seconds before I dash! Nine... Bah! Who's got time to count?!"

Typical Barry, catching a Starly with the relic of a Fast Ball that he brought from home... lmao

And yes, there will only be four team slots for gym challengers here, because I do not want to write six Pokemon per character. That's a LOT. Four is still also kind of a lot, but it's less of a lot, and I think it's a good balance between being able to cover for weaknesses, being able to write them well, and being badass.

Having a gym in Snowpoint City is like if an American gym challenge had a gym in Alaska. No offense to Alaskans, it just... doesn't make much sense lol

Dawn: "what the hell is with y'all's planning"

Claus and Barry: "our region has a great big inconvenient mountain smack in the middle of it."

But yeah, on a more serious note, this means that the gym order will be the following:
Roark, Fantina, Maylene, Candice, Gardenia, Byron, Wake, Volkner.

Thanks for reading, as always!