Disclaimer: Pokémon is still owned by The Pokémon Company, which in turn is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and probably others I forgot. The following fanfiction is me playing around in their sandbox, using characters they envisioned and created, except for the odd character that wasn't. I own nothing of this.

Chapter 20: Hidden From Sight

Serena's Pokénav rang at eight, which was an hour later than she had been expecting honestly. It meant she got a few raised eyebrows from the others in the Pokémon Center cafeteria, but at least she hadn't been woken up by it. Or Evan. "Morning."

"Happy birthday to you," Danny half-sang before coughing conspicuously. "Am I the first to congratulate you?"

"You know Mum doesn't have a Pokénav and it's midnight in Kalos right now," Serena replied, but she couldn't keep the smile off her face. "And Evan, getting up before ten when he doesn't have to?"

"He could have congratulated you at midnight," Danny pointed out reasonably. "If you were up at that time. Stranger things have happened. Did you get our gift box?"

"I did," Serena told him as she rose from her seat, heading outside. "Haven't opened it, but I'm going to guess it's Contest stuff?"

"Do you want me to tell you?"

It wasn't a hard decision to make. As fun as opening presents and being surprised was, there was a good chance that they had given her something that she had no idea even existed, and she wasn't going to call after them. "Sure," she said as the automatic doors slid open to let her pass into the subtropical morning. "It's not going to be too much, right? I have to carry it too."

"The box is bigger because there's a set of glasses in there," Danny said. "We thought two of them were cool and one was cute, but we're boys and don't know anything about that," he added, and they shared a laugh. "The rest is a complete collection of Seals, a scarf or two, and like hair flowers? Don't know what they're called," he admitted. Serena opened her mouth to thank them, but a cry stopped her. "Oh, and a silk veil. Should fit on your head or braixen's."

It was a lot, but all of it sounded useful. There was a more urgent question on her mind, though. "How did you get all of this? Can't imagine you walking into a department store for that."

Danny chuckled. "I did for the Seals and the scarves, but we picked the other things up last week. Max went for food and came back with the rest. Jumble sale, he said."

She found a sun-lit bench and sat down. "Still doing the camping out thing? And where is Max anyway? In the shower?"

The pause was enough information for Serena. "We're going to head for the Gym today. Maybe we'll get there. Dunno," Danny said, sounding downcast all of a sudden. "Max is still asleep. He… He's not had a great week. Worse than what you'd expect, I mean."

"One of the nightmares again?" the Kalosian teenager asked, remembering that Max did have them from time to time. "Or was yesterday that bad?"

"Nightmare," Danny confirmed, and even through the Pokénav, Serena could tell he wished it was not the case. "And it's got him dodging Pokémon attacks now. Just so he doesn't get hit."

That confused her. "Why?"

"Something hit him in his dream, he says. Maybe that's true, maybe there's more to it. I don't really care about that." A sigh. "I don't want to talk about this on your birthday. Is it okay if I write to ya?"

"I guess..." Serena told him. "I'm leaving Cinnabar on the thirteenth and heading straight for the Plateau after one night in Pallet. Evan's probably doing the same if he wins." Except he would be going for Pewter, not the Indigo Plateau. "It's funny how he's really different from Max. Wouldn't know they're family if you'd just listen to them."

"They're more similar than they care to admit. Evan's a lot less mature, though. Even comparing same age. Or maybe he's actually the norm… Eh, it's kinda early to think about that."

She tried to make sense of what Danny meant, and came far, but there was something missing. "What do you mean? Weren't you and I, well…"

"Oh no we weren't," Danny interjected hastily. "I was kinda, but I had Max to… To look up to? I suppose? Whatever. That helps. And then you had that injury that forced you to think about things a lot more, and you're a girl too. You're supposed to be more mature or something."

That explanation left more questions than it gave answers, but asking more probably wouldn't help Serena understand it one bit. "Guess you have a point on my knee… Don't get injured like that, it sucks."

"We had noticed that last year," Danny said drily, before breaking out into laughter. Serena joined in. Just like that, the air cleared a lot between them. "I think I refilled the first aid kit more in the first two months in Kalos than we did in Hoenn and Kanto combined. Except plasters, maybe."

"I had to buy some new burn cream last week, but it was already mostly gone when I came to Kanto," Serena shared, trying to think of something else she had had to buy. "Don't think I've had to refill on something else yet. I've probably bought more clothes than first aid supplies."

"We probably had to buy more first aid stuff, but you need Contest clothing too and we, well… Don't. And Max doesn't seem to want to hit the growth spurt either, so that helps." There was a hint of amusement in Danny's voice, and Serena felt another grin creep up. Max's complaining was cute and amusing, but that she'd never say that to his face. "Anyway, you got anything planned for today?"

"Spa," was Serena's one-word answer.

"Volcanic and tourist island. Of course. Sounds like your kind of heaven for sure. I won't keep you from that any longer. And I need to get some food."

"Good luck in the Gym!"

"Thanks, and you have fun on your birthday!"

~~§~~§~~

"And this is the most recent map we have," Elisa said as she pulled up a picture on the computer. Birch studied it carefully, noting the scale in the bottom right and gauging the size of the entire complex quickly. "Of course, trapinch are fervent diggers, and tunnels collapse from time to time, so even something as recent as this can be off."

"Do you know where the vibrava fly off to?" the Hoenn Professor wondered, not expecting an answer and seeing in the woman's body language that she had none. "It doesn't matter now, but there is embarrassingly little on vibrava habitats in the literature. And what we have on trapinch, well… You've already added a lot of knowledge."

Elisa seemed a bit uncomfortable with the praise. "It's… We've just always done this. Mostly my family, and then Hal came by after a while." She fiddled with a ring on her hand. "We just thought this was already all known."

"Most of it was, but not as detailed as you've got here," Birch replied. A door opened in the back, and he turned to see the other researcher come in. "Is it all okay?"

"Taillow is pretty sure there aren't any blockades in the way," Hal said, and his green-coloured Shiny Pokémon alighted on the back of the empty chair at the table. "Seems like last week's collapse wasn't early on in the complex."

"How often do they happen?" Birch asked, writing a few words on a pad. "And do you feel all of them as earthquakes?"

Hal scratched his head for a second. "Only the big ones, I guess. Maybe we luck into some smaller ones if we're out and about, but that's not that often. Can't set up a seismograph either because of all the digging and the rhyhorn pack nearby."

"A bigger collapse happens maybe one and a half times a month on average. Let's say two a month for the ones we miss because we're asleep," Elisa allowed. "Even then, it's usually only one tunnel, and, well, there are a lot of tunnels."

"And if there aren't, the trapinch will make new ones," Birch added, getting nods from the other two. "Can you lead me to the entrance?"

Entrance, Birch mused five minutes later, was perhaps not the right word. It was a hole in the ground, perhaps twenty feet in diameter, with the walls pretty much heading straight down. The summer sun overhead shone straight down onto weathered rock, revealing the bottom to be about fifteen feet down. Easy. "Do you need meganium to give you a ride down?"

Birch shook his head no. "I appreciate it, but I came prepared." He sent out his victreebel, and the Flycatcher Pokémon let out an elated cry at being sent out in weather she deeply loved. "I'll not be long."

They wished him good luck, and down he went with the help of Vine Whip. The Grass-type safely deposited him at the bottom before being returned, and she was exchanged for his crobat and the borrowed nidoqueen in case something went wrong and he needed the muscle.

The Ground-type also carried a light to see by, and they entered the complex; the sunlight swiftly fading as a slight turn and normal distance dimmed the natural light to the point that you needed help to see more than just the bare path ahead.

With the light taken care of, Birch had his eyes free to glance around at the tunnel itself, and his hands to write down notes on his pad. It wasn't a large tunnel by any stretch, narrowing as they proceeded and forcing nidoqueen to walk single file: it was impossible to walk two abreast. Crobat's flight wasn't too hindered, but the Poison-type chose to hop-glide instead of fly for a reason, Birch supposed.

The tunnel itself was surprisingly smooth, and larger than was strictly necessary for trapinch, though with what May had told him about this, Birch understood why. A path for vibrava to fly through would have to be decently large for purposes of volume alone. The smoothness was more surprising, but it was also familiar: it was a localised form of Earth Power. And once rock was locked into place, it wouldn't collapse unless disturbed by a digging trapinch or the rhyhorn pack nearby.

He jotted down some of the observations in shorthand and moved onwards.

The path broadened after two more turns, and a secondary smaller tunnel fed into this one. It was too small to enter, being about the size for a large trapinch, but the texture of the rocks around it was the same as before. "Extensive use of Earth Power. Trapinch aren't generally considered good at it, but perhaps that is wrong?" he mused, and there was a fairly significant echo. Crobat gave him a slightly annoyed look; upset at the disruption of his echolocation, and he flew down the main tunnel for a bit.

Birch knelt by the smaller tunnel, wordlessly asking for the light and being handed the cylinder. He positioned it to shine down the hole, hoping to have enough light to study the interior by…

And something reflected the light back.

Birch flinched, but even as he did that, moving the light, he noticed it wasn't the reflection of an aron's metallic armour, or any other Steel-type. It was more like dirty glass; slightly diffuse and tinted. And out of reach, he noticed even as he tried to identify the small item.

A flash of insight at what it could be and he accepted the hand nidoqueen held out without needing to be asked to get back to his feet. "Victreebel? There is a round object in the tunnel. Can you try to get it, carefully?"

The Grass-type obliged, and a careful vine made its way into the tunnel as Birch watched with bated breath.

It felt like an eternity, but there was nothing to suggest that victreebel was failing, and that was proven right when the vine suddenly went slightly taut in a grab. Five seconds later, the Mega Stone was taken from the tunnel, and Birch had his first proper look at the markings within the small sphere.

It was dark, the stone was covered in dust, and the light was profoundly unnatural, but none of those did anything to obscure the specific colour combination. Birch knew it well, having memorised the known Mega Stones since their more widespread appearance around the world. He also knew upwards of at least two dozen people just from Hoenn who would be able to advantage of this particular one, and those were the names he thought of instantly.

But it was going to have to remain a secret. "Nidoqueen, keep this with you until later," he told the Ground-type. She seemed mildly confused, but accepting of the stone, gently closing her hand around it as crobat returned. "Is the tunnel blocked?"

Two beats of crobat's wings on the ground answered that, and the Hoenn Professor was ever so slightly disappointed at probably not seeing a trapinch. At the same time, just what he had already seen would be a great addendum to the known literature, and he sat down next to the smaller tunnel, eager to study the trapinch habitat in greater detail.

~~§~~§~~

It had taken a bit longer than the several hours Danny had estimated, but even though they had manectric to cancel lightning and a plethora to stop rain from soaking them… Hard winds were still fairly effective at forcing travellers to a halt, or at least to slow down. As it was, they reached the Dark-type Gym around dinner time, but to their surprise, it was still open for business, with a Gym Trainer playing fetch with a mightyena outside. She threw the toy far away before turning to them. "Challengers?"

"For tomorrow," Danny said even without checking the time. It felt like it was close to dinner. A glance sideways at Max's watch confirmed that. "Or whenever there is room, really."

The woman took a small device from her pocket, dark hair blocking her face, tapping it a few times. "Tomorrow afternoon is okay if you're not complete newbies. Otherwise day after." She gave them a quick look up and down, and Danny knew the moment recognition dawned. "Oh. You're those two Trainers. Helena warned me you might come by."

The teenagers turned to each other, asking the same question wordlessly. They had a reputation amongst Gym Trainers now? "Er, okay?" Max said hesitatingly. "Is that good or bad?"

"Not for me to decide," was the reply, and a shrug was added before she took the toy from the mightyena, giving it a squeeze. The squeak caused the Dark-type to jump with obvious joy, and another powerful throw sent it hurrying away. "It's mostly because of what you have. Helena doesn't have any, but she's willing to take challengers with one on."

That still didn't tell Danny why she knew about them. Gym Leaders, sure, they were gossips. Trainers? That confused him, but he put it out of his mind. "Any time during the afternoon?"

"Before quarter past three or after half past four. The twins nap until four and need food after."

Danny thought for a second. "Can work with that. See you tomorrow, I guess?"

There was no verbal reply, but a nod was plenty, and they started to move on.

The Pokémon Center wasn't too far away, and they moved there in silence, but once they were in their own room, about fifteen minutes later all told, Max put a hand on Danny's shoulder as he wanted to go for dinner. "That… The Gym is soaked with Dark-type energy."

The older teenager turned around, leaning against the door, scratching his chin and noticing he needed a shave. "You're noticing a building now? And you didn't in Ecruteak?" That city had lived and breathed Ghost-types and the past both. "What does it feel like anyway?"

"Cold and empty, told you that before," Max replied. "And I wasn't feeling great in Ecruteak. We thought it was some kind of bug, remember?" He shook his head. "And I did end up needing some medicine, but… All sorts of shit now seems strange thinking back." Another shake, this one more vigorous, before a familiar frown overtook Max's face. He'd thought of something. "I was thinking I shouldn't use Mega manectric for it."

That seemed like a random thing to say. "Why?" Danny asked, quickly running over his own plans. Exploud and diggersby were both getting kind of restless, and they hadn't cut loose in sparring for a while, so they were on the list. Aggron probably wasn't going to be used, let alone Mega… "Wait. You said yesterday that the bond blocks a lot of the sensations you get." He made a face, certain that he was right. "Yeah, don't use it. Sorry," he added, realising it had come out too harsh almost immediately. "But after yesterday…"

"'sokay," Max said softly. "You're just looking out for me. I know."

For a moment, Danny thought the room was going to get too sappy for even Serena, but then Max's stomach groaned in emptiness, leading to a sheepish smile. "Right. Let's get some dinner. Arceus knows I could use some too."

As if on cue, Danny's own stomach joined in on the rumbling.

~~§~~§~~

They entered the wooden building after being let in by the same Trainer that had met them the day before, and immediately, Max suppressed the urge to shiver. It was like walking in rain on an empty stomach, except the feeling was deeper than his stomach and not as easily ignored as rain.

But it was less oppressive than yveltal's aura. He'd survive.

They were slightly early, and the main battle arena of the Gym, surprisingly made of rock and loose soil instead of the hardwood Max had kind of been expecting, was still occupied. Not by any battles, but by the Gym Leader and a pair of Pokémon sitting around a cloth, with two smaller bundles moving on it. He realised instantly who those bundles were. "Er, sorry if we arrived too early."

The Gym Leader laughed, even as one of the babies let out a happy squeal thanks to a black raticate – an Alolan one – swished its tail out of range. She turned around, revealing… Sunglasses? Inside? What now? "I'm afraid I lost track of the time. These two are very good at making me do that." She tapped the ground beside her, and the mightyena rose, causing another squeal from the other baby, and started to walk to a pram near one of the other doors. "Pat, if you could explain the advanced rules while I deal with these two rascals?"

"Certainly, Gym Leader," the Gym Trainer replied, and the two teenagers turned to listen to her. "For Trainers with more than twelve badges across all regions, the rules of this Gym are a little different than normal. Instead of having a regular battle with normal visibility, you'll have a battle in darkness." She smirked. "This is normally where I press the button on this," she said, holding up a small key chain-esque thing that was probably some kind of remote, "but I know little Adria and Jomei there don't like it." She put the remote away. "The light is equivalent to a night with some stars and little to no moonlight. It will be a two on two battle." Another smirk. "Any questions, boys?"

Max wasn't at that point yet. He was stuck on both admiring the idea and thinking about the Pokémon he could use. Pokémon that relied on sight were pretty weak now – that ruled out both shelgon and ninjask, and sceptile wasn't ideal, but the alternative was xatu… "Wow. That's a challenge alright."

"Uhuh," Danny agreed. "And… If I can ask… Does this have to do with the sunglasses?"

"An astute observation," Helena said as she walked up. Max saw the pram being pulled away in the distance by the raticate, while mightyena was at the Gym Leader's side. Somehow, Max hadn't heard her walk up. He'd noticed happy squeals, but not the footsteps. "An eye injury early in my tenure and pressure on my optic nerve mean I have been legally blind for several years. I can see some, but it is a narrow field of vision." She turned fully to Max. "I can only see you now, and not your friend."

They were maybe two and a half feet apart, shoulder to upper arm, and Max's respect for her shot up immensely. To be a Gym Leader with that kind of disability was… It was amazing. "So your challenge is to level the field?"

"Exactly. But it is also a reminder that not every fight you have will be under perfect conditions. Pokémon can strike at night, and many Trainers panic at the lack of vision. This is understandable for newer Trainers, hence the badge limit, but for Trainers as adept as you, I expect more." A challenging smirk. "Which of you will face the dark first?"

"Him," Danny said instantly, before Max could do the same. "We alternate and it's his turn."

It really wasn't, but Max recognised what Danny was doing, and why. "Yeah, I'll go first. But… Can Danny still watch the match?"

He was expecting a solution, and therefore there was no surprise when the Gym Leader nodded. "Of course. The referee and any audience are provided with a set of night vision goggles. They will allow you to see well enough to follow the battle. Or so I am told. Pat certainly always seems to have enough sight to call the matches."

Everything duly happened after that. Danny and the Gym Trainer – Pat – donned their goggles, the lights were dimmed, and after a minute for Max to acclimatise to the reduced visibility, both of them sent out their first Pokémon. "The first match will be Max's swinub against Helena's deino. Begin!"

Deino were legitimately blind, causing Max to cancel any plans he had of playing a bit more with vision and Mist. "Smell it out and use ice."

Max's Pokémon shuffled forwards, but a keening cry, followed by a Hyper Voice, forced the Ice-type to get out of the way.

Then he lost sight and sound both as the white Hyper Voice energy reverberated and resonated on the invisible shields right in front of him. Hearing returned to the sound of an Icy Wind, and an annoyed snort by the deino proved that swinub had made his way up close enough to start attacking.

The hot whoosh and eerie green light of a Dragon Pulse appeared, but swinub had gone underground after the Icy Wind, using deino's blindness against it. When he came up again, it was in the right place, and the Dragon-type howled with annoyance – but not pain.

Swinub cried in dismay as something connected with him: an attack that hadn't lit up the area, so either something Dark-typed or just plain kicking or biting. "Keep it up, disrupt it."

A snort and the sound of rushing wind announced another Icy Wind, but this time, the deino retaliated with a Hyper Voice, underpowered enough that the two attacks only cancelled each other out instead of exploding. Helena's Pokémon had anticipated that and fired off a Dragon Pulse after it, which did hit, sending swinub flying, surrounded in green and fading energy.

The Dragon-type started running, adjusting when Max's Ice-type hit the ground, and between the clip-clop of the quadruped's feet, Max's saw orange fire light up in its mouth. Fire Fang. "Block!"

Icy blue-white hit black, blue, and orange, all within Max's limited vision, and the deino recoiled first, then roared in anger as the cold seeped into its head. A weak Icy Wind wafted over it as well, further enraging it.

And in the limited light, a red outline was easily spotted. "Underground, now!"

Swinub wasn't fast enough as the Irate Pokémon slammed into him. The momentum transferred hard into Max's light Ice-type, and he was sent off to the side, out of Max's vision, and deino went there a moment afterwards, intent on kicking and biting the everliving daylights out of its opponent.

A crash of ice announced that swinub had made a quick icy wall that was shattered by the deino, providing at least some return damage, but all Max was thinking about was why swinub didn't just go underground. He'd had the time now, but hadn't, and paid for it by being slammed around with Outrage again.

He knelt down, running a hand through the soil underneath, and finding that it was a lot more solid than he had been anticipating. How swinub had managed to get underground in the first attempt, Max didn't know, but… It explained a lot, he mused as another ice wall broke apart in the distance. This time, it wasn't followed by the sound of a flying Ice-type, which gave Max a bit of hope. "Powder Snow!"

Swinub cried out, but so did deino, rounding on him without any confusion and firing a Dragon Pulse. It scattered the Powder Snow away from itself and hit swinub, which flew all the way across the arena, sliding on his back when he landed.

The dragon hadn't galloped after it, but it wasn't needed. "Swinub is unable to battle. Deino wins the first round."

Max focused, hoping that deino was going to stick to form. A howl answered the question with a yes, and through it, he detected a waver in there. Not nearly as bad-off as he had hoped, but doable.

Which Pokémon to send out next was a bit of a conundrum. Ninjask and shelgon would get eaten alive by anything here: they relied too much on sight and were too easily countered. Vulpix was bad against deino and would get bodied by a houndoom or crawdaunt. Xatu was a Psychic-type in the Dark-type Gym. Sceptile had similar issues with sight, but was strong and canny enough to work around it, but he, too would get royally screwed by houndoom and had to watch out that he wasn't burnt first.

There really was only one decision. "This is going to suck," he muttered, clearing his throat so that the referee and Helena could hear him. "Xatu, it's your turn!"

At least Danny's loud gasp was music to his ears.

The referee gave the signal, and xatu didn't move, instead waiting for what deino was going to send out. Him, though, Max saw cool energy coalesce: the Hidden Power Ice ready to be launched whenever there was a good moment.

It came quicker than Max was expecting. A Hyper Voice was easily dodged – a snap Teleport through and xatu was safe and ready to unleash the attack on the unsuspecting deino, which fell to the ground a moment later. An Air Slash put an end to the battle with as little effort expended as needed.

Max didn't know if Helena had sussed out the snap Teleport strategy – xatu was pretty silent in doing them – but sending out an absol put paid to the idea. Maybe it was too much seeing Ash's absol, who had been able to track them back in training around February, but the Pokémon's entire thing was to sense things that weren't normally able to be sensed.

Thankfully, they weren't great at ranged attacks, generally relying on their body and movement.

Of course, absol led with one of the attacks that didn't do that, throwing a spray of rocks at xatu in a Stone Edge. Tendrils of Psychic energy, very visible in the dark, snaked out and scattered the projectiles in all directions. One or two landed on absol, who had gone for a flank down the right, and as that happened, Max felt the general area become even colder in his senses than normal, and it wasn't from the absol. "Hidden Power!"

It wasn't enough to deter the Night Slash, but after the attack bit into xatu's wing, the absol sprung away with the Hidden Power hitting onto the left front paw. The harder one to block for absol, thankfully. "Air Slashes."

Max couldn't see the displacements of air beyond a few feet of them, but he was reasonably sure that most of them missed absol completely, and did nothing but to keep it on the defensive. That was perfectly fine, though, as it meant that there was debris being generated.

And between throwing rocks at absol, Air Slash, Ominous Wind, and Hidden Power, the rocks were probably the most effective at actually connecting somewhere Max wanted. "Mix it up now."

The Psychic-type vanished from Max's sight in a Teleport, and a mostly blocked barrage of rocks confirmed that absol was perfectly able to read its opponent when that happened, but it was good. Xatu had enough sight to Teleport out of range of a Night Slash or similar, and more Stone Edges meant more debris.

Ghost-type energy gathered and wove through the room, passing over absol as something Ghostly formed on it as well. There was another exchange of Hidden Power and an attack connecting, and the yelp that absol let out definitely was a sign that the plan was working so far.

It was something they trained for on occasion: to find a weakness and to exploit it ruthlessly. The left front paw was being hit, and if you took out one leg, then moving became a lot harder. Not impossible, but Max would take it anyway.

Another Night Slash formed, but this time, xatu wasn't hit, judging by the lack of sound, and absol was. A snap Teleport into something to the face, Max surmised, and the sounds that followed meant that there were more Air Slashes hitting solid ground and the occasional Dark-type.

Helena's Pokémon contributed with another round of Stone Edge, but this time, something strange happened; causing the rocks to fly outwards only at the last second; way too close for comfort for Max's sake. "Okay, now fly up!"

He had no way of telling if xatu did, but absol's feet beat a hasty retreat on the floor, moving back towards the other side of the arena before turning around and accelerating in for an attack.

Xatu performed the mid-air Teleport to avoid the lunging absol that had jumped up with a howl, but that was the Dark-type's plan, Max realised even as he did that. Stone Edge rocks appeared, heading unerringly towards a seemingly random location, and a moment later, xatu cried out in pain and spiralled towards the ground, where absol was already waiting with an X-Scissor on its horn.

"All the rocks on you!"

Psychic energy snapped out in a wave before being pulled in hard, and all of the loose debris in the room converged on the location where absol and xatu were struggling – most of that being absol delivering pain to xatu.

And then the barrage appeared, and try as it might, the absol could not avoid all of the bullet-like projectiles. Xatu helped a hand by throwing out a Hidden Power from a lying position, impacting and exploding on a paw that was about to cuff her with Shadow Claw.

Both Pokémon separated a bit, xatu skidding, absol landing hard and letting out a harsh whine as it did. It didn't end there, as the whine turned into a howl of pain that pierced Max's soul in intensity.

The lights came back on suddenly, and Max closed his eyes, opening them slowly a moment later to make sure he wasn't blinded, and what he saw was an unconscious xatu lying somewhere two thirds across the arena, and an absol nursing its left paw.

"It's a broken paw, I think, Helena," Pat said from the side. "Least, looks like one from here. Don't think she's able to fight any longer. Nor is xatu."

"Then a draw it is," Helena agreed as she returned absol with surprising accuracy for someone who was legally blind. Max followed suit. "Come here, challenger," the Gym Leader intoned.

Max did, catching Danny's eye as he crossed the pockmarked field. There were a lot of narrow furrows from the Air Slashes, and a surprising amount of pebbles and dust off to the side.

Danny didn't look convinced, though, and neither did Max feel convinced.

"A xatu," Helena began, giving nothing away in her voice. "It is not often I see a Psychic-type here, for obvious reasons. You must have great trust in your Pokémon to select one in this Gym. What makes it better than your other options?"

"He knows Hidden Power Ice for deino," Max started. "But if I'm honest… There was a gap in my team for today after you set the challenge."

"And that was?"

"Houndoom. Shelgon is the one who's best at dealing with one of those, and not moving is a pretty big disadvantage when you can't see your opponent."

"And the rest of your team was?" The Gym Leader inquired.

"Sceptile and vulpix were other considerations. Ninjask is, well… You really need sight for the speed advantage to work."

"And had you known about the challenge in advance, what would you have changed?"

Max thought for a second, but honestly, the combination of Dark-types and the darkness was a huge counter to his team. "Clefairy and manectric are options. Clefairy don't need a lot of light to see by, and manectric is capable of generating her own. Paints a target, but that's the trade-off." He raised his head, meeting only the sunglasses that he had forgotten about. "I should probably train a bit more on fighting Dark-types in darkness."

"Not against me," Helena said, and the bottom fell out of Max's stomach for a second, but then he realised the Gym Leader was holding her hand out, palm up, a black badge visible. "The swinub was too weak for this level, relying too much on its Ice-type. Deino is close to evolving and is a solid mid-tier battler. The way you dealt with absol and your reasoning afterwards tipped the scales in your advantage. To take a disadvantaged battle willingly is brave, but to twist circumstances in your favour like you did was inspired, and the sign of a great Trainer." She inclined her head at Max for a moment. "Adaptation is key, and you've proven that."

The Void Badge, a round badge with an ever-deepening spiral motif, was his. Somehow.

~~§~~§~~

"You know what's strange," Max asked as they sat down in the restaurant to celebrate their eighth badge. "You're the one who's more visual, and you had it easier."

Danny shrugged as a waitress slid menus in front of them. "Water?" he asked, and Max nodded. "Two water, please." A nod and a smile, and they were alone again. "You really didn't have the team for it. Being forced to use xatu in a Dark-type Gym… Be honest. How tempted were you to send out sceptile anyway?"

It was Max's turn to shrug. "Not as much. Had to deal with the deino first, and getting an arm burnt is bad news for him. And I was scared if Helena had a houndoom. That could really have screwed me over on vulpix too. And I was right, coz you got one of those."

"True, but I kinda had the perfect team for the challenge," Danny admitted. Exploud and diggersby both had ways of sensing without sight. "I liked it, though. Really good test. Not great for watching, though. I heard you complain about the fire from where I was standing."

Max wasn't surprised. After avoiding being blinded from the lights turning on, a Fire Spin from houndoom at exploud had caught him by surprise. He hadn't been paying too much attention as the adrenalin of the battle had faded, and the attack had sent it right back into his system. Loud swearing at his sight being taken away included. "It was really good, but that'll teach me to not pay attention for a moment," he admitted sheepishly. "It's a really good eighth badge challenge too."

"It was only for Trainers with more than twelve badges," Danny pointed out, getting a roll of Max's eyes. "Point made, though. It's good to make Trainers not rely on what they see. Guess that's a big reason why she gives out the least badges."

Max nodded before shoving his glasses back up his nose. "Probably."

Both of them fell silent, choosing instead to read what was on offer. There were a lot of traditional Johtoan foods on offer, but hidden away at the end was something entirely different. A hot pot originally from Hoenn – from their area of Hoenn, in fact. Danny wasn't as much a fan of it as his parents were, but it was certainly tasty. "Check out number 35."

"Already did," Max answered, smiling thinly as he put the menu down. "I thought you weren't a fan?"

"I ate it the night before," Danny replied drily. "And I'm still not sure how I kept it in during that flight. That's enough to sour anyone, but… I wanna try again. And see if it's different here. And as a reminder of home, too," he added, knowing that Max was going to ask about that. "But that's getting way too heavy, and we're not allowed to do that."

Max shook his head, unsuccessfully hiding his smile. "Well, you started it," he said, before the waitress returned with water. He quickly ordered the food, adding an appetiser that they'd ordered every single time because it was so good, and put the carafe on the other side of the table so it wasn't at risk of being bumped into as people filtered in. That had happened before. "So you come up with something to talk about."

The blue-haired teen then fiddled with his hair, pushing it behind his ears and out of his face. "You really need a haircut," Danny pointed out, and an idea arose. "Why don't you dye your hair for once? Just to see how you'd like it?"

"I like my hair the way it is."

"You've had it the same style largely for as long as we've been in school." Danny frowned at that. "That's over half your life. Live a little. Let it grow out if you think short looks bad on you." Even though it didn't on either of his parents, as far as Danny could tell. "Or just do one streak of dyed hair if you don't want to do it all at once."

"I'm not going to go red like Keith did."

That wasn't a no. "I'm a fan of grey or silver," Danny said needlessly, rolling his eyes upwards at his own unstyled grey mop of hair. It felt better that way these days. "And that should go well with blue. If you want low-key there's also some darker green." He nodded at Max's shirt. "That'd be unobtrusive and if you didn't like it… It wouldn't really be too visible for you."

"Now who's swallowed a dictionary," Max replied, and it took Danny a moment to realise why. "I'll think about it, okay? Won't do it this time, but I promise I'll consider it for the next."

Coming from his best friend, that was as good as Danny was going to get. Max kept his promises. "You could talk to Keith too. See what he thought of it. Or thinks… He's doing the streak thing right now, or so he said a few days ago. You were off getting food."

"I notice you're not telling me the colour he went for," Max observed shrewdly, and Danny's lips tugged upwards. "How garish is it?"

Danny had no idea what that word meant, but he could guess at its meaning anyway. "I think he described it as pikachu yellow." Max's revulsion was instinctive and clearly visible. "Yeah, bit too flashy for me. Blond and white are fine, but that?" He exaggerated a face, only slightly. "But whatever he likes, he likes. It's not like we're the boss of him."

"Yeah, that's Jane's job. And I'm still kinda amazed they're still together. Aren't we supposed to be all puppy love and fickle and stuff at our age?"

Danny shrugged. "Ask me again when I've actually had something like a girlfriend recently."

"Ask you after your first year at university, gotcha."

That was probably accurate, but it was also years off, and if Danny had learnt anything in the past few years… It was that trying to look too far ahead wasn't going to work.

Every single plan for having a quiet journey he had ever had were examples one through two hundred and eleven.

~~§~~§~~§~~§~~

It is a little under three weeks until the Silver Conference starts, and the organisation today released the format for this edition. In a surprise move that has sent waves around Johto, the Conference has opted to go with a double group set-up, in which they use a so-called double elimination format twice. Four people are assigned to a group and matched at random. The winners fight each other for direct qualification to the next round, while the losers fight for a second chance against the loser of the winner's match. The winner of that deciding match also qualifies.

The battle format itself remains two on two Doubles in the initial rounds, expanding to three on three Singles until the Full Battles start in the Round of 16, similar to the last two editions.

Author's Note: The Dark-type Gym and a battle in darkness. I might not have realised what I got into when I conceived this, but it was funny to write. Don't think I'll be repeating it, though. Also a pretty quick Gym battle - not at all affected by my realisation of the previous, I assure you.

I did mention, about 60-odds chapters back, that the Silver Conference varied in formats. This one is a double elimination group stage into traditional single knockout.