The stakes were as high as they could get for a research trip as Percival stepped into the library in a half-run, half-speedwalk, just barely skirting the "don't run" rule posted at the front of the library. Staying quiet would be easy, as the only thing more dead silent than the library at this moment was its one current customer. Percival had to focus too much, he couldn't afford to chit-chat. Calling his Pokemon back into their Pokeballs, he immediately went to research everything he could about the local Gym Leader, and found, to his surprise, battle logs of some of the battles that Millard had. Millard, for his part, retorted to Percival. "You know, I kind of regretted making those, so I stopped a while back. It turned battling into this science you had to always plan ten days in advance for. It killed all the fun of the battles. Nowadays, you come in, and are surprised. Heck, I even changed my battle plan entirely, so don't bother with those."

Percival heaved a sigh of defeat, looking for any other information he could, and, with permission from Millard, calling out his Pokemon to help him. Of course, Millard wasn't too happy with a Stufful in his library, but Percival promised to keep Fluffles on his shoulder, so Millard accepted it. With Charles still on searching duty, doing his best to track down the books that were covered with all sorts of recent and different scents, Percival began to jot down notes in his Gym notepad, covering as much as he could from the batte logs. While he couldn't use them for a strategy, he could at least determine one strategy Millard definitely wasn't using. Besides, it was likely this was a bluff from Millard to deter trainers from simply pre-planning their whole battle. Reasonable enough.

"Percy, can I level with you? Going to that Celebi procession would have told you far more about me than any old book. But, let me guess again, you were too busy recharting your journey, weren't you? Well, makes sense. That's the Galfenol way. The forest just chokes up all the trainers too focused on where they're going to see where they are. Enjoy your journey, don't write a thesis paper on me."

Percival nodded, but didn't really take the advice at heart. It worked for some trainers, but he wasn't capable enough without a plan to just make it up on the fly. He had to be prepared for his battles. And Millard's little monologues were giving him all the clues he needed. The battle was clearly going to have some plan about being aware of your surroundings, but how would that translate? Environmental damage? Traps? Grass Knot? It was too loose a thread to cling to. He needed something more defined than that if he was going to pull a win out of his first battle, and he had no clue how he was going to find it. Unless he pried into Millard, but, that would be too obvious, too invasive. No, he'd find out from some information on Millard. That had to be in the library.

His assumption was confirmed as Charles brought back stash after stash of books. Each pile was from a different row, and, while most of it was purely random, there was definitely enough information on nearby bug Pokemon and the bug Gym Leader himself to formulate a plan.

He soon learned a great deal about the middle-aged Gym Leader. Apparently, he, like the rest of his family, was a Celebi shrinekeeper, who found his first Bug Pokemon while tending the shrine. He had a natural synchronization with Bug types, among other tidbits, and used his battles as a way of spiritually growing more in tune with his Pokemon, and urged his opponent to do the same. Giving Charles and Fluffles pats on the head, Percival began to jot down notes. "Well, your bond with your Pokemon is very close. I can appreciate that. If only you had that level of affection for the world around you." Percival safely added "hippie" to the list of descriptors on the Gym Leader.

"You know, Percy, I'm heading to my Gym now. I'll be taking new challengers if they come within the next 30 minutes, but otherwise, I'm going to close it down tonight and not open it up again for about...2 weeks? Yeah, that sounds fun. 2 weeks of books and camping. Hope to see you there!" Percival knew he meant the Gym, but could also have meant the camping. Clever. Almost as clever as the battle plan Percival was now ruminating in his head as he finished up his research, resorted the books, and began to walk to the Gym, the evening about to replace the afternoon.

Pokemon So Far:

Fluffles (Stufful) - Moves: Tackle, Leer, Bide, Brutal Swing; Ability: Fluffy; Level: 19

Charles (Furfrou) - Moves: Headbutt, Growl, Sand Attack, Bady-Doll Eyes; Ability: Fur Coat; Level: 20

AUTHOR'S NOTE - Next time is the Gym battle! I hope we've got enough of an emotional angle to the fight to keep it compelling on all fronts. Thanks for hanging on! Also...I think it's an accidental pattern that every third chapter is going to be half-length.