This story is over, but there are more in the works. Thank you for reading (and for pointing out last week's mistake) and we hope to see you soon.
On an unrelated note, I was very disappointed when the Champion uniform didn't come with a cape.
One year later...
Gloria adjusted her glasses and pulled on her battle glove. The uniform felt strange, even after her Gym challenge. The number 435 (picked at random) on her back, her new team by her side, and she was ready to face the Gym Leader rush.
She'd left her original team behind, giving her parents permission to rent them out for jobs. Her second team was ready, though she did have some doubts about the Ribombee. But she had enough faith in the little bug to get her past her first opponent, Marnie.
The girls met each other on the field, Marnie wearing a different Gym Leader uniform than her brother had but a brighter smile than Gloria had seen before. "Don't think I'll be going easy on you just because we're friends," she warned, and Gloria smiled back.
"I was just about to say the same to you."
"Then let's not talk. Let's just battle."
Marnie sent out her Liepard, and Gloria decided to open with the Ribombee - she'd named her 'Moneybee,' after the Cutiefly had paid for her dirt curry with honey that Gloria had then sold at the Stow-on-Side market.
Moneybee managed to win against Liepard, as Gloria knew she would. The Toxicroak was another story, but that was why Gloria had brought in Batsy the Noivern.
When the battle was over, Gloria victorious once again, they met in the middle as usual. Marnie broke the silence with a question, not a congratulations statement.
"We're still on for the Powerpuff Girls at Victor's next weekend?" she asked, and Gloria laughed.
"Of course," she promised. "I can't believe you've never seen 'Burglar Alarmed,' it's one of the funniest things in animation history."
"Yeah, that's what Victor said."
"Of course, my favorite one was the episode with the small medium at large, but..."
Marnie was already laughing. "That one, I have seen." She shook her friend's hand. "Good luck, Gloria."
Gloria nodded and headed back to the locker room.
Her next opponent was Bede. She hadn't exactly captured anything specific to counter him, but she supposed she should have seen it coming.
If only she had let herself bring Stabitha. But no, she'd decided to have a whole new team for her Gym challenge, starting with the Charmander that Chairman Leon had given her when he officially endorsed her.
Bede did not seem surprised when she sent out Charlie the Charizard to counter the Mawile. He'd gotten used to her nicknaming habits. When Moneybee returned to the field to deal with Rapidash, he rolled his eyes dramatically and took out the Ribombee with one Smart Strike.
But when she still managed to beat him, he didn't even say he went easy on her.
"That was impressive," he said as they shook hands.
"Not bad for a girl who still has to eat food from the dumpsters," Gloria said, and Bede barely suppressed a smile.
"You eat food, do you?" He removed his hand from her grip, and gave her the most serious look he could. "I'm still angry at the loss, Gloria. Make sure you take your friend's title."
"I'll do my best," Gloria promised, which was all she could say about it.
If Bede recognized it as escaping the conversation, he didn't say anything.
Leon was waiting for her in the locker room, standing with the Charizard that had clearly led him there. Gloria removed her glasses and handed them to her own Charizard, who took the stance of seeing-eye lizard as she dragged her hands down her face in exhaustion.
"Don't tell me you're giving up," Leon said, and Gloria grunted.
"I'm not giving up," she protested, taking her glasses back from Charlie. "My mum and dad and Obstagoon actually bought tickets. I need to face Victor. Give the crowd the match they paid for."
"Good. I'd be disappointed if two of the greatest trainers I've ever endorsed didn't give it their all." He held out a fist for a fist-bump, and Gloria granted his request with a shaky smile. "Don't be nervous. Victor's...well, I don't need to tell you that he's strong, but I've seen your new team. He's already registered what Pokémon he'll be using in the match. No matter who wins, this will be a memorable battle."
"Are you going to use it as an excuse to propose to your girlfriend? I'm warning you, I have Hop on standby with a few of our friends."
She emphasized the last word to make it very clear who had been entrusted with Taters until she returned home. And with what Hop had been up to this past year, Leon knew that he didn't want to face his brother at the moment.
"Of all the people you chose to stop a proposal, you picked Hop?"
"He was all I had left," Gloria admitted. "But I know he wouldn't want his best friends to lose their spotlight, so promise me you won't have to make him do it."
"Gloria. You know me better than that."
Which was a clear 'not anymore' if she'd ever heard one.
Upon his officially taking Leon's title, Victor had been given his own version of the Champion's uniform, and had insisted on his own cape. The cape wasn't decorated with sponsorship logos, but it was still flowy and aesthetically pleasing.
As they approached the center, the crowd's cheering was almost deafening. Seeing one of his oldest friends on the other side of the battlefield, the Champion raised a hand. The crowd instantly fell silent at a mere gesture from a teenager, but for once, he seemed oblivious to the power.
"I had a feeling it would be you, Gloria," he said, and she had to smile back. "I've heard about your new team. How you beat Raihan using mostly a Noctowl."
"She didn't act alone," Gloria reminded him.
"Of course she didn't," Victor agreed. "But that's enough talking. The crowd came to see a Championship battle!"
The audience cheered again. Victor wasted no time, and selected his first Pokémon.
He'd known from watching her battles that most of her new team was weak to Rock-types. He thought Drednaw would be the best opener.
He'd forgotten about her Boltund, and that Rock-type moves did neutral damage to Electric-types in return. Two Thunder Fang attacks later, Sparky the Boltund was victorious, and the first round went to the challenger.
Luckily, he had Excadrill for that, and despite Sparky's Crunch attack, she was still capable of an Earthquake that sent the dog back to his master.
Gloria's second choice was Batsy, and the bat dragon made her appearance with a screech that fell just short of being an attack. Dodging Excadrill's Metal Claw, Batsy delivered a Dragon Pulse to the face. Excadrill stayed standing, and Batsy wasn't so lucky with the second Metal Claw, but Excadrill wasn't so lucky with the second Dragon Pulse. But the Noivern wasn't much use at all against Haxorus.
And neither, it turned out, was Moneybee, despite the clear type and speed advantage. When Gloria returned her Ribombee after only two Slash attacks, Victor gave his nearly-down dragon a Full Restore.
This time, Gloria chose Owlivia - the very same Noctowl that had helped her win against Raihan. Owlivia was capable of using Moonblast, and made it through Haxorus attacking. Haxorus went down, and the playing field was almost even once again. Then Victor sent out Corviknight.
Owlivia's attacks barely affected the Steel-type, while Corviknight's attacks all hit for neutral. Gloria wasn't pleased, but couldn't really find any time to switch out for Charlie before Corviknight's attacks hit. Owlivia went down, and out came Charlie. A Flamethrower finally got through Corviknight's Steel-type defenses, and the Champion laughed as the crowd went wild.
"That's great, Gloria," he said, as he picked out a new ball, "but I've been practicing this past year. I've got a new friend that you don't know about."
"You didn't tell me you caught a new Pokémon!" Gloria protested.
Victor shrugged, as if he didn't care that he was very close to losing his title (and his cape) only a year after getting it. "I figured you'd be the one getting through here. And since we saw that half of your team was Flying-type, it didn't take much convincing to get Clobbopus to sit this one out." He tossed the ball. "It's your turn, Toxtricity!"
The yellow-spiked Toxtricity took his place on the field, laughing just like his trainer as he took in the opponent. Gloria, taking advantage of the free swap the round of victory gave her, sent out something that would, type-wise, bring it to a draw. "It's your turn, Carrie!"
As the Rapidash appeared on the field, in all her multicolored beauty, Victor nodded, having been given the answer to a question he never asked. "After a carousel, am I right?"
Gloria nodded happily, and called for a Psybeam. Victor immediately called for Poison Jab.
Two super-effective attacks, only one could win. It was only thanks to a critical hit that Toxtricity managed to win, and Charlie was called back out.
Gloria wasted no time, Gigantamaxing the first chance she got, and took Toxtricity down with one G-Max Wildfire. When Dash was summoned to be Victor's last partner, he wasted no time and Dynamaxed immediately.
Two giant, powerful attacks collided. Two giant, powerful Pokémon gave their all. But, in the end, Victor managed to keep his title only because Charlie's gimmick wore off first, leaving Dash to overpower the weakened Charizard.
As the old friends met in the center of the field, Victor held his hand out first. "That was intense," he said, a genuine compliment. "I didn't think it would come down to half of Dash's health left. Well done."
"You had the home field advantage," Gloria taunted, laughing along. "That usually helps. We know this from the trip to Alola, don't we?"
"Don't bring Alola into this!" Victor snapped, though he was much less angry than he seemed. "Alola was a mistake."
"Didn't she insist on wearing your cape?"
"Stop talking about it." Any Champion would be embarrassed at a six-to-two loss, even against a trainer of their own rank, and especially if the opposing Champion posted it online for all to see and wore his cape around her region for the rest of his stay. He was only grateful that the match hadn't been official.
Gloria did stop talking about it. And, when they returned to the locker room together, before heading off to the separated changing areas, Gloria gave him an idea: "Alola may have been a mistake, but I hear Paldea has a new Champion-rank trainer. If you want to see what that's about."
That was a terrible idea. "I'm in."
Teams:
Gloria: Charlie (Charizard) Moneybee (Ribombee) Carrie (Rapidash) Batsy (Noivern) Sparky (Boltund) Owlivia (Noctowl)
Victor: Dash (Cinderace) Drednaw, Excadrill, Haxorus, Corviknight, Toxtricity