"Third gym badge, no limit on switching, advanced team, go!" The referee shouted, the challenger quivered in anticipation, Glen to the outside world was still essentially a mystery, and he had no idea what the gym leader could throw at him.

The challenger released their beginning Pokémon, a large furret, whilst leader Glen released their first.

"Haunter, go!" Leader Glen shouted out, unlike the other gym leaders who had type specialty and had several battle recordings, you could sort of predict what Pokémon they had, but with a generalist gym leader like Glen, who also was just appointed, it was impossible to predict what Pokémon he could've possibly had.

He frowned, "Furret! Agility and Bite!"

The Furret dashed at the Haunter with incredible speed, leaping into the air, "Haunt, stite!"

The challenger's eyes widened, "stite? Is that a custom command!?"

The Haunter fired a sludge bomb, "Protect!"

The furret was engulfed in a protective, green shield that shielded itself against the wave of sludge which crashed against it.

The Haunter swayed to the left, dodging the bite attack, before firing off a sludge bomb, the challenger quickly realized Furret was at an immense disadvantage, "Furret! Return!" He shouted out the instant furret was slammed by the attack.

"Wartortle! Start with a bubble beam! Withdraw if needed!"

Glen narrowed his eyes, as he quickly changed into a more serious posture, "Haunt, nasty plot into shadow ball!"

The Wartortle fired the bubble beam, as Haunter continued to stimulate its brain, unfazed as it increased its special attacking power, the bubble beam collided against the Haunter, and the challenger shook his head in confusion…

"Did…he just let his Haunter get hit-?"

His eyes widened, as an…outer shell? Dissipated, revealing the real Haunter, "It was a substitute!"

The Haunter grinned maniacally, before firing a shadow ball at the Wartortle, who sunk back into its shell, before being struck by the powerful sphere of otherworldly energy, before being hurled at the psychic barriers.

"Now, toxic spikes and then sludge bombs!"

"Wartortle, retaliate with a bubble beam and bite!"

The turtle Pokémon fired the bubble beam, the ray of bubbles however completely missed Haunter, who then fired a barrage of sludge bombs, the waves of sludge spilling all over the battleground, "Dodge!"

It was too late, as the Wartortle was engulfed by the pile of sludge, "Protect!"

Glen smiled softly, "Protect, eh? That move does have a hefty charge-up time, and is tiring on the user…"

"Phantom force!"

Wartortle shielded himself with a bright green protective shield, but the shield quickly dissipated as the turtle Pokémon couldn't maintain it, and Haunter disappeared, before slamming Wartortle in the back with a phantom force, "Toxic!"

Haunter cackled, before releasing an array of sludges, the toxins injected into the Wartortle, "Swap out, Haunt!"

The challenger grunted he wasn't expecting it to be this difficult, leader Glen was known for his unorthodox strategies, sometimes even outright petty, but this was unexpected.

"With toxic spikes, swapping Wartortle would be dangerous…"

"Lairon, go!"

Glen smirked, "So, what should it be, challenger?"

The challenger frowned, "Wartortle…"

"Return."

"Drilbur, start it off with a dig!" The challenger shouted, releasing the Drilbur, who was instantly poisoned, the toxins being injected into its body from the toxic spikes littered around the ground.

"Stealth Rock and Iron defense!"

Lairon readied itself, before firing dozens of rocks, hidden on the battlefield, the Drilbur instantly dug a hole and was underground, as Lairon prepared its body and it was encased in a bright, piercing light, the light slowly faded, as the Drilbur slammed the Lairon with its claws as it shot out the ground, "take down!"

The Lairon gritted its teeth, before being encased in a bright, white light and slamming against the Drilbur, who sputtered in pain as it was knocked away, "Mud slap and metal claw!"

The Drilbur winced in pain as it felt the toxins take effect, before throwing mud at the Lairon, which only served as a distraction, before leaping at it, its sharp claws glowing a bright white, before being slammed against the Lairon's iron-hard armor, "Slam em'!"

The Drilbur groaned in pain as it was slammed away again, this time by the tail of the Lairon, "tch, normally Drilbur should've been able to react to that!"

It was getting progressively difficult for Drilbur to maintain battle with Lairon, the toxins were getting more powerful, and the takedown and tail slam from Lairon did a good deal against the mole.

"I forfeit Drilbur from the match!" The challenger shouted, Glen smiled again, "Good, I was worried you would let your Drilbur continue to fight, toxins of a Haunter are no joke."

"Wartortle, come in and bubble beam!"

The Wartortle was swapped back in, Glen narrowed his eyes in mild surprise, before grinning.

The Wartortle was instantly slammed by the stealth rocks, repulsing from the pain and the toxins taking effect once again, but the Wartortle hastily retaliated with a bubble beam, "Lairon isn't fast enough to dodge that!"

Lairon was slammed by the bubble beam…

"Finish it!"

Glen smirked, "Lairon, sandstorm!"

A gust of wind and sand suddenly formed, as the Lairon was slammed by another bubble beam, "Again!"

The Wartortle winced as the toxins continued to take effect, before firing another bubble beam, suddenly, the massive gust of wind and sand kicked up even harder, until a complete sandstorm was formed, the bubble beam barely connected with Lairon, knocking it out.

"Good job, Lairon…"

"Pupitar, stomping tantrum!"

The Challenger's eyes widened in shock, as the Pupitar materialized on the field, "Wartortle, return!" The challenger called out, "I forfeit Wartortle for this match!"

Glen nodded accordingly, "Good, now, let's see how strong that furret of yours is!"

"Go…"

"Zoroark."

The Zoroak appeared, as toxins were instantly injected into it, and the stealth rock harassed it upon release, it winced in pain but remained standing, albeit a bit wobbly.

A grin ran across Glen's face, as he quivered in excitement, "Oh-ho! I gotta say, I was not expecting that…"

"I was wondering why you swapped out that furret of yours so quickly, it was because when it was hit by the sludge bomb, it meant its illusion would disperse, and that way…"

"You can keep it a secret that you had a Zoroark, instead of a Furret." Glen explained, the challenger nodded.

"Mmm, alrighty, let's see how you adapt to this!l

The Pupitar suddenly leaped into the air, before slamming to the ground, repeatedly, tremors broke out, as the Zoroark stumbled, Glen analyzed the movements of the Zoroark, "Hm, judging by its unusual movement, likely freshly evolved."

"Dark pulse!"

The Zoroark released a wave of pulsating energy, as Pupitar winced in pain," Ocksi, trum!"

"More custom commands?!"

Suddenly, a wave of rocks came crashing down, as Zoroark fired another dark pulse, "Protect! l

A green protective shield encased Zoroark, which managed to block the wave of boulders that crashed against it, the shield dissipated, and Pupitar leaped into the air and slammed against the ground, causing another tremor that knocked Zoroark off-balance, crashing against the floor and groaning in pain and agony.

Glen grinned, "Earlier, Zoroark demonstrated it knew to protect against Haunter, and Stomping Tantrum had doubled the damage if the previous move failed, in other words, If he didn't use protection, he would've been slammed by a rock slide, and stomping tantrum, but if he did, he would've been struck by a doubled damage stomping tantrum!"

Zoroark was also still poisoned, so this was a definite win for Pupitar, the sandstorm also continued to harass it, while providing buffs for Pupitar.

"I forfeit!" The challenger called out through the microphone, and Glen nodded accordingly.

"Good job, believe it or not, that was a much more advanced team than your average third gym team." Glen explained, "This gym's goal is to push trainers and force them to adapt, I don't just award my gym badges based on wins, if you win, you sure as hell get one, but if you adapt and perform well for the strenuous situation you are in, especially against such an advanced team…"

He grinned, "I think you are more than capable enough to be awarded the Viridian gym badge!"

The challenger's eyes widened in shock, "You chose the clear-cut decisions throughout the entire battle, adapted, and played well, all against a team that was out of your league."

"I purposefully chose this team, because the strength of it is around that of a fourth badge advanced team so that I can place pressure against any challengers, and award them based on their adaptive performance, instead of just purely on wins." Glen explained, "That's why I think you are worthy of this gym badge."

Glen handed over the gym badge, it was a gray, metallic star, a simple color, and badge(it was the best he could come up with).

The challenger squealed in excitement, thanking him, "Wait-"

"I hand over to you…"

"The substitute technical machine!"

After the gym closed

He browsed the forums, as he saw that he now had a specially designated thread mark, all to discuss his battles.

He grinned as he saw the forums go batshit insane before he had shown he was a competent trainer, but it seems everyone was raving over his recent performance with his "strategy".

ExpressionChaos(veteran trainer) "The first match wasn't much talk, aside from the fact he has a fucking Pupitar, but his third match against that kid with a Haunter was INSANE, his usage of stealth rock and spikes was something I've never seen before, and also, the constant switching is so exciting to watch! "

NanaKainsa(ranger) "I disagree with your opinion on the first match, during the first match the usage of spikes and stealth rock was also quite brilliant, stealth rock and spikes are really rare moves, and the usage of substitute is even more insane, substitute is a really difficult move to master after all and can be highly dangerous."

LeiaKemine(Professional Coordinator): "His Pokemon showed an air of professionalism, in my opinion, he seems to be a great fit for a gym leader."

ExpressionChaos(veteran trainer) "Shut up you stupid Coordinator, nobody asked for your opinion in a discussion about trainers and battling."

Glen rolled his eyes as he scrolled through a massive wall of messages of just the two going back and forth, and eventually, they had to be stopped by moderators.

After a while of scrolling through the messages, he ended up swelling with pride, most of the reactions to his first day as a gym leader were positive, and it seems his immense knowledge about battling and strategy came in real handy.

Glen then replayed the footage of each battle, he was still ecstatic about his first day of accepting challenges, he got a hefty amount, and he was happy, and he couldn't repeat it enough.

His end goal was to cause an influx of competitive strategies to take over modern Pokémon battling, substitute, spikes, toxic spikes, stealth rock, and especially items that were very rarely used right now, and he wanted to take full advantage of that to revolutionize battling.

But, his other goal was to also just….live out life, as a gym leader, inspiring the younger generations, and utilizing bullshit strategies.

He planned on using stall teams for some of his higher-tier battles, it was one of the reasons why he allowed infinite switching, that way trainers could show how adaptive they were through their switching and swapping, and he could force them into situations previously unthinkable.

The battles today were pretty simple, mostly just basic usage of hazard effects and weather, but he planned on taking it to the extreme, with competitive items, and he also planned on giving the option to higher-tier battles…

for a double battle.

Just imagining the possibilities, it was endless!

The wacky strategies he could make, the competitively viable Pokémon he could create…

All of it was under his firm grasp and his brain.

With his extensive knowledge of Pokémon competitive…

He was to reform the entire Pokémon world, he would be world-famous-

Glen was suddenly broken from his thoughts, as he heard someone enter his room.

"Leader Hilton-"

"Ah, Jas!" Glen exclaimed as the brown-haired woman smiled softly at his call, "Congrats on the smooth first day, by the way!"

Jasmine was the second-in-command of the Viridian gym right now, "It must be tough to be the successor to Blue Oak of all people."

Glen laughed sheepishly, "Don't worry, Leader Oak left me with some hefty instructions on how to run a gym, and I have some tricks up my sleeve to entice the world…"

"I did see a lot of people raving about your usage of substitute, you used it brilliantly in almost all of your battles," Jasmine commented, as her Kadabra floated several packages and unwrapped them.

"Oh please, my ego is already inflated and you aren't helping." Glen chuckled, and Jasmine grinned, "Yeah, it was a massive pain in the ass to convince those massive company freaks to start manufacturing substitute technical machines."

Jasmine scoffed, "I still don't get why you chose that move specifically."

Glen grinned, "Ha! From my experience, substitute is quite possibly the most useful move of them all!"

"Quite the bold claim, hm?" Jasmine responded, and Glen stood up from his chair, "The current competitive world is very centered around Pokémon training and leveling your Pokémon to the strongest of their capabilities…"

"There you go again, speaking of 'leveling' as if you are talking about a game…" Jasmine grumbled, Glen, smiled sheepishly, "Oh, shut up!"

Jasmine motioned for him to continue, "I want to reform the current Pokémon battling to be more centered around status moves, such as substitute, switching, and strategy…"

"Alongside held items."

Jasmine perked up at that, "Held items?"

"Yep, like the focus sash, choice items, and Life Orb." Glen smirked, "The world has no idea just how powerful those items are, even the simplest of berries can shift the entire competitive scheme…"

"You sure are quite the odd fellow, hm?" Jasmine commented, "You are the only person I know who refers to Pokémon battling as competitive Pokémon."

"Old habits die hard…"

"Well, I won't comment any further." Jasmine stated, before motioning to Kadabra to unbox the final packages, "Ta-dah! This is the brand new PC, gym equipment, and more!"

Glen smiled, "Thank you so much!"

Jasmine grinned back, "No sweat! Alter here can handle anything!"

Kadabra nodded back, smiling softly.

"Oh yeah, who's the third-in-command now?" Glen asked, and Jasmine suddenly paled.

"A-ah… well, you see.."

Glen frowned, "We…don't have one?"

Jasmine nodded.

"Who…are the candidates?"

"There are none."

Glen's eyes widened in shock, "You mean…?"

"I forgot to notify the other gym trainers that we are selecting a new third-in-command."

"Jesus Christ…" Glen muttered to himself, rubbing his temples.

"Who?"

Glen shook Jasmine off, "Nevermind, pretend I said nothing."

"So…erm-"

"Don't you dare try to dodge this?" Glen said dryly, before stretching and exiting the room.

"Come with me, idiot."

Hours later…

"Alright, listen up, gym trainers, after a while of evaluating our options, we have decided to elect…"

"Sakiko," Jasmine barged in, Glen scowled as he was pushed backward, "Now, ignore this silly mistake, and speak none of it! And if you do, blame it on Glen!"

Glen tried to defend himself but was suddenly judged by Jasmine, the woman grinned, and shushed him.

Sakiko was a seemingly petite fellow, he was considerably shorter than Glen and had straight blond hair, he smirked as he stepped from the small crowd of gym trainers.

"Leader Hilton, I am proud to be in this position…" Sakiko started, "And in light of both of our newly arisen statuses, would it be too much to ask…"

"For a battle?"

A crazed grin spread across Glen's face, "Heh, instantly challenging the leader, hm?"

Sakiko stood his ground, peering up at Glen, who seemed amused as he played with the idea of accepting the challenge, "Sakiko Ito, correct?"

He nodded, and Glen smirked, "I refuse."

The teenager's eyes widened in shock at his blatant refusal, before opening his mouth only to be stopped by Jasmine, "Leader Hilton has made up his mind, and will not be accepting any objections."

The crowd of gym trainers quickly dispersed and was dismissed for the day.

Glen and Jasmine remained at the gym for a little longer to clean off some of the dust from the older rooms that Leader Blue left completely unsupervised.

And it was here that Jasmine decided to ask a question, "May I ask, but why did you deny Sakiko's offer to battle? Seems out of character for you."

Glen grinned, "The current media is going crazy, as the new generation of gym leaders have slowly stepped to the forefront all across the world, they have been trying to pry and squeeze every last bit of information possible."

Jasmine nodded along, as Glen continued dusting the boxes, "Out of all of them, I am the one that is shrouded in the biggest mystery." He admitted, even if it might have sounded arrogant, he knew it was true.

"All of the other, new gym leaders had these sappy and flashy backgrounds with extraordinary performances before they rose to power, the perfect example is Brock's successor only five months ago, Houseki Saito, who won the silver conference, served as a division commander in his days as an ace trainer and was taught by Brock himself." Glen explained, "In fact, the only other new gym leader here in Kanto or Johto that was promoted from a second-in-command is the successor to Sabrina, Kiyo Tanaka, and he had a very long history of stellar psychic powers and conference rankings."

Glen analyzed the expression on Jasmine's face, she was stoic and seemed to follow along with him, so he continued, this time a grin spreading across Glen.

"Now that we got that out of the way, a basic background check of me, you will find out I'm not that impressive." Glen stated, "Placed in the top sixteen, and rose to second-in-command of the gym, but second-in-command doesn't mean you just…turn into a gym leader."

"What I am doing is I am playing with the media." He concluded, "I just explained why I am shrouded in some mystery, and I want to take advantage of that, you see, it is league regulation that all official challenges to the gym leader be broadcasted, and Sakiko's declaration was definitely an official challenge."

Jasmine narrowed her eyes, "I think I'm starting to get it."

"If I were to reveal my true power and cards here because I'll probably have to put in some effort against Sakiko, he's not that weak, I think he can give you a run for your money." Glen commented as Jasmine rolled her eyes, "Back to what I was saying- By fighting him, I would need to reveal a good chunk of my cards."

Glen smirked, "In case you didn't know, my fighting style's charm wears off after a few battles, so I need to entice the media with my mysterious power, and revealing them this early on could prove detrimental to that cause."

Jasmine sighed, "You know…you could've just said that singular sentence, instead of going through that massive ramble, right?"

He scoffed, "I wanted it dramatic."

"Is that the same reason why you are doing this entire mind game with the media?'

He smiled softly at that comment, "No, you got it wrong, Jasmine, I don't do it for the dramatic effect, I do it because I want to leave a stronger imprint."

She spunk in confusion at that, and motioned for him to continue, "My goal isn't to be the strongest, my goal is to completely morph this world's entire perception of battling."

"By playing those mind games with the media, I can make a larger splash when I do go all in, and leave the competitive landscape…"

"Completely crushed."

Glen smirked, as Jasmine suddenly chuckled, "You know, despite all this, you still are awfully dramatic."

He blinked, before scoffing, "Someone like you that doesn't understand the beauty of an opportunity will never identify my ingenious."

"Sounds like your ego is hurt."

He twitched at the comment, "You know I have complete authority over your salary, as long as I put it above min wage, right?"

"Sorry, sir."