The Brothers of Striaton

"Hello, esteemed challenger! Welcome to the Striaton Gym! My name is Clyde, and I am the guide for Trainers challenging this pokémon Gym. Now, if I may see your Trainer Card…"

He earns a wary look from the "esteemed challenger."

"Ah, don't worry, it's only standard protocol," he reassures.

He smiles politely and takes the card from the trainer's stiff hand.

"Trainer cards are a valuable thing; many are desperate to get their hands on one," he continues, pulling out a device from his pocket. He holds the trainer's card a couple of inches away from the device in his other hand. It emanates a blue light at the card.

"Actually, I once encountered a guy who had stolen someone else's card! He didn't even notice that the person he had stolen it from was a girl around your age; goes to show how lax establishments have become at checking ID," He chuckles in disbelief and shakes his head. "But I digress. I'm currently scanning your card so that this battle is in your records. Your challenge goes down in our records, too, and as soon as your card's been scanned, the gym leaders will be able to identify their next challenger and assess your skill level. Pretty cool, right?"

The teen seems mildly interested.

"Alright, looks like we're done here, Ms…" he peers at the screen of the device, "...Whitelea," he finishes, holding the card out to her. She wordlessly takes it from him. He continues to peruse the screen's contents. An excited smile suddenly breaks out on his face. "Ah, it appears as if this is your first gym battle!"

She nods stiffly.

"That explains the nerves; you seemed much more confident yesterday. You were with the boy who confronted the gym leaders, correct? Harvey Douglas' son?"

"Yeah."

"Here, take this," he grabs a bottle of water from a nearby table and holds it out to her. "It'll help keep your pokémon replenished, too."

Andrea eagerly snatches the bottle, hastily opens it, and chugs more than half of its contents.

Clyde heartily laughs. "Whoa, slow down there! Wouldn't want you to drown on the property!"

Andrea brings the water away from her lips, leans forward and thoroughly exhales. She brings the back of her hand to her mouth and wipes off the excess liquid.

"So, uh, now what?" She asks, trying to play off her nervousness.

"One of the basic and most significant elements of pokémon battles is the relationship between types," Clyde begins. "If you choose pokémon with effective types and effective moves, victory is just a step away! In Striaton's Gym, you will encounter rooms with a curtain and three tiles. The tiles act as switches that will open the curtains, allowing you to progress. You must choose the switch with the type that is effective against the pokémon type shown on the curtain in order."

Andrea's face scrunches up.

"It'll make more sense once you see it. Good luck, Ms. Whitelea."

The maroon curtain in front of her separates elegantly in one fluid motion. A blue tile with a teardrop, a green tile with a leaf, and a red tile with a flame drawn onto it is revealed. Another curtain lies just behind the tiles; it is deep blue, decorated with a teardrop embellishment perfectly centered on the cloth.

Andrea shifts westwards and curiously stepped onto the green tile. The curtains fly open. Another set of tiles lie ahead; ground, fire, and electric. The curtain ahead is yellow with a lightning bolt emblazoned on the center. She steps onto the ground tile, confidently, only to be confronted with yet another room, more tiles, and another curtain. But now she's a little stumped.

The new curtain is pitch black, featuring a design of an almost full moon. There is an identically designed tile in the center of the room. Two pink tiles—one more purple than the other, with an illustrated eye staring directly at Andrea—lie on either side of it.

"What the…"

She eventually deciphers the symbols: the curtain must represent dark types because...well, it's dark...the purple tile is psychic because of the whole "mind's eye" thing, and the pink tile must be fairy because...it's cute?

"Shit, I should've studied type dynamics…" she sighs and stares intensely at the tiles. "Fairy can't be super-effective against dark...it just wouldn't make sense…" Andrea murmurs to herself, cradling her chin in thought. "And dark can't be super effective against itself, so that must mean…"

She holds her breath and steps on the purple tile, readying herself for the curtain to open or for a secret panel on the ground to open up underneath her and lead her down a slide that would send her back to the front...or something.

But nothing happens.

Andrea rapidly blinks in confusion. She steps on and off the same tile multiple times.

Nothing.

"Uh, alright...I guess I'll try fairy?"

As soon as she steps on the pink tile, the curtains divide. Her eyes immediately focus on a waitress standing in front of the next curtain.

"Ready for your first course?" the uniform-clad woman quips, mesmerizingly tossing a poké ball up into the air and habitually catching it.

"Uh, what?"

"A battle!" The stranger exclaims. "You didn't really think it'd be that easy to reach the Gym Leaders, did you?"

Andrea's eyebrows furrow in determination. She looks down at Kai, and they both nod in silent agreement. The otter Pokemon leaps forward, separating Andrea from her challenger.

Andrea closes her eyes and inhales. This is real. Don't get cocky. Believe in Kai and Bernie.

Opening her eyes, she fearlessly meets the gaze of the waitress.

"Well?" Andrea smirks. "What're you waiting for?"

Cheren is down to his last pokémon.

"Come on Snivy, we still have a chance!"

Andrea's cheeks are flushed with excitement. "Kai, you can handle this, right?"

The otter pokémon squeals in affirmation and stands tall in the face of his foe.

"Nice! Use tackle!"

"Snivy, dodge it and use wrap!"

Snivy leaps into the air mere moments before Kai collided into her. Oshawott, riddled with confusion, turns to Andrea in hopes she would have a solution.

"Look out!"

Snivy comes crashing down onto Kai. While Kai struggles to regain footing, Snivy wraps her tail around him. Kai freezes in panic as breathing becomes more of a struggle with each passing second.

"Shit!"

Kai yelps in distress as he helplessly tries to wriggle out of Snivy's bind.

"Kai, try to find some wiggle room and use water gun!"

"Ha!" Cheren smirks. "Good luck with that."

"Shut up! Come on Kai, you can do it!"

During the brief quarrel, Snivy's grip had slightly loosened at the sound of her owner's voice. Kai manages to twist around and squirt a water attack into Snivy's eyes. He sprints back to Andrea's side, chest heaving with exhaustion.

"You good?"

Kai nods reluctantly.

"Alright. Let's try tail whip!"

"Snivy, vine whip!"

Before the oshawott can even leap into the air, Snivy lands a harsh blow. Kai is knocked to the ground instantly, trembling terribly as he tries to stand up.

"Kind of impetuous to use a Pokémon with a type disadvantage, isn't it?" Cheren says.

Andrea kneels down and picks up her nearly unconscious partner. "Let's take a break, ok buddy?" She then returns Kai to his poké ball, brings out a different poké ball, and exclaims, "Alright Bernie, show 'em what you've got!"

Cheren's face pales at the materialization of the fire-type pokémon. He dares not look Andrea in the eye—he could feel her confident smirk beaming across the battlefield.

"Bernie, use Incinerate!"

"Snivy, don't let that touch you!"

Snivy dashes to the side of the oncoming attack. The fire grazes by the left side of her body, burning her significantly.

"Damn it, Snivy!" Cheren hisses. "Use tackle!"

Andrea doesn't have time to warn Bernie as Snivy lunges into him. Bernie only stumbles; Snivy is weak, so she lingers for a second too long near the fire-type monkey.

"Bernie, scratch!"

With one quick swipe, Bernie slashes Snivy's torso, causing Snivy to buckle under her knees and fall to the floor. Cheren recalls her back to a poké ball wordlessly.

"Isn't it a bit impetuous to use a pokémon with a type disadvantage, Cheren?"

"It's not like I had a choice!" He yells.

"Woah, sorry," Andrea holds up her hands in mock surrender. "I was just playing around. I think that was a really exciting battle! You gave me and my team a tough time."

"How can you defeat me so easily?"

"What?"

"How can...how can you be that much stronger than me?" He exclaims. "It's not like you've beaten the gym leaders yet; we should be equals in strength!"

"I—I don't know..." she confesses.

Cheren turns away. "Losing to you means that I still have a lot to learn."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Like I said, we should be equals in strength; for someone who's too rash for their own good, you beat me way too easily. See you around."

"Hey, wait—" she steps forward to reach out to him, to stop him.

But he keeps walking.

Bernie climbs up Andrea's shoulder and looks at her curiously as she watches her friend storm off into the distance. She sighs forcefully, her whole body relaxing from all of the tension the battle had brought about. After his figure disappears beyond her line of sight, she turns away, traveling towards the pokémon center to give her partners a well-deserved and needed rest.

Andrea finds herself in front of yet another curtain. She's starting to get annoyed with this gym setup and worried that her pokémon would be too tired from the various battles to face the gym leaders.

But there's no turning back now.

This curtain's puzzle is simple: a green curtain with a leaf embroidered, and a water, fire, and grass tile. Andrea is about to step on the fire tile when she hears voices murmuring behind the curtain.

"Fucking hell, that...us really...everywhere, huh?"

"Um...things are...suppose..."

"...all...Anise? Come on!"

"...of you need...down. There's..."

Andrea picks up Kai and holds him out at arm's length. "I really shouldn't be doing this, huh?" She whispers.

Her pokémon cocks his head to the side.

"No, you're right. It's not my fault that I happen to be here when they're talking about something serious."

She pulls Kai into her chest and steps closer to the curtain, barely sidestepping the correct tile. She stands on her tiptoes to avoid placing any weight on the tile, for there is not much space in between each of the tiles. Despite the quieting of their voices, Andrea can still make out some words:

"...A girl…"

"Do you…"

"..."

"No fucking way!"

The voice is shushed.

There is an audible sigh.

"We'll...prof—"

With a loud swish, the curtains roll open.

Andrea had lost her balance and stepped on the correct tile. She freezes. Three young men—the owners of the voices—also freeze. They are each the deerling to each other's headlights.

Silence drags on for an eternity.

"W-Welcome to the Striaton Pokemon Gym!" One of the men stammers, transitioning into a flamboyant pose. He has grass green hair and a matching bow tie. Andrea notices that all of the men are wearing waiter uniforms.

"I'm Chili!" The red-head exclaims, able to act like nothing odd had happened with ease. "I heat up the battlefield with fire-type pokémon! I'm the youngest of us brothers!"

Andrea's eyes widen. "Brothers?!"

"That's right!" Chili exclaimed.

"But…"

"I'm Cress, and I'm a water type trainer," The brother with blue hair coolly intervenes. "I am the oldest of us. Pleased to make your acquaintance.

"O-Oh, thanks." Andrea finds her face heating up, soon forgetting about her questions as to how they could be brothers, like how are you brothers if you have different hair and eye colors, and is your hair natural because how can your eyes match your hair? And Chili, how can you have red irises? Those must be contacts, right?

"And my name is Cilan! I'm the middle-child, right smack in the middle of our trio!" Cilan descends down the platform he and his brothers stand on with uncanny grace. "I prefer grass type pokémon," he said as he approaches Andrea. "And you are…?"

So entranced with the gym leader brothers is she that Cilan has to clear his throat for Andrea to come back into focus. Her face reddens.

"M-Me?" She gulps. "W-Well, I'm A-Andrea. Andrea Whit-Whitelea. I'm from Nuvema, so, like, nowhere, basically." She laughs sheepishly.

"Nice to meet you, Andrea from nowhere."

Andrea giggles. Maybe this whole gym thing isn't so bad after all...

"You see, the reason why there's three of us is because…um, well how do I say it?"

"Oh enough of your babbling!" Chili interrupts impatiently. Cilan glares at him. "The reason why all three of us brothers are here so we'll decide whom you'll battle! The person you'll battle will depend on the type your starter pokémon is."

"That is indeed the case." Cress continues in a calm tone. "If I'm correct in assuming that oshawott is your first pokémon, then you will be battling Cilan."

"No hard feelings," Cilan begins confidently, "but me and my Grass-type Pokémon are going to battle come what may."

"Really Cilan? You're too polite! Are you going to battle her or ask her out?" Chili teases.

Andrea blushes.

"Chili, please!" Cilan retorts. Chili only cackles in response, much to Cilan's embarrassment and Cress' chagrin.

"Anyways," Cilan says, turning his focus back to Andrea, "I'll, um, put everything I've got into being, you know…your opponent." Cilan stammers. Chili slaps his forehead and Cress chuckles to himself.

"Ok, let's do this!" Andrea exclaims, sensing that she was going to have to take initiative. "Go Kai!"

"Osha!" Kai responds happily and dashes onto the battlefield.

"O-oh, alright, go Lillipup!" Cilan throws the pokéball forward and the puppy pokémon bursts out.

"Kai, use water gun!" Andrea points to Cilan's lillipup. Cress's analytical eyes bore into his younger brother as Chili watches Andrea with curiosity. The jet of water forcefully hits Lillipup and sends it flying into the gym's wall.

"Oh no! My Pokemon!" He exclaims. "It's ok Lillipup, we can do this! Use bite!"

"Be careful, Kai!"

Lillipup quickly gets up on its feet and shakes off the lingering water. The tiny pokémon scurries forward and latches its teeth into Kai, causing the otter pokémon to scream in pain as he tries to pull his arm out of Lillipup's bite.

"Try to pivot to the left and use tail whip!" Andrea shouts.

Kai nods through the pain. He jumps into the air and swirls his body around just enough to slap the lillipup across the back of its head with his blue tail. Lillipup releases its hold on Kai and turns around, cluelessly looking for who had hit it.

"Lillipup, no!" Cilan groans as he watches the puppy pokémon get distracted by its own tail.

"Kai, water gun!" Andrea commands. Her partner obeys, squirting out yet another powerful stream of water at the puppy pokémon.

This time, it takes longer for Lillipup to stand up and feebly shake itself dry.

"Come on Lillipup! Use tackle!"

"Kai, dodge it!"

Lillipup, left weak from the battle, is too slow to hit Oshawott.

"Ok Kai, use tackle!"

"Watch out!"

Kai all but throws himself at the puppy pokémon, leaving it too weak to get up again.

"Good job Lillipup. Return." Cilan holds out his poké ball, and within seconds Lillipup materializes into it.

"Kai! That was amazing!" Andrea shouts. She gleefully squats down and holds out her arms as her oshawott leaps towards her. "You're so talented!"

Kai responds by purring into his owners chest.

"Hey, um, it's not over yet, so I'm gonna send out my other pokémon if you don't mind!" Cilan exclaims.

"Oh my ARCEUS, Cilan, would you just get on with it?" Chili rolls his eyes.

"Pansage, let's turn this battle around!" Cilan sends out a green monkey pokémon.

"Ok Kai, why don't you take a break? You worked really hard," Andrea murmurs. Besides, I think we learned our lesson from Cheren…

Oshawott beams at her and squeals in gratitude.

"Alright Bernie, let's give it a shot!"

"Pansage, use scratch!"

"Bernie, use incinerate!"

"Wait, Pansage!"

But Cilan's warning comes too late. As Pansage lunges towards Bernie, Bernie delivers a destructive blow. Pansage comes out of the fire all but burnt to a crisp.

"No!"

Pansage wobbles for a few moments, but remains standing.

"Ok Bernie, finish—"

Pansage falls to the floor, unable to battle. Andrea stares in shock at the gym leader's fainted pokémon. Are we really that powerful?

"Er...I suppose that's it?" Cilan responds sheepishly, seemingly unbothered by his pokémon's state. "Pansage, return."

Andrea's eyes widen. Oshawott jumps up and down on her shoulder in excitement while Bernie stands at her feet, merely smiling softly. We did it… "We did it...You guys, we did it!" Andrea exclaims, picking up both of her pokémon as she twirls them around in a circle.

"…What a pleasant surprise," Cilan states, slowly approaching the blissful challenger. "You are not only incredibly strong, but refreshingly kind as well." Cilan pauses for a moment. "Seems like not even Chili or Cress could beat you…"

"Oh wow, um...thanks," Andrea replies bashfully, unable to bring her eyes up from the floor.

Her attention is pulled back to Cilan when he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a shiny object. It's glossy and gleams under the harsh lights of the gym like crystals. Three diamond shaped figures—blue, red, and green—are vertically lined on top of each other; they are surrounded by a border of gold.

"Congratulations, Miss Andrea. I award you with the Trio Badge."

Andrea takes the badge from his hand. For a brief moment, when their hands touch, the image of Cilan's pansage flashes in Andrea's mind.

"Gym badges are proof of your abilities." Cilan explains. "In the Unova region, my brothers and I...we're still novice Gym Leaders." Cilan continues as Andea slips the badge into a pocket of her bag. "That means that you and I both need to train a lot harder to improve, because the other Gym Leaders are a lot stronger than we are."

Andrea nods, trying to push the pervasive image of the injured pansage out of her head. It was replaced with an image of her oshawott instead, unmoving and bruised. And then she saw something terrible—a boy leaning over a Pokémon that lay in a dark pool of blood.

That was definitely not my imagination...I SAW that boy...

"Um, are you alright?" Cilan asks, noticing Andrea's pale face.

"Y-yes, I'm fine."

"Allow me to walk you out, Miss Andrea."

The color slowly floods back into Andrea's face. "Thanks."

Hand hovering over her shoulder, Cilan guides Andrea out of the gym and into the warm springtime air that sings with life.

"Will you be alright?"

"I think so. Thanks again for helping me out. And thanks for the battle! It was…" she gulps, tries to steady her voice, "fun!"

"Of course. Take care of yourself, please." He takes her hand and plants a chaste kiss atop the back of it.

Andrea's face turns a scarlet red. "Y-Y-Yeah, of course, you too." She squeaks out.

She remains in front of the gym for a while, processing all that has happened, before walking away with a newfound lightness.

"What the FUCK did you just do?"

Cilan jumps, turning around to meet his brothers face-to-face.

"Care to explain?" Cress, the most level-headed of the trio, interrogates.

"She, um...probably overheard part of our conversation," Cilan states. "She seemed out of it when I gave her the badge so, uh, hopefully what I did will distract her for long enough to, uh...forget...We, um, can't have outsiders knowing important gym businesses, especially if it gets leaked to the press."

"I don't buy it," Chili replies.

"You don't have to," Cilan retorts.

"...I do."

The two brothers turn to look at the eldest.

"Cilan's a lot more clever than we give him credit for. Just because he's a bit awkward doesn't mean he doesn't have a brain."

Chili sighs. "Whatever. What do you think was up with her, anyways?"

Cress pauses. "I don't know."

"She's strong," Cilan interrupts. "The strongest we've had in…well, a while."

"Well that's because she never got to battle me!" Chili grins with pride.

"Right," Cress mockingly nods.

"Hey! As if you could have beat her either, dickhead!"

The three voices laugh in unity as the setting sun shines upon the dust falling throughout the gym.

"Damn it!"

Cheren throws a stone deep into the forest that surrounds him. His snivy and purrloin look at him with concern.

"I don't understand…"

He remains so silent that only the noises of the forest fill the air. The trees whisper to each other through the soft howls of the wind.

"We're just going to have to train some more, then."

"Do you truly have to?"

Cheren swirls around. He did not hear the crunching of leaves that would signal an approach. He must be familiar with the forest...

"Y-you're…"

"N."

"N. Yes. I would greatly appreciate it if you mind your own business, please."

"Hard to do that when a rock flew near the purrloin I just released."

Cheren falters, then tries to change the subject. "Ah. Not good enough for your team?"

N squints his eyes. "Sorry?"

Cheren sighs. "Was your purrloin not strong enough?"

"Arceus no!" N exclaims. "I mean—that wasn't why I released her. Strength doesn't matter to me."

"Then why'd you do it?" Cheren asks, voice filled with confusion.

"I released her because she doesn't deserve to be trapped," the green haired man explains. "Pokémon are not mine to keep. They're not anyone's to keep, really."

"Oh, right. I remember now," Cheren sarcastically declares. "You're the guy who hates pokémon trainers yet is one himself merely to quell his curiosity."

N frowns. "There is more to what I do than merely fulfilling my curiosity. I...It's my destiny to see things no one can see. The truths of pokémon inside poké balls. The ideals of how Trainers should be. And to create a future where pokémon have become perfect…"

"Ok, this is where I say goodbye. Come on, Snivy and Purrloin."

"Where are your friends? Andrea?"

Cheren tenses at the mention of the girl who beat him. "They're back in Striaton, having fun and challenging the gym leaders or whatever."

"You wish to be alone…"

"Yeah, what of it?" Cheren bitterly retorts. "How else am I going to train hard enough to become the Champion?"

"It seems...nice...to have friends. I'm surprised one would fervently wish to isolate themselves."

Cheren looks away from the strange teen. For a moment, he feels sorry for him.

"Especially from someone as special as Andrea. She intrigues me."

Ah, right. He's weird, Cheren thinks, and suddenly doesn't feel as sympathetic towards him. "She's fine. Reckless and immature but fine enough."

"She didn't seem that immature."

"You literally just met her. Once."

"That is true. But somehow, I understand her, like…" He pauses dramatically, hand gravitating towards his chest like a magnet, "like she's a voice speaking out of a hidden part of my soul."

Cheren scoffs. "Ok, this time I'm really going to leave. Goodbye, N."

"Goodbye…?"

"Cheren."

"Cheren," N repeats.

Cheren walks away with his pokémon deeper into the forest, back towards the city. Perhaps N was right about one thing: perhaps he really has done enough training for the day. He groans, then looks down at his pokémon.

"I've got a bad feeling about that guy."