"Okay, everyone!" Ash said, the next morning. "Today, I thought what I'd do was go through a lesson about how to get ready for a Pokémon League!"
"That's really helpful," Lana admitted. "Which… is exactly why you're telling us, isn't it?"
"Yep," Ash confirmed. "So a lot of what it takes to get ready for a Pokémon League doesn't really depend on what the League is, so even though we don't know all the details of the Manalo Conference yet we can already do some of that getting ready. And some of this is going to be specific to me or a trainer with a lot of Pokémon, but other parts can work no matter how many Pokémon you have."
"So, the first thing is – team layout," Pikachu said, taking up the thread. "This is about making sure that there isn't a situation where you just don't have any responses at all… a Pokémon League is a lot of fun, but nobody wants to be knocked out by a situation where their opponent didn't have to actually do anything, or where it was way too easy."
"Pikachu's right," Ash confirmed. "So… Lillie, in your case, you only have Snowy. And she's got both Ice and Fairy moves, but she's also got a bit of a weakness especially to Fire and Steel types. Some Rock types too."
Lillie and Snowy both looked serious, nodding as they took that in.
"Ground type move, maybe?" Snowy suggested quietly.
"There's a few ways to solve something like that," Ash went on. "One of them is to try and learn whole new moves – if you get going early enough that can work out – but another is to have a different strategy for dealing with that kind of Pokémon, and make sure you're ready for it… which is actually getting into another thing it's worth doing. Making sure that your Pokémon have put a lot of practice into things you're almost certainly going to have to do. Things like turning around quickly, or dodging, or using an attack in a specific way – if you think you'll end up relying on it in future, it's always good to make sure it'll work in a controlled environment."
Sophocles was typing notes as quickly as he could.
"So with Vikavolt and Togedemaru… I need something to deal with Ground types especially," he suggested. "Well, Vikavolt has Levitate, but I also need a way to damage them."
"Exactly," Ash agreed. "So you can think about that kind of thing, and then you can come up with solutions to it… and you've got enough time to take action to improve your team."
He shrugged. "For someone in a region with lots of gyms, like Kanto, someone who's won all the gym badges they need will have a good idea of how their team flows together because of all the battles on the way, and the pre-League training is mostly to work out any problems they've identified now that they've got a while to actually do it before the League. Without travelling around all the time, I mean."
Mallow put up her hand. "So… how would that work for us? I've only just got Shaymin, and I don't know what to work on just yet."
"Well, about that," Ash replied. "I did have a look, and there is a gym here in Alola!"
"You mean the one in Malie City?" Lillie asked. "I… don't think that one's quite like actual Kantonian gyms."
"You mean it's an Alolan regional variant of a gym?" Kiawe suggested.
"Actually… I've only read about this, but they make you do a series of challenges on the way up the building," Lillie provided.
"Wow," Ash said, impressed. "That is unusual! Still, I guess it's a great way to get in more tests of what your Pokémon can and can't do."
Ash still had the rest of the morning for his lesson, and on top of that he had Arc's help, so they went to the Kantonian Gym.
That was on a different Alolan island, but it wasn't as if that presented many problems to Arc.
"Oh, good, you're here!" said a guide. "Welcome to the Kantonian Gym! We've been ready for your arrival… six trainers, right?"
"That's right," Ash agreed. "Arc, can you make a reservation?"
"Scheduling Kantonian Gym challenge," Arc said.
"Um," the guide frowned. "I thought…"
"Yeah, Arc was just making a registration in the past," Ash shrugged. "It's really convenient, they're a great help! Now, let's challenge the gym!"
"Very well," the guide said. "Now, as is traditional for Kantonian Gym Challenges, you must face a series of ninja trials!"
Ash brightened. "Oh, I get it! This is based on Fuchsia gym specifically! Yeah, they have a ninja challenge there, though I guess I just skipped it by asking Giratina for help…"
Once inside, the first challenge was a wide pool of water.
"The challenge is – to cross the water's surface, but without swimming," their host informed them. "Can you do it?"
He opened a box, revealing a set of tools – water shoes, long bamboo poles, and a length of rope.
"Hmm," Kiawe said. "Get across the water without swimming… can you show us how those water shoes work?"
The challenge attendant put a pair on, and stepped onto the water to glide back and forth.
Kiawe tried the same thing, slipped, and promptly splashed into the water before being retrieved by Sandy.
"So, while this isn't a battle, it is a good example of how to think in an adaptive way," Ash said, as Sandy shook himself off and fluffed up his fur. "Sometimes there's more than one solution to a problem, and that happens in battles as well."
"More than one solution…" Kiawe said. "Hmm… hey, what are the instructions again? Cross the water's surface without swimming?"
He grabbed two spare water shoes from the box and a bamboo pole, then put the spare shoes on his hands and balanced on all four of them.
"Marowak, grab the pole and push us along!" he said, then went oof as Marowak landed on his back. "Ow…"
It worked, though, and Kiawe was across the water first.
Then Lillie told Snowy to freeze the surface.
"...or you could do that," Kiawe realized. "Eesh, too focused on the Fire type I think…"
The challenge for the next floor up didn't seem like as big a deal, because it was just a meal of local Malie City delicacies.
"So… what do you think?" Darley asked, as they ate.
"I'm not really familiar with some of these things," Mallow admitted. "Like this… jelly stuff? It's nice, but not what I was expecting."
"That's yokan," Ash told her. "And yeah, I guess it is different to the jelly you find in places like Unova or Kalos. For me this kind of thing is normal, though."
"Are you really used to this?" Sophocles asked. "This is weird!"
"It is?" Ash replied, looking over. "But onigiri is just such a standard thing… it really must be different living in Alola all your life. I'd never thought I could find something like rice weird."
Sophocles looked down at the onigiri, then back up at Ash.
"So this isn't a donut?" he asked. "I thought that's what onigiri meant."
Darley chuckled.
"No, no," he said. "Though people do seem to confuse those a lot, I'm not sure why… anyway, what about you?"
"It's… different," Lillie said. "Some of this is nice, but other parts, I'm not really sure how to think about it."
"That happens," Ash told her. "The first time you try a new set of food, the 'weird' side can overrule whether you think it's nice or not! Which is the same with meeting a new Pokémon, sometimes."
"I can never tell if this is really involved ways of getting lessons across, or you're just able to relate everything to lessons," Kiawe admitted.
Then Darley announced that the challenge was simply to appreciate the food – but, oddly enough, Mallow didn't move on.
She was too interested in hearing about the food.
Their next challenge was about getting traditional throwing stars into a set of targets, and that meant both the trainer and the Pokémon.
"That's kind of interesting," Lana allowed, picking some up. "Maybe it's to do with making sure that trainers don't neglect their Pokémon?"
She threw the shuriken, and hit the centre of three different targets.
"Yow!" Shirataki said, impressed. "I didn't know we had a ninja along!"
"I'm not sure how I did that," Lana admitted, as Brionne blew a bubble to balance shuriken on the bubble on her nose – then popped it with a tail slap, sending the shuriken wobbling lazily through the air.
Two of them hit the target, with a third scoring a near miss, and Shirataki pronounced that as good enough.
Ash and Kiawe went next, with both them and their Pokémon sinking three shuriken each into their targets, and then it was Lillie's turn.
"Um…" she began. "I don't know if this is going to work…"
Ash patted her on the shoulder.
"Maybe it won't," he said. "But that's okay. I know it's really awkward to go into something where you think you're going to be bad at it, but so long as you're paying attention to what happens you can catch the mistakes you make – and that's what actually matters. In just about anything where people aren't in danger."
Lillie glanced back, then nodded.
"Right," she said. "So… what matters is trying, so long as I can see what I do wrong."
"And you might turn out to be good at it!" Ash added. "You won't know until you try!"
Lillie picked up her shuriken, and then threw them.
She didn't turn out to be good at it, and the three throwing stars went three different sides of the target.
"You won't be able to move on just yet," Shirataki told her. "But we'll keep working on it!"
"Right," Lillie said. "I just need to… get them to all go in the same direction, I guess?"
Then it was Sophocles' turn, and he managed to get all three into the right place.
Much more surprising was what he had Vikavolt do, though. He put the shuriken on his Bug-type's mandibles, then had them use Discharge.
All three shuriken fired right through the wall.
"Um," Sophocles said, looking at the hole. "I guess railguns really are fast, huh…"
"I'm not sure how to score that," Shirataki said.
The fourth floor was an obstacle course, and Kiawe went first. It meant hopping between platforms over a pool of water, climbing up a net, crossing a balance beam… all kinds of things… and eventually Kiawe managed to wrestle himself up the giant swinging log to the finish line.
"We can get help from our Pokémon, right?" Lana checked.
"That's right," agreed Charlie, the fourth host.
"Then… Brionne!" Lana said, sending her out.
Brionne blew a bubble, and Lana jumped up on top of it, bounced once, and launched herself through the air. That got her over the first few obstacles in one go, and she recalled Brionne before taking on the balance beam.
"That's definitely unconventional," Charlie admitted. "But effective!"
Ultimately, Kiawe, Ash and Lana advanced to the final floor with the Gym Leader himself, but Ash stood back and said he'd let the other two go first.
Sophocles, Lillie and Mallow took up places on the spectators' stands, and the Gym Leader introduced himself with a power-shredding chord on an electric guitar.
"Is that Kantonian?" Lillie asked.
"Probably," Ash replied. "Not originally Kantonian, maybe, but karaoke is an important part of our culture!"
"I guess," Lillie realized.
Gym Leader Ryuki sent out a Zweilous, while Kiawe's choice was Turtonator.
"Interesting, man!" Ryuki said. "Why did you pick a Dragon type?"
"Because your name has the word for dragon in it," Kiawe explained. "And I thought it was worth a guess…"
Charlie called for them to begin, and Kiawe pointed. "Now, Turtonator, Trick Room!"
"Uh," Ryuki began, then took a step back as he saw Turtonator flip over onto his back and start spinning rapidly. "That's a new one on me, man… Zweilous! Stop fighting amongst yourself!"
He played a tune, and the Dark-Dragon's heads stopped arguing in favour of roaring at Turtonator.
"Shell Trap!" Kiawe called, prompting Turtonator to launch himself spinning across the room. "Dragon Tail!"
Turtonator had a bit of trouble stopping, but he did launch Zweilous out of the building before going through the wall himself, and Kiawe hurriedly recalled the Dragon-type before he fell off the edge.
"Right, right, you've been training with Ash Ketchum," Ryuki said, mostly to himself. "Should have remembered… all right, that's a win as far as I'm concerned! Who's next!"
Lana's battle was Brionne against a Druddigon, at least until Sandy ran onto the field and started cheering for Brionne. Lana was embarrassed, but Ryuki just said he liked the little guy's style and added a Dragonair on his own side to make it a Double Battle.
Which just meant Brionne and Sandy could do their Surf-platform Double-Edge combination move, and resulted in another win for Kukui's class as a whole.
"Well, we learned a few things!" Lillie summarized. "And I think we have a better idea of what we need to work on before the League, now."
"That's the idea!" Ash said, as behind him King Dragonite hugged Leader Ryuki to within an inch of his outfit's life. "If you got something useful out of it, that's what matters, right?"
AN:
The Kantonian Gym, oddly enough, does resemble one specific anime Kantonian Gym in some respects.