Chapter 16

Gym Battle! Marie VS. Sona!

After giving my farewells, I retreated to a bathroom. I did not have to borrow a stall, never have had to since entering this body, but I needed to see something. I needed to see if the transmigration caused any damage to my body. I needed to see if this body is different from my original one.

To ̵se̼e̞͔͜ ͎i͉f ̣I̍ w̹͔̓a̶ͪͅs͂ ̼͈s̞̀̽t̛̜ȉ̎ͪl̶l͈ͅ m̟̹̠͐e͔̪̘̊͋ͣͪ͞͠.̛͓͂

I gaze into the looking glass... And still. This is me. I am reflected in the mirror.

Good.

I still have my brown hair, my brown eyes... My fair skin, my ever so slightly too small glasses... Those random, minor injuries I always wake up with but never remember going to sleep with...

I am still me, and so I still live.

A part of me wonders just how it was I could only barely recognize Marie as a silhouette, and the one defining feature I remember from Jack was his hair. Normally, that could be explained as simple mental absence, but an internet post from my previous life seems to come to mind... Perhaps I really haven't zoned back in yet?

If I haven't, I should. I am a trainer. Good men and good women may live or die by my hand. And it would give me nightmares until the Nothingness reclaims me if one did so happen to die under my own command. That is not allowed.

I give myself a good wake-up smack to get my brain back in the game. As I leave the building, I find Marie. And this time, I actually look at her, register her appearance rather than just her presence. Dark hair, tanned skin likely from traveling, eyes with slight bags, it would appear that she is simply someone who stays up a bit. It appears my "Trauma train" comment from earlier was uncalled for.

"Good news! I managed to get us slated for a Badge Match!"

"Ah. That was what you were doing? Thank you. I managed to figure out what my team can do while you were doing that, and even managed to get live experience. Fancy a wager on who does better?"

"A bet? Didn't take you for a betting man."

"Just because I make sure to rig the machines, and only take the 100% success rate gambles, doesn't mean I don't."

Rather than the laugh I was (hoping for) assuming I would receive, she simply snorted at it.

"Yeah. Sure does. It'll be in a couple of hours from now,, so we should still be able to get in some training together. Got any ideas?"

"Well, I've discovered that Dottler's Reflect and Light Screen walls are not only solid, but can be manipulated. I believe I can replicate Bind with this... What is it?"

Marie is just... Staring at me. Maybe this is something that has already been tested? Of course, why would that NOT be something in the games if it was possi-

"You... You what? Oh, wait, I forgot, you're probably gonna have a lot less difficulty with doing this kind of thing than most starting trainers. Usually it takes people a while to come up with strategies like that. Boy, Sona's gonna be in for a ride with you..."

"...Are you saying trainers, on average, treat their pokemon as little more than big beatsticks when they're starting out? Don't even give a singular brain cell to the idea of advanced strategies ?"

I think I may have begun to intimidate her, considering the fact she's seemingly retreating into herself.

"...well, people usually start young..."

"I know this is going to make me sound like a crotchety geezer, but I am beginning to loathe the youth."

Thankfully, the burning flame in my brain is quenched somewhat by her laughter. I still have a hot irritation in my brain in regards to the incompetency of beginners, but nothing that would lead me to do anything future me would regret. Thank you for that.

"So, I know you have an Oddish & an Eevee. Is there anything else you have in your team?"

"Uh, no. It's just Evelyn & Seng. Why?"

I had to bite back the textbook answer. That is, that you should never have a team that isn't full if you can help it, and that 6 is the max so you should always be strapped with the hexamon formation. Unfortunately, I have no idea how that translates. So instead, I respond with...

"Because, I would need to know what possible combinations you could have on the field in the event of a doubles battle, and of course I can't help you if I don't know some of your pokemon. Now hurry up, I don't know how much time we have but I still refuse to let any of it be wasted."

Marie was saying something as I dragged her along to the training area, but my mind was too focused on the plays that are possible from her team comp. One mon's neutral to flying, while the other is weak. This requires some very skillful plays in order to come out with a victory...

It was somewhere around 3 hours before we had to leave. Apparently, the Gym officials gave her a timer or something. Someone's voice was recorded on it, telling us it was time for the battle. And so, after topping everyone off with Nurse Joy, we left for the Gym.

And I must say, whoever designed the Gym here certainly didn't do so by half-measures. There was some kind of radio antenna; apparently, the GL here was a popular singer, and does some of her recordings here with her pokemon. Reminds me of the poison GL from the gen 5 remakes. Roxanne, I believe her name was?...

...How long has it been, since I was put here?

"Alright. You go first. I won't let you get cold feet and bail out right here."

Marie had an almost scandalized look.

"Wh- huh?! You think I'd bail out?!"

I simply gave her a deadpan stare. She's appeared quite skittish & worrisome before. Nothing to be ashamed of, but still.

"...While you're with me?"

"Regardless, you're going first."

With that, we proceeded onward. It was nothing like the Gyms from the games, with the little puzzles you had to solve. Rather, it was one big arena like the anime... With this one possessing a notable lack of GL.

"Don't tell me we got stood up."

"No way!"

At that, an almost frenzied looking woman dropped down from the ceiling. That same thing that had caused me to not really SEE Marie was in effect, making my eyes slide away whenever I half-heartedly attempted to gaze at her. So, naturally, I properly looked at her.

She had a sky-blue full body suit on, for some reason. Her shoulder & wrists had special material on them, with a number of scratch marks. Perhaps from having to wrangle her team? She had on some form of boots, and as my gaze returned to her face, she had an... odd look.

"What's the matter, big man? Something on my clothes?... Or, do you happen to like what you see?~"

Oh.

"No, simply disappointed you didn't match up to my expectations. Now then, my friend here has a challenge with you, and then I will follow suit. Go on then Marie, use what I taught you."

I nudged Marie forward as the woman seemingly deflated at my stab at her etiquette. In fact, I swear she recoiled from it, like Edgeworth's "taken aback" animation in Ace Attorney. She almost half-heartedly pulled out a pokeball, as Evelyn popped her head out of the backpack. The intercom crackled on as they faced each other, lead in hand.

"This will be a league match between Challenger Marie and Leader Sona. The challenger may use their entire team, with 2 switch-ins, while Sona will use her no-Badge team with unlimited switch-ins. Neither side is allowed to use items, aside from those that their team holds before-match. The match will last until one side runs out of usable pokemon, or until Leader Sona has decided the opposing team has displayed adequate enough skill to have earned a badge. Begin!"

"Sen, get ready!"/"Screech, showtime..."

The two of them then tossed out their leads, Marie sending out Sen & the Gym Leader a Zubat. This is going to be a terrible matchup...

"Uh, Seng! Get big and cut up!"/"Astonish, then Supersonic."

The Oddish's leaves began to grow bigger in size, before the Zubat darted forward, screaming as it smacked at the thing. After that, Seng scratched at it with its leaves a few times as the bat-expy released an ear-piercing screech. After the exchange, it had begun faltering in its wingbeats. Sona seemed to have noticeably perked up, and slightly worried as Marie used the code I taught her to try and use.

"Ugh- SENG! Snap out of it!"/"Poison Fang while they're distracted!"

Surprisingly, that seemed to have worked, as Seng turned to Marie blinking as the Zubat bit down with violet-coated fangs.

"S-Seng! Get bigger, suck it up!"/"Keep it up!"

As stated, Seng had begun to grow even more, with multiple growing ups of light slowly oozing from Screech as it bit down fervently. Slowly, the bat began to droop, eventually falling down completely. Seng was noticeably beginning to falter, however, as Sona tossed out her next member.

"Starry, showtime!"/"Seng! Max height! Then squirt!"

Marie, devious witch (affectionate and praising) she was, did not let up while she was switching. And additionally, the wording she used got Sona flustered. In doing so, she took free damage as Seng got a free Acid off.

"Why you- Swift into Tackle!"/"Squirt more!"

The bug was already faltering hard from the presumably max-power Acid from before, and so while Seng got put even further down, the Ledyba only had enough energy left for a weak tackle, putting him almost completely down.

"Heh. You- you're actually pretty good! Cotton, showtime! Peck as quick as you can!"/"Thanks. Squirt one last time!"

Seng got one last, viscous splattering of ochre fluid off, that the cottony bird dove straight through to get at him. Seng was just about sent flying, as Marie returned them. Evelyn jumped from her perch in Marie's backpack, growling as the Swablu simply stayed aloft.

"Cotton, flurry!"/"Uh!- Blur!"

True to the name, Evelyn became a blur as it slammed into the Swablu with Quick Attack. As it did so, Cotton immediately drilled into them with a flurry of stabbing motions with it's beak, the final such flurry being throwing Evelyn across the field. By now, it had to rest.

"Finish it!"/"Um, T-Tack!-"

Marie didn't even have time to finish her sentence before Evelyn was knocked out by another rush. Unfortunate. Maybe next t-

"Whew! That was some damn fine leadership skills! As a Gym Leader, I hereby approve of your progress, skill and team, and thus gift you my badge and the TM for Supersonic! And despite what people say, it's the SOUND badge, not NOISY badge!"

"Um- thanks! That was... Actually really fun!"

As the two laughed, one boisterously and the other nervously, I am left reeling. What? It has never been like this before. What the hell is happe-

"Alright, Mr. Stoic, up and center cause it's your turn! Let me just get the team some pep in their step real quick!"

"...Okay."