Author's Note: Back with another update, ladies and gentlemen and am I rusty. Was pretty tricky trying to get all the right notes for this one so hopefully I got this right and I hope you enjoy the chapter.
Also, I'm putting in a little refresher here as has been requested by a few readers. Team reminders:
Wraith (Dreepy) and Sprout (Shroomish)
Soren shifted in his seat. The Rustboro Gym would be his first measurement of his skill and with his first test came growing concern. He made sure to brush up on all the rock types in the Hoenn region, he did a brief survey over their abilities and techniques, and had developed a plan of attack for his team that he rehearsed with Skylar. But would that be enough? Ever since the Interleague Accords, gym leaders had been diversifying their teams a bit by mixing and different regional Pokemon more. It wasn't completely out of the question he could face something that wasn't native to Hoenn.
How would they handle something less familiar to them? Would Roxanne use exotic Pokemon from another region? Hoenn had some overlap with Kanto, making him familiar with Pokemon like Rhyhorn and Geodude but what if Roxanne used something less familiar from regions he was less familiar with?
His sister's reminders to trust in his instincts and in his plans echoed in his mind. Second guessing never did anyone any good. Besides, he would find out whether they had worked enough and what Roxanne's team was soon enough.
The redhead sprung up from his seat to investigate the shelves of books in the far corner of the lobby to take his mind off his worries. He skimmed over the titles and authors and couldn't help but be impressed by both the collection of books and their subjects. Two volumes of books on the intellectual history of Kalos, three volumes of books on the social history of Hoenn, a book by Professor Birch on the ecology of Hoenn, and at least a dozen books about geology. Soren reached for one of the books on geology and shuffled back over to one of the plush chairs. He supposed knowing more about rock wouldn't hurt, especially considering who he was about to face.
Soren opened and skimmed through the pages. It didn't take long for the descriptions of quarries of stone excavated from Granite Cave and Meteor Falls to captivate him along with tales of explorers coming across sparkling tunnels rich in quartz and traces of shiny precious stones. .
The creak of metal doors opening snapped Soren out of his thoughts. A disgruntled brunette stepped into the lobby, staring down at the floor with her hands at her hips. She was the challenger ahead of him – another rookie like himself if he had heard her talking with the secretary correctly. The frustration in her body language and her refusal to make eye contact with anyone told him everything he needed to know about the result of her match.
The secretary – a portly balding man – stood up, nodded, and motioned for Soren to go next. The redhead got up from his seat and headed through the doors. A faint whirring hummed behind him as the doors started to close, leaving him in a dim hallway.
He stretched his hand out towards the wall and walked down the hallway, using the wall as a guide. He moved towards the tiny glimmer of light at the end of the hallway which only grew brighter the closer he got to it. Soren's eyes widened upon arriving in a massive arena flanked by rows of metal bleachers on each side of the battlefield packed with students and teachers – all likely from Rustboro Academy. All eyes would soon be on him and his team. Even a few cameramen – a raven-haired bulky man, a man in his fifties with graying hair, and a portly redhead – were interspersed amongst the crowd with their tripod mounted cameras being the telltale sign of them being cameramen. He wasn't entirely surprised. Footage of gym battles was commonly used in lessons at the Rustboro Academy to teach basic strategy and matchups.
Although did video footage for archives usually entail that many people? This wasn't going to be televised, was it? Because losing in front of a larger audience definitely wasn't appealing.
Soren gritted his teeth and dug his nails into the palms of his hands. He really needed to stop overthinking this. He quickly shifted his attention to something he could channel his mind towards in a more constructive manner, opting to analyze the battlefield instead.
The first thing he noticed was the wisps of vapor from his breath. Goosebumps formed on his skin and he couldn't help but shiver from the chill in the air. Why was the Rustboro Gym so cold compared to the lobby?
His attention quickly shifted to the battlefield itself. Bumpy, craggy flooring with jagged spires serving as boundaries around the battlefield – he couldn't say he expected anything different from a rock type gym leader. Although he supposed the spires added some additional personality to the design. He had no doubt most rock type gym leaders probably just had flat, stone floors installed for their battlefield.
His eyes darted from the battlefield to the woman standing across from him in the opposite trainer's box. Soren offered a cordial wave. Roxanne dipped low and bowed, prompting a bow from Soren.
Roxanne made her way across the battlefield, prompting Soren to follow suit as they met in the middle of the battlefield.
"Another challenger, I presume?" Roxanne asked.
Soren nodded. "I'm here to challenge you for the Stone Badge."
"I see…tell me challenger, are you sure you are prepared to face me?"
Soren frowned at the question, wishing he truly knew the answer to that. "Yeah, I guess?"
Roxanne tilted her head and folded her arms. "You guess? That wasn't a very convincing response. My responsibility as a gym leader is like my responsibility as an educator – I am to evaluate how you battle and evaluate your Pokemon while demonstrating proper technique." Roxanne added. "So I'll ask you again, are you ready, challenger? Have you put in the work with your team to prepare for this battle and are you ready to demonstrate your teamwork?"
Soren smirked. He spent hours upon hours with Wraith and Sprout working on techniques, sparring with Skylar's team, and preparing a game plan to bring down Roxanne's team.
When she asked it that way…he couldn't help but feel he was ready.
"I'm more than ready," Soren assured.
Roxanne smiled. "How many gym badges do you have?" she asked.
"None," Soren answered.
"How many Pokemon?"
"Two,"
Roxanne nodded. "I will take this into account." she remarked, making her way to her side of the battlefield and snapping her fingers which prompted several Claydol to materialize on the sidelines along with a faint barrier of telekinetic energy.
Soren ignored the league psychic types and made his way over to the trainer box on his side of the battlefield, turning to face his opponent as he reached down to his belt for Wraith's Poke Ball.
Roxanne's voice carried through the PA system apparently installed in the gym as she spoke through the microphone attached to the collar of her dress. "Attention, today's lesson is about to begin! We will be conducting a battle with standard Ever Grande Conference protocol in which victory will be determined when one side's Pokemon are unable to battle and both the challenger and the gym leader are permitted to switch Pokemon. Both sides will be permitted two Pokemon and the first move goes to the challenger."
Soren tapped the button on Wraith's Poke Ball to release the dragon from his Poke Ball in a bright flash of light. The Dreepy shrieked maniacally as he darted through the air, flying around with a head spinning display of twirls and loops. A large section of the crowd erupted with a chorus of cheers over the display, apparently appreciative of Wraith's showmanship.
Soren rolled his eyes but opted to roll with it and offered the crowd two thumbs-up. The absolute last thing he wanted was to antagonize his opponent by looking like they were showboating; but Wraith's restlessness along with acrobatic antics certainly made it seem like he was showing off and there wasn't much he could do to reverse any impressions made now. Roxanne wanted to see confidence…she was going to get some.
Roxanne tilted her head. "Dreepy? That's not something you see often." she mouthed, eliciting a chuckle from Soren.
Clearly his choice in starter was working and having the intended effect if Roxanne's reaction was any indication.
Roxanne reached for a Poke Ball and tapped the release. A bipedal statue-like Pokemon emerged upon the battlefield in a flash of light that Soren recognized immediately.
Nosepass…he had that Pokedex entry just about memorized in preparation for the Rustboro Gym. From what he remembered, Nosepass was described as the Compass Pokemon and the Pokedex had highlighted the strong magnetism of the rock type along with the magnetic fields they could generate.
Soren raised an eyebrow. Was that why the gym was so cold – to enhance Nosepass' magnetic abilities?
Clever, but magnetism wouldn't be enough. He had planned around Nosepass.
"Wraith, just like we practiced, climb high and strike. Proceed with as much disruption and confusion as you can," Soren whispered just loud enough for the dragon to hear.
Wraith climbed higher into the sky and used the bright spotlights hanging from the ceiling as cover during his swooping descent. A streak of faint blue light radiated from his tail as he twisted around and slammed his tail into Nosepass' face.
Nosepass skidded backwards, digging its heels into the ground to no avail before slamming into one of the spires protruding from the battlefield and smashing the rock formation into dozens of pieces which prompted a gasp from the crowd.
"Magnet Wave." Roxanne commanded.
Nosepass grunted and channeled a weak stream of electricity through its body. The rock type crackled with sparks of electricity and sent the current through the ground, allowing it to hover in the air and lifting the fragments of shattered rock along with it.
Nosepass retaliated against his foe and hurled shards of rock at Wraith. Soren raised an eyebrow. That's what the spires were for.
"Incoming!" Soren warned.
The dragon picked up speed with Quick Attack zipping back and forth to narrowly avoid the chunks of rock thrown at him before flying forward and ramming headfirst into Nosepass which garnered a few oohs and aahs from the students.
Nosepass twirled through the air but released another weak jolt of electricity to steady itself.
"Power Gem," Roxanne commanded.
A small sphere of blue light formed between the arms of the statue Pokemon before expanding into a small beam that sailed towards its target. Wraith contorted his body just in time so the beam only grazed the tip of his tail rather than hitting him directly.
"Astonish, Dragon Tail, harass it then subdue with Confuse Ray." Soren ordered.
The dragon circled around Nosepass repeatedly screeching at his foe even if the soundwaves of Astonish did very little to Nosepass. A quick spin and Wraith lashed out at the rock type with his tail, sending his foe hurtling through the air.
Nosepass fired off bolts of electricity in every direction with some of the arcs of lightning sailing towards Wraith and the rest crashing to the ground or into the psychic barriers that flashed with strain from the lightning crashing into them. Whatever charge had been sent through the ground lifted Nosepass back into the air and steadied the rock type.
Wraith darted forward with Quick Attack, spinning through the air to evade the lightning bolts fired his way. A sharp loop and Wraith slammed his tail down over the top of Nosepass' head.
The magnetic Pokemon plummeted to the ground with a sharp thud. Radiant yellow light glowed from Nosepass' body as it crackled and sparked with electricity. The spires around the battlefield shattered into dozens of jagged pieces of stone and sailed towards the magnetic Pokemon only for Nosepass to shift the current flowing through its body to send the debris flying while flinging itself backwards in the process.
Wraith zigzagged back and forth, ducking and dodging fragments of rock only for the sheer amount of debris to overwhelm him and knock him out of the air. The Dreepy screeched, managing to break out of his freefall before plummeting to the ground and closed the gap between him and his opponent in a matter of seconds.
Wraith's eyes flashed with an ominous light and a faint tingle of indigo energy expanded outward from the dragon, sweeping over Nosepass and distorting its senses. Normal nervous system or not, exposure to the distorted matter and energy of Confuse Ray played tricks on the mind and senses by making those affected by it see things that simply weren't there.
Nosepass writhed on the ground and grunted in terror, flailing its arms around wildly. An exhausted Wraith climbed back into the air and channeled a weak trace of draconic energy through his tail to finish the job. A sharp dive and a quick flick of his tail rendered the rock type unconscious.
Soren folded his arms. One down and one to go. Not quite how he had planned to deal with Nosepass since he thought its magnetism and electricity would be more of an issue, but a win was a win. And judging by how taxing a single use of Confuse Ray was for Wraith, he was glad he didn't have to test his limits and see if he even could use Disable and Confuse Ray back to back.
"Alright who's next?" Soren asked, wincing a bit at his choice in words due to how arrogant they sounded.
Roxanne frowned as she withdrew the incapacitated magnetic Pokemon and swapped out Nosepass' Poke Ball for a second one. "It would appear that you have done your due diligence and prepared for this test, but this isn't over."
Soren squinted as he tried to make out the silhouette of the rock type emerging from the Poke Ball in a flash of light. Geodude? Rhyhorn? Something foreign? What would Roxanne's last Pokemon be?
An armor plated Pokemon with four stubby legs grumbled at Wraith and stared at the dragon intently with its large blue eyes. Soren didn't need his Pokedex to recognize the rock type and couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.
It wasn't Geodude and while a slightly trickier, bulkier fighter – Aron had many of the same weaknesses of a Geodude mostly in the sense that they both relied on close range combat and had few ranged options. Nothing that required much tweaking to his strategy.
Soren reached for Wraith's Poke Ball and pointed the device at him, pressing the release and letting the red beam of light pull the dragon back into the safety of stasis. Roxanne gave him a perplexed look.
"Good work out there, rest up because you've earned it. We can take it from here." he whispered, swapping out his Poke Ball for Sprout's Poke Ball.
A quick tap of the release button and the grass type emerged upon the battlefield in a flash of light. The mushroom Pokemon hopped up and down. Soren grinned – this match was as good as finished.
"Aron, Battering Ram," Roxanne ordered, prompting the armored Pokemon to channel a weak stream of energy through his body to reinforce his armored plating before charging Sprout and lowering his head.
"Leech Seed, wrap him up, you know what to do from there. Wear him down but keep your distance because Aron can hit hard." Soren instructed.
Sprout gurgled enthusiastically and shuffled away from his foe, positioning behind him and taking advantage of the armored Pokemon lacking the ability to make quick turns by firing off several tiny seeds from his body that immediately sprouted into a tangled mess of vines that wrapped around Aron as soon as they touched the ground.
Aron grunted and thrashed in an futile attempt to free himself from the cocoon of vines around him that brought him to a screeching halt. Sprout shook violently, releasing a thick cloud of debilitating spores from his body that engulfed Aron making it hard for the armored Pokemon to breathe.
"Get out of there, Aron, bite your way out of the vines if you have to!" Roxanne shouted.
The iron Pokemon thrashed harder and licked at the vines with his abrasive tongue and snapped at them with his jaws to cut enough of them to free his legs so he could move even if the vines still were wrapped around the rest of his body. As the cloud of dust settled, Sprout fired a weak beam of light from his body that sapped away Aron's energy.
Aron made a long, looping turn and charged at his foe a second time only for Sprout to dance out of danger. Aron was nowhere fast enough to even come close to running Sprout over. The grass type intensified the beam further siphoning away Aron's strength.
"Stone Barrage," Roxanne ordered.
Aron made another looping turn and opened his mouth, firing off concussive blasts of silver light into the ground that caused the battlefield to shatter and the shrapnel to fly forward into Sprout.
Sprout staggered backwards and hissed from the sharp, jagged chunks of rock slicing into him and disrupting Absorb. Aron continued his onslaught, firing larger blasts of energy into the battlefield and tearing up larger pieces of debris from the ground and launching them at Sprout.
"Look out!" Soren warned.
Sprout danced out of danger with a series of bounces, leaps, and twirls that would put gymnasts to shame. Another shake of his body and another cloud of spores shrouded the battlefield around him, eliciting a wheeze from Aron as he continued his barrage with Rock Tomb.
Sprout bounced, sprang, and spun his way out of danger. No matter how many fragments of rock were hurled his way, Sprout's agility training made him virtually untouchable. After facing Rock Tomb barrages from Skylar's Armaldo, Aron's offensive was a cakewalk.
Soren felt his heart racing in his chest. They were inching closer to victory. Aron was slowing up – his blasts of energy launching fragments of the battlefield becoming shorter in duration and longer between intervals.
Beyond that, his breaths grew labored and shallow. Between Leech Seed and the toxins coursing through Aron's system from inhaling his spores, it wouldn't be long before the armor Pokemon fell.
"Battering Ram!" Roxanne shouted, changing tactics due to inefficiency of the barrage with Rock Tomb.
Aron rushed at his foe with reckless abandon after reinforcing his armor with energy and lowered his head only for Sprout to sidestep him long before he could even get close.
"Absorb!" Soren exclaimed.
His failed attempt to trample Sprout was met with Absorb, draining Aron of more energy. Aron made a looping turn and charged again only to meet the same fate over and over again in which Sprout would leap out of his opponent's way and siphon off more of his strength with Absorb.
"Faster, Aron!" Roxanne exclaimed, a hint of desperation in her voice.
Aron continued to grow slower and his eyes dimmed with fatigue. The potent combination of Leech Seed, toxins, and Absorb finally whittled the rock type down until one last failed charge and retaliatory Absorb resulted in a completely exhausted Aron lying unconscious on the ground.
A portion of the crowd gasped in shock that Aron had fallen but cheered on Soren's victory anyway, prompting his face to flush. Not quite what he expected from the audience but the sentiments were appreciated.
Roxanne smiled. "Give our challenger a round of applause, he's quite the trainer." she proclaimed into her microphone.
The crowd erupted with thunderous applause and cheers that made Soren feel like he was at the Ever Grande Conference rather than the Rustboro Gym.
Roxanne returned Aron to his Poke Ball and made her way over towards Soren. "As it would appear, you've bested my team, especially in that last match. Aron isn't much of a match for agile fighters so it actually caught me off guard that your Shroomish was so fast." she remarked.
Soren smirked. Just as he planned it. Sprout might not have the arsenal of Wraith but he had the perfect techniques to win a war of attrition. He just needed to be able to stall and buy time which was where his evasion and agility training proved to be a great benefit.
"Just goes to show that no matter how much we've learned and how far we've come, we still have much more to learn and improve upon." Roxanne added.
"I honestly wasn't sure any of my plans were going to work or whether I'd get the right matchups for them to work. Just glad it worked out and I didn't fall flat on my face instead." Soren chuckled, rubbing the back of his head bashfully.
Roxanne nodded as she reached into a pocket on her dress to pull out a gym badge and placed it in Soren's hand. "Your plans worked and that's what counts. You passed your first test as a trainer and as a result, I bestow the emblem proving your victory."
Soren ran his thumb across the gilded metal rectangle with abnormally wide corners in the palm of his hand and felt his chest swell with pride. He had won his first gym battle and while far from a true match since he was almost certain Roxanne's true team would steamroll his own, the Stone Badge was still a symbol of growth like any first gym badge.
It was a declaration that a trainer had made their first steps as a competitive trainer and that they were on their way towards becoming one of the greats. Or in his case, getting one step closer to living up to the prodigy label placed upon him and the lofty standard of perfection in his mind.
"Thank you,"
Roxanne nodded and reached into her pocket again for a large SD Card. "And one last reward for your efforts, inside the casing is the TM for my personal favorite technique…Rock Tomb. Aron and I might not have had much of an opportunity to showcase it well but I'm sure you can find some use for it."
Soren reached out for the TM to take it from the gym leader before tucking the device in his pocket. "Thanks, I appreciate it, I'm sure it will come in handy."
Roxanne rested her hand on Soren's shoulder. "I ask a lot of trainers this but tell me, what is your goal going forward?"
"I want to qualify for the Ever Grande Conference – with any luck win the tournament or at least place high in it." Soren answered. His internal desire to validate himself by matching or surpassing the lofty bar set by his sister went unvoiced.
"Let me impart one last bit of wisdom as a teacher and gym leader then – don't grow complacent, keep working and keep improving. Every challenge from here only gets harder." Roxanne replied. "I know it sounds cliche but not many trainers heed this advice."
Soren nodded. "You don't have to worry about me, I don't believe in settling for average and I don't believe in complacency. This is just the beginning, I'm nowhere close to where I want to be and I won't stop until I reach nothing short of perfection."
Roxanne hummed approvingly. "Perfection, huh?"
Soren paused to reflect on the term. Perfection – the standard he set from the beginning of his journey. Even if he had long since accepted the idea he couldn't quite ever be perfect and would fall short, falling short of perfection still meant you were close to perfection which was far better than most had come.
Arrogant? Perhaps, but he wouldn't settle for anything less. He had a duty to himself to give his all and it would be an insult to those that believed in him to give anything less than full effort. He had goals to reach and beating Roxanne was only the first step towards those goals. He had taken his first steps and there was nowhere to go except onward. Onward to Dewford Town, onward to Brawly, and onward to his next challenge.