- Cherrygrove Gym -
The large wave shaped structure that housed the new Cherrygrove Gym had a few trainers around it, but not as many as Alexa had grown used to for a city this size during a League. Honestly, with how things looked it was very possible her first match against the Gym would be the event that made or broke the new Leader's status.
"Assistant Alexa Larch?" Leader Douglas questioned. From his waterproof outfit he was clearly a professional swimmer of some kind, and looked calmer than he probably should given the crowd's mood. It was a good sign, but unfortunately she probably wouldn't be the best help here.
"I've been informed that I'm going to need to get an updated Trainer Card to show that title," Alexa agreed jokingly and they made their way inside, soon followed by the small crowd who were likely headed to the stands.
"Well, the official recommended you for my first slot. I guess he wants to see me against a trainer that's already seen a League before I tackle some new trainers," Douglas explained easily as they moved through the entry room. It was very clean and organized, which was another awkward bit of being in a Gym so new she was the first challenger. "Although I have to warn you, I'm planning on being a tricky opponent for anyone who has earned at least three Badges anywhere."
"So, what is the challenge then?" she had to ask him as she looked over the Gym's main arena. It appeared this Water type Gym Leader had decided on a large open pool that looked almost connected to the water outside, although it likely wasn't actually connected, that had a number of various sized rectangular pillars extending out of the water connected to each other by floating bridges of wood. It left a good amount of room for most land based pokemon to maneuver, and the two platforms for the trainers to stand were actually large enough to force a fight at them even if non-Water types never left it. Alexa thought it was possibly a bit much for a first Badge arena, but she technically had a full set of eight so she couldn't be sure Douglas didn't plan on using other arenas for real first time trainers.
"A one on one for the Badge, but I might need a bit of an exhibition match here," the Leader admitted fairly quietly. "Would you be up for a three on three where you only need one win?"
"What level of pokemon do you plan on? I did make it to the Kanto League, but a League level team isn't exactly appropriate for a first Badge," Alexa noted uncomfortably. "My team is a bit out of shape, but I'm not sure they won't just sweep your lower level team."
"Might need to do a real exhibition then," Douglas considered. "How about a pair of one on ones, first for the Badge, second against what I've got for sixth Badge trainers?"
"Sounds like it might work," she agreed. This specific situation was a bit unusual, but having to go over what the match was with the Gym Leader did become more common after the first few Badges. The first four were supposed to be to show you could train pokemon at all, while the last four showed that you could train combat pokemon teams. Her team was smaller than the Leaders for both her seventh and eighth Badge challenges had anticipated, and as a result they had both requested a full five on five and five on six respectively. At first for the seventh she was asked to use some of her less used pokemon in a six verses six, which was more pokemon than she had total, and that had taught her to check with Gym Leaders first for her eighth and on.
Alexa was able to spot William in the stands as she moved onto the challenger's platform. It was clear to be that from how it didn't have a large half circle cut to give extra water access. Douglas went over the rules in detail, no items, one on one, Leader sends out first. She was glad that the timing had worked out, because Charizard had wanted his form to be a surprise and the 'no items' rule would prevent an in battle change to Water with their current options.
"Go Lanturn!" Douglas declared with a wide smile, and let out a large fish pokemon with an antenna topped with a pair of glowing yellow spheres, a yellow eye-mask marking, and a bit of yellow on their tail. It was clearly also an Electric type in addition to Water.
"Charizard," Alexa called out and released her pokemon forward a bit more than her opponent would likely expect, directly into the water.
"Soak!" the Gym Leader ordered before her pokemon had even materialized, and Alexa flinched as it crashed over the water where her pokemon had emerged.
"That, um, might have been a mistake," she informed her opponent as Charizard began to laugh darkly from the water. "Charizard, mirror it." The first glimpse those watching had of her pokemon was his fins emerging from the surface, just before a second wave of glowing water slammed into Lanturn.
"Quick, use Discharge!" Douglas responded with minimal confusion. The fish pokemon, managed to send a massive wave of electrical energy outward just before Charizard's move hit and wiped the glow and markings off of Lanturn, but Alexa's Starter quickly surged up and out of the water in an arc over it that clearly would follow up with a physical blow if Lanturn didn't move. "Counter them with Spark!"
Lanturn lit up with much weaker sparks, but clearly had actually trained while under the effect of Soak as well. Charizard took a bit of a hit from that as he landed on the fish, but Lanturn ended up crushed between her pokemon and Douglas' large platform. "Hydro Pump!" Alexa ordered quickly and Charizard quickly propelled Lanturn out of the water and onto the platform with a strong blast of water.
"I think I'll call that there," Douglas quickly declared. "Lanturn return," he added as he recalled the fish pokemon. "It kind of figures that the first person I tried that on was already prepared for it."
"Honestly, we're kind of in the same boat," Alexa laughed as Charizard emerged onto her platform and gave the crowd a better look at his pure Water type form. "Charizard was planning on giving your pokemon the Fire type, but he hasn't been able to manage when he isn't Fire typed himself."
"Suddenly I'm a bit more worried about the next pokemon," Douglas noted with an entertained smile, and Alexa finally had the spare focus to look at the crowd again. William looked nervous, but compared to the shocked look of the rest of the people present he seemed calm and collected. The crowd did briefly cheer for her victory, but they mostly just looked confused, although they did quickly shift into genuine interest with how the battles would play out. "Are you ready for that one? We're going items allowed, one on one, and I'll send my pokemon out first again."
"Sounds fine," Alexa agreed and returned her smug Starter. Kingler was her plan for who to use next, but she didn't have the setup from the Fire type changing move in the last fight to explain why she had a Fire/Dragon typed Kingler.
"You're up Golduck," Douglas stated, and this time the familiar bipedal blue humanoid duck monster appeared on the platform in front of the Leader. Unlike Lanturn, which was a species Alexa had never seen before, Golduck was familiar enough to tell that this was probably from whatever team Douglas had taken to a tournament to qualify to start up a Gym. A League level combatant, and probably a fairly even match for any of her team at their best.
The good news was that even if this pokemon also knew Soak that probably wouldn't have a major impact on Kingler, although with how layered it would be her pokemon probably wouldn't be as effective as Kingler had been during their last League.
"Kingler, see what you can do," Alexa said and let out her pokemon. Kingler's larger than normal armored form around glowing magma was still hot enough to make the closest water start to steam a bit, and Alexa could hear the crowd murmur about the appearance of her pokemon while Douglas and Golduck tensed at the sight. "Try to start off with Mercury Contagion!"
Kingler clicked at her darkly for the idea, they had not really worked on using that one in other forms yet. However her crab pokemon was able to form a pool of the silvery metal and quickly fling it over at their opponent. Golduck slid to the side rapidly and responded with a quick burst of Psychic energy that Alexa couldn't identify by sight that managed to land. "That armor looks Dragon, stick with Psychic moves," Douglas quickly ordered. "Keep a distance, I don't know what that 'Contagion' does."
"Force Golduck closer with some Dragon Breath," Alexa decided to try. Kingler clearly didn't think much of the first part of that idea, given the crab pokemon simply fired the blast of Dragon typed fire directly at the opponent pokemon, but it did cause Golduck to dive into the water.
For a short time they exchanged Psychic and Dragon type attacks while Alexa tried to work out a better response. Golduck was easily moving through the water, but Kingler was for once restricted and the plan to make the crab pokemon's new type work better had now clearly failed. She didn't want to have Kingler turn back yet to continue to test the new material, but what could she- "Use Mercury Contagion on yourself!" Alexa realized.
Kingler barely paused to splash herself with the silvery liquid, and the crab's magma quickly took on a more metallic sheen. "The Steel type," Douglas noted with a bit of a cringe. "Switch to Water type moves and keep avoiding that one."
Kingler took two harsh Water type attacks after that with only a few Dragon flames that were quickly smothered by the water, and Alexa returned her pokemon. "We still need to work on that form more," she said as a surrender. "Your Golduck is well trained."
"I think your team has mine beat on changing their type mid battle, which means you've more than completed my challenge," Douglas replied with a nod, and apparently the Leader had found a way to justify their prior agreement to the crowd. "The Badge is yours."
"We can not thank you enough Assistant Larch," one of the expert trainers working with Douglas told Alexa as they finished the paperwork while the Gym Leader went ahead with a couple more matches to make up for lost time. It was early enough in the League that the number of pokemon needed to handle that many challenges in one day was much smaller for the first Badge matches that would happen today. "I don't know how that League official found you so quick, but if it had not been for you we might have scared off a lot more trainers with Douglas' challenge. It's been a bit of a worry, but you just went and made it look perfectly normal for a battle."
Gym Leaders handled a number of jobs, and the experts they hired to help were necessary to help with all of them. Gyms tested trainers for Badges, instructed people on how to be trainers, gave specialist education on their given type, handled any local issues, and even gave out Starters to new trainers from the local area. More often than not a Gym Leader was the first person you went to in a town if you needed help with something related to pokemon, but for most problems a Gym's expert trainers would be the ones who actually handled the issue.
"Well, to be honest Charizard was kind of planning on pulling that trick on the Water type Gym in the first place," Alexa admitted sheepishly as she checked over the forms one last time. They were fairly simple things, especially in this case because it was quite clear her unusual tactics were valid if the Gym Leader himself had used them first. Which would help her going forward, if a Gym Leader in the region was using such things during a League then it was clearly valid in the same League. "He's probably fine with how that turned out, but it wasn't quite the surprise we had planned on."
"Oh it was a surprise all right, I got chills when you sent a Charizard out right into the water, let alone how shaken Golduck looked when you sent out that Fire/Dragon pokemon," the expert trainer said with a shake of his head. "The Steel type was also a nice touch there, just in time to force a switch in tactics and make the move more concerning. That kind of change throws a pokemon off a lot, and changing a resistance can be terrible for judging when you can take a hit or make an attack. Was that actually a Kingler?"
"Yes, we just worked out a new change and I want to see how long it lasts," Alexa said as she considered that bit of advice. "I think I probably should have used someone else since she was in the middle of that."
"Well, your Kingler handled that added weakness well then," the expert noted. "I know it probably wasn't too bad with the Dragon type I could see holding her at just neutral effectiveness, but different types have different ways they resist other types too. Just because a pokemon ends up pure Water type doesn't mean a hit from a Water type move won't still rattle them more, and Douglas wants us to test that kind of adaptability. It is just the kind of good surprise he needed after the last few days."
"I'm sure Kingler will be glad to hear that," Alexa managed to say, despite how she still wished she had handled that second fight better. There were only a few more papers after that, along with her larger than normal payout for the match and the added exhibition battle. It wasn't new tent money, but it was enough to pay for food if her current one got more damaged than she could just patch, and that was honestly typical for a Gym battle.
She left the Gym, not really in the mood to watch other matches, and decided she needed to get ready to hit the road again. Watching other trainers in their own Gym matches was a good way to check out a Leader's style before you faced them, a nice way to try and see what you could have done better in your own match, and sometimes a way to get a first look at a trainer who you would face later on during the League. Admittedly that last one was just her childhood rival, but that said more about how quickly she had been knocked out of the Tournament as she had recognized some other names from the rankings.
Alexa quickly made her way to the Pokemon center to call her parents about the battle and to speak with the staff about the next route and upcoming weather reports. Her father was a bit sarcastic about how she had used a still untested transformation with Kingler, but overall happy with how she described her first Gym match in the region. Her mother asked pointed and embarrassing questions about William because she made the mistake of pointing out how she had noticed him in the stands. Routes 30 and 31 did not sound like anything notable from what the Nurse Joy could tell her, and the weather was going to be clear for the next week at least so she had time to test and train while traveling it.
Like normal she let Charizard out to help her go over their supplies one last time before they left. Alexa decided she would just directly discuss their finances with her Starter this time, and they both ended up with more questions for the Nurse about what kinds of trainers, odd jobs, and forage results were common on the next two routes. Charizard wasn't too happy with the answers they got, but Alexa was able to point out that they had enough supplies unless something major happened. The weather was predicted to be calm enough, as long as too many pokemon didn't decide to use Rain Dance, to sleep without the tent if that finally gave out.
That discussion was then interrupted by the arrival of William at the Pokemon Center. "Alexa Larch, I cannot thank you enough for your help with that Gym," he immediately said as soon as he spotted the two of them.
"I don't think it was that big of a deal," Alexa tried to deflect. William sounded really serious, and looked it too. "We just had a lucky chance that we already trained for that situation."
The other trainer continued to approach and shook his head. "I've never even heard of that kind of move before I met you, and even if I had seen it used against another trainer first I would not have been as prepared for it," he explained. "You not only showed how to handle it being used against your pokemon, but also how it can be used to intimidate an opponent. Not to mention the way you had to adapt to a changed type with the second fight." He shook his head again. "You said that was a new one for your Kingler, something you had not really trained with yet?"
"We've started general work on training to shift in combat, and that means being adaptable," Alexa allowed, and Charizard chuffed smugly at her. "Okay, Charizard has been the one whose mostly worked on that, but Kingler is one of my two pokemon that got a long term change. She's always a Dragon type and that kind of makes up for things."
"Still, I was able to handle the fact that Leader Douglas has somehow found a way to make a Gym where all his opponents have to use the Water type much more easily than if I hadn't met you," William stated firmly. "Along with that information about human types? I owe you, a lot." He got out a wallet and removed a pair of cards. "If you need any help, don't be afraid to ask," he added as he handed them over.
They were both trainer cards, one with the image of the human appearance in front of her, the other with a large fox pokemon the card listed as a Zoroark. His contact ID was the same on both cards, the mixture of letters, numbers, and symbols that could be shared to easily contact the correct trainer using Pokemon Center phones. "Two cards?" she questioned even as she got out her Pokedex to record the ID. "You didn't have to show me both," she added but meant he had not needed to show the pokemon version to her if he didn't want to.
"The standard is one card for every illusion you commonly use or form you possess," William explained with a shrug. Charizard rumbled out a question in response. "If you only have one form and can't make any illusions then you only get one."
"Huh," Alexa said distractedly as she got out her own trainer card. "Well, I think I can say that I'd be willing to help out again too, even if I'm still not sure I really helped." She handed all three cards to him. "Mine is apparently a bit out of date, so I probably am going to have to get it updated soon."
"Because of your work with your father?" he questioned as he fumbled a bit to get out his own Pokedex and sort the cards out. "I heard that you are a proper Assistant."
"Yeah, it has to do with that," Alexa agreed and Charizard huffed at her with amusement.
[Author's Note]
I want to ask my readers to take a moment to consider what it would be like to encounter a Gym Leader in a game who uses a Lanturn that knows Soak.