- Iridescent Cross -
They entered the town in an expanded clearing along the rougher route, with large amounts of newly cut trees near clearly new buildings and construction sites. The place was growing, but that was clearly a recent change from the original settlement that seemed to have spent some time at the smaller size. From what Alexa could tell the oldest buildings looked to be from around the time after the Hoenn Disaster, with the over sized Gym apparently doubling as a sort of charm and trinket maker's place.
That was Alexa's first hint that it wasn't her actions as a trainer that would get an interesting reaction out of the Gym Leader, with the second being that a Gardevoir stomped up to them as soon as they arrived. "You know," the pokemon said via Psychic power and a human voice. "I had hopes that I would get at least a couple more years before everyone realized I was just a Gardevoir, and not using some sort of costume or illusion to look like one. I had hoped that it would stay unbelievable for at least another year."
"Um, I didn't know?" Alexa mostly questioned uncertain how to deal with this development. "That you were a pokemon, or maybe that Johto has a pokemon Gym Leader."
"A Legendary Gym Leader," William then corrected her with a glance over at Suicune. "She has the same sort of pressure you do." He was speaking pokemon, and Alexa flicked her wings at the idea.
"Which, despite the words and appearance of a Mew who violated a generous gift from myself, I had not fully believed," Gardevoir admitted. "You are stronger in that nature than I had expected as well. I thank you for the favorable curse on the perpetrator. It makes up for ruining a bit of my fun with my actual species."
"She made me angry," Alexa said, not as happy with that reminder. "I have strong feelings about transforming people without their permission."
Gardevoir paused at that. "Hm, you might understand the Fairy type better than I expected as well." The pokemon Gym Leader turned towards the local Gym. "Come over for a moment. I want to speak more about that, but this isn't the place."
They followed into the store segment of the structure instead of into the Gym side, and Alexa froze as she entered at the subtle feeling from everything on display. It made her a bit unhappy, and she shot the Gym Leader a dark look for what that implied.
"If you see a Ralts emerge from this side of the Gym then they either have broken the rules about Ralts entering in this place, or attempted to steal from me," Gardevoir confirmed. "It only lasts a few hours, but is quite confounding while you are under the effect, and quite simply prevents thefts."
"Is that a posted policy?" Alexa questioned shortly. Which made the Gardevoir pause.
"Ouch," the Gym Leader flinched. "Oh, oh I forgot that part. Ouch. Okay, I need to get some signs now."
Alexa blinked at that and turned to William with a questioning look. "Fairy types sometimes assume things when they made deals, and if those turn out to be wrong it can hurt them," he specified. "In this case my guess is that most of the locals have already known the policy, but with the new construction..."
"I need to make sure it is still widely understood, but I had not thought of outright posting the restriction," Gardevoir specified. "You are another Legendary, quite a strong one that, and this is part of your domain. Your opinion on this topic has greater impact." The Gym Leader moved over to the main counter. "I am a Legendary Fairy Trinket Maker. I was taught methods that mundane Fairy typed pokemon cannot equal, the ways to impart effects strong enough to rival the skills of other Legendary pokemon, with the consequence of becoming Legendary myself."
"You are a Legendary pokemon, because you worked out how to make things so powerful that they are like what Legendary pokemon can do," Alexa pointed out.
"Yes," Gardevoir agreed knowingly.
"And you are also a Gym Leader?" Alexa then had to clarify, and she saw both William and Suicune blink at this clarification.
"It is possible to be all of those things at once," Gardevoir confirmed. "Once I heard you make that suggestion for your future I suspected it wasn't serious, but I hoped you would come here to hear me tell you to try for real." The Psychic/Fairy then frowned deeply. "I just didn't expect you to give me a small crowd of former human, now pokemon, trainers who didn't see why I couldn't be a pokemon and a Gym Leader. I had hoped to keep things a bit more private for this."
"Well, I guess dad could help me find pokemon that fit my theme," Alexa said to try for the part of that she was least comfortable with. She didn't know what else she should have done for getting Gardevoir noticed as actually a pokemon. "But I don't know what a single Badge challenge would even look like for changing types." William looked like he was going to point out their first Badge of this League. "A first timer's first Badge."
"I'd say use Porygon or Kecleon," Gardevoir suggested. "Pokemon that are known to naturally change types, but not known for being particularly strong. Second and third is where you will likely run into more trouble. A fourth Badge match is about where changing an opponent's type would start, but before that it is more tricky to see what you would do for those."
"Known pokemon with unusual types," Alexa specified, having given a small amount of thought to the topic. "Common ones from around where I set up the Gym, but with types that work against trainers who are prepared for those. That way they can know what the pokemon are usually like, and I can get replacements from local pokemon more easily."
"You have thought about that?" Suicune questioned. "I was under the impression it was entirely an excuse."
"I need to have some idea to prove I'm thinking about it for real," Alexa grumbled. "And this isn't the first time a Gym Leader has given me some advice on the topic. I'm willing to consider the idea, but I want to mostly focus on my current League first."
"In that case I suppose I should give you enough time for my requirements," Gardevoir said smugly. "If you wish to challenge me for your sixth Badge, I will want a four on four match, where your chosen pokemon must start the match with at least one type that is weak to the Fairy type. The four must be either Fighting, Dragon, or Dark when you arrive at the arena and when they first emerge from their pokeballs, however there is no restriction on trading in or out. They can become any type while out, and if recalled they do not have to return to those three types before they emerge again."
"Fighting, Dragon, or Dark?" Alexa questioned a bit uneasily, because she did not have good options for any of those three yet. "How about your pokemon, any restrictions on what we can do to them?"
Gardevoir looked at her with surprise, then turned to look at William and Suicune. "Do I want to know what she is considering on that topic? Because I know she can cause a Steel type change, and my pokemon might be a bit concerned with that beyond what many could handle," the Gym Leader admitted. "I am prepared for that, but I didn't think it would be a thing she would focus on with my restrictions."
"The plan might have been to start off Steel typed, make your pokemon into pure Steel types, and reveal we have something strong against Steel under that layer," Alexa admitted as well.
Gardevoir paled and after a moment said, "With that in mind I'm going to say you can still try that as long as you stay within my requirements. With the understanding that I am aware you can do that. Thank you for not surprising me with that, it would not have been a good time and I might have reacted poorly." The Gym Leader sighed. "Which I don't think would turn out well for me given what you did to that Mew, and because I would in fact be overreacting to something I should be able to expect. Had not quite expected properly. You mean stop being Fairy type and only be Steel typed?" the Psychic/Fairy questioned with a shudder.
"Yes, we kind of have something like Soak that works for any type we have," Alexa clarified with a nervous glance around the room. "So it would be that sort of change."
"Nobody has used Soak in my Gym matches yet," Gardevoir seemed to realize aloud. "I'm only aware of the move because of the new Water type Gym using it a lot. I might need to get a pokemon who knows Soak here to test that before I go against you. Hopefully you need some time to prepare as well?"
"Yeah, I will need to develop or test an entirely new change," Alexa confirmed a bit unhappily. That was a much larger issue to prepare for suddenly like this.
"I have a Wooper that knows Soak," William pointed out. "She's a bit young and doesn't really like using it, but if you need the help and don't want to do it with Alexa," he offered.
"If you are willing to have a Gym battle beforehand, preferably in the next two days," Gardevoir tentatively agreed. "I do not want to work with a potential opponent before my match with them."
"I think I can manage that," the Zoroark agreed. "I've already had a bit too much time to get ready, we expected to have a different match before we got here."
'In the next two days' had turned out to be 'in the next few minutes' to Alexa's minor annoyance. She wasn't used to going to a Gym match this quickly after she arrived in a town, even if she had met plenty of trainers who preferred to do it that way. It was a big reason she had not traveled much with others before actually, it was awkward to have other trainers who were done with their Gym match while she still had not done one yet, and that tended to make her rush.
"Didn't we just get here?" Charizard asked from next to her. The Gym itself wasn't that large compared to the building it was inside, and the main arena was quite plain, with only a single simple set of stands off the side of a large flat stone battle area.
"I think that Gardevoir is more the cause than William here," Suicune noted from just past Alexa's Starter.
"Challenger, I have a somewhat unusual option for you," Gardevoir then declared from the arena. "A standard battle six on six, switching allowed, items allowed, and the trainers are allowed to use their abilities on their own pokemon, but not to directly attack any opponents."
William looked dubious, but nodded. "Goodra, start us off," he declared and sent out his Dragon.
Which made Gardevoir glare at him for the obvious reason that sending a pure Dragon type against a Fairy typed Gym first seemed like poor planning, but also like a problem when you just told an illusionist they could try to trick you.
Alexa flinched as Gardevoir hedged her bet with a Mawile, who soon found out that Goodra knew Fire Punch and was very physically fit as she crashed into the ground halfway across the arena from where she came out. The little horn-mouthed Steel/Fairy type, a combination Alexa was preparing for herself given it would complicate her team's plan, had made a good attempt to use Fairy typed physical move Alexa didn't recognize that fell victim to Goodra's mastery of Acid Armor. A result that probably didn't tell Gardevoir if William was using his illusion advantage or not.
Alexa was fairly sure he wasn't doing that. She had never seen him practice that skill, and he didn't seem the type to try that kind of thing without knowing more about what he could pull off safely. However, she also knew that most trainers probably weren't aware of how much a master of Acid Armor could simply dodge unready opponents. Wider attacks and strikes towards the ground under Goodra seemed to her a better solution.
Gardevoir seemed to realize that, as she responded with an icy blue colored Ninetails that Alexa recognized as an Alolan regional variant. William didn't force the fight and switched for Flaaffy.
"Flaaffy?" Gardevoir questioned aloud, then saw the changed pokemon and grew more serious. "Dig!" the Gym Leader ordered out loud, which wasn't typical for this match. One thing Alexa did know William could pull off was giving orders using illusions, but that equaled out with Gardevoir's Psychic ability to do the same.
The Ninetails vanished into the ground quickly, but it appeared that William and Flaaffy had planed for this sort of counter as the lava coated sheep started to spread his crystals across the entire battlefield. Alexa had seen the pair scattering crystals that didn't explode when they trained before, but she had thought that was trying to get them to go off more reliably.
Ninetails emerged right under Flaaffy, which was a problem because the sheep was now in a good sized pool of lava. A tactic that Alexa knew was even more practiced than the minefield now covering the arena. Also one that the fox pokemon had not expected as it made the Dig attack partial fail as the Ninetails rolled to get the lava off once they were out of the ground.
A strong Flamethrower attack coated the fox with even more fire before all of the lava was off, and Gardevoir recalled her pokemon instead of trying to continue. Then the Gym Leader looked around the now mined battlefield for a long moment. William returned Flaaffy as well, and Alexa wondered if the sheep had taken a harder hit than she could tell from the stands. The Ground type was his major weakness and this was a higher Gym challenge pokemon's attack.
Shanker emerged on William's side, to Alexa's surprise and concern. Gardevoir's pause grew slightly longer as the Gym Leader inspected the former Bug typed flying reptile. Finally a Granbull emerged, set off a couple of the electrical mines, and then clearly got an idea.
Alexa smothered a laugh, and Charizard did not, as Granbull proceeded to carefully fling bits of the floor with the electric gemstones embedded into them up at Shanker. William's Dark/Flying pokemon was able to dodge the makeshift attack, and took the chance to land some powerful bursts of wind to knock the presumably Fairy typed pokemon into other mines. The end result being a somewhat amusing change of pace from the first two sharp losses for the Gym Leader that cleared most of the makeshift mines and resulted in another draw between the two pokemon.
Chesnaught emerged afterwards on William's side, and once again got an uncertain glance from Gardevoir. The Gym Leader sent out what must be a Weezing variant, although with really tall smoke stacks atop their heads and a grey skin with an uneasy green smoke. William and Chesnaught both apparently recognized this one, and with a smug smile the disadvantaged Starter quickly struck hard enough to once more end up with the Gym pokemon flying across the arena without control over the movement.
Gardevoir returned the poison gas pokemon and then spend another long moment simply thinking. "I've underestimated you badly," the Gym Leader admitted. "Your Dragon is enough for either of my remaining selection, and that Chesnaught is similarly so. I won't waste my pokemon's energy on a foregone conclusion. You've earned my Badge easily."
"If you are certain," William replied carefully, but did not yet recall his Starter.
"I'm the one who specified we could use our abilities. I cannot help the two pokemon I chose for this fight against your illusions and your Goodra at the same time," Gardevoir clarified. "Even with a bit of fey enhancement and Psychic targeting I could not counter that."
"My illusions?" William then questioned with confusion. "Do you mean the orders, or something else? I don't train in battle illusions very much because they aren't allowed in the Tournaments. Maybe if I become a Champion, but it is a bit of a waste at my level." He seemed to realize she did mean battle illusions. "Goodra really likes Acid Armor."
"Your pokemon haven't been using your illusions to dodge?" Gardevoir asked dully. William shook his head. "I have underestimated you very badly."
"So, that was new," Alexa said after the match to Suicune. William had already started to work with Gardevoir since Wooper didn't end up tired from the match, and the local Gym Leader seemed a bit spooked by his capabilities.
"The downside of a Fairy typed Gym Leader is that it is a coin flip if she ends up scary or silly," a local answered instead. It was an older man, who Alexa was halfway sure was actually human. Her standards for checking that had gotten a bit more complicated lately. "I think you've thrown her off a lot, Legendary Larch. Usually she is more careful with Zoroark trainers and how they handle their teams."
"Please do not refer to us like that," Charizard said for her with a bit of a dark growl.
"It is important to be clear here," the man specified. "Most will not hear that properly, the town knows to protect such knowledge, but in a fey place such as this it is important to be clear and accurate if you live within. We left Hoenn because of the breaking of the deal we had with the region itself, followed Gardevoir here because we aren't quite normal anymore."
"A deal was broken to bring you here?" Suicune questioned, and Alexa felt that was important.
"We were close to Mt. Chimney. Close enough that the unsealing and empowering of Lady Groudon during the disaster broke through protections on us," he confirmed. "Gardevoir could not remain after that. Breaking the seal would have been enough on its own, but even Lady Groudon hates it when she has her full strength."
"She does," Suicune agreed sadly. "And Groudon has taken the news of the first Rayquaza's death just after the last time she was sealed very poorly as well. I believe I have a vial of her 'tears' that I've been a bit too uneasy to give to Alexa. Raikou found a reason to inform her of Charizard's Geode recently, and she is curious."
Groudon's Tears were just a rumor to Alexa. A rumor that Groudon could in times of great sorrow cause it to rain instead of bringing about drought making sunlight. A rain of very Ground typed water that perhaps was the same thing as Groudon crying. A conformation that they existed, and more than that a conformation they were actually tears from loss, was not really something Alexa wanted to hear.
"I'm not sure we're ready for anything that important," Alexa admitted a bit faintly. "I think it is probably safer wherever you have it now."
Both the local and Suicune nodded in agreement. "Gardevoir led us here on a whim, and recently decided to try being a Gym Leader due to the rarity of Fairy types in this region," the man further explained. "It has honestly worked out rather well all things considered."
[Author's Note]
Here we have a unique Gym Leader idea I have been trying to set up a bit. The Legendary Fairy that is part of the cause of the Miltank issue.
Also a quick first Gym match to get William's side of things out of the way before I go for the larger transformation plot for this Gym.
The Hoenn disaster details here are something I want to write as a short fic, but it is going to take a certain mood to handle writing that one.