Jackson and the pokémon walking beside him stood out from the crowd everywhere that they went and Eterna City was no exception. The cafe where they were meeting the local gym leader was in a trendy, up-and-coming part of town, right off Statue Square. The square's namesake, a gleaming obsidian statue of a legendary pokémon, held a silent vigil over the people and pokémon enjoying the beautiful weekend morning.

Being a fairly average-looking boy in most respects, if a little slight for his age, Jackson knew that the stares that he and his companion attracted were due to the hulking pokémon striding next to him. Beans was a towering, three-headed exeggutor and the pokémon was just about as clumsy as they came. To its credit, Beans was trying to be as unobtrusive as possible to the other patrons of the café through which they were walking, but its best efforts weren't nearly good enough. Angry yells and cries of dismays followed in the tottering pokémon's wake as it knocked over drinks, chairs, tables, and even people with its bulk. In trying to correct its mistakes, Beans would then go too far in the opposite direction and barrel into another table, resulting in Jackson making another round of apologies to the latest victims of his pokémon's unintentional rampage. He was used to saying sorry a hundred times a day.

Finally, the trainer and his pokémon saw the individual that they were meeting. She was an older teenager dressed in a green and black ensemble which combined the best elements of a poncho, shorts, and laced-up boots to keep her cool in the heat and prepared for the summer storms which could start and stop without warning. Her hair was red and had heavy bangs which ended right above her eyes. She was Gardenia, the gym leader of Eterna City, and, Jackson hoped, she was someone who would be able to help him and Beans.

From the start, Jackson was relieved to see that Gardenia didn't shout at the mess that his oversized pokémon was causing, and she didn't laugh either, which was also a risk Jackson ran when people first saw Beans try to put one foot in front of the other. Instead, the older pokémon trainer stood up from her table and offered Jackson her hand with a friendly smile. "Hi, Jackson, right? I'm Gardenia. Thank you for coming. Were you able to find the place all right?"

"Um, yeah," Jackson said, embarrassed at how normal Gardenia was making everything seem. It was almost as if she couldn't see the overturned furniture and irate people he and Beans had left in their wake. "Thank you for replying to my message and for agreeing to meet us," continued Jackson. He didn't take the seat that Gardenia offered him until he had first cleared away a spot for Beans to stand next to their table. The three-headed pokémon's faces were respectively cheerful, sleepy, and glum for the time being, which Jackson took as a positive sign.

"Well, it's my job as a gym leader to try and help trainers," Gardenia said readily, "and, besides, your case is certainly an intriguing one." She started to pull out her own chair but stopped and said, "Oh, I'm sorry, can I get you two anything to drink?"

"Actually, I could go for a coffee and Beans here likes pinap juice."

When Jackson started to stand back up again and Beans looked as though it might turn around and risk knocking over their table, Gardenia said quicky and soothingly, "Please, let me go get them. It's my treat."

Jackson smiled to show that he understood the gym leader's caution and then caught her before she left, "Oh, and could you get three straws for Beans' drink? All three heads like to eat and drink at the same time. They're, ah, not very good at taking turns yet."

"Of course," Gardenia said and she walked off to get the boy and his pokémon their beverages, navigating the contours of the café's outdoor seating with as much ease as Beans had had difficulty.

"Well, here we are, buddy," Jackson said wistfully. He looked up at his pokémon and laughed at its leftmost head's groan of dismay. "Don't worry, Beans. We're just going to talk about you. She's not going to take you away from me, at least, I don't think she can do that." With a frown, Jackson thought to himself and then asked his exeggutor, "You're certainly healthy enough the way you're still growing, and I think you're happy, too. Are you happy, Beans?" The heads with the more cheerful expressions bobbed up and down while the most sorrowful one let out another mournful groan. "Well, two out of three is a passing grade, isn't it?"

Jackson sat and Beans stood in silent thought until Gardenia returned with a drink held in each hand. "Coffee for the trainer," she said, "and pinap juice for the pokémon. And, don't worry, I didn't forget the straws." Gardenia pulled three thin straws from the pocket of her poncho and handed them to Jackson with a flourish.

"Thank you!" Jackson said and he set his coffee aside so that he could arrange the three straws in Beans' beverage just so. Then, the boy raised the pinap juice so that all three of the exeggutor's yellow heads could take a straw in their mouths and drink down the slightly sour drink. "So," said Jackson carefully, his hand still raised to hold Beans' drink for the armless pokémon, "what do you want us to tell you about first?"

Gardenia leaned forward on her elbows and answered, "Well, your message gave me an idea of what had happened, and there're a lot of rumors swirling around, but I'd like to hear you tell me again how you and your pokémon got to this state."

Jackson nodded, only to cut the gesture short when he accidentally moved Beans' pinap juice away from one of its mouths and got a cry of outrage in triplicate for his troubles. After rolling his eyes and smiling apologetically to Gardenia, Jackson took a deep breath and started again, "Well, it all started when my uncle offered to get me my first pokémon. He works for the Safari Zone in Pastoria City. I hadn't visited him down there since I was a little kid, but he said that he knew of some special pokémon coming from outside of the region and offered to take me into the Safari Zone to catch a first pokémon that none of my friends would have.

"I was still learning how to throw a poké ball and my uncle kept trying to give me pointers the whole time we were in there, so between the two of us we scared off most of the pokémon we found. It was getting pretty frustrating when I found an exeggcute, Beans, sheltering under a fern to try and keep out of the rain. Exeggcute are usually found in tropical climates, being this far north isn't good for them if a trainer isn't ready for it," Jackson paused his story to tell Gardenia, who nodded politely. Then, the boy continued, "Between the rain and the poké ball, I guess going with me seemed to promise a dryer time. So, I caught my first pokémon and my uncle bought us dinner to celebrate."

Gardenia held up a hand to have Jackson stop his recollection. "Sorry to interrupt you, Jackson, but I just wanted to ask what made you want a pokémon besides the three starter pokémon offered by Professor Rowan's lab? I know lots of trainers who have started with a pokémon besides the three choices their regional professor grants them, but it isn't always easy. Out of the pokémon that can be found here, Professor Rowan chose three which generally have a good demeanor, are easy to care for, and are strong enough to take care of their trainers." The gym leader smiled apologetically up at Beans and said, "Forgive me for saying so, but exeggcute don't really have any of those three benefits going for them. On top of which they aren't native to Sinnoh, as you mentioned yourself."

Jackson shifted in his seat uncomfortably, enough so that one of the straws in Beans' drink would have slipped from the exeggutor's mouth if the large pokémon hadn't been quick to secure it by biting down on it. "Well, um, I guess I just wanted to have something special right off the bat. I don't know how long ago it was when you first went on your journey, but it can feel like you're getting lost in the shuffle with so many other new trainers. People you meet just think of you as part of that group, unless you can work to set yourself apart." Jackson sighed heavily, "And now we've got all the notoriety that we could've asked for and more. But I don't want to lose Beans."

"I'm not going to take away your pokémon, Jackson," said Gardenia quickly. "Why don't you keep telling me your story? How was it starting your first pokémon journey together?"

"At first, things went great!" Jackson said with a smile. "It was a learning experience figuring out to take care of one pokémon with so many heads, but me and Beans were getting stronger and starting to win more battles than we lost. We caught another pokémon for our team, a starly, and made it to Oreburgh City to challenge the gym leader there for our first gym badge. That's when things started to go badly.

"Exeggcute's a grass-type pokémon, but Beans didn't know any good attacks to make the most of the advantage we were supposed to have over Roark's rock-type pokémon. I didn't realize it at first. Instead, we barged into the gym and walked out ten minutes later after Roark's cranidos knocked Beans out." Above their table, Beans hung its three heads in shame so that the thick green leaves atop its body brushed against Jackson and Gardenia's hair. "It was a good wakeup call, I thought," Jackson continued, "we worked extra hard at training and planning for our rematch with Roark. The next time that we went to the gym to challenge him, we decided on a strategy that would aim for a long, drawn-out match where Beans' leech seeds would drain Roark's pokémon while its barrier and hypnosis techniques would hold off counterattacks. It wasn't a bad plan, but we still didn't understand how strong Roark was. His pokémon broke through Beans' defenses and took the win before the leech seeds could work their magic."

Jackson put his pokémon's emptied beverage container on the table and leaned back in his chair. "We were getting pretty frustrated by then, or, at least, I was," he admitted. "I wasn't really thinking straight. All I could think about was how the other trainers who started their journeys on the same day as me had already beat Roark and were already going off to battle other gyms and catch new pokémon, while I was still stuck in Oreburgh City, waiting for a miracle." The boy laughed ruefully, "Well, I got my miracle, kind of. There was a miner who came into the pokémon center where we were staying. I had done my research and knew that Beans needed a leaf stone to evolve, so I asked this stranger covered in dirt and digging tools if he had one."

"And he did."

"And he did," Jackson echoed Gardenia. "I had to give him all the money that I had, and I still don't know whether he was taking pity on me or taking advantage of me. But I had the leaf stone, and I wanted to use it." Jackson frowned as the words came out of his mouth and hastened to add, "But I didn't force it on Beans. Right, buddy? I checked with my pokémon to see whether it was okay with evolving or not. I think Beans was just as frustrated as me, because we used the leaf stone right then and there."

Gardenia finished her own drink before asking, "How did you two adjust to Beans' evolution?"

Jackson exchanged a look with his three-headed pokémon and then said, "At first, we were thrilled. Sure, Beans was a little, okay, a lot, clumsier than before, but it was so big and so strong! When we trained, my starly couldn't do a thing to slow Beans down. I knew that a big, strong exeggutor wasn't going to get knocked around like a little exeggcute would. We did just a little more training, but then we challenged Roark again. After Beans' evolution, we felt even more confident than we had the first time around."

"Did you change your strategy at all to accommodate for your pokémon's new form?" asked Gardenia interestedly.

"You know, I'm sure we had some strategy planned out, but as soon as his cranidos bounced off of Beans' stomach when trying to attack and I saw the look on Roark's face, we just threw all of that out the window." A smile played on Jackson's face that was mirrored on the majority of Beans' heads. "It was really something to see. Beans just kind of kept knocking the gym leader's pokémon down. It wasn't even an attack or a technique or anything like that. Beans just kept kicking and stomping on Roark's cranidos. I was about to tell Beans to sit on it, too, when cranidos fainted. That's how we got our first, and, so far only, badge."

Gardenia remarked, "Sounds like everything worked out pretty well."

"It did, or at least it seemed like it did, at first." Jackson swirled what was left of his coffee around its cup before he started to talk again, "We felt so good after beating Roark, but we couldn't ignore all of the troubles with Beans' new body after we won. Believe it or not, but Beans used to be even clumsier than it is now." The exeggutor grunted its stereo displeasure and Jackson shot back, "It's a compliment, Beans! Anyways," he said with a shake of his head, "Beans was bumping into everything and anything. It stepped on my foot a few times, and, let me tell you, having an exeggutor standing on you is no picnic. I kept Beans in its poké ball for a while after we won so that it couldn't break anything in the pokémon center, but after we got on the road again, I tried a different approach.

"See, I thought that Beans just needed some time getting used to its new shape, so I figured the more time that it spent out and about, walking around, the less clumsy it would get. After that Beans went everywhere with me, and, well, after two weeks, it's gotten a bit better." Beans huffed again and Jackson said, "We met a lot of other trainers and even became, um, a little bit famous among the new trainers, but even though we've made some serious progress things still aren't where we want them to be. I want Beans to feel comfortable, not because I need it to battle, but because I don't want my pokémon to be unhappy."

Gardenia nodded sagely and said, "Well said, Jackson. If you two are up for it, I would like to request a battle from you and Beans, however. I think that it would help me to see more of how your pokémon uses its new body, especially under the demanding circumstances of a battle."

Jackson's eyes widened but he looked to his exeggutor before responding to Gardenia. When Beans bobbed its heads up and down and bellowed in excitement, Jackson's face broke into a smile of his own and he said, "Yeah, sure! We'll take you on!"

"Superb!" said Gardenia with a clap of her hands. "How about we have a little one-on-one match right in front of that statue there?" Without waiting for an answer from the other trainer, Gardenia stood up and threw away her empty coffee cup before strolling over to the spot she had indicated.

"You ready, buddy?" Jackson asked Beans as he carried their own garbage to the receptacle. His pokémon's answer was an aggressive shout, which turned into a startled squawk as it stumbled over an empty chair and nearly went toppling face first into a table which hosted a young man and woman on a date. "Sorry!"

After Jackson helped guide his pokémon away from the café and any other irate customers, they stood on the hill atop which stood the ornate statue, the black stone giving the already impressive legendary pokémon an imposing aura. It was harder for Beans to appreciate the artwork than its trainer, because the exeggutor had to struggle to simply maintain its footing on the uneven ground. Gardenia smiled sympathetically at the large pokémon's difficulties, but she did not offer to move the site of her battle with Jackson. Instead, the red-haired gym leader sent out her own battling pokémon from one of the red and white poké balls kept in the pocket of her green poncho. "Wake up, Franklin, it's time to battle!"

Gardenia's choice of pokémon was a stout turtwig whose pebbled green skin and thick brown shell looked to provide an impressive defense for such a small pokémon. Franklin had a vacant expression in its eyes that vanished when it saw the large pokémon standing next to Jackson. Instead of showing any of the fear that Jackson and Beans had previously encountered from small pokémon unfamiliar with the hulking exeggutor, Gardenia's turtwig snapped its toothless mouth and pawed at the ground, eager for the battle to begin.

"Well, all right!" exclaimed Jackson. "That's the first turtwig we've met that hasn't hidden in its shell when it got a look at Beans!"

"Gym leader's pokémon tend to be made of sterner stuff," Gardenia allowed with a hint of pride creeping into her voice. "I'm guessing that you and your pokémon have triumphed over lots of smaller foes, but don't think you'll have such an easy time with us! Ready?"

"Ready!"

"Then, let's go! Franklin! Start off with a tackle attack!" ordered Gardenia. Her turtwig moved as quickly as its stubby legs allowed it. The green-scaled pokémon had some difficulty building up the necessary speed for its attack, but compared to its tottering opponent, Franklin may as well have been a professional dancer.

Beans swayed unsteadily on its two thick legs as it tried to navigate both the oncoming attack and the unfamiliar terrain. "Stomp on it!" Jackson yelled, but when his pokémon lifted one of its feet to try and squash Gardenia's pokémon, Beans' other foot slipped out from under its heavy body and sent the exeggutor crashing into the ground and then rolling a few feet down the hill. The collapse and humiliation were such that even the ineffective blow of Franklin's tackle didn't lift Jackson's spirits. "Come on, Beans, get up," Jackson pleaded.

While Beans struggled to get back up after its fall, by pressing its head against the ground to try and anchor itself while its feet found somewhat solid footing, Franklin trotted back to its trainer. "Good work, Franklin," said Gardenia to her turtwig, then to Jackson she said, "You and your pokémon need to recognize what attacks are threats and which can be ignored. A smaller pokémon has to be more careful about which hits land, but you two still don't trust in Beans' toughness. Just watch!" Gardenia turned her attention back to her own pokémon and commanded, "Use your razor leaves, Franklin."

"Beans!" cried Jackson by instinct, but then he remembered Gardenia's admonishment and bit his tongue to see if his exeggutor could take the barrage of small leaves which Franklin had sent flying towards its opponent. Unfortunately, when it heard of the incoming attack Beans stopped concentrating on regaining its footing to try and twist and turn its body out of the way of the barrage of green missiles. Beans wasn't nimble enough to do so, and it took a series of scratching blows on its brown midsection, but the real damage was done when the frantic pokémon lost what progress it had made on standing back up and fell back to the ground with a heavy thud. "Come on, buddy, get up," Jackson said again, but he worried that his order wasn't going to be any more effective than it had been last time.

"You're the trainer!" came Gardenia's sharp reprimand from across the hill. "You have to keep your head when your pokémon is scared and confused, Jackson! Don't just stand there, do something!"

Jackson gritted his teeth and tried to pick out the one or two useful thoughts out of the storm that was swirling around in his head. "Okay," he said to himself, "let's try this. Beans! Make a barrier!"

His order came just as Gardenia ordered another razor leaf attack from her turtwig Franklin. Beans stopped writhing on the ground long enough to concentrate on creating a psychic barrier which blocked some of the cloud of leaves while the others pelted Beans' thick hide without noticeable effect. While Gardenia and her pokémon watched, the exeggutor lurched back onto its feet.

"Not bad, Jackson," said Gardenia. "But why did you choose a barrier?"

"I knew that my pokémon wasn't going to really be hurt by your attack," Jackson called back, "but Beans didn't know that, or wouldn't believe it. So, I gave it a way to feel protected so that Beans could focus on getting back on its feet."

Gardenia smiled at that. "You really care a lot about your pokémon, don't you, Jackson? I think I've seen all that I need to see." The gym leader held out Franklin's poké ball and recalled her turtwig with a flash of red light before pocketing the pokémon in her poncho again.

Jackson was disappointed and confused, and so was Beans. "Wait, that was it?" the boy asked the gym leader as she walked over to join him and his exeggutor. "But we didn't get the chance to show you how strong we are. Beans was going to beat the shell off of your turtwig, right, buddy?" Beans voiced its agreement loudly, until its excitedly stomping feet nearly caused it to fall down again.

"Well, we'll see how you do in a real gym battle," Gardenia said with a laugh. "I think you two will be ready to challenge my gym if you take some time to do some more training and some more reflecting on one lesson I'm going to give you today."

"What's that?"

"You two don't have to put all of this pressure on yourselves," Gardenia explained with a hand on the shorter Jackson's shoulder. "You and Beans are growing into a great trainer and pokémon, but you don't have to feel like you have it all figured out right away. Don't compare yourself to other trainers and pokémon, but to yourselves. Are you doing better than you did yesterday? What are you going to do so that you can say the same thing tomorrow? Going from exeggcute to exeggutor was a huge shock for Beans, and it's not surprising that it's still taking time to adjust, for both of you, but don't discount the progress that you've already made.

Jackson frowned. "That's the lesson? Just keep doing what we're doing?" I was kind of hoping for something more, um, special than that."

Gardenia shrugged and said, "Sorry, Jackson, I'm a grass-type specialist. I believe that for pokémon what works best is slow and steady growth, not quick fixes and secret weapons." She took her hand from Jackson's shoulder and gestured back towards the heart of Eterna City. "Now, if you two don't have anything else planned, I'd like to walk back to the gym with you and Beans. You're more than welcome to train with me and my gym trainers ahead of your formal challenge for my gym's badge."

"Awesome, that's where we'll learn the quick fixes and secret weapons, right?" asked Jackson before laughing to show the gym leader that he was only joking. "Seriously though, thank you for helping us, Gardenia."

"Don't mention it!"

Jackson helped Beans down the hill and then the three of them, trainers and pokémon, started walking to the gym together. Jackson said, "You know, you called back your pokémon first when we battled. So, does that mean, Beans and I beat you in a battle? Shouldn't you be giving us a badge?"

"How about you don't mention that, either?"