"There we are." Falkner said, as he and Koume arrived at the top of his gym, which was an open-top arena with stands around it, which were already filled with childern way younger than the two battling trainers. "Show me what you got! Badges don't come free after all."

"If you say so..." Koume closed her eyes taking one of her pokeballs. "Let's do this."

"Very well then." He responded, taking one of his own. "On the mark."

"Mhm."

"Go!" One of the Falkner's students announced, at which both of the battlers released their primary choices for the battle.

"Go, Pidgeot!"

"Here we go Sandshrew!"

"Wait. Since when Sandshrew is white?" Falkner asked, dumbfoudned by the sight of unnatural pokemon. "Is it a shiny?"

"No, that's his Aloan variant. Ice-Steel type." Koume responded, smiling lightly. "I have to complete my quest somehow, you know?"

"I can't disagree. But don't think it will be easy now!" Falkner smiled, his face turning from confident to determined. "Pidgeot! Quick Attack!"

"Powder Snow!" Koume countered, as Sandshrew sent thin white particles into the air, knocking Pidgeot off course.

"That won't stop us! Use Agility!" Falkner boasted, waving his arms like a bird while Pidgeot swiftly turned in the air and came down for an attack.

"Mist!" Koume ordered, After which Sandshrew created a white fog around himself which resulted in Pidgeot missing him and flying high into the air to be in safe range.

"An elegant defense so far." Falkner praised her much to his student's suprise. "But victory can be achieved only by offense."

"Very well then." Koume nodded, taking her pokeball. "Sorry Sandshrew, we need to change tactics." She added as she pulled him back inside before switching to her second option. "Here we go Spheal!" She shouted while giving her joyous pokemon a chance.

"Ack! Ack!" Spheal cried out, focusing his eyes on highly placed Pidgeot.

"Pidgeot! Whirlwind!" Falkner commanded, to which his pokemon obeyed by creating a strong gust of wind aimed towards Spheal.

"Spheal! Water Gun!" Koume countered as her pokemon unleashed a strong burst of water from his mouth, hitting suprised Pidgeot who lost his balance and fall onto the ground.

"Pidgeot?" Falkner asked, to which his pokemon responded by turning around with rolled eyes before lying flat on the arena ground. "Oh well, my mistake in that part." Falkner added, taking out his pokeball and taking him back from the battle.

"Nice work buddy!" Koume cheered up, as Spheal acked happly in response.

"You show promise." Falkner smiled, taking his second pokeball. "But I'm by no means done." He added, giving a chance to his Dodrio.

"Alright. set up an Aqua Ring please." Koume nodded, considering the tactical switch.

"Dodrio! Tri Attack!" Falkner commanded, at which Dodrio opened it's beaks and charged up a triangle-shaped beam colour similar to indigo.

"Spheal, are you ready?" Koume asked her companion, slightly pale as under the impression of Dodrio's powerful attack.

"Ack!" Spheal nodded decisively, tilting slightly to his right.

"Huh, why to the side?" Koume asked him again, before her eyes widened in realisation.

"Fire!" Falkner shouted as Dodrio unleashed it's charged attack forward.

"Rollout!" Koume commanded just un time for Spheal to narrowly dodge the attack and slide alongside the arena edge to hit Dodrio in the neck.

"Whoa! How is he so fast?!" Falkner asked in suprise while Spheal bounced back and fired a Water Gun at his confused opponent, taking him down as the water stream smashed the three-headed pokemon against the wall.

"A great motivation, I assume." Koume responded, placing her hands and legs together. "But honestly, I don't know."

"I won't mind." Falkner smiled, taking Dodrio back and unleashing his last pokemon. "But you still won't beat my Noctowl."

"We will see." Koume smiled lightly while her Spheal returned back to his standard position in front of his trainer.

"Noctowl, Air Slash!" Falkner commanded as his owl pokemon sent a straight white line at his opponent.

"Rock Smash!" Koume shouted, having her Spheal jump into the air and break the shining white line in half witn a headbutt. "Good job!" She praised him as he landed back on the ground.

"Very good, I admit it." Falkner smiled, looking up into the air. "But it is not decided yet."

"Huh?" Koume gasped in suprise, also looking into the air at nosediving Noctowl.

"Sky Attack!" Falkner shouted as his pokemon slammed into the Spheal, creating a hige explosion that blow everyone backwards.

"Spheal!" Koume shouted, standing against the post-blast smoke as her chubby friend rolled back to her with several bruises. "Oh God you are alive!" She squealed him tightly before taking her pokeball into hand. "Now let's give you sone rest, good job out there." She added just as his eyes closed and deemed him knocked out.

"Hmm, elegancy does have an answer to caring it seems." Falkner said to himself while Noctowl returned to his position ready for the next round. "Anyways, what will be your next move?"

"I'll switch." Koume said, taking another pokeball from her stock. "Lets go Eevee!" She added as she released her angriest team member to the battle.

"GRAAAAWWWRRR!" Eevee roared, making Noctowl back down and flinch.

"Whoa, are you sure he isn't hurt? Or even unable to battle by default?" Falkner asked her, also suprised by the messed up look of the pokemon.

"I asked myself that question too, trust me." Koume nodded, looking down at Eevee who decided to hop on his back legs left and right as if he was an overenergetic kickboxer. "But that's just his appearance and nature, no intentional harm done."

"Alright, I think I can trust you on this one." Gym leader nodded, looking back at Noctowl. "Try Echoed Voice." He said, to which his pokemon screeched at the Eevee.

"Dodge!" Koume commanded, but Eevee ignored her and decided to growl instead. In fact, to growl so loudly that he overpowered Echoed Voice and nullified it.

"What?" Falkner asked in suprise, while Koume just blandly stares at her Eevee. "Try consecutive attack." He ordered, to which Noctowl screamed again.

"RAWR!" Eevee also roared, slowly walking forward and outscreaming the Echoed Voice on his way forward.

"Oh right, he doesn't listen to me." Koume thought, finally realising what was going on while Eevee kept on overpowering Noctowl on his way forward.

"Such unelegant dispute must be handled differently!" Falkner finally snapped, narrowing his eyes. "Noctowl, Sky Attack!" He commanded, to which his pokemon flew high into the air.

"Grrr... Hyah!" Eevee panted, using his Iron Tail to jam his end deep into the floor before standing still on it like a traffic pole.

"Alright, I'll trust you know what you're doing." Koume thought, nervously deciding to not interrupt her Eevee's plan, although it wasn't making much sense as diving Noctowl had an easy job at diving straight towards the stale prey.

Or so he though.

"Hap!" Eevee cried as he bite Noctowl's head at the last moment, bending himself backwards to use his momentum against him as his enemy slammed the arena ground at high speed, throwing severe ammount of dust in the air.

"Krrr." Noctowl shook his head, quickly standing up and looking around while waving his wings to clear his field of vision.

"Eevee?" Koume asked, tilting her body body left and right to see past the smoke.

"Behind you!" Falkner shouted, but too late.

"GRAAAAWRRR!" Eevee roared as he swinged his Iron Tail against Noctowl's neck, sending him straight up into the air before jumping up to follow him and hitting him again in the face.

"Kraaaaawwww!" Noctowl cried as he went back into ground and slided over the dirt surface all the way up to his trainer, leaving a long, singular line of ploughed land behind himself.

"... Erm, good job Eevee." Koume spoke up, rather mixed with her feelings. "Now take some rest." She added, taking out the pokeball and returning him back before he got to land back on the land.

"You tried, my friend." Falkner said with a smile as he retrived Noctowl back into his pokeball before walking up to Koume. "It seems like you won, kid." He said, taking out a small shaped like an 'U' letter. "Zephyr badge is yours, congratulations."

"Eheheh, thanks, but..." Koume responded slowly, taking the badge from his hand. "I don't think I should be proud from that. Eevee was just being brutal to your pokemon."

"But he wasn't sadistic." Falkner smiled gently. "Violence is integral to fighting, otherwise the latter could even not exist."

"... I guess you're right." Koume nodded, her mind partially returning to some very old events. "Anyways, I have to go now."

"Very well then, goodbye." Falkner waved his hand as she turned around and quickly left his gym's main arena.


"Is that the package I ordered?" Fondue. asked, talking in a cargo hold of Maginot's school ship to a rather bulky sailor in a rank of quatermaster.

"Yup, straight from the previous owner from Sinnoh." He said, looking aside at the big cardboard box.

"From where?" Fondue asked again, suprised. "I never heard of such place."

"Neither did about anyone interested in Sensha-do. Especially since literally no one does it there." Sailor shrugged his arms, turning around. "They have their own mainstream game you'll learn why upon opening the box." He added, walking away with confident stride.

"A place where no one practices Sensha-do? That's weird." Fondue thought, walking up to the box and rising it's upper part. "I thought it was a worldwide martial art. What could possibly be..." She stopped her inner monologue, as she looked inside and saw what basically looked like a bright-blue dog-fox hybrid relaxing on top of a weird-looking machine with four arms and eyes. And to make it stranger, the second one was breathing.

"..." Bright-blue mammal tilted his head tot he left and then to the right, looking at the stunned girl with curiosity before taking a small paper note into this mouth and handing it to her.

"A messeage?" Fondue asked, taking the note from him and turning it around to see the text written on the other side. "A... Phone number?" She asked herself, looking back at the small creature who silently nodded. "Alright then, now we news to figure out how to transport you into my room..."


"I love the smell of sliced cheese in the afternoon." Sushil said in a clearly unreletable tone as he sat down behind the desk in his room and took out his phone. "About time." He commented, seeing an incoming call. "Hello?" He asked after answering, while Mako relucantly closed the doors so he would have some privacy.

"Is that Mr. Sushil?" A feminine voice from the other side asked.

"Miss Fondue! It is indeed me, how can I help?" He smiled, giving his confirmation.

"I am here to talk about the order I made..."

"... On your commander's behalf?"

"Yes, that one. I was just wondering about what exacly did you deliever to us."

"Two pokemon, you haven't seen the second card?"

"I did, and I still can't fully see what I pushed myself into."

"Into having a loving dog that canake snow and pacifist sentient supercomputer. Both of them being pet animals to love and cheerish." Sushil smiled, giving her an oversimplified answer. "What's there to not see?"

"Like, how it will help my school in Sensha-do department?" Fondue asked.

"Metagross is a supercomputer that can think about violence, but not fighting itself." Sushil began explaining, looking at his fingers like a vain rich baby boy. "His usage is to process data, calculate the best moves for your Sensha-do team, support in tactical planning. As for Glaceon, he is meant to be Eclair's friend and guardian."

"I think I can see. Other girls are giving her a treatment unworthy of our school since we lost to Anzio in the second round. Nevermind that they got Oarai next because they would defeat us again..." Fondue said, her tone turning more depressing over time.

"See? That's why." Maken responded, using the ocassion to create a counterpoint. "You girls need a motivation boost, some genuine smile under the pressuring defeats. That's what Glaceon is for."

"Now that I think about it... You planned this, didn't you?" Fondue asked, sounding a little bit suspicious.

"Was I supposed to be spontanious about it?" Sushil retored, almost sounding arrogant.

"I never said that."

"Not everything that is said is meant directly. I have my street smarts." He smiled, looking throu his window at the brightly shining Sun. "I hope you don't have any objections about it."

"No, none at all." Fondue responded, sounding a little hesitant. "Thank you for help."

"Deal is a deal, I just hold to my part." Sushil said, feeling legs of a Rowlet on his left shoulder. "But I need you to do yours..."