The walk to the city was a relatively peaceful one. Cynthia spent the time marveling at the Pokémon around them and taking in the beautiful nature. Torian spent his time making notes on how he was going to train Zorua and Skorupi. He also wrote down ideas for the team he was building. It would be crucial to have a well-balanced team for the gyms and the elite four. Luckily, his research had shown that they were the same as in the games, sans the champion of course. Apparently, the region had experienced a rise of new gym leaders after the old ones decided to retire. The only ones who hadn't retired were Byron and Volkner.
Of course, that meant the first gym was rock-type, and currently his team would have an extremely tough time taking them on. At the same time, he really wanted to catch all his favorite Pokémon and call it a day. Of course, that meant traveling to all the other regions which cost money. Money he could only earn through the Gym challenge.
Sighing and shaking his head, Torian shelved thoughts of the future for thoughts of the present. Going back to training routines for his two Pokémon he realized that, he would have to either beef up his team as it was or get more Pokémon soon if he wanted to beat the first gym leader.
The first gym in the region was a rock type gym run by its leader Roark. Roark had taken over the gym from his father, Byron, the current Canalave Gym leader. He was actually rather famous for using revived fossil Pokémon in his team. A trait his father had apparently picked up when he became the Canalave gym leader.
Roark's line up started with a Geodude, followed by an Onix and finally, Cranidos. With only a dark type and a bug type, Torian didn't have much hope for an easy win. In the games, he remembered using his starter Turtwig to rush through this gym and move on. Usually having a starly and shinx in his team by then. Of course, that was with game mechanics limiting where Pokémon appeared in the wild.
In this world, there were no such restrictions and no level system set up to determine strength. There would also be no trainers in the gym to block your path. Instead, the gyms were more like sports arenas and the battles would be broadcast to the region and the locals would gather into stands to watch the challenger. This is apparently what started the gym challenge being more of a seasonal thing, than a random occurrence.
Torian thought it was annoying but really didn't care too much. Getting back to his team, he was hoping to get a Gible of his own. Garchomp was the regional pseudo-legendary and an extremely powerful Pokémon in and out of the games. As for how he would acquire that Pokémon, only time would tell. Asking Cynthia had revealed that the Garchomp line was very rare to encounter, not to mention difficult to train.
Torian was ripped from his thoughts as Cynthia squealed in delight. Looking up he noticed they were at the entrance to the city and Cynthia was looking off to the left. Glancing in that direction, he couldn't stop the laugh escaping. An ice-cream stand serving kids was stationed just in the city limits.
"I'll be right back!" Cynthia cried out as she ran forward to get in line. Torian smiled amusedly as he watched Cynthia bounce on her heels, waiting for her frozen treat. He was about to walk over when a voice interrupted him.
"That's a fine lass you're traveling with." Torian jumped as the elderly voice sounded beside him. Looking to the right, he saw an older man sitting on a bench overlooking the surrounding forest.
Torian laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, she sure is great." Torian looked back to Cynthia who was just now ordering her ice cream. "I'm really lucky I ran into her."
The older gentleman laughed good naturedly. Looking down he noticed Zorua standing by Torians feet, gazing back at him. "That's an interesting partner you have there. Just starting your Pokémon adventure?"
Torian knelt down and started showering Zorua with affection. "Yep." Torian laughed as Zorua rolled onto her back for belly rubs. "I can't wait to see the rest of the region and meet all new kinds of Pokémon."
The older man laughed merrily and pulled out a book. Sensing the end of the conversation he picked up Zorua and headed over to Cynthia who was just receiving her ice-cream.
Walking through his first city in this universe was unnerving. It wasn't as densely populated as cities from his original universe and it seemed some jobs were even completed solely by Pokémon. While cars were definitely a thing, most modes of transportation used Pokémon. Cynthia happily munched on her ice-cream while occasionally pointing out important buildings and interesting Pokémon.
Coming to the city center, they came upon the registration building for the gym challenge. Here they would officially begin their journey. Torian gulped, clearly nervous while Cynthia smirked confidently as they entered the building. Both froze as they saw a massive amount of people. These people were clearly trainers based on the Pokémon around them and the gear they were sporting.
"What's going on?" Torian muttered as he gazed disbelievingly at the crowd. Cynthia, too stunned to answer continued to look around for answers herself.
She had never heard of this many trainers signing up in all her years living here. Usually, it was only about a dozen who signed up, but here in this room was a good 20 to 30 people. All around her, a wide variety of people waited impatiently. Apparently, the others had been her for some time.
"If you're here to join the gym challenge, you are going to have to wait with the rest of us."
Looking to the side, Torian and Cynthia noticed a young man with long blue, grey hair, wearing a red cloak glaring at them. Torian thought he looked familiar but couldn't place a name to his face.
"Hello, I'm Cynthia, and this is Torian. Do you know what's going on?" Cynthia stepped towards the young man, holding out her hand. The young man glanced at her hand before scoffing.
"Names Tobias, and I don't shake hands with those beneath me." Cynthia frowned and lowered her hand. Torian glared and suddenly remembered that this trainer was the one to have a darkrai in the anime. Apparently, this guy was a huge jerk if his introduction was anything to go by. "As for what's happening, Apparently the league has some big announcement. Something about trying something new this year with all these applicants to the gym challenge." With that said, Tobias walked away into the crowd.
Cynthia huffed. "What a dick." Torian snorted at her vulgarity and was about to respond when a horn blew loudly in the room, silencing everyone and drawing their attention up front. There, a man in what Torian could only describe as a referee uniform stood with a loudspeaker.
"If I can have everyone's attention! We would like to get this started as soon as possible." He said and everyone moved slightly closer and quieted down. "As you can all see, we have a large number of trainers wanting to participate in the gym challenge this year!" murmurs of agreement briefly broke out but were swiftly silence by a quick glare from Mr. Referee.
Taking a deep breath the man continued once all was silent once more. "Due to this high number of applicants, the league has decided to implement some new rules to hopefully make this year more interesting while still keeping the challenge from extending into next year." By now those who weren't giving him their entire attention we fixated and everyone waited with baited breath to find out what these new rules would be.
The league was known to be very lax with how challengers made it through and how long it took. Not to mention the order in which one battled at gyms. Granted, Cynthia thought, most years only had a handful of trainers to get through.
"This year, each gym will have a challenge that each participant must complete in order for them to qualify to challenge the gym leader. Each challenge has been chosen by their respective gym leaders and were told to not make them too difficult but also not easy. Once you complete this challenge, you will have three chances to beat the gym leader. Should you lose all three matches or fail to complete the challenge, you are disqualified and done with the gym challenge." Cries of protest and anger shot out but Torian thought that it was a fair ruling. Especially with so many people.
"Enough! If you don't like it, there is the door!" Referee shouted while pointing at the exit. When no one moved to leave he continued.
"Unlike other years, where you could challenge gyms in any order you wanted, the league has decided to try out a set order for battling gyms. Any who sign up will be given the list and be expected to follow the order or forfeit. Gym leaders will not accept your challenges unless you have the proper badges."
The man waited, probably expecting more grumbling. When none came, he shrugged. "Lastly, there is now a set time limit for this year's gym challenge. You have 8 months starting next week to complete the gym challenge and qualify for the elite four challenge. We are not changing the rules for the elite four challenge. For any who need a refresher, that means only four of you will be able to challenge them. If more than four of you make it to the end, you will be paired off to battle each other until only 4 remain."
Taking another deep breath to calm himself he moved over and raises his arm motioning to a desk behind him. "Those who still wish to participate please step forward now. Further instructions will be given once you complete your registration."
With that final message given the room surged forward, intent on registering as quickly as possible.
Torian and Cynthia held back, waiting for the room to empty as people quickly registered and left with varying looks upon their faces. Many seemed determined or worried, while a few seemed angry and frustrated.
"That was interesting." Cynthia muttered as they watched people slowly file out of the building.
Torian looked at her and noticed her determination and focus. He smiled already thinking of her future as this regions champion. "What do you make of the new rules?" He asked, curious for her opinion.
Cynthia smiled at him. "I think this year is going to be interesting. The only time something even remotely resembling this happened, the champion at the time was retiring and they set up the challenge to find their replacement." Cynthia moved to register as they came upon the desk.
A few minutes later, Cynthia and Torian were walking out of the building looking over the new 'rule' book they were given, highlighting what this year's gym challenge would look like. Torian sighed in relief when he realized in put the gyms in the same order as the games and then grimaced when he realized he would be running around the region like a madman for eight months.
Cynthia seemed less nervous and more excited. "I can't wait to explore Sinnoh! Think of all the places we are going to see. Not to mention the history!" Cynthia gushed, reading her rule book. "At least we have a week to prepare before we have to come back for the opening ceremony."
Torian nodded with a grunt. Due to the new rules everyone would be starting at the same time to keep things as fair as possible. This would be tougher than he thought. Especially with the time limit given. Roughly a month for each gym but most of that would be spent traveling the region.
Torian was ripped from his thoughts when Cynthia grabbed his hand and started pulling him down the street. "Come on Torian, we need to get to the Pokémon center and call professor Rowan to let him know we registered." Torian smiled at her enthusiasm and pushed thoughts of his coming journey from his mind for now.
Over the next few days Torian got acquainted with Jubilife city. Exploring the surrounding area showed that the way to route 218, west of the city, was indeed a ferry crossing. Along the shore fishermen would line up and try their hand a catching water Pokémon. Cynthia had seemed particularly interested in this when one of them brought up a shiny Lumineon.
Torian had noticed her buttering up one of the older fishermen lately and wondered how long it would take for the man to cave and let her use his fishing rod.
Longer than He thought as it wasn't until two days before the start of the challenge that Cynthia dragged him to route 218 for some 'light fishing' as she put it. Torian had to laugh at the mans downtrodden face when he handed Cynthia the rod. The next few hours were some of the most boring in his life if he was being honest.
Watching as Cynthia tried and tried to catch anything was just too repetitive and since training could scare away any wild Pokémon, he couldn't even do that. Instead, he dipped his feet into the water and wiggled his toes, watching as random magikarp poked around his feet. Zorua was taking a nap in the sun behind him and Skorupi was attempting his own fishing by lowering its tail into the water and waiting for a nibble.
He was just as successful as Cynthia. Not a bite all day. The man groaned in annoyance before a swift tug brought everyone to attention. Gible who stood behind his trainer braced her as she leaned back attempting to reel in her first catch. Torian was about to get up and help when something shiny caught his eye in the water. Eyes wide in disbelief, he jumped into the water without thinking.
"Torian!" Cynthia called out, still reeling in the line. Skorupi and Zorua both rushed to where they last saw their trainer and stared into the water. Unfortunately, his sudden swim kicked up enough sediment that they could no longer see him. Both Pokémon started panicking before a loud splash had them turning to see Cynthia reel in a Feebas.
Gible, Use bite! Hold it down." Cynthia ordered while getting a pokeball ready. Acting fast, the fish Pokémon was quickly subdued and caught. The pole pushed into the fisherman's hands and Cynthia was over where Torian had just been.
Cynthia started to take her shoes off to go in after him after a minute of waiting when his head breached the surface with a loud gasp. "Torian you idiot! What the hell were you thinking!" Cynthia yelled as she ripped him from the water. Zorua and Skorupi fussing around his now soaked body while the young man smiled dumbly, clutching a pokeball.
He was knocked out of his dopey look by a swift smack to the back of the head, curtesy of an irate Cynthia. "Did you hear me!? You scared all of us!" She motioned to his still concerned Pokémon and Torian felt terrible. Snatching them up in a group hug he showered them with as much love as he could before letting them go and standing.
Cynthia seemed ready to keep berating him but stopped as he hugged her too. Cynthia yelled as his soaked cloths made quick work of her dry cloths. Ensuring both were quite wet. "Dammit Torian you better have a good reason for scaring us." Cynthia huffed once she was let go.
Torian smiled, holding up the pokeball. "I struck gold. Cynthia." Turning away from the water he released the Pokémon inside and everyone gasped in shock. There on the ground, flopping about, was a shiny golden Magikarp. "Meet Magikarp everyone." The fish stopped flopping and watched as Zorua and Skorupi approached. Each started chittering at it, clearly welcoming the new addition.
Torian turned back to Cynthia with a proud smirk. I couldn't pass that up for anything. Sorry for worrying you all but even you can't blame me for that." Cynthia shook her head in agreement. What did you catch by the way?"
Cynthia broke out of her shock and smiled. "I caught this beauty. Come on out Feebas!" Said Pokémon soon flopped next to Magikarp.
Both trainers admired their catches, even more excited for the coming gym challenge with these new partners.