It was dusk by the time Ash and his friends arrived in Cyllage City some days later, and despite their tired feet and growling stomachs, they immediately sought out the local gym. As they searched, they couldn't help but notice the lack of townspeople out and about, or the number of buildings that were in disrepair. There was still activity in the city center, but any other part of the city felt like a ghost town. They collectively decided this was a mystery for another time.
"Do you remember where it is, Ash?" Brock asked. "What sort of building is it?"
"It's not in a building," Ash answered, eyes scanning the cliff walls lining the eastern edge of the city. "The gym is built right into the mountain. We should see a tunnel or…"
"Ash, look at that!" Serena pointed toward the cliff. "That must be it!"
Everyone followed Serena's finger along the wall, eventually finding a boarded-up tunnel entrance under a partially-collapsed cliff. The remnants of a massive rockslide lay next to the entrance, and a sign bearing the symbol of the Kalos Pokémon League was smashed and destroyed on the other side of the tunnel, as if it had fallen a hundred feet to the ground.
"Oh my gosh, what happened?!" Iris exclaimed, as everyone started running toward the derelict tunnel. All six of them crowded around the entrance, trying to find a gap in the boards they could peek through; Ash was the only one who managed to get a decent view, and everyone eventually stood back and waited for his report. Pikachu jumped up on top of his head, trying to get a look of his own.
"No way…" Ash sounded stunned, his breath taken away as he took in the sliver of a sight before him. What he saw inside looked less like a Pokémon Gym and more like a disaster zone.
"What is it, Ash?" Serena stepped closer.
"The gym… it's completely destroyed…" He paused as he looked over the mountain of rubble inside. "The ceiling's partially collapsed, and the climbing wall, too… the battlefield is totally gone. It looks like a quarry in there."
"You're kidding!" Iris reached out and pulled Ash away from the crack in the boards, taking a look for herself, gasping as she saw the devastation before her. Shannon stood close to her, as if that would somehow let her see what Iris was seeing.
Serena glanced down toward Madison. "What happened here, Madison? Did this happen recently?"
Madison shook her head. "I think it's been like this a long time, but the gym was still accepting challengers until a few days ago…"
"Seriously?!" Brock exclaimed. "How could they be accepting challengers in a place like this?!" He stood beside Iris, trying to find another crack between the boards to look through.
For the first time since leaving Brackish Town, Ash's despair was outweighed by shock and confusion. He stood back, trying for a few moments to solve the mystery of the gym, before coming up with an idea.
"They said that trainers need to check in at the Pokémon Center," he spoke, turning away. "They'll be able to tell us what's going on." He started walking back into town at a brisk pace, with the others following quickly behind.
"Yes, the gym… you're the first trainer to come asking about it in weeks." Inside the Pokémon Center, Nurse Joy stood in front of Ash and the others, an apologetic look on her face. "I'm afraid you're just a few days too late. The Cyllage City Gym has closed indefinitely."
"We heard that," Ash responded, trying to keep a panicked tone out of his voice. "What happened to it? Why is it all destroyed?"
"It's been that way since the Vein Collapse, three years ago," Joy continued. "The whole city suffered from it, but since the gym is built into the mountain itself, it was hit the hardest by far. It's a miracle the whole place didn't cave in… but as you probably saw, it's completely unusable now."
"And nobody fixed it?" Serena asked, surprised. "After all this time?"
The nurse shook her head. "The money just wasn't there. They had so much to fix around Cyllage City, so many residential and government buildings… if they wanted to fix the gym, as badly as it was damaged, they would have had to take the money from somewhere else. It's really unfortunate, but people need houses more than they need a gym."
"Wait…" Brock stepped forward, putting his hands down on the counter. "But if the gym was destroyed three years ago, why did it only close recently?"
"Well, the gym itself was closed, but the Gym Leader, Grant, was still accepting challengers," she explained. "They would just battle on any spare battlefield that the city had. It worked fine for a while, but eventually, the number of challengers started dwindling down to nothing."
"How come?" Iris chimed in. "Just because the gym was ruined?"
Nurse Joy nodded. "You've probably noticed that the gyms in Kalos all have very unique and interesting constructions to them. It's part of their appeal." Ash nodded, thinking back to the first two gyms they had traveled to on their journey, both of which had been built into enormous trees.
"Apparently, the trainers of the region decided that they didn't want to battle in some random building if they had the choice. So they slowly stopped coming to Cyllage City and went elsewhere instead." She sighed. "Poor Grant would be stuck with nothing to do for days on end, because nobody wanted to challenge him or even train under him. After nobody came to see him for two whole weeks, he went to the city council and asked to leave, and they allowed it. Now the gym is officially closed."
"That's awful…" Serena lamented, remembering Grant's energy and imagining how unhappy he must have been.
"It is, but… what are the trainers supposed to do now?" Ash spoke up again. "How are they supposed to get a Cliff Badge?"
"Unfortunately, they can't," Joy answered. "The Kalos League has told us we can't give out badges if a trainer hasn't battled a Gym Leader." She reached down underneath the counter, pulling out a map and a small slip of paper, handing them both to Ash. "This is a map of all the currently active gyms in the Kalos region. If you go to any of them and show them this pass, they'll let you jump to the front of the line for a Gym Battle."
"Huh…" Ash looked over the map carefully, counting that there were nine gyms still active. They had made plans to visit seven of them, and the last two were significantly out of their way. "I guess we're going to have to figure out a new route through Kalos. This is going to be a mess, isn't it?"
"Again, I'm very sorry." Nurse Joy put on her best smile. "If there's anything else we can do to help, please let me know."
"That's alright," Brock replied chivalrously. "You've been more than helpful enough as it is. We really appreciate it." He had to restrain himself from reaching out and clasping her hands in his, still fighting off a lingering infatuation, as he reluctantly followed the others out of the Pokémon Center.
"It'll be okay, Ash," Serena offered, looking over his shoulder at the map he was holding. "There's still plenty of time before the Pokémon League begins. We'll figure out a way for you to get that last badge."
"I hope so…" Ash was much less optimistic than she was, already plotting out travel routes in his head, none of them good. "We'll have to sit down again and get this figured out, like we did last time."
"We'll have to do it after we get some food," Iris responded. "I'm starving." Both Shannon and Madison voiced their agreement, their stomachs growling, and the group started moving toward downtown in search of a good restaurant.
Hours later, long after the sun had gone down, Ash and his friends were back at the Pokémon Center and dressed for bed. With six of them all traveling together, they had to get a larger room than usual, but they found themselves spoiled for choice; as fortune would have it, they were the only travelers staying at the center that night. They had quickly chosen the largest room with the best view, claiming six of the eight beds, before pulling out the Kalos gym map and poring over it, thinking about how they could salvage their planned journey.
After nearly thirty minutes, they still hadn't made any progress, as the remote locations of the remaining two gyms was scuttling any plans they could think of, given the showcase schedule that Serena had committed to. Shannon had moved to her bed, sitting on it tiredly and watching the discussion from farther away. Madison was leaning against Serena's shoulder, somewhere between awake and asleep; the first time this had happened, Serena had gently shaken her back awake, but the second time she had relented and allowed it. She was still actively planning with Ash, Brock and Iris, but all of them were quickly coming to the realization none of them had wanted.
"There's only one way we can make this work," Brock eventually announced, stone-faced.
Iris nodded. "We're going to have to split up."
"Oh, no…" Serena covered her mouth with her hand, her heart sinking.
"They're right," Ash responded, looking down at his feet, equally gutted. "If we try to stick together, we'll either miss some showcases, or I can't get all of the badges I need. I'll have to go one way, and Serena will go another. And Iris will need to go with her, and Shannon and Madison too…"
"I'll go with you, Ash," Brock jumped in. "You shouldn't have to travel by yourself. We'll meet up with the girls again eventually."
Ash nodded limply, the offer not doing much to lift his spirits. The sudden change in plans had been frustrating for him, but manageable. Now, however, he could see his summer with Serena going up in smoke, which was an entirely different matter. After all the time he had waited to see her again, the thought of parting was leaving him almost despondent. The others watched as he stood up, turning toward his bed.
"We can figure out what we're going to do in the morning," he mumbled, shambling toward his bunk.
"Ash…" Serena spoke softly, concerned.
"I just really don't want to think about this right now." He lifted up the covers and climbed in, burying his face in his pillow; a sleepy Pikachu quickly moved out of his way, walking over and curling up between his legs instead. Iris and Brock stood up as well, getting themselves into bed, as Serena kept her eyes on Ash for a few more moments. She eventually bit her lip and nodded, reaching over to shake Madison awake again before standing up. She walked over to the light switch and flicked it off before heading for her bunk, the room only illuminated by a small number of lights from windows downtown. All six of them lay in their beds in silence, trying to fall asleep.
"It's so quiet…" Madison spoke after a few moments, half-whispering. The others lay in silent agreement; even for the late hour, the Pokémon Center, as well as the town outside, was far quieter than they were used to. The silence was unnerving.
"There's nobody here," Shannon responded. "No trainers passing through, no tourists, no night life… it's like the whole city is dying."
"I guess without trainers coming through, there's fewer people staying here, eating, shopping…" Iris followed up on Shannon's line of thought. "Then people start leaving because they can't make a living here… it's a death spiral."
"Yeah…" Ash rolled onto his side and looked out the window, at the relative darkness and the lack of activity. He thought back to how Cyllage City had been like on his first trip through Kalos, and how different it was now, even for the scant few hours they had been there. There was no hustle and bustle in the city center, no excitement in the air, and it almost seemed like there was no hope in the eyes of the few citizens they had seen. Grant may have only left recently, but it was clear the soul of the city had disappeared long before that, collapsing in on itself alongside the vein that now stretched its way through western Kalos.
He eventually closed his eyes, starting to drift off. It was clear to him now what he had to do when he woke up the next morning. The tricky part would be getting everyone else to agree.
"Mary, what's next on my schedule? Do I have time for a quick break?"
The next morning, a middle-aged man in a dark purple suit was seated at his desk in a luxurious office, pressing the button on his intercom. He could hear the sound of papers shuffling on the other end, as his secretary retrieved his schedule.
"A couple of teenagers are here to see you, Mayor Pirkle. They said they had some questions about the gym?"
The man sighed, disappointed, pressing the button again. "Alright, send them in." He sat back, mumbling that at least the meeting would be short. A few seconds later, the doors to his office opened up, and he watched two teenagers step inside. One of them was a boy wearing a red-and-white hat, evidently a Pokémon trainer from the way he was dressed. The other was a girl who was slightly shorter, with long, abundant purple hair tied up behind her waist.
"Thank you for meeting with us, Mr. Mayor," she spoke, smiling. "My name is Iris."
"And I'm Ash," the boy added. "We wanted to…"
"…Ask me about opening up the gym again?" Mayor Pirkle interrupted, anticipating his question.
"Ah… well…" Ash was a bit befuddled by the mayor's tone, as he already sounded like he didn't want to have this discussion.
"Trust me, I've already gotten tons of flak from angry trainers, upset that we were taking one of their gyms away." The mayor leaned back in his comfortable-looking chair. "They called in, sent their letters, calling me every name in the book, demanding that we open back up again. None of them have been showing up the past few weeks, though. Nobody's been coming through looking for a challenge, to convince us that it's worth the trouble. There's still no trainers eating at our restaurants, buying things in our shops, or staying at the Pokémon Center." He leaned forward again, elbows resting on the desk. "Sorry, but two trainers coming by to talk to me in person isn't going to do the trick. Not unless you have a few hundred friends waiting outside."
"We don't want you to just reopen the gym, sir," Ash quickly explained. "We want to rebuild it."
Pirkle paused, not sure he had heard correctly. "Come again?"
"Erm… maybe 'renovate' is a better word," Iris replied, stepping forward. "We want to clear out the rubble, put a proper battlefield down, clean up the entrance… make it a usable space again. Give the trainers someplace to go when they come to get their badges."
"Right…" The mayor was a bit unsure how to react, never having received an offer like this. He eventually went with skepticism. "And you two are going to be renovating it all by yourselves? How old are you, even?"
"Fifteen, sir," Ash answered. "And it's not just us. There's six of us altogether, plus all of our Pokémon, including some powerful Rock-types and Dragon-types. We can get the rubble cleared out in no time, I bet. Give us a week and you'll see what we can do, I promise."
"A week, huh…" Pirkle rested his chin on his hands, elbows on his desk. "You've still got a problem, though. Even if you clean up the gym, there isn't going to be a Gym Leader there to accept challengers and give out badges."
"We can take care of that, too." Iris grinned a bit, gesturing toward herself. "I'm a Gym Leader in Unova, and another of us used to be a Gym Leader in the Kanto region. We can make some calls to the Pokémon League here and arrange for someone new to take on the position."
The mayor raised an eyebrow, surprised and a bit impressed. "You've got this figured out, huh?" He leaned forward, still a bit suspicious. "So how much is this renovation going to cost us? You want to be paid in cash or Poké Balls?"
"The only thing I want is my Cliff Badge, sir," Ash insisted.
Both of the mayor's eyebrows shot up this time. "You're serious? You're doing this just for a gym badge? You can get those a lot more easily, you know."
"It just seems like the right thing to do," Iris added. "Cyllage City could really use this."
The mayor said nothing as he sat back, contemplating this offer as he looked up at the ceiling, fingers steepled. The two teenagers waited patiently and nervously for his response, hoping they had done their job and sold him sufficiently on the idea. After twenty seconds or so, Mayor Pirkle looked back at them, gesturing toward the two neglected chairs in front of his desk.
"Alright, have a seat. Tell me more about the plans you have for our gym."
Ash and Iris both exhaled in relief, grinning as they sat down across from the mayor, launching into a description of the plan they had hastily concocted earlier that morning.
One hour later, Ash and Iris were walking out toward the boarded-up entrance to the Cyllage City Gym with their friends, a work permit in Iris's backpack and a crowbar in Ash's hand. Once they reached the tunnel, Ash took to the job of pulling the boards free, with Brock lending him a hand when he needed a bit more leverage. A couple of minutes later, they had the entrance completely unblocked, and all six of them stepped over the boards to walk further inside.
Ash grinned wide as he saw the dilapidated space coming into view, despite its severe state of disrepair. He could see how much work lay ahead of him, but he also saw the potential for what the space could be when they were done. He saw himself going into battle and emerging victorious, a Cliff Badge in his hand and his friends by his side. He could feel adrenaline starting to pump through him, the way that it did before an intense Pokémon battle.
He turned back to look at the people that had all agreed to help him, all of them better friends than he could have imagined. They were all smiling, feeling a sense of excitement for what was going to happen. Serena kept her eyes fixed on him, beaming, her heart bursting with pride.
"Well, guys, here we are," he announced. "Our home for the next week. Let's get to work." The others nodded as they walked forward, ready to begin.