The day before the battle, after finishing my training, I did some research about Brawly to make some extra preparations before the Gym Battle.

Brawly, the Fighting type expert, used Makuhita as his main Pokémon in the Gym, but there were rumors about his Makuhita evolving not too long ago. Before becoming a Gym Leader, he underwent training training with Bruno of the Kanto Elite Four. His hobbies are martial arts and surfing. Not a surprise...

A few years ago, he announced the birth of his son named Harry. The news shocked the region for quite a while, since he was at a rather young age to be a father, as well as the mother being completely unknown. It was like Harry appeared out of nowhere. What a story...

Upon deciding who to choose for the Gym Battle, I asked my team for opinions, "What are your thoughts?"

"I don't think I should go this time. Fighting types are brutal towards Normal types like me!" Ziggs exclaimed.

"Good point, Ziggs." I nodded before saying, "I think one of the spots has to be Grace. Her type advantage will make this battle a lot easier."

"Glad to be battling again, Lows." She nodded with a smile.

"I'm not too sure about the second member, though." I said, "All three Pokémon left seemed like good candidates."

Surfer suggested, "Why don't we let someone who hasn't battled in a while go this time? Y'know, to gain more experience against the waves."

"Good idea, Surfer." I recalled the teams I used for previous Gym Battles before making my decision, "Woody, why don't you battle this time? You haven't been in a Gym Battle for the past two matches now."

"That's true!" Surfer realized, "He has gone way stronger since the Watson battle, yet he couldn't show it due to type disadvantages and all."

"I'll try my best if I'm chosen, Lows." Woody didn't object to the idea.

"Are you two okay with it, Surfer, Power?" I looked at the two.

"Perfectly fine!" Surfer grinned.

"My nerves are saved for a little longer." Power sighed in relief.

"Guess that's set, then!" I concluded, "Let's do our best for the battle tomorrow."

I hope tomorrow goes well...

"Mr. Stone," Steven said upon entering his father's office in Devon, "I assume you called me over for good reason."

"Steven, I wasn't going to ask you for help, but it seemed like it's the only choice. It has the potential to ruin the Pokémon World, after all."

Steven got more interested in what his father was about to tell him as he took a seat, "What happened?"

"It seemed like one of our blueprints for our upcoming product was stolen and leaked to another party." Mr. Stone said.

"Well, it's not the first time this has ever happened. Tried the past solutions yet?"

"Of course we did. Or else, I wouldn't be calling you." Mr. Stone sighed, "It'd be fine if it's any other product, honestly. But this would actually cause chaos that happened a few years back to reoccur again."

"Don't tell me..." Steven's expression revealed his shock, "The blueprints leaked are for the Legendary Tracking Device."

"Good guess, Steven." Mr. Stone nodded, "And I've been hearing rumors from my personal connections that it could be related to that villain team who had been causing trouble lately. You're no stranger to them either, right?"

"...Team Willpower." Steven said, "I guess they really are starting to take action for their plans. How did they manage to get the blueprints, though?"

"Not too sure..." Suddenly, Mr. Stone made a gesture at Steven. Steven knew that was the signal to come closer for a whisper.

He did so, and Mr. Stone whispered in his ear, "There are spies under Team Willpower invading Devon as workers."

Steven pulled himself away from Mr. Stone before remaining still on the seat. He seemed calm at first, but if looked closely, that was just a disguise of endless thoughts running through his head.

...I see.

I guess we let it slip this time. I can't believe we never noticed...

So, you are invading here as well, huh?

The next day before the match, I followed the wooden signs to the Dewford Gym. Shortly, the rectangular building with a yellow-orange roof entered my sight again as I immediately entered the Gym.

There was still some time left, so I spent time glancing through the framed photographs in the glass display cases, the story of his announcement about his son remaining in my mind.

I wonder...

I gave more attention to the photographs, hoping to find signs of potentially Harry's mother. However, it was to no avail, there were only photos of Brawly training with other individuals as well as group photos with his son.

As I was paying full attention to the photographs, Brawly's voice broke my focus, "You got here early, Lows!"

"Ah! Y-Yeah, might as well." I quickly replied.

"Let's enter the battlefield room, then!" I nodded and followed him to the battle area. The battlefield was surrounded by a reeds-filled floor as the walls vertically transitioned from blue to green. Completely different from what I expected.

We went to two sides of the battlefield as the referee walked to the middle and announced the rules.

"This battle will be a two-on-two singles battle, where the challenger is allowed to switch his Pokémon and have the first move. The winner is determined when all the opponent's Pokémon are unable to battle. Do you understand and agree with the rules, Lows from Pallet Town?" I nodded as usual to the referee's question.

"Alright, the battle between Master Brawly and Challenger Lows will now begin! Trainers, please send out your first Pokémon!"

Brawly did not hesitate the slightest as he threw his first Pokéball into the air, "Time to fight for victory, Champ!"

A gray bipedal, humanoid Pokémon came out of the Pokéball. It had a vaguely reptilian face with a short snout, narrow red eyes, and it was wearing a black and golden power-save belt. Its arms are muscular with dark red, vertical stripes on them.

[Machoke, the Superpower Pokémon. Its formidable body never gets tired. It helps people by doing work such as the moving of heavy goods.]

"Let's get a good start, Grace!" I threw Grace's Pokéball as she landed on the battlefield. Staring at the bigger opponent in front of her, she remained calm.

"Battle begin!"

"Grace, use Magical Leaf!" Grace nodded as she spun around, launching the light green glowing leaves as they hit the Machoke successfully.

"Ignore the pain and use Facade!" Champ surrounded itself in an orange aura before it approached Grace and managed to land a tackle onto her. The physical attack took a toll on Grace, but she held back the pain as I commanded, "Grace, Teleport, then use Shadow Ball!"

"Don't let her get through! Counter with Strength, Champ!"

Champ rushed at its opponent at surprisingly fast speed, worrying me a little. Fortunately, Grace managed to teleport away just in time. Once she found a good place to make a safe landing, she did so and released a black blob towards her muscular opponent. Champ did manage to notice where the attack was coming from, but was unable to dodge it in time as it took the attack.

I could see Champ getting tired and wanted to take advantage of that, "Grace, use Psybeam at full strength!"

Brawly however, stayed calm despite the situation as he observed Grace. Once Grace released the psychic waves at full power, he immediately commanded, "Champ, endure the hit and use Payback!"

The psychic waves hit the Superpower Pokémon as he showed a painful expression, but held on anyways as it rushed towards Grace. I was hoping for Grace to be able to dodge it, but with Champ's speed, I could tell it was near impossible.

I knew I had to make a final stand, "Grace, one last shot! Psybeam!"

My Kirlia was able to send out her final Psybeam attack as it hit the approaching Machoke successfully. However, that only seemed to make the upcoming attack more powerful as the Fighting type was determined to land it. Finally, it landed a slap at Grace with incredible strength, launching her into the air as she landed onto the reeds-filled ground. The results of the battle was clearly seen as both Pokémon were nowhere close to being able to continue battling.

"Both Grace and Champ are unable to battle! This battle is a tie! Trainers, please send out your last Pokémon!"

I ran to Grace, worried, but she showed me a reassuring expression on her face. I was glad she seemed to be okay at that moment. I thanked her as I was about to return her, but she said, "L-Lows, I would like to request to stay and watch the battle."

"Are you sure? You can rest in the Pokéball while watching the next battle."

"That's okay... I want to support Woody." She gave me a smile to show she was fine. Knowing that she was determined in her decision, I nodded and took her to a safe corner where she could rest while watching her friend battle.

"You got this, Woody!" I threw his Pokéball into the air, sending out the Wood Gecko Pokémon. Meanwhile, Brawly sent out his next Pokémon, Yokozuna. Surprisingly, it seemed smaller than I thought as the yellow Fighting type had a black marking on its chest that extends around its neck. On its cheeks were red, ring-shaped markings, and it had slit-like eyes.

[Makuhita, the Guts Pokémon. It grows stronger by enduring harsh training. It is a gutsy Pokémon that can withstand any attack.]

The rumors... they're not true?

The referee did not give me time to think about that, "Battle Begin!"

"Woody, use Leaf Blade!" The three leaves on Woody's forearm glowed white as it combined into a sharp blade before he approached the Fighting type. Once again, Brawly remained silent and unfazed.

As Woody closed into Yokozuna, Brawly suddenly commanded, "Yokozuna, Fake Out!"

Woody was aware of what the attack does, but was unable to retreat on time as Yokozuna's hands glowed orange and it clapped them together right at my Grass type. A large shockwave of air came out of them, flinching Woody.

"Woody, Bullet Seed!" My Wood Gecko Pokémon quickly recovered as he released the seeds from his mouth towards the Guts Pokémon.

"Yokozuna, counter with Arm Thrust!" The Fighting type Pokémon released straight-arm punches at the seeds, breaking them apart before they could do any damage to it.

Before I could think of another way to attack Yokozuna, what surprised me further was a white beam surrounding Yokozuna as it started to evolve. I was shocked, and more worried as never once I had seen a Gym Leader's Pokémon evolved during a Gym Battle. After the evolution was over, the Pokémon who was once Makuhita became a large, bulky Pokémon that looked similar to a sumo wrestler. On its head was a short, triangular crest and dark blue hair grew across the tops of its eyes, around the head crest, and extended down its back to form a long ponytail.

E-Evolving now? At this time?!

[Hariyama, the Arm Thrust Pokémon. It stomps on the ground to build power. It can send a 10-ton truck flying with a straight-arm punch.]

That's not good...

Woody obviously had similar reactions as I, taking a few steps back to process the turn of events. He showed a sign of helplessness in his expression, but then he looked back at me, then Grace. Grace was standing there, although tired, showed him a smile of encouragement. She believed in him.

At that moment, I knew I had to believe in him as well.

"Woody, evolved or not, you can still do this! I believe in you!"

Woody turned back to face his opponent, and I could tell a newfound energy was flowing within his body after our actions of encouragement.

"Woody, Rock Throw!" I yelled.

Woody was going to form the small rocks as usual, but instead, multiple bigger boulders were formed with Woody's power as they were launched towards the newly evolved Pokémon, which reminded me of the move Rock Tomb.

"Yokozuna, Arm Thrust yourself out of it!" The Fighting type used its arm as an attempt to break the boulders. Though it succeeded for the most part, the attack still dealt some damage to the Hariyama.

Knowing the best way for Woody to win was the keep up with the fast attacks, I continued on, "Woody, use Bullet Seed!"

Woody released five seeds from his mouth, managing to hit Yokozuna once again. The speed felt a lot lackluster for the Fighting type due to its increased size from evolving.

"This evolution may be more than we can chew, especially against Woody..." Brawly said before forming a martial artist stance, "...But a brawler's spirit is to never give up! Yokozuna, it's time for our last resort! Use Belly Drum!"

Yokozuna nodded as it started to repeatedly hit its stomach with its hands, creating vibrations with each hit and maximizing its attack power in exchange of its health. Afterwards, Brawly quickly followed up, "Yokozuna, use Force Palm!"

Yokozuna rushed towards Woody, a white ball forming in front of its hand. I could tell it was desperate to land this hit.

Fearing the risk of Woody unable to dodge the hit, I knew he needed to face it head on.

There was only one way to end this with a victory...

Out-speeding Yokozuna.

I have to believe in him... all the way through.

"Woody, attack with Leaf Blade before it could hit you!"

The leaf blade formed on Woody's forearm almost immediately as he rushed forward right against his bigger opponent. He closed his eyes, making a leap of fate before aiming right at the Hariyama, landing a huge slash with the blade. Luck was on our side, as the attack seemed to be a critical hit.

Yokozuna slightly winced in pain from the impact, but did not give up and tried putting its arm up to Woody to land the hit, only to find his attempt being a miss.

Brawly knew the situation was definitely not in his favor anymore. He tried to help his Pokémon recover from what happened, "Yokozuna, retreat and recover!"

"I'm not letting you do that! Woody, finish Yokozuna with Pursuit!"

The wrestler-like Pokémon tried to retreat, only for Woody to use his faster speed to his advantage as he launched himself towards the Hariyama and slammed his body right at his opponent. Yakozuna, the tank who still held on after Belly Drum and taking a Leaf Blade attack, was finally down after the Pursuit attack.

"Yakozuna is unable to battle! Woody wins! The winner is Lows from Pallet Town!"

Upon hearing the referee's announcement, I happily rushed towards Woody and gave him a big hug. "Woody, I knew you can do it."

"...Thank you, Lows." He smiled, happy that he could take the win for the team. After breaking the hug, he noticed Grace who was watching from the corner. He walked over to her and asked, "...Hey, I did okay, right?"

She responded with a smile and a soft hug, "Of course you did, Woody."

Woody blushed slightly before saying, "T-Thank you for encouraging me."

As they finished the hug, Brawly walked to us and said, "You did well, Lows! You all were able to pull yourselves together even against a newly evolved Pokémon. Perhaps Yakozuna and I needed extra training to help him get used to his new form, too."

Brawly then took out a badge that looked like a clenched fist and handed it to me," With that, I give you the Knuckle Badge!"

I gladly accepted and thanked him for the badge before putting it into the Badge Case. Brawly grinned before walking towards Woody and looked at him.

I thought he went silent and expressionless for a moment, but then, his grin returned almost immediately and said, "I'm glad you're doing well, Woody! Or should I say... previously Harry's Treecko." He patted the Grass type, "I'm proud of you."

We were both shocked at how he knew, "L-Leader Brawly, how..."

"It's not hard to guess based on your Grovyle's reaction after my story." Brawly explained, "I'm glad Woody's doing well now... and I bet Harry is, too."

"I'm sure of it. Woody lost confidence in himself after what happened, but I know he's cared and loved by everyone close to him." I replied, "In the past, the present, and the future."

"I'm happy to hear that." Brawly said, "Your relation with Harry is definitely interesting, to say the least. Not only you guys are rivals, you even had his previous partner, too."

"It was quite a coincidence..." I rubbed the back of my head.

"I hope you can change him... I know he's not happy acting this way towards his Pokémon, either. But he had to do that, thinking it would avoid himself getting hurt again." He sighed, "If anything, my training and surfing experiences told me well enough that there are bound to have hardships here and there. This is just one of the bigger ones, unfortunately."

"It's going to take a long time for him to fully recover, but I trust him that he'll get there for Woody."

"I can see that happening. This little guy... has been unlucky since the very beginning. Perhaps meeting you might be his turning point."

"S-Since the beginning?" I was confused.

"I trust you, so I'll tell you this. I think you're curious about the story behind whatever that's circulating around anyway." He took a deep breath before telling me something that would surprise me for the rest of the day.

"Harry is adopted."

Flashback...

"Surf's up! The sea is my friend!"

Brawly, young and bold, exclaimed as he professionally surfed along the waves. The waves definitely seemed bigger than usual, but he always loved a good challenge in his career.

After finishing his surfing session, he went back to the seaside and noticed the dark clouds starting to gather around Dewford.

"Looks like a storm is approaching."

Just as he predicted, a storm approached almost immediately, as he watched over the people near the seaside to make sure their safely were not heavily affected by the storm.

"Leader Brawly! Leader Brawly!" A resident in Dewford suddenly rushed towards the young surfer.

"What's going on?" Brawly asked.

"T-There is... there is a baby just sitting there at the seaside! We gotta hurry and check the baby out before anything bad happens!"

"Really?! We gotta go now!" Brawly said as he put his surfboard on the ground and started rushing along with the resident.

The baby was just helpless sitting there, crying as the waves approached him slowly but surely. The heartless owner of the baby seemed to have left him out in the cold just to leave him to eventually get engulfed by the waves.

Without any hesitation, Brawly went ahead and blocked the approaching waves for the baby and took him in his hands. Then, they went to the PokéCentre for the baby to regain his warmth and treatment from the nurses. Luckily, the baby went back to normal conditions after a few hours.

After that day, Brawly was stressed out. He knew there would be hardships in his life, but not something as big as this at such a young age for him! Surfing could not even relax his mind this time.

When, who, and why would this person leave the baby alone like that?

What should we do about the baby now?

He went to the PokéCentre to pay a visit to the baby, only to notice someone familiar there as well.

"Steven!"

"Brawly! I assume this is the baby rescued last week." The Hoenn Champion at that time said.

"Yeah... Though right now, I'm more impressed at how you can manage Champion duties, collecting rare stones and still stroll around like this."

"You're not too bad yourself, surfing, Gym Leader duties and all of that." Steven said, "What do you plan on doing with this young kid?"

"No plans, dude. I would open up adoption offers from the residents, but I don't think they would have enough income to support a new child. It's a small town, after all." Brawly sighed.

"What? You don't need to do that. There's a simple solution to it." Steven said.

"What is it?"

"Why don't you adopt the child instead?"

"Y-You're kidding, right?" Brawly was surprised.

"...No?"

"I need a good reason behind your suggestion right now."

"You have enough income as a Gym Leader, you have enough free time to take care of a child. You also seem to care about the child more than anyone I've seen so far."

"...How many people did you even meet in Dewford today?"

"Two. You and the baby."

"Wow, nice joke." Brawly was not too amused, "I've been barely able to keep up with the training, surfing and Gym Leader schedules, and you expect me to manage a child?"

"You know you can free some time for each of those activities." Steven's expression turned serious.

"T-True, but... it's just so sudden!" Brawly yelled.

"You're just scared, aren't you?" Steven asked.

"S-Scared? Not in my book!"

"You know you could take the responsibility, you know you care about the baby the most out of everyone in town." Steven looked at Brawly, "You're just scared of this new duty given to you because of no prior experience."

"...You're right." Brawly looked down, "And this isn't even something like becoming a Gym Leader. Mistakes are more crucial in becoming a father. I'm still young... and I don't know if I can succeed in doing so. It's a decision that could change my entire life, Steven."

"I understand. But your decision... affects the life of the baby in front of you, too."

Brawly looked at the baby sleeping soundly in the bed. It reminded him of the days when he was just a child. His parents were strict in training him to become one of the best brawlers in the region. Although the intense training brought good results, he wished he was able to receive more love from his parents.

But this baby might not even gain any from his parents.

He can't just stay in the PokéCentre forever. Someone needs to take care of him.

If it's anyone...

He knew it had to be him.

"...I know what to do, Steven."

...I hope I'm doing okay as a father, Harry.

I might have made mistakes, you may have not acted the way I wished you to be...

But I still love you the most, more than anyone else.

I hope I can see you move on... and change to the person that even you, yourself like as well.

I'll be waiting, always.

Lows' Pokémon Team:

Surfer (Wartortle, Male) Jolly Nature, Moves: Bite, Water Gun, Water Pulse, Sand Tomb

Ziggs (Linoone, Male) Naive Nature, Moves: Dig, Headbutt, Swift, Facade

Grace (Kirlia, Female) Calm Nature, Moves: Teleport, Magical Leaf, Shadow Ball, Psybeam

Woody (Grovyle, Male) Lonely Nature, Moves: Pursuit, Leaf Blade, Bullet Seed, Rock Tomb

Power (Machop, Male) Timid Nature, Moves: Fling, Karate Chop, Low Kick, Seismic Toss