---------------------

“Will-o-Wisp!”

“Whirlwind!”

Marowak manifests ghostly fireballs to barrage the enemy Shiftry only to have them battered away by powerful gusts being created by the leafy fans on the grass pokemon’s arms.

Naomi shouts, “Close the distance Jane!”

Not like she hadn’t figured that out herself, “Bone Rush and Flame Wheel!”

“Leaf Tornado then Hone Claws.” Max’s voice has a steady confidence.

Both pokemon begin what looks an awful lot like a dance off. Shiftry spins it’s fans sending vortexes of grass and leaves flying across the field while Marowak does her best to charge in while spinning her flaming bone club to deflect all of the leafage.

Just as Marowak gets close, Max calls out, “Sucker punch.”

A final lash of green hides the wicked uppercut that finds Marowak caught out.

Jane growls, “Headbutt!”

Marowak grabs Shiftry by it’s pointy nose and slams her skull-covered head into the opponent.

Shiftry staggers, Jane and Marowak take the chance, “Fire Punch!”

Dark emerald fire smashes against the tengu pokemon.

Max barks out, “Payback!”

Rolling with the punch, a brutal cartwheel kick smashes into the side of Marowak's head.

The gym leader follows up, “Leaf Blade!”

“Jump back, Flame Thrower!”

“Leaf Tornado!”

Marowak jumps back and sends out a gout of fire only to have it blasted back in her face by a fast reaction from Shiftry.

Jane sounds a little worried, “Endure!”

“Finish it with Grassy Glide!”

As Shiftry dashes in for the final blow, Jane shouts, “Inferno Overdrive!”

Jane’s pokemon roars and an eruption of green flames spiral out from Marowak in every direction!

The crowd gasps at another Z move on display.

Shiftry was caught at point blank and as the smoke clears, the scorched black field reveals two passed out pokemon. The audience seems torn on if they should cheer. Shocked by the sheer violence of the sinister green flames.

As the red lights return the pokemon, Max scowls, “Was that necessary? Your pokemon will take at least a week to recover.”

Jane nods, “My pokemon and I are here to dominate. Now what’s next?”

He sighs, “Next… I’m sorry.”

With a flash, a great white condor appears over the field, sharp feathered, and sharper beak. Easily close to an eight foot wingspan, not as big as my Golbat, but definitely not something I wanna stare down. Honestly, I think it looks way badass.

Citro asks what we’re all wondering, “What is that?”

My Fiance actually knows, “Norman’s shiny Fearow.”

Ah shit.

Sure enough, Jane is nearly frozen in place, glaring at the bird hovering over the field.

She reaches for one ball on her belt, snorts a laugh, and grabs a different one instead.

Crooky the Krokorok takes the field with his massive toothy grin.

Naomi sputters out, “Why didn’t she use her Aerodactyl?!”

Easy, “No way Ares is ready to battle a full grown Fearow.”

Max calls his first command, “Swords Dance.”

Jane just smiles, “Taunt.”

The whole audience is treated to a land croc turning tail and shaking his ass towards the sky.

Sure enough, the prideful Fearow opts to dive attack this insulting lizard rather than listen to Max.

“Shit,” Max just isn’t Norman, “At least use Steel Wing you arrogant prick!”

The large bird’s wings catch the sunlight as it makes it’s low drive to side swipe Crooky.

“Foul Play!”

Even up to the last second Crooky didn't stand back up but instead his tail smashes like a baseball bat against the bird’s skull causing it to crash into the scorched field.

A grounded bird is easy prey.

“Crooky, Stomping Tantrum.”

The big lizard pounces and you can see Jane relax with every brutal blow her Krokorok delivers. He doesn’t need to be told to make sure the big bird doesn’t get loose.

Max decides both Fearow and himself have been embarrassed enough. The red flash signals a rapid victory for Jane in the final battle of her Petalburg gym challenge.

Again, the audience seems a bit thrown off by the sheer violence Jane’s team puts on display.

Naomi snorts, “Just because Norman was always such a white knight these people forget some trainers and pokemon don’t mind getting a little bloody.”

I just sigh, “As if you’d let blood on your outfit.”

Miss Princess sticks out her tongue, “That’s why we have such a balanced team.”

We missed whatever conversation happened on the field but Jane is walking back to the stands with Max’s badge in hand as the announcer sounds the next match.

“Up next we have Citro from Alola! He’ll be challenging in a 2v2 singles match.”

“Go get him bud!” I pat the green haired boy on the shoulder as he climbs down the bleachers. He nearly stumbles, we’ve still got some work to do with his back bone.

Jane plops back into her seat, and to my surprise she let's Crooky back out of his ball. The big lizard takes up the seat beside her and rests his head in her lap. I can see him licking Fearow's blood from his lips while Jane gently strokes his back.

“All good kiddo?” I ask.

Blowing out a long breath, “Ya, I guess. Max said he had instructions to use the stupid bird from the league. He apologized like four times. Said they wanted to make sure my mental was solid.”

Lacy rolls her eyes, “Well I can only guess how beating it to a bloody joke will reflect in your file. Arrogant pricks.”

Naomi looks up from her tablet, “Norman’s Fearow is rumored to know a bunch of psychic moves, you totally countered it.”

Jane just smirks and continues to cool her head by petting her starter pokemon, the brute looks ready to doze off in bliss.

Back on the field Max calls out one of his many Vigoroths which Citro replies with his Salazzle. The agile poisonous lizard has no problem dodging the angry sloth thing and in no time Max’s pokemon passes out due to the poisonous gas left in Salazzle’s wake.

It’s practically anticlimactic seeing a lower level battle like this after the previous battle. Max uses a Swellow next, while fast enough to catch Salazzle, it still gets heavily poisoned.

Citro’s Niobat is able to evade and confuse Swellow long enough for the poison to sap the bird’s strength till it can no longer fly. A red flash catches the bird before it hits the ground and the audience cheers a much more straightforward win. Citro wins his second badge almost as fast as his first.

He’s all smiles when he returns to the stands and high fives Naomi who stands at the announcer’s call.

“Last we have Miss Wattson of Mauville! With a 2v2 Doubles Battle!”

The crowd all cheer their loudest yet as the sun begins to set on the field.

Max calls out a familiar Breloom and a horrifyingly large cicada, Ninjask.

The gym leader kicks off the battle, “Stun spore and Quick Attack with Metal Claw.”

Naomi Counters, “Powder Snow and Hurricane!”

Her growing boy Vulpix, nearly a Ninetails, howls up a snow flurry like breath on a cold day. The effect is rapidly amplified by the powerful yet smooth wing beats of Swablu who is similarly almost done evolving to Altaria.

Ninjask struggles to reach across the field to deliver it’s attacks to the challenger’s pokemon. Breloom’s spores get blown back on itself if anything.

Max tries to rectify his mistake of underestimating Naomi, “Breloom lead the charge, Ninjask follow her.”

Watts doesn’t let her advantage slip, “Icy wind, Misty Terrain!”

Max’s pokemon nearly get lost in the now super centralized blizzard.

To make Max’s day even worse, Naomi puts the nail in the coffin, “Disarming Voice and Sing.”

A soft birdsong whispers through the freezing mist. Cold, confused, and finally unconscious, Max’s pokemon never made it across the field.

“The Gym Leader’s pokemon are unable to battle, Naomi wins!”

She used exactly what she hinted at before, she put them to sleep after stalling their attack.

Jane put away her croc at some point, “I’m sure she’ll get some flack on the socials for this one. Sleep wins are never popular, even banned in tournaments.”

“But it’s clearly allowed for gyms?”

We start getting out of the stands as she explains, “Well the town gyms are half education and survival tests. Not solely about competition.”

We find Naomi doing a post match clip for Gabby.

“Well I felt this was a nice way of responding to the League’s little ‘Hard Mode’ season. If they want to make things difficult for me I can do just the same in return. As such I will state now that this evening's Fearow appearance was more than insulting. For the league to intentionally trigger a trainer’s personal traumas is absolutely horrible. If not for my teammate's insistence on just moving on I would absolutely be recommending a lawyer. Of Course I don’t blame Gym Leader Max, it's no secret how the old guard treats small town gyms let alone younger gym leaders.”

Gabby notes something on her own tablet, “The night’s drama aside, how did you feel about the matches?”

“Gym Leader Max definitely took the Fallarbor team to task, both for their arrogance and poor trainer habits. The crowd was happy to see some favorites of the past year’s tournament scene. Jane’s battle was really exciting and close up till the arrogant bird. Citro’s was more of the usual fare for the first couple badges, he’s put in a lot of time with his team so I’m not surprised it went smoothly. For my battle, politics aside, I want to remind my fans not to look down on bug types. It may have looked simple on camera but it took everything my pokemon could give to stall Ninjask. They are incredibly dangerous in the wild so take care.”

Glancing around at some of the locals also listening to the exchange, I get the impression most folks agree. Some laughed or scowled at the mention of the Ronin, smiles at the reminder of Max’s Flygon, earnest nods in agreement towards the Ninjask warning.

As Gabby and Naomi stop the interview and compare notes I overhear a couple of younger teens.

“What about that Salazzle?! I hope I can get one for my rookie year!”

“Oh ya? You’ll have to catch something good to trade. I still wanna be like Max and build a whole team from heartland pokemon!”

“But did you see that Marowak?!”

“Move to Lavaridge already, fire dork. Or are you too busy crushing on that Courtney lady at the Center?”

“Shut up! She’s right over there. Do you think she’d show me her Camerupt?”

I chuckle and gather up the team, “Ready to hit the center then head back home?”

Jane snorts, “This is so weird, all the girls in Juvi complained about hiking for weeks from town to town their rookie year.”

“Yes, traditions, charming.” Naomi rolls her eyes, “No time for that Blitzle crap, I’m starving.”

In the pokemon center I barely glimpse a man with white hair yelling ‘You idiots!’ at the Ronin team over the video phone before they flick it off speaker in a panic and close ranks over the screen.

If this comes across as any more comic book villain level suspicious, I might as well call The Pike now and tell her to head for Fallarbor. Maybe a text will do, ‘Hey super cop, Ourboro looking real sus.’ or something.

Lacy pokes my side, “What are you chuckling about?”

“Dumb kids,” Leading the way to the cafeteria for a to go menu, “Speaking of, did you get the sick kids sorted?”

Lacy laughs a bit herself, “More dumb kids, playing too rough with the young Shroomish at the green house and not telling their mom they got hit with poison powder.”

Seems most of the local trainer’s headed here after the match. Like a small diner filled to capacity as trainers young and old chat about the matches and show clips from the broadcast of their favorite parts. Most folks are dressed like they came to the match straight from work in the green houses or the farm fields east of town.

Some girls are gushing over Naomi’s Vulpix and Swablu. One farmer is bragging to his friends that his Ursaring wrestled a Snorlax once. A little boy with a Rattata stealing fries from his plate has stars in his eyes watching the first part of Jane’s battle over again.

“Now why’re you grinning?”

I glance at the stunning woman who agreed to marry me, “Eh, reasons.”

--------------------