Hard Enough-Chapter 283 - Interlude - The Gauntlet

Gary inhaled and exhaled, just like he’d practised. Control the breath, control the heart, control what you could in the moment and it would flow from there.

“You the man Gary,” he said into the mirror that had been awaiting him in the waiting room.

He frowned. No, that hadn’t come out right.

“You, the man!” he said shifting so he was doing a cool pose.

No. No, that was too forced. He needed something natural.

“The man! The Legend! The Gary!” he announced with his hands cupped over his mouth before marching into view of the mirror pretending to wave to his adoring crowd.

“Kyaa, you’re the greatest!” “We love you Gary!” “Gary! Gary! Gary!” he chanted with various fake voices before adopting a modest smirk.

“Yeah, I know it,” he replied with a lazy wave. Oh yeah, that was it.

He nodded and shot his reflection with finger guns. When he took a step back the mirror showed Mia and Silly Mouse sitting off to the side with popcorn watching him.

Gary coughed, and tried to force down the blush that threatened to ruin his cool guy appearance.

“Thanks for not saying anything,” he said to Mia and his guard detail.

The girls, all dressed as cheerleaders, merely nodded. Mia, who had gotten hold of a matching outfit smirked at him while Silly Mouse shook the pom poms.

“Goooooooo Gary!” “Raticate!” shouted the pair with Silly Mouse even going as far as to kick its feet out like it was doing a cheer routine.

“Yeah yeah! Alright! I know it’s goofy but it works as a pre match ritual!” Gary snapped.

Mia held up her hands. “I was merely cheering for you. If you’re feeling self conscious, that’s on you,” she replied.

Gary coughed and whirled around to inspect himself for the fourth time since they’d been granted the room to prepare for Gary’s match.

He considered thanking her but that would wreck the moment, so he went back to perfecting his pose. If he was going to be Indigo… no. World Champion, then he needed to have some cool poses for the tall statues they’d erect for him.

When he was satisfied with how he looked and he had a gameplan of how things would develop as he marched into the Saffron arena he turned away and tapped his fingers across his pokebelt, memorising which pokemon were in which position.

“Alright I’m—” he started to announce only for a knock at the door to cut him off. “I’m coming!” he shouted only for a janitor to step inside.

“Sorry about that mister, Sabrina said you’d be done with the mirror. It’s not usually something we leave here so we’ll just be moving that along if you're done?” the man said. He didn’t wait for Gary to respond, merely marching over and picking the mirror up and departing.

Gary and his entourage stared at the janitor’s back.

Sabrina had predicted that he’d want a mirror and had provided it. That meant she knew he was in here practising his poses.

Gary wanted to curl into a ball and groan but instead he took a long slow inhale. They’d expected mind games like this that were tailored to him.

Mia had experienced much the same when she’d booked a slot a week in advance of Gary’s challenge. Gary had gotten a first hand look at how small things could play out along with Mia’s own take on how certain things had rattled her.

He’d never known that she got sad seeing wilted flowers until that day.

Mia was a good friend. He hadn’t asked her to challenge Sabrina before him, but she’d done it, lost and then sat down with him and gone over everything that she experienced and how it rattled her or put her off fighting at her best before she’d even gotten to fight Sabrina.

People had been commenting for a while on the pokenet forums that reaching Sabrina entailed at least three steps before the fight started. With Mia going first Gary had a better idea of what that meant.

Mia coughed. “Don’t let it rattle you Gary. She knew you were posing but who cares? If you really think about it, most people need to practise posing and expressions to make sure they are marketable! Just roll with the punches!”

Gary nodded. “I’ve got this,” he responded.

Mia nodded. “Also, if they’re assuming something about you you don’t have to correct them. Let them make that mistake cause it plays to your advantages. You can be right after you beat them.”

Gary scowled. “Yeah yeah I know!” he said.

Mia tilted her head and considered him for a long moment. “Alright, you got this!” she said, shooting him a thumbs up.

Gary snorted and rolled his eyes only for the door to open and a rather scruffy looking man to step in.

“Gary Oak? I’m your aide for today, call me Saul,” stated the man seriously.

“We’re ready for you now… unless there’s something else you’d like to do…” the man pointedly glanced towards the provided bathroom and Gary squirmed. He’d gone a few minutes before but…

“No,” Gary said. “I’m ready now.”

The man smirked. “Heh, if you think so, then we shall begin.”

Gary shot his entourage a look and nodded as they moved to another door to claim their seats in the stands. Mia shot him a final thumbs up which Gary returned.

He marched after the aide, and like Mia had said, instead of the sounds of a shifting crowd whispers, where he couldn’t make out, everything reached his ears.

“—grandson—”

“—living in shadow—”

Gary resisted the urge to turn, knowing there was no one behind him. It was a distraction, just like the strobing lights that were timed in such a way that he had to be careful where he walked.

When he emerged out from the tunnel he did so to complete silence. He was in a bubble that meant the shouts of the crowd couldn’t be heard. The noise would come back soon Mia had said, but Gary had to admit it was a strange situation to have so many people moving, talking, and visibly making noise without a lick of noise reaching him.

All he heard was his own feet striking the ground and the way his breathing suddenly took up everything around him.

Gary reached his podium, and recesses with six pokeball slots were arrayed. The Aide gestured to them.

“Place your pokeballs within the slots,” said the aide without moving his lips.

Gary had expected this and didn’t twitch like he wanted to at the psychic projection being used to communicate and maintain the silence.

That being said, it was entirely different to hear Mia talk about it and to experience it yourself. Gary had to agree. His mind was wigging out at ‘hearing’ the voice without any sound actually passing through his ears.

Gary straightened, knowing what would come next. “I’m ready!” he said as he placed his team of pokemon in the slots.

And like that the sound came back on and the roar of the crowd washed over him.

His entourage worked to make themselves known. “Pallet Town! Oak! Oak! Oak! Gary Oak! Oak! Oak!” they shouted as one.

Gary smirked as Mia had joined the girls in their cheer and just like he’d practised, he gave them a casual wave coupled with a cool nod of his head.

Mia stuck her tongue out and Gary had to bite back a snort of laughter as he turned to his opponent.

The man was dressed like a Jester and was lazily juggling three pokeballs within one hand over and over again.

“A boy walks into the gym,” said the man with a cruel smile on his lips. “It does sound like the start of a rather nice joke.”

“Only joke around here is your routine, let’s fight cause I’ve got a solid minute locked in for beating you!” Gary replied. Heck yeah! Gary thought to himself. Nailed the pre-match banter!

The Jester giggled like a budget movie loon and snatched his first pokeball. “We shall see, won’t we?” he said before flicking out his first pokemon as the referee indicated for them to begin.

“Come forth Hypno!” called the Jester, continuing to juggle the other two balls with one hand while the other held Hypno’s ball.

“Let’s start strong! Raticate it’s your show!” replied Gary with a smirk, knowing that Mia would get a kick out of this.

He hadn’t told her he was going to start with his Raticate but he had the perfect set up after getting to watch Mia’s Silly Mouse carve through most of the Saffron Gym.

The flags dropped and Gary barked his first order. “SP!”

Raticate blurred across the distance dividing him and Hypno, and just before he impacted a dark glow formed around his body.

“Hypno use—” was all the Jester had the time to shout before Raticate barreled into his pokemon with a full-powered Sucker Punch.

Hypno went flying only to hit the dirt and not get back up.

The Jester blinked in shock, and he fumbled the catch on the next juggle causing his pokeball to tumble around in the podium

Gary grinned. “Heh, would you look at that? I might not even need a minute!” he taunted. The Jester glowered as he returned his pokemon and reached for his second pokemon which warranted him bending over and fishing around for the ball in question.

Gary used the intervening time to position his Raticate right smack bang in the opposite half of the field, meaning the Jester would have even less time to react to any increased priority moves.

The Jester appeared to notice this, judging by the way his eyes narrowed before flicking towards the tactically best position for his pokemon to appear.

Directly behind Raticate within the central circle which. “Go Mr Mime!” he announced and Gary watched as the iconic pokemon of the Mr Mime chain of restaurants took to the field.

This was one of the pokemon Gary had to admit he had perhaps the most knowledge of bar his starter pokemon.

Due to the many times he’d gone to Mr Mime’s restaurant he’d picked up a lot of trivia and facts about the almost human-like pokemon. Like how it didn’t need to be facing straight ahead to perform its signature Barrier move.

Gary grinned. It wasn’t enough to stop his Raticate though, cause his Raticate was in the top percent of Raticates.

Raticate made short work of the Jester and the man slunk away with a glower. Gary nodded to himself and quickly recalled Raticate to give it a moment to rest as he reached for another pokeball.

The second Gym Trainer took up position on the podium was female. That much Gary thought he could tell but their veil made it rather tough to judge.

“Are you prepared?” called a voice from beneath the veil.

“I’m ready!” he called.

“Very well,” the woman raised her hand and from her belt a trio of pokeballs rose into the air with the middle pokeball launching as Gary matched her.

He had some suspicions about this woman, but he wasn’t able to do anything right now, so instead he merely released his pokeball.

“Slowpoke,” intoned the small pink pokemon as it appeared on the field.

Across from it, Gary’s own Umbreon crouched in readiness. “Tch!” clicked Gary. He had been expecting a Haunter, not a Slowpoke.

He rolled his shoulders, knowing that this would still work for him.

He just needed to not rely on any confusion tactics that he might have otherwise employed. He’d read Slowpoke’s data file and seen that a sizable percentage were immune to confusion.

So, no Confuse Ray.

“Charge in with Dark Pulse!” he bellowed and Umbreon took off.

Slowpoke for its part, merely stared blankly ahead. Umbreon closed in and began to radiate darkness around causing the field to darken slightly.

Slowpoke absorbed the hit and remained perfectly still. “Sloooooooooow,” it crooned before it’s head turned up to the sky.

Rain began to fall from the ceiling, and Gary clicked his tongue again. Damn! One of these pokemon! He’d seen Slowpoke like this. Any second now it would react to his attack, but it had been trained specially to get off its attack.

“Move to the centre position!” Gary ordered for his Umbreon.

He watched as Slowpoke twitched in pain and fell to its side. “Sloooooow!” crooned the pokemon sadly as it lay on its side.

Gary sighed as the rain splattered on his face. Any second now they’ll recall their pokemon and— Slowpoke’s eyes glowed causing Gary to jolt in surprise.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Umbreon it’s not down yet! Dark Pulse again!”

Umbreon leapt to get on the attack again only to falter as it took a few steps towards Slowpoke and no dark energy to explode out of it.

“Eh? Oh, shoot! Disable! Umbreon, use Quick Attack!” he shouted as he realised that he’d been duped! That slowpoke wasn’t down and out! It was just playing dead!

Umbreon hammered into Slowpoke and Gary even went as far as to order a Bite from Umbreon to make sure of it.

Slowpoke for its part twitched once and went limp making Gary glower. It had been that close to being knocked out, and he’d ignored it? “Bit of a cheap trick,” he growled towards the veiled woman.

“Cheap? My pokemon performed wonderfully, you assumed victory where it had yet to be claimed. And if you’re concerned about my pokemon enduring your type advantage? Well, I’d remind you that this is the gauntlet for the strongest Gym in Kanto.” the head tilted back allowing Gary to see the blue lips of the woman as they stretched into a smile.

“Strength should be assumed,” she said proudly as she recalled her pokemon only for her second pokeball to be released in the same action.

This time the pokeball unleashed a humanoid form that towered over Umbreon.

“Golduck!” snapped the pokemon causing Gary to frown.

Golduck was a water monotype and while it and its base form of Psyduck were associated with Psychic phenomena it wasn’t strictly speaking a pokemon he’d been expecting to face.

“Umbreon… Return!” he bellowed, not wanting to risk it at this stage of the Gauntlet. Umbreon was still a strong pokemon to have in his team if he could make Sabrina’s pokemon waste time with things like Miracle Eye.

Golduck tilted its head as though confused, and Gary chuckled to himself at the clueless look only to frown.

Had his opponent said anything apart from reacting to his taunts? Gary stiffened as he came up with an answer he didn’t like.

Who was this girl? Sabrina’s cousin? Damn it! He hadn’t heard of any trainers like this! Why didn’t the forums mention her?

“Get out of your head! you loser!” Mia’s shout cut through his analysis of the situation and Gary snorted but resisted the urge to flip her off.

Insteadhe reached for a pokeball as he prepared his next move.

Slowpoke had gotten off Rain Dance and Disable, meaning that there was a good chance this Golduck had better agility in the rain.

If this girl wanted to face him in a battle of speed, he had just the pokemon for that!

“Go Dodrio!” he called, sending out one of the fastest pokemon he had.

Dodrio appeared and all three heads surveyed the field before locking onto Golduck who lowered his centre of mass. Huh, that duck knew kung fu, Gary thought to himself.

“Tri Beam!” he ordered and Dodrio unleashed a beam from each head with each being a different colour that slammed together and created a central beam.

Golduck for its part leapt forward, sliding on its knees to close with Dodrio where it lashed out with a kick only for Dodrio to dance over the attack, causing Golduck to skid on through the mud.

“Close in on it with Drill Peck!” Gary ordered, causing Dodrio to leap after the skating pokemon.

Golduck twisted itself around and fired off a powerful Water Gun that rocketed into Dodrio.

Dodrio squawked as it was knocked back a few steps only to glower and push forward with its beaks becoming like spears that tore into Golduck. Golduck batted away the middle beak and dove into Dodrio’s body, forcing Dodrio to become locked into a close combat brawl.

Gary growled. “Drill Peck! Keep up the pressure!”

This was not good! This wasn’t what he’d wanted. He wanted to keep that pokemon at range and either freeze or paralyse it with Tri-Beam.

Damn, that woman and her ability to give silent orders! Was this what it was going to be like against Sabrina?

“Dodrio! Three heads are better than one!” screamed Mia from the sidelines as she started to jump around. How that girl had the strongest set of lungs in a kid his age he had no idea, but she could be heard easily in a stadium packed with other people.

The other girls quickly joined in, and Gary huffed.

Looks like he was going to have to lose his cool guy persona by doing something lame. “Dodrio! I believe in you!” he roared, knowing that this had been what Mia was coaching him to do.

Dodrio responded and drove its beaks into Golduck harder, even as Golduck countered with powerful body shots that rattled Dodrio.

Eventually, they separated, staggering and heaving.

The veiled girl across from him’s hand suddenly shot out. “That’s enough Golduck! You’ve fought well, but I won’t risk you further!” she ordered, and the Golduck relaxed.

Gary narrowed his eyes. He’d been duped once before, and he wasn’t going to be made a fool of a second time. Dodrio heaved in through all three mouths, a clear sign that it was exhausted as usually if it was tired, only one or two heads would attempt to get more air into the body.

All three meant that Dodrio was close to passing out.

Surprisingly there was no trick. The girl simply returned her pokemon and indicated that she would not be fighting with Golduck anymore causing the Referee to announce that Gary only had one more pokemon to defeat to advance.

Gary nodded, eyes locked on the girl… or rather the old lady. He’d gotten a look at her hand, as instead of being small, it had been frail and wrinkled.

So, it wasn’t a young girl under that veil but rather an old woman?

Huh, did Sabrina have a granny?

Gary tilted his head only for the Granny to catch him out by sending out a final pokemon in the form of a Xatu.

Gary clicked his tongue again and withdrew his Dodrio, knowing this wouldn’t end well if he stuck it out with Dodrio.

“Let’s go Raticate!” he ordered, his eyes flickering towards the ceiling where the rain was just starting to fade. Damn, he’d been hoping to make the most of that!

Xatu remained unmoving but Gary knew that didn’t mean something hadn’t happened.

“Thunder!” Gary roared, deciding to roll the dice on a quick exchange.

Xatu, for its part, remained on the ground, wings tucked into itself which turned out to be the best option as the thunder that Raticate released slammed into the ground around it rather than the pokemon itself much to Gary’s annoyance.

Damn it all! If that rain had still been in effect! He cursed in his mind knowing that his powerful electric attack had gone from a sure hit to a slightly risky play. One that wasn’t paying off for him.

“Close in with Quick Attack!” Gary ordered and Raticate swept in to hammer Xatu only for the sound of breaking glass to follow Raticate as it slammed itself through a Barrier Xatu had erected.

“That’s the stuff bud!” Gary shouted, pumping his fist as he watched one of the first pokemon he’d caught slam into Xatu.

Xatu reeled back only to catch itself with a flap of its wings.

Feeling good Gary went for another order. “Now try Thund—” Only to have his follow up strike denied as a psychic lash sent Raticate tumbling.

Raticate hit the ground and rolled only to land heavily on his back. Gary blinked in shock. What had just happened?

He replayed the sequence of events starting from when Xatu entered the battlefield only to curse himself as he connected the dots.

That Xatu must have gotten off Future Sight earlier while he was changing his pokemon!

“Bounce back with your tail!” Gary ordered, using a trick he’d picked up from Mia.

Well… honestly all of the tricks he used with his Raticate these days were copied from Mia and Silly Mouse, something she’d noticed but never brought up.

Raticate came in fast using his tail to spring into action. A shimmer in the air warned Gary that more Barriers had been set up, meaning he needed another option.

Time to roll the dice once more.

“Thunder!” he roared and Raticate fired off another powerful lightning attack. This time however, instead of it missing it was blocked by a powerful Protect that encased Xatu.

“Close in! Go for SP!” Gary commanded and Raticate crouched low in preparation.

The instant that the Protect dropped, Raticate lunged striking out with his claws to hammer into Xatu causing it to reel back in pain only for it to glow as Psychic energy built up around it.

“Crunch it now!” Gary urged, knowing that a full-powered Psychic would be devastating for his pokemon right now.

Raticate got off the Crunch and hung in as Xatu tried to launch Raticate away only for the force to cause Xatu to stumble.

“Kick off the ground for another SP!” Gary roared as blood pounded in his ears. Raticate hammered into Xatu one more time and this time Xatu tumbled over and fell.

The veiled woman didn’t hesitate to return her pokemon causing the referee to signal that the match was over. The woman opened her veil to reveal that Gary had been right. She was a weathered old woman with wrinkles and liver spots over her face.

Gary considered telling her to put the veil back in place but stopped shy of saying anything.

“Hmmmm, you’re a rather rude boy, aren’t you,” the old woman said, tapping the side of her head. “You’re practically screaming your thoughts for all to hear.” She clicked her tongue and glanced behind her before looking back. “You fought well. You’ve got a bright future young man,” she stated.

“Heh, thanks from a psychic like you, that means a lot. Thanks for showing me what it’s like to fight a person who can project their orders like that!” Gary said smugly.

The granny, who’d been in the process of departing, paused. “I can’t transmit my orders like that. Few can match Sabrina in psychic commands, you’ll find.”

She gave Gary an amused look. “My pokemon are merely well-trained; they do not need orders from me to fight. They know what is best in any situation. We might not be as strong as Sabrina, but we have experience,” she stated proudly.

Gary blinked. He’d never consdiered age to be a strength but when she said it like that, it kind of made sense.

She considered Gary for a long moment as he sprayed potion over Raticate’s body. “If you haven’t encountered that before… I would suggest spending some more time with your elders. Do not discount them so quickly, especially you young man.”

Gary watched her leave, pondering on her words. He supposed she was right… somewhat… if an old hag like her and Agatha were still kicking around with tricks like that then what else had people used that they weren’t showing off? She was probably alluding to Gramps as well with that last comment.

Another trainer marched down, and Gary pushed away his fatigue.

He still had a few more trainers to face and while Raticate and Umbreon were back on their feet with the potion sprays he was hoping to get off a clean run for the next match to get Dodrio out and heal her up.

This guy was wearing a lab coat and bore a smirk that made Gary want to wipe it off his face.

“I’ve run the calculations; you’re relying on a pokemon type advantages too much.”

Gary considered pointing out all the ways he had played to the field or positioning but then he felt Mia’s glare boring into him from the stands. “Guess you’ve got me all figured out,” he said in a cool manner. Heh, nailed it.

The nerd twitched in annoyance and flicked his fingers, sending a pokeball to the field.

“Let’s go, Kadabra!” shouted the nerd.

Gary narrowed his eyes. He could send out Blastoise and show this punk that he wasn’t a one trick Ponyta… but he needed to play to his strengths. The kid might look like a pushover physically, but if the old lady was any judge, this guy was just as strong if not stronger.

Gary narrowed his eyes and prepared himself to show this punk just who he was!

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrry!” called an annoying voice.

Gary twitched and shot Mia a glare, which she ignored, giving him a cheeky grin. Urgh, she was showing him how he was being led around, wasn’t she?

“Raticate rest up for now,” he said, looking down at his trusty Raticate. He returned it and instead reached towards… he frowned. Where had he placed… damn, he’d almost forgotten for a moment where he’d put which pokemon.

Weird how not wearing them on your belt could mess with you like that. It was meant to be a tool to stop any potential cheating with the trainers undergoing the Gauntlet being limited to the same six pokemon but it also kinda messed with you.

He grabbed at the second from the right pokeball and tossed it out. “Come on out! Kadabra!” he shouted with a wider grin as his opponent reared back as though slapped.

Hehe, it was time to shift up the pace a bit and tweak some noses!

“You dare!” the nerd raged.

“You bet I do,” Gary replied smugly. The flags dropped and Gary winked. That old bat might have been clever with her trained pokemon that didn’t need a signal, but he had ways to make up for nonverbals with some of his pokemon.

Time to reveal a few of them.

Gary’s Kadabra slapped its chest a few times and smirked, causing the opposite Kadabra to falter slightly as Taunt took effect.

Gary grinned. “Close in and finish it!” he said pointing right ahead.

“Kabra—” The nerd started to yell only for Gary’s Kadabra to Teleport in close and slam a dark empowered fist into his opponent.

The Nerd twitched as his Kadabra gaped in shock before slumping to its knees and fainting from the super effective hit.

Gary put a finger under his eyelid and pulled it down while sticking his tongue out. “What’s the matter? Calculations not adding up?” he taunted.

The Nerd roared as rage took hold. “How dare you! You bring a psychic pokemon and pervert it by making it learn Dark Type moves! You can’t! Before I took this as a job to defeat you, but now it’s going to be my pleasure!”

Gary grinned. “Eh, if you say so,” he taunted, knowing that sometimes using tactics like this were the best way to deal with smart trainers like this.

The guy returned his downed Kadabra only to send out a Girafarig.

Gary whistled as the tall pokemon towered above his Kadabra. “Kadabara, return,” he said without missing a beat.

The Nerd twitched and Gary felt like things were starting to come together as he sent out his Umbreon to deal with the second pokemon with a handy Dark Pulse.

And just like that Gary took out his second pokemon which was enough to finish off his third trainer for the gauntlet.

Gary swallowed and looked up. When he’d fought Brock he’d had to face down two trainers before fighting Brock.

For the Eighth badge?

You had to fight at least six trainers. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Gary prepared himself for a lot more fights but he had the tactics, he had the knowledge, and he had the team.

The following fights passed in a blur with Slowbro, Kadabra, and even a Haunter taking to the stage against him, but he wiped the floor as cleanly as he could only for his pokemon to get tagged once or twice.

Each fight drained his pokemon leading to Raticate constantly having to be healed up while Umbreon tired out.

Kadabara was a little better off but Dodrio was still barely hanging on.

Gary’s fingers had twitched towards his other pokeballs more than a few times but he held off, saving up his secret ace and starter.

But this was it. He was here, finally.

He was about to face Sabrina.

The lights dimmed, and the silence returned, causing Gary’s head to snap upright.

His gaze swept over the stairs that still had small glowing arrows to show where people were supposed to walk only to stiffen as the lights swept up to a figure that was floating through the air.

On anyone else they’d be angelicly floating down, but for Sabrina, it was like watching a Warrior Queen descend from on high. She bore no weapons but Gary swallowed as a sudden tightness clasped at his throat.

Without uttering a word he flet under an intense pressure as she cast her gaze down on him.

Gary felt like he as being weighed, judged and found wanting.

Without even uttering a word she made him want to curl up into a little ball.

What was he thinking coming here? This was the woman who’d unveiled Mega Evolution! She didn’t need to give verbal commands! Her Gym had the smallest success rate of any gym!

“Gary Oak.”

Gary blinked in surprise and twitched when he realised that the words weren’t spoken, merely projected. Sabrina’s eyes glowed slightly. “Are you prepared for this match?” she asked calmly.

Part of him wanted to retreat. To acknowledge that maybe… just maybe he was those things and he needed to rethink his life.

It made sense that as the final Gym Leader, she needed to make sure that people were worth the final badge.

Having it was the final symbol that they’d completed their trip around Kanto.

Badges were said to open doors in a lot of different ways.

It granted more than just the ability to fight in the final tournament at the end of the circuit. With Eight badges you could walk into a lot of companies or even the Rangers and assume a better than entry position pay.

Gary didn’t want that, though.

He wanted to go further and Sabrina was a gatekeeper to that. He needed to beat her. He clenched his fists and gazed up at her only to get a flat stare back.

What was he expecting? Some glimmer to signify that he was different? Special?

Gary wanted her to acknowledge him but instead she merely stared at him like he was little more than a task to be ticked off on her day.

Raticate nudged his hand. “Cate,” growled the little guy causing Gary to smirk.

Damn, he was getting caught in her pace before the match had even started. He patted Raticate’s head. “Thanks bud,” he whispered.

“I’m not just here for me, but also in the capacity of my team and supporters! So what if today I’m shallow! I’ll keep growing!”

Sabrina lowered herself through the air. “Is that your answer? Very well, I can see your fighting spirit. Gary Oak, today I accept your challenge,” she announced, and the lights boomed as they blazed back to life.

Gary smiled despite himself. He’d experienced a lot of different situations since taking up the gauntlet Challenge at each Gym he fought. For the Saffron Gym he’d prepared more than any other with his team.

Before he’d even started his Journey, he’d drawn up a plan about which pokemon he needed to capture and where his best chances of acquiring certain pokemon would come up. His Gramps giving him the guard detail with a car had certainly helped speed things along.

He’d thrown all his savings into getting in contact with rare traders and breeders.

He’d even gone out of his way to get himself an Eevee to secure a dark type in Umbreon. Raticate served as the perfect second for his main fighters and had a bevy of skills that he’d grown.

Then there was the rest of his team.

He was ready for this.

As the lights illuminated a new field, one without a hint of any Dark energy taint Gary could help but feel like this situation was so very similar to his first Gym challenge.

Brock had put on a show for him back when he’d been a trainer with no badges.

Today he planned to be a Trainer with his eighth badge.