<With the rise of the morning sun, Ginette attempted to help Chad stay focused on the day by preparing breakfast for the team. After serving plates of burnt toast, raw eggs, and something so inexplicably disgusting it bore the hallmarks of the finest Kalosian cuisine, the team chef thanked her for her efforts, and provided a replacement serving of sunny-side-up eggs, a few slices of crisp toast, and what he described as ‘sausage links’, which proved violently popular.>


    <Despite not remembering to schedule an appointment the night before, Chad found a notification reminding him of his battle with Ramos in a few hours. Before he could raise the issue of a switch order, his team reassured him of their confidence, their belief that he could handle this all on his own.>


    “Don’t believe in yourself; believe in me, who believes in you?” Chad asked as he walked through the gym’s automatic glass doors.


    <You won’t trick me into repeating such drivel. As our hero strode into the building, exchanging his ID and pleasantries with the front desk, he was guided off to the side by the attendant. This gym was lush with greenery, and had the most pleasant aromas of any he had experienced thus far. As a physical challenge, trainers were forced to climb the tree to face their trial at the very top. Wanting to conserve his stamina, Chad swapped out with Lucielle, who was able to effortlessly climb the vertical obstacle course.>


    <Upon arrival at the top, she followed the signs through a flourishing flower garden to the battlefield. The field itself was a lush green grass, with straight lines of white flowers perfectly arranged to form the boundaries and trainer boxes. While there was tons of open air around them, and breathtaking sightlines of the ocean and surrounding wilds, the audience seating area appeared to be a collection of small tables with a variety of adult and elder humans enjoying tea and small confections.>


    <In the opposing box stood an old man, wearing a gardener’s outfit and a green beret, with a gigantic pair of shears acting like a walking cane. “Ho! So yeh''ve made it clear up here!” He says with a gentle laugh. “I''m the Gym Leader; Ramos''s the name. So what''d yeh think, whippersnapper? Did yeh enjoy the garden playground I made with all these sturdy plants o'' mine? Their strength is a sign o'' my strength as a gardener and a Gym Leader! Yeh sure yer up to facing all that?" He eyed Lucielle with a knowing smile.>


    Lucielle held out a paw in the universal expression for ‘please wait’, as she unclipped Chad’s pokeball from the belt and released him in the challenger’s box. “We’ll be over here watching,” she informed him, before moving over to claim an empty table and releasing the rest of the team to watch. Lucielle and Ginette claimed the two chairs, forcing Gaston and Alexandre to sit on the ground.


    <The onlookers shared hushed conversations and whispered concerns, as Ramos weighed whether his challenger was just plain cocky, or maybe being punished somehow. “Chad, this is a four star gym battle. You are allowed to use more than one pokemon, and you do have switches…” He tried to explain, feeling out his opponent.>


    Chad could only shrug, stepping out onto the field. “Normally, yea. But my role as team leader is sort of riding on this. I apologize if it seems disrespectful,” He explained, finishing with a slight forward bow with his arms straight down his sides.


    <Ramos waved it off, pulling a pokeball from his belt. “Not sure what you were saying, but I can spot an apology when I see one. Ref, start us off?”>


    <On the opposite side of the field from the audience, a gym trainer wearing a similar gardener’s outfit to Ramos stepped up to the edge of the field. They signaled an Exeggutor beside them who began to raise a psychic energy shield around the battlefield. “This will be a one on three battle with no switches, between Coumarine Gym Leader Ramos and the challenger Chad. Trainers, are you ready?” Ramos nodded, and Chad signaled an affirmative to the ref. “Then on the count of three; one, two, three, begin!”>


    Author-chan here! This is the third and final song that influenced me into having themed battle tracks for this work. "No Guardian Angel" by T. Stebbins.


    Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/2iuOE6268e5wNbvYAyzjYn?si=23d586a5fc844f72</a>


    Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF9VdIs5RGI</a>


    Chad didn’t wait to see Ramos’ first pokemon, he immediately started setting up like before, this time flooding his body with Ki as his muscles flexed and grew. The ki faded, leaving his body steaming, as his first opponent solidified into a blue orb floating in the air with three white puffballs surrounding it.


    <”Jumpluff, stall tactics.” Ramos commanded lightly, his soft tone carrying decades of experience, as his partner spat a blast of seeds towards the fire type.>


    Chad intercepted the projectiles with a quick burst of flame, incinerating them, before he began to power-walk to the left. With his ankles glowing from the magenta wings, he simultaneously compressed raw fire and energy into a sphere of raw plasma before letting it float into the air. The miniature sun seemed to perk up all the nearby plants, with several seeming to turn to bask in its glory.


    “Sunny Day may help you burn hotter, but it also helps me take you down faster!” The grass type called out, as it leapt forward at an incredible speed to strafe past Chad. When at a sufficient angle, the Jumpluff spat out another barrage of seeds, forcing the lizard to leap and roll forward to escape them.


    Once again, Chad coated himself in Ki, pushing his muscle definition from ‘decent’ up to ‘gym rat’, as he curved towards the puffball. “I would love to see you stall faster,” he joked before belching a cone of flame towards the grass type. There was a flash of light blue as his foe flew up and over the flames, diving back towards where he held two fire daggers, ready and waiting. Both made contact, with Chad sliding back and the Jumpluff bouncing across the grass before rolling to a stop. As the puffball began to rise up, Chad chucked his two daggers at them, the raw fire energy digging in and earning a final wail from his foe before they went down again. Not waiting for the ref to make the call, the fire type pumped his body with the brown fighting energy one last time, escalating from ‘gym rat’ to ‘ugh gross’ levels of musculature.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    <”Jumpluff is unable to battle. Gym Leader Ramos, please send out your next pokemon!” The referee called out, as Ramos aimed the red recall beam at his pokemon. Only a moment later, he threw forward another ball, revealing a yellow and green bell-like plant with large googly eyes and two sharp leaves sprouting from its sides. “Weepinbell, he’s already setting up. Poison him!” The old man demanded with a glint in his eyes.>


    Chad immediately pulled back at the order, coating his ankles and head in psychic energy as he eyed the poisonous plant pokemon. Across the field, the air began to haze as a purple powder floated off the grass type. “Thankfully I’m no one-trick dragon,” Chad reassured himself, as he conjured another ball of plasma in his hands. He was able to throw it up in the air just as a glob of purple gunk flew at him from the organic cannon.


    The audience began to chatter as the second sun began to orbit with the first in a slow dance, rather than merge or cancel each other out. Weepinbell’s leaves rotated to soak in the rays, as it rotated its mouth to track the fire lizard. Steadily, the cloud of poisonous powder began to flow forward across the field in a slow march. With perfect timing, before Chad could unleash a gust of flames, the little bell fired off a near-instant solar beam, forcing Chad to abort and dodge.


    This continued for a few shots until Chad seemingly chose not to dodge, the raw solar energy searing his left shoulder as he blasted back with a potent gush of fire. The burning blast cleared out half the poison power and forced Weepinbell to retreat. But appearing from within the flames, Chad unleashed a point-blank burst of more fire, trading for a final solar beam from the plant before it too fell unconscious.


    <”Weepinbell is unable to battle. Gym Leader Ramos, please send out your final pokemon!” The ref called, as Ramos immediately made the switch, as a large brown and green goat took to the field. “You’re leaning a little too hard on type advantage, whippersnapper. Gogoat, show this sprout fire isn’t everything.”>


    The new quadruped stared down his tired opponent, his hooves flaring with light brown energy as he lightly dug at the ground with a front hoof. “Think you’re hot stuff for getting this far?” He asked, beginning to walk to the right as the two circled each other.


    “Only literally, but I’ve still got a ways to go.” Chad responded, as a pair of fiery wings burst out of his back, forcing him to charge across the ring. The goat smirked, charging in as well as the dirt began to rumble and split behind him. Chad, not spotting the glowing green vine poke up from the ground, caught his foot and tumbled forward before colliding with a pair of horns and a thick skull.


    With both combatants again at opposite sides of the field, Chad slowly stood up, a flap of the wings steadying him on his feet while the goat prepared another charge. “Though, there is one thing I’m pretty sure only I know,” Chad said, trailing off as he gathered yet another micro sun in his hand. Prepared for a final attack, Chad tossed the sun up into the air, sending it on a straight line for the other swirling two.


    “Oh? And what might that be?” Gogoat responded, his hooves blazing with ground energy as he lowered his head. A silent signal sent both running in at full tilt, while the third sun began to orbit the other two.


    Just as the new solar body was swinging around to the front of the two others, Chad leapt into the air. “Orbital mechanics,” he responded, firmly grabbing his left wing with both hands and compressing it down into a large katana. As the third sun interposed itself between the field and two other suns, gravity inverted; both combatants rose into the air, including the onlookers, chairs, tables– if it wasn’t bolted down, it was floating.


    Gogoat was tumbling through the air towards Chad, who threw a short puff of fire behind him to accelerate towards, through, and past the goat while swinging the katana with a solid cut clean through their body. With the sun vanishing behind the other two again, gravity resumed its hold, pulling everything back to the ground. Chad spun around and took a ready stance, his right fiery wing flaring and katana at the ready.


    Gogoat struggled to his feet, huffing in annoyance as his gaze bore into the lizard. “Always something new,” he grumbled, lining up for another charge. Chad shifted his stance, aiming the sword back and behind him on his right. Coating himself in white energy, Gogoat bolted straight at Chad, determined to knock at least one of them out. Chad attempted to move, only to find his feet tied down in place by vines, and instead lowered his stance further. In a split-second, just before the charging goat pummeled him into next Tuesday, Chad swung forward in a well-timed slice.


    The crowd waited in silence as Gogoat went past, before Chad fell to a knee coughing, followed by Gogoat collapsing to the ground unmoving.


    <”Gogoat is unable to battle! Challenger Chad wins!” The ref announced, to a mix of applause, cheering, and angry shouts from the audience over their ‘ruined’ tea party. Chad’s own team were giving their own mixed reactions, from Ginette’s exuberance beside Lucielle’s polite golf clap, to Gaston’s rhythmic stomping paired with Alexandre’s complaints about ‘showboating’.>


    <Several waiters hurried around to address the audience complaints, while Ramos returned his Gogoat and began to walk onto the field with an amused grin. “Cuttin’ it close there, sprout. But you showed spirit and drive, just like I heard.” He commented, as Chad fell backwards to sit on the ground breathing hard.>


    “How. Am I. This. Tired. After. Five. Minutes?!” Chad shouted between deep breaths, earning a laugh as Ginette swept over to help him to his feet. Leaning on her for support, he offered a claw for a handshake.


    <Ramos humored the upcoming trainer, giving a soft shake of their claw before breaking away to pull out his badge. “I present your Plant Badge, sprout. I look forward to seeing how far you can go.” The little emblem was a dewdrop of green with a proud golden tree trunk growing up the middle from the base, with the whole icon resembling a leaf.>


    <Chad went out like a light then and there, prompting Lucielle to recall him from her seat. Ginette softly pantomimed an apology as the four quietly left the area. Thankfully, the ref showed them to the elevator down (which required recalling the two big boys as it was barely human-sized).>


    <After leaving Chad at the pokecenter, the four decided to take advantage of the city and Chad’s winnings to treat themselves to a spa day. Luckily, they were able to find one which catered towards pokemon, and promptly went all-in on the services. Ginette and Lucielle found themselves enjoying a full body massage from a pair of skilled Machamps, working muscle groups the two hadn’t even realized were stiff or sore. Alexandre took advantage of a poison specialist Scizor working at the spa to get a general clean-up for all of his claws and spines. And Gaston enjoyed a meditation class led by an enlightened Alakazam, tapping into his inner self.>


    <After their afternoon of fun, the four returned to the pokecenter where Chad happily made the team dinner, eager to– >


    “You spent HOW MUCH?!” Chad shouted, catching the attention of the entire building with his rage. The four, realizing what had happened, cast their gazes down in guilt; except for Alexandre who upheld his aura of ‘You should’ve given me more money’.


    “We just wanted to relax a little, do something for ourselves.” Ginette defended the group, still unwilling to meet his eyes. “You’re always super cautious, and never let us buy anything for fun.”


    Chad, torn between grilling his teammates and grilling the protein audibly searing on the pan, roared with rage as he resumed the one thing he had control of. “Lucielle, when Korrina beat a challenger, do you remember how much money it cost them?” The jackal shuffled nervously, silently answering no. “Had I lost today, our savings would’ve been a third of what it was before the match.”


    Ginette looked lost and confused, while Lucielle bit her lip. Gaston was visibly uncomfortable, while Alexandre huffed. “Seems dumb to think you were even capable of losing today; not like you’re that much of a pushover.” His statement spiked the anxiety in the group further, tensions running as high as the heat of the stove.


    “And now, we’re barely going to have enough funds for supplies for the trip to Lumiose City.” Chad continued, visibly irritated when he flipped a cut of meat and spotted a tinge of burnt black at the edge. “Are you OK with catching and eating Caterpie and Pidgey?”


    “I won’t let it come to that!” Ginette asserts, finding her resolve. “I’m going to challenge every trainer I can for some extra cash after dinner; anyone with me?” Alexandre slammed his fists together in excited agreement, while Lucielle and Gaston expressed their participation in more muted means.


    <And challenge they did, though it took them a few attempts to properly convey they were looking for wager battles. The notion of a trainer-less team drew sufficient attention that they were able to claw back some of the funds from their little excursion, but the four realized they had a long road ahead to refill the team’s warchest. A quiet evening together later, and the topic quickly shifted to Chad’s evolution. The Narrator played coy, avoiding any and all questions while merely directing them to wait while he made arrangements.>