Chương 35: 35-Gym

Tanya quickly drains the last of her coffee to chase the overwhelmingly sweet aftertaste of her pokechow as their early breakfast wraps up. There was a moment in the seconds after the coffee grounds were released that there was resistance to Tanya getting her own mug, but that conflict was quickly and efficiently resolved by the insistence of someone cut off from that most wonderful substance for over a year.

As soon as the flavor hits her tongue, Tanya involuntarily releases another long chirping warble of pleasure. It's almost perfect, despite tasting almost exactly how she remembers it, the bitterness of her ambrosia seems unusually prominent, and oddly off putting. She glances at the bowl of sugar she'd –for the first time since she can remember– scooped from to sweeten her drink to something tolerable, mentally adding another scoop for tomorrow morning.

Their host had woken them up with a heavy banging on the door to the guest room, stating breakfast was almost ready. Tanya had eaten a fair portion of the offered food, but substituted the remainder of her hunger with pokechow to avoid eating more than would be polite. Or available. The 'mon glances over at her partner as she picks up both dishes and heads over to the sink, where Sylveon is standing on a high barstool and using his ribbons to manipulate both dishes and sponge to clean.

Amelia pats the 'mon on the head.

"Thanks Sylveon." She says.

"Need any help?" The 'mon grumbles at the contact, flicking a soapy ribbon at the trainer and evoking a yelp.

"No, and no touchy." He grunts. Venessa laughs as she walks in, adjusting the sleeve of her work uniform, looking distinctly abnormal sans hat.

"Ah, don't mind Sylveon! He's just being a grouch because you're new." She says, walking over to a coffee machine and, reaching into the above cupboard, pulls out two insulated cups.

"By the time you're leaving you'll have to pry him off." Sylveon mutters something along the lines of 'not happening,' but he's ignored as the nurse fills both mugs and Chansey comes around the corner, Taillow standing atop her head.

"I still don't get why I can't just do it outside." He grumbles, looking down at his mount. Chansey smiles back up patiently.

"It's a human thing." She answers, gratefully accepting the coffee from her partner as it's handed over.

"We ready?" Venessa smiles, quickly patting down her clothes and nodding.

"Yep!" She says, then turns to Amelia.

"Good luck! We'll be watching on the lobby TV!" There's a small pause as Amelia hesitates before nodding.

"Thanks Aunt Vee." The nurse opens her mouth to say something else, but she's cut off as Chansey taps her on the hip before holding out a nurse's cap.

"Forgot something." She sing-songs. The sight of the hat makes her partner sigh and snatch the scrap of cloth from her partner's grip.

"Thank you Chansey."

"You didn't put it on the hook, so you forgo–"" Thank you Chansey!" The nurse interrupts, taking a long swig of her coffee as she roughly shoves the cap on her head and turns to leave.

"We're gonna be late if we don't get going! See you after lunch!" With that, Chansey gently picks Taillow off her head, places him on a table, and follows her partner as she speedwalks out the front door. With them gone, Tanya looks longingly at the pot that sits in the machine, but, after some telekinetic investigation, proves to be empty for now.

Begrudgingly floating her mug over to the sink, the 'mon has to acknowledge that not going overboard on caffeine is a good move, at least until she can determine this body's metabolism and tolerance for the stuff. Turning her attention back to the larger room, Tanya tunes into the conversation her partner is having with their newest hire, sitting back down in her chair to be at eye level with Taillow as he stands on the table.

"... so Chansey will probably be doing most of the battling for this gym." She consoles, placing her hand in front of the avian as if offering it.

"If you want to, I can swap you in, but –again– you'll be fighting at a disadvantage and we haven't gotten to know–""It's fine!" Taillow interrupts quickly, shuffling his feet and glancing between the two of them, then dropping his eyes.

"I do not want to be slowing h– you down." Amelia squints, furrowing her brow for a half second before wincing and waving her hands in denial.

"I'm not– I mean–! You're still part of the team! I want you to be with us but–!" Sensing that this has the potential to drag out, Tanya clears her throat.

"Taillow, my partner is just stating the practical realities of your relatively recent acquisition." She says calmly.

"I would suggest not thinking of your slightly more passive role as less 'slowing us down' and more as a kind of trial period." The avian goes still for a long few seconds.

"... trial period?" He asks slowly. Tanya nods.

"Yes, until you've trained up to acceptable levels, I'd expect you not to actually be battling before then." She's not entirely sure how long that will take, but if he continues to travel with them, he will perform his side of the bargain to the bare minimum of competence. Amelia nods from behind, stroking the crest of his head with a smile.

"Right. That. Thank you Chansey." She sighs, standing from her chair and clapping her hands together.

"Now! If you'd like, I would really love for you to stay out of your pokeball while we head over to the gym. I need to get to know you!" She pats her shoulder, and Taillow hesitates for a moment, glances once more at Tanya, then flutters up and comes to a rest on the indicated spot. Watching the 'mon settle in, his trainer gives a pleased hum and turns to the exit.

"Good! We need to buy some stuff for you as well." She says, beginning to count stuff off on her fingers.

"Food, a portable perch for sleeping, training tools, hygiene stuff, and I'll need your input on what you like." Tanya falls in behind, waving goodbye to Sylveon before she chimes in.

"Plus a trip to the main hospital for some more thorough benchmark tests, to set up meal and exercise plans." Her partner hums in agreement as she pulls open the apartment door, and the 'mon follows one step behind. —-- Walking down the streets of Mauville, Tanya cannot help but wonder at how seamlessly pokemon have integrated themselves into her memory of a modern metropolis.

Looking across the street for the crosswalk to flip to green, her eyes run across the almost even split of 'mon and human that looks back at her from across the asphalt. Magnemite float lazily around people's heads as grovyle and poochyena lean against legs and sit on the ground as they wait. Standing in the back of the pack and rising above the tops of most heads, an unfamiliar green cat-like 'mon idly scratches his cheek.

A woman in her mid-forties turns to look to her left, revealing a plusle poking her head from the purse, looking about with the absentminded attention of long repetition. Then the light flips green, and both sides of the street move toward each other as one, some trotting ahead as others linger, looking ahead or behind to their partners as the opposing groups move past each other.

Yet, despite the fantastical addition to the familiar feeling as if it should call attention to itself, the 'mon insert themselves seamlessly. It's that lack of hitch from anyone participating in the tableau –even a sideways glance– makes it hard for Tanya to see the abnormality.

"So…" Amelia starts, breaking a small silence after concluding her stumbling conversation with Taillow.

"After we're done with the gym, do you think we'll be up to take the first round of proctored nursing tests? Or should we try it tomorrow?" Her partner considers the question as she steps to the side to pass another pedestrian on the abnormally wide sidewalks.

"Judging by the team that beat Wattson and the ease at which they were beaten, I'd say we can do it this afternoon." She says eventually.

"Barring unforeseen complications, of course. Do we need to schedule in advance at this hospital?" Every affiliated hospital has its own variations on how it treats its correspondence students, and Tany can't remember what the Mauville Central Pokecenter's policy is. Amelia hums dismissively as they come to the end of the block and turn left.

"They want a one-hour heads up." Tanya nods, finding the requirement reasonable considering the need for a proctor and for the test materials to be– There's a noise, the almost inaudible metallic squeal of metal on metal emanating from somewhere in front of them. Looking ahead, she sees half the sidewalk abruptly become stairs leading down into the earth. Amelia says something as she heads toward those stairs at the same steady pace, and Tanya opens her mouth.

"If you'll remember, your aunt said the gym had open slots, I can't imagine there'd be a very long wait." The trainer hums conflictedly.

"Still… I've read all these people complaining about waiting for hours, I'll bet we'll have to wait at least a little." Tanya makes a noise of vague agreement as she arrives at the stairs and, without skipping a beat, begins to descend. That noise again, the squeal of brakes and the echoing din of a hundred muttered conversations. They're deep underground, in front of the timetable, bright colors and shapes marking a geometric abstraction of the city with train times in neat rows beneath.

Amelia speaks again, but she's just another voice in the polite murmur that drowns out everything else into unintelligible noise. Tanya taps two places on the timetable.

"Unfortunately yes, but since we just missed the green line, it might be faster to take the blue for two stops and head up on the red line." She says, looking over to her partner.

"How punctual would you say these trains usually are?" The human says something else and Tanya nods, looking back to the– Her thoughts stutter as the platform's tunnel is illuminated by twin spotlights. The brakes scream, overpowering the ambience of the crowd, and the machine comes to a stop.

"Then we should be boarding," Tanya concludes, gesturing to the newly arrived train. Amelia nods, and they make their way aboard. Stepping inside, Tanya finds the train to be only half full, even after half a minute for people to board, the majority remain on the platform. Then the doors close, and the noise is cut off, replaced by the electric whine of the car.

"–and so this is how we get around quickly in a dense urban area." Amelia continues as she becomes laudable, looking at Taillow and gesturing to their surroundings.

"Not everyone can fly after all!" Tanya glances at the benches lining the walls, but chooses to grip the metal pole as the train lurches into movement with a sigh. The trains in Germania were of a different design, and most of the time by the time she got to the platform they were already waiting for her to board. These are…. familiar. The room shakes as they hit a bump in the track and, looking over to her partner, Amelia's smile turns into an inquisitive frown.

"... Everything alright?" Tayna nods, rocking with the motion of the train with the ease of experience.

"Just fine." —-- Fortunately, the trains of Mauville turn out to be quite punctual, arriving and leaving within seconds of when the timetable said they should. Walking up the stairs and onto the street again, Tanya can immediately see the gym as it looms on the skyline, towering above them. A building so large it takes up multiple city blocks, almost as tall, large enough that most public infrastructure is built with this at its heart by sheer necessity.

Looking to her left, she can see roads being swallowed up by the construction. The mouth of the subway looks out to a large green space, scattered in small arenas outside in a massive grassy quad with over two dozen people battling at various levels of skill. It's the same area where the exhibition match festival occurred the last time she was here. Any evidence long since removed. On the opposite side of the quad, there's a large blinking neon sign with the words 'Trainer Sign in Here!' emblazoned above a kiosk.

Approaching the monolithic building, Tanya has to crane her neck as they get close. She'd not given the building enough credit last time she was here, it's impressive. Coming to a stop at the desk beneath the blinking sign, Amelia looks momentarily confused at the empty space behind the counter, leaning in and looking around inside for a moment.

"... Hello?"

"Welcome trainer!" An electronic voice buzzes from a speaker built into the countertop.

"What's your name!?" The trainer blinks, looking down at the speaker in surprise.

"... Voice activated? Cool." The speaker crackles again.

"I heard 'Voiceactivated Cool! Is that correct?" Amelia yelps, flapping her hands to punctuate the refusal.

"N– No! My name is Amelia Joy!" There's a pause.

"I heard 'Amelia Joy' is that correct?" The eponymous trainer sighs in relief.

"Yes." There's another pause, then the buzz of a receipt printer, and a slip of paper slides out of a slit in the table.

"Your number is 116! It should take around —Ten— Minutes!"

"Thank you." Amelia chirps, ripping the receipt from the table and hurriedly walking away. Following behind, Tanya sighs as she makes note of her partner's increasingly tense posture from where she sits on a nearby bench. Hopping up alongside, they watch other 'mon fight as the first minute slowly rolls into the second.

As time ticks on and the same automated voice calls up an ascending list of numbers one by one, the 'mon tries to muster up some sympathy as she watches Amelia struggle to sit still, nervously fidgeting with the paper in her hands. It's clear that this is incredibly important to the trainer, no surprise, considering the extreme emotions the idea of not going on a journey evoked just a week ago.

But, for Tanya, the thought of the upcoming fight doesn't really conjure any emotion stronger than a vague pleasure for the rewards offered at the end, both tangible and intangible. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The minutes go by, the tense atmosphere sends Taillow into his ball after just the third minute, and every attempt at starting a conversation to break said atmosphere ends in terse one-word responses that quickly trail off into silence.

As such, when the loudspeaker that had been regularly calling out numbers finally reaches theirs, both leap from their seats with equal vigor for entirely different reasons. Speedwalking over to the double doors, every other trainer has entered when their number was called. Amelia pauses at the front, takes a breath, then yanks them open and rushes in. Stepping inside, Tanya looks around lazily as her eyes adjust to the new light, revealing a long hall made of brushed and undecorated steel panels.

They've talked over this gym several times, so Tanya already has a good idea of what they expect to encounter here.

While most gyms add some kind of filtering process to prevent challengers from gaining immediate access to its leader, Wattson's gym –instead of forcing trainers through a gauntlet of weaker trainers– takes the less common route of using puzzles and traps to filter their way through– Ahead of them, a quarter inch thick slab of metal descends alarmingly quickly and cuts off their route with a resounding clank.

A half second later, a nearby portion of the wall reveals itself to be a door by retracting into the ceiling almost as quickly. Amelia flinches at both, reflexively reaching for the balls at her hip before looking down at her partner.

"Startled me." She says with a nervous laugh.

"Do you think we should…" Tanya walks over to the door and, after waving an arm through to test if it's going to slam down on them, steps through and waves for the trainer to follow.

"Multiple routes for multiple challengers I'd assume, c'mon." Amelia hesitates for a moment, then quickly steps through the threshold and speeds ahead again.

"Right. That makes s– Ow!" Amelia cries out in pain, leaping back and hopping on one foot as she hisses through her teeth.

"That stings!" Tanya steps forward, pressing a glowing arm into her partner and scanning over the hallway in front of them, noticing various small shapes in the upper left of the metallic floor tiles, mirrored by those same four shapes separating the long room into quarters.

"What happened?" She asks as Amelia quickly recovers, pointing an angry finger at the tile with the shape of a square on it.

"It shocked me!" She shouts, glaring at the tile as if offended by the inanimate object. Tanya nods, looking over the room again to see if there's anything that might contradict her solution before pointing at the shapes on the walls and tiles in turn.

"I'd assume the matching shapes in each quadrant are electrified." Amelia blinks, eyes flicking across the scene in front of them before giving a nod.

"Right, that makes sense." She says before cautiously moving forward again, avoiding the square that shocked her.

"Thanks." Her partner nods again, trailing behind as they cross the electric floor with little difficulty. A rather simple puzzle, but it makes sense for an introduction. Stepping into the next room, more carefully this time, both trainer and 'mon look around the perfectly square space separated by a thick pane of glass, framed in metal and studded with several handles equidistant from each other along the bottom.

Amelia takes a long look at the floor and walls before stepping in, walking over to the large pane of glass, and kneeling down to give one of the handles a test pull to no effect.

"... A shortcut?" She half asks, turning to her partner.

"Think you can lift this?" Tanya squints, eyeballing the weight of the room sized slab of glass and coming to some… large numbers. Her first instinct is no. As is her second. But… She steps forward, firmly gripping one of the handles.

"I'm not sure." She admits, pausing just as she starts to exert force on the bar and waving her partner back, readjusting her grip as the trainer moves a safe distance away and grabbing two nearby handles with telekinetic force. Most likely no, but it never hurts to check. Tensing herself and carefully marshalling every ounce of mental and physical strength to the task, Tanya takes a breath, grits her teeth, and…

The 'mon almost staggers at how quickly the obstacle flies toward the ceiling, almost carrying Tanya off the ground with the inertia. Then, as the weight settles and pulls hard against her grip, she puffs in strain from the effort of holding the glass above the ground. Difficult, but manageable. Amelia makes a surprised chirp from behind.

"Oh! You did it!" She says, slightly hesitantly.

"Am I ok to…" Tanya grunts as her psychic grip starts to waver." Go." The trainer complies, hurriedly ducking beneath the slab of glass and hopping up on the other side. Only then does Tanya realize she's not strong enough to adjust her grip in such a way she can head under herself, not without dropping the weight, and as every second drains her further, it's clear that they'll need to take the other path after all." Hng. No, I can't get myself under." She grunts out.

"You need to–" She's cut off as Amelia unclips a pokeball from her belt and dissolves her partner into a stream of red. Before Tanya can realize what's happening, she feels her body reforming from liquid light on the other side of the glass as it crashes to the ground with a slightly dizzying pressure wave. The 'mon blinks a few times to get her bearings, watching Amelia reclip the ball to her belt. Or they can do that. The trainer smiles at her.

"That was incredible!" She laughs, stepping toward the red button on a block mounted to the wall next to the closed door.

"I knew you were strong but– Ow!" Amelia hops back, wildly shaking her hand and glaring at the button as her hair puffs up with yet more static electricity.

"Oh that's not fair!" She complains. Pressing another heal pulse into her partner, Tanya notes the universal symbol of a lightning bolt emblazoned on the button. Then she leans to the side slightly and sees an unmarked button on the side of the block. Pressing it, the door buzzes once, then slides up into the ceiling, revealing a long, unmarked hallway with another closed door on the other side. Amelia grumbles and shakes out her hand one last time as they step through.

But as soon as they clear the door, it closes behind them, and the room comes to life. Beneath, the floor jolts and begins to move like a conveyor belt, pulling them toward the other side of the room. Then the walls open, revealing row after row of tesla coils, shooting lightning across the gap to each other. As the floor picks up speed, a few turn off as others turn on, and Amelia yelps and jumps forward, narrowly avoiding another shock as the floor continues to accelerate into the mess.

Tanya steps back to avoid a tesla coil activation, noticing a tiny flicker just in time. She backpedals against the moving floor until it deactivates, and both trainer and 'mon move through. But the floor keeps getting faster, and the gaps keep getting narrower.

Amelia hisses as an ark of lightning strikes a grazing blow, and in the final stretch, Tanya is forced to abandon avoiding the electricity altogether, grabbing her partner, she barrels through a small gap in the electric gates, only receiving two shocks as she leaps through the waiting door and onto the unmoving floor beyond. Both breathe heavily for a moment but Tanya rises first as she realizes the shocks didn't actually hurt all that much.

Looking around as she stabilizes her breathing, the 'mon eyes the four other recessed doors carefully as the one they came through closed behind them. The trainer groans as she pushes herself to her feet.

"My mouth tastes like metal." The grunts irritatedly, brushing down her clothes and trying in vain to moderate her increasingly frizzy hair.

"What's next?" Tanya glances around the room again, seeing nothing.

"Not sure, I'd assume we have to pick one of these door–" She's interrupted as a door on the far side of the room opens by itself, the only one on that wall. It takes a moment for her eyes to adjust, revealing the packed dirt of an arena on the other side. Before Tanya has time to process the information, Amelia is already rushing through, and just as Tanya starts to follow behind, she catches sight of their target's wide smile from where he's staring at them from across the dirt.

Upon Amelia crossing the threshold, he laughs, a strange bellowing sound more akin to a puttering boat than a sign of happiness." Wa ha Ha! Finally made it, huh? You got lost on the way?" He calls, crossing his arms as he leans against a podium holding four pokeballs. Tanya squeezes her way through the slightly too narrow door while Amelia gives a soft growl and tries to hide her irritation, then unclips a pokeball and points it at him across the field.

"Gym leader Wattson! I challenge you to battle!" Wattson laughs again, seeming simultaneously amused and pleased at the shouted challenge.

"I love that energy!" He shouts back, "But, before we begin, I have an offer for you…" The gym leader trails off, reaching into the pocket of his overalls, he pulls out a small black object too far away to see, then continues.

"I've been watching you on the cameras, watching how you beat my traps and challenges. So I know, with just what I've seen, that you'll defeat my first badge team." He says, opening the thing in his hand to reveal a shining fleck of yellow, almost impossibly bright across the room.

"So… you win. If you just want the badge? Here it is." Tanya blinks a few times as she comes up beside her partner, watching the trainer's face run through the same gamut of confusion as she stares at the man across, but doesn't move. The lack of reaction seems to liven Wattson for some reason, his smile widening as he sweeps his arm toward the pokeballs that rest on the pedestal at his side.

"Or…" He says with a chuckle.

"You can challenge me, and I'll fight with a team that will challenge you." There's a long silence following the offer, the electromaster staring across the arena with an expectant smile as Tanya glances rapidly between his face, the badge, and her partner. A tempting proposition. In the abstract, at least. The fact that their near certain victory has been changed without notice to something presumably designed to be difficult enough for her to potentially fail means the choice should be obvious.

They'd entered the gym assuming the challenge would be of similar difficulty to the fight with a trainer that beat it. Had they known going in, they would have planned for it, brought paralysis cures and studied their opponents. Considering the fact the reward is the same with increased difficulty, the optimal decision is not to fight. At the thought, a small part of her twinges in… some kind of negative emotion that disappears too quickly to process.

Tanya blinks, eyes locking onto the balls seem more real than their surroundings as they wait. Unfortunately, reality is not determined in the abstract, and her own desires must be weighed against all those she's formed agreements with. She glances at Amelia, eyes meeting for a split second as the trainer's conflicted expression abruptly looks back across the arena. Her partner to start, Tanya knows the girl well enough to understand that she certainly wants to win the 'correct' way. The 'mon sighs.

Her sisters for another, they'd seemed so excited when she spoke to them last night, signing off by telling her repeatedly that they're going to be watching the fight online. A fight that a professional said was going to challenge her. In her chest, Tanya feels her heartbeat accelerate from its easy rest as power stirs in her core. She steps forward, taking a deep breath as she can feel both her partner and Wattson's attention trained on her.

In the end, no matter her personal reservations about the idea of such inefficiency, she simply has no other choice.

"I'm ready." She says with a sigh, glancing back at her partner as she comes to the edge of the white painted lines marking the challenger's box.

"Unless–"" No I– er– Yes!" Amelia interrupts, stepping into the middle of the box and looking at their opponent.

"Gym Leader! I accept your challenge!" There's a beat of silence as Wattson seems to freeze for a moment, then the offered badge disappears back into a pocket in a flash before he gives a hearty laugh and hurriedly clips the balls on the pedestal to his side." Wonderful!" He grins, straightening and stepping into the center of his box before holding out a pokeball.

"Then send out your partner!" Amelia gives an energetic grunt in affirmation.

"Right!" She yells.

"Chansey! Let's do this!" Tanya nods and steps out of the challenger's box and into the arena proper, rolling her eyes at the enthusiasm once she's sure her partner can't see. She's… enthusiastic. As soon as Tanya steps over the line, Wattson opens the pokeball in his hand with a flick of the wrist and sends a jolteon into the field, the 'mon's fur seeming to crackle with static as the glow fades. Her heartbeat climbs higher as she gets into a ready stance and locks eyes with her foe.

Four against a nominal two, but functionally four against one. She'll have to pace herself. From all around, a synthetic voice comes over the near empty stadium's speakers.

"Challengers make ready, battle starts on 'Begin.'" Jolteon crouches, compressing himself like a spring.

"Three…" Tanya feeds a trickle of energy into her egg, shaving off just a fraction of a second on turning it into a weapon.

"Two…" Static crackles down Jolteon's back.

"One…" The world sharpens into perfect clarity, attention widening to see every detail yet narrowing till there's nothing but the opponent." Begin."