Two days after his frustrating loss to Jasmine, Ran enters Olivine City’s Gym once more. His own loss still hurts, but Josie’s got her own challenge booked today and for all that he absolutely doesn’t want to be actively reminded of his own defeat, he does owe it to her to watch her try and earn her fourth badge. Besides, even if he hasn’t booked a rematch with Jasmine yet and is in fact torn about whether he should follow her instructions and return to Olivine at a later time or whether he should persist and try again in the shorter term, scouting out her style for a few more matches is always going to be helpful.

  So, he sits down on the metal bleachers - a very uncomfortable seating option, actually - with Grady and Doro on either side of him, preparing to support Josie. They’re a bit early of course, with two more matches scheduled before Josie herself is due to battle, but that’s the whole point of scouting.

  As the current trainer, somebody only challenging for his second badge, faces a Shieldon - another exotic pokémon, showcasing just how few steel-types are native to their own continent - Ran’s mind is prevented from wandering by Grady, who is enthusiastically taking notes.

  “I wonder what that evolves into! Is it going to evolve once, or twice, you reckon? Maybe Jasmine will use the evolved form against me when I challenge her the day after tomorrow!” The Whitney-sponsored trainer declares enthusiastically, his voice getting lost in the crowd’s noise so that it doesn’t carry out towards the battling trainers and their pokémon.

  “She did not use it against me, nor did she use an evolved form when I faced her,” Doro notes calmly, “Though I did face her at a third-badge level, so that could be an explanation. Or, perhaps it is a steel-rock-type, considering its usage of Ancient Power. Then she may have deliberately avoided using it because of its type disadvantage against my own team.”

  “Possibly,” Ran contributes hesitantly, unwilling to make a judgement on the Shieldon’s second typing based on a single move, “I don’t think Jasmine builds her Gym teams to counter her opponents though. She got me with that Magnemite of course, but she feels more like the type to build around her own strengths, rather than adapting to her opponent.”

  “That would fit her grandfather’s style.” Doro allows with a nod, “Though Gholam built his team without the relatively easy access to Hoenn and Sinnoh that Jasmine surely has, so he was perhaps forced by necessity, rather than doing so out of desire or mentality, no?”

  “That’s fair,” Ran accedes in turn, “And steel-rock would remove the weakness to fire, though it’d double the weakness to fighting and ground, not to mention adding one to water. I can’t think of any situation in nature where that makes a lot of sense. Where could a steel-rock-type possibly live that wouldn’t also offer great circumstances for a ground-type?”

  Grady speaks up enthusiastically, “On a mountaintop! Or near a volcano!”

  Doro isn’t as eager, but she does offer her own contribution, “I don’t know about nature, but for competitive battling, especially for a Gym Leader, being able to surprise a challenger by suddenly removing the expected fire-type weakness from the match is a good trick.”

  The point she raises is fair, but rather than ponder Shieldon, Ran catches on another pokemon entirely. Slowly, he gives voice to his thoughts, “That’s a good point. In fact… What about that Lairon she used against me? Perhaps that had a steel-rock-typing? It used Rock Slide after all, not to mention how well it took Caesar’s Fire Fang.”

  Doro nods pensively, clearly digesting Ran’s theory, whilst down below the challenger proves unsuccessful, departing the Gym with his tail tucked between his legs. Grady for his part lets out a dramatic gasp, looking at Ran with the stars in his eyes for the first time since he lost to Jasmine.

  “That makes so much sense!” Grady gasps, immediately flipping to a new page in his little notebook and scribbling furiously, “How sneaky!”

  On the one hand, Ran is annoyed as he considers the unfair advantage Jasmine has by relying on what is clearly an extensive roster of exotic pokémon to befuddle her challengers, as it allows her to hide secondary typings. On the other hand, if he’d scouted her Gym properly, over a few hours of observation, he’s sure that he can figure out at least the basics of every exotic pokémon she’s hiding. So, ultimately, though it’s tricky on her part and, to his mind, doesn’t present an entirely fair test in a vacuum, it still doesn’t excuse his defeat against her in any way.

  Fortunately, before he can begin to brood, Grady pipes up once more, voice now distinctly worried, “Oh I hope Josie doesn’t lose because of this! She’s got all of those strong fire-type attacks, but if Jasmine is going to use pokémon that aren’t weak to them, she’s going to do a lot less damage than she’s expecting to!”

  “Josie’s team is strong and versatile, Grady,” Doro calms him, “Not to mention that just because Jasmine may have some options that aren’t weak to Josie’s fire-types, that is still quite a way removed from actually being resistant to her firepower.”

  “Doro’s right,” Ran states confidently, speaking purely for Grady’s benefit as he himself doesn’t doubt his friend’s upcoming performance whatsoever, “Josie’s got the advantageous match-up, she’s better prepared than I was and she’s challenging for her fourth, rather than her fifth. She’ll be fine.”

  Whilst Grady sighs in relief as he accepts the older trainers’ reassurances, down below, the next match has begun, with a trainer challenging for his third badge. It’s actually a rather brilliant match, as he lets his Haunter use Hypnosis on Jasmine’s first pokémon, to get an opportunity to switch in a Tauros which immediately uses Work Up. It actually manages to perform the move twice before Jasmine gets her Magnemite to wake up. A single Close Combat later, the challenger takes a lead.

  Jasmine follows up with a Forretress, which miraculously manages to last long enough to use Self-Destruct and drag its opponent into unconsciousness with it. However, whilst she sends out another exotic pokémon that Ran soon learns is called a Mawile, the challenger calls upon his Haunter once more, only to land a Confuse Ray and follow it up with a Curse. The Pidgeotto the challenger sends out next doesn’t have to do anything but fly a few laps just under the ceiling, whilst its opponent is drained of energy until it falls unconscious.

  Ran quite enjoys the display, even if he’s not too fond of the generalist approach to training and team building. The challenger clearly came in with a plan and he executed it to perfection, which is all that really matters. If anything, it’s a reminder that he needs more plans of his own than simply relying on poisoning and otherwise statusing his opponents before stalling them out.

  Though they have been working hard on that. With their training kicked back into higher gear and with the help of his friends’ team members, his team has made astounding progress over the past few days. Caesar, Skorupi and Aria have all learned Dig, with Aria additionally also managing to master Poison Jab. At the same time, Croagunk has managed a minor miracle by picking up all three elemental punches, actually proving a quicker study than Toff, to his visible delight. As for Golbat, Ran hasn’t started him on his next move yet, instead focusing largely on rebuilding the Bat Pokémon’s confidence.

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  Because where the others moved past their defeat against Jasmine relatively smoothly, Golbat getting instantly knocked out by an electric-type attack again has clearly done a number on Caesar’s main contender for the position of ‘strongest’ team member. Unlike training harder, which is something that’s easily done and which yields visible results in a matter of mere days, helping Golbat get back into a better headspace promises to be a far more challenging endeavor, considering the outright reluctance he’s started to display to simply be around Grady’s electric-types.

  So, whilst the others have had plenty of time to work with their tutors and finish properly learning and then mastering their new moves, Golbat’s work-outs have been focused far more on his raw physical attributes. If Ran can help him get noticeably faster, stronger and more durable, then hopefully that’ll help Golbat move past his developing fear.

  It’s not a happy thought his mind has drifted to, but fortunately it’s finally Josie’s turn, as the blonde marches brashly out onto the catwalk, enthusiastically waving to the crowd as she presents herself. Judging by the reaction she gets, she really is a natural crowd favorite, even before she’s shown off a single pokémon. Not that Ran can blame the other spectators, after all, it’s rather natural to see the pretty blonde and want her to do well.

  His earlier distractions are fully put to the side, as Ran gives his full attention to the upcoming match, the same exuberant referee once more announcing the match start. Josie, to his surprise, starts off with Torch the Magby, whilst Jasmine brings out what appears to be her one exotic pokémon per match early, as she opts for what announces itself as Aron and what can by appearances only be a pre-evolution of Lairon.

  Whether deliberate or not, it immediately puts a steel-rock-type on the field against Josie’s fire-types, assuming his analysis of Lairon is correct and the dual typing carries through across evolution. Of course, Jasmine is apparently inscrutable at the best of times and with the distance between them, it becomes entirely impossible to read anything about her intentions from her expression or body language.

  Fortunately, Josie doesn’t bother with overanalyzing the situation, as the moment the referee calls for the match to start, she calls for a Sunny Day. Obediently, Torch starts to radiate light and heat as he gathers fire-type energy, before shooting an orb of it directly upwards. When it slams into the hangar ceiling, it doesn’t form a miniature sun, instead shattering into motes of energy which spread across the arena before dissipating, only stopping their spread when they meet the arena’s barriers. For all that there is no sun, the effect of Sunny Day imitates its effects well, bathing the field in bright light and warmth.

  The spectators can’t feel the latter of course, but they can see the former. In return, Jasmine has her Aron use Rock Tomb, a few large rocks soon pulled from the ground before they are lobbed towards Torch. The impact is hard, though Torch manages to dodge at least one of the rocks. Still, he clearly takes the attacks poorly, but Josie doesn’t appear bothered, eagerly recalling Torch and sending out Soot the Houndoom instead.

  Jasmine calls for another Rock Tomb, but Soot easily dodges the attack, his speed in another league entirely than both Torch and Aron. In turn, Josie calls for a Nasty Plot from Soot. He pulls it off confidently, dodging another poorly aimed Rock Tomb mere moments after completing the move.

  When Soot then lets out a satisfied breath, a few dark flames escape his nostrils as he does so. Ran figures that Doro, Grady and he all come to the same conclusion then and there, though it’s Grady who gives voice to what they’re all thinking.

  “Oh, it’s over.” Grady states in surprise, before watching alongside them as Soot proves their suspicions correct.

  In short order, the Dark Pokémon - an old name it’s maintained despite the significant number of dark-type pokémon that have been identified since - uses Flamethrower to burn his way through Jasmine’s gym. Aron goes down in a single attack, as do the Magnemite and Skarmory, none of them even managing to do much of anything in return, instead getting melted under the sun-fed flames.

  It is an impressive display of power on Josie’s behalf, clearly showcasing her type’s natural advantages as well as her ability to set them up for success. With a clean sweep victory of three knock-outs to zero, it’s no surprise to see and hear Josie receive raucous applause for her showing, the crowd easily forgetting about Houndoom’s frightful reputation in favor of exulting its trainer.

  Jasmine likewise is congratulatory as she hands Josie the Mineral Badge, though she remains as neutral and placid as she’s shown herself to be at all times. The contrast between the two young women’s personalities couldn’t be much greater, but Josie clearly doesn’t care, as she eagerly shows off her badge to the crowd, before proudly marching back down the catwalk and out of the arena.

  Ran, Doro and Grady get up and leave the Gym happily, though Ran is quite set on returning later, now that he’s already paid for a ticket for the afternoon. After all, even if they’ll be coming back to watch Grady’s challenge the next day, there’s no reason not to use the opportunity to scout Jasmine’s Gym. His team’s evening training isn’t for hours yet, so it’s really the perfect opportunity.

  For now however, he leads their trio out of the Gym to catch up with Josie, who stands just a few feet from the building’s entrance, beaming like a loon. Ran takes her in for a moment, now that they’re close enough to make out proper details once more. Her face is flushed with the pride and joy of triumph, her whole body radiating excess energy following the, in truth, simple victory.

  “You did it!” Grady cheers enthusiastically, ever a master of stating the obvious, but his words no less sincerely happy or congratulatory for it.

  “Indeed, congratulations Josie, that was a fine showing.” Doro states next, calm and to the point as ever.

  “Yeah, great job Josie, you were amazing.” Ran adds on finally, offering a small smile as he offers a lighthearted pun, “You smoked her.”

  “Thanks!” Josie says to them all, “Though the real credit goes to Torch and Soot of course, this one didn’t exactly take any brilliant work on my part.”

  Ran frowns at that, “Don’t sell yourself short! Torch and Soot could only execute as well as they did because you’ve trained them to do so, not to mention that your plan clearly worked very well. It working so well that you didn’t have much to do during the actual battle just proves how good of a trainer you are!”

  He’s convinced that Josie personally tutored Torch in Sunny Day, because the broad smile she offers him in turn might as well be a miniature sun in its own right. Suddenly, he’s feeling rather flushed himself, lending further credence to the Sunny Day theory, as he rapidly terms it.

  For a few seconds, they all fall silent, as Josie beams at him and Ran fights the urge to swipe a hand over his forehead to check for sweat. Fortunately, Grady breaks the silence after a few seconds, as he announces that he’s going to a nearby arcade he’s discovered, extending an open invitation for all of them to join him.

  “I’ll pass on that one,” Ran replies swiftly, grateful for the distraction as it allows him to break eye contact with Josie before he embarasses himself, “I’m going to go back in and watch some more matches. I don’t think I can easily follow Josie’s blueprint to victory, so I need a better idea of Jasmine’s approach and her full roster. I should’ve done my due diligence earlier, but better late than never and all that.”

  “I will also pass,” Doro states, “I’m going back to the Lighthouse, I want another go at it.”

  “I’ll stick around and watch some more matches too,” Josie offers surprisingly, “I’m in the mood for it. Plus, I’ll be able to enjoy it a whole lot more now that I know I’m done with Jasmine.”

  Doro and Grady say their goodbyes in short order, before going their separate ways. It leaves Ran standing outside Olivine’s Gym, with the blonde looking at him expectantly, clearly still high on her victory. She’s very pretty like this.

  “Uh, let’s go inside then, yeah?” Ran rushes out hurriedly, drawing an assenting nod from Josie, her smile not diminishing in the slightest.