Gym Leader Preparations

Mihal almost hadn’t bothered when they heard which Gym Leader was currently overseeing the Battle Stadium; Henry was an Electric Type user as far as they could tell, at least they hoped it was Henry they were thinking of and not one of the other Silverborough native Leaders, and they weren’t exactly equipped to deal with those kinds of Pokémon very easily, their Togekiss and Ampharos weren’t exactly well matched against those types of Pokémon at all.

In fact they’d planned to ignore the Stadium entirely this month like they had last month, keep their head down and focus on work and their own Pokémon instead of worrying what was going on with the rest of town. 

Be a good little librarian, behave and tend to their books and their patrons of knowledge and studying students and… 

Be completely and utterly boring for another month.

Mihal stopped themself, hidden from the few others in the local, public library they worked at between the shadowed shelves and let themself take a moment to breathe and drop their pleasant smile and soft, gentle demeanour. A hand rose to rub their face roughly, digging knuckles into their own skin with a heavy sigh.

Really, really boring.

How had they even gotten themself to this point? What had happened between their arrival in Ivywood and that morning to lead them where they were that they couldn’t even consider taking on a Gym Battle without it worrying someone they knew or not meeting the persona they’d built up for themself since their arrival. Did they really not have many Pokémon suited for battles?

They turned their thoughts to their own Pokémon team, considering each in turn before shaking their head, curling hair bouncing slightly with the movement. 

No, no they really didn’t, did they? They had their Togekiss and Ampharos yes, but neither of them could do much to Electric types, and beyond them Mihal had their Altaria who would not handle the type matchup well and their Torracat who was more of a pampered housecat than anything else.

Not exactly anything they could really-

“Chrrr?”

They jumped, startled by a nudge to their arm. Head snapping towards the motion and sound they felt their face soften.

It was just Venga, their Scolipede, coming to check on them.

‘I’m all good.’ They signed, forcing themself to take a step and smile for the bug type. It must have come looking for them when they didn’t return to the front counter by the time they should have. ‘Just thinking.’

The Scolipede stared at them for a long moment, antenna waving towards them, before he seemed to accept what Mihal had said and started back towards the front desk and Mihal’s waiting workload. 

They huffed a breath and followed, really, there was no need to rush them, they would have come back eventually, there was no need for Venga to-

… 

They blinked, pausing in their stride and staring at Venga.

Oh.

Oh that could work.

Venga had been traded to them as he was, fully grown and all, they hadn’t actually used him in battle before so of course they hadn’t thought of the bug type at first,  but Mihal thought they could do something with the giant bug, it’d only take a little bit of research before they made the trip to the Battle Stadium.

Yes, this could work.

For an attempt if nothing else, better than nothing.

They lengthen their stride to catch up with Venga, mind abuzz with thoughts, strategies and ideas. They had so much to look into.

After a few days of preparation and ensuring that the Scolipede would in fact listen to them during a battle with the Gym Leader, Mihal had their conversation cue cards ready and they set off for the Battle Stadium with their head held high and a confident hold to their shoulders.

“Are you quite sure this is something you wish to pursue?”

They also had their partner Orrin with them, they’d been discussing their plan to challenge the current Gym Leader with him and Orrin had been a tad worried about it.

In that the man had started hovering and near prancing around them nervously whenever they were focusing on preparing for the battle. 

They weren’t upset at him, not really, a bit bewildered by the attitude at times and amused to the point of gently shooing their partner away. They didn’t blame Orrin his worry, he wasn’t used to engaging in Pokémon battles in any sense of the word, his own Pokémon being primarily pets and help at his family farm, the idea of actively engaging in them willingly was always going to be strange for him.

‘Yeah,’ they signed back, brushing aside the comment with ease. ‘Not being the first time I’ve done this.’ They had in fact earned badges from previous Gym Leaders, Orrin had seen them with his own two eyes this wasn’t anything new. ‘It’ll be all kinds a fine.’

“Yes, but those were battles with Pokémon you have known for years, not a traded one, what if he does not listen to you at all and it turns into a-“

Mihal stopped in their tracks, forcing Orrin to halt with them, the man’s mouth snapping shut simultaneously.

“Orrin,” their voice was rough, cracking with disuse and they watched him shrink into himself before their eyes. “Venga and I will be fine. Ya stay out here I’ll be out soon ‘nough.”

Orrin cast his gaze away from them, swallowing roughly. “I will… see you afterwards.”

Mihal huffed a soft breath, reached out to gently touch his arm, then nodded, turning into the Battle Stadium.

Once inside the building they released their Scolipede from his pokeball, the giant bug type stretching himself out with a low, content chittering chirp.

There were a few other trainers around the stadium’s atrium, each one preparing for their own fight with the Gym Leader. Mihal paid them little mind, making their way towards the information desk with Venga following closely on their heels.

Booking in for their appointment was an easy matter, then it was just time to wait in the atrium with their Scolipede until it was their turn to battle, watching those around them come and go with their victories and losses held on their sleeves.

After a few minutes of watching potential hopefuls go into and then out of the arena Mihal started to regret making Orrin wait outside, the worrying may have been starting to border on silly but at least they would have had his presence there to focus on and ground them instead of sitting there alone.

As it was they passed their time by stroking along the top of their Scolipede’s head, the giant bug resting against them lazily, seemingly unconcerned with everything going on around him and Mihal’s growing nerves.

They… didn’t like feeling nervous.

There was no reason for them to, they were more than prepared, just…

Another trainer returned from the arena and they stiffened, Venga stirring under the sudden stillness of their hand, the bug Pokémon peering at them unhappily until he hear their names being called by the Stadium’s staff member.

“Mihal Periluc and Venga the Scolipede? The Gym Leader will see you now.”

Mihal sat frozen for a second but Venga had none of their reserves, the Scolipede lifting himself to his feet easily and scuttling forward, leaving Mihal to quickly follow in order to catch up with the bug type before he left them behind.

They had this, everything would be fine.

They would either win the battle or they would lose, nothing to be so nervous about.

Live in Ivywood was making them a bit too soft.