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Cress woke up looking much more stunning then Avan could ever hope. He sat up with a yawn, looked over at his wonderful wife, kissed her and went about getting ready.

And soon he was on his way to the gym. This was, of course, two hours before Avan's arrival. After all, he had to make sure the place was ready before they could open.

And soon it was just that and Cress was unlocking the doors when Avan knocked. He opened them and bowed.

"Welcome to the Striaton city gym, table for-

He lifted his head up and looked at Avan and smiled softly. "Ah, my guest. Please, come in," he stepped aside and gestured with his arm.

"That would depend on you," Cress said as he closed the door behind them. He then stepped passed Avan and headed toward the arena at the back of the gym. "So, from beginning to end, would you please tell me what happened last night?"

Cress listened to the entire thing and, finally, he said, "your Pokemon does not respect you."

It wasn't far from the truth. Kali was jealous, but one could argue that she acted out of line because she didn't respect Avan enough. If she did, she'd respect him enough to keep her calm. Instead, she'd instigated a battle that had badly hurt a person.

"Pokemon that do not obey us aren't our Pokemon to keep," Cress went on to explain, "with these types of Pokemon there exist a number of solutions."

He held up a hand, fingers curled. His index finger rose.

"One, you can release the Pokemon."

Middle finger rose.

"Two, you can try to earn their respect through building long lasting bonds of friendship. Or,"

Ring finger rose, showing off the gold ring.

"You can obtain a gym badge. I will advise that you take one of the three options I have listed before you leave Striaton. If it is as you said and this isn't the first time that Kali has behaved this way, then you must understand that if you cannot achieve one of these three goals you will only be putting more people at risk."

And eventually, someone will die. But Cress didn't say that last part, his expression said it for him.

"That depends entirely on the pokemon you choose to battle with."

"Don't be scared," he said as the grass type quivered, "You can do it!"

The foe's barking intensified as it rushed forwards timid Petilil. To her the opponent was monstrous, intimidating, with massive snarling fangs backed with incredible power. She didn't see a yapping little puppy, she saw Cerberus guarding the gates of hell.

Defense Mechanism: when Lillipup got in close for a Tackle attack, Petilil's leaves parted slightly and allowed her to release a cloud of Sleep Powder.

"No! Too soon!" Wayne yelled and Lillipup darted around the powder spray, colliding harshly with the little grass type and knocking her back several feet. Lillipup backed off as Petilil got up and shook herself off. It was like they were taking turns.

"You alright, Petilil?" Wayne asked and his grass type gave him a nod. The trainer let off a confident grin and set his eyes back on the opponent, "Okay, Synthesis."

Her leaves spread wide, Petilil began to absorb sunlight energy. Circulating it around her body, she used it to regenerate and heal the damage Lillipup had inflicted.

"Just stay calm," Wayne said reassuringly, as Lillipup bounded to its target, "Let it come to you. Deep breaths."

Hitmonlee not listening to him was too much of an issue right now. Wayne had once heard that disobedient pokémon responded to trainers who'd proved themselves by defeating gym leaders. In Wayne's mind this meant that he'd have to defeat the Striaton Gym with a pokémon that wasn't Hitmonlee. Petilil fit the bill.

This time she remained calm. She had her trainer beside her, voicing tranquility. You couldn't afford to panic in a battle; nothing good ever came of it, or so he'd said. He'd told her this in spite of knowing how she was, how she was practically scared of her own shadow. That meant Wayne had faith in her, didn't it?

Lillipup got a face full of Sleep Powder and Petilil bobbed out of the way as its legs stopped working and the puppy pokémon flailed into a heap. Its rear stuck in the air for a second before it slumped to the ground, the pokémon snoring peacefully.

"Alright, you did it!" Wayne grinned and Petilil's face lit up. Her expression fell from happy to distraught when she spied Wayne running over to Lillipup and shaking it awake. What was he thinking?! That was a wild pokémon!

Lillipup look equally confused, though groggy, as it peered up at him with tired eyes. The trainer said happily, "Thanks for the battle, dude."

The puppy climbed to its feet, looked from trainer to pokémon, yapped and scurried off into the tall grass. Wayne stood up, scratching his head, "At least I think it was a dude. Huh. Never have seen a pokéwang before, come to think of it."

He grinned at Petilil, who was watching the grass carefully for any more wild pokémon. Wayne said, "You did really well. Just remember it won't be so easy in a gym match. They're bound to have some kind of counter prepared, so try not to get flustered." Petilil frowned, looking sort of downtrodden. Wayne put his hand to his forehead and said, "I don't mean it was pointless to learn! Come on, any new skills have to be good, right? We'll keep going until it becomes second nature, okay?"

Petilil nodded and Wayne grinned. A pokémon listening to him was a definite confidence boost. Maybe that was all he'd need to beat the gym. Confidence.

And strong pokémon.

“And the flip, Chen Zhen! The flip at the end was the best part!”

Salieri had passed out from the sheer beauty of the Striaton siblings, Chili and Cilan, after she had won her gym battle the night before. So this morning was the time for celebration. As she got dressed in her room in the pokemon center, Sal recounted the tale to all three of her pokemon. Chen Zhen nodded proudly at his accomplishments, sitting on her bed looking like he was failing to hide his pride.

“The Trio Badge is the first, so that makes seven more,” Sal noted as she finished buttoning her red sleeveless kung fu shirt, the bottom stopping before her midriff. The Battle Girl turned to face the mirror in order to do her hair.

Her Eevee, Salem, was curled up on the pillow in a catlike position of comfort and laziness. She opened one of her closed eyes halfway. [Seven more? This doesn’t look so hard,] she yawned before closing her eyes again.

Liuye Dao stood looking out the window, his back to the rest of the party in silence. Striaton City was beginning to bustle to life, and the streets were slowly becoming more crowded. The Pawniard tilted his head over to see Salieri, satisfied to know that she was done getting ready. Salieri was a morning person.

“Ready for action?” she asked her team with a bright smile as she stretched her arms up above her head. Liuye turned to face his master and nodded. Salem stretched her legs and then stood up on all fours.

“Vee~!” she exclaimed happily with a big smile. Chen Zhen stood up as well, giving Salieri a grin and a thumbs up.

And so the rookie team went downstairs. After Sal picked up some supplies at the pokemart, she and her pokemon exited the building and walked outside. The sun shone brightly. It was a beautiful day, only making the team peppier than they were before.

“We won’t be coming back here for a while, so we should take some of the day to explore,” she suggested, and she began to walk down the street. Chen Zhen looked over to Liuye as he followed Sal, resting his hands on the back of his head.

[Hey, I’m sure you’ll get to battle the next gym leader dude,] Chen Zhen told him with a grin. Liuye briefly looked over, then shrugged indifferently at the remark. Salem rose an eyebrow.

[You’re not much of a talker, are you Liuye?] she prodded. Once again, Liuye just shrugged his shoulders. [Why not?]
[I’ve never heard him talk before, ever,] Chen Zhen chimed in. [Some pokemon are just quiet. But that’s what makes Liuye so cool.] Liuye looked to Chen Zhen and nodded in response. The two of them had an understanding with each other that made Salem let out a catlike smile.

[Looks like you two have a budding bromance,] the Eevee playfully teased. Liuye looked down at the ground as he walked, a sweatdrop forming over the back of his head.

Chen Zhen looked over to Salem, and his cheeks turned a subtle shade pinker. Her smile was so cute. The new spring flowers on the sidewalk behind her seemed to bloom even more now. The Pansage tilted his head up at the sky with a heavy sigh. Okay, I beat Chili’s Pansear! If I can do that, then I can talk to her! Here it goes! Chen Zhen looked over across Liuye to Salem. [Sale-]

With an audible “OOF!”, the Pansage walked into Salieri’s leg, falling onto his back right after. Chen Zhen got up quickly, whistling as if nothing happened while checking to see why Sal had stopped.

The Battle Girl had her amber eyes trained on the sign above the school building in front of her. “Trainer Academy? I bet we could get some knowledge here. Let’s check it out.”

"Very well, then I would suggest you spend some time preparing. I will warn you that I am, of course, the strongest of the three gym leaders in Striaton," Cress said.