Andrea was so preoccupied with the drawings, she hadn’t even noticed the rest of the kids in the waiting room. Not only were they significantly younger than her, but they were also rookie trainers by the looks of it. Had she procrastinated her Gym challenge so much that time had outrun her?

Dewford’s Gym leader soon arrived in all his non-blue-haired glory, giving her the name of the wall artist. He also asked about her Fuecoco’s whereabouts. “It’s his nap time right now, so he’s inside his ball.” The dragon-hooded girl explained.

As they made their way to the battle arena, Kimmy kept its eyes fixated on the Pokéballs around Navy’s waist, expecting one of his team members to come out any minute. Before that, however, the unshaven sheriff had some questions to ask.

“It all started when MATIAS SILPH said I was good at battling and I should think of challenging the Gyms. Then Callan Young told me I should try becoming a Gym leader… myself…” Her smile faltered, realizing that the way she put it, it sounded like she just did what other people told her with no agency of her own.

Did she even want this herself? Was that why her pace of collecting badges was so slow? Why was she only now thinking of these things?

“T-that’s the wrong answer, isn’t it?” Andrea nervously added, index finger scratching at her cheek.

Michael Navidson //1v1 augmented traditional

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The small glimpse of anger on the man’s face did not go unnoticed, but its meaning was starkly misunderstood. Thinking that he was mad at her for failing some kind of arbitrary test, Andrea shrunk back, quietly listening to Navy’s next words like a student being lectured by a stern teacher.

After Navy revised his earlier question into something with much wider application, the young PokéManiac sighed deeply. “I was in Meteno… and the first Dewford war. I’m not a ranger or an official Gym leader, so I wasn’t supposed to be there, but I’m done feeling sorry for that. I fought back then because it felt like the right thing to do.”

By that same logic, she hadn’t partaken in the second war over the resurfaced treasures of Route 105, because that was not her war to fight.

Something in her disposition changed, as she stared back at the older man with no fear in her eyes. She didn’t know what his line of questioning was leading up to, but she knew what her own convictions were.

“The truth is I’m still figuring out why, but if you’re gonna tell me I should grow stronger in order to fight against Rocket like some kind of soldier, then I don’t want this battle or your badge!”

Every dragon had its fangs, and Andrea had just shown hers.

Michael Navidson //1v1 augmented traditional

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Andrea relaxed her stance. It looked like this particular Gym leader wasn’t as gung-ho about eliminating Rocket as some of the League’s higher-ups. “No need to worry. Your secret’s safe with me!” The dragon fanatic reassured him.

As they made their way down to the actual battle arena, a Roaring Moon came out of nowhere and struck Kimmy with a surprise Throat Chop. Reeling back, the Silvally let out a hoarse cry, its vocal faculties damaged by the underhanded attack.

“We’re battling already?!” The eccentric trainer blurted out in shock. With her expertise of Dragon types, she knew how fast they could be. Evasive maneuvers were necessary in order to keep up with them. “Kimmy, use Double Team!”

At its trainer’s behest, the artificial chimera split itself into multiple illusory copies that were impossible to tell apart from the real deal, surrounding the prehistoric drake from every conceivable angle.

Michael Navidson //1v1 augmented traditional

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"Wait, don't tell me he's thinking of--" Earthquake? Yes, he was thinking of Earthquake. As the underground arena began to violently shake, the girl latched unto one of the protective railings. "Kimmy, catch!" She tossed a green disk into the air, which perfectly slotted itself into the artificial chimera's head. Nice throw, Andrea!

With the Grass Memory installed, the RKS System was activated, causing the Silvally's crest feathers and tail fin to change color. With its newfound typing, it was able to resist the Ground-type move and retain its footing.

"Now, Kimmy, use Tri Attack!" The young PokéManiac ordered. Smaug would find himself on the receiving end of a multi-elemental beam of Fire, Electric, and more importantly, Ice--the Dragon type's most well known weakness.

Michael Navidson //1v1 augmented traditional

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Well, that went better than expected. Andrea smiled at the Gym leader's compliment. "Thanks! I admit she was hard to train when I first found her, but now we're best friends!" Clearly it was the power of their friendship that made her Silvally nearly one-shot its opponent. The possibility that a Megalopolan-made weapon had a natural affinity against extradimensional threats didn't really occur to her.

The arrival of a second Paradox Pokémon turned their battle into a two-on-one, the physics-breaking effect of underground sunshine being more of an afterthought when compared to that never-before-seen, prehistoric pachyderm. "Let's take this one out before Smaug recovers! It looks like a Donphan, so it's probably weak to Grass moves!"

That was all her Silvally needed to hear. Bathed in a verdant aura that denoted its current typing, the blasphemous clone of Arceus fired its Multi-Attack at the Great Tusk.

Michael Navidson //1v1 augmented traditional

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Funny hat time! The plan to abuse the opponent's presumed Grass weakness backfired, Ballbreaker Terastallizing into an Ice type. One by one, the illusory clones created by Double Team dispersed, until the real Kimmy was struck for super effective damage.

Thankfully Kimmy was genderless, so no balls were broken today. She was still knocked backwards by the force of the attack, the Grass Memory falling off her head in the process.

"We can still turn this around, right Kimmy?" Andrea threw a Fire Memory next. The red disk slotted itself into the Silvally's head, causing its body to change color once again.

While Kimmy had taken a hefty amount of damage, that did not deter her from firing another Multi-Attack with a blazing aura at the ancient mastodon.

Michael Navidson //1v1 augmented traditional

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