Catching Your Love | KirBede

Turffield Stadium

"Hey Kiri!" Hop waved her over from the entrance to the stadium. "Look! I already got my Grass Badge! First try!" "Good job." "I reckon I'm just about the greatest when it comes to wrangling Wooloo... I've had plenty of practice at it, after all!" Hop smiled. "It's just some Wooloo, how hard can it be?" "Well, I'm sure you can win this one, too. After all, you are my rival! Good luck Kireina!" Hop ran off. "At least I can get a bit of silence." Kireina mumbled, pushing open the door.

"Hey there!" Someone dressed as a Pokeball stopped her. "Uh, hi?" "I'm the mascot of the Gym Challenge! Call me Ball Guy!" "Hi, Ball Guy." "I saw you at the opening ceremony, you look like a pretty good trainer. I feel like we're gonna be friends!" They smiled. "Uh..." "Here, as a sign of our friendship, have this friend ball!" They handed Kireina a green Pokeball. "If you catch a Pokemon with that, the friendship will automatically go up a lot!" "Thanks." "Good luck on the Gym Challenge!" She smiled, walking towards a member of the gym.

"Welcome, Gym Challenger! Allow me to help you through your registration. First things first- how about a quick refresher about the Gym Challenge. Your goal as a Gym Challenger is to complete each Gym mission, defeat every Gym Leader, and gather eight Gym Badges!" Kireina nodded. "So, would you like to attempt the Gym Mission?" "Yes." "If you would like to attempt the Gym mission, please change into your uniform." Kireina nodded, hurrying to the locker room, quickly changing, and came back out. "That's a nice number challenger!" "Thanks." "It's time for the Gym mission. Give it your best shot!" The gym member walked to the side, letting Kireina go into the stadium.

The smell of grass and Wooloo hit her like a truck. "Hello Challenger! The mission given by Turffield Pokemon Gym to chase our unruly Wooloo!" "Doesn't sound that hard." "Don't get too confident. You'll need to chase them to that blockade we've made over there. You'll have to do it four times." He cleared his throat. "Oh, by the way, you can call me Dan. I serve as a referee, and it's also my job to report the results of battles to the League HQ. Now, let the Gym mission begin!" A whistle sounded over the speakers. "Ok, just guide the Wooloo to the blockade. Shouldn't be that hard." Kireina walked forward, and the Wooloo rolled forward. "Ok. Easy enough." She easily guided them towards the blockade, and they broke it. On the other side, there was a Yamper running around. "Just avoid the Yamper." She reminded herself, guiding the Wooloo around it. A trainer stood in front of the blockade, but Kireina quickly beat him. The blockade broke as the battle ended, and Kireina ran through. A trainer stood towards the side, glancing around, and a Yamper ran around the area. With ease, she guided the Wooloo towards the blockade, avoiding the trainer and the Yamper. "One more, I think."

Kireina glanced up. Two Yampers and a Trainer remained. "Ok. I got this. I think." One of the Yampers noticed the Wooloo, and excitedly chased after them. "Arceus- fine. I can do this." About half of the Wooloo got across quickly, but the other half scattered. "Just get the Wooloo back together, it's not that hard." She reminded herself, jogging to the Wooloo. "Come on... to the blockade..." She mumbled, guiding them around the trainer. They broke the blockade, and rolled into pens.

"Congratulations on completing the Gym mission! Just go up the stairs to battle Milo!" With a small smile on her face, Kireina ran up the stairs and through the small door. A long hallway was on the other side, leading to the field. "Alright Kireina. Don't panic now, Bede's not here to help. Just walk on the field, and focus on the battle." She let out a breath, walking onto the field. Milo was already waiting in the center, and he smiled reassuringly as Kireina stood in front of him.

"My Gym's the first one people face, so we get a lot of challengers. That's why I try to keep the Gym mission challenging, but that didn't stop you from completing it, Kireina! Good job! Sure seems like you understand Pokemon real well. This'll be a fun battle, I can tell!" He turned around, and Kireina followed suit, turning back around after a few feet. Music flooded the gym as the battle began, and Milo threw out a Gossifleur. 'Ok Kireina, he only has two Pokemon, and you have type advantage. It should be a breeze.' Kireina tossed out Becheep, and the battle started.

Kireina quickly took out Gossifleur, and Milo tossed out an Eldegoss. "This battle's not over yet!" 'Just Dynamax, like you saw Leon do. One or two hits should take it out.' Kireina recalled Becheep, stopped momentarily to let Dynamax energy flow into it. The Pokeball grew, and Kireina tossed it over her shoulder. It was slightly odd to see such a small Pokemon grow to take up half of the stadium. "Come on then Eldegoss! It's Dynamax time!" Milo dynamaxed it. "Max Airstream!" Kireina called out. The move made Eldegoss flinched but it still stood. 'One more move should finish it off.' "Eldegoss, hit it with Max Overgrowth!" Kireina ran out of the way of the attack. It didn't do much. "Hit it one more time Becheep!" Eldegoss collapsed, and Milo recalled it. Becheep shrunk back to normal size, but a blinding white light came out of it. "What the-" Before Kireina could react, the light went away, and Becheep looked... different. "Aw, you evolved!" Kireina smiled.

"Congratulations Kireina!" Milo shook her hand. "That must have been a fulfilling Pokemon battle for you! As proof that you have defeated a Gym Leader, allow me to present to you with your very own Grass Badge!" He handed her a small golden badge. "You need to obtain all eight Gym Badges in order to complete the Gym Challenge. It should be easy for you." He let go, and Kireina walked back to the locker room, changing back into her regular clothes. She walked back into the lobby, happy that she'd won on her first try. The same gym member stopped her.

"Challenger Kireina! My most sincere congratulations on defeating Milo! Please accept this TM to commemorate your victory!" "Thank you!" "Here, you can have a replica of Milo's uniform too!" She handed Kireina a small bag containing a rather green uniform. "Kireina?" She turned around to see Milo standing behind her. "Some advice for you, Kireina. The Gym Challenge has a set order you'll need to follow. So that means your next stop should be in Hulbury to meet Nessa. Hulbury's just beyond Route 5. Or, since you've got the Grass Badge, you could go to the Wild Area. It is a bit tricky to catch Pokemon that are higher level than the Pokemon that are on your team, but they make powerful allies if you succeed! Now, go out there and have some fun!" Milo smiled as Kireina left the stadium.

Kireina pushed open the door to the Pokemon Center, letting Nurse Joy heal her Pokemon. "Here you go! Your team should be all better now. Have a good day!" Kireina left the Center. "Ok, so Hulbury's just past Route 5... shouldn't take that long to get there. I think I should go to the Wild Area first." She called a Taxi, choosing the Meetup Spot.

"Thank you!" Kireina waved to the taxi driver as she jumped out of the taxi. "Maybe I should set up camp..." She mumbled, walking to a secluded part of the Wild Area. She quickly set up the tent, letting her Pokemon out of the balls. "You all better behave yourselves." Kireina made a few curries and played with her Pokemon for a while. "Come here Sobble, you've got some dirt on you." Kireina picked Sobble, wiping its head. She attempted to put it down, but it cried until she picked it back up. "Aw, Sobble, it'll be alright!" She smiled as it curled up in her arms. Budew bumped against her left leg, and Zigzagoon tugged at her right. "I can't hold all of you!" She giggled. "I think the curry's ready." She lifted Sobble onto her shoulder, passing out curry to all of her Pokemon. "Zigzagoon, you're making a mess. Slow down." She smiled, petting it.

As her Pokemon finished eating, Kireina noticed that it was getting dark. "Time to go home. I'll start on the way to Hulbury tomorrow." She recalled her Pokemon, packed up the tent, and called a taxi to Postwick. The taxi dropped her off, and she pushed the door open. The house was silent as usual. Not even the Munchlax in the living room made a noise. She glanced at the door to the... extra bedroom. It was still shut and locked, the light turned off. Kireina sighed, quickly changing. Her phone went off with a message from Hop.
'Good job on the win at Turffield! Where are you?' She responded bluntly.
'Back home. Had a long day. See you tomorrow.'
She curled up in bed, quickly falling asleep.

[I'm sorry that this took a while to come out, life told me to go die again. But I did get a new cat, so that's pretty nice. I'll try to get back on track with updates! I hope you all enjoyed, and I'll see you soon -G 💘]