It was a dome. A large white building, barren on the outside, save for the words “Cascadia City Gym” in large sappire lettering and the gym’s insignia: a silk-woven egg. The large double door entrance was flung wide open, revealing the bountiful interior.

A veritable forest, dozens of trees taking root and reaching towards the top of the four story dome. Trainers from children to adults were going about their business; feeding or grooming their pokemon, practicing their tactics or teaching moves, even battling. The center of the room was barren; tightly packed earth with white lines plastered over it in the shape of an official league battlefield. Sitting criss-cross on the side of the field farthest from the door was none other than the gym leader himself.

He was a young adult, aged 24. His hair was red and combed into a curved flourish that one might call a stylish cow-lick. his eyes were blue and his face plain and unblemished. he wore a red short-sleeve shirt and blue jeans. He was currently breathing deeply, his eyes idly wandering from one person or pokemon to another. But what was this? A new figure had appeared in the doorway.

It was a big day for him. After all, it wasn't every day you challenged your first pokemon gym. Let alone a gym that specialized in a type his favorite pokemon were horrible against. Dae was, obviously, full of excitement and energy! Ever since he had embarked on his journey, it had been a symphony of obstacles. All the while, he had kept to only two pokemon, the two he had started with. They were both weak to bug types, but since Cascadia City was the nearest town to where he grew up, it seemed like a good place to start.

The newbie trainer was rather informed of the gym leaders of the region. He was, if you will, a pokemon nerd. Though he didn't look like one. Far from it. Dae's eyes were a bright golden color, while his hair was a rich, dark black. He was wearing a navy blue fedora-esque hat with a long checkered ribbon that drifted far below the rim and flowed out behind him, like a scarf. Dae's full name bothered him, so he kept to his nickname. He had a light tan and a slim teenage figure. The pokemon trainer was fifteen, and wasn't too tall at five foot nine.

He wore a black buttoned shirt and snug cargo pants with boots. Dae had a broad smile and his hair was a little spiky. The gym was very interesting, to say the least. The boy's eager gaze traveled to the far side of the field, where the gym leader sat rather laxly. He had a single strapped bag around his shoulder, where he had his essentials- a town map, some potions, and a jacket. A dark face popped out of the bag, startling the trainer. "Hey, get back in there, Rogue!" He scolded the sneasel. Though he was rather close with the pokemon, but at the same time, their relationship was more lenient and casual. Noticing that the trainers most likely weren't going to get in his way, the new trainer began to run toward the gym leader. However, realizing he looked TOO eager, he slowed down to a normal walk, until he was right in front of the gym leader.

Dae smiled excitedly. Though Rogue didn't listen to him all the time, he trusted the feline pokemon. From what he had seen on the web, this bug-type leader was pretty strong. But leaders didn't go full throttle on newbie trainers, did they? The trainer realized the young gym leader was pretty handsome. It wasn't a mystery why he was so popular! He was pretty much a celebrity! Oh, this was exciting. "I want to challenge this gym!" Dae sang, not caring that he sounded a little strange.

Seeing the challenger, a trio of pokemon that were flitting through the trees descended. A Shedinja, Misdreavous and Venomoth took a hovering position beside the gym leader Garriot, the Venomoth's wings flapping so quickly they were kicking up a considerable amount of dust. All three pokemon had a determined look in their eyes, the kind that never yielded even after a thousand battles.

Garriot slowly uncrossed his legs, then rose. he brushed the collected dust off his pants and gave an earnest smile.

"Welcome, challenger. Let's have a good battle."

Following the boy challenger's proclamation for battle, the training and chatter around the gym ceased, as was protocol. An old man with long white hair approached the side of the battlefield, ready to officiate.

Garriot looked over his opponent. He liked the boy's fashion sense. Furthermore, it seemed that he was one who let a pokemon of his stay outside of its pokeball. This made Garriot's smile widen. They were of one mind in that regard,. Apart from for resting, he could hardly remember the last time he'd kept his pokemon in their balls.

The boy seemed excited. Garriot himself wasn't very excitable, but he appreciated the enthusiasm. He was probably an upstart, just starting out and not yet used to disappointment. Garriot was far too used to that feeling himself. He'd hate to give the boy his first taste of defeat, but it was unavoidable. Garriot himself didn't mind going easy on his opponents, but his Venomoth would never let him hear the end of it.

"Now then, let's have a 2 on 2 battle. For the first round, I choose my Venomoth." The bug pokemon moved to the inside of the field. "choose your first pokemon, then we will begin.

The boy's snesel perked his ears up as a venomoth, shedninja, and misdreavous flew down from somwhere they couldn't see. Dae could hear heavenly music playing as they descended. As Garriot, the leader, welcomed him to the gym, the boy's smile widened. the enemy venomoth really looked quite powerful, but Dae was going to give everything he had and then some. As the redhead gym leader declared he would use venomoth for the two on two battle, the challenger's eyes lit up.

"Alright," He began. On cue, Rogue flipped out of his bag nimbly and landed on the dirt floor with a soft sound. "For the first round, I shall use sneasel!" Rogue crossed his arms defiantly at the gym leader and venomoth, which embarrassed his trainer.

"By the way, my name is..." He froze. Should he introduce himself with his real name or with Dae? "Daebreak."

He twirled a few fingers in the scarf-like ribbon coming off his hat, twirling it like cotton candy. "I hope we have a really good battle." He smiled excitedly to the gym leader. Though Dae was a new trainer, he had his share of disappointments and losses. Having your older brother be a member of the elite four wasn't easy. Ir angered him that no matter what he did, it would just be 'because Nova is your brother.'

But apart from the fire and color of his eyes, Dae looked nothing like his older brother. This was his time. His journey. And, if he played his cards right, this would be his first gym badge. "I'm ready when you are, Garriot!' The Cascadia city gym leader was rather well-known.

The referee raised a flag, and before tension could mount in the air he waved it downward. "Begin!" he said.

In a blur of speed Venomoth shot two stories into the air. Many of Garriot's matches ended without his opponent even getting close to his Pokémon. This was twice-likely for this new trainer, since his pokemon were outmatched in every way.

"Combo 2," Garriot said. In response Venomoth flapped its wings ever faster, and in a few seconds had conjured a thick cloud of sleep powder beneath it. But instead of just leaving it at that, it spun while using a gust attack, sending the sleep powder descending in all directions over the entire arena. How would this challenger avoid this?

As soon as the referee lowered the flag, Dae's golden gaze had a new spark of determination. Before he could even start, the new trainer caught a blur of lavender traveling up at a frightening rate. As soon as the gym leader spoke those two words, the trainer yanked his buttoned sleeves up to his elbows, causing a single button to pop off. But he didn't seem to care. The venomoth was very high above them, and as he caught sight of its rapid wing beats, Dae clenched his left hand into a fist. That was sleep powder! He wasn't standing in range of the attack since he was at the edge of the battlefield, but Rogue would be caught dead in it! Would be, if Dae didn't do something about it!

"C'mon, Rogue, let's dance!" He spoke loudly, just short of yelling. There was a hint of urgency in his voice, though it was hidden well. The bipedal dark and ice type smirked in response. There were many good things about having a brother who was so clever, and so very eager to help him out. Arguably, though, the best part was it gave Dae the push he needed to make his own strategies. Though he wasn't competition for Nova, he would be. If he worked hard enough. "Swords dance!" He roared. Rogue began to move like he was in some kind of strange ritual to lift his spirits. The cloud of sleep-inducing powder soon descended on the sneasel, who was unable to resist. The little pokemon fell down abruptly in a heap.

However, Dae didn't seem panicked in the slightest. He rested a hand on the narrow brim of his fedora, then trailed it down the ribbon. He loved the clean feeling. "Now..." He said in a low voice. "Sleep talk!!" Suddenly, Rogue lazily stood up. Suddenly, in a flash, the little pokemon sprang up in a flash, and quickly launched an unavoidable strike so fast not even the air could part in time. It appeared Rogue used aerial ace. Just as soon as it happened, it was over. Rogue was back on the dirt floor, eyes still closed. He was standing, but was swaying a little. Dae scanned the battlefield, looking for the venomoth. He soon smiled, teeth shining when he realized that maybe he would have a fighting chance!

Garriot's eyes narrowed when his opponent called for a Swords Dance. Under most circumstances that was an excellent starting move, but now? It was true that the sleep powder had a few seconds until it reached the Sneazel, but what good would extra power do if the pokemon was asleep? It seemed like the mistake of a rookie who had had success with this tactic in the past without thinking of its weaknesses. Unless...did he intend to boost his strength enough to launch a counter to the sleep powder? Garriot's mind cycled through the moves that might neutralize his Venomoth's attack. Sneazel was rather poorly equipped in this regard...maybe if it knew Icy Wind it could cut through the cloud? But that wasn't a physical attack, the Swords Dance wouldn't help that...

The sleep powder descended unimpeded, and the Sneazel staggered for a bit before submitting to slumber's sweet embrace. Well, it seems that was the extent of the strangely named challenger's power-hm? He wasn't upset by this development? But Sneazel didn't have resistance to sleep powder, in a few seconds it would be called as unable to battle by the referee...

"Sleep Talk!" So that was the challenger's aim. Sleep Talk was indeed a useful move, but Garriot didn't think that most rookies went out of their way to teach their pokemon such mundane TMs. Did this boy have a teacher?

As soon as Sneazel rose from its sleeping position, Venomoth started darting through the air unpredictably. Best not to make itself an easy target. However, in a nearly instantaneous show of speed Sneazel shot through the air and landed a solid hit on Venomoth, making it swerve upward before regaining control of its motion. Another TM? This boy's preparation far exceeded that of most rookies.

It was no matter. Now that Sneazel was reduced to sleep talking, its trainer could only rely on luck to deflect Venomoth's attacks. And even if luck was on their side, they'd already shown that there was at least one type of attack they were incapable of blocking.

"Combo one." Venomoth rapidly flapped its wings, this time generating a large cloud of stun soires. Next it would use gust to spread it all over the field...

There was, in fact, a severe downside to having Rogue asleep. However, Dae wasn't just going to stop trying. Giving up was for losers! The trainer let out a huff, as he realized that the odds were stacked against him.

As the trainer realized that the venomoth was using stun spore, his eyes widened slightly. Rogue was already asleep! Having him paralyzed would be all bad news. At least for him, anyways. "Alright, Rogue, use Sleep Talk!" They didn't have much time, so he needed to act quickly. Maybe if Rogue could fire off a few more aerial aces, they'd be alright. Rogue didn't know many moves anyways, so there was a chance that aerial ace would be executed. As he waited in anticipation, Dae felt his breathing rate slow until it was past nonexistent. Rogue moved a single arm up...

...and began a fast-paced dance! It appeared that Rogue's unconscious had urged it to use swords dance. Dae gritted his teeth, but showed no true signs of anger or anxiety. He was powerless to stop the cloud of golden powder from falling onto Rogue, further crippling him. "Okay! Now, sleep talk, once more!!" As Rogue seemed to sway a little, Dae took the opportunity to open his bag and go through it. Wasn't there anything he could do to help...? There wasn't any rules against doing something like this, it was just a little strange. "C'mon! I have to have a whistle in here or something..." He murmured to himself as Rogue began kicking frozen chunks at the venomoth. It had used Ice Shard.

Meanwhile, outside the gym, there were a small party of shady looking figures. They were wearing outfits reminiscent of Kalos carnival culture. "Hm... are you sure that this is such a good idea?" A female voice asked nervously.

"Of course!" A male declared. "Pokemon gyms have all kinds of rare pokemon, and did you see that weird kid walk in? That means he's keeping the leader busy!" There was a small chorus of agreement.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to face Garriot..."