Sebastien & Iris
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Iris was stressed to say the least. She had stopped by Stow-on-Side as she had heard that ghost Pokemon liked to linger there and made plans to explore around the outskirts at night. She thought things were going well until she looked at her Pokeball belt and noticed one of the balls was empty. The one she marked for Baby.
Her heart fell into the pit of her stomach the moment she saw this as a million questions raced through her head. She knew Baby was fine, but what about the others? What about the other people and the Pokemon that lingered around? Sure she trained Baby to not be a nuisance, but could a Ghost truly lose that nature? No. So, she was forced to search for the roaming Dusclops within the town and hoped she wasn’t causing trouble. Iris could have asked the citizens for help, but something told her the only thing she would be getting was answers at best. Cute little Dusclops were scary, regardless if they have a little bow around their necks.
But at least that bow would help Iris differentiate Baby from any other Dusclops she might encounter…
She rounded the corner of the shopping district’s street, panting softly as she looked around wildly for her lost Pokemon. Iris had asked around and someone mentioned that she thought she saw something within the shadows heading down the road, towards the Minor gym. With a soft curse, Iris thanked the woman and rushed to where she was now.
In the distance, all too familiar ribbons floated ominously behind an even more familiar figure. The small bundle was wandering towards the doors of the gym, peering inside.
“Baby!” Iris called as she ran after the Pokemon. “Baby! Stop or you’re in big trouble!”
The Pokemon looked over at her trainer, snickered, and wandered within the gym.
“Baby!” Iris called again, this time as snappy as an angry mother.
She rushed to the door and entered the gym, recuperating from the running as she looked around the place, especially the shadows. Baby was obviously hiding from her, but where? Was she causing trouble too? Ugh… Baby was lucky Iris loved her…
There were plenty of shadows for Baby to hide in. The inside of the gym was dark and silent, with no league employees to greet her like there would normally be for challengers and the only light coming from the door behind her and a row of narrow windows high up on either side. With the minor league being out of season for the moment, the place was clearly not meant to be open to the public right now, which left lots of dark corners for a mischievous Dusclops to lurk in.
Advancing deeper into the gym in pursuit of her Pokémon, Iris was met with her first obstacle. A series of overhead lights suddenly burst to life, revealing a steep slope barring her path.
Iris could see her Pokemon atop the slope. She tried calling out to Baby again, but the Dusclops left to, if she had to guess, make her do the challenge. Iris sighed. She seriously didn’t have to do these gym challenges, did she?
After taking a moment to see if there was a way to get around it, Iris saw that the only way through this obstacle was to not cheat and do it as it was intended. Sebastien was obviously smart enough to think this through, but he didn’t have some sort of path for employees or maintenance?
The thought of having a word with him about it ran through her mind, but it was technically her fault that Baby managed to escape. This was his gym and he could do whatever he wanted with it. He shouldn’t have to make a clear path if he didn’t want to.
Iris sighed again, this time more aggressively. Seems she would have to do the challenges.
She started heading up, immediately regretting her choice of high heels. Since she was basically climbing a slope with just her toes, Iris’s calves were already starting to burn.
She made it halfway up the slope when suddenly she heard a noise. A mechanism activated, before the slope started whirring to life. Iris suddenly found herself moving backwards at a slow jogging pace, almost suddenly enough to make her fall. Iris tried moving faster to try and keep up. However, thanks to her choice of footwear and not expecting the slope to actually be a treadmill, Iris was dragged back down to where she started.
Though she wasn't going to give up so easily.
Iris removed her shoes and set them inside of her purse. Though she lost a few inches in height, she would at least have more balance and control in her movement.
She started moving up the slope again, this time faster and with more control. Now that her calves didn’t want to kill themselves, Iris was able to get up the slope more smoothly.
The platinum-haired woman paused for a breathing break; she imagined this would be a spot where the trainer would fight one of the gym employees. Iris then looked ahead, catching the slightest glimpse of Baby, which forced her to continue moving forward to the next obstacle. Her Pokémon retreated further into the gloom as she approached, until soon the only thing she could see of Baby was its single eye floating in the shadows for a moment before the Dusclops turned away from her and that too was gone. When the next set of lights activated Iris was confronted with the next challenge; no slope this time, but the way the texture of the ground under her feet changed let her know she was standing on another treadmill. Ahead of her were a series of waist high hurdles arranged at set intervals along the path, that she would need to go either over or under while also keeping up with the speed of the floor moving backwards beneath her.
Iris was so damn glad she wasn’t just a regular trainer trying to get through the gym. If these obstacles were anything to go by, she’d assume it was a fighting gym… Was that Sebastien’s theme? Iris couldn’t remember at the moment; the stress of retrieving her Pokemon was far greater than her questions.
She approached the next obstacle and took a second to look over her surroundings. The texture under her feet was grippy and a little rough, reminding her of the treadmill. Looking ahead there were the waist-high hurdles, which meant Iris was going to have to try and go under all of them.
Iris could try jumping, but there was a good chance of her twisting her ankle if that happened. Plus she wasn’t wearing a sports bra. She didn’t want to go through that feeling if she could help it.
“Baby! I’m gonna count from ten! If you’re not right next to me at one you will be in so much trouble! Ten…Nine…Eight…”
She waited patiently for Baby to return to her, counting down the numbers. A part of her wasn’t expecting her Dusclops to return to her, and when she reached one, she let out a long sigh.
Looks like she’d have to go through these stupid hurdles.
The things she did for ghosts.
The moment she stepped on the treadmill, she heard the mechanisms whirr to life and the hurdles started moving towards her. She took a deep breath and started running.
Iris ducked down when the first hurdle came close enough. She accidentally bumped her head and the treadmill knocked her back a few inches, but she was up again to try and make up for the lost ground.
This was the pattern that Iris would have to go through; run forward, duck down, lose a bit of progress, remake the progress and then some, duck down, rinse and repeat. This was worse than the slope, no doubt about it. Iris’s arms and legs were starting to burn more than usual after the exercises; most likely because she didn’t do any stretches beforehand. But, once she made it through, Iris had to double over and take in a couple of breaths.
Of all the gyms Baby had to go to, she chose the one with the most exercise…
Iris looked up again, hands on her knees and panting. She wanted to see what else was in store or if her Dusclops would have mercy.
She waited until she had managed to catch her breath, but Baby still had yet to appear or even to show another glimpse of itself. There was to be no mercy today it would seem. The next challenge that awaited Iris was the same as the first, but with a rather cruel twist to it; another slope, another treadmill, but rather than the path being clear of obstacles there were a number of hanging pillars, like the punching bags you would see in a regular gym dangling from the ceiling. Iris would need to climb another slope, this time while also pushing aside the bags or at least dodging around them.
No mercy indeed.
Iris let out an exasperated groan at the sight of the next challenge. Just what in the world was Sebastien thinking with this?! She could understand if he wanted to promote physical fitness, but just how many of his challengers would be physically fit enough to actually accomplish this? Iris considered herself fit thanks to all of the crap her Pokemon made her go through (like now for instance), and even then she was still struggling!
Still, she wouldn't get any closer to her beloved Pokemon if she just stood around and complained. So, with a deep breath, Iris pushed forward.
Just one more… right?
This was the last one, right?!
Aside from the fact that the platinum haired woman had been running this course without shoes, this challenge was not only tough but very annoying. The swinging bags came from nowhere (or at least it felt like they did), which made focusing on the slope itself near impossible.
Iris’s face felt hot, her arms, feet, and legs aching as she dashed through the course. She would either dodge or be bumped hard enough by one of the bags that she'd lose her balance and in turn lose a good amount of progress. Or one of the bags would get in her face, make her stop, and force her to lose a few precious inches. The most annoying part about all of this, if she had to choose one, was losing progress. Every time she did, it meant painstakingly making her way back to where she was only to make some distance, or get smacked again and be sent back down.
Sure she could have called for Golurk to try and fly over the course or something, but that ran the risk of it smashing through the building or setting the course on fire. There was also Cutie, her Gengar, but…
She'd rather not risk it. Baby was hard enough to catch on her own, much less risking both Pokemon teaming up against her.
In the end, Iris made it to the top. She felt sluggish, enough so that fell to her knees and nearly fell over to lie down. Iris knew if she did, she wouldn't want to get back up. And well, this was no place for a nap…
Her panting was rough and sweat dripped down her face. She struggled, but she stood back up again. Iris still had to catch her Baby.
“You know, there is a side entrance if you wanted to come visit. You didn’t have to go through the obstacle course.” Before she could continue her search, the man responsible for this torture chamber of a gym made an appearance. Sebastien was standing in a doorway that Iris hadn’t noticed before now, and as he stepped forward and the door closed behind him she saw why; there was no handle on this side and the door itself was flush with the wall so as to give the appearance of not being there at all. Wherever he had come from, Iris had some choice words she wanted to have with him about the design of his gym, but the bottle of chilled water he was holding out to her bought him a short reprieve.
For Sebastien’s part, he wasn’t sure why one of the other gym leaders was here, or why she was sweating all over his floor, but the least he could do was offer her some hospitality. “Although, I’m not sure why the treadmills are even running; I haven’t finished setting everything up yet.”
The sudden call from the side of the gym quickly grabbed her attention. The one responsible for all of this telling her she didn’t have to run the course. A door made to resemble the wall of the gym which was probably where the employees got around the course.
She sighed again. Well, on the bright side she at least got her exercise in for the day.
Iris took the bottle of water with a “thank you” and took a sip, the cold beverage immediately refreshing her mouth after everything she went through.
“I did not plan to run your course.” Iris began. “One of my Pokemon broke free and she decided I needed the exercise.”
She looked around for the single glowing red eye within the shadows, but it seemed Baby decided it was time for hide and seek.
Iris was certain Baby was still in the room, so for now, she decided to ignore her. Perhaps her Pokemon would hate not having attention and try to demand it from her. Or maybe she’d get jealous that Sebastien was taking up mom’s attention. Iris would have to wait and see.
“Speaking of your course. You are a Water gym, yes?” She asked him, waving her hand towards the obstacle course. “What is your plan here?”
Sebastien responded with a shrug. “No one told me the challenge needed to be specifically themed after the type of Pokémon I use and no one objected when I told them my idea. I just went with something that tests trainers for the traits I expect from them in the way I want to test them, more or less.” Not fitness, though you obviously needed a certain level of endurance to make it past all of those obstacles in the way Iris just had, but rather the perseverance to keep pushing forward and to keep trying in the face of constant setbacks.
“Besides, if it means I get fewer challengers than normal it just means I get more time to myself to train.” Crossing his arms over his chest, Sebastien looked towards the forest of punching bags and the still running treadmill. “Hmm, you might have a point though. Maybe I should put in a water slide or something though; for theming. What do you think?”
To be honest, Iris didn’t remember if it was a requirement. She thought all the gym leaders would naturally gravitate to the idea of centering their gyms around their team theme. That’s the way it’s always been, right?
Iris looked at him. “Normally, Pokemon trainers don’t have to train their bodies before going through a gym challenge. They’re usually puzzles, games, or little competitions between trainers and employees. Something any trainer can do so we don’t get an earful from the Chairman. I’m not saying you can’t have an obstacle course, I’m saying your gym is more painful than it should be.”
She hummed softly, doubting that Sebastien would change his mind regarding the layout. “But if you insist on keeping your course the way it is, you could dress it up a little. For instance,” Iris pointed to the punching bags swinging. “You could hang a large Tentacruel replica above that and make the punching bags look like its tentacles. Maybe some waterfalls, or painting everything in beach colors or an underwater theme.”
“Well…” Unfurling one of his arms, Sebastien pointed past the bags and down the treadmill to the flat ground beyond it. Iris had surmised that it was going to be where the gym trainers would wait for the challengers to arrive and she was correct. “If the challengers manage to beat the trainer there then the treadmill will slow down and make things easier, or they can skip the battle but have to deal with the climb. There’s also no rule against using your Pokémon to get past the obstacles, though I’m not going to spell that out for them; if they assume they’re supposed to do it themselves, that's on them.”
A harsh challenge, but not entirely unfair; at least, not as far as Sebastien was concerned. That level of perseverance, or failing that creativity, was the least he expected from people trying the right to take the real gym challenge the following season. “If it’s too difficult then I can always lower the speed and I guess I’ll put some thought into how I’m going to decorate this place. It’s still a work in progress.”
He definitely wouldn’t be going for a beach theme though; maybe an ocean depths theme, since he was pretty sure most of his Pokémon were the kind to prefer deeper waters.
“Which Pokémon did you lose anyway? I’ll help you look for it.”
Ah. So the treadmill would slow down the more trainers the challenger fought. She supposed that made sense, albeit a bit strange. Especially when you were allowed to use Pokemon to skip everything.
"I see you like to break traditions." She commented. "I'll certainly come back when it's finished. Though I wonder just how long it would take before a challenger figures out they can skip the obstacles."
At his question, she gave a sigh.
"My sweet little Baby. A Dusclops." She answered. "She has a pink bow around her… Baby broke out of her Pokeball and had me chase her all over town before this course. And it seems she still wants me to suffer."
Iris was exhausted, but she was not leaving this gym without her Pokemon. She would never dream to abandon her out of spite.
"If you could help me, I'd owe you one."
“Sure, let’s get started.” Whether he would be owed one or not, Sebastien didn’t exactly want to leave a rogue Ghost Pokémon running around his gym and free to mess with things, like activating all of the treadmills for his incomplete challenge. “I’m the only one here today, but this place isn’t too big so it shouldn’t take long.”
Leading the way deeper into the building, Sebastien turned on the rest of the lights and led Iris towards the end of the challenge. There were no more treadmills and no more obstacles, the rule of three seemed to be a thing most gym leaders went for, just another short walk leading to a staircase and an exit leading to the next part of the building.
“Let’s start with the main stadium.” Walking up the stairs, Sebastien opened the door to reveal a short tunnel leading to the main area of the gym where the challengers would battle him. It wasn’t dissimilar to how any of the Major League gyms were laid out, just smaller in scale; a smaller arena, fewer seats in the stands, but the same lack of a roof that would allow for the ones battling to Dynamax their Pokémon if need be. His gym wasn’t directly on the power spot like the city’s main gym was, but it was close enough to still work.
The open roof meant that it was brighter here than it had been in the other parts of the gym, even without turning on the floodlights, but as Sebastien looked around he still couldn’t see any signs of a wayward Pokémon. “I don’t see them. Any idea where they would go?”
Iris followed him to the staircase, which she hated immensely, and continued on to the main stadium. The stadium itself was, as she could see, smaller, but that didn’t make it any less grand. She was always a fan of the stadiums not having roofs; it made it all the easier for weather conditions to come into play, or to just look up and see the stars.
At his question, she hummed in thought. “Baby will usually find her way into secluded locations, so we best start from the outer area and work our way towards the middle.” Iris said. Unless Baby decided to somehow find her way out of the stadium, then they should be able to trap her here.
“I don’t mind what you have to do to catch her, I just ask that you don’t hurt her.”
“Hmm.” That was a problem. Despite what Sebastien had said about this place not being too big, he didn’t really want to spend too much time wandering the back halls of this place and searching every room. Particularly not if this Pokémon was actively trying to evade them; they would end up walking in circles and never find the thing. If they used their other Pokémon to search as well they might be able to corner the thing, but if that was possible then Iris likely would have done so already; besides, most of Sebastien’s Pokémon wouldn’t fit in most areas of this building. “Is there any way we could lure them out?”
Iris had to think about what could be used to lure out Baby. There was only one thing left, but she tried it before and it was maybe a 50/50 shot of it working. Maybe Sebastien would have better luck than her.
She reached into her bag and pulled out a baggy of berries full of an assortment of types and colors. It was what she would bring with her to treat any Pokemon she came across, and sometimes, even her own. Iris handed it over to him. “Try these. I trained my Pokemon using them, so she might be receptive to it. Keyword might.”
Sebastien accepted the bag of berries, shaking it once or twice to check the contents before shrugging. “Worth a shot I guess. Do you want to stay here while I check the back areas, in case they come out?” It seemed like a good idea to have one person stay in place so they weren’t both constantly being dodged; if he could flush this Dusclops out then Iris would be in position to catch them. Besides, Iris didn’t know her way around anyway.
“I’ll see if I can catch them, or at least spook them out for you.” With that he walked away, crossing the width of the arena floor and walking down the other tunnel that would serve as his own entrance when the challengers arrived. Passing through the door at the far end he found himself in the back corridors of the gym, a plain hallway with white painted walls, the door to his locker room in one direction and a series of doors leading to storage or maintenance areas in the other.
With a sigh he reached down to his belt and grabbed a Pokéball. In a flash a Pokémon appeared beside him, a tall, broad and imposing presence that belonged to his Golisopod; the Bug-like Pokémon looked around curiously, even eagerly, but once he realised there was battle to be had he deflated. “There’s a Dusclops loose in the gym, I need your help to find it.” The Pokémon perked up again at that and Sebastien raised a hand to signal it to keep itself in check. “Search the building, but don’t attack it if you find it. See if you can scare it towards the arena; its trainer is out there.”
The Golisopod nodded in confirmation and turned to walk away. Sebastien watched it go; he wasn’t at all concerned that it would do anything other than what he asked, but he still thought it was probably a good idea to find someone to battle soon so that he could give his Pokémon something to do. They were getting antsy and would be insufferable by the time the next season started.
Turning around himself he started the other direction, shaking the bag of berries in one hand and wondering how long this would take, if it worked at all.
Baby, meanwhile, seemed to be having a lot of fun messing with Iris and Sebastien. At least, Iris hoped she did, because she was in so much damn trouble. She might just have to leave her Baby in the box for a week for escaping…
Iris didn’t want to, but she had to punish Baby somehow for this.
As she searched, Baby seemed to have noticed the sounds of berries shaking in a bag as well as Iris’s calls. It was easy for her to get around them and the sounds they were making, however, she didn’t anticipate running into a giant Golisopod. Given the sheer size of it compared to her, and the fact being caught by it meant being caught by Iris, it started trying to run away.
Hearing the noise, Iris looked over to see her stubby little Dusclops trying to run from the much larger Pokemon. This would have been amusing if Baby hadn’t been testing her patience this whole time.
“Sebastien!” Iris called. “She’s heading your way!”
Hearing Iris call his name, Sebastien turned around in time to see the Ghost type running down the corridor towards him with his own, larger Pokémon slowly trailing after it. Between the Golisopod behind it, Iris in the arena and Sebastien in front, there was nowhere for the Dusclops to escape to other than past him. He swapped the bag of berries over to his bad hand and prepared to intercept, the Pokémon doing its best to try and juke past by swerving left and right as it approached; however, being fairly large itself and with the corridor being fairly narrow, it wasn’t too hard for Sebastien to reach out and snatch the Ghost out of the air by the grey growth trailing from the top of its head.
The Pokémon immediately began to struggle, waggling its arms and stubby legs as it tried to pull away from Sebastien. The Water gym leader responded by shoving the bag of berries into its hands as a distraction and hopefully a bribe. At the very least it bought him enough time to turn around and yell down the corridor towards the arena entrance. “I’ve got him!”
With a sigh, he began to drag the Dusclops with him, the Ghost-type letting itself be led as it tried to upend the entire contents of the bag into its own mouth. “Come on. Let’s get you back to your trainer.”
Iris could see Sebastien dragging her Pokemon, which caused multiple emotions to surface. With a big smile, she ran over to Sebastien and gave him a brief hug. It seemed the excitement of finally getting her Pokemon back had gotten to her, “Thank you!”
Her attention turned to her Pokemon. “Oh my sweet Baby, are you alright? Are you hurt?”
Seeing her Dusclops’ only danger was an upset stomach from downing so many berries at once, Iris pulled out the empty Pokeball. Her Pokemon fused into the red laser and was sucked right in without issue.
“You’re going in the box.” She told it before strapping it onto her belt again. With a sigh, she smiled and turned her attention this time to the Golisopod. “Thank you, darling. You were a great help~ How about a little reward for being so good?”
Iris pulled out another berry bag from her purse and handed one over to Sebastien’s Pokemon before giving it some petting. “Such a big and strong Pokemon~”
Though before she could get lost in her own little world, Iris snapped out of it. “Oh! That reminds me.” She looked at Sebastien. “I’d like to see your gym once you’re finished. Do you mind if I give you my number?”
Sebastien was caught off guard by the sudden hug and stood with his arms out to the sides awkwardly with the Dusclops still hanging from one hand until Iris let him go. His Golisopod caught up to them in the meantime, slowly lumbering up while Iris returned her Pokémon to its ball and being almost immediately accosted by the grateful trainer once she was done.
It accepted the bag of berries with some bemusement, trying to figure out how to extract the treats inside with his long claws and mostly ignoring the petting, before taking a page out of Baby’s book and just emptying the bag into its upturned mouth.
“Oh, yeah sure.” When Iris asked for his number, Sebastien pulled his phone out of his pocket, unlocked it and handed it over to her so that she could add herself to his contacts. “I probably should have gotten everyone’s number when we went out for drinks. I’ll give you a call when everything’s up and running; you can give it a proper test run.”
Iris took the phone and input her information into it. It took a little longer only because it was a different layout than she was used to, but she handed it back soon enough. Though the mention of running through his course again…
As painful as it was, Iris didn't hate the idea of running through it again but with proper shoes and clothing. It was an excellent workout, no doubt about it. Maybe the trainers would honor her with battles while she passed through.
"I'll be waiting, but next time I won't be in high heels."
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