636 CH17 (631), Arriving In Lilycove City
It was currently 9:45 p.m., and we were about to dock at the Lilycove Harbor. The harbor had become visible nearly 15 minutes ago, and all of us were waiting for the ship to finally anchor at its assigned location. I was honestly considering simply taking things into my own hands since I had everything I needed with me. It was a simple matter of teleporting onto the pier.
Heck, I could easily jump the distance between the ship and the dock. Not to mention using my telekinesis to fly/levitate over. It was not as if I had to deal with customs upon disembarking the ship. The alliance probably already knew I was coming over since I had to "verify" my identity to book the ticket. Besides, the harbor's surveillance system/cameras along with the harbor staff were scanning/looking for any known/registered criminals. The cameras would quickly identify me and register my arrival, allowing me to leave the harbor swiftly and without any hassle.
I briefly considered whether an exit like that would be too high profile, before hearing that we would be able to disembark in 15 minutes, and considering the amount of people that would want to leave the ship at that moment, I made my choice there and then. Teleporting off the ship would not be attention-grabbing anyway, as long as I did so out of public sight. All I had to do before that was inform the crew and harbor staff about my plan to avoid any misunderstandings/troubles.
I wouldn't want to alert the Harbor Security by suddenly showing up on the security system/cameras after all, or worry the ship crew by suddenly vanishing for that matter. It was a matter of courtesy and I was nothing if not polite, so I went up to a crew member to inform them of my intent to disembark early.
"Excuse me," I addressed the ship personnel in front of me. "How can I help you, sir?" The man inquired politely. "I don't want to deal with the commotion that will happen during the disembarking, so I plan to get off the ship early by teleporting to the dock. I just need you to inform the harbor personnel to avoid any misunderstandings that my sudden appearance may cause," I elaborated, and the staff member gave me a nod to show he understood.
"Just a moment please," he requested before he pulled out a phone, presumably to communicate my intent to his superiors. I heard him share my plan with whomever he was speaking with. "They are reaching out to the harbor security," he informed me a minute later, and we both proceeded to wait for a reply from the other side. "Alright, thank you," I heard the man say before he hung up and put his phone away.
"My colleagues have informed the security of your intent and you were granted the permission to leave the ship via teleportation. They did however request you to teleport to a certain area," the man reported before asking me to follow him to a certain area of the deck facing the harbor. "You're free to teleport over there," he pointed to a place on the dock, and I thanked him for his help before passing him a 200 Poke bill. He put the bill away with a happy smile. "Have a nice evening," we practically said at the same time right before I teleported away.
I had done my research on the city since I was going to spend around three weeks in this area before moving on, so I knew a bit about the places of interest. Well, at least of interest to me. Chief among them was the Lilycove Gym. While the Lilycove City in canon had no Gym, this Lilycove City was home to one of the 12 Major Gyms of Hoenn. Interestingly enough, unlike what one would expect of Lilycove City due to either its location or name, the city's Gym did not specialize in either the water or grass type.
The water one made sense since Sootopolis City already had a Major Water Gym, and having a second major one of that type was a bit illogical, though now that I thought about it, I realized that it was actually not impossible since there were to my knowledge no rules against it. There were after all multiple Gyms and Minor Gyms that had the same specialization. It was just that there was no such repetition among any of the Major Gyms, at least as far as I knew.
Regardless, according to my "investigation", the Lilycove Gym used to be the grass type/based Major Gym in Hoenn. The reason that was no longer the case, was that the previous Gym Leader got challenged for the right of leading the Gym, and lost the challenge against the current Gym Leader. Funnily enough, only two years later, once it was possible, Sakiko, the previous Gym Leader, challenged the ground type/based Gym Leader of Littleroot City for his position, and recovered her status as a Major Gym Leader, even if it was in/of a different city.
Kelvin tried to repeat Sakiko's feat twice when certain Major Gym Leader positions had to be renewed because their terms were up, but he lost both challenges and hasn't made another attempt so far. Because of that, and because no further changes happened among the Major Gym Leaders, Hoenn currently no longer had a ground type/based Major Gym.
Anyway, due to Sakiko's loss against Stephanie Stone, who was none other than Steven Stone's older sister, the Lilycove Gym became a steel type/based one, and according to rumors I read on the net Stephanie's Pokemon were what inspired Steven to become a steel expert/specialist as well. I was honestly not surprised by those "rumors" at all when I came across them since I had seen her Pokemon during my research on the city/Gym, and I had to admit that Stephanie had some quite impressive Pokemon.
I obviously researched her team(s) since I was planning to go for a 3-star Badge, and I was shocked when I saw the lineup of her main/strongest team. Apparently, Stephanie Stone was as talented a trainer as her brother, or rather her brother was as talented as his sister. Either way, she was someone who was close to attaining the title of a Master. Stephanie's main team was entirely at the platinum stage, and she was only one Pokemon short of reaching the 4 mid and 1 high stage 6 Pokemon requirement set for Master-Class Trainers.
I had no doubt that my team would have no chance against that lineup even if they were exemplary Pokemon that could hit above their weight class. A (high) platinum-stage Metagross-led team was simply too much especially since the other 5 Pokemon belonged to top species as well. Even her Corviknight was no exception to that, unlike its fellow species members who fell a bit short because it was a Shiny.
Nonetheless, Stephanie was obviously aware that one could/should not expect people to be able or ready to face her main team for a 3-star Badge, even if it was an 8 Badge Challenge, so she had a separate 3-star 8 badge team that challengers would face if they wanted to attempt the challenge. This team usually consisted of 6 (high) dark gold stage Pokemon, namely Steelix, Lucario, Skarmory, Bronzong, Bisharp, and Escavalier. However, on occasion, if she felt that it was necessary or justified, Stephanie switched out the Skarmory and/or Escavalier with her (low) platinum-stage Corviknight and/or Scizor.
Unlike many other Gyms, Stephanie did not have separate 3-star challenges for the Senior and Grand Circuits, and due to this, those who challenged her 3-star team were usually limited to Grand League participants for obvious reasons. Naturally, I was looking forward to facing her 3-star team, and I would obviously be requesting to face her 8-badge team even if it was my first gym challenge.
To that end, I ignored the famous Sailor's Club and Harbor Market I read about and left the Lilycove Habor in favor of heading straight to the Lilycove Gym to register my challenge. While the Gym was not fully operational at this hour, I knew that the reception was open until midnight for various reasons. I had no real problem finding the Gym thanks to memorizing the city's map and I had to say that the Gym building looked less quirky than I expected. In fact, except for the visible steel pillars the building looked like a standard Gym, just bigger.
Anyway, I made my inside and headed straight for the reception to register for my battle. "Good evening," I greeted the lady behind the reception desk. "I'd like to register for a Gym Challenge," I declared. "Certainly," she returned with a polite smile. "I require your Trainer Card for the registration," the reception lady informed me. "Which Circuit are you registering for?" she asked while accepting my Trainer Card.
"The Senior League Circuit," I told her, and she nodded before I saw her raise an eyebrow when she took a look at my card. "Are you positive that you want to register for a Senior Circuit challenge and not a Junior one," she proceeded to ask politely. I inferred that she saw my age, so I understood why she saw the need to make sure there were no misunderstandings.
"Yes, I'm sure," I replied with a nod. "If you look up my trainer profile in the system, I'm sure you'll see that the alliance saw the need to bump me up to the Senior League due to deeming me too advanced for the Junior League," I clarified and she proceeded to do just that.
"Alright, that checks out," she said a moment later, and I had to wonder for a moment if I would have to do that in each Gym. "For which challenge shall I sign you up? Is it the 1-star one Badge Challenge?" She inquired and I shook my head. "I want to sign up for the 3-star eight Badge Challenge," I corrected her, earning myself an incredulous look. "Excuse me, did you just say that you want to register for the 3-star eight Badge Challenge?" she questioned doubtfully and I confirmed my earlier statement with a "Yes, I do".
"I'm sorry to say this but I will have to be a bit blunt. The system shows that this is your first circuit, and while you unquestionably have the permission of the alliance to start with the Senior Circuit, I can see that this is your first Gym challenge. I don't know if you have looked it up on the net or not, but our 3-star eight Badge Challenge is usually the target of trainers participating in the Grand League Circuit, as such, its difficulty is correspondingly high, so even if you insist on attempting a 3-star challenge, I would recommend that you sign up for the one badge challenge first," which was her politely saying that she did not think that I was up for the eight badge challenge and that I should not bite off more than I could chew.
"I have looked into the challenge before I decided to register for it, so I'm sure the 3-star eight Badge Challenge is what I want to sign up for," I clarified and insisted, which earned me another doubtful look. "Well, if you insist, then I'll need to see some proof of competence to ensure that you are truly capable of attempting the challenge and not simply wasting the time of our Gym Trainers," she returned, though she hesitated a bit before saying the last bit.
"I don't mind," I acceded to her demand. "What exactly does this proof of competence entail?" I followed up. "Demonstrating that you have at least three stage 5 Pokemon in your team is enough," she declared and I nodded in understanding. "no problem. I can do that," I assured her before calling out Mothra/Butterfree, Horus/Xatu, and Stan/Gyarados.
All three displayed their (high) dark gold stage might upon my request, and the receptionist's eyes, which had widened in surprise at my Pokemon, widened even further when she felt the strength they were displaying. "Alright, that's enough," she said with a smile. "You can return them," she said before turning to her computer display. She typed some stuff before looking up at me.
"Gym Leader Stephanie has a free spot the week after the next on Giratiday at 3 p.m. if you are okay with that," she asked and I accepted. Following that she registered me for the spot, and I left the Gym after thanking her and wishing her a good night. While the process ended up not being as straightforward as I would have liked it to be, that was more due to my circumstances rather than any fault of the Gym staff. Either way, my first Gym challenge was finally set.
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