My Little Pokemon Silver Spoon Version

After a good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast Weiss, annoyingly, teleported me and herself directly in front of the Lavender town gym. Once again colors blurred, sounds became garbled, and my entire body twitched as we settled someplace new. Weiss’s teleport was characterized by a sudden chill like someone splashed me with ice cold water.

“Did you have to do that?” I shot at her, shivering in place.

“Yes.” Weiss entered the gym without looking back to answer me.

Looking up revealed a cathedral-like gym that was seemingly built into the side of a mountain.

With a sigh, I followed Weiss into the gym and entered a modern lobby. There was a carpet that led from the entrance to a set of doors directly across from the entrance, guarded by a person in a referee uniform. The doors and referee were in between a pair of shops and there was a scattering of sofas and chairs around the room. Despite it being early morning, there were a few people loitering around and Weiss was talking to one of them…who was wearing an oversized anthropomorphic pokeball mask, as if he were a mascot of somesort.

Weiss looked towards me and pointed me out to the mascot, who then walked towards me.

"Hey there! Your friend says it’s your first time challenging the Lavender gym, is that true?” At my nod he continued talking. “In celebration of your first attempt for the Phantom badge, I’ve got the perfect pokeball for you.” He held out his hand to showcase a dark green pokeball with light green spots. “As it turns out, the Lavender gym is built into a system of caves. The Dusk ball is the absolute best for catching pokemon at night and in caves. Pokeballs are just full of surprises, don't you think?"

I thanked him as he gently dropped the Dusk ball onto my hand.

"In case you were wondering, I'm not just any old Pokeball! But then who am I, you ask? Well, the answer is simple. They call me the Ball Guy! I'll be rolling around gyms here and there, so if you see me, don't be shy! Come up and say hi!" Ball Guy then walked back to his original position as Weiss walked back towards me.

“Is he supposed to be a mascot or something?” I couldn’t help but ask Weiss as we walked past him and towards the referee.

“He’s the unofficial mascot of the Galar Pokemon League. The sponsor wanted a look-alike to be at Lilith’s gym and anymore that he sponsored.” Weiss stated.

“So Discord didn’t make him up?” I was surprised. Ball Guy looked like something Discord would cook up.

“No.” Weiss shook her head and we were now standing before the referee.

“If you’re here to challenge the Lavender gym you must have a uniform with your preferred number on the back for any official match.” The referee gestured to the shop on her right. “You can purchase uniforms and have them customized here. Then you must be registered and complete the gym challenge, only then can you battle Gym leader Lilith.”

“Uniform? Gym challenge?” I looked towards Weiss as we went to the uniform shop. This gym seemed a bit more structured than I thought given who was pulling the strings here.

Weiss simply shrugged as I bought a uniform and had it numbered one twelve. And can I say that these uniforms were expensive? I could have bought ninety pokeballs for one uniform.

I was then pointed in the direction of a locker room and in quick succession I was dressed in my new uniform complete with belt bag, registered for the gym challenge and led through the doors into a creepy cave that was refurbished as a mansion. Exposed wood framed the purple walls and tapestries, patches of missing wall frames revealing the rock underneath. Despite being built into the side of a mountain the foyer was huge with stairs leading to a balcony, although the foyer maybe wasn’t as large since the room was mostly empty.

Hidden speakers suddenly sparked to life.

“The gym mission for the ghost gym is this! Battle and catch pokemon to earn the most points! Earn five points to clear the gym mission! You’ll earn one point for defeating a pokemon and two for catching a pokemon. You’ll have twenty minutes to earn the five points necessary to complete the challenge and battle Lilith. If you do not earn five points in the allotted amount of time or all of your pokemon have fainted, then you will have failed the challenge and will be escorted back to the lobby. You can challenge the gym the next day if you fail the challenge or lose to gym leader Lilith. Let the challenge begin!”

Ding! Ding!

With that I quickly brought out Bulbasaur and a flashlight. We went deeper into the cave/mansion to search for ghost pokemon.

An unexplainable chill ran down my spine and I heard a young girl giggling behind me. Spinning around revealed a still empty room. More giggling and footsteps, this time coming from the door opposite of the entrance had me turning around…

“Gastly!”

And jumpscared by a Gastly.

“Bulba!” Bulbasaur, who did not appreciate the jumpscare, let loose a barrage of Razor Leafs at Gastly.

“Gastly!” Unprepared for the barrage, Gastly took the attack head on before dropping to the floor in a faint.

Ding! Ding!

“Challenger Sarah claims one point!”

“Huh, that was easy.” I couldn’t help but say out loud. After Maiden’s Peak and the Pokemon Tower, I was expecting all ghost pokemon to be powerful. I guess the Gastly at Maiden’s Peak was the exception rather than the rule.

The room was silent after that and we opened the door which led into a hallway lined with doors. With no other leads I began opening the doors. The first door revealed a room with a pedestal in the center that housed a red haired porcelain doll in a glass case. I took a moment to examine the room when the doll opened her eyes. Just as she was opening her mouth I slammed the door shut.

“Nope.”

The next door revealed a room filled with inky humanoid creatures. As I stood still in the hallway all of the blobs turned their heads towards me, revealing glowing yellow eyes. I quickly closed the door and as an afterthought I pushed a nearby table in front of the door, knocking over an inkwell on the table in the process.

The third door revealed a large checkered dining room that was out of place in the mansion/cave setting. What immediately grabbed my attention was the stage at the other end of the dining room. On the stage was a red humanoid fox wearing an eye patch and a metal hook for its right ‘hand'. With patches of fur missing, exposing bits of metal, it was obvious that whatever it was it wasn’t alive, and yet it was moving in place and singing.

“You can be a pirate. But first you have to lose an eye and an arm.” It sang repeatedly, each reiteration becoming more and more unhinged until it stopped singing and moving.

With a twitch of its head the fox suddenly looked in my direction, as if it were staring straight at me.

“Lose an eye and an arm.”

Slam!

“What is wrong with the gym leader here!?” I yelled out, leaning back against the newly closed door.

Suddenly a purple gas rose from the cracks in the wooden floor. The gas rosed into the air above me before coalescing into a familiar form.

“Haunter!”

Before I could do anything the Haunter opened up its mouth and sang loudly, releasing black waves of energy in the process that passed over me and Bulbasaur.

“Bulbasaur!” Turning to Bulbasaur, I was worried when I saw a crimson static appear over him that seemed to be hurting him. “Use Leech Seed!”

“Bulba!” Glaring at Haunter, Bulbasaur launched Leech Seed at Haunter, whose eyes were closed as it was fully engrossed in its song.

“Haunt?” Opening its eyes, Haunter saw that its gaseous body was wrapped up in vines that were sapping its strength. “Haunter.” Glaring at Bulbasaur, Haunter threw out a punch at Bulbasaur, its clawed hand being surrounded with a dark purple misty energy.

“Bullet Seed!” Despite being launched across the hallway from Haunter’s attack and in pain from the crimson static, Bulbasaur stood up and launched a hail of Bullet Seeds at Haunter.

“Haunt.” Haunter quickly countered with Protect, decidedly unimpressed with Bulbasaur’s Bullet Seed. Unconcerned with Leech Seed sapping its strength, Haunter emitted a sinister red glow from its eyes.

“Bulb!” The Bullet Seed in Bulbasaur’s throat suddenly loses cohesion and just explodes out of his mouth as the red glow ensnares Bulbasaur’s mind.

“Bulbasaur!” Whatever that crimson static was, it was taking its toll on Bulbasaur despite Leech Seed leeching energy from Haunter. Factor in what had to be Confuse Ray and Bulbasaur was in no position to battle.

“Haunter.” Looking back at Haunter, I saw it floating down to the ground. Unlike the ghost pokemon in the Pokemon Tower, its ‘death’ was less dramatic and didn’t seem to be played for laughs considering how exhausted it looked.

Ding! Ding!

“Challenger Sarah claims two points!”

“Bulbasaur.” I quickly rushed over to Bulbasaur, kneeling right next to him, and applied a potion to his wounds before returning him to his pokeball. After some time in his pokeball Bulbasaur would be cured of its confusion, but I wasn’t sure about the crimson static. At this point it was the only thing I could do.

“Gengengen.” Having seen two-thirds of its evolutionary line I looked up at a Gengar waving his arms and its eyes…glow…red…