For a long moment, neither of them moved.
Kai stood at his end of the great open floor, the wind pulling gently at his jacket, and he looked across the battlefield at the man waiting on the other side. He couldn't help it. He wanted to take the measure of him before a single word was said.
Falkner met the look easily. He didn't seem bothered by it. If anything, there was a faint amusement in the set of his mouth, like he'd seen this exact stare a hundred times from a hundred different challengers and knew precisely how much it was worth.
Then he started walking.
He came across the field unhurried, hands loose at his sides, that long dark coat shifting around him in the breeze. Up close, he was younger than Kai had pictured, not old, not some grizzled veteran, but there was a steadiness to him that made the gap in their years feel a lot wider than it probably was.
"Kai, isn't it?" He stopped a few feet short and held out a hand. "Falkner. Welcome to my Gym."
Kai shook it. The grip was firm, dry, and certain.
"How many badges have you got, then?" Falkner asked, letting go and tucking his hands back into his coat. He nodded at Kai's belt. "Is this your first?"
"Yeah," Kai said. "This is my first gym challenge."
Falkner nodded slowly, like that told him something, and opened his mouth to say something else when suddenly, the sky came down on top of them.
A sudden wall of moving air slammed into him, followed by a powerful downdraft that nearly knocked his legs out from under him. Kai stumbled, throwing up an arm on instinct, just as something the size of a small car tore past overhead, so close the rush from its wings plastered his hair to his head, forcing him to hold his cap in place or risk losing it forever.
Pidgeot...
It swooped in at the far end of the arena, wings beating the air once, then twice, its great crested head swivelling before it banked and landed on a high perch jutting from the wall. Folding its massive wings tight against its body, it fixed a single cold, golden eye on the field below.
Kai's heart was slamming against his ribs while he watched the amazing Pokémon.
"Ah — sorry about that." Falkner winced, raising a hand. "Sorry about that. We were running some drills before you came up. He doesn't always know when to land." He glanced up at the Flying Pokémon with real warmth, the look of someone talking about an old friend. "Showing off, more like." He then added.
Kai straightened slowly, catching his breath. He didn't say a word—couldn't, really. This was the first Pidgeot he'd ever seen in person. Now one sat perched twenty feet above, and the gust from a single flap of its wings had nearly knocked him over. It watched him the way something huge sizes up something much smaller, almost as if he were its prey.
That, he thought. That's what's at the top of this Gym...
Falkner walked a few paces to one side, to a small raised section at the edge of the field, and pressed something Kai couldn't see. There was a low mechanical hum, a grind of stone, and a panel in the floor slid back. Up out of the gap rose a slim case on a pedestal — dark, polished, the lid hinging open of its own accord once it was fully exposed.
Six Poké Balls sat inside it, nestled in moulded recesses, the lights of the arena sliding across their casings.
Falkner studied them for a second. Then he reached in and lifted out two, weighing them in his palm. He looked at them, looked up at the open sky for a moment as if checking the weather, and gave a small nod to himself.
"These should do." He said to himself as he turned back to Kai.
"Right then." The lid clicked shut behind him; the case sank back into the floor, and his expression got more serious.
"Let's go over the rules."
Kai nodded, listening carefully to what he said.
"Since it's your first Gym battle," Falkner said, "I'll be using Pokémon that are befitting of a challenger with no gym badges, as per the Pokémon League rules." He said while he held up the two Balls.
"Two Pokémon each. You can swap yours out whenever you like, mid-battle, as often as you want. I can't. Once mine's out, it stays out until it can't go on."
Kai turned it over, already knew the rules, having seen them on a poster in many of the Pokémon centres he had visited, knowing that each Gym had its own rules and had to follow the rules of the official Pokémon League.
"I got it," Kai said a moment later.
"Good." Falkner walked back to his end of the field. Somewhere off to the side, a referee Kai hadn't even clocked stepped up to the centre line — an older woman with a flag in each hand, planted there as she'd grown out of the stone.
"Then let's see what you've got."
He took the first Ball and threw it, not wasting any time.
It cracked open in midair, and the light poured out into a shape Kai knew at once — round, brown, two stubby legs, those wide unblinking red eyes ringed in cream. It dropped onto the stone with a soft thump and immediately swivelled its head all the way round to look at Kai, then back to Falkner, then back to Kai again, a stern look on its face as it got ready to battle.
A Hoothoot...
Kai watched the Hoothoot, seeing that this one looked well-trained and ready to fight, much like the others of its kind he had battled in Bellsprout tower.
His hand was already on the Ball. Knowing which of his own Pokémon he would be starting with.
"Sandshrew!" he called, as he threw his own Poké Ball.
The Ball snapped open, and Sandshrew landed claws-first on the stone, dropping low into that familiar crouch, tail sweeping out behind it for balance. It took one look at the round brown owl across the field and let out a low, scratchy growl, claws scraping the floor.
"Shrewww."
Kai felt the corner of his mouth pull up. Starting with his best foot forward. No working up to it, no holding back. Straight in with the one he trusted most.
The two Pokémon faced one another across the battle floor like fighters standing at the edge of a storm, Hoothoot swaying lightly on its single visible foot while its crimson eyes remained locked onto Sandshrew, its head twisting at strange angles with uncanny precision.
Opposite it, Sandshrew crouched so low its claws scraped against the stone, sparks flickering beneath them as every muscle in its compact body coiled tight beneath its armoured hide, ready to explode into motion at the first command.
Falkner studied the matchup for a moment before looking back toward Kai, the faint smile on his face carrying a mixture of amusement and curiosity.
"A Sandshrew," he said, shaking his head slightly. "In a Flying-type Gym." A short laugh escaped him before his expression sharpened again. "That's either confidence or insanity, but I guess we're about to find out which."
The referee stepped between them and raised both flags high above her head, her voice cutting clearly through the open-air arena.
"Gym battle — two Pokémon each! The challenger may substitute, but the Gym Leader may not! The battle will end when both Pokémon on one side are unable to continue!"
The flags came slashing downward.
"Begin!"
"Sandshrew — Rapid Spin!"
Kai's voice rang out instantly, the command leaving his mouth before the referee had even fully finished speaking.
Sandshrew exploded forward. Dust and shattered grit burst from beneath its feet as it launched across the field before curling instantly into a spinning ball, its armoured body becoming a bronze blur that screamed over the stone hard enough to throw sparks behind it in streaks of orange light.
"Hoothoot, Peck!"
Hoothoot reacted immediately, beating its wings hard enough to lift itself just above the incoming spin before diving sharply downward, its beak glowing brilliant white as it drove straight toward the speeding Sandshrew like a spear falling from the sky.
The collision hit with a boom.
A violent crack burst across the battlefield the instant Sandshrew's spinning body smashed into Hoothoot's glowing Peck, the force of the impact blasting dust outward in a visible ring while feathers and sparks scattered through the air around them. For half a heartbeat, the two Pokémon seemed completely locked together in midair, trapped in a snarling clash of momentum and power before the recoil violently tore them apart.
Hoothoot spun backwards through the air, wings flapping wildly as it struggled to recover its balance, while Sandshrew uncurlled mid-flight with surprising agility before twisting and slamming back onto the battlefield on all fours. Its claws dug deep grooves through the stone as it skidded backward several feet before finally stopping.
Kai's grin sharpened immediately.
There it was.
He could feel it — the difference in Sandshrew's movements after the Rapid Spin had connected. The little Ground-type looked lighter now, quicker on its feet, its body shifting fluidly instead of stiffly as it reset its stance.
Back in the games, Rapid Spin's speed boost had always just been another stat increase on a screen, another number ticking upward in battle text, but standing here and watching Sandshrew move with his own eyes made it feel entirely different.
And Falkner had noticed too.
"Don't let it control the pace," he ordered calmly, his sharp eyes never leaving the battlefield. "Hoothoot — use Gust!"
Hoothoot snapped both wings forward at once, and the air itself seemed to explode.
A spiralling torrent of wind tore across the arena in a roaring wave powerful enough to rip dust from the floor and send loose grit skittering across the stone, the attack shrieking as it rushed straight toward Sandshrew.
Kai's grin widened.
He'd been waiting for this exact moment.
"Sandshrew use Rollout!" he shouted. "Push straight through it!"
Sandshrew immediately dropped low and curled tightly into itself again, spinning faster and faster until the sound of grinding stone began to rise beneath it, its armoured shell vibrating violently as the momentum built.
The Gust crashed into it head-on.
The wind screamed around Sandshrew's spinning body, splitting apart into two massive streams as dust erupted outward from the force of the collision. For a second, the attack actually managed to force Sandshrew backwards, its spinning form sliding across the battlefield inch by inch beneath the pressure — but then its claws dug in, and the retreat stopped instantly.
The spin started to accelerate.
A high-pitched whine rose from Sandshrew's Rollout as the rotation became faster and faster until the Gust itself began to break apart around it, unable to fully stop the compact spinning shell that continued building momentum underneath the storm of wind.
Kai thrust his arm forward.
"NOW!"
Suddenly, Sandshrew launched like it had been fired from a cannon.
The speed boost from Rapid Spin exploded through the Rollout all at once, turning Sandshrew into a streak of spinning bronze that ripped across the battlefield faster than Hoothoot could react to.
Falkner's eyes widened.
"Fly up! NOW!"
But Hoothoot was too slow.
Hoothoot managed one desperate flap of its wings before Sandshrew slammed into it dead centre with devastating force.
The impact echoed through the entire Gym.
Feathers burst outward in every direction as Hoothoot was launched violently backwards through the air, its body tumbling helplessly before it bounced once against the stone floor and skidded all the way to the far edge of the battlefield.
Then it stopped moving.
Silence swept over the arena.
Sandshrew slowly uncurlled from the completed Rollout, chest rising and falling heavily as it planted its claws against the floor and turned back toward its opponent, breathing hard but still standing strong.
Hoothoot didn't get back up.
The referee stared for a moment before raising her flag sharply toward Kai's side of the field.
"Hoothoot is unable to battle! The first round goes to the challenger!"
For several seconds, the only sound in the Gym was the wind rushing through the open structure high above them.
Falkner stared quietly at his fallen Pokémon before recalling it in a flash of red light, the easy smile he had worn earlier now completely gone. He held the Poké Ball in his hand for a brief moment, his expression unreadable as he looked down at it.
"I underestimated you," he admitted finally, glancing back toward Kai and Sandshrew. "Both of you."
He clipped the Poké Ball back onto his belt with a quiet click before lifting his eyes again, and this time there was an entirely different intensity behind them. The relaxed looseness in his posture had disappeared completely, replaced by something far sharper and more focused.
"That won't happen again."
His hand closed around his second Poké Ball.
"Get ready, Kai," he said as he pulled it free. "Because now I'm done holding back."
He hurled the Ball high across the battlefield.
It burst open in a brilliant flash of white light that flooded the arena before the shape inside rapidly expanded, growing larger and broader as large wings spread outward with a violent gust powerful enough to sweep across the battlefield.
The Pokémon that emerged looked nothing like Hoothoot.
This one was sleek. Fast. Predatory.
Its crimson-and-gold crest flared sharply as razor-like eyes locked immediately onto Sandshrew below, and then it threw back its head and released a piercing cry that rang through the Gym like steel scraping against steel.
"Go, Pidgeotto!"