Kai just stood there in the middle of the battlefield, dust still settling on his shoulders, his heart pounding like a drum he couldn't slow down.
He'd done it.
He'd actually done it.
"Shrew!"
Kai barely had time to look down before Sandshrew came tearing across the battlefield, claws kicking up little sprays of dirt, as it launched itself straight at him.
He caught it on instinct, the small Pokémon slamming into his chest, and the laugh burst out of him before he could stop it.
"We did it!" he shouted, spinning on the spot with Sandshrew clutched in his arms. "We actually did it, buddy!"
"Shrew! Sandshrew!" it cried, paws scrabbling happily at his jacket as the gym blurred around them.
He spun until he was dizzy, until he had to plant his feet to stop himself from toppling over, and even then he kept hold of it, grinning like an idiot.
Across the arena, Falkner strolled toward him, unhurried, stepping over the fresh groove Sandshrew's Rollout had etched into the dirt. Up close, he seemed younger than he had from across the gym, and tired—in the good way, the kind that comes after a fight that truly mattered.
"That," Falkner said, "was a battle."
He held out his hand, and Kai took it. The grip was firm.
"You didn't beat my Pidgeotto with type advantage," Falkner said. "You beat it with strategery. The way you stacked Intimidate and Scary Face. Well, it's something I haven't seen in a while." Falkner said with an approving nod.
Kai rubbed the back of his neck. "Honestly, half of it was just Snubbull refusing to give in."
"That counts too."
Then Falkner reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled something out. It caught the gym lights as he turned it over — a badge, with two thin wings flared out from a central body.
"The Zephyr Badge," he said, dropping it into Kai's palm. "It's yours."
It was cool against his skin, and lighter than he'd expected. Sandshrew sniffed at it once, then looked up at Kai as if to ask whether all of that had really been for this little thing.
"Yeah," Kai murmured. "Our first gym badge."
Falkner waited until Kai stood again before holding out a second item. A flat silver disc, with a faint blue sheen across its surface.
"And take this. A TM for the move Gust."
Kai blinked. "Gust?"
"Most people overlook it. They want something flashier." Falkner nodded down at Sandshrew. "But a long-range move, on a team that fights up close? That's worth more than it looks. When something's out of reach, you'll want a way to reach it anyway." He pressed the disc into Kai's hand.
"Keep it in mind for any flying Pokemon you might have."
"Thanks," Kai said. "For not going easy on us."
"I never planned to." The corner of Falkner's mouth twitched. "Go on. You've earned a rest. Word travels fast in this city — you'll hear your name said a few times tonight."
Kai nodded, a small grin forming on his face before he bid Falkner and his students farewell.
Outside, Violet City had gone gold.
The sun hung low over the rooftops, throwing long shadows down the lanes, and somewhere up by Sprout Tower the bells had started their evening round. Low and slow, rolling out over the tiles.
Kai walked with his hands in his jacket pockets and Sandshrew up on his shoulder again, claws hooked into his collar. He realised he was grinning at nothing in particular, and couldn't make himself stop.
He passed a noodle stall, the steam off it carrying the warm smell of broth and frying onion, and his stomach reminded him — loudly — that he hadn't eaten properly since before the gym.
He kept touching the badge through his pocket, just to check it was still there.
Some part of him had half-expected Silver.
That was the truth of it. He'd braced for that red hair and that flat stare to be waiting outside the gym doors, ready to spoil the moment the way he always seemed to. But the streets were just streets. An old man sweeping his step. A kid chasing after a Sentret. And Silver was nowhere to be seen.
Off doing whatever Silver did, Kai reckoned so.
The thought sat uneasily for a second, but Kai pushed it down. Not tonight. Tonight he'd let himself have this.
The Pokémon Centre's light spilt out across the pavement like always, and the doors hissed open into warmth.
Nurse Joy looked up and smiled before he'd even reached the counter. "There he is. I heard."
"Heard what?"
"That a trainer with a Sandshrew gave Falkner the fight of his month." She tilted her head at the little Pokémon on his shoulder, which immediately puffed itself up. "And there's the hero, I take it."
"Shrew!" Sandshrew said proudly.
Kai laughed and unclipped his belt, laying the Poké Balls out one by one across the counter.
Six of them now. Seven, counting Sentret. And looking at them lined up like that, something quiet shifted in him.
He'd only used Sandshrew and Snubbull. Just those two, the whole battle. He'd led with them, leaned on them, asked everything of them — and they'd given it. And it had worked, brilliantly.
But staring at the other Poké Balls sitting there cold and unopened, he couldn't pretend he didn't know why he kept reaching for the same two hands every single time.
Because he trusted them.
Because the others weren't ready. Totodile was strong but still a bit wild with it. Rattata was quick, but he'd never properly built on that. He'd planned a whole strategy around Zubat the night before and then never even used it.
He hadn't made them ready. He'd let them ride along while two of his team did all the carrying.
And then there was Mankey.
He didn't even let it out to feed with the others anymore. Not since the clearing. He could still feel it if he let himself think about it — the way the air had left his body, the way Mankey's eyes had gone somewhere he couldn't reach. Sandshrew had crossed two seconds of grass to save him.
Two seconds.
He'd lain awake at four in the morning doing that arithmetic, and he didn't fancy doing it again.
"Long way to go," he said, mostly to himself.
Nurse Joy was scanning the Balls into the machine. "Hm?"
"Nothing. Just — I've been favouring two of them. Need to spread the load. Get the rest up to scratch." He paused. "Got one that's a proper handful, too."
"They'll all need it eventually," she said, not looking up. "A badge gets harder each time. One strong pair won't carry you to the League." She set the last Ball into its slot. "But that's tomorrow's worry. These need rest, and so do you. Want them overnight again?"
"Please." He glanced at Sandshrew, still clinging stubbornly to his collar. "Maybe not this one, though. It'll only sulk."
She laughed. "Fair enough. Room's still yours, second floor. Food's through the back whenever you're ready. For both of you."
"Thanks, Nurse Joy."
Kai ate like he'd never seen food before.
The canteen was half-empty at that hour, just him and a couple of other trainers at the far tables. He worked through a bowl of something hot and a plate of something else without really tasting either, while Sandshrew demolished a tray of feed on the bench beside him — slow and deliberate, the way it did everything.
When it finished, it climbed into his lap, curled into a tight ball with its shell-tail tucked in, and went heavy and warm against his stomach.
Kai rested a hand on it and let himself be still for a while, the badge sitting on the table in front of him, catching the strip-lights.
He thought about the Gust disc in his pocket. About Zubat, who could actually meet a bird up in the air. About Mankey, and how on earth you started earning something back from a creature that had tried to put you in the ground.
About all the work sitting in those Poké Balls down at the front desk, waiting.
Tomorrow, he told himself. All of it, tomorrow.
Tonight he had one badge, a full belly, and a Sandshrew snoring gently in his lap, and for now that was enough.
He carried the little Pokémon up to the room and set it on the spare pillow, where it grumbled and resettled without waking, clearly exhausted from all the battling of the day.
With that, Kai switched the lamp off, getting into his own bed so he could rest too.
The bells had stopped. The city had gone quiet.
And Kai was asleep almost before his head hit the pillow, excited for whatever tomorrow would bring.