A Thank-You, Falkner's Confusion

Just as Heiduo wondered what kind of battle they would have, Falkner brought Crystal over to him.

"Could we find somewhere quiet to talk?" Falkner asked Heiduo without turning around, watching the battle in the distance.

Heiduo glanced at him and Crystal, hesitated briefly, then nodded.

He had already seen what he wanted to see.

As a Gym Leader, Feng had clearly not gone all out against a challenger. He had gone very easy on Shangzhu in the early stages.

If Feng had gotten serious, he should have flown into the sky alongside his Pokémon and faced Shangzhu's Ampharos together.

But not only had he failed to do that, he had not given Swellow enough instructions either. Swellow had fought almost entirely on its own, giving Shangzhu far too much time to react.

It was only after that fierce gust knocked Shangzhu down that Feng had finally displayed his formidable physical abilities and bared his fangs.

If Swellow had not been unlucky enough to get Paralyzed, Shangzhu would definitely have lost that battle.

From this, Heiduo could see that a Gym Leader's duty did not seem to be simply defeating challengers. What they wanted was for challengers to learn something from the experience.

Heiduo turned his head and looked around for Shuangye. She had not taken the elevator with him. Had she stayed downstairs instead?

Five rows away from Heiduo, Shuangye was holding Espeon and absentmindedly brushing its fur with a small brush.

Noticing Heiduo looking at her, Shuangye frowned slightly but ignored him. Only after Heiduo, Falkner, and the others took the elevator near the stands down did she get to her feet and slowly follow after them.

Teahouse.

"This place is pretty nice." Heiduo sat on a cushioned couch, with delicate pastries and pale green tea giving off a light fragrance before him.

The place resembled an ancient Japanese courtyard. Tatami lay beneath his feet, folding screens stood beside him, and outside were gravel paths, flowers, trees, artificial rockeries, and streams.

Falkner took a sip of tea and said slowly, "Crystal's mother runs this place."

"Oh?" Heiduo glanced at Crystal, who was seated beside Falkner. Crystal nodded lightly, looking a little shy.

Heiduo had actually always been curious about something. He had noticed that the second generation's three protagonists had only ever appeared to have one parent. Who was Crystal's father?

Naturally, Heiduo would not ask outright. If it was someone else's painful subject, he would be seriously out of line.

"Heiduo... Brother Heiduo." Crystal considered how to address him and decided to call him brother.

"Just call me Heiduo." Heiduo rejected Crystal's formal politeness. He was a little sensitive about being called brother now.

Crystal let out a sigh of relief. She was not used to calling someone she had met fewer than two times her brother.

She said, "Then... please call me Crystal."

Heiduo nodded. He had no strict requirements for forms of address. Whatever felt comfortable was fine.

"We invited you here today because we wanted to thank you for what happened yesterday." Crystal's speech was somewhat stiff. She had not wanted to be this formal, but her mother had strongly insisted, so she had no choice but to comply.

Thank him?

Heiduo thought for a moment and decided to call out the person involved.

Bang!

Elekid jumped out, casually sat down, and reached for a cherry blossom-shaped pastry from the plate in front of Heiduo before stuffing it into its mouth.

"Hey! Have some manners!" Heiduo tapped Elekid on the head. This little guy really did not treat himself like an outsider.

Elekid's body stiffened, and it awkwardly bowed to Crystal and Falkner.

"It's fine, it's fine. If it likes them, it can eat as much as it wants. There are plenty." Crystal waved her hands and pushed the pastries in front of her over to Elekid as well.

Elekid's eyes lit up. The moment it came out, it had spotted the green pastry in front of Crystal, but it was too far away, and it did not dare climb onto the table.

Now everything was perfect.

Heiduo did not know whether to laugh or cry. Having such a Pokémon that loved sweets more than life itself made him wonder what kind of bad luck he had.

Elekid stuffed its cheeks full, looking exactly like an Alolan Raticate.

"...If possible, my mother and I would both like to thank you. Is there anything you need..." Crystal glanced at Elekid. It was her first time seeing a Pokémon that loved sweets so much.

Heiduo understood. They had come to repay him—no, to repay Elekid.

"What do you want?" Heiduo turned Elekid by one of its plug horns so it could raise its face and look at him.

"Elek?" Elekid did not understand. It stubbornly reached for the pastries. It had never eaten anything so delicious, second only to resin!

Heiduo looked at the pastry and understood.

"Pack me a few boxes of those green pastries." Heiduo snatched one from Elekid's hand, used his foot to block its tiny arms from grabbing it back, then broke off a bit and tasted it.

Mung bean cake? Red bean paste filling?

"Huh?" Crystal froze slightly.

Heiduo tossed the pastry back to the tantrum-throwing Elekid, took a sip of tea, and said, "It wants these... red bean pastries? Your family runs a teahouse, right? Just make it a few boxes. It was not a big deal to begin with, so why are you acting like I saved the world?"

You embarrassing little thing, you threw a tantrum when you could not grab it? You are definitely not the Elekid I know!

"...Okay." Crystal did not know what to say.

Falkner tapped the table with his fingers, staring unblinkingly at Elekid.

"That's it! Will you bring them over, or should I wait here?" Heiduo finished the rest of his tea. The scenery was nice, but he did not have that much free time to waste admiring it.

"Please wait a moment." Crystal's expression was complicated as she stood up and jogged out of the room.

The spacious tea room was suddenly left with only Heiduo and Falkner.

Oh, and an Elekid that had discovered all the pastries were gone and looked utterly bereft.

"Elek..."

Happy times always passed incredibly quickly.

Elekid rubbed its slightly bulging belly, savoring that tiny lingering sweetness in its mouth. The green cakes were so delicious!

"This Elekid... is it your first Pokémon?"

Falkner suddenly spoke and asked Heiduo.

Heiduo paused, then pulled over the backpack he had set aside and opened it.

A sleeping Ekans appeared before Falkner.

"This one that only knows how to sleep in is my first Pokémon." Heiduo placed the backpack he had specially bought for Ekans onto the table, feeling like every Pokémon he had encountered in his Trainer career was abnormal.

An Ekans lazier than a Slakoth.

An Elekid with an extreme sweet tooth.

A Gible that climbed out of its Poké Ball in the middle of the night, crawled into Heiduo's bed, and nearly crushed him breathless.

And a quiet, withdrawn Kakuna that was like an autistic child.

Of course, it was perfectly normal for Pokémon to have their own personalities.

Like Ash's Pikachu that did not like going into its Poké Ball, Chikorita that deeply loved Ash and got insanely jealous, Gible that liked biting people's heads, and so on.

Pokémon with their own personalities were truly living Pokémon.

Falkner glanced at Ekans, silently removed a Poké Ball from his waist, and opened it.

The Noctowl Heiduo had seen before appeared in front of him.

However, it seemed to be sleeping at the moment, with one eye open and the other closed.

"It was my first Pokémon. It has been by my side ever since I was six years old. It has been almost ten years now." Falkner said a series of seemingly disconnected words, but Heiduo did not interrupt and simply listened quietly.

Falkner said, "The reason I came to see you today is to tell you that if you want to challenge the Gym here, I will be your opponent."

Huh? That was quite a leap.

Heiduo did not understand how Falkner had suddenly shifted to this. He said blandly, "Oh, and?"

"And? There is no and. Aren't you worried? Facing a rookie Gym Leader like me. I might not be able to properly award you a Badge, because I do not feel like I am suited for this." Falkner sounded almost as if he were complaining.

Heiduo laughed. "Feel like it? What good is what you feel? You have not even tried, and you already think you are not suited for it? You really underestimate yourself."

"No, I am not underestimating myself. You know, I am a Police officer. That work alone keeps me overwhelmed. I do not think I can handle both jobs at once." Falkner shook his head and refuted him.

This guy... did he not have any friends?

Heiduo's expression became a little strange. This kind of conversation should have happened between friends sharing their troubles.

Had they even met more times than he could count on one hand?

Still, helping others was the root of happiness, so Heiduo advised him, "Then you do not know this. It is not strange for Gym Leaders to hold other jobs. The Gym Leader of Azalea Town is also an archaeologist, and the Gym Leader of Goldenrod City is also an entertainer. They are around your age, too.

"Further away, Kanto's Red Lotus Gym Leader is a scientist, Hoenn's Champion runs around the world digging up rocks all day, and a Rock-type Gym Leader is a teacher. Sinnoh's Steel Gym Leader is even a miner. Who does not have a side job?"

Falkner listened with his mouth agape. He had not known any of that. Although Azalea Town and Goldenrod City were close to Violet City, he had never looked into their situations.

He had thought every Gym Leader was like his father—a full-timer!

"But I still..." Falkner hesitated, his brows full of uncertainty.

Heiduo could understand Falkner's feelings. His father was too outstanding and too famous, an unreachable figure to him.

If, after becoming Gym Leader, Falkner performed far worse than Feng had during his tenure, setting aside other people's criticism, Falkner himself would not be able to get past it. He would feel that he had disgraced his father.

His later behavior made that obvious. Every three sentences, he mentioned his father. It was practically as if Feng was not his father, but his god.

"Do you have some misunderstanding about what a Gym Leader is?" Heiduo could not help asking. "What do you think a Gym Leader is?"

"A Gym Leader? A Gym Leader should be someone incredibly powerful—"

"Wrong!"

Heiduo cut Falkner off. Looking at Falkner's baffled expression, he did not find it funny. He found it sad.

His father had put too much pressure on him. Perhaps neither Falkner nor his father had realized it, but that was not a good thing.

"Gym Leaders may be powerful, but Gym Leaders place even more importance on teaching! A Gym is a Gym because it is a place to learn! If being powerful were all that mattered, then why would the Pokémon League hold Regional Conferences? They could just have Gym Leaders eliminate the weak directly, and only those who gathered eight Badges would qualify for the Champion League." Heiduo explained his understanding to Falkner. He did not believe Falkner did not understand these things. As someone who had grown up in a Gym, Falkner should know better than Heiduo.

Sure enough, Falkner's expression became complicated after hearing Heiduo's words. "I know everything you said, but..."