Prism Scale

He'd been playing with Deino the whole time.

Baimu had barely eavesdropped on Junshu and Norman's conversation. When he saw them come out one after the other, he asked, "Did you find a way?"

"Yeah!"

Junshu nodded vigorously and, under Baimu's curious gaze, said, "I've decided to close the Gym!"

"—Huh?"

Baimu was stunned. He glanced at the unruffled Norman, then looked back at Junshu. "What happened?"

Shouldn't Junshu have come away from that conversation with some great revelation and gone on to become an unstoppable Gym Leader?

How had he jumped straight to shutting the Gym down?

"Talking with Master Norman made me realize I'm nowhere near strong enough. If I become strong enough, fame will follow. Challengers will hear my name and want to battle me. Then I won't have to worry about any of this."

Junshu spoke with absolute confidence.

It looked like Norman had shared the path he'd taken to success.

Getting stronger to build a reputation, which would in turn help the Gym, was a sound approach. Norman himself was proof of that.

But it might not suit Junshu, and whether he could replicate Norman's success was another question.

Still, if Junshu wanted to try, what could Baimu say as an onlooker? He couldn't make the decision for him.

"So?"

"So I'm going to enter all kinds of competitions, challenge strong Trainers, and catch more powerful Pokémon to improve myself," Junshu said confidently. "I'll keep training until I'm famous throughout Hoenn, just like Master Norman!"

As he spoke, he eagerly thanked them both, then headed toward the Gym's exit, too excited to stay still.

Baimu didn't know what to say. He turned to Norman. "Norman, did you mention that his Gym copies yours a little too closely?"

"I did... But he clearly didn't take it