First gym leader

Helena walked the busy streets of Rustboro City with Dune by her side. Gaining the glances and attention of most passersby, a beautiful girl walks alongside an absurdly strong pokemon with the appearance of a shiny? Who wouldn't try to catch a glance?

But in reality, Helena was suffering from shame and anxiety; she had never gone out of the mansion by herself, and whenever she did, she was accompanied by multiple bodyguards and Donald, but now she was all by herself, at least if she didn't have Dune.

Clenching onto one of Dune's claws for emotional support, they quickly arrived at the Pokemon Gym. It was a large building, right in front of the main building of the Devon Corporation, owned by Helena's father.

She had come into Devon Corp multiple times in her life, and she was known by the employees as the "Princess" of Devon Corp, despite her awkward, weird, and lonely nature. But Helena had never set foot on Rustboro Pokemon Gym; this was a big step in her life, and she was happy she wasn't alone; she had Dune and Ralts by her side.

Stepping inside the gym, it resembled the interior of a cave. For some reason, she felt a sense of familiarity, which made sense since all the people in her family had a fondness for rocks, minerals, and precious gems.

Dune just watched silently while Helena cluelessly looked around the gym. She looked goofy, like a kitty looking for food. After some minutes of cluelessly waiting, a man in a green suit came rushing towards them.

Panting heavily, the man composed himself, and with a nervous look on his face, he tried his best to greet Helena.

"Welcome, Mistress Helena! I apologize for not greeting you earlier; we were not told you would come today. It is such a privilege to be the first gym leader you challenge!" Exclaimed the man enthusiastically.

"The..." Helena gulped a large amount of saliva in nervousness; she was too out of her comfort zone. "The pleasure... is mine; I don't like to... ehmm... have preference over other trainers; please keep my identity a secret for now, please." Answered Helena, her hands clenched together clumsily.

"Totally understandable! Well, we were about to close for the day, but when Roxanne heard you had arrived, she got so excited. It's been months since she was all this worked up because of a battle. Please follow me; I'll guide you to the arena."

As Dune and Helena followed the man in the green suit towards the inside of the gym, a notification from Dune's system popped out of nowhere.

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System announcement: System usage will be locked during battles with special characters; Pokemon scans will have most of their features locked; and the following features will be restricted too.

Quest: Defeat all of Roxanne's Pokemon by yourself.

Reward: XP Multiplier x2

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Dune smiled to himself. From the games, he knew Roxanne's Pokemon were probably trash; this would be easy for him.

When Helena and Dune finally arrived at the arena, Roxanne was already waiting for them. She quickly ran to Helena and greeted her.

"Hi! I'm Roxanne; do you remember me? I met you when I was younger during one of your father's charity events; it's such an honor to have your first gym battle against me," said Roxanne happily as she shook Helena's hand.

Helena was getting dizzy from all the attention, and Roxanne seemed to notice that, so she let Helena's hand go. "Okay! No more plays! Let's battle; I want to go home. Even if you are such a high-prestige trainer, I won't be easy on you. By the way, nice Gabite; it's even shiny. Being rich must have its perks, I guess."

Both girls walked various steps away from the arena, and Dune just walked to the designated area where Pokemon would be released. The thing was, pokemon trainers should give orders to their pokemon in order for them to battle. So, how would Dune work around this rule?

'Ralts, did you connect me and Helena already?' Dune thought to himself, to which the memories of him and Helena having "fun" flooded his mind before Helena composed herself. ´Yes, I'm here, Dune, so I just repeat what you say to me, right?'

'right' With that problem out of the picture, Dune got into a battle position. The first pokemon was probably going to be light work, so he could set up a dragon dance or... is that an ultra ball?

Roxanne took out an ultra ball from the inner pocket of her clothes, raised it high in the air, and released her first pokemon.

An Alolan graveler.

Dune panicked; this was something he didn't expect—none at all. Even if he knew pokemon trainers were stronger in this universe, he didn't expect the first pokemon of a gym leader to be a regional form, but after composing himself, he decided to do the obvious. ´System, scan that graveler´

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Graveler (Alola) (M) Lv:25

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'Dune, what do I do!?' asked Helena through his mind, bringing Dune back from his initial panic. He didn't have any idea what other pokemon Roxanne had, but his best idea was to not use [Dragon Dance].

' If I use [Dragon Dance] now, Graveler is likely to use [Rock Tomb], lower my speed, and deal some damage. The best idea for now is to use [Bulldoze] and pray it missed his attack.´ After having a makeshift plan, Dune ordered, 'Tell me to use [Bulldoze] Helena.'

"Du...Dune use [Bulldoze]!" screamed Helena to me after I gave my instructions, and I obeyed quickly. With a loud stomp on the ground, some cracks appeared, and he moved towards Graveler before the ground opened and some spikes hit his body.

I saw it making a face of pain, so my hit should have killed him; why didn't it?

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Graveler's sturdy prevents fainting.

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'Damnit, I forgot about that' said Dune as Roxanne screamed, "Graveler, use [Stealth Rock]," and Graveler threw some fragments into the air before they disappeared completely.

´[Stealth rock]? Lucky for me, I think her next Pokemon is probably a sweeper. I have to set up fast' thought t Dune while he got himself ready for anything.

"Dune use [Bulldoze]!" screamed Helena, now more confident in herself and Dune after she saw him destroying the poor graveler. Dune quickly obeyed, and now with the other foot stomped on the ground, Graveler tried to roll to one side to avoid the attack, but Dune quickly noticed this and redirected the attack, finally defeating Roxanne's first pokemon.

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Level up! -> Lv27

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Roxanne didn't seem bothered; in fact, she had the same confidence as when the battle started and took out a regular pokeball this time.

"Aerodactyl go!" Roxanne threw the pokeball high in the air, releasing an abnormally big Aerodactyl, who let out a primal roar once it entered the field.

'Crap' thought Helena, and ´Shit' thought Dune as they both saw the intimidating pokemon being released. 'Helena, it may sound crazy, but I need you to order me to use [Dragon Dance].' I commanded Helena, and she obeyed immediately.

"D..Du... DUNE! USE [Dragon Dance]!" Helena's nervousness was easy to notice, but the fear of losing her first battle overpowered any nervousness she had.

Dune quickly obeyed Helena's instruction, but to his misfortune, "Aerodactyl use [Bulldoze]!". With his big head, Aerodactyl threw himself into the ground, replicating the move Dune had used before. Aerodactyl created fissures in the ground, throwing off balance Dune after he came back from his senses after using [Dragon Dance], and a sharp stone hitting him on his stomach.

This turn was extremely important. After some thought , Dune decided to order Helena to go for another [Dragon dance], and Roxanne ordered Aerodactyl to use Bulldoze once again. As Aerodactyl repeated his move once again, Dune paid attention to the moment and direction the attack came from and... Evaded it!

Roxanne grinded her teeth in panic. Dune now had +2 attack and +1 speed; if she couldn't beat him with Aerodactyl, her next pokemon would probably lose.

"Dune use [Slash]!" screamed Helena, sighing in relief and happiness. She understood that the match was over; Dune had the advantage in speed and attack. "Aerodactyl use [Wing Attack]!" Screamed Roxanne.

Both pokemon rushed towards each other, with Dune jumping high in the air and delivering a powerful [Slash] to one of Aerodactyl's wings, while at the same time, Aerodactyl used the other wing, which was shining on a white light, to conduct a full [Wing Attack] on Dune's head, dealing damage to himself due to Dune's rough skin.

Both pokemon fell to the ground, Dune landing on his feet, while Aerodactyl fell with his full body, rolling to the side. It launched himself back into the air with the help of its rocky tail.

Helena, not waiting for Dune's instructions, quickly screamed to him to use [Slash] again, which Dune was thankful for. Jumping again at Aerodactyl, Dune couldn't help but have a cocky grin as the Aerodactyl saw in terror a 6-foot landshark connect a critical [Slash] on him.

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Level up! -> Lv29

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Roxanne let out a loud sigh and put Aerodactyl back in his pokeball. "You are good; your Gabite is strong as hell. I would give up now, but that would be unprofessional, so Glimmet go!" Roxanne took out another Ultra Ball and released Glimmet onto the field.

Helena knew what she had to do, and Roxanne was just waiting for Dune to finish the job.

"Dune use [Bulldoze]!" Helena screamed while Roxanne screamed, "Glimmet, use [Poison sting]!

Glimmet didn't have time to react before Dune launched himself at him and stomped the ground right in front of him, just for a gigantic crack on the ground to form and multiple spikes to emerge from it, absolutely obliterating the Glimmet, who was launched at Roxanne's feet.

"Sigh... Good job, Helena. It seems that I still have much more to learn..." Roxanne patted her pokeballs before walking towards Helena. Roxanne took out a badge from her pocket and stored her pokeballs.

"The Pokemon League's rules state that trainers are to be given this if they defeat a gym leader. So please accept the official Pokemon League stone badge."

Dune walked back to Helena, who had tears of joy on her face as she received her stone badge and quickly put it on her Pokemon trainer card.

"Please take this with you, too." Roxanne took out a rock gem from her pocket and gave it to Roxanne. "This is an elemental gem; give it to a Pokemon in battle to increase the damage of a single elemental move." After that, Roxanne hugged Helena, and both girls walked towards the exit of the gym.

And for Dune?

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System announcement: The system is back to normal.

Quest: Completed

Reward: XP Multiplier x2 + Secret reward for beating ace pokemon with more than 1/4 of HP: 1 lvl.

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