Generally, I don't like to do gym challenges late in the evening, but Jasmine's gym is looking like an exception. The bulk of the day was unfortunately spent on climbing back up the tower while most of the party waited at the bottom and grinded under Rose's supervision, since she could contact me telepathically if anything went wrong. Ten made the climb with me which was incredibly peaceful and by the time we got back down it was well past midday so we did some battle planning beforehand and now we're finally here.

Just being in here again gives me incredibly uneasy vibes but this time none of my Pokemon are in the hospital under life threatening conditions and in spite of myself I'm actually feeling quite confident. "You sure you've got this, Rose?"
"My special defense and I are on it." she assures me. "Not to mention I pack a mean Drain Punch. Should keep my health up and my enemies down." Her stubby arm glows blue and she slices through the air with incredibly accuracy. "Why, are you worried about me?"

I nod. "In case you haven't caught onto it yet, I'm perpetually worried about everyone on the team. Now let's go get 'em."

Jasmine's gym is one of the most straightforward. I didn't plan to be targeted by any gym trainers because I wasn't last time and it appears the universe has decided to throw me a bone this time because all of them are still standing on the sides, yelling encouraging things and smiling.

For a steel gym, Jasmine's entire setup is incredibly cushy. It's about as far from the cold and defensive steel type as you can get. Still, I approach her with a smile and my heart beating out of my chest. "I'm here for that gym battle."

"Oh! Right. I was expecting you tomorrow but if you want to do this now, I think we'll have time to finish before I need to go check on Amphy." She smiles, a soft but incredibly genuine expression that lights up her entire face and still manages to seem shy. "Thank you so much for all your help. I know dropping everything and rushing to Cianwood must've been hard but you've done so much for me... Still. Don't expect me to go easy on you. Go, Magnemite!"

"Rose!" I yell, and the Magnemite quickly begins hurling electromagnetic pulses at us. Its magnets twist at an incredible speed before every attack, which lets it generate at a rate we hadn't expected. "Rose, dodge!"

Rose whirls up and over the pulses with relative ease until one strikes her wing. I watch as her health bar drops an entire quarter, even though it barely grazed her. I grit my teeth. If my main attacker goes out, this could be tricky. "Drain Punch!"

She moves in for a hit at an incredibly velocity and the Magnemite's magnets begin to turn. Her fist finds itself caught in a rapidly expanding ball of lightning and she soars back as it explodes in her face, the shock making her whole body convulse slightly.

She ends up by my feet and I bend down and apply a Super Potion. "Are you good enough to keep going?" I ask.

"Yes... but I'm in trouble. Do you think we... that we..."

I close my eyes and focus, taking in a deep breath, and feel absolutely nothing at all. I hear a crack and my eyes jolt open again. The area around my feet is burned and Rose is up over my head, circling to avoid a continuous spray of lightning blasts. "Forget it." I tell her. "We're going to need a plan."

"I'm a bit busy!" she warns me, adjusting her neck in midflight to barely dodge a SonicBoom. "It's diversifying its strategy! All of its attacks are just coming to fast and I can't keep up for long."
"That's it!" I yell. "Rose, Extrasensory. Turn it sideways and move it towards you quickly as possible!"

"What?"
"Trust me!" The Magnemite glows pink and begins hurtling towards us. "Drain Punch!" I yell and Rose hits it right in the magnet. It explodes backwards, sparking, but it no longer seems to be able to generate any of its attacks.
"Finish it off!"

Rose hits it again in the other magnet, and the thing falls to the ground like a rock. Jasmine frowns and sends out another, but Rose is ready this time. She swoops in, spinning right over another ThunderShock, and uses a close range Extrasensory to send it hurtling towards the ground. She descends like a falcon and Drain Punches it right down the magnet for a critical hit. It stays wedged there for a while before Jasmine returns it.

"You're incredible... b-but... I still have one last Pokemon." she tells us, "and it's not a Magnemite."

"I'm ready for the challenge." I tell her smugly, and Rose nods. The golden bond between us flickers in the light but I still find myself unable to pull on it. I don't even notice her send out her Steelix and suddenly there's a huge rock pinning Rose into the ground.

"Rose!" I yell, but a weak psychic field flickers off the rock and it wobbles out of the way. Rose huffs quietly with every breath and I mutter, "Step aside."

Reginae moves forwards and Rose collapses just off the battlefield. The Steelix roars and Reginae calls back, although it's barely audible over the Steelix's mighty cry.

A torrent of Magical leaves fill the air, perpetually swarming the Steelix as the two engage in a battle of will. Reginae is able to cut any rock it throws at us to shreds but he still falls over in pain when the Steelix swipes him aside with one powerful Iron Tail.

"Reginae, are you okay?" I ask, but he's already up again. His leaves soak in the fake light and I watch on my Pokegear as his health trickles back up. The Steelix grimaces and Reginae continues his barrage of leaves. They swirl in glorious formations, finding weak spots and embedding themselves there, and some just keep relentlessly driving themselves across Steelix's enormous hide.

Reginae lifts his head and the leaves soar upwards and with a sideways swipe, all of them move in a swift cutting motion. The Steelix roars again in agony and then is silent.

"Rusty! I-" Jasmine shakes her head, withdrawing her Pokemon. "I'm not strong enough. Not yet." She hands me a silver TM, encased in a sleek glass covering. On top of it rests a small badge. "This is for you."
"Thank you."

"You are indeed strong, trainer, but Pryce and Clair are even terrifying to the other Johto gym leaders. If you want to endure the coming winter, I ask that you take caution."
"I know." Like HELL I know. I try not to sound rude (hiding my internal fury is a lot harder than it sounds) and scoop up Rose. "Thank you."

We exit and there are already stars beginning to speckle the clear night sky. The air is brisk and fresh with seawater, but it's almost too cold for shorts and I'm glad I won't be wading through the ocean anymore. I begin hurriedly spritzing Rose with Super Potions, and she coughs and sits up.

"You okay?" I ask.

Rose rubs her eyes. "Ugh, it's everywhere... hmm?"
The others look on, profoundly curious.

"You did an incredible job today." I tell her.

"Your strategy is truly remarkable." hisses Basil. "Congratulations. I'm impressed."

"What he said!" Fang yells, "but fancier!"

Rose laughs. "Alright, alright! I get it. My wings are sore but I'm fine. So... are we going to do anything celebratory?"

"Alright. I have to run a quick errand, but that shouldn't get in the way of your victory. Ice cream on me!" I say, handing Rose my wallet. "You can communicate with the vendor via telepathy, right?"
"In theory." she says, rifling through my money with satisfaction. "So this is why we fight all of those random trainers."
"Well yeah, but I also have to collect money so we can pay for living expenses, buy food, and not sleep on a bench like hobos every night. That was a mistake when I did it the first time."

"Not buying food?" asks Fang. He gasps. "Did you have to resort to cannibalism or something? Is that why you're always crying?"
I slam my head against my face. "You could literally not be more far off if you tried. I had to sleep on a park bench this one time because I was trying to save money- you know what? Never mind. We all had a really exciting gym battle-" Rose is giving me the look again so I correct myself, "-Rose had a very exciting gym battle, so I say you guys go out and enjoy yourselves."

As they turn to go, I stop Reginae with a pat on his head. "Hey. You're coming with me."

"Am I the errand?"

I nod. I pull out the TM. "Wanna do something fun?"
Reginae's nostrils expand as he looks at the shimmery item in my hand and the two of us walk just out of town, where the wild Pokemon are located. "Wait. If your tail is a stump the size of a pea, how do you use Iron Tail?" I ask, finally stopping and leaning against a nearby tree.

Reginae frowns. "No idea. There are plenty of Pokemon like Doduo who can fly and only Ditto, the Wynaut line, Magikarp, and a handful of other gimmicky trash Pokemon can't learn Toxic, so I guess the only rules are that there basically are no rules."

"I'm sure there are plenty of arbitrary criteria." I tell him. "Who cares! Let's boot this baby up!" I quickly withdraw Reginae, boot up the TM, and then release him again. "Feel any different?"

He swings his tail in a sharp line and I jump out of the way. A bright silver trail with a metallic hue follows the arc of his stumpy tail at an astounding speed and there's a crack just behind me. The tree nearest us falls over, cleanly missing us and falling right to the right of us. The branches spread out and conveniently block off the exit.

"Darnit!" Reginae mutters. "Okay. I can get us out of here. Just-"
I hold him back with a single hand. "Don't even think about it. We're going to climb over the tree trunk like normal, civilized human beings and join the others. I could really use some ice cream just about now." I jump the trunk and skirt my way around with bemused excitement.
"Do you think they'll have pistachio?" Reginae asks, pushing himself up and over the tree.

"How old are you, sixty?" I ask. "Who eats pistachio ice cream willingly?"

"I have some sentimental memories from back in the lab." he says a bit wistfully. "Elm used to buy entire gallons of ice cream when he was under severe stress and we would try to sneak it out from his freezer. He never noticed the pistachio because he always bought it when he was really drunk, so that was what we ended up eating most of the time." I snicker, and he retorts, "Hey! I never complain about your creepy obsession with pancakes, do I?"

I roll my eyes. "Pancakes remind me of someone. They make me feel like I'm back at New Bark. The first New Bark." I correct myself quickly. "You know... with Ethan."

Reginae mutters, "Have you been having more dreams?" He shuffles his big feet a bit. I still feel intensely guilty about the flashing from just a few nights ago and yet he doesn't seem to hold a grudge at all. I shake my head. "No. Doesn't mean I'm not still worried. Whatever happened to him, I can't shake the feeling it might have to do with-" I think of Lilly's death by the lake, the red Gyarados, Team Rocket; I can almost feel the pain I felt when I was close to the signal pulsing through my chest. "Arceus. Let's just go get ice cream."

(Hey so guess who's about to get into the endgame plot? We are!)