Boom… Boom Boom… Boom Boom Boom…
Colorful fireworks exploded in the sky. Early in the morning, the residents of Shadownight Town were awakened by the lively sound of celebratory cannons.
Before 7 a.m, the central street of Shadownight Town was already packed with people.
Starting several years ago, word had spread that Shadownight Town had been selected as one of the undeveloped cities where a new Gym would be built, which thrilled everyone.
But after waiting and waiting, several years passed with no further news released.
Just as people were beginning to forget about it, the Pokémon League announced that the Gym Leader for Shadownight Town had finally been selected.
At the same time, construction began on the reserved core plot of land for Shadownight Gym. But that construction lasted nearly a whole year.
It could be said that ever since the intent to build the Gym was made public, Shadownight Gym had captured the hearts of everyone in town.
Just look at neighboring Ecruteak City and Olivine City; once they got their own Gyms, their development skyrocketed. It made the residents of Shadownight green with envy.
Over the past year of construction, the idle townsfolk had spent countless hours rehashing the news that the Gym Leader had already been chosen.
But the Gym Leader… just wouldn't show up!
Eventually, the people of Shadownight gave up. 'You do whatever you want, we don't care anymore… Whatever. We're done waiting on you, man.'
And then… the Gym Leader arrived.
"Hey hey hey, do you guys think maybe the Gym Leader is just really ugly, so he kept delaying and refused to show up?"
In the boisterous crowd, someone boldly speculated, just to earn a curious glance from a nearby pretty girl.
"No way. I heard the Gym Leader has a huge background. People had to beg him to come, and he just strolled in lazily. No one even knows how long he'll stay."
Another bootlicker couldn't take that and quickly covered his mouth while still speaking loudly enough for everyone to hear, spreading some rumor he didn't even remember the source of; sure enough, it got the pretty girl's attention.
At that moment, he felt like he had conquered the world!
"That's not right! Sato only started his journey last year. He even studied with my grandpa for a while. Back then, he was… only a little better than me!" A pink-haired little brat jumped into the conversation, face full of pride.
"Who's Sato? Who are you? Huh? That old man looks kinda familiar…" Bootlicker One interrupted the kid in annoyance, but when he saw the white-bearded old man behind her, he suddenly felt like he'd seen him somewhere before.
"Le… LEADER HOWARD!?"
"Who did you say? Leader Howard from Goldenrod City? Where?!"
A commotion spread through the crowd. Howard saw that his precious granddaughter was about to get separated by the pushing people and was about to use force to suppress them, when the pretty girl had already thrown out a Poké Ball.
"Flygon, light Bug Buzz!"
Bzzt bzzt bzzt…
The shrill sound of Bug Buzz completely drowned out the surrounding noise. The once-chaotic crowd had no choice but to cover their ears and freeze in place.
Seeing this, Howard quickly pulled his granddaughter Whitney close and gave a grateful nod to the pretty girl.
Once the buzzing faded, Flygon hovered quietly behind her. The crowd naturally parted, she was clearly a powerful Trainer.
Bootlicker One and Two both gulped silently and shrank back into the crowd, not daring to make a sound.
"Woa! your Flygon is so pretty~ Can I pet it?" Whitney's voice was sugary sweet, instantly charming Flygon's Trainer.
"Of course you can. Even though Flygon is a Dragon-type Pokémon, they're very gentle. There are even reports of them guiding lost travelers out of the desert, they're really friendly."
"Mhm! My name's Whitney. What's your name~?" Whitney said happily as she stroked Flygon's smooth scales.
"Me? You can just call me Ryoko."
"Hi, Ryoko!"
"Good girl! Are you here to see Sato? When did he get a little sister? I didn't even know," Ryoko said with a laugh as she stroked Whitney's pink hair.
"I'm not really his sister. Sato just trained with my grandpa for a while. Grandpa told me to call him that," Whitney replied honestly, not hiding anything.
"I see…"
"Ahem, I'm Whitney's grandfather, Howard. Listening to you chat with my granddaughter, do you know Sato too?" Howard stepped forward, smiling brightly.
Ryoko was momentarily stunned by how happy the old man looked. But a grandpa with his granddaughter… he probably wasn't a bad person.
"Sato and I were travel companions before. I came this time because I got an invitation too."
"Really?! That's wonderful!" Howard lit up. He stepped in front of Ryoko, excited and a bit aggrieved. "Whitney and I left Goldenrod City nearly a month ago to get to Shadownight Town. There's no direct transport between the two, and these old bones are tired."
"There's no direct route from Goldenrod, but there are ones to Olivine and Ecruteak. From there, you could transfer and make it here easily," Ryoko said, blinking in slight confusion.
"Grandpa and I went to Ecruteak first, but then we took the wrong bus. Grandpa's super bad with directions…" Whitney quickly added.
"Hey, that's not true! In Ecruteak, you were the one giving directions!" Howard glared at her, his old face turning red.
"You asked me, so I just guessed. You're my grandpa, so if I'm bad with directions, I must've inherited it from you! Nyeh!" Whitney shot back without missing a beat.
"I'm your grandpa, not your dad!"
"My teacher said that's called skipping-a-generation inheritance. My dad doesn't get lost."
"Ryoko, you're not bad with directions, right? Please help us, take us to Sato's Gym. If we follow Grandpa, we'll miss the opening ceremony for sure!" Whitney tugged on Ryoko's hand and swayed back and forth, pleading.
Ryoko blinked, stunned for a long while before muttering, "So you and your grandpa… took a whole month just to get from Ecruteak to Shadownight Town?"
"Yeah, yeah!"
"No, we didn't!"
"Ahem, I'll take you to the Gym. When you meet a guy named Mark, you two might get along great," Ryoko said with a smile. She took Whitney's hand and gave a nod to Howard, then walked away from the crowd, who made way for them.
"Why? Is Mark really… cute?" Whitney's voice trailed off in the distance, getting quieter and quieter…
"Because…" Ryoko's voice was already too far for anyone to hear.
"Because… don't tell me Mark's also bad with directions?" someone in the crowd suddenly muttered, making everyone simultaneously picture a certain someone.
Good grief… they've all become big shots now!