"Great work, Zorua!"
David watched the Zorua handle Lapras with ease and couldn't keep the praise out of his voice.
Not that the result had particularly surprised him. Setting aside the Aura Link entirely, if the arena hadn't been mostly water, Zorua would have won without needing any boost at all. Even with Lapras holding the terrain advantage, the match had stayed close to even through most of it — a drawn-out fight would have given Zorua a real shot regardless. Once the Aura Link was active, dragging it out any further was never really on the table.
What would have been the point of activating it otherwise?
Zorua heard the praise and made her way back to David's shoulder in a few quick bounds, using Confusion to ease the jump across the platform gap. She settled in as if that spot had always been hers — which, at this point, it more or less had.
"Let me introduce myself. I'm Chelsey, a Gym Trainer here at the Azure Wave Gym."
"Your Pokémon is... genuinely impressive. And so are you."
The Gym Trainer had recalled Lapras and handed the Poké Ball off to a nearby staff member before walking over to David with her hand extended. There was a slight pause before the second half of her sentence — a tell she probably didn't notice. David and Zorua's performance had landed harder than she'd expected, and it showed.
"David. I'm a student at Imperial City High School."
He shook her hand. "Your Lapras is really well-trained, by the way. That's not flattery."
It wasn't. Lapras had moved on a completely different level compared to the Dewgong and Cloyster Chelsey had used in the earlier rounds — sharper timing, better instincts, genuine trust between Trainer and Pokémon. And Lapras was still young. There was a lot more ceiling to reach.
Chelsey herself looked to be in her early twenties, fresh out of university by the look of her. Given her level as a Trainer, David guessed she had probably been a standout on a competitive university team — and landing a Gym Trainer position straight out of graduation suggested she had some existing connection to the Azure Wave Gym.
After a short exchange, David received what he had come for: his fourth Badge, the Azure Wave Badge.
The moment it settled into his hand, a system notification chimed quietly in the back of his mind. He blinked, a little startled, but didn't stop to read it. He wrapped up the conversation with Chelsey, said his goodbyes, and stepped out of the Gym.
Walking away, he felt a small twinge of disappointment. The Azure Wave Gym was well known for something beyond just battles — its water-based performance shows, staged inside the main arena, were reportedly spectacular. But with so many Gym staff reassigned to help organise the Sea God Festival, the shows had been suspended for the time being. That was unavoidable. A festival of that scale pulled resources from everywhere, and Gym Leader was almost certainly on-site already, overseeing preparations.
The Sea God Festival was a genuinely large event — open attendance, locals and tourists alike, drawing visitors from well outside the region. That alone made the logistics considerably more complicated than something like the Dragon Festival David's own family had hosted, which had taken place in a closed-off secret realm with a controlled number of participants. A waterfront festival open to the general public meant clearing high-risk Pokémon from the surrounding sea in advance, coordinating crowd management, preparing for the kind of incident that could turn a Pokémon surprise into a stampede. The preparation involved was on a completely different scale.
Honestly, if not for the requirement to keep the Gym open to challengers, Chelsey probably would have been reassigned too.
On a more positive note, Chelsey had mentioned during their conversation that special evening performances would be running throughout the festival, starting from opening night tomorrow. That was something to look forward to.
David's hotel — the Slowpoke Seaside Holiday Hotel, which he had booked ahead of the trip — was only a short walk from the Azure Wave Gym. Rather than heading straight back, he decided to take a detour to the beach nearby. The afternoon was still young, he had his Pokémon with him, and the sea was right there. Lunch by the water sounded like a fine idea.
The festival hadn't officially started yet, so while there were already a fair number of tourists along the waterfront, the beach wasn't anywhere near full. David and his team claimed a decent stretch of sand without too much trouble.
The weather was on their side. Winter sun hung low but bright, pushing back the chill more than it had any right to this close to February. In his old life — before his Aura had awakened and gradually rebuilt his physical condition from the ground up — David would have wanted nothing to do with outdoor plans in this kind of cold. He'd have been wrapped in a down jacket and looking for excuses to stay inside. Now he had just pulled on a hoodie over his usual clothes, and it was more than enough.
"Zorua! — I want grilled fish. Your grilled fish."
Zorua announced this the moment they arrived, before David had even had a chance to think about food. She made it sound as though this had already been decided some time ago.
"Sure. And the rest of you — what do you want?"
He glanced around at the others.
Kirlia's eyes lit up immediately.
"Kirlia! — Cream puffs! And butter cookies, and caramel pudding, and strawberry mille-feuille—"
David flicked her gently on the forehead before she could continue. She stopped mid-sentence, more startled than hurt.
"You can't have desserts for lunch. Pick two. That's the limit."
"Kirlia!" — She stepped forward and grabbed his arm with both hands, eyes going wide and glassy in what was, objectively, a very effective use of Charm.
"Overruled. Five minutes. Two choices. Think about it."
Kirlia released his arm, puffed up slightly, and retreated to one side to deliberate with great seriousness.
David watched her go and shook his head. A Kirlia with the makings of a formidable Gardevoir one day — reduced to agonising over which two desserts to pick. He only allowed the restriction because too many sweets genuinely weren't good for her, Pokémon or not. If she had her way at every meal, the sugar intake alone would be alarming by any standard.
Lucario, when asked, shrugged off the question of what exactly he wanted and said only that something with a bit of heat would be appreciated. Spice. That was the one criterion.
Shelgon claimed he was fine with anything. David looked at Shelgon's bulk, did a quiet mental calculation, and added several whole sheep — pre-processed — to the order without comment.
The hotel, conveniently, offered delivery service for guests using the beach nearby. A lot of vacationers had the same instinct to picnic by the water, so the option had been set up for exactly that. David placed the order through his Pokédex and settled in to wait.