I make it back to them at around 5 and see Puff lazing about now in the sky, humming a beat to herself. Ian is looking fairly slim though and about half the width of previously. He is now working on his swords dance which is done quicker in this form. He looks faster than me at a run now but not quite my sprint. I smell a sweet scent and see a Spritzee in the area, finally answering my question on what that weird scent was.

"Glad to see at least one of you is working hard" I call out.

Puff just continues to laze around in the sky, on her back and floating like a leaf. I shake my head "Well have you at least come up with any flashy ideas? I might let you out of learning anything tomorrow if you have something good."

She perks up but keeps using tailwind to float over to me while releasing mist in the trail. She trills softly and shoots some mist in the air when she reaches me in an arch. "Not bad, I was thinking about using mist as well."

Ian floats over speedily "And you can practice your swords dance I guess, try to make fewer but bigger swords in a wider circle if you can and let the swords leak energy a bit." He spins and heads back to where he was just as quick. 

I feel like he just said ok but can't quite know for sure. It was static-y. 

"I'll focus on you for the rest of today, I think Ian lacks the skillset for this" she groans and turns to fly away.

"Well, we could just wait until strike week ends" I threaten. She needs to learn a bit more discipline but I can work with her until I can really know what she's saying. I'm willing to put up with a lot to earn the money needed to save my village from its pitiful existence. Money and power are the name of the game and I'll get used to her antics one day.

I work one-on-one with her running around to catch her when she runs off. She does it so that I can catch up like a game and I'm smiling when I catch her. It's fun like a game of tag. We make progress on the idea I have but my friends are in split between in-awe and underwhelmed as they get a demonstration of the final result.

"That's pretty stupid, it just shines a bit" Hannah criticizes.

"Come on I worked hard on that---Puff worked hard on that too" I say.

"I think it's great buddy. Hannah here just has been watching some TVs" Zac gives me a high five in acknowledgement.

"Other people have made these complex fairy disco balls in contests and you have what, a glittering fog" fairy TE+mist=glittering mist apparently.

"If I was you I'd at least make shapes with the mist, maybe a couple swords so Ian can hide a bit more" she offers. "My cuties are working on water and fire balls for a game of fetch. Fidough looks so cute running with his stubby legs" she goes and picks up said Pokemon and gives him a squeeze. 

"I'll see what I can do" I say, she is better at this than me but I don't think the catch idea sounds that exciting either. Just that I wouldn't have thought of it.

We talk about the other trainers and I hear that they have gone back into the forest for more berries. My stocks have been running low so I am thinking about it too. I hand feed Puff a pecha berry and oil Ian before I head to bed. This time I specify to Ian to make his swords look like him with his swords dance. It's not a true edit of the move only a visual difference at least.

Soon I'll be able to speak with him on the day of gym challenge supposedly, maybe even earlier.

Puff is still a couple days out on that front but it will be interesting to hear what she's been saying. I imagine her woeful voice about having to learn a new move and go to sleep in a good mood.

Over the next couple days I decide to still do periodic battles and make nothing but also not lose anything after having better luck. By the day before the challenge Puff has been able to make mist Ians by making the mist denser and even make them do swords dances in a slow fashion. The learning speed is on point but it is for everyone and the other trainers have been working hard too. I lose another 300 pokedollars to the ones waiting for after strike week and am getting out-paced on that front as I focus on visual effects. 

"Good work you two, tomorrow will be a challenge but we can figure it out" I've been having fun. I have played with them and trained beside them, running and doing some strength training with some push ups when I don't need to direct them any. I even figured out a method to get another planned team member. In the Pokémon center the touch screens have a trade function and I've been talking with another trainer who is in the right area. She says that she'll catch one for me if I can catch a galarian Ponyta for her.

That's what I'll do tomorrow and we will make the trade the day after my gym challenge. All in all its worked out. I feel ready and satisfied with my results until some loud mouth wakes me up the next morning. I slept in about 10 more minutes due to some particularly soft grass and I get startled as "I'm back Max, wake up because this time I'm going to crush you like a side character."

I get up and give the scrawny dark haired kid an evil glare. "Not now Stew, I have things to do today."

"No you don't, I asked those two over there and they say you have a gym challenge at 11 tonight and are going to catch a galarian Ponyta. In my calculations including a 3 hour nap you still have two hours of free time if everything takes as long as it possibly could" he says puffing out his chest.

"Well I'd prefer not to battle you again in my free time today. Try again tomorrow and DO NOT wake me up" I shove him away from our little campsite at his protests.

Finally he relents after 10 minutes more of convincing "I will be back tomorrow then for a battle at 8 sharp. Don't run away like a coward before then Max Bo or I'll keep chasing you."

I just nod and he walks away, did I just pick up a stalker? Was battling him really a bad move on my part? Not like it's a bad thing but it was annoying to not wake up naturally. Bad luck it is.

In a bad mood from being startled I go and chase after Puff a bit more aggressively and even pull Ian into it as I try to slice at her in her mist as she makes denser clouds and forms shadows around me. I hear a raspberry blow from behind me and slash a cloud once more before giving up. "I give up Puff, you win. Let's go catch that Pokemon I was telling you about and we can take a break."

This mist lingers but starts fading as talons grab onto my hair again. The mirror has come in hand and I now have a mohawk which looks pretty cool and I've always wanted one. She wants to change it but I have gotten a promise of only one hairstyle change every week from now on. Mohawk it is then for my first challenge.

Finding the Ponyta is easy but it runs away when it senses my intent. As if challenging me to chase it. Puff seems eager to be on the other end of the chase and helps me and slim Ian trap it. It slipped through our net a couple times and ran through at least 4 different battles but I tapped it with a ball and caught it. After all that effort I know its going to be a nice addition to the girl's team.

I release it and explain the situation which it doesn't like. When I mention that the girl can take care of it better than I can, it taps its ball and is still unsatisfied with my attempt to explain. I really want this Pokemon that I'm trading for and I'm sure it will all work out. Worst comes to worst it can just run away and find a herd in the wild to join. 

I force Puff into her pokeball such that she goes into a semi-stasis mode and I take a nap for 3 hours like Stew said while Ian watches over me. When I wake up its about 8 pm and my friends wish me luck and say that they'll go watch when it gets closer to the time for my battle.

I travel through the city to the gym and sit in a packed waiting room that thins out as it gets later. The gym runs all night but not everyone is willing to battle that late like I am. When I am called, I snap out of my trance where I was tapping my foot to Sweet Home Alabama as it repeated in my head and walk nervously to the door for the challenger entrance. "It's just the first one" I tell myself but it doesn't really work at calming me down. 

Can I just get rid of my nerves? Who really needs them anyways? 

My attempts to offload my jittery nerves goes unrewarded.