Rustboro Gym, Hoenn Region
Julian, Rustboro Graduate
[Stream Title: "Wally vs Roxanne (Official Gym Match!)][Live Viewers: 22][Channel: TinkerCam.EXE | Host: Tinker]
The lens panned across the battlefield with smoothness that comes with experience, especially for a Pokédex possessed by a ghost, it was truly a sight to behold.
Julian still wasn't sure how Wally had convinced a Rotom-mischievous by nature, fond of chaos and kitchen appliances, to settle into something as utilitarian as a Pokédex. Most people didn't bother with Rotom at all. Too many blown fuses. Too many broken gadgets. Too much giggling at inopportune times.
But watching it now, humming gently as it caught the overhead lights just right, Julian had to admit: it was working. Somehow, it was really working.
Of course, the real reason was obvious.
Green-haired. Soft-spoken. Always more prepared than he looked.
Wally.
A Rotom that actually helped instead of hindered? That tracked the light and stabilized the feed with professional expertise? That was exactly his style.
Still... Julian hadn't expected this.
"Didn't think he'd start streaming," he muttered, eyeing the minimalist overlay. "Most streams I've seen are just people speedrunning puzzles or ranking berry smoothies. This feels like... a live documentary."
Rotom spun in midair with flair. "Correct! TinkerCam.EXE is the future of League broadcasting! Sparkle! Commentary! Emotional resonance!"
Julian raised an eyebrow. "You mean Wally doing something different?"
"Exactly! Most rookies are too scared to stream their first badge match live. But Wally?" The camera zapped a lightning-shaped heart on screen. "He's got style. And Tinker is the best camera-ghost in Hoenn!"
Julian glanced at the stream tab. The chat was already heating up:
[MomDotCom]: Is it starting? Don't forget to breathe! Wally![WandaSings]: BRIAR MY FLORAL PRINCESS💐[SparkyShock]: LET'S GOOOOO 🌩️💚[Magik_42]: wait he's streaming his FIRST badge match?? this is cinema.[CoolTrainerZach]: reminds me of the time I got my first badge. totally dominated.[TheNemesis404]: maybe in your dreams.[CoolTrainerZach]: HEY!!
Julian chuckled. "Only twenty-two viewers, but they're fired up."
"Quality over quantity!" Rotom chirped. "Wait until the Feebas moment, it's gonna spike viewership!"
Julian glanced over. "Spoilers."
"Oops! Just speculation!"
The camera hovered near Wally's side now. The boy stood still, composed, eyes narrowed in focus.
Julian's voice softened. "He asked for her elite team, didn't he?"
Rotom beeped once. "Affirmative. Roxanne usually sends out a pair of Geodude and Nosepass for first-time challengers. Not this time."
Julian's brows rose. "That's bold."
Roxanne's elite team wasn't her tournament team, but for someone with zero badges, they were no joke.
"Calculated," Rotom replied. "Wally studied her patterns, reviewed all her match footage, and built a counter-strategy. He refused anything less than her best."
Julian leaned forward slightly as Wally raised a Poké Ball. Across the field, Roxanne stepped forward. The arena lights intensified. A faint buzz echoed from the intercom. The match was seconds away.
[DomeFossilStan]: HE ACTUALLY PICKED ROSALIA INTO ROCK??[PokeFan233]: toxic spikes OP trust[MomDotCom]: Do your best![WandaSings]: GO BRIAR GO 🌸🌿✨
Julian adjusted his scarf, smiling faintly.
"Alright, Wally," he murmured. "Let's see what you've got."
The battle began.
...
Emma, Housewife.
Emma sat back in her cozy armchair, the soft glow of the tablet screen lighting her face. She wrapped her hands around a mug of herbal tea, hoping it would calm her nerves.
Her son, Wally.
Always the sickly boy growing up, so fragile she sometimes wondered if he'd ever make it beyond the garden path.
And yet-there he was.
Streaming live from Rustboro Gym, back straight, shoulders squared, voice steady.
She swallowed a lump in her throat. "He seems calmer now," she murmured aloud, more to reassure herself than anything.
On screen, the camera panned to the battlefield. Wally stood opposite Roxanne, and his Roselia-Briar, twirled with elegant poise, petals shimmering in the harsh light as she scattered purple needles across the gym floor.
[WandaSings]: GO BRIAR GO 🌸🌿✨
[CoolTrainerZach]: Toxic Spikes? Bold opener!
[TheNemesis404]: Roxanne's team is tough, don't get cocky.
Emma smiled faintly. She recognized some of the usernames-Wanda was her niece, no surprise there. Sparky was Wally's friend. The others she didn't know, but their support quietly warmed her.
Then Graveler hit the ground like thunder, and her breath caught.
Dust burst up in a wave. Briar danced back, narrowly dodging a Rock Blast. The camera zoomed in just in time to show her countering with a burst of shimmering powder. Stun Spore.
Emma's fingers tightened around her mug.
She remembered the day Wally had come home after his internship at Mauville Gym. He'd looked different. Clearer somehow. Calmer, more self-assured. And then he said it, plain and soft:
"I want to go on a journey."
At first, Emma had thought it was just a young man's dream-a passing desire to chase the horizon before reality set in.
She'd opposed it vehemently. It was not safe at all for the boy to travel around due to his health.
Of course, her opposition was quickly overwhelmed by the support that Wally received. It was not only her father, but also her very own brother, who supported him.
She was shocked that John would support the boy, especially since she knew that he loved Wally just as much. Then, came the support from the Mauville gym, Wattson.
He personally talked to her, persuaded her that Wally was brilliant. He was mature enough to take care of himself.
It was comforting to know that her son had met such wonderful people. Still, in her heart, she was worried about her little boy.
But now, watching him command his partner with poise and strategy, seeing Graveler slow beneath the creeping vines of Giga Drain, she wondered if maybe, just maybe, she had underestimated him.
[Magik_42]: Is it just me, or is this Roselia cracked??
[PokeFan233]: Wally's reading her like a book. Dang.
[SparkyShock]: It's just like Wally to be so electrifying.
The crowd in the gym roared faintly through the stream's speakers as Graveler slumped to the ground, KO'd.
Emma blinked back tears. "You're doing it," she whispered, smiling through the knot in her chest. "You're really doing it."
Wally gave a slight bow toward Roxanne, then toward Briar, who held her pose like a dancer at curtain call.
Emma let out a slow breath.
There was still more battle ahead, Roxanne would have more tricks up her sleeve, but for the first time since the stream began, Emma leaned back just a little. Her shoulders softened.
He wasn't the same boy she used to tuck in with humidifiers and worry. He was growing into something else. Someone stronger.
Someone who, despite everything, had chosen this path and was walking it-step by step.
[WandaSings]: That's one down!!! 😤👏
[TheNemesis404]: Tbh I didn't expect him to go this hard. Respect.
Emma chuckled softly at the chat, setting her mug down with trembling hands. Then, she turned to type.
[MomDotCom]: Win or lose, I'm proud. Son.
...
Kirk, Music Enthusiast.
The lights dimmed just enough for the music to breathe.
Kirk adjusted his amp dials with the precision. Beneath him, the stream playing in his tablet shimmered with the tension of battle, but his eyes stayed half-lidded. He didn't need to see to know the rhythm, he felt it.
Kirlia stepped onto the field.
And the air changed.
"Right on cue," he muttered, resting his fingers on the frets. "Act Two."
He struck a minor chord, soft and spiraling, notes bending upward. This wasn't power. Not yet. This was control. Precision. Poise.
[BGM: "Dream Circuit - Variant II"]Composed by: Wally + KirkLive: Now
Kirlia dipped low, evading a Rock Tomb. The drums kicked in, snare rolls with a delay, just slightly behind the beat, echoing the near-misses.
Kirk remembered Wally sitting across from him in that tiny soundproof studio in Mauville, Ralts floating by his shoulder, speaking softly about melodies that flickered instead of gliding.
"Too clean," Wally had said. "Let the rhythm stumble and find its feet again."
And now? Kirlia was that rhythm, flickering, dancing, adjusting pace mid-step.
Kirk followed her with his guitar, weaving sound into motion. Chords layered over trembling synths. Soft enough to let the battle breathe. Sharp enough to remind the audience that anything could break at any moment.
[TempoMon]: BRO THE BGM JUST SHIFTED?? HELLO CINEMA???[RhythmRater]: This is legit choreography with instruments[Magik_42]: who's the composer?? no way this is default gym stuff[TinkerCam.EXE]: 😏🎸 credits roll at the end, bb
Kirlia turned her head just slightly. Her eyes flashed.
Disarming Voice.
Kirk snapped a harmonic, crystal-clear, ringing with echo. The crowd stirred. The note hung like glass in the air, balanced, shimmering,
Then shattered.
Psychic.
A distortion wave. Kirk slammed his pedal, and the clean chords twisted into something warped and dense. He let the low tones grind like gears. And below him, Nosepass dropped.
The music stopped.
No fade out. No slow retreat. Just… silence.
Letting the impact land.
The gym audience gasped. The stream chat erupted.
[RockTypeStan]: SHEESH nosepass DOWN[BattleSnob]: no way this is a rookie team[WattsonFanClap]: that key change though 😭😭😭[SparkyShock]: That wasn't just a battle. That was theater 🎭⚡️
Kirk let the guitar fall silent in his lap. His hand rested gently on the strings, absorbing their leftover hum.
He leaned back in his chair, watching Kirlia return to Wally's side. Both trainer and Pokémon carried the same calm, the kind that didn't need noise to prove itself.
He smiled.
"This kid's not just walking forward," Kirk murmured, repeating the words he'd thought weeks ago. "He's leaving behind a trail you hear even after he's gone."
He reached down and pressed a button on the mixer, saving the set file. He'd name this version of the track "Dream Circuit – Rustboro Edit."
And maybe… maybe add a solo next time.
Just a flicker of fire, under all that calm.
...
[POV: Sparky, Wally's Rival]
"Feebas?!" Sparky shouted at the screen, nearly spilling soda on her notebook. "You're sending in Pearl?!"
[NoobBlast]: ain't no way he pulled out a feebas
[TuffType]: man lost his mind
She bounced on the couch, limbs flailing in every direction. "They don't get it. They don't know Pearl. How can they trash her without seeing what she can do?"
[SparkyShock]: Wally always has a strategy. So, he is not gonna lose.
Cradily made its move. Giga Drain, clean, surgical. Pearl took it like a freight train.
Sparky winced. Her hand curled around the edge of her chair.
Please get up. Please, Pearl. Come on…
But Wally didn't blink. Didn't twitch. His voice came through the stream calm as ever.
WALLY: "Water Pulse."
The attack shimmered like moonlight. A ripple. A hit.
Then,
[Confused.exe]: wait did that CONFUSE??[WattsonLOL]: RNG GODS LIVE IN VERDANTURF[HaxQueen]: this is better than tv
Cradily reeled, off-balance. Its tentacles thrashed, sluggish from the confusion.
WALLY: "Flail."
Barely above a whisper. But Sparky caught the steel beneath it.
Pearl surged forward, tiny, tattered, and gleaming, the Focus Sash still clinging like a heartbeat. The Flail landed, true, desperate, defiant.
[HyperFangirl]: SASHHHHHHH[StoneBadgeDrop]: NO.[RoseRage]: THE.[RoseRage]: FISH.[RoseRage]: DID.[RoseRage]: IT.
Cradily crumpled.
Sparky screamed. She launched her pillow into the ceiling fan, threw both fists into the air, and shouted to no one in particular, "YES! YES! THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!"
The chat was going thermonuclear. Her fingers were already flying.
[SparkyShock]: LET'S GOOOOOOOO[SparkyShock]: PEARL IS QUEEN[SparkyShock]: y'all stay mad
She barely held herself from spamming the chat more.
"Wally has gotten stronger. Sash x flail combo, why didn't I think of that?" Sparky muttered as she watched the chat bombing,
The stream was already winding down. Rotom's voice counted down to the end. Wally didn't smile, didn't gloat, just gave the smallest nod, eyes steady as ever. Quiet.
But Sparky knew that look.
That was his victory face.
She looked at the badge case on her desk. Just one so far.
Wally had one now as well.
They were tied again.
"It's on," she grinned. "Time to crank up the volts."
[SparkyOfficial]: THAT'S MY RIVAL[BriarBloom]: pearl best fish fr[TinkerCam.EXE]: Stream ending in 3… 2… 1…
[Stream End]
...
Thanks for reading~