Misty charged into the tunnel.
She snatched the heavy Poké Ball Ash had handed her, clearly feeling the faint tremors transmitting from within.
Even battle-crazed Pokémon felt pain.
"Leave it to me!" Misty's voice was taut. She turned and sprinted, her heels tapping a rapid rhythm against the damp rock as she made straight for the sideline emergency passage.
As a professional Water-type Trainer, seeing a Water-type Pokémon injured was unbearable for her.
Even if it was a Gyarados.
The heavy soundproof door slid open and shut behind her, cutting off the heavy atmosphere of the arena.
The lighting in the corridor was slightly brighter.
She hadn't taken more than a few steps when two figures blocked her path.
"Miss Misty?" Flint's deep voice resonated, his massive frame almost plugging the corridor.
Standing beside him was Lola. This lady, whose temperament was as gentle as water, also wore a look of concern on her face, her gaze falling upon the Poké Ball in Misty's hand.
"Uncle Flint? Aunt Lola?" Misty halted, somewhat surprised, but mostly anxious. "Gyarados is hurt badly, it needs immediate treatment!"
"Follow me, the emergency room is this way." Lola immediately turned to lead the way, her pace swift and her voice steady. "Misty, don't panic. Pewter Gym's first-aid equipment is top-tier."
Flint followed silently at their side, his gaze sweeping over the Poké Ball before landing on Misty's face. "That kid... how is his commanding?"
The door to the emergency room slid open silently, revealing cold metal instruments and soft healing lights inside.
A Chansey was already waiting with an equipment cart.
While it was impossible for a Nurse Joy to reside permanently at a Gym, given Pewter Gym's status and standing, acquiring a few Chansey was no issue.
Lola deftly took the Poké Ball. With a flash of red light, the massive Golden Gyarados appeared on the specialized alloy platform. Its lower jaw was twisted, blood oozed from its mouth and nose, and golden blood meandered across the cold metal table—a shocking sight.
"Lucky!" The Chansey immediately stepped forward, its palms glowing with a soft Heal Pulse that covered Gyarados's狰狞 wounds.
As Lola skillfully operated the instruments to connect the energy relief interfaces, she asked without looking up, her voice cutting clearly through the hum of the machinery:
"Misty, tell us about this Ash."
"Professor Oak entrusted him to Brock, but the Professor didn't say much. This child... how is his character?"
"Is he material worth polishing?"
Lola checked the data on the monitor... this Gyarados's level was truly impressive. It looked severely injured, but it was actually just superficial trauma.
Given a Gyarados's vitality, even without instrumental treatment, it would recover on its own after a period of rest.
Misty looked at the golden behemoth twitching in pain on the platform, then at Aunt Lola's calm profile and Uncle Flint's furrowed brows. A complex mix of emotions welled up within her.
She leaned against the cold wall and let out a long breath, as if sorting through chaotic thoughts.
"Him..." Misty began, her tone carrying a hint of exhaustion and an indescribable weirdness. "He is a monster in the making, through and through!"
"A monster?" Flint raised a thick eyebrow.
"Yes, a monster!" Misty nodded emphatically, her orange ponytail bobbing along. "Have you ever seen a rookie Trainer who can subdue an out-of-control Golden Gyarados, and command a Pikachu to treat it like a punching bag every day?"
"And somehow, that Gyarados gets beaten into total submission, acting as aggrieved as a big puppy!"
She recalled the 'suppression' scenes that had played out countless times in the forest, and the aggrieved way Gyarados would nuzzle Ash's pant leg. The corner of her mouth twitched involuntarily.
"And his tactics?" Lola's voice came through the hum of the instruments; she was focused on adjusting the parameters of the energy conduits, and the bleeding from Gyarados's wounds was slowly abating under the Heal Pulse.
"For a rookie, he has immense potential!" Misty spoke faster. "You saw it too—right at the start, he wanted to flood the entire 'Rock Core' with Water Gun to build a stage for Pikachu! Even though Brock saw through it and suppressed him..."
She paused, a complicated light flashing in her eyes:
"He has a strange 'understanding' of Pokémon. Not the kind of emotional understanding we have, but... it's hard to explain clearly."
"He's always muttering about 'Max IVs' or something... and he knows about Leon, Cynthia, and those Champions—speaks about them like an expert..."
"His goal is very clear: to become a Champion Trainer."
"...I think he has the ability."
Misty's voice lowered, her face feeling a bit hot.
The experience of being rendered speechless by a rookie calling her a "frog in the well" wasn't exactly glorious.
"Hmph, talking big, but didn't he go down in one tail swipe?" Flint crossed his arms, watching the gradually stabilizing Gyarados on the platform. "Professor Oak's judgment this time might be..."
Back in the day, Flint had wanted to be a Champion Trainer too.
Then he was schooled by the monster-like Elite Four... beaten until he wet his pants.
"No, dear." Lola interrupted him.
She straightened up and wiped a sheen of fine sweat from her forehead. Her gaze rested on Gyarados's eyes—though weak, they were no longer frantic. Within those crimson draconian eyes, beyond the pain, there remained a trace of calm?
A Gyarados's mania is its nature.
A Gyarados's growth is the gradual overcoming of its own nature.
As a professional Water-type Trainer, Lola was certain of this.
And this Golden Gyarados was working towards that goal; it was doing its utmost to maintain its rationality.
As the Golden Gyarados's Trainer, Ash hadn't despised or abandoned it because of its uncontrollability.
"He may be reckless, perhaps radical, but he has indeed grasped the core of Gyarados—Power and Obedience."
"Using greater power to suppress, and 'rewards' to guide."
"Simple, crude, but... effective. Especially for such a naturally violent giant beast."
"He is a qualified Trainer."
Lola turned her gaze to Misty, her expression warm and insightful. "Misty, are you afraid of him?"
Misty froze for a moment, then pouted and crossed her arms.
"Afraid? You must be joking!"
"I just think traveling with him is too exhausting, okay?!"
"Every day I'm on edge, terrified his Gyarados will go crazy again, or his Pikachu will set some forest on fire!"
Tsundere Misty... stubborn to the bitter end.
She paused, her voice dropping lower, carrying an awkwardness even she didn't notice. "However... to the 'partners' he recognizes, he really is... nothing to complain about..."
The hydraulic hiss of the heavy tunnel door opening signaled the entry of faint battle roar from the arena.
Brock's steady voice came through the PA system, echoing clearly in the corridor outside the emergency room:
"Challenger Ash, please send out your second Pokémon!"
Lola gently patted Misty's shoulder, her gaze cast toward the closed tunnel door as if she could see through the rock to the boy in the arena.
"The grinding of the rock has just begun. Will he reveal his sharpness, or break here..." A glint of expectation flashed in her eyes.
"Brock will give us the answer. Misty, go back and watch. As for this big guy,"
Lola pointed to the Golden Gyarados, whose breathing had evened out into a slumber. "Leave it to us."
Misty took a deep breath, cast one last look at the sleeping golden beast, and turned. Her orange ponytail inscribed a sharp arc as she sprinted back toward the heavy stone door, toward the battlefield and the answer.
A Golden Gyarados was indeed rare, but not rare enough to make a Gym Trainer harbor crooked thoughts.
_____
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