The gym’s air conditioner blessed Catherine with a burst of cool as soon as she entered, and completely blew away the sluggishness the heat outside bogged her down with not moments before. She nodded politely to a vaguely familiar gym trainer that stood by the entrance, her eyes already searching for Morty -

“Magical Leaf!”

Her gaze landed on a Meganium instead as it summoned iridescent leaves and whipped them at Gengar on the battlefield, and [i]oh[/i], well alright then. It’d been awhile since she’d seen a battle without taking part in it - Goldenrod, maybe? Azalea certainly - and it felt more than a little odd to be outside of those chalked lines, that invisible bubble with just you and the leader and your Pokémon as you blocked out the crowd’s existence. The bleachers were a bit too crowded for her liking, so she just snuck over and stuck to the sidelines with the rest of the stragglers - murmured to the man in the floral patterned jacket next to her, “how many badges?”

He glanced at her sidelong for a moment, and she couldn’t tell if he was glaring at her or if it was just the Sinnoh blue being as cold as ever. “It’ll be his fourth.”

“Huh.” Her fingers toyed with her bat strap. “Think he’ll get it?”

The man just shrugged. “He’s on the ace, why not?”

Morty appeared calm as his Gengar somersaulted and twirled through the leaves in all its round, voluptuous glory - but Catherine could still see the small smile on his face, and past that a sort of giddiness that might’ve just been a trick of light and distance scheming together. He raised one hand and flicked his wrist, called out, “Shadow Ball!”

The challenger - couldn’t be older than Catherine, eyes blazing and teeth bared in an excited, boyish grin - just squeezed his fist and roared, “Leech Seed!”

As the Gengar gathered up bits of shadow, the Meganium pitched a seed the size of a baseball and bopped the ghost right on forehead - split the shell open and covered the ghost in vines as it wiggled futilely. It still chucked the Shadow Ball at least, but it only did so much with the pitiful amount of power put into it.

This wasn’t a matchup the Meganium was supposed to win, honestly. Catherine admittedly hadn’t been fighting as many trainers along the road as she should’ve been and never actually got so far as to fight a Meganium, but she’d still fought enough of the Chikorita line to know that their offensive skills were more than a touch lacking even when not compared to a Gengar. Not to mention, if the best attack it had was still resisted by Gengar - because honestly now, why else use Magical Leaf against a Poison type? Kid must’ve known the sub-typing if he got this far - [i]and[/i] the fact that if Morty really wanted, he could just get the ghost to wisp out and drop the Leech Seed, well, it became glaringly obvious just how much the leaders held back even on the fourth badge.

Honestly it made her wonder just how much Chuck was pulling his punches. She’d probably be better off just not thinking about it too hard.

The kid apparently got a clue after that round, went to recall his Meganium but the turn wasn’t quite over -

Morty didn’t pull [i]all[/i] the punches. “Sludge Wave!”

Catherine couldn’t hear herself think as the Gengar sent forth a wave of purple toward plant just a little too late and the crowd howled, as the mob mentality got to her and she squeezed her fist in anticipation. The Meganium was tanky enough survive one at full health, but she doubted it with the extra Shadow Ball and whatever else Morty had tossed at it before she arrived.

A Dodrio made its way in and nearly slipped on the leftover sludge, the three heads swinging around like a top on gangly necks. Its tail feathers rustled and spread out like a fan - an act of balancing and intimidation that the Gengar didn’t seem to care for, if the razzberry and eye pulling were any indication. (At least Circe wasn’t the only one to do it.)

The trainer waited just long enough for the bird(s?) to steady themselves before going forth. “Pursuit!”

Morty’s grin grew a little bigger. “Thunderbolt.”

The Gengar cringed a little as the vines from the Leech Seed constricted, but it still raised a stubby arm and pointed up as the air crackled around it -

And then the Dodrio dashed forward and leapt into the air and straight up bodyslammed it, threw up a cloud of dust that got Catherine coughing. When it settled, however, the Gengar lied on its back with a frown and a groan. It still had enough to apparently kicks its legs in the air but then it flopped back down again, smoke trailing off its body and vanishing in the sun. Morty recalled it before it could vanish completely but it sure beat the ear piercing screeches of Circe pulling dramatics. Or, well, less dramatics.