To take advantage of Everette's private training room, Gabriel decided to temporarily move into the Jin Capital Gym. With two months left before the start of the semester at Jindu Academy, he figured it was the perfect opportunity to focus on intensive training—especially for Kaka.
Unknowingly, over a month had flown by, and during that time, both Dratini and Kaka had made significant progress.
Kaka's improvement, in particular, was remarkable. From only being able to last three minutes in training at first, he could now complete the basic-level routines with ease. Gabriel was so impressed that he even called in Everette to observe Kaka's training firsthand.
After careful observation, Everette offered a plausible explanation. Kaka possessed a rare form of psychic ability (Psychic Power) that allowed him to detect opponents' weaknesses instinctively. During training, this ability also enabled him to sense incoming attacks—even from his blind spots—and dodge them with uncanny precision.
Even Everette, a seasoned Gym Leader, was astonished by Kaka's innate gift. He even half-jokingly suggested studying Kaka further—but was quickly stopped by Gabriel before Kaka became the subject of someone's research project.
That experience sparked an idea in Gabriel's mind. If Kaka's abilities could be trained to extend across an entire area, then he could potentially monitor all enemy movement within that zone. Combined with his knack for pinpointing weaknesses, Kaka would become a formidable force in battle.
But while Kaka was thriving, Dratini wasn't having such a great time.
Despite his speed, Dratini's movements were clumsy. His lack of physical control meant he was frequently smacked around by the rebound balls during agility training. No matter how hard he tried to dodge, his scores remained unimpressive. In fact, by the end of the session, he barely passed.
What Dratini didn't expect was that Kaka—the new guy—would outperform him. As the team's longtime ace, that stung. He brooded over it for quite some time, and Gabriel could only try his best to console him.
But deep down, Gabriel was thrilled. Who would've thought that Kaka's arrival would reignite Dratini's competitive spirit? Lately, Dratini had been slacking off, but ever since Kaka joined, he'd started pushing himself harder again.
A little internal competition really might be the key to their growth, Gabriel mused.
Now he just had to figure out how to stir the pot a little more—nothing too serious, just enough to keep Dratini and Kaka pushing each other. Honestly, this method worked a lot better than nagging them to train. Dratini hadn't even complained once about being tired in days.
And just like that, the two months of training came to an end.
Half a month before the new semester began, Gabriel received his official acceptance letter from Jindu Academy. With that, he said his goodbyes to Everette and made his way to the campus to complete his registration.
To leave a strong impression from the start, Gabriel had even prepared a custom outfit: a signature Red-style trainer jacket, modeled after the legendary Trainer Red. It was his ultimate symbol of strength and aspiration.
After all, who didn't dream of being like Red—battling Bruno with Charizard's flaming fists and taking on Me two head-on with nothing but sheer willpower?
Adjusting his cap, Gabriel stepped away from the Jin Capital Gym.
From this moment on, his journey as a Pokémon Trainer was truly beginning.
he would become a legend—no matter what.
Finding Jindu Academy wasn't hard. After registering at the front gate, Gabriel waited outside as instructed—apparently, someone familiar would be coming to show his around.Dean Roland had arranged it but hadn't said who it would be.
"Someone familiar?" Gabriel muttered. "I don't know anyone here, though…"
Just as he was lost in thought, a familiar voice snapped him back to reality.
"Gabriel? Is that really you?"
he looked up in surprise.
"james? What are you doing here?"
he hadn't expected to run into anyone he knew, but he had a good impression of James—a solid Trainer and a strong opponent. It turned out he had joined Jindu Academy as well.
"I mean, I was aiming for one of the top academies... but then I ran into you, remember? You wrecked my whole ranking," he said with an exasperated sigh.
scratched his head awkwardly. Honestly, James had the skills to make it into a better academy, but it was his fault he ended up here.
"Still," James continued, "you could've gone to a top school like Kyoto Academy or Modu Academy. Why'd you come here instead?"
Gabriel shrugged and explained.
"I worked things out with Dean Roland. Here, I'll get a lot more support—more than I'd get at a bigger academy, where I'd just be another student in the crowd. This was the better choice for me."
James nodded. It made sense. Still, he couldn't help but feel a little bitter. he had choices. I didn't.
But he quickly got over it, slapping him on the shoulder.
"Well, since we're classmates now, let's swap contacts. If you ever run into any trouble, just hit me up. I've got your back."
After exchanging contact info, Gabriel asked out of curiosity, "So… which academy did your brother end up going to? I know he didn't win the championship, but with his performance, he should've had options, right?"
"My brother? He went to Modu Academy. Our family has connections there, and he'll get better development in that environment. Don't let his carefree attitude fool you—losing to you really got to him. He's been training hard, hoping to take you down in a rematch."
That hit Gabriel like a bolt of lightning.
he still remembered how close that battle was. he'd thought his Dynamaxed Dratini had the match in the bag—but Pat was a beast. Even with all that power, he only narrowly won.
James grinned, clearly hyped.
"How about a rematch? These past two months, my Scyther and I have been training nonstop. We're not gonna lose so badly this time!"
Gabriel groaned internally. So that whole friendly chat… had just been a warm-up for a challenge?
Yup. he'd walked right into it.
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