In about two years, maybe less or maybe more, there will be a Grand Festival between Coordinators and Trainers. As an invitee, Terrance was quite interested in the perks mentioned by the other party.
Gyms also need to be run properly. If the management is poor, hardly anyone will visit, and eventually, the Gym could lose its qualification during the League's evaluation. Very few Gym Leaders focus solely on being Gym Trainers; most Gym Leaders have a side job—or rather, a primary job—that often helps attract people to the Gym.
"If the future Fallarbor Gym's Badge could be recognized like a Ribbon, even if it only allowed participation in the Hoenn region's Grand Festival, it wouldn't be any less than the Wallace Cup in some sense… After all, the conditions to challenge a Gym are much simpler than entering the Wallace Cup. Anyone can challenge a Gym whenever they want."
However, to receive such treatment, Terrance himself would need to be on par with Wallace in terms of value. Everything depends on whether the benefits Terrance can bring to the Pokémon Contest are comparable.
A Gym with fully booked appointments every day would surely receive more resources from the League compared to one that's practically deserted.
This is why he believes it is necessary for him to participate in the Grand Festival.
Terrance had also considered making the Gym's type Flying, since both Altaria and Beautifly are Flying-type Pokémon. However, Fortree Gym already had a significant reputation in Hoenn. Competing with an established Gym would surely come with its own challenges.
A Gym of the same type, whether intended or not, would inevitably lead to comparisons, which will inevitably lead to a lot of trouble.
Terrance shook his head. Bug-type would be better as Hoenn didn't have a Bug-type focused Gym, so starting a Bug-type Gym in Fallarbor would be much easier.
"Rina, what are you doing?"
Terrance snapped back to reality and suddenly noticed Rina, propping her head on her hands, staring outside through the window.
"So boring," Rina said with a bored expression. She sighed, "Brother Terrance, let Beautifly come out and play with me."
"With it around, I don't have to worry about running into any danger!"
"Not today," Terrance rejected her.
Counting the days, Beautifly had already been monopolized by Rina for three days, running around with her almost every day.
Terrance sighed. He wondered if Rina's childhood dream of becoming a police officer like Officer Jenny, someone who helps others, was even real.
Maybe it had something to do with her early childhood experiences, but even though Terrance knew about her dream, he hadn't seen her put in any effort…
It would be good enough if she doesn't cause trouble for others!
"No!" Rina turned her head away. "I want to play with Beautifly."
"This afternoon, Beautifly and I need to take care of some things," Terrance said helplessly.
"Ah… Then let Altaria play with me."
"Hmm… Castform works too, or maybe Mismagius… Anyway, as long as it's not that big dumb dog, any Pokémon is fine," Rina nodded seriously, giving herself a mental thumbs-up for her cleverness.
Arcanine looked too scary; last time, it almost crushed Brother Terrance!
"..." Terrance.
"No, this afternoon you're coming with me to do investigation in the forest," Since she spent all her time playing, Terrance finally decided to give Rina something to do.
"Investigation?" Rina looked confused.
"To the forest up north," Terrance said.
"Okay!" Rina said excitedly.
…..
…..
After packing everything up, by the afternoon, Rina was already eagerly waiting outside Terrance's room. Terrance casually tossed a notebook and a pen to her and instructed, "You'll be in charge of taking notes."
"Uh..." Looking at the notebook and pen, Rina nodded and softly asked, "Take notes of what?"
"I'll tell you when the time comes. For now, just stay close to me," Terrance replied.
"Okay… But Brother Terrance, it's alright if my handwriting is a bit messy, right?" Rina asked cautiously.
Seeing Rina looking so unreliable, Terrance thought for a moment and said, "As long as you can read it yourself and there aren't any spelling mistakes."
Rina hadn't received formal education in a basic school, and she had only learned to read thanks to some brief teachings from Grandma Arlan and Terrance. But writing simple words and using them correctly shouldn't be a big problem for her.
The forest north of Fallarbor Town, which Terrance preferred to call Fallarbor Woods, had been a favorite training spot for him and Beautifly in the past.
Terrance was already familiar with the forest's outer area, and he also had a month's worth of experience from spending time with Swablu in the deeper parts of the woods. Now, coming back with Rina with a different mindset, he felt quite nostalgic.
"Mismagius, Beautifly, I'll leave the task of finding Wurmple to you two."
"Mis~magius~"
"Bea~utifly~"
The two Pokémon nodded. As soon as they entered the forest, they immediately flew away from Terrance and Rina's side.
That's right. Upon entering Fallarbor Woods, Terrance wanted to survey the environment around Fallarbor Town to see if there were any suitable Bug-type Pokémon species.
He also planned to observe the growth and potential of the Bug-type Pokémon near Fallarbor Town and see if there was a chance to capture one or two with decent potential as substitute Gym Pokémon.
If the Gym was established and running normally, and the Gym Leader wasn't slacking off, they would likely face many challenges every day. So, the number of Pokémon naturally couldn't be too small. Terrance had seen firsthand how Mr. Norman's Petalburg Gym was raising dozens of Normal-type Pokémon.
Although a newly established Gym couldn't compare to Petalburg Gym in scale, it would be too shabby if Terrance only had his Beautifly in charge of it.
Bug-type Pokémon grow quickly, but most of them have ordinary talents and are at the bottom of the food chain. Their large numbers and rapid breeding are among their few advantages. Finding a few outstanding Bug-type Pokémon among so many to serve as Gym Pokémon wouldn't be an easy task.
So Terrance had no choice but to spend his free time surveying the nearby area, making sure to gather at least six basic Bug-type Pokémon before the Gym faced official evaluation from the League.
"Beautifly counts as one. According to the League's regulations for Gyms, a newly established Gym must have at least six Pokémon of the corresponding type. Right now, I'm far from that."
"And the first batch of Pokémon can't be too mediocre. I'll need to invest effort into their training and potential. Otherwise, I'll only be making things harder for myself in the future…"
"Brother Terrance, there's a Wurmple over there!" Rina suddenly tugged at Terrance's sleeve, pointing at a red figure on a tree, who was munching on leaves.
Wurmple, much like a caterpillar, had large eyes and a body covered in sharp spines for defense against predators. Most Wurmple's main food is leaves, which indirectly indicated its low status on the food chain.
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