Unaware of Marie's inner turmoil, Yuri carried on as usual. That night, when it came time to sleep, she gave up her own bed to the Pokémon and cheerfully climbed under Marie's covers like always.

The next day,

Having successfully received the confirmation email for their Gym Challenge, the two girls resumed their training routine.

The Water Gym required a three-on-three format, so this time, Marie planned to field Chuchu, Silk, and Eevee. Since Baru had fought in the last match, she swapped him out for Eevee to keep things balanced.

As for training, Marie briefly considered visiting Sonia. Her Milotic's strength was nothing short of terrifying in fact, far above average. Marie felt that even if Baru and Eevee teamed up, unless they worked flawlessly together, they'd still likely lose.

After all, according to Sonia, her Milotic had once battled alongside her in the days when they faced off against none other than Champion Leon.

But Marie shelved the idea for now. The disparity in strength across her team was something she needed to address. She made a mental note to call Sonia when she had time, but for today, her focus was on Chuchu.

Based on the data she'd gotten from Sonia, Chuchu who had already learned Peck shouldn't be far from evolving. He had been getting plenty of nutrition lately, too.

His evolution would come down to timing and his own readiness.

Marie considered telling him, but decided against it. She didn't want him getting too excited and overexerting himself. She had originally debated whether or not to let him participate in this challenge at all.

Technically speaking, the best course of action was to hold off on using Chuchu until they reached Motostoke again. That was when his full recovery plan would be complete. According to the schedule, he shouldn't have stepped onto the battlefield until the Motostoke Gym.

But this little guy how should she put it? He might talk a lot of nonsense, but it was clear he wasn't content being just a mascot who consumed resources without contributing.

Chuchu, who wasn't great at hiding his emotions, came across more and more like a tsundere to Marie these days. A loudmouthed one, sure and not the right gender either but still.

So, taking his feelings into account, she finally decided to let him fight in this challenge.

A Flying-type going up against Water-types didn't involve any major type advantages or disadvantages. So there was no need to force him to learn cross-type moves for now. Just focusing on mastering his current Flying-type techniques would be enough.

"Alright, calm down, Chuchu."

Marie held out her hand, and Chuchu fluttered over, landing neatly in her palm. She gave his chubby cheeks a quick pinch and said,

"I'm not going to put you through intense physical training over the next few days. It's not enough time to see drastic improvements. So the plan is practical battles. Your opponents are going to be these three."

She gestured at Baru, Eevee, and Sirfetch'd.

Convincing Sirfetch'd had been easier than expected. Maybe because he'd been munching on a lot of Marie's Pokéblocks lately. The moment he heard he was needed for training, he agreed without hesitation.

"Chuchu?! You want me to fight them?!"

Chuchu was so startled his speech pattern changed. His feathers puffed up, making him look twice his usual size.

"Relax. It's not like they're going to beat you to a pulp. This is about helping you consolidate the moves you've already learned and giving you space to push yourself. These three are the only ones who can keep up with you and still go easy on you."

There were other strong Pokémon in the team, but these three were the best suited to guide him without overwhelming him.

"…Alright then! I'll give it a try!"

Marie gently pressed down on his now nearly puffed-out form, smiling as she rubbed his plump little body.

"At the start of Tailwind, don't max out your speed right away. You still can't fully react at that pace. Take this chance to get used to it gradually."

She could tell just by how long they'd been together. Not noticing something so obvious would've been a failure on her part as a Trainer.

"Don't worry. I promised to be your Trainer, and that means I'll never leave you behind."

Chuchu gazed quietly at her smile, determined to etch this moment into his memory forever.

They discussed their training plans as they strolled once again down Route 5.

To give Chuchu space, Marie and Yuri agreed to train a little farther apart today. The idea was to provide Chuchu with a clear area to move freely.

The first opponent was Eevee. While she lacked raw speed, her ability to project psychic energy during combat allowed her to track Chuchu's movement no matter where he attacked from.

At present, Chuchu's speed still couldn't beat Eevee's reflexes. So to land a clean hit, he'd need to master control over his own speed accelerating while still keeping up with his own intentions.

Of course, per Marie's instructions, Eevee would be holding back. Otherwise, Chuchu wouldn't land a single blow, no matter how agile he was.

After laying out the key focus for the session, Marie left the strategy up to Chuchu. That, too, was important. It might be early, but she wanted to instill independent thinking in battle. Letting him rely on her for every decision would only lead to future problems.

Chuchu didn't mind. As soon as training began, he activated Tailwind.

This time, however, he didn't unleash its full effect all at once. Though still a bit clumsy, he managed to hold the speed boost at roughly half of his max.

He soared into the air and looped in a few tight turns before lowering himself to address Eevee.

"Chuchu~ (Mind if I try a warm-up round first, senpai?)"

"Vee~ (Of course. That's what training's for. Let's go.)"

"Chuchu!"

Flapping hard, Chuchu suddenly climbed into the air, then whipped around and dove straight at Eevee from the side.

For this first attempt, he didn't use a Flying-type move, but instead went with a multi-hit Normal-type one.

Though the individual strikes were weak, the multiple hits gave him more flexibility to react during the attack perfect for practice.

He'd heard Marie repeat the phrase "gradual progress" at least ten times already today, so he figured he'd better follow her advice and start with something manageable.

Marie took out her Rotom Phone and set it to record, then waved over Baru and Sirfetch'd, who were sparring nearby, before walking toward Yuri's side.

Earlier, Silk had been training with Yuri's Pokémon, and Marie's plan was to have her continue sparring with them today.

With Baru and Eevee keeping watch on the other side, Marie could step away for a bit and check on how Silk was doing.

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