The "99 Wins" sign was a jagged piece of wood that looked like it had been hammered into the earth with pure, unadulterated spite. It stood in front of a training camp that smelled of sweat, high-protein kibble, and the kind of discipline that would make a G-Corp drill sergeant weep with joy.
"Ninety-nine," Gary mused, leaning against the fence. "Statistically, that's an anomaly. Either the trainers on this route are incredibly incompetent, or this AJ guy is running a localized sweatshop for Pokémon."
"It's a gym, Gary. An unofficial one," I said, hopping off my board. "And in this world, if you aren't at a Gym, you're at a camp. Let's see if he's a trainer or just a bully."
A boy with a whipped-back hairstyle and a sleeveless vest stepped out, cracking his knuckles. He looked at us like we were a pair of lost Pidgeys. "Challengers? You're just in time to be Number 100. I don't care about your rank or your fancy gear. Step onto the dirt or keep rolling."
"I'm up," I said, my voice dropping into that low, tactical register. "Regina from Viridian. One-on-one."
AJ smirked, reaching for a Pokéball. "AJ from nowhere. Go, Magneton!"
The three-way magnetic cluster hit the field, its hum vibrating in my teeth. **[Data Scan: Magneton - Class: Elite - Level 28]**.
### The Golden Reveal
I reached for my belt, but my hand hovered over Nugget and Glaceon. No. This was a psychological battle as much as a physical one. I needed someone who understood what it meant to be "discarded."
"Goldie, center stage!"
The shiny Charmander materialized in a swirl of golden light. Her scales caught the midday sun, reflecting a brilliant, metallic amber that made the dusty camp look like a palace.
Gary's jaw didn't just drop; it practically hit the floor. He stumbled forward, his eyes bulging. "Regina... what... *what is that?*"
"A Charmander," I said dryly.
"Don't 'A Charmander' me!" Gary yelled, pointing a trembling finger. "That's a Shiny. And look at the density of that flame! The scales! Where the heck did you find a specimen like that? How come you're so lucky?! I'm an Oak, and I haven't even seen a Shiny starter in the wild since I was five!"
I felt a surge of smugness so intense it should have been illegal. I couldn't exactly tell him that 'I poached it from the movie timeline because I knew the script,'* could I?
I felt a surge of smug satisfaction, but I kept my face neutral. "I didn't 'trip' over her, Gary. I rescued her from a trash heap named Cross."
"Cross?" AJ asked, his focus momentarily broken. "The kid from the Johto circuit? I've heard of him. Total tech-brat. Thinks a Pokedex readout is the word of God."
"Exactly," I said, stepping up to Goldie and resting a hand on her head. She leaned into the touch, a far cry from the shivering, broken lizard I'd found in the rain. "He literally abandoned her because her 'potential' looked low on his digital scanner. He didn't realize she was in a profound weakened state—an energy core fracture caused by a transport inconsistency. He saw 'Useless' and threw her away. A few days of... intensive care," I said, carefully omitting the 25,000-point Celestial Marrow Essence I'd shoveled down her throat, "and she regained her original peak."
I pulled out my Pokedex and flicked the screen toward them, displaying the data Nelly had compiled.
[Data Scan: Goldie (Shiny Charmander)]
Moveset: Dragon Rage, Dragon Claw, Dragon Pulse, Flamethrower, Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Scratch, Ember, Metal Claw.
Egg Moves: Dragon Rush, Counter, Dragon Tail.
"That idiot basically did half the work for me," I said, popping a 'P' with my gum. "He probably threw around his family's blood-money to push a dozen TMs and move tutors on her, trying to 'fix' what he thought was a broken tool. He gave her a movepool that belongs on an Elite Four Ace and then threw the keys to the kingdom in the dirt."
The silence that followed was heavy. Gary and AJ were staring at the screen, their faces turning a distinct, unmistakable shade of forest green. Envy wasn't just a word; it was an atmosphere.
"Dragon Pulse... on a Charmander?" Gary whispered, his voice trembling with academic greed. "Counter? Dragon Rush? Regina, do you have any idea how many generations of selective breeding and high-tier tutoring it takes to manifest that combination? You didn't just find a Pokémon; you found a biological cheat-code."
AJ's jaw was practically unhinged. He looked at Goldie, then back at his own hard-trained Magneton. "He threw her away? Because of a readout?" He slammed his whip against his thigh, his expression shifting from envy to a deep, resonant sympathy. "That... that's a crime against the spirit of the bond. To treat a partner like a discarded sensor... I've heard of 'Dumb Young Masters,' but that kid is a black hole of stupidity."
I turned to Goldie, whose golden eyes were fixed on me with unwavering trust. "See, Goldie? You're in high demand. Everyone here wants what you have. But we're not just going to be 'high potential,' are we?"
Goldie let out a defiant, burning "Char-mander!" her flame flaring into a brilliant blue-white core for a split second.
"We want to grow so strong that the bastard Cross regrets it every day of his life," I vowed.
Gary let out a low whistle. "Vindictive. I like it. It's a very... 'Regina' way of handling things. Well, he will regret it. Once she evolves into a Black Charizard, he'll probably have a mental breakdown. But first... win this, Regina. Don't let that specimen lose to a magnet."
AJ nodded, his face hardening into a battle-mask. "Regret is a powerful motivator. But talk is cheap in my arena. Let's see if that movepool is a weapon or just a trophy. Magneton, Tri-Attack!"
### The 100th Battle: Fire vs. Magnetism
"Magneton, **Thunder Wave**! Lock her down!"
"**Counter**!" I shouted.
Goldie didn't dodge. She waited for the electric pulse to hit her, her body glowing with a dull orange light. She absorbed the shock and redirected the kinetic force with a **Dragon Rush** that shouldn't have been possible at her level. She became a golden bullet, slamming into the Magneton before it could recalibrate its poles.
"**Tri-Attack**!" AJ yelled, his voice desperate.
The Magneton fired three beams of elemental energy. Goldie wove through them like a dancer, her **Dragon Pulse** meeting the Tri-Attack mid-air in a spectacular explosion of purple and white.
"Finish it! **Thunder Punch**!"
"**Mirror Coat**—no, wait, **Metal Claw**!"
The two Pokémon collided. Goldie's fist, crackling with electricity she'd learned from a tutor she'd never met, slammed into the Magneton's metallic shell. The Magneton sparked, its magnets spinning wildly before it collapsed into the dirt.
"Magneton is unable to battle! The winner is Goldie!"
AJ stood there, frozen. He looked at his sign—the "99 Wins"—and let out a long, ragged sigh. "It's over. I have to start again. Back to zero."
The Fallacy of the Hundred Wins
"Wait, you're actually going to start again?" Gary asked, stepping into the arena. "Regina barely won that, AJ. If she hadn't had a movepool that cost millions of Pokedollars to build, your Magneton would have out-grinded her. You're strong. But winning a hundred times before you even leave this yard? That's just... stupid."
AJ's head snapped up, his eyes flashing. "What do you mean, 'stupid'? Consistency is the foundation of greatness! If I can't dominate this area a hundred times over, I have no business in the League!"
"Hey what do you mean by I could have lose. Stop insulting me Gary Oak." I complained.
Gary let out a short, biting laugh ignoring me completely staring directly at AJ. "AJ, look at the road out there. The trainers you're beating are kids who play with Pokémon after school. They don't have 'Strategy'; they have 'Hobbies.' Beating a hundred toddlers doesn't make you a champion; it makes you a bully with a good win-rate. You're building muscle, but you're not building experience. What you need is to go out and face the world—where the trainers don't play by your rules and the Pokémon aren't just Rattatas."
AJ looked at his hands, then at the horizon. He looked like a man who had just been told the world was round when he'd spent his life building a map of a flat one. "But the training... the discipline..."
"Discipline is a tool, not a destination," Gary countered, then his eyes flickered to his own belt. "Now, how about a real test? I've seen Regina's 'luck.' Let's see how you handle an Oak.
"Go, Sandshrew!" AJ shouted, his fighting spirit returning.
"Go, Wartortle!"
I stared, slack-jawed. "Wait... your Squirtle evolved?! When?!" I narrowed my eyes, my HUD automatically scanning Gary's partner. **[Data Scan: Wartortle - Class: Pseudo-Champion - Level 26]**.
"Wait a damn minute!" I screamed. "Gary! His potential improved! I remember he was just an 'Elite' rank when we were at the lab! How the flick is he a Pseudo-Champion now?!"
Gary sighed, though he couldn't quite hide the triumphant smirk playing on his lips. "Language, Regina. And... wait, really? It's a Pseudo-Champion?" He looked at his Wartortle, who let out a confident huff and flexed its claws.
Gary rubbed the back of his neck, looking a bit sheepish. "Well, a few days ago, he went for a swim in a lake near the mountains. He didn't come back for two hours. I went to find him, thinking he'd been snagged by a Gyarados, but he just came walking out of the water evolved, looking... different not in the obvious evolution way but just different you know. His shell was harder, his tail was fluffier, and he had this 'aura' about him."
I stared at him, my eye twitching with irritation. "And you call *me* the fate-gifted and lucky one?! You got a freaking free upgrade and an evolution because your turtle went for a spa day in a mystical lake?! That's pure Protagonist Plot Armor, Gary!"
Gary laughed, his ego inflating by the second. "Maybe the world just recognizes a superior trainer when it sees one, Regina. Don't be bitter."
### The Evolution of the Sand
The battle between Gary and AJ was a brutal display of "Hardcore" mechanics. AJ's Sandshrew was wearing a weighted vest that would have crushed a lesser Pokémon, and its **Defense Curl** into **Rollout** was a terrifying combo.
"Wartortle, **Rapid Spin** to deflect!"
The two spinning Pokémon clashed in the center of the ring, creating a dust storm that blinded everyone.
"Now, Sandshrew! **Dig**!"
The ground erupted. But in that moment of high-intensity stress, the Sandshrew's body began to glow. The white light of evolution flooded the camp.
"He's evolving!" I shouted.
The small shrew grew into a massive, spiked **Sandslash**. **[Level 29]**. The power spike was immediate. The Sandslash unleashed an **Earthquake** that shook the very foundation of the camp.
Gary gritted his teeth. "Wartortle, **Withdraw**! Now, **Hydro Pump** point-blank!"
In the end, Gary won—but only because he had the foresight to have Wartortle use Withdraw at the exact moment of the final impact, using the recoil to launch a point-blank Bite that knocked the Sandslash out.
AJ recalled his Sandslash, his breath coming in short gasps. He looked at the "99 Wins" sign, then at his Pokémon's ball. He walked over to the sign and, with one swift kick, snapped the wood in half.
"Maybe I do need to go out into the world more," AJ said, his voice quiet but firm. "I've been hiding in this camp, afraid of losing my streak. But losing to you two... it taught me more than those ninety-nine wins combined. I'm going to challenge the Gyms. I'm going to get out of this bubble. Otherwise, I'll never stand a chance in the Indigo League."
I smiled, offering him a nod of respect. "See you at the Plateau, AJ. Don't bring the weighted vests next time—they're a pain to dodge."
Gary smirked, tucking his hands into his pockets. "Good choice. Just try not to get lost on the way to the real world."
As we rolled away, the sunset painting the path toward Vermilion in deep oranges, I looked at Gary. "So... that lake. Where exactly was it?"
Gary laughed, kicking his own board into a high-speed glide. "Not telling, Regina. A rival has to keep some secrets, right?"
"I hate you so much," I groaned, but my smirk told a different story. The "Royal Guard" was growing, the rivals were evolving, and the city of lightning was finally within reach.
***
**[Mission Completed: The Unofficial Hundredth]**
**[Reward: 4,000 Points]**
**Current Balance: 42 Pokedollars.**
"Nelly," I whispered. "Remind me to thank Gary for the dinner. I'm going to need every cent of that prize money for the S.S. Anne."
**"Calculated, Host. But I suggest you don't mention the 'mystical lake' again. Your blood pressure is reaching dangerous levels."**