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"There was a lot of factors in it that more than likely drove Falkner to give you that badge. I can tell you this much, that fight wasn't typical fare." I said to him. "I hadn't seen Falkner fight that hard since the last time I seen him at White City Conference in the Gym Leader Castle gauntlet. He was throwing a hell of a lot at you, against someone with Pokemon that aren't even fully evolved, if evolved at all in two of your cases. He was brutal as he was, because...well, I'm with you. Typically, Falkner would be pulling out the huge guns, because think about it...he's in newcomer central. They got rookie trainers coming out of New Bark Town and the Trainer's School here in this town. Hardly anyone is going to be able to stand up against something like you stood up to today for long unless a trainer had a history anyhow, and had pretty experienced Pokemon." I said. "Falkner wanted to see more so not if you could win the battle, but how well I actually taught you anything. In a sense, it was a way of testing how I teach. You having the hell kicked out of you would in a round about way tell me if I had even done anything at all, which, admittingly was just shameful. Its something that apprentices and gym leaders tend to do when someone within the gym ranks take one under their wing thats not an apprentice themselves. Sometimes, it may be justified, however...like with Chuck out of Cianwood...but this...well. Long story short, I apologize for it. I didn't even once think on that until the fight today."

"There's more to it, however. The fact that you did, in fact, down two of his and managed to not only wound and paralyze his third, but do so to his most trusted Pokemon of all things, with, again, nothing more than fairly inexperienced Pokemon, made Falkner be more than just impressed with you. Trainers and Pokemon at your level doing such a thing is one of the rarest feats anyone could witness. That in itself is a victory for you, if you think about it." I said. "Yea, you lost, but think about it. How many can exactly pull what you just did today?"

"If anything, though, Aden, I'm a bit proud of you on how you stuck it out, though I did notice you panicked a bit until your Pokemon showed you otherwise." I said.

"Well, keep in mind something. Falkner may be the only one that will be handing over a badge in such a fashion. If he's like any of the other gym leaders, then he's going to let it be known that not only that I am with you, that you got that badge for whatever Falkner's reasoning behind it." I said to him. "So best be ready. Take what you learned from here and expand on it. Like I said, the next gym from here is the Azalea Town gym, which specializes in the Bug type." I said. "We'll have a bit of a walk between now and your next match, so just take a bit of caution."

I finally made my way out the gym, holding the door open for Aden to take his leave. "Come on, Aden, lets get you to the Pokemon Center. Afterwards, we'll take your new found earnings to the Pokemon Mart to stock up on a few items for you. Its a bit overdue, I'd imagine."

I made my way to the Pokemon Center and held the door open for Aden to go through. "You know, you may want to go back there in the back again. Your Pokemon been through quite a lot today." I said.

As the nurse took his Pokemon, she walked off with the tray, leaving open the way for Aden to follow. "Go on ahead, Aden. This whole gym tour is reminding me something that I have been meaning to do actually. I'm going to go to the PC real quick to make a couple of exchanges. I'll be with you in a bit, alright?" I said, walking off.

The nurse took the Pokemon and Aden off to the back and released the three Pokemon, placing them on seperate beds. She could tell that they were a bit worse for wear. "Oh dear. You had your gym battle, today, didn't you?" The nurse asked.

"Yes...I noticed." The nurse said. "I can tell it. I suppose its probably being a Pokemon nurse that resides nearby a gym." she said. "You get to know the conditions quite well. Its almost sad of me to say. I'm not saying mind, that Pokemon battles are a bad thing. Pokemon tend to a lot of time like to battle. To know their strength, for one, and give them the drive to get stronger, at the very least. Of course, they will also have their own personal agenda, just like any person would." she said.

"Be that as it may, you aren't the first one to figure that out the hard way, and I hardly doubt you'd be the last. A lot of the time, people have this misconception that the first gym would undoubtedly be the easiest. Though I would imagine that you would be different in your reasoning considering that you are traveling with the Mahogany Town apprentice." She said.