With Elesa being out of town on business for a few days, the usual crowds that flocked to the gym were whittled down to a much smaller audience consisting mainly of battle enthusiasts. While some were disappointed that Elesa wasn't around, that didn't stop them from enjoying a good spectacle. As Ivan sat on the bench next to Joulia, the judge, Joulia reviewed the terms of his contract in regards to trainers earning badges as well as the level of difficulty each trainer would qualify for upon challenging the gym.

"So you see, trainers that only have one or two badges would qualify for a two on two match while those with three can have a three on three. As the badge number increases, so does the challenge difficulty. Sometimes, Elesa's been challenged to full battles due to her being the last gym that the trainers faced. Most people aren't aware of this, but all gym leaders are required to be equipped for any level of challenge that walks through their door, so a team of six is necessary to have in the event that something like that were to happen," Joulia explained.

"I see, so there's a chance that I may have to fight a full battle at some point huh? I guess it's a good thing I made it a point to capture a variety of Electric-types," Ivan replied, glancing back up at the badge rules with a puzzled expression. "So, what would happen if someone were to have this gym as their first challenge? Would it just be a two on two match also?"

"Correct, although something like that hasn't happened in a while and it usually requires us to reduce the challenge difficulty to a level that the challenger can handle. While we're on the topic, is your team prepared for these levels? From what Elesa told me, you have several well trained Pokémon that have years of battling experience. That's great for higher tier trainers, but if someone comes in with only one badge, you may have to face them with just one Pokémon."

Ivan nodded and said, "as a matter of fact, I do have a few that could help with that. I was wondering why Elesa told me to bring six Pokémon with me. She said that they needed to be divided up into three sets of two, each set having Pokémon at a different stage of development."

"Oh good! Sorry, I feel as though I've reiterated something she'd already told you. Excellent, so you're prepared for a few different scenarios," Joulia said with a relieved sigh.

Joulia looked down at her X-Transceiver and pulled up a screen which displayed the front doors of the gym. She could see them opening and three challengers loading into the car. From what she could see, each of them had roughly two Pokémon on their belt which meant that he had some possible lower tier challengers coming.

"Alright, it looks like you have three on the way," Jouila informed him as she stood up to walk to the center of the gym.

Ivan took a deep breath and stood up, taking a moment to mentally prepare himself for his first day on the job. Joulia was going to be evaluating his performance and reporting back to Elesa, so it was imperative that he keep himself composed and professional at all times. The doors soon parted and in rode the car carrying two teenage boys and a young girl. They all got out of the car, laughing and chatting away about how fun the ride was.

"I guess that's my cue," Ivan said to himself, putting on a smile as he approached the challengers. "Mornin' trainers! I take it you're all here for the gym challenge. Have you three agreed on who's going first, or have you not decided yet?"

The three trainers looked at one another and began whispering among themselves. After a few minutes of deliberation, the girl nervously stepped forward. The young girl had short black hair and dark brown eyes. She gave her friends an uncertain glance before turning back around and facing Ivan.

I've seen that look before, Ivan thought while watching her fidget with her hands. Alright, it's probably her first gym battle so let's try to lower her anxiety a little. And I know just the partner to do the job. He's a too strong for her team to handle since she's a beginner, but that doesn't mean he can't help out a bit.

"State your name, challenger," said Joulia as she took her post.

"My name is Alexis," the youth said, her voice just above a whisper as she spoke. "This is m-my first gym battle s-so I'm a little nervous," she stammered, still fidgeting with her hands.

"I know how you feel," Ivan said as he approached her calmly, a faint smile curving onto his face as he continued, "this is my first day stepping in for Elesa, so I understand why you're nervous, and that's okay. We're both doing something new, and it's going to be a little scary at first. So what do you say we help each other out? All I need from you is to do your best, sound good?"

Alexis looked up at Ivan and smiled, her nervousness fading a little at his words. While she was still anxious about the battle, the fact that he told her that it was okay to be nervous was somehow comforting to her. After hearing her friends cheer her on, she felt a little more confident despite the fact that she was still unsure of herself.

"O-Okay, I'll do my best!" Alexis said in a slightly more confident tone, doing her best to mask her nervousness despite how sweaty her hands were getting.

"There we go! Now, let's have a little fun shall we?" said Ivan while giving Joulia a nod to let her know to start the match.

"This is an official gym battle between Nimbasa City's assistant gym leader, Ivan and the challenger, Alexis. This will be a two on two battle. Only the challenger will be able to substitute Pokémon! Alexis will have the honor of the first move. That being said, you may now send out your first Pokémon!" Joulia called out.

"Raichu, center stage!"

Alexis's eyes seemed to sparkle and grow as big as saucers the moment Raichu exploded from his ball. Seeing this reaction gave Ivan an idea.

"Judging by your reaction, I take it you've never seen an Alolan Raichu before have you?" Ivan asked, a smile forming on his face as Alexis shook her head vigorously, her eye still fixed on Raichu who hovered beside him. "See, Raichu here is different from the normal Raichu because didn't evolve here. He's from Alola and over there, some Pokémon take on different forms when they evolve. So while Raichu would normally just be an electric-type here, once evolving in Alola, he gained the psychic typing as well. Pretty cool huh?"

Alexis nodded, unsure of what to say as she watched Raichu surfing around on his tail. She'd never seen anything like it before.

"Why don't you go say hello, Raichu?"

Raichu floated over to Alexis, a friendly smile on his face as he zipped around her in a circle before hovering in front of her, tilting his head as he observed her reaction. Slowly, her lips twitched into a smile which graduated to a grin from ear to ear, followed by a squeal of excitement that involved her opening her arms to hug the air-surfing thunder mouse.

"He's so cute!" Alexis declared, giving Raichu a tight hug.

That's better. She seems more calm now, and her hands aren't shaking as much as they were before, Ivan thought, smiling as the two interacted for a few minutes before Raichu returned to Ivan's side.

"So, feeling better?"

"Much better, thank you!" Alexis said with a bright smile.

"Good, I'm glad. Now, just so you know, I'm not going to be battling with Raichu. It wouldn't be fair to you since this is your first gym battle so I'll use something different," Ivan informed her as he reached for a different ball on his belt. "But I'll let Raichu hangout for a little bit while we battle, okay?"

Alexis looked over at Raichu who gave her a wave and a reassuring smile. Smiling in return, Alexis nodded, affirming her decision to continue.

"Okay, here we go. Pachurisu, center stage!"

Alexis looked at the little electric squirrel and was once again faced with the urge to cuddle and possibly squish its little cheeks. Resisting the temptation, she released her Snivy out onto the battlefield. Within seconds, the two came to blows with Pachurisu sending Snivy running as lightning bolts tore through the air, making Snivy duck and dive away from the flurry of attacks sent her way. Minutes passed and soon Pachurisu had incapacitated Snivy after a well-placed Iron Tail guided Snivy's face to the arena floor. Pachurisu panted heavily after having fought tooth and nail to come out on top.

"Snivy is unable to battle! Pachurisu wins the round!"

Rushing over to her Snivy, Alexis scooped her up and said, "are you okay Snivy!? I'm sorry you got hurt, I-I don't know what happened."

Ivan looked over at Joulia, who dawned a sympathetic look on her face as she watched the young girl worry over her teammate. After a moment or two, Alexis returned her Snivy after thanking her for doing her best. Reaching down to her belt, she grabbed her next teammate and thrust it from her hand with a shout.

"Lilipup, you're on!"

Seconds later, the battle resumed and while their Pokémon clashed, Ivan could see that Alexis had begun to show more confidence in spite of the fact that she'd lost the first round. Having seen how she cared for her Pokémon and was sincerely doing her best, Ivan couldn't help but smile. She still had a lot to learn, as evidenced by the first round, but from what Ivan could see, she was a fast learner and she proved it the moment Lilipup managed to subdue Pachurisu with a forceful tackle and claim a victory.

"Pachurisu is unable to battle, Lilipup wins the round!"

"We did it... we did it! We won our first round!" Alexis shouted happily, rushing over to give Lilipup a big hug to congratulate it.

"You two did a great job. I can see you're really getting the hang of this," Ivan praised, earning a grin from her in return. "This is my last Pokémon, so it's going to be slightly tougher than my first one. Ready?"

Lilipup barked an affirmative and Alexis nodded, her face dawning a determined expression as she waited for her last challenge to appear.

"Rotom, center stage!"

Time passed, and after a hardfought battle between the tricky electrical poltergeist and the fiesty canine, Rotom managed to pull through and secure victory with a Thunderbolt that knocked Lilipup out cold. Joulia's hand shot up to declare Ivan the victor. Alexis, disappointed in her loss, walked over to pull Lilipup into her arms and held him close to her while her friends gathered around her to offer support. Looking up, she saw Ivan standing over them, a smile on his face as he held out his hand.

"That was a great match. You did really well for your first time," Ivan told her, a smirk crossing his face as she shook his hand.

As she withdrew her hand, she felt something cool and metallic in her palm. Looking down, her eyes popped the moment she saw the badge resting in the center. Confused, she stuttered, "b-b-but I didn't win!"

"I know you didn't," Ivan said, nodding in agreement, "however, that's not the only thing that matters here. While we battled I was watching how you handled yourself. Even though it was your first gym battle, you never stopped caring for your Pokémon. Just seeing how you checked on them after each defeat was more than enough to earn that badge. You still have a lot of room to grow, but look how much you accomplished in such a short time. If you keep that up, I know you'll become even better than you are now."

"Really, you think I could get stronger!?" Alexis inquired, excitement shining in her eyes as she thought about what he'd said.

"Are you kidding? I know you will. You already understand the most important aspect of raising a Pokémon and that's what really counts."

Alexis looked down at her badge and smiled. She knew she'd lost the match, and by all accounts didn't really deserve to have it, but after hearing why she'd earned it, she couldn't help but feel overjoyed. Placing the badge inside its case, she smiled up at Ivan and thanked him for what she'd been taught and for a fun battle. Raichu gave her one last hug before she exited the building to go to the Pokémon center, leaving her friends to wait for their turn to battle. By nightfall, things began to slow down and soon it was time to close down for the evening. Joulia and Ivan parted ways back to their own apartments after cleaning up for the night, Raichu floating beside Ivan as he headed home.

As he was on his way down the block to his apartment, his X-Transceiver began to ring. Taking it off his belt, he looked down to see that it was Elesa who was calling him. Knowing that Joulia had sent the evaluation following the last battle of the day, he began to grow slightly nervous as to what Elesa might say. While he had been hired, he still had a lingering sense of doubt in the back of his mind. Taking a deep breath, he answered the call. Elesa's face appeared on the screen, and to his relief, she was smiling.

"Good evening Ivan, how are you!?" She greeted him. "Hi Raichu!" she said, grinning as the hover mouse waved excitedly at her.

"I'm doing well, how's your show going?"

"It's going well actually. We only just started about half an hour ago, but we needed to be here early to get everyone prepared and to go over who would be wearing what. But enough about that, Joulia sent me your review along with a few recordings of the matches, and so far I'm impressed. You're doing a fantastic job Ivan."

"You think so? I'll be honest, I was a bit nervous about today, so hearing you say that I'm doing well so far makes me feel a lot better," Ivan replied.

"Oh Joulia told me how nervous you were, which is understandable considering you are responsible for a League gym while I'm away. But then she told me about how you helped a young trainer overcome her nervousness, allowing her to muster up the courage to battle with more confidence. Hearing that, reminded me of a similar situation I found myself in years ago. That one thing pretty much sealed it for me," Elesa said beaming.

Ivan felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders the moment she finished speaking. He was glad to know that he was doing well, and though he knew that it wasn't always going to go as well as this, it did his heart good to know that his work was appreciated.

"Thank you very much, Ms. Kamitsure, I appreciate that very much."

"You deserve the praise for doing so well. Anyway, I've gotta be on soon. I know you must be tired from today so go ahead and get some rest. Maybe tomorrow we can do lunch. I need to give you your official license anyway so we might as well meet up then. Does that sound okay to you?"

"That sounds great. Should I swing by the gym at noon, or are we going to meet somewhere?"

"I'll meet you at the Bouffalant Buffet."

"Sounds great, I love that place!"

"Good to know! I'll see you there at noon," Elesa said, waving before ending the call.

Ivan pocketed his X-Transceiver and breathed a sigh of relief.

"That went better than expected, wouldn't you say buddy?" Ivan said aloud, reaching up to scratch the top of Raichu's head. "What do you say we get some rest? I've got to meet up with Elesa for lunch tomorrow, wanna come?"

Raichu didn't give it a second thought and nodded vigorously. Ivan laughed and rolled his eyes as Raichu circled him excitedly.

"Why did I even bother asking? Of course you want to come."

It wasn't long before the two were back in the apartment and resting up after a long day's work. As Ivan settled down, his mind recalled the conversation with Elesa, specifically the way she smiled and laughed. She was just this sophisticated ball of energy that seemed to light up everything she looked at. There was something in the way she spoke, that made him feel a lot better about himself, and it got him thinking that perhaps his failing the audition wasn't the end of things.