At first, Natsu had no intention of establishing a gym.
Just thinking about it felt like a hassle.
In the gas, Gym Leaders spent most of the year holed up in their gyms, waiting to accept challengers.
If they stepped out even occasionally, they’d get criticized.
Well… he wasn’t sure if others complained, but back when he watched the ani, he definitely did.
He’d be sitting there grumbling, You’re a Gym Leader—why are you always wandering around instead of staying put?
But looking at it now, from his current perspective…
Well, Gym Leaders have their own lives too.
Going out every now and then was perfectly reasonable.
After taking a deeper look into how things worked in the real world, Natsu realized that gyms weren’t quite what he had imagined.
In reality, gyms weren’t like the ones in the gas, where challengers could walk in at any ti and demand a battle.
Appointnts had to be made in advance.
Challengers had to show up on a designated date, and higher-ranked gyms even had entry requirents.
As for gym battles themselves…
Most Gym Leaders didn’t personally take on challengers.
It was usually their apprentices or disciples who handled the fights.
If a challenger could defeat them or at least prove their strength, they’d earn the gym badge.
After all, while Gym Leaders weren’t necessarily the strongest trainers in the country, they were at least among the elites.
Throwing a fresh rookie straight into battle against a Gym Leader?
That was a bit much.
Not only would the fight be aningless, but it also wouldn’t serve the purpose of honing and guiding the challengers.
If they got taken down in one move, what could they possibly learn from that?
Besides managing their gyms, most Gym Leaders had side jobs.
There were quite a few like Natsu, who ran farms.
So owned breeding centers, so sold Pokéblocks, so ran gyms in the fitness sense, others taught classes online, beca influencers…
If you could think of it, a Gym Leader sowhere was probably doing it.
In fact, for many, the gym was the side job.
For Natsu, running a gym as a side gig wasn’t out of the question.
And honestly, he already t most of the requirents to beco a Gym Leader.
First, strength.
If Natsu wasn’t considered strong, then there was no such thing as a strong trainer in this world.
Even without his Pokémon, he could take on most of them with his fists alone.
Next, space.
He had that too.
A huge chunk of his farm was still unused—so much so that he barely even wandered into those areas.
Might as well use that space to build a gym.
Then, money.
Aside from governnt funding, a Gym Leader needed their own financial resources to cover gym expenses.
Lastly, the gym needed a the.
The simplest approach was to focus on a specific Pokémon type.
A more advanced one was to have a unique battle style—like Double Battles or aquatic battles.
The key was to make sure trainers had a clear impression of the gym.
And if all else failed, he could just design it with an ani aesthetic.
But for Natsu, as for what his gym’s the would be…
Co! Choose your challenge team!
Shiny Squad: Shiny Pidgeot, Shiny Furret, Shiny Vikavolt.
Powerhouse Squad: A massive Corviknight, a muscular Shiny Furret, and a Persian that could smack Ting-Lu unconscious with a single swipe.
Psychic Squad: Gardevoir, Gallade, and Slowking.
Trash-Talker Squad: Corviknight, Kirlia, and an apprentice Cresselia who had mastered the art of smack talk.
Newborn Squad: Okidogi, Fezandipiti, and Munkidori.
Weak? Maybe. But strong enough for beginners.
Legendary Squad: Pecharunt, Ting-Lu, and Fezandipiti.
"Co forth, young trainer just beginning your journey! Choose your opponent!" (laughs~)
And that was just the start—Natsu had even more lineups in mind.
The Pink Devil Squad, the Cute Squad, the Dirty Tactics Squad, the Bark Bark Squad…
Plenty of variety. That was a the in itself, right?
After all, a lot of the Pokémon on his farm wanted to battle.
Fighting the sa opponents over and over got stale.
A gym would be a great way to help them burn off so energy.
Even if it was just a post-al workout.
Whether they wanted to battle or just watch the fights, Natsu wasn’t going to stop them.
He’d just have Ting-Lu keep things in order.
Why let Ting-Lu take Pecharunt and the others with him?
Partly to keep an eye on them.
And partly because he wanted Ting-Lu to train them up properly.
They were legendaries after all—surely they had so potential.
Once they got stronger, they’d be useful in the gym too.
“At that point, you’ll be the gym’s ultimate boss fight.”
Natsu scooped up w, who had transford into an Alcremie, and poked the swirl of cream on its head.
Ordinarily, an Alcremie’s cream was edible—delicious, nutritious, and supposedly didn’t even cause weight gain.
Most competitive bakeries and dessert shops had to have an Alcremie on staff.
But the cream from a w-turned-Alcremie?
Natsu wasn’t so sure about that.
After thinking it over, he decided to abandon the idea of tasting it.
“w?”
w tilted its head, staring at him like he was an idiot.
‘At that point?’
I’m already the strongest fighter here, okay?
Like you could actually beat .
And where exactly is this gym you’re talking about? In your dreams?
Still, the idea of a gym sounded fun.
w could play the role of a temporary Gym Leader.
Not as itself, of course—it wasn’t about to reveal its true form or turn into a human.
But maybe as a Slowking or a Gardevoir?
After all, Psychic-type gyms sotis let their Pokémon act as stand-ins.
“w!”
Include in the gym’s design!
Excited, w instantly shifted back to its original form, its tail swaying.
Clearly, it saw this as a new ga to play.
As for whether the gym application would actually get approved?
Neither Natsu nor w gave it much thought.
At the end of the day, this world was all about strength.
The strong always got special treatnt.
Given Natsu’s track record—and the fact that Phione and Cresselia had been seen on his farm—
If he wanted to apply for a gym, a lot of the usual red tape would just disappear.
Soone would handle the paperwork for him.
All he’d need to do was sign a few things.
"Alright, alright. We also need a gym badge design."
"Everyone, be sure to give so ideas!"
Natsu had absolute confidence in his artistic skills.
By which he ant he was absolutely confident that he had no artistic talent.
Other people had artistic talent.
What he had was artistic bacteria.
He’d been practicing sketching ever since he arrived at the farm.
But the results… weren’t great.
At best, his drawings weren’t offensive to the eyes.
He was still sticking with it, but he didn’t expect to improve much.
It was just a casual hobby at this point.
“Whew~”
Back ho, Natsu flopped into a beanbag chair with w in his arms.
Ah, that post-work relaxation.
Like surfacing after a dive and sipping on so oolong tea.
Even w, nestled in his arms, seed to have shifted into chibi mode—
Its already cute appearance sohow becoming even more adorable.
Natsu, Natsu! You forgot sothing, Roto!
But peace never lasted long for a working man.
Just as Natsu settled in, before he could even let out a full breath—
His Rotom Phone flew out of his pocket.
Pecharunt’s situation still isn’t resolved, Roto!
The phone’s notepad opened automatically, displaying the reminder he had left:
[Help clear Pecharunt’s na.]
He had ant to start working on it as soon as he got back.
But… he just couldn’t resist taking a break first.
“…Alright, let think.”
Sitting up, Natsu rubbed his temples.
This seed easy at first.
But putting it into practice was another matter entirely.
After all, the internet was filled with all sorts of oddballs and trolls.
So people had no real hobbies or interests—just a sheer love for arguing and stirring up trouble.
No other reason, really. They just enjoyed the chaos.
If anything, what Natsu should be doing now was writing a groundbreaking academic paper, publishing it, and making a na for himself as a prodigious scholar.
Unfortunately, after all these years, his experience with academic writing was still limited to the ti in college when he cobbled together a "thesis" for graduation by scavenging paragraphs off research databases.
In the end, he barely scraped together a paper that had no real significance whatsoever.
He still rembered his thesis defense—one of the professors had looked over the English section of his introduction and ticulously pointed out grammar mistakes and incorrect word choices.
Halfway through, though, the professor suddenly seed to realize sothing. He looked up at Natsu, gave a knowing nod, and stopped correcting his grammar altogether.
After all, the syntax of that translation engine had always been questionable.
But back to the main point—whether it was writing papers or anything else, Natsu was completely clueless.
Writing a well-researched, thoroughly supported, and rigorously examined academic paper was about as far out of reach as a scholarly Slowking.
And his own Slowking, while undoubtedly intelligent, clearly hadn’t invested its talents in academia.
Ever since he discovered that Slowking had been going around online, arguing with people under the userna "Corviknight Is the Strongest", Natsu realized his Pokémon might be heading down a rather... abstract path in life.
Well, as long as it was happy.
For now, he set aside the whole paper-writing idea.
Since that was the case…
"Hey, Mayor Gakuji?"
Natsu decisively dialed the phone.
This kind of troubleso issue was best left to the professionals.
No matter how much gossip was spreading online, nothing was as convincing as an official update in the Pokédex.
"Mr. Natsu? What’s the matter?"
Fu Gakuji, who had been organizing reports for his superiors, sounded pleasantly surprised.
Could it be that Natsu was finally planning to open a Gym?!
That would be huge!
For both the town and for him personally.
This town was originally nothing special—just another dot on the map.
His role as mayor wasn’t particularly significant, either.
But with Natsu in the picture, things had beco... delicate.
At the very least, they couldn’t afford to let soone with Legendary-tier strength develop a grudge against the League.
At the sa ti, whoever managed this town had to be competent—this wasn’t a position just anyone could fill.
Taking all that into account, Fu Gakuji, who had originally planned to climb further up the ranks, had instead been sent here.
To say he had no complaints wouldn’t be entirely honest.
But he also understood that if he handled things well here, the benefits could far exceed his original career trajectory.
So, he was more than happy to help Natsu deal with problems.
Besides, given Natsu’s status, Fu Gakuji had a certain level of influence in various matters.
"I see..."
After Natsu briefly explained his situation with Pecharunt, he quietly waited for a response.
Rather than running around blindly, it was better to ask soone who knew the proper procedures and key points to watch out for.
"I see," Gakuji murmured.
"Mr. Natsu, give a mont."
He was genuinely surprised.
Though Natsu had skimd over the details, Fu Gakuji had keenly picked up on so key information.
Pecharunt—a Legendary Pokémon.
And the four that stole its mask? Also Legendaries.
They might not be well-known, but they were still Legendary Pokémon. In his mind, that ant Okidogi and the others shouldn’t be much weaker than Pecharunt.
If that was the case, then factoring in Ting-Lu, Pecharunt, and the other three Legendaries he had already seen…
Natsu was this close to having two full teams of Legendary Pokémon!
For most people, even catching a glimpse of a Legendary was a once-in-a-lifeti event.
Yet for Natsu, they seed almost... commonplace?
Before he knew it, Mr. Natsu had beco a true "Legendary Collector."
Shaking his head in amazent, Fu Gakuji continued,
"I haven’t personally handled this type of case before, so I’m not entirely sure of the procedure."
"I’ll check with the relevant departnt and get back to you."
Fu Gakuji had never been particularly talented as a Trainer.
At best, he was average. The three Pokémon he had were all fairly ordinary, strength-wise.
But he didn’t mind—he treated them as family rather than partners for battle, and he had no ambitions to advance in that area.
After joining the League, he hadn’t interacted much with departnts that dealt with Legendary Pokémon.
He had spent so ti working in one such office before, but only in administrative roles.
So while he had a general idea, he didn’t want to risk providing incorrect information.
Better to ask and be sure.
"Oh, got it!"
"Thanks, Mayor Gakuji."
"No problem at all."
On the other end, Fu Gakuji chuckled and waved it off.
This was part of his job, after all.
Even setting aside politics and career considerations…
This was genuinely interesting.
"Oh, right. One more thing—about the Gym."
"I wanted to ask you about that, too."
"Mr. Natsu, are you planning to officially open a Gym?"
"Yeah, I think I might give it a shot."
Natsu smiled as he looked down at Lopunny, who was sprawled on the floor, sketching badge designs on a sheet of paper.
Since the kids on the farm were so excited about it, he couldn’t let them down, could he?
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