[Gabe Alim]

Number of Pokemon: 4
Format: Double

Pokemon 1: Lizbeth (Liz) the Lv50 Female Charmeleon
Type: Fire
Ability: Blaze
Moveset: Flamethrower, Thunder Punch, Dragon Rush, Iron Tail, Slash , Smokescreen , Flare Blitz, Flame Charge, Sunny Day, Brick Break, Attract, Work Up , Dragon Claw, Substitute, Sleep Talk, Crunch

Pokemon 2: Harriet (Mum) the Lv47 Female Alakazam
Type: Psychic
Ability: Synchronize
Moveset: Psybeam, Reflect, Night Shade, Recover, Teleport, Encore, Barrier, Disable, Light Screen, Flash, Telekinesis, Miracle Eye

Pokemon 3: Leonardo (Leo) the Lv45 Male Blastoise
Type: Water
Ability: Rain Dish
Moveset: Rapid Spin, Aura Sphere, Water Pledge, Rain Dance, Water Pulse, Flash Cannon, Iron Defense, Ice Punch

Pokemon 4: Bubblegum (Gum) the Lv42 Agender Ditto
Type: Normal
Ability: Imposter
Moveset: Transform

---

Gabe took in a breath… and then let it out as he stepped through the gym doors of Ash’s Fire Gym. He’d come out of Plum’s Dark Gym reasonably well, but he was still unprepared for Bass’s Water Gym as far as he was concerned. Lizbeth had yet to take that last step to Charizard, and there was no way he was going to put her in with anything less. The thought of her falling into a pool was… too much. So for now, while they were there, he figured they might as well challenge Fire with Fire. And some backup of course.

He’d already decided to do a double battle. The single battle in Plum was helpful in that he only had one Pokemon to orchestrate in the dark. Here, he was pretty sure he’d be able to see, and orchestrating two Pokemon was going to be easier. That and… having a telepathic advantage certainly didn’t hurt. Of course, he’d call upon Lizbeth, but after that, he’d decided spent some time weighing just who else he wanted to bring. Harriet could set up a lot of barriers and protections for Liz, so Gabe went with that. Thereafter, he decided to bring Leo and Gum. Leonardo could most definitely handle himself with Rain Dance and Water Pulse… and Gum… well. Gum could act as a counter measure to anything that may show up that he hadn’t already accounted for. He’d been sure to store them all away in their Pokeballs for the time being. He had a feeling there would be a gym challenge like there had been at Plum, so for now, he’d wait.

Coming into the lobby, he signed in (and signed some waivers, hm….) and then headed towards the trial room. Stepping in, he found the door immediately shut behind him. Raising an eyebrow, Gabe slowly looked around. The wall of fire was a nice touch… but….Hm.... Gabe continued looking around slowly his mind reaching for any stray thought left in the area. 

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[Jenesis]

Nothing happened!

All rolls were failed.

Gabe Alim

The room you're in is set up like a blacksmith's forge, with tools and workbenches scattered about. An oven and bellows sits in one corner, some decorative weapons are mounted on the walls, and of course, there is the door you need to unlock, guarded by a wall of fire.

You see nothing that looks like a clue or puzzle.

[Gabe Alim]

Hm, now that he actually focused a little more, Gabe recognized the blacksmith forge format. There was a particular TV show he used to watch that included how to make interesting weapons from scratch, and it always seemed to be more of an art than a trade. Too bad he learned nothing useful from it or he could have had an interesting conversation about it. Ah well, not something to worry about now. Instead, Gabe walked around slowly examining the tools, the workbench, the oven…. The various interesting decorative weapons…

Actually, was the point maybe to take one of the weapons to the door? Gabe squinted a bit and then decided no, that was probably not the case here. If it came to that, though, he decided he wouldn’t hesitate. So he reached up, grasped one, and set it down on the forge for easier to grab use later.

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[Jenesis]

Nothing happened!

All rolls were failed.

Gabe Alim

The only thing you accomplish lugging the weapon around is making your muscles sore.

[Gabe Alim]

This was… weird. Gabe squinted around. He’d been trying not to use his psychic powers here, but maybe there was someone close enough around to at least get a read on what he was supposed to be doing now. Closing his eyes and taking in a breath, he searched for any stray thoughts. Whether he found them or not, he’d start to wander around the room again searching over it carefully.

[bone]

Nothing happened!

All rolls were failed.

Gabe Alim

"Think he'll notice the fake wall?  . . . Eh.  Not my job."  The gym's receptionist may've been rather apathetic about most things, but who knew she was apathetic about spoilers, too?  Thank goodness she didn't know she was seeing to a psychic's game today.

Come to think of it, there were a few fairly heavy-looking hammers on the weapon.  And the remaining three walls each had a picture of a different music note on them.  E, A Sharp, and B Flat.  There didn't seem to be any clues besides that . . . but maybe that was all that was needed?

[Gabe Alim]

Fake wall? Gabe’s eyebrows knit together as he glanced back towards the receptionist and then forward to the walls again. Yellow eyes slowly flickered over the pictures. He was lucky enough to read basic music, but that didn’t exactly solve everything for him. E, A, and B…. B… E… A…. A…B…E? No, not Uncle Abe. Bea? Bae? Bea-t.. Beat. Beat in the wall. Gabe’s eyes flashed back to the mallets he had looked over just a moment ago. They really want me to… beat in the wall…. He supposed…. If it was already a fake wall.

…..If not, it wasn’t like they could really sue him for property damages, yeah? Yeah. Walking over to the heaviest looking mallet… he grabbed it and— It didn’t move. Gabe didn’t move. How… how heavy is this thing?? Gabe winced as he shifted to try and grab it a slightly different way and lift again.

And it still didn’t move but rather slipped through his clumsy fingers. Now, Gabe could have and probably should have searched for the next size down and gone with a smaller hammer. Surely the wall would break down either way given enough swing force forward. But Gabe was now just a teeny bit ticked that it wasn’t giving way.

Letting go for a moment, Gabe rubbed his hands over slowly and stared down at the handle of the hammer. Taking in a deep breath, he reached down and grasped it firmly with both hands… and pulled. It moved… barely… lifting up off the ground at a vaguely awkward angle as Gabe immediately leaned back to try and brace the weight just long enough for him to walk it over to the wall. He set it down immediately by the wall: taking a “break” of a few seconds before taking in a breath and grabbing it again. This time it came just a little bit easier… and Gabe lifted it again awkwardly sideways now like a golf club more than a baseball bat…..

And then he swung at the wall without the music and hoped he hadn’t just bashed in the game hahahahahah.

---

Words: 365
Requesting one +1 STR for the struggle of the mallet lmao.

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[bone]

Nothing happened!

All rolls were failed.

Gabe Alim

You can practically feel Cal set his face in his hands in secondhand embarrassment as you full-on bap the wall with the heaviest mallet. Thankfully, the wall was very sturdy and your swing was rather poor; the worst that happens is that all of the prop weapons on the wall clatter to the ground around you.

That said, nobody came running into the room to tell you that you that you were doing it horribly wrong and risking property damage, so maybe you were on the right track? Clearly, this wasn't the fake wall. But there were still three remaining, so your odds weren't too bad!

A Sharp.

E.

B Flat.

You may not feel much smarter.  But you sure feel stronger!  +1 Strength.

[Gabe Alim]

The reverberations of the wall against the hammer had Gabe’s entire body twitching. That was… that was definitely not what he was supposed to do was it? Heh…. The sudden mental image of the gym leader setting his face in his hands after that was so intense and ready that Gabe could only guess he’d been utterly wrong. Well, at least he could set the hammer down for a second and stretch slowly. Alright. Well. He wasn’t in trouble at least. That was something.

Gabe’s eyes flashed around to the items now on the floor. Looking at the three remaining walls, Gabe pinched between his eyes. Ok. A sharp, E. B flat. A sharpie be flat? Why did he feel the strange need to z snap to that? A Sharp E…. B Fla— Gabe stared forward at the anvil and squinted. Walking over to slowly bend down and grab a lighter mallet this time, he tapped the anvil questioningly.

When nothing happened, Gabe sighed and looked around again. A sharp. E. B Flat. B Flat. B.... Gabe slapped a hand over his face and took in a slow breath. If that was it he was going to be mad but he'd worry about that after. Carrying the mallet over with him, he raised it to the wall and unceremoniously slammed it as hard as he could into the B flat wall. 

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[Jenesis]

A random event has occurred!

What will you do?

Gabe Alim

The incredibly lame pun fake wall topples over with a crash. You see another wall behind it, with a switch.

You've activated the first of three switches to advance to Cal's gym battle!

[Gabe Alim]

Seeing the switch behind the broken remains of the wall, Gabe sighed deeply. Walking over to it, he grabbed it and slowly pulled it down. Yellow eyes flickered around searching for any change but… nothing yet. There’s got to be more of them then… Or something similar to them. He vaguely wondered if he should just take the hammer to the rest of the walls first to make sure. Maybe after I search around again… Now that he had the semblance of an idea of what he was looking for, he’d go searching again.

….Aaaaand reaching over towards the mind of the secretary or whatever she was again wouldn’t hurt just in case. Clues and all.

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[bone]

A random event has occurred!

What will you do?

Gabe Alim

"Huh! Actually figured that one out? Not bad. But with how long it took, I bet he'll never figure out the thermostat."

Spoilers pay off! And sure enough, there was a thermostat in the room. It didn't seem to be increasing (despite how it was obviously getting hotter), so it seemed like a fairly obvious target for a puzzle. It also had a limit of four digits, as entered by a dial on the side of the thermostat.

Next to the thermostat, there was a poster detailing the melting point of several types of metals.

Silver - 1763
Titanium - 3034
Nickel - 2651
Lead - 621.5
Iron - 2800

[Gabe Alim]

The woman’s thoughts were not dissuading Gabe from cheating in the least. A thermostat huh? Looking over at it, Gabe squinted for a moment before walking up to stare at it. It was only as he stared at the levels that Gabe registered how warm it was in the room. That was… that was weird. Had it always been that warm? Glancing sideways at the fiery door, he had to guess it was from that thing. So there’s a time limit… Or at least a heat limit. He needed to focus right now, though.

Raising a hand, Gabe felt over the thermostat slowly becoming aware of the four digest that he could turn to. It had to be one of the five listed there (because why else would it be there?) but which? He didn’t remember much about melting points if anything. But with the heat, maybe it’s a pun… The highest melting point was the obvious choice then. Dialing it in, Gabe waited.

When that didn't work, Gabe made a face. He really didn't have any ideas, and he really didn't have much time. He could pick at the receptionist's brain a bit more, but reading anything more than surface thoughts could get him into trouble if she realized it. So instead, Gabe shifted around to block most of the few of the thermostat with his body held his hand over the dials, closed his eyes, and grasped for that psychic power. The thermostat digits immediately began to move wildly trying every combination until something worked. 

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[SG]

A random event has occurred!

What will you do?

Gabe Alim

Your psychic gambit seems to pay off, as eventually you hear a beep and the thermostat slides to one side to reveal the second switch. You don't actually catch what number it stopped at and may never know the actual answer to the puzzle, but fortunately Cal and the receptionist watching can't tell you cheated from this distance and assume you must have done it correctly. You're one step closer to getting in, and the flames die down a little more.

Looking around the room for the final puzzle, you see a few possible options. There's all the forge equipment you noticed when you came in. There are several small torches on the walls. There are a few small troughs of water in various locations along the walls as well. Above one trough is a mirror. Where will you investigate?

[Gabe Alim]

A slow breath escaped from Gabe as a beep hit his ears and the thermostat slid open to reveal a second switch. Grasping and pulling, Gabe breathed a slow heated sigh of relief. His eyes flickered to the fire. Sure enough, the wall had fallen some.

Was it… was it always this warm in here, though? Yeash. Pulling off the light jacket he had been wearing, Gabe threw it over the anvil for now. He was lucky his shirt underneath didn’t have sleeves. But it’s still too hot…. Rubbing a few beads of sweat off his forehead and then rolling his shoulders, Gabe slowly looked around again. He noticed the myriad of things, some of which he had already used, some of which he hadn’t….

His eyes dropped to the water troughs, and he moved over to the one with the mirror to investigate it first.

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[SG]

A random event has occurred!

What will you do?

Gabe Alim

You can see faint smudges on the mirror, but not in a typical grubby fingerprint way. In fact, looking closely, you're almost certain there are some letters, but you can't quite make them out. If only there was an easier way to read what was on the mirror...

There is a water trough directly below it, and some lanterns burn on either side. Hm...

[Gabe Alim]

Gabe squinted first at the water troughs and then up at the mirror above it. Leaning forward, he stared at the mirror for a couple of moments without a word. He was… he was pretty sure those were letters or words or something, but he actually couldn’t quite read them. Was it a problem with the mirror or a problem with his eyes?

Looking back down again, he frowned at the water trough and then down at either lantern. The lanterns… reminded him a lot of Sable’s challenge, but that one was ultimately easier than this one. Chewing the inside of his mouth, Gabe looked up at the mirror again and then down at the water and up and down a couple more times before… Is it some kind of reflection or something?? Could he grab the mirror? Gabe reached forward to either side of it and gave it a tug. If he could, he’d lower it down to the water trough and try and get a look at that reflection.

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[SG]

A random event has occurred!

What will you do?

Gabe Alim

Looking closer at the mirror doesn't reveal much, nor does looking at any particular reflection within it. You can tell the markings are definitely on the mirror itself, though. It reminds you of writing on a fogged up window with your finger...

You're running very short on time. It's now or never.

[Gabe Alim]

Shit. He had nothing. Gabe leaned in and stared at the fingerprints with no idea of what they were supposed to be for or if they were even really there. It was starting to get so warm in here that he couldn’t be sure that it wasn’t just steam. Ugh, was he supposed to grab a troph of water and throw it on the fire over the door or what?

Gabe rubbed beads of sweat off his brow and dragged his fingers through his hair a couple of times. It was only at times like this that he ever considered cutting his hair short. Taking a few hot breaths in, Gabe rabbed the lower hem of his shirt, pulled up, and threw it off. That was… a little better. Only a little, damn it. 

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