Sprout Tower looked less like something people had built and more like something Violet City had grown around.

Its dark timber was weathered smooth with age. Rooflines stacked upward in broad, elegant tiers, each level smaller than the one beneath it. White plaster walls sat between heavy beams, interrupted by open balconies where bells and strips of paper moved gently in the morning wind.

The tower was enormous from outside. Inside, it felt alive. Not alive in the Ghost-type sense…Probably. Ravina had learned not to make assumptions about old buildings in a world where haunted appliances existed.

This was something subtler, the floor moved, barely. The first time it happened, Ravina thought she'd imagined it, then the great central pillar gave a deep wooden groan and the floor beneath her feet shifted by perhaps half an inch.

Then returned.

Ravina and Cinder stopped but Owlbert did not. He simply adjusted his feet on her shoulder.

Ravina looked up, the pillar rose through the center of the structure, thicker than some trees she'd seen in the forest, disappearing through an opening in the ceiling.

“That's supposed to happen, right?”

The elderly man at the entrance desk smiled. “Yes.”

“Good.”

A pause. “How sure are you?”

His smile widened. “Very.”

“Ah.. Great…”

The tower creaked again and Cinder twitched uneasily, but the attendant simply held out a hand for Ravina's Trainer Card. “First visit?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Your still watching the pillar.”

“Oh….”

He chucked as he scanned the card, a small terminal beside him chimed.

“Ravina Shales. New Bark Town registration.”

“That's me.”

“Seeking Tower clearance for a Violet Gym challenge?”

“Yes.”

The man's eyes briefly moved to Cinder and Owlbert. “First badge?”

Ravina sighed. “Is that also obvious?”

“Your card says so.”

“Oh.”

“That was significantly less mystical.” Ravina commented as he returned it.

A quiet chuckle. “Sprout Tower is not meant to frighten new trainers, Miss Shales.”

A particularly loud groan came from somewhere overhead that drew Ravina gaze upward and the old man followed her gaze. “The building occasionally disagrees.”

Cinder shuffled closer to her leg and Ravina gave him a little comforting scritch. “So what exactly am I doing?”

“Climbing.”

“That seems suspiciously simple.”

“You will meet the teachers stationed above. Some may challenge you. Some may ask questions. Some may simply observe.”

“And I have to beat all of them?”

“No.”

That surprised her as the attendant folded his hands inside his sleeves.

“You must satisfy them that you and your partners can behave responsibly inside the tower. Falkner accepts our clearance because strength alone is not difficult to find in a young Trainer.”

He glanced toward the central pillar. “Control is rarer.”

The tower moved, and this time Ravina noticed the hanging lanterns sway a fraction behind it as the man continued.

“Fire-type moves are permitted only in marked battle spaces. Those platforms have stone borders, sand troughs and water on hand. If a teacher tells you to stop, you stop.”

Ravina and Cinder looked at each other. “That's probably directed at us…. Well mostly you,” Ravina teased

He huffed and the attendant's eyes crinkled. “Bellsprout are common partners among the tower's teachers.”

“Fire versus Grass, that would be an advantage for us, sounds easy.”

“It does.”

The way he said it made Ravina immediately distrust the entire institution. “Oh, come on.”

“Please enjoy your climb~.”

“That wasn't reassuring at all.”

- - - - -

The first staircase was narrow enough that Ravina discovered one immediate advantage to being five feet tall. The tower had apparently been designed by people who didn't expect everyone to be built like her mother so she could climb comfortably. But a broad-shouldered tourist ahead of her did not.

At the next landing, the central pillar passed through the middle of an open training hall. Several young trainers were already there. One was standing perfectly still while a monk in pale robes asked him to balance a wooden cup on his open palm. Another was attempting to make his Sentret cross a row of low beams without rushing and a Bellsprout sat nearby, swaying happily.

Ravina watched and waited, The tower leaned and the Bellsprout leaned with it. The Sentret overcorrected and hopped off the beam as its trainer groaned. Then the monk said something Ravina couldn't hear.

Owlbert shifted on her shoulder, once, twice, pause, once.

Ravina frowned as she noted that his movement matched the tower, not perfectly, but close.

“Huh.”

Owlbert's head rotated toward her. “You've already figured this out, haven't you?”

Hoot.

“Show-off.”

At the far side of the room, another monk lifted a hand. “Trainer Shales?”

Ravina pointed at herself. “Me?”

“Yes.”

He looked perhaps forty, though the shaved head and plain robes made age difficult to judge. “Please.”

Ravina crossed the floor and Cinder followed, The monk gestured toward a rectangular battle space inset with pale stone around the old wood. Buckets of sand sat at two corners. A water barrel stood against the wall.

“So they weren't joking about the fire precautions.”

“No.” He replied as he bowed. “My name is Sen.”

Ravina returned the gesture a little awkwardly. “Ravina. This is Cinder, and the bird judging everything is Owlbert.”

Owlbert stared at Sen, and the monk bowed to him too. Owlbert seemed to consider this acceptable.

Sen released his own Pokémon and a Bellsprout appeared in a flash of light. It bounced once on thin root-like feet before settling into an easy sway. 

Cinder stepped forward, The Bellsprout looked at him and Cinder's back vents gave a faint, anticipatory flicker.

Ravina folded her arms. “Okay. I'm guessing the obvious answer is not the right answer.”

Sen smiled. “The obvious answer is often perfectly useful.”

“That sounded like a trap.”

“Begin whenever you are ready.”

Ravina exhaled. “All right. Cinder?”

He lowered himself in confirmation as the Bellsprout swayed and the tower creaked.

“Ember!” Cinder inhaled and a spray of sparks and flame burst from his mouth.

“Down.” The Bellsprout folded, not ducked. Folded. Its entire narrow body bent backward almost flat against the floor and Cinders Ember sailed over it.

“Vine Whip.” Two vines snapped outward. Cinder jumped aside, one struck the stone where he'd been, the other changed direction in mid-swing.

“Again!” Cinder twisted as the vine clipped his hind leg and he stumbled.

“Cinder!” He recovered immediately, flame patches flaring. 

“Ember!” Another burst and Bellsprout sprang sideways. Then the tower shifted and Cinder's paws slid a little further than expected. He tried to correct, but a little too much as a Vine Whip caught him in the side and sent him rolling.

Ravina winced at the sight.

“Stop.” Sen's voice was quiet. Cinder was already getting back to his feet and Ravina almost called another command but caught herself.

Sen had said stop, so she closed her mouth. Cinder looked over his shoulder questioningly.

“It's okay.” she said, to put him at ease and his flames dimmed. Sen's Bellsprout straightened as the teacher regarded Ravina.

“What happened?” he asked.

“We missed.”

“That happened several times.”

Ravina tried not to feel defensive. “It's difficult to hit.”

“Yes.”

“The floor moves.”

“Yes.”

“Your Bellsprout knows exactly when.”

“Yes.”

Ravina glanced at the Pokémon, Bellsprout continued swaying with the movement of the tower, like grass in wind.

“Oh.”

Sen nodded once. “You are trying to stand still in a place that does not.”

Ravina looked down at her feet and felt the tower shifted. Her body automatically stiffened against it but Bellsprout did the opposite. It yielded to the motion.

Sen continued, “The central pillar was designed to flex. If it were rigid, storms would have broken the tower generations ago.”

Ravina watched Bellsprout's stem bend. “Being flexible survives?”

“Sometimes.”

Cinder had come back to her side and she crouched to check him over. He looked annoyed, not hurt. Annoyed.

“Yeah, I know.” He grumbled.

“You're trying to beat the floor.” Another grumble.

“I was too.” She added as she rubbed his shoulder where the Vine Whip had landed.

“Want another try, my little Fire Ball?” there was an immediate nod. And Sen returned to his place.

This time Ravina didn't call a move immediately. She watched how the tower moved and how Bellsprout's body swayed. Cinder however was still braced against the motion.

“Cinder.” He turned toward her.

“Don't fight it.” He looked back. “Move with it.”

His expression suggested that this was an extremely vague instruction. “Yeah, I know. I'm learning too.”

The floor drifted. Ravina let her knees bend slightly instead of correcting, there, less strange.

“Try.” Cinder did but awkwardly. The first movement nearly made him step on his own forepaw, and Ravina bit down on a laugh as his head snapped toward her.

“I didn't say anything.” He stared.

“Nothing.”

Hoot.

“Neither did Owlbert.” Owlbert stared straight ahead and Cinder huffed smoke.

Sen's mouth twitched and they began again.

This time Ravina waited, Bellsprout moved with the tower, Cinder moved a little after it.

Not perfect, but better.

“Vine Whip.” The vines came, Ravina saw the first and Cinder avoided it and the second curled after him.

“Forward!” Instead of retreating, Cinder darted beneath it as Bellsprout's vines were still extended.

“Ember!” Fire flashed and Bellsprout tried to fold away but it was too late. The controlled burst caught across its leaves. And Sen recalled it almost immediately.

The battle ended so suddenly Ravina blinked. “That was it?”

Sen looked at her. “Did you require another Bellsprout?”

“No. I'm just used to things being more dramatic.”

“You may find the upper floors accommodating.”

“That sounds ominous.” She commented as she walked forward and crouched to examine Cinder.

Cinder allowed it after glancing at Ravina. “No burns,” Ravina said.

And Sen's gaze flicked up. “From Bellsprout?”

“From himself. Ember is new.”

“Very?”

“Two days.”

Sen studied Cinder with slightly more interest. “And his appetite?”

Ravina froze. “How did you know about that?”

The monk smiled. “His coat is excellent. His breathing is good. His energy is high. He is a young Cyndaquil nearing a common period of rapid growth.”

Ravina looked down and Cinder looked up. “Oh.”

Sen stood. “Do not make predictions from that. Pokémon develop in their own time.”

“Right.”

“But feed him.”

“I am.”

Cinder chirped and Ravina pointed down at him.

“I do feed you!.”