Hygre

Hygre is the Gym Leader of Kusba. She appeared in Chapter 1 along with her Zorua and Zoroark.

Appearance
She has light gray hair, most of it cut short so her nape is exposed, with the front separated into two long bangs that reach the middle of her chest. Light brown eyes, but uses contacts so the left one looks red and the right one looks black. Outfit is a white dress shirt, a black jacket with long sleeves that opens on the waist and reaches the ankles, little white stones in the shape of a diamond sewn on the inside of the lower part; a bright red bandanna tied around her neck, sunglasses, and white pants with black on the outer side that stops before reaching the top and a silver chain on the left side, and knee-high black boots with too many belts and the highest heels a gal can wear without breaking them while running (she likes looking tall). Height is about 174cm with heels and 167cm without. Keeps her team’s Poké Balls, which are six Dusk Balls, fastened around a thick wristband on her right wrist.

Personality
Hygre's an energetic and flashy gal that's always coming and going as she pleases. Or forced to come and go, considering the Pokémon she trains are infamous for being a group of trickster troublemakers. Really, she has to change cellphones twice a month because some of them keep hiding them as pranks and next thing anyone knows they get dropped into the lake and stop working. This is why she can't have nice things.

Her Pokémon aside, Hygre is usually friendly and never shies away from strangers or new experiences. Loud and direct and times, while still trying to be respectful considering her position. Like most other Gym Leaders, she's proud of her battling skills and of her work, and loves to be challenged - especially at the highest level.

However, Hygre's most defining trait is her flashiness. Her looks, her attitude, her clothes, it's all designed to attract and keep attention (and it helps that her fashion sense fits that description perfectly). As the only Gym Leader she knows of that uses Dark-types, she thinks herself responsible of making a good and lasting impression on challengers.

Role
Hygre first appeared in Day 8 to collect her Zorua from the Pokémon Center after one of his pranks (any appearances before were her Zoroark pretending to be her). After that, she had a Level 2 Double Battle with Lambert, in which she used a Poochyena, a Stunky, and two Nuzleafs. Her Pokémon were low-level compared to Gaes and Rhapsody, who were pretending to be Lambert's Pokémon, but with a combination of Swagger, Toxic, and critical hits, she managed to lower their HP down to half before being taken out. After the battle, she mentioned that one of her friends had joined Team Helix, and directed the group towards Vertia.

Zorua
One of Hygre's Zoruas. He's very young, around half the size of a fully-grown Zorua, and still in that age where he gets amazed by anything. A prankster by nature and lineage, he enjoys to abuse his Illusion ability to trick others into confusing him with someone else and to run around everywhere causing trouble. Like most Zoruas, he can use his ability to pretend to be human; in his case, he prefers to masquerade as a small girl with pigtails and a poofy dress, believing it's the form that makes the most people drop their guard around him. He still can't use his ability well enough to mimic human speech, though. Also, he still hasn't realized that all of Kusba already knows the girl is him, but they still act like they don't know her to amuse the little fox. Zorua's parents are both Zoroarks, with his mother being part of Hygre's strongest team and his father being the one in charge of the Gym's illusions, and he has an older Zorua sister who participates in some Level 2 battles.

Zorua appeared in Chapter 1 pretending to be Hygre's Umbreon and being chased by two members of Team Helix. He had gotten a Poké Puff at the bakery (using Hygre's borrowed wallet and leaving it there) and was carrying it back when Leslar saw him and went after him. Zorua ran into Rennaj and Sarah, the first of which stole the Poké Puff for a while. While Rennaj confronted Leslar and Vaila, Zorua and Sarah ran away. Zorua later gave Sarah a small gift for the help before showing her around town, and ending at the Center where most of the shifters in Kusba were. His prank of startling the delivery Abras was the event which sent Rennaj and Elizabeth to Alquind.

After being scolded by Lambert, Hygre and his mother came to pick him up. He would later watch the Gym battle between Lambert and Hygre, and gift the shifters with a pair of old cellphones.

Zoroark
Zorua's mother, and one of Hygre's Level 5 Pokémon. Zoroark is a protective mother who never lets her cubs out of her sight until they have proven they won't set the apartment on fire. After that, she allows them grace periods but still checks on them regularly until they get settled in and start training with Hygre. She has a laid back attitude and only scolds other Pokémon for their pranks if they get caught (it's their own fault for not hiding it better), and enjoys disguising herself as Hygre and talking to travelers in her stead, which has resulted in many confused people (and some numbers Hygre has had to block).

Zoroark appeared in front of Lambert and Elizabeth as Hygre, to be able to communicate with them and ask if they had seen her son around. After a short talk, she exited the Center. Her next appearance was with her trainer when they went to collect Zorua up.

Layout
The inside of the Gym looks like a forest of dead blackened trees without leaves, with a light mist covering everything, and dark clouds obscuring the sky. The 'room' is limited by thick trees planted right next to each other so passage through them is impossible, with the door in and out the room embedded in one of them. There is no wind, and sounds of footsteps and scurrying can be heard just outside the range of vision. The battle is done in a clearing deeper into the room, right below the only opening in the clouds that reveals the starry night sky and the new moon. The moon changes phases each time one of Hygre's Pokémon is defeated, going from new to crescent to half to gibbous, finally settling on a full moon when the battle is won.

Official Pokémon
Levels 1-4: Zorua, Poochyena, Inkay, Carvanha, Stunky, Zweilous, Nuzleaf, Spiritomb, Absol, Malamar, Mightyena, Krookodile, Shiftry, Tyranitar.

Level 5: Zoroark, Umbreon, Honchkrow, Bisharp, Drapion, Greninja.

Battle style
Like her Pokémon, Hygre's battle style is a tricky one, using status moves before settling on an attacking pattern. She favors confusing her opponents and raising her evasion and chance of critical hits, and most of her moves have a chance of causing some kind of effect. Add in a Toxic or two and she becomes the kind of trainer who deliberately drags out the first half of a battle to get as much advantage as possible before going all-out with powerful moves to wipe out the weakened and tired opposition.

Badge
The Midnight Badge looks like a full moon made of a much more resistant version of glass, with a black cloud covering the lower half made of gemstones. The color of the moon (white, light orange, orange, red, dark red) determines the difficulty it was won at.

Trivia

 * Hygre's name comes from the Japanese word for 'end of daylight', 'higure'.
 * She has the tendency to save contacts with nicknames instead of actual names.
 * Hygre doesn't name her Pokémon.
 * The decoration of the Gym relies heavily on one of her Zoroarks and his Illusion ability. In reality, the trees are plastic ones, the walls and roof are painted with the trees and clouds, the windows are covered so they don't disturb the illusion, and the fog comes from two fog machines by the entrance. The stars are small lights in the ceiling, and the moon is a massive spotlight located on a beam right under the roof, with a modified cover to mimic the moon phases. During battles, one of Hygre's Pokémon with the move Protect will stand next to the spotlight to protect it from stray moves that might bring it down.
 * The trees inside the Gym started out being real, but Hygre realized they'd keep getting hit by moves and replacing them would be hard. She moved them outside saying that had been the goal all the time, while her Pokémon, who had seen them inside, got told it was to conceal the back door.
 * The back of Hygre's Gym connects to the back of her house, which is shaped and painted so both buildings look like they're one and the same, and the back door of the Gym is actually the house's front door. The house's windows are normal, unlike the Gym's windows that are covered and painted.
 * When a battle of Level 1-4 starts, Hygre will raise her hand and a black wristband with that Level's Poké Balls will fall on it. This is because she prepares different wristbands and has the Pokémon on the beam drop the correct one. The catching is done with the help of the psychic powers of her Malamar or one of her Inkays.
 * A lifetime of liking Dark-types and being involved in their misadventures has made her good at sewing and repairing clothes. Her whole wardrobe is custom-made by Hygre herself.
 * This means at one point she went to the clothing store specifically to buy 17 belts of various sizes.
 * Lambert won the Midnight Badge at Level 2 on Chapter 1.