62-65

The New Normal – 4-7 – A New Journey

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the charity match against Giovanni was very well received by both the public and by the other leaders of Indigo. I was obviously very pleased by the outcome of the match, both with the victory and with the positive feedback that we got from it. We had raised more money than both of us expected, and we made a very public donation to Olivine with the big fake cheque and all. It was very good for PR.

Although the thing that made me very pleased was seeing just how elated Giovanni was after we met up to speak after the battle. He hinted that the charity match has led him to reconsider a few things about his operations in the future, and once again thanked me for 'opening his eyes to other possibilities', as he said. Also, with his recent success, I asked if he wanted to be in the posters that we had for the family business, and he agreed for a cut of the profits and if he could take his own photographs. We easily accepted.

We were aiming to milk his recent popularity and roll out Giovanni's posters as quickly as possible while he was still trending.

I truly wished that he meant what I thought he did and that he was going to start turning over a new leaf. Oh, Giovanni would probably still be a manipulative and scheming man, that was always his nature, but hopefully he would now be a more heroically inclined one.

The charity match and the discussions that came out from it dominated the headlines for a few days, and was still received sporadic mentions even now, a good two weeks later. The Viridian Gym was now known far and wide as THE Kanto Gym, and had gained a reputation for being a strict, but fair and charitable Gym that perfectly exemplified the best qualities of a Gym. Giovanni as well got a lot of credit, both for his charitable management of the Gym on top of his respectable personal strength, which I'm sure pleased him greatly. I idly wondered how many more challengers he would receive when the circuit finally started up again with his boosted reputation.

Of course, the other incident that took up most of the headlines for the past 2 weeks was about my so-called 'PIT Technique'. Scientists and sceptics had made their way over to 'check over' my process, but fortunately for me they were quick to approve and verify my results.

As I sadly expected, many had tried to attempt to replicate my actions with their own eggs to try to create or discover a new Pokémon, only to be met with failure and tragedy in a large majority of cases. This forced the Indigo League to actually have to react and pass a new policy to ban all non-authorised experimentation, which did succeed in preventing more future damage or deaths towards the Pokémon eggs.

Still, that meant that hundreds of thousands of Pokédollars were now being funnelled into scientific research, which I approved of.

Interestingly, Lance did actually message me on behalf of the Blackthorns and asked if I had any ideas about any kind of alternate forms for Dragons, but I simply said that I didn't know anything at the moment, nor was I working on 'discovering' other Pokémon using this method either for the time being. Giovanni also asked about it as well, but only on behalf of Ariana, who said was interested to doing some research with me if I wanted to. I told him I would consider it.

I even got thanked by Agatha for allowing her apprentice to participate in the experiment, and for allowing Karen a foot in the door of the scientific community. Sure, Karen's participation in the experiment was seen by the public as a footnote to my success, but it still put her name in the spotlight. Agatha promised to pay me back in some way in the future if I continued to develop Karen's scientific credentials, which I was happy to hear and do.

In the meanwhile, I was glad to at least avoid much of the blame for the sheer number of failed experiments and lost Pokémon eggs, with the Indigo League suffering some of the blame for failing to implement these new laws in time. On the other hand, I still got a few angry letters from people about how my experiment caused them to lose their precious egg or what not, but I was mostly able to just ignore and dispose of them since I knew I wasn't responsible for their recklessness.

On a happier note, I knew that the next week was going to be full of excitement and surprises, with both the circuit starting up and Lance's battle against Pryce happening at the end of the week. Poor Whitney was a mess as she spent her remaining time at home in an almost crazed mix of both anticipation about the journey ahead and sadness at the thought of leaving home for such a long period of time.

I frequently reassured her that she could call home anytime that she'd like, and I would even visit her sometimes during her journey if I had free time to do so.

My parents were equally as worried as my sister, though they were able to hide it a lot better. Also, the fact that I had went through my journey beforehand and turned out so successful somewhat eased their worry, although that would never fully alleviate their concerns. I was able to reassure them all that Whitney's Miltank was sufficiently strong enough to serve as a guardian and protector, so Whitney should be safe from harm.

My father was still a bit unwilling to send his 'baby girl' out on her own, but he eventually acquiesced as he realized that forcing Whitney to stay at home would be a huge waste of her potential. My parents weren't great trainers, but even they could see that Whitney had the potential of becoming something great.

Nevertheless, Whitney roped me into spending much of our remaining time together making sure that she was ready for her journey. However, instead of more training like she expected, I actually spent more time with her going over some of the tips that I learnt while I was on my journey.

I spoke about how you should always pack more food than you think you need, and how to properly plan your journey so you don't end up stuck in a cave for too long. I explained the need to leave a Pokémon on sentry duty if you're in hostile territory with plenty of aggressive wild Pokémon.

I also warned her about stranger danger, since I wasn't exactly sure if my parents had gone through this with her or not, and told her to be friendly, but wary, of any strangers. I also told her to immediately report any suspicious activity to the Indigo Police, and to drop my name if you have to. I made sure that fact was properly ingrained into her head by the time she left on her journey; her safety was my number one priority.

More jokingly, I told her that she should probably warn a few of her earlier Gym Leaders about how strong her Miltank just so she didn't accidentally harm their Gym Pokémon. She gave me a cherubic smile at that.

Then we moved onto the more practical demonstrations, and I had her repeatedly demonstrate to me that she knew how to set up a tent and cook food. Eventually, I was satisfied that she knew what she was doing and would be able to make it through her journey and the circuit safely.

Truthfully, I considered getting a protection detail for Whitney, but ultimately thought that protection was probably overkill and would be far too stifling, especially after Giovanni informed me that his sources were saying that Team Rocket had been all but expunged from Indigo. I didn't know what they were up to in Hoenn, but they seemed to be lying low for the moment, meaning that I wasn't too concerned about Whitney being in danger from them.

With any extra time we had left between those 'survival skill' training sessions, I focused on having Whitney train with her Whismur. I noticed that she was starting to make the overly common newbie mistake of focusing too heavily on her starter, so I wanted to correct that before it became a bigger problem. I also made sure to remind her to be careful with new captures, and ensure that any new addition to her team would actually fit in. She nodded, but I wasn't exactly sure if she really understood.

Now that Whismur was far less shy than she first was when I first found her in Hoenn, I got Whitney to work with her to train her sound attacks, practicing with attacks such as Echoed Voice, Disarming Voice, and eventually, Uproar. The latter was still very much a work-in-progress, but I was at least satisfied that Whismur would be more than capable of handling a 1st badge battle.

I even told Whitney that if she wanted a challenge to try to have Whismur fight the first gym by herself, and to only use Miltank as a backup. Her Miltank was far too strong anyways.

And so, the days flew by, until it was almost time for Whitney to set off for her journey, but I had a final challenge for her to overcome before she could start her circuit.

===========

​(Whitney POV)

Whitney marched out nervously into the fields with her Miltank and Whismur. Apparently, John said that he had something he wanted to do with her before she left on her circuit tomorrow. He wouldn't say anymore though, and Whitney was left nervous and confused about what it was.

As she arrived, she saw that John was standing there idly in the clearing. She couldn't see any of his or Karen's Pokémon around, which was very unusual. Normally, she would find the two of them training with each other if John wasn't focused on her.

The lack of Pokémon only served to make her more nervous though, and she carefully made her way to where her brother was standing.

"It's a shame that I don't have a piano for this." She heard him mutter as she got close, then he suddenly turned around and she felt the air get colder as he faced her down.

"I hope you've been keeping well Whitney." He started, and she was confused for a moment before she saw him draw two Premier Balls from his belt. "On your journey, you and your Pokémon will need to overcome the many challenges that you will face, however difficult. You will need to battle against your own personal weaknesses too, and triumph over them. You will need to learn to make use of your Pokémon's power, and how to wrangle it to your benefit. But that's enough talk. Let's get on to why you're here. Tomorrow, you will head off on your journey, but not before you show me everything that you've learnt so far."

As she listened to John, she grew increasingly wary and instinctively took a step back while her Miltank stepped in front of her protectively. Miltank began growling as she felt the familiar aura of battle that was radiating out of her brother.

"Come, sister, and show me your determination!" Her brother declared while throwing out two Premier balls, revealing his Porygon and his D-Zigzagoon.

Before she could properly react, she saw his D-Zigzagoon bounding straight for her Whismur. Miltank quickly tried to get in the way and block him, but a Thunderbolt from his Porygon cut her off.

"You need to react quicker than that, sister!" Her brother taunted, before he gave new commands to his Pokémon.

"Tackle and get close to her Whismur, Ornstein!" "Keep your distance and Thunderbolt, Pixel!"

Whitney quickly snapped out of her confusion as she watched her Whismur falling backwards, panicking slightly, but not completely lost yet. Fine. If her brother wanted to test her like this, then she would show him what she could do.

"Whismur, Pound that Zigzagoon! You're stronger than him! Don't be scared!" "Miltank, you need to get close to Porygon and knock it out!"

Miltank roared out and charged at the Porygon, but her brother just smirked.

"It's not going to be that easy, Whitney! Pixel, Magnet Rise!"

Her Miltank just barely missed reaching his Porygon and was forced to watch helplessly as it floated out of range of her devastating strikes. She needed to change tactics.

"Rock throw, Miltank! Knock it out of the sky!" She ordered, and Miltank quickly hurled a huge slab of rock at Porygon, but it was easily dodged.

"Thunderbolt her Whismur now, Pixel!" Whitney rapidly turned around in alarm as she remembered that her Whismur was busy fighting his D-Zigzagoon too, only to see her Whismur getting struck by a strong Thunderbolt before a follow-up Tackle from his D-Zigzagoon finished off her Whismur.

"You weren't properly keeping track of things, Whitney." Her brother admonished, less softly than he usually did. She almost let out a growl of frustration at herself for forgetting about her Whismur and promised to make it up to her later.

"Thunder Wave, Pixel!" Whitney almost let out one of those curses her brother and Karen often use when they thought she couldn't hear them; she was letting herself get distracted again even when she had just told herself not to be!

"Rollout and dodge it, Miltank! Focus down his Zigzagoon!" She commanded.

Luckily, her training with her Miltank paid off as she was able to quickly curl up into a ball and dodge to the side, avoiding the Thunder Wave entirely. Her Miltank then continually rolled around the battlefield and chased after the D-Zigzagoon, slowly catching up to him.

"Keep running, Ornstein!" "Thunderbolt her, Pixel!" John tried to use Pixel's Thunderbolt to disrupt her Miltank's Rollout, but she proved far too manoeuvrable for Pixel's Thunderbolts to catch up with and was now in striking distance of his D-Zigzagoon.

"Body Press him, Miltank!"

"That's enough! Return, Ornstein."

Before her Miltank was able to crush his D-Zigzagoon with a supereffective Body Press, John quickly withdrew his Pokémon from the field. Whitney gave a questioning look to her brother before it turned sheepish at the stern expression that John had.

"Whitney, I warned you about how powerful your Miltank was. If that move had successfully landed on my newly hatched Ornstein, you might have done some serious damage to him. Others may not have the reaction time or the awareness to withdraw their Pokémon like I did; you have to keep this in mind during your journey." He reminded her sternly, and all she could do was nod sheepishly.

"I will." She promised, and he gave her a scrutinising look before he nodded.

"Good, then let's return to the fight. Thunderbolt NOW, Pixel!" Before both herself and Miltank could respond, his Porygon landed a direct hit with his Thunderbolt.

"Hey, that's cheating! I wasn't ready!" She complained, scowling at her brother. But John simply shrugged dismissively.

"Some people won't fight fair against you, Whitney." He lectured solemnly, totally pretending to not be the cheater that he was, "Not everyone will play by the rules. Some trainers will do everything they can to win, even using underhanded methods like cheating. You need to be ready for them."

She gave him a dubious nod and then returned to giving commands. "Miltank, keep dodging the Thunderbolts with Rollout! We need to wear it down!"

Miltank obeyed and started rolling around the field in a random manner that managed to avoid Porygon's attacks. Whitney frowned as she realized a critical weakness of her team, she seriously lacked any ranged options to knock down flying targets that were out of reach of her Miltank.

She also realized that that was probably why John chose to fight this way; he wanted her to think of how she would counter this method.

She locked her eyes onto John's Porygon, trying to spot any potential weaknesses that she could exploit. She furrowed her brow as she stared hard, and eventually, she spotted something. His Porygon would temporarily slow down when trying to fire off a Thunderbolt and seemed to need to take some time to recover after every attack.

She could use this! "Miltank, you have to endure past the Thunderbolts and just Rock Throw!"

Her Miltank gave a Moo of approval and transitioned out of her Rollout as she suddenly stood still in the open. And, just as Whitney hoped, Porygon took the bait and decided to strike with what it thought was an easy Thunderbolt onto Miltank, but then this inadvertently exposed itself by being too slow to dodge the incoming boulder that was being hurled its way.

Whitney let out a small cheer as she finally saw Porygon be knocked out of the sky as the boulder smashed into it; and she missed the smile that John was directing her way. She was about to order Miltank to finish off the Porygon but John cut in before she could.

"I withdraw my Porygon." He announced, looking pleased. He patted his Premier Ball for a moment before turning to face her. "You did well. I'm sure you realized by now that your team is weak against Pokémon that can fly out of range of your Miltank. You should probably think of ways to counter that, either with specific moves or by catching other Flyers to deal with them."

"Yeah, I get it, bro. Thanks." She said idly, as she went to hug her Miltank and congratulate her on a job well-done. John seemed to let her indulge herself for a few moments before he interrupted her with a cough.

"I'm glad to see you celebrating your victory, Whitney, but we're not done yet." He replied with a sad smile, which felt ominous to Whitney. "I have one more test for you. I'm sorry to have to do this, but this might be your most important lesson yet. Are you ready?"

She looked to Miltank and received a firm nod in return, and she did the same to John. John smile then suddenly turned wrong, and without any more warning, he sent out his Pokémon.

"SLAKINGGGG!!!" His mighty Slaking roared out as he emerged from the Premier Ball in all of its glory. As Tyrant lowered his gaze onto Whitney, it was like she couldn't breathe. The air felt heavy, every single instinct of hers was telling to run away, but no matter how much she willed her limbs to move, they refused to.

Then, suddenly, Tyrant charged straight towards her Miltank faster than the two of them could react and backhanded her Miltank across the field and outside the fenced area where they had been training. Whitney remained frozen, both in panic and in despair.

W-what was that?! What could she do against that?! Her brother must know that she had no chance of winning against his Tyrant, so why would he even send it out against her?!

Without any commands, her Miltank charged at Tyrant in a futile attempt to try and take out his Slaking, with expected results. Tyrant easily caught her Miltank's extended arms with his hand, before effortlessly lifting Miltank up by the arm and smashing her into the ground.

"Whitney!" John's voice suddenly snapped her out of her despair, and she turned her frightened eyes towards her brother. "Remember what I said! Sometimes, there are fights you CANNOT win!"

Suddenly, it clicked. She understood what she had to do. She nodded to herself and willed herself to move and took off with a sprint to where her Miltank was.

"Miltank, we need to leave, NOW!" She shouted out in a hurry, "We can't win, we need to run!"

Her Miltank quicky listened and followed after her in a sprint, staying just behind her to protect her from any attacks from Slaking. Sure enough, Slaking started hurling huge rocks towards the two of them, forcing Miltank to slow down to smash them apart before they could harm Whitney.

If she hadn't been so occupied with running away and escaping, perhaps she would have noticed that Slaking was easily capable of firing far more and larger chunks of rocks than he currently was. Furthermore, she probably should have realized that her Miltank should not even be conscious at the moment after taking two hits from Slaking, and yet here she was continuing to protect her by smashing through one rock after the other.

Eventually, the barrage of rocks seemed to peter out as Slaking seemed disinclined to chase after them from beyond the fenced area. She looked around with Miltank, and seeing nothing, the two of them gave off synced sighs of relief.

"Congratulations." The familiar voice of her brother startled her so much that she fell onto her butt. "But you must remember that nowhere is safe until you make it to a Pokécenter. You shouldn't have relaxed until you returned to somewhere you know is certain to be safe, in this case, that would be our house."

"…How did you get behind us like that?" She asked after she recovered from her surprise.

"No one bothers to look up." He said simply, casually reminding her that he probably flew ahead of her using his Pidgeot or Mantine. She nodded simply at that, too tired to fire back a remark.

"But I was being sincere when I gave my congratulations. You did well, sister, and I'm proud of you. You have passed my ridiculous final test. I'm sorry if you got scared, but learning when to run is always important. You can't win everything." He patted her on the head and carefully lifted her by the arms. It's been a long time since he had carried her like this. She missed it.

"Come, it's already getting late. Let's get you home and get some food in you." He told her before he turned to her Miltank. "Klee is waiting for you back at the field, Miltank, so you can go to her to get healed." He said kindly, and her Miltank waddled away with a happy smile and left the two of them alone.

Whitney allowed herself to be carried back home, and she barely remembered showering, sitting through dinner, and falling asleep. All she could barely remember was her mom scolding John for being too harsh on her or something. She was just that tired.

She woke up much earlier than she usually did the next day, and she wasn't sure if it was because she went to sleep earlier than usual or because she was excited to finally start her circuit and her journey.

She went down to the breakfast table and was surprised to see the entire family, plus a surprisingly awake Karen, waiting for her there. Her surprise must have shown on her face as her mother chuckled.

"Are you surprised, dear?" She asked rhetorically. "Did you think that we wouldn't have realized that you were going to wake up earlier? Do you remember how your brother was when it was time for his journey?"

Karen turned to her brother with a smirk and seemed to be laughing at him with her eyes. Her brother blushed slightly before trying to change the topic, "Whitney, everyone in this room knows how hard you've prepared for your journey. And we know that you move on to do great things. So, we all got a small farewell gift for you before you leave."

She wanted to say that it was unfair since her brother didn't get anything before his trip because they were too poor to do so, but her slight edge of maturity pushed through for a second and told her to keep her mouth shut and just nod.

"Your mother and I got you this, sweetie." Her father said, as he passed her a small, wrapped package. She inspected it curiously for a moment before her father gestured for her to unwrap it, which she proceeded to do, revealing a small rectangular flip phone. She turned to her parents with a surprised, but happy, expression.

"Now that you're going to be on your journey, we felt that you needed some way to communicate with us." Her father explained, "Your brother helped us with the model, and said this model was famous for being unbreakable and waterproof. It's nothing fancy, but it should be reliable."

She marvelled at her gift for a moment before she put it down and hugged her parents, her eyes moist. Her parents hugged her tightly for a few moments before her mom started to cry, causing her to start as well.

Her brother and father tried to remain stoic, but she could tell that they were just holding it back. Karen looked a bit uncomfortable, but then patiently waited for them to break off the hug and for her to clean herself up before passing the gift to her.

"It's a TM for Shadow Ball." She explained, looking a bit embarrassed. "I really had trouble trying to find something personal to give you, but John said that this would be a very good gift to get you started. Use it well, and take care of yourself out there, Whitney."

Whitney carefully pocketed the TM before she engulfed Karen in a hug, which was promptly returned.

"Take care of my brother for me." Whitney whispered cheekily.

"I will." Karen whispered back, and the two of them shared a knowing smile together as they broke apart.

John then made his way forwards and crouched down to her level, before passing a very small metal box towards her, giving her a look to open it. She did so, revealing a stack of printed business cards with his brother's name and contact details on it, with the genuine mark of the Elite Four stamped on each one.

"I told you before that I would be there if you need me." Her brother said, "If you ever need to use my name to get yourself out of trouble, use those to prove my identity to them, and I'll be there as soon as I can. Now, go out there and make some friends! Enjoy yourself! We'll always be proud."

She glomped her brother and gave him whispered appreciation and thanks, ignoring the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes once again. He simply told her to stay safe out there and to come back home every once in a while. She promised to do so.

Then, the family, and Karen, all shared breakfast together. It was the last breakfast that she would have with her family for a while, but she tried to not let that get her down. Surprisingly, Karen seemed more uncomfortable just joining them at the table, but her mother repeatedly insisted that they were fine with it and that she was welcome to be there.

"I'm sure you will be joining us more often, Karen, so don't feel shy!" Her mother teased, causing both her brother and Karen to blush. Though Karen recovered quicker.

"Yes, unfortunately, your son insists that we train often so I'm always forced to be here. He's quite the slave driver, am I right?" Karen teased back.

"Oh my, I never knew our John was so possessive. He's just like his father." Her mom said with fake surprise, causing both her brother and father to share a look of shared commiseration, and John muttered a few words to himself that she was sure she wasn't meant to overhear.

While they were eating, her brother asked if she wanted him to drop her off at Pewter, but she told him that she would make her way there herself.

Eventually, breakfast was over, and it was time for her to go. She spent the next few minutes double checking everything, making sure that she had her trainer ID and registration on hand. Then she had to double check everything AGAIN after her parents kept asking if she had forgotten something.

Then it was finally time to leave the house. Her mother insisted that they take a photo before she left, and they all squished together in front of their doorway for a picture. Karen said that she shouldn't interrupt a family photo, but both her parents insisted, and she caved.

Photo taken, she gave all of her family members, and Karen, one last hug before she stepped out of her house and started on her journey.

Whitney turned around one last time and looked at her family, trying to engrave their expressions and faces into her memory. She saw that there was not a single dry eye among them, and she realized that she was on the verge of tears as well.

No, she refused to cry again. She was not a cry-baby any longer.

Before her resolve could falter, she gave one last wave towards her family and turned around again, leaving her family behind, and starting on her journey.

It was time for her to pave her own path.

The New Normal – 4-8 - INTERLUDE – Whitney

Whitney finally arrived from Pewter City after she practically sprinted from her home, only to despair as she witnessed just how long the queue was to reserve a match for the Gym Battle. She cursed inwardly; John had warned her about this and even offered her to ride on his Mantine so that she could arrive earlier, but she was stupid and didn't listen.

She was still pretty early, but even then, she had to wait in line like the rest of them.

Whitney resigned herself to stand in line for the next few minutes, barely moving forward as the time ticked by. This was not how she imagined her journey beginning. She had expected grand encounters and battles, not this…monotony of waiting in a line to wait your turn for the battle.

She resignedly let out a big breath as she inched forwards a little bit more. This line was going to drive her crazy! In a bid to stave off her boredom and impatience, she felt like she had to talk to someone. She remembered her brother telling her to make friends, and she supposed that being stuck waiting line was as good of a time as any.

Luckily, just standing one space behind her, was a black-haired girl that was of similar age to her. Deciding that she was going to at least strike up a conversation, Whitney made the first move.

"Hello, I'm Whitney. It's good to meet you." She said to the girl with a smile, only to be faced with the girl's very intense gaze. The girl's pink eyes looking like they were able to stare deep into her mind. But Whitney casually shrugged off the gaze and maintained her wide smile.

Eventually, the other girl caved. "…your thoughts are very straightforward." She said in reply, and that made Whitney very confused.

"Um…what do you mean?" Whitney asked.

"You. Your thoughts. They are so easy to read." The girl bluntly replied, before her a hint of confusion entered her eyes. "…Why do you want to be friends with me?"

OH! She got it now! This girl was one of those Psychics that she sometimes saw on the news! That's so cool!

"Yes. I am cool. Now why do you want to be my friend?" The girl asked again, making Whitney blush. Whoops!

"Oh, um. It's because-"

"Because you have nothing better to do and your brother told you to make friends." The girl interrupted, reading her thoughts once again. This time, Whitney frowned.

"Hey, it's not nice to read other people's thoughts like that. And at least let me finish my sentence!" She scolded.

The girl looked at her weirdly, "But why?"

"Because it's rude!" Whitney explained, "You have to be polite or else people won't like you."

"People don't like me because they are afraid of me. Whether I am rude or not will not change that." She remarked blankly, but there was a hint of bitterness in her voice.

This time, it was Whitney's turn to be confused. "Why are people afraid of you? You're not scary."

The girl looked at Whitney as if she was dumb, "They are scared because I can read their minds. Because I am a powerful Psychic. Even my parents don't really know how to deal with me, even if they try their best anyway."

"That's dumb. Just because you might be a powerful Psychic doesn't mean they have to be scared of you." Whitney said, conviction leaking from her tone. "My brother has very scary Pokémon too, but I know they won't hurt me. So, I'm not scared of them, and I'm not scared of you."

Sure, Whitney got scared when her brother suddenly sent out Tyrant to fight against her Miltank, but that was more out of surprise than anything. She knew it in her bones that John would never deliberately hurt her. He was too nice for that.

The girl's gaze turned intense for a moment, before it then softened as the girl nodded her head slightly, "…You are telling the truth. You are not scared of me. Even after knowing my powers…you are not scared?" The girl said that last part with just a bit of hope in her voice.

"Nope." Whitney replied simply, emphasizing the 'p', "Besides, even if you wanted to hurt me, my brother will protect me. So, I'm not scared. I just want to be your friend."

The girl continued staring at Whitney for a moment, but Whitney refused to look away. She would not be stopped from making a new friend! Eventually, the girl broke the stare-down and clasped her hands together, suddenly adopting a hint of red on her cheeks.

"…my name is Sabrina. And…I would like to…be your…friend too…?" The girl stuttered out embarrassedly, and Whitney had to restrain herself from squeeing from how cute that was.

Sabrina only turned even more red at that. Oops, Whitney forgot that she could read minds.

"I'd love to be your friend too, Sabrina." She excitedly clasped Sabrina's hands in her own, which she seemed surprised by, "Arceus, I can't believe we're actually friends! So, Sabrina, tell me all about yourself! Do you have a brother as well? I have a brother and he's helped me train up my Pokémon a lot too and I've been so excited to go on my journey and yet I was really sad about leaving my family behind and -"

Suddenly, Whitney couldn't move. An invisible force seemed to be pressing down on her and restraining her movements, cutting off her rambling. After a brief moment of panic, she relaxed when she realized that it was just Sabrina using her Psychic powers again. Arceus! That's some power!

After a moment of wiggling, Whitney managed to break free from Sabrina's Psychic hold.

"You talk too much-"

Whitney interrupted her new friend with a flick to the forward.

"Ow! Why did you hit me?" Sabrina scowled, clutching her forehead.

"You can't just use your Psychic powers like that!" Whitney lectured, "It's rude!"

"Why?" Sabrina asked with a tilt of her head.

"It just is!" Whitney said once again, but Sabrina still seemed to not understand, and continued giving Whitney a strange look.

"…Are you truly not afraid of my powers?" Sabrina asked again, "Most children would have run away after I silenced them like that."

"Well, I don't really see it as a big deal." Whitney admitted with a shrug, "It's just a bit rude to shut someone up like that. But I know you don't mean me any harm, so like I said, I'm not scared."

Sabrina looked shocked at that, which Whitney found a bit strange, but she ultimately ignored it and continued talking.

"Anyways, sorry for rambling. I have a bad habit of doing that. But, come on, tell me a little bit about yourself! What do you like doing?" Whitney asked.

"…I like getting stronger." Sabrina stated simply after a brief moment of staring blankly at Whitney, "I like training with my Pokémon and developing them further."

"Me too!" Whitney gushed excitedly, "I only really had my brother to train with in the past, so I'd love to train with someone else as well! It's going to be so cool!"

"Is your brother strong?" Sabrina asked. "You have mentioned him a lot."

"Yes! He is! He helped me train my Pokémon as well." Whitney said, "Hey, how about after we register for a match, we should find somewhere to train together. Show off each other's Pokémon?!" Whitney suggested.

"You will lose." Sabrina remarked blankly, but Whitney could see the corners of her lips rising just ever so slightly.

"We'll see about that. My brother has praised my Pokémon for being much stronger than what they should be as a beginner. I'm gonna prove your words wrong." She boasted.

"My father is the Saffron Gym Leader." Sabrina replied boastingly, "I am far stronger than you think you are."

"Nuh uh. I'm definitely stronger!" That was all Whitney said, before she had to turn around and actually move forwards in the line.

Huh, apparently, she was so distracted during her conversation that she didn't realize that it was almost her turn. Finally. She couldn't wait to register her battle for the Gym Badge and then prepare for her first proper fight as a trainer against Sabrina.

She wouldn't lose against her new friend!

"NEXT!" The overworked receptionist called out, and Whitney finally moved forwards and faced the receptionist, who looked extremely overworked already.

"I need your Trainer ID Card. And I assume that you would like to schedule your match for the next available slot?" The tired receptionist said without even looking up from her desk. Whitney didn't mind and just shuffled through her wallet to fetch her brand-new Trainer ID Card and hand it to the receptionist.

Her Trainer ID Card lacked any badges next to it for the moment, but Whitney vowed that would change in the future.

"…Whitney Smith. Alright." The receptionist mumbled to herself as she scrolled through to find the next available slot. They didn't seem to recognize her name, but Whitney was more than fine with that and supposed that 'Smith' was a common enough surname.

She didn't want any special favours just because she was the sister of an Elite Four member. She wanted to make it through her journey using her own abilities, and not rely on her brother's borrowed strength. Fortunately, she looked nothing like her brother with her pink hair, so it was near impossible to make that connection unless you saw them interacting together.

"Right, you're booked in for tomorrow afternoon." Huh, she guessed that wasn't too bad. She must have been earlier than she thought. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Uh…is the Gym normally so busy?" Whitney blurted out curiously, then winced as the receptionist sighed with an expression that screamed that she didn't want to actually want to answer any questions.

"Yes. It normally is this busy at the beginning of every circuit. I don't mean to be rude, but I have a lot more people to get through today, so unless you have any other urgent questions, could you please save them for later?" The receptionist said, visibly holding back her annoyance, and Whitney quickly moved on before she could annoy the receptionist any further.

She then turned to Sabrina and said, "I'll wait for you outside so that we can head to the training fields together." Sabrina simply nodded and Whitney made her way outside.

As she waited outside for Sabrina, the reality that she was going to be challenging for her first Gym Badge began to set in.

John had repeatedly told her to not worry, but if you ever got worried then the most productive thing to do was to do as much research and preparation for the upcoming battle. Whitney had already done plenty of research into Flint, with the help of her brother, even before the journey had started.

And although John said that she was far past Flint's first badge team, and to be honest she thought that Flint was fairly weak even for being the first Gym Leader, she was still unable to settle her nerves. Sure, she rationally knew that her Miltank was strong enough, but she was worried that she would fumble it during the match.

'No', she told herself as she took a deep breath. She had worked hard for years for prepare herself for her journey, and she wouldn't let her nerves trip her up. Her brother had come out of his journey with such success that he was able to provide for their parents and Whitney.

She wanted to prove herself to be able to do the same. She loved her brother, but he casted a long shadow over her. Yet, Whitney was determined to step out of that shadow, and defeating Flint would be the first steppingstone to do so.

"Your thoughts are admirable." Whitney was jolted out of her thoughts by the sounds of Sabrina's voice. She turned towards the direction of the voice and saw Sabrina walking towards her.

"Hey! Don't read my mind!" Whitney mock-scolded, but then it turned into a smile, "But thanks anyways. I hope I can make my brother proud."

Sabrina just nodded at that and the two of them began making their way to the outskirts of Pewter City where the designated training fields were located. As they walked, Whitney asked when Sabrina's match was, only to be pleased to hear that it was directly after hers.

As they walked, Whitney admitted to herself that she was fairly nervous about having her first battle against someone that wasn't her brother, but she was also super excited to finally fight her first battle. Regardless, she vowed to give it her all, she wouldn't let her Miltank down.

She would use this battle as a warmup to reassure herself that she was able to defeat Flint.

In an attempt to break away from those stressful thoughts, she struck up another conversation with Sabrina.

"So, how does your Psychic powers work? They seem so cool!" She gushed. "Are you able to always read my mind?"

Sabrina shook her head, "I am not powerful enough to read minds so casually. I have to focus. And I can only read surface thoughts. For now."

"But you were able to hold me down with your Psychic powers!" Whitney continued excitedly, "I want to be able to do that too!"

"You cannot unless you have the gift." Sabrina replied immediately, causing Whitney to pout. "Anyways, I am not powerful enough to restrain a stronger trainer. Yet as I get older, my Psychic powers will similarly gain in strength. You are weak, so I was able to."

Whitney's pout grew as Sabrina casually insulted her, but Sabrina seemed unaware of this as she kept walking forwards in silence.

Eventually, they made it to the training fields and stood opposite each other, both ready to battle.

"Are you ready?" Sabrina stated as she psychically levitated a Pokéball in the air, cutting through her thoughts.

"I am!" She said as she clenched her fists around Miltank's Premier Ball. "Let's do this on the count of three." Sabrina nodded.

"Three...Two…One…Release!"

Her Miltank emerged from her Premier Ball just as a Kadabra emerged out of Sabrina's. Not very surprising, considering everything Whitney had observed so far. But enough distractions, time to battle.

"Rollout and get close to it, Miltank!"

Miltank quickly started rolling around the field to get close to the Kadabra before she was suddenly blasted back slightly by a Psychic. Both Whitney and Sabrina looked surprised at that, though for different reasons.

Sabrina was surprised because her Kadabra's Psychic barely even caused Miltank to stumble. It was as if Miltank had simply shrugged off what was normally an instant knockout. That was very unusual; she had trained up her Kadabra significantly and was usually able to just overpower other Pokémon with raw Psychic strength alone, so Miltank's endurance was alarming.

On the other hand, Whitney was surprised because Sabrina hadn't actually said anything, and yet her Pokémon attacked as if it was following a command. Fortunately, she was quick to realize that Sabrina was likely telepathically communicating with her Pokémon. That's so cool! And unfair! She wanted to do that too.

But they both shook off their distractions and refocused on the fight. In their distraction, Miltank had almost closed the distance with Kadabra.

"Body Slam into it, Miltank!"

Her Miltank obeyed and transitioned out of her Rollout into a devastating Body Slam, but Kadabra suddenly teleported out of the way before Miltank could slam into it. Kadabra made use of this opportunity by firing another blast of Psychic energy at Miltank, and yet it was once again simply shrugged off.

The two of them frowned at that exchange. Whitney was annoyed at the teleporting, while Sabrina was frustrated that her Psychics were being shrugged off.

But Whitney quickly came up with a plan.

"Rollout again, Miltank! It can't keep dodging forever!"

Once again, Miltank began rolling around the battlefield and got close to the Kadabra, tanking another full powered Psychic that managed to push her back slightly, but not enough to interrupt the Rollout.

"Body Slam again, Miltank!"

And, just as Whitney predicted, Kadabra teleported away before Miltank could strike with her Body Slam, but Whitney had a different idea in mind.

"Earthquake, Miltank!" Using the momentum of her Body Slam, Miltank slammed into the ground belly first as a huge tremor shook the ground. Kadabra, who had just teleported, was caught unaware by the surprise Earthquake and was unable to dodge in time.

"Rock throw, Miltank!"

"Teleport again, Kadabra!"

The urgency of Sabrina's situation showed itself as she panicked and actually verbally gave out an order instead of relying on her telepathy. But, with the paper-thin defences of Kadabra, it was unable to regain its focus from the damage that it took from the Earthquake before a huge rock crashed into it, knocking it out.

Sabrina stared silently at her fallen Kadabra with a look of utter shock on her face.

Whitney was respectful enough to not adopt an expression of smug superiority, even though she really wanted to scream about her first victory. But she wouldn't rub her victory in on her friend.

"…An impressive showing." Sabrina finally said reluctantly as she returned her Kadabra to its Pokéball, "I can see why you were so confident. Your Miltank is far stronger than anything else I have seen at this point."

"Yeah! I've been training for a long time. Technically, my brother says my Miltank is probably too strong for the first few badges…but I just wanted to show her off anyways. I hope you don't mind." Whitney replied.

Sabrina shook her head, "I do not. I had once thought the same of my own Kadabra. As the daughter of a Gym Leader, I naturally had an advantage over other trainers our age. I once thought that this would have been enough to secure me an easy path through the Gyms, but I see now that I was mistaken. I do have a second Pokémon, but I do not believe that it would have stood a chance against your Miltank, so I forfeit. It is your victory. Your Miltank truly is formidable."

Whitney preened at the praise, "Thank you! The two of us have been working hard to get as strong as we are! But you're pretty strong too, Sabrina! Your Kadabra is no joke! You would have easily beaten my Whismur."

Sabrina gave a small bow, "Thank you. But I can see now that I have more training to do. I had thought that my Kadabra would have been sufficient to beat all foes, so I have neglected training up my Natu. You have shown me my arrogance and opened my eyes, and for that I thank you."

Whitney didn't really get all of that, but smiled anyways, "No worries! It's what friends are for, after all. Come on, let's get your Kadabra healed up at the Pokécenter and we can discuss training tips. I heard that it's a good way to learn!"

Sabrina tilted her head once again, "…You still want me to accompany you after we had finished our battle? I thought we would go our separate ways after this."

Whitney turned to Sabrina with an incredulous expression, "What are you talking about? We're friends now. Come on, don't say such things. Friends don't leave friends behind. So, let's get going to the Pokécenter."

To emphasize her point, Whitney wrapped an arm around Sabrina's shoulder and pulled her along to the Pokécenter. Sabrina resisted at first, but eventually relaxed and allowed herself to be pulled along.

In the corner of her eye, Whitney saw Sabrina adopt a small smile, perhaps the first time she had ever seen her smile this entire time, and she couldn't help but break out into a smile of her own.

They were going to be great friends! She just knew it!

The New Normal – 4-9 - The Showdown

I sat down in the VIP viewing room for the Elite Four, overseeing the upcoming match between Lance and Pryce. Agatha sat down on my right, accompanied by Karen, who Agatha had invited into the normally exclusive room; the security guards hardly even batting an eye at her intrusion.

Even Walker, who I would have thought would have at least spoken up to criticise Agatha, was silently hanging around the buffet table and pretending to not be noticed. He looked like a man awaiting his turn for the executioner; at least he knew when he was unwelcome.

Pryce would probably throw a fit at this 'impropriety' if he was here, but he definitely had a different problem to deal with at the moment. The more malicious part of me was salivating at the thought of witnessing his defeat, to see him humbled to the world. But I kept my rationality.

As I sat, I thought over the events that had occurred since Whitney's departure from home as she set off for her journey. It was a bittersweet event, and I occasionally felt melancholic as I walked around an emptier house. At least I was comforted by the fact that she was doing well.

A few days since her departure and she had already defeated Flint for the Boulder Badge, not that I foresaw any challenge in that respect. She probably had more trouble trying to wait her turn – I bet she regretted declining my offer to fly her there by now to get ahead of all the people.

Still, it was a big brother's duty to worry, and even amidst the barely contained excitement of the crowd, my thoughts still occasionally strayed to how Whitney was doing.

"Worried about your sister?" Karen's voice brought me back from my thoughts as she hovered over me with concern. She knew that I'd been acting weird for the past week, and that I hadn't been at my usual level of focus during our training sessions. "She'll be fine, you know."

"Yeah…it's just unusual with the house so empty at times. I guess I've always been used to seeing her at home." I admitted with a sad smile, and Karen patted me comfortingly on the shoulders for a moment.

"Thanks though, and I'm fine. Besides, I'll have this exciting match to distract me soon enough. I've been waiting ages for this." I said while gesturing to the window overlooking the arena.

Karen gave me an inspecting look for a moment before she nodded and left me be, returning to where Agatha was sitting. The large screens hanging on the wall continued showing analysts trying to predict the outcome of the match, with several speculating that Pryce might actually be knocked off his throne.

And the best part was that I didn't have to lift a finger to see it happen. For the first time in a while, it was no longer up to me to decide the future. What happened between Lance and Pryce during the battle would be solely out of my control, and while a part of me was worried about the lack of control, the other part was grateful to be temporarily free from the responsibilities.

"I'm not sure why you're brooding when this was supposed to be a happy moment for you." Agatha suddenly said, forcing me to turn towards her. "I would have thought you would be jumping for joy at the thought of seeing Pryce on his knees and defeated. Arceus knows this was a long time coming." She said that loud enough, likely deliberately, so that Walker could overhear her. I wasn't able to see his expression as he simply walked further away from the two of us.

"I'm not, I was thinking about something else…but I suppose I was just a bit worried about the outcome of this match." I replied unexpectedly truthfully.

"Bah. You'll learn eventually that some things are simply out of your control. This is one of them. Get used to that or else you'll never be a good leader." She said in a dismissive tone, though I felt like she was trying to give me advice. I simply nodded and was about to stay silent before another question popped into my head.

"Didn't you go through with this before? When they had to find a replacement for Oak?" I asked her.

"That's Champion Oak to you, boy." Agatha corrected sharply, before an uncharacteristically fond expression appeared on her face. "But yes, when Champion Oak stepped down, the nation mourned his decision. He was, and still is, the best Champion Indigo has ever seen…but some things are just outside of our control, no matter how much you beg or plead." She said that last part with some regret and bitterness, but I knew better than to question her about it.

I simply stayed silent, continuing to wait with anticipation for the match to start. I heard Agatha muttering something about "reclaiming the title", but the announcer boomed out before I could really think about it.

"WHAT A MONUMENTAL OCCASION THIS IS FOR EVERYONE IN INDIGO!! FOR YEARS WE HAVE NOT HAD A DIRECT CHALLENGE FOR THE POSITION OF CHAMPION, AND IT IS A GREAT HONOUR TO BE ABLE TO HOST TODAY'S EVENT!" I swear I saw the supposedly reinforced glass window wobble when the crowd cheered.

"AND TODAY, WE HAVE A FANTASTIC MATCH FOR YOU! ON THE ONE SIDE, THE DEFENDING CHAMPION, THE SUCCESSOR, AND THE ICY PRODIGY, PLEASE WELCOME YOUR HONOURABLE CHAMPION, PRYCE!" Despite all of the recent controversies regarding Pryce, the crowd nonetheless roared as he made his way onto the arena, the cameras instantly zoomed into him, capturing every microdetail of his posture and expression, which I'm sure analysts around Indigo were desperately scrutinising in order to come up or support whatever theory or headline they were spouting.

Pryce entered looking stiff yet unconcerned, and even giving off an air of confidence or arrogance that the cameras managed to capture.

"AND TODAY'S CHALLENGER, YOU ALL KNOW WHO HE IS. AN ESTEEMED MEMBER OF THE BLACKTHORN CLAN, A MEMBER OF THE ELITE FOUR, THE DRAGON MASTER HIMSELF, PLEASE WELCOME, LANCE!" On the other hand, Lance's entrance didn't lack for any flair, with his cape bellowing in the wind and his arms outstretched, looking everything like a conquering hero ready to accept his grand prize.

There was nothing to analyse with Lance, every bit of him SCREAMED confidence bordering on arrogance, and power. There was not a single trace of worry on his face, as if the idea of losing this upcoming match was inconceivable to him.

I would even call it overconfident if I didn't know just how strong Lance's Pokémon were from watching his previous battles. It took a certain level of insanity and strength of character to be able to train the Pokémon he did to the level they were at.

One Dragon was hard enough, let alone multiple.

"AND TODAY'S MATCH WILL BE A SIX-ON-SIX BATTLE, THREE SWITCHES ALLOWED. STANDARD RULES. THERE WILL BE NO COMMERCIAL BREAK AFTER THREE KNOCKOUTS." The announcer stated after the applause died down. "NOW, TRAINERS, I HOPE YOU'RE READY BECAUSE THE MATCH IS STARTING. COUNT DOWN WITH ME!"

"THREE!" I leaned forward with both worry and excitement. There was nothing I could do but wait to see the fruit of our efforts.

"TWO!" If Lance lost, then I knew I was likely on my way out of the Elite Four. I had caused too many problems for Pryce, inadvertently or otherwise, for him to allow me to stay. Lance had to win. I had worked too hard to allow any other outcome.

"ONE!" They both released their Pokémon.

A raging Gyarados emerged on Lance's side of the field, comparable in every way to Drake's own Gyarados. A paradox of wrath and discipline; yet entirely obedient to its owner. A calamity taken the form of a water serpent. I instinctively knew that I would not want to face down against such a Pokémon.

On Pryce's side of the field, a powerful Glalie floated off the ground, looking alert and unfazed by Lance's Gyarados. Despite being much smaller in size and lacking that distinct intimidation factor that the Gyarados had, the Glalie looked very much like a warrior of old bravely staring down the monster he was going to defeat.

Pryce was prepared. But would his preparations prove sufficient?

"Waterfall, Gyarados! Smash it apart!"

"Ice Wall, Glalie!"

Gyarados immediately threw itself into the fray as it began its vicious assault against Glalie. Glalie quickly responded by erecting a huge wall of ice in Gyarados' path, but Gyarados easily smashed through it with an expression that almost seemed insulted that Glalie thought such a meagre wall could halt its charge.

"Freeze Dry, Glalie!"

Glalie then reacted with Pryce's signature move, and the one he invented, as he fired off a wave of chilling water straight towards Gyarados, which should have been supereffective against the Water type Gyarados, but the attack only caused Gyarados to give off an enraged snarl as it forced itself forward and slammed into Glalie, as if to try to shatter the smaller Ice type with its larger body.

"Ice Spinner! Knock him away, Glalie!"

"Fire Fang. Don't let go, Gyarados."

Gyarados latched onto the Glalie with its giant maw, fangs alight with scorching flames that slowly consumed the flailing Glalie. To its credit, Glalie put up a remarkable effort trying to shake off the Gyarados as it spun like a whirlwind of ice, but like a predator that had finally caught its prey, Gyarados refused to let go.

As the two of them thrashed wildly on the ground, Glalie suddenly managed to shake itself free from Gyarados' gaping jaws, and Pryce quickly tried to turn the situation around.

"Freeze Dry, Glalie! Propel yourself backwards!"

"Fire Fang again, Gyarados!"

Glalie fired off a torrent of water and propelled itself backwards by taking advantage of the expelling pressure, pushing itself just far enough away to dodge out of the way of another supereffective crunch from those searing fangs of Gyarados.

"Dragon Rush and chase after it, Gyarados!"

"Giga Impact, Glalie!"

"Iron Head instead, Gyarados, fight it head on! You can take it."

Like a man who was utterly unworried about his Pokémon's ability to take a hit, Lance didn't even bother trying to get his Gyarados to set up a Protect shield as he ordered his Pokémon to continue the assault and match Glalie's attack literally head on.

"The fool thinks he can win in a battle of strength? He's really lost his touch." I heard Agatha mutter next to me. Sure enough, Glalie shot forward like a bullet as it threw itself towards Gyarados with as much power as it could muster.

However, Glalie's fully charged Giga Impact was met with an equally powerful Iron Head from Gyarados, who barely flinched from the attack's impact as they smashed their heads together. Gyarados let out a mocking snarl as they collided together, as if to taunt the Glalie and asking if that was the extent of its power.

The difference in their Pokémon's inherent strengths was obvious; no matter how much Glalie was better trained compared to Gyarados, it was lacking in both strength and endurance to beat it in a straight up fight.

Without allowing Glalie to recover from its attack, Gyarados retaliated with a bone-shattering Aqua Tail that smashed directly into Glalie's side, sending the Glalie careening through the air and landing in an unsightly heap on the ground.

"Stone Edge! Don't let it get up, Gyarados!" Showing no mercy, Gyarados continued its relentless assault as huge pillars of stone rose up from the ground and crashed down on it like a landslide, burying the Glalie under a tomb of rock.

"Hyper Beam, Glalie! Break free!" Glalie remained stoic despite its injuries and shot out a powerful beam of energy that disintegrated the rocks in front of it, momentarily freeing itself from its tomb as the ray of energy struck Gyarados in the center. But Gyarados merely grunted in pain as it tanked through the attack.

"Dragon Rush! Push through it, Gyarados!"

Gyarados immediately obeyed as it rushed towards Glalie, seemingly unconcerned about the intense ray of energy trying to bore a hole into its body. It was not about to lose a battle of raw strength, and it refused to show any weakness as it enduringly pushed back the Hyper Beam and smashed straight into Glalie, cutting off the Hyper Beam and sending it tumbling down onto the ground.

"Earthquake!" In what was almost certainly overkill, Gyarados slammed its tail into a ground, sending huge tremors through the ground that violently shook the buried Glalie, ensuring that it had absolutely no chance of getting back up.

The crowd waited in silence to see if Glalie was going to rise up or not, but after ten seconds of no movement, the announcer called it.

"AND PRYCE'S GLALIE HAS BEEN KNOCKED OUT! WHAT A QUICK AND DEVESTATING FIGHT! I CANNOT BELIEVE THE STRENGTH OF THAT GYARADOS! LANCE NOW LEADS THE MATCH 1-0!!" The crowd didn't seem disappointed at all at the quick defeat and were instead roaring out their approval towards Lance. "CHAMPION PRYCE HAS 30 SECONDS TO SEND OUT HIS NEXT POKEMON!"

"Feh. That was disappointing." Agatha said bitingly, though I partially disagreed with her words. Yes, sure, Pryce's Glalie was knocked out quickly. But that was to no fault of his own, but rather, Lance was just THAT strong.

"Indeed, Pryce has lost sight of what made him strong in the first place." Walker surprisingly sighed out.

"Hah! I'm surprised you opened your mouth, Walker." Agatha mocked cuttingly, but Walker didn't rise to the bait. "But you're right. Pryce's forte was never about the pure strength of his Pokémon, but rather the fact that his Pokémon are so able to control fights with freeze strategies."

"…he's been Champion for too long." I also spoke up, getting nods from everyone including Walker. "When I spoke with him a while ago, I noticed that his ego had gone to his head. I don't think he could even comprehend losing this match."

Walker let out another breath, "…no, you're right. I must have realized this long ago but refused to acknowledge it." He didn't say anything else as he wandered off into the corner, declining any further conversation.

I gave him a pitying look for a moment before I turned back to the arena. Pryce was sending out his next Pokémon.

"Come, Abomasnow."

I heard the entire arena gasp in unison as the Abomasnow revealed itself onto the battlefield as Snow began to descend on the arena. I too was surprised; how did Pryce manage to train up a Pokémon from Sinnoh to the level where he was confident in using it against LANCE?!

"WAIT, WHAT IS THAT POKEMON!? I'VE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE AND IT LOOKS LIKE IT HAS SETUP THE SNOW!" The announcer supported my thoughts, "WELL IT LOOKS LIKE OUR CHAMPION HAS SOME SURPRISES UP HIS SLEEVE!"

"Isn't that one of those Pokémon from Sinnoh?" Karen asked aloud as a look of recognition appeared in her eyes, "I think I saw it a few times when I was looking into their Dark type Pokémon."

"…It must have been a gift from the Sinnoh League when Pryce revealed them to the public." Agatha spoke out seriously as she observed the Abomasnow. "Pryce must have kept it secret as a trump card against Lance…well played."

"Surely it couldn't have been that well-trained though. Sinnoh was revealed only a few weeks ago!" Karen exclaimed, but I shook my head.

"Not unless they were given to Pryce pre-trained." I replied, the puzzle pieces clicking together in my head, "Sure, it probably isn't as trained as his other Pokémon, but I wouldn't count it out just yet." That, and I wasn't certain for how long Pryce has had that Abomasnow. Plus, having an advantageous type matchup and surprise went a long way to securing a victory.

I turned and gave Walker a questioning look which he simply shook his head at. I frowned, hoping that Lance had studied the Sinnoh Pokédex sufficiently to understand what type it was.

But seeing the confused expression of Lance, the first crack in his normally confident appearance, I figured that he probably doesn't know.

This was going to be bad.

"Blizzard, Abomasnow."

"Waterfall, Gyarados! Just get close to it quickly!"

I winced as Gyarados charged right into the center of Abomasnow's Blizzard. It was less foolhardy than it might seem, as Gyarados was always going to be a physical attacker that needed to get closer to its opponent. So given that Lance didn't know what type Abomasnow was, or its strengths, this was likely the most reasonable choice.

However, boosted by the snow like this, even the battle-hardened Gyarados slowly froze over by the Blizzard's freezing gales of winds that sliced at it. It continued to push forwards nonetheless, valiantly ignoring the small frost crystals gradually growing along its body as it continued to writhe angrily, determinately struggling to get closer to Abomasnow before it froze over.

Yet Abomasnow's relative lack of training began to show itself. I knew instinctively that if this Blizzard was fired off by any of Pryce's regular, more-trained Pokémon, Gyarados would have frozen near instantaneously.

Eventually, likely out of sheer wrathful determination, Gyarados managed to force itself through the Blizzard, charging headfirst with murderous rage in its eyes as it angled itself to slam straight into Abomasnow with what Lance thought was going to be a devastating Waterfall.

However, with the Snow boosting his Pokémon's defenses, this just played right into Pryce's hands.

"Wood Hammer, Abomasnow!"

Just as Gyarados slammed into Abomasnow with his ineffective Waterfall, Abomasnow brutally retaliated as it morphed one of its arms into the shape of a stump and bashed it hard into the side of Gyarados' head.

"AGAIN!"

"Aqua Tail, Gyarados! Fight back!"

Gyarados was able to quickly respond by whipping its tail around and pummels it into the side of Abomasnow. Yet, despite the sheer power behind the blow, Abomasnow's typing proved its worth as it shrugged off the ineffective attack and responded with another crushing Wood Hammer to the face, landing a critical hit on the Gyarados that caused it to stagger backwards in pain.

Without allowing it to recover, Abomasnow relentlessly clobbered the Gyarados one more time as it brought another powerful strike down onto its head, smashing the Gyarados into the ground.

"Protect and reorient yourself, Gyarados!"

"Wood Hammer again, Abomasnow! Smash through that shield!"

A faint shield hastily formed in front of the Gyarados as it writhed painfully on the ground, but Abomasnow shattered through that flimsy Protect shield with a powerful chop that struck down mercilessly on the top of Gyarados' head, knocking it once again into the ground.

"Earthquake and finish it off, Abomasnow!"

Abomasnow slammed into the ground and unleashed a powerful tremor that sent cracks spreading throughout the arena, violently shaking the Gyarados as it laid prone on the ground and taking the full brunt of the attack. An attack like that would normally be more than sufficient at finishing off an already wounded Pokémon.

And yet, Gyarados refused to fall.

"Outrage, Gyarados! You're not done yet!"

Understanding just how far he was able to push his Gyarados, Lance refused to allow Gyarados to go down just like that. Despite being battered, beaten, and knocked repeatedly into the ground, Gyarados' unending rage continued to drive it forward.

As Gyarados wrapped itself up in that familiar draconic energy, I noticed that the blue aura around it was literally pulsating outwards. The power that I could feel radiating out of Lance's Gyarados, even through the window, was almost incomparable to Drake's. And then, without warning, it burst forwards off the ground as it shot towards Abomasnow, tearing a huge gash in the arena in its wake.

"Blizzard, Abomasnow! Stop it in its tracks!" Pryce shouted, showing the slightest bit of panic at Gyarados' rapid approach, his first hint of emotion since the start of the battle.

Abomasnow roared out and formed another intense Blizzard in its wake, engulfing the Gyarados within once again. However, unlike before, Gyarados was hardly deterred by the freezing winds, its anger now so all-consuming and explosive that none could stop it. Realizing that Gyarados was undeterred by the Blizzard and was not slowing down, Pryce changed tactics.

"Leaf Storm, Abomasnow!"

As soon as Gyarados broke free from the Blizzard, a torrent of leaves shot themselves towards Gyardos, inflicting a litany of cuts and wounds as they sliced into it. Gyarados roared out in determination as it continued to ignore its growing injuries and exhaustion and forced itself through the storm of razor-sharp leaves and slammed itself into Abomasnow.

However, its once pulsating aura of Draconic energy was rapidly dimming, and I knew that it was only a matter of time before Gyarados' exhaustion caught up with it. Pryce must have had the same realisation too, as he tried to stall for time.

"Protect and Giga Drain, Abomasnow!"

A sturdy cyclical shield formed itself in front of Abomasnow, shattering but successfully blocking an Iron Head from Gyarados. Making use of that space, Abomasnow fired out small green tendrils that attached themselves to Gyarados, gradually draining away its health and healing Abomasnow in return.

Blinded by murderous rage as it was, Gyarados was unable to realize what was happening as it continued to ignore the life-draining tendrils and continued its volley of attacks against Abomasnow. But now, Abomasnow was starting to get used to Gyarados' wild attack patterns and was now able to occasionally parry the attacks using Wood Hammer to transform its arms into stumps and using them as makeshift shields.

Gyarados must have realized that its energy was waning, that the plague of exhaustion was just around the corner. And yet, Gyarados refused to lose. It refused to fall to some unknown Pokémon that wasn't even a Dragon. Its pride, its anger, its loyalty, refused to allow such an outcome. So, it roared towards the sky above, willing itself to just land one more attack in the hopes that it would finally bring down that blasted Abomasnow before it as it continued lashing out.

But sometimes, rage, raw power, and determination alone is insufficient. Although Abomasnow was not the bulkiest of Pokémon, nor could it match Gyarados' level of training, its grass-typing paid dividends in being able to resist the normally devastating Water attacks from Gyarados. Without being able to detach itself from the life-draining tendrils, Abomasnow was continuously able to heal itself through its Giga Drain and endlessly resist even the Outrage boosted attacks from Gyarados.

By now, Lance likely realized his mistake at trying to bring down Abomasnow with purely Water-type attacks; and I'm sure that he even figured out what Abomasnow's typing was. Still, he was forced to stoically watch as Gyarados' attacks grew weaker and weaker, until eventually its reserve of Draconic energy ran out and its Outrage petered out, its once deep blue aura dimming completely, causing Gyarados to slump over in exhaustion.

Pryce spared no time for it to recover as he gestured forwards.

"Abomasnow, finish it off with an Energy Ball."

Abomasnow casually fired off a green sphere of energy that struck the exhausted Gyarados in the face; Gyarados no longer having any energy to dodge and was blasted backwards. At this point Gyarados was so injured and damaged that even Abomasnow's Giga Drain was unable to drain out any health.

Yet it continued to struggle.

"Again."

Abomasnow fired another blast of energy, once again striking Gyarados center mass as it roared out in pain.

And yet it remained defiant.

"…Its tenacity is impressive, but no matter. Again."

I turned to Lance, watching him as he continued staring stoically at Gyarados. I wondered why he wasn't returning his Gyarados; he must have known that it was clearly unable to battle. So why was he allowing his Gyarados to tank further punishment like this?

I gave a questioning look towards Agatha, and she answered my question before I could even ask it.

"Silly boy, don't you know that a Dragon has its own pride?" Agatha mocked, "And Lance's Pokémon has more pride than most. They value that over everything else. The fools."

I gave a nod of understanding as I refocused on the fight, just as Abomasnow landed yet another round of Energy Balls that detonated themselves on Gyarados. Gyarados was so covered with wounds at this point that it was unable to move its body, and yet its eyes remained alight with vengeance and rage.

Its eyes were screaming to the world that it would not concede defeat. Not yet. But Pryce was going to force the issue one way or another.

"Enough of this. Abomasnow, get close and Wood Hammer it."

Abomasnow obeyed and dashed towards Gyarados, one of its arms raised menacingly as it glowed intensely with energy, ready to bash the defiance out of Gyarados.

But just before Abomasnow could strike down with its arms, it accidentally got too close to Gyarados' head.

"FIRE FANG!"

Gyarados' head suddenly whipped forwards with a surprising burst of speed as it pushed itself far over its limits and it crunched down supereffectively with its flaming fangs onto Abomasnow's shoulder, eliciting a cry of pain from Abomasnow as Gyarados struck with all of its accumulated rage. Abomasnow quickly retaliated by bashing down powerfully at the top of Gyarados' head, striking it with a savage critical blow that finally knocked out the Gyarados.

But the final blow from Gyarados could not be ignored, as small flickers of embers continued to spread across Abomasnow's body. I saw Lance smirk smugly towards Pryce for taking him off-guard with that final attack.

"OH, AND LANCE'S GYARADOS FINALLY GETS KNOCKED OUT AFTER LANDING A LUCKY FIRE FANG ON PRYCE'S POKEMON, TYING OUT THE MATCH 1-1!" The announcer shouts out, before pausing to allow the crowd a moment to cheer. "AN INSPIRING PERFORMANCE FROM LANCE'S FIRST POKEMON! IT JUST REFUSED TO GO DOWN! WILL WE SEE MORE LIKE THAT FROM OUR CHALLENGER? WE WILL SEE IN THE NEXT THIRTY SECONDS!"

Lance withdrew his Gyarados with a proud expression. And I couldn't help but reflect on the battle that had just occurred, measuring his Gyarados up to my own Pokémon. Smough was barely able to beat Drake's Gyarados, but could the same be said against Lance's?

Although Smough has gotten stronger and has become proficient at using ThunderPunch, but that level of determination from his Gyarados was always going to be a frightening prospect to face off against.

Especially if Gyarados' determination was the norm on Lance's team for his Pokémon. What kind of monsters remained on his team?