“Well, Derek, you certainly hold to your promises,” Mrs. Clara said with a sigh, slowly removing her glasses and rubbing the bridge of her nose. “You did indeed have things to report in only two days.”

“I know it doesn’t help,” I said with a grim smile, “but really all of this went down on the same day as our last session. I’ve been good for the last two days.”

I’d just spent the morning filling Mrs. Clara in on all of the happenings and decisions that my group had gone through since I’d last seen her. It was my second to last session in Cerulean City and the day of our gym battles, so I’d scheduled my meeting with her much earlier in the day than I normally did.

Mrs. Clara smiled softly, placing her glasses beside her on the arm of her chair. “I suppose you have been. And nothing else of importance happened yesterday?”

“Not really,” I shrugged. “Since the police didn’t make any arrests, we stuck to Karen’s advice and hung around the Center. It was kind of nice, to be honest. We spent the day recouping for the gym, so it was light practice and relaxation, mostly.”

“That does sound nice,” Mrs. Clara agreed. “I know that you’ve been struggling in your isolation, so it must have done you good to see them.”

“It was.”

My mind wandered to the last day’s worth of events. It had been wonderful to spend time with my friends again. Now that we knew we were splitting up, it was almost like we were trying to milk this time for all it was worth. We’d ordered food to the Center and just spent the day in each other’s company.

“Now, if I understood you correctly, your group isn’t entirely going their own ways, correct? You and Ms. Kanael will be traveling together still?”

I nodded, taking a sip from the orange juice that I’d brought with me. “I sent a text to my friend Peabody, and she made sure that both of us could train at the Pokemon Tower. We’re gonna go through the Rocky Tunnel while Yuji and Amy head to Saffron.”

“Hmm,” Mrs. Clara’s face took on a thoughtful look. She paused, though not in the way she normally did for me to elaborate. Her next words were hesitant. “And you feel comfortable with the compromises that were made for this plan?”

I sighed. “I’m not sure,” I admitted. “It all kind of happened really quickly, and I hadn’t even decided if I was actually going. I mean, I said what I said last time about us getting experience from different places, and I think the idea of everybody having mentors is a really good one…”

“But?”

“But I don’t want to let everybody split up,” I tried my best not to whine. “I mean, I just had my breakthrough with Amy, and I’ve been trying really hard to work my courage up and fix my relationships with the other two. And then there’s the fact that even if I get over people splitting up, it doesn’t feel fair that Hana is babysitting me. Do I get where she’s coming from? Absolutely. Even with her getting to come train at the tower, though… …I don’t know, it feels off.”

Mrs. Clara thought for a few moments, but she ultimately nodded. “I agree,” she said simply.

I frowned. “Wait, what? You agree?”

The older woman cocked an eyebrow at me. “I am allowed to agree with my clients. The purpose of these exercises is to create a healthy and introspective thought process, Derek. I agree with the thoughts that you’ve laid out, and I think the feelings you are having are valid given the information that you have.”

“Oh.”

Mrs. Clara didn’t stop looking at me, and I realized that I was supposed to respond further. I sat up in my chair, thinking on what she’d said.

“‘Given the information that I have,’” I murmured. “So you think that there’s something that I don’t know?”

“I would not claim to be an expert in the minds of your companions, but the young woman that you’ve described to me in these sessions has always been very practical and rational. She can be protective, yes, but her objections toward you traveling alone seem a bit extreme. Perhaps she was in a heightened state after the situation that you encountered, but it seems to me that there may be something else going on in her world.”

I placed my hand on my chin, really thinking about what had happened yesterday. There’d been a motion that she’d made right after I’d suggested traveling to Saffron, something that I’d barely noticed.

“She checked her phone,” I realized. “I didn’t think about it at the time, but yeah, I think you’re right, Hana took something into account that I don’t know about.”

“And this is not necessarily information that you are entitled to,” Mrs. Clara reminded me, “but it would not hurt to speak about this with your friend. Perhaps, once you have settled on the road and you have all been given a few days to recover from your gym challenges, you might bring it up with her.”

“I will,” I promised. Given that Mrs. Clara had just said that it wasn’t really my business, I tried my best to put what this mystery reason could have been out of my mind. Instead, I chose to focus on something else that Mrs. Clara had brought up. “And speaking of, today’s the day of my gym challenge.”

“I know,” Mrs. Clara said with a smile. “I hadn’t gotten into it yet, given that there were more pressing things to see to, but how are you feeling? This will be your first challenge since your actions at Pewter.”

“Yeah, that’s true. I don’t think it’ll go badly, though. I’m confident I’m going to win, so as long as I don’t do anything stupid at the end I should be able to count it as a success.”

When Mrs. Clara cocked an eyebrow this time, there was an amused look on her face. “You’re confident that you’re going to win, but as far as I’m aware, you have yet to visit this gym, correct? Have you done the necessary research?”

I nodded. “Yeah- well, yeah. I mean, I’ve studied the gym leaders, as much as I can online, anyway. And Artis and I have a strategy, plus Wisp has been working hard on her own secret move… …so, yeah?”

“Mmhmm,” Mrs. Clara nodded, her amused grin growing. “And you studied all of the gym leaders?”

“Yup, it was so much harder than the other two gyms, since I had to adapt to three separate trainers. And to make matters even worse, they all share Pokemon, which is super lame cause it makes it hard to plan for specific trainers. I’m hoping that I get Daisy, though, because she’s definitely stronger than both Lily and Violet.”

It was weird to say my girlfriend’s name not in reference to her, but I’d mostly gotten over it this week while I’d been studying. If I did end up getting placed against her, I’d just have to ignore it and focus on battling her.

When I noticed Mrs. Clara still grinning, I frowned. “What’s up? Did I say something dumb?”

“No, not at all,” Mrs. Clara said, suppressing her smile. “I just hope that your battles today go as smoothly as possible.”

“Oh, please,” I scoffed, feeling confident. “Trust me, Mrs. Clara, I’m going to breeze through my gym trainer battle, and then the Sensational Sisters are toast.”

----------------------------------------

“Guys, I did not breeze through that battle,” I sighed, slowly stepping off of the challenger podium.

“Mis drea,” Wisp hung her head, just as put out by how our gym trainer battle had gone. There was a wound spilling inky blackness over her left eye, leaving her unable to fully see.

Amy sucked in air through their teeth and patted me on the elbow. “Yeah, that wasn’t very cash money. Night Slash on a Kingler? Who would’ve thought?”

Hana tilted her head thoughtfully. “The chances of that particular Pokemon having that particular egg move are unlikely at best. Perhaps they trained for it, but that’s even more unlikely.”

“Yeah, that sucked.” My hand absentmindedly scratched the top of Wisp’s head as she nuzzled my palm. “And since I haven’t unveiled any of Wisp’s new moves yet, that spiraled pretty quickly. It’s a good thing you got that Confuse Ray off, otherwise we might have had to start blastin’ beams.”

The three of us were quickly shepherded away from the challenger podium and back to the audience area. Because the Cerulean Gym only had a few battlefields on account of them all being Olympic-sized swimming pools, they had to have an incredibly fast turnaround when it came to getting them ready for the next person.

“Has Yuji’s battle started yet?” Amy stood on their tippy toes to look at Hana’s phone.

She shook her head. “No, though the current challenger is going to lose. Her fundamentals are alright, but the Toxic Spikes are not working as well as she’d hoped in a pool.”

“Yeah, they’d probably sink to the bottom, right?” I pulled a potion from my bag and sprayed the area where Kingler had Night Slashed Wisp. It didn’t fully let her reform her forehead, but she was able to blink her bright yellow eye now. “Wait, who are they battling? Is it Lily?”

Since the Sensational Sisters took turns battling in a cycle each day, you could figure out who a given trainer was going to battle based on who had already gone up. When I’d started my gym trainer battle, Violet had been battling, so there were only two possibilities as to who Yuji would be up against.

Because of the order Yuji had signed us up in, I was the last to complete my gym trainer battle and would be the last one to face the gym leaders, and that also meant that Yuji and I would be battling the same person. All of my friends had successfully completed their gym trainer battles, all of which had gone better than mine.

Hana gave me a smug look. “It’s Daisy,” she said, holding up her phone to show the blonde sister. “Looks like I get to take on the strongest one.”

“Dang it,” I sighed again, though Wisp didn’t look nearly as upset. As much as Daisy was considered the strongest, they were all gym leaders, so there weren’t exactly going to be any easy matches.

Amy held up their fingers. “Okay, so that means that Yuji is up against Lily,” they counted off. “I’m going to fight Violet, then Hana is up against Daisy-” Amy shot me a teasing grin, which I pointedly ignored. “And Derek ends with Lily again. That’s right, right?”

“Should be,” Hana agreed, stowing her phone as we turned the corner out of Hall 03. “Though, they have been known to switch it up in the past.”

I shrugged. “After getting blindsided by a dark type move on a crab, I highly doubt anything else is going to surprise me today.”

As we walked to the hall where we’d be battling the gym leaders, I couldn’t help but marvel at the design of the Cerulean Gym. It was based around three massive battle halls, of which Hall 1 was the largest, that were separated by beautifully tiled walls that had lapping waves built into the design. In the hallways surrounding the battlefields, the tile walls had been replaced with colossal aquarium tanks that were stocked full of water type Pokemon. Goldeen and Seaking swam in schools and dozens of Krabby scuttled along the sand bottoms of the tanks. Blubbery Seel and Dewgong would do small flips and tricks for trainers as they passed by, and plenty of Shellder had latched themselves to the glass walls with their clamshells open to filter-feed.

It was the most beautiful gym that I’d seen so far. Both the Pewter and Viridian Gyms had been built primarily as stadiums, so there was far less adornment and personality on the inside, but the Cerulean Gym was first and foremost an aquarium.

Hall 01 itself was about three-quarters the size of the Viridian Gym’s arena, though they had rows and rows of benches rather than individual seats. The pool in the center was the size of a standard battlefield, but the sidelines had been adorned with theater curtains and scaffolding. On the weekends the Sensational Sister would host choreographed water shows, and that showed in the hall’s design.

We arrive just in time for the current challenger to be declared the loser of the match, something that garnered a small wave of respectful clapping from the audience. I did a quick double-take as I recognized the person stepping down. I went to wave at Reli, the Nidorina trainer from the Nugget Bridge, but I quickly realized that I was just another face in the crowd for her right now. It also didn’t help that she kept her eyes on the ground after her loss. Reli quickly retreated out of the other entrance of the hall.

Knowing that she’d lost made me a little sad. We hadn’t gotten close or anything, but I’d really liked battling against her Nidorina and she’d shown me a modicum of respect after I’d beaten her. I made a mental note to keep an eye out for her name in the future. Something told me she wasn’t going to stay down after this loss.

Amy split off to head to the locker room, so Hana and I found seats relatively near the exit and settled in for Yuji’s battle. It was less than five minutes before the gym lights dimmed, leaving a spotlight on the doors behind the two podiums on either side of the pool. Two curtains at the back of the stage parted, revealing a massive screen that glowed in the dark lighting. For now, it simply read ‘Attention Please”.

“Ladies and gentlepeople,” a giggly feminine voice spoke over the loudspeakers. “Welcome to the third gym leader challenge of the day here at the Cerulean Gym! If you would please turn your attention to the challenger’s podium, our brave challenger enters the stage! Please welcome Yuji Amano, here to fight for his second badge!”

The set of double doors opened slowly and cinematically, obviously controlled by automatic pneumatics, and a familiar shape came into view. Yuji strode toward the pool, confidence and power radiating from the way that he carried himself. He’d gone for his iconic black gi and loose hairstyle, giving him the two-toned look of a powerful hermit monk. He stepped up to his trainer box and glanced out toward the crowd. The two of us cheered louder than anyone else in our section. His grin grew and I knew that he’d at least heard us.

“And representing our gym at the leader’s podium,” the voice continued, “you have the most fabulous of the Sensational Sisters, the one and only Lily Williams!”

From the other side of the gym, another set of doors opened. Unlike Yuji’s entrance, a drumroll accompanied their slow opening and the spotlight took on a pink tint. The woman who stepped through was only a few years older than us, but she had the stage presence of someone who’d been performing her entire life. She had shoulder-length pink-red hair that glimmered in the spotlight and perfectly framed her face with its middle part. She wore an orange swimming gown that only came halfway down her thigh with a big blue ribbon that covered her chest. While I wouldn’t normally be able to tell her hair color at this distance, the screen at the back of the room flickered to a close-up of her face, showing off her bright blue eyes and cherub-like features.

Lily the Sensation Sister stepped up to her challenger podium and gave Yuji a single look up and down before a flirty smirk flittered across her features.

“Hi there!” She winked at him. “It’s always nice to start my day with a cute challenger!”

Yuji’s face took on a noticeably red sheen. “W- Well…” He shook his head and adjusted his gi, clearing his mind. “Thank you, I hope that this battle is exciting for the both of us.”

The gym leader winked again. She turned to the audience and raised her hands, striking a cute pose with her hip pointed out. They roared in approval, and I instantly became aware of how much their demographic skewed male. Boys near me clutched foam fingers and posterboards with the Sensational Sisters’ faces plastered across them. They clapped and whistled and waved glowsticks in anticipation. Lily’s fans stood, rumbling the stands as they stomped their feet.

Ah, I get what kind of place this is now… I sighed, only just now realizing that the gym’s cameras didn’t face the audience, so I’d never seen this reaction before. As Lily was handed a Pokeball by one of her assistants, I found myself comparing the scene to the image of an idol picking up a microphone.

Yuji’s head tilted forward as he locked in. “Despereaux!” Yuji’s voice echoed in the pool chamber. “Time to strike!”

Lily’s giggle sounded as she followed suit. “Time to shine, Goldie!”

Despereaux landed on the floating platform closest to Yuji, baring his fangs and letting his deep purple fur bristle in anticipation. Across from him, a white and gold koi fish materialized into existence in the water. There was a singular pointed horn sprouting from the center of its head, it gleamed with a pearlescent shine.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“Goldeen!” Its cry was battle-ready but also… …oddly seductive? I did a double-take as the fish pouted its lips toward the audience. They roared in response, eating up the performance.

Hana clicked her tongue. “Dang…”

“Hmm? What’s up?”

Hana stared down her nose at the Goldeen as the referee gave the opening speech. “You know that Charge Beam TM that you lent Yuji? He was hoping to keep that under his sleeve as a secret weapon.”

My brain filed through the notes that I’d compiled all week for less than a second before I found the issue. “Oh, oof.”

“That Goldeen has Lightning Rod,” Hana nodded. “There’s no way she would’ve known or cared about his strategy. It’s just a bad match-up for his secret move. He’ll just have to muscle through.”

I tilted my head, thinking back to where I had ranked the power levels of the Sisters’ different Pokemon. “He should be okay. That thing’s weaker than Brock’s Omanyte.”

“Yes, I just hope that his training has helped Despereaux since then. Remember, he had to switch to Achilles to win that fight.”

I couldn’t disagree with Hana’s assessment, and that left a lump of anxiety gnawing in my gut. Other than the TMs I’d given them, Yuji had made it clear he’d hit a brick wall in getting his Ratatta to the next level. I hoped that their technique and bond would be enough.

I settled into my seat, forcing myself to be content to just watch. Yuji had been training hard for this, so I could only trust in him that it would go well.

“Begin!” The referee’s shout was broadcast over the speakers, and the battle was on.

“Focus!” Yuji was the first to yell his orders. “Avoid as much as you can, but Focus!”

“Keep him on his toes with a song, Goldie!” Lily giggled with her order. “Supersonic!”

Despereaux’s muscles bulged underneath his pelt, they swelled and tightened as his pupils contracted into the barest of dots. When Goldie opened her mouth, a ripple of kinetic energy pulsed through the air, carrying with it a shrill high-pitched noise that was more akin to audio feedback than a song. Despereaux and Yuji alike bared their teeth in pain as they were blasted by the sonic assault, but then Despereaux disappeared.

There was a gasp from the audience as all that was left in his place was a gouge in the platform and a flurry of foam chunks. In a blur of motion, his form reappeared on the opposite platform closest to Lily. The Rattata stumbled as he landed, thrown off by either the intense power of his jump or the confusion inflicted on him by the Supersonic. He rolled twice, hitting the ground with a wince-inducing slap that caused my back to ache.

Despereaux wasted no time before rolling to his feet and baring back down on his concentration, working himself up even further as his muscles continued to bulge and his breathing quickened.

Lily’s cutesy smile faltered. “Behind you! Agility into Horn Attack!”

Goldie slapped the water with her tail fin, flipping to face her opponent and boosting her speed as she dove deep into the water. Her form disappeared under the waves until it exploded out to the surface with the extra propulsion from her buoyancy. Her golden form shot forward toward Despereaux with her horn pointed toward his unprotected back.

“Sucker Punch!”

Despereaux whipped around, tightening his claw into a fist that glowed an awful black color, and struck Goldie directly under the jaw. The force of the blow sent a click noise echoing throughout the stadium and Goldie went skipping back across the water. The Goldeen stopped herself just before hitting the opposite platform, but she was not looking good. A nasty purple welt was already forming where she’d been hit.

For his part, Despereaux wasn’t looking too hot either. He’d been confused by the Supersonic earlier and whatever move he’d been using to boost himself had made it even more punishing when he’d hit the platform. His eyes still spun slightly as he tried to look at his opponent.

Lily’s eyes flicked between the two Pokemon before shouting, “Show them your moves, Hail!”

Hana recoiled next to me at the order. “What?” She frowned. “Lily must be setting up for her next Pokemon.”

I nodded, not taking my eyes off the battle. “Yeah, it doesn’t have a whole lot of ways of taking advantage of the Hail on its own. Lily must know Goldie is toast.”

Yuji must have thought the same thing. “Despereaux, one final Work Up, then dispatch your opponent!”

Goldie twirled her head weakly, wincing under the pain of her welt, and her horn glowed blue. A dense ceiling of grey fog condensed over top of the pool, a singular dense cloud that immediately began to drizzle coin-sized chunks of ice onto the water’s surface. The pelting ice stuck to and weighed down Despereaux’s fur, giving the Rattata a feral, drowned look under the confusion. He ignored it, instead electing to close his eyes and concentrate. His muscles tightened and bulged once more.

“Super Fang!”

“Horn Attack!”

Both Pokemon hurled themselves forward, Goldie in a single fluid jump and Despereaux in a bursting release of power from his coiled muscles. In the air above the pool, streaming through the Hail, neither Pokemon had superiority. It came down to reaction time and strength, plain and simple.

Despereaux twisted his form as Goldie approached with her horn set on impaling him. The opalescent tip grazed past him, barely kicking his shoulder and opening a small cut. He opened his jaw and his powerful incisor gleamed in the reflected light of the pool. Despereaux’s jaw closed around the base of her horn and wrenched it downward. That motion alone was enough to hurt Goldie, but his superior momentum overcame hers and the two of them went tumbling into the pool.

A moment later, Despereaux’s head emerged from the water, still gripping an unconscious Goldie by the horn. His eyes had cleared up from the confusion, though his muscles still boasted an enhanced state from whatever buff move that Yuji had him use.

The crowd cheered as the referee called that fight for Despereaux, though I did hear a few ‘boos’ from unhappy Lily fans. Lily recalled Goldie, not seeming put out at all by the defeat of her Pokemon. Instead, she put on a wide grin and flipped her pink hair for the audience.

“Okay, then!” Lily’s voice was cheerful, but there was an edge to it. She held her hand out and was given another Dive Ball. “Look’s like you’re a real challenger, so we’re going to make sure to be great dance partners! Come on out, Dewey!”

As a white blubbery form hit the stage, the use of Hail made a lot more sense. Lily’s next Pokemon was similar to Artis in a lot of ways, covered in fur and a thick layer of fat that equipped the Pokemon for dealing with the extreme cold of the ocean. Where the differences started though, was instead of Sealeo’s blue and beige beautiful coat, this Pokemon’s fur was as white as fresh snow. His button-black eyes sparkled with eternal amusement and a small white horn jutted from his forehead.

“Dewgong!” Dewey the Dewgong cried, slapping the foam platform with his flippers.

Like Goldie, I had a pretty good idea of what this Pokemon was capable of. I’d rated it as one of the higher tiers of their second-badge teams, mostly because it had all of Artis’ stall tactics, plus an additional one. The hail was still falling and I could already see Dewey’s fur greedily melting and absorbing the hailstones with his Ice Body ability, which would heal him over time as needed.

Just like against Omanyte, Despereaux was going to need to deal one big hit against his enemy. His skirmish tactics were not going to work against a healing wall like Dewgong.

The ref made a call, and the battle resumed.

“Dewey, the stage is set! Aqua Ring and then Whirlpool!” Lily flared her hands in the air.

Yuji clenched his jaw. “Despereaux, charge them! Iron Tail!”

Dewey whipped his head in a circle, the tip of his horn glowing bright blue as the still water trembled with the motion. Riveulates of pool water pushed up from the surface, floating under the influence of Dewey’s move. As the tendrils moved, they gathered water from both the hailstones and the pool below them, growing in size and number. While a single ring of water began to surround Dewey, the rest started the pool water turning. The two floating platforms began to rotate around each other.

Despereaux clenched his claws into the foam and steadied himself. His pupils were still narrowed under his Focus Energy and Work Up, and they darted between every piece of hail and floating tendril. He was searching for his opening. After only a moment, he found it.

He disappeared again, though this time he left a trail of exploding water droplets and ice behind him, sending a splash through the air as he pushed through liters of floating water that continued to spin in a building maelstrom. Despereaux reappeared above Dewey, held aloft by his momentary equilibrium with gravity, and his tail glowed bright silver. He brought it down like an axe and struck Dewey across the back. The resounding slap of metal on blubbery was enough to cause the Dewgong to stumble forward.

“Dew Gong!” Dewey barked, whipping his head around once again. A tendril of water separated from the surrounding whirlpool and enveloped Desereaux, dragging him into the water. Dewey’s move had garnered momentum now. The waves swirled and slammed into the sides of the pool, dragging and drowning Despereaux between swells. Even from here, I could already see the bruise from the Iron Tail beginning to disappear under the Hail.

“Again!” Yuji barked his order over the roar of the water. “Find your footing and strike again!”

Despereaux writhed in the water, twisting as he was pummeled with wave after wave. He shot through the water, kicking and clawing at the waves, and forced himself to the edge of the pool. His feet barely tapped the edge before he rocketed out of the water and back toward Dewey.

“Keep him away!” Lily ordered. “Ice Shard!”

“Break through! You will strike true!”

Dewey reared his head back and roared, a chunk of ice the size of a football appearing at the tip of his horn. It blasted forward in a spinning spiral, each revolution sending chunks of ice and snow flying into the air.

Despereaux twisted in the air, his tail once again alight with silver light, and the two attacks collided like two bullets. The Ice Shard shattered into countless pieces under the impact and Despereaux’s momentum carried him through. His tail completed one full rotation around his body before slamming into Dewey once again, this time striking him across the face.

“Rude!” Lily yelled, her flirty facade lifting for a moment. “Get rid of him! Ice Beam!

My eyes widened at the advanced ice type move, but Yuji’s face was clenched with concentration. He yelled only one order.

“Again!”

Despereaux flattened himself against the floating platform, ready for the next whirlpool wave that barely passed him by, and brought his tail up in an uppercut. Dewey took another hit on the chin before snarling and opening his mouth to release a brilliant icy blue beam of light. It went wide and impacted the side of the pool, instantly freezing the water there. It was Aurora Beam on steroids, leaving a car-sized chunk of ice affixed to the pool wall.

“Again!”

Despereaux kicked off of Dewey’s horn, striking him across the tail. Dewey roared again, this time trying to slap Despereaux down with his tail before summoning his Ice Beam. The Rattata rolled out of the way at the last moment and slid between the Dewgong’s flippers, giving him cover from the fading hailstorm.

“Again!”

Despereaux lunged forward, gripping Dewey’s fur in his claws and flipping himself over his shoulder. His fifth strike hit Dewey clear between the shoulder blades, right on top of where his first injury had just finished healing.

“That’s enough!” Lily's eyes were narrowed in annoyance. “Aqua Jet him off the platform, then Ice Beam!”

“Despereaux!” Yuji’s voice was urgent.

Though he’d pulled off four frame-perfect dodges, he wasn’t lucky enough for a fifth. The fading remnants of the whirlpool surged upward, surrounding Dewey and propelling him forward like a torpedo. His massive blubbery back slammed into Despereaux’s still air-borne form. The Rattata went flying backward into the water with a violent splash. Before Yuji could shout his next order, Dewey followed it up with a perfect midair twist and sank another beam of blue light into the water.

The water surrounding Despereaux crystallized almost instantly, taking on a crystal-clear sheen that perfectly displayed a purple lump of fur held within it. The glacier bobbed in the water, and the battlefield went silent.

“He’s frozen!” Lily was elated at the development. She smoothed her hair and raised a hand for her next order. “Beauty sleep time! Get ready for his next Pokemon!”

Dewey’s eyes flashed pink as he used Rest. He slumped to the side, and the bruises from each of Despereaux’s hard-won hits began to shrink.

I winced and turned my gaze to Yuji. That was a lot of work that was going to be gone soon. Unlike what I’d expected, though, Yuji’s face was the picture of perfect focus and concentration. Only his clenched jaw betrayed the stress he was feeling now. He took one set forward on his podium.

“Focus, Despereaux!” Yuji shouted, staring at the immobile ice statue. “You vowed to become the strongest. Is this where you let your bond fail? Is this where you choose to give up?”

The glacier did not answer him.

Lily clicked her tongue with a grin. “It’s okay, you, like, totally don’t have to do all that. He’s frozen solid, so you might as well send out your next Pokemon!”

Hana leaned forward in her seat, nudging me with her arm. I spotted what she was looking at and grinned.

“I will not. This is his battle,” Yuji said resolutely. He smirked. “You see, we are not unfamiliar with the cold. A friend of mine has defeated us with it many times before…”

Though his eyes didn’t look at me, I knew that the grin on his face was for me and only me. It finally occurred to me that Yuji had been waiting for a moment like this, a moment where Despereaux would be given a few seconds to build a charge. I slid to the edge of my seat, staring at the faint yellow glow that had started to emanate from Despereaux’s ice prison.

“And his ice is stronger!” Yuji flared his hand to the side, now speaking to his Pokemon. “Despereaux, Charge Beam!”

“Rat-ta-ta!” Despereaux’s chitter was decisive and quick, and every hair on my arms stood tall.

The sound of ice shattering echoed throughout the hall and a brilliant yellow laser of electricity scorched through the air. The wet atmosphere of the gym buzzed with the smell of petrichor, and what had been a mostly black room became alight with the power of a bolt of lighting for just a moment.

The beam cut through the ice and caught Dewey’s sleeping form just under the collarbone. The force of an electric type attack that had been boosted several times over by Despereaux’s Work Up was enough to physically push the Dewgong backward and flip him onto his back. It scorched Dewey’s perfect white fur across the chest, leaving a blackened stripe in its place, and filled the air with smoke and the smell of burning hair.

Dewey’s bruises stopped shrinking. He was no longer resting.

He had fainted.

The audience started to cheer, to release the breath of tension that we’d been holding, but Yuji held up a single hand, as did Lily. The two of them were still fixated on the glacier that had released the Charge Beam.

Despereaux had pulled himself out of the glacier, shivering and soaked and bloodied. His whiskers on his left side had been sheered off by the ice, and his right eye was swollen over. His shoulder still oozed blood from where Goldie had cut him earlier, and he had small welts across him from the hailstones. He gripped his claws into the ice to steady himself, and then he began to climb.

The entire arena was silent as the Rattata clawed his way to the top of the ice chunk. We watched in anticipation as he turned toward Lily. Her eyes went wide as they met his tiny determined gaze. Despereaux nodded his head forward, reaching a deep bow.

Behind him, Yuji placed his hands together and did the same.

“Thank you for the battle,” he said, a serene smile taking over his features. “You have been a worthy opponent.”

The crowd roared and I couldn’t hold back the smile on my face.

Not only had the first of our group won his second badge, but Yuji and Despereaux had gotten their first real win.