Chapter Sixty-Nine - A Nice Day

"I don't wannnnaaaa," she complained sensibly.

Unfortunately, Lana, her glorified League babysitter, didn't budge. "You only have one battle left this afternoon," she said while adjusting her clipboard. "It's one battle."

"Yes, but then I have more tomorrow, and more the day after, and then even more after that," Whitney said. "Do you have any idea how many fights that is?"

"You have thirty-two battles on your schedule covering the next two weeks," Lana said as she adjusted her cute little glasses and stared at her ever-present clipboard. "It's only a slight increase from this same time last year."

Whitney huffed and crossed her arms. She didn't want to... but it was her job. So she woman'd up and stood from her bench. "I'm sorry, girls, I need to get battling."

The backrooms of the Goldenrod City Gym were her favourite place in the world. There was a small, respectable garden, but otherwise it was mostly modern and high-tech. With comfortable seats in a big lounge area. It was all done up in her gym's colours, dark oranges and light orange and white. And there was some pink, of course. This was a girls-only area, which was just the way she liked it.

"So, gimme the deets, who am I battling?"

Lana raised her clipboard. "You'll be battling Mister Bruce Brucey, from Violet City. They've gotten their sixth badge already, so this will be for their seventh. Their team is composed of—"

"Blergh, don't care," Whitney said. "They're not eligible for after-battle-tea-time, so it doesn't matter."

Lana sighed. "Understood," she said.

Only a select few were eligible for Whitney's special after gym-battle events. The criteria were very stringent and important. First, they had to be girls... actually, that was usually it. Whitney did a vibe-check as well. She knew what to look for. Her tomboy exterior wasn't just there because her girls thought it was cute. She was actually a good battler too, and that meant being real good at reading people!

"You know, Diana was making eyes at you," Whitney said as they left the lounge.

"I had noticed," Lana said.

"Well... are you gonna do anything about it?" she asked. "You're the same age. And she's cute!"

"I am a professional," Lana said.

Whitney sniffed. "Just because you're a professional doesn't mean you have to be a boring prude! One little date couldn't hurt?"

"My job won't have me working here forever," Lana said.

Whitney grinned. "That wasn't a no!"

"That was a professional way of implying no," Lana corrected.

Whitney just gave her the signature Shitney grin. She'd win Lana over to the winning side eventually! "So, seventh-level?" she asked. "I think that means... Let's get out the big team!"

"Oh boy," Lana muttered.

"Nu-uh, that's all girls!" Whitney cheered. She paused before the door leading into the arena proper. "Let's see... Delcatty hasn't had a chance in a while. Baby Bibarel too. And to round it off... let's give this boy a chance?"

"Oh?" Lana asked as she finished writing down the names of the two pokemon she'd mentioned.

"Let's get Clefable in on the fun too!"

At a seventh badge level, she actually had a fair bit of freedom as to what she wanted to do. Usually this level of battle would have her whipping out a four or five pokemon team, maybe even a six pokemon team, if she felt like it. Really, it was meant to be more or less 'fair' across all badge levels, with the difficulty increasing.

Whitney didn't like having huge teams on her belt. She always preferred two or three really strong pokemon. Knowing that each of them needed to pull their weight made the battle a whole lot more fun, and a lot more meaningful.

Whitney waited for a moment until the light over the door went green. At almost the same time, three pokeballs appeared in a tube from a pneumatic system. She grinned and pulled all three out of the receptacle and confirmed that they were the right pokeballs from the stickers on them.

She, of course, sold stickers in the gym giftshop of all of her favourite pokemon! It wasn't just to have stickers to make her pokeballs with... it was also because she secretly really loved pokedolls.

She juggled the three pokeballs one-handed, then tucked them against the magnets on her belt. "Ready," she said.

Lana nodded. "I'll let the referee know. Good luck. And... if you lose, please don't cry again."

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"That never happened!" Whitney shouted. It hadn't! She was a tough, no-nonsense tomboy who didn't cry when she lost, ever!

She walked off into the arena in a huff. There were some stairs to climb until she was level with the stage, and then Whitney waited. Her ref—one of the gym trainer girls who had stuck around for a few years—got the crowd going. Some of the girls really loved playing for attention, there were whistles and cheers and a rising drumbeat of feet thumping against the seating... and then she burst onto the stage when her name was called out.

The lights still blinded her, even after all this time, but that was normal. She grinned wide, which naturally pinched her eyes shut a little and hid the fact that she was getting used to the light. A wave, some pleasantries, and her opponent was presented.

He was some guy dressed all in green, like a park ranger. He even had the little cap, though without the logo on it.

"Gym leader! Send out your first pokemon!"

"Go on, Kibity!" she called as she released her pokemon.

Her delcatty—Kibity to its friends—landed on all fours, then did a quick spin and lick. She was downplaying things, but that delcatty was one tough customer, and she'd been with Whitney for years now. Since before she was a gym leader, even.

"Go, Tangela!" her opponent called out.

Whitney blinked... what was this guy's gimmick again? Wait... had Lana gotten to that? Oh, shoot. Whitney kept up the smile and the confidence. A glance at the display showed that it was going to be a three on five match. That was... not in her favour.

"Match... begin!"

"Tangela, Power Whip!" Bruce called out.

"Dodge them," Whitney said as she thought. A grass-type like Tangela would be weak to... Oh, she knew this, but Whitney's strength was never in dealing with type advantages and such. Her strength was in being strong. "Kibity! Fake Out!"

The delcatty looked, for a moment, like it had been struck by the Tangela's attack. And then she was behind the Tangela smacking it hard in the middle of its tangly face.

"Nice!" Whitney shouted.

"Tangela, Sludge Bomb it," Bruce called out.

"Dodge, then Assist," Whitney said.

Another lightning-quick dodge, before Kibity stopped for a moment just outside of the range of the exploding ball of sludge and crouched down. Electrical energy coursed through her body, collecting and collecting in a move that Whitney knew well.

A move Bruce knew too, judging by the way he laughed. "Get in closer Tangela, wrap into Mega Drain!"

Whitney grinned. Did he think he had her in a bind?

"Deeeelll caaaaatty!" Kibity roared as the cat-like pokemon let loose a Charge Beam right into the face of the rushing Tangela.

Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't do much. Grass-types had a good amount of resistance to Electric-type attacks.

This wasn't a normal circumstance, because Whitney's pokemon were powerful!

The tangela was flung backwards, spinning end over end and getting its body—already a wild tangle of vines—all knotted up.

"Tangela is unable to battle," the ref said. "Bruce, send out your next pokemon!"

Whitney eyed Kibity and gave the cat a thumb's up. This was a good start. Better yet, sometimes Charge Beam seemed to make a pokemon's less physical moves strike that much harder.

"Damnit. Go Exeggutor!" he shouted.

Oh, a second Grass-type? Was that his gimmick? If that was the case, Whitney was about to put this trainer in a world of pain.

"Round... start!"

"Kibity, Calm Mind," Whitney ordered.

"Exeggutor, let's show her our strength! Solar Beam!"

Whitney laughed, delighted. "Keep it up, Kibity!" she shouted.

Below, her delcatty was sitting placid and calm, so much so that it almost exuded off of her in an aura. Every passing second her control grew better and she was better prepared for what was to come.

"Exegguuuuu—"

"Baton Pass," Whitney said as she raised a pokeball.

Kibity disappeared in a wash of red.

Baby Bibarel, her fuzziest little beaver of a pokemon, appeared far above the arena floor, lit from below by a Solar Beam that had missed its mark by about two seconds and half as many metres. Better yet, Baby was glowing under the same effect as Kibity's Calm Mind.

"Surf, then Ice Beam! Show him what he's messing with!" Whitney said!

Maybe she was going a teeny-tiny bit too hard on this guy, but she had to defend the honour of her gym!

***