Kanto region, Pewter City…

It was fortunate that Viridian was so close to her hometown. She could have taken the scenic route, but at the moment she really needed to feel at home, so she had Pidgeot do a quick flight over Viridian Forest to reach her destination.

"Hello again, home sweet Pewter." Solidad smiled while her bird flew over the city.

From that height she had an amazing view: she could easily recognize her house, the museum, the local gym, and everything else with a single glance.

However, there was only one destination in her mind at the time.

As she pointed Pidgeot to fly towards the Pokémon Center, Solidad recalled her latest Gym battle. She was aware of the Viridian Gym Leader's infamy, but she was determined to conquer him and earn the Earth Badge. She entered the building with full certainty that no matter what he could dish, she and her Pokémon could take it. All they needed was confidence, teamwork and intelligence, with a touch of flashiness, of course.

But alas, it was not meant to be. Giovanni's rep did him no justice. Their battle turned into an endurance match and they barely managed to keep up; it was a real miracle they got as far as they did just on strategy. After both had exhausted their teams, the final bout pit her Lapras against Giovanni's Rhyperior. On paper, it sounded like she had the edge, but one Hammer Arm and Lapras was down for the count. His shell had a deep dent as proof of that.

That had been her worst defeat since she began her journey. But it wasn't so much the defeat that had her upset, but rather the Gym Leader's attitude.

Especially his parting words when he left the room after beating her.

"A waste of talent and skill. Maybe if you weren't so busy trying to make your attacks so flashy, you would have developed your Pokémon's powers much better."

She shook her head, trying to wipe his smug smirk off her mind. 'What does he know, anyway?' she thought bitterly.

She'd been told that Giovanni was a rather nasty fellow, even if he was highly competent in his work. Some would even say unfair, but being a tough opponent didn't mean being invincible.

That said, she still felt upset and frustrated inside. It took all her willpower to not to explode and make a scene right then and there, and she doubted that feeling would go away. At least not until she found the way to pay him back in full, to make him eat those words about her.

And she was determined to do just that, once she had recovered from that defeat. Well, she and her Pokémon, who all received quite a beating despite doing their best and almost giving her the victory. Her Lapras took the worst of all; the rest would be back up with one or two days of rest, but Lapras would take longer to heal due to his damaged shell. That Rhyperior was no joke.

So first things first: she'd leave Lapras under Nurse Joy's care, and then she'd stop by to visit an old friend. After all, he himself had said that if she ever needed to talk or anything, his door was always open.

…

The Pewter Gym had been her first stop in the challenge. One of the advantages of being close friends with the local Gym Leader was that he didn't mind pulling one or two strings to schedule her match before everybody else's on the day she issued it. Not that it made things any easier: Brock didn't pull any punches when fighting her, and truly made her work hard to earn her first badge.

How long had it been since then? Eight, nine months? It honestly didn't feel that long. The Boulder Badge had been just the first, and now that she only needed one more to compete in the Indigo League, she couldn't help but look back with nostalgia and smile. It had been a long journey, but worth it.

"Excuse me, are you here to challenge the Gym?"

A female, somewhat deep voice called her out from behind. Solidad turned around and met a rather tall and dark-haired girl looking at her with curiosity. She quickly recognized her; after all she visited the Pewter Gym on a regular basis.

"Hey Lucy, long time no see," she greeted with a smile. "Not really, I've already got this badge. Just coming to say hi."

The tall girl, named Lucy, smiled too, as they were well-acquainted with each other. "Well, since we're both here, shall we go in together? Judging by the ruckus inside Brock must be having a battle right now and I'd hate to miss out."

"Same here." Solidad nodded in agreement.

Both girls went through the Gym's doors and upon reaching the arena, indeed, there was a battle underway. One of Brock's Onix was fighting a Nidorino on the challenger's side. When the Poison-type tried to charge with his horn, he just got Iron-Tailed and knocked away for his trouble. In the stands, Brock's younger siblings, barring Forrest who was the referee, celebrated said event cheering out loud and jumping in the air.

"Onix, use Bind!"

The stone snake roared and coiled his body around Nidorino before he could recover. The Poison-type struggled and tried to break free, but Onix continued to exert more pressure by the second. Once the air abandoned him, Nidorino's eyes became blank and his limbs drooped flaccidly. Onix then loosened his grip and let him slump on the ground.

"Nidorino is unable to battle!" Forrest declared raising his hand. "The challenger is out of available Pokémon, thus the victory goes for the leader Brock!"

The victory cheers from the kids drowned out the challenger's angry groans. Solidad and Lucy couldn't help but join with a little clapping themselves.

"Well, I see Brock is still as impressive as ever," Solidad commented.

"I wouldn't expect any less from my fiancé," Lucy added.

Right then, the aforementioned leader noticed their presence and waved at them. Paying little mind to the angry challenger leaving the arena in a huff of frustration, they both approached Brock.

"Well, well, is this my lucky day?" he said as he embraced Lucy and gave her a big kiss. "My lovely queen and my best friend honor me with their presence and beauty today. What do I owe the honor?"

"You flatterer." Lucy smiled as she pinched his cheek, while Solidad just chuckled. "Well, I just happened to be in the neighborhood and I thought we could get up to speed. You, Solidad?"

"To be honest, I've just arrived from Viridian. I decided to try my luck there for my final badge and… well," she sighed, "let's just say things didn't go too good for me."

"A bad loss?" Brock asked. "Don't feel too bad, Giovanni is a high hurdle for any trainer, especially those who start their journey."

"The defeat itself wasn't so bad," Solidad replied. "We might say it was a close call since we both used our full teams. No, it's not the loss that annoys me, rather… how he gloated after he beat me."

Lucy and Brock exchanged glances, and Solidad knew it wouldn't be too hard for them to deduce her troubles. Brock then spoke up. "Let me guess: you need someone to talk about it?"

She smiled. "That would be nice. I'm a bit calmer now, but… I think I could use something to dissipate anger."

She was lucky to have them both as friends; they were good listeners, and they'd surely have some useful advice or something else to help her. Right then, she had a lot to vent off.

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

A bit later…

After a family lunch, one that Brock insisted Solidad and Lucy joined them for (giving the excuse that he always ended up cooking more than necessary), the three young adults were now in the living room, sitting around the table while their host served them some tea.

"The special Harrison herb tea brew, the perfect remedy to blow away nerves and anger in one sip," Brock declared as he poured the beverage

"Thank you," Solidad said, blowing on the cup a bit, before taking three quick sips in a row. "Ahh, that was great, just what I needed."

Feeling more at ease now, Solidad had been relating to her friends about her experiences during her Pokémon journey. Overall, she had a pretty good streak; in fact her only real defeats were at the Battle Dome, and later at the Viridian Gym. The former didn't bother her in the least, as she got what she wanted in the tournament and her opponent showed some good sportsmanship after beating her.

The latter, on the other hand…

"Can you believe it? He dismissed me, saying my attacks were too 'flashy', and called me a waste of talent and skill. Seriously, I was told the guy wasn't very nice, but I never imagined he'd be that much of a jerkass. I'm surprised he still has the job with that attitude."

"If we ever cross each other, I'd love to give him a good lesson myself," Lucy said. "Brock, are you sure he can't get fired or replaced somehow?"

"The Gym Leader's rule book states that we have to be legitimate challenges, and hand the badges to those who deserve them," Brock replied. "I might not like the guy, but there's no denying he's good at that job. He ranked second on the last poll of strongest Kanto Gym leaders after all."

Solidad had to admit that ranking was well-earned. In fact, he might as well be considered the de facto toughest, as she like most challengers wasn't willing to take her chances at Saffron, but that was another story.

"Point is, I can't let this stand," the redhead continued. "You guys know I'm planning to enter the Contest circuit after Indigo, so my attacks need to be flashy as well as effective. I'll say, I'm less annoyed at how his Rhyperior knocked my Lapras with a single punch, and more at what he said to me. Now I want to win that badge and make him eat those words."

"Well, if you want some training for the rematch, we'll do what we can," Brock assured. "You're lucky, I have one or two Rhyperior of my own for practice, plus…" Suddenly, his cellphone rang and he had to answer. "Excuse me. Hello? Ah, it's ready? Yeah, I'll go right away."

"Something wrong?" Lucy asked.

"It's from the museum's lab, they've revived the Skull Fossil I got from Sinnoh," Brock explained. "Sorry to leave you girls alone, but I have to go pick it up. You don't mind, do you?"

"Don't worry, we can wait a few minutes," Solidad assured.

Lucy gave Brock a big smooch before he left the room, and then she sat back on the couch, now alone with the redhead, who smiled at the display of affection between her two friends.

"Always the responsible man, isn't he?"

"I like that of him," Lucy replied. "Among many other things, obviously."

Solidad nodded. "You have good taste in men. Brock's a great guy, I'm glad he could find someone like you. He deserves it."

"Now that you mention it, there's something I've always meant to ask you." Lucy turned at her with a sharp gaze. "I think he mentioned you two dated for a while?"

Solidad smiled slightly, although she thought for a bit before answering. Saying that they "dated" was a bit of a stretch, as they just went out rather casually a couple of times. She didn't deny it: Brock had been a gentleman and rather attentive all the while, but it didn't take long before they realized it wouldn't get too far.

Brock's serial Romeo tendencies made it hard to take him seriously for a relationship, and maybe a part of Solidad had agreed to go out with him to see if he could hold back those urges, even if she did enjoy his company. In the end, though, they understood they had been friends for so long, trying to venture for something else might have turned out not so well for either or both of them.

"To be honest, maybe at the time I thought 'better with me than someone else who hurts him'. That aside, I might have liked him a bit, but it wouldn't have worked out. Especially after what happened to his parents."

Solidad glanced at the funerary photo of Flint and Lola. His siblings notwithstanding, she was the one who knew Brock for the longest time, and the one who noticed the most how much he changed after his parents' passing. Beyond having to step up as the new head of the family, Solidad noticed how the event drastically affected his personality. She'd always seen him desperate to get a girlfriend, and wouldn't cease to ask for phone numbers, email or any other form of contact to any pretty woman he ran into. A couple times she herself had to pull him away by the ear before he went overboard, although it was fun to see sometimes.

Other times, she wondered how he managed to keep the house in order, relatively speaking. Flint and Lola were overall good and loving parents, though they would often spend a lot of time out and leave Brock in charge, looking after the kids by himself. With so many mouths to feed, one surely would need some help sometimes. Maybe that was the reason he tried so hard to find a girlfriend back then?

"You know, for a while I wondered if I should have introduced him to someone," Solidad confessed. "It was hard to see him trying to put a strong front for his siblings. When that happened, he changed a lot. He became milder, quieter, and he stopped hitting on women, even those who were close friends and might have given him a chance."

"I can vouch for that." Lucy nodded. "That's how he was when I met him."

"But everything turned out for the better." Solidad chuckled at the irony of said event. "Years ago I would have had a hard time believing he wanted to be a one woman's man, but now… I see he meant it. And to think I just had to give him that ticket for the SteelixCon."

"And I'll always be grateful for that," Lucy said. "So then, since you helped him in his time of need, it's only fair that I help you now. I'll be in town for a bit, so I think I can make some time to have some sparring matches. What do you say?"

Solidad smiled. Before, she only had Brock's word about how amazing of a trainer Lucy was, as she'd been the one to personally train him when his gym performance was hitting rock bottom. And while she had the chance to see some videos of her at the Battle Pike, that was nothing compared to experiencing her skills firsthand.

"Of course, bring it on," Solidad said with determination.

Indeed, if she wanted to win her rematch against Giovanni, training with someone on Lucy's level was a must.

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

At night…

Feeling better after spending some time with her friends, Solidad went back home after ordering some fast food for dinner. Nothing could compare to going back home after a long journey, even if it was just a quick stop before going back to it.

As she opened the door, her thoughts drifted to her plans. After dinner, she'd turn in for a good night's sleep before starting her training the next morning. Her parents had gone on vacation for a second honeymoon, so the house was all quiet and peaceful, just what she needed.

"Welcome home, dear!"

Or so she thought. As soon as the door creaked open and she stepped inside, a pair of huge muscular arms raised her from the ground and spun her around like crazy. She'd probably be startled, but it was hardly the first time it happened, so she knew her ribs wouldn't break or something.

"Honey, let her go, she's going to get dizzy!"

Even while she was spinning, Solidad quickly registered her parents' voices, and her dad finally put her back down. They couldn't be more different to each other physically: her dad was a large, muscular man with red hair and beard, with an ample grin all over his face, while her mother, a slim woman who looked more like her barring the pale blond hair and round glasses, palmed her forehead and shook her head.

"Mom, Dad?" Solidad finally spoke. "Weren't you going to spend another month in Alola?"

"We would be, if someone hadn't dragged us all the way back to Kanto," her mother tried to force a smile as she glared at her husband. "Isn't that right, Helios?"

"Aw, c'mon Solange, don't be such a party crasher. Our daughter is doing great, we had to come and congratulate her in person!"

"There was no need to hurry, the Pokémon League is still a few months away, isn't it?" the woman replied before turning towards her daughter. "Sweetheart, sorry we surprised you this way."

"That's alright, I'm actually happy you're here. There's a lot I have to tell you." Solidad smiled and raised her food bags. "Since I ordered extra, how about we all eat together?"

…

In a matter of minutes the table was littered of empty boxes, once the family devoured the food. Before cleaning up the mess, however, parents and daughter had a lot to catch up on. Solange and Helios talked about some of their adventures and misadventures in Alola, and even spared a few minutes to show off the souvenirs they brought along.

"Take a look at this, sweetie." Solange showed a video on her cellphone, showcasing a traditional Alolan dance. "Next time we go there, we need to do this together."

"Let's see." Solidad grabbed the phone. "Wow, this looks amazing."

"I wish I could have gone to Alola in my youth," Solange continued in a dreamy tone. "I would have incorporated those dancing steps into my Contest routines."

"Not to mention you'd look stunning with that outfit," Helios commented, getting a slight glare from his wife. "What? I'm just stating the truth. Why, you even brought it along, didn't you?"

"Just because you asked me to," Solange replied with a slight blush, although Solidad caught she was actually smiling. "Take a look at these too."

She then showed a video with several bird-like Pokémon performing a similar dance on their own. They were pink and had white feathers around their waist resembling some sort of skirt. They reminded her somewhat of her own Bellossom.

"They're really cute," Solidad said. "What are they?"

"They're called Oricorio. The locals told us they change form and type when they consume nectar from different flowers on the islands. I have videos of several of them in their different forms, you should see them later."

"Sounds good to me."

"Ah, let's stop talking about our vacations," Helios said. "Come on, time for you to tell us about your experience."

The redhead just smiled, and showed her gym badge case, with only one empty slot. Not to show off, but she felt her chest swelling just a little bit when she saw her parents' faces full of surprise and pride. That made her feel rather satisfied with herself.

"Amazing. Seven badges, six of which come from the hardest gyms in Kanto!" Helios exclaimed. "Haha, that's my daughter! And you, honey, don't you have anything to say about it?"

"Well… I concede I was wrong to worry," Solange replied slightly looking away. "I thought the gyms were filled with brutes who only cared about strength and nothing more. Totally different from us Coordinators."

"You'd be surprised." Solidad pulled out the Rainbow Badge so they could see it as she made her point. "Take this one, for example. The Celadon Gym has an all-female staff, and believe me, Erika might not be a Coordinator, but she's not lacking in grace and elegance when she battles. And that doesn't detriment to her strength in any way."

"At this rate you could even win the Indigo Conference. Are you sure you don't want to keep trying next year?" Helios asked.

"Darling, have you forgotten what she said?" Solange piped up. "This'll be a one-time thing, then she'll dive full-time in Pokémon Contests. You don't have to force her to follow your footsteps."

"I'm not forcing her to anything. I'm just saying that she could try it every once in a while if she enjoys it. Besides, you're saying that because she's planning to follow your footsteps."

"Is there anything wrong with that?"

"Ahem, excuse me?" Solidad cleared her throat to get both their attentions. "Please calm down, we've had this discussion before. My goal is clear, I just want to take a different path to achieve it. That's what I told you, wasn't it?"

"Sorry," both parents said in unison, slightly blushing.

Helios then took the word. "So, how about you tell us what you've done? We saw you on TV during that Battle Dome Tournament."

Solidad smiled, and grabbed her badge case once. Placing the Rainbow Badge back in its place, she grabbed the first she earned, the Boulder Badge.

"As you must have guessed, I began my challenge here. I'll say, Brock didn't make it easy."

"Even though you're friends?" Solange asked. "Even though you guys dated for a while?"

"Honey, that's irrelevant here," Helios intervened. "Gym Leaders can't let themselves get carried away by sentimentalism."

"I agree with Dad here." Solidad nodded. "You know, being friends with Brock wasn't of any help when I faced him. When it comes to be the Gym Leader, it's like he becomes someone else… something else. It was like battling a giant stone wall, and I needed all my determination to bring it down."

"I find it hard to believe," Solange said. "We've known him for years; he definitely doesn't have a heart of stone, does he?"

"Haha! That's because you haven't seen him in action, honey," Helios replied. "You know, it's quite sad you two didn't go too far. I would have liked him as a son-in-law."

"Oh, no doubt about it," Solange agreed. "He's a true gentleman, good for housework and also…"

"Mom, Dad, you're getting carried away again," the daughter interrupted. "We're just friends, and besides, he's happy with Lucy."

"Sorry. Please go on," Helios prompted.

Solidad continued to relate her experiences in each of the gyms. Just like with the Pewter Gym, each of the badges had a story behind it, and Solidad described the gym leaders using analogies fitting to the types of Pokémon each one used. For example, the Matcha Gym Leader used Fighting-types, and she literally was facing a punch so fast and powerful, it could have knocked the lights out of her before she realized what hit her. Blaine in Cinnabar, was like the volcano the island was known for: hiding his true power until he unleashed it when she least expected it like a huge explosion. Even the last badge she had earned, from Lt. Surge was from battling an opponent who favored lightning-fast attacks, typical of blitz war tactics.

The only badge not worth a story was the Cascade Badge, of course. She took it mostly because it was nearby, but the leaders barely put up a fight. It was hardly a surprise that shortly after she took it the gym was officially shut down for good.

"And even so, I learned a lot from battling them," Solidad concluded. "What not to do with Water-type moves and how I can take advantage of a water field. Really, there's a lot you can learn from watching how Gym Leaders battle, especially when it comes to creating combos for Pokémon Contests."

"I'm glad you found the experience useful, honey," Solange said. "I'm so anxious to see you on stage among the Top Coordinators."

"Same here," Helios added. "Hell, if you keep this up you'll be number one in Kanto, even the Champion if you wanted to!"

"Darling, are you going to start again?"

"I'm not starting anything, I'm just saying…"

"There, both of you," Solidad said. "Look, I love you both, but there's no point in arguing about this. I'm an adult and I'm clear on what I want to do, and how I want to do it. And not to demerit any of you, but I think both of you are right on your points."

She stood up and looked at both of her parents. She didn't do it with the intent to threaten or intimidate them, but given their stares, they seemed to take it that way.

"If you excuse me, I need to rest. My final Gym Badge will be harder than the rest, and tomorrow I plan to start some training for the rematch. Goodnight to both of you."

As she walked out of the dining hall towards her room, she overheard her parents saying things like "You made her uncomfortable" or "she left because of you". The redhead snickered: there was no real malice; they were just like a pair of children fighting for a toy, and thus she wasn't worried that the argument could escalate.

"Aren't you ashamed our daughter is more mature than us?"

"Speak for yourself; her maturity comes from my side of the family."

"I beg your pardon? I seem to have misheard: she obviously got it from my side of the family."

"Yeah, sure, keep on dreaming."

"You keep on dreaming!"

"Those two, please never change," Solidad giggled, still hearing them as she entered her room.

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

Mt. Moon, the next day…

To avoid making too much of a mess at Brock's gym, Solidad and Lucy suggested they trained by the shadow of Mt. Moon. The foot of the mountain was the perfect improvised battlefield, and they could practice all kinds of moves and strategies without interruption.

At the time, with Brock supervising the training, Solidad directed her Slowbro against a Steelix on Lucy's side, and both Pokémon looked pretty worn out after a long endurance match, with the battlefield littered of rock shards all over the place.

"Slowbro, Flamethrower and Psychic combo!"

The Water/Psychic-type, with a reaction time almost unnatural for his species, obeyed the order launching a flaming torrent out of his mouth. At the same time, his eyes glowed with a blue light as he performed some arm movements that resembled some sort of dance, directing the flames in a spiraling trail resembling a Fire Spin.

The flaming whirl engulfed the metal snake, trying to suffocate it under the intense heat. An ordinary Steelix would have probably gone down with that move. This one, though, bred from an egg of Brock's strongest Onix, coupled with Lucy's special training, was far from ordinary.

"Sandstorm!"

While it was hard to see under the flames, Solidad could hear the whirring of Steelix's joints starting to turn like gears, ready to expel sand streams. However, Steelix held back just a few seconds more than normal, before unleashing the attack in a single burst to dispel the flames, and the resulting air blast also broke Slowbro's focus for a moment, leaving him open to a counterattack.

"Screech!" Lucy pointed.

Steelix opened wide his mouth and prepared to fire the sonic blast. Instead of just being an annoying eardrum-piercing shriek, Solidad noticed how they were keeping the waves more focused, creating a wind tunnel of sorts. She had seen it before when she fought Brock's Onix for her first badge, a defense against spore attacks.

And of course, coming from a Steelix, the attack's intensity was exponentially higher, with enough force to actually push Slowbro backwards, as he tried to cover his ears and endure the noise.

She herself had to take cover as the Screech continued to drill into her eardrums, admittedly giving her an annoying migraine.

"Slowbro, focus!" Solidad yelled as loud as she could. "Use Psychic with the boulders!"

With great difficulty, Slowbro opened an eye and focused his psychic energies to levitate the stone shards nearby, remains of a Rock Slide attack. Fueled only by determination, he spun his arms to make the stones orbit around him, creating a pair of crisscrossed rings.

"Slow… BRO!"

And pushing both hands forward, both stone rings were fired at Steelix's face, piercing through the Screech's sonic stream and pelting the snake in the eyes. His attack interrupted, Steelix recoiled and looked away until the bombardment ceased, facing his opponent once more. Both Pokémon glared at each other defiantly as their breathing became heavier.

"Alright, that's enough," Brock said as he raised a hand. "I officially declare this match over. You both can rest."

He barely had said those words when Slowbro dropped himself on his butt, while Steelix slowly lay himself on the floor. Both female trainers approached to pat them for their efforts.

"Well done, Slowbro. Your psychic control is getting better," Solidad congratulated, feeling proud of her companion's progress.

"It is," Lucy agreed. "Especially using it that way to control a second move. But it seems you rely a lot on it, don't you?"

"Yeah, I admit it." Solidad nodded. Aside from controlling the moves to give them shape or redirect them, they frequently used it to move away and dodge enemy attacks. Effective, but quite draining.

"Okay, ladies, I think we can take a break," Brock said as he grabbed some lunch boxes. "Anybody hungry?"

Both girls replied affirmatively; they and their Pokémon had earned a little snack after so much workout. Replenishing their energies was also an important part of their training, after all.

As they ate, Solidad glanced at the battlefield. Some sand particles had turned into glass with the Flamethrower, and the redhead wondered if she could use that to create a new combo. Crystalizing the earth would look amazing in a Pokémon Contest, and it could also be useful in battle somehow.

'But I'd need higher firepower for that,' she thought. 'Teaching Flamethrower was hard enough as is, and increasing the power would be even harder at this point.'

It was true that Pokémon learned moves of their own types much easier, and they naturally grew stronger with time and practice. However, Slowbro's Flamethrower, while useful to cover one of his natural weaknesses, had reached a point where they'd hardly be able to, so to speak, blow hotter flames. It was a shame to not be able to improve it the same way as Psychic.

The other choice would be to try and replace the Flamethrower with a stronger attack, like Fire Blast, but Solidad had intentionally sacrificed firepower in exchange for better control and accuracy. Fire Blast wouldn't allow tricks like redirecting the flames. She wasn't looking to maximize the damage output; decent was enough, as long as it looked good.

'It has to look good, but not too grandiose. We're not trying to show off too much, are we?'

Solidad stared at the sky, letting herself fall deep into thought. They were progressing well, but part of her wondered if it'd be enough. The defeat Giovanni had inflicted on them was still fresh in her mind, and given the guy's skill, it'd most likely take more than a few re-training days to be ready for the rematch.

"Hey, Solidad."

"Hmm?" Lucy's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "Yeah, what's up?"

"There's something else I've meant to ask you," the taller girl said. "You told me you plan to be a coordinator, but you chose to go through the gyms to strengthen yourself and win by knockout if needed."

"Yeah, that's what I said."

"I'm curious, what made you choose that particular path?" Lucy asked.

Solidad traded glances with Brock, and they both snickered. Now that would be an interesting story.

"Would you believe me if I told you my parents did?" she said, and she wasn't surprised in the least when Lucy raised an eyebrow. "Ah, if you had seen them in their prime, they were rivals and didn't even compete on the same circuit. Sometimes I wonder how they got married."

Lucy tilted her head in confusion, while Brock chuckled again. Only the two of them knew the full story, and they always laughed whenever they recalled it. Seeing Lucy's expression shift from confusion to interest, Solidad decided to tell everything.

"My parents are nice people, they love each other and love me too. But if there's something they never agree with: which is better: the Pokémon League or the Grand Festival? Or specifically, is it better to be a trainer or a coordinator?"

"Better? There's no point in comparing; that depends on one's choice," Lucy said.

"Yeah, that's what I've tried to tell them." Solidad nodded. "My dad competed in leagues, and my mom became a Top Coordinator in the Kanto Grand Festival. Obviously, each of them wanted me to follow their footsteps."

"Typical," Lucy said. "So what, did they pressure you to make a choice?"

"No, not really." Solidad replied nonchalantly. "While I took a while to choose, maybe deep down part of me always wanted to be a coordinator. Mom would always rub that in Dad's face when I told them. I think they have this wrong idea that you can only be either a trainer or a coordinator, but not both things."

"Excuse me for saying it, but that's absurd," Lucy said. "Does either of them know the Sootopolis City Gym Leader Juan, and his student Wallace?"

"Oh, of course they do," Solidad replied. "But they just highlight their achievements on one side, and conveniently ignore the other. So… I decided I'd prove my point to them.

"Mom never had a victory by knockout in her entire career: she always won her contests by point deduction. According to her, winning by knockout was brutality and undermined the elegance of Pokémon in Contests. Meanwhile, Dad loves to win his battles hitting as hard as he can so the opponent can't get back up. To him, what matters in any competition is to show off your strength."

"They must get along swimmingly," Lucy half-deadpanned. "So is it that? A power vs. finesse debate?"

"They're always bickering about which is more important," Solidad replied. "That's why I delayed a few years my Pokémon journey, even after I got my license. I've been taking courses for ordinary training and Pokémon Coordination, so as to learn as much as I can from both and see how they overlap. That way, I can show my parents the best of both worlds."

"Well, that's an admirable goal," Lucy admitted. "Now I get why you were so upset at your defeat against Giovanni. It reminded you of your parents, didn't it?"

"Obviously less fun and more rudeness," Solidad stopped smiling for a bit, "but yeah, pretty much. That's why I'm determined to beat that guy."

"Not only will you beat him, you're gonna do so in style," Brock added. "Okay, I guess we can go on now, time for the trial by fire."

The dark-skinned young man opened one of the Pokéballs he brought, and a Rhyperior came out. It was a tad smaller than Giovanni's, but size didn't matter. What mattered was to make a simulation of the lost fight right now to prepare for the rematch.

"Rhyperior, use Rock Polish," Brock quietly called. The Pokémon obliged instantly, slamming his fists together, and the red plates covering his body glowed brightly. "I don't know if my Rhyperior is near the same level of raw power as Giovanni's, but I think we can work on speed and evasion."

"As long as we don't get hit, all that power will be useless, right?" Solidad assumed, and Brock nodded. "Alright, we're ready to go. Slowbro?"

Once rested, Slowbro rose back to his feet, and stood face to face with his next opponent, ready to resume his training.

"Hammer Arm!"

"Psychic and dodge!"

While Slowbro had a good reaction time, he still needed a few seconds to focus his psychic energies on the target, and this was a little bit harder when that target was himself. Unfortunately, that three-second delay to surround himself with the energy field to levitate were enough for Brock's Rhyperior to get to him, and deliver a powerful punch, sending him to crash against the mountain's wall.

The three trainers watched as Slowbro slid down the wall and fell into a sitting position. After a few seconds in a daze, he shook his head and rose back to his feet with some difficulty. Solidad couldn't help but glare a little at her childhood friend, who looked as surprised as her with Rhyperior's speed.

"Whoops… looks like we went a little overboard there." He chuckled nervously as he scratched the back of his head.

Solidad rolled her eyes and shrugged. Once she checked on Slowbro, she was relieved to see the damage was nowhere as severe: probably the type effectiveness helped cushion the impact just a little bit.

"This is going to take a while, isn't it?" the redhead asked.

Brock nodded. "Most likely. Just a bit slower this time, Rhyperior."

Back on his feet, Slowbro stood in front of Rhyperior again. They had plenty of time for practice, and the day was barely beginning. And it wasn't like the Viridian Gym would go somewhere else after all.

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

A couple days later…

The psychic control practices continued on schedule, and although the progress was a bit slow, Solidad was satisfied with the results. The real issue was always the beginning, though she found a simple solution: without being told, Slowbro would store some psychic energy as soon as he came out of his Pokéball, having it ready once Solidad gave the order. That would compensate for the delay handicap.

Meanwhile, even though she was planning to have Slowbro as her trump card, Solidad wasn't neglecting the rest of her Pokémon. Obviously they were important too, for they'd have to open the way to reach the finale. And seeing that Giovanni had already seen what they were capable of, it was time for some changes in tactics. The videos in Alola her mother brought, showing the dancing Oricorio gave her some ideas, and from there on out, she tried to incorporate some dancing steps into her moves. Her Bellossom had adapted rather well to it, complimenting her Petal Dance attack, and she was trying to see whether she could do the same with her other Pokémon.

That day, though, she was planning on taking a small break from training. Having spent so much time far from home, she figured it wouldn't hurt to take a walk across town, to clear her mind and decide what to do later. The Pokémon League was a few months away anyway, and the Viridian Gym wouldn't go anywhere. There was no need to rush things.

When she turned at a corner, she stopped in front of a building seeing a bunch of kids between eleven and thirteen years old rushing in at the sound of the bell to begin classes. A wave of nostalgia made her smile as she recognized her old school.

"The Pewter Pokémon Trainer School, as lively as ever," she whispered.

It had been years since she graduated, but she still had fond memories of that place, and every once in a while she stopped by to see how things were going. Her old teachers always greeted her with affection; she wasn't exactly the typical brainy girl who loved to be the teachers' pet, but she was a fairly good student, always working hard to learn and get good scores in her classes.

"Well, well, if it isn't my favorite student?"

Solidad turned around and saw a late-thirties man, with brown hair and glasses. He had the looks of a veteran teacher, complete with the suit and briefcase in his hand.

"Good morning, Mr. Henderson," she greeted. "A lot of work at school?"

"Same as always," the man replied with some resignation, but still smiling. "I'm surprised to see you here; I heard you had already begun your Pokémon journey."

"I felt like coming home for a bit. I needed to recover from my last defeat before going back for the rematch," Solidad said, without further details.

The teacher nodded. "I see. I must admit, I haven't been up to date with your achievements, but I and many of my colleagues have high expectations with you. After all, you were one of our best students, even though you waited a bit longer to begin your journey."

"Good things come for those who wait, isn't that right?" Solidad replied. "I wanted to study a bit more before getting started. You know, going a bit further than the norm."

"Yeah, of course," the teacher replied. "You know, since you're here, maybe I could ask you for a little favor?"

"A favor? Well, if it's within my power, sure, gladly."

…

When Mr. Henderson said 'a little favor', she didn't expect she'd be walking across her old school's hallways. Nonetheless, she couldn't say she wasn't glad to be back there after so long.

As they approached the classroom, Solidad could hear the ruckus coming from the inside. It seemed like her old teacher was teaching a… lively group of students, and she smiled when she saw the sign above the door reading "4-A", the same class she was in during her school days.

"I apologize for the noise. They're good kids, but sometimes they seem to have energy to spare."

"I could imagine," Solidad nodded.

"Wait just for a moment." Mr. Henderson opened the door and the noise multiplied tenfold. "Good morning, class! Everybody, please be quiet!"

The noise died down slowly, and Solidad took a brief peek at the students. There was a couple sitting on the teacher's desk who quickly ran back to their places, and another had their feet over their own desks, though they lowered them almost immediately.

"Alright, as I promised, today we're scheduled to do a practical class. We're going to study combo moves in Pokémon battles," he announced. "However, we're having a little change in plans. I've brought to you a little surprise guest. Solidad, please?"

The redhead stepped into the classroom and stood next to the teacher. Everybody's eyes quickly turned to her: some were curious, others confused, and some even looked excited to see her.

To break the ice, she gave them her best smile and waved at them. "Hello, nice to meet you all. My name is Solidad, and I'm…"

"Hey, I know who she is! She competed in the Battle Dome Tournament!"

"I saw her on the Gym Battle Review TV show, she beat the Cinnabar Gym!"

"She also beat the…!"

"Kids, kids!" the teacher called out trying to calm them down, albeit unsuccessfully. "Oh my, as you can see, you have some… prestige among my students."

Solidad chuckled. "I can see that. May I?"

The teacher nodded, and Solidad stepped forward as the students continued to exchange facts about her amongst each other, barely making out of what they said.

Solidad first tried to clear her throat, and when that failed, she took a deep breath and whistled to make herself heard over the noise. Everybody instantly quieted down, and then she spoke in a calm tone.

"Thank you. I can see many here know who I am, and I must admit it makes me feel flattered. However, I'm here as a favor for Mr. Henderson. I'll have you know, he was my teacher when I was a student here and I have nothing but the utmost respect for him."

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

All students immediately sat down and their faces flushed in slight embarrassment for their previous behavior. Good sign, she could continue.

"Now, I'm currently taking a breather from my Pokémon journey, and I agreed to help Mr. Henderson with his class today. He told me you're a class bearing great potential, and he wishes that you all see it realized. Tell me, how many of you want to compete in the Pokémon League?"

About half the classroom raised their hands with enthusiasm. One or two seemed to hesitate, but ultimately raised them as well.

"Good, that's good. Now, how many want to become Pokémon Coordinators and compete in the Grand Festival?"

Just about the other half raised their hands, and even a few from before kept them raised. Solidad smiled upon seeing so many of them who wanted to try the best of both worlds, just like her. It was only fair she'd try to put them all on a good track to the best of her ability.

"Alright. Well, regardless of the path you want to choose, it's important to know what your Pokémon are capable of, and how you can use that to your advantage. As Mr. Henderson said before, you're going to practice combo moves in battle, yes? I believe my Pokémon can help in doing some demonstrations. How do you guys like that?"

The whole classroom exploded in cheering and applause. Clearly, the students were excited to have a class taught directly from somebody they admired. Solidad turned to see her former teacher, who seemed split between frustration at having such a loud class, and surprise at the fact how his former student had managed to get everybody's attention so easily.

"Okay, okay!" he declared as he tapped a few times on his desk. "But before we get into practice, first you'll need to understand the theory. So, let's all calm down and take our seats to get started, shall we?"

As the class slowly went back to their places (among some muttering and groaning in displeasure), the teacher pulled out his notes while Solidad gazed at the students attentively. Some would call it annoying to go back to school after graduating. She, on the other hand, was happy to be there, even though things looked very different when standing on the other side.

…

Once they were done with the theoretical part of the class, Mr. Henderson took the students and Solidad to one of the open sky battlefields to begin with the practical part, which everybody was excited about. While Solidad didn't actually have training plans for that day, she didn't mind doing some demonstration with her Pokémon about some basic combo moves, and even a few she had been practicing specifically for her Viridian Gym rematch.

When one of the students got a bit more excited and challenged her to a real battle, Solidad agreed despite her former teacher's complains. Right now, her Ninetales was facing against a Poliwhirl who tried to douse him with water attacks, albeit unsuccessfully.

"Poliwhirl, Hydro Pump!"

"Poli!" The tadpole Pokémon fired a powerful water stream at its foe.

Solidad stood firm where she was and raised a hand to the sky. "Sunny Day!"

Ninetales groaned and fired an energy ball from his mouth. It exploded up in the air creating a miniature sun to bathe the entire battlefield. The effect was immediate: the Hydro Pump's power was drastically reduced so when it made contact, it did little more than inconvenience the fox, who just shook the water off his fur before glaring back at his opponent.

"Solar Beam, as we practiced!" Solidad called, pointing forward.

The fox spread out his nine tales in a fan-like formation as he took the sunlight into them. The active Sunny Day sped up the charge and in just a couple of seconds it was ready to fire. However, rather than aim directly at Poliwhirl, Ninetales aimed upwards, firing nine separate energy beams that converged into a large sphere, right above his opponent.

"What are they doing?" the student asked, his voice shaking.

"Now!" Solidad declared as she snapped his fingers.

"NINE!"

And with a single cry, Ninetales called upon the energy beams to rain all around Poliwhirl. The Water-type tried to flee, but found itself having to turn around when another beam fell in its path, although without so much as grazing it. From the outside, it was as if the falling beams created some sort of cage that prevented its escape.

As the ninth beam fell down, Poliwhirl fell on its butt, shaking in fear. It was no surprise: a single one of those beams would have been enough to fry it, but Solidad had intentionally missed with the sole purpose of proving the point of the exercise.

"I give up, I give up!" the boy cried out. "Poliwhirl, return!"

Without further words, the kid recalled his Poliwhirl, as Solidad approached to stroke Ninetales for a job well done, before walking towards the student.

"You did well, for your first battle," she said with a big smile.

"You're saying it just to make me feel better," the kid said with some bitterness. "I never stood a chance; you'd have beaten us with a single blow."

"That's true, but I didn't. Do you know why?" The kid shook his head. "Well, I was trying to illustrate what Mr. Henderson explained about how to chain moves together to make effective combos."

"How so?" the kid asked. Solidad looked through the corner of his eye and noticed how her former teacher rolled his eyes before giving her the go to explain.

"Alright, one of the most common combos in Pokémon battles involves using a weather-changing move, and then launch an attack that is powered in said condition. In this case, the Sunny Day/Solar Beam combo gave me several advantages.

"First, Sunny Day powers up Ninetales' Fire-type moves, and also weakens your Poliwhirl's Water-type attacks. That helps me compensate for the type disadvantage. Second, Solar Beam is a Grass-type attack, which gives me an ace up my sleeve should I be facing a Water, Rock or Ground-type opponent, as those are a Fire-type's natural weaknesses. And third, harsh sunlight reduces the Solar Beam's charging time, which enables him to perform the attack much faster than normal."

"I didn't know you could use a Solar Beam attack that way," the kid said with admiration. "It was awesome."

Solidad smirked. "That's something we've been practicing. Ninetales can also use Psychic, and a Psychic-type move can be useful to redirect other moves, to shape and use them in unexpected ways."

"But you never told him to use Psychic!" the boy protested, pouting a little.

"No, but we've also been practicing how to use it passively," Solidad replied. "If your opponent doesn't know what you're up to, that gives you a surprise advantage, doesn't it?"

The kid opened his mouth, but ultimately was forced to concede the point and said nothing. His frown was quickly replaced by a big smile and he offered a handshake, which Solidad gladly took.

Right then, Mr. Henderson and the rest of the class approached them. "Alright, as you could see, Solidad used all the principles we've studied when she used her combo move. She set up a weather condition that gave her the edge and hampered her opponent's, and then used an attack that countered the type disadvantage. Now, do you guys understand why support moves are more useful than attacking just because?"

"Yes, Mr. Henderson!" the class replied in unison.

"Uh, Mr. Henderson, I have a question." A girl raised her hand. "We've all been studying two-move combos during the entire class, but Solidad used three right now. She said she was using Psychic on top of Solar Beam and Sunny Day, right? Can we do that?"

"Well, I think she could answer that better than me. Solidad?"

Solidad nodded. "Yeah, that's an interesting question. Indeed, you can chain three or more moves in a combo. In fact, many battle strategies are based precisely on that, and if the opponent is unable to break the chain, sometimes they make the difference between victory and defeat."

"Ohhh, I get it now!" many students shouted at once, and they all clapped in excitement. It was quite heartwarming to see their happy faces all over.

"Alright, we're taking a ten-minute break before going back to the classroom," Mr. Henderson declared. "You guys can take a rest and eat something if you wish."

The students quickly broke ranks, although some groans and complains were heard, mostly from students who wanted to challenge Solidad too. That said, she appreciated their enthusiasm. Her former teacher wasn't lying when he said they had potential.

While everybody went to take their break, Solidad looked around, and noticed among the many students grouping together to eat with their friends, a girl who sat alone, away from the rest. She had blue hair tied in side pigtails with ribbons, and she seemed rather withdrawn, being the exception to the rule in a class otherwise full of hyperactive and cheery students.

Solidad also noticed she was the only one who didn't try to say a word or intervene in any way, although from afar it was clear that she wanted to. Something in the redhead prompted her to approach the lone girl and talk to her for a bit.

"Hi," she said.

The girl stopped eating her sandwich and looked up. She shook for a moment before giving a nervous smile and reply. "H-hi."

"May I?" Solidad asked, and the girl stepped aside to make room for her on the bench. "What's your name?"

"L-Lazuli."

"Lovely name. Aren't you a bit lonely here, away from the rest? Why don't you eat with them?"

"I… I don't get along with them," Lazuli replied. "By the way…"

As soon as Solidad turned towards her, the little girl stopped though her mouth remained open. Clearly she wanted to say something else but backed off at the last second. Maybe she needed a little push.

"If you have something to say, go ahead," Solidad assured. "I won't be mad or anything."

"Hmm…" Lazuli bit her lower lip. "I… I saw you at the Battle Dome tournament. Too bad you lost to that boy, you were doing great."

Solidad shrugged. "He was better, I don't feel bad for losing."

"I like your style," the girl continued. "You also said you wanted… to be a coordinator."

"That's my plan." Solidad nodded. "After competing at Indigo I'll enter the Contest circuit."

"That's so cool. I… I want to be one too."

"Really? Good for you." Solidad smiled at her. "Maybe we could face each other in a few years."

"No way. I could never beat you,"

"You can't be sure of that," Solidad replied.

"I'd never compare to you," the girl said. "You're so smart and pretty, your Pokémon are strong and elegant, and I… I could never be like you."

The girl lowered her head, and Solidad noticed her expression turning into a grimace. Maybe she'd need a little boost of confidence.

She placed a hand on Lazuli's shoulder to get her attention. "Hey, do you think it was easy to get where I am? I used to be in your place before, you know."

"I don't believe it," Lazuli said.

"No, I mean it. You heard Mr. Henderson before, I was his student in this very same school. Sometimes things didn't go my way, I tripped and fell many times. But even so, I still kept trying, do you know why?" Lazuli shook her head, so she continued. "I had people who supported me. My parents, my friends, my teachers… they all believed in me, even at times I did not.

"So, I promised myself I'd make it. True, I might have chosen a path longer than the rest, but I like taking my time with things. That's why I held back on beginning my journey a few years, so I could study more before getting started."

"Really?" Lazuli asked with interest.

"Yeah," Solidad nodded. "Do you want a little piece of advice? If you're clear on where you want to go, make sure to decide which way you'll make it there. There are many paths to choose from, but the most important thing is to always keep sight of them."

"That doesn't sound easy," Lazuli remarked.

"Oh, of course it's not. But it's all an experience. Taking a harder path can make you stronger if you can overcome it. And that's my plan: I'll have an additional advantage if I can overpower other coordinators when I need to."

"Wow…" The girl's expression had shifted. It still looked somewhat shy, but now, Solidad could see a little glint in her eyes that wasn't there before.

A glint of confidence. That made the redhead smile, so she decided to give the final touch.

"So, what do you say? Four or five years from now, shall we meet at the Grand Festival?"

"Sure," Lazuli nodded, smiling herself.

Seeing the little blue-haired girl had finally come out of her shell, Solidad felt she got herself a new friend. Maybe she could get her to talk a little more.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, what made you interested in Pokémon Contests?"

"Well… my parents run a party service business. Sometimes they use Pokémon for entertaining, among other things."

"Oh, really?" Solidad asked with interest. "Like what."

"Sometimes they make icy sculptures, you know, for decoration," Lazuli explained. "They once tried to make crystal ones so they wouldn't melt, using Ground and Fire-type attacks, but it didn't turn out so well."

"Too bad," Solidad replied. "Maybe they just needed to…"

Suddenly, Solidad became thoughtful. She recalled that during her practices, Slowbro's Flamethrower turned the dirt into glass sometimes. And now that Lazuli brought up those sculptures, she also recalled to have vaguely considered the possibility of making a crystal sculpture herself. Was there any way to do it?

"They needed to what?" Lazuli asked.

"Huh? Sorry, I meant to say they just needed to practice more," Solidad replied. "Sometimes you don't succeed the first time, so you have to retry over and over until it works. And speaking of, you've just given me an idea."

"An idea? For what?"

"Okay, class, the break is over!" Mr. Henderson called out to all students.

The kids collectively went to get in line. Solidad and Lazuli glanced at one another, and the little girl puffed her cheeks and pouted.

"I guess I'll have to tell you another day," Solidad replied. "Go back with the others."

The redhead gestured with her head so the little girl would go meet with her classmates. Lazuli had no choice but to oblige and went to get in the line, as everybody gathered around Mr. Henderson to go back to class.

She admittedly had fun chatting with the girl and almost lost track of time. Fortunately, they still had the afternoon class ahead of them, and maybe she could keep helping the rest of the students somehow.

…

As the exit bell rang off, the students left the classroom in a rush. Solidad and Mr. Henderson stayed a few more minutes, since the teacher had a few things to sort out before returning home. Meanwhile, the redhead saw the clock on the wall with a bit of surprise: time surely had flown. Her old school seemed to be just as fun as when she was a student, or even more.

"Okay, and that's it," the teacher declared, saving a file in his computer before turning it off. "Really, Solidad, you were a great help today, thank you so much."

"Think nothing of it, it was a pleasure," the redhead replied. "And you were right, they're a very interesting class."

"That they are. They might be just a bit impatient and hyperactive at times, but I have faith in them. Though I'd say, I'm surprised how you managed to keep everybody's attention the way you did. Maybe I should take a page out of your book and try more classes like this."

"I'd feel flattered if you do that. Well, I guess it's time for me to leave. It was nice to see you again, Mr. Henderson."

"Hey, wait," he called out to her before she went through the door. "Before that, you didn't think I'd ask you to help me for free, did you?"

"You never said anything about paying me," Solidad pointed.

"True, but I have something here that might be useful to you."

Solidad wondered what he was talking about. Mr. Henderson opened one of his desk's drawers, and pulled something out of it. He lifted the object for her to see, and she quickly saw it was a round, bright pink stone… one whose glow she instantly recognized.

"Is that…"

"A Mega Stone, yes. Slowbronite, to be exact," the teacher confirmed. "My son found it in the Cerulean Cave a few months ago, but he didn't want it. I was planning on using it for a class about Mega Evolution but now, I think you might find it more useful."

"Are you sure?" Solidad asked.

"It's not of much use unless you have a Keystone, and a Slowbro to use it," the teacher declared as he placed it on his former student's hand. "And seeing you have both, it'll be better with you."

"I… I don't know what to say, Mr. Henderson."

"There's no need for any words. You may not be my student anymore, but that doesn't mean I can't give you some support for your career. No matter how many years pass, you'll always be my star pupil."

"Thanks… Professor," she said. It felt nice to say that after so long, since she hadn't addressed him that way since she graduated.

Bidding her former teacher goodbye, Solidad walked back home, watching the Slowbronite intently. If she was able to put it to good use, maybe it could become her trump card for her rematch against Giovanni.

A few days ago she wondered if there was a way to increase the Flamethrower's power, but at that point training didn't yield many advances on that. Perhaps the Mega Evolution could give the power boost they needed, and more to prepare their strategies.

The question was, would she be able to get it to work soon enough?

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

The next day, at the Pewter Gym…

Getting the needed stones for Mega Evolution was one thing. But making them work was a different story.

Before starting her Pokémon journey, Brock had lent her a book titled 'Mega Evolution: The Power of Friendship and Trust Between Humans and Pokémon', written by Professor Augustine Sycamore. It was an engaging read: the first chapters had a brief story about Mega Evolution's origins, and some of the most notable users in the world's history, including the founder of Kalos' Tower of Mastery, who was the first trainer to Mega Evolve a Lucario; the female ninja known as Feng of the Beedrill, and in the more recent (and infamous) history, Johto's Twenty Gyarados Bill.

After getting the Slowbronite, she borrowed the book again, specifically to read the chapters about the known Mega-capable Pokémon species, as well as the abilities they acquired upon assuming that form. In order to use Slowbro's skills to their maximum potential, she needed to know exactly what he was capable of.

Now, as they were standing in the middle of Pewter's Gym's arena, it was time for the trial by fire. With the Keystone in her necklace, and the Slowbronite in Slowbro's headband, it was time to put it to the test.

"Remember, Solidad," Brock said. "Mega Evolution is fueled by the bonds between you and your Pokémon. You and Slowbro must focus on those feelings."

"Will it work if I think about the moments we've spent together?" the redhead asked.

"Possibly," Brock nodded, "but don't feel too bad if you don't make it on the first try. Many experts have taken years to get it to work."

"Okay, no pressure then," she replied. "You ready, Slowbro?"

Slowbro nodded, clashing both fists together with enthusiasm. Some people would believe that a Slowbro being "enthusiastic" was abnormal, but she liked it that way. To stand out from the norm sometimes could be a good thing.

Closing her eyes, she focused. Slowbro had spent quite a few months with her, so she had many moments to think about.

The day she caught him, when he was still a Slowpoke, when she was exploring the cape north of Cerulean. There were a few kids trying to get a reaction out of him by poking him with a stick, with no success. Once they left and she approached, though, he immediately perked up, almost as if he'd been waiting for her.

Their first Gym battle together, defeating the Cerulean Sensational Sisters. She still recalled how they complained about cheating because "A Slowpoke shouldn't be allowed to react that fast", or something to that extent.

Next, the day she went to try that fishing rod, a gift from an old fisherman who forgot to tell her there was sort of a Shellder colony in that fishing spot. She didn't realize until Slowpoke put his tail in the water and they all rushed to take a bite. The result was predictable: instant Slowbro.

She then thought about all their hard work to improve their attacks, and at the same time making them as flashy as possible. The more they improved, the more confidence they had in their abilities. They had managed to go undefeated up until the Battle Dome. It was a surprise to find an opponent who managed to counter their tactics, and that was their first defeat. But rather than feeling bad about it, they used it as motivation to keep improving.

With all those thoughts in mind, Solidad held the stone in her necklace and pointed it at her partner, ready to send out her feelings.

"Mega Evolution!"

The Keystone reacted to the Slowbronite, with both sending out energy tendrils that sought out each other to link up. A multicolored energy whirl engulfed Slowbro as he began floating off the ground, and Solidad could see through it how the spiral shell placed itself underneath, covering Slowbro's body entirely save for the arms and head. As the multicolor light dissipated, Slowbro was floating a few inches above the ground, with the Shellder carapace spinning around him.

"Did it work?" Solidad asked, admiring her partner's new form.

"There's only one way to find out," Brock said. "Let's try his attacks."

Solidad nodded, and she ordered a Yawn attack. Slowbro opened his mouth and let it out as usual, although they'd been practicing to make it look different. Rather than bubbles like before, now it let out a thick, rainbow-colored sparkling cloud, covering a wider area.

Next, they used Water Gun, and Solidad could have almost mistaken the stream with a Hydro Pump. They followed with a Flamethrower, and the firepower increased to such point they could create a giant flaming tornado using Psychic, and make it even larger than they had done so far.

Solidad smiled pleasantly and called for her partner to use Aerial Ace, who replied creating twin blue blades in his hands and performing an elegant twirl before delivering to crisscrossed cuts. The redhead noticed that, aided by his levitation, he was able to perform the attack much faster, much harder to catch by the naked eye.

"Incredible. Not only his attacks' power has increased, his reaction time has also improved," she said. "I think all we have to do now is getting used to it and see their limits."

"That can be arranged," Brock held up a Pokéball and threw it from his side of the field.

Out came his Rhyperior, the same they'd been using during the start of the training. He looked as fierce as ever, and like the first time, he started the battle with Rock Polish followed by Hammer Arm, to deliver a devastating, lightning-fast punch.

However, this time Solidad and Slowbro foresaw the intent and managed to dodge it. They used hit-and-run tactics to get Rhyperior to miss his strikes, never letting him land one single hit, then they overwhelmed him by trapping him with fire attacks whenever he tried to use Sandstorm, causing the sand to crystalize and hampering his movements. Eventually, they took him down using a Yawn cloud he was unable to dispel in time.

Although his high defenses and Solid Rock ability forced them to deliver several strikes, slowly but surely they wore him down. Solidad checked her watch, realizing Slowbro had managed to keep the Mega Evolution for ten minutes straight before finally taking Rhyperior down, and he looked none the worse for wear. They managed to win in the endurance match.

Once the battle concluded, Slowbro returned to normal and landed back on the field in a sitting position. He was tired, but seemed very proud of himself, and he deserved to be. They'd gone a long way in the past few days.

"You were amazing, Slowbro," the redhead declared, as she tapped the Mega Stone on the headband. "Wow, the Mega Evolution's power is awesome."

"And not everyone can boast about achieving it on the first try," Brock intervened as he recalled Rhyperior. "If you fight Giovanni as you did today, that badge is good as yours."

Solidad nodded, and gave Slowbro a few pats on the head for a job well done. Truth to be told, she didn't expect they'd have it that easy to use the Mega Evolution. She was ready to postpone her Viridian rematch one or two more days for practice if needed, but seeing the results, she was firmly convinced they were ready.

"Well, I guess there's nothing left to do now. We'll take break tonight, and we'll go challenge Viridian tomorrow," Solidad declared, extending a hand towards Brock. "Thanks for all your help. I know I must have taken a lot of time out of you and Lucy for this training."

"Nah, it was nothing, I was happy to," Brock shrugged. "Anything for an old friend… especially one who helped me in my time of need."

"You're still dwelling on that?" Solidad asked. "I just gave you the ticket for the event. Anything that came after it is all on you."

"Maybe, but I wouldn't have met Lucy if you hadn't done that for me."

Solidad rolled her eyes. She wondered if she'd ever live that one down. Sure, she did hope he could meet someone there, but she had no way to know he'd actually meet the love of his life. She was happy for him, though, especially seeing that the load of taking care of his siblings on his own had lessened considerably now that he had Lucy to help him out.

That was another reason why she was certain she'd made the right call. Brock and his siblings were all good kids since she could remember, but she wasn't sure she'd be prepared to deal with the responsibilities of being the head of such a large family. Lucy didn't seem to have those issues, so she'd gladly let her handle them.

"Well, that's what are friends are for," Solidad finally said. "After I win my last badge, I'll be in your debt, so if there's anything I can do for you guys, you have but to ask."

"Come to think about it, I think there is one thing." Brock placed a hand on his chin. "Lucy told me she'd like to see, and I quote, how you kick Giovanni's tail in the rematch. That guy always keeps his battles in closed doors and never shares them with the TV shows, so if you could save the battle in a video for us to watch later…"

"I think I can do something." Solidad grabbed her cellphone. "I'll have to hide it well, he'll probably get mad if she finds me out. Well, I guess I should be going back home."

"Sorry we couldn't invite you for lunch today. Had you come a little earlier…"

"Don't worry about that. These days I've actually enjoyed having lunch with my own family."

The redhead let out a giggle, thinking about what it meant to eat with her family. Her parents were as lively as usual, using the meals to compete against each other over who could eat more or who finished first, when they weren't arguing about their preferences in Pokémon competitions.

After saying goodbye to Brock, Solidad left the Pewter Gym and walked back home. It'd been a long and tiresome training day, so they had earned a good break. That way, they'd be in top form for the following morning and their long-awaited rematch.

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

That night…

That was it. They had done everything they could up to that point, hopefully it'd be enough. But she was confident in her own smarts and her Pokémon's abilities, and she was certain about her victory. Plus having the Mega Evolution as their ace in the hole, she was sure that Earth Badge would be theirs.

So as to relax, she felt she could check again the videos her parents had brought from Alola. She found herself especially enjoying the ones showing the dancing Oricorio, in their varied forms. Although she'd been studying their movements for their own Pokémon, she was now watching them for fun.

As she continued to replay the videos over and over, somebody knocked on her door.

"Solidad, honey?" It was her mother's voice. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," she replied, pausing the video player for a moment.

Solange entered the room and closed the door behind her. She approached and eyed the computer screen with interest, as it was paused while showing a group of Oricorio in Sensu Style, with grayish-purple feathers, and more passive and relaxed than their other, more colorful relatives.

"I see you took a liking to those little birds."

"They're rather cute." Solidad nodded. "Besides, their movements were useful to incorporate to my own Pokémon's dodging maneuvers. I think I'd like to have one of those; having multiple forms would make them very versatile in performances."

"If we had known, we would have gladly caught one for you," Solange replied. "So, are you ready for the big challenge tomorrow?"

"As much as I'll ever be," Solidad said with determination.

"Do you think it'll be enough?" Solange asked. "What I mean is… are you sure you want to earn your final badge in that Gym?"

Solidad stared at her mom's eyes for a bit. She wasn't very surprised at the question, as she'd already talked about her defeat before Giovanni, and how she planned to come back for a second round once she was ready. And there was no point in delaying it longer.

"Of course I am. I can't let that defeat stand as it is."

"Honey, I don't doubt your abilities," Solange said. "I've been watching you: your Pokémon have grown really strong in a short time. You could win easily in any other Gym if you wanted."

"I could, yes. But we can be better if we surpass this hurdle," Solidad countered. "You and Dad always say 'no challenge, no satisfaction', don't you?"

"That, we definitely agree on," Solange nodded. "But, I feel like there's something else. Whenever you set a personal goal, you never stop until you achieve it, and always for a good reason."

Solidad smiled. She had learned that from them after all. Not only it was important to have her goal clear, but also the path she'd walk to reach it. Of course, motivation was an important factor as well.

"If I can defeat Giovanni, I'll show him he judged me the wrong way," Solidad said. "He said I was wasting my talent, and that my attacks couldn't be strong and flashy at the same time."

"Sweetie, even if he was a jerk about it, he does have a point. Strength and elegance usually don't mix well, and elegance is more important in Pokémon Contests."

"True, but strength has its merits too. Or are you trying to say you were never defeated by KO in your time?"

Solange wanted to retort, but she couldn't do anything but roll her eyes, conceding the point. Seeing that she got her point across, Solidad continued in the same line.

"There's something else I want to prove. I know you and Dad have always been arguing which is better, the Leagues or the Contests, but I personally don't think neither is better or worse. They're just… different.

"But during my journey, I made use of everything I've learned from watching you and Dad. When Giovanni insulted me, it wasn't just me, but also insulted everything I learned from you two. I've gotten this far in no small part because of what I learned from watching you two during these years."

Solidad felt a bit of pride swelling in her chest as she let those words out. Not just her parents, but also her teachers, her friends, and everybody who supported her since her school days. That victory would not only be hers, it'd belong to all of them.

"Solidad, honey… I had no idea you looked up to us that much."

"You guys are my parents," the redhead said, grabbing her mother's hand. "I know, I'll never get you two to agree on the League and Contest debate. I have my goal clear, even if I'm taking a different path. But you and Dad believed in me when I made my decision, so you should believe in me now."

Solange was left speechless. It was no surprise: Solidad had wanted to tell them that for some time, although she'd never found the right words. Until then, whenever they broke into their arguments, all she could do was laugh, or intervene whenever they seemed to get a bit overboard.

But now, she'd finally found a way to seal that little debate once and for all. Something good came out of that defeat, it seemed.

"Well then, you better win your rematch, sweetie," Solange said as she held her daughter's shoulders. "Your father and I would be very embarrassed if you lose to that man again."

"Don't worry. I will defeat him, with strength and elegance at the same time. It'll be the best of both worlds."

"That's my daughter!" Solange declared, hugging her tightly.

They broke it off upon hearing another knock on the door, and Helios voice called out. "Solidad, Solange, are you both in there?"

"Yeah, Dad. Do you need something?"

"Just wondered if you wanted something to eat, it's about dinner time."

Solidad glanced at the clock, and indeed, it was past 7:30 pm already. Time surely flew by even though she was supposed to be resting for tomorrow. Maybe it was the excitement for the rematch or something.

"You can't go to bed with an empty stomach," Solange declared. "Come on, let's go."

Mother and daughter exited the room and joined Helios for dinner. When the man asked what they were talking about, his wife refused to disclose the details, other than the fact that she was very proud of their daughter, and she was certain they'd feel even prouder the next day.

Solidad giggled; she'd probably need to have the chat in private with her dad sometime.

After they finished dinner, the family went to sit at the couch to watch some TV, tuning in on Pokémon TV as it broadcasted Gym Battle Review. Much to her surprise, the show revealed that the Celadon Gym had lifted its ban on male challengers, apparently after Erika agreed to accept one from none other than Ash Ketchum, the same boy who defeated her at the Battle Dome.

"That's interesting. Beating her Rain Dance with his own to clear the moist in the air. You should take note of that, sweetie," Solange said with interest.

"Forget the Rain Dance. Just look how his Pidgeotto evolved mid-battle and completely swept the floor with that Vileplume! That is called power!" Helios commented as he clashed his fists together.

"Well, he certainly hasn't slacked off since our match." Solidad nodded, smirking in both respect and awe.

"Ah, but our baby girl is not gonna lose twice against the same kid, right?" Helios said. "Next time, you'll be the one showing him who's boss."

"He'll be a formidable opponent. You better be careful," Solange added. "But I agree with your father; I'm certain you can handle him."

Solidad smiled. That boy was something else, especially for a rookie younger than her. His victory wasn't a fluke, and if he kept up the pace, he'd surely grow stronger, and perhaps also more unpredictable.

It'd be nice to have a rematch at Indigo, should it come to that.

In any case, it meant a lot her parents believed in her as much as they did. It'd certainly be a source of strength for tomorrow's match.

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

Viridian City, the next morning…

The day had come. The moment of truth had arrived. There was no turning back now.

Pidgeot landed in front of the Viridian Gym, and she hopped off his back. After returning him, she took a deep breath before walking to the entrance, pushing it gently to let herself in.

Just like the first time, she found Giovanni awaiting, sitting on his chair with his legs crossed, petting his Persian like the typical movie villains. She couldn't help but wonder if he actively projected that image on purpose, or if he was secretly a villain or something like that.

One thing was certain: she didn't like that image one bit, and she couldn't wait to break it down completely. She was anxious to show him the fruit of their hard training.

"You came back earlier than I expected," he said in a neutral tone, neither flattering nor mocking. "Even so, I've already seen what you're capable of, and if you weren't able to beat me on the first try, the second will be much harder."

"I feel confident," she replied. "Shall we get started?"

In response, the room lit up, and Solidad went to take her place near the battlefield. She recognized the same referee from the first time, who proceeded to announce the match's rules.

"The Earth Badge rematch between the Gym Leader Giovanni and the challenger Solidad is about to start. It'll be a full battle, and it'll end when all six Pokémon of either trainer are unable to continue. Only the challenger will be allowed to switch Pokémon. Choose your first now!"

Solidad recalled their previous encounter. Judging by Giovanni's expression, he'd probably try to lure her into similar traps. She'd have to be careful, though she had a few surprises of her own in wait, and not just because she'd changed a few team members.

When Giovanni made his opening move with an Onix, her suspicions were confirmed, for his first movement was to snap his fingers to deliver a silent command. In response, Solidad brought out Pidgeot first, with whom she'd been training some moves including Hurricane for power, and Defog, just in case they'd have to deal with those pesky entry hazards.

Indeed, when they cleared the field, the Stealth Rock pods were blasted into oblivion, clearing the field for them. She caught a glimpse of surprise in Giovanni's face, so she quickly went for a blitz attack to get an early edge on the match.

Thanks to Pidgeot's speed, a Steel Wing/Double Team combo served to disorient Onix, who tried to bring the bird down with Rock Blast. Solidad smiled every time Pidgeot's aerial loops and twirls, along with the metallic flashes, served to confuse the snake even more, making it miss the attacks one after another. And despite its ironclad defense, they managed to take it down without so much as a scratch.

Giovanni however wasn't taken aback and quickly sent out his second Pokémon: a Sandslash. Solidad quickly switched Pidgeot for Ninetales. Sandslash put up a better fight, trying to sneak underground to escape from the attacks, and managed to get several cuts in that left a mark on Ninetales, among them a lucky Poison Jab that intoxicated the fox. Solidad summoned a Sunny Day and called for a Solar Beam to bombard the battlefield, using the rain of beams to force Sandslash out and finishing him with a Flamethrower that left him roasted to a crisp.

Having Ninetales poisoned, Solidad switched again, this time for her Bellossom. She could also use Solar Beam, and they took advantage of it against Giovanni's third Pokémon, a Golem, in tandem with Petal Dance and the dancing moves from the Oricorio videos. Though they worked at first to avoid major damage, Giovanni and Golem eventually decided to power through their Solar Beams using Rollout. Golem chased the little plant all over the field until he run her over, and after getting a hold of her, used Explosion to leave both of them out of commission.

The next obstacle, who wasn't present on the previous match, was a Nidoqueen. Gauging their weight, Solidad pit her Venusaur against it. The brawl between them consisted mostly of melee combat, until it ended with a Hyper Beam/Solar Beam clash. Unfortunately, the resulting explosion occurred much closer to Venusaur, getting him to take the worse of it, and Solidad was forced to bring back Ninetales to finish the job, although the fox succumbed to the poison after bringing his foe down.

The fifth was also a new addition to Giovanni's team, a Dugtrio. Just like Sandslash, it often tried to hide underground to avoid most damage and try and get sneak attacks on them. Fortunately, Solidad had more than one way to get their foe out of hiding, and she called her Butterfree to fly low and send waves of Bug Buzz through the battlefield's holes. The noise not only left Dugtrio in a daze, but also prevented it from hearing Giovanni's commands clearly, allowing them to just keep Bug Buzzing until it went down.

Now, at long last, they were at the final bout. The moment they'd been waiting for had come. While she remained calm and composed on the outside, inside she was feeling a burning excitement. They were really close to winning.

"So, you've done better thus far, and you weren't too shabby the first time. I however," Giovanni declared as he took his final Pokéball, "will not be standing this time."

"I doubt you'll remain that way," she quipped sarcastically.

She didn't get why he was so confident about it. As he'd said, she'd done better than the first time around, as she still had half her team active now in their final bout. Not to mention she still had her secret weapon in wait, but he obviously didn't know that.

True, Giovanni wasn't kidding when he said the rematch would be tougher than the first time around, but so far she'd played her cards well, and she had the lead. She couldn't get cocky, though; if she wanted to win, she'd have to give everything all the way.

"We shall see… go Rhyperior!"

As she expected, Giovanni was using the same last Pokémon as in the first match. The only downside at the time was, having beaten them with a single attack, she didn't get to see what else it was capable of. Something was for sure: she didn't want her Pokémon to get pointlessly injured as cannon fodder if she could help it.

"Butterfree, return," she called as she brought her Pokémon back and switched the Balls. "Go Pidgeot!"

Her best gamble was to use Pidgeot in order to force Rhyperior to use all of its moves, or at least as many as possible, and wear it out for Slowbro to finish the job. As soon as the referee raised his hands, both gave their commands at the same time:

"Use Steel Wing!"

"Thunder Punch!"

Pidgeot dodged the electrified punch veering to the side, and made a quick U-turn to hit Rhyperior on the back. He once more took distance and waited for his next order, while Rhyperior shrugged the attack as if it just tickled.

'Sturdier than Brock's Rhyperior, that's for sure,' Solidad thought, gritting her teeth somewhat. They'd have to hit more times and much harder to cause damage.

"Rock Blast," Giovanni said.

Rhyperior roared and raised both hands, creating large boulders between them. It then fired them out like cannonballs one after another at Pidgeot, who started making evasive maneuvers as the shots continued to pick up the pace.

"Pidgeot, land and use Steel Wing as a shield!"

"Pidgeooooooot!"

The bird descended in the middle of the rock blitz, firmly clawing his feet into the ground as he coated his wings in metallic energy, protecting himself until Rhyperior ceased the attack.

Solidad watched Pidgeot and noticed that, save for some minor bruises he hadn't taken too much damage, but she couldn't get overconfident. They still needed to drain Rhyperior as much as possible so that Slowbro would have the edge for the final round. Until then, they'd have to capitalize on their speed.

"Double Team and Steel Wing!"

Pidgeot took flight once more and multiplied himself all over. Original and clones rushed down in a diving charge to attack as a flock, with the evident intent of confusing Giovanni and Rhyperior.

"Dispel the fakes with Thunder Punch!"

Rhyperior charged both fists with electricity, and threw punch after punch at each incoming bird. They instantly flickered, but every once in a while the original snuck among them and managed to land a wing slap somewhere, returning to hide among the doppelganger mess before charging again.

However, the clones quickly diminished over time, and during the entire battle they hadn't been able to so much as move Rhyperior from its spot. Even without moving, his punches were fast and accurate, several times just missing Pidgeot by a hair or less.

It was a handicap, but that was the only way they could attack if they wanted to damage Rhyperior, even if they could see the strikes weren't as effective as they should be. Just like the sparring matches with Brock, this Rhyperior probably had the Solid Rock ability, making supereffective moves just above-average effective.

'That's all we can do for now. We have to keep the barrage as long as possible.'

And thus they did. Solidad and Pidgeot kept using Double Team and Steel Wing for lightning-fast strikes, but Rhyperior as well as Giovanni were starting to get tired of that. The Gym Leader then decided to put an end to that with a single order.

"Sandstorm."

Rhyperior ceased the punching, and then immediately began firing out sand streams. Solidad had to cover her eyes when the sand barrage covered the entirety of the battlefield, and if it wasn't for Pidgeot's feathers it'd be hard to tell where he was.

Rhyperior, on the other hand, was much harder to locate, as it camouflaged with its brown color among the field.

Pidgeot had no weather moves to remove the Sandstorm, but he did have the second best thing to clear the vision, at least for a while.

"Defog!"

Pidgeot flapped his wings sending out some harmless blue wind blasts. Even though they didn't stop the sandstorm, they did make openings to give some clear vision temporarily, allowing them to make out where Rhyperior was. They needed to keep attacking while they still could.

"Steel Wing!"

"Thunder Punch!"

Both commands were simultaneous, and Pidgeot charged headfirst with his metallic wings extended. The Defog's effect quickly faded out right when Rhyperior charged its electric punches again and readied to meet him head on.

The sandstorm continued to rage, and Solidad couldn't see clearly what was going on, save for sparks flying every time the Pokémon's attacks clashed against one another. They probably had engaged in a melee brawl, trying to take the other down with their blows.

A minute or so later, Pidgeot was sent flying out of the sandstorm, and they lost sight of Rhyperior again. She managed to hear Giovanni's voice calling for another Rock Blast attack, and Pidgeot took a surprise one that almost knocked him out of the air. He dodged the following ones, although with difficulty.

It was a problem if Rhyperior could see where they were while they couldn't. Their options were limited: either they could wait for the Sandstorm's effect to peter out, or they could try to somehow disperse it. And Pidgeot would hardly have enough to keep going until it petered out.

Defog was only a temporary solution, but maybe if she tried to boost it with a stronger attack…

"Pidgeot, use Defog and then Hurricane!"

They had practiced many combo moves, but not this one in particular, since Pidgeot had learned Hurricane rather recently. Pidgeot flapped his wings harder than before, creating wind blasts mixed with blue energy blades. Said blades converged to a single point, exploding in a powerful cyclone that quickly dragged all the sand and even some of the nearby rocks on the field.

A minute or so later, the cyclone dispersed. The battlefield was completely flat and clean, barring the holes made by Sandslash and Dugtrio, with the sand and rocks sent out to the side walls. The referee had to take cover when a few boulders almost fell his way, and Rhyperior had to hold on to the ground with hands, feet and horn to avoid getting dragged by the winds.

But they had done it, the Sandstorm was gone, letting them see everything clearly.

Nevertheless, Pidgeot had reached his limit. The bird glanced at his trainer and with a single nod, she knew what he wanted to tell her. She nodded in return: one last blow to go down with dignity.

"Steel Wing!"

"So desperate," Giovanni said. "Use Thunder Punch to end that bird."

Pidgeot charged one last time, while Rhyperior readied another punch. The result was obvious: an electric flash later sent Pidgeot spinning through the air until he fell on his trainer's side. With one last squawk he slumped into unconsciousness, still giving off sparks from that last punch.

"Pidgeot is unable to battle. Rhyperior wins and the challenger is down to two Pokémon now."

Solidad glanced at Giovanni's side. Rhyperior had endured the hits alright, but Pidgeot hadn't let him get through it unscathed. He could still battle, but was no longer at full capacity.

"Well done Pidgeot, now rest," she said as she recalled him. He'd done his part well, and now their path to victory had been cleared out.

"That was an improvement, I suppose," Giovanni said, sounding somewhat proud of it.

"You haven't seen anything yet."

"Did your Lapras exit the E.R when I wasn't looking?"

Solidad scowled at the quip. He had no right to say that when he had sent Lapras to the E.R in the first place. She was still pretty upset because Nurse Joy told her he'd barely stopped short of leaving a permanent crack, and although she'd been assured he'd make a full recovery, she still felt the need to avenge him for that injury.

Well, an image was worth a thousand words, so she could just show him. Taking a deep breath, she threw her final Pokéball. Time for the debut of her secret weapon.

"Slow!"

Giovanni arched an eyebrow at the sight. He clearly didn't expect it.

"A Slowbro, with a Muscle Band? Or is it Focus, I can't quite tell and frankly it matters not. You cannot defeat me so easily with such a paltry Pokémon."

Again, Solidad didn't let herself fall for Giovanni's quips, although she felt annoyed inside with that smug attitude of his. There was nothing she wanted more at the time than to wipe that smug demeanor off his face, but the best she could do was to show them how 'paltry' they really were. Especially because he seemingly hadn't noticed the Mega Stone in Slowbro's headband.

There was no point in wearing the kiddie gloves: she held her necklace and pointed it at Slowbro. All her efforts, hard training and the power they'd gotten together was about to be put to its ultimate test.

'Slowbro, these are my feelings. Everything we've done together, all of our training, it all comes down to this. Take them, and unleash your inner power. I believe in you.'

She watched intently as the energy tendrils linked up with each other, and Slowbro levitated from the ground and began transforming. Just like the first time, she felt the power being channeled towards Slowbro, and briefly also within herself. In fact, the rush was even stronger than the first time they had done it; it was an indescribable feeling, as if they were closer than ever at that moment.

For the first time during the match, Giovanni's eyes visibly widened in surprise. Thus, after all those bouts, he finally stood from his chair.

"This changes nothing. I've fought such Pokémon before, I've beaten more impressive evolutions!" Giovanni declared defiantly, although Solidad caught a hint of shock in his voice.

"We'll see about that," she replied.

"Rock Blast!"

Giovanni and Rhyperior opened the bout firing another round of stone projectiles, surprisingly faster than the previous ones.

"Counter with Psychic!" Solidad called.

Slowbro started generating a psychic power burst, stopping the projectiles dead in the air and shattering them into smaller pieces. Next, he had the remaining shards orbit around himself to build momentum, and then pelted Rhyperior's face with a barrage of rapid-fire stone shards. The bipedal rhino had to cover his face to avoid getting hit in the eyes, though he didn't even flinch.

"Interesting trick, but it won't do much to defeat us," Giovanni quipped. "Thunder Punch!"

Charging his fists with electricity, Rhyperior charged at Slowbro. Despite being relatively fast to attack, he was still pretty slow and heavy on his feet, and there was a more or less considerable distance between him and Slowbro.

It of course gave Solidad enough time to set up her next maneuver. "Aerial Ace dance, as we practiced!"

"Slow!"

Before the first punch landed, Slowbro spun in the air to dodge, placing himself next to Rhyperior, who turned around and tried to hit him with the other fist, only to miss in the same manner. Every time he was about to get punched, Slowbro gracefully twirled his body to the side, while also waving his loose arms in the same direction.

"What exactly are you doing?" Giovanni asked, evidently annoyed.

"It's an Alolan dancing style," she replied. Taken directly from the Oricorio Pa'u Style dance. They were also Psychic-types, so perhaps that was why Slowbro took to their moves so easily.

They repeated the process time and time again, until Slowbro placed himself behind Rhyperior and delivered a double-crossed physical blow to the back. Rhyperior barely felt it, although it did shake him for a moment.

"Use Psychic!"

"Slow… BRO!"

Focusing all of his energies, Slowbro extended both hands and a blue light halo surrounded Rhyperior, raising him from the ground. It took a great mental force to levitate an object that size and weight, and the Mega Evolution boosted the already impressive mind capabilities of Slowbro.

The rhino began flailing and kicking around trying to break free of the hold, but his efforts were futile, as Slowbro raised both hands and threw him upwards so he would crash against the ceiling, and then let him drop down with a loud rumble, shaking the entire arena.

The fall raised a huge dust cloud, with no noise or movement for a while. Solidad and Slowbro kept their guards up; assuming you'd already won sometimes could be the worst mistake you could make, and indeed, once the dust cleared Rhyperior was getting back on his feet. He was battered, but not defeated.

"Slowbro, Water Gun!"

"Defend with Sandstorm!" Giovanni countered.

Rhyperior roared once more, unleashing sand streams through all of his body's pores. Unlike the previous time, rather than spreading the sand all over the field, he focused it in a nearby area to create a large cyclone, using it to absorb the water from Slowbro's attack and not letting it touch him.

A good defense, Solidad admitted, but if it worked against water, would it work against fire the same way? Recalling their training, and the effect it had, Solidad decided to risk out and try it this time. This might be just what they needed to win.

"Flamethrower and Psychic combo!"

Slowbro stopped spewing water and took a deep breath before switching attacks. As they'd been practicing, Solidad had him redirect the fire stream with his psychic powers, creating a flaming vortex and spinning it in the opposite direction as the sand cyclone to counter it.

The attack intensified by the second, but the trainers did their best to endure the suffocating heat.

Once the attack ceased, they both saw the results: Giovanni was shocked and Solidad smiled in satisfaction. The sand had crystalized, creating a small yet efficient prison around Rhyperior, leaving him nowhere to go. The idea had finally come full circle when she visited her former school and that little chat with Lazuli. Thanks to the Mega Evolution now they had the power to make it real.

The redhead smiled. "That turned out better than I expected," she said. The spiral design gave it a rather particular style that she liked.

Giovanni however seemed to disagree. "Get out of there, use Hammer Arm and destroy that ridiculous crystal wall!"

Rhyperior tried to oblige, but he had almost no room to move his arms in there, let alone hit strong enough. When his arms didn't do the trick, Giovanni called him to use his head, so he went for slamming his horn against the glass wall. It cracked somewhat, but by then Solidad and Slowbro had already planned their next move, more than ready to put an end to the match and win.

And with that, they'd prove beyond any doubt that her moves, flashy as they were, could also be powerful and effective. Determination flared up within the trainer-coordinator, who knew it was time to seal the match.

"Let's help him out of there. Psychic!"

Slowbro focused once more, making Rhyperior float inside the crystal pillar. Moving his arms around like a cheerleader (taken from the Pom-Pom style Oricorio), he slammed his foe against the prison from side to side, picking up the pace until it finally shattered.

Without losing his focus he once more levitated Rhyperior towards the ceiling, this time turning him upside down and spinning him like a floating top.

"Now!"

"SLOWBRO!"

With that call, Slowbro brought his arms down and Rhyperior plummeted towards the ground, rather appropriately like a giant drill. The entire arena rumbled loudly as he crashed, even raising the remaining boulders scattered around for a moment. The dust cloud was even bigger than the previous one, so neither of the trainers made any move afterwards.

However, the leftovers of the sandstorm Rhyperior had attempted to summon before quickly vanished, giving a hint of the most obvious result.

"Did we do it?" Solidad asked.

She didn't want to assume a victory ahead of time. That mistake could cost a lot and after all that work, she really didn't want to lose. She'd better be ready to deliver another blow in case that wasn't enough.

Once the dust fully cleared, they saw the result. Rhyperior was buried from the waist up on the ground, not even moving to try and get back out. Solidad saw Giovanni's face take a clearly disappointed expression, but he nodded in acknowledgement of the outcome, shortly after confirmed by the referee.

"Rhyperior is unable to battle! Victory is for the challenger, Solidad!"

"Yes. Yes! Yes, we did it, Slowbro!" the redhead exclaimed, jumping in joy.

After struggling to keep calm during the entire match, she felt she could indulge in showing her excitement just a little bit. She ran towards her partner, whose Mega Evolution dissipated and he landed back on the floor, and they both raised their hands for a high-five.

Solidad heard Giovanni's Persian giving an angry hiss, but he calmed down and purred when his master petted him in the head. He then left him by his chair and then approached to face Solidad, who promptly did the same along with her Slowbro.

"I must admit you surprised me, young lady. Not many can boast about defeating my Rhyperior without allowing a single hit, even if he was already tired from the previous round. I never imagined your fancy little tricks could catch us off guard."

"Maybe they're not as pointless as you thought before?" Solidad quipped.

Giovanni didn't seem too fazed by her response, even if he was still clearly annoyed. "I still believe you could do better without them. But well, what's fair is fair. You defeated me, girl, and you deserve the proof of it."

He pulled out from his breast pocket the badge, and casually tossed it at her. Solidad always wondered why it was called Earth Badge when it was green and looked more plant-like, as if it was from a Grass-type Gym.

"Now, if you were so kind to take your leave? You already have what you came here for. Hopefully, you'll do well at the Indigo Plateau."

Solidad clearly caught the bitterness mixed with a grudging respect in the Gym Leader's voice, but she finally replied with a nod of acknowledgement and left the Gym along with Slowbro. After all, she didn't want to stay there more than necessary anyway. Plus, even if she had won, she didn't feel like she should be gloating about it.

Once she left the building, the redhead pulled out her cellphone, verifying that it had recorded the entirety of her battle. She was pleased to see that it had, and clicked on the button to stop the recording and save it to the memory. She'd later send it to everyone, but for now, she had other places to be.

"Let's go to the Pokémon Center," she said to Slowbro. "You and the others deserve a break, and later we can go celebrate our victory as due. But first…"

She then pulled out her badge case, placing the last one in the remaining slot. At long last, she had her eight badges, and was ready to compete in the Indigo League.

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

That night…

Given that Pidgeot wouldn't be ready to fly her home until he was fully healed, Solidad decided to stay the night at the Pokémon Center. Of course, she was in no hurry to leave, and there was a lot of stuff to do while taking a breather from her final challenge.

Like for example, sending the video of her battle to her friends as she'd promised.

"Incredible," Lucy said through the videophone screen. "I knew you'd put that guy in his place, but to think you defeated his Rhyperior without a single scratch."

"To his credit, Pidgeot had to wear him out first," Solidad pointed out. "I'm giving him a special reward later for taking all those blows."

"I wouldn't expect any less from you. You'll do great at Indigo, I'm sure." Brock's voice was then heard calling out in the background, and Lucy turned to it. "I'm coming. Sorry, I have to go now. Congratulations again. Hope to hear from you soon."

Solidad nodded and ended the call. It was still a bit early to go to bed, so she decided to make one last call for the day. Her parents would certainly be pleased with the news.

A minute later, her mother answered the call. "Yes? Oh, Solidad honey, it's you!"

"Good evening, Mom," the redhead greeted. "Everything okay at home?"

"As well as it can be. So then, how did it go?"

Solidad smiled; instead of telling her she decided it'd be better to show it. She took the badge case and opened it for her mother to see the Earth Badge, along with the rest.

"Oohhh, honey! Helios, come and see this!"

Shortly after, the aforementioned quickly joined her on the screen, and he smiled with pride. "Well, I wouldn't have expected any less from my daughter, congratulations!"

"Thanks, both of you." Solidad closed the case once more and grabbed her cellphone. "By the way, I recorded the battle, and I'm sending you guys the video as we speak."

"That's great, I can't wait to see it!" Helios beamed.

"So then, what are your plans right now?" Solange asked. "The Indigo League is still a few months away, so…"

"Well, even if we won, my team still needs some rest," Solidad said, recalling how despite their victory, they paid a high price for it. "After that, we'll go and do some celebrating before we get back on the road for training."

"Aww, and here I was hoping we could get some family time together," Solange said.

"Yeah, and we could even do some family training on top of that!" Helios added. "I could show you some of my best secrets to get very far on the League, you know?"

"Honey, she doesn't need any of that. What she needs is my secrets to do the perfect entrance and finish for a Contest battle. That way, she'll be ready to become the Top Coordinator next year!"

"What's the hurry? That's still one year away, and she needs battle advice right now. And that means training with me."

"Doesn't mean she should neglect her Contest skills either…"

"Ahem, hello?" Solidad called out to them. "I'm still here, remember?"

Both her parents immediately looked away in embarrassment. "Sorry, honey," they said in unison, and Solidad simply shrugged.

"Look, I appreciate your concerns, and I'm happy you guys want to help me so much," she said. "But I think it'll be better that I do this alone. I've walked this path on my own so far."

"If you say so," Solange said, clearly disappointed. "But in any case, don't forget we're always behind you, honey, and we'll be supporting you all the way."

"We're proud of you, Solidad," Helios added. "You've grown into a beautiful and smart young woman, a fine trainer, and you'll make an amazing coordinator when the time comes."

"Thanks, both of you," Solidad replied, feeling a warmth in her chest at her parents' words. They meant a lot to her. "I'll call you guys later, right now I just want to rest for a bit."

"Of course, sweetie. Goodnight and remember, we're always proud of you no matter what!"

She ended the call and then checked her cellphone once more. She wondered if Mr. Henderson would like to see the video too. Perhaps he could show it to his students later? She was certain they'd be happy to see it.

She'd also attach a message so he could thank Lazuli on her behalf. After all, she inspired her to go through with the crystal prison idea, and she did promise to tell her about it before.

"It won't hurt. There's no other way they'll get to see this battle anyway," she said as she tapped on the Send button, before letting herself drop on the bed and exhaling tiredly. "Time for some rest now."

After her team had fully recovered, they'd go celebrate their victory. The League tournament would start in a few months, so they could afford one or two days off to relax and have some fun.

When the time came, she'd dedicate her performance to her parents, teachers, and all the friends who had supported her all the way. She didn't know how far she'd make it into the league, but one way or another, Indigo was to be the grand stage of her debut.

Her first big step to become the Top Coordinator she wanted to be.

FIN.