Kanto region…

The battle had reached a culminant point. Paul had four Pokémon active on his side, while Gary only had three and one of them was in critical condition. Worse still, Paul had just brought a Pokémon from outside Kanto, something unthinkable unless he had access to the Safari Zone somehow. He denied having done any Wonder Trade to obtain it, and while Gary thought he was a jerk, he saw no reason to think he was lying.

Even so, Professor Oak's grandson didn't let him intimidate him so easily. The battle had just begun, and if Ash had been able to do miracle recoveries against all odds, who said he couldn't do the same?

"Tangrowth, start with Sunny Day!"

Instantly, Tangrowth launched a fireball up in the air, which exploded into a miniature artificial sun bathing all over the field. Aside from exploiting Tangrowth's ability, in case he had to bring Arcanine back, this would power up his fire attacks to make up for it.

Though on the other hand, it could give Blastoise some trouble.

"Seviper, use Glare," Paul called dryly.

The snake Pokémon's eyes began glowing intensely with a multicolor light, which also surrounded Gary's Tangrowth briefly.

Fortunately, the glow petered out as soon as it appeared.

"Hah, thought you were going to paralyze us?! Think again! Tangrowth, use Grass Knot!"

Tangrowth elongated two of his vine "arms" and stabbed them hard on the ground. A wave of green luminous lines moved quickly underground before emerging under Seviper, in the form of several vines that quickly tied up the snake's body, restricting her movements.

"Now, fire Ancient Power!" Gary immediately called, and Tangrowth followed by charging up a silver energy sphere in front of himself.

"Seviper, get ready with Sword Dance," Paul ordered, unfazed.

Even while restricted, Seviper was able to raise the tip of her tail, which glowed with a blue light as she performed a move that reminded him of a fencer salute. Gary didn't know what they were up to, but they couldn't dodge anyway.

When the attack was almost fully charged, Gary heard a finger snap on Paul's side, and the blue glow in Seviper's tail changed to purple, cluing him of a Poison Tail attack. Tangrowth fired, and the Ancient Power sphere clashed head on with a razor tail that deflected aside, exploding harmlessly on the field's end. Seviper, none the worse for wear, took the chance to shake her tail and use it to cut the vines tying her up to break free.

"Keep attacking, Tangrowth, Ancient Power on rapid fire!"

Gary's intention was to launch as many attacks as possible, as even if they didn't land, there'd be a chance to activate the power boost effect. Paul had been using overwhelming strength against him, and it seemed like the only chance to turn things around was to use a power equal or superior.

Paul said something Gary didn't quite catch, while doing another finger snap. At this point it obviously wasn't a coincidence; he'd done that to give his Pokémon hidden signals, to take specific actions and keep them in the dark.

Pretty clever, admittedly. It left them wondering what they'd do next.

The answer came soon enough: as soon as Tangrowth fired another energy sphere against Seviper, the snake simply slithered to a side with great agility, as she waved her attack once more with the blue flash of Swords Dance to increase her offensive power. Ancient Power impacted next to her without causing her harm, but Tangrowth continued to fire one sphere after another. On the bright side, just like Gary hoped the power boost effect had triggered on the Grass-type a couple times, and that'd serve as a buildup.

Seviper continued to slither from side to side dodging the blasts, until she got in range for a melee attack, delivering an upwards Poison Tail slash that caused quite a bit of damage, making Tangrowth flinch and leaving a deep cut, while also scattering severed vine pieces all over the field.

"Use Synthesis!"

Gary saw with satisfaction how Tangrowth started to emit a green glow, slowly regenerating the damage from that last attack, and boosted even further by the still active sunlight. Between that and the stacked up power from the Ancient Power, as long as they managed to land a hit on Seviper they still had a chance.

Paul for his part, wasn't remotely impressed from what he'd just seen; rather, he just looked slightly annoyed.

But then, strangely enough, his expression morphed into… a smirk?

"I get it; I know what you're up to. You think you can match us in power if you hold out long enough, don't you?"

"Say what?" Gary gasped. He'd realized?

"How predictable. Well, if you're so sure, then go ahead, keep up your strategy."

Gary gritted his teeth, and ordered Tangrowth to use Grass Knot to restrict Seviper again. The snake slyly pulled back where the vines were about to emerge, and preemptively delivered a Poison Tail to slice them off before she got tied up.

Desperate, Gary called for another Ancient Power, which Seviper dodged easily, though once more the boost effect triggered.

The sequence repeated for a minute or so, until Paul finally gave the call that would seal this bout.

"Use Punishment and finish that Tangrowth at once."

"Punishment?!" Gary shouted, knowing what that meant from having done his homework.

Punishment, a Dark-type attack whose base power increased with each attribute boost the opponent had, stacking them up individually. Ancient Power increased physical and special attack, and the same applied for both defenses and speed.

'Oh crap, this is going to hurt like hell.'

What came next was a barrage of slashes and thrusts covered in dark energy from Seviper, moving with great speed (and elegance, if Gary allowed himself to use that word). Tangrowth shrieked with each cut as pieces of his vines were sent flying severed all over the field, then drying up on the floor.

After two agonizing minutes, the living mass of vines fell inert on the battlefield.

"Tangrowth is unable to battle!" Don George declared.

Gary could barely believe it. That Seviper had defeated Tangrowth without so much as a scratch, and that left him with only two Pokémon in play.

"Pathetic," Paul said. "All the power in the world is useless if you can't even land any attacks. Though I must admit it; you lasted a few minutes more than I predicted."

"Shut it!" Gary exclaimed. "This battle ain't over yet, don't talk like you've already won!"

"Just saying." Paul shrugged.

Gary tapped both of his remaining Pokéballs. Arcanine was in critical condition and pulling him now against a fully healthy Pokémon was suicidal no matter where he looked at it. Blastoise was his strongest Pokémon, but would that be enough to take out the rest of Paul's team?

In a moment of clarity, Gary realized he had to accept reality. Even at full capacity, Blastoise was no match against the rest of Paul's team alone. And a poisoned Arcanine would hardly score a victory regardless of the opponent.

If there weren't any chances to win the match, he at least had to take down one or two of Paul's remaining Pokémon. Throwing in the towel now would be worse than being beaten.

Looking at the still active Sunny Day, he made his choice.

"Arcanine, please hold on a little more!"

Throwing the Ball once more, the fire canine reappeared on the battlefield, still with that purple hue from the poison. He hated to do this, but in this situation it seemed more sound to keep Blastoise for last. There wasn't actually any good choice in this case.

Paul for his part, looked briefly at Arcanine before raising his own Pokéball.

"Seviper, return."

Gary heard the snake hissing its annoyance before being recalled, and Paul grabbed another Pokéball. At long last, he'd reveal his sixth Pokémon.

"Fearow!"

A large, long-beaked bird with a rather fierce look, though Gary knew enough of the species' nature. He figured Paul wanted to make sure each one of his team members would come out and fight at least once in this match.

As soon as Don George gave them the cue to start, both trainers delivered their orders at the same time.

"Flame Wheel!"

"Mirror Move."

Arcanine was the first to charge, engulfed in flames against Fearow, who just fluttered above to dodge the attack. Next, a ghostly image of Arcanine appeared in front of the bird and immediately became engulfed in flames to attack the canine.

Gary smirked: this would play on his favor. Arcanine stood firm where he was and took the blow, which instead of damaging him, powered up his attack, evidenced by the red aura that flared up after he swallowed the copied flames from Fearow.

"Oh my gosh, like, that was a mistake! That Arcanine, hello, had Flash Fire!"

Paul's Pokédex seemed to have been too quiet for a while, but it gave Gary a bit of satisfaction to see him annoyed at being told the obvious. But he would be even more satisfied now.

"Arcanine, Extreme Speed!"

"Fearow, use Double Team and Aerial Ace!"

Arcanine almost charged against Fearow, but the bird immediately began to multiply himself, leaving his dupes all over, making the fire dog miss his attack and leaving him wide open for a counter with Aerial Ace from behind. The poison also had its effect, weakening him even more.

"Arcanine, fire Dragon Rage until you find the real one!"

Arcanine roared and began shooting draconian fireballs one after another towards the Fearow dupes, dissipating them one after another. Each time a clone fizzled out, Gary's frustration increased, as they were running against time. Each wasted second was a step closer for Arcanine to succumb to the poison.

And judging by the fact that Paul just stood there with his arms folded, it was clear he was just trying to make time so the poison could take its toll on them. So they didn't even bother to attack anymore; there was no need to.

'C'mon, Arcanine, land at least one blow.'

This battle was turning even more humiliating by the second. He'd started with the intention to win, only for his foe to gain an early lead, defeating his Pokémon getting little to no damage and anticipating anything he tried to do. Halfway, he acknowledged the possibility of losing while clinging to the chance of turning the tide around, only to lose again and lower his expectations to ensuring at least his opponent wouldn't come out unscathed.

What would Ash do in this situation? Would he give in to despair, or would he keep fighting despite the odds? Would he still believe in himself and give his all even in the face of a crushing defeat?

Due to being deep in his thoughts, the battle continued the same way; Arcanine firing Dragon Rage blasts as he tried to find the real Fearow only to miss, and the poison doing its effect every few seconds. It didn't seem like he could stand for more than a minute or two.

"That's enough, Fearow; end this with a Drill Run."

"Fearow!" The bird let out a shrilling squawk, before folding his wings and charge spinning like a living, flying drill.

"Arcanine, don't give in, use Flame Wheel!" Gary exclaimed.

In a desperate move, Arcanine gathered the few ounces of strength he had, and charged engulfed in flames, colliding head on with Fearow. The clash lasted for a couple seconds in the air before the opposing forces exploded and sent both Pokémon flying in opposite directions.

The result was rather evident: Fearow was a bit scorched after the impact, but none the worse for wear otherwise. Arcanine could barely stand one last time, only for the poison to act once more, and causing him to finally collapse.

As if matching, the Sunny Day also wore off afterwards.

"Arcanine is unable to battle!" Don George declared.

That couldn't be happening. He was completely against the ropes. Not even his defeats against Red had been so humiliating. As much as he hated the guy for never being able to beat him in a match, at least he did make him work for his victories.

Paul, on the other hand, didn't even seem to break a sweat. Nor did his Pokémon, for that matter.

How could he be losing that way? Was the strength gap between them that huge? When did he end up trailing so far behind?

"What are you waiting for?" Paul asked, snapping him out of it. "Bring out your last Pokémon so we can get this over with. Unless you want to spare yourself more humiliation."

Gary groaned again, but he was out of options. Defeat was unavoidable, that was a fact, but he couldn't give Paul the satisfaction. He was Gary Oak, and the Oaks would never abandon whatever they put their minds into.

With determination, he grabbed his last Pokéball and gripped it tightly.

"I'm counting on you, partner." He gave the ball a good luck kiss before throwing it. "Blastoise, go!"

With that, his starter Pokémon, his strongest and most trusted partner, appeared on the field, pointing his water cannons towards Fearow. Paul, for his part, once again raised his Pokéball and returned Fearow to make a switch. For some reason, Gary had the feeling he knew who was going to replace the bird.

And his suspicions were confirmed when Paul's Torterra reappeared on the field. He saw both turtles glared at one another defiantly, possibly recalling that the last time they met they'd been allies, and now they were opponents. Gary had the impression that Torterra gave an odd smirk while Blastoise groaned annoyingly.

If he had to guess what they were saying to one another, Torterra was probably reminding Blastoise of that match, how Blastoise went down first and how Torterra went all the way by himself.

"Blastoise, use Ice Beam!" Gary shouted. Better go with everything from the get-go.

Blastoise aimed his cannons and fired a pair of freezing beams at Torterra. Paul once more didn't vocalize an order, instead opting for a couple of finger snaps, which Torterra answered by stomping on the ground and raising a wall of rock pillars, which took the attack in his stead.

Gary had to admit it was a good defense.

"Seed Bomb."

"Focus Blast!"

The tones in both orders couldn't be any more opposite from each other; while Paul's was calm and composed, Gary yelled at the top of his lungs desperately. His only solace was that the Focus Blast's yellow orbs shattered the Seed Bomb, sending the pieces scattered all over and going forward to hit Torterra, but it caused nothing but a little annoyance to him.

"Power up with Curse," Paul called.

"Circle around and use Ice Bream!" Gary shouted.

As Torterra used Curse to power himself up, Blastoise ran around the stone wall he left before. He had to take any chance to land a hit, and immediately aimed the cannons to fire his freezing beams once more.

The ground turtle seemed to wince a little when the beams froze his side, but still endured it.

"Earthquake."

At Paul's dry command, Torterra raised his forelegs and with a hard stomp, send out a strong tremor that shook the entire field, and even resounded on the ceiling's beams. Gary shook his arms trying to keep stable while Paul didn't even faze.

Meanwhile on the battlefield, Blastoise was forced to interrupt his attack, giving Torterra time to turn around and face him again.

"Seed Bomb."

"Focus Blast!"

Just like before, Blastoise's yellow orbs collided with Torterra's green bomb, but this time around the latter overpowered the former, and after another finger snap from Paul, Torterra continued to bombard Blastoise with blast after blast, making him flinch every time.

"Blastoise, use Earthquake! No, better use Scald! No, use… gah, I don't know what to do anymore!"

Gary held his head between both hands, trying to force himself to think. Blastoise was being pelted by Torterra's attacks and he couldn't think of anything. In the middle of the confusion, he caught Blastoise firing a pair of boiling water who did little more than inconvenience Torterra, as the ground turtle continued to give a step and fired a shot every time, making Blastoise pull back more and more.

"Damn it… what am I supposed to do?!"

The field shook with each step Torterra took, and with Gary too disoriented to give coherent orders, Paul took the chance to call for another Stone Edge attack. Torterra sent out a line of sharp stone pillars across the ground, which knocked Blastoise up in the air and made him fall over his shell. As the aquatic turtle struggled to right himself back up, Torterra walked calmly until he was right next to him.

And with a single word from Paul, everything was sealed.

"Earthquake."

Giving what probably was the hardest stomp in the entire match, but this time on Blastoise himself rather than the ground, the field didn't shake as hard as the previous time. However, Gary knew Blastoise had taken the worst of it, receiving the attack's full impact directly in his own body.

And sure enough, once the tremor stopped, Blastoise stopped shaking too, and didn't move anymore. The match was over.

"Blastoise is unable to battle! The winner of the match is Paul!"

Gary was completely rigid. He didn't even raise the Pokéball to return his Blastoise, while Paul did recall Torterra. As the scoreboard showing their teams turned off, the Sinnoh trainer walked across the field slowly and without even looking at him, only stopping after he passed beside him.

"How pathetic. You didn't even teach your Blastoise new moves after the tournament? That wasn't even a good warmup. If that's your best team, you'll be lucky if you make it past two rounds in the Indigo League."

Those words fell on him like a bucket of iced water. Worst of all, Gary knew Paul was right.

All the hard work he'd done, his efforts, had they been for naught? Was he really so far beneath Paul's level, and possibly Ash and Red's? Wasn't there anything he could do to catch up to them?

"This can't… this can't stay this way." He fell to his knees and clenched his fists. "Damn it!"

He didn't care if anyone saw him throwing a tantrum, but right now he needed to unleash his frustration and anger somehow. Better do it with the floor than with someone else. He could just pound the floor a couple times, no matter if his hands would hurt like hell afterwards.

After all, that was nothing compared to the frustration he bottled inside, of not being able to make that jerk eat his words.

A minute later, he finally stood up and took a deep breath. Gary Oak was not a sore loser. He'd lost legitimately and he wouldn't deny that. What mattered was that he put himself back together after losing. And the first step was to take his Pokémon for treatment, like any good trainer would do, especially after such a sound defeat.

Without sparing any words, he left the Battle Club and headed for the Pokémon Center around the corner.

…

That night, after leaving his Pokémon with Nurse Joy, Gary barely had any appetite for dinner. He was content with stuffing a few spare snacks he had, and after he was done, left for the bedroom. However, he didn't go to sleep immediately; he just remained seated on the bed, holding his head between his hands.

"Damn it… how could I lose that way?"

When he thought he was regaining confidence, after completing that challenge (which was no easy feat), he found himself a higher hurdle. All the way during the Fuchsia Tag tournament, he could see the difference in abilities between him and Paul, which caused him conflicted feelings. Half of him hated his bad attitude with all his might. The other was happy to have him as an ally (for the lack of a better word, since they couldn't consider themselves 'partners' at all). And seeing how things turned out, neither feeling was misplaced.

Indeed, if Paul was a high hurdle during the tournament, he was even more when they battled one another. He couldn't believe the gap had widened so much in so little time. Even though he, Gary, had worked hard and barely resting, his results in that battle proved Paul was still leagues above him.

Right then, he recalled the words from Erika, the Celadon Gym Leader. Even though he managed to beat her, he didn't forget the bitter sensation of being that close of losing. Victory was uncertain until the very end, and some might have called it a lucky break. But she said a victory was still a victory, and the same applied to defeats. According to her, results were what mattered in the end, right?

Maybe, though there was a little more behind all that. Defeats would invariably sting, sure, but it wasn't so bad losing to an opponent in a close encounter, compared to being used to mop the floor. And on top of that, to get rubbed in four face how much you sucked, to pour salt on the wound. Some would use that fury and the thirst for revenge as a boost, an impulse to work harder, but at the time, Gary didn't feel the strength to do that.

"What would Gramps do right now? What would Ash do?" he asked himself, letting himself drop backwards on his pillow.

Right then, he heard a beep sound on his night table, and saw a blinking light. He knew It was his Pokédex, so he reached for it and opened it up. The screen then flared up to life:

"Accessing 100 Emergency recordings, variant Gary. Scanning through records... record 13 found. Begin playback."

Gary arched an eyebrow as he heard that, but instantly, a player app he didn't know existed among his device's tools opened up, and he was even more surprised upon hearing the voice that talked to him.

"Hello, Gary. You may be surprised to hear this, the first of many recorded messages I left for you. As I'm certain you have discovered, Pokédexes have an ample array of special applications to aid you during your trips as a trainer. You may be watching this message when you're older and married, or maybe when you're waiting for your first child's birth. You may not even hear of this, but it won't hurt to be prepared."

It was Professor Oak's voice. A pre-recorded message, and apparently programmed to activate at a certain moment. Did his grandfather learn of his predicament, or simply prepared for it, knowing it'd eventually happen?

The device momentarily paused, then the voice of the elder Oak began talking again, this time in a more serious tone.

"Gary, life isn't just victories and triumphs, it's also defeats and failures. I've seen you grow almost since your birth, and I know you were always very good at everything you did. That made me proud alright, but at the same time, I was worried it'd turn you into a cocky and arrogant person, who thinks he's better than everyone. Then again, we've had at least one per generation in our family, so I guess you'd be the one.

"Anyway, that's why I'm sure having suffered a crushing defeat, one I'm sure made you feel so bad you just want to lock yourself in a room and never get out, must been a hard blow, but it may have been necessary, so you can learn a lesson in humility. As hard as it may be, one defeat isn't the end of the world, and you need to rise back up, instead of moping about it."

Gary smirked. It was easy to say, when you weren't the one on the receiving end. However, harsh as his grandfather's words were, there wasn't a shred of lie in them. Everything was true.

"We all have talents for different things, but even talent can only take you so far. Never take for granted you're the best at something, as there will always be someone out there on par or even above you. You'll find obstacles you can't overcome alone, no matter how hard you try. I'm telling you from my own experience: my life's greatest achievements weren't mine alone, as I had many people who were there to back me up on the way, so I owe them. If you hit a moot point and you can't overcome something, don't be afraid to ask for other's help. Especially if they're more experienced or skilled than you. It's always important to learn from others."

The message was over, and Gary was left thinking about his grandfather's words. Particularly the parts of "don't be afraid to ask for help" and "learn from others". Was that what he needed. To find others to help him through difficulties?

He'd always handled himself well alone, so that's why he almost never needed to ask for anybody's help (and when he did, he'd only come to people close to him, like his sister or grandfather). He wasn't sure it was out of pride, or embarrassment, but he always preferred to do everything by himself. And that, somehow, fueled his own ego.

Now he was in a hole and seemed to hit rock bottom. There was that saying about being at the bottom and being able to go up, but he didn't feel capable of doing it by himself. He hated to admit it, but… he was in need of someone who gave him a hand to get out.

"Find someone… but who'd be willing to help someone like me?"

It had to be someone with more experience, someone who knew how he felt at the time, but more importantly, someone strong enough to show him the ropes to surpass himself, and find whatever he lacked to be on Paul's level, or even better if possible.

And then, the image of a certain older trainer turned writer, with a beard and lacking a writer's moustache, came to his mind.

He'd told himself he would never return, not because he didn't like the man or something, but because their encounter touched many sensibilities he didn't even know he had. Left him with many questions he just left aside, for not considering them important, but now he was starting to see in a clearer light.

In short, he didn't want to see him again because it hurt his pride. But they always said, the bigger the pride, the harder the fall, and he'd just learned that lesson the worst possible way, so there was no point in clinging to it.

"Aw, hell!" he said, grabbing the pillow and strangling it. "It's not like I'd have anybody else I could turn to."

Swallowing his pride wasn't easy, but it was the only way to escape that hole. After all, he couldn't let this defeat get to him, let alone cease his efforts to reach the top.

He was done unleashing his anger and feeling sorry for himself. Now it was the time to do something to fix what was wrong, himself included.

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

Kanto Route 13, a few days later…

Gary had stopped counting the days since he arrived to the Snagem family residence. He just knocked on their door and, after requesting the training, he accepted without complaints, harsh as it could be.

As a matter of fact, he wanted to spend as much time training as he could, stopping only to eat and sleep, to the point Casey and his wife Gabriela had written down a little schedule of what they'd do and how they'd alternate between sessions.

In the morning, Gary's Arcanine was trying to learn a new move, with Casey's Pangoro acting as their tutor. Both were standing over an ample dirt field, side to side with each other as Gary watched expectant. He hoped this one would be the good one, the one they needed to break the four-move limit.

O course, first thing was to execute it well.

"Watch closely how we do it. Pangoro, Dig!"

"Pango!"

The giant panda raised both arms above his head, before leaping up and start spinning out superfast. Aiming with his hands, he twisted his body downwards, turning himself into a living drill before burrowing underground.

About a minute or so went passed before he came back out, a long distance from where he'd burrowed.

"Wow, that wasn't bad at all," Gary commented. "He moves pretty fast for his size."

"Using Dig with all your body can be very useful," Mr. Snagem explained. "Not just to escape and sneak attacks, but also to repel some attacks. It's a good countermeasure against Stealth Rock."

"You mean using the spin to repel the rocks before they hit?" Gary asked.

"That's right. Stealth Rock takes two to three seconds to trigger, so by spinning out you can deflect the projectiles. It doesn't eliminate the trap, but at least it stops the damage."

Gary nodded. Had he known before, maybe he could have had it as an alternative in the battle against Paul, rather than focusing on trying to eliminate it. Though he doubted it would have done any significant difference, let alone helped him win.

"Okay, Arcanine, do as Pangoro and use Dig!"

"Rawr!" Arcanine crouched over his legs and leapt in the air before spinning out, to become a living drill just like Pangoro.

Unfortunately, he didn't spin fast enough to burrow underground, instead crashing loudly. The fire canine was left a bit dizzy, but quickly jumped back to his feet and after shaking his head (and growling in annoyance) glared at his trainer. Gary sighed; he wasn't expecting to succeed on the first try, but it wasn't like he thought it was fun to see his Pokémon crashing headfirst like that.

Mr. Snagem placed a hand on his shoulder. "You guys will make it with practice. Come on, try again."

Gary nodded, before ordering Arcanine to try the attack once more. And again, and again, and yet again, but they didn't make it. Arcanine would always crash and roll over the ground, at most raising some dust clouds during impact, but he never managed to completely burrow underground like Pangoro did.

The closest they came was on their last try, where Arcanine managed to burrow half his body, but ended up stuck, with his hind legs still exposed, before growling as he asked to be pulled out. Pangoro complied, pulling him by the tail (something he didn't enjoy at all).

So was the morning training, focused on teaching new moves. In the afternoon they had sparring matches, but he wasn't faring much better on it.

That day, it was a battle between Ms. Snagem's Avalugg and Gary's Blastoise. The latter was caught in a Rock Tomb cage as a raging Hail rained over him, unable to do little else than stand the cold. His attempts to destroy the Ice-type using Focus Blasts weren't too useful, since he had a hard time aiming well, and if he managed to land a hit, the hailstorm would quickly regenerate the damage."Avalugg, end this with Body Slam!"

The living iceberg crouched on its feet before leaping high above Blastoise. While the turtle tried to aim his cannons, the heavy ice mass crashed on top of him with a heavy slam, reducing the stone prison to shards. Afterwards, the hailstorm finally petered out allowing them to see the result.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

"We lost. Again," Gary said, clearly disappointed.

"You guys lasted twenty minutes," Gabriela said. "That was twice as long as the last time. Besides, your attacks are causing more damage, so that means you're improving."

"It's not enough," the brown-haired teen replied. "Attack power means nothing if we can't hit our foes."

"We'll work on that later." The woman recalled her Avalugg, so that Gary could follow suit with Blastoise. "For now, it's getting a bit late and it's almost dinner time. Will you accompany us?"

Gary sighed. It wasn't like he had any other choice, though admittedly he felt a little like a freeloader, with them sparing food and a room for him since he arrived. They assured him it was no problem; they always had enough due to their large family, but even so, he felt it was enough with them helping him train as is.

…

As he waited for the dinner, Gary had sat on a couch, using his Pokédex to watch the online news. A headline caught his attention: the Saffron Gym leader had been arrested after, somehow, a challenger got out of her place with a badge.

His grandfather always warned him to stay away from that gym, since a badge wasn't worth risking his life that way. You had to be either very brave or crazy to go to that place, and either too skilled or lucky (or both) to get out of it with a badge in tow.

"Whoever it was, they have my respect for it," he muttered.

Leaving those headlines aside, Gary took a look around the living room, specifically on the wall pictures showcasing the young Casey Snagem across different stages of his trainer career. His look stopped in the photo where he shook hands with his Sinnoh League opponent, and it was then Gary noticed something he missed the first time he came to this house.

Looking him closer, the rival looked like a slightly older version of Paul, with slightly longer hair tied in a small ponytail, but it was a similar if darker shade of purple. He'd almost look like his big brother.

"Watching the pictures?" Ms. Snagem's voice asked, interrupting his train of thought.

"Something like that," the boy replied. "The guy in that photo reminds me of… someone."

"Ah, you mean Reggie? He was my husband´s rival back during the Sinnoh League. A great trainer with a lousy attitude; that's never a good combination. He got on Casey's nerves almost as soon as they met."

"Man, they're similar even on that," Gary commented, thinking about Paul.

"Are you talking about the rival who beat you up, by any chance?" the woman asked.

Gary turned around to see her, a little surprised. How could this woman and her husband be able to get their hunches right so easily? Or was he that easy to read, having it written in his face?

Since there was no point in lying, he nodded.

"Yeah, anybody who becomes a trainer will sooner or later run into someone who becomes their rival. Some are friendly, others not so much, but they always leave us something."

"In my case, all they've left me is frustration, and questions as to how I can beat them next time," Gary quipped.

"You want to talk about that? I know you've told my husband a little about it, but I'd like to hear it from you."

The woman's motherly tone moved something in the Pallet trainer. She sounded genuinely concerned, and for some reason it reminded him of his older sister. Since their parents died when he was too little and he barely remembered them, she filled that void during his childhood, and he usually came to her when he had troubles and his grandfather wasn't available.

"Well, if we're talking about rivals, I'd say I have three, though they couldn't be more different from one another. One is a childhood friend of mine, his name's Ash Ketchum. Always talkative and full of energy, and I used to beat him at everything we did during childhood. Well, except eating; I don't know how he manages to eat like that and never get fat. There was one time he beat me at an eating contest by over twice what I ate before fainting."

The woman chuckled, probably at the mental image, but then gestured for him to continue.

"Anyhow, the fact was we competed at almost anything, and when we decided to become trainers, I was the one ahead. Shortly before we began our journeys, he told me he hoped we could face one another as equals one day, and I kinda dismissed it at the time. Until we faced each other for the first time… and he trashed me completely."

It was debatable whether he should consider that a clean defeat. After all, it'd been a two-on-two battle, but Ash and Red evidently recognized him as the weak link in their team, thus they focused their attacks on Blastoise to eliminate them first. That fact didn't change.

"It was a harsh blow," he continued. "I don't know, somehow I always thought I was ahead of him, and suddenly one day, BAM!, he beats me at what I do best."

"You should never take for granted that you're better than anyone," Ms. Snagem said with a serious tone. "Some might take longer to develop their skills, or find a different way to do so, but we all progress at our own pace."

Gary thought about it. He did train constantly, but he'd done his traveling mostly on his own. Ash for his part had made himself a small group of female friends. At first he thought they might be just some fangirls following him around to root for him, but he changed that opinion during the Fuchsia Tag Tournament.

The two named Misty and Iris were this close to beating him and Paul, and he only managed to turn the tide around due to an incredibly lucky strike (maybe his only merit in the tournament, securing himself and Paul the ticket to the finals).

Point was, if Ash had those girls as regular sparring partners, then it was little wonder he'd gotten so good in such a short time. As for the quiet girl whose name he didn't remember, he hadn't seen her fight, but if she was as good as Misty and Iris, then it would make even more sense.

"Yeah, Ash has people to train with on a regular basis. Maybe I should find someone like that too," Gary admitted. "Closest thing I have is that guy Red, and every time we meet I feel more like I'm his personal punching bag. He was the first trainer to defeat me, by the way."

"That's a hard blow for any trainer," the woman declared. "What matters is that you recover from it, and get back on your feet for the eventual rematch."

"Hah, you make it sound easy," Gary said. "I've faced him several times and I haven't won even once. They weren't all crushing defeats, but in the end if doesn't change that all those matches ended in defeat for me. My only hope is to get my revenge at the Indigo League now."

Of course, he hadn't forgotten Casey's words, about how anything could happen and maybe they wouldn't get to face each other there. Nevertheless, the memory of his confrontations with Red, especially the first one, was still fresh in his mind, and he still clung to the hope of a rematch.

…

At that moment, Gary thought he'd found another trainer he'd defeat with ease. He was a rookie alright, but unlike others he had the perk of having Samuel Oak as his grandfather, which allowed him to study and learn about Pokémon even before he got his trainer license.

The boy before him was tall, pale and dark-haired. His inexpressive demeanor was a little eerie, but Gary didn't let that intimidate him. They'd just crossed looks and, as trainer tradition went, they had to battle one another.

"Rattata, go!" Gary called throwing his Pokéball. The purple mouse appeared in front of him snapping his teeth and ready to fight.

His opponent, for his part, looked at the Pikachu on his shoulder and with a simple nod pointed him to step forward. So it'd be a battle of rodents, that was fine with him.

"Thunder Shock," Red ordered dryly, and the Pikachu began instantly charging his electric sacs.

"Dodge and use Focus Energy!"

Rattata leapt backwards dodging the bolt Pikachu unleashed, and kneeling over his forepaws began glowing with a blue light as he glared at his foe.

"Now, Hyper Fang!"

"Rattata!"

Leaping with his jaws wide open, Rattata tried to sink his glowing teeth on Pikachu, who jumped backwards to dodge the chomp. Even after failing the first attempt Rattata tried once more, twice, and even thrice.

And after dodging the third, Rattata went to sink his teeth on a nearby tree, getting stuck on it.

"Quick Attack!" Red called.

Pikachu stepped away to get some momentum, and as Rattata struggled to break free from the tree, the electric mouse rammed him from the side, sending him flying. Well, at least that served to free him, they had to take the chance to begin the counterattack.

"You too use Quick Attack!"

Both rodents rushed at one another, repeatedly crashing head on as they left white streaks behind. The pattern continued several times and they seemed to be quite evenly matched with each other, until they both leapt in the air to clash in the air.

Upon making contact, both of them were knocked backwards, and once they stood up, Gary's Rattata winced as he gave off sparks. That however carried a benefit for them; it triggered Rattata's Guts ability.

"Way to go! Rattata, Hyper Fang again!"

"Thunder Shock!"

Again, both trainers gave their orders almost simultaneously. Rattata charged again to sink his teeth of Pikachu, whose electric sacs began getting ready to unleash another discharge. The Normal-type rodent was faster and managed to bite on his foe's belly, but the latter was able to unleash the shock at point-blank range in retaliation, so neither came out clean from the confrontation.

Pikachu's discharge unleashed sparks that hit several nearby trees, leaving electric burn marks on them. As the two let go of one another it was clear both were hurt, so the next hit could be decisive.

"Get behind them with Quick Attack, then use Hyper Fang!" Gary called.

"Get away using your own Quick Attack!"

Rattata flash-stepped using Quick Attack and got ready to sink his teeth on Pikachu's back. This time, however, the electric rodent foresaw the intent and jumped out of the way, managing to get to safety.

"Don't let him run, go after him!" Gary shouted confidently.

However, this time around luck played against them: the same paralysis that rewarded them before now caused Rattata to stop dead in his tracks, halfway running, giving Pikachu time to escape and take distance.

"Thunder Punch!"

Gary saw how Red's Pikachu slammed both his forepaws together before storing up electricity in one of them. Next, he began running as he dragged the electric-charged paw across the ground, leaving a little trench in his wake, before delivering on Rattata a powerful uppercut that sent a lighting blast flying up in the sky, which would probably be spotted from afar.

Rattata fell backwards and was left motionless as he continued to give off sparks after that last attack. Even if there wasn't any referee to declare it, he was clearly defeated.

"Return!" Gary declared, raising his Pokéball to recall him. Weighing his options, he grabbed the one belonging to his starter.

Even being a Water-type, he had a little something to counter the weakness to electricity, and he was the strongest Pokémon he had. He'd better go all out without holding back. With that in mind, he kissed the Pokéball for good luck before throwing it.

"Got get them, Squirtle!"

The tiny turtle appeared on the battlefield. The Pikachu seemed ready to keep fighting, but Red seemed to momentarily reconsider it, before quietly ordering him to pull back. The yellow mouse gave a quick glance at his trainer before complying. Red then grabbed a Pokéball of his own and sent out a…

"Charmander!"

A Charmander? Well, all the better for them; now they'd have a type advantage. That being the case, he might as well let him do the first move.

"Use Ember," Red called, and Charmander took a deep breath before shooting a barrage of fiery sparks at the turtle.

"Withdraw!" Gary exclaimed.

Squirtle retracted into his shell, as the Ember attack bounced off him causing little more than small sparks. He endured until Charmander ran out of breath and they could begin their counterattack.

"Use Bubble!"

"Charmander, dodge and counter with Ember again!"

Squirtle began firing out foamy water blasts one after another. Charmander moved fast enough to dodge the first two, and countered the third with his own attack, causing a large cloud of steam in the middle of the battlefield.

Seeing the ranged attacks were at a deadlock, it was time to go for physical ones.

"Bite!"

"Scratch!"

Both Pokémon rushed forward, Squirtle opening wide his mouth and baring some sharp teeth, while Charmander raised a hand extending his small claws. The turtle was slightly faster and bit the lizard's neck, jumping on top and forcing him into a struggle to shake him off.

"Bubble again, go!" Gary shouted.

Squirtle fired out more foamy water blasts one after another. The Charmander simply dodged them without issue; he really was fast on his feet. But if they managed to land at least one, that would make things harder for their foes.

Unfortunately, they weren't the only ones with some tricks up their sleeve.

"Smokescreen," Red called.

Charmander opened wide his maw to let out a huge black smoke cloud that quickly engulfed the field and caused him to cough. Gary had to wave his hand around trying to drive it away to see what was happening.

"Squirtle, escape underground, use Dig!"

He'd taught Squirtle that attack to counter Electric-type Pokémon, but now it served to get away from the smoke. It'd be just a matter of waiting until the cloud dissipated enough to attack again.

Once visibility was clear, both Red and Charmander looked around trying to stay on alert on their surroundings, waiting for Squirtle to come out from underground. Seconds later, a few cracks appeared under the orange lizard's feet, who got an uppercut in the jaw that knocked him backwards.

"Alright!" Gary cried out, pumping his fists. "Use Bubble again!"

"Dodge!" Red replied. "Circle around and use Ember!"

Charmander miraculously managed to roll to a side to dodge the Bubble stream. Next, he ran around Squirtle before opening his mouth and fire another barrage of fire sparks, this time aiming for his face to interrupt his attack.

"Squirtle, hang in there, use Withdraw!" Gary exclaimed.

"Charmander, Dragon Rage!"

What, did he say Dragon Rage?! Oh no, that didn't sound good, at all.

Charmander inhaled and a large blue draconic fireball formed in his mouth, before being unleashed with an angry growl. Squirtle, still in his shell that already showed some scorched marks from the Ember, couldn't do anything to dodge the blast, getting knocked up in the air like a flying saucer out of control.

"Squirtle!" Gary cried.

"Dragon Rage again!"

Capitalizing on the momentum, Red had Charmander fire a second draconic blast at Squirtle, who ended up crashing against a tree, scaring away a few Pidgey in it and sending them packing.

When Gary ran off to pick him up, the turtle once again had his head and limbs out of the shell, but they were all scorched from the last attack. He clearly wasn't in any condition to keep fighting.

His opponent recalled his Charmander and left without sparing a single word, leaving Gary alone with his defeated Squirtle and wondering how he could have lost that way.

…

Once he finished retelling the battle, Ms. Snagem seemed rather thoughtful. She probably needed to let everything sink in before passing any judgements.

"From what you say, victory could have gone to either of you. You were evenly matched," she said.

"Yeah, but that was the first time around," Gary replied. "The next times he seemed to beat me with increasing ease. Like he knew what I was going to do before I did it."

"When you fight the same opponent more than once, you learn from them," the woman offered. "You decipher patterns, you learn to predict their moves and know what to expect, that kind of things. It's quite normal."

"Hmm… I guess you have a point there."

With all that said, even though his defeats against Red still left him bitter, Gary didn't despise him. Sure, maybe he wouldn't congratulate or openly thank him for a good match (that was more an Ash thing), but at least he didn't look down upon him, nor did he call him "pathetic" like Paul did.

Mockery and superiority remarks during those encounters usually came from Yellow, not from Red himself. In that sense, it could be argued there was a degree of respect between both. He didn't like him, but he didn't hate him either.

"What about your other rival?" the woman asked to reopen the conversation. "The boy you said was your friend."

"What's with him?" Gary asked.

"Usually, you don't become rivals with someone you consider a friend, unless there's an outside trigger," the woman explained. "I say that from experience. When I was young, I had a great friend, and we were quite close, almost like sisters. She'd often defend me from the older girls picking on me, and always encouraged me to be more confident in myself."

"So what happened?"

The woman giggled bitterly before she sighed.

"Something really stupid. We fell in love with the same guy, this tall, dark, cold and serious fellow. You know, the popular bad boy stereotype who always drives girls crazy. When I found out, I declared we'd be rivals, and we started competing and bickering over everything, and our friendship went downhill. For all the good it did to us; turns out the boy was not interested in either of us. In fact, he thought we were idiots, and I think he was right."

"And did you ever reconcile?"

"I'm sorry to say we didn't," the woman replied. "I moved out to a different region, and over the years we lost contact. Never knew what became of her, but I always regretted never asking her to forgive me for being so stupid.

"I mean, it's good to compete, to drive yourself to be better, but when you do it for such a trivial reason, and you toss away a lifelong friendship… really, it's not worth it."

Gary gave that last part some thought. Now that he remembered, when did he and Ash began to compete against one another? He recalled how they met in kindergarten and how they became fast friends, and in elementary school they formed a great battery in the baseball team (with him as the catcher). At least until…

Until that day, when Ash mentioned in passing that he had a crush on Gary's older sister. He wasn't the only one: many other kids of their age adored Daisy for being a kind, beautiful and talented girl, but hearing his best friend say that… it triggered something in the young Gary.

…

"Repeat what you just said."

They'd just come out of their final match in the little league, after they'd done a perfect no-hit-no-run. It looked like nothing could taint that victory.

Until…

"I said I like Daisy," Ash replied. "And when I get older I want her to be my girlfriend."

"No, no way, I'll never allow that," Gary spat. "I'll never accept it, ever."

"Why? I thought we were friends. Best friends."

"Exactly, we're friends," Gary pointed. "But if you become my sister's boyfriend, then you'll have to get married, and we'd become family. That'd be too weird, don't you think?"

"You're saying it like it's bad. I wouldn't mind if we became family, I mean, I have no siblings."

Gary groaned inside. Admittedly, he'd always wanted to have a brother his own age to play with, and somehow he felt Ash could fill that void. Of course each had his own family, but they spent enough time together to consider each other surrogate family in a few ways.

But his sister, his sister Daisy, all the boys their age said they had crushes on her, and constantly pestered him about it. Ash was one of the few who wasn't, or at least Gary thought he wasn't, and that was one of the reasons they got along so well.

"If you want to date my sister, you'll have to beat me first," Gary firmly declared.

"Beat you? Beat you at what?"

"At everything. You'll have to be a better athlete, better student, better trainer than me. I'm not giving up my sister to someone who's lesser than me," Oak's grandson stated with a smug air.

"Hey, that's not fair. You're always the first in our class at everything!" Ash protested.

"Well, tough luck for ya. If you can't prove yourself, then kiss that idea goodbye."

Gary saw Ash groaning, then removing his baseball glove and tossing it at him. Was he doing that 'throwing down the glove' thing to declare a duel?

"I'll show you then! I'll become better than you, and I'll prove I can date Daisy! You just see!"

…

Of course, the thing about Daisy was mostly forgotten, when Ash grew enough to understand Daisy was too old for him, but the rivalry between them continued almost by inertia. Gary would beat Ash at almost everything, and over time, he started to enjoy it a little too much.

Every time he bested Ash, he felt a strange pleasure, as if beating him made him feel stronger, important, and it was fun to see Ash chasing after and trying to catch up to him. The few times Ash managed to match or even surpass him, he obviously didn't miss the chance to rub it in his face to celebrate it. Gary only found a way to wave it off, saying that they didn't really count or it wasn't worth beating him at that, and then remind him how he'd always win at everything else.

Looking back now, it was really silly of him to have acted that way.

"I guess I acted very similar to Ash. We became rivals for a rather stupid reason, though we later forgot about it," Gary chuckled at it. "Truth is, I think competing against him helped me gain more confidence in myself."

"That's good," Ms. Snagem said. "Competing against someone is a good way to motivate yourself to improve. Though that also has its own load of problems."

"What do you mean?" Gary asked.

"If you get your confidence from the fact you're better than others, what happens when someone better than you comes up?" the woman asked. "That's inevitable; you might be the best in your neighborhood, or even in town, but once you're out of your comfort zone, sooner or later you run into someone stronger, more experienced, or who has abilities you lack. And in the same way, you can't look down on others just because you beat them once, twice or several times, as you can't be sure when they could turn the tables around."

Gary pondered on that. He wouldn't deny he hated how Paul looked down on him from the instant they met, and how he mocked him after defeating him in that humiliating way. But then again, he'd done the same with Ash several times. Maybe not as extremely for sure, but he'd always boast over his victories and reminding him who was the best of the two.

"Now you tell me that… man, I'm a hypocrite. Here I am, depressed because some jerk beat me, and I did the same to someone who used to be my friend."

"Don't feel bad, sometimes you need to learn from your own experience," the woman assured. "What matters is that you know it. And if it makes you feel any better, people who put others down or make fun of them? They often do that to cover for their own insecurities."

"How come?" Gary asked.

"When I met my husband, his then-rival would constantly humiliate and remind him how weak he was every time they fought. Truth was, I really despised the guy, but when I got to know him more, I realized that under that superiority attitude he belied a huge complex of not wanting to be seen as weak. Some people put others down to feel better about themselves, as if diminishing others made them stronger."

Diminishing others… was that what Paul did? Was that what Gary did before with Ash, putting him down to feel good about himself? From that perspective, those childish antics that ended up triggering their rivalry no longer seemed as fun to remember. Especially since, as a general rule, he wouldn't do that with anyone else but Ash, though Paul seemed more the kind who'd do that with anyone he saw as inferior; he was just a jerk to everyone.

At least, Gary felt he had to change that.

"I'm home!" Casey's voice called from the door. "Oh, is that smell what I think it is?"

"You're just in time, darling. I'm preparing dinner for everyone. Can you call the girls?"

…

Dinner went as normal as it could be. Casey Snagem's daughters preferred to spend their time outdoors and they just came home to eat and sleep, so Gary wouldn't interact much with them. In fact, he'd barely learned their names, and while they didn't seem uncomfortable at his presence, they didn't try to befriend or get close to him either.

Gary waited until Gabriela and the daughters left, before approaching Casey with the excuse of helping him wash the dishes. There was something else he needed to know, and he wanted to hear it from the man himself.

"Hey, Mr. Snagem?"

"Yes?"

"Your wife told me about your rivalry with that guy named Reggie. I wanted to ask… how did you defeat him?"

Casey arched an eyebrow, seemingly confused at the question. Maybe he didn't word it right.

"I don't mean the strategies, or the Pokémon you used or how you planned it, but rather… aw, how can I say this? I bet Grandpa would have a name for it. What I mean to say is…"

He took a hand to his face, trying to force himself to think. He knew what it was, he had it on the tip of his tongue, but he didn't know how to express it.

"I don't know if this I what you're looking for, but I think the reason why I beat Reggie then was because I stopped comparing myself to him," Casey answered.

Gary raised the look attentively. He said nothing, but that seemed to go on the line of what he wanted to hear. With that in mind, he nodded so the man would continue.

"Since Reggie would always beat me, there were times I tried to imitate him, use his own training methods to see if I'd be as strong as he was. And I think my drive to beat him made me act in ways that didn't suit me many times.

"Of course it didn't always work. I had to learn the hard way that he was him, and I was me, and that would never change at the core. What works for someone doesn't always for everyone. What matters the most is that I stopped thinking about beating him, and I focused on surpassing myself."

"Yourself?"

"Yes. I realized that comparing myself to others was never a good way to gauge my performance, because no matter what happens, there will always be someone better than you out there. Instead, I focused on going beyond my personal achievements, to be a better trainer than I was the day before. And by not being obsessed with defeating Reggie, I could keep my head cool during our match, and win."

To be better than he was yesterday. If he compared himself to the Gary who left Pallet Town over half a year ago, there was no doubt he'd improved notably. Thinking about that felt nice. Even with the memories of his defeats against Ash and Red fresh in his mind. His confidence felt renewed upon thinking about the path he'd walked so far.

However, Paul… Paul was a different story. He still wanted to defeat him, to make him eat his words retract his opinion of him being pathetic. Getting rid of that drive wouldn't be easy, and maybe he wouldn't until he at least scored one victory against the Sinnoh boy.

'Better not think about this while I'm washing the dishes,' he thought. True, that didn't seem like a good idea. He was risking to break some, and he didn't want to pay his hosts that, after all they'd been doing for him.

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

That night…

There wasn't much that kept Gary busy, except tomorrow's training. Until he found the way to overcome Ms. Snagem's Avalugg, they wouldn't move to the next stage, but in truth he couldn't think of anything else. Not even his strongest Pokémon had been able to damage it fast enough to counter the constant damage regeneration, on top of its physical and special attacks always being quite painful.

Similar to Paul's Pokémon, who'd always take punishment and dish it out in return equally or with interest. That was how he overwhelmed his opponents. Even so, the Snagems insisted that no Pokémon, no matter how strong or skilled it was, was invincible. It was just a matter of finding a way to exploit their vulnerabilities, which usually weren't as evident at first glance.

Grabbing his Pokédex and opening the phone app, for a moment thought about texting his grandfather to ask for some advice, but immediately discarded it. He'd already said they'd cut off contact for a while, and he felt he wasn't ready to talk to him yet. Gary had relied on him a lot during his student days and shortly before beginning his journey, but for now he wanted to stand on his own.

Nevertheless, he still needed some advice from someone older, someone with more experience than himself, maybe not as much as the Snagems, but at least enough, and close enough to him. And if he didn't want to depend on his grandfather, then…

"Wait a moment… that's it! Why didn't I think of her before?"

He scrolled down the contact list until the letter D, pressing the one labeled "Daisy Oak". When his grandfather wasn't available, his sister would be.

He waited for the answer, until a sleepy voice answered on the line's other side.

"Good evening?"

"Hey, Sis. Did I wake you up?"

"Oh, Gary? What a surprise!" Daisy's voice seemed to snap awake instantly. "Well yeah, I was about to get some sleep, but it's been forever since we last talked. It's nice to hear you."

"Yeah, sorry for not calling," Gary apologized. "I needed to talk to someone from the family, and Grandpa was ruled out. You have a few minutes?"

"Sure, little brother. What do you need to talk about?"

Gary took a deep breath. He felt more at ease talking to his sister, as he knew she would never pity or mock him, and she promised not to tell anyone when he asked, not even their grandfather.

After boasting a little about his achievements (which, as it turned out, she'd been following closely on TV, along with Ash's), he could finally tell her the cause of his woes from almost the beginning of his Pokémon journey, and how frustrated he felt of not being able to beat those he considered his rivals.

The older sister listened attentively, and when she finally had the chance to reply, she had a lot to stay. Starting with…

"Ha, I thought I warned you once or twice, about looking down on Ash, didn't I?" she said amusedly, causing him to roll his eyes.

"Don't laugh. That was hard to swallow, you know that?"

"Sorry," Daisy replied. "But really, you're worrying too much. What you're going through is quite normal, it happens to most rookie trainers. They start winning, and success gets over their heads, and when they lose, they get depressed. Of course there's always the exception to the rule, but you always mature from experience. All you can do is give your best."

"That's the problem. The best of me does not seem to be enough, no matter how hard I try."

"I insist, you're still a rookie, so you still have room for improvement. Even if you studied with Grandpa, there are things you can't learn from books, only from hands-on experience. As for beating your rivals, there's more than one way to do it."

"That's what they've been telling me," Gary quipped.

"But are you really applying it?" Daisy asked. "Look, in Pokémon Contests, beauty and elegance are more important than strength, but that doesn't discard the latter as a valid strategy to win, does it?"

"What are you getting at?"

"Look, I learned the hard way there's more than one way to victory. If your opponent's stronger, you need to be faster. If they're faster, you need to be smarter. And if they're smarter, you should try and use unorthodox or unexpected tactics, crazy as they might sound. There isn't a single correct way: some trainers focus on a specific aspect like power or speed, others do balanced training and there are those who think outside the box. Sometimes mixing a bit of all is valid too."

Gary made himself a mental image. If he had to sort himself and his rivals among the types of trainers Daisy mentioned, Paul was of the first type (focusing on power), he and Red were of the second, and Ash was of the third. Each one did things their own way, how it better suited them.

"But most importantly, do not dwell on your failures. I won't tell you to never get mad or depressed over them; that'll happen to everyone eventually. But rather than moping about it, think about what you did wrong to avoid making the same mistakes. If you do the same as always, you'll get the same results. And the same applies to battles: if you couldn't beat your opponent in a certain way, try it differently next time."

"Try it differently," Gary repeated, thinking about it. Not only his defeats against his rivals, but his training against Ms. Snagem's Avalugg.

Sometimes, fighting power with power wasn't the answer, if he didn't have the strength to match his opponent in that aspect. It was pointless to fight your foe in their own field.

If you couldn't beat your foe at their own game, could you force them to play yours?

"Force them to… yeah, that's it!" he said when the realization struck him. "How could I be so stupid? All this time I've been trying to beat them at their own game, and that obviously won't work. I just need to get them to dance to my tune."

"Well, that's a way to see it," Daisy replied. "In fact, I'd like to remind you that's how I won my first victory in the Grand Festival, using my opponent's attacks in my favor."

"I'd have to watch the video sometime to remember it."

Maybe he could try that strategy sometime. Using the opponent's strength against them… it seemed like a poetic way to beat them in a rematch, and it'd feel cathartic to give them a taste of their own medicine.

"So, feeling better now?"

"Yeah, I do. Thanks a lot, Sis, I really needed this chat."

"Oh, don't worry. I'm glad I could help my little brother out of his funk. And hey, I'll be out of Kanto for when the Indigo Conference begins, but I'll be rooting for you guys from here, you and Ash."

"You'll root more for me, right? We're family after all."

"Haha, obviously." Daisy giggled. "Well, see you soon. Good luck, bye."

And with that, the call came to an end. After talking to his sister, Gary felt his spirits rising up again, along with the inspiration to get his revenge against his rivals.

"That's it, tomorrow begins the real training," he said, turning off the lights and getting into bed. "Starting by defeating that living iceberg."

The inspiration he got from Daisy also gave him an idea to beat Ms. Snagem's Avalugg. It looked like a practically unbreakable shield, but no shield could block every attack. There were those who could pierce through it, or bypass it somehow.

But first, he had a favor to ask of the Snagems. With luck, they wouldn't refuse.

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

A few training days later…

It wasn't easy, but Gary asked the Snagems to shift the training's focus to something else, while still keeping the short-term goal in sight.

Paul's words about still having the same moves, combined with Daisy's advice about never doing the same things as always, made him have a realization. Blastoise was his strongest Pokémon, yes, but he had such a glaringly obvious weakness he hadn't spotted: he relied completely on his long-ranged attacks and had no melee combat moves. The other thing was, he still hadn't been able to break through the four-move limit.

Both of those things needed to change.

It was a daunting task; although Casey granted his request after a few objections, the training was harsh. In about one day and a half, Blastoise successfully learned Power-Up Punch through a few sparring sessions with Casey's Pangoro, though that came at the cost of losing Focus Blast (Gary wasn't very thrilled about losing it, but considering how little good it'd done for him lately, he wasn't too sad about it either).

The married couple suggested that he tried learning a move whose type didn't overlap with the current ones, and after two days, he finally got Blastoise to add Skull Bash to his arsenal, and still keep the rest of his previous moves.

Once again they were face to face, Gary with Blastoise, and Mrs. Snagem with her Avalugg. This time, her husband was between them, looking expectantly for the battle to start.

"Time to put what you've learned to the test," Gabriela declared. "You ready, young man?"

"As ready as I can be," Gary replied, trying to sound confident without being cocky.

"Avalugg, start with Hail!"

Just like in their previous matches so far, the opening move was always to summon a hailstorm, to capitalize on Avalugg's regenerative ability. However, that was the only thing that was similar; from the next move onward, they were going to go in a completely different direction.

This time, rather than attacking, they chose to stay waiting for him and Blastoise to do something first. So be it, then.

"Blastoise, Scald!" Gary finally ordered.

Blastoise aimed his cannons at the living iceberg. Mrs. Snagem, for her part, gave her own command right then.

"Gyro Ball!"

Blastoise fired his two boiling water streams as hard as he could, while Avalugg jumped and started spinning like a top, surrounded by a metallic glow. The spin easily repelled the water, raising a thick steam cloud, of which Avalugg came out flying like a saucer to strike Blastoise, making him stumble back.

Gary took note: spinning moves could come in handy to repel some enemy attacks and counter with your own. Now that Blastoise had broken the move limit, he thought about teaching him Rapid Spin or even Gyro Ball for that purpose.

He had seen Ash use it to great effect in several of his battle videos. What did he call it, Counter-Shield?

"Rock Tomb!"

"Earthquake!"

Both Pokémon raised a foot to stomp hard on the ground. Fortunately for Gary, Blastoise was a bit faster, and the tremor shook Avalugg before completing its own attack, thus giving them the opening to press.

"Scald again, go!"

Blastoise fired again the boiling water attack, and this time Avalugg took the full brunt of it, unable to start spinning to deflect it. The steam cloud was much thicker this time, and Gary knew he had to capitalize on the chance.

"Get close and use Power-Up Punch!"

"Avalugg, use Icicle Spear! We can't let them get close!" Mrs. Snagem exclaimed.

Avalugg leaned forward, and several ice spikes formed over its body, before shooting at Blastoise like missiles. The turtle had to stop in his tracks and shield his face with his arms, wasting the previous move's energy before using it. Meanwhile, the damage he'd inflicted on Avalugg was starting to vanish under the hailstorm.

"That won't stop us!" Gary shouted. "Blastoise, Power-Up Punch your way through those spikes!"

Even as he was being pelted by the ice spikes and the hail, Blastoise turned on the Power-Up Punch once more, this time in both hands, before walking forward again, giving one punch and one step at once, ignoring the small ice shards flying with each impact.

Gary could see that the woman's expression growing increasingly alarmed as Blastoise approached her Pokémon, and finally, once he was in range, he pulled back his right fist, the glowing orange energy at full capacity, before delivering a hook with all his might, sending him skidding several feet back.

The noise of Avalugg's body cracking violently sent out a chill down his spine, but it quickly wore off upon seeing the result. A crack that size would take a while to repair, even with the ability.

"Way to go, Blastoise!" Gary cheered. "A few more blows like that and we'll have it in the bag!"

"Assuming we let you do that," Gabriela replied, regaining her aplomb. "Avalugg, trap them in a Rock Tomb!"

This time, Avalugg was able to stomp on the ground, raising the rock chunks to try and trap Blastoise to immobilize him. Having suffered it before, Gary was now expecting it, but he wouldn't try to escape it.

At least, not yet.

"Skull Bash!"

As the stone cage formed around Blastoise, the turtle retracted into his shell defensively. A few seconds later, when it seemed completely trapped, a white flash leaked through the holes, and then in a huge burst of energy, the cage exploded, as a living missile shot forward at Avalugg.

"Blastoise!"

The living iceberg stood firm, but the moan it let out gave away that it felt that blow. At the same time, Gary saw Mrs. Snagem was surprised herself, but then smiled with respect. He could only return the gesture the only way he knew: by capitalizing on the opportunity.

"Now Blastoise, Power-Up Punch, nonstop!" Oak's grandson cried out. "Right into the biggest crack!"

Skull Bash had a dual purpose: first to break Blastoise out of the Rock Tomb, and then charge forward to get into Avalugg's range. Now it was time to give it the beating of its life, and since the crack from the previous one hadn't fully repaired, this time not even those regenerative abilities would save it.

"Blast, blast, blast, blast, blast!"

With a pair of orange-glowing fists full of energy, Blastoise began delivering punch, after punch, after punch on Avalugg, who could only try and step back. By striking continuously, each impact would hurt more than the previous one.

The crack from before started growing bigger and much faster than the hail could heal it, and while it resisted for a few good minutes, Blastoise's relentless assault eventually reduced it almost to a pile of ice cubes.

Blastoise also breathed heavily once he turned off his fists and stopped punching, but since Avalugg wasn't moving, the result was obvious, even before Casey and his wife approached to verify and confirm it.

"Hmm… well, it's official, the boy made it," Casey declared. "Good job, Gary; you've finally cleared this stage of training."

"I did it… we did it? Yes… yeah! We did it, Blastoise! We made it!" Oak's grandson explained, before hugging his starter. "We finally beat that giant ice cube!"

"And much sooner than I expected," Gabriela admitted, recalling her Pokémon. "You're improving at a nice rate. So that means…"

"We need to step up our game," her husband completed. "It's time to move on to the next level."

"Well, bring it on! Whatever comes, we're ready for it!"

"Whoa, not so fast, boy," Casey said. "It's almost midday, how about we take a lunch break first?"

Gary was about to say that could wait, but his stomach ended up answering for him. The Snagems smiled amusedly.

"I guess some lunch would be nice," he admitted, blushing.

Maybe he wasn't a pro eater like Ash, but he too needed to recharge his energies. A lunch break wouldn't kill the momentum gained after this huge leap in his training.

…

The day ended much better than Gary would have expected. After Blastoise's results, the Snagems decided that the next step in training was to get more of his Pokémon to break the move limit. Having succeeded one, he was confident enough that he could do it again, without much issue.

However, not all training was physical. After dinner, the Pallet Town boy stood for a bit in the living room, skimming through one of Casey's books. Months before, that would have been unthinkable of him, but considering that he swallowed his pride to ask for his help in training, he figured it wouldn't hurt to see what he could offer him in that department.

And surprisingly, he found the readings quite engaging.

"Still reading it?"

The voice snapped him out of his thoughts. The clock behind Mr. Snagem made him realize it was past nine o'clock. He was so deeply immersed in the pages, he hadn't realized how late it was.

"You should rest for today, we'll have a lot of training to do tomorrow," Casey said. He sounded serious, albeit not like a scolding.

"Sorry, got distracted with this," Gary admitted, marking the page before tucking the book back on the shelf. "It's a nice change of pace."

Casey smiled. "I have a few spare copies, if you want to take them after you leave."

"Nah, I'm good." Gary shrugged. "I can afford them in digital. Takes up less space in a traveling bag, you know."

Casey seemed to accept his reason, so he immediately changed the topic.

"I'm very pleased with your progress so far. You're getting better at a good rate, and you seem a lot livelier than when you first came. I can assume you've found what you lacked?"

"I guess so." Gary nodded. "It's weird, but… it was so obvious I didn't see it. All this time, I've kept doing the things, maybe because they gave me results. But at the moment of truth, it wasn't enough. And yet I continued to do the same expecting a different outcome. How stupid of me, huh?"

"Don't feel so bad for that. We've all had a stage like that, myself included," the eldest trainer assured. "It's not just about what you do, but also how you do it. Sometimes you just need to make a small change, not a full 180° turn to correct your course."

"Now I know. Just like my sister said; if your opponent's stronger, be faster. If they're faster, you be smarter, stuff like that. And you said it yourself in your book; everyone is the best at something at some point, but no one will always be the best at everything."

Casey smiled, probably flattered that he quoted that. But indeed, thinking that he'd always be the best at everything (or at least, almost everything) made the perfect recipe for him to trip over along the way, and as much as it pained him, he probably deserved to suffer all those defeats.

"But knowing that I'm not the best will be my drive to surpass myself." He clenched a fist with determination. "I won't fall behind again."

"That's the spirit, young man. Now go and rest, you'll need your energy for tomorrow's training."

Gary nodded and, after thanking his mentor again, headed for the guest room. Even though the rage and frustration from his prior defeats (especially against Paul) weren't completely gone, they didn't bother him now as before, having come to embrace them. They were part of him, and he'd use them as an incentive to become better.

'I'll be better one day at the time. Tomorrow, I'll be better than today, and the day after tomorrow even more.'

That would be his first step to become a better trainer, and get his revenge against his rivals at Indigo. All he could hope was that luck would be on his side and allow him to face them. Ranking higher than them wouldn't be worth it if he didn't have the chance to show them up firsthand.

And if he only faced one of them, the one he wanted to defeat the most was Paul, no doubt.

To be continued...