Ever Grande City…

The sun had arisen for a new day of the Hoenn Pokémon League Conference. The competition was still on, and Katie felt she was one step closer to her goal.

However, at the moment Katie wasn’t a competitor, but a spectator. Since her match was scheduled for a later hour at a different stadium, she had the chance to watch John’s, so as to root for him and, at the same time, analyze his strategies to know what to expect of him when they faced each other.

This was the last round of double battles before the Victory Tournament, where trainers would show their true strength in full six-on-six matches.

“Come on, John, you can’t lose now,” she muttered, her eyes fixated on the battlefield.

The battle had gone pretty even so far: John was using his Ninjask and Shedinja, while his opponent, a Bug-type specialist, was using a Volbeat and Illumise duo. At first, John’s strategy was focused on using Shedinja as a shield, thanks to its Wonder Guard ability, while Ninjask’s Speed Boost continuously activated, enabling it to do lightning-fast attacks, before their opponents could counter.

And it worked well, until the opposing trainer ordered an electric attack that turned out to be Thunder Wave, paralyzing Shedinja, and then throwing a Confuse Ray into the mix. The Ghost/Bug-type in its confusion ended up charging against the ground and knocking itself out, leaving John in a two-against-one disadvantage.

“Time to end this!” the opponent shouted. “Volbeat, Illumise, show them your Dazzling Gleam combo!”

“Ninjask, my friend, dodge them with Dig!”

Although Ninjask managed to get underground, dodging both rainbow-colored spheres from his foes, Volbeat quickly forced him out with a Bug Buzz, aiming directly to the hole he dug to maximize its effect. To make it worse, before John could order something, Illumise threw in an Encore, forcing Ninjask in an endless loop of going underground, and then forced back up because of the Bug Buzz.

“Oh, things are looking bleak for John Archer, ladies and gentlemen!” the MC exclaimed. “If he doesn’t find the way to break the cycle, his defeat is good as sealed!”

Katie bit her lip. John couldn’t lose, not that way. Not before they had their rematch as they promised.

“Come on, John. We both know you can get through this.”

Somehow, Ninjask endured until the Encore effect vanished, and John’s opponent seemed to be celebrating his victory. But as Roxanne had told her, Pokémon battles could always turn around in the blink of an eye.

“Finish him, Volbeat, Aerial Ace!” the opponent shouted.

“Ninjask, Return!” John countered.

The call for said attack caught Katie by surprise, as she knew John’s Ninjask did not have it in their last match. However, she was more surprised that said attack, once Ninjask flew faster than a speeding bullet, intercepted Volbeat’s Aerial Ace head on, and then sent him crashing against the opposite wall, falling unconscious.

“The hell?”

“Return, once more!”

And before the other trainer could process what happened, John’s Ninjask had charged against his other Pokémon. Illumise was sent flying through the air, crashing on the same wall just inches away from her partner, thus sealing the match.

“Both Volbeat and Illumise are unable to continue! The winner of this match is John Archer!”

“And a single blow turns the tide around for John Archer, who moves forward to the victory tournament! Return is an attack whose power is based on how much a Pokémon loves its trainer, and very few times I’ve seen one as powerful as that one! That was the power of friendship in action, ladies and gentlemen!”

‘You said it, Mr. Commentator,’ Katie thought. Certainly, that Retribution attack had been really powerful, but considering how much John loved his Pokémon, she couldn’t expect any less.

…

Katie waited for John at the stadium’s exit tunnel. It seemed only fair to congratulate him as due, after that amazing recovery when he was against the ropes.

“Way to go, champ,” she said, giving him a playful nudge on the shoulder. “I have to admit it, you almost made me doubt you for a second.”

“I just had a bit of luck,” John replied with modesty. “Ninjask and I barely managed to perfect that move before the League started.”

“That wasn’t luck,” Katie said. “If you think about it, being so good friends with your Pokémon gave you the strength you needed to win today. And the Speed Boost definitely helped too, don’t deny it.”

“Always thinking in strategic terms, isn’t that right, Katie?”

The Lilycove trainer placed her hands on her hips. Why did he say it as if it was something bad? She was trying to compliment his performance, yet he didn’t seem to take her comments that way.

“Well, in case you’re interested, my battle will be in a couple hours, at the B Stadium,” she said. “You’ll come to see me, won’t you?”

“Of course,” John assured. “I’ll just go to the Pokémon Center first. I have to take care of my friends before all.”

“As every good trainer should do,” Katie said, making way for him. “Go ahead, I won’t distract you anymore.”

As John walked away with no rush, Katie once more looked back to their past encounters. Ironically, back when they first met she didn’t hold him in too high esteem. In fact, she recalled having gotten mad for thinking he didn’t take his training seriously, as he often said “I prefer to win friends over victories”. She let out a small giggle upon recalling the amount of lectures she gave him just for that statement.

On the other hand, she admitted that friendly disposition of his was nice too. She just thought sometimes he could be just a little… tougher, and have a bit more of a backbone, if that made sense.

Every time they met, John would always surprise her. Not only did he become a powerful trainer, someone to be reckoned with and whom she respected deeply. It was also the fact that, without noticing, she started feeling more comfortable around him, regarding him as a trusted friend.

When did she exactly stop seeing him as that helpless boy who needed rescuing, to see him as a close friend? Was it since that time they teamed up to fight that self-proclaimed Melon Master girl? Was it maybe since John managed to draw with her, showing himself as a rival not to be underestimated? Or maybe she just had gotten used to chat with him?

Katie didn’t know the answer, and truth be told, she didn’t care. All she knew was that the idea to face him in the Pokémon League made her feel excited. The moment for that fated battle drew closer every time, and she was only one double battle away from the Victory Tournament.

With the amount of participants reduced by the time, the chances of them facing each other in a full battle increased. By that time, she’d give it her all to defeat him and break the tie. As they promised each other back in Fortree City.

‘You just wait, John. I’ll face you with everything I’ve got. But first, I have to win my next match.’

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

C Stadium…

“We’re about to start the next match for the Qualification Tournament! Each trainer can only use two Pokémon, and the winner will be decided when both Pokémon of either side are unable to keep battling!”

While she wasn’t as nervous as in her previous match, Katie had to take a deep breath to focus, as the announcer once more explained the battle rules. Unlike her, though, her opponent seemed to smile without a hint of nervousness, and even seemed to be dancing a little bit.

From what she searched, the girl she was about to face was named Phoebe. She looked around the same age as her, maybe a couple years above, with dark skin and brown, short spiky hair adorned with large pink flowers. She wore a rather revealing attire; a two-piece blue dress with a strapless bra, which showed off her figure, and Katie could see she didn’t wear shoes, only a pink anklet on her left foot.

Apparently she’d been born in Hoenn, but had lived a lot in Alola, which explained her choice in clothing. What mattered for this match, though, was that so far every Pokémon she had shown was of the Ghost-type, no exceptions.

‘Meaning that she’s a specialist,’ she thought. That was a more common occurrence than everyone thought, and even though having only Ghosts in her arsenal could be seen as a weakness, that wasn’t necessarily true.

Regardless, however, Katie had prepared a strategy to defeat any Ghost-type she encountered, and she was going to use it here.

“Begin!” the referee declared.

“I choose Venomoth and Scizor!”

She glanced at both of her Bug-types on the field. Some would consider them an unusual choice, but she had a plan with them. Venomoth was her usual choice when battling unknown foes, and he was very useful against opponents with high defenses and low speed. That way, she’d be ready to counter any Dusclops her opponent could throw at her, including status ailments. And if that wasn’t enough, she also had Scizor, one of her main attackers.

She had everything covered, although her opponent didn’t seem intimidated by the bugs, and still smiled at her like she didn’t have a care in the world. In fact, why hadn’t she chosen her Pokémon yet?

“Hey, it’s your turn to bring out your Pokémon,” Katie complained.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. But my Pokémon are already on the battlefield.”

Upon saying those words, two Ghost-types quickly revealed themselves before Scizor and Venomoth. For a moment, Katie was startled by their sudden appearance, though she immediately scolded herself, recalling that Ghost Pokémon had the ability to become invisible or hide among the shadows

Nevertheless, she was surprised at Phoebe’s choices. She was waiting for a Dusclops, Gengar or even Misdreavus, which were more popular choices among Ghost-type specialists. Instead, her opponent brought out a Pokémon looking like a cursed doll, which she quickly identified as a Banette, and… a small living candle?

‘What’s that supposed to be?’ Katie wondered. It was a Pokémon Katie had never seen or heard of before. Still, the candle appearance suggested that it was probably a Fire-type, so she had to be cautious on that front, in case Phoebe planned to play on the type advantage.

Regardless, she was certain that she could deal with them, no matter what they had.

“Begin!” And thus, the referee declared the start of the match.

“Let’s go, Venomoth! Poison Powder!”

The poison moth flapped his wings hard, unleashing the spores covering them in a toxic cloud all over their opponent’s field. However, before they took the attack, Phoebe’s ghosts vanished, leaving no trace of their presence whatsoever.

“Venomoth, Scizor, be ready. Those Ghosts will come into view at any second,” Katie warned them.

Both her Pokémon nodded at her. There was no need to rush things. All they had to do was wait for their opponents to make their move.

“Now! Will-O-Wisp and Sucker Punch!”

Phoebe’s instructions were the cue for Katie to put her plan into motion. She just had to give Scizor a glance, who quickly got the message. Right on the moment Banette and the candle reappeared to launch their attacks, the steel bug charged at them at overwhelming speed, his pincers glowing in a metallic tone.

The first blow of the match was for Katie, as Scizor’s pincers delivered a punch to each of the ghosts. The Lilycove trainer smiled at their success. True, Ghost-types could be sneaky and they were masters of vanishing from sight, but that wouldn’t do any good to them if she got them right before they attacked.

And that being the case, Scizor’s Bullet Punch was the perfect counter for them.

“Hey, that was a very fast attack. Your Scizor is really strong,” Phoebe praised.

“Thank you. We’ve been training hard with Bullet Punch’s speed for these situations. I’m sorry, but your strategy of hiding to sneak upon us won’t work.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

Suddenly, a dark aura surrounded Scizor, much to Katie’s shock. That made no sense, they hadn’t taken any hits! All Scizor did was…

“Wait a second…” Katie suddenly realized what happened. “Don’t tell me…”

“That’s right. My Banette has the ability Cursed Body,” Phoebe confirmed with pride, while Banette let out a sinister chuckle.

“No way…”

That was bad. Very bad. From what she knew, Banette commonly had either Insomnia or Frisk. Cursed Body was a much more troublesome ability, as it had disabled her Scizor’s Bullet Punch just as they had begun…

“Litwick, attack with Will-O-Wisp!”

“Dodge!”

The living candle (which apparently was called a Litwick) shot some fireballs from its head, but thankfully Scizor and Venomoth’s superior speed allowed them to dodge without issues.

Katie sighed in relief, they still had the edge on speed. Even without Bullet Punch her plan could still work. She just needed to take advantage of Scizor’s speed to land the hits and…

‘No, wait. Scizor can only use direct attacks. If they hit, Cursed Body could trigger again and…’

She quickly shook her head. There was no time to waste thinking; her Pokémon couldn’t dodge those Will-O-Wisps forever. She had to do something…

‘We have to take Litwick down first,’ she decided. She couldn’t take any chances, lest any of her Pokémon could get burned. “Venomoth, use Disable!”

Venomoth’s psychic powers did their job: the little candle was momentarily frozen and its Will-O-Wisp had been blocked. Obviously Phoebe wasn’t the only one who could disable moves.

“Now, Banette! Spite!”

“Oh no!”

Katie couldn’t hide her terror when she saw her Venomoth engulfed by Dark-type energy. Spite could also disable Venomoth’s moves, thus limiting her resources drastically…

Had she walked into a trap? Litwick was just a decoy so Banette could use Spite on them?

No. She couldn’t freeze up again, she needed to think. Banette wouldn’t be able to use Spite and protect Litwick at the same time. The candle would be helpless and Scizor could take it out in a single blow. If they succeeded, they’d get the upper hand.

“Scizor!” the trainer called out. “Use Pursuit on Litwick!”

Flying at his signature speed, the steel insect pulled back one of his arms, ready to grab a hold of his foe. He had almost gotten to the candle ghost, but then…

“Now, Litwick! Inferno!” Phoebe called.

In the space of a second, Katie wished she’d misheard that. She wanted to scream desperately at Scizor to pull back the attack, but it was too late. Suddenly, the little flame on Litwick’s head burst out, turning into a giant infernal blast that consumed Scizor completely.

“Scizor!” she cried out.

“Wow! Look at that, ladies and gentlemen!” the MC shouted. “That surely had to hurt! A Fire-type attack is the worst that a Scizor could take at point-blank range! Not to mention that Inferno also inflicts burns whenever it lands!”

That was a painful, but accurate description of what just happened.

Katie was beginning to feel frustrated. None of her plans were working. Phoebe was a better trainer than she anticipated, and countered each and every one of her strategies.

She was starting to freeze again; her mind drew a blank. What was she supposed to do now?

“ZOR!”

Scizor’s fierce cry got the attention of all the spectators. It seemed a miracle, but he was still standing. Scorched and burned all over, but still battle ready. And not just him: Venomoth also glared in determination, while flapping next to his partner.

Her Pokémon hadn’t given up yet… so she couldn’t do it. She didn’t have the right to give up, not when her Pokémon were fighting so hard!

They had to win this battle at any cost. They had a promise to keep after all.

“Venomoth! Use Supersonic to confuse those Ghosts!” she ordered to begin their counterattack.

“Oh, no you won’t! Litwick, use Taunt!”

Before the moth could send his supersonic waves, the little candle surrounded itself with a strange aura, while also sticking out its tongue and pulling the eye down. In doing so, it drew the ire of Katie’s Pokémon, who stopped the Supersonic and started recklessly chasing after Litwick.

“Once again Katie is in a pinch!” the MC declared. “Will she be able to turn this around?”

The answer to that was uncertain. That move had struck a nerve on Katie; it was probably the worst attack they could use against Venomoth. They had focused training on different status moves to make use of his wings’ spores, but unfortunately, that left them only with Psybeam as an offensive move.

Usually that was enough to do the job, but the effects of Taunt effectively crippled all of their status moves and forced them to attack, leaving Venomoth with one single weapon…

The Lilycove trainer clenched her teeth. If her Pokémon only had one move, then that would be the one to make them win.

“Venomoth, Psybeam!”

Still angry over the Taunt’s effects, Venomoth channeled all of his mental powers into a single energy beam. However, upon seeing the incoming attack, the little ghost candle giggled mockingly, before shrinking itself to a size Katie could barely see.

“Was that…?”

“Yes, it was Minimize,” Phoebe confirmed with a smile. “My Litwick isn’t made to take hits, so it comes in handy to avoid damage.”

A size-reducing move. Such a smart tactic; Venomoth’s Psybeams would have it hard to hit such a tiny opponent.

But she still had Scizor, and if they could take Banette out, then they could deal with Litwick later.

“Scizor! Attack Banette with Pursuit!”

The Cursed Body didn’t matter anymore. If she could land a hit with a Dark-type move, the supereffective damage would do the trick.

But the Lilycove trainer once again saw her plans foiled, as just before being struck by Scizor, her rival’s Banette simply vanished into thin air, as the sneaky ghost it was. The insect kept flying forward, not only losing sight of his foe, but also getting surrounded by a red aura and suffering the effects of his burn.

“Scizor!” Katie shouted in worry upon seeing her Pokémon’s damage. And unfortunately, it wasn’t over yet.

“Phantom Force!”

Banette emerged from the ground like a specter, sending Scizor to fly with a punch. For a moment, Katie thought of calling for Venomoth’s help, but he was too busy, angrily chasing around the tiny Litwick, blinded by the Taunt-induced rage.

The trainer clenched her teeth in frustration once more. None of her strategies had worked, and she’d lost control of the match long ago. She just couldn’t think of any way to counter Phoebe’s own strategies. Ghosts were certainly fearsome and formidable foes.

Once again she was losing her cool. No matter how much she tried to keep focused on the fight, it was too hard as she couldn’t even properly think of the next instruction…

And then, Scizor rose back up with an intimidating groan, as he started glowing with a green aura.

“Ah! It looks like Scizor gets back up with a last resort to win the battle!” the MC announced. “The ability Swarm, that boosts Bug-type moves’ power in critical moments!”

Katie wasn’t sure whether she should be happy for the power boost, or worried for pushing Scizor to his limits. If only it was a Hyper Swarm, an ability like Rubrum’s Torchic had, such power could come in handy right now…

But upon recalling her previous battle, she also remembered Roxanne’s advice. She couldn’t give up now; a Pokémon battle was never decided until the very end. If Rubrum had turned the tide and was so close to beating her, she could do the same with Phoebe.

“Scizor! Use all your power in X-Scissor!”

“That won’t work!” Phoebe declared. “Dodge it, Banette!”

The steel insect focused all the power granted by Swarm, placing both arms in front forming an X, before flying at full speed at his opponent. Banette simply let out a cackle and dived underground with its intangibility. Phoebe seemed satisfied upon noticing her Pokémon avoided damage, but Katie allowed herself a smile, as one of her strategies had actually worked.

After all, the X-Scissor was never aimed at Banette.

“Litwick!” Phoebe cried out, and for the first time in the match, she seemed worried.

But it was too late: the tiny Litwick was so busy dodging Venomoth’s Psybeams (and mocking him), that he didn’t react in time when Scizor jumped him.

Either because of Litwick’s reduced size, or the attack’s power, the candle took quite a bit of damage after that blow. Most likely, it would have been knocked out if it wasn’t for the type advantage.

Unfortunately, that powerful attack came at a heavy price. Katie extended her Pokéball and returned Scizor, who immediately fainted afterwards because of the burns. She’d lost her main attacker, but causing so much damage to Litwick would be the key to her victory.

Once more, Katie calmed down and came up with a plan. She knew she could trust Venomoth, as he was her first capture and one of the Pokémon who’d been the longest with her, so he had the strength to win this match.

All she had to do was take Litwick down with a couple of Psybeam attacks, since after getting hurt like that, it wouldn’t be able to dodge them as easily as before. With Litwick out of the picture, the Taunt would eventually wear down, and Venomoth would be able to use all of his moves again. Then, it’d all come down to a one-on-one duel against Banette, and since Venomoth hadn’t taken much damage, she could bring it down with status moves.

“Venomoth!” Katie had a brief exchange of looks with her moth, and upon seeing the determination in his eyes, she proceeded to attack. “Take down that Litwick with Psybeam!”

The multicolored beam was fired at point-blank range, and Litwick couldn’t dodge, just like she expected. She was close, one more time and that ghost would go down, just one more hit and…

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“Spite!”

And with that single word, Phoebe completely destroyed Katie’s plans. Banette engulfed Venomoth with its dark energy, again preventing him from using Psybeam. They’d just blocked the last attack that could have given her victory.

“No…” Katie couldn’t stop a gasp from escaping her throat. They were so close to get their strategy completed, that Litwick was about to go down! With those wounds it wouldn’t survive another Psybeam! If only…

“Now, Litwick!” And to Katie’s chagrin, Phoebe wasn’t done yet again.

Litwick floated towards Venomoth with a sinister look. Before Katie could even ask what was going on, she noticed an energy thread connecting both Pokémon. Suddenly, it was like the ghost was feeding on the moth’s energy, as if trying to steal his soul.

The Lilycove trainer was left dumbfounded when many wounds formed all over her Pokémon’s body, while the damage on Litwick began to heal.

“I don’t get it, what…” Katie was too shocked to even ask, let alone understand what was going on.

Phoebe then proceeded to explain, smiling as widely as during all the fight. “It’s Litwick’s nature. Their kind are very good at manipulating life energy, so that’s why I taught him the move Pain Split.”

“Pain Split?”

“Yes. Litwick and Venomoth’s vital energy will be split evenly between them. That’s why your Pokémon is now taking part of the damage you inflicted on mine. Conversely, Litwick is now recovering with your cute Venomoth’s energy.”

“Impossible…” The Lilycove trainer didn’t want to believe it, but that move’s effect had pretty much sealed their fates. It rendered Scizor’s sacrifice to weaken Litwick completely useless.

“Now, Inferno!”

Once he regained his energy and felt sated, the small ghostly candle expanded his flames at full power, delivering the Inferno at point-blank range. Venomoth couldn’t do anything to dodge, although it triggered his Shield Dust ability, preventing additional burn damage with the spores.

The so-called “Cool Beauty” could only watch how her moth plummeted down, like a falling star after being hit by such supereffective damage. He was still conscious, trying painfully to get back up, but Litwick used Taunt again.

Suddenly, she found herself out of options, while Venomoth remained helpless. With Taunt blocking his status moves, and Spite suppressing the Psybeam, there was nothing Katie could do. She could only glance at her first capture, covered in wounds and unable to take flight. The Lilycove trainer found herself frozen again.

Venomoth turned to his trainer, still determined, waiting for any order, anything that pulled him out of that pinch. But upon seeing his trainer’s eyes, all he found was defeat and resignation. All Katie could do was fight to hold back the tears about to escape her eyes.

She recalled Roxanne’s words in search of hope, but she didn’t find it. No matter how hard she tried to come up with a plan, there wasn’t any way to overcome this challenge. Her mind drew a blank, and it was her defeat.

“Banette, use Shadow Sneak! Litwick, use Inferno!”

Those attacks were the last nail in the coffin, all that was left to put an end to the battle. Katie didn’t even pay attention to the words of the referee or the MC, declaring the end of the match.

She simply returned her defeated Venomoth to the Pokéball, without a single word. She was defeated, defeated in the most crushing way.

For a few seconds, she remained frozen, unable to hear the crowd’s screams, or her opponent’s victory cheers. Her participation had come to an end abruptly and early. Everything she planned, the strategies she prepared with her other Pokémon, and for the next rounds… her promise with John… everything was over.

Once she came to, she realized she couldn’t stand there anymore. She turned back on her feet and ran off, unable to hold back her tears anymore. Shame and embarrassment overcame her; all she wanted was to get away from there, nothing else mattered.

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

Shortly after…

Frustration. That was the only thing Katie felt at that moment.

She had no idea how far she ran or how long. All she knew was that she ended up at one of the many parks around Ever Grande City, and sat on a faraway bench where nobody would see her. Especially, she didn’t want him to see him like this.

‘I don’t get it. How could this happen? How could I lose like this?’

Not only she’d been defeated, she’d been utterly demolished. Like she never had a chance against Phoebe to begin with. No matter what strategy she tried to use, nothing of what she tried worked. The Ghost-type specialist had completely surpassed her in everything.

Where did she go wrong? She tried to be careful in that battle, and prepared her team to counter the Ghost-types’ strengths. She researched meticulously about her opponent, and she was certain that she could counter anything Phoebe could throw at her. Heck, that Litwick probably wasn’t even an evolved Pokémon and yet…

‘Perhaps I should have used Sealeo… maybe he could have…’

No, no she couldn’t think about that. It was neither Scizor’s nor Venomoth’s fault that they had lost. Both of them fought with determination and returned the trust she had put in them. It was she who let them down: once again she froze when her Pokémon needed her the most.

Just recalling the look Venomoth gave her right before he took those last attacks broke her heart. Her Pokémon clearly trusted her, but Katie let him down completely.

Katie figured that everyone back at Lilycove would be really disappointed in her. Not only for losing so early into the League, but for storming off in such an undignified manner when she lost. Some “Cool Beauty” she turned out to be.

“Snow!”

“Hmm?” Katie raised her look.

A Snorunt that looked strangely familiar was standing before her, its eyes fixated on her. It remained that way for a few seconds… until suddenly, without warning, blew some cold air on her face.

“Hey!”

As she covered herself and tried to wipe the frost off her face, she heard the Snorunt laughing and hopping. Even though she wasn’t exactly in the mood, Katie quickly deduced why it looked so familiar.

Surely enough, her suspicions were confirmed when she saw a trainer in a red hoodie running at her with concern.

“Sorry! Sorry!” the boy apologized as he picked the Snorunt in his arms, although the little Pokémon didn’t stop and blew more snow at its trainer. “Knock it off, that’s enough!”

“Hey, Rubrum,” she greeted without much enthusiasm, though trying to not to sound too rude.

“Good thing I found you. I couldn’t thank you for leaving my Dex with Nurse Joy yesterday,” he added. “I don’t know what I’d have done if I lost him.”

“You’d probably have gotten lost yourself, stupid human.”

Katie was so upset with her defeat that she didn’t feel annoyed at Rubrum’s Pokédex snark. Rubrum himself didn’t seem to care, and quickly went back to Snorunt and her earlier prank.

“I’m really sorry, Snorunt’s been a little too restless lately,” Rubrum apologized once more. “But she won’t be doing it anymore, right? Freezing people isn’t funny, Snorunt.”

Katie watched how Rubrum scolded his Pokémon, although the latter didn’t seem to take it seriously and continued to giggle even with her mouth gagged. She couldn’t help but smile a bit, even though she was having her own issues.

“Hey, something wrong?” Rubrum asked, interrupting his lecture to Snorunt to look at her.

“It’s nothing,” she said, trying to shrug it off. Though it was pointless; she’d been crying for so long he’d probably already saw her eyes red and puffy. “You don’t need to worry about me.”

“Were you crying? Is it because of your last match? Hey, you fought very well, there’s no need to feel ashamed.”

“I’m not crying because I lost,” she said. “I’m not that much of a sore loser.”

“Then why?”

Katie turned to see him. For a moment, she felt the urge to yell at him to leave her alone, that it wasn’t his business and that she wanted to be alone and forget everything. But she stopped herself; Rubrum was not to blame for the mistakes she made.

Besides, upon looking at him, she saw his face showed genuine concern for her. That was strange, considering they had known each other for less than a day.

“You wanna talk about that?” he asked after a few seconds, since she still didn’t answer.

Katie sighed. Maybe, just maybe, she needed someone to talk to. Better it to be Rubrum, instead of her family, or worse, John himself. And he probably wouldn’t leave her alone until she said something.

“Fine. John and I… we made a promise to each other,” she finally said. “We faced each other three times during our journey. I won one, he won another, and the third time we tied. We promised we’d break the tie during the Hoenn League tournament.”

“I see.” Rubrum nodded. “But hey, that’s not the end of the world. There’s always next year for you and Johnny-bro to face each other.”

“You don’t understand,” Katie said. “John’s my friend, and my great rival. We’ve both followed each other’s growth since we began our journeys. When I met him, he looked like a frail and helpless boy, but now… it still amazes me how strong he grew in such a short time. I promised we’d fight each other in this tournament… and I couldn’t keep that promise. I let him down.”

“Hey, you think he’s gonna be mad for something like that?” asked Rubrum. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but after I spent yesterday afternoon with you guys, he didn’t strike me as the type who’d be mad at you just because you lost. Have you guys talked about it?”

“Of course not,” Katie said. “I can’t let him see me like this. In fact, it’s better that he doesn’t see me at all. I’m going home right now.”

“Why? The competition isn’t over yet.”

“It is for me,” she laconically said. “I have to go back home. I need to train much harder after this.”

“You’re not staying to root for him?”

Katie stopped. Why was this boy so pushy? And in any case, what did he care about her relationship with John? She had agreed to hang out yesterday’s afternoon with him, but only because John wanted to be friends with him, nothing more. She had nothing against him, but if it depended on her, she’d rather keep her distance.

“John doesn’t need me to root for him,” she said. “He made it to the Victory Tournament, I didn’t. He’s strong, I’m weak. I couldn’t fulfill the promise I made, so I’d rather not see him right now.”

“Hey, are you listening to yourself?” Rubrum asked, suddenly raising his voice and taking a serious expression. “You’re just up and leaving, instead of rooting for your friend just because you lost once?”

“What’s that to you? You don’t have the right to judge me!”

“I’m not judging you.” Rubrum placed one hand on his hip, while the other still held Snorunt. “It’s just that I’ve noticed that you’re just talking about that promise you guys made, of that battle to break your tie. And hey, I’m really sorry you didn’t get to it, but I think you’re overreacting.”

“What do you know? That promise, that battle is very important to me!”

“More than your friendship with Johnny-bro?”

Katie opened her mouth to replay, but she suddenly stopped. She took a couple seconds to assimilate Rubrum’s words, and he gave her a look of annoyance that, while seeming pointless at first, suddenly made sense.

“Look, I might have just met you guys, but yesterday Johnny-bro did nothing but praise you, remember? He said you were a really nice girl, and an amazing trainer. From the way he talked, he clearly holds you in high esteem. But I don’t see you returning much of it.”

“How dare you? Of course I hold him in high esteem too!”

“As a friend, or just as a trainer? Even yesterday, all you talked about was about the battles you guys had. Nothing more.”

Once more, Katie words died out in her mouth, and she couldn’t reply. He was right; she didn’t take part in yesterday’s conversations that much, unless the topic was about the battles she and John had during their encounters. But there was nothing wrong with that, was there?

“For the record, I have nothing against forming friendly rivalries with others. But I always thought the emphasis was on the ‘friendly’ part over the ‘rivalry’ one.”

Katie felt those words like a knife stabbing her in the chest. Especially since everything he said was true, as much as it hurt.

John regarded her as a friend, and she though she did the same… but she didn’t. She was so focused in seeing him as rival, as someone she wanted to beat, that she neglected treating him as a friend.

Not because he needed to toughen up; he’d done that pretty well all things considered. It was because she was jealous of his fast progress. And not only in their matches against each other, but also those times they teamed up.

She didn’t see it during their first team battles, against Natasha the Melon Master, or against the Winstrate family, and later their son Vito. She actually saw it that time when they met that odd couple who seemed to have a fairy tale complex, dressing up the part like a prince and princess, and who assumed (erroneously) that she and John were boyfriend and girlfriend.

…

“Golduck, Hydro Pump!”

Golduck fired out the water torrent at the rolling mass, formed by the Nidoking and Nidoqueen in the middle of their joint Submission attack. Unfortunately, the attack just splashed aside, unable to stop them, and they crashed against the duck Pokémon and knocked him up into the air.

“Golduck, no!” Katie shouted.

“Gardevoir, stop them and help Golduck with Psychic!”

And as soon as she heard John’s order, Gardevoir teleported between their foes and Golduck, outstretching both arms in opposite directions. With one hand, she stopped both Poison-types, making them roll in place in the air for a moment, while the other stopped Golduck from crashing against a rock, placing him back safely on the ground.

“Impressive, but that won’t overcome the power of our love! Right, Andi?”

“Why of course not, my beloved Oscar! No amateur couple will ever beat us!”

“We’re not a couple!” Katie shouted.

She then rolled her eyes at the love display those two had engaged on, in the middle of the battle no less. It made her stomach turn, but John had given them the chance they needed to win, as Gardevoir still used Psychic to hold them in place.

“I bet their Pokémon love snogging as much as they do,” Katie said. “Golduck, use Confusion and crash them against each other!”

“Gol…DUCK!”

The combined psychic energies of both attacks did their job. With Gardevoir’s Psychic keeping them immobile, Golduck’s Confusion could easily smack them against each other, without them putting up any resistance. And just for good measure, she also ordered him to repeatedly slam them against the ground, before throwing them towards the same rock Golduck almost crashed into.

“Oh no!” Oscar exclaimed. “This cannot be, it’s inconceivable!”

“How could we lose, my love?!” Andi added.

“Nidoking, Nidoqueen, return now!” both shouted in unison, recalling their fallen Pokémon, before glaring at her and John. “WE SHALL GET OUT VENGEANCE FOR THIS, HAVE NO DOUBT ABOUT IT, YOU AMATEUR COUPLE!”

As Oscar and Andi ran off crying and trying to console each other, Katie placed a hand on her forehead and shook her head. John simply chuckled, not caring too much about what they thought.

“God, what’s wrong with those two?” Katie said. “Maybe if they weren’t so busy being lovey-dovey they could have focused on beating us.”

“I guess that proves that we make the best team here, doesn’t it?” John said.

Katie simply smiled. Between her strategies and John’s power, those two never stood a chance. Of course they were the best team.

…

Although she factored in the strategy, the truth was that John had done most of the heavy lifting during that battle. Especially at the last moment: the fact that Gardevoir could execute a Psychic to stop two Pokémon simultaneously, while also rescuing her Golduck from crashing evidenced a superb control and power.

She hated to admit it, but that battle had been won more by John than by her. A part of her at the time even told her he probably had surpassed her, and it made her feel envious. Although, the fact they tied during their last encounter made her forget it.

Was that when she started feeling that way with John? Was she really that obsessed with proving herself the better of the two?

“I… guess I got carried away in our competition,” she finally said.

Rubrum rolled his eyes, and she couldn’t blame her. That was a poor defense for her attitude, and she knew it. She felt really ashamed of herself.

“You know, I took a liking to you guys, so I figured I could stay to cheer you on even if I’m not in the competition anymore,” he said. “But you, I mean, you’ve been his friend for a longer time, and you can’t do that for him? What kind of friend does that?”

This time, Katie didn’t even try to defend herself. Rubrum started walking away, though he stopped for a moment to talk to her again, with his back turned.

“Johnny’s a nice guy. You should appreciate him more, not everyone is lucky enough to meet a friend like him. Competing isn’t wrong, but it’s not the only thing that matters in life, you know.”

And with those words, Rubrum left the park, leaving Katie alone with her thoughts. Once again she felt frustrated and ashamed. But not for losing or breaking her promise, but for drowning in her self-pity, and wanting to run away like a coward. She was so busy feeling sorry for herself, she didn’t notice there was something she could still do.

“He’s right. What kind of friend am I?”

Enough with the tears. She had to see John immediately. Maybe she had been eliminated, but John was still moving forward, and she still could (and should) root for him the rest of the competition.

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

The following day…

The Victory Tournament had finally begun. Even though Katie was still upset that she didn’t make it, and she didn’t like being just a spectator, she swallowed her pride to root for John as she should. Not as a rival, but as a friend.

The battle had reached a crucial point. Even though the match had been more or less even at first, John’s opponent, a trainer named Tyson, had managed to gain the upper hand during the second half. John was down only to his Gardevoir, while Tyson had a Sceptile on the field, after switching out his Metagross, and had yet to reveal his sixth Pokémon.

“Come on, John, don’t go losing now,” Katie muttered as she clenched her fists. “Please, you have to win this one for me too.”

Back on the battlefield, she saw Tyson commanding his Sceptile to fire a salvo of Bullet Seed. John and Gardevoir replied using Psychic to redirect and use them against Sceptile, forcing him to cover his face with both arms.

“Gardevoir, use Moonblast!”

Gardevoir raised her hands as she gathered up lunar energy, compressing it in an orb before throwing it at Sceptile, who was still on the defensive.

“Deflect it with Iron Tail!” Tyson shouted.

Sceptile crouched and raised his tail, which took on a metallic glow before turning into a long and sharp blade. Right before the lunar energy orb hit him, he turned around and batted it away, avoiding damage.

And from what Katie could see, they weren’t stopping there.

“Charge, Sceptile, keep attacking!”

“Teleport away!” John replied.

Just when Sceptile charged in to strike Gardevoir with Iron Tail, she vanished in a flash and reappeared on the other side of the field, dodging the attack. Nevertheless, Sceptile didn’t stop after missing once, but turned around quickly and charged again, forcing Gardevoir to teleport away once more.

The cycle continued for a couple minutes, and Katie noticed how Gardevoir’s reactions were getting slower. It made sense: she fought two of Tyson’s Pokémon during the first half, and even though she didn’t take much damage, the fatigue was there. Sceptile, on the other hand, hadn’t battled yet, and still had two more Pokémon in wait behind him just in case.

Finally, either through a lucky strike or anticipation, Sceptile delivered a tail slash at Gardevoir for supereffective damage.

“Alright, get her and use Giga Drain!” Tyson called.

Katie’s eyes widened in horror upon seeing how Sceptile, taking advantage of Gardevoir still being stunned from the previous attack, grabbed her from behind holding her neck with an arm, and her waist with the other. Both Pokémon began glowing with a green light as Sceptile sucked Gardevoir’s vitality out of her.

It reminded her too much of her own battle against Phoebe’s Litwick.

Gardevoir fought back, and she finally used Psychic to break free of Sceptile, but the Giga Drain had done its work, leaving her breathing heavily. Things didn’t look too good for her and John.

“Sceptile, fire Solar Beam at full power!” Tyson exclaimed.

“Gardevoir, counter with Charge Beam!” John replied.

With the weather on his side, Sceptile could charge his attack relatively fast. In turn, Gardevoir had used Charge Beam several times during the match, so Katie estimated they’d be more or less evenly matched in power. Both Pokémon fired their beams at the same time, colliding in the center of the field, and for a moment, it seemed like the Charge Beam would win…

… until there was an explosion in the collision point. The flash caused by the attacks prevented Katie and the rest of the spectators from seeing what happened, although she could hear the voices of the trainers and Pokémon on the field crying out just after that.

Once the view was clear and the dust clouds settled, the stadium was left in complete silence. No one knew what happened, and Katie clenched on her blouse, wishing that Gardevoir had dodged the worst part of the blast.

The dust dissipated on Tyson’s side first, revealing a badly hurt Sceptile who supported himself with a knee and an arm, breathing heavily. Katie waited until the view was clear on John’s side, praying for Gardevoir to be better…

… but much to her chagrin. Gardevoir was on the ground, motionless and with her arms spread out. The match had been sealed.

“Gardevoir is unable to battle!” the referee declared raising his flag. “Since Tyson still has three Pokémon in active, he is the winner of this match and moves forward to the next round!”

“What a display of power, ladies and gentlemen!” the MC exclaimed. “John Archer and his Pokémon fought bravely, but they were no match for Tyson’s overwhelming strength and strategies!”

As the crowd erupted in cheers and Tyson celebrated his victory, Katie saw John recall his Gardevoir. Shortly after, he walked up to Tyson before offering him a handshake in good sportsmanship.

“Why couldn’t I do the same?” she wondered, as she joined in with the applause.

She made a note to properly seek out Phoebe later, as she didn’t congratulate for beating her in their match. That had been very rude of her, no matter how upset she was about the loss.

“That was an interesting match.”

The nearby voice caught Katie off-guard, as upon turning around she saw next to her the very same girl she was thinking about. She was so focused on the match she didn’t even sensed her approach.

Or maybe she shared a quirk with her Ghost Pokémon?

“Er… hi,” Katie greeted. It was a bit awkward to meet her like that, but since she had already decided it, she might as well do it at once.

“Hey,” Phoebe replied in kind. “So, are you alright? You seemed very upset after our match yesterday.”

Katie shrugged. “Don’t worry, I’m fine now. I’m… sorry I stormed off like that. I didn’t even congratulate you on your victory.”

“That’s alright,” the dark-skinned girl replied. “To be honest, you fought quite well. Your strategies are pretty good; it wasn’t easy to find a way to counter them.”

Katie smiled, feeling flattered. Of course, she couldn’t be the only one who planned ahead how to beat her opponents. Some were better at it than others, evidently.

“I guess you were checking who’d be your next round opponent?” Katie asked, to what Phoebe nodded. “Well, in that case, I’d be careful if I were you. If that boy defeated my friend, that means he must be pretty good.”

“I’ll keep it in mind, thanks.”

Without further ado, Phoebe left. Katie, for her part, looked back at the field, and seeing how both combatants headed for the exits, that was her cue to do the same.

…

With the match over, Katie headed for the exit tunnel to intercept John. Much to her surprise (or maybe not) somebody else had gotten ahead of her.

“… real shame, Johnny-bro. But you were awesome, honest.”

“Thanks, Rubrum. I don’t feel bad for losing. We gave it our all, and that’s all what matters.”

“Ahem”. Katie cleared her throat to make her presence known. “Great battle, John. It’s a real shame you lost. You deserved to go much further than this.”

“Don’t worry about it, Katie,” he said. “Thanks for coming to support me, means a lot to me.”

Katie almost felt tempted to say that she wouldn’t have if Rubrum hadn’t convinced her, but then decided it wasn’t necessary. Especially considering that the aforementioned wasn’t glaring at her, which made her feel relieved.

“Well then, since the three of us are out of the competition,” Rubrum grabbed them both into a group hug, “anybody wants do drown the sorrows in an ice-cream or something? My treat!”

“No objections,” Katie said, trying to smile. John nodded too.

Drowning the sorrows in an ice-cream sounded better than moping. And if Rubrum offered to pay the bill, how could she refuse? Especially since she no longer had the free food privilege for the competitors.

…

While Rubrum was off to get their order, Katie and John waited for him at the table. It was weird to see him without his Pokémon around, but they were at the Pokémon Center, needing treatment after that hard last battle.

“Hey, John, can I ask you something? Do you think… I’ve been a good friend?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I mean… I know I’m constantly reminding you that we’re rivals and all that. And I wondered if maybe, just maybe… I might have gotten carried away by it.”

“I don’t think so. You’re competitive by nature, but that doesn’t make you a mean person.”

“Hey, you don’t have to sugarcoat it, okay?” she said. “Come on, you can tell me in all honesty. I’m not gonna get mad, I promise.”

Katie stared directly into his eyes. John sometimes could be too nice for his own good, and while he was a good trainer, maybe deep down he was still that fragile, helpless boy she saved from that Taillow flock. He might’ve needed a push to grow some backbone.

“Well… truth be told, sometimes I felt uncomfortable when you reminded me of that promise we made,” John said. “When you lost against that Phoebe girl, I knew you were going to beat yourself up over it, and I tried to find you to tell you everything was alright, but…”

“I ran off like a crybaby,” she completed. “I don’t feel proud of it in the least.”

“Look, I’m not judging you, but it’s the first time I saw you take a defeat so badly,” John pointed out. “Why was that?”

“I’m not sure… no, who am I kidding, I do know,” Katie admitted. “I guess I felt a tad envious. Every time we met and I saw how much you improved, how strong you’d grown in such short notice, I felt like I was falling behind. And I didn’t want that to happen.”

“Hey, I’ve never seen myself as better than you,” John assured. “You’ve become strong yourself, but neither of us is invincible. There’s always someone better out there.”

Katie nodded. Looking back now, her victories had given her so much confidence in her skills and strategies, she came to believe they were infallible. At the same time, seeing John’s growth made her start to wish that he couldn’t lose to anybody.

Or rather, that he shouldn’t lose to anyone but her.

“Besides, while I do like competing with you, it’s much funnier when we’re on the same side,” John continued.

“Why do you say that?” she asked. “After a while you clearly didn’t need my help anymore.”

“I don’t see it that way,” John assured. “When we fought together, I felt I could do my best because you were there, watching my back. I’m not a great strategist like you, so I always tried to follow your example to better myself.”

The girl was surprised. She had no idea John held her in such high regard for her strategies, as much as she did to him for his strength and natural talent.

Then again, if she hadn’t been so focused on her wish to beat him, maybe she’d noticed much earlier.

They definitely needed to start being more friends than rivals from then on.

“Thanks for waiting!” Rubrum’s voice interrupted her thoughts. He immediately proceeded to place the trays with the ice-creams on the table. “Here we go, a double mint-chocolate for Miss Katie, two triple vanilla-strawberry for Johnny-bro, and two triple pistachio-peanut butter for yours truly. Let’s dig in!”

And without further words, they started eating (or rather, DEVOUR) their ice-creams. Katie decided to take her time to taste hers; after all, they had the rest of the afternoon to engage in friendly chatter.

Losing the competition turned out to be not so bad after all.

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

Next morning…

Katie got up rather early, feeling a lot more refreshed after the previous day. A good night of sleep helped her clear her mind and think better about the recent events.

More specifically, about how things needed to change, if she wanted to be a better trainer, but more importantly, a better friend.

“Hey, Katie, mornin’!” a cheerful voice greeted her.

The Lilycove girl saw Rubrum approaching, again with his Snorunt in arms, and for a preventive measure, a makeshift face mask covering her mouth. She appreciated it; she didn’t want to get more frost blown on her face.

“Good morning, did you have a good sleep?” she replied.

“Yeah, thanks for asking,” Rubrum replied, before glancing at Snorunt. “And just in case, I decided to take some precautions with this naughty little one from now on.”

“Hmmf-hmmf!” Snorunt complained.

“Sorry, but until you stop pranking people, you’ll have to put up with it,” Rubrum said severely, before turning back to Katie. “So, planning to go home already?”

“Not yet. I still need to talk to John about some things,” she answered. “Hey… I wanted to thank you.”

“Hmm? For what?”

“Everything you told me was true. I was so bent on seeing John as my rival, I neglected to treat him as a friend. And that needs to change. I have to show him that I do care about him.” Katie bowed her head. “Really, thank you so much.”

“Haha, hey, you don’t need to thank me anything,” he replied with modesty. “Rather, I should apologize for meddling in your business. It’s a bad habit of mine.”

Katie simply shrugged. Although it was annoying at first, meeting Rubrum helped her put things in perspective, and she was really grateful for it. Which was why she felt in debt and wanted to repay him somehow.

And right then, she got an idea.

“By the way, how’s your Torchic?” she asked.

“Ah, Nurse Joy says he’ll be just fine,” Rubrum replied. “Two full days of sleep will be enough to recover after our battle.”

“About that… did you know your Torchic has something called Hyper Blaze?”

“Hyper Blaze? What’s that?”

“After our battle, I called a teacher at the school I studied at,” Katie explained. “She told me some Pokémon have variants of the power-boosting abilities. They’re far more powerful than normal, but harder to control.”

“For real?” Rubrum asked. “That explains why Torchic goes nuts every time it triggers. So Hyper Blaze, huh? You know something else about it?”

“Not really, except that they’re very rare,” Katie said. “You might need some other kind of training to master it. If you go to Rustboro City, maybe you should ask Roxanne. She might know more about it.”

“I see. Hey, thanks for the tip. Maybe now I’ll find a way we can control all that power. Then we could have a rematch without danger, don’t you think so?”

“Sounds good to me!” She smiled. Yeah, facing an opponent with that kind of power, but without the risk of causing a fire, that definitely sounded great.

A grateful Rubrum abandoned the Pokémon Center, after exchanging PokéNav numbers with her, while Katie kept waiting for John to show up. As she had said, she needed to talk to him about some things.

Fortunately, the wait wasn’t too long, as five minutes later the boy walked downstairs. After picking up his Pokémon, he turned out towards the entrance door where she was waiting for him, and smiled.

“Hey, good morning,” he greeted. “Well, I see you’re ready to go back home too.”

“Yeah, there’s not much point in staying the rest of the competition,” Katie said. “It’s not like I have any other friends to root for now.”

“Rubrum is already gone?” John asked, and she nodded. “What a shame, I thought we could keep in touch.”

“Easy, I’ve got his PokéNav number,” she said. “Before I go, though, I’d like to talk to you about something.”

“About what?”

“What you told me, about how you enjoyed more when we battled on the same side, that left me thinking. In our last tag team battle, I felt you were doing the heavy lifting while I did nothing, really. But I realized I was upset because I thought you had surpassed me.”

“Hey, I never…”

“Please let me finish,” she said. “Point is, I could turn that worry off when we fought later, since I guess I was happy with a tie because it made me think we were still equals, and I wasn’t falling behind you. That’s why I made you promise we’d meet again at the Hoenn League to break the tie.

“But then, all this happened, and I realized. I was so obsessed with beating you that I stopped seeing you as a friend. And that was wrong, I know. That’s why I want to make it up to you now.”

“Katie…”

The girl looked into the boy’s eyes once more. She’d always looked out for herself and that’s why she preferred to travel alone. But in doing so, she built an ice wall that kept her away from others who tried to be her friends. More than a “Cool Beauty”, she seemed on the way to become an “Ice Queen”.

“So… would you like it that we travel together for a while?” she said. “I know we can learn a lot of each other. I still want us to have that battle, but this time I want us to have it as friends, not as rivals. Is that okay?”

“Sure, I would like that,” John said with a smile. “Even with my Pokémon, sometimes it’s a bit lonely to travel by myself. That would be a nice change.”

“I’m glad,” Katie said. “I still need to go back home to settle some matters and see my family, so how about we meet, say, in a couple months at Slateport? Maybe we could travel to some region outside Hoenn.”

“That’s fine with me. I have some unfinished business too, so I’ll see you then.”

“You promise,” she asked, raising her pinky finger.

“I promise,” he replied in kind.

So then, both brought together the finger to seal their promise. Maybe they had both lost in the competition, and they couldn’t have their battle right now, but in exchange for that, Katie felt she’d won something more important.

The next time she and John saw each other, they’d cease to be rivals to become traveling companions. Then, she could act as a true friend, just like he wanted and deserved.

FIN.