For the past two days, Inoru and I hiked and camped through Ilex Forest.

It was hard to describe, but I was sure mythical Pokémon existed just by how it felt to be in and walk through the forest. Almost as if Celebi was real, hidden within the forest, magically.

Maybe it was the eerie way the forest felt,

After a bit of searching, I stumbled upon Celebi's shrine.

It was a simple and tiny wooden structure upon some stilts near the forest center.

The entire shrine looked ancient, in fact, I could tell the metal hinges keeping the doors of the shrine intact had been replaced several times. Its wood had clearly needed to be replaced as well, and it some of the offerings placed to Celebi clearly went back ages.

Inoru cleared his throat. "Should we?"

I nodded without a word.

Inoru and I lit some incense, knelt in front of the shrine with our hands in our lap and eyes closed, for well over half an hour in silence in prayer to honor Celebi.

After we were done, we stood up, and were about to leave.

"Ino, what can you tell me about the spirit this shrine pays its respects to?"

He gripped his walking staff. "Well, the Elders say that hundreds of years ago, when Azalea Town was still too small to be connected to other villages. A great blaze started by bandits ended up burning the entire town to the ground."

I nodded. "And?"

"The villagers prayed for a miracle to save their fallen family members and their lost home. The Protector of Ilex Forest appeared and granted their wishes, turning back time to before Azalea Town was burnt to ashes," explained Inoru. "The spirit had managed to let the villagers keep their memories, and they were able to dispatch the bandits and save their town. This shrine has been built and maintained since then, to honor the spirit forever."

I always wondered that.

As I already knew, deities in this world were Pokémon. In my old world, technically fully sentient and intelligent beasts.

"So then, how come no one in Azalea Town mentioned Cel-" I stopped myself. "The spirit? We were just there?"

"It's mostly a myth. Most Pokémon capable of forever changing mankind's destiny disappeared long ago." Inoru said. "I highly doubt anyone will ever witness them ever again."

I looked over at the Shrine, and within its small open doors.

There was no open slot to put in a GS Ball, not even a small drawing of Celebi to indicate the shrine was meant to honor it.

As we moved on and walked down the forest path, I kept talking to Inoru. "You really think these Pokémon aren't real?"

"Whether they are or aren't will always be impossible to know, I think." he muttered. "The first lesson we as monks learn and teach, is that these Pokémon are meant as cautionary tales. As reminders of humanity's flaws and weaknesses, Pokémon, or at least, the great spirits lost to time, saved us assuming we'd honor their memories and sacrifices."

"That's why we don't eat meat, and why we live in solitude, pray, and seek to perfect the ancient arts every single day."

"Yes." Inoru said. "The first sages were never students of Mew, yet only seemed to worship and study Mew's decision to save the world from utter annihilation. That connection, at least in part, is Speech."

"Aura." I added.

"Mhm." Ino nodded. "Some monks have a connection to the eternal plane so strong, have understood themselves, the world around them, and Pokémon so well, that they can speak to Pokémon's spirits. They can, in a way, directly influence the minds and emotions of Pokémon greatly, and those of people as well."

I remembered the day the monks saved me back on Mount Takujimi.

They were using Aura to calm a wild Vigoroth and force it to flee. I wondered, just how did this power exist? How did one use it, and if I had it or not?

"I've only seen the use of Speech once, the day I was taken into Takujimi Shrine."

"Speech is the most ancient and noble art, I myself never could learn much of it at all."

"How does one attain the use of Aura?"

"You can't," said Inoru. "You have to be born with it. Elder Toji and a few of his Initiates are the few monks alive who can manipulate Aura. It's what makes Takujimi temple so special, why I went on such a pilgrimage to learn of it. Only through endless dedication and study of the other arts can one hope to discover they can use Aura."

Which meant that even if I kept waking up every single morning to study calligraphy, archery, karate, history, prayers, and everything else Inoru and the Sages could teach me. I might not even be able to use that power.

It was things like these that really cemented the fact that the Pokémon world was well, a world, with realistic rules and qualities that still differed it from my old one.

All the cool and super interesting parts of the Pokémon world such as legendaries, and Aura, which were saved for things like the Pokémon films, and characters like Ash Ketchum, weren't really that available for people like me or even the average person. Or at all.

I kept walking alongside Inoru towards Goldenrod City in thought.

This just made a lot of sense to me.

As a young child, I always imagined that if I was in the Pokémon world, Pokémon like Mewtwo and Articuno would be very easy to find and catch. That they were always programmed to be in the same spot, a cave or a dungeon where you would just go up to them and catch them.

Just waiting for a child to capture them and make them, beings able to rewrite the entire fabric of reality or oftentimes capable of infinite psychic power, ready to be made partners for fighting in competitive battling. In this world, it seems like that could never be the case.

The entire basis for my religion, and the beliefs of the monks, were predicated on just that. That there were some Pokémon you simply couldn't catch, based purely on their uniqueness, rarity, and power, even if they were Pokémon. Finding them alone was a journey unto itself, if they even still existed.

Mew was a deity or an entity as powerful and infinite as Giratina, but it saw something in humanity worth saving. It wouldn't have really been affected by humanity's destruction but Mew still intervened and actually risked its safety for our sake.

And the question monks asked themselves, and I asked myself every day, was, why?

Whatever the answer was, it was our job to nurture and guide that reason. And I'm pretty sure I knew the answer, probably.

I looked over at Growlithe, the fire puppy happily following me and warding off Paras.

It was most likely our connection to Pokémon, one I planned to maintain better and better with my own as time went on.

…

For the next four days, Inoru and I hiked toward Goldenrod City.

It should've taken less time, but we took the scenic route, made sure to set aside as much time as possible for training both myself in the arts of the Sprout Order, and my team.

Inoru and I sparred near waterfalls and old ruins deep within Ilex Forest every single day, meditated together, and studied scrolls.

But the greatest amount of growth I saw was in my team, who I felt began to come into their own.

Ursaring's greatest attribute was his physical strength. He wasn't slow by any means, but often held enough power behind his blows to keep up with Vigoroth based on raw damage. Ursaring typically only used Fury Swipes, and Slash, with a novice grasp of Faint Attack.

Growlithe's greatest attribute was speed. His battle with Scyther had greatly sharpened his reflexes and taught both him and myself that speed and timing was the deciding factor in a Pokémon battle between landing blows and not. Growlithe had begun to perfect Bite and Ember above all, appearing to have all the necessary tools to one day learn Flame Wheel and eventually Flamethrower.

He had limitless energy during battles as a very young pup, but I had been able to refine that vigor into skill with drills and experience from my main:

Vigoroth.

Vigoroth by far was the best Pokémon on my team, and besides Blue's Blastoise, the best one I'd seen compete in the Pokémon League.

He combined the overwhelming physical strength Ursaring possessed with the explosive and near infinite energy and speed of Growlithe. Vigoroth's Slash alone was precise, fast, and strong enough to likely cut through whatever was in front of him, and if it wasn't, he was adaptable and tough enough to keep going anyway.

With constant practice and drills, Vigoroth's fastest attack was Fury Swipes by far, which would likely be able to work as a deterrent or set up for other moves.

But Counter was Vigoroth's secret weapon, which was the only Fighting type move I'd been able to teach Vigoroth despite how much karate I practiced myself, and taught it every single day. I highly expected it to be the deciding factor in my upcoming battle against Whitney.

…

Inoru, someone I knew who valued the honoring of the great Spirits, or several mythical Pokémon, and the studies of the Order, actually seemed impressed for a split second when we came into view of Goldenrod City.

Bellsprout and Growlithe following us, we hiked over a tall hill overlooking the metropolis just after sunset, and Goldenrod City was indeed a city.

Goldenrod was so large and expansive it appeared to be the capital of the entire Johto region. The city's night skyline was gorgeous, a colorful painting of lights against the night's sky that stretched as far as the eye could see.

When we walked inside the city, the resemblance I saw to Kyoto and Osaka was uncanny. I had visited Osaka and Osaka Castle in my previous life once before, and it looked nearly identical besides all the Pokémon around.

The waterways running under a few of the streets and a couple of bridges, I felt like for just a moment, I was back in Japan walking around Osaka.

Several people on the street recognized me and wanted a picture on their Pokégear and such.

And with that, the talk of my arrival in Goldenrod City began.

Goldenrod City's Pokémon Center was actually part of a giant skyscraper, from what I understood, Goldenrod City's Gym was so large it could host tournaments of any size, so people typically came from all over just to compete here.

So, the size of the Pokémon Center was adjusted to accommodate that.

I was able to register to challenge Whitney from the Pokémon Center itself, and was allowed a week at most to prepare.

Whitney was particularly busy it seemed, she did modeling I think and helped promote tons of Miltank products, and helped girls from around Goldenrod City build their own teams.

Whitney's fame in a city this big proved my earlier assumption about Clair. Clair appeared to be the unofficial mayor of Blackthorn City, and in part, Whitney, the unofficial mayor of Goldenrod.

And it made sense, Pokémon battling was the driving sport of the entire world, as I knew and continued to understand with the bit of popularity I myself had gotten, every single kid wanted to grow up to become a Pokémon trainer.

Whitney's skill level and respect in Goldenrod were equal, the top restaurant in the city was booked for weeks simply because the owner received the endorsement of being Whitney's favorite restaurant.

Miltank products were absurdly popular because of her, and after some digging through the days I trained, I found out why.

It wasn't just that Whitney was the local Gym leader, everyone knew who Whitney was. Whitney used the wealth generated from her Gym to fund the communication tower DJ Mary, the reporter I met, worked at.

She was literally part of the reason why all of Johto could stay so interconnected. Goldenrod City's Radio Tower helped run servers for most of Johto's connection to the Pokénet, this world's version of the internet.

And her skill level alone helped fuel that.

Gold and Crystal beat Bugsy very recently and immediately challenged Whitney. Both had lost, she had swept their entire team using just one Pokémon. I had done enough research, both online and by talking to local Goldenrod citizens that Whitney regularly beat trainers of a much higher skill than mine when challenging her for a badge. After a long enough stay in such a large city, I came to a simple conclusion:

Whitney was the cutoff line between good trainers, and great trainers.

It wasn't unheard of at all, for trainers she beat to come back and defeat her in turn for her badge on the second and usually third try, but those with a very promising start to their competitive Pokémon careers, typically found their Whitney challenge as a fork in the road.

Toward becoming the best of the best, or never even qualifying in tournaments like the Indigo Conference to challenge the Elite Four.

Only a few trainers had ever beaten Whitney on their very first try, only those like Red, Blue, Leaf, and champions from other regions as well. All those who had lost on their first try didn't ever get so much as a bronze medal in the Indigo Conference.

I had studied as much of her footage online as I could, talked to as many people, and trained as consistently and diligently as I could in the prior days, and developed a strategy I think would help add me to that list.

…

The morning of my challenge to Whitney, I drank some tea and ate some toast, thinking of how exactly the WCPL was organized.

Currently, I was in what was more or less what I called the bronze tier of the World Competitive Pokémon League. Trying to figure out my team, challenging Gym leaders, and competing in mostly local tournaments. Around the seventh or eighth Gym badge level was the maximum.

Then there was the silver tier. Those ready to compete at tournaments like the Indigo Conference, which included the very best from Johto and Kanto, that Ash Ketchum typically lost during in the first few seasons of the anime. You needed a first place win at the Indigo Plateau Conference to challenge the Elite Four, otherwise, you never qualified.

Gold tier were the top ten or so Trainers in the entire world. Those who not only won at their respective Conferences in their regions but also beat the Elite Four to become Grand Champions.

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I had strategized and researched well enough to determine that only Gold tier Pokémon Trainers could beat Whitney on their very first try at this stage. Despite only being typically the third or fourth Gym challenge for most Trainers, Whitney's record in all of her challenges was leagues better than those in the rest of Kanto and Johto.

I checked Whitney's official WCPL profile. To date, to those who challenged her on their first attempt, Whitney has only given out about seventeen badges, after running the Goldenrod City Gym for over a decade. When she was challenged on an average of one to three times a month.

She had gained second and third place ribbons with her official team she didn't typically use for challenges as far as Unova and Sinnoh in tournaments that typically included the likes of Volkner and sometimes Lance.

I was ready though. I felt ready for this match.

As I approached the arena, even with Inoru by my side, I felt nervous for the very first time in my life for a Pokémon battle.

Since I knew it was the first time I might actually lose.

…

Goldenrod City's Gym was an arena like no other. While the actual competition area was merely a floor made of simple earth with the classic white painted outlines for the ring, surrounded by green walls. The stands were gigantic, held in place by machinery that could adjust for size based on how many rings there were.

Since there was just one standard WCPL ring for today's challenge, the stands could seat thousands. And unfortunately for my nerves, the galleries were mostly filled.

I think it was because I was the first person in a long time people theorized even had a chance of defeating Whitney on their first try. Everyone knew how good she was, I did, and I mostly spent my time talking to Inoru or training.

I checked in, warmed up a little bit next to the ring and stretched, and then sent my team out of their balls.

Growlithe hadn't ever seen so many people gathered in one place in his life, Ursaring was a bit surprised at how many people were in the stands but more or less just shrugged it off. Vigoroth had his arms crossed, listening to me intently.

"We went over our strategy earlier this week guys. Always listen to me if things don't go to plan, I'll tell you what to do. We got this." I had to lie about how on edge the size of the crowd was putting me. "Don't worry about the noise. Just listen to me."

"Arf!"

Growlithe understood my orders on a dime, no longer having that mischievous and innocent glint in his eye to always play instead of taking battles seriously through actually fighting through them. He sat on his rear directly by my side, ready for battle.

Ursaring lowed and sharpened his claws, Vigoroth simply nodded without a sound.

I returned Ursaring and Vigoroth when I heard the crowd begin to cheer.

Thousands cheered as the Sweetheart of Goldenrod, The Incredibly Pretty Girl Trainer appeared from the other end of the competition area from the locker rooms.

I was surprised that someone who had given so many youngsters on their Gameboys and Nintendo DS' so much grief could be so attractive in real life.

Whitney was an absolutely gorgeous, admittedly quite busty, and fair skinned girl of twenty six of average height wearing a pink and white outfit.

Just by looking at her I could tell she possessed Clair's strength and cunning for Pokémon battles, but with something she severely lacked: charisma.

Young girls, aged from as young as seven or eight, to their late teens filled the stands, cheering for Whitney loudly.

I spotted DJ Mary and her camera man ready to record the match, Inoru not far from her in the stands.

A Pokémon League official gestured for Whitney and I to shake hands. "This will be a standard three on three Gym challenge, no Pokémon beyond secondary evolutions will be allowed. No timer or decisions, good luck to both of you.

"Good luck," she said as we crossed the edge of the ring and did so.

"Thanks."

I think I'd need it, but I needed to keep my nerve.

Whitney released a Nidorina, and Growlithe merely bounded forward from my side.

"Begin!"

Contrary to what I was expecting, what I thought would be a ditzy and aloof vacuous girl the Pokémon Games implied, ended up being one of the best Trainers I'd ever encountered in my life, possibly up there with Blue.

I thought Growlithe would blow right through her earlier Pokémon and make it right to Miltank in a flash, but he didn't. He actually needed to work.

Growlithe had actually taken a solid Tackle before landing enough Embers to put Nidorina out of commission.

A few in the crowd, mostly her fan girls, groaned in disappointment, but thousands cheered when Growlithe knocked out Nidorina.

"Great job!" I said.

He didn't pant and wag his tail, warmed up and ready for the next battle.

"Don't think this one will be as easy!" chirped Whitney from the other end of the ring. "Clefairy, go!"

After she switched out her Pokémon, Clefairy, actually ended up being easy. Easier than Nidorina somehow.

Metronome and Doubleslap would've been effective…had Growlithe not already been warmed up and more than ready to sink his fangs right into Clefairy.

A couple Bites and Whitney was speaking quickly from her Trainer's box to her rattled Normal type. "Attack Clefairy! Use your combinations!"

Growlithe was much too good at controlling the distance between him and Clefairy to be hit with anything significant.

"Use Ember!"

The Clefairy soon shrieked when Growlithe basked it in flames.

She stumbled over and with the entire side of her body burnt black, Clefairy struggled to stay on her feet.

"Clefairy is unable to battle. This round goes to Growlithe!" the judge waved a blue flag upwards to his left.

Raising an eyebrow, Whitney glanced at the judge before recalling her Clefairy. I actually disagreed with that call too, but I think both her and I knew that Growlithe had her.

"That beginner's luck ends this round!" I heard a girl shout out from the stands.

I didn't think so, so far, the plan was working.

While taking two more hits than I was expecting, as opposed to zero, Growlithe had made it to Whitney's final Pokémon.

"You know what to do Miltank!"

Mooing much how a cow did, Whitney's Miltank was released from her Great ball.

"Ready? Begin!"

Miltank's Stomp was so fast Growlithe was caught right in the snout.

Launching off her rear hoofs, Miltank struck Growlithe with her front hooves just as the flames began to build in his jaw to release an Ember.

With a smack Growlithe went flying, quickly shook his head and recovered, moving around the ring to readjust.

"Use Stomp again!" shouted Whitney.

This time Miltank missed, but Growlithe barely got away.

Growlithe's Ember barely dealt any damage, Miltank was more than easily able to evade, or just outright tank the blow on her thick hide with an impressive amount of physical defense.

After landing another Stomp cleanly, this time right on Growlithe's side, I got a bit nervous. Before, I remembered my strategy.

There was no way Growlithe was going to be able to beat Miltank, nor Ursaring, I knew this, just stall and disable, stall and disable in order to help Vigoroth finish it off.

"Duck and roll Growlithe!"

"Arf!" the pup yipped, remembering what we practiced, seemingly shaking off his own nerves from facing such a strong Pokémon in the ring.

Being hit twice so fast and so hard didn't shake Growlithe when it should've otherwise when I knew Growlithe was a bit younger, starting to fight very defensively.

That did what I wanted, it got Whitney thinking, needing to switch from Stomp to a move I knew she'd try eventually.

"Rollout now Miltank! Use Rollout!"

The cow Pokémon tucked forward into a ball and began to roll forward at Growlithe like a boulder.

He had more than enough time to somersault aside and dodge, but fearlessly moved forward right towards Miltank, taking the blow head on. Despite dealing a fierce amount of damage with how much of her weight she rolled over Growlithe, my strategy was successful for this stage of the match.

If Growlithe had the timing to turn and latch onto Miltank's udders that'd work and he'd be crushed under her weight. If not, he'd be crushed by her back, and latch on regardless.

Growlithe ended up still being able to fight despite being crushed by Miltank's back, using Bite to stick to her like super glue.

This puppy had been burning through chew toys ever since I returned from Viridian City, Growlithe wouldn't let go of Miltank's back no matter what happened.

As Miltank continued to roll, despite her speed, Growlithe was more than quick enough to use Ember at point blank range.

It didn't appear too effective, he was just burning Miltank's back after all. But it was successful in stopping Miltank's Rollout, out of confusion as to what was happening more than anything.

Before Whitney Miltank for that matter could react, Growlithe quickly popped right off Miltank's back onto the ground, and latched directly onto Miltank's udders.

"Miltank get him off of you! Now!" she shouted.

The damage had already been done.

Growlithe combined Bite and Ember into the same attack, my Duck and Roll had worked, just a tiny hit away from being knocked out and on his last legs, the puppy had bitten and burnt Miltank's udders.

"Heal yourself! Use Milk Drink!"

Miltank could only produce half the milk she could otherwise, Growlithe had burnt two of the four teats necessary to limit her Milk Drink.

I knew going into this that all of Miltank's moves in this battle would be very effective. Attract, Rollout, Stomp, and especially Milk Drink. Ursaring and Growlithe's job would be to limit each of them in order to let Vigoroth land the final blow, they'd never be able to win so why bother?

Whitney was actually both surprised and amused at my strategy for a moment before speaking. "Just finish this off Miltank!"

She didn't need to be told twice.

On tired legs, Growlithe was Stomped to the other edge of the ring right against the wall, and then squished again with Rollout not nearly able to evade anymore, knocked out cold.

"Clever." Whitney smiled, nodding slightly.

I recalled Growlithe. "Growlithe is unable to battle! Miltank is the winner of this round!"

Ursaring didn't have much better luck.

Miltank's Rollout was a nightmare, Ursaring's size and strength were enough so that it wasn't totally devastating, but he could not land his own strikes, at least not effectively.

Ursaring growled, trying to land anything on the cow that kept spinning around him endlessly.

He lunged forward, using Slash to slightly knock Miltank off balance.

As she uncurled from her ball, Ursaring rocked backward, as Stomp, and Miltank's hoof, crashed right into his snout.

Ursaring restabilized as Miltank was about to curl into a ball again to use Rollout.

Instead, mostly out of rage, Ursaring blindly swiped to pick up Miltank with a claw. Even with Miltank's weight, Ursaring could pick up the Milk Cow Pokémon by one leg and dangle her upside down in the air off the ground slightly.

Without a moment's hesitation, Ursaring did as I had instructed earlier, to drink Miltank's Milk.

A few in the crowd laughed thoroughly as Ursaring squeezed some milk from Miltank's udders before she smacked him in the snout with a hoof in annoyance. It wasn't enough to damage him, but enough to get him to drop her.

Whitney chuckled. "He's trying to manipulate your Milk Drink in his own favor. Protect your udders Miltank!" she said, trying to keep a straight face.

Ursaring barely healed from the move, and Whitney and Miltank had already adapted, but I got what I wanted. It appeared to keep Whitney on her toes judging from her words, likely wondering just what else I had up my sleeve.

So far, all I'd done to her Pokémon was cut her healing option in half, but Ursaring's job wasn't done.

Sure he wasn't going to be quick enough to land Slash effectively against Miltank but that didn't matter. I could use Ursaring in other ways. While Ursaring didn't know Earthquake yet, I had modified the move well enough so that Ursaring could limit Rollout's effectiveness.

While Rollout was a Rock type move, it worked best on the terrain Whitney had in her gym. A flat earthy surface that offered no resistance or friction. So, as Ursaring clawed and grabbed aimlessly at the cow rolling about everywhere, he made a giant mess of things.

He'd stomp around and flail, roaring, making sure to dig his claws in as hard as he could, over reaching his strikes so that he could rupture and split the earth apart.

Soon enough, despite taking several hits, Ursaring was successful, Miltank's Rollout was slightly worsened by how choppy and cut up the entire ring was. He barely landed one Slash against Miltank's flank before I saw her send an almost three hundred pound Bear Pokémon flying like a bowling pin, smacking against the wall behind him.

It was a tradeoff, allowing Rollout to build strength and damage while slightly limiting its effectiveness. It was the most Ursaring was going to be able to do.

"The round goes to Whitney!" the judge waved a red flag.

Miltank kept spinning and using Rollout, smoothing out the ground beneath her, overturning my strategy. I had to respond quickly.

"Come out swinging Vigoroth!"

Then, the crowd almost gasped collectively.

Vigoroth showed off the degree of timing, reflexes, and technique all my karate and his battling experience had given him.

Miltank's own Rollout worked against her. It had grown so powerful that Vigoroth would've certainly been knocked out and the match over, but instead, he spun on his leg into Ushiro Geri, the spinning back kick.

The ground cracked and split around Vigoroth from the blow as he used Roar victoriously, almost in a kiai.

Miltank went flying backwards, tearing up so much of the ground from her Rollout being stopped that a massive dust cloud rose.

When it settled, the crowd seemingly gasped again.

Vigoroth was bouncing on the balls of his feet his left hand forward and his rear hand by his chest, in a classic karate fighting stance.

Miltank rose onto her hooves, quickly drinking some of her own milk, half again from Growlithe's earlier Burn he landed on her udders.

That was when I knew Counter was working, the timing was effective enough to land a super effective fighting move.

"Go get him Miltank!" shouted Whitney, pointing forward.

Vigoroth bounced in place, waiting for Miltank to attack.

Miltank tucked into Rollout, flying forward, at the last second, she launched off the ground into Stomp, sending a flying kick directly to Vigoroth's side.

He turned, grabbing her leg and smacking her directly against the ground, hard.

Miltank was able to turn and spin away as the ground shattered around Vigoroth's claw, failing to finish her with a smashing Slash attack.

Vigoroth released the pieces of earth embedded into his claws, by flinging them right at Miltank, but these missed completely when they struck her spinning body, again using Rollout.

Miltank's Rollout again failed when he stood in front of her until the very last second, using a leg sweep to time his leg to trip Miltank as she spun.

Miltank easily recovered and turned to face Vigoroth on all fours, pausing for just a moment before the battle continued.

For the next few minutes, Miltank and Vigoroth traded blows, Rollout against Slash.

Going back and forth, the crowd roared and cheered every time a strike landed, the two even for a bit.

Vigoroth was having trouble, because he couldn't control the ring like he otherwise could've with Pokémon who weren't constantly in a ball rolling around. Miltank's speed and power with Stomp were greatly enhanced by Rollout.

And all the earth Ursaring had torn up to hamper Rollout's speed and effectiveness was more or less smoothed out of the way or merely blasted apart by the power behind the exchange of blows.

Miltank crashed right into a block into Vigoroth's right arm, supported by his left, and the entire arena seemed to shake for a moment.

He wasn't rattled despite the blow, and the match continued.

Vigoroth was just waiting for the right time to start landing Counter, and he did.

Miltank repeatedly kept using nothing but Rollout to either crash into Vigoroth directly, or to make him change angles where she could time a Stomp attack with her hooves on Vigoroth's torso or head.

Vigoroth would sidestep and throw a round kick, again the back kick, and the red glow that appeared for a second on his legs as this happened indicated this was Counter.

The timing Vigoroth had was saving the match, he'd have been flattened by Rollout minutes ago if he hadn't mastered this move.

The Milk Drink Milktank had sipped while dodging Vigoroth's Slash attacks when she paused from Rollout was barely healing the damage these blows inflicted. This match was a team effort all the way, right down to the final bell.

Vigoroth saw that Miltank was getting winded, as much strength and healing as she had, Miltank could only take so many super effective Counters.

Before Miltank could tuck again into another Rollout, Vigoroth timed her yet again, having taken enough hits to slow down her Rollout that much.

Vigoroth grabbed Miltank by the arm and then used an uppercut style Slash directly to Miltank's head, sending her flying backwards.

"Stop! The judge shouted.

Vigoroth froze and then, when the dust settled, the judge spoke again.

"Miltank can no longer continue! The winner goes to the challenger from Takujimi!"

I won.

I almost couldn't believe it for a moment, and then several in the crowd rose to their feet in applause.

…

"I expect Mary will want an interview."

"Yeah, right."

Whitney calmly sat in her simple looking office, I was holding the Plain Badge she had given me.

She wasn't crying, because as I had realized even before the match began, she was an adult woman in her mid-twenties. Not a young girl anymore.

"So," she said in a sweet voice. "How'd you do that?"

My knowledge from the video games mostly. The anime helped, somewhat.

No matter what starter you picked, you didn't have super effective hits to knock out Miltank before her Rollout flattened you. Her strategy was to use Normal types that relied heavily on Physical attacks, that was more or less what let me be so successful until this point.

"Vigoroth's Counter," I said simply. "He's always been sharper in the ring since I taught him karate."

"Karate?" Whitney said. "Didn't know a Vigoroth could learn that. You impressed me today, I imagine you impressed a lot of people."

"Thank you."

"I have a bit of advice for you. Moving forward, you're going to find Gym leaders whose style matches yours. Some who have a certain kind of appeal."

"What kind?"

Whitney shrugged. "Mine, except they might be willing to use it to manipulate you."

I wouldn't mind that kind of manipulation honestly. But I admitted that I did see her point.

"Chuck has his karate, Clair, I think has already tried to get you to join her team. They'd really want to help add you to their Gyms. But never seek any path but your own." said Whitney. "Have you ever heard of the phrase. If I can't have something, no one can?"

"Yeah."

"Johto thinks like that in a way. We've never had a world champion. Kanto's had three, Sinnoh a couple. But Johto's never even placed in world championships."

"Really? Never?"

"Never," Whitney said flatly. "You and your Vigoroth have the makings to make it that far. And I suspect you wanted to prove that today."

"I was actually a bit nervous. Just had to hide it so my team could perform."

"That's perfectly natural." Whitney smiled. "Great job today."

"Thank you Gym Leader Whitney."

Inoru hugged me when I left her office.

"I'm so proud."

"Let's sneak out of this city and onto Ecruteak, shall we?"

Inoru was more than happy to dodge the fanfare and journalists with me. "Let's." he smiled.

…

That night, I knew just how many people wanted to talk to me.

Goldenrod City was a center for telecommunication for much of the Pokémon World, and I had beaten who was essentially the mayor of that city in a Pokémon battle in my first Gym challenge.

It was the hardest I'd ever seen Vigoroth have to battle, even harder than when he battled Silver's Bayleef.

On a small hill overlooking Goldenrod City's truly gorgeous night skyline, I released my team from their balls as Inoru napped, his Bellsprout sleeping soundly nearby.

"Great job today guys."

Growlithe had been healed quickly at a Pokémon Center we found nearby, as had Ursaring.

"You all did exactly as I asked, you really came through, and I could not be prouder of you all." I said.

I was hoping these three Pokémon, especially Growlithe, could understand just how well they had fought today.

"This was the best you've ever done in competition, and I could not ask for a better team. So thank you." I smiled.

Growlithe walked forward a bit, and nuzzled his head into my shin, whining slightly. I rubbed his head, grateful that the puppy understood just how, grateful I was for him.

Ursaring seemed to scratch his side, bowing his head slightly.

And Vigoroth nodded deeply. His stoicism was something I deeply appreciated, and days like these and battles like the one he had against Bayleef really helped illuminate his growth.

He truly looked up to me as some sort of parental figure, even now with how big he'd grown. The loss of his mother from such a young age, and me raising him all the way from the nursery in Takujimi shrine made him fight with a degree of intensity I had not seen.

Vigoroth absolutely refused to lose during a match. For me. Based on the pure desire to win behind his battling, was what helped him carry through to victory over Miltank today.

Even during matches like today's, he battled as if his life depended on it.

I didn't know how my team would grow or where we'd all end up, but I was happy for how well they did.

I had gotten three Gym badges in as many months, and was well on my way to earning my fourth soon.

I took out and looked down at the pendant Elder Toji gave me I always wore with me, wondering if I'd ever see Espeon again. And if I would ever had a chance of owning an Eevee, or being able to raise it into an Espeon either.