Castle of Shadows

-.-.-

Part 1: Ideals

-.-.-

Chapter 3: Rivals

-.-.-

For this part of the story, let's head back down to Nuvema Town. It was a quiet morning in the quaint little village, the adults still getting used to not having the only resident children running around. Yes, all was peaceful, not that it wasn't usually. Well, except for one of the houses, specifically the one on the bottom-left of the town. It was much more restless than the others. In front of the gate sat a mailbox, reading "The Jones Household". Living inside were Eloise; a slow-paced mother that didn't really fret with too much, Patrick; a father that was pretty much the opposite, and the usually lively Bianca.

As you can probably imagine, without the flighty blond running around, getting excited over every little detail, the household was much calmer than usual. Eloise didn't seem to notice. She just stood in the kitchen, cleaning dishes to be spick and span while softly humming to herself, not worrying about having a whining daughter run down the stairs at any moment complaining about something exceedingly childish. The only sound was the song she was humming, sometimes being broken by a squeak of one of the cloths upon the dishes. She was perfectly happy with her situation at the moment, though she would have to get used to not constantly thinking about what was best for her daughter.

The other remaining resident, Patrick, was much more concerned by the lack of his daughter's voice. He was a little more protective when it came to Bianca, and, though he'd been told many times by Eloise to calm down and allow her to be a teenager, he was still reluctant to let his little girl out of his fingertips just yet. As he walked down the stairs that morning, newspaper in hand an eyes planted on the still-oblivious Eloise, his eyes were squinted suspiciously at the lack of a certain someone.

Promptly, he made his way to the kitchen counter and placed his elbows on it, leaning his weight and completely discarding the paper. Eloise took no notice, and instead continued to wash the dishes without much more of a care in the world. Usually, she would have sighed by now, or shaken her head whenever Patrick took that stance. It had definitely occurred more than once. This time, however, she was merely trying to ignore the conversation she knew would start as much as possible for as long as possible.

Finally, Patrick asked the question she was secretly dreading. "Where's Bianca?" he asked, calmly at first, his eyes scanning the room as if she would show up out of nowhere. He stood taller and crossed his arms, staring suspiciously at his wife. "Because she went to White's for her birthday party yesterday and I haven't seen her since."

Nothing issued from Eloise except for silence. Placing a dish on the edge of the sink a little harder than she could have, she tried to break the silence and think up another conversation in the meantime, or at least find a viable excuse for their daughter's absence.

When Patrick began to pace around the room, however, she knew there was absolutely no escape. "I don't know about you," he continued, trying to avoid his teeth from gritting, "but I seem to recall a phone call from Aurea the other day. She said something about handing Pokémon out to Bianca and her friends."

Eloise coughed, gripping the cup in her hand harder and placing it frustratingly down on the sink. "And you said that would be fine." She turned around to face Patrick, standing eye-to-chin with him. Though she wasn't quite as tall as him, she never had a problem standing up to him about their daughter's freedom before. Why should she now?

Patrick nodded. "Yes, I said that. But I also said that she would have to convince me as to why she would be allowed to travel with that Pokémon." He crossed his arms, tapping a foot and waiting for the reply from Eloise.

"Oh, for goodness sake," hissed Eloise under her breath. "Give the girl a break. She's fifteen now, Pat. She doesn't need to stay cooped up in this old town." She paused, her glaring face getting harsher and harsher. "You're too restrictive. You went on a journey when you were younger than her!"

"But I knew more about the world than she did," said Patrick, clenching his fists. "I don't like the idea of her going out into the world like that. She's not ready. Why did you let my little girl leave without telling me?"

The tension in the room only grew tighter and tighter with every single word. It was like a thick cord was wrapped around both of their bodies, making them stiffen up and stare into each others eyes with simultaneous glares that could have sent shivers down anyone's spine.

Eloise straightened up. "Your little girl?" she snapped. "One: she's not little anymore. She's not a child, Pat. And two: she's also mine. Don't you think I should have an equal say in this? Aurea isn't an idiot. She wouldn't give Pokémon to people who weren't ready. Besides, she's got White and Cheren to help her. They're some of the most loyal friends out there!"

Patrick growled under his breath, now barely parting his lips as he spoke, let alone his teeth. It felt like they were glued together with superglue, and he wasn't willing to pull them apart anytime soon. "They're young, too." He turned around, walking towards the door. "I'm going to get her and she's coming straight home!"

Hesitating, Eloise leapt off of her post and gripped her husband tight on the shoulder, causing him to whorl around. Even he jumped at the venomous look she had on her face, her brown eyes nearly red with anger and her skin completely flushed.

"Look," she growled, teeth beginning to ache from being stuck together for so long, "she's barely been gone for a day. Give the girl a chance, won't you? If anything happens, she'll come straight home. If you don't let her go out into the world, what's she going to do when she gets older? She'll know nothing."

Patrick opened his mouth to retort, but Eloise kept talking even after the pause.

"I won't let her sit here alone when both of her friends are out on a journey, you hear me? Besides," She let go of Patrick's shoulder, walking back towards the kitchen, "she's got her Pokémon with her. They'll protect her."

And with that, she took her usual station at the sink, picking up the dishes again like nothing had happened. Patrick, very unhappy with the result of his argument, conceded defeat and bit his lip to stop himself from yelling. As he stomped over to the counter to grab his newspaper, he knew that Eloise was watching him out of the corner of her eye, mentally warning him not to do anything.

So he didn't. Instead, he went upstairs to read his paper, reluctant to emerge at all.

-.-.-

Back in Accumula town, around an hour after the argument, White was emerging from her bed in the Pokémon Center, stretching her body out and yawning extremely loudly. Her eyes groggy and her eyelashes sticking together in reluctance to let her eyes open entirely, she struggled to stand up, walking over to the mirror on the other side of the room.

At the foot of her bed lay Oshawott and Lillipup, both still sound asleep from the previous day. Oshawott was snoring rather loudly, mouth wide open and nose turned up into the air. Lillipup was much less of a nuisance, sleeping almost silently through the night, though White was sure he'd woken up a few times and plotted murder on the adjacent Oshawott.

Turning towards the mirror and beginning to tie her hair up, White remembered the events from the previous day. For a first day of travelling, it was certainly more memorable than she would have thought. Turns out they'd hit Accumula town at its most eventful time, and no one even saw it coming. With seeing Ghetsis and meeting N, she figured that that was a day she wouldn't forget anytime soon.

Despite this, she'd still woken up that morning in a state of complete confusion. What with waking up in a strange place that she'd never stepped foot in before with two Pokémon at the foot of her bed, she almost fell out of bed due to the shock. What stopped her was seeing Oshawott's pokéball lying on her bedside table, then proceeding to hear the snores of said Pokémon at the end of her bed. At the time, she'd been completely relieved, though she still had a strange sense of insecurity running through her veins due to being in an unfamiliar place.

Even so, she wasted no time getting changed into her usual attire and waking up her two Pokémon, ready for her second day of being a trainer. More excited than ever now that she was certain everything was completely real, she skipped over to her hat and almost slammed it down on her head, struggling to pull her clumpy ponytail through the back of it.

When she turned to her bag to pick it up, she noticed that it was vibrating before her, rumbling with what White assumed to be her X-transceiver. Sighing at the fact that her leaving was slightly delayed, she dug through the messy array of items until she saw the device, pulling it out and smiling once she saw her mother's face on the screen.

Flicking it on, she pulled it around her wrist and secured it as the call initiated. "Morning, Mum," she greeted, voice happier than her mother had ever heard. It was a pleasant surprise knowing that her daughter was at least having a decent time away from home.

"Morning," she replied, smiling a little. "How was your first day?"

White beamed, remembering the events of the previous day. "Awesome!" she announced, punching her other fist in the air. "I caught a Lillipup, see?"

With that, Lillipup, who had previously been sitting next to her, amused by the moving screen, popped his head up and gave a small yap of confusion. He turned his head to the side as the image of the other human chuckled under her breath. At least White didn't seem to be disturbed by it, so the device must be okay.

"How cute," Allison chimed, grinning at the sight. "It's always good catching your first Pokémon. Just make sure to take care of him, okay? How's Oshawott doing?"

With that, the water-type's head popped into Allison's vision and let out a cry of, "Osha!" expressing her eagerness.

"I think you can tell by that." White laughed, ruffling the short hairs on Oshawott's head. "She's doing fine. A little clumsy, but fine." Unexpectedly, she then glared at her Pokémon, who, along with Allison, seemed a little taken-aback. "She snores really loudly though. Seriously, I can't imagine how Bianca puts up with Tepig if my Pokémon snores like that."

Oshawott, though still a little shocked by the glare she'd been given, was a little relieved that she hadn't done anything wrong that was within her power to stop. She was a little embarrassed, though, knowing that White had had to put up with her all night.

Allison sighed. "Well, I'm sure you'll get used to it."

"Oh, don't worry, it's all worth it," White assured, waving her hands in the air defensively. "She's cute and strong-willed. Pretty much what I wanted in a partner."

"Well, that's good." Then came the question White had been secretly dreading. "So, did you meet any new people?"

Her heart thumped uncomfortably, and she was sure that her mother would be able to see it. Luckily, she showed no reaction to it, proving that she'd over-analysed the scene in her head. Unfortunately, the question had still been asked. How did she tell her mother that she'd met a creepy, green-haired weirdo that wanted her to release all of her Pokémon? Quite simply, she didn't. If she did, Allison probably would have called her home that instant. If she'd met someone that weird in probably the quietest city in all of Unova aside from her hometown, that would prove terrible vibes for her journey ahead.

Speaking of vibes…

"I get a strange vibe from you."

Yeah, N definitely wasn't someone she wanted to tell her mother about.

"Well, unless you count Nurse Joy at the Pokémon Center, then no, not really." She tried to sound a little disappointed, hiding the fact that she was lying as best as she could. Luckily, Allison didn't seem at all suspicious by her answer. Though she did seem a little disappointed.

"Oh, that's a shame." She shrugged. "So be it, though. I was looking forward to hearing about the people you meet, but I guess I'll have to be a little more patient." She laughed, suddenly merry with the situation again. "So, you're headed for Striaton today?"

Secretly relieved to have a different conversation lead, White nodded. "Yeah, I'm not going to hang around. Nothing much goes on here."

And she wasn't sure if she could look at that stage again without fainting from the sickly aura that Ghetsis had left on it.

"Fair enough," said Allison. "Well, I'll let you be on your way. Be good, okay?"

White grinned, winking playfully. "Will do."

Allison smiled, though she did have an uncertain look about her. "Don't get into too much trouble. I know what you can be like sometimes. Call me if anything comes up."

Laughing, White placed a finger on the hang-up button on her X-transceiver. "You have no faith in me, Mum."

Allison glared.

"Alright, alright, I'll talk to you later." Slightly exasperated, White hung up before her mother could get another word in, turning the device off and swinging her bag over her shoulder. Grinning excitedly, she turned her attention to her two Pokémon. "Okay, gang, let's head out."

-.-.-

The first thing White noticed about Route 2 was that it was much livelier than Route 1 had been. Instead of just cowardly wild Pokémon populating it, the route was overrun with young trainers, many of them battling with another, possibly livelier trainer. Most of their Pokémon were generic; a Lillipup or Patrat, and maybe a Purrloin here and there. Because of this, White felt slightly out of place with an Oshawott on her shoulder, but everyone was so immersed in their own battles that no one seemed to notice.

Beside her, Lillipup trotted along, glad to be outside in the open again. Everything he walked past, whether it be a flower or a rock, he would give a tentative sniff, sometimes jumping back if the smell was a little too strong for his liking. Due to the events of the previous day, White was keeping a close eye on him, not wanting to have him run away again. In such an open space, it would be hard to find him, and some other trainer could mistake him for a wild Pokémon.

Luckily for her, most people ignored her. Or she'd managed to avoid their eye-contact completely. She didn't really feel like battling any of them, most of them being rowdy boys that only looked about ten years of age. Besides that, she spent most of her concentration on avoiding wild Purrloin that tried to steal things from her bag, whether or not they knew exactly what was in there.

It wasn't until around half way through the route, about an hour into her walk, that anything interesting happened. She was glad, too. She'd hoped that she wouldn't have to make her way to Striaton without anything interesting happening on the two hour walk. Of course, that interesting thing was an overexcited Bianca, rushing up the path with her Tepig at her heals. White wasn't sure how she'd expected anything less.

"White!" the blond screeched, as if White hadn't just blatantly turned around and waved vigorously. Bianca, despite clearly seeing White react to her, obviously had to make sure she'd been seen, if not by everyone on the route, whose eyes had all glanced at her at least once.

Oh, well, at least Bianca's voice was a somewhat relieving break from all of the commands trainers were giving their Pokémon, followed by the thuds of a Tackle or Scratch attack. To be honest, White thought the consistency of it all was a little annoying. With all of the trainers practicing to go for the Striaton Gym badge on one, relatively small route when it came down to things, the usually quaint environment was now loud and energetic.

"Hey, Bianca." White couldn't help but grin as her friend skidded to a halt in front of her, placing her hands on her knees and panting. Beside her, Tepig was taking pretty much the same stance, nose turned to the ground and hot breath pushing out of his nose, occasionally followed by a tiny ember.

Apparently, Bianca was extremely excited (who would have guessed?) at the prospect of seeing White, and as soon as she stood up straight and laid her dark green eyes on White's dark blue ones, she pointed a finger right at her nose and glared. "I challenge you to a battle!"

Well, White couldn't say she'd expected her friend to be so mature about asking for a battle. She'd more expected her to whine and beg for one. But no, her friend was in front of her, practically demanding a battle. Because of this, she turned to face Lillipup. How could she possibly say "no"?

Seeing her immediate reaction, Bianca let out a "Whoop!" and punched the air. "Yeah! Let's get this battle started!"

As White backed off to the other side of the designated area in which they would battle, Bianca carelessly fumbled around in her bag in search of her pokéball, wherever she'd put it. Typical Bianca; completely unorganised. Tepig could only stare up at her with a blank expression on his face as his trainer tried to find her other Pokémon.

"Aha! Got it!" she said victoriously, tossing it into the air to reveal the Lillipup she'd supposedly captured the previous day.

Lillipup versus Lillipup…

This would be interesting.

White wasn't sure how strong Bianca's Lillipup was, but on the way through Route 2 her own had learned Bite while fending off a particularly aggressive Purrloin. Because of the battle with N, the puppy took battling a little more seriously, especially since he'd earned three permanent claw scars down his face from battling his Purrloin. At least White would be able to tell him apart from Bianca's Lillipup.

"Okay, just remember, mine's the one with the facial scars!" called White, gesturing towards her own Pokémon. Bianca nodded, though she did look a little disturbed by the marks, wondering where on Earth Lillipup could have gotten them from, having not seen White's half-battle with N.

Despite this, she didn't let it put her off. Being a trainer took focus, and focus she must. "Lillipup, use Tackle!"

Kicking up dust as she leaped into the air, Bianca's Lillipup skidded off the ground, the earth slightly unstable due to the thick layer of dust on top of it. Half way through the attack, she'd regained footing and figured out a way to run on such odd turf, though White's Lillipup was no less ready.

"Lillipup, dodge, and then use Bite!"

Hearing the command, White's Lillipup opened his mouth, baring his teeth and readying the attack that would be used after he leaped out of the way. Skidding to the side, having slipped uneasily on the unfamiliar ground, he executed a small roll before sliding to a halt beside the opponent and charging off of the ground, biting his teeth down on Bianca's Lillipup's flesh.

The opponent let out a yelp of surprise, flinching before the attack even landed. When White's Lillipup let go, her eyes were still shut tight out of the action. White quickly saw this as an opportunity, deciding to take it before it was over.

"Knock it over with Tackle!" she ordered, glancing over at a dismayed Bianca.

Still unable to dodge due to shock, Bianca's Lillipup was pushed to the side from the head-first Tackle. However, this brought her back into reality, and Bianca, quick to the action, called out for her to use her own Tackle, which she carried out well and managed to land her first hit on White's Lillipup.

However, it only took one more Bite from him for the opponent to faint, though shock probably contributed to that more than damage as a whole. Bianca's mouth fell open, and she returned her Pokémon without hesitation. Jumping, White's Lillipup returned to his trainer, bounding to her side and welcoming the scratch behind the ears she was giving him.

"Unlucky, B.," said White, as Oshawott jumped to the ground. "Remember that Bite can make a Pokémon flinch. I didn't actually know that until this morning, but hey, the more you know." She grinned, gesturing down to Oshawott. "Starter on starter?"

Bianca, though slightly disappointed at her previous loss, didn't complain. "Alright, even though I'll have a type disadvantage…" She trailed off before the end, but her voice rose again in her next statement. "But we'll do our best anyway, won't we, Tep?"

Snorting confidently, Tepig blew a few small embers out of his nose and leaped into battle, joining Oshawott in death-staring each other.

"We meet again, rival," said Oshawott, though all the humans behind them heard was something like, "Osha! Oshawott osh!"

Tepig grunted. "You know it. First proper battle I guess." Anticipation growing, he blew more embers out of his nose, though the action was slightly stronger and more threatening now. Or, it would have been if Oshawott wasn't practically immune to fire.

"You'll need more than a few petty flames to get rid of me." Oshawott grinned, trying to put a menacing look on her usually adorable face, but failing to intimidate her opponent in the slightest.

With their conversations, Oshawott almost didn't hear White's yell of, "Oshawott, use Water Gun!"

With a slight head-start on hearing the command, Tepig was ready to dodge the fluent stream of water that was being shot his way. Despite usually being absolutely terrified of water as a whole, when it came to Oshawott, the determination burned in his nose was so heated that he barely even raised a brow at it.

"Tepig, use Tackle!" called Bianca, not as hesitant as she'd previously been. She had to stay cool, calm, and collected. That's what real trainers did, she thought.

Oshawott, still being in the middle of recovering from Tepig's sudden jump, hadn't quite figured out where the attack was coming from, and the pig slammed head-first into her and knocked her backwards.

"Ack!" Oshawott skidded backwards on the dirt, her entire lower half getting covered in dust. Tepig snorted at her reaction noise, ready for anything that could come his way. Though he wouldn't normally be this determined, fighting either Oshawott or Snivy was a different story.

"I hit her! I Hit her!" Tepig jumped in the air, landing back on the ground and kicking up a pile of dust with his front hooves. Hearing Bianca's command to use Ember, he didn't even consider the consequences of such a move before diving into action, planting his hooves into the ground and blowing a flurry of embers out of his nostrils.

The collection of tiny flames cut through the air like torpedoes, headed straight for Oshawott. Quickly, almost out of reflex, the otter shot a stream of water out of her mouth in response. Though the attack wouldn't hurt her too much, she still remembered the professor scolding Tepig as a piglet and telling him not to play with fire. Back then, he was much less experienced, and his embers tended to go anywhere they wanted to go.

Luckily, White had called for a Water Gun, too, so she wasn't disobeying orders. As the two attacks collided, a small wisp of steam emitted from where they clashed. Almost as soon as they had appeared, the embers were dying back down again, knocked back by the water. Oshawott didn't have to push her attack too hard; fire already beat water. It was a simple concept in its own, and because of that she could trust type-matchups rather than power alone.

Closing his eyes and forcing the embers out harder, Tepig began skidding backwards from the force. Though he already knew his efforts would be futile no matter how hard the attack was, he still couldn't just give up. Come on… he thought, eyes shut so tight they were beginning to hurt.

Then, his entire body went cold as the enemy's attack hit him. Wheezing, he flew backwards, his hooves still dug into the ground and making small lines where they had skidded.

"Payback!" He heard Oshawott yell from what seemed like a mile away. His ears were filled with water and all he could manage to shoot from his nose was a bit of pitiful smoke.

When he looked up, Oshawott was already charging at him, and he meant to dodge. When he tried to, he realised that his hooves had sunk into mud sometime during the Water Gun attack. The breath left his lungs when he was hit by the Tackle, and he smashed into the tree behind him, sliding on the ground and fainting instantly.

Oshawott stood over him, her paws on her hips and her head held high in triumph.

White laughed and punched the air, rushing up to her Pokémon and picking her up. "Sorry, Bianca! Not this time!"

Bianca giggled at her comment, picking up Tepig and cradling him in her arms. "Wow, you're tough!" she exclaimed, not even seeming disappointed by her loss. "The Pokémon on both sides tried really hard. I think that was the strongest Ember Tepig has ever shown me."

White smiled, placing Oshawott on her shoulder and pulling her bag to the front of her. Digging around in it, she pulled out a purple spray bottle and handed it to Bianca; a potion.

Bianca stared at it for a moment, a little hesitant to take it from White. "Oh, but…"

White shook her head. "It's the least I can do. It won't make Tepig able to fight, but it'll maybe put him in a little less pain until we get to Striaton." Seeing the look on Bianca's face, she pushed the potion towards her, cupping it in her hands. "My mum gave me tonnes. It's fine, really."

Hearing the demanding tone to the last line, Bianca nodded and began to spray the wounds of her Tepig with the medicine. "Thanks," she said, trying to sound as grateful as possible.

She jumped as Tepig stirred, eyes opening as he looked around him.

"Tep?" he questioned, looking up to see Bianca.

"Oh, it worked!" she said excitedly. "This stuff is awesome!"

White held up a finger to silence her. "Remember; don't battle him until we get him healed properly. He's not fit for it," she said matter-of-factly. When she revised on what she said, she placed her forehead in her palm. "Oh, Arceus, I sound like Cheren."

-.-.-

Striaton City wasn't much different from Accumula Town. The apartment buildings were just as big, and the place was just as crowded. That is, not very big or crowded. For a city, Striaton was very small.

A sign at the front of the city read, "Striaton City: A town of fine cuisine". The words made White's stomach growl aggressively just by reading it. As the sign indicated, the town was filled with restaurants and tourists or travellers wanting to eat at those restaurants, and White and Bianca were happy to be part of that crowd.

"We should get Cheren to eat with us," said White as the two walked out of the Pokémon Center, their Pokémon newly healed and inside their pokéballs.

"Agreed," chirped Bianca. She was much happier since they'd taken a break inside the center for a bit. All the way to the city, White had to listen to Bianca complain about her feet being sore. Needless to say, they were both glad when they finally got to sit down.

Complaining or not, it was good to have Bianca around. White had to admit, though she had her Pokémon, travelling up uneventful routes with no one to talk to was relatively boring. Having Bianca around naturally lightened the mood, even if they didn't do anything but talk.

"Pretty vicious Purrloin, eh."

White raised a brow at Bianca's statement. "What?" She was completely puzzled, though something in the back of her head was telling her not to be; that the answer was easy.

When Bianca clarified, she wondered why she hadn't realised in the first place. "You know, the one that gave your Lillipup that scar."

Oh, that Purrloin.

"I mean, it would have to be pretty vicious for a wild Pokémon to give a trainer's Pokémon a scar for life."

White gulped when Bianca said the word "wild". The Purrloin that had left the scar was much less than wild. Bianca, however, wasn't there for the battle.

Deciding to try to end the conversation, White laughed awkwardly in response. "Oh, yeah, pretty vicious." Turning her head quickly towards the building in front of her, she began to walk unnecessarily fast towards it. "C'mon. Cheren will surely be inside the Trainers' School."

White had never been to a school. Her mother had taught her all she really needed to know up until she was fourteen and a half. It seemed odd for her to actually go to school to learn how to be a trainer. Everything she'd experienced so far was general knowledge. Or she'd learned how to do it during the encounter, like battle. But everything from catching Pokémon to caring for them was basically hammered into her brain since childhood.

Either way, Cheren wasn't going to pass up knowledge on whatever he could grab. White knew him too well to think otherwise. Because of this, when she stepped through the doors of the school to see the navy-haired boy writing down notes from a blackboard, she wasn't at all surprised. Surrounding her as she walked up to him were lines of tables, the occasional one with an up-and-coming trainer sitting on one, viciously scribbling down information. A few of them were staring at Cheren with overly curious eyes. Some of them even looked completely fascinated.

"Looks like Cheren has a fan club," White whispered into Bianca's ear. The girl beside her giggled at the fact that Cheren seemed oblivious to the fact that he was being stared at by half-a-dozen ten-year-olds.

"It's probably because he's a real trainer," she muttered back, before she let out another stream of giggles. "I wonder if they know he only became one yesterday."

White shrugged, before approaching Cheren and tapping him on the shoulder. Apparently, he was completely absorbed in his work (unsurprisingly) as when he felt White's finger on his shoulder, he leaped back and dropped the book. White saw, out of the corner of her eye, a few of the children jumping back too. Before Cheren could notice their staring, they quickly turned their eyes back to their work.

Slick, thought White, snickering quietly at the students. Half of them looked terrified.

"Dammit…" Cheren groaned as if some annoying presence had just invaded his personal space. Whether or not White and Bianca counted as annoying presences was questionable. When he did pick up his notebook, he turned to them, before glaring right in their faces.

"You made me drop my book," he grumbled. When usually-calm Cheren was in studying-mode, rather than just getting irritated, he would actually get angry.

White tapped his glasses, making him flinch back. "Good observation, smartass."

Cheren scowled, though he seemed to be taking the situation a little more lightly now. "Well, you're going to have to battle me as punishment, you know." He pulled out a pokéball from his pocket and tossed it in the air casually, catching it again and smirking.

"You're terrible at looking dangerous." White laughed, pulling out Oshawott's pokéball. "Do you still have that Purrloin?"

His other hand now in his pocket, Cheren shook his head. "Nah, it went running off. I think it was looking for food."

Bianca looked curious. "Do you think it will come back?"

Cheren shrugged. "We'll find out sooner or later."

He turned, beginning to walk towards the back of the building. White didn't question this, she just followed at his heels. She'd assumed at the start that they'd just battle on the streets of Striaton. No one seemed to have a problem with it. Back in Accumula, anyway.

It wasn't just her, Cheren and Bianca that found themselves in front of a small battlefield behind the school. Instead, White had heard numerous scuttles of feet behind her. When she turned around, a dozen or so school students were gathered around to watch the battle. Her heart leaped uncontrollably; she didn't think they would have spectators.

Shaking her head, she focussed on the scene in front of her. She had to admit; she hadn't expected there to be a battlefield outside of the school. Now that she thought about it, she wasn't sure how she hadn't expected it. It seemed reasonable for the students to practice battling on a battlefield, after all.

"One on one?" called Cheren from the other side, holding up his pokéball. "Since I only have Snivy so far?"

White nodded, ignoring the various "ooh's" that came from behind her. "Sounds good."

Adrenaline filled every ounce of her body as she threw Oshawott's pokéball into the air. It was a much tenser battle than Bianca's, which was just a bit of fun, so she was a lot more determined, especially with an audience. The children's eyes burned into her back, never trailing off of her and the space around her. As soon as Oshawott and Snivy appeared on the field, however, their eyes darted to the Pokémon.

Though he was quite far away, White was sure she saw Cheren shift his weight uncomfortably and raise an eyebrow. "Oshawott?" he said. "But you knew I was using Snivy…" He trailed off, clenching his fists and smirking. "This'll be easy, then."

White glared, her heart pounding faster. "Don't be too sure," she muttered, just loud enough so only Bianca, who was standing behind her, could hear them.

Not hesitating at all, Cheren raised a hand, pointing at Oshawott. "Snivy, use Vine Whip!"

Almost too quickly to see, Snivy leaped into the air as vines erupted from his arms. Like green Ekans, they flew through the air, wavering slightly, straight at Oshawott, who stood her ground firmly.

"Dodge, Oshawott!"

As Snivy forced the vines down on Oshawott, she leaped out of the way, causing the attack to slam into the ground. A cloud of dust and debris exploded out of the ground, and Oshawott had to spin out of the way in order to avoid getting her eyes filled with it. She landed on the ground and whorled back around to face her opponent, whose green form was slightly curtained with the dust cloud.

Snivy, face still calm and smug, retracted the vines almost as quickly as he'd expelled them. He'd flinched slightly when they'd hit the ground, the pain from the vines scurrying towards him and hurting his own arms. His vines were apart of him; if they got hurt, he got hurt.

Shutting his eyes and waiting for his trainer's next command, he heard Oshawott's high-pitched voice from across the field. When he looked up, she was sticking her tongue out childishly.

"Missed me!" she sang, wagging her tail in a beckoning manner.

She's only trying to provoke me, he thought to himself. She'd been doing that since they were babies. Staring at her, he shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Such a child."

Oshawott didn't seem bothered at all by his response. Instead, she took her trainer's command of using Tackle and kicked off the ground, charging at Snivy. He looked at her, never taking his half-lidded eyes off of his tiny form. She seemed too fragile to fight, but maybe that was just because he'd seen her as a kid.

He smirked; she seemed to enjoy it.

Hearing Cheren's command for a Tackle of his own, he used his tail to propel himself off of the ground and leap head-first at Oshawott. His mind was totally connected with his trainer. Though he knew he could have just used a Vine Whip and grabbed Oshawott, stopping her in her tracks, he didn't question his trainer's motives.

When his Pokémon was close enough to the opponent, Cheren yelled out, "Snivy, roll to the side, then use Vine Whip!"

Seeing Oshawott's eyes widen was somewhat satisfying to Snivy. She was surprised; that was what he'd been aiming for. He swiftly rolled to the side, causing Oshawott to stumble to a halt and almost fall over. She skidded slightly as he watched her out of the corner of his eye. Not even turning, he shot the vines out of his arms again and wrapped them around her. They made a small whipping sound as they gripped her.

"Hey, put me down!" she snapped, squirming, though her efforts were futile.

"Nah, don't feel like it." Snivy tightened the vines slightly, causing her to groan. "This isn't kids' play anymore."

Oshawott grunted, trying hard to break through the vines, but obviously failing. Snivy looked up to see White panicking slightly. Not obviously, but he could see it in her eyes and her slightly-open mouth. Her fingers were fidgeting together, and she occasionally closed her mouth to bite her lip.

"Keep the hold, Snivy!" called Cheren. Snivy nodded. He knew what Cheren was doing; trying to see if White would come up with a way to get out of the bind.

Over-so-slightly, he tightened the vines.

White could only stare, her mind entirely blank. Cheren wasn't doing anything. Why wasn't he doing anything? She couldn't think at all, and her lip was beginning to hurt from biting it.

Biting…

"Oshawott, bite the vines! As hard as you can!"

Cheren's eyes widened, not in shock, but in curiosity. He'd expected White to try to use a move in order to get Oshawott out. Apparently not, she was just using her resources.

Snivy automatically gritted his teeth as she felt the pain shoot down the vine. Oshawott had just managed to reach her head down and clench her teeth down on the vines, which were practically like arm extensions so Snivy.

Mustn't let go, he thought, though his head was getting foggy. Even though at the moment they were probably his best asset, they could also serves as his weakness. The vines, surprisingly, were extremely sensitive.

Sighing frustratingly, he quickly drew the vines back, dropping Oshawott on the ground. He wouldn't be able to use them again; they would have to heal properly first. When he looked up out of his daze, he saw a thick stream of water shooting right at him, and though it wasn't a strong type-matchup again him, the attack was close enough to push him back into the wall.

"Tackle, Oshawott!"

Though it wasn't strong, that attack was what Cheren and Snivy had to look out for.

As he was hit by Oshawott's surprisingly hard head, Snivy's vision went blurry and, though he did so reluctantly, he fell into a dead faint.

"Take that, rival!" cheered Oshawott as White picked her up and hugged her.

White turned to Cheren, who walked up to Snivy and sprayed him with a potion. Snivy looked up at him weakly, ashamed at his failure. To his surprise, Cheren smiled and patted him on the head.

"You did well," he said, before turning his attention to White. He approached her with a smirk on his face. "Looks like I underestimated you this time. I'll be sure not to go easy on you next time we battle."

White nodded, her eyes confident. Underneath her skin, however, she was all-too relieved. She held out a hand, and Cheren took it firmly. "I look forward to it."

It felt odd to her shaking her friend's hand. Usually, after they competed at something, they would argue for awhile afterwards, generally accusing the other person of cheating multiple times. This time, however, White figured it was a good sport to shake hands with her opponent if the battle was a more serious situation.

Oshawott turned to Snivy and grinned excitedly. "I beat you!"

Snivy shook his head. "I noticed."

To his surprise, Oshawott held out a paw to his leafy arms. He stared at it for a moment, unsure of what to do. He'd never shaken hands with her when they were kids, but he supposed that, in this situation, it couldn't hurt to. He held out his own arm and, though neither of them had fingers, shook her paw (Which was more of them wiggling their arms up and down with their hands touching).

"It gets serious now, rival." Oshawott's eyes turned steely.

Snivy, too, was determined. He usually wouldn't challenge Oshawott or Tepig, but he didn't hesitate to say, "Bring it on."

-.-.-

It's shorter than the previous two, but I didn't want to throw anything else into this chapter.

Anyway, I told you I had ideas for the whole Bianca's dad thing. This was the first major case of things I couldn't fit into the old version, even if it is just an extra scene. It will change the future of the story a little. It's still just a sub-plot, though, but the bigger things will come later.

This was sort of the chapter where I got to practice writing battle scenes. I enjoy writing them, just not when both Pokémon only know two attacking moves. I try to put a little detail into them so it's not just "X attacks Y, Y faints and gets called back," etc. I'm still getting there, though.

Also, I realised in the last version that White never contacts her mother. I fixed that in this chapter, and her mum will become a recurring character rather than just that one scene at the beginning.

In terms of the Pokémon talking to each other, I'm not going to do that with every battle. I like the idea of the starter trio having a little rivalry with each other, having probably grown up together. Now that they can actually battle, they can finally take that rivalry further. Because of that, I decided to show their little conversations during the battle rather than just focussing on what's happening on the outside.

Of course, all the trainers hear are rambling Pokémon cries, but none of them really pay attention to that.

Anywho, thank you to the people who have reviewed and favourited/followed so far. And, as always, thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next chapter.