Chapter 9:

*I'm going to speed things up a bit*

At the Pokemon Center in Cerulean City, Professor Oak called looking for her. Apparently he called a few different Pokemon Centers looking for her. Aqua was nervous having to speak with the Professor. She answered the phone, Eevee on her shoulder, and saw Professor Oak's stern face on the monitor. He made a tsk tsk tsk sound on the other end while shaking his head from side to side. He lectured the young girl about "running away" from home and leaving to go on a Pokemon journey. Eevee did not want to hear the speech and jumped down from Aqua's shoulders and sat by her feet.

Aqua was getting ready for Professor Oak to scold her and tell her to come home immediately, but instead he sighed and paused for a moment before continuing speaking. "I'm not going to make you come home. Daisy talked me into letting you prove yourself. If you can collect all eight gym badges and defeat the Pokemon League I will talk to the other Professors into changing the age to get a Pokemon License to ten." Aqua was excited she practically screamed 'Thank you' to him. "I'm sending over a Pokemon License so you can enter the Pokemon League. You can send extra Pokemon to me to look after." Aqua hung up the phone after that she was relieve and excited. The Pokemon License was sent over and Aqua took it gratefully, although, it said it was a temporary one, it was nonetheless a Pokemon License.

Aqua challenged each gym one after the other and defeated each of them. She trained hard with her Pokemon by her side. They battled and trained hard understanding each other. With each gym came more and more challenges and trainers wanting to battle. She even helped out in defeating Team Rocket in Saffron City. She was careful not to be seen by the other trainers, but helped by sneaking in dressed as a Team Rocket member. Not once did she mention her name, but she did tell Red, Blue, and Green a fake name to trust her. It was hard for them to believe a person dressed in a Team Rocket uniform, but she convinced them.

After the Saffron infiltrate, Aqua went back to her journey throwing away her disguise. She caught many Pokemon while out on her journey and sent them to Professor Oak to look after. Aqua challenged the last gym, the one in Viridian City right by the Pokemon League. The gym leader was out, but left someone else in charge to battle trainers. Aqua battled the substitute instead and it was pathetic. She expected a great substitute ground-type user, but instead person who did not know what they were doing half the time. All Aqua used was her Eevee for that battle and earned the gym badge.

Eight down. Now I just have the Pokemon League left. Aqua had a look of determination on her face. She walked with her Eevee up to the Pokemon League and registered.

There she saw Red, Blue, and Green registering too. Aqua quickly jumped into the bathroom and look out her supplies. She took her hair out of the braid she put it in and let the wavy hair flow down her back. There was a little tuft of hair in front that was shorter than the rest and she pulled it in front of one of her eyes so it could not be seen, but she could still see through the strands of hair. Lucky for Aqua she had a whole new wardrobe so Green, Blue, and Red would never know it was her. She stepped out of the bathroom with her Eevee and walked over to the registration desk. The three did not recognize the girl, but they recognized the little Eevee wearing an Everstone necklace sitting and watching its trainer sign up. They walked over to the girl and Eevee just to make sure it was the right dou.

The brunette turned around to see the three trainers in her face. Her piercing but soft sea green eyes told the three that it was the person who helped them in Saffron.

"Hey! Thanks a lot for your help back in Saffron City."

"Huh?" Aqua hesitated not knowing what to say at first. "Oh yeah sure. No problem."

"I never got your name that time. Can you tell me what it is?"

Crap! He wants to know my name! Aqua thought in her mind. She was beginning to get nervous and had to think of something fast. "Oh it's-"

The announcer cut her off and just in time too. "Everyone please take your seats. The Block matchers are about to start." He shut off the speaker and everyone remused talking.

"Oh. Look at the time. We better head to our matches. Maybe we'll face off against each other." Aqua said as she waved goodbye and headed to the Block C matches.

Her first match began and it was a cake walk. The trainer's Pokemon may have been strong, but the trainer himself got distracted easily. Aqua used her Eevee and only her Eevee for the first match. As she advanced through the block, she realized that the other opponents were serious about winning and she could not let her guard down even for a second. She battled her hardest, switching out her Pokemon and healing them in between the matches. Each of her Pokemon gave it their all and both the trainer and Pokemon were in perfect sync with each other. Even before Aqua called out a command the Pokemon was ready to attack and began charging power for the attack Aqua was going to call out.

Aqua beat her block and saw that there were only two more matches, then she will be the Pokemon Champion. It sounded easy, but it would not be easy since one of her opponents in the next match was going to be either Red, Green, or Blue. Aqua sat down in a seat while she waited for the semi-finals to start. She called out her Pokemon and saw they were exhausted. She healed them all with potions, revives, and berries knowing that she would not have enough time to heal them all by hand. She healed their wounds and then let the medicines do the rest. Her team was ready to go by the time the semi-finals were going to start.

"Winners of the C and D Block please take your places on the field. Your match it about to start!"

Aqua took one end of the field while Blue took the other. Blue stood proud and tall as she watched Aqua take the stage. The crowd roared with excitement, they would tell it was going to be heated battle.

."Are you ready?" Blue called from her end.

"Yeah! Are you?" Aqua asked in return.

Blue shook her head as the referee came to the stage. He held his hands up then put them down shouting, "Battle begin!"

The crowd roared hearing those words and both Blue and Aqua released their first Pokemon onto the field. Blue began the battle with her Blastoise as usual and Aqua started with her Dragonair. When Blue saw the dragon-type Pokemon she immediately switched out her Blastoise with her Ditto. The Ditto transformed into the Dragonair and the two Pokemon battled. Both trainers were caught up in an intense battle where neither side would give in. The two trainers kept swapping their Pokemon trying to find an advantage in what the other one through out. Their Pokemon battled with everything they got and the battle raged on for quite sometime.

An hour has passed and the battle continued. Both trainers and Pokemon were exhausted from fighting. Both trainers were left with two Pokemon.

"Eevee, Shadow Ball and use Iron Tail to send it flying." Aqua commanded her Eevee.

Blue's Horsea was down for the count. She sent out her final Pokemon, Blastoise. "Blasty, Hydro Pump!" Blue's Blastoise was beaten up a few time, but for the most part, it seemed okay. Although, it was easy to tell that she could not hold out any longer.

Eevee was slammed against the wall leaving a dent in it as the Pokemon fell towards the ground. "Eevee!" Aqua called out to the Pokemon. She returned Eevee to its Pokeball and sent out her final Pokemon. "Ivysaur, please, help me out! Leaf Storm!"

"Blasty Skull Bash!"

"Both Blasty and Ivysaur took a critical hit from that attack! Things aren't looking good for either trainer! Let's see if the grass-type advantage can beat the full evolved water-type!" The announcer's voice boomed through the loudspeakers as he was trying to keep up with the energy the crowd was giving off.

"Ivysaur!" Aqua shouted.

"Blasty!"

The two trainers gave their final commands before the battle ended.

"Solar Beam!"

"Hydro Pump!"

The two moves collided creating a field of smoke where no one could see through. Everyone was panicked. They wanted to know the outcome of the battle, but had to wait for the smoke to clear. When the smoke cleared both Ivysaur and Blastoise were unconscious on the ground. The trainers seemed fine at first, but their legs quickly gave out under them. As both trainers fell to the floor, a few spectators ran out into the field to help them. The trainers blacked out for a moment, but came to a few seconds later. The hair covering part of Aqua's face fell to the side revealing who she was to the other trainers. People like Red and Green gasped, Blue was confused, and Daisy and Professor Oak were not surprised. They knew she left on a journey and just did not tell Green at all. Green walked up to the brunette and stared at her with disbelief, as did Red.

"Aqua?" They said simultaneously.

Aqua sat up and shook her head.

"Why are you here?" Red asked.

"No better question, why were you participating?" Green looked at Aqua with stern eyes.

"Eh…" Aqua did not know what to reply.

"Well?" Green asked.

Aqua looked at Professor Oak and Daisy hoping they would have an answer for her, instead they just nodded. "Um…Well you see. I um...left to become a Pokemon trainer like you guys. Then Professor Oak and I made a deal."

Green was curiosity and asked, "What deal?"

"If I could collect all eight gym badges and won the Pokemon League, he would asked the other Professors to change the age a person could become a trainer to ten. But since I lost, I guess the age will remain eleven."

"No so fast." Professor Oak stepped in on the conversation. "Seeing how much you've grown and how attached you and your Pokemon are to each other, I have decided that even though you did not win the Pokemon League, I will change the legal age to become a Pokemon trainer to ten."

Aqua's face light up. She was excited that even though she did not fulfil the requirements, Professor Oak would still make the legal age ten to become a Pokemon trainer. Green helped Aqua up while Red helped Blue up and everyone who was on the battlefield began to walk off so the next battle could proceed.

After the group got off the battlefield, Oak decided it was time to confront Blue. Aqua was already confronted and Blue was next. He brought the young trainer to the side and began talking to her. He seemed furious with her for breaking into the lab and stealing a squirtle. Blue "fought" back by saying that it was not fair how Green and Red were from Pallet Town and they received a Pokemon from Professor Oak and got to go on a journey, but she could not. She said that she was from Pallet Town, but was stolen so she never got a chance to become a Pokemon trainer, but wanted to badly. Professor Oak smiled at the girl's determination and handed her something red.

Aqua saw from around the corner, but stayed behind the corner watching carefully. She was astonished that Blue received a PokeDex from Professor Oak. She also was a little resentful. Professor Oak came back around giving Blue some time to figure out what just happened. He saw Aqua standing there a little confused and masking her anger. "I see you saw what I gave Blue," he laughed. "So I also have a present for you." He handed Aqua another PokeDex he had along with an official license.

"OKAY AFTER THAT EXCITING AND NERVERACKING BATTLE TIME FOR THE NEXT ONE THAT WILL DECIDE THE CHAMPION OF THE 9TH POKEMON LEAGUE. BATTLERS TAKE YOUR PLACES!" The announcer came onto the speaker to announce the final match of the Pokemon League.

Red and Green stood at opposite ends of the field and everyone waited for them to start. When the referee told the two trainers to start they threw out their strongest Pokemon, their starters. The battle started off strong and continued for a long time. Hours of battling and swapping out Pokemon happened. It was longer than Aqua and Blue's battle against each other.

The battle just kept going! It did not seem like there was going to be an end. Hearing what the two boys were saying to one another it seemed like they learned a few things from each other too. Red's Venusaur seemed like it was done for, but Green's Charizard was just as tired. They both only had their starters left and it was up to fate to decided what happened.

Within a couple of more minutes Red delivered the final blow and it was all over. Red won the 9th POKEMON LEAGUE. Aqua ran over and gave him a hug to congratulate him. He smiled at the girl and hugged back.