"Come on!"

He'd expected her to be energetic, but she was halfway down the beach by the time he'd touched the sand. Chuckling, Brawly sprinted to catch her, and she squealed and picked up her pace too. Her Swampert bounded beside her with a rented surfboard on its back.

He skidded to a stop at the sea's edge, grinning at her as she took the surfboard and and turned to him. She'd insisted on a red patterned one, to match her bikini.

"You ready to go?"

She looked out to the sea and pursed her lips. "I've never surfed before."

"Well I'll teach you." He took her hand, trying to drag her toward the water.

Struggling back, she shook her head; "You show me how it's done first, I might get some confidence and get all competitive."

He laughed; "Sure, but you're not going to be better than me."

She nudged him; "we'll see."

"Can I borrow your Swampert?"

She glanced at her pokemon. "Uhhh, sure!"

He grinned and beckoned the large water type, who happily bounded into the water and shot off into the deeper area.

Besanii sat down on her surfboard that lay on the sand, watching as her pokemon lifted natural waves into more powerful ones. Brawly balanced at the top of one, waiting until gravity kicked in and threw him down the front of the wave. He twisted his board to glide diagonally down the wave, his hand dragging a trail behind him just like the board was. It was mesmerizing to watch, stunning Besanii into a trance as he danced down the water with a strength and elegance that inspired her to stand up quickly.

"I can do this." She grinned, running for the waters. Her Swampert zeroed in on her and swept down the wave faster than any board could, and helped her along into the deeper waters. As the large wave calmed and crashed into the shore, they reached Brawly who was calmly standing on his board as it rocked gently in the wave's aftermath.

"That confident, huh?"

She grinned and nodded as she straddled her board. Swampert floated close by; "How hard can it be with a great water pokemon at my side?"

"That's true. And once you get better maybe you can go it alone." He agreed, sitting onto his board too.

He lost?

He had almost forgotten the feeling, especially when he'd only beaten this girl mere days ago.

"Congratulations." He said monotonously. He patted his pockets and cringed. "Give me a moment."

The girl nodded excitedly, practically bouncing on her platform as she cuddled her Lopunny who looked extremely tired, but equally happy as its trainer.

Flint rolled his eyes, but turned to the girl. "Well done! You're all set for the Sinnoh league now!"

"I know! I'm so excited!" The girl cried, beaming to the Elitist, her hero.

"Now you won't make the same mistake next time and leave it until the next year, will you?" Flint said semi-seriously. He didn't want to burst her bubble, so to speak, but he also didn't want her being foolish again.

The girl nodded fiercely; "Of course not, but I was only late because I was in the hospital for two months. I didn't want to wait another year for the Sinnoh league, so I worked hard to get my badges in time for this one!" Lopunny was patting the girls hair comfortingly, a look of adoring in it's eye.

Flint automatically felt guilty, but she wouldn't accept his apology, instead she returned her pokemon and ran up to him. "Thank you for believing in me."

"You're welcome." He grinned, "You've got a fire in your heart, I could sense that in the last battle."

She swelled with pride, but before she could reply, Volkner had returned. She bounced up to him as he held out his personal badge. He seemed to have managed to pull on a cheerful façade in his absence. "Well done, and good luck with the Sinnoh league."

She took it from his gently and admired it; "Thank you sir!"

He snorted at his name; "Now go rest up tonight, and train really hard from tomorrow to the league, okay?"

"Yes sir!" She bowed and started to skip out. She twisted at her waist and waved at both of them; "See you! It was a real honour to meet you both!"

Flint raised an eyebrow and shot a look at Volkner as soon as she'd left. The gym leader rolled his eyes and turned. "Yes I know. I shouldn't have underestimated her. I should have badges with me at all battles. I was stupid."

"Well yeah, but you lost!"

Volkner frowned, not quite sure why Flint was stating the obvious quite so... Obviously.

"You only beat her a few days ago!"

He shrugged, "She trained hard."

"True, but not enough to beat you again."

The two entered the kitchen and the elitist pulled out two bottles of chilled cider, opening them and handing one to his friend. Volkner handed his pokeballs to a robot, who rushed them off for a recovery period. "I don't get it," he mused as he sat opposite Flint; "you said the other day that she had talent."

"You're missing my point, how did you lose so suddenly?" The red-head shook his head in wonder, pressing the bottle to his lips as he stared relentlessly into his friend's eyes in an attempt to see any lies.

It unnerved Volkner slightly, so his gaze shifted to the bottle as he scratched absently at the label. "I guess I was distracted."

"Uh-huh."

"Not by what you think." The gym leader sighed.

Flint grinned, waving the bottle slightly as he spoke; "Why are you thinking about what you think I'm thinking about and then denying it?"

"I am not... What?"

Flint burst into laughter, and Volkner had to chuckle. They clashed their bottles together.

"To the undeniable truth." Flint toasted and gulped the refreshing drink.

Volkner smiled wryly; "And to desperately trying to understand it."

"That was so in."

"It was more out than last season Jimmy Pikachoos."

"Maybe you should visit the opticians, I think your sight needs checking."

"That's it," Besanii threw the yellow volleyball toward the sea, where RaiRai and Brawly's Meditite chased after it together playfully. "I'm not playing with a cheater."

"Oh no you didn't!" Brawly exclaimed, skidding under the net and running at her. She squealed and sprinted as fast as her legs could carry her. Being fairly short, she didn't stand a chance against the long-legged gym leader, and he tackled her to the soft sandy floor, earning a grunt as they skidded along a little.

He suddenly gasped, realising what he'd just done, but as he pulled himself to his hands and knees, she rolled over to laugh at him. He laughed too, thankful that she was probably the only girl he knew who would receive a rugby tackle and take it well.

They sobered up slowly, still panting from the game they'd played. She wanted to roll her eyes at how cliché it all was, but her eyes were entranced by his shockingly blue ones, but they grew blurry as he moved in, lightly pressing his lips to hers. It was nothing more than a light kiss, but he was blushing heavily when he drew back and sat up, pulling her with him. It was rather alluring to see how easily flushed he got.

"Sorry, shouldn't really kiss on a first date..." He scratched his head and peeked up at her expression.

She looked down to her lap and smiled girlishly. "Well, we could count Bertha's party as our first." She peeked up through her eyelashes to see him beaming, a raucous chuckle rumbling through his throat. It soon stopped when she shoved his shoulder; "but if you ever tackle me like that again, I will beat you."

Seeing that she was only playing, (though he could sense an underlying tone of seriousness) he continued to laugh, pulling his hands up in surrender. "Sorry, sorry!"

"So you'd better be."

"I think I figured what's been eating at me."

Flint hummed through a gulp, then smacked his lips open with an "aahhh!" He eyed his friend carefully, noting the slight slur in his voice. "Took you that long, huh?" He chuckled, bemused by his tipsy friend.

"Uh-huh..." Volkner lifted his bottle upside down to see nothing but a slight drip pour onto his table. "I don't know whether I can handle this Elite thing."

Flint nearly sprayed the remains of his third cider from his mouth as he stared wide eyed. It took him a moment to swallow, but as soon as he had, his mouth was open to exclaim; "What?"

The gym leader waggled his finger at his friend as he handed the bottle to his robot and took a full one from it. "I'm happy I was offered and all, but what if being here is where I'm meant to be? What if I've reached my peak here? I don't think I could handle another slump like the one I was in."

"Whoa, whoa. WHOA!" Flint nearly dropped the empty bottle as he flung his arms around in shock. "You are not going to get in a slump again, you hear me?"

"What's to stop me? It'll be just like I was before. I'll be promoted, I'll be good for some time, I'll work my ass off, get bored, and slump. What's to stop that cycle?" Even just mentioning it seemed to bring Volkner down, his whole posture dropped significantly. Though that could've been the alcohol.

Flint frowned; "I wasn't there for you last time, bro. And I'm sorry for that. I won't do it again, you won't be alone. You've got me this time, and... And Besanii."

"She's not interested." Volkner snorted.

"Yes she is..."

"I don't mean that way," The blond interrupted; "she has a career, Flint. I don't expect her to look out for me when we only met a few weeks ago..."

For once, Flint was at a loss for words, he gaped like a goldeen, and he knew all he could do was deny Volkner's assumptions.

"You'd be surprised, Volk." He muttered; "She may be strong willed, and stubborn, but it also makes her very loyal. I don't think she'd abandon you if you needed help."

Another silence crept over them both as they drank some more.

"I don't deserve you, Flint."

"... You're pissed, aren't you?"

Lol Bromances are so hilarious.

Sorry for such a long wait in the updates! I wrote a HUUUUGE chapter on my netbook and it decided it didn't want to save it. WHOO. Takes a lot of will to restart it all again. I'm pretty sure the chapter didn't end like this, either, but this way was definitely better. ;D

Reviews make my day! ^^