"Whitney is the winner!"

Amber couldn't believe it. She became light-headed and the gym around her started to spin, as if it were in the eye of a tornado. She tried to stand up on her feet, but her body seemed to be protesting against her wishes.

For some reason, being beaten by normal types seemed incredibly embarrassing. They were usually plain, and weak, and none of their moves were ever super effective. Amber had nothing against Normal-types, but deep in her mind she still felt as though her and her partner were swallowing their Amber wanted to do was burrow her head in shame and fear. How could something like this happen to someone that showed so much promise? It didn't seem possible for someone with such strength and such vigor could lose so easily.

From the looks of it, it seemed that Collin felt the same way.

Whitney's expression seemed to be a mixture of satisfaction and smugness. It was incredibly obvious that she got a lot of enjoyment out of defeating unprepared, novice trainers like him. Of course, she kept her feelings discreet. She acted in a respectful manner, keeping her cool and maintaining proper sportsmanship.

"Miltank, return!" Whitney commanded.

Reaching into her back pocket, she pulled out her Miltank's Pokéball and called her back inside of it.

"Nice try, kid!" the gym leader lightly teased. "Sorry to defeat you. You can always come back and rematch me later. Remember, my doors are always open!"

Seems as though Whitney isn't as nice as I thought she would be…, Amber complained internally.

Unable to think of any comeback, Collin dropped down to his knees. Carefully, he lifted up the Eevee's limp body. Digging through his pack, he found the Eevee's Pokéball and recalled the fox-like monster back inside.

The pink-haired gym leader's gaze met Amber's and a sly smile reached her face. "After I heal my Pokémon, you can challenge me too!"

Frozen and too scared to respond, Amber quickly shook her head. There was no way that she could compete with Whitney…at least not yet.

An invisible dark cloud hung over Collin and seemed to pour down droplets of disappointment. His entire demeanor seemed to change in one single gym battle.

Amber was incredibly worried. She hated seeing either of her best friends upset. She was sitting, cross-legged, on the floor, a safe distance away from the fight. Quickly, she got herself onto her two feet and rushed over to try to comfort her friend.

"Hey…Collin, are you-,"

"I'm fine," Collin grumbled. "Whatever. Let's just leave."

"There's nothing wrong with losing," Whitney interjected, trying to calm Collin down. "It's pretty impossible to win one hundred percent of the time anyway, and-"

But before Whitney could finish her lecture, Collin was already stomping out the door.

"Wait, did he get the badge?" Melody asked Amber, tightly clutching the house phone in her hand.

"Yeah," Amber responded despondently. "It took him three tries, but he did it eventually. But every time he lost, he got angrier and angrier. It was like something in him…broke."

Melody's grip on the phone tightened. Every detail that left Amber's lips seemed to draw her into the story more and more. She couldn't contain her escalating excitement anymore. She needed to know what happened. She needed every detail about why and how the mysterious Eevee made its way onto her front porch.

But most importantly, she needed answers.

"What do you mean…broke?"

Amber let out a desponded sigh. "Well…," she started hesitantly. "Something about him just…changed. It was sort of like watching a candle flame die out. His hope…for the future…for everything…anything…died too."

Melody had been glued to the phone for about 2 hours. It was the longest that she had ever talked on the phone…or to anyone's face…in her whole life. She had to know what was going on between her friends and why her friends weren't finishing out the Johto League. What were they hiding?

The twinkling stars twinkled mightily in the sky by the time the sun was completely set. They were bright and intense, like the lava plumes of Mt. Pyre. The two kids were setting up camp in a nearby forest, drained from the day's activities.

Amber pitched her tent and sprawled out on the tent's floor. It didn't take her long to fall asleep, alongside her Chikorita. After a short while, her breathing started to even out .When he was sure that she was asleep, that was when Collin made his first move.

Reaching into his backpack, he retrieved his Eevee's Pokéball. But before he made a move to open it, he tightly gripped it in his hands.

"Eevee…,"he said, hesitantly. "…I choose you."

Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, the Eevee faced his trainer with a face full of eagerness. His tiny muzzle bore a smile, as he was happy to see his dedicated trainer again. But his happiness faded away into confusion when he saw that he trainer didn't share his enthusiasm.

His trainer's eyes seemed to be filled with pain and frustration. Collin seemed, to Eevee at least, unhappy with him.

Collin squatted down to Eevee's eyes level and lowered his voice so that Amber wouldn't be able to hear him as easily, in case she woke up.

"Look…today was rough. We had…our…ups and downs…but…"

"Vee vee?" the Eevee mewed, confused.

Collin was struggling to find the right things to say and kept tripping over his own words. He cleared his throat, finding it unbelievable that he was trying to hold a serious conversation with a Pokémon.

"…well…I…I'm setting you free…"

I sincerly apologize for the huge gap between chapters! High school, winter breaks, college prep, and Pokemon (ironically) have gotten in the way of writing, along with a killer writer's block. But I promise, I haven't given up on this story!