A/N: Heyo! Hope you've had a Happy New Year! It's blizzarding outside! Perfect for sitting at home and writing, lol!

Chapter 11

Zenobiaphobia

The afternoon sun was beginning to fade as we arrived in Viridian City. The trip up the rest of Route 1 wasn't bad; Sierra successfully caught a spearow and Andy nabbed a pidgey. Dante and I faced a little rattata but I decided not to catch it, and we were able to knock the poor sucker out pretty quickly. I learned that Dante knew the moves Scratch, Growl, Flamethrower, and Shadow Ball.

I felt at home in the urban environment of Viridian. The hustle and bustle, tall buildings, and, of course, seedy alleyways all reminded me of good ol' Driftveil. We only saw a little bit of the city, though, as we rushed to meet up with Rosa at the Pokémon Center on time.

Stepping into the Pokémon Center was another first for me. While I had always thought it would feel like a hospital, it was actually quite different. The atmosphere was more like that of a pediatrician's office; it was warm, bright, and even fairly comfortable. The kindly pink-haired woman behind the counter took our five pokémon away for healing while we sat in the lounge and talked to Rosa.

"I still can't believe you decided to start off with a mankey…" Andy, like the rest of us, was a little surprised at the girl's choice for a starter pokémon.

Rosa held out a pokéblock and the monkey-like creature jumped onto the sofa to grab it from her cheerfully. "You believe what you want, so far he's been a really good boy." She shrugged. "What'd you get?"

"I picked Bulbasaur. She should be out soon. She's beautiful, you'll see...and I think me and her will end up doing pretty well in Contests…"

"Still set on the whole Top Coordinator thing, huh?" Rosa sighed.

"Yeah…I still just…" He groaned.

"Ugh, Gianni, don't let something your parents did control your life!" Rosa patted him on the shoulder. "It was their decision!"

This was the first time I had ever seen Andy so...dramatic, in a serious way. I was a little curious. "What exactly happened?"

Rosa gave me a look, Why did you have to ask that question?

Andy closed his eyes and clenched his fists as he told the story. "It was the final round of the Grand Festival...a few years before I was born...my mother and father were up against each other for the title of Top Coordinator. It was the last season of both of their careers as world-renown coordinators. It was going to be the most televised, dramatic, unpredictable battle in Contest history. Yet, by that time, they had already fallen in love." He spat the word. "And...they both forfeited at the same time. They refused to battle the one they loved, and that's how their careers as coordinators ended. The title of Top Coordinator ended up going to third place, to some transvestite idiot named 'Harley'...and neither of my parents ever participated in a contest again. My Mom became a reporter and my Dad started working for Silph...they both gave up on their dreams…"

He became resolute. "Well, I'm going to finish where they left off...I'll do whatever it takes to become Top Coordinator...I can't just let my parents', my dream just die…" He looked out the window.

All I could say was, "Oh…"

Sierra rolled her eyes and started talking to Rosa. "Anyway, have you met the Gym Leader yet?"

Rosa shook her head. "Nope, Zenobia's seems like a reclusive person and she's still fairly new...going to the Gym with you will be my first time actually meeting her."

"Yeah, to be honest I'm really nervous about tomorrow...I heard not only is she scary, but she's really tough, too…"

"Oh yeah…" Rosa nodded in agreement as Mankey continued to jump around.

I heard some doors nearby swing open, and the next thing I knew, Dante was at my side. Nurse Joy informed me that he was fully healed and commented on his peculiar color, and then left to perform other duties. Rosa's mouth was wide open.

"Holy crap, why is he black?"

"Oh my god, Rosa, you can't just ask people why they're black!"

I laughed at Andy's comment and explained everything to Rosa. "Professor Oak said that they found this guy at an abandoned Team Rocket facility...they must have done something crazy to him…"

Rosa gasped sympathetically, but then made the unfortunate mistake of leaning over and trying to pet him. "Aw...you poor baby!"

"Oh, no, Rosa, he really doesn't like-"

Unfortunately, I was too late, and Dante landed a good Flamethrower attack on Rosa. Fortunately we were inside a hospital at the moment.

We spent the night at the Pokémon Center, with plans to visit the Viridian Gym the next morning. I boarded with Andy while the three girls were in another room across the hallway. I spent the evening lying on the cot with my headphones in, Dante sleeping at my side. Andy was constantly going back and forth between our room and the girls', where there seemed to be a lot more fun.

Andy, Sierra, and Kari had agreed that they did not care much for sleeping outside, and that they would try to find lodging at a Pokémon Center for as many nights of the journey as possible. Although the cots were small, they were surprisingly comfortable-much more comfortable than the couch at home, and pillows and blankets were provided. I found it highly ironic that for most of my journey I would be sleeping more comfortably than I would at home.

At some point, Andy came back, having changed to silk pajamas, and asked politely, "Can I turn out the light?"

"Sure, go ahead." I responded. "I was just about to anyway…" I took my headphones off and placed them on a night table next to me.

"I'm sorry about that…" He settled himself on his cot.

"Hm?" I didn't know what he meant. "For what?"

"Leaving you alone...it's just, you seemed really content listening to music, and, well I...just don't get along well with other guys...I hope I didn't, like, offend you…"

"Not at all…"

"Good." He smiled and nodded. Andy had such a polite, dainty air to him, and was a fairly likable person. But that's it-everyone likes him. I don't think I've ever seen someone draw more attention amongst their friends than this guy. I was a tad jealous.

"You know, I'm kinda jealous of you…" he went on; I almost laughed out loud at the coincidence. "You're such a laid-back person...you're able to keep yourself out of problems...I think that's a male trait I don't have...I get involved in everything; I care way too much…"

I decided to tell him what I always tell my brother. "It's good that you care alot about your friends. Better to care too much than not care at all, I always say."

"Yeah, I guess you could be right…thanks…" He rested his head on a pillow and looked away for a moment. I thought he may have fallen asleep already, but he turned back towards me. "Gianni, do you have any siblings?"

The question was a little out of the blue; I guess it was to keep our nice midnight conversation going. "Yeah, I have a younger brother."

"Oh! Yeah, that's right, I met Jimmy...he seemed alright."

I shrugged, but I wasn't sure if he could tell. "Eh...he's a little annoying and a bit of a smartass sometimes, but I guess he could be worse…"

"I'll say…" He laughed, and hesitated. "Six."

I looked over at him. "Huh?"

"I have six sisters." He grinned. "Two older, four younger."

I smiled. "Holy shit! How...that must be awful! Oh my god, I really feel sorry for you man! That's just...insane!"

"Yeah...so hopefully you can see why I lack a lot of 'guy traits'...I've spent most of my life with my family of seven girls-my Dad isn't around often because of work."

I couldn't even begin to comprehend what a life with six sisters would be like. The things this poor boy must have gone through...I just couldn't imagine.

We talked for a while about our families, still lying on our cots in the dark. It was pleasant to have a deep conversation with Andy. Between my three friends, I talked to Andy the least. It's not like he was reserved or anything-Kari was far more introverted in a public setting from what I'd scene, she just talked to me a lot for obvious reasons-it's just that he seemed to not like me.

Andy sighed. "You know, I'm sorry that I don't talk to you much…" Dear god, can he read minds? "It's just that, like I said before, I'm kind of jealous of you, and I don't like talking to people I'm jealous of. That, and the way you talk about Pallet Town."

"Oh...sorry." I smirked. "I just found it to be really...sucky...when I first moved. I mean, I was in a bad mood about the whole move anyway...uh, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. I don't hate Pallet Town as much anymore, but I was still pretty happy to get out, I guess. It's nice to be on the move…"

"Yeah...I'm going to sleep. Good night, Gianni." I heard him shuffle around to get into a comfortable sleeping position.

"G'night Andy. Nice talking to you." I tried to shuffle, too, but Dante was sleeping in the center of the bed, and I couldn't get comfortable without waking him up. It puzzled me how such a small creature could seemingly take up the whole bed.

"Why are we running?"

"Cause we're late!" Rosa panted loudly as she answered my question. She wasn't the most physically fit of people and seemed like she was about to faint.

I had been awake well before anyone else, but no one had ever told me what time our battle with Zenobia was scheduled for. At around 9. a.m. Sierra woke up screaming about the time and made us all get ready and get out quickly. Andy, who found it necessary to dress extremely well for the occasion, was tying his tie as we ran. We had already scrambled down seven or eight blocks, and everyone but me was getting tired.

Finally, the Viridian Gym loomed in the distance. I sprinted forward, passing the rest of the group and running another two blocks to reach the building's entrance.

The glass doors opened automatically and I stepped inside, finding myself in a small entryway with a young blonde woman dressed in black, holding a clipboard. There was another set of doors behind her, and from what I could tell behind them was the arena. I was panting like a dog.

"Hello. Have you scheduled a battle with Leader Zenobia?"

"Yes." I said between breaths. "We're supposed to be battling at nine-fifteen."

She looked at the clipboard. "Oh, good, you're right on time!"

I sighed heavily in relief, and accidentally started coughing. She looked at me curiously. "Would you like some water?"

"Yeah, please" I looked behind me and saw that the rest of the group was finally catching up. "...and you're probably going to need a lot more…"

Sierra, Kari, Andy, and Rosa crumbled upon entering the gym. Another woman, a brunette, dressed primarily in black as well, came with a plate of glasses of water, and we all slurped the water down messily without any humanity.

The ladies looked at each other confusedly, and then the first one nodded. "Is this all of your party?"

Are we at a restaurant or something?

"Yes!", Sierra got back up on her feet and shouted. "This is everybody!"

"Okay, then your battle will begin shortly! Right this way!" She opened the door behind her and guided us into the arena.

The arena wasn't particularly spectacular, just a sandy battlefield with stadium seating. I knew it was a Ground-type gym, so the sand wasn't anything surprising. Anyway, there was no one present on the other side of the battlefield yet.

The brunette woman, who was standing behind us, cleared her throat. "There are two trainers scheduled to battle at during this time. May I ask who is battling first?"

"I AM!" Sierra didn't even give me time to say anything. "I'm going first. I'm going to win!"

"Okay, please wait here." She gestured to the designated challenger's position, marked by white chalk. I detected the slightest bit of annoyance in her tone, she was already getting angered by Sierra's attitude. At least you don't have to deal with her everyday... "Zenobia will be out shortly." She went over to where I assumed was the referee's position.

Kari, Andy, and I headed up to sit in the audience. There were a few spectators who had come to see a battle. Not many, though. Maybe fifteen or twenty.

"Okay guys, get ready for our first gym battle!" Sierra threw her two pokéballs in the air.

"Char!" Charmander came out in a flash of white light and landed on the ground. Spearow squawked loudly as he remained hovering in the air.

I decided that Dante could come out now, too, to watch Sierra's battle. I took his pokéball out and released him. This time, he wasn't mad to be taken out. He knew we were battling today and was up and at'em.

Just as I sent Dante out, I saw a woman walk out from a darkened passageway on the leader's side of the battlefield and into the arena. She didn't appear much older than me, maybe seventeen or eighteen, but she dressed like an older woman. Like both the others, she wore all black. She had high heels, a knee-length black dress, a black button-down jacket with a tawny fur collar, black gloves, and a black beret. Her skin was olive-toned, and her facial expression seemed very serious. She walked with her hands behind her back.

The room quieted as the mysterious figure entered. She stood at the gym leader's position, directly across from Sierra. She cleared her throat.

"Good morning. Welcome to the Viridian City Gym. I am the Gym Leader, Zenobia." She bowed her head. I was a little taken back by her heavy accent, which suggested Eastern European or Middle Eastern descent.

"My name is Sierra Ketchum from Pallet Town, and" She hesitated and whispered loudly to herself, "...oh God, I finally get to say this!" She raised her voice again, "...and I challenge you to a battle!"

"Your challenge is accepted." Zenobia looked up and smirked slightly. It was the only change in facial expression I'd seen her make.

The woman serving as referee raised her hand. "The battle between Sierra Ketchum and Gym Leader Zenobia is about to go underway. The battle will be one-on-one. The challenger may choose her pokémon first."

"Okay, Charmander, I choose you!" Although I had heard that it was traditional to beat one's first gym leader with their starter pokémon, I couldn't help but snicker at her choice of an obvious type disadvantage.

The little orange lizard hopped onto the battlefield and yelped its own name. I saw Dante roll his eyes and laughed. "Me too, buddy…"

Zenobia's expression didn't change. "Very well then." She pulled out a pokéball. "Claydol, come on out, please."

She kept the pokéball in her hand as she sent out a frightening-looking Claydol. The clay doll pokémon hovered in the air a few feet above the battle field, rotating its many-eyed head. I saw Sierra look up the Hoenn pokémon on her Pokédex, although I couldn't hear the data. I was too lazy to take out my own. I was sure anyway that Charmander was about to get owned.

"Uh, Charmander, uses scratch attack!" Sierra seemed hesitant and worried. Charmander's claws lit up as he dashed towards the expressionless black pokémon. He landed a good few scratches on Claydol's skin, but the pokémon seemed unphased.

Sierra was understandably disheartened. "No damage at all? H-how…"

Zenobia remained stoic. "Claydol, use Ancient Power."

The pottery pokémon glowed supernaturally and summoned several large boulders from beneath the sand. It groaned loudly as it hurled them towards Charmander.

"Oh no, Charmander look out!" Sierra was a little too late. One of the boulders smashed right into the Lizard Pokémon and knocked the pathetic creature out cold.

"Charmander is unable to battle! The victory of Gym Leader Zenobia." the woman shouted as she raised her right hand to signify the leader's victory.

Zenobia shook her head. "Not this time, unfortunately…" Shit, her accent is really creepy.

Sierra silently returned Charmander. Even from where I was sitting, I could see her blue eyes get watery. She retreated to the audience and sat down, sniveling. "I...lost…"

Being my sadistic self, I enjoying watching her cry so much that I forgot that it was my turn next. Zenobia sounded impatient as she asked, "Do we have another challenger?"

"Crap, that's me!" I yelled as I jumped up and ran down to the challenger's position. "My name is Gianni Fatale from Driftveil City, and I challenge you to a battle!" Damn, Sierra was right, it's so awesome to finally get to say that!

"Your challenge is accepted." I detected a hint of boredom.

The referee woman repeated exactly what she said before. "The battle between Gianni Fatale and Gym Leader Zenobia is about to go underway. The battle will be one-on-one. The challenger may choose his pokémon first.

Here goes nothing…"Alright, Dante, I choose you!" Dante skittered on to the battlefield. For a brief second, a look of surprise passed Zenobia's face. I'm sure a black charmander isn't something she saw everyday.

The look didn't last, and she quickly became serious and focused again. "I will continue to use Claydol. He didn't sustain any major harm in the previous battle." I'm sure that statement stung Sierra.

I glanced at the opposing pokémon. It was as unreadable as its trainer. Claydol was intimidating, but with Dante's additional Dark-type, it was an even type match-up. I took a breath and gave my first command. "Dante, use Shadow Ball! Go!"

"Char!" He opened his mouth and started forming a ball of dark energy. After a few seconds, he released the energy ball and sent it straight into Claydol. The pokémon took a bad hit and fell backward.

"Awesome! Super effective, a direct hit! We might actually have a chance, Dante!"

Zenobia's mouth hung open. She clearly couldn't believe her eyes. "How...that's impossible!" She quickly regained composure. "Uh, Claydol, use Ancient Power!"

Claydol got back up and began glowing again, summoning some more boulders. I quickly thought of a strategy, and hoped it wasn't stupid. "Dante, jump onto the rocks to get closer to Claydol and use Shadow Ball again!"

Dante wasted no time and launched himself onto a boulder as Claydol hurled them towards my side of the battlefield. He darted agiley between a few, and got close to Claydol without getting hit. "C'mon, Dante." I closed my eyes and for the first time in a long while, I prayed. He can do this...

Dante launched another Shadow Ball attack and hit Claydol squarely in the face. The Gym Leader's pokémon stumbled backwards again, and this time it didn't get back up.

We were all silent for a moment. The referee woman, who was as shocked as Zenobia, quickly realized she was needed. "Oh, Claydol is unable to battle! The victory goes to Gianni! Con-congratulations!"

"Woah...we won?" The realization hit me. "We won! Dante, we won our first gym battle!"

"Char!" My beloved little mutant ran up to me jumped into my arms.

The audience was cheering loudly-Kari, Andy, and Rosa loudest of them all. Sierra was still sulking. I don't think I'd ever had that much people cheer me on; the attention was kind of uncomfortable. Zenobia walked over to me, and I placed Dante back on the ground.

The Gym Leader cleared her throat. "You have a proven yourself a strong trainer, and I am very curious about your charmander's unusual abilities…" She looked down at Dante. Despite having beat her pokémon, Dante shrinked back. I was still pretty intimidated by her, too. "But now is not the time for questions." She held her hand out, which contained a shining green piece of metal. "This is the Earth Badge. Congratulations, you have earned it."

I had almost forgotten that I'd be getting the coveted badge. "Wow...thanks."

She nodded as I took the badge from her. "And, I also have a proposition I would like to make-"

"I DON'T CARE IF IT'S OVER, LET US IN YOU FRENCH BITCH!" A loud yell was emitted from the entryway behind me.

I cringed. I recognized that voice anywhere. Only she would have the audacity to scream like that, only she would mistake an Eastern European accent for a French one, only she would-

"Hello, dear son!" Mom, Dad, and Jimmy stepped into the arena in unison, having succeeded in getting the hostess woman to let them in (probably by force) and quickly dashed over to me. I hadn't expected them at all. Why now? "We heard that you just had your first gym battle!"

Mom and Dad took turns interjecting. "It also seems that you won!"

"Nothing but the best from our eldest son!" I heard Jimmy growl at Mom's comment.

"Of course, and nothing but the best for our son! Come along, we're going out to brunch! To celebrate your victory!"

Dad began to pull me out of the arena but I yanked back. I was, of course, very embarrassed. Then again, when I was with my parents in public, I was always embarrassed. "Guys, I was in the middle of a conserv-"

"We have to get out of here now!" My Mom sounded suspiciously stern.

Dad smiled toothily. "...before our reservations get cancelled!"

They continued to yank me out the door. Zenobia had a slightly amused look on her face. I saw in the audience that my friends were confused. "Can I at least bring my friends along?"

My father continued grinning. "Why yes, of course!"

I groaned a little as my four friends apprehensively came down from the audience and followed us out the door. I had hoped my friends would never have to get to know my parents, but unfortunately they were going to. I just hoped the experience wouldn't change their opinions about me…

A/N: Okay! Stay safe peoples!