Isaac woke up later than Scarlett and Vance, which he found strange because he had gone to bed quite a bit earlier than they had. It was 10am, while Vance and Scarlett had been up at 9. He got dressed and headed down to the main lobby, where he saw Vance and Scarlett snuggled together in a chair. Confused, he headed into the bathroom before approaching them.

Are they really a thing now? That's really…strange. I never expected it, even though I probably should have. I'm happy for them, but I didn't think Vance was into her. And in any case…I kind of was.

Isaac walked out of the bathroom and met them in the lobby. He made sure not to make them suspicious of his feelings, or possibly past feelings, for Scarlett. He smiled when he saw them.

"Good morning, sunshine," Vance joked, "I hope you slept well, considering the fact that you went to bed 3 hours before us and got up an hour later."

"I feel great now," Isaac said, "for some reason I was really tired yesterday. Although it appears I should've stayed up a little later so I didn't miss anything, am I right?"

Scarlett smiled and looked at Vance. "This wonderful guy finally asked me out last night, and I wish he had done it sooner." Vance smiled back and they kissed. Isaac's heart turned over a little.

"Well jeez, leave a lot to be desired why don't you? Congrats guys!"

"Hey man, I've been wanting to do it for a while, but I wasn't sure if she was interested. It was last night when we were talking for so long that I knew I should ask her."

They ate some breakfast and got ready to head to the Vermilion Gym. Vance was excited; he knew that Sandshrew would excel in this gym and was excited to see how it would do when it had a real type advantage. They walked up to the gym and saw a trainer who couldn't be more than 10 years older than them, probably less. He had spiked blond hair and was fairly tall. He smiled and walked over to the trio.

"Challengers! Welcome to the Vermilion Gym. I'm Seth, the new Gym Leader of Vermilion Gym, as well as the newest and youngest of all the Kanto Pokémon League Gyms. Who do we have here?"

"I'm Vance."

"Isaac here."

"And I'm Scarlett."

"It's nice to meet you all. Now, who will I be taking on first?"

They all looked at each other, then Isaac said "You always go first Vance, why change now?"

"Alright, I'll go first then."

Seth led them into the battle arena, which was completely flat. In the center was a picture of a Pokéball with a lightning bolt striking through it. They took their places at each end of the field and the ref took her spot.

"Each trainer will use four Pokémon. Only the challenger may switch Pokémon mid-battle. There will be no time limit. Let the battle begin!"

"Four Pokémon," Scarlett said, "but you only have three, Isaac."

"Actually I don't," Isaac said grinning, "you'll see later what my fourth Pokémon is."

"Let the sparks fly! Jolteon, start it off!"

Seth's Jolteon appeared looking energized and ready to battle.

"Alright Sandshrew, you're up!"

Sandshrew appeared to no one's surprise, especially considering how well it did in its first two battles. It was ready for another.

"Jolteon, start it off with Shadow Ball!"

Jolteon shot a dark purple blob at Sandshrew, which it dodged easily.

"Alright Sandshrew, dig!"

Sandshrew burrowed underground, leaving Jolteon a bit confused.

"Jolteon, come back to my end of the field."

Jolteon sprinted with great speed and stood at the end of the field, waiting for Sandshrew to appear.

What's he got up his sleeve? No matter, I can't worry about that now. "Sandshrew, come up and use X-scissor!" "Signal Beam, Jolteon!"

Sandshrew appeared in front of Jolteon, but before it could attack, Jolteon hit it head on with a rainbow colored beam, knocking it down. Sandshrew stood up, confused more than anything, but was ready to continue.

I didn't see that coming. That Jolteon moves fast, and with attacks like that, we won't last long. "Sandshrew, use Rock Slide!"

Sandshrew raised its arms. The ground began shaking a bit, and white rings of energy appeared over Sandshrew. It threw its arms forward and rocks began falling out of the rings at Jolteon. Jolteon dodged many with great speed, but the sheer abundance of rocks made it impossible to dodge every rock. Jolteon took a few hits, and also was clearly getting tired.

"Alright Jolteon, use Pin Missile!"

The spikes on Jolteon's fur began to glow a brighter yellow and it started firing thousands of tiny needles from them.

"Sandshrew, dig again!"

Sandshrew dug again and Jolteon immediately halted its attack.

"Now, X-scissor!"

Sandshrew emerged and slashed Jolteon with the move it had suddenly became known for among the group. Jolteon fell down, and though it desperately tried to stand up, it could not gain its strength.

"Jolteon is unable to battle, Sandshrew is the winner!"

"Yes, Sandshrew! Another great battle!"

"Sandshrew is quite the fighter," Isaac said, "I've never seen a Pokémon with quite this much kick at such a low level."

"I agree," Scarlett said, "Vance has quite an ally on his side as long as Sandshrew is with him."

"Return, Jolteon. You battled well, now take a nice rest."

Vance was a bit surprised by this. As much as Seth seemed a bit cocky and was extremely competitive, it was clear that he had extreme care for his Pokémon.

"Now, Luxray, you're up!"

"Luxray?"

Isaac and Scarlett were confused. None of the trio had ever encountered this Pokémon, nor did they know where it came from. Vance whipped out his Pokédex, which for the most part had gone largely unused until this point, and scanned the Pokémon. It was a large, cat-like Pokémon that was mostly black but had a blue face and hind legs, along with a gold star-shape on the tip of its tail. It was more than double Sandshrew's height.

"Luxray, the Gleam Eyes Pokémon," said the Pokédex's voice, which was clearly computer generated. "It has eyes which can see through anything. It spots and captures prey hiding behind objects."

"Sounds like a serious fight," Isaac said.

"Vance better be careful," Scarlett replied, "or Sandshrew could be done."

"Alright Sandshrew, be careful with this one. It's not gonna be an easy one. Use Slash!"

Sandshrew ran up to Luxray, jumped, and swiped it right in the face. Luxray shook its head as if it had an itch, but looked back as if nothing happened.

"Luxray, use Ice Fang!"

Luxray ran up to Sandshrew; it was not necessarily fast, but as big as it was it moved fairly quickly. It's teeth began to turn light blue and give off visible cold air, and it bit Sandshrew hard. Sandshrew attempted to dodge, but Luxray's size made it nearly impossible and the hit knocked Sandshrew down. It attempted to get up, but it was unable to gain its strength.

"Sandshrew is unable to battle, Luxray is the winner!"

Everyone not named Seth was electrified.