Disclaimer: If I owned Pokémon I'd be rich...probably.

26. The Alluring Scent of Celadon

I woke up with a light shining through the blinds.

I was glad I had a restful sleep, not like last night, the area of where I stood in the dream still lingered in my head, but it didn't worry me too much. I thought those kind of dreams were going to show in patterns so I was glad that it wasn't an issue.

I was the second one to wake up. It seemed Rachel had already left the room for breakfast.

I got dressed quickly and made my way out to the main room, Pikachu followed closely, on my heels.

'Hey, Rachel.' I greeted her, she was sitting at the table with a plate of Pancakes drizzled with maple syrup.

She had her mouth full so she just waved at me.

Her Eevee still wore what Suzy had given it yesterday.

I decided to copy Rachel with her breakfast choice. I had pate on toast for a while so I decided against it for change.

I sat opposite Rachel and started eating the pancakes on my plate.

Pikachu looked to see if I had ketchup, but I didn't get one, at least not this early in the morning. So instead it took some of my syrup which I didn't mind, I on the other hand loved maple syrup, not enough to drown pancakes, but enough so my pancake had been completely covered in syrup.

I wondered if Liam had already left for the Gym.

'Rachel, have you seen Liam or Leaf this morning?' I asked before taking a bite out of one if my pancakes.

'Yeah.' She said finishing her last pancake. 'They went off to the Gym. Liam looked like he knew exactly who he was going to use in his battle against the Gym leader, he found out about its type earlier this morning a few minutes after he woke up.' Rachel told me.

So Liam knew what type the Pokémon Gym was, I just had to find out when I got there, but I wondered if the girls wanted to battle in their Château challenge before my Gym battle.

Brock and Camilla came out a few seconds after I finished my pancakes.

Brock and Camilla both got some breakfast as I looked on my PokéNav plus for any information on the Gym in this city.

As most cities, before this one I could not find any information on the Gym, but I probably didn't need to worry until later.

The girls probably wanted to have their Château challenge first.

'So shall we go to the Gym first?' Rachel asked.

I looked at her immediately after she said that, but she was looking at Brock and Camilla.

'I think that's fair.' Brock agreed finishing his breakfast.

'Definitely, it would be great for Jordan to win another badge.' Camilla replied.

I looked at all of them individually. I was shocked.

'Jordan, what do you say?' Rachel asked.

I didn't know how to answer, so I replied with a question. 'Don't you two want to challenge the battle Château first?' I asked.

'But it's been so long since your last Gym battle.' Camilla replied.

'And it hasn't been long since our last Château challenge, especially since we both battled each other.' Rachel replied.

I still didn't know how there wasn't a little bit of tension between them, there didn't seem like any, not even a miniscule amount.

As soon as Camilla finished her breakfast we left the Pokémon centre.

'So what do you say?' Brock asked me.

I didn't know how to answer, why wasn't I jumping at this chance they were giving me. I had been looking forward to having this Gym battle since after being on the St Anne. I should be happy that I was being given the opportunity.

Although I didn't know if Liam had beaten the Gym leader yet, the way he battled me in Lavender probably meant he had no problem. Even though he lost against me I knew he was a great trainer and I didn't doubt that he would win against the Gym leader the first time.

'Why would I hesitate at this opportunity?' I asked.

I started in the direction of the Gym.

Running in the direction of where the next badge was, didn't make me nervous, not like Vermillion City's Gym did, it made me eager.

I glanced behind me and found my friends running after me.

The Gyms exterior was the same as the previous Gyms. I didn't know why these Gyms weren't personalized, but it didn't matter, not right now. It would probably never matter, I just wondered.

Liam came out with Leaf right behind him.

'Jordan.' Liam said almost immediately.

'Hey, Liam, how was the Gym?' I asked.

'I won.' He replied. I knew he wouldn't show me the badge, I'd just have to wait and see it for myself. 'But the challenge was extremely hard.' Liam replied. His cheeks reddened as he said this.

'This Gym leader gives you a challenge?' I asked.

'Yep, and you'd better be prepared.' Leaf told me.

'Is it really that hard?' I asked.

'You may not be able to resist.' Leaf told me. 'Good luck.' She said, but she looked at Camilla and Rachel as she said good luck as I they were to ones that needed it.

They both looked confused, but Leaf and Liam left.

After they were out of site we all looked confused.

I entered the Gym with my friends behind me.

I walked in and we found ourselves in a room just a little larger than an elevator.

A girl was looking at us, we were in a green room, the floor and walls were different shades of green, but still green.

The girl had black shoulder length hair. She had a red bandanna in her hair, but we could only see the front of it since it went behind her hair around the sides. She was wearing a yellow Kimono dress, I could only see her fingertips poking out from the sleeves, and her brown shoes were poking out the bottom of the dress which had orange flowers below where her knees probably were. Around her waist was a red bandanna like the one around her head but it was longer in width.

'Hello, I am Erika of the Celadon Gym. You must be here for a battle?' Erika asked.

'I am Jordan Hale, I am here to challenge you.' I replied.

'Of course, but you must first pass my test, if you fail my test you will not be able to battle me, neither will you be allowed to ask to challenge me ever again. You have one chance, but if you fail you will not be able to enter the Pokemon league with the badge I give out.' Erika told me.

This was a strict Gym, but I accepted her terms with a slight nod.

'Behind this door will be your challenge, I will wait for you in the back with him.' Erika said pointing to Brock. 'The girls will also come with me, as soon as you pass through this door, an odour may overwhelm you, but you must not cover your nose, if you do you will fail the challenge.' Erika told me. 'I hope you complete the challenge, Jordan Hale.' Erika said. 'One of my assistants will come here to tell you that you can start the challenge.' Erika said.

I just nodded and Erika took my friends through a blue door on the other side of the room.

I didn't like these terms, but I needed this fourth Gym badge to enter the Pokemon league, so I had to abide by them. Also Erika was the Gym leader, and because this was her Gym she could have whatever terms she wanted.

I sat down after two minutes of waiting.

My Pikachu was also getting curious as to why we were waiting for a while. He went up to the blue door and looked at it for about a minute before sighing and came to sit next to me.

How much longer would I have to wait? I thought, but I didn't know what the challenge was, so it might take a while to set up.

I wondered what Brock, Camilla and Rachel were doing, why Erika talked about Brock and the girls separate from each other.

Maybe they were all in the back with Erika, just like Lt. Surge.

I was thinking about my next Gym battles, was I going to have to do a challenge for all the rest? I wasn't complaining, its just I didn't expect Gyms to be like this, with a challenge, I don't remember reading about Gyms this way. I just remembered all Gyms I had gave me a challenge.

I had to go to the museum to get Brock, I also heard the tale of Aerodactyl and found out what the fossils were.

I travelled to Bill's lighthouse and passed Misty on the way there, she made us chase her to the lighthouse when she went back to the Gym.

Lt. Surge called me a baby to start off with. I had to earn his respect to call me a challenger, and he made me pick two switches to open the door to the battle room.

And now I had this challenge, although I had no idea what it was I'm sure it was going to be as hard, if not harder than the previous challenges.

I just remembered I had not contacted my mother, but all the events from yesterday had distracted me.

As I was thinking about the ways my mother would greet me a head popped out from the door.

It was a girl, she had black shoulder length hair, but she had a green Kimono dress on, I guessed. The sleeves were the same length as Erika's.

'Erika says the challenge is ready.' The girl said before she closed the door going back where she came from.

I took a deep breath before standing up Pikachu went up on my shoulder.

'Ready buddy?' I asked.

'Pika.' It said in determination. I knew as long as I was with Pikachu we could accomplish anything.

I stepped through the door and as soon as I went in and the door closed behind me, it hit me. It felt like a whole hotel made of titanium crashing into me.

The smell, it made me relax, it was so soothing, so alluring. It was hard to resist falling to the floor and smelling the artificial grass. I noticed there were trees, real trees...in the Gym.

Two girls were standing against the wall, one either side of me. One was wearing a green kimono dress with a purple waistband and the other was wearing a red kimono dress with a blue waistband. Both girls had the same colour and length hair: Black.

'You must be Jordan Hale of Pallet Town?' The girl who told me I could do the challenge guessed. 'Your challenge is simple, but must be done without help, even from Pikachu.'

The other girl wearing the red Kimono dress took Pikachu without startling it and ran off towards where Erika probably was.

'You have to make your way through the tree path...' Sounds easy enough. '...but there are girls through there, four of them.' So, I thought. 'You must not touch the girls or anything that they are wearing, or you will fail the challenge.' The girl said.

'Why would I do that?' I asked.

The girl ignored me and continued to explain.

'The girls are wearing irresistible perfume, and you must walk past all of them without touching them, the girls are not allowed to say anything to you, and the perfumes they are wearing are a lot more powerful than the one you experienced on entering this room.' The girl explained.

The other girl came back, Pikachu was absent.

The girl who just came gestured for me to go forward, I was hesitant, especially after I was told what the task was. Apparently the girls perfumes were extremely powerful, more powerful than the one I had previously experienced, and I had almost fell to the floor because it was so powerful. I didn't know how I would handle the perfumes the four girls wore.

I started walking and I went right because the trees blocked the other way. I turned round the corner and I stopped immediately. I saw the first girl, she was too far away from me to smell the perfume she was wearing. I remembered none of the girls were allowed to talk to me.

The girl was wearing a blue dress that fell to her ankles. I could see she was also wearing blue high heels. She had chocolate brown, curls that fell to just below her shoulders she also had green eyes. She looked at me. She was definitely a Gym trainer. I guess all of the girls were Gym trainers.

I slowly walked towards her, and as I got closer the perfumes scent crept up on me. The smell was marvellous. It took a lot of my strength not to run up to her, touch her hair and smell it until I fell to the floor.

The scent was overpowering as I passed her. I was tensing as I got to the other set of trees.

I remembered I could not hold or cover my nose, holding my breath was probably a no also.

I saw the second girl, she had the same black hair as Erika, but she was a little shorter, around my age, she had brown eyes. She was wearing a pink dress. It was the same outfit as the previous girls but it was pink and this girl had a pink bow in her hair. I took a few hesitant steps waiting until the scent hit me.

Although it didn't, this one also crept on me. It was as powerful as the first girls, they smelled almost the same, not much different, and since I dealt with most of this smell before I walked past with little to no problems. The only thought that came to me was "Smell her hair." But I ignored it.

I rounded the corner and froze.

Standing where the next corner was, was Rachel. She was wearing her purple battle Château dress, with her shoes, and her corsage. Her hair was in curls falling over her right shoulder. She smiled at me and I smiled back. Her smile probably didn't help.

I didn't understand why Rachel took part in this, did Erika run out of Gym trainers?

I took two steps towards Rachel and her perfume hit me like a steamroller flattening the titanium rubble above me.

It took all my willpower not to run up to her. The scent made me want to run up to her and caress her hair. I would have sat with her all day taking in her scent. I tensed as I got closer to her. She looked apologetic, but she couldn't say anything. I walked past her, my fists balled and my whole body was rigid.

As I rounded the corner I relaxed before looking up.

I froze again, because the last of the girls was Camilla.

She was wearing her battle Château dress and her green corsage. Her blonde hair was in curls so it fell to just a little higher than her shoulders.

I knew this would be the best scent Erika had.

I did not know how I would resist the scent of Camilla's perfume.

Her face remained expressionless, she didn't want to give me any sign, not like the other girls did.

I stepped forward and the scent hit me, it was like a million different flowers arranged in such a way that the scents balanced each other out in a magnificent bouquet. It felt as I I was on fire while I was being squeezed between two unbreakable walls while being squished by the steamroller flattening the titanium rubble. I staggered forwards before running a few steps. Camilla looked shocked and worried.

I stopped immediately I was arms length away from her. I just stood there frozen, the scent was going to overpower me any second and I would not be able to battle for this Gym battle.

I reached out to touch Camilla's hair, but my hand stopped about a centimetre away.

Camilla had her eyes closed waiting for me to touch her hair and admit failure. My first Gym failure. I couldn't let that happen.

Camilla opened her eyes, she turned red as I slowly drew my hand back.

I smiled at her, trying so hard not to touch any stands of her hair or brush my hand against her dress.

She smiled back.

I stiffened myself and tensed, before I made my way past Camilla and round the tree. As I made my way to a blue door I could smell the perfume it still lingered.

I twisted the door handle on the blue door and walked in.

As soon as I entered my Pikachu jumped up at me. We embraced in a hug as if we had been away for a few hours. In all honesty I didn't know how long it was, it seemed long because of the perfumes overpowering scents.

Pikachu took back its place and was perched on my shoulder.

I looked at Brock and he looked relieved I had made it, maybe he didn't seem so sure of me. Apparently I was immune to Erika's alluring perfumes.

'Well, Jordan, I am certainly surprised to see you here, especially considering what your friends said about you.' Erika told me.

'Thanks, Brock.' I said turning to him.

'Hey. It was Camilla and Rachel.' Brock defended himself.

'Anyway, congratulations, we'll start our battle as soon as your friends return.' Erika told me.

I was grateful. I knew Camilla and Rachel would love to watch my battle against Erika, although I was still curious as to what type of Pokémon were used in this Gym. I was pretty sure it was grass, but there was always a hint of doubt.

Camilla and Rachel came into the room a few seconds later they were back in their old clothes, but they were still wearing their corsages.

Rachel looked happy to have her hat back, just like she did when she first battled in the Château.

Camilla just walked over to where I was, she blushed again probably remembering when I was so close to touching her. I blushed remembering that thought.

'Well done Jordan, that expression you made passing me looked like you were in pain.' Rachel said.

'You looked like a tonne of bricks had been dropped on to you.' Camilla agreed. 'Congratulations.' She praised.

'So, Jordan, shall we get on with our battle?' Erika asked.

'Definitely.' I replied, now eager to have my battle.

A few seconds later we stood on opposite ends of a battlefield while my friends stood at the side.

I now had a proper look at the room, the walls were covered in vines, some of the vines held vials, probably some of Erika's best perfumes.

I also realized that instead of a ground battlefield or a normal concrete battlefield this one was grassy, the lines were not there instead the grass was longer to show the outline of the battlefield.

The referee, who was the girl who took my Pikachu, stood at the side.

'This match will be between Jordan Hale, the challenger and Erika, the Gym leader, this will be a two on two battle, the match will be over when both Pokemon from one trainer are unable to battle.' She explained.

Okay, so I only had two Pokemon to use for this battle. I would wait for Erika to send out a Pokémon before I decided who I would use.

'Go Weepinbell.' She called.

A primarily yellow Pokemon in the shape of a bell came out. It had two short, pointed leaves on either side of its body. It had pink lips where the bell opening would be. Its eyes looked like it was oblivious to the situation. It had three green dots above its eyes and a small, brown, hooked stem atop its head.

I took out my Pokédex to scan it and my friends followed me.

'Weepinbell, the flycatcher has a large hook on its rear end. At night, the Pokémon hooks on to a tree branch and goes to sleep. If it moves around in its sleep, it may wake up to find itself on the ground.' My Pokédex told me.

I decided to send out a Pokemon that would be strong against grass types. Weepinbell confirmed my suspicions about the type this Gym specialized in.

'Charmeleon, I choose you.' I sent out my fire type. I hadn't used Charmeleon since that battle with Petrel in the Pokémon tower in Lavender Town. Although it lost to his Koffing, I'm sure it would do better in this battle.

'Charmeleon, use flamethrower.' I said.

'Use acid.' Erika countered.

Charmeleons flamethrower was stopped short by Weepinbells acid, both attacks prevented each other.

'Charmeleon, use metal claw.' I said.

Erika didn't call out an attack almost immediately she watched Charmeleon run towards Weepinbell with its claw glowing white before it looked like metal.

'Weepinbell, use poison powder.' I widened my eyes realizing that Charmeleon was too close and he wouldn't be able to dodge it.

Charmeleon also noticed this and he hesitated which stopped his metal claw and he tried to stop going forward, but he couldn't turn away.

Weepinbell turned upside down before shooting out purple powder and turning back upright.

The powder dropped onto Charmeleon and I knew it had effected him because he cringed.

I just remembered he was close to Weepinbell

'Charmeleon, use flamethrower.'

It was Erika's turn to look shocked.

Not a second after Charmeleon released a flamethrower Weepinbell was hit with it.

Charmeleon came back to me as soon as it finished it's attack.

Weepinbell somehow got back up to say that it was still fit to fight.

The flamethrower was a direct hit and its super effective, so I didn't understand how the Weepinbell was still okay.

'Weepinbell, use vine whip and lash at Charmeleon.' Erika said.

'Slash at the vines with metal claw.' I countered.

The vines came towards us as Charmeleons claws glowed and looked like metal.

I remembered that Charmeleon was poisoned and I had to hope that Charmeleon could keep it up and wear Weepinbell out.

The vines reached Charmeleon, but Charmeleon started slashing at them to keep them away.

At the moment I was on the defensive and I needed a way to turn that around. I mean if I could pass Erika's challenge I could definitely beat her in a battle.

Liam did exactly what I did, but I didn't think the battles were as hard to him as it was to me. Somehow he was better at beating Gym leaders than I was.

Charmeleon fell to one knee because it suffered the poisoning. It got back up, but was hit back down again by Weepinbells vine whip.

Weepinbell lashed at it a few more times before it stopped and retracted its vines.

I knew Charmeleon had been hurt, but I knew it that it would still be able to fight, as long as the poisoning didn't have too much effect I knew Charmeleon would be able to beat Weepinbell.

'Charmeleon, use flamethrower and run towards Weepinbell.' I said.

Erika looked confused, but I needed Charmeleon to get in close because I was going to use an attack that would hopefully work and faint Weepinbell.

I needed to win my fourth Gym badge, I did the hardest challenge of my life not so long ago, completing that challenge and not winning this badge would be a waste, no doubt Erika would make me do it again, but I bet Erika had more powerful perfumes and she would use them this time and I wouldn't be able to resist.

'Weepinbell, use Acid.' Erika said.

Both Flamethrower and Acid connected, but neither one prevailed over the other, they both kept pushing the other one back.

As Charmeleon got closer the flamethrower was beginning to trump the acid. Erika looked shocked.

Charmeleon stopped its flamethrower as it got close and Weepinbell stopped its acid at the same time.

'Charmeleon, use bite.' I said.

'Counter with vine whip.' Erika said.

Charmeleon opened its mouth to deliver a bite, but before it bit down on Weepinbell its mouth had fire in it.

Charmeleon bit down before Weepinbell was able to land a hit.

That attack looked like fire fang.

'Use flamethrower.' I said.

Erika looked shocked and we both knew as soon as this attack had finished, she would be down to her last Pokemon, and I would be one step closer to getting my fourth badge.

Charmeleon released a flamethrower that was in close proximity with Weepinbell.

As soon as Charmeleons flamethrower stopped if suffered a poisoning and fell, it didn't get back up, we all looked at Weepinbell and realized that had also fainted.

'Both Pokemon are unable to battle, the winner will be decided by the next battle.'

I returned Charmeleon, it had battled well and I didn't expect it to faint in the first battle, I meant Erika was the hardest Gym leader I had battled, plus, I hadn't battled a Gym leader in ages so maybe I needed to train hard for the next one. That was if I managed to beat this one.

Erika returned Weepinbell and I wondered who she was going to send out next. Who was I going to send out next?

I only had Wartortle, who was weak against grass types, Sandshrew, who was also weak against grass types and Pikachu, who was neutral towards grass types. I didn't want to risk the badge so I made my choice.

'You up for it buddy?' I asked my Pikachu.

'Pika!' He replied in determination, before he jumped off of my shoulder and onto the battle field.

'Vileplume, lets go.' Erika said letting out her next Pokémon.

This pokemon was standing upright and its whole body was blue, it had small arms, its eyes were red, on top of its head was a flower, it had the biggest petals I had ever seen, they were red with white spots on them, it looked like it could have been a sun hat.

I took out my Pokédex to scan it.

'Vileplume, the flower pokemon. Vileplume has the world's largest petals. They are used to attract prey that are then doused with toxic spores. Once the prey are immobilized, this Pokémon catches and devours them.'

Nice, I thought, I just hoped my Pikachu was an exception.

'Pikachu, start off with agility.' I said.

I didn't know how fast Vileplume was and I didn't want to risk it Pikachu began running across the battlefield raising its speed.

'Vileplume, mega drain.' Erika said.

Pikachu froze before I saw him getting pulled up by an invisible force, it then let go and Vileplume looked like it was gaining health.

Mega drain sapped my Pikachu's health and would give Vileplume more if I had taken some of that health away.

Now I was at a disadvantage, whenever I took health away from Vileplume it could just gain it back by sapping Pikachu's. Although I was glad I chose Pikachu. I was glad Sandshrew and Wartortle were not on the field right now. Vileplume may have fainted them both already, but Pikachu still looked fine.

'You okay buddy?' I asked.

It sparked its cheeks to signal it was ready.

'Use thunderbolt.' I said.

Pikachu released a thunderbolt before Erika could do anything.

Vileplume was hit, but it didn't look fazed, maybe I wasn't going to whittle down Vileplumes health with electric attacks, I would have to think of another way to win against it.

I used Pikachu's most powerful electric attack and it didn't do much.

Pikachu, use Quick attack.' I said.

Pikachu zoomed towards Vileplume and it was faster than normal because it had raised its speed.

'Vileplume, use stun spore.' Erika said.

Pikachu hit Vileplume, before the spore fell on Pikachu and now it was paralyzed.

Now I had seen three of the five status conditions in effect and two were today. Two were in this battle.

I wondered if both Weepinbell and Vileplume were grass and poison types. I knew Weepinbell was and that is what caused me to lose against it.

I didn't think Pikachu could be paralyzed since it was normally given by an electric type Pokémon.

'Pikachu, use agility.' I said.

'Vileplume, use mega drain.' Erika repeated, it looked like this was going to be a cycle.

I needed Pikachu to be extremely fast if we had any chance of winning, unfortunately as before mega drain sapped my Pikachu's health.

'Pikachu, use quick attack.'i said again.

'Use acid.' Erika countered.

I hoped my Pikachu was quick enough to dodge that attack. My suspicions must have been right Vileplume was also a poison type Pokémon. I could have used Sandshrew against these Pokemon since Sandshrew was immune to poison types, it would have destroyed these Pokémon, if it was faster than them, but I couldn't mull over that. I had more important matters.

Pikachu dodged acid and hit Vileplume head on before it came back to me.

'Vileplume, use mega drain.' Erika said.

This move was annoying me, I didn't know what to do to stop it from happening, apparently speed was not the way I should counter it.

I needed a new strategy to battle with.

I tried to think of other moves Pikachu had that he could use.

'Pikachu, use double team.' I said.

This would confuse, and stop Vileplume from using mega drain because it had to pick one Pikachu to drain health from and if it got it wrong it would be hit before it could pick the real one.

There was one problem with this move, only the real Pikachu would be effected by paralysis, and the others would disappear.

Pikachu, use thunderbolt, and follow with quick attack.' I said.

Pikachu released a thunderbolt and Erika and Vileplume found the real Pikachu, but Vileplume had just been hit by the thunderbolt, but I didn't recover in time and got hit Pikachu's quick attack.

I saw Vileplume struggle to get up, it staggered and fell on one knee. I saw that it was paralyzed.

Pikachu's ability must have been in effect. I knew my Pikachu's ability was static, it had a chance to paralyze the target if either Pikachu or the opposing Pokemon touched each other.

'Vileplume, don't let that stop us, use mega drain.'

'Pikachu, use double team and agility.'

Before Vileplume could use mega drain Pikachu used double team and it and its copies began running around the battlefield. It looked like there were hundreds of Pikachu, but there was only around twenty.

Pikachu must have been really fast now.

'Pikachu, use Thunderbolt.'

Pikachu charged up before it jumped up and released a thunderbolt. It hit Vileplume and Vileplume fell to the floor.

My Pikachu was starting to look tired, as did Vileplume. Since I had found a way to counter mega drain it had not gained any health from my Pikachu.

Vileplume slowly got back up.

I had to finish this now.

'Pikachu, use quick attack.' I said.

Pikachu hit Vileplume before Erika opened her mouth.

Vileplume fell and fainted, but my Pikachu also looked like it was going to faint.

I prayed my Pikachu had enough energy to stay up.

It shook on its hind legs so it went on its four legs and stood without much trouble.

'Vileplume is unable to battle, the winner is Pikachu and that means Jordan Hale of Pallet town has won.

I went to pick up Pikachu before it fainted.

It fell asleep in my arms as Erika returned her Vileplume.

She came up to me.

'Congratulations Jordan, you are good at completing challenges, you managed to beat both of them, the first I thought would have been impossible for you to complete, not many have completed that challenge, since I have put in that challenge the elite four and the champion have had less challengers.' Erika said.

'Anyway here is the Rainbow badge.' Erika said handing me my fourth badge. It looked like a rainbow flower. It had a small white circle in the middle and four grey circles surrounding that, around the outside were eight hexagons each with a different colour, they went: Red, orange, yellow, lime green, leaf green, aqua blue, dark blue and purple clockwise.

I took the badge and put it inside my badge case. I had officially reached the halfway point in my journey to take part in the Pokémon league.

My friends met up with me as soon as Erika left the Gym.

I didn't know where she went, it was probably to make more perfume.

'Well done Jordan, that was great.' Camilla praised.

'I guess you knew Pikachu couldn't get paralyzed since it's an electric type Pokémon?' Brock guessed.

I just nodded.

'So, Jordan how do you feel about reaching halfway?' Rachel asked.

'I feel great.' I replied. 'How about we get something to eat before we head off to your battle Château challenges?' I asked before we left the Gym.

Ariana's POV

I was standing in the bosses room in our hideout with Proton next to me and Petrel behind us.

I could not be stripped of my Admin place and be made an executive. I had spent too long as an executive, I hated being pushed around by my superior.

Proton was telling the boss how I was towards Jordan, how I was calling him "cutie" and being nice, sure everyone knew I was bipolar, but somehow I didn't know how my nice side would react to Jordan.

I respected him as a Pokémon trainer, but as someone who opposed team Rocket I had a hatred for him. If he wasn't against team Rockets motives and the boss didn't know too much about him I would have recruited him as a team Rocket grunt, he would quickly climb the ranks and he would probably become an executive or admin within a few months.

'...so, boss, you see. I think Ariana deserves some sort of punishment for being nice to that runt.' Proton said.

Didn't you lose to one of his friends?' The boss asked Proton.

I saw Proton pale and smirked. The colour quickly returned before he added something.

'Yes, boss, but Ariana was nice to him and she lost.' Proton replied.

'If I may, boss. Proton has lost against this Jordan twice, is it now? Do you really think he is fit to still be an executive?' I asked.

Proton growled at me. I knew Proton hated being singled out and picked on. I also pretended that I didn't know Jordan as much as I did.

'Ariana is right.' The boss said.

'Proton you will be under Alders supervision, while Ariana and I will go and explore the Silph company.' The boss started. 'Alder, once I contact you abandon this place and bring everyone to the Silph co. No doubt the boy will be there soon. If none of you can take care of him there, I will.' The boss told us.

'Of course boss.' Alder replied. 'He will probably come here first though.' Alder told the boss.

The boss got up and made his way up the stairs.

'Come Ariana.' He said making me follow him towards Saffron.

I was glad I wasn't punished.

I just hoped Jordan was smart enough not to come to the Silph co. I couldn't have the boss finding out how I acted around him.

How did you find this chapter. Well here we have Ariana's POV in front of Giovanni, I hope you like it. Chapter 27 should be up in a week, but the updated chapters won't be updated untill I get my laptop back, or I get a new one, as soon as I get it back or a new one it will say on my profile.

Martyn: I re-read your review many times and I would like to ask you why before I post the next chapter. If you can could you reply in a PM, thanks.

Chapter twenty-seven: Evelyn & the Countesses