To answer my last point: no, they don't have any video cameras for me to worry about.

In fact, the best part about the experience was that they were so baffled. I returned back to the Pokémon League entrance and the door was now fixed, but the mystery was not. Confused police still stood at the door, wondering what its destruction could possibly mean. When I walked inside, I found the Ace Trainer I saw earlier, looking bored.

"Hey," she said. "I remember you. While you were gone, some nut broke the door."

"I know," I said. "I wonder who did it."

"Probably some jackass. A Team Rocket jackass." She snapped her gum and swiped up on her smartphone's screen.

With that throughly taken care of, I went down to business. I bought enough Hyper Potions that my bag was about to burst, so I bought just a couple more with some revives for good measure. Once I kicked the bulging pocket a few three thousand times, my bag looked just like new. It was of good standard enough, in fact, I seriously considered buying Full Restores as well. I mean, they're kind of useless, because I can name the total on one hand for every time in battle my Pokémon was both of low health and had a status condition, but they seem practical enough for just for existing if that makes sense. That's probably a marketing trick.

I really want to be a marketer one day, actually. It seems the closest to mind control without even using mind control. How hip is that?! Anyway.

After buying the stuff I needed at the Poké Mart, I felt like it was time to get started. I needed to go train my Pokémon, particularly baby Eevee Miranda, a few more times, but other than that, there was nothing else to do besides face the Elite Four and Champion and get this shit over with. The only thing I knew was that there was no way I could lose to Lance. If I lost to Lance, as a challenger against a champion...it would have been a horrible feeling. Besides, I knew he was probably going to go as far out on me as he could possibly could without looking bad. He wouldn't necessarily take out the cream of the crop for me—a young, sixteen year old teen not trying to go pro—but he was going to take out something overtrained and inadequate for my training level all the same to make me look worse. I knew he would do something like that. I hate him. He most likely hates me back. It's science.

It might be nice to make more of an effort to be liked by people, but hey. The way I view it, I'm still a kid. I still have time to play nice and make friends later.

I headed outside from the Pokémon Center with no plan in mind. A thing I decided was that from now on, I was going to develop some things I could do to make myself feel competent. If I made small, easily fulfilled tasks, maybe it would increase my feelings of productivity and self-esteem (emphasis on feelings; being actually productive is just too much). I decided that I would start by everyday, reading increasingly large amounts of my summer reading book, starting from one page to hopefully the entire book within a week. I figured my goal would probably fail, but at least it showed some sense of schedule and determination in my otherwise lackluster life.

Heading to the Elite Four and winning felt like it could be a somewhat difficult thing to do, but at this point, I wasn't sure what to do besides shout at my Pokémon to fight better as they tackled wild Pokémon. I took a look at my party. I had three Pokémon who had not reached their final evolved state: Miranda, who was still an Eevee; Kitty, who was still a Togetic; Lorcan, who was still a Dragonair. Trying to evolve Miranda was an easier task than the rest, since I could essentially give her any kind from several sorts of items, and she would evolve. For Kitty, I needed a shiny stone. As for Lorcan, his was the more difficult of the tasks. I would have to train him nonstop for a while in order to evolve him to Dragonite. I wasn't sure how I felt about this, so I tried to disregard the thought. There was no real decisive answer on what to evolve Miranda to. I felt like judging from her evolutions, there was no clear choice out of them that fits her aptitude. I just knew that there were some types I shouldn't evolve her into, like a Vaporeon, because the role of being a Water-type Pokémon was already fulfilled by others in my team.

It was evening at this point. I've started to realize lately how the days have been getting shorter and shorter, and while the overall feeling of summertime hadn't faded, it was getting slightly chiller at night. I thought to myself that I should spent some more time at Victory Road, so I tried a few rounds there, but it was dull work.

So I decided to chase after legendaries instead!

After all, they were supposed to stronger than regular Pokémon, right? Even if my current party was too weak, I figured that shoving a few more legendaries into it had to be better. So to find a legendary, I went through the arduous task of using my Pokégear, which strangely had something that showed the location of Entei and Raikou. I'm not sure why my Pokégear has such capabilities when it doesn't even have a camera, but I guess it's part of its GPS capabilities? Maybe Elm or Eusine installed it when I wasn't looking? Anyway.

I managed to track down Raikou near New Bark. It seemed pissed to see me, and it already had a nick from the last time I approached it.

"Lorcan, paralyze it!"

Lorcan did. Two seconds later, Raikou made a run for it, and Lorcan and I were left in a daze, staring mindlessly to where it was. I don't even know what happened. One moment it was there, next it made a run for the trees, and it was just completely gone. I took a glance at my Pokégear map, and I saw that it was running fiercely to torment Blackthorn City.

This wasn't any good at all. I headed to the gate, but the all of two people present there swore they hadn't seen anything strange, which meant Raikou jumped over a thousand something trees to reach its present location. I ran down Route 46, which would have been a difficult task to do in different times with a million Pidgey popping out of all corners to battle, but thankfully I managed to find a can of Max Repel to repulse those creatures. However, I rediscovered that my path was ruined by ditches, so I not only couldn't go that way, I also wasted a can of Max Repel.

As you can see, it was a very complicated and stressful time. I flew to Blackthorn, and from there I noticed with my map that Raikou somehow managed to land itself on the route between the Lake of Rage and Mahogany Town. I couldn't believe that this was happening to me. You would've thought I should've seen Raikou move that fast since I was literally flying over the route with Kitty, but I guess Raikou was also a master of stealth in addition to speed. I was becoming more flustered and intrigued by the minute. I moved some, and saw that both Entei and Raikou were near Ecruteak City, perhaps for a family reunion. I figured it couldn't hurt to fly there once more, because the situation couldn't seem to get a lot worse.

By the time I landed at Ecruteak, Entei was the one in the route nearby. I took decisive measures, and ran through the darkened cobbled streets of Ecruteak City towards him. I figured that if I couldn't get any of the legendaries, this would've been the most unproductive thirty minutes of my life.

I rustled through the grass and found Entei, who was already paralyzed. I looked through my Poké Balls hoping to find at least one Quick Ball, and found instead exactly zero.

All right, well.

I mindlessly tossed a Fast Ball. Entei shook in it only one time before leaving.

My patience exploded and I headed back to Victory Road to train. I felt like my Pokémon, especially Lorcan since he was the one out of his ball at the time, could sense my frustration but they also didn't care. They were very concerned about other things in their lives. I can't blame them, because I would also rather be absorbed by other things, but it was still lonely to be the only one who cared much about winning the first time we faced the Pokémon League. Lorcan didn't want to look bad either, though that was really all it was for him. Everyone else felt like I was going to make them win "eventually" and while I was somewhat flattered that they had so much trust in me, it was irritating they acted unaware that they were the ones who were actually going to have to do the work. It seems like I have raised complacent Pokémon, although Lugia acted like she couldn't care less either.

Trying to motivate them into trying to do better was useless. "Guys, if we win, your names will be recorded for everyone to see."

All I got was yawns and bleak looks.

"Lorcan, it would make you look very cool," I said. "You can brag to everyone that you beat the Pokémon League."

Lorcan hit his tail against the ground in an idle fashion, which was his version of shrugging.

"Lugia, you can add this to your list of accomplishments, besides just existing as a powerful Pokémon."

Lugia peered at me soundlessly. I wasn't sure what that meant, but seeing that it didn't inspire any action of bravery or determination, it probably wasn't a good sign.

I tried again. "Cinder, Elm would be proud of you."

Cinder didn't look convinced.

"Is there any reason why anyone doesn't care about this?"

Kitty protested that he did care, he just didn't care enough to work hard, and the rest dipped their heads in agreement. He also claimed that if we win or lost, it was all my fault, not theirs. I had nothing more to say to that besides tell them that they were the ones doing the battles, not me, at which point they still felt like I claimed all of the ownership.

My phone buzzed in the meanwhile. It was Irwin, and when I picked it up, he said, "Your escapades rock my soul!" He then abruptly hug up.

I put my Pokégear down and looked back at my Pokémon. Everyone continued to act defiant at the idea that they had a responsibility for their own work during battles. I suddenly felt a small amount of character development happening when I reflected on the thought that I have always secretly blamed my teachers whenever I got a bad test score. I wonder if this was close to what they must've felt when students acted like they were the cause for bad grades: complete disappointment and bafflement.

It was clear that everything was left to me, so I headed out to some fields and started training my Pokémon. I charted out the next few days specifically for this task, and it was my easy daily goal that I was setting to at least train a solid hour a day. It was highly achievable goal because the thing is, when you're doing nothing and traveling around specifically for Pokémon like I was, there wasn't much else to do every day besides attempt to progress some more. Rustling through the wild grass and popping a few more Apricorns out of trees had to be done everyday because otherwise, my days of traveling would be full of empty space.

I asked other Pokémon Trainers at the Pokémon League's center how they trained their Pokémon and they broke down their routine into simple tasks. What they do is that they wander randomly around the grass watching music videos/playing games/catching up on shows. Whenever a Pokémon popped up they looked up enough from their smartphones just enough to give minimal directions to their own Pokémon, and if said Pokémon needed healing every once in a while, they gave a potion then went back to their music videos, shows, or whatever they were doing. This apparently decreased the amount of tediousness to a tolerable level.

Fat ton of good the advice it gave to me, a not-so-proud owner of Pokégear, so I dedicated my time instead to listening to the radio. I developed a particular fondness for the Variety Channel, which had a random assortment of shows like the Pokémon Search Party. The program was incredibly short and each episode was roughly five seconds, with repetitive commercials interrupting each sequence, but it was better than listening to Mary and Oak converse uselessly on Pokémon Talk so I took what I got.

I continued training well into the night, the full moon shining ominously down my back as I tried to prepare my Pokémon for the league. I found a small patch of land that worked well enough, and I circled around it, battling every Pokémon I encountered there. I thought I could see some sizable amounts of progress among my Pokémon, but it was difficult to see on both the part of the night's darkness and also because of their own general laziness. Nevertheless, I was ready to try and get them to win this thing. I still wasn't sure how prepared I would have to be for the Elite Four and Champion, but I figured there was still some ways for me to go.

It was after defeating some owl Pokémon that Miranda evolved! It was an incredibly proud moment for me as a whole to watch this amazing savage little creature grow up a bit and get a new look. She started glowing and I was familiar enough with the process I didn't immediately panic when I saw it happen, though I did feel slight amounts of concern. However, there was no reason for me to even be vaguely alarmed. She emerged from the glowing once it all subsided with a black coat, yellow circles creating a cryptic pattern around the fur.

Basically, she was now an Umbreon. I thought she looked super sleek and said so, and she puffed her fur, looking proud of herself. Evolving was always the first step towards true epic proportions. I definitely feel as though I've noticed that pattern among my other members.

"Okay," I said out loud in a way of declaration to the others, "let's work on the rest."

I turned towards Kitty, who looked away idly. I questioned on his excitement to evolve, and his response was accepting yet indifferent.

Lorcan on the other hand seemed semi-interested. His tail twisting slightly in consideration, he seemed to be focused on the prestige on being a Dragonite more than anything else. I decided to find this reassuring enough. However, giving Kitty a stone to have him evolve was comparatively the easier task on a number of levels, so I tried to find the said stone. I knew the Pokéathlon Dome was a place to start and it was my destination.

All right, so here was I was at the Dome, correct? And I am a Pokéathlon Dome Champion as far as these people are concerned with my fantastic winnings and golden statue in the "Friendship" room. With these facts in consideration, I should be getting the best treatment that can be afforded at the place.

I was in the line for rewards. According to a pamphlet, the Athlete Shop offered the shiny stone on certain days, of which the current day was included. As such, I should've been offered it, and as I waited in line, I knew in fact others were given such an opportunity to purchase it. The boy in front of me tilted his head down at the display and asked for the stone himself, and he was given it. I came up right after him, but when the woman at the desk gave me the list of items available, I found my own list much shortened. The shiny stone wasn't even on it.

"Excuse me," I started, my voice painfully polite given the circumstances, "but I don't see the shiny stone on here."

"Oh," she said simply. "It's not offered for you at this time."

"I noticed that the person before me managed to get one."

"Well, he had a National Dex, so he deserved to get more stuff."

I was completely floored. My jaw would've dropped if that was a thing that happened in reality and wasn't just a random cliché. Okay, so it doesn't matter that I'm the best athlete here and that I could afford probably ten shiny stones with the amount of points I had, but apparently since that I didn't have the National Dex of all things stuff weren't an option for me. This was elitist philosophy at its core. What about the vast majority of us without a National Dex, then? I suppose we just don't matter. I also enjoy how open she was about it. The word "deserved" can sound insufferable when it's used against you.

There was no other place where I could get that stone to evolve Kitty, so I had to give up. I was tempted to chase down the boy who managed to get the stone and buy it off him with my points (after all, he could just get another stone while I couldn't), but I don't know if points could be transferred that way and in the end, I didn't bother to find out.

This meant that if I had to evolve another member of my current party, it had to be Lorcan. I decided that it would be a dull task, though doable. I sized Lorcan up and figured it would take roughly ten thousand more hours of exclusively training him to get that business done. Well, so be it. We were not going to lose at the Pokémon League.

Through numerous training sessions, I managed to transform Miranda into more of a warrior, an impossible task for me throughout most of the journey. I typically used her as an inexperienced last resort of a beginner until then. My preparations prior to the Pokémon League was meant to cease this application so she could have a more dependable performance in battle, and she responded well enough. On the other hand, Lorcan also became considerably more powerful at the end of my training sessions, although I didn't manage to muster enough patience to train him a few more hours and cause him to evolve. He just seemed good enough as he was. I hoped Lance wouldn't be too demanding for him or Lapras Hamako, whose icy powers has helped defeat Clair in the past.

I looked over my team one last time. We looked ready, and I felt ready as well. I didn't know how powerful the Pokémon League actually was, but they couldn't be too bad if people could consistently win against them at a certain point, and my team has never been more competent. We even had a legendary on our side: Lugia, who was reliable and could toss down any Pokémon that gave too much irritation. We had a decent chance at winning against the League, all things considered.

I set up my Pokémon for one last meeting before the battle, and gave a well-thought-out, formal speech about how we were definitely going to win. Kitty cheered at every appropriate moment in the speech, which was much appreciated over Lugia's blank stares. She probably thought that the entire team sucked but was too polite to say so, a true masterful use of etiquette which the rest of my Pokémon can surely follow.

I didn't know going in what types the Elite Four specialized in, but being familiar with the Pokémon Gym designs, their rooms no doubt would give hint to what kind of Pokémon they used, so I wasn't overly concerned on that front. I thought that I vaguely knew who some of them were (maybe) but that was no matter. I at least knew who the Champion was, and he was designed to be the hardest Trainer there to defeat. Anyway, at this point, I could feel my summer break ebbing away, so I had to finish this whole thing soon. I had great plans designed for the rest of my summer, which included consuming great tea and finishing a pile of Russian doorstoppers. These lofty goals, which can only be done during a school break, were now part of the core of my life's dreams.

So I was so ready to get this shit over with. I used up a ton of potions during my training sessions so at the Pokémon League mart I bought a hell lot more. I considered waiting some more and training along with it, but that thought even gave me anxiety for how long it'll take. At a certain point, I was going to have to wing it. And even I were to lost my first time—well, if it wasn't against Lance, how would he find out? I just had to not lose against Lance. That was the key point here.

The problem was, I got kind of broke this second time restocking, but well. We all do what we can.

With Miranda by my side, I ran up the flight of stairs at the place until I was at the third floor—the highest. Very simply designed, this part of the building only had plants and random, repetitive pictures. I peered at them, and they looked like old pictures of the Pokémon League from previous years. I got the impression they were from numerous years ago, and I couldn't spot anyone recent on any of them, Lance included.

There is an opening on that third floor, which seemed to spread out into an encompassing darkness. A man in a burgundy uniform blocked this entrance, which evidently led to the Elite Four. It was admittedly nighttime, and rather late into the day at that, but I assumed the place was still open for challengers and I assumed right, because when I talked to the guy he was basically like, "Once you enter this door, you will be facing one of the Elite Four," and he was giving me the rules. Like I can't exit once I enter, which we all knew anyway.

"Are you ready?" the man said, moving away from the entrance. I wasn't expecting this part for whatever reason. I thought he would continue to stand by that entrance, a testament to my childish appearance.

I paused, my heart pounding. The man tried to nod towards me encouragingly.

Fairly certain I was doing the wrong thing, I thought, To hell with it, and burst right in.

Author's Note

I...can't remember how I capitalized certain things? Yikes. Editing this when it's all done will be exhausting.