Hey, sorry for the delay in updating, but I couldn't figure out what how to do this, I mean I thought if I went into detail with all of the gym battles and levelling up then the pace of the story would be interrupted. I hope this is okay and doesn't seem rushed, but I thought it would be best. Either way, hope you enjoy it and again, thanks for reading, it really means alot to me =D


Becoming The Best

Chapter 50

"It has to be said, that is the worst name yet," Seth raised his eyebrows at the dragon wrapped around Sarah's neck.

"He's cute though. But he needs trained up. Looks like I'm going to be training alot more than usual,"

"I know right, pretty soon our pokemon are gonna be beasts," he laughed,

"You know, you should train Blair up more-you seem to be focusing all the training on Bree and Psycho," Sarah said, eyeing the Eeveelutions warily-they were getting alot tougher than any of her pokemon because Seth had focused the entire journey on levelling them up.

"I know, I know. Guess I'll train her while you train Dragoon," he sighed.

"Okay. Time to train," Sarah said firmly, and they went off to train.


The next few months passed by like a blur, constant training and battling meant that Sarah rarely had any time to relax, but she felt that thae growth of her team more than made up for it. As she stood outside of the 7th gym, holding a shiny new badge in her hand, she thought about it all. Her favourite moment by far had been when Blue had evolved. After defeating a particuarly tough Lumineon, a bright light enveloped him, until he emerged as a huge Blastoise with intimidating guns sticking out of his rock hard shell. Sarah stood, her head at his chin and looked up into his eyes. Blue looked around at the awestruck trainers and immediately stood up straight and saluted, his great big clawed hand held rigidly to his head.

"Is he... Is he saluting me?" Sarah asked Seth a bit nervously.

"It looks like he is," Seth muttered back, staring up at the Blastoise,

"But he's being all... Serious. Blue isn't normally serious," she whispered. Blue was still staring at her, his hand held in a salute.

"Sometimes evolution does that. I mean, who ever heard of a childish Blastoise?"

"But... Blue isn't serous. He's just... Blue," Sarah said. She couldn't imagine Blue not being silly and childish-that's all she'd ever known him to be like.

"He is still blue," Seth said, trying to make her laugh. She didn't.

"It looks like he wants you to salute him back," Seth nodded towards Blue, who was staring at Sarah expectantly.
"Oh. Okay," she said and returned his salute half-heartedly. As soon as she did so however, a roaring sound erupted from Blue and he fell to the floor, his roaring laughter bellowing through the town. Arcane jumped back, astonished at Blue's behaviour. Seth took a few steps back, staring at Blue tentatively but Sarah ran forward and hugged the huge pokemon, delighted at the fact he hadn't changed one little bit.

"Aw, you're still my little Blue," she beamed.

"Except he's not so little anymore," Seth grinned. Blue stood up to glare at Seth before dowsing him with the guns protruding from his shell, then bursting into a fit of roaring laughter again.
"Some things never change," Seth sighed.


"Hello?" Seth waved a hand infront of Sarah's face, bringing her back to the present. She looked down at her Growlithe-he was grinning up at her, his tongue lolling out and panting, but no worse for the wear after the gym fight. It had been a breeze, Sarah had overestimated the level the gym leader's pokemon and trained her pokemon so they positively wiped the floor with the gym leader. Even so, she made her way to the pokecentre to heal up her pokemon. Usually, she would check the map on the wall to see where the next gym was, but she didn't need to. She knew exactly where it was. It was on her home island, Greensand. Over the plains that seperated the weaker pokemon from the scary strong ones, the gym lay on top of a large hill, overlooking the island. She could visit her home while she was there, after she had defeated the leader she would stop by, show her parents how wrong they had been, how far she had come...

"Sarah. I'm not going to the last gym with you. I need to meet my mam and for some reason I'm thinking you won't want to come with me," Seth told her,

"Come again?" Sarah said, raising her eyebrows and staring at him, hand on her hip,

"I got a letter from her last night. I've got to go meet her at the City of Dust," he sighed.

"Fine. Bye," she said through gritted teeth, then walked off. He was right, she didn't want to go with him to see that horrible woman and she was angry and hurt that Seth would just abandon her to go and see her. Then she remembered that she was his mother, that she had practically come back from the dead. It was understandable that he would want to hear what she had to say. But so did Sarah. Curiosity burned inside of her, but she couldn't go and see what Talia was going to say to Seth. Then a thought hit her. There was someone else who had to know what had happened.

I was sure I recognised it, but I'm not sure how-Bree went all crazy and nearly killed it.

We don't watch much TV around here.

She heard about what had happened on the news.

It all made sense, the links all fit in place. It was obvious-how could they not have seen it before? But there was only one way to find out if she was right.


The air whipped at her face, her eyes streaming as she soared the skies from atop Air, now a magnificent Pidgeot. The land melted away into the sea as they flew towards the small island, which was now a tiny speck in the distance. Within minutes, they were spiralling towards the ground carpeted with grass and Air came down into a smooth landing. As soon as her feet hit the floor, Sarah let Arcane out of his pokeball and he bounded off, running back and forth. Air stood tall and proud, scanning the landscape with her keen eyes until she suddenly opened her wings wide and took flight.

"Air!" Sarah shouted and started to run after her, but the distance between her and Air swiftly grew, Arcane was running far ahead of Sarah too and she was left behind. When she finally caught up with her pokemon, she felt her feet freeze, her breath catching in her throat.

"Wormy?" she whispered. The Beautifly looked even more beautiful than she remembered, her eyes were bright and shiny, her wings beating happily in the sun as she chased Air back and forth. Upon hearing her name, she turned to see her old trainer. A second of stillness settled over the scene, but then Wormy flew over, her wings throwing Sarah to the floor in a hug.

"Wormy! I'm so glad you're happy!" Sarah squealed, patting Wormy's head. The Beautifly then fluttered back into the air and hovered, looking at them all.

"Sarah!" a familiar voice shouted. Looking past Wormy, Sarah saw Bronte running towards her, Flare at her heels.

"Bronte!" Sarah grinned and rushed forward to hug her.

"What are you doing here?" Bronte asked.

"Oh, about that. I need to see your grandma," Sarah said, the grin fading from her face. Bronte's smile faltered as she looked over Sarah's shoulder.

"Sarah, where's Seth?" she asked, sounding worried.

"I need to see your grandma," Sarah repeated. Panic clouded Bronte's face and she looked around, hoping Seth was there, he had to be.

"Sarah! Is he okay?"

"Yes Bronte, he's fine. Really. I just need to know something," Sarah looked straight into Bronte's eyes, hoping to show her that she was being sincere. Bronte seemed to calm down and nodded, the turned to walk to her grandma's house.


"I knew you'd be back," the old lady smiled as Sarah walked in.

"How?"

"Bronte dear, the pokemon need feeding," the old lady said. Bronte seemed about to protest, but a raised eyebrow from the old lady made her turn and walk out.

"How did you know I would be back?" Sarah repeated. She wasn't scared of asking her questions anymore-she wanted to know everything.

"It was only a matter of time before you wanted to know what Seth wouldn't tell you,"

"Yeah, well Seth did tell me. And you know why? His mam isn't dead. She's going to tell him everything. And I know that you're involved somehow and I'm worried Seth is going to make a mistake, so you have to tell me what you know!" Sarah said firmly, leaning forward and staring intently at the old lady. The old lady's face hardened, horror seeping into her eyes as she listened to what Sarah said.

"Talia is... Alive?" she whispered.

"Yes. She is also angry. Very angry. She tried to kill me to get to Seth,"
"And she intends to tell him everything?"

"Everything,"

"Then I am in trouble," the old lady said with a shakey voice.

"What do you know?" Sarah insisted.

"It was... My fault,"

"You mean you caught that pokemon?" Sarah asked,

"Yes. But I couldn't live with the guilt. You have to understand though, she killed my Barley! My very first pokemon! My little Eevee... So I unleashed Kallie. I shouldn't have done it, I knew she was too powerful, but Talia had angered me so much,"

"The Kangaskhan was yours. That's why you trapped her in the cave," Sarah said,

"Yes. She grew weak in the cave, I knew that when you said you had defeated her so easily. She was old, weak," the old lady shook her head, tears misting her eyes.

"And you told Seth you saw what had happened on the news, but Bronte told me you don't watch TV around here. So you must have been there,"

"You're right. You must understand my guilt, I couldn't believe what I had done. I had murdered an entire family, their pokemon too. But you do not know Talia like I do. She is vengeful, violent. And I fear that Seth may also feel that way. My Pringle is the only pokemon that remains powerful, I cannot protect myself. Talia will surely have a new team, a powerful one,"

"She does, but not as powerful as mine is now. Isn't that right Arcane?" Sarah looked down at her Growlithe and he barked, jumping up into her lap.

"CHILD! That pokemon should not be a Growlithe anymore! He has reached his potential as a Growlithe," the old lady cried out. She then stood up and bustled over to a cupboard, bringing out a large stone, mottled with red and orange and glowing like a fire burned within.

"Use this on him child,"

Sarah took the stone and put it in her bag,

"We need to talk first. I can defeat Talia no problem, but Seth is another matter altogether. I just need someone else to take out that stupid woman, otherwise my pokemon will be too beat up to take on Seth," Sarah said. She thought about Seth's pokemon, he had three new additions, a Claydol, an Aggron and a Shiftry. She hadn't really gotten to know those three very well, but the thought of having to battle Blair was hurtful to her, she loved that pokemon.

"What am I talking about? I mean, he promised me he wouldn't try and get revenge," Sarah said, trying to convince herself. Deep down she knew though, she knew he would fail to keep his promise.

She knew what it would come to in the end.