AN: A quick chapter for ya'll!

Jekke604: Kingsley's actually not bad. I'm considering it.

mermizle: Thank you very much!

Her heart was pounding in her chest and she swallowed thickly, but it wasn't even her who was standing down there on the battleground. She let her eyes roam around the arena building once again, taking in the sight of around a thousand seats and the video cube hanging from the high ceiling which would be displaying the score, used and defeated Pokémon and sponsor ads. She spotted a few hundred people, strewn across the arena, who were making up the audience. Stonehold Town wasn't all that big of a place, to begin with. A complete rookie going up against a seasoned veteran, even if considered beginner-friendly, couldn't and wouldn't draw in a lot of spectators. It definitely was more of a blessing than a curse, though, in Ruby's opinion. Jaune, at least, was unlucky enough that word had gotten out about him being Terra Cotta-Arc's brother-in-law. So, she hoped she'd get even fewer spectators than he did.

"Is the Challenger ready?" the referee, a middle-aged man dressed in Vale's official black and green, asked Jaune.

"Y-yes." Even with the mic, Jaune's shaky voice came out low. His nervousness was more than obvious.

The referee then turned to the gym leader. "Is the Defender ready?"

Terra Cotta-Arc had her arms crossed over her chest, a confident smirk on her face. She was quite the pretty woman, with her tanned skin, dark hair and stylish, red-rimmed glasses. "I'm good to go, Ref."

"I love you, Terra!" a male spectator from the other end of the arena suddenly called out, the silence before the start of the battle making it easy to hear.

The gym leader, with a good-humoured smile, could be seen through the video cube as she raised her left hand and pointed at her wedding band, causing a bit of laughter to erupt in the building.

"This will be a battle of two versus two," the referee continued, getting back on track after the brief interruption from the audience member. "The Challenger may substitute his Pokémon, the Defender may not. Each Pokémon may participate in each battle. If a Pokémon is unable to continue its battle or if the trainer concedes defeat, a battle ends. If one side has no more Pokémon left, the challenge ends. If the Challenger or the Defender forfeits, the challenge ends. Any questions?"

"No, Sir," Jaune said.

Terra shook her head. "Nope."

"Choose your Pokémon."

Jaune said something to the Pokéball in his hand, but even with the microphone clipped to his collar, his voice was too low to catch this time. "Go, Eve!" he then yelled, sending out his Eevee.

"That's smart," Weiss, sitting at Ruby's right, said and received a nod from Pyrrha to her right. "I doubt he shared a lot with his sister-in-law about his Pokémon since – a Geodude, hm? Very expectable."

The referee nodded at a technician sitting on a platform at the other side of the battleground, across from him. Moments later, clear, see-through hard-light barriers shielded the spectators from stray attacks, as well as the trainers, who were now standing in a safe coaching zone.

Pyrrha chuckled dryly. "Makes trainer battles in the wild look different now, does it?"

Neither she nor Weiss could deny that.

"Begin!" the Referee yelled, drawing the attention of everyone back towards the battleground with ease.

"Sand Attack, Eve!"

Eve dragged her claws through the dry, earthy and sandy battleground, blinding the charging Geodude.

Geodude stopped his charge, shaking his floating body and rubbing his stony hands over its eyes to get rid of the dirt.

"Again Sand Attack, then Iron Tail!"

Terra looked surprised at the Iron-Tail-part as Eve followed her trainer's commands without hesitation. Before Geodude was able to clean his eyes, he got hit with dirt once more, followed by a wicked Iron Tail, making the audience wince and 'ohhhh' at the sound of steel clashing with solid rock.

Ruby looked up to see the first highlight of the match-up being replayed with the video cube, Eevee's summersault in slow motion looking very spectacular.

Geodude had a visible dent in his rocky body and a fierce glare in his eyes. Jaune and Eve, on the other hand, had wide grins on their faces.

"Jaune's getting into it," Ruby said, glad that her friend was gaining in confidence, but her eyes narrowed as Geodude began to roll on the ground. The laps were wide at first, but it was closing in on Eevee and gaining in speed after each lap.

"Rollout," Weiss said, hissing through her teeth. "That's a very dangerous move."

"Careful, Eve," Jaune called out to his Pokémon after having apparently reached the same conclusion they did. "Don't get hit!"

Eve yipped her reply, narrowly dodging once, twice, thrice. Her room for movement got smaller and smaller, however, because Geodude gained so much speed that each lap was finished in no time at all. Then, unfortunately for their friend and his Eevee, it finally got too small.

"Iron Tail!" Jaune called out, the worry and panic audible in his voice after Geodude jumped up mid-roll, still rapidly rolling his body mid-air. Like a blur did the rock Pokémon fly towards Eve, barely giving her time to activate her move. She appeared to have clipped Geodude with her tail, making him lose control of his rotation, but he still hit her hard on her back, making her cry out as she was sent flying.

Geodude sported a cut on his side in addition to the dent Ruby had spotted earlier, making her nod in satisfaction. Eve was dealing damage and that was important.

"Rock Polish, Tiny. Let's finish this," Terra said and Ruby noticed only now that this was the first command she had given throughout the fight. It was a bit awe-inspiring and reminded her of the casual ease with which her mum, dad, Uncle Qrow and Aunt Raven fought their battles.

Geodude, now polished and faster, still got whacked another time by a wicked Iron Tail, a large cut across an eye – which almost looked like a rock type version of Weiss's scar – being the proof of that. Eevee was in a worse position, however, after she got hit by a tackle, then a Rock Tomb. She was panting heavily, favouring her left hind leg, looking bruised and battered and, if Ruby was honest, she doubted that Eve could last another hit.

"Keep your distance, buddy," Terra told her Pokémon, who nodded.

Jaune didn't give any orders, apparently preferring to react, rather than act, at this moment of the battle. Ruby could understand that.

Geodude smashed both of his palms onto the ground, breaking it and created various smallish rocks of different shapes. Then he began to throw them.

Despite Jaune's encouragement and help, Eevee got hit a few times, but it was the rock hitting her temple that knocked her out instantly and made Ruby, Weiss and Pyrrha wince in sympathy. The rest of the crowd winced as well, but die-hard Terra Cotta-Arc fans showed no mercy and cheered as loud as they could.

"Eevee is unable to continue. Geodude wins," the referee announced as Jaune called his Pokémon back, whispering to the Pokéball, though the microphone didn't help them understand. Then, he took a deep breath, placed her Pokéball back on his belt and took off another. "River, let's do this!"

The small tadpole Pokémon's squeaky voice was impossible to hear, but the cube above showed the fierce determination on his face. He looked absolutely adorable and Ruby wanted to run down, scoop him up in her arms and cuddle the heck out of him.

"Begin!"

"Hypnosis!"

Jaune wasted not even a second and before Geodude or Terra could comprehend the command, the rock Pokémon floated downwards, gently landing on the ground as he struggled to keep his eyes open. Then, they closed as he fell into a deep slumber.

The referee counted the seconds. "Three! Two! One! Geodude is unable to continue. Poliwag wins!"

"Yes, Jaune!"

Ruby couldn't help herself as she jumped up, cheering for her friend and prompting the supporters of underdogs to join her.

Jaune rubbed the back of his bashfully before he took a breath to focus.

"I should've expected that, kid." Terra shook her head. "It's not exactly unheard of that a Poliwag knows Hypnosis." She chuckled. "Sneaky." Her face turned serious. "I hate that. Dig, Pebbles!"

She threw her Pokéball and, before they could recognize the Pokémon, it vanished in a huge hole in the battleground.

"Careful, River!"

Ruby looked at the video cube and saw under Terra's picture that her second Pokémon was, indeed, as expected, an Onix. The moment she returned her attention to the battleground, Poliwag was catapulted into the air by a reappearing massive serpent made out of rocks, the mighty roar shaking the hard-light barriers. River bounced a few times after landing hard but got up again, even if he struggled a bit to do so.

Onix charged in for what appeared to be a tackle, but Jaune reacted immediately.

"River, use Mud Shot and stay out of reach!"

A yucky looking glob of brown, muddy water landed on Onix's face, stopping him in his tracks as it struggled to see.

"Keep going, buddy! Keep firing! Hit him in the joints between his segments!"

Another two quick shots landed on the serpent, one hitting its mark, another on a segment rather than between them.

"Dig, then Rock Polish!"

Terra apparently decided to take in the reigns now after seeing that Onix struggled with Jaune's strategy.

"Jump in after it, keep firing!" Jaune yelled, surprising not only his sister-in-law but also the audience.

Poliwag didn't hesitate, however, jumping right behind Onix and disappearing underground. Very little happened at first, but then a tremor could be felt, followed by another and another. Glances would be shared if this was a different situation, but it wasn't. It was their friend down there, battling for his first badge, so they all were staring down at the battleground, their gazes unwavering.

The tremors didn't stop and even grew in intensity until Onix burst violently back onto the battleground, panting and obviously in pain. She had to squint her eyes, but Ruby could see patches of dried mud in between segments and there, standing on his neck segment, was River, a fierce look on his face that looked more like a pout than a glare. Still, it was quite the sight.

"Unbelievable," Weiss muttered, though Ruby could feel the smile on her face.

Pyrrha, on the other hand, was quiet, but she was radiating her pride.

The joy on Jaune's face was infectious. "Haha! Great job, buddy! Finish this with a Water Gun, right in the face!"

River jumped onto Onix's head and was ready to aim, but the stone serpent was not done yet. With a sudden twist of his head, as if he had just waited for this moment, he tossed River onto the ground and followed it up with a breath of purple energy, hitting Jaune's Pokémon with full force. Allowing himself a last groan of pain, Onix then collapsed, shaking the arena as he succumbed to unconsciousness.

The entire audience waited with bated breath for the dust to clear, Ruby even clutching her Pokéballs for comfort.

Then, slowly – too slowly – a small, struggling shape could be seen, twitching, but using his fin to force himself to stand.

"Onix is unable to continue. The winner is Poliwag and Jaune Arc!"

And then, Ruby, Weiss and Pyrrha exploded in cheers.

They were eating a well-deserved celebratory dinner in the Pokémon Center's cafeteria, consisting of Mistrali fries, coke – or diet coke in Weiss's case – and tons of burgers.

They were quiet for the most part and Ruby enjoyed this moment just fine. She knew that the day after tomorrow would be her turn, after Weiss's tomorrow. She still had to compete, to earn her badge. However, she also knew that her growing tension should not take away the attention from Jaune and his accomplishment. So, they allowed him to take his time comprehending what he had accomplished, what he had achieved. No distractions, no talking. Just companionship and comfortable silence in the company of each other.

"My sister said we are more than welcome to visit once we've all had our shot at the Gym," he finally said.

"Great!" Ruby grinned. "I really can't wait to see what your family is like."

"Oh, it's just Saph here. My parents live far up in North Vale and most of my other sisters have moved to Mistral."

"That's fine," Ruby said with a hand flop. "As long as there's lots of baby Jaune pictures to see…"

Jaune just chuckled, then sighed. "I'm not the one who fought, but damn...I'm tired."

"Adrenaline, stress, probably lack of sleep – all worth it in the end, I assume?" Weiss said, a small smile on her face and twinkling in her eyes.

Jaune laughed. "You bet. Eve needs a lot of rest, but I kind of expected that. She had one strong move against rock types, but she was still very vulnerable. But she wore Geodude down. That was important. I don't think Hypnosis would've lasted long enough to disqualify him if she hadn't landed all those hits."

"Indeed," Pyrrha said. "But, as impressive as she was, River was…something else."

"That's one way to put it," Weiss said, her tone tinged with humour.

"Heh, yeah." Jaune sighed and took a healthy sip from his coke. "I couldn't be prouder. I knew he was a fighter when I caught him, but this was just...on another level. Taking that Dragon Breath, paralyzed, barely conscious, but still standing proud."

Ruby couldn't help but grin. This – this – was what she wanted for Jaune. This pride, this confidence gained through his Pokémon. The confidence he gave them. He deserved that.

She glanced at Weiss. Just from looking, she was unable to tell how nervous Weiss was, or if she was nervous at all. Usually, she'd describe her as someone who had natural confidence in what she did, but this was a whole different challenge she was going to face.

Weiss's scroll suddenly vibrated, drawing her attention away from the fries and to the device. "Oh! My sister is coming tomorrow to watch!"

"That's great!" Ruby grinned. She hoped someone from her family would pay a visit to watch her match a day later.

"I know!"

Ruby cocked her head a bit to the side. She wasn't sure if it was just her, but that sounded very forced and very unlike casually confident Weiss. "Everything okay?"

Weiss waved her off. "Yes, don't worry."

Now she just had to worry.