Welcome back. It's been a while but here's another chapter. Italic is in this chapter used to describe Danny's thoughts again.

"Give it all you've got!" Danny ordered, as Pidgey launched another Gust at a nearby tree. The other members of the team where relaxing nearby.

"That's the spirit!" Knowing that at least Charmeleon would be able to compete against Erika, Danny focused on training Pidgey instead. He wanted to have as many answers as possible.

"Okay, Grimer. You're up next. Use Sludge on the tree."

Grimer made his way forward and got ready to attack. He grew a little larger and shot out a big ball of sticky, filthy and most likely poisonous sludge against the tree. A small part of it melted away.

Danny was shocked with the result. "Okay I believe you, let's not do that again." He said with a smile.

After that he looked around at his team. Charmeleon and Kadabra where probably going to battle the most anyway. Both would do really well against Erika's Victreebel. Pidgey and Grimer might come of help as well. Only Bellsprout and Krabby couldn't help.

Danny felt sorry for Krabby, it hadn't been able to battle properly against a gym at all. Hopefully the next gym will be less water-proof, he thought.

A yellow creature attracted his attention. It had something in its hands that made Danny a little drowsy.

A push of Charmeleon got him back into reality. He blinked his eyes and looked again, but the yellow creature was gone.

His team looked at him with a questioning look.

"I'm fine." Danny scratched the back of his head. What was that, he wondered.

That evening

"Danny, wake up." Danny looked up and saw the plafond of his old room.

"Wait a minute….." He said to himself.

"Good morning darling." His mother said.

"Happy birthday champ." His dad stood next to her. In the middle was a box, wrapped in celebration paper.

"How does it feel to be 15?" His mother asked.

"What?"

"Give the boy a minute, he's still dreaming." His dad laughed.

Danny thought back.

"So it really was a dream? Charmeleon, the team. I dreamed I was a trainer. Man, it can't be."

"Good morning Danny." A woman's voice said.

His parents turned around.

"Who are you?" His mother asked.

"Someone who needs to talk to your son." The woman said. "Move away please." A yellow creature was next to her.

"I'm asking you to get out of my house now." Jack said.

"What is that?"

"If I have to ask again I won't be asking and you won't be standing there anymore."

"Are you threatening me?" The woman giggled. "Hypno, Psychic."

Jack was lifted up.

"What..?!"

"Out of the window with him." The woman ordered. The Hypno nodded.

"Dad no!" Danny jumped of his bed but he was too late.

"If you would come with me." The woman said. "Unless you want your mother to follow your dad."

Danny swallowed and followed her.

"You know, you've been exposed to my Hypno and now I can control your dreams and turn them into nightmares. Unless you already have a nightmare, then I'll just sit back and enjoy the panic."

The woman had blueish hair with black tints in it. She was quite beautiful. Her face was open and yet closed. The woman was quite thin, but not too thin to make her ugly.

"What do you want off me?" Danny asked.

"What I want? I want you. Together, we can achieve so many amazing things." She replied.

"DANNY!" A voice was trembling through the entire house.

"Annoying brats. Well, my time's up. I guess I'll see you in your next dream." The woman stepped forward, gave Danny a slight kiss on his cheek and vanished.

"DANNY!"

Danny opened his eyes and saw Richard stand above him.

"Richard..?"

"Are you alright? You suddenly screamed 'Dad!'. You got us worried."

Next to Richard, Charmeleon was looking at Danny.

"I'm okay. I just had a nightmare. What's the time?" Danny asked.

"It's 8 A.M." Richard replied. "You sure you slept well enough to get out of bed already.

Danny thought back at his nightmare. "To be honest, I'm a little done with sleeping for now."

Charmeleon looked concerned at him.

"Really. I'm fine. It's only a nightmare."

Somewhere across the region, a mysterious woman with blue hair and a Hypno started to giggle.

"Oh, it's way more than just a nightmare, my dear Danny."

A few hours later

Richard opened the door to the restroom where Machoke was in. The Fighting type didn't seem to notice, or pretended not to.

"Hi there. How are you doing?" Richard asked. He got no reaction.

Richard scratched his chin. He knew it was going to be tough to get Machoke to trust him.

"I brought you something." He took a special bag of candy out of his bag. It was candy that has been adjusted so Pokémon like it as well.

Richard put it on the nightstand next to Machoke.

"I hope you like it." The trainer tried, but Machoke gave no reaction.

"Well, I have to go. Danny's fighting a gym battle today. I won't be gone long." Richard left the candies and walked towards the door. When he looked back he saw that the bag was opened and Machoke was eating it. The trainer smiled and walked out of the room.

At Erika's Gym

"Are you guys ready?" Danny asked. With him where his four competing Pokémon. They all nodded.

"Let's go then." He opened the doors and stepped into the gym. It had been a week since Machoke had trashed the place, but not much had changed: the entire gym was still a mess.

A few construction workers where working hard to get everything fixed. The doors and windows where brand new, but the main battlefield and the surrounding areas where completely trashed.

"Are you looking for miss Erika? She's in the forest just outside the city." One of the workers explained.

"Really? Well thanks for the info, I'll head there." Danny responded and left the gym.

Just when he walked out, Richard and Janine where walking towards the gym.

"Already lost?" Janine joked.

"No, she isn't here. Apparently she is in the forest just outside the city. I'm heading there now."

Together, the three trainers made their way towards the forest. Leaving the city.

"How's Machoke doing?" Janine asked Richard.

"I don't know, he's still not responding to me. Although he did ate the candy I brought him."

"Well, that's a start." Janine tried to cheer Richard up. But with his kind mind, Richard couldn't stop thinking about Machoke and how he wished Machoke would be more friendly.

"Here's the forest." Danny interrupted.

In front of them, a large forest spread.

In front, a guy stood.

"Hi there. You must be here for gym leader Erika." He said.

Danny nodded.

"Because the gym is currently closed, she will use this forest as her battlefield. Because of that, it isn't safe for spectators to enter."

Danny turned around.

"I'm sorry guys." He apologies.

"No problem, I'm going to check up on Machoke if you don't mind." Richard responded.

Danny nodded. "I'll show you the badge when it's over."

Richard chuckled. "You mean when you get back at the center to heal your Pokémon after you lost."

Danny started to laugh. "Like that's going to happen."

His team started to laugh as well.

Danny turned around and walked into the forest. His team following him closely.

The forest was filled with vines and there wasn't much sunlight coming down. There was only a small path Danny could follow.

"Okay guys, we don't know anything of this forest so stick close together." Danny ordered his team. They nodded.

Suddenly, vines came from both left and right and blocked the bath.

"What the…" Danny was confused.

A Pokémon jumped in front of them. It was completely made out of vines.

"A Tangela?"

The Tangela looked at him fiercely and gathered more vines.

"Charmeleon, use Flamethrower."

Charmeleon nodded and realized a stream of hot fire that burned trough all the vines and made Tangela jump away.

"I see my Tangela tracked you down." Danny heard. When the smoke created by the flames cleared, he saw Erika walking in.

By her side was a Vileplume and her Victreebel. The Tangela jumped in front of her.

"As you know, my gym was destroyed and it will probably take weeks before I can re-open it. So I had to find another location. This forest is perfect. It does make it harder for the challenger to beat me, but I guess you need to earn the Rainbow badge." She explained. "Are you ready?"

Danny nodded.

"Okay great, let's go then!"

Meanwhile at the Pokémon Centre

"Has anything changed?" Richard asked Joy.

"Well, he ate the candy you gave him but he isn't responding to anything. Just a few moments ago, Chansey went to check up on him and to cheer him up, but Machoke gave no reaction whatsoever."

Richard nodded disappointed.

"I'll go check up on him if that's alright."

"Of course it is, it's your Pokémon after all." Joy tried to cheer the trainer up.

"I'm not quite sure if Machoke agrees to that." Richard reacted sadly and walked into the examine room.

"Hi there, how are you doing?"

No reaction, Machoke simply kept staring at the window which gave him the perfect view of a wall.

Richard sat down on the chair next to the Fighting type.

"You take all the time you need to heal up and to trust me." Richard considered giving the Pokémon a pat on the shoulder but decided against it.

In the forest

"Grimer, use Sludge!" Danny ordered as the opening attack. Erika led with Tangela, who was still eager to fight.

"Tangela, hide in the trees to avoid it." The gym leader replied.

The Vine Pokémon used its vines to get into the trees, making the Sludge attack miss.

"Now, use Constrict!"

"Grimer, dodge it!"

The Poison type saw the vines too late and was caught in Tangela's vines. The vines pinned Grimer to the ground so it couldn't move.

"Good job Tangela, now use Ingrain."

Tangela jumped to the ground and released a group of roots into the ground.

"Grimer, use Sludge!"

Tangela didn't even move and got hit by the Sludge head on.

"That should do some damage." Danny grinned.

Tangela, however, seemed fine. The only thing that changed where its eyes that turned green and the seemingly big damage disappeared.

"What…" Danny stuttered.

"The thing is, with Ingrain, Tangela can survive anything and restore it's health right up." Erika said with a smile.

"And now for our little trick. Use Hidden Power!"

Tangela's eyes started to glow white and several white balls started glowing in the air. Tangela's eyes aimed at Grimer and the later had no idea what hit him, but it did some damage.

"Grimer, are you okay?" Danny asked shocked.

"Tangela, how about Giga Drain?"

"Grimer, get away."

Grimer broke through the constrict but Tangela had already released small green circles that attached themselves to Grimer. They suddenly started to glow and grow, draining Grimer's energy. After that they returned back to Tangela.

"Are you kidding me? How do I beat this thing?" Danny spoke out loud.

"Tangela, let's finish this off with Hidden Power."

The White balls hit Grimer and the Sludge Pokémon was struck back. When the smoke cleared, it couldn't get up anymore.

"Grimer is unable to battle Danny, you'll need a replacement." Erika reacted. Even referee's weren't allowed in the forest, as it was dangerous enough for the trainers.

Danny returned Grimer. "You did good buddy."

The trainer started thinking.

"Tangela kept hitting and healing before Grimer could get a hit off, I need something fast."

"Kadabra, let's go!"

The Psi Pokémon stepped forward, nodding towards Danny as in 'I'm ready to win this'.

"Hmm, so now you're going for the quicker plan. Smart." Erika responded positively. "It won't help you, Tangela, use Ingrain."

"Not this time. Kadabra, use Psychic."

Kadabra, being the faster Pokémon, lifted Tangela into the air before it could even move.

"Smack it into the nearest tree." Danny commanded.

Kadabra nodded and threw Tangela with quite some force into a tree. The Grass type fell down and had to collect itself from the hit.

"This is my window."

"Kadabra, Teleport." Danny ordered, remembering how he beat Brock's Geodude. That battle felt like years ago.

Kadabra disappeared as quickly as Danny had ordered him to.

"Tangela, watch your surroundings, it could show up anywhere." Erika felt like she was driven in a corner by Danny's gain of momentum.

Suddenly, Danny saw Kadabra appear in a tree from the corner of his eye. Erika hadn't seen it and neither had Tangela.

"Now Kadabra, Psychic once again!"

The Psi Pokémon lifted Tangela up once again, the latter struggled to move but couldn't do anything.

Kadabra jumped down from the three, and with that also smacked Tangela into the ground. The Vine Pokémon wasn't ready for the speedy Psychic Pokémon and remained on the ground.

"Good job beating my Tangela." Erika said with a smirk as she returned the Grass type to it's Pokéball. "But you still have two to go. Vileplume, you're up next."

The Grass/Poison type stepped forward, ready to battle.

"Kadabra, use Psychic." Danny ordered once again.

Vileplume was lifted into the air as soon as it entered the battle field.

"Not this time." Erika reacted. "Vileplume, hit it with Stun Spore."

Even though Vileplume was mostly unable to move, it could release a set of spores that fell over Kadabra. The Psychic type realized he could barely feel his limbs and was forced to let go of Vileplume, who dropped to the ground.

"Kadabra, what's wrong?" Danny asked.

"He's paralyzed, he won't be able to move for a while. In the meantime, let's beat it with Acid, Vileplume!"

"Kadabra, Teleport!"

Kadabra's paralyzed state prevented him from teleporting so the big stream of acid hit him right on his chest, blasting him down.

"Kadabra, you did well." Danny decided to take back the Psi Pokémon and to try another strategy.

"Charmeleon, think you can beat this thing?"

Charmeleon grinned and ran forward.

"Flamethrower!"

"Not so fast, use Stun Spore!" Erika responded.

Charmeleon gathered all the power it had into one burst of flames. He shot them towards Vileplume, burning the spores that Vileplume had just send away and blasting into the Flower Pokémon.

"Vileplume!" Erika called concerned.

The Grass type wasn't defeated yet, but it had taken some damage.

"If tactics don't work we'll go fully offensive. Use Acid!"

Vileplume gathered a large amount of sludge in its flowers and shot it towards Charmeleon.

"Dodge it Charmeleon, use the trees." Danny pointed up.

The Fire type nodded and jumped away.

"Don't let him get away." Erika panicked.

"Now, use Metal Claw!"

Charmeleon jumped out of a tree towards Vileplume. The Flower Pokémon tried to improvise, as Erika couldn't react quickly enough, but it was no use. Charmeleon's claw started to glow grey and the Fire type slashed Vileplume towards the ground.

Vileplume tried to get up but couldn't get back on its feet.

"You did well Vileplume." Erika returned the Grass and Poison type back to its Pokéball.

"You managed to beat two of my Pokémon, but my ace is still waiting. Victreebel, let's go!"

In the Pokémon Center

"Can I get you something to eat?" Nurse Joy asked Richard, who was still sitting next to Machoke.

"No I'm fine, do you want something?" Richard asked, but the Fighting type didn't react.

"Well, let me check up on the monitors quickly." Joy said awkwardly.

She checked the computer.

"Heartbeat is fine, let me check your blood pressure."

Before Machoke could react, Joy had already put the machine around his arm.

"Hmm, that's fine as well. It seems like Machoke is in good shape again. His injuries are gone and his heartbeat and blood pressure are back to normal. I'd say he can be released from my center." Joy said with a smile.

"That's great Machoke!" Richard's enthusiasm wasn't shared with Machoke.

With Danny in the forest

Danny looked at Charmeleon, who had just beaten Vileplume and was ready for more.

"I promised this one to Pidgey. Charmeleon, good job for now."

The Fire type nodded, slightly disappointed, but walked off the improved battlefield. Pidgey flew towards it.

Both Victreebel and Pidgey nodded towards each other, as they have been friends since the NTR takeover.

"Victreebel, use Vine Whip!"

"Pidgey, dodge it!"

Pidgey nodded and flew higher into the sky, away from the vines.

"Now, use Gust!"

The Tiny Bird Pokémon started to flap his wings towards Victreebel. The latter used his vines to get into the trees.

"Follow it Pidgey!" Danny ordered. Pidgey flew further into the forest, chasing Victreebel.

"Now Victreebel, get it with Razor Leaf."

Danny couldn't see neither Pidgey nor Victreebel, but he did saw some boomerang shaped leaves fly through the forest.

"Now this is a true forest battle." Erika said with a smile. "You need to trust in your Pokémon for 100%, cause you won't be able to see for them."

"I trust in Pidgey." Danny mumbled. "Use Quick Attack!"

"Victreebel, Vine Whip!"

Danny couldn't see the action happen at all, while he was waiting for the Pokémon to come back, Pidgey was having trouble shaking off Victreebel. The flycatcher Pokémon was swinging from tree to tree using his vines.

"Pidgey, get above the forest!" Danny screamed. This Pidgey did hear. He flew up higher, past Victreebel, and out of the forest.

"There you are." Danny said with a smirk. "Now use Gust"

Pidgey created another small tornado which it launched at Victreebel.

"Victreebel, dodge it." Erika commanded.

Pidgey's Gust shot Victreebel into the ground, but the latter hadn't decided to give up easily. He let out a vine and grabbed Pidgey.

Pidgey struggled to break free but Victreebel proofed to be extremely powerful, he smacked the Flying type into a nearby tree.

Danny was done seeing nothing, he ran into the forest, searching for Pidgey.

"Danny!" Erika called him back, but the young trainer didn't listen.

Once he got eyes on Pidgey he was glad he kept going, Pidgey was in a tight position now he was on the ground.

"Pidgey, don't let him get close to you. Use Gust to blast Victreebel away!"

Pidgey realized Danny was near and received extra strength from the idea he wasn't alone. With a more powerful Gust he blew Victreebel away and got off the ground.

"Now finish it off. Use Twister." Danny ordered.

Pidgey started to fly in circles, quickly creating a small tornado.

"Now!"

The tornado was released and Victreebel was got in it. The Flycatcher Pokémon was flown through the sky and eventually ended falling to the ground.

Erika arrived at the scene as well.

"Victreebel?"

The Grass and Poison type didn't react.

"Well, while it is officially forbidden to leave the battlefield during a gym battle, I can't say anything else than that you won." The gym leader said with a smile.

Pidgey flew towards Danny, who was smiling from ear to ear.

"Come here you." Danny said with a laugh.

"Pidgey happily flew towards his trainer and the two shared a good hug.

"You did amazing."

"I'll escort you back out of the forest, you should heal your Pokémon." Erika said. Danny nodded. Meanwhile, Charmeleon had also made his way towards his trainer. A big smile appeared on his face when he saw that Pidgey had won.

Just outside of the forest, Janine was still waiting. She didn't have anything better to do and she had seen enough of Celadon City already, so she just relaxed with Venonat and Weezing.

"Did you really wait for us?" Danny said with a laugh. He was followed by Erika, Charmeleon and Pidgey, who flew above him.

"Yeah, I didn't have anything else to do anyway, so I thought I'd wait to see you get that gym badge." Janine responded.

"Ah that's right, I almost forgot." Erika said while slapping her forehead. "Here's the Rainbow Badge, as proof that you officially beat the Grass type gym. Congratulations."

Dany took the beautiful badge, colored in all kinds of different colors.

"Thanks. We did it guys!" He cheered together with Charmeleon and Pidgey.

"Good job Danny, you're halfway there." Janine said while high fiving her friend.

"Richard is still with Machoke?" Danny asked while walking back towards the city.

"He barely left Machoke's side the past few days, I hope both will be okay." Janine responded. "But something else, now you have your gym badge, we can leave Celadon. Where will you go next?"

Danny hesitated. "I heard there's a Poison type gym in Fuchsia city. I think that would be the best option."

Janine swallowed, which Danny luckily (for her) didn't notice.

Danny quickly entered the center to heal up his team, but didn't see Richard.

"Is Richard still with Machoke?"

Joy reacted a little bit confused. "What do you mean? Machoke is good to go again and they both left the center 15 minutes ago. I thought they would've gone towards you."

Danny scratched his chin. "I haven't seen him yet."

"Well, I'm sure he won't have gone off alone. Your Pokémon are all fine again."

"Thanks." Danny quickly let out the other members of his team to show them their fourth badge. They all reacted enthusiastic.

"Next battle you two can help again." He said to Bellsprout and Krabby.

After that he arrived outside and saw Richard walking towards the center.

"Hey man, there you are! I got my fourth gym badge." Danny happily informed.

"Congrats." Richard said in dejection.

"What's wrong?" Janine asked.

"And where's Machoke?" Danny added.

Earlier

"Well, I'm definitely glad you are okay." Richard said. In his head he was already glad Machoke willingly followed him out of the Pokémon Centre.

"So, how about we go towards the forest? Maybe Danny's already done and we get to see his badge." Richard tried, but once again no reaction. He decided to go there anyway, Machoke followed.

Just outside of the town, Richard sighed. "You really don't like me, do you?"

Machoke looked up, but didn't agree nor deny. He just kept solidly silent, like he had been since Richard captured him.

The words of Nurse Joy echoed through his head. 'I'd say he can be released'.

"Do you want to be a free Pokémon?" Richard asked.

Machoke didn't move.

"I guess you do. It wasn't fair of me to capture you and all of a sudden expect you to be all happy on my team. If you want to go, you can go. I won't stop you." Richard felt a tear coming up, but pushed it back.

Machoke looked at his trainer and slowly walked away.

Richard looked at the back of his formerly Pokémon. "So long, I hope you find your peace."

Present Day

"I released him." Richard said.

Janine and Danny where speechless. They walked up to Richard. Janine softly touched his hand while Danny laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Maybe he'll come back." Danny suggested.

"I don't think so, Machoke really didn't like me." Richard reacted.

The three of them stood there for a while. The glorious victory of Danny had become a little less cheerful. After what seemed like quite a while, the trio went inside the Pokémon Center to get their stuff and say goodbye to Joy: The journey continued.