Chapter 4

Katarina burst into the waiting room after being informed by Anne that Prince Alan had come to see they quickly rushed to get her ready, obviously she didn't have time to take a bath and get clean, but they did they're best and Anne had used a wet cloth to try and clean her up before dressing her in her usual blue dress so she could meet the Prince, when Katarina entered she saw a boy he was dressed in a loose shirt with a blue tie around the neck, he was wearing brown pants that had a green sweater tied around it, he had messily spiky grey hair and blue eyes which were narrowed at her they were accompanied by a grumpy frown on his face.

''It's about time you showed up'' he scoffed.

'What's his problem, he's the one who came here unannounced! Ok calm down Katarina, just relax, he's just a kid of course he's not going to be as mature as you are, your a seventeen year old girl in a nine year old body, you shouldn't get angry at a child being childish' Katarina thought to herself before giving the fourth prince a curtsey ''I'm sorry your arrival took me by surprise and it took a while to get ready, I am Lady Katarina Claes and its a pleasure to me-''

''Yeah, yeah whatever I'm the Fourth Prince Alan Stuart'' the Prince scoffed ''I've got a question for you about Mary Hunt, she's my Fiancee, did you know that?''

''Huh? Oh yes me and Mary are friends and we talk quite often I heard it from her'' said Katarina a little confused.

Alan jumped up and slammed his hand on the table ''if you know then stop seducing her!'' He cried.

''Seducing her!? What are you talking about!?'' Katarina exclaimed.

''Don't play dumb, every time I invite her over she turns me down saying she already has plans with you and when we are together the only thing she wants to talk about is you, it's clear your taking advantage of her naïveté to seduce her!'' Alan cried.

''That's absurd'' said Katarina angrily.

''No it isn't you've been tricking innocent Mary, trying to corrupt her!'' Alan cried.

''Oh, you've got to be kidding me your blaming me because you invite Mary when we already have plans that's ridiculous! And if she talks about me all the time it's because you bore her!'' Katarina shouted back.

''W-wait Lady Katarina'' Anne stuttered, she knew what was about to happen but was too late to stop it.

''Any girl would accept an invitation if the inviter is attractive to her, you just don't have any charm whatsoever and she talks about me all the time because you bore her to tears'' Katarina cried, before slapping her hands over her mouth as she realised what she said.

''I have no charm… and I'm boring…'' Alan trailed.

''Oh, I- err, I didn't mean that, it was just a slip of the tong, something I said because you were aggravating me with your accusations, I didn't mean it I swear!'' Katarina cried, but it was too late.

''You've got guts Katarina Claes, nobody has ever had the nerve to insult me to my face, so we will have two showdowns, we'll have a pokemon battle and a battle of skill'' Alan announced.

Which was how Katarina Claes found herself stood in front of a tree, they decided they would compete against themselves first before competing with their pokemon ''remind me why it's a tree climbing contest again Lady Katarina?'' Anne asked who was standing behind her while Prince Alan's attendants stood behind him.

''Because Prince Alan said that since I'm a girl I could choose what our contest would be and this was the only thing I could think I was good at outside of Pokemon and maybe gardening'' Katarina explained.

''I don't think Prince Alan has ever climbed a tree before'' said Anne, as Alan started arguing with his attendants.

''Good that gives me the advantage'' said Katarina.

''And what of your mother?'' Anne asked.

''I asked Keith to keep her busy for this'' Katarina stated as Alan finished arguing with his attendants ''you ready, first one to the top wins''

''Fine whatever'' Alan spat.

''Alright then'' Anne sighed ''on your marks, get set and go''

Alan gasped out in shock as Katarina climbed up to the top in less than five seconds ''well, looks like I win, sorry Prince Alan!'' Katarina called down from the top.

''Err, t-that was just a practice round, let's do it again and for real this time, I just wanted to make sure you could actually do this!'' He called back''

'Oh, poor little rich boy, you'll never beat me at tree climbing they didn't call me monkey girl in my last life for nothing' Katarina grinned to herself ''alright, if that's what you want''

So Katarina climbed down and they raced again properly this time, only for Katarina to win again and again and again and again and after the sixth win Alan finally gave up saying ''Urg! Fine I can't beat you at this stupid tree climbing contest! But there's no way you'll be me in a Pokemon battle!''

And so the second phase of Prince Alans challenge which took place on one of the Claes estates battle fields, with Katarina on one side and Alan on another with Anne as the referee.

''Since lady Katarina only has two Pokemon this will be a two against two battle'' Anne stated, in reality Katarina actually had three Pokemon but nobody else needed to know that ''the winner will be decided when that sides two Pokemon are unable to battle''

''Fine I only need one anyways'' said Alan taking out a Ball.

''Hey, do you mind if I ask you something before we being?'' Katarina asked.

''Yeah, what do you want?'' Alan asked.

''I just wanted to ask, why don't you have your Eevee out with you?'' Katarina asked ''I mean I haven't seen Prince Gerald without his Eevee, so why isn't your Eevee out here with you?''

''None of your business!'' Alan shouted ''lets just start go for it Grookey!'' Throwing the Ball it burst open and the light formed into a small green monkey with a stick.

''Ok then, you'll start us off Queenie!'' Katarina cried throwing the ball, it burst open revealing her Nidoran, this caused Alan to flinch knowing he was at a disadvantage.

''Begin!'' Anne called.

''Grookey use Razor Leaf!'' Alan ordered, many leaves gathered behind Grookey before being fired at Queenie.

''Queenie counter with Poison Sting!'' Katarina ordered, Queenie opened her mouth to fire multiple purple needles which collided with the leaves and tore up causing them to stop flying towards Queenie and just gently fall to the ground.

''Grookey use Branch Poke!'' Alan ordered, Grookey pulled out its branch and started to charge towards Queenie while carrying the branch.

''Queenie use Poison Sting!'' Katarina cried, Queenie opened her mouth to fire more purple needles.

''Grookey dodge!'' Alan cried, Grookey jumped up and flipped over the needles before bringing its branch down on Queenie head causing the Nidoran to stumble back before Grookey started to poke at her with the branch over and over again.

''Queenie counter with Double Kick!'' Katarina ordered Queenie jumped up and kicked Grookey once before spinning around and kicking Grookey again sending Grookey flying back ''now follow up with Poison Sting!'' Queenie quickly did as ordered and fired multiple needles from her mouth which hit Grookey and dispersed, Grookey weakly pushed itself up with a purple blush over its face indicating it was poisoned.

''Grookey please get up!'' Alan pleaded.

''Sorry Prince Alan but we're not letting you, now Double Kick!'' Katarina ordered, to which Queenie jumped up and drop kicked Grookey causing it to fly back and land on its back unconscious.

''Prince Alan's Grookey is unable to battle the winner is… Lady Katarina's Queenie'' Anne sighed, she really didn't like Queenie's nickname Anne knew it was intended for when Queenie evolved into Nidoqueen, but to her it just seemed like a childish unladylike name.

''Alright way to go Queenie!'' Katarina cheered jumping up and down, causing Anne to sigh seeing her charge continuing to act unladylike ''alright Prince Alan bring out your next Pokemon''

Alan looked down for a moment, Katarina was confused his expression now looked strained like it was something he didn't want to do, eventually though he let out a sigh before slowly pulling out a Poke Ball and throwing it ''go'' he said halfheartedly light burst from the Ball, the light died to reveal a small Eevee, if you were to compare this Eevee to Prince Geralds Eevee this one would only reach its chin, but that made the fluff ball look even cuter to Katarina and even to Anne who for a split second dropped her maid facade dropped, but Prince Alan looked less than pleased.

''Can we just- can we just start already?'' Alan asked looking embarrassed ''Eevee use Quick Attack!'' With that command Eevee bolted forwards and tackled Queenie, before jumping back and flipping through the air to land on its feet ''Quick Attack again!'' Eevee did the same action again only from a different side this time ''Eevee use Quick Attack consecutively!'' With that command Eevee started to run around Queenie before darting forwards to quickly tackle her.

''Queenie, you know what to do, you just have to time it correctly!'' Katarina ordered, Queenie nodded as she took another Quick Attack, but the next time Eevee darted forwards Queenie swung around delivering a Double Kick to Eevee sending it flying through the air, Eevee landed on the ground unconscious.

''Eevee is unable to battle, Queenie wins and thus the winner of the whole battle is Lady Katarina'' Anne announced, Katarina jumped up cheering before picking up Queenie and spinning her around and praising her, Anne gave a shake of her head at her Ladies antics a tired smile happy her lady won.

Alan picked up his small Eevee looking like he was about to cry before running away with his attendants chasing after him ''I'll be back and I'll win the next time you'll see!''

Prince Alan stuck to his word and came back, he continued to visit Katarina for the next few days they would have a tree climbing contest before having another battle, one the third day of trying Katarina invited him inside for tea and sweets before they battled and the two found themselves becoming pretty good friends, Alan didn't even mind having his Eevee out with him now when he was at the manor that didn't stop Alan from challenging her of course which it all came to a head one day when Gerald was visiting Katarina.

''I'm sorry about him Katarina, I'll talk to him and get him to stop'' Gerald promised.

''Oh no its alright, if I'm being honest I kinda like his visits'' said Katarina petting Geralds Eevee, whenever Gerald came around his Eevee always wanted to sit next to Katarina so he could cuddle up to her, one would think Gerald would be upset that his Eevee seemed to like Katarina more than him, but no Gerald was actually delighted his Eevee liked his Fiancee so much.

''Oh really?'' Gerald asked with a strained smile that Katarina didn't notice ''I know, I recently caught a few Pokemon if you'd like to see them''

''Oh please!'' Katarina cheered her eyes sparkling.

''Of course'' said Gerald pulling out a couple of Pokeballs, he tossed them into the air and light burst out of them forming into a Shinx and a Cyndaquill both giving happy calls as they were released from their Balls.

Katarina jumped out of her seat and quickly made her way over to them ''aww adorable!'' she cooed petting the new pokemon, who eagerly nuzzled up to her touched, Eevee who was getting jealous by their attention shover the two out of their way to get a pat too which Katarina obliged ''your very cute too Eevee, yes you are, yes you are''

''I'm glad you like my choice of Pokemon'' Gerald smiled ''any suggestions for what I should catch next?''

''Hmm, I'm not sure'' Katarina mused, returning to her seat Geralds Pokemon followed her and nuzzled up where they found themselves be that at her sides or at her feet ''but you should probably pace yourself Prince Gerald, I mean we're only allowed six pokemon after all, unless you want to trade with someone at some point''

This caused Gerald to look confused ''what are you talking about Katarina?'' He asked.

''Well I thought I heard that trainers are only allowed to have six pokemon'' Katarina asked, thinking back to the pokemon games NPC's they would have the same pokemon through the game and they wouldn't change them, sure they're pokemon may evolve if you re battle them but they wouldn't switch pokemon out like the player could, Katarina had assumed the only exception to this was Maria since she was the player character.

''Oh I see, you must have read one of those old trainer books, that was true their was a law that you could only have six pokemon, but people, noble and common, found that to be limiting and eventually that law was abolished, you may have as many pokemon as you want but you can only use up to six in a battle'' explained Gerald.

''Oh I see'' said Katarina 'hmm, well I guess those NPC's may have more Pokemon that I didn't know about and come to think of it gym leaders and elite four change pokemon when you rematch them, so I guess that's how it works' Katarina smiled ''I see, sorry about the confusion Prince Gerald''

''No it's fine Katarina, people can get confused by that'' Gerald explained ''have you caught any new Pokemon lately? Or have you evolved any of your Pokemon recently?''

Before Katarina could answer the question the door opened and Alan walked in with a small smile ''Katarina get ready cause today I'm-'' Alan stopped short when he saw who she was talking with and his smile faded ''w-what are you doing here?''

''I could ask the same of you Alan, I mean this is my Fiancee's house so why wouldn't I be visiting?'' Gerald asked.

'Honestly though you may visit a little too much' Katarina thought to herself.

''W-well, I'm going to challenge her to a showdown, so don't interfere'' said Alan in a soft tone.

''If I'm not mistaken, you've already had about six or seven showdowns with Katarina and you haven't won one, don't you think maybe it's about time you give up?'' Gerald asked with a shrug.

''No, not yet I can do it!'' Alan snapped ''we haven't even started the competition yet, I can do this!''

Katarina could feel some tension in the air and she knew that she had to dispel it quickly ''oh Prince Alan, I'm worried my mother will find out I've been climbing trees and it is getting a little mundane doing the same challenge over and over again, so maybe we should have a different challenge this time''

''Alright, I'm fine with that, so what should we compete in?'' Alan asked.

Katarina stroked her chin trying to think of something, but her thoughts were lingering on tree climbing, her garden and her pokemon, but then remembering Kirlia dancing gave Katarina a spark of inspiration ''oh I know, how about the piano'' said Katarina.

Alan paused for a moment before nodding ''a-alright, we'll both play the same song and whoever plays it better wins, since your a girl you can go first'' he said in a monotone.

''Ok, which song are we going to play?'' Katarina asked.

''I don't mind, so you can pick'' said Alan.

Katarina nodded and then sat down to play and immediately went to the song she played when she had a tea party with her pokemon, having played it so many times it was an instinct to go right to it, but that wasn't the only reason she chose it, this piece was one of her favourites and one she was really good at, when she finished everyone in attendance, Anne, Prince's Gerald and Alan and Prince Alan's attendants.

''How surprising, I didn't know you knew how to play piano'' said Gerald while applauding her.

''Yeah, I sure do'' said Katarina wondering if that was a compliment or not ''ok Prince Alan its your turn''

After a minute of hesitation Alan stepped up and there was only one word that could describe his playing, beautiful and it took everyone by surprise, Katarina, Anne, his attendants, even Gerald was surprised by how well he could play, everyone just stood and enjoyed the melody and when he finished everyone in attendance applauded him.

''Wow, that was amazing Prince Alan you easily won that one'' Katarina smiled.

''N-no, I- I- it wasn't anything special'' Alan said sadly.

''No it was it really was, it was amazing you are amazingly talented'' said Katarina.

''Mmm, not really'' Alan said quietly.

''No Katarina's right, that was an amazing piece you just did'' said Gerald.

''Keep your empty praise to yourself Gerald!'' Alan shouted shocking everyone there ''I know you don't mean any of it and I know you're laughing at me for being a failure!'' Alan then ran off with Katarina following him.

Katarina found him sat up against the tree hugging his Eevee ''I thought I would find you here'' said Katarina sitting down next to him ''I meant what I said you know, I thought it was a wonderful performance and I know Gerald thinks that too''

''Don't flatter me, I'm nothing compared to Gerald'' said Alan, with his Eevee giving some low soft sad calls as it nuzzled him trying to cheer him up.

''That's not true, why do you think that?'' Katarina asked.

Alan gave a sigh ''ever since I was born I've been compared to Gerald and everyone says the same thing, he must have gotten all the good qualities and I'm just the leftovers, how am I suppose to feel confident'' it was a sentiment Katarina could remember from his route in the game, Alan then smiled and petting his Eevee ''you know you asked me why I didn't have my Eevee out when we met, well one reason is because it is kind of embarrassing to have an Eevee this size but theirs another reason, I like my Eevee but I don't really want others seeing it because it reminds them of what I am, since your engaged to Gerald you will get an Eevee eventually, our mother received one when she got engaged to our father and when they married she evolved it and they had a breeding pair, so my and my brothers Eevee's are all brothers too and I guess me and my Eevee are the perfect match because we're both the runt of the family''

''And there's nothing wrong with that'' said Katarina ''and what those people said isn't true alright, it's all about finding out what your good at Prince Gerald is good at a lot of things but their are also things he's bad at, we've all got strengths and weaknesses''

''Hmm, well I've never seen Gerald struggle at anything, so I'd say he doesn't have a weakness'' Alan stated.

He was right for the most part, Gerald was a genius, in addition to his genius he was a great swordsman and an excellent Pokémon Trainer, even when he visited Katarina and helped her in the field he proved he was faster and much more efficient than she was, but…

''Well, there is one obvious weakness he has'' Katarina grinned, catching Alans attention ''I can show you if you'd like''

''Katarina, Alan!''

''Oh, he's coming this is our chance'' said Katarina taking Alan's hand and leading him to a bush that Gerald was walking past ''his weakness is this!'' Katarina then threw something which landed in front of Gerald, he jumped back crying out in fright, in front of him was a badly crafted Silicobra toy ''your brother is scared of snake pokemon''

''Really?'' Alan asked amazed.

''Yeah I found out the other day, but I wasn't fully sure, so I kept a Silicobra toy and kept it in my dress'' smiled Katarina.

''Not exactly what I meant but ok'' said Alan with a shrug.

'This is perfect, now I just need to catch a snaky pokemon, but which one? Ekans? Seviper Snivey? Silicobra? Should I catch a pokemon that evolves into a snaky form and evolve it? Oh so many choices' Katarina thought to herself.

''Katarina'' said a familiar voice, Katarina jumped and slowly turned to see Prince Gerald looking down at both Katarina and Alan ''what is this?'' He then held up the Silicobra toy, Katarina stuttered out an answer ''this is yours right? But surely you wouldn't throw something like this at your fiancee right?'' Which frightened Katarina was this it!? Was she about to be banished!? ''Well then I guess I have no choice but to tell your mother about your tree climbing and about this toy'' with that Gerald walked off and Katarina chased after him pleading for him not to.

While Alan who was still watching burst out laughing, which made his Eevee happy it quickly went to nuzzle him while giving out happy cries, Alan returned the gesture a big smirk on his face ''Eevee that just gave me the best idea!''

So that's the chapter I hope you enjoyed it, I'm still undecided if I want Gerald to be a fire or electric type trainer so I decided to give him an electric type and a fire type and I chose those pokemon specifically because I thought they suited Gerald, I wanted to give him a Growlithe but you know Katarina and dogs, though I do plan to do something with that in this fic but not yet, I was somewhat thinking of waiting for Scarlet and Violets release before choosing but that's too far away, just going to tell you now like the previous fic Katarina has no knowledge about the pokemon from Paldea, she doesn't even know any of them aside from the starters.

Like last time I hope you didn't mind Katarina curb stomping Alan, it basically to show that she's a pretty strong trainer.