Author's Note: New chapter! I'm glad this story got a good response. I'd like to thank all my reviewers (all three of them) for actually reading my story.

Darkmichael: I'm glad you like the detail.

JackOfBlades: You like my character? Cool. Glad to see he's so cool.

Treekicker: I had a feeling you might read this. And, if Seth ever meets you, it'll be in a later story.

Also, as a footnote, this takes place when Seth is around thirteen, four years before Pokémon Diamond. Anyway, enjoy this new chapter!

Disclaimer: If you think I own anything, congratulations. You need help.

The Challenger

It had only been a few months since his battle with Steven. He had several interviews right after the fight; he never wanted to see another microphone again. And already he had gotten loads of challenges from Champion hopefuls, a lot of fan mail, and a scarily obsessive female fan club, most of which asked if they could be his girlfriend.

People around had begun calling him The Blue Flame, Blue because he normally wore blue, and flame because of Blaze.

For the first week or two, he had to run away from rabid mobs trying to get pieces of his hair or clothing. Thankfully, that stopped. It was tough being famous.

You may think that now he was champion, he didn't see a reason to train anymore.

And you'd be right.

"Seth, wake up!"

Seth was up in his room, sleeping till 10:30 or 11:00 as usual.

"Seth!" his mom called.

"Huh?" Seth woke up abruptly. He shook his head around a bit, trying to actually feel like he was awake. Then, he plopped back into bed. He was tired. He had tried going to the store yesterday, when about a hundred (or so it felt like) trainers challenged him.

He heard footsteps coming upstairs. His mom, Anna. She walked into the room.

"Seth, if you're gonna be this tired all the time, get to bed earlier!" his mom told him.

"I would've, if I those trainers would've let me leave the store before midnight," Seth said. His mom sighed.

"Your father's here," she said.

"Really?" Seth said, suddenly waking up. His father ran the gym in Petalburg City, so he wasn't home very often.

"Yes, and he wants to talk to you."

Seth got up. His mom left, and he got dressed. He wore his usual black t-shirt, blue short sleeve jacket, as well as blue gloves, blue pants, and boots. He ran downstairs to meet his dad.

"Hello, Seth," said Norman as soon as Seth got downstairs.

"Hey, Dad," said Seth, sitting down next to his dad. "How's things at the gym?"

"Pretty busy," said Norman, grabbing a bagel Anna had made. "The trainers are getting better."

"Probably want to challenge me," said Seth.

"About that, son," said Norman, "I wanted to talk to you. I hear you haven't been training lately?" Seth sighed.

"Yeah," said Seth, "But what's the point? I'm the best."

"And if you don't work hard to stay the best, you won't be Champ very long."

"But," Seth said, "Trainers have been challenging me left and right! Wouldn't that count as training?"

"Maybe, but you need to train more," said Norman. "Someday, you'll meet a trainer so powerful, even you won't be able to defeat him."

Seth thought about this for a moment. Dad's right, he thought. That's how he's stayed a Gym Leader for so long. I guess I should start training again. "Okay," he said, looking his dad in the eyes. "I'll train. And someday, we can have that rematch you wanted." Norman smiled.

"Seth, I'm proud of you."

"We're both proud of you," said Anna.

"I'll train, too," said Norman. "So that we can have a great battle someday!"

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"Manectric, Thunder!"

The lion-like pokémon roared, and thunderclouds began to form over the target, a large boulder. Lightning struck the rock! In its wake, the rock had been split in half.

"Yeah!" said Seth, pleased with the results. "We're getting better and better!"

"Swampert, Surf!" said May, who was with him at the time. She had agreed to go with him and train.

Swampert roared, and a tidal wave formed, pushing the boulder forward hard. "Good job, Swampert!" said May.

"Gardevoir," said Wally, another friend of Seth's, and a powerful trainer, "Psychic!"

Gardevoir's eyes glowed, and a purple aura appeared around another boulder. It lifted off the ground. Gardevoir narrowed its eyes, causing the boulder to explode. Wally grinned.

"Looks like we're getting better, too," he said.

"Yeah," said Seth, impressed with his friend's progress. "Whaddya say we-"

"Hold it!"

A young boy, about ten, came out of the bushes. He pointed at Seth.

"I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!" he said. Seth grinned.

"Alright. What's your name, kid?"

"Don't call me kid! And my name's Drake."

"Alright, Drake. How about a three-on-three match?"

"Sounds good!" he said. He grabbed a Pokéball and grinned.

"I'll referee the match," said Wally. "Begin!"

"Go, Sandshrew!" said Drake, tossing a Pokéball that revealed a Sandshrew.

"Go, Dusclops!" said Seth. The ghost pokémon appeared.

"Sandshrew, use Slash!" Said Drake. The shrew pokémon charged forward, and slashed! But the attack went right through Dusclops! "What the-?"

"Normal attacks don't affect ghosts, kid," said Seth. Drake slapped his forehead.

"Darn! I knew that! Why'd I do that?"

"Dusclops, Shadow Punch!"

Dusclops' fist was surrounded by a strange ghostly energy, and it punched! Sandshrew was hit back and knocked out.

"Sandshrew is unable to battle," said Wally, lifting up one arm. "Dusclops wins!"

"Aw man!" said Drake, stomping his foot on the ground.

"Relax!" said Seth. "That's the only way you can win." Seth only said that to try to get him to relax. He didn't actually think Drake could win.

"Alright, new plan!" said Drake, pulling out another Pokéball. "Go, Mawile!"

A small pokémon with huge jaws appeared out of the pokéball.

"Crunch!"

Mawile attacked the Dusclops. Seth was mildly surprised that Drake had a pokémon that knew crunch, but he didn't let it faze him.

"Dodge it, Dusclops," said Seth.

Dusclops floated up, dodging the bite. Drake suddenly grinned.

"Faint Attack, Mawile!"

Mawile suddenly vanished, and appeared in front of Dusclops, hitting it hard!

"What the-?" said Seth, surprised. That attack had caught him completely off guard. Drake grinned again.

"Surprised?" said Drake. "I've trained really hard for this match! Faint Attack again!"

Mawile attacked again.

"Again!"

Dusclops took another hit.

"If Mawile keeps this up," said May, "It'll win soon!" But Seth had an idea.

"Dusclops, Confuse Ray!"

Dusclops' eye glowed, and a bright ray shot from it, and hit Mawile! Mawile stumbled, and hit itself!

"No, Mawile, re-!"

"Mean Look, Dusclops!"

Dusclops shot a different kind of ray from its eye. Mawile wouldn't be going anywhere.

"Now, Shadow Punch!"

Dusclops punched Mawile, knocking it out.

"Mawile is unable to battle!" Wally said, lifting his arm up again. "Dusclops wins!"

"Darn!" said Drake. "Oh well, I'll beat your whole team with this pokémon! Go, Charmeleon!"

A dark red, lizard-like pokémon with a flame on its tail appeared. "Char…" it said.

"Return, Dusclops. Good job," said Seth, calling back his tired pokémon. He pulled out a great ball. "Go, Manectric!"

The yellow, lion-like pokémon appeared, and roared into the sky. "Crunch, Manectric!"

Manectric charged forward, attempting to bite his foe.

"Charmeleon, Flamethrower!"

Charmeleon reared its head, and shot flames from its mouth, aiming right at Manectric!

"Dodge, Manectric!" But the flames already hit. His Charmeleon had a fast flamethrower attack. Manectric was on the ground, but got up. It was weakened considerably.

"It's burned!" said May, worried for Manectric.

"Darn…" said Seth. He pulled out a Full Heal and used it on his pokémon, healing the burn.

"Hey, no fair!" said Drake, pointing is finger accusingly at Seth. "You can't do that!" Wally spoke up.

"Actually, it's perfectly legal," said Wally. "It was legal at the Pokémon league, and it's legal here."

"Aww…" said Drake. He tried to find another way to accuse Seth of cheating. When he couldn't, he shrugged and said, "Dragon Rage!"

Charmeleon shot a different kind of flame from its mouth. A bright orange flame with lightning around it. Dragon's flame. The attack hit, weakening Manectric more.

He's better than I thought, thought Seth. He's got potential.

"One more flamethrower!"

"Manectric, time to test your power. Rain Dance!"

Manectric roared into the sky, and rain began to fall, considerably weakening the flamethrower attack. "Dodge, Manectric, and use Thunder!"

"What?" said Drake, worried now. Manectric jumped to the side, roared, and thunderclouds formed over Charmeleon. "Dodge it!"

"Look's like Seth won!" said May, no longer worried. "You can't dodge a Thunderdance combo!"

The powerful attack hit! "No!" yelled Drake, as his pokémon fell to the ground, and was knocked out.

"Charmeleon is unable to battle!" said Wally, lifting his arm once more. "Manectric wins! The winner, Seth!"

The rain stopped, and the sun appeared again. "Return, Manectric. Good job." He called his pokémon back. Then, he looked at Drake.

Drake was looking at the ground, clearly disappointed that he couldn't even beat one of Seth's pokémon. Seth walked up to him.

"Hey," said Seth. "You were more of a challenge than I expected. You did pretty good. You just need to train more." Drake suddenly looked up.

"Can you train me?" he said, hopeful.

"Huh? Uh…" This was a surprise. Seth had gotten loads of challenges, but this was a first.

"I am your humble apprentice!" said Drake, bowing.

"Well…sure," said Seth. He knew Drake's potential. He would hate to see it wasted. Besides, it could be a new way to train himself.

"Yes!" said Drake. "When do we start?"

"Well first," said Seth, "We gotta go to my home and rest. And eat! I'm starving!"

Author's Note: The new chapter is done! Hope you all liked it! You can all bet Drake will play a big part in the story (no, he's not the badguy. You'll know who the badguy is). Anyway, R&R! Goodnight, people in fanfic land!