AN: I just wanted to note that this story isn't dead nor do I plan on abandoning it. I meant to have a chapter out by Christmas but I ran into some personal issues I couldn't ignore. Also I have a bad habit of thinking too far ahead and yet could not figure out how to exactly write it out to bridge the two points together which gave me a bit of writer's block.

I'm still not 100% sure how I feel about this chapter so any feedback however minor it is would be greatly appreciated.

Travelling back to the Pokémon Center was mostly uneventful. At most there was a battle between two, three badge trainers who were slightly older than Andrew.

It was a rather close match between the pair, but it ended with the girl's Linoone knocking out the younger males Nidorina.

While fun to watch, his Pokémon needed healing. So as soon as the crowd watching the battle dispersed, he beelined towards the center.

Nurse Joy asked some standard questions on their condition which were rather mild at best. Something prickled at the back of his mind as Nurse Joy began walking off as he finally realized something.

"Nurse Joy?"

"Yes?" The pink haired doctor turned back with a questioning look on her face.

"This might sound a little silly, but do I have to register for the Pokémon League here or am I already registered since I'm a sponsored trainer?" Andrew asked clearly embarrassed as it never occurred to him before.

She tilted her head slightly in thought. "Normally for a sponsored trainer regardless of the field you are choosing, you are automatically registered to participate. Others need to register their Pokedex at the nearest Pokémon Center or they will not be able to participate in sanctioned battles against other trainers. If you'd like I can check the registry for you after I heal your Pokémon."

He let out a sigh of relief. "No, it's fine. If what you say is true, then I'm already registered. I battled someone yesterday and got the money transferred to my ID. I really should've asked before I battled him." Andrew muttered to himself.

Joy merely nodded in understanding and disappeared to the back of the center. Having some time to himself, Andrew flipped through a magazine on Pokémon breeding and diets when he heard a trio of trainers talking a bit loudly.

"Man, I haven't been able to win the earth badge yet! Giovanni's gym is so difficult!" A tall male with a bit of an afro complained.

The younger male next to him snorted. "Yeah, no kidding. With the amount of badges, I currently have I fought him four on four. His Graveler completely stomped my first two Pokémon and I barely did anything to the Rhydon he has. I can only imagine that he has a Rhyperior for the Elite tier trainers."

Of the trio, the last one was a woman with ash blonde hair and green eyes. "He does. It's his trump card. I took him on in a full six on six battle. I was able to beat the first five which was difficult as is. But when I took on the Rhyperior, my Empoleon didn't stand a chance. I'm thankful for him giving me the badge though. He gave me some great advice on how to improve too. It was like battling Volker all over again." She griped with a wry smile.

Interest peaked he made over to the three trainers. "Hey sorry for butting in but I heard you guys talking about Giovanni. Mind if I hop in on this?"

The male with the afro smiled genially at the teen. "Yeah, no prob bro. Did you battle him yet or are you on the list?"

Andrew was evidently confused by his words. "What do you mean?"

"As of right now you need to schedule a battle with Giovanni. He's only taking a certain number of trainers per day and is expected to be leaving for some league or personal business by the end of the week. I'd suggest heading straight to the gym to see if there are any available time slots left before they are all filled up." The woman warned.

He sagged. "Well shit, thanks for the info. If that's the case I'd better get going then."

Of the three the shorter male was silently eyeing him the entire time. "Hey, how many badges do you have on you?"

Andrew was confused by the random question but complied. "None at the moment. I've only just started my journey just the other day. I just wanted to try my luck against the strongest gym leader to see the size of the hurdle I have to deal with."

"I see…" he said closing his eyes for a moment.

The younger male shot the other two a questioning look which they just shrugged, just as confused as him.

"And how many Pokémon do you have on you?" Hazel eyes furrowed in annoyance.

"I've only got my starter and one other Pokémon on me. I'm sorry but are you going somewhere with this, or can I go before all the time slots are taken?" He asked curtly.

The older teen ignored his words and continued. "For no badge trainers, I found out that he's currently using a Sandshrew nearing its evolution and that he is allowing the challenger to use three Pokémon against his one."

That caused the other three to stare at him. "If it was any other trainer regardless of their status, I'd call that arrogance." The man with the afro stated.

"It's not. I battled his Sandslash, and that thing was a damn nightmare. It alone took out two of my Pokémon, both of which was a flier and the other with type advantage on it. Word of advice kid, battle with caution against that Sandshrew. He trains them to be speed demons on the field. What type of Pokémon do you even have on you? What is your starter?" The woman asked plainly.

Andrew grimaced. "Well then I'm going to have a harder time than I thought. I'm going into the gym with my starter having a type disadvantage to begin with."

The older male gave a sympathetic hiss through clenched teeth. "Yeesh that's rough kid. What about your other Pokémon?"

He averted his eyes. "I-I'd rather not say."

Brown eyes peered down at him with confusion at the younger males reluctance. "Oh where are our manners. We haven't introduced ourselves. I'm Ariel, the big guy is Jacob and this is George." Ariel stated while motioning to the others.

"I'm Andrew. Pleasure to meet you all."

"What's the problem with your other Pokémon? Did you catch a Rattata or a Magikarp from the nearby forest or lake? They aren't necessarily bad Pokémon to grab early on in your journey if you want to train them to their max potential. Also, what Pokémon did you start with? Are you sponsored and grabbed a Charmander? They aren't bad choices you know? They can fight against ground types well enough if you know your way around battling." Ariel asked

Hazel eyes twitched which did not go unnoticed. "You might as well spit it out. We're not going to care about what Pokémon it is seeing as Ariel here is also sponsored and has an Empoleon." George said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Releasing a sigh whether from relief or frustration, Andrew didn't know. "Before I say anything please don't judge me too harshly for this. Not many will react well to what I'm going to say."

George's blue eyes bore into him with intrigue. "Oh?"

When he didn't elaborate further and the other two didn't say anything, Andrew continued. "I got my starter from Professor Oak that possesses an egg move. However, I am not sponsored under him. I got an albino Ekans which means its scales are white instead of purple by the way, from the Professor. However yesterday a proxy for a sponsor I wasn't even aware I was given, came to me yesterday to drop off the Pokémon into my care. Want to guess what it was?"

Ariel and Jacob shared a look. "Guessing by your reaction it's probably a rare Pokémon. So, my guess is that it's a revived fossil Pokémon, right?"

"That's definitely possible but it could be a rare foreign Pokémon that he received too." The two went off discussing possibilities while Andrew was staring at George for his guess.

Blue eyes bore into hazel searchingly as possibilities ran through his head. After removing the other two's possibilities, he narrowed it down to at least two.

"So George,* what's your guess." Jacob asked offhandedly as he and Ariel finished talking.

'He mentioned something about his sponsor needing a proxy to send him the Pokémon, right? That alone is odd in itself. It's always a face-to-face meeting when giving out a Pokémon to the sponsee. It's always been tradition among every region. The only exception to that would be-," George's eyes went wide as dinnerplates as he finally put the pieces together.

"You've got a Dratini. You're sponsored by the champion of Indigo?!"

Unfortunately, his voice was higher than he thought because the whole Center was dead silent as literally everyone both trainer and non-trainer stared at him as he sighed in annoyance.

"Tell the whole world why don't you." He stated bitterly.

George had the decency to look apologetic as whispers of conversation filled the air. To make matters worse Nurse Joy just happened to come back.

"Would Andrew Sandler please come up to the desk to pick up his Pokémon please?"

Shoulders slumped in defeat. "Well thanks for the help and info. I'm going to head to the gym and see if there is a slot still open. See ya."

As he was going to retrieve his Pokémon, the trio of trainers noticed a well-dressed boy with an ill hidden leer making his way towards the reception desk.

Andrew put the Pokeballs on his waist and said loud enough for everyone in the lobby to hear. "I'm going to say this once and only once. My Dratini, Eragon, is not up for trade or for sale. This is nonnegotiable. If you try to force me into a battle where you are going to try to force me to give up my Pokémon upon loss, I will call the Police on the spot to have your license revoked and arrested. This is the only warning I'm giving."

As he finished his sentence, he turned to glare at the teen who was approaching before scoffing and promptly walked out of the Center.

The awe filled whispers immediately shifted to a mix of agreeable and harsh conversations about his words.

The only ones who have yet to say anything was Ariel, George and Jacob.

"That was a bold and stupid move on his part. Now he's got a target on his back. I recognize that kid, Nick Zigman, he's a big name here in Kanto's government." Jacob stated as he watched the teen's fists shake with rage.

"You mean smart, it's pretty obvious what that Nick kid was after. I say good on him for that announcement." Ariel sniffed in distaste towards the entitled brat.

"But-," "You both are right and wrong." George cut in to halt the argument.

"It was bound to come out sooner or later. Unfortunately, he wouldn't have been able to hide the fact that he has a Dratini on him with gym leaders allowing the public to watch their matches as well as whatever future battles he may get into."

"People would question how he got the Dratini and in some cases would even insinuate that he either poached or stole the Pokémon. They would use those as an excuse to forcibly take Lance's personally bred Dratini."

George then scanned the crowd. "Either way, he was going to have a target on his back. As of right now Andrew is the first and only person that Lance has sponsored during his tenure as champion. Samuel Oak, the previous champion sponsored two trainers and both became two big names in the world. Forget being a target, with that in the open there are going to be a lot of expectations on his shoulders now that information is public. Speaking of which, I believe he planned this to some extent."

Jacob quirked and eyebrow in confusion. "I'm not following."

"Hmm, I think I know what you're getting at. Why bother telling us all that in the first place right? You think he was expecting a response like this from the get-go regardless of what point in the journey he's at. So instead of waiting for that to happen, he wanted to get it out of the way, like ripping off a band aid?" Ariel guessed.

Nodding, George then pointed to Jacob. "However, it was stupid to expose that information right now. He should have at least waited till he had already gotten a minimum of two badges so that he already proved his strength and merit. That would at least appease the public's view on him. But because he doesn't even have a single badge yet, puts him at a major disadvantage when it comes to Team Rocket and competent Pokémon Poachers/Hunters. In the end he made the mistake of calling him out because he now has an extra enemy after him."

Blue eyes followed the back of Nick as he stormed up to his rented room in obvious fury.

"So, what are we going to do?" Jacob asked.

Getting up, George stretched. "Well, I know what I'm doing. I'm not leaving this city until I watch that match." He then grinned widely. "I get the feeling this years Indigo League will be a memorable one."

"Well, that could have gone better." Andrew mused to himself as he made his way to the gym.

Shaking his head from those thoughts he made his way through the columns leading to the Roman structured like building and up to one of the guards next to the door.

"Excuse me sir, do I set up an appointment to battle the gym with you, or is there a reception desk inside that I have to head to?"

The guard straightened. "Normally you'd have to go inside and speak to the front desk but our primary secretary is on vacation and the secondary one is out due to illness. For the time being we are slotting all challengers into time brackets for the next five days. Anything after will have to wait until Sir Giovanni comes back from his errands. Mike, if you'd please?" The guard gestured to the boy.

Nodding, the other guard took off the clipboard from his waist which he didn't notice was on him till now. "Can I get a name as well as number of badges and Pokémon please?"

"Andrew Sandler. No badges as of right now and two Pokémon currently. But that is subject to change depending on the time and date of the battle." Again, nodding Mike began flipping through pages frown furrowing as he passed each page while Andrew's grin faltered a bit.

"I'm sorry I don't- aha! Never mind, I forgot to completely erase this last challenger on the list. They had to cancel last minute due to a family emergency. You're in luck kid. You're battle will be set for Saturday at 9:30pm. You'll be the last battle of the night before the boss leaves. Does that work for you?"

Andrew grinned. "Yeah, that's perfect. That gives me plenty of time to train and prep. Is that everything then?"

Mike shook his head. "Not quite. I just need your I.D. for a quick second and get it scanned for the battle time and date. This device registers that information to your Pokedex which, if you win in the battle the money gets wired to your account from the Gym account." He said while taking out a small rectangular shaped object that funnily enough, looked like the original Gameboy with its own little keyboard.

Taking the device Mike quickly inserted the Pokedex and immediately started to type away. Somewhere in the back of Andrew's mind was some amusement as it look like the guard was playing the original Pokémon red game on the Gameboy.

"Alright then. You should be good to go then kid. Good luck with your training. Fair warning though, the boss doesn't go easy on rookies either."

Nodding, Andrew took the words to heart and immediately left for route 22 once more. Figuring the lake was a good place to go back to train, he followed the trail there before releasing his Pokémon.

"Alright you two before we get back to training, I want to talk to you about the battle and some strategies I have started working on." He stated earning their attention.

"Okay so for the first order of business I did some digging on Giovanni and got some good intel. First and foremost, he is going to be using a single Pokémon while I can use both of you and 1 more. Therefore, while we are here on this route, I'd like to do some searching for another Pokémon for our team. If not here, then we'll go to Viridian Forest where there should be a decent amount of bug types for us to screen. Do note while I am not opposed to having another with your same type, I would prefer some diversity. I'll show you guys some pictures of the variety of Pokémon I expect to see on this route and that I want to keep an eye out for. You both following so far?" He inquired earning a chirp and hiss from his companions.

"Good let me pull up the pictures. So, from what I expect us to find are roughly 13 different types of Pokémon here above land and possibly near the water for a few. Of those eleven I am crossing off four off that list meaning that I have no interest in having them join us. While we search feel free to battle them at your leisure, but please let me know first. I don't want a repeat on our first battle Eve." He said shooting a look at the guilty looking snake.

Eragon shot her a confused look at that which she hissed something to him which he replied with what he assumed was a chirp of understanding.

"Okay now those four Pokémon two of them are rather moody which I don't want to deal with. Eve, we fought one of them on the way to Viridian. It was a Spearow, a bird like Pokémon and the other is a monkey like Pokémon Mankey." He stated showing pictures of each.

"Both of them are normally aggressive so feel free to battle them at any time. I'll go over some strategies without verbal commands before we go searching and taking them on, but for now let's talk about the rest. The last two I'm fine with you two battling are Rattata and Slowpoke."

"Rattata are one of the most common Pokémon seen throughout the region. While I wouldn't particularly care if we did have one join us, they don't fit in with my plans for the future. Same can be said for Slowpoke. You'll typically find these guys lounging by the water. These guys are also fair game."

"That leaves nine Pokémon that I want you guys to keep a particular eye out for. While I am the leader of the group I figured I'd get your guys' opinion as well. Let's start off with the two that you share a type with Eve. Both are Nidoran and can bring a lot to the table. While not as fast as you Eve, they can take last longer in battle and have a better variety of moves. Though their strengths differ based on gender. If I'm being honest I think I'd prefer the female one over the male."

"Your strong point is your physical strength. While the male species already has that, the females while they aren't as physically strong on the offensive side, they are better on the defensive side. In fact, your battling styles would compliment each other very well. Your strength is being quick and precise attacks while they are capable of absorbing hits while returning hits. If it was the males, both you and him would be competing for the same thing which is something I don't want."

Eve hissed in agreement at his words while Eragon's eyes furrowed in confusion.

Seeing this elicited a chuckle from Andrew. "Sorry if I lost you there Eragon. I never did explain this to either of you, but I want to instill a sense of strategy into everyone I'm going to train. Bring you to a certain level of human understanding when it come to battles."

"Every Pokémon has their own specialty when battling, especially when it comes to specific species of the same type. For instance, Eve here specializes in stealth ambush. You lurk in the tall grass waiting for the right moment to strike. When you do, you make it count by poisoning your prey before leaping back into the shadows to do the same. For the Nidoran male species, they focus on relentless attacks. They poison they're foes while beating them into submission. The females on the other hand, poison they're foes while stalling them out. They are patient, a wall that will stay strong while their foe loses the will to fight and stand anymore. Another is a bug Pokémon that is around here called Spinarak. Like you they are also an ambush type however they are trappers over ambush type like you. For their species, they create webs and opportunities to ensnare their opponents and stop them from being able to react while the poison takes its toll."

"Including you Eve, that is four different Pokémon with the same type as you that battle differently, none are weak in any means. Sure, they have weaknesses that can be exploited but that is my job as a trainer to get rid of those weaknesses and help you battle smarter and better. So Eragon, everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses and battles certain ways to mitigate both. Does that make sense to you guys?"

Seeing both of them nod in understanding he continued. "I guess before I start with the other Pokémon I want us to look for, I'll explain you're species' way of battling. Though a question before I do so, you do want to evolve right? I know Eve does, but I am aware not all Pokémon share that desire."

Eragon cooed and nodded his head.

"Good. That makes things easier. Now believe it or not, your species specialization stays relatively the same as a Dragonair but changes when you evolve into a Dragonite. But that won't be for a long while, since it'll take quite some time before you get your second evolution. So here is what you're focus should be on as of right now-,"

Off in the distance, a pair of keen eyes were locked on the trio, observing and absorbing everything that it heard.

Another note: Next chapter will be a bit of a timeskip. I doubt you guys want me saturating my story with just training so I'll be cutting to the day of the battle with flashbacks to highlight certain things.