Waking up on the second day of their journey, Will wondered why had been having so many panic attacks. As he thinks about it, though, another attack occurs as he watches the news report regarding the teen Will's age that had died the previous morning to an attack by an Ursaring. After this, he woke up Pyro to see a ship docked, so the two went to see if any new trainers had come from there. They ended up meeting a rookie named Jimmy Anderson and eventually went to train with him and his partner, Chespin.

Serene-Raven: It's awesome hearing from you! It's been quite a while! I'm glad that you're enjoying Will's backstory. It's definitely one of my favorite parts about the story. Jimmy's character is up there for me as well, so I'm equally happy to see you like him. Thanks for spotting that error for me. I appreciate the help! Thanks for the review!

Will's Team:

-Pyro (Torchic): Scratch, Growl, Ember

"Welcome, challenger!"

Will and Pyro had just walked in through a sliding glass door when they were greeted by a small middle-aged man wearing a black suit with a smile. He stood still with his feet apart and his hands on his hips. Will raised an eyebrow at the man, but said nothing, instead nodding his head in way of a greeting, which Pyro mimicked.

Seeing this, the man continued, asking, "Do you have an appointment with Lady Candice?"

Will shook his head in response, saying, "No, sir. I would still like to battle her, though, if she is able to."

The man frowned when hearing that and pulled out a small planner from his inside jacket pocket. He flipped through the pages silently as Will and Pyro watched until he arrived to what Will assumed to be that day's schedule. While he couldn't see it, he assumed it was likely to be nearly blank, as he hadn't heard of any battles happening here in weeks. He generally came to watch when Candice had battles, especially with higher-ranked trainers.

The sight annoyed him. Still angry about Jimmy, watching this man patronize him, slowly flipping through pages to what he knew to be an empty day made Will want to smack the book out of his hands. Fighting the urge to do just that, Will clenched his right fist in anger.

To try and calm himself, Will took a look around the gym. He had seen it dozens of times as a spectator but coming in as a challenger was a whole other feeling for him. The entire building was incredibly open, with the battlefield in the middle that was seemingly a sheet of ice, bleachers along either side, and Pokemon statues made of ice around the edges.

"I'm sorry," the man began after a moment. "But since you don't have an appointment, I don't think you can challenge Lady Candice at the moment since you don't have an appo—"

"Seriously, Marvin? You know that I don't mind people coming in without appointments if I'm free."

Interrupting the man, apparently named Marvin, was a woman whom seemed to be in her late twenties. Despite the cold outside, she was wearing only a white long-sleeved, collared shirt and a brown skirt. She came out of seemingly nowhere, surprising Will as he had just been looking around the gym, but he instantly knew who she was.

"Candice."

The woman's braided, black pigtails whipped around slightly as she nodded her head. She smiled slightly as she glanced between Will and Pyro, pausing her gaze slightly on the backpack Will wore.

"Young man!" Marvin snapped. His face was red, and he was glaring right at Will. "You should treat Lady Candice with more respect! She is one of the most powerful Gym Leaders in the entire—"

"—Thank you, Marvin!"

Candice interrupted Marvin and rolled her eyes. She put her hands on her hips as she stared right at him, a playful smile on her face.

"Don't worry about it, Marvin," she said. "I've known Will here for quite a while. He's been coming in to watch Gym Battles since he moved here however many years ago."

The man nodded his head as Candice said that but never stopped staring at her. Marvin looked between the two, still glaring slightly at Will when he looked at him, but Marvin said nothing. He just nodded his head in the direction of Candice, bowed slightly, and moved towards the battlefield silently.

Both Will and Candice watched as he disappeared from view before shifting their attention back to each other. Candice grinned at him and chuckled slightly.

"He's new here," she explained with a shrug. "Just started a week ago."

Will nodded his head in response, his right fist clenched still. However, while his knuckled had previously begun to turn white, the color was starting to come back.

"I assume you know why we're here then," Will spoke bluntly, but there was still an air of respect in his voice. He glanced downwards at Pyro as he spoke, who was standing silently and smiling up at Candice.

She smiled back at Pyro and nodded at him before re-addressing Will.

"That I do," she replied, her smile never wavering. "You didn't think that I'd just forget when my gym's number one fan would get his license, did you?"

The fist that Will had been holding released after Candice spoke, his hand now sitting peacefully at his side. He smiled ever so slightly and nodded his head.

"I should've known better, sorry," he said with the small smile. He stretched out his hands with his palms facing upwards and asked, "So? Are we going to battle?"

Pyro nodded his head after he spoke, echoing, "We've wanted to battle you for quite a while!"

Candice chuckled slightly as she heard that.

"It's definitely a battle that I've been looking forward to for a while," she said. "Not only have you been watching how I battle for a while, but you have a type advantage." Candice paused slightly, smirking slightly as she spoke about Pyro's type. "Though I'm sure you remember how many times my team and I have dealt with type disadvantages."

Will's smile disappeared, and his stoic expression returned as he said, "Oh, I'm well aware. I've seen you beat fire types one too many times to think that alone is why we're going to beat you."

Pyro nodded his head in agreement, cheering, "Your team has got nothing on me!"

Rather than smiling at the banter, though, Candice tilted her head to the left in confusion. She rose one eyebrow and asked, "You do have another Pokemon now, right, Will? You of all people know that Gym Leaders in Sinnoh use two Pokemon in a battle for a challenger's first badge."

The right side of Will's mouth frowned slightly when he heard this, but he just nodded his head.

"I'm aware of the rule," he replied evenly. "But I'm confident that Pyro and I are strong enough on our own to beat two of your Pokemon."

He was staring at Candice dead-on. She rolled her eyes as she heard that, her smile fading into a copy of Will's own stoic expression.

"You think that the two of you are strong of enough to beat me on the second day of your journey without another Pokemon?" she asked, as though trying to clarify.

When Will and Pyro both nodded, she simply sighed.

"If you were anyone else, I'd simply tell you to leave and not come back until you caught another Pokemon, you know." She shook her head as she paused, a smile coming back to her face. "But I'll let the two of you battle anyways, against my better judgement."

Pyro grinned as he heard that, and even Will smiled slightly, all anger from before seemingly gone for the moment.

"Thanks!" Pyro cheered in reply for the both of them. "You won't regret it!"

Candice rolled her eyes as her smile grew. "Well Pyro, I hope that you're right. You two had better give me one hell of a battle," she said, winking at the end.

With that said, Candice walked away, heading towards the battlefield. She took the side to the right, the side where she always battled, Will knew. He and Pyro, after sharing a quick glance, followed, but instead went to the left side, where the challenger stood. Marvin was waiting for them at the center of the battlefield in the referee's box. He stood with a flag in each hand, one green and the other red.

"This will be a battle between our very own Snowpoint City Gym Leader, Candice, and her challenger, Will Knight of Snowpoint City!" he began, announcing the battle as though there was a crowd, despite there being no one else in the gym. "This will be a two versus two—"

"Actually," Candice interrupted, silencing Marvin instantly. "Will has only one Pokemon, so it will be two versus one."

Marvin's eyes went wide at the statement, and he turned to glare at Will murderously. He opened his mouth as though to yell, but he was stopped by a short cough from Candice, which caused Marvin to straighten up.

"Can we continue now please, Marvin?" she asked innocently as he turned to face her.

Nodding his head furiously, he replied, "Of course, Lady Candice. I apologize for the interruption." Clearing his voice, Marvin continued, "This will be a two versus one battle. When one side's team is no longer able to battle, the fight is over!"

He then stopped for a moment, allowing them both to bring out their first—or in Will's case, only—Pokemon. Will looked down at Pyro and nodded. With a smile, Pyro walked over onto the battlefield in front of his partner and waited for the battle to begin.

At the same time, Candice grabbed a minimized Pokeball from off her belt. She tapped the button, causing the sphere to grow, and tossed it into the air. In a bright flash of light, a small brown-furred Pokemon appeared. It had darker brown stripes on its side and a pink nose

"The first battle will be between Lady Candice and her Swinub and the challenger, Will, and his Torchic," Marvin continued. Candice rolled her eyes for some reason as he spoke, but Will paid it no mind, instead focusing on the battle. "Let the battle begin!"

Wasting no time, Will called, "Ember, Pyro!"

With no hesitation, Pyro reared back his head and opened his beak widely. In less than a second, he began to fire a barrage of fireballs at Swinub. The spheres rocketed across the battlefield as high speeds, but neither Candice nor Swinub appeared concerned.

Almost lazily, she countered, "Mud Sport."

Swinub bounced into the air, and as soon as he hit the ground, a large puddle of mud appeared all around him. In the same moment, the mud rose from the ground, wrapped itself around him, and then hardened into a tough shell. Completely encased in the mud, Swinub had nowhere to run as the fireballs shot towards him.

Will watched in confusion as the Ember attack struck its mark, but nothing happened. Each strike after the next did nothing but leave a scorch mark on the encased Swinub.

"I told you that I have ways of dealing with fire types, Will," Candice said from the opposite end with a grin. "I hope you didn't think I was joking."

Shaking his head, he responded, "I didn't doubt you for a moment. I've just never seen Mud Sport used to block anything but electric moves."

"That's a bit of a secret of mine," Candice explained. "Swinub and I have only been together for a couple of weeks now, but we quickly learned when training that Mud Sport, when used like shield rather than an insulator, can block some weaker fire type attacks with ease."

Will scowled when hearing the word 'weaker,' but he didn't focus on it.

Candice is an expert battler, he thought. She'll say whatever she can to try and disrupt my focus, but I'm not as easy a mark as some of her past challengers!

"Hit 'em with a Scratch!" he shouted aloud, pointing towards Swinub.

Pyro dashed towards the still-encased Swinub as quickly as hit short legs allowed him to. However, just after he began, the mud melted back into liquid form and then dissolved into the ground, leaving Swinub looking just as he did beforehand. Candice smiled as Pyro ran towards her and Swinub, but the smile certainly didn't make Will or Pyro feel happy.

"Block him with Mud-Slap!" she called.

Instantly, Swinub leaped five feet in the air, despite its size. He then began to spin around midair, and as he did, he glowed with a brown aura. As he spun and fell back towards the ground, six globs of mud shot out from the aura towards the oncoming figure of Pyro.

He was surprised by the sudden counter, but it didn't faze him. Pyro dodged the first several shots entirely, pivoting to a different direction just before he was hit. However, the fourth glob struck him in the side, slowing his momentum. This allowed the next two to hit him directly, forcing Pyro down to the ground.

With Pyro being only ten feet away from Swinub, though, Will knew he couldn't let the opportunity that they had fly by.

"Ember!" he ordered.

From the ground, Pyro leaped back up, reared his head back once more, and let loose another round of fireballs. With the short distance between himself and Swinub, Pyro felt certain that they would hit, so he stopped after only a second. However, he quickly realized that was a mistake.

"Powder Snow!" Candice yelled milliseconds after in response.

Swinub opened his mouth up as widely as possible and breathed out a gust of cold wind towards Pyro, which contained a barrage of white snowballs. The freezing stream completely nullified Pyro's Ember, causing both the fireballs and the Powder Snow to dissipate nearly instantly.

"Mud-Slap!" Candice said immediately after.

Without giving Will and Pyro a moment to think, Swinub leaped into the air and spun around again. Just like before, a half-dozen globs of mud shot towards Pyro, who was still but a short distance away. With no chance to dodge, the only thing that Will could do was watch as his partner was splattered time and time again from short range.

With every hit, Pyro was knocked back. By the time that the last glob had struck, Pyro was right back in front of Will panting. He stared dead ahead at his opponent and nodded before spitting a bit of mud out from his beak.

Will, seeing that, called, "Let's keep this going! Ember!"

Eager to get back into it, Pyro sprinted back across the battlefield. He was visibly running slower than before, but Pyro never wavered. Once he reached the middle line on the field, he reared back his head and fired off yet another barrage. However, learning from his earlier mistake, he didn't stop firing as he continued running towards Swinub.

The round of fireballs shot towards Swinub quickly, but like Pyro himself, they were slower than before. Swinub watched for a moment and did nothing as he and Candice both observed the situation. Seconds before he was going to be hit by the oncoming barrage, Candice finally spoke up.

"Block it with Mud Sport!"

In almost no time, a puddle of mud appeared around Swinub once more. Just like it had before, the mud rose around him, enveloping Swinub in a case of mud that quickly hardened into a defensive shell. Like a broken record, the fireballs were nullified completely by the counter, but Pyro continued to run forward, even after stopping his attack.

"Scratch!" Will yelled suddenly.

Candice's eyes went wide upon hearing that, but she quickly composed herself, even smiling as Pyro quickly was closing the distance between himself and Swinub.

"Valiant effort, Will," she said casually as Pyro ran. "But close-quarter fighting won't turn out any better for you than ranged did. Tackle, Swinub!"

Just as Pyro got within a few feet of Swinub, he shot forwards like a bullet towards Pyro. Swinub slammed right into Pyro's chest before he even had a chance to acknowledge that he was attacking. Pyro was knocked back a few feet, but he was still more than close enough for a speedy counter. Before Will had a chance to even speak, though, Candice beat him to the punch.

"End this with Mud-Slap!" she called with a tone of finality as she grinned at her opponent.

Leaping into the air right above Pyro, Swinub began spinning once more. As he spiraled around, another half-dozen globs of mud came rocketing towards the battlefield. Pyro had no time to do anything but watch in fear as all six globs came down on top of him.

He was struck by every single one of them, and they knocked him back and forth as they came down. To add insult or injury, Swinub himself slammed down into Pyro after the mud barrage ended. It was then that he fell to the ground, unable to get back up.

Will's eyes instantly went wide when he saw Pyro go down. His arms fell limply to his sides and he found himself able to do nothing but stare at his fallen partner. In their nine years of being together, this was the first time that Pyro had ever fainted.

We… we lost, he thought slowly. We have to get stronger… so much stronger.

"That was a good effort, Will, Pyro," Candice commended from her trainer's box, bringing Will out from his thoughts. "You two work well together, but you both have areas to improve."

She began to walk forwards across the battlefield, reaching into her pocket with her right hand as she moved. Passing by Swinub—who glanced up at her and smiled, she grabbed his Pokeball and recalled him in another flash of light without ever looking away from Will.

When she reached Pyro, she bent down and picked up him up, cradling him in her arms, still unconscious. Will watched her help his partner, but his expression never changed. He stood as still as before, but his once limp arms now held fists that were so tight that caused his knuckles to turn white.

"You can't keep blindly focusing on strength, Will."

Candice, then only a couple of feet away from Will, stared at him dead-on. Her gaze was piercing but not unfriendly. She still held Pyro in her arms, but she moved him towards Will. Without saying anything, he grabbed his partner from Candice's arms.

"I'm serious, Will," she continued after a moment, her gaze still locked onto his. "You need to realize that there is so much more to life, to a Pokemon League journey, than just being strong."

Will said nothing in response. Balancing Pyro against his chest with his left arm, Will grabbed a Pokeball off of his belt and pressed the button, recalling Pyro.

"We're going to train and get stronger. We'll be back soon, and I know that we'll beat you," he said simply after putting the Pokeball back on his belt, ignoring what Candice had said entirely.

"Will…" she trailed off warningly as her gaze shifted into more of a glare. "I just want the best for you, and if you only focus on strength, your journey will not be a pleasant one."

Will shook his head in response. He turned to face the door, ready to leave. However, before he did, Will glanced back and said, "I do appreciate your advice, but I know what I'm doing. I'm going to become strong."

He stared at Candice unwaveringly, but she never wavered.

"While I might…disagree with your thought process, you're a Pokemon Trainer," Candice replied evenly. "You are legally able to make your own decision, and even if I don't think it's best, you're free to do what you like."

Will nodded his head in thanks, but Candice wasn't finished.

"However, I am free to say that as the Snowpoint City Gym Leader, I will not accept a rematch from you until you are able to battle in a two versus two format," she said, her voice still stern. Candice continued staring at Will for another moment before sighing. "Will…Find another Pokemon for your team please. That is truly the magic of going on an adventure, and it is what will help you grow. Just take it under consideration please, that's all I ask."

Will was silent, but he nodded his head slowly.

"I'll keep it under consideration."

With that said, he walked towards the exit with another word or look back. He was heading back to the Pokemon Center with one thing on his mind.

We will get stronger. We have to.

Hey, everybody! Not going to lie, I'm actually quite pleased with myself for how quickly this came out despite schoolwork and becoming rather obsessed with Black Clover (which I recommend highly, despite some flaws). It was definitely shorter than the last chapter, but this wasn't meant to be super long. I hope you all enjoyed it!

1. How was the first battle of the story? I promise they'll only get better from here whether you liked it or not, though, thanks to better movesets ;)

Next Chapter: Warming a Cold Shoulder

Put out after their loss, Will and Pyro decide to continue training. They go to Acuity Lakefront, but while they're training, they hear a groaning sound. After investigating, they see a familiar figure that's been hurt and then go to the Pokemon Center to help them. Who is this figure!?

Strength Arc:

Snowpoint City:

Chapter 7: A New Dawn!

Chapter 8: Avoiding the Avalanche!