So, after getting a little bit of training in, Will and Pyro ran into the same snorunt as a few days before, but she was unconscious. After healing her, they learned that she was attacked after another prank had gone wrong. The encounter ended in Snorunt, now known as Dawn, joining the team despite Will's uncertainty about her.

TheGreat0ne: It's always nice hearing from you, so no worries if it wasn't right as the chapter was posted. I appreciate it all the same :) Will doesn't forgive a whole lot right now, and that will make more sense as more of his past is revealed. Pyro saving Will from a dumb decision is another thing that will be happening for quite a while. They're good partners. Thanks for the review!

Bethechange24 (Guest): I'm glad that you're enjoying the story so far and that you like Pyro! Thanks for the review!

Will's Team:

-Pyro (Torchic): Scratch, Growl, Ember

-Dawn (Snorunt): Powder Snow, Double Team, Hail, Ice Shard

"Damnit, both of you. You need to focus and stop joking around with each other!"

Later that evening, Will, Pyro, and Dawn were still training. Other than lunch and the occasional break, the three had been working on prepping themselves for their rematch against Candice since that morning. However, Pyro and Dawn tended to stop randomly and just start telling jokes or Dawn would tell Pyro about pranks she was already planning for Will.

Will wasn't having it, though. He was used to having Pyro work hard to get their goal completed. He figured that it would take some time to give that kind of work-ethic instilled in Dawn, but he didn't once think that she would be able to get rid of Pyro's.

"You both have said that you want to get stronger," Will continued, clenching his fists. "But since we've started training, all that either of you have done is anything make jokes and talk about pranks!"

Having been bid-conversation at that point, Pyro and Dawn immediately went silent as soon as Will had begun. Pyro's eyes went wide, but Dawn simply grinned. She knew exactly what she had been doing. She turned back to face Will, losing her smile as she did, and looked right at him innocently.

"Oh, I'm sooooooo sorry," she said, visibly struggling to keep her smile hidden. "I didn't realize that you wanted to train right now." The right end of her barely straight face began to creep upwards as she continued, "I figured that it was time to take a break again."

Will scowled at her and walked towards the two. Pyro still had wide eyes, but Will couldn't tell whether Pyro was surprised about Will being angry or that they were joking off during training. Dawn, however, could no longer hold her neutral expression. Watching how upset she had made Will brought the biggest grin to her face, made worse by her loud laughing.

"WOW!" she exclaimed in between laughs. "You're so pissed off!"

Will's entire body already seemed to be shaking with every step he took, but when he heard that, something snapped.

"You are the one that wanted to join this team!" he shouted, bent down so he could look her in the eyes. "I sure as hell didn't want you to join us, but you did anyways. I knew for a fucking fact that you were going to be nothing but trouble, but you joined anyways!"

Will was seething as he went off on her. Pyro watched as though frozen in place. He didn't move a muscle as Will yelled. Dawn, meanwhile, was another story. If Will was an unmovable force in his anger, she was just as powerful. Dawn took his wrath head-on with the smile from before never once fading.

"What the hell do you plan to do if—"

"Easy—kick ass."

Dawn completely shut Will off, ending his speech. She stood proudly, as though she had said something profound, and continued grinning. Will looked slightly taken aback by the surprising interruption, but it didn't faze him for long.

"Do you…" he trailed off, as though uncertain that he heard her correctly. Will, visibly less angry, asked, "Do you seriously think you can just "kick ass" in fights?"

Dawn nodded her head in response, cueing Will to shout, "Then you're either as much of a careless liability as I thought, or you're plain stupid!"

Without a moment's hesitation, she shot back, "You're too rigid. Your obsession with strength is more of a liability than I could ever be. Learn to have some fun every once in a while, or you're going to regret it someday, whether you're the strongest or not."

The unexpected wisdom hit Will like a sucker punch. His eyes went wide, and he was as still as a statue. Dawn's grin grew when she saw how hard her words had hit. Pyro was surprised by the effect as well. Will wasn't normally one to reveal his emotions, but Dawn had played him perfectly.

"I…" he began to say, trailing off. He blinked a few times and tried to say something, but again, he couldn't figure out how to voice his thoughts. He instead clenched his fists so hard that his knuckles went white.

After a few more moments of tense silence, Will finally said, "I'm heading on a walk. I'll be back in an hour or so. We need to train then, but go ahead and…take a break, I guess."

Dawn air punched with her tiny spherical hand, clearly pleased with her 'victory.' Pyro, however, shook his head a few times rapidly, blinked a couple of times, and jogged over towards Will, whom had already begun walking off towards the forest behind them.

Just before he made it past the tree line, where he'd be out of the view of Pyro and Dawn, Will was stopped by his partner.

"Will," Pyro called out, stopping him. Before Will ever turned around, Pyro asked, "Just give her a chance please."

He gave a pleading look as Will turned around and nervously scratched at the ground with his claws. Pyro was expecting a glare, but instead, Will simply bore a blank expression. He took a few moments to process what Pyro had said, then slowly nodded.

Though he was uncertain as to what happened in the past sixty seconds, Pyro decided to try and push his luck. "You might think she's annoying—and I can't say I completely disagree," he said. "But she's strong, wants to get stronger, and has the potential to be a great teammate."

Will continued to walk away from the clearing into the woods, but before he left, he said, to Pyro's great surprise, "I know."

With that, the pokemon could do nothing but stand frozen, wondering if he heard anything Will had said in the past thirty seconds correctly.

"That damn snorunt…" Will muttered, kicking at a small snow-covered bush.

He was walking through the forest with his hands at his sides, tightly clenched into fists. It had been about ten minutes since he had left Pyro and Dawn, and while he was no longer as furious as he was in the moment, he was still angry.

"She doesn't understand anything," he continued. "She doesn't even want to be a part of the damn team; she just wants easy targets for pranks."

Even as he said it, though, Will knew what he said wasn't true. She was genuinely happy to join the team earlier, and he knew it.

"Doesn't mean that she is going to do us any good, though," he said, as though debating himself.

Will shook his head and sighed. He saw a nearby tree stump, and after walking towards it and wiping off the snow, took a seat on it. Finally off of his feet for the first time since they had left Snowpoint that morning, Will could feel some of the stress leave his body.

Sighing once more, this time in relief, he thought more about his interactions with Dawn that day. The first thing to pop into his mind was what she had said right before he left.

"Learn to have some fun every once in a while, or you're going to regret it someday, whether you're the strongest or not."

Regret what? Will thought. Being so strong that I can stop anyone from hurting innocent people again.

He barked out a laugh at that, though there was no humor in it. Will rolled his eyes, thinking, What does she know about strength anyways? She might be stronger than the average snorunt around here, but that doesn't make her an expert in anything.

However, once again, Will's thoughts proved him wrong. Candice's words from the day before rang back through his mind.

"I'm serious, Will. You need to realize that there is so much more to life, to a Pokemon League journey, than just being strong."

He could only sigh at that memory. He could reason with himself that Dawn was no expert, but saying the same about Candice was impossible.

She's always been there for me, Will thought, thinking about Candice. Ever since we moved to Snowpoint, Candice has been helping me become better and better. I guess that means that…

Will groaned at the thought. He looked up into the sky and asked, "There's no way Dawn's actually right, is there?"

The sky had no answer for Will, which didn't surprise him. What did, though, was the fact that in his heart, he already knew the answer.

And he didn't like it.

This doesn't make any sense at all… Will stood up and walked back in the direction the clearing where Pyro and Dawn were but stopped after only a few steps. All of a sudden, Will slammed both of his hands against the sides of his head, and said aloud, "This doesn't make any sense!"

Will sighed again, his mood quickly changing again. The frustration was still there, but even he wasn't completely sure what he was feeling anymore.

I…I just need to focus on training, he thought. I need to focus on the job at hand, and think about this later.

Feeling slightly better at that thought, he continued, This doesn't matter anyways. So long as we're the strongest there is, who cares if it's right or not? No one will be able to hurt us again, and that's what matters.

The doubts from before were still there, but Will had pushed them deeper away, not coming to terms with any of them. Instead, he slowly inhaled, closing his eyes as he did so. Then, just as methodically, he exhaled, opening his eyes once more.

I'll figure out whatever the hell this is once we're stronger, Will thought, as though reasoning with himself. But…this needs to come first.

Right or wrong, Will decided to head back to Pyro and Dawn. They needed to train if they were ever going to have a chance at defeating Candice. If they couldn't beat her, then they had no way of becoming the strongest. Will began the walk back to the clearing, more confused than he had been before his walk.

"Will, you're back!"

Pyro cheered at the sight of his partner coming out of the forest after nearly precisely an hour since he left. Dawn, spotting him after Pyro's cry, grinned at the sight of him. Will simply nodded his head at them as a greeting before making his way to them.

"Let's get to training then," he said, not looking at either of them. "I still want us to battle Candice tomorrow, so we need to be ready."

Pyro eagerly nodded his head as he stood balanced on his right leg, the left curled up facing behind him. Dawn, the one Will expected to argue, simply nodded her head as well, though she was still grinning. Will didn't know exactly what to think about that, but he was just glad that she wasn't fighting him again for now.

Without another word, the two went to get back to training. Pyro went one way, and Dawn the other, both appearing calm and focused. Will watched and had to fight the urge to raise an eyebrow at Dawn. This amount of concentration on her face seemed so out of character for her, but she went over to the same part of the clearing as before, seemingly ready to work.

Without another word, Pyro fired off his first barrage of fireballs at the piles of sticks they had gathered earlier. Will watched it only out of the corner of his eye, instead focusing his attention on Dawn. She, meanwhile, was still standing still, and she had her eyes shut.

Will waited a few moments, expecting to see something at any moment. After almost twenty seconds of nothing, though, he was getting annoyed. Will opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, Dawn floated up into the air. A cyclone of hailstones appeared out of thin air around her.

Will's eyes instantly went wide, and he unconsciously took a step backwards. The fact that all of this had appeared so suddenly left his mouth agape.

What power… Will thought, still in shock. Shaking his head, Will's eyes gleamed as he thought, Maybe having her on the team won't be as bad as I thought.

Just as Will was thoroughly impressed, though, the hailstorm disappeared entirely. In no more time than it took for Will to blink, Dawn was back on the ground, face first in the snow.

A few seconds after she landed, Dawn jumped back onto her feet and shook off the snow. She was blushing, and as soon as she noticed Will was staring at her, Dawn turned around. Then, in one swift moment, she sat back down on the ground and calling back to Will, said, "I'm done training now."

Will, dumbfounded, said nothing for a few moments, processing everything that had just happened. Eventually, he realized that Pyro was still training, somehow not noticing any of what had just happened, and Dawn was only sitting on the ground, finished after one mistake.

His neutral expression shifted into a glare as Will angrily asked, "Did you just give up after one mess up!? Are you kidding me?"

The only sound to be heard after that was the thudding of fireballs against Pyro's target. Will was just glaring at the back of Dawn, unable to see her reaction. She sat quietly, seemingly unfazed by Will's anger. However, what Will couldn't see was the fact that Dawn was just watching Pyro, completely focused on him as he trained.

Somehow, he still was clueless as to what was going on between Will and Dawn. His attention was set on training, and it didn't seem like anything was going to be able to interrupt that. The level of focus he had seemed unreal to Dawn, and that captivated her.

"Did you even hear me!?"

Will, frustrated with the lack of response, had walked up right behind Dawn. He looked down, and after his latest outburst, noticed that her focus wasn't on him at all. He was about to yell again, but just before he did, Will noticed what she was staring at.

Will took a few moments to think before bending down next to Dawn and watching Pyro as well. Only then did she snap out of her thoughts and notice him. Her eyes went wide, and she opened her mouth to say something, but before she did, Will interrupted her, surprising her with his calm tone.

"We could both learn a thing or two from him, you know?"

Dawn's shock grew even more when she heard that, because it was the last thing she was expecting Will to say. She was yet to hear him use such a casual tone, let alone with her. So, after a short pause to digest what he had said, Dawn simply nodded her head.

Spotting the reaction, Will continued, saying, "He's always had a great work ethic. If Pyro puts his mind to something, there's very little that can stop him."

Just then, Pyro, whom had still been firing off barrage after barrage of Embers as they spoke, missed his first shot of the set. A few stray fireballs landed in a pile of snow next to his targets, instantly vaporizing the snow and disappearing. Pyro paused for a moment and sighed at the sight of his first miss. However, he quickly recovered, nodding his head determinedly, and started again.

"He doesn't let one mistake define him; he just keeps trying."

Will was looking straight at Dawn at that point. She turned to face him and met his gaze as she thought about what he said. Will wasn't completely certain what was going through her mind, but after seeing her stand back up and go back to training without another word, he was confident that he knew.

Will stood up and walked back towards his spot at the edge of the clearing. The smallest of smiles seemed to be forming, but any trace of it disappeared by the time he turned back around to watch his teammates train.

Only moments after she started again, another vortex of hailstones surrounded Dawn, and Will couldn't help but still be impressed. The amount of raw power she had was going to take some getting used to.

"Good job, both of you. You've definitely improved quite a bit."

Will was standing in front of Pyro and Dawn, both of whom were sweating, despite the cold. They grinned broadly when Will said that, both looking ecstatic.

"Thanks!" they replied in unison.

Will couldn't help but shake his head in response. The two had only been teammates since that morning, but they acted as though they'd been friends for their entire lives.

Will bent down to grab his backpack as he said, "Let's get going then. The sooner we get back to Snowpoint, the sooner we can get some dinner at the center."

There was no need to say anything else, because as soon as the two pokemon heard the word dinner, they had already begun running towards the path. Rolling his eyes, Will said nothing as the two began to laugh at something Dawn had said mid-run.

There certainly won't ever be a dull moment with these two together, Will thought.

With that in mind, he began to walk towards the path himself, a fair distance behind his teammates, which was alright with him. Will had no intention of catching up to them and chatting as they walked back to the city. Pyro and Dawn, meanwhile, never seemed to have a quiet moment, the two trying to get to know each other better now that they were teammates.

"So, you've just always lived around Lake Acuity?" Pyro asked, glancing over to his friend.

Nodding her head, Dawn said, "Yeah, I was born here with a decently-large group of snorunt, but eventually, I just decided that I wanted to go off on my own. They were kinda boring honestly."

Pyro chuckled at that, ruffling his feathers a bit as he did. "They definitely don't sound like your kind of pokemon then."

Joining him in the laughter, Dawn said, "Yeah, they were a bunch of fuddy-duddies that didn't like my pranks." She paused for a bit there and glanced back towards Will, whom was about fifty feet behind them by that point—well out of earshot. "Not a lot unlike our friend back there, but even worse than him."

Pyro, no longer laughing at that, made a face. "He's not so bad."

Dawn shrugged as she walked, replying, "I mean, he definitely seemed a little better after that little walk of his, but he just seems like a loner that doesn't wanna have any fun to me."

Pyro stopped walking entirely when he heard that. He opened his beak to defend his best friend, but after a short hesitation, he said nothing.

"You didn't know him when he was younger like I did," Pyro said finally after another moment. "He used to actually be a lot like you—always laughing and joking."

Dawn, a little bit ahead of Pyro at that point, stopped and turned around to face him. Her face seemed to define incredulous as she frowned and planted her feet firmly in the snow.

"Just how long have you two known each other?" she asked. "I dunno that I can believe he's changed this much in only a few months…or even a few years."

Pyro, after a short pause to think, replied, "Almost nine years now."

Dawn's eyes went wide when she heard that. "Nine years?" she asked in shock. "I haven't even been alive that long!"

Pyro simply nodded his head at that, his neutral expression mimicking Will's own. He glanced back casually and after spotting Will was closing the distance between them, motioned for Dawn to continue walking with him. After being silent for about a minute of walking, Pyro continued his explanation after feeling confident Will was definitely out of earshot.

"Before we lived in Snowpoint City, Will and our parents were the only family their age in a small town called Littleroot Town," he said, Dawn silent as he spoke. "Everyone else there was even older than Mom and Dad are now with their kids already moved out."

"So, because Will was only seven years old," he explained. "He was a pretty lonely kid with no one to play with other than adults."

Dawn nodded her head at that, though still silent. She seemed to understand what Will went through, but said nothing so Pyro would continue.

"Having no other kids to play with and no pokemon in our family—Mom and Dad never captured any still to this day—Will just played alone or with adults. It wasn't a big deal when he was younger, because he didn't know any better. By the time he was seven years old, though, he wanted someone else his age to play with."

This time, it was Dawn that glanced back at Will. Her expression was indistinguishable for Pyro, but she was staring straight at Will intently. Will seemed to be in his own world so he didn't notice Dawn's staring, but Pyro did. After a few seconds, she faced forward again, which told Pyro he could continue with his story.

"At this point, Mom and Dad thought maybe a pokemon would make a good friend for Will," he said, smiling fondly at the memory. "So, Dad went to his friend and neighbor since childhood, Professor Birch, a pokemon researcher, and asked if he had any pokemon that Will could have to play with."

"This was a few months before translators were completed," Pyro explained. "So, no one had asked me if I wanted to go with Will, but as I was only about a year old at that point, I was more than happy to have someone to play with myself."

Not even realizing it, Pyro had stopped talking at that point and was just remembering the day he and Will had met. He was smiling as widely as he could, and Dawn made no motion to interrupt.

After a few more moments of going down memory lane, Pyro finally remembered where he was, and after a quick shake of his head, he continued, saying, "Will and I instantly became best friends, and we did everything together: eating, sleeping, playing—you name it."

"However," Pyro said. "Professor Birch was very firm in telling us that under no circumstances can we try to participate in any league-sanctioned events like gym battles or tournaments until Will got his trainer's license. If we did, we could get in a lot of trouble. Even just battling other people could have potentially gotten us sanctioned. That didn't bother us too much, though, because we just wanted to play, not fight."

Pyro sighed after he said that, however. The happy memory seemed to change entirely. He didn't seem to want to get into it, though, and Dawn didn't push it.

They walked in silence for a bit after that. Pyro and Will—whom was still behind the pokemon a ways—were both lost in thought, but for Pyro, he seemed to be reliving less-than-fond memories at that point. Dawn, noticing that, tried to change the subject.

"Hey, Pyro," she said, grabbing his attention.

He snapped out of his reverie when he heard his name and blinked a few times. After that, Pyro turned towards Dawn, and with a small smile back on his face, he asked, "What's up?"

She paused for a minute, as though thinking about what she was going to say. When she was sure, Dawn asked, "When Will said that I was strong and was wasting my potential, did he mean it?" Then, before he could ever respond, she added, "Does he really think I can be strong?"

Pyro nodded his head at that, but despite Dawn's efforts to change his mood with what she thought was a light question, his grim expression returned.

"Will doesn't say things that he doesn't mean anymore." The edge of Snowpoint City finally came into view right after Pyro spoke, so rather than continue with their discussion, he said, "Let's wait here for Will, then we'll head back to the pokemon center for dinner."

Dawn nodded her head in response. Before that moment, she didn't realize how much depth her two new teammates had, but now that she knew, she couldn't help but smile. Pyro wasn't sure what it was about, but when he saw it, he had to mimic it.

"Tomorrow," he began, his tone determined. "We're going to beat the Snowpoint Gym, and we'll prove to everyone how strong we are."

Dawn's smile somehow grew even wider at that.

"Let's kick some ass."

Only one chapter is left for Snowpoint City! I hope you're all as excited as I am to move on to the next city! The first half of the Eterna City segment of the Strength Arc is below!

I actually already have chapter 8 finished, so I'll post it within a few days after proofreading it some more. It might sound selfish, but I'd also like to see at least a review or two on this chapter before I post it. :)

On a smaller note, as you might have noticed, I'm trying out not capitalizing the different species of pokemon. I'm still not certain how I feel about it, but I wanted to give it a shot. I'll probably either change back or decide to keep it like this after the next chapter. However, I don't plan to change the first six chapters or, if I decide to change back, these two chapters because I want to show the progressions that I have taken as a writer :) Thanks for understanding!

1. What are your thoughts on Will's character progression up to this point?

2. Do you like the Will/Dawn relationship so far?

3. Do you like the Pyro/Dawn relationship so far?

Next Chapter: Avoiding the Avalanche!

With their new teammate, Dawn, alongside them, Will and Pyro decide to go train since they know they need to be stronger to beat Candice. They have a lot of things to learn before they can beat her. Will they be able to learn what they need!?

Strength Arc:

Eterna City:

Chapter 9: A Frosty Rematch!

Chapter 10: He's Back!

Chapter 11: Lesson Two

Chapter 12: Experiential Learning

Chapter 13: Crossing Through Coronet!

Chapter 14: Doom, Gloom, and Demise!