After a bit of a rough start with training, Will and Dawn began to argue, though it didn't last long. After being hit with some unexpected wisdom from Dawn, Will gave her and Pyro a break while he went on a walk. Will thought about what Dawn and Candice had told him, but he didn't seem to care much. After meeting back up with Pyro and Dawn, they did some training before heading back to Snowpoint, with Pyro explaining to Dawn a bit about his and Will's pasts.

Will's Team:

-Pyro (Torchic): Scratch, Growl, Ember

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

"Candice!"

Will's voice rang out through the seemingly-empty gym as he stood with Pyro by his side at the entrance to the gym. As though she had been waiting, Candice stepped out from inside a side room on the opposite side of the battlefield, smiling welcomingly at the duo. However, despite both the smile and the distance, there was no mistaking the fierce expression in her eyes. Will, walking forward to meet her, kept his expression neutral.

"We're ready for our rematch," he said, his gaze locked onto hers. "We have another teammate now, and between her and Pyro, I have no doubt that we'll beat you and your team."

Candice stood silently just off the side of the battlefield as Will walked towards her. Even in only two days, she could tell that he had grown. For her, the only two questions left to be answered were how much and whether or not it would be enough.

"Confidence is always a good thing," she said finally, when Will and Pyro arrived in front of her. "I'm looking forward to a good battle, but I want you to know that my pokemon and I will not take it easy on you."

Not faltering for a moment, Will replied, "I wouldn't expect—nor want—anything less."

The simple response clearly wasn't surprising to Candice, who only nodded her head in response before turning to her left and walking away. Will, knowing what was coming, faced the opposite direction and walked towards his trainer box.

Stepping on to the battlefield, seemingly from nowhere, came Marvin, Candice's newest referee. Dressed in his white and black uniform, he pulled two flags from his behind his back, one green and one red, as he cleared his throat. Will glanced over his shoulder when he heard the coughing sound and rolled his eyes when he saw where it came from.

Immediately upon Will and Candice arriving in their respective trainer boxes, Marvin announced, "This will be the rematch between our esteemed Snowpoint City Gym Leader, Lady Candice, and the challenger, Will Knight of Snowpoint City. This will be a two versus two battle since the challenger has finally captured another pokemon—"

"Marvin!" Candice interrupted chidingly. She gave the battle judge a scolding glare, which caused Marvin to sigh.

Collecting himself, he continued, saying, "This will be a two versus two battle. When one side's team is no longer able to battle, the fight is over. Battlers, please release your first pokemon!"

Locking eyes, Will and Candice each gave the other a nod, wishing each other luck. Candice reached to her pokeball belt and grabbed one of the spheres as Will looked down towards Pyro. In sync, Candice tossed her pokeball as Will nodded his head to his partner.

Pyro dashed forwards as a bright light enveloped the field, releasing Swinub from his pokeball. Neither side seemed surprised by the other's pick. Candice grinned when she saw Pyro run towards from the trainer box, and the right side of Will's mouth rose into the smallest of grins as well.

"I was hoping we'd be getting a proper rematch," Candice said. "It's only right that these two duke it out again." After a short pause, her grin shaped into more of a smirk as she said, "Though it'll end in the same way as last time."

Not taking the bait, Will calmly replied, "I think you might be surprised."

Leaving it at that, he glanced over towards Marvin. Candice did the same, nodding her head when she locked eyes with the battle judge to let him know that they were ready to begin.

Wasting no time, he announced, "The first battle will, once again, be between Lady Candice and her swinub and the challenger and his torchic." Just like the last battle, Candice rolled her eyes annoyedly. "Let the battle begin!"

Will was quick to take the first move, saying, "Growl!"

Starting off with a different strategy than last time, Pyro opened his beak widely and let out a piercing growl that distorted the air between himself and Swinub, lowering his defenses. Candice raised her right eyebrow as she watched the attack, seemingly surprised by the change of pace from their last battle. However, it didn't faze her in the slightest.

"Mud-Slap," she said, her tone still casual.

Unworried about the lowered defense, Swinub hoped into the air and spun around, preparing a move that Will had certainly not forgotten. As he spun, Swinub once again glowed with a brown aura, and as he fell back towards the ground, a half dozen globs of mud appeared around him.

The globs instantly shot towards Pyro, who still had not moved from his place. They crossed the battlefield at high speeds, but even as they passed the halfway mark, Pyro didn't move. Instead, he took a deep breath in and exhaled just as slowly.

When they were only feet away, Will called, "Dodge and counter with Growl!"

The six globs of mud rocketed down towards him at the same time, but Pyro, waiting until the last possible moment, slid forwards, embracing his short stature. Gliding across the battlefield, Pyro dodged the onslaught entirely. Not wasting any time, he then leapt back up to his feet and released another loud growl, distorting the air between them once more.

"Scratch!" Will ordered immediately after.

Attempting to make use of Swinub's lowered defense, Pyro dashed forward, the talons on his feet glowing white as he ran. Quickly closing the distance between them, Pyro leaped into the air to get the high ground. However, Candice was quick to counter.

"Mud Sport," she said, still aloof.

Swinub bounced into the air again, but unlike with Mud-Slap, he just plopped right back down onto the battlefield. As soon as he did, a puddle of mud appeared around him. However, unlike their last battle when it was used to make a shell around him, the mud surged forwards and formed into a four-feet high wall right in front of Pyro.

Pyro, with all of his momentum from shooting through the air, had no way to avoid crashing into the wall Swinub had made. He slammed right into it, dazing him slightly as he fell to the earth. The wall then disappeared entirely, allowing Pyro to see Swinub flying at him.

"Tackle."

Having leaped towards Pyro as soon as he brought down the wall, Swinub rocketed himself downwards, colliding with Pyro. He was slammed into the ground once more, unable to dodge due to how quick the attack had come. Swinub didn't push too far, though. To prevent a counter-attack, he dashed back from Pyro to his place in front of Candice.

Will glared at the well-done maneuver. Even looking back at it, he wasn't sure what they could've done to stop it. He didn't let that bother him, though. The battle was still far from over.

"Ember!"

Pyro snapped out of his daze and opened his beak widely, inhaling as he did. After their training the day before, he felt much more confident, but it was time to see if the work he'd done would translate into results.

As he exhaled, Pyro shot off a barrage of red-hot fireballs across the battlefield, larger than they had been in their last battle. Still being on the half on Candice's side, it didn't take long for the fireballs to make it to Swinub. However, the ice-type didn't seem worried by the super-effective attack in the slightest.

"Powder Snow!" Candice said, a new glint in her eyes after seeing the newly improved Ember.

Almost instantly, a stream of cold wind and snowballs show forth from Swinub's opened mouth, countering Pyro's Ember. Despite the type advantage, though, the two attacks simply negated each other, even making a decent amount of steam appear around them.

Will's side of the battlefield was clear, but because both pokemon were on Candice's side, her side was almost entirely covered in it. Will didn't appear concerned, though, saying nothing as though he was just going to wait for the steam to dissipate. Candice, however, had another idea.

"Mud-Slap!" she shouted, pointing forward with her right fist.

Will couldn't see through the steam, but a moment later, he could hear volley after volley of mud blobs slamming down onto the battlefield, most likely right where Pyro had been standing. The barrage continued for nearly ten seconds, during which Will never called a counter-attack. The steam was beginning to dissipate, but even as it did, the stream of mud never shifted in direction.

"Don't feel like doing anything right now, Will?" she asked, just as it sounded like the Mud-Slap barrage ended.

Will waited a moment to answer, watching as the steam dissipated more and more. When it began to get to the point where it was almost see-through again, he said, "Well, we saw how the long-range fight went last time. We couldn't compete with you and Swinub, so we figured that we would need some way of making sure we win in a short-range fight!"

Candice's eyes went wide at that. She realized what had happened just as the steam dissipated entirely, making it too late.

"Scratch!" Will shouted.

Completely visible again, Pyro was standing almost right behind Swinub. At some point while the steam had blocked their views, Pyro snuck behind his opponent. He couldn't see where he was, but because of the Mud-Slap barrage, he could hear him.

With their trap set perfectly, Pyro needed to only lunge forward a few feet. He slashed at Swinub's open back, landing a powerful hit on him. Having lowered his defense twice, Will and Pyro knew that this would do a lot of damage.

Meanwhile, Candice could do nothing but watch as she got played, her eyes wide. A regular trainer would have been disappointed, maybe even angry, but as a gym leader, Candice couldn't help but be impressed.

"Ember!"

"Mud Sport!"

From his spot right above his target, Pyro unleashed another round of Ember at Swinub. However, at the same time a puddle of mud began to form around Swinub. It began to cloak him in the hardened mud, but before it could fully form, the fireballs smacked into him repeatedly.

Unlike their last battle where the Mud Sport had entirely blocked the Ember, the semi-hardened mud cracked as it was struck, leaving Swinub defenseless once more. He was smacked by the barrage without pause, taking a lot of damage from the super-effective attack.

"What was it you said last time, Candice?" Will asked casually as Swinub continued to get hit. "It blocked weak fire type attacks? Sorry, Pyro doesn't have any of those."

Candice, again, couldn't help but be impressed by how well Will was controlling the battle. Even from the beginning, he knew that it was going to need to be a close-quarters battle, so he had Pyro lower Swinub's defense. He then used her arrogance against her in the steam cloud to lay a perfect trap.

No matter how much what he'd done impressed her, though, Candice wasn't going to let him just keep attacking her partner so easily.

"Keep going with Ember!" Will shouted. "Remember how hard you trained for this!"

Pyro, who had been wavering during his attack, was visibly growing tired with the continued assault. However, the reminder of the amount of work he had done to prepare himself for this moment brought it all home for Pyro. His attack grew in strength and speed, leaving Swinub to do nothing but squirm from the barrage.

"You've gotta get outta there, bud!" Candice called towards him. "Try another Mud-Slap!"

Swinub began to glow with a brown aura once more, but before he could release his attack, Will yelled out, "Stop him with Scratch!"

Ending his assault with Ember, Pyro slashed down once more with his talons, ending Swinub's attack before it could even truly begin. The one hit, after the onslaught of Ember and his defense being lowered, was all it took to finish off Swinub.

He fell limply to the ground, unconscious. At the same time, Pyro got off of his back, leaving him to rest. Pyro was sweating a storm, visibly exhausted after the long rematch.

"In a surprising change from the last battle," Marvin said, his eyes wide. "Lady Candice's swinub is no longer able to battle, meaning Will's torchic wins!" He shook his head quickly, though, and looked to the gym leader. "Lady Candice, please release your next pokemon."

"Good job there, Will," she said as she recalled Swinub to his pokeball. She placed it back on her belt and grabbed another capsule. "You and Pyro have improved a lot. However, I think my next friend is more than capable of taking you on!"

She tossed the pokeball into the air, and in a bright flash of red, a small, pink baby-like pokemon appeared, causing Candice to grin.

"Let's show them what we can really do, Smoochum!" she cheered.

She looked over towards Marvin after that and nodded her head. Seeing that, he turned to Will.

"Will you continue with your torchic, or will you be substituting?" he asked.

Glaring slightly, Will nodded his head, saying, "Pyro will be coming back, so our next teammate, Dawn, can battle."

He stressed Pyro's and Dawn's names as he grabbed the only other pokeball off of his belt. Pyro walked towards Will, covered in sweat and mud, and sat down on the ground next to him. As he did, Will tossed the pokeball in his hand into the air, which opened midair to release Dawn in another flash of red.

"Let's go!" she said cheerfully as she appeared.

She glanced back at Will and Pyro. The former simply nodded his head, while the latter grinned wildly, despite his injuries. Dawn's eyes went wide when she saw how hurt Pyro looked, but didn't seem fazed. She shook her head and then refocused on the task at hand.

"The second battle will be between Lady Candice and her smoochum and the challenger and his snorunt," Marvin said. "Let the battle begin!"

Wasting no time, Candice shouted, "Confusion!"

Dawn watched as Smoochum held her hands out in front of her. In between them, a sphere of purple energy appeared. Before she could even think about it, Smoochum had already launched it forwards, pushing it with her mind. Dawn seemed a little worried as the attack came towards her, but stood strong.

"Block it with Ice Shard!" Will said as a counter.

Dawn exhaled a breath that she didn't even know she was holding as she charged up five blue spheres around her. After a moment, the orbs froze and formed sharp points. With a simple punch forward, Dawn launched them all forwards at high speeds.

The ice spears shot through the Confusion, dispelling it. The sight of her opponent's attack disappearing brought a devious smile to Dawn's face, a sign of her growing confidence.

"Powder Snow!" Will yelled, hoping to keep their momentum.

Dawn zipped forward as a blue aura appeared around her. After a couple of seconds of running, the blue aura around her was already growing brightly, so as soon as she made it to the center of the field, Dawn began to spin around like a top. As she did, a wave of cold air grew around her with different-sized snowballs as well.

With another punch towards Smoochum, Dawn stopped her spinning and directed the storm she'd created to her opponent. It looked powerful, but neither Candice nor Smoochum seemed concerned. They didn't even try to dodge.

Smoochum took the attack head-on without flinching, surprising Will. Even with the type disadvantage both sides had with ice versus ice, he figured it would de decent damage. Before he could think any further, though, Smoochum's eyes began to glow blue.

"Avalanche!" Candice yelled.

Smoochum held her arms into the air, appearing as though she was praying to some higher power. As soon as she did this, a blue orb appeared above Dawn. Her eyes went wide as she saw the orb above her head that continued to grow, so she dashed backwards, back to Will.

However, the attack followed her, and in one swift moment, an avalanche of snowy rocks and ice fell down onto Dawn. The sheer weight of the attack piled down upon her, smashing her against the battlefield. For a moment, Dawn was nowhere to be seen, buried beneath the snow and gravel.

Within another few seconds, though, the gravel disappeared entirely, back to wherever Smoochum had summoned it from. Left behind was a worse-for-wear Dawn. Despite it being only one attack, Will knew that Avalanche could do a lot of damage if the user had just been hit.

Gritting his teeth, Will could do nothing but watch as Dawn shakily stood back up. He was a little concerned by how weak she was looking, but Dawn, as though she was expecting the response, glanced back towards Will and Pyro. She gave them a grin, despite the pain.

"How about we get this going again?" Candice asked with a grin. "Pound!"

Dashing forward, Smoochum's right fist glowed white. She quickly passed the center line, pushing onto the second half of the field. Dawn, who had been taking a moment to regain her breath, dashed forward to meet her foe.

"Meet her with another Ice Shard!" Will countered.

Once again, Dawn charged up a blue aura, that glowed brighter as she pushed forward, going to meet Smoochum. The two looked as though they were set to collide, Smoouchum rearing to deck Dawn, as the latter continued to charge her Ice Shard.

Just before they met in the middle, however, Dawn used her superior speed to dance around Smoochum. Now right behind her, Dawn released her Ice Shard. Another five ice spears shot into Smoochum's back, knocking her down to her knees.

The damage from that attack showed much more than the Powder Snow did, but it still was nowhere near enough to take Smoochum out. What it did mean, though, was that even more damage was potentially coming, and not from Dawn.

"Avalanche!" Candice shouted in retaliation.

Without a single moment's hesitation, Smoochum rose back to her feet, eyes glowing brightly, and began to craft another orb in the sky above Dawn. Knowing just how much damage this could deal, Dawn began to dart around.

"Keep moving!" Will yelled. "Don't let them get a lock on you!"

Nodding her head, Dawn dashed from place to place, just hoping to avoid the massive Avalanche that was soon to come. Just then, the dam broke, and another load of snowy gravel and ice fell from above. Unlike last time, though, Dawn had almost successfully dodged. The heavy load hit her right side, grazing her, but it wasn't enough to pin her down again.

For a short time, neither Dawn nor Smoochum moved. They both just stood in front of their respective trainer, breathing heavily. Dawn was beaten down, with several contusions, and even from one glance, both Will and Candice knew that she could not take another Avalanche. Smoochum looked much better off than her foe, but she was still breathing hard.

How can we still do this? Will thought. Dawn is only one good hit away from being taken out.

He unconsciously glanced down towards Pyro, noticing just how tired he was after his battle with Swinub.

He's still exhausted. He took a lot of damage there, and one good Avalanche would probably do him in as well.

Will had to fight the urge to sigh, to reveal how hopeless he felt.

We're not strong enough yet. We need to be stronger. We—

Interrupting his own thoughts, a memory popped into the forefront of Will's mind.

"You're too rigid. Your obsession with strength is more of a liability than I could ever be."

As though she knew what he was thinking about, Dawn turned around towards Will and nodded at him. Whether it was her way of reassuring him that she could do it, or she somehow knew he was thinking about what she said, he didn't know. All that Will knew was that it was all the encouragement he needed.

We can do this. We are strong, but what's more important… Will swallowed, seemingly scared to even think it, something contrary to the belief that he's held for almost half of his life. What's more important is that we trust each other. We can do this! We—

"Sorry to interrupt your thoughts, Will, but we're having a battle here!" Candice called, snapping him out of his reverie. "Confusion, Smoochum!"

Utilizing her dual type capabilities, Smoochum charged up another Confusion. She held her stubby arms out in front of her and began to charge up a psychic orb. It grew quickly, and within seconds, she fired it off towards Dawn, who still stood right in front of Will.

"Block it with Hail!"

It was a weird command, but Will spoke confidently. Dawn eyes began to glow blue as soon as Will finished speaking, and the temperature in the gym, despite being inside, began to cool.

Right as the Confusion crossed the midpoint of the battlefield, a terrific hailstorm appeared out of nowhere with hailstones ranging in size from marbles to tennis balls. The storm wasn't wild, though. Dawn had it under her complete control and directed all of it to the oncoming attack. The Confusion collided with the hailstorm, and with the sheer number of hailstones, the storm surrounded the attack entirely, dispelling it.

Will's eyes went wide when he saw that, a new idea popping into his mind. It wasn't something they'd tested, so Dawn wouldn't know what to do in advance.

I hope this works…

"Ice Shard one more time, Dawn!" Will called. "Trust me; I know how we can win this."

Dawn began charging up her attack without any hesitation. Ice Shard hadn't been working before, but if Dawn had any doubts in Will's plan—one that she didn't even know, she wasn't showing them.

Candice and Smoochum didn't seem as confident, though. They were more than willing to let Smoochum take another Ice Shard, knowing full well that it wouldn't do enough damage to take her out and that it would power her up.

Dawn fired off another set of ice spears at Smoochum, and while they didn't do enough to finish her, Smoochum still took some damage.

"Doesn't seem like you're learning, Will!" Candice shouted. "Avalanche!"

Summoning another blue orb in the air, Smoochum called down another Avalanche onto Dawn. However, just as it began to crash down, Will took the next step in his plan, the one that would make it or break it for Dawn's chances of winning.

"Double Team!"

Dawn's eyes went wide upon hearing that, finally knowing exactly what the plan was. Two dozen copies of her appeared across the battlefield, and no one but Dawn knew which was the real one.

The shock on both Candice's and Smoochum's faces were enough to make every copy laugh, and even Will had a ghost of a smile flitter across his face. Smoochum didn't know which one to attack, so she took a guess and fired at where the original copy was, only to bring the Avalanche down onto a fake that faded the moment it was struck.

Dawn, now in the clear, was ready to end it.

"Powder Snow!" Will shouted, the tone of finality in his voice evident to all.

Every copy of her unleashed a Powder Snow. Smoochum still didn't know which copy was the real Dawn, so she didn't know which was the real attack coming. Without knowing which beam to dodge, Smoochum had no chance. She was slammed by all of them. All but one beam disappeared the second it made contact with her, but the one hit was enough to finish Smoochum.

She was knocked back towards Candice, unconscious. Her eyes went wide at the sight for a moment, but she recomposed herself quickly. Candice grabbed Smoochum's pokeball, recalled her, and sighed. However, she still couldn't help but smile.

"With neither of Lady Candice's pokemon able to continue battling, Will Knight of Snowpoint City wins the battle."

Marvin spoke dryly, glaring at Will, as though furious he had the gall to defeat Candice. The gym leader in question, however, was smiling broadly, despite having lost.

"Great job, Will!" she said, looking directly at him. Then, looking down to Dawn, who still stood in the center of the battlefield breathing heavily, she said, "You were fantastic out there, Dawn! You as well, Pyro!"

She looked over towards the still-exhausted torchic, who had stood despite weariness to cheer for his teammate. All three smiled in response, though Will's was much smaller than Pyro's or Dawn's.

"Thank you, Candice," Will said as he began to walk across the battlefield.

Moving to meet him halfway, Candice grabbed a small piece of metal out of her pocket as she walked. When they arrived at the center, Candice immediately handed Will her badge.

"Congratulation, to all three of you," she said. "You all more than deserve this, the Icicle Badge."

As she spoke, Candice handed Will the badge, which was shaped like an iceberg. She then continued speaking, though specifically to Will.

"I'm proud of you, Will. You've grown, even in only two days. I'm not sure what the two of you did," Candice paused to glance at Pyro and Dawn. "But you did great."

Pyro and Dawn grinned broadly at that, and a ghost of a smile even flitted across Will's face once more.

"Thank you, Candice," he said sincerely. "We'll keep making you proud."

Without hesitation, she replied, "I know you will—all of you."

With that, she nodded one more time with a smile before she took her leave, heading back to her office behind the battlefield, taking Marvin, whom had been watching with a scowl, with her. Now alone, Will, Pyro, and Dawn looked at each other.

"Guys…" Will began, trailing off. "We did it. We got our first gym badge."

Pyro and Dawn cheered at that, thrilled to be one step closer to the Pokemon League, and, for the first time in a long while, Will genuinely smiled. It went unnoticed by his teammates, however, who were dancing around excitedly.

We're getting stronger, he thought. And soon, no one will be able to hurt us anymore.

With that thought planted in his mind, Will began to walk towards the exit, calling behind, "Let's go, guys. You've both earned a break and a good meal."

Pyro and Dawn wasted no time in running ahead when they heard that, racing each other to the pokemon center. Will watched them go with another smile, though smaller than the last.

We're getting stronger.

Thanks to all of you for reading! We're officially finished with the Snowpoint City segment of the Strength Arc! This means that we're on to Eterna City! It'll take a bit to get there as these two cities are not super close, so there's going to be a lot of action leading up to it!

After writing these past two chapters, I've decided to stick with the capitalization (or rather, lack thereof) that I changed to. Speaking only in regards to my story, I think that not capitalizing pokemon names will help to accentuate the divide over pokemon/human rights. You might catch some slip ups now and then that come from years of reading/writing pokemon with capitalization, but I hope that you'll look past it :) If you have any issues with this, I apologize, but as of right now, I have no plans to change back.

Thanks again!

1. What are your thoughts on Dawn's first battle?

2. What are your two or three favorite scenes/small parts of chapters from the first part of the Strength Arc?

3. What do you want to see more of now that we're going into the Eterna City segment?

4. Anything you'd like to see improved going into the next arc, be it grammar or plot?

Next Chapter: A Frosty Rematch!

Finished with the Snowpoint City Gym, Will and the team have no further reason to stay in Snowpoint, so they begin their journey in earnest. However, they aren't walking for long before Dawn meets someone from her past, and she seems less than pleased by the reunion! Just who is this pokemon!?

Strength Arc:

Eterna City:

Chapter 10: He's Back!

Chapter 11: Lesson Two

Chapter 12: Experiential Learning!

Chapter 13: Crossing Through Coronet!

Chapter 14: Doom, Gloom, and Demise!