Chapter 7: Clash

"Anita Parkwood…" I muttered to myself. "If Miss Goldenthrill's information is accurate, the time this girl was outside the Goldenthrill mansion and the time Pokemon X appeared coincide exactly." It seemed like too much of a coincidence to me. I turned to my assistant, his face hidden by the dark shading of the room. "Tell me, is it possible that the girl made up her account in order to get revenge on Miss Parkwood?"

"I have already considered that, sir." The assistant flashed a grin. "In fact, it is highly likely that she told us of Miss Parkwood to get revenge. However, our sources in Azul City did, in fact, reveal that Miss Parkwood entered the city with another girl less than an hour later. Thus, it seems likely that Miss Goldenthrill was not lying about Miss Parkwood stopping at her house."

I considered the situation for a moment. I finally asked, "Who was this other girl? The one Miss Parkwood entered the city with?"

"Erin Kendle," came my assistant's ready reply. "She is a research assistant in one of the labs in Azul City and is known to leave the city often in order to obtain information about the local Pokemon."

"And this Erin Kendle was not with Miss Parkwood at Miss Goldenthrill's house?"

"Assuming Miss Goldenthrill did not lie, that is correct," my assistant confirmed.

"Well, it seems we need to take Anita Parkwood, and possibly Erin Kendle, in for questioning."

"Shall I order their capture?"

I thought for a moment. "No."

My assistant was shocked. "What! Why not?" He narrowed his eyes in an accusatory manner.

His reaction did not surprise me. Usually, when we wanted information from a person the normal procedure was to kidnap the person and force the information out of them.

"Let's consider the situation." I spoke carefully and quietly, thus ensuing that my assistant was paying attention and I would not need to repeat myself. "We know that Pokemon X appeared twice. Both appearances were in between Melonbi Town and Miss Goldenthrill's mansion, and the second appearance was closer to the mansion. We also know that around the same time, Anita Parkwood was traveling from Melonbi Town to Azul City, and she stopped at the mansion. I would say there is a 90% chance that she at least saw Pokemon X. However, it seems strange for both Pokemon X and Miss Parkwood to be traveling the same path at the same time. Thus, I believe there is a 60% chance that either Miss Parkwood was following Pokemon X or Pokemon X was following Miss Parkwood. We also have to consider the possibility that Pokemon X is traveling with this girl, though admittedly, that seems rather unlikely."

"What is your point?" I could here a slight tone of derision in his voice. Disrespect was so… annoying.

I rolled my eyes as if I thought he should have figured it out already. Of course, I was really only rolling my eyes in retaliation to his disrespect. "I believe we can learn more by investigating this girl further. Torturing her may get some results, but watching her can probably give us more information, as well as possibly the opportunity to capture Pokemon X."

"Oh, I see your brilliant scheme now!" my assistant said sarcastically. "Watching this girl will magically lead to the capture of the legendary, mysterious Pokemon X!"

I replied calmly, "Pokemon X appeared to this girl twice. It will likely happen again."

"Right." He was obviously not convinced. For the moment, though, he played along. "Even if we assume that watching the girl is the right way to go about the situation, how can we accomplish that without being detected? She's bound to notice someone following her."

I grinned. I had a plan. "Don't worry about that. It will all be taken care of."

"What does that mean?" my assistant sneered.

"It means you will not have to do a thing. I have already set up everything."

"And are you going to tell me, exactly what you have set up?"

"No."

My assistant growled.

"I will, however, tell you what you need to know and what you need to do. First of all, I am leaving for the next month or two, and you will be in charge while I am away."

My assistant smiled brilliantly at that, as I knew he would. I hated to entrust him with so much power, but I had more important matters to attend to...

It finally dawned on my assistant that I had told him I was leaving. "Wait…Master." He said the word with contempt. "Where are you going?"

"My exact whereabouts are not important. I will be doing some research that pertains to Pokemon X. I will give you a phone you can use to reach me if there is an emergency or if you have found any more information about Pokemon X. Otherwise, I will call periodically to check up on the organization.

"You are to continue running this organization as it has been run for years. You will find, steal, and sell rare Pokemon for money, and continue hunting for and gathering information about Pokemon X… without stalking Miss Parkwood. I will have someone most trustworthy doing that."

A little too fast, my assistant asked, "Who?"

I smirked. I had learned long ago that he saw anyone I thought was trustworthy as a rival. "A relative of mine. He will be able to contact me and you if he discovers anything or succeeds in capturing Pokemon X. You are not to interfere with him or his methods of gaining information. You and the rest of Team Glop'emm shall pretend that we never found anything suspicious about Anita Parkwood and go back to the usual business. None of our agents, aside from my… detective, shall spy on Miss Parkwood; at this point, we cannot risk being discovered."

"And what if your special detective fails?" my assistant questioned edgily.

"He will not."

My assistant growled louder, "But what if?"

Of course my assistant disliked my ingenious plan. He would have no influence over information discovered about Pokemon X or the actual capturing of Pokemon X. I was tempted to become angry with my assistant for questioning my plan, but if I lost my cool with the assistant, respect and dignity would be lost as well.

I quickly came up with a way to appease my assistant. I calmly responded, "If in five weeks from today my detective has not come up with any new information, you may order her capture."

My assistant narrowed his eyes at me. "Does that mean you will not be back by then?"

"I do not know," I answered honestly.

My assistant was lost in thought for a second. Finally, he asked, "When are you leaving?"

"Now." I rose from my desk, and pulled my hood up over my head. I turned back to my assistant. "Do not inform the rest of the team of my departure until three hours after I leave the building. Do not attempt to follow me or find me when I am gone. I will not hesitate to use physical force, even on my own team members." I pulled a walkie-talkie-like device out of my pocket and handed it to my assistant. "Press the green button to contact me, and press the red button to contact the detective. Do not press either button unless there is an emergency or you find more information about Pokemon X. If our machine finds Pokemon X again, call my detective immediately, and then inform me." I turned to exit the room.

My assistant grumbled something about never even fully seeing my face. I smiled widely at that. My precaution of always meeting others in shaded light or wearing a hood was finally going to pay off. Even if my assistant saw me in broad day light, he would not recognize me. The last time I had shown my face to anybody on Team Glop'emm was before my father died. I had changed a lot since then.

My hand was on the door knob when my assistant said, "Wait!"

I paused.

"What about your other responsibilities?"

"Close it down," I answered curtly. Then an idea hit me. "Actually, put up a sign saying that the prelim has been changed to finding me." I grinned. The other gym leaders would not be able to replace me or punish me for leaving, and no challenger was actually going to find me because I had never showed my face in public.

Before my assistant could stall my departure any longer, I left the room. After navigating the twists and turns of the building and ignoring the stares of grunts as I passed by, I finally opened a door to the outside world.

I breathed in the fresh air, and pulled out a Pokeball.

For the first time in my life, I was free. Free of responsibility, free to leave Drape Town, free to be on my own.

Good-bye old life.

Hello world.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

I kicked a shrub and shouted, "THIS IS SO STUPID!"

{And that's number 57.}

I turned and kicked another shrub near Apple so hard that the shrub was uprooted and hit Apple in the face.

{58.}

I looked at my watch. It was 11:30. We had started searching for the gym at 7:00 this morning. Four and a half hours! It was only in the past hour that I had resorted to kicking shrubs out of frustration, and Apple had boredly started counting them.

"You've knocked over so many shrubs people are going to think a Tauros rampaged through here," Erin commented. My roommate had been no help whatsoever. She just followed me through these godforsaken woods and ignored me every time I asked her to help me find the gym.

Apple had been even less of a help than Erin.

{Why can't you locate it with your psychic powers?} I had asked her.

{Because you can use your own psychic abilities to locate the gym,} Apple replied.

{I don't know how!}

{So I can teach you.}

I had naturally refused Apple's offer, and thus had spent the morning searching through the entire park for the seemingly nonexistent gym.

I collapsed onto a boulder and curled up into a ball. "What am I going to do?" I muttered to myself.

{The psychic deal is still available.}

I ignored Apple. Erin patted me on the back. "I'm sure you'll find it somewhere, and if not, you can enter the tournament next Thursday while I get a half off manicure."

Ah, maybe that was why she wasn't helping me. Stupid manicure.

I randomly wondered if any of the other final four trainers had found the gym. I ran into the Spearow girl just as I entered the park this morning but had not seen any of the others. Maybe they had already found the gym.

How did they do it? How could I do it?

I had avoided asking my other Eevees for help because the younger ones were a magnet for trouble, and I thought Fiery would probably refuse. Now, however, it was getting late, and I had nothing to lose. I released the five siblings from their Pokeballs.

Allo yawned and stretched.

{I rather like being in my Pokeball,} Vanilla declared. {It is good for my beauty rest.}

{It's not too bad,} Splash added. {but the real world is much more exciting.}

"Alright, everybody," I interrupted the conversation. "I would like your help in finding the gym in these woods. I'm not entirely sure what the gym looks like, but because there are no buildings in here, I assume it must be underground. So we might be looking for a hole in the ground or a door…" I stopped talking when I noticed the four youngest Eevees were staring at me intently. "What?"

Surprisingly, Sunflower was the first to respond. Quietly, she murmured, {Anita, how do you spell gym?}

I looked at her, confused. {G-Y-M,} I answered. {Why?}

{We know where it is.}

Splash was so excited he started running in circles. {Come on, we'll show you!}

The four young Eevees bounded into the forest. The rest of us followed.

{Slow down!} Fiery ordered. The young Eevees ignored him.

"Where are they going?" Erin panted as we ran after the Eevees.

I had to keep reminding myself that she couldn't hear and didn't know about my conversations with my Pokemon. "I'm not sure, but maybe they already know where the gym is."

Suddenly, the young Eevees stopped. I nearly toppled over them, but I managed to catch a tree branch and stop myself. There was a hole I would have fallen into just beyond where the Eevees were standing, and next to the hole was a wooden sign that read "GYM."

{Wow. I should have asked for your help soon—} I started, but was cut off by Fiery.

{When did you have time to find this hole?} he growled.

Oh, crap. This was a bad way for him to find out about me losing the four Eevees.

Before I could even begin to think up an explanation, Splash answered, {We found it when we went exploring yesterday!}

Allo and I exchanged horrified glances. Vanilla didn't look disturbed by Splash's revelation, but Sunflower was watching with wide terrified eyes.

"Umm, Anita, we found the gym. Why aren't we going in?" Erin asked. I had a feeling that if I returned everyone to their Pokeballs now, Fiery would be even more upset with me. I shushed Erin.

{And when did you have time to go exploring?} Fiery was glowering.

Splash answered easily, {When you were training yesterday, we got bored and ran off for a bit.}

Vanilla's calm disposition shifted suddenly. {You mean you got bored yesterday, Allo didn't want you to hurt yourself so he followed, and Sunflower and I had to follow you two or be left alone,} she said angrily.

{You didn't seem to have a problem leaving Anita and Fiery yesterday,} Splash sneered.

{ENOUGH!} Fiery yelled. {I'm ashamed of all of you!} He turned to Splash, {I don't care how bored you are, you are not to just leave without telling anyone, especially now, when you are supposed to be resting!}

For once, Splash did not retort.

Fiery looked at Allo, Vanilla, and Sunflower. {You three should have stopped your brother from leaving. You should know better than to go along with his risky plans! All of you could have been hurt!}

Allo looked especially shamefaced while staring at his paws.

Fiery turned to me. He snarled, {And you promised to look after them.} I backed away slowly, scared shitless of an attack, but Fiery just sighed. {But you did find them, and for that I am grateful.}

I decided not to mention that Erin had actually found them.

"Anita, it's getting kinda late. I don't know what's going on, but I think you should get in the gym if you want to challenge Abalina," Erin said. She continued to watch the Eevees with a puzzled look on her face. Of course, all she could hear was "Ee-vee-vee" and such, but from their tone she seemed to understand there was some problem. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Err." I put the best confused look on my face. "I don't know. Sounds like an argument to me. They're all related, except Apple, so maybe its some sort of family dispute."

Erin narrowed her eyes at me. "How do you know they are related?"

Crud, Apple had told me that.

{Uh, oh. She's starting to get suspicious.} Apple smirked.

{No, duh,} I snapped at Apple. Then to Erin, I feebly answered, "Nurse Joy told me when I picked them up."

Erin looked like she as going to say something more so to change the subject I hastily announced, "I'm going down now."

{I thought you wanted to win,} Apple snickered.

Splash added, {Bu-bump-chhhh.}

To Fiery, I silently apologized, {I'm sorry for not keeping track of your brothers and sisters. It won't happen again.}

Fiery nodded.

{Will you still battle?} I silently prayed for a "yes".

Fiery hesitated and then nodded. I sighed in relief, and then pulled out four Pokeballs.

{I can't have you four causing trouble.}

After returning the four young Eevees, I peered into the hole. A soothing aroma seemed to flow out of the hole, and there was a ladder to the dark bottom. Without hesitating, I started climbing down the ladder.

Apple jumped onto my shoulder. Fiery didn't seem to know what to do until Apple pointed to my other shoulder with a paw and said, {Come on!}

I grumbled to myself about the extra weight as I descended.

{Ugh, do you smell that?} Apple pawed at her nose.

I took a whiff and nearly fell off the ladder. The smell was so overpoweringly sweet it made me feel sick and I had to breathe through only my mouth to keep from fainting.

When I reached the bottom, I saw a faint light to my right so I started walking toward it.

"Hey, Anita, where are you?" Erin called when she reached the bottom. I heard her take a breath and then cough. "Eww. This place is creepy and stinky."

"I'm walking toward that faint light," I responded. We silently walked down what seemed to be a tunnel. I soon realized that the faint light was actually light reflecting off of a cave wall. This light was coming from around a corner we could not see from the ladder.

I turned the corner and suddenly found myself bombarded with light. Only after a minute of blinking could I actually see again.

"Wow," I stated, dumbfounded by the beautiful sight. Wild green grass filled most of the ground, except for the few violet flowers and large trees scattered about the terrain. There was a small pond to my left filled with lilies and algae. Around the pond Oddish evolutions and Sunfloras sat, danced, and played. Well, that explained the smell.

I wondered where the bright light was coming from so I looked up. Lights as bright as the sun filled the ceiling, making my eyes water and forcing me to look away.

Finally, I noticed two figures directly in front of me, not fifty yards away. A tall, beautiful lady was shaking a blond boy's hand. She looked up, saw me, and grinned. The boy looked at me too, and I realized he was the boy with the Quilava that I had battled yesterday. They both started walking toward me.

"Hey, nice battle yesterday," the boy said, smirking, as he finally reached me.

"Yes, it was," I replied politely.

{Not for me it wasn't!} Apple chirped to me.

"It seems we never got to formally introduce ourselves. I am Jake," he announced, a little too dramatically in my opinion. "Jake Veneer."

"Anita Parkwood."

He took my hand and seemed about to shake it, but at the last second he pulled it toward his lips. I quickly yanked my hand away in disgust. Jake just snickered at me, annoyed, and moved on to greet Erin, who had stepped beside me.

"And who might you be?" he asked in his charming voice.

Erin blushed. "Erin Kendle." I was surprised she said no more. She was usually on top of the whole social chatter thing.

Jake took her hand and kissed it, not at all unnerved by my rejection earlier.

"Jake Veneer, very pleased to meet you."

I nearly gagged in disgust. Erin's blush became more prominent.

Jake let go of Erin's hand and bowed toward Erin and the lady. "Well, ladies," he turned to me and seemed to take a second to think of a word to call me. "And Anita, I will be seeing you."

He smiled at Erin, scowled at me, and disappeared down the hall we had just entered from.

Erin and I were left with the lady, who I assumed must be the gym leader. She had long brown hair that flowed freely to her waist and forest green eyes. A circle of daffodils lay atop her head like a crown. The ring of flowers would have looked childish on anyone else, but they made her appear queen-like. She wore a simple light green dress that matched the surroundings as well as her eyes.

She smiled warmly at me. "Hello, Anita. I am Abalina Sycamore, the gym leader of Azul City. I have been expecting you."

She held out her hand and I shook it, though her saying I was expected unnerved me.

Abalina turned to Erin. "And you must be a friend of Anita's, correct?"

Erin nodded.

Abalina shook her hand and then turned back to me. "Well, now down to business. But first, Anita, do you trust Erin?"

I immediately shook my head. Erin looked taken aback, but come on. Could she really expect me to trust her after knowing her for only two days?

"Well, that is a bit of an issue," Abalina stated. Then she shrugged. "But it's not my issue. So Anita, I hope Erin here does turn out to be trustworthy, otherwise your life could quickly turn miserable after this."

I was puzzled. {Apple, any input?}

{Nope. No idea what she's talking about. I could read her thoughts, but I don't like intruding if I don't sense ill intent.}

{Whatever. I'm sure she'll tell us soon enough.}

"First of all, welcome to the Azul City gym. As the first gym leader you will battle, it is my duty to explain most of the gym and league policies in Acceber.

"The Pokemon league is held annually every January in Orquid City. To participate, five out of eight Acceber badges must be obtained in the year before the tournament, and badges from previous years are not accepted. Obtaining all eight badges will let you skip out of the prelims in the Pokemon league.
Each gym has its own set of rules and prelims. The gym leader will only give out badges to those he or she feels is worthy, and this usually involves beating the gym leader in a battle.

"I am sure you knew all of this, but I am required to tell you anyway. Now, however, we get to the part that you probably don't know." Abalina hesitated a moment and glanced at Erin. "Anita, I know you are gifted."

My eyes widened in surprise, but I said nothing.

{Ahh, this is what she was talking about.} Apple giggled, though I did not see what was funny about the situation.

"Did you already know this?" she asked.

I nodded.

Abalina continued, "You're power type is psychic and your strength is still unknown, though it is growing. I know all of this because all eight gym leaders of Acceber are gifted as well, and one of the eight is a psychic. She is often able to foresee events, especially those pertaining to others with the gift, and she predicted your arrival here."

Erin was utterly confused. She started to ask, "What do you mean by gifts?" However, Abalina stopped her.

"Anita can explain this to you later. Anyway, Anita, you need to know this because it is the gym leaders' duty to train gifted children and make sure they learn to control their powers. We do not actually teach you; you'll have to learn from a psychic Pokemon or someone with the psychic gift. However, we will challenge your powers as well as your Pokemon. Because you have the advantage of the gift, your prelims and battles may be different and more challenging than other trainers'.

"This gym will be the exception. Because you just found out about this today, I will not test you beyond the normal battle between gym leader and trainer. Other gym leaders, however, may test you by having you battle alongside your Pokemon or perform some other difficult task.

"Basically, along with training your Pokemon, you have to train your own powers. The gym leaders decided to implement these regulations to prevent accidents caused by teenagers unable to control their powers as well as end the great advantage gifted children tended to have in being able to gain gym badges."

{Apple, did you know about this?} I asked, still trying to comprehend all Abalina had told me.

Apple shrugged. {Not really, but I probably could have guessed. It makes sense.}

Erin looked like she was thinking hard. I was curious about what and was about to read her thoughts when Abalina slapped something onto my arm.

"During our battle you have to wear this," she commanded.

I stared at the black band on my wrist. It was made of a material I had never felt before, and it felt a strangely out of place on my hand.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's called a dark band. It's made of the same chemical substance dark Pokemon have throughout their body. By touching it, you will not be able to use your psychic power."

I wrinkled my nose in distaste at the band, and tried to talk to Apple. I found, however, that I could not touch her mind like I usually could.

{Don't worry,} Apple said.

{Wait, how am I talking to you?} I asked.

{She only stopped your psychic powers from working, silly. I can still reach my mind out to talk and listen to you, though it is a bit harder with that band on your arm. It actually feels like I'm trying to talk to a dark type Pokemon. I can only hear the thoughts you want me to hear.}

{Wait, I thought you told me that psychics couldn't get into dark Pokemons' minds.}

{I did, but—}

Abalina started talking to me again, obviously unaware that Apple was communicating with me. "So, are you ready?"

{We'll talk about this later,} I told Apple. {For now, we must pretend we cannot communicate without me actually speaking. Got it?}

Apple nodded.

"I'm ready," I said confidently.

"Then come over here." Abalina lead me to the open field I had first seen her and Jake on. She then backed away from me and declared, "This will be a two-on-two single battle. You may use one Pokemon at a time, and no Pokemon can be switched out of battle. Are you ready to begin?"

"Wait, how do I know you will not use your powers?" I asked suspiciously.

Abalina chuckled. "I would say my powers are much more visible than yours." She tilted her head to the left and then nodded toward something. I followed her gaze, and to my surprise saw a tree sprouting and growing before my eyes. Erin gasped. Abalina continued, "Also, I'm gym leader here so I make the rules. I don't have any physical item that will stop my powers with me right now so you will just have to trust that I will not use my power. If Erin here witnesses otherwise, I will declare the battle invalid."

Erin looked too bewildered to understand anything she witnessed, in my opinion, but I didn't object.

"What would stop your powers?" I asked curiously. "What do you use to stop the gifts of other gifted challengers from working?"

Abalina chuckled again. "Well, aren't you a curious one. For now, it is none of your business; we have a battle, remember?"

I felt my face get hot with embarrassment. "Oh, yeah," I mumbled.

Abalina pulled out a Pokeball and tossed it in the air. "Sunkern, I choose you."

"Apple, you're up."

Apple jumped onto the field, whining, {Why do I have to go first?}

I grinned. {I want to start off strong.}

That made Apple shut up. I knew her doubts lingered from yesterday.

{Now no more psychic talk,} I insisted. "Apple, quick attack!"

"Sunkern, growth!"

Apple struck the Sunkern hard, and the kernel Pokemon took damage, but then grew bigger.

"Bite it, Apple!"

Apple bit down on the Sunkern, but it kept growing until it was too big for Apple to clamp her teeth onto.

Now a giant Sunkern loomed over Apple.

I gulped, and thought that Apple was probably doing the same.

"Ingrain," Abalina commanded calmly.

The giant Sunkern suddenly sprouted roots and dug into the ground. Apple performed a rapid set of quick attacks, but they did little harm to the Sunkern.

"Absorb!"

Apple suddenly fell to the ground, as the Sunkern sucked its life.

"Apple, we've got to finish this ASAP! The longer the battle drags on, the stronger that Sunkern gets!"

Apple nodded in agreement and tried to tackle it, but the Sunkern once again was not damaged very much. It was constantly recovering through its roots and the energy it was absorbing from Apple.

I was pretty desperate by this point. Even though I knew Apple had not practiced enough, I ordered an Iron tail.

Apple's tail flickered and she swung it at the Sunkern, but she ended up hurting herself more than her opponent.

"Apple, come on! You can do this! Try again, and aim for the roots!"

More energy was stolen from Apple, but the Eevee looked at the giant Sunkern fiercely. Her tail suddenly glowed bright, and she spun around, cutting off all of the Sunkern's roots.

"Now finish it!"

Apple kept her tail lit up and flipped through the air, landing squarely on the giant Sunkern.

{Oh, yeah!} Apple squealed and did a celebration dance atop her opponent.

The Sunkern was knocked out.

The oversized Pokemon was returned, and in its place a Leafeon appeared. Abalina looked irked.

"Razor leaf!"

Leaves flew at Apple from all directions. The Eevee tried to dodge with a quick attack, but most of the leaves hit anyway.

Apple fell down in exhaustion.

"You got this, Apple!" I cheered.

Apple tried to get up but was knocked back by the Leafeon. This time, Apple did not get back up. I ran onto the field and scooped the Eevee into my arms. She was completely knocked out, but was otherwise fine. I patted her on the head, handed her to Erin, and then returned to my battle post.

I ordered Fiery onto the field.

The Leafeon once again spun razor-sharp leaves at my Pokemon. Fiery, however, was not worn from battle, and thus was able to dodge out of the way. I smirked at Abalina. "You won't beat me the same way twice!" I called.

Abalina was unfazed. She smiled slightly at me. "Or maybe I will."

Her Leafeon hurled leaves, and Fiery dodged once again. This time though the leaves turned around and boomeranged right back at Fiery.

Abalina grinned at me. "Magical leaf never misses."

"Iron tail!" I ordered.

Fiery used his iron-hard tail to slice the leaves chasing him to bits. He continued past the leaves and launched toward Leafeon.

"Quick, leaf blade!"

There was a loud clang as Fiery's tail met Leafeon's. Leafeon twisted away and tried again. Again, their tails met with a clang.

Both Pokemon continued to strike with their tails. It was like watching a sword fight. Leafeon's weapon was quicker and sharper than Fiery's, but Fiery's was thicker and stronger. With a tacit vow not to order any other attacks, Abalina and I watched the two Pokemon twirl and lunge.

As the battle prolonged, I began to notice signs of endurance failures on both Pokemon. Their tails moved slower and their blows were less powerful. This seemed to hinder Leafeon more than Fiery, as the Leafeon's main advantage of speed was taken away.

The test of endurance continued until finally, Leafeon faltered under Fiery's strike. The Pokemon fell backwards, and Fiery struck again with his powerful tail. The Leafeon was too tired to block and too slow to dodge.

Fiery was the only Pokemon left standing on the battlefield.

Holy crud.

We won.

Fiery's fur was dirty and sticking up in places from the battle, but I didn't care as my bursting pride caused me to cuddle Fiery in a tight hug.

I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my hand, causing me to release Fiery. I squealed, "Oww!"

Fiery had bitten me.

I suppose hugging him was not the smartest idea.

I looked down at the ragged Pokemon, and he was grinning.

Erin hugged me and did a little dance. Even Apple, who had woken up toward the end of the battle but was still exhausted, smiled weakly.

Abalina gave me a gracious smile, though her eyes revealed a tad of annoyance. She took off the dark band (thank goodness) and handed me a badge.

"It's been a long time since I have given out more than one badge in a day," she commented. "But congratulations. You now have the Maple Badge."

"Did Jake get the other badge?" I asked curiously.

Abalina nodded and then sighed. "At least I beat one person today… I think I will train more before I hold another tournament."

I stared at the badge in my hand. It was shaped like a red, spiky maple leaf.

Wow, my first badge.

Fiery eyed my hand slyly.

Suddenly, my badge was swiped out of my hand.

Fiery held it proudly between his teeth.

He closed his mouth, smirking.

And swallowed.

Aww, so much for my first badge.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

{No more eating badges.} I scolded Fiery several hours later.

Nurse Joy had healed my Pokemon and assured me that my badge would … come out Fiery's other end without any harm to Fiery. She had been correct. I now was washing and rewashing the badge as Fiery and Apple watched.

Apple giggled. She had been in a significantly better mood since she beat the Sunkern.

Fiery scowled. {If you saw the look on Anita's face, you would have done the same. She was completely engrossed with the thing!}

Apple thought for a moment. {You know, I think you're right.}

I rolled my eyes.

When I was finally satisfied with the badge's cleanliness, I left the bathroom and sat down on my bed. The moon's light glittered across my bed and barely reached Erin's. Erin was reading a magazine with a reading light under her covers. She had been abnormally quiet the whole afternoon. I was surprised but glad she was not bugging me as I thought she would about the psychic thing. Of course, she could just be waiting for an opportune moment…

Just then Erin began speaking. "Anita, about you being psychic?" She looked at me expectantly.

Oh, the irony.

"Good night, Erin." I completely ignored her question and lay down. Apple jumped beside me.

{I'd rather sleep in my Pokeball,} Fiery said. He trotted over to my bag, found his Pokeball, and pressed the center button. He was gone in a flash of red.

"Hello! Are you going to explain?"

I rolled over to face the window. "Nope."

"Anita!" Erin started to whine.

"GOODNIGHT!"

All was quiet.

I fell asleep to Apple silently chanting, {Anger management, anger management.}