Hooray! Like I promised, I delivered a longer chapter! And it only took me a whole month and one day... I feel like it was worth it though. However, before starting this chapter there is some important info you need to know that was only mentioned at the beginning of the first chapter. Here's a quick reminder: before becoming pokemon, Channah and Mat were former rivals as pokemon trainers and Channah kept losing to Mat even though she was smarter than him as a pokemon trainer. Finally, just to avoid confusion, this chapter begins before chapter one and later continues from the end of chapter two. That is all! With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy this chapter!


Internal Mystery

Chapter 3

Revival of Rivalry

A day passed since Mat accepted a training session with Kyle so the dewott spent the following day to rest. During that afternoon, Channah noticed the keldeo return indoors looking disappointed. He had the same disappointed look on his face when he returned home yesterday with Mat. Kyle walked right past the chikorita with his head lowered, paying no attention to her. This made Channah concerned.

"Are you alright, Kyle?" Channah asked, genuinely concerned for her friend.

Kyle sluggishly turned around before answering, "yeah, no, I'm fine..."

Channah sighed before asking again, "are you sure you're okay?"

The keldeo turned around again to reply, "yes, yes, all is swell..."

"Does it have to do with yesterday? Maybe with a certain dewott?"

Two whole seconds passed before Kyle replied, "Yes! It was..."

"Go figure," Channah said unsurprised. "Well even though we've only been here for a few days I feel like I've known Mat for a long time. And that's not a good thing. Especially since he can be super irritating..."

"Feelings are mutual, except I've actually only known him for a few days."

"I doubt he knows how annoying he is: always complaining, does nothing around the house to help, always act bored and makes pessimistic remarks... Hey, we should try and get back at him! Maybe ruin his pride or something... I feel like attacking that will really get to him!"

"Your plan sounds heinous but maybe by doing this he will become a more serious pokemon. Finish being lazy and careless and make good use of his day."

From then on the two decided to quickly brainstorm an idea to crush Mat's pride. Their rash idea soon came into fruition. The idea was to humiliate or at least beat him at something he was good at. Something he was somehow naturally good at, pokemon battling!

"Channah, you will do it. As I will take my time to teach you the art of battle!" Exclaimed the now enthusiastic keldeo.

"M-Me, how?" cowardly asked the chikorita.

Kyle gave a confident smile as he answered, "please have some courage! Believe in yourself. Besides the type advantage, the reason why it should be you is because with enough training he will lose to a pokemon who has only just begun their adventure. In other words, he will lose to a beginner, nonetheless you! But have no fear please, when it comes to teaching pokemon how to battle I'm rather good at it!"

"If you say so." Unconfidently replied Channah.

The sly duo of pokemon snuck out of the house for the rest of the afternoon. Kyle had brought Channah to the same clearing in the forest as he did with Mat. The day was warm and the sun shinned brightly, perfect conditions to start their training! To begin with, Kyle instructed Channah through simple warm-up activities such as jogging and stretches before training began.

"Channah, what do you already know about battling?" Kyle asked

The chikorita stopped and thought before replying with an apologetic smile, "yeahhh, I actually don't know anything."

Kyle sighed and happily replied, "let's start from the beginning!"

Training officially began! Kyle began by teaching the chikorita how to use her attacks: poison powder, synthesis, reflect and magical leaf. Poison powder to induce poison, synthesis to restore health, reflect to reduce physical damage received and magical leaf to deal damage! By the end of the first day, Channah quickly learnt what each of her attacks did, how to use them and in which scenarios each move should be best in.


The sun was setting as the duo returned home. Their absence seemed to have an effect on everyone at home, except Mat. Danny had to play with Pam all day (since no would else would) which made the pikachu too occupied to help Nymphia with some of her work so she had to do all that extra stuff so she ended up getting less work done.

"Welcome back! What have two been doing today?" Pam asked as she welcomed Channah and Kyle.

Kyle took a second to think of lie, "we have just been outside, having fun."

"Okay. Sounds good!"

As Pam left Channah whispered to Kyle, "why did you have to lie to her?"

"I'm sure if Pam knew should would alert Mat," answered Kyle. "But is this alright? To train for a battle your opponent will not be prepared for?"

"No, it's fine," replied Channah. "He gets what's coming for him."

"Well, if you believe that is so..."


Day two and once again the duo went to go train in the afternoon. They snuck out and left, luckily it was another good day. Kyle had prepared the lesson this training session right after the last one. His plan for today was to train Channah to use her attacks on an opponent.

Kyle took ten steps away from the chikorita and ordered her, "please do your best to hit me with your attacks!"

"W-With one of my attacks? Are you sure?!" hesitantly asked Channah.

"Of course! But do not worry, I'll be dodging!"

"Can't I p-practice my defensive attacks today?"

"Do not worry! Though I may get hit once or twice I shall easily recover!"

Both pokemon stood ready. The chikorita demonstrated determination in her eyes while the keldeo had a slightly overconfident expression on his face. Channah began as she flicked her leaf to shoot her magical leaf attack at Kyle! As the leaves travelled through the air they left a short purple trail of light behind them. As they approached Kyle he was easily able to swiftly dodge through the first wave of Channah's attacks!

"Was that your best, Channah?" asked Kyle as he dropped his guard.

"I-I guess I'm not. I don't feel comfortable with attacking you," answered the chikorita. "Maybe I'm not fit for this, I just don't have the confidence to attack another pokemon. Maybe battling isn't my thing..."

Kyle took a few seconds to think of a reply before saying, "if you would like to draw your strength and find determination just remember how irritating Mat is. I don't know where 'all' your anger towards him comes from, maybe some of it comes from before waking up on the beach so try to also draw the few bad feelings you have left of him from before then."

With those words Channah was able to continue! The next wave of magical leaves came much faster and the sudden increase in speed made them noticeably more difficult to dodge, making it less of a walk in the park for Kyle! After dodging the second wave with less ease the keldeo grinned.

"That was much better!" complimented Kyle.

They continued this for nearly three hours with many breaks in-between. Channah had gotten good enough to the point where she was able to land a quite a few hits and put the keldeo in a position where he had to cut the leaves rather than dodge.

"Channah, you've gotten very good quickly. You seem almost natural at this," Kyle said as their next break began. "However, this is only the beginning of training. The difference between training and the battlefield are very different. No pokemon will simply let you attack them without attacking you. We will save that for another time though!"

Channah was a little disheartened to hear that after nearly two whole days of hard work she was still not completely ready for a real battle so she asked, "so what're going to do now?"

Kyle closed his eyes for a second and opened them before answering, "we will train your other, more defensive moves."

Until sunset, Channah practised using synthesis, poison powder and reflect. Since poison powder induced poison, they didn't want Kyle getting hit by it so the chikorita practiced against nearby objects. Once it was sunset the duo once again returned home and Channah had become significantly stronger and no one else knew!


The next day came, Kyle had to teach ducklettes and Channah left with Pam, Mat and Danny to Francis town. They had just arrived at a park to have a bit of fun and spend some time at a place Pam enjoyed. Channah and Mat watched as Pam and Danny rode up and down the c-saw with glee. The chikorita felt happy to spend some time to hang out with her friends rather than train, even though she was disappointed earlier that morning when she heard that Kyle was busy helping others. She continued to sit besides Mat on the bench as she grew tired from the eventful day.

"Hey Pam, is there anything 'we' can do?" Mat asked out loud.

Pam's attention turned to Mat as she replied, "yes there is! If you turn back and into the town center, there are several stations where you can buy vanilite ice cream cones for warm days like these!"

"Yeah, just hope they aren't made of real vanilite." Mat sarcastically remarked as he left.

This left Channah all alone with the two electric-type kids. As soon as Mat was gone, another, taller and more buffed figure slowly crept past the entrance of the park from around the other corner. It was a seismitoad carrying a large bag over its shoulders. Pam was no pokemon to judge other pokemon by their looks but she could tell that the seismitoad was not friendly. The pikachu divided her attention and kept a close eye on the suspicious pokemon. As soon as the seismitoad began to walk towards the unaware chikorita, Pam stopped playing on the c-saw and got off quickly but then two palpitoads clumsily ran around the corner and walked by the larger pokemon's side.

Danny tried to ask Pam he watched her leave, "what's wrong?"

While the situation was unrolling, Channah was about to pass out on the bench. Her head was turned away and was looking downwards so she couldn't see anything that was happening. The seismitoad gestured for the palpitoad to do the dirty work of snatching the bag Mat left on the bench.

"Channah!" the pikachu cried out of the desperation to grab the chikorita's attention.

As Pam cried out loud, she recklessly launched a thunder shock attack towards the palpitoad but it was swiftly blocked by the seismitoad.

"I didn't expect to do any work today." came a deep and lazy voice from the seismitoad talking to himself.

"My apologies but we can not allow you to steal our stuff!" shouted Pam, still exhilarated from her attempt to attack the palpitoad.

Pam shouting startled the chikorita and snapped her awake which prompted her to ask, "huh? What's going on, Pam!?"

Channah quickly hopped off the bench before she could understand the situation. It was also at that moment that the seimitoad lost what very little patience it had and used his used shot attack to get rid of the pikachu.

"Pam!" Channah cried as she witnessed her friend get hit.

The mud shot was a direct hit and nonetheless super effective! Pam fell onto the ground and looked pretty injured from a single hit from the vibration pokemon. Danny was frozen with fear while he sat on the c-saw but Channah was absolutely filled with rage after witnessing her sweet and innocent friend get hurt.

The chikorita shook in place from the horror as she yelled, "h-how dare do such a thing to her!"

"Who cares," replied the other presumptuous palpitoad beside the seismitoad. "It's strong pokemon like our boss here who run this place now-a-days! So we'll take your stuff and then you guys can go-on with your jolly day."

Nymphia did mention that there were many awful pokemon all-around the region but Channah thought that the victini would be the worst and only case of it she would witness.

"You creeps!" the chikorita yelled once again.

The yelling irritated the seismitoad which caused it to carelessly launch its mud shot attack once again but towards the chikorita. The mud shot attack came by surprise since there was no indication that he was going to use it since the seismitoad's expression remained plain and bored and it barely moved. Without thinking, Channa's body dodged the attack. Even though she hadn't been taught to dodge she was able to do it pretty well! It felt almost natural.

The seismitoad sighed and mumbled to itself, "pest."

A battle was now underway! Channah's first instinct was to use light screen since it was likely that a seimitoad would have a few more special attacks. As the chikorita had set-up her light screen, she was then struck by the opponent's uproar attack! Luckily for Channah her light screen reduced the damage received and since the seismitoad was in an uproar she knew it would have to use the move two more times, making it easy to make a plan a counterattack. When the next uproar came Channah knew exactly what to expect and was able to dodge the attack. Between the time uproar was used and the next one there was a window of opportunity to attack! Channah used her chance to poison the seismitoad using poison powder. When the third uproar arrived she narrowly dodged it and used synthesis to restore herself to full health.

"C'mon boss, get'em!" the palpitoads simultaneously cheered.

After hearing the enemy cheering, Danny mustered the courage to encourage his friend, "y-you can d-do it Channah!"

The seismitoad wanted to end the battle as soon as possible and do whatever it takes, even if it something unfair. The enemy seismitoad quickly backed-up towards the entrance and began to use a muddy water attack which would hit Channah, her friends and damage the park! Since the seismitoad was slow yet powerful it took a few seconds before muddy water would come out so Channah seized the few seconds of opportunity! With the given time, the chikorita was able to jump over the muddy water wave! As Channah jumped over the muddy water attack, in mid-air she used magical leaf! The attack was a success and landed a direct hit, leaving massive damage! After the seismitoad was hit, the wave of dirty water quickly died-down before reaching anyone. Due to the damage, it also pushed the seismitoad back and nearly falling backwards. With one last ditch effort, Channah furiously launched another wave of magical leaves and it landed a critical hit!

With all the super effective damage and accumulated poison damage, the seismitoad was no longer able to battle! Channah got out of her battle position as she exhaled.

Both palpitoads took a few steps backwards and one of them said, "i-if it's raining, there would be no way you c-could keep up with the boss' speed and power!"

Channah turned her head to look at the two palpitoads who were preparing to use rain dance. The palpitoads planned on using rain dance to conjure-up rain which would activate the seismitoad's swift swim ability, doubling its speed.

The chikorita intimidatingly glared and slowly walked towards the palpitoad duo as she said, "try me..."

"Uh, help? b-b-b-b-b-boss!?" yelped the two palpitoads.

Channah watched the cowardly palpitoads run away from her out of fear. Only once the seismitoad remained laying on the ground fainted did the chikorita also fell onto the floor from exhaustion due to battle.

After the battle ended, Danny came running to ask, "are you and Pam OK?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," Channah replied without moving. "Please go check on Pam though."


After the wild battle encounter, the four pokemon returned home. Mat arrived only a few minutes after the battle ended, Pam received an oran berry to temporarily treat the pain but nobody talked about Channah's battle. With an ominous and gloomy atmosphere looming over them, they agreed that they had done enough that day so they headed home. Little talk was exchanged on the way back as they were also occupied with eating the ice cream Mat fetched.

Once they finally arrived home, Pam was scolded by Nymphia for not explaining Francis' town current issue; the growing number of groups of evil pokemon residing there and the increased crime rate. Even though Pam knew that, she didn't know the situation had gotten worse in the last year. However, she wanted to tell them that there might have been bad pokemon there but she also didn't want to mention anything that could worry them and bring down the mood.


The next few days would continue normally for Channah and Kyle; more training. After Kyle returned the night before, he had learnt a bit about Channah's battle with the seismitoad. So after hearing this, he had to reconsider Channah's lessons because she grown stronger than he thought..

So after three more days of training it was finally their sixth and final training session. The chikorita stood in the clearing as normal while waiting for the keldeo as it strode back and forth, trying to figure out what will be in here lesson today.

Kyle stopped and announced, "okay, I have an idea! Test your might against me, and if I find you worthy; I will denounce you ready."

"Sorry but what do I do again?" asked Channah.

"After hearing that you were able to take down a seismitoad who was head of its own evil little organization. I feel like you might be capable of great things..." admitted the keldeo. "However, after all this practice I would like to see how far you have gone in only a week before you battle Mat."

Both pokemon quickly stood ready to battle, each a few feet away from each other from the center of the circular clearing.

"Once either of us are unable to battle the match will end." declared Kyle.

Channah gulped and tried to confidently reply, "alright!"

The battle began! The chikorita opened up with light screen but it left herself wide open for Kyle to attack! With the small window of opportunity, the keldeo punished Channah with aqua tail. He was confident in his ability to win so he didn't use swords dance to overpower his attacks and hurt Channah too much but he also didn't want to use sacred swords, at least not yet. As Channah flew back after being hit by aqua tail she also used magical leaf. The sudden attack surprised the keldeo and landed a direct hit! While Channah was recovering from the fall due to the aqua tail attack, Kyle sped towards her with aqua jet. Given little time, Channah was almost able to dodge the attack but her side was struck. She was once again pushed onto the ground by Kyle's attack and the keldeo relentlessly gave chase with his aqua jet attack, this time landing a direct hit which sent Channah landing besides a tree.

"I apologize for my actions but I must give all my effort in order to properly evaluate you." said Kyle.

"F-Fine by me!" angrily replied Channah.

Once again they stood ready to battle. The chikorita attempted to attack the keldeo with her magical leaf attack! Much to no surprise, Kyle was able to dodge all her attempts even while giving her all. It seems like Kyle was sandbagging during the training session or was giving more than his all during this battle.

Channah continued to launch a barrage of magical leaves at Kyle out of frustration. Running around the perimeter of the clearing, Kyle was able to swiftly outrun and dodge Channah's barrage as he waited for a chance to strike. After running a few laps, the chikorita's bombardment of attacks soon became slower and Kyle found a perfect opportunity to attack. Kyle suddenly dashed towards the chikorita but as soon as they were face-to-face the keldeo was met with some poison powder. As Kyle suddenly became poisoned he took a few steps back due to being shocked from the surprise attack and was then hit with the magical leaves that followed behind him from earlier. After massive damage was dealt, Channah quickly threw out another magical leaf attack but Kyle jumped over it and towards the chikorita with all his might! Kyle then struck Channah with his sacred swords attack! The small chikorita was sent flying into a tree from the hit. Channah soon fell onto the ground and was no longer able to battle...

The keldeo was heavily breathing as he mumbled to himself while watching the fainted chikorita, "not bad, rather, that was amazing... How is she so powerful? How are they so powerful? It is as if they were incredible pokemon fighters in another life..."


The sun shone brightly as the afternoon began. Between the battle ending and then, Kyle did his best to heal himself and Channah with the berries he brought. The keldeo luckily had just enough for both himself and the chikorita.

"S-So, how did I do?" Channah asked as she munched on an oran berry.

Kyle simply replied by telling her that she did very well and now had his approval to battle Mat. But in reality there was much more he wanted to add and ask Channah about herself.

Once they both felt ready they headed back. The chikorita was confident that she would win her battle. Not only did she have the type advantage against water-type pokemon such as the dewott but she also now had much more experience at battling. She didn't exactly remember why she was doing this, maybe it was to be able to grow strong and protect her friends if there were to be another incident like at Francis town. But for some reason she had this desire to prove to Mat that she was stronger than him.

However there was one issue Channah and Kyle faced, how would the duo make Mat battle? Would the dewott even take it seriously or at the least accept their request? This was an issue they stumbled upon as they walked home.

"How will we get around this issue?" asked the keldeo to itself.

"I'll just straight-up ask him myself!" answered Channah.

Once the two pokemon entered their dwelling they found mat sitting on the stair case leading to Nymphia's room, blankly staring downwards, thinking itself.

The chikorita quickly paced herself towards the dewott and asked, "hey, wanna battle?"

Mat suddenly snapped out of his thoughts and replied, "huh, whaaa?"

"Yeah, a serious battle!" The Chikorita confidently grinned.

"No."

After denying Channah's request, Mat hopped off the stair case and walked outside. Kyle sighed after Mat mindlessly walked passed him.

"Looks like he might have something on his mind," mentioned Kyle. "Maybe we should give him some space."

"There is no way a pokemon as brainless as him would have anything on his mind!" retorted Channah.

For the rest of the day Channah kept asking Mat to battle her but he kept denying her. Little did the chikorita know but an opportunity would arise the following day...

"Eureka..." Nymphia mumbled to herself while readjusting her magnifying monocle as she verified her work in her room upstairs.


Morning came and Nymphia had a special announcement for everybody as soon as they finished breakfast. Once everybody was ready, they gathered in front of the sylveon in the room they woke up in.

"I got big news relating to my research!" announced Nymphia.

Pam jumped in excitement and asked, "oh, what is it?"

"I am certain that I have found a lead to finding the missing link between pokemon and a fourth state of evolution," began Nymphia. "But I'll need a team to come along on this expedition since there will be a lot of travelling..."

"Who will join you on this expedition?" asked Kyle.

Nymphia pondered for a minute and then answered, "myself of course, Channah and Pam."

"Wait, why not me?!" Mat demanded.

The sylveon sighed and replied, "sorry Mat, I understand you are interested in my studies but I'm doing this to you as punishment since you haven't given Danny the attention he needs which has led him to pester me everyday! So while we're gone please interact with him."

"But if you run into trouble you'll need someone to protect you guys... So at least bring Kyle." retorted the dewott.

Nymphia gave a suspicious look at Kyle before saying, "we have Channah, she'll be able to help us if we're in trouble."

Mat groaned and everybody watched him angrily leave the house. After the chikorita watched her friend leave she followed him outside.

"Mat, I'll let you take my place on this expedition!" exclaimed Channah.

The dewott instantly turned to face his friend and said, "Channah, s-seriously?!"

"On one condition," began Channah. "We battle, right now."

"C'mon, are you-"

"No buts."

"Whatever, fine... What you want, Channah."

"If you win, you take my place on the expedition. So Mat, deal?

"Deal.."

Mat and Channah both entered the same clearing in the forest the chikorita trained in. Nymphia and Kyle soon followed after sneaking out with them, telling Pam and Danny some lie to excuse themselves outside so they can leave without the two kids following them so they won't witness the upcoming battle.

Like during practice, both participants stood a few feet away from the center. Nymphia and Kyle watched from a safe distance away. Channah stood in a ready position but Mat simply drew his scalechops and stood carelessly.

"The winner will be decided once either of you are unable to battle," declared Nymphia. "Now let the battle begin!"

Channah's fight with Mat began! Channah started off by using light screen like before. Mat used water pulse but the attack landed after her light screen was activated, dealing less damage. Mat continued to shoot his water pulse attack at Channah and approach her so he could get in range to use his physical attacks. However, Channah was able to prevent Mat's approach by walling him out with magical leaf.

"Kyle, you started training Channah ever since you two started leaving with each other everyday, correct?" Nymphia asked.

Kyle gulped and replied, "yes, Nymphia..."

"What's your motive?"

"I felt like there was some sort of rivalry between the two and since Mat can already battle pretty well I needed to help Channah level up. "

"Anything else?.."

"And it is also kind of a revenge plot against Mat. For defeating the victini and not me! But please listen, it is a win-win situation for myself and Channah."

Nymphia sighed, she could not believe how childish Kyle was. Still holding Mat's victory against him when Kyle thought it should've been him, even though it's been over a week since then.

Mat kept trying to push forwards by using water pulse to clash with Channah's magical leaf attack. After their attacks kept clashing for over a minute Channah's barrage of attacks became slower and an opportunity arose for the dewott to approach! After their last wave of attacks clashed Mat jumped towards Channah and struck her using fury cutter, causing super effective damage. Channah slid back from the attack and retaliated with magical leaf which did super effective damage to Mat!

"I never knew Mat had learnt fury cutter!" Kyle gasped. "The one time we did spar he didn't mention that he learnt that move!"

"To be honest, after that sparring session with you I did a bit of training to level up. Thought it'd be useful in case of an emergency and in the process discovered the move furry cutter." quickly explained Mat after getting up from Channah's attack.

Without hesitation Channah unleashed magical leaf again at Mat. The dewott tried to counter the attack by cutting the leaves with razor shell but found little success. After getting partially hit by the countered attack, Mat ran towards Channah and was met with her same attack at point-blank range. But after getting hit by the super effective attack, Mat was able to quickly answer back by using revenge! Since revenge deals double the damage received from the opponent, Channah was struck by a powerful hit even though it was ineffective! The poor chikorita was sent crashing towards the perimeter of the battlefield.

"We're done now." declared Mat as he watched his defeated friend by his feet.

Channah struggle to stand up and replied, "b-but I can still f-fight!"

"Face it, you're defeated. Checkmate," said Mat. "If I hit you with fury cutter you would be 'donezo' and even if I used razor shell you would still be defeated. And you're in no shape to even able to dodge any more of my attacks."

"B-But still, I could still try to win," Channah tried to argue.

"No buts, we're done."

Channah was defeated, completely defeated. Before Mat could turn his back tears began to run down the chikorita's eyes. Instead of ignoring her, Mat walked to Channah to pat her head as comfort.

"Hey, you did a good job." complimented Mat.

Mat's attempt at kindness was rejected as Channah tried to move his hand by pushing it with her leaf. Nymphia soon came to comfort the chikorita by petting with her ribbons while also emptily congratulating Mat. After things died down, Nymphia officially declared Mat as the winner, even if he in someway kind of forfeited. Mat now officially took Channah's place in the expedition. Both contestants were soon treated for their injuries with berries. And as they walked home, Kyle spoke to Mat while walking behind Nymphia and Channah.

"Had you really need to end the battle prematurely?" asked Kyle. "Both of us know well Channah was still capable of continuing the battle, even though her odds of winning were slim to none. And I am sure you were well aware that what you did would hurt her feelings more than finishing her off."

"Of course," honestly answered Mat. "I could easily tell that she worked super hard. But it was honestly difficult for me to continue fighting. Not only because she was a tough opponent but because she was my friend. Hitting her with my attacks just felt wrong and deep down inside she must've thought so too. I just couldn't continue the battle knowing I was fighting my friend like that..."

Kyle had no way to reply to Mat's noble words aside from nodding. Luckily for herself, Channah was able to hear what Mat said because the dewott unknowingly blurted that out louder than intentional. What Mat said made Channah feel much better on the inside.