Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

Thanks to May and Dawn are the best and Umbree for your reviews! They really made my day. Anyway, I hope that y'all enjoy this chapter. It was kind of difficult to write, but I hope I did a good job! I would love to hear your reviews. Thanks so much for sticking with me!

Spotlight
Chapter Twelve: A Stone's Throw Away

"Um, Miss Corrine, it would behoove you to return your Houndour."

"I'm aware of that, Spencer!" I couldn't help but screech like a Fearow at the small boy as he tried to help. Right. He was only trying to help. I turned to him for a few seconds and gave him an apologetic look, "Sorry."

He looked sheepishly at me and gave a shrug of his small shoulders, "No problem."

The sinking feeling of guilt occupied my stomach as I turned back to the battle. I watched as Zeke dodged the Onix's brutal looking Tackle and land on an outcropping of rock nearby. He started to growl, and I saw him lean forward before launching himself at the Onix. I hadn't realized I had not given him any kind of command until it was too late and the Onix tried to rake him away with his tail. It caught Zeke on his side, and he fell to the ground. He was only down for a few minutes and then ended up back on his feet yet again. He was still conscious, but wobbling here and there. He still launched himself at the Onix as if it were nothing, and Tackled.

I was frozen, unable to even call out attacks in fear that I would say something wrong that would get Zeke killed.

"Zeke, give it an Ember!" I shouted, trying to overcome my paranoia and fear.

Zeke opened his mouth and jumped up as he collected the fire in his mouth before spitting it directly into the Onix's face.

The Onix roared and smashed its face into the ground as if to quell the burn. I watched as the Onix flailed around. Zeke tried to dodge one its tail, but ended up getting hit with it. Zeke fell to the ground, knocked out. I ran forward and grasped him in my arms, not caring that there was a flailing Onix nearby, and pulled him back to the safety of the sidelines. He was still breathing, which I was extremely thankful for, and I scratched him behind the ears before returning him. I sighed shakily. One more Pokemon. One more shot.

I unhooked the Pokeball from my belt and said, "Let's do this, Ozzy!"

Ozzy appeared in a flash of light from his Pokeball. I found myself unwilling to hook Zeke's ball back on my belt, so I cradled it in my hands as I shouted at Ozzy, "Give it a Water Gun! Aim for its face!"

The spray of water that came out of Ozzy's mouth was surprisingly powerful, and it nailed the Onix directly in the eyes. The burn that I thought had hurt it was more than likely soothed by the cool water, but the water hurt it more than it helped it. The Onix roared and blindly swiped his tail towards Ozzy.

"Your Psyduck's speed might be a factor in this, Miss Corrine."

"Spencer…if you be a bit quieter, I'll go buy you a textbook or something after this."

I heard his gleeful chuckle, and nothing else from him the entire match.

I sighed gratefully, and watched as Ozzy waddled about, completely clueless as to what was going on. He obviously didn't realize he was about to be smashed by the gigantic Onix, who obviously couldn't see where he was going due to the combination of fire and water attacks.

Ozzy dodged one of the Onix's frenzied attacks quite easily. I pursed my lips and decided that the Onix's face would be its weaker point. "Scratch attack! Aim for the spot weakened by the water."

Most days I wasn't sure if Ozzy was capable of understanding what I was saying, but he seemed to get what that meant. He leapt up - higher than I thought him capable of - and slashed the Onix's eyes with his small claws. The Onix roared and fell down, and if he wasn't able to see before, he certainly was going to need a round in the Pokemon Center now.

Roark huffed and returned his Onix. "Good, good. Last Pokemon. Cranidos! Let's go."

The ball containing the aforementioned Cranidos split open, and the Pokemon in question formed. It was a little dinosaur-looking thing, colored blue and gray. Its head was rather large, the top portion colored blue and spikes protruded from the back area. Bright red eyes stared down at my Psyduck's dopey ones.

The difference between the two was so comical I would have found it funny in any other situation.

Ozzy still had the advantage, being a water-type, but the Cranidos was rather intimidating, just looking at it. I had to break myself from staring at the thing and told Ozzy, "Water Gun!"

Ozzy opened his mouth and a strong stream of water blasted the Cranidos in the stomach. The dinosaur howled in pain, its weakness exploited. I felt my heart starting to race, thinking that I could possibly win this. Maybe it wouldn't be so farfetched that I could beat this guy…

"Cranidos, Headbutt!"

The top of the dinosaur's head seemed to gleam as it charged forward, reckless in its assault. I shouted at Ozzy to dodge, but he was too slow. He managed to dodge only marginally, the brunt of the blow hitting his stomach and sending him stumbling back into the rocks. I heard his surprised exclaim and winced, hoping that he was okay.

Ozzy rose from the rubble, brushing his head off with his scrabbling hands. He croaked a little sound of indignation and confusion before staring at the Cranidos. Worry for my newest Pokemon seeped through my body.

The Cranidos charged yet again and I exclaimed for Ozzy to move. He did, but the Cranidos managed to block him off, and smashed its head against Ozzy's. Ozzy quacked loudly, and I could hear the pain in his voice. I shouted at him to give it another spray of water, which he did. The Cranidos roared - louder than I thought it was capable of - and tossed its head around, as if to fling the droplets from its scalp.

It looked to be weakened, which I was glad for. I wasn't sure how much longer Ozzy could go against him, but I hoped that our training had been worth something. I felt Zeke's Pokeball in my hands and clenched my fingers tighter around it. I could only hope that Zeke wasn't hurt too badly. This was the first time I'd battled in a match that was this huge. I really didn't want to have to come back and face him again if I lost in a blaze of stupidity.

Ozzy had waddled to the center of the battling arena, hands on his head in his characteristic position, "Duck, duck."

The Cranidos roared, showing rows of tiny, sharp teeth, and loped toward Ozzy. It swung its stubby little tail and smacked Ozzy on the head. He warbled a little note and groaned before swiping blindly with his claws. He managed to rake his hands across the Cranidos' eyes, drawing blood and making the dinosaur-like Pokemon scream in pain.

"Water Gun!" I commanded, not really knowing what other move could inflict pain on such a rock-solid competitor.

Ozzy panted and sprayed a fresh jet of water into the face of his opponent. I found myself smiling a bit before the Cranidos leapt forward through the stream of water and chomped down hard on Ozzy's arm.

"Duck!" Ozzy shrieked before yanking his arm out of the Cranidos' mouth. I could see teeth marks puncturing his small, wobbly limb, and I cringed. I shouted at him to move, and was in awe at what I witnessed.

Well, Ozzy moved, alright. He was so flustered at being hurt that he ended up floundering about the place, moving around the wet mud that his blasts of water had created. He was leaping about like he had lost his mind, and then - somehow - he had a stroke of genius. Whether it was thought up by himself or not, I could not be sure.

There was a deep puddle of mud created by one of the craters in the gym floor collapsing during the Cranidos' tirade. Filled to the brim with disgusting, thick, slimy mud. I watched in somewhat horror as Ozzy made splashed into the mud, sending it flying everywhere.

Even over the charging Cranidos' eyes.

The Cranidos roared. And I mean roared. Everyone except Ozzy seemed to be affected by it. He just sat there, dopily, in the mud and watched as the Cranidos ran around, bumping into things because he couldn't see. Because his arms were too short to wipe the mud from his eyes.

The Cranidos charged about the gym, roaring in despair and anger. I was too stunned at what had just occurred to even say anything to Ozzy, who was rolling around in the mud, coating himself in it like the happy Psyduck he was.

And here I thought I had some semblance of control over at least one of my Pokemon.

Wrong, Corrine, wrong.

Ozzy rose - with some difficulty - out of the mud-pool and walked over to the rampaging Cranidos. He quacked like he didn't have a care in the world and shook the mud off of him, spackling the rest of the Cranidos' body with it. I felt the urge to slap myself on the forehead at the utter ridiculousness of it all.

"Craaa!" the Cranidos desperately crowed. It started to shake its body, doing no good other than slinging off just a bit of the mud on his body. The mud on its face was left intact, giving me somewhat of a sweet reprieve.

I looked across the arena and saw that Roark was clueless as to what to do. Ozzy was flailing about, and finally scratched the Cranidos on the spots of his body that were weakened by the mud.

The Cranidos roared again - a sound that would rival any Exploud's cry - and ran. It propelled itself into the rocky wall, knocking its large head against it. There was a loud crack of a sound and the Cranidos rolled onto its back.

Defeated.

I blinked several times, incredulous. Roark seemed to be doing the same. Quietly, he reached out his arm and withdrew his Pokemon.

"Well," Roark said, looking at the ball in his hands as if he'd seen a special kind of win. And not special as in magnificent. Special as in the dumbest win in the history of the training world. "Looks like you've defeated me. Erm…come get your badge."

Defeated? Roark only had three Pokemon? The thrill of being victorious at something for once flowed through my veins.

I…had won?

I'd won!

I jumped in the air like the poised individual I am and found myself stumbling across the battling arena. I tripped twice in the thick mud that had caused the Cranidos' defeat. Covered in the stuff, I didn't care. I was too excited to receive my first gym badge, after winning a battle that I thought I was going to lose. I picked up my muddy little Psyduck and hugged him for all he was worth.

A goofy grin spread across my face. I knew that I couldn't contain myself. I tried not to shake, but my hands were trembling in the adrenaline that was pooling through my body.

Roark stared at me, thinly veiled amusement dancing through his eyes. He also looked slightly stunned. I assumed he thought I would have been easy pickings. I admit, I did too. I thought that I was going to get creamed as soon as I saw that Cranidos - or, really, the Onix - emerge from its ball.

He held out his hand and showed me the badge. I found my grin widening. "Congratulations, trainer. You have won the Coal Badge."

"Thanks! Thank you!" I grinned and took the badge out of his hand after setting Ozzy on the ground next to me. My first badge. The first part on my quest to…well, whatever I was headed for in this strange country.

Roark looked at me and finally said, "Good battle. It was a fluke, but I can respect flukes. Train harder, because the leaders get more challenging as your journey will go on."

I blinked a few times, his words humbling me in an instant. He was right. Had Ozzy not gone completely mental, I probably would have lost. I still didn't know if he had meant to do that to the Cranidos, but I figured I would never really know. I could try asking, but most likely all I'd get would be a blank-eyed stare.

"Yeah…" I said, "I'll train harder."

"Don't get discouraged." Roark smiled at me lightly, "It takes a lot of training, but it's all worth it. Just be careful. It's a dangerous world out there, believe it or not."

And now I'd gone from being excited to humbled to completely in the buzz-kill zone. I needed it, though. I smiled slightly and flipped the badge over and over between my fingers. One flip too many and it plopped in the dirt. Groaning, I bent over and retrieved it, my new badge already smudged.

"You might need to invest in a badge case as well," he remarked. "Unless you plan on pinning them to your book bag like a preschooler."

I wrinkled my nose at him, feeling a blush cross my face.

"That's what you were going to do, huh?"

This Roark guy might as well have been an Alakazam.

I healed my Pokemon before I decided to head to the Mart to see if they had badge cases, since I had a while since I had to meet Willa. According to Roark, I needed a badge case so that they could be easily organized in case I needed to identify myself quickly. Some places only allowed entrance to trainers with a certain number of badges, and this would help me in that department in case they ever asked me for them.

Also, according to Roark, I needed to invest in a traveling partner with common sense.

I was sure that sarcasm leaked from all his pores.

"Miss."

I leaped and turned around, half shocked and half elated to see little Spencer and his Cacnea staring up at me.

"Yes, Spencer," I said. "Please don't call me miss. Corrine will be fine."

"Okay…" he trailed off. "Um. What are you doing?"

I returned Ozzy and said, "Headed to the Mart. Wanna come?"

"Okay!"

I hadn't really thought of how muddy I was until I entered the PokeMart and saw that everyone was looking at me like I had suddenly become the third head on an evolving Doduo. I found myself blushing to the roots of my hair and moving to ask the guy at the register where the badge cases were. He pointed in a vague direction, and I sighed, moving over to that area, Spencer in tow.

Turns out, there was a shelf dedicated to badge cases. They were all a uniform silver in color, made out of shining metal. I moved to pick one out and held it in my hand. Heavier than I had given it credit for. I sighed and moved to pay for it. The price of the thing was pretty expensive, but I figured that it would be worth it. After all, Roark had given me a good amount of prize money for winning. Even if it was the fluke to end all flukes.

I put the thing on the counter and then paused, looking toward the bookshelf and then to Spencer. My earlier words rang through my head.

"Spencer…if you be a bit quieter, I'll go buy you a textbook or something after this."

Ugh, I'm such a sucker.

I told Spencer to save my place in line. He looked curious, but didn't ask why. I darted over to the bookshelf and scanned through the titles. I found one that looked rather interesting and took it off the shelf before striding back to the saved place in line and smacking the hardback copy of Cacnea, Cacturne, and You right beside the badge case.

I paid for the things, the cashier bagged them, and I left. Spencer stumbled along behind me. I made my way to the Pokemon Center, but I stopped and turned to Spencer as soon as we got to the entrance. I reached into the bag, pulled out the book, and handed it to him, "Here."

Spencer's large eyes wavered underneath the lenses of his glasses. He took the book in his tiny hands and peered at it with unconcealed interest, "Oh…oh, thank you! You didn't have to!"

"Yeah, I did. It's a thank you."

Spencer looked up at me as Carlos did a few twirls around his feet, looking rather limber for something I thought wouldn't be able to move fluidly. "Thank you! I can't wait to start reading it!"

"Maybe it'll teach you a few things," I grinned at him.

Spencer had already opened the book and shoved his nose in. I smiled at that as I turned, opening the door to the Pokemon Center.

And was immediately tackled by Willa.

"Gah! What the hell!"

"I caught a Pokemon!" she exclaimed. Her eyes looked wild, her hair was a tangled mess of blonde and green. There were cuts and bruises marring her skin, and one of the straps of her tanktop was torn.

"Did you fight it yourself?" I asked, my eyes wide with incredulity.

Willa ignored my shot at her appearance and grabbed my shoulder, steering me toward the counter where the Pokemon were taken back to be healed. I could hear Spencer's small feet tottering behind us.

"Look," she whispered, as if we were in a library or something else completely ridiculous.

I sighed exasperatedly and moved to look where she was pointing. It was a door that was cracked open so that anyone that was really searching could see the healing room beyond it. I squinted to see what she had caught.

I saw bright color first. White and red. Thick fur spread across its body. Strong arms ending in large black claws. A set of angry, black eyes, the sclera an odd shade of rose. The creature was sitting on the table, arms crossed as the nurses chattered around it, looking superior.

While I had been getting my first gym badge, Willa had captured a Zangoose.

End Chapter Twelve.