The giant building loomed overhead in the distance as Touko followed by her new friend Dento, continued forward, her stride slowing. When she arrived at the Battle Club she let go of his hand and gasped in awe.

"It almost looks like a fitness center I've seen on TV…" She looked on in wonder.

"That's a good comparison." Dento nodded, "It's sort of like that. While trainers have battles with each other in these places, there's also training facilities for improving certain stats like defense or agility. It also has a pool I believe."

She giggled, "Then it's like a fitness center for Pokémon!" She looked at her partner on her shoulder and wondered if he'd be interested in the swimming pool since he was a water type and all. Walking up to the door she placed her hand on the knob but paused. What if this just made things worse? What if it didn't work at all?

"Touko?" Dento placed a hand on her shoulder, "Are you all right?"

She forced a smile, "I'm okay. I'm just worried slightly is all…" She trailed off, ashamed she even had those thoughts.

"You're worried this isn't going to help you and might make things worse, am I correct?"

She turned back behind him and started, "How did you—"

He smirked and put a hand on his chest, "I'm a Pokémon Sommelier, I'm trained to read both people and Pokémon."

She bit her lip. That meant he'd always tell if she was lying, huh? Great. Not like she was good at lying in the first place. She always thought honestly and truthfulness was the best policy but…sometimes she did have a tendency to hide what she was feeling; can't do that anymore.

He continued to be able to read her expression, almost reading her mind, "Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with wanting to hide how you feel. If you don't want to talk about it I won't force you. But—"he placed a hand on the door frame, "You came all the way here, don't you at least want to go in and check it out?"

"Yeah." She nodded, "Sorry…I didn't mean to space out on you. After all I won't know until I try right?" Taking a deep breath she pushed open the doors only to be greeted by a large and very well built man.

"Welcome to the Battle Club!" His voice was booming, echoing through the building. "I'm Don George the owner of this establishment."

Oshawott freaked out and tried to run away but Touko held him still. "Oshawott, no! It's okay."

The man laughed scaring the little otter even further, "Well now, there's no need to be afraid little one."

"This wouldn't be a problem if you weren't afraid of your Pokéball you know." She snickered as her Pokémon glared at her.

"How can I help the two of you?" Don George continued. "Would you like to be placed in a battle with one of our club members? Perhaps allow you and your Pokémon be placed in one of our trainer facilities for some training?"

"No…" Touko suddenly felt really nervous, how was she going to explain to her issue, it was pretty silly wasn't it? "Actually um…you said you were the head of this place?"

"That is correct Miss. What can I do for you?"

"Well…um…" She looked down at her feet.; maybe this was a bad idea…

"We were hoping you could tell us anything about battle phobia. If you know anything of course~"

Touko crossed her arms and sighed, she was so jealous of how smooth he was. How could he be so darn confident?

"Oh? Yes I do. It's very rare but I have dealt with some trainers and their fear of battling. Why do you ask?"

"Do you know the best way to deal with it? Or—" He snapped his fingers, "What they can do to get more comfortable with the concept of Pokémon Battles?"

"Well." He crossed his arms, "When we've had people with that issue here before, the best thing to do is exposure. Start out slow but battle battle battle."

"THAT'S WHAT I HAVE TO DO?!" She sighed and collapsed on the floor, "How can I battle if I panic like that…it's over for me."

"We usually have battle phobic trainers take permanent residence in one of our facilities and slowly battle." Don George explained, "It is a long process but it has worked the couple of times I've encountered it."

"But I want to travel!" Touko whined, "Why does this have to happen to me?"

"Is it possible for them to travel?" Dento questioned, "As long as they do occasionally battle, I would think they could."

"I've never heard of anyone battle afraid traveling, but I would imagine if they have someone to make sure they expose themselves to battles it would work the same way." He made a fist, happy tears streaming down his face, mustache quivering, "But they have to be willing to work with the positives and negatives as well as be very disciplined!"

Touko gulped, he was very passionate about battles, wasn't he? It was pretty intimidating… At least now she knew what she needed to do but it certainly wasn't what she wanted to hear.

"Out of the way, out of the way out of the way!"

The brunette turned her head to the new arrival. That sounded a lot like—

She squeaked as she was pushed to the side forcefully and held out her hands for protection. The impact sent her flying, causing her to crash into her current traveling companion and sent them both to the floor. Touko's head landed on Dento's chest and her braced hands ended up on his shoulders. He groaned, dazed muttering something about a potent taste but she was too flabbergasted from having the wind knocked out of her, to think about what was happening.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" The culprit clasped her hands together and hung her head, "I couldn't stop!"

Touko groaned and pulled herself up, "Bianca…" Her best friend was still as klutzy as ever.

"Touko!" The bubbly blonde whipped around, "Touko is that you?!"

"Sorry…" Her face burned in embarrassment from her current predicament as she scrambled to her feet, "You aren't hurt are you?"

She knew Bianca was going to get ideas from the former position of being on top of her new friend almost face to face, but if she didn't draw attention to it, maybe the blonde wouldn't notice.

"Perfectly fine." He held out a hand to help her up, "Yourself?"

"I'm fine. But Oshawott…" She grabbed it and was able to steady herself back on her feet.

"In your bag."

"Sha!" Oshawott bundled up in Touko's bag shaking and probably a bit traumatized from being slammed into by the girl whose loudness freaked him out since the beginning.

"It's all right Oshawott." She reached her hand into the bag and gave his ears a scratch, "It's okay."

"Osha…"

"It is you!" Bianca ran over and latched onto her friend throwing an arm around her neck and knocking Dento out of the way in the process. "How are you?! I thought for sure you'd be ahead of me."

"Doing okay. And you?"

As long as she didn't mention the battle thing she could at least pretend she was normal.

"I'm great!" She narrowed her eyes and snickered, "So who's your friend Touko? Is this why you wanted to travel alone huuuuuuh?"

"No Bianca." She rolled her eyes. She knew this was coming. "We just met and happen to be heading to the same location. And you know fully well we all decided to travel separately."

She giggled, "Yes. But I had no idea you'd be traveling with someone so handsome."

"Bianca…"

She let go and ran over to Dento, "Hello! I'm Bianca." She grinned, "Any friend of Touko's is a friend of mine!"

"Pleased to meet you Bianca~" He bowed.

She ran back to Touko laughing, "And so formal~"

"Yeah yeah." She narrowed her own eyes, "Stop it."

"Okay~" She laughed at her friend's expression. "Anyway…hey, Touko! How about a battle?" Bianca giggled, "I haven't been able to battle you yet!"

"Um…true but…"She really didn't want to explain why she couldn't battle her…

"Excellent! I can set you up over in this location."

Don George placed his large palms on the shoulders of the two girls and pushed them over to a field as Bianca looked on excitedly and Touko attempted to get away. Dento followed the three.

"I suggest a one on one match. Let's see the fire in your heart and the passion of your Pokémon!" Don George looked like he could cry again.

Wow he was really passionate about battles. Touko gulped.

"You can do this, Touko." Dento sat behind her smiling, "Just take it slow. The minute you feel uncomfortable say something okay?"

She smiled, he was really sweet. "Having you here makes me feel a bit better actually. Thank you." She felt calm now but she didn't start the battle yet either. "Okay Oshawott, let's try this again!"

Oshawott leapt into the field ready to go but keeping an eye on his trainer too. He was worried about her.

"Let's go Tepig!" Bianca flailed her arms and sent her Pokéball flying the little pig stomping at the ground and snorting flames.

"Tackle, Tepig!"

"Te pi!" It ran forward towards the otter, its hooves clicking on the ground.

"Dodge it!"

Oshawott moved out of the way, Touko swallowed, "Tackle back!"

He moved to tackle but his scalchop started to glow as he did it. "Osha?"

"Oh!" Dento exclaimed, "Looks like it's learning Razor Shell. Try it."

Touko nodded taking a deep breath. She was okay. She could do this. "Razor Shell!"

Oshawott reached for his glowing scalchop and it elongated turning into a sword. He leapt into the air preparing to strike.

"Counter it with Ember Tepig!"

Before he could collide with the pig, Tepig snorted and little embers of fire flew everywhere.

"Oshawott use…" The faint feeling returned, as her chest felt tight. Should she go on? She did last longer in the battle this time but…she began to shake as the scene warped into something else. Bianca was gone, replaced by fallen rubble. Reaching for her head with her hands she sunk to her knees and squeezed her eyes shut. "I-can't…"

"Stop the match!" Dento called out, "Her capacity has gone beyond its limits."

Don George threw his arms down, "This match is, unfortunately over. The trainer can no longer continue."

"Osha!" Oshawott ran to his trainer in concern and patted her knee with his paw, "Osha?"

"Battle's over Touko." Dento knelt down next to her, "You lasted slightly longer this time, that's good taste."

Bianca watched the scene unfold with a puzzled expression that mirrored Tepig. "Touko?"

She stopped shivering and opened her eyes. Still feeling slightly sick she wrapped her arms around her body, teeth chattering. "I-I'm okay." More deep breaths. "That wasn't as bad as last time but, I'm just gonna sit here for a bit."

Dento nodded, "You did well."

"Yeah?" She giggled nervously, "It doesn't seem that great."

"If you recall last time you couldn't even order one attack. You've already made quite an improvement."

He had a point. It probably didn't look like much for a normal person but she did last a little longer. Her recovery time felt better too.

"Touko!" Bianca ran over in concern, "DidIdosomethingtoyou?! Areyouallright?!" She spoke far too fast making Touko's headache worse.

"What?" She squinted trying to figure her friend out but her head was spinning.

"OhamItalkingtoofastagain?! Sorry!"

Touko groaned. Bianca was making it worse and she didn't know if Bianca's speed was worse than Cheren pretending he knew everything or not. Please. Just shut up.

Dento could sense the issue, "Stay calm for a second Bianca, you're making her nervous."

The bubbly blonde nodded and twitched in place as Touko slowly went back to normal.

"I'm fine now." Touko stood up Oshawott clinging to her shoulder, "What were you saying Bianca?"

"Touko!" Bianca leapt forward and hugged her friend for dear life, "I was so worried about you! Whatever I did I'm so so sorry!"

"It's not you…" The brunette muttered into Bianca's chest, her grip was too strong. "It's me."

She let go her, forest green eyes clouded in concern, "What do you mean?"

"I have a phobia of Pokémon battles." She looked down at her feet, so much for not telling Bianca. "I really…do have a fear of Pokémon battles." She whispered to herself.

Part of her hoped that what happened with Cheren was a fluke and she would have been fine moving forward but it was clear now that wasn't the case. She did have the phobia and she needed to learn how to deal with it.

"Touko…"

"But that's okay!" She smiled sadly, "I'm slowly leaning how to adapt to it, there's no need to worry about me okay."

Bianca nodded. "You're amazing Touko!" Holding out a Pokéball and returning her Tepig she smiled a sweet little grin, "I don't think I could ever deal with that."

"Don George." She grabbed her bag, "You said I need to expose myself to battles little by little, correct?"

"That is correct. However I do recommend not traveling alone." He held out a device in his palm. "You need a partner. Someone to watch your progress. This timer can be used to calculate how long you're in a battle."

"A timer?"

He nodded, "By continued exposure you should see your battle participation time increase. What we've found from others with your problem is the more battles they participate in, the easier it is for them to battle. Eventually to the point where they can hold on for just long enough to finish the match. They still don't like battling and they still slightly fear it, but they don't suffer the attacks as frequently."

"That would be nice." She took the timer and put it in her bag, "Do you have any suggestions for a mentor?"

Shaking his head he turned away with his arms crossed behind his back, "That's up to you. You need to find someone you're comfortable with and who's willing to work with you through this time consuming and difficult process." He turned back, "However. It does seem like you have someone like that with you currently."

She knew who Don George was referring to and he was right, but he was only a traveling partner until Striaton which was just over the horizon now. She couldn't trouble him like that.

Oshawott leapt off her shoulder and walked over to Dento, "Osha?" He tapped the sommelier's leg with his paw and pointed at his own trainer. "Oshawo!"

"Touko." He smiled, "Would you like me to help you out?"

"I can't ask you to do that! You'll be home soon," she bit her lip. "And I'm troubling you enough as it is!"

He laughed, "You aren't troubling me in the slightest. Besides, you interest me~"

"I…do?"

He nodded, "Both you and Oshawott have to decant but I sense very powerful potential as I told you earlier. And it's very inspiring to see you want to work so hard to fight this. I'm a little jealous actually."

She blinked, "You are? Trust me you have nothing to be jealous of. I'm envious how you can be so…" Calm? Suave? She couldn't think of the word but he certainly was a character.

"You're willing to face your fear, that's…" he scratched his head, "Not a flavor I'm very comfortable with."

"You're afraid of something? What?"

"Err, I'd rather not talk about it."

She giggled, "Fair enough." She pulled the computerized timer out of her bag and held it out, "Then Dento. Would you travel with me and be like my mentor?"

He took the timer from her, "It'd be my pleasure."

"That's wonderful." Don George grinned, "I recommend checking out the next Battle Club near Nimbasa City. I bet you'll see then just how much you've improved from now."

"Okay, I will." She smiled and Oshawott leapt back onto her hat; his job was done. "First though, I need to prepare myself for my upcoming gym match…"

"Ooh you might run into to Cheren!" Bianca exclaimed, "If you see him tell him hi for me!" She ran over and gave her friend another tight hug, "And I'm totally jealous you're traveling with such a cute guy," She whispered as a blush spread through Touko's features.

"It's not like that Bianca, let it go," she snapped.

Bianca giggled and waved, "I'll see you around Touko, Dento! Bye!" She ran off at speeds only possible for Bianca herself.

"We should get going too."

Touko nodded, "Thanks for everything, Don George!"

"Good luck!" He waved, "I wish you the best!"

—-

Touko was actually really glad she checked that place out. She learned more about herself, gained a permanent travel partner and had a way to deal with her fear. The area they were in now was a very thick forest and some of the trees held various types of fruit.

"Hey Dento?" She turned to her friend, mapping out their destination.

"Hmm?"

"Well, you said Striaton City is your hometown, do you know anything about the Gym Leader there?"

She swore she saw him flinch slightly but before she could comment on that he answered her question. "There are three of them."

"Three?!"

"One has a water type, one has a fire type and one has a grass type. You battle the type you'd be weak against." He explained.

"Then since I have Oshawott, I'd battle the grass type one…can I train with your Pansage a little bit? I mean they aren't going to be long matches considering this fear but I had no idea it was a clear type disadvantage I'd be dealing with." She gulped, "I'm nervous."

"I'd be happy to." He smiled, "And I'm sure you'll be fine, just remember to relax."

Before she could respond a cascade of something fell from the sky landing on both of them. "Ugh…" She groaned and tried to dig her way out. "Apples?"

"Sorry!" A young female voiced resounded through the forest. "Didn't see you there!"

A young girl leapt out from the tree with large brown eyes and the most amount of hair Touko had even seen flowed down her back in a ponytail, with spiky pigtails from the top all in a shade of dark purple. Her hair was larger than she was!

Dento dug himself out followed by Oshawott as Touko just stared at the girl in awe. How could she be real? That hair.

"Oh my gosh! It's so cute!" She leapt down, picked up and cuddled Oshawott, nuzzling him to her face, "You're adorable!

Oshawott was panicking and not happy with being cuddled by a stranger. He struggled aiming a water gun straight at her face soaking and surprising her enough to drop him. He ran for his trainer and leapt into her bag.

"Sorry about him, he doesn't like people." She giggled, the girl's hair looked even larger when wet. "Are you all right?"

"Yup! We're fine."

She blinked, "We're?"

"Axew!" A tiny tusked dragon popped out of her hair and shook his body, trying to remove the wetness.

"Is that sanitary?" Touko whispered and looked at her traveling companion in a mix of disgust and horror.

Dento shrugged his shoulders but he looked just as surprised as Touko did. However he was able to compose himself and walked over to them two of them, studying the young dragon, "Skin as fresh as young grass, fangs that make me think of buds, engender invigoration and an unlimited future. It's a very suitable partner for someone with a natural air such as yourself."

Touko snickered; yeah nothing says being one with nature like having a Pokémon in your hair.

"Oh really? Thank you! Are you a Pokémon Sommelier?"

He nodded, "I'm Dento and over there is Touko."

"I'm Iris! It's nice to meet you both."

Touko really wanted to say something but she couldn't get over that hair. It was like a giant balloon or something.

Meanwhile Oshawott moved out of the bag and tried to get himself into Touko's ponytail.

"Oshawott! No! Stop!" She reached up at her hair trying to catch her partner, "You won't fit and you're tangling it! Get out!"

Finally she was able to grab him, "No. If you must hide, stay in my bag." She sniffled and set him down, running her hands through her locks trying to fix the tangles he created while trying not to cry.

Iris laughed, "I should be asking if you're okay."

She sighed, "I've been better…nice to meet you Iris…"

"Looks like he was inspired by Axew. Not that I blame him, right?" She grinned at her Pokémon and held out an apple.

"But how?!" Touko couldn't hold it anymore, "Your hair…"

"Oh?" She snickered, "You wouldn't be able to comprehend this aggressive hair style I'm sure." As she said this she flipped it to make her point.

"Aggressive is…one word for it."

"Besides talking about my hair when yours is similar?" Iris pointed at Touko's ponytail, "That's so childish~"

"Ch-childish?" She blushed slightly, "I always thought my hair was thick yes but it's nothing like yours. I've never seen such volume and you keep a Pokémon in it!" She put a hand to her mouth to hold in a fit of giggles, "Sorry! I didn't expect it. Then again I didn't expect to be so fearful of Pokémon battles either, this journey has been full of surprises." She sat down on the ground, "Nothing like I expected."

"You're afraid of Pokémon battles?" She tilted her head. "But how do you expect to continue on?"

"Dento's helping me. And according to the Battle Club the best thing to do is constantly battle so that's what I have to do."

Iris sat down and put a hand to her chin, "It is interesting that you're scared of battling when Unova was founded on Pokémon battling."

"It was?"

"Oh, you don't know?"

"If I recall it was the battle of truth and ideals." Dento smiled, "I don't know much about it though."

"Yup!" Iris grinned, "A battle between the two dragon Pokémon that are called legendary, Reshiram and Zekrom."

"Reshiram and Zekrom…" Touko closed her eyes, "For some reason the names sound familiar. Especially…Reshiram, the dragon of…truth right?"

She could see it clearly. Standing there its fluffy white mane blowing through the wind, icy blue eyes that bored into her very soul.

"I thought you said you didn't know?" She looked at her new friend wide eyed, "You okay, you're really pale…"

"Yeah. I'm fine just…" She shook her head. "That was weird."

"I think you were having a vision!" She gasped, "Have you met Reshiram before?!"

"No, no!" She waved her hands, "I must have seen a picture of it before, or heard Cheren talk about it."

"Reshiram and Zekrom…"She squealed, eyes sparkling in delight not even listening to the other girl, "I want to meet them!"

"Is that your dream?" Touko sighed, "That sounds nice…"

"That and becoming the champion!" She leapt up and down, "Someday, I know I'll be strong enough to do so. Right Axew?"

"Yuu!"

"That's great, I'm sure you can do it." She looked down at her hands, "My dream is…just to deal with this fear currently."

"And you're making great progress." Dento cut in, "Don't look down on yourself."

"Yeah…" She forced a smile, "Yeah, you're right! I am making progress."

"Hey Touko, are you going to challenge the gym in Striaton?" Iris grinned, "Gym Battles would probably help a lot. And then there are special Don Battles held all around the region, hosted by Don George himself."

"I'm planning on battling the gym yes." She nodded, "I'm scared though."

"I'll cheer you on!" Iris leaned forward smiling brightly, "The spirits tell me you're special, and I'm really curious how a person who's afraid of battling does it."

"Well it's not easy. Wait." She blinked, "Spirits?"

As in ghosts? The deceased? Was she some sort of spirit medium?

"Trust me, the spirits have never lied to me before." She walked forward nose upturned, "Well? Striaton is just over this hill, let's go!"

"I'll admit you have a special flavor about you—"Dento shook his head following after the younger girl, "But there is no such thing as spirits."

"Oh really?" Iris put her hands on her hips, "And what makes you so sure?"

He smirked, "Science. There's no evidence of spirits."

"Of course there is! You just aren't looking for it."

"And just what is it?" His expression changed to something almost haughty, "I don't believe in anything where there is no proof."

"Well I doubt they'd show themselves to someone like you anyway!"

"Axew!"

Touko sighed. Was this really happening now? "Guys…"

"That has nothing to do with it. Science should be able to determine whether something of that nature is real or not."

"Science isn't everything! Ugh people like you are such a pain."

"Pain?!" Dento looked like he'd been shot, talk about over dramatic.

"H-hey let's just agree to disagree, and talk about something else."

It suddenly hit her that she never liked arguments between people either, no wonder she was fearful of Pokémon fighting.

"Refusing to pick a side because you don't want to get involved, so childish~"

She groaned and placed a palm on her face. Striaton may have been just over the hill but getting there was going to feel like an eternity.