It was unanimously decided that the first port of call was the Normal Gym in Goldenrod city. If I beat that Gym, I would be one badge closer to getting to challenge my father without having to trek around the region looking for a Gym, wasting even more time. Thankfully, the gym was surprisingly easy to find; being a prominent feature in the bustling hubbub of city life. However, no sooner had we reached the Gym, we were met with a problem.

There was a line.

And forgive me for sounding dramatic, but this was a line of epic proportions.

"Wow… this is insane." I breathed out as we turned the corner to the Gym. From the Gym doors, right up to the beginning of the street we stood in, there was a queue of trainers. They were packed tightly into a compact line, and it looked like it was made up of mostly younger trainers. I had to struggle to pick out anyone that looked over the age of fourteen. I found myself letting out a breath of surprise. I had never seen a queue this long in front of any gym before.

"Oh dear." Bailey said slowly, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "I should have realised this…"

"What?" Nikki asked timidly when the rest of us simply gave him blank stares.

"All the young boys and girls Cal's been training…" Bailey explained, running a hand through his messy brown hair. "He encourages them to try beating Whitney once they get their license. Most of the kids train Rock, Ground, Steel or Fighting Pokemon… strong against the Normal types Whitney trains. Obviously, a lot of these kids think that's all they need to win. But I can tell ya, a lot of these kids are on their second, third, maybe even fourth times."

Jasmine let out a low groan of impatience. "I can't be bothered standing around here waiting to get in that gym! Stupid kids!"

I shot Jasmine a look. "Jazz, I'm getting that badge."

She let out an angered sigh, crossing her arms fiercely. Nikki's attempts to reason with her were just met with a stony glare.

Elliot shook his head at Jasmine's antics, before pinching the bridge of his nose and attempting to adopt a position of authority. "Okay, before we do anything I think we should figure out how many of us are challenging the Gym. I'm not, obviously since I've already won here—"

"You've already won here?" Bailey cut in, sounding shocked.

Elliot turned to look at him, his face completely nonchalant, as if it meant nothing. "Well, yeah… a couple of years ago in fact." He said airily.

"Wow!" Bailey said in awe. "That's amazing! I mean, I knew you guys were good! But I didn't know you were this good!"

I sighed, and a peculiar thought jumped into my head. "Why does everyone judge other trainers by how many Gym Badges they own? I mean, I saved the world! But oh no. I don't get even half as much respect as a trainer who owns a couple of Gym Badges. Jeez, the world is backwards."

"So, that's Sienna…"

I jumped at the mention of my name and noticed that Elliot was counting off names on his fingers. "Bailey, you want to challenge her, right? What about you, Jasmine?"

Jasmine sighed. "When in Rome…"

"I'll take that as a yes…" Elliot said, counting off another finger, before turning to Nikki and Scott. "What about you two?"

"Not me!" Nikki squeaked at once. "I don't battle, remember?"

"Okay, fair enough. Scott?"

Scott seemed strangely hesitant at first but then affirmed his decision with a swift nod.

"Okay, so that's Sienna, Bailey, Jasmine and Scott to challenge Whitney. So who wants to go first?"

Before I could say anything, Jasmine stepped forward. "I think Sienna should go first. She's the one who's top priority to get the badge after all. It doesn't really matter about the rest of us anyway."

"Well, hey…" Bailey sounded a little crushed. "I'd love to get a badge, you know…?"

Jasmine said nothing, but she shot the poor boy a glare that would have turned him to stone. I winced. Poor Bailey… He seemed to be like a magnet for Jasmine's discontent. The littlest thing he did had her annoyed at him. I seriously hoped she wouldn't demonstrate any of her Machoke style strength on him; the poor boy wouldn't know what hit him!

"Okay, Sienna first. And then who's next?" Jasmine asked.

"Does it matter?" Scott said agitated. "So long as we all get a chance, who cares what order we do it in."

"Scott's right." Elliot said firmly. "Now, let's stop this silly arguing and get in line. Especially since it looks like such a long line."

"I can't be bothered waiting!" Jasmine groaned in a tortured sort of way as we got settled into the back of the line.

"Don't worry," Bailey tried to assure her, while I cringed. Hadn't he learned his lesson from before? "I don't think we'll be waiting all that long. Whitney normally makes quick work of all these kids."

"You seem to know an awful lot about this," Jasmine said sceptically, looking Bailey up and down scrupulously. "Have you ever challenged Whitney before?"

"Nope, never." Bailey said cheerfully. "I'm not stupid. I know better than to go charging in to battle someone like a Gym Leader without proper training! I wanted to train up my Pokemon some more before I even attempted anything like this."

"Hey," I said as an intriguing thought struck me. "What kind of Pokemon do you have anyway?" I didn't even wait for an answer before chuckling, thinking it was obvious. "No, wait. Don't tell me. Rock, Ground, Fighting and Steel, right?"

To my surprise, Bailey laughed. "Not quite."

I blinked. "Then what—?"

He put his fingers to his lips and mimed shushing us in a comical way. "That's a secret," he grinned. "Well, it is until you see me battling."

Jasmine was shooting a look of thunder in Bailey's direction. I could practically feel the resentment she held for that boy sparkling and crackling like Meloi's electricity. When she spoke, it sounded like her teeth were fiercely gritted. "What's the point in that? It's just your Pokemon! It's not like its some big important secret!"

"Jasmine." I muttered warningly, but she didn't seem to listen.

"I bet your Pokemon aren't even that good!"

"Well, gee…" Bailey looked a little taken aback, the smile slowly slipping from his face. "My Pokemon probably aren't as good as any of yours, that's for sure. But we're trying hard! That's why I wanted to come along with you guys,"

"Hmph. Anyone who worships that idiot Cal Volbeda probably can't battle worth anything!"

"Jasmine!" I snapped, surprising myself with the sharpness of my tone. "That's enough! Stop picking on Bailey! You and I both know that it's never a good idea to judge a Pokemon trainer without ever seeing him battle! Maybe wait and see how he does against Whitney before you go tossing accusations around!"

Jasmine recoiled, looking angry.

"Now, just…" My anger depleted, and I let out a long sigh, looking at the five people who stood in front of me in turn. "Just… calm down, okay? We can get along. It's not difficult."

Jasmine snorted, but thankfully she stayed quiet. When I glanced at Nikki she looked intimidated, her eyes wide. Elliot looked a little sheepish. Scott just returned a blank stare. And Bailey looked touched.

"Thanks Sienna," he murmured softly.

"Don't worry about it," I replied with another sigh. "Just worry about what you're going to do against Whitney. Gym Leaders are tough. You've never faced one before, have you?"

"No…" Bailey said. "But I've seen her battle when we took some of the kids to challenge her. She's amazing. She won't even go easy on kids."

"That kind of is the point of a Gym Leader." Elliot interjected.

"No, I know…" Bailey corrected himself hastily. "But you know… they're just kids. And she treats them like they're hotshot Pokemon masters…"

Despite myself, I swallowed in worry. She sounded tough.

"Get a grip, Sienna. You've beaten Misty and Wallace already! And I'm pretty sure Wallace is a heck of a lot stronger than anything Whitney can do. So come on. It's not like it's gonna be easy. But it's not gonna be the toughest battle you've ever faced."

But as time ticked on, we started to notice a worrying pattern. A young trainer would go in, then barely even ten or fifteen minutes later, they would come out again. In tears. I think the longest anyone ever lasted was twenty minutes. The shortest was five. And by the time the line was halfway done, the sight of the other children screaming and crying about being defeated sent the remaining kids running home. This left us with a clear, unobstructed path to the Gym.

"Well…" Elliot said as we watched the kids disappear in front of our very eyes. "Looks like it's your turn, guys."

It only took us a few moments to get registered. The woman in charge of the desk seemed to know Bailey and took great delight in congratulating him for finally taking the gym challenge. However, we were all eager to get going so we pulled Bailey away and entered the battlefield.

No sooner had we entered than we caught sight of a very excitable looking young woman standing in the centre of the battlefield. She was very pretty, probably in her mid to late twenties, but who still held onto a youthful, teenage look. She had bright pink hair tied into childish bunches and wore a short skirt with brightly coloured knee high socks. Her face was highlighted by expertly applied makeup, and her rosy cheeks and bright lips proved a testament to her obvious love of her girly appearance. However, I just found it a bit sickly sweet. A terrible thought invaded my head. She kind of reminded me of a cosplayer…

"Hey! More challengers, huh?" she said eagerly.

I stopped, finding myself inexplicably intimidated by her bubbly nature. "Uh, yeah."

"Wow," she said admirably, nodding her head. "At least you guys look tougher than all those kids I faced earlier."

"We've all had a bit more experience," I smiled back.

"Great!" She grinned. "How many of you are battling me?"

Jasmine, Scott, Bailey and I stepped forward whilst Nikki and Elliot scurried to the stands. A big, childlike grin spread across the girl's face. "Awesome! Well, my name is Whitney! You know, when I first started training, I wasn't all that bothered. Everyone else was into it, so I got into it. And you know what? Turns out I was pretty good! But I only use super-cute Pokemon! But I warn you, they're still tough! You still want to battle?"

We all nodded.

"Then who am I battling first?"

"That'd be me." I stepped forward. A kind of strange bravado had engulfed me, and I found myself easily able to speak and look Whitney in the eye without getting nervous.

"And you are?"

"Sienna."

"Sienna, huh? That's a pretty name." she smiled. "First time battling in Johto?"

"For a Gym Badge, yes."

"I can't go easy on you, you know?"

"I wouldn't expect you to." I said, smiling, my hand already touching on my Pokeball.

As soon as the others cleared the battlefield, we were ready to begin. Anticipation was bubbling up in me and I was eager to get started.

"This will be a two-on-two challenge between Gym Leader Whitney and challenger Sienna." The Gym proctor called out. "Challenger may use substitutions but the Gym Leader may not. No items can be used. No time limit. And…begin!"

"Gym Leader gets first pick!" Whitney cheered, pulling out a Pokeball.

I didn't argue. I wanted to see what she picked first before I adopted a strategy.

"I choose Clefairy!"

"Fairy! Fairy!" it cried as it burst out of the Pokeball.

"Huh…" I said to myself slowly. A Clefairy wasn't my immediate choice for a Normal Type Gym. I had anticipated something far more… deadly. A Clefairy just looked sweet and cute and pretty. But a niggling feeling was still eating at the back of my mind. I couldn't count this one out just because it didn't look threatening.

"So go ahead, who are you gonna battle with?"

It didn't take me long to decide. As bad as it sounds, I knew that if I went into this fight with Meloi or Aurora or Kiba, it would be over too quickly. I did tend to favour those three too much. I needed to start relying more on Monty, Indigo and Cairo otherwise they would be surpassed. I couldn't let that happen. I didn't want to be one of those trainers that relied solely on the stronger members. So, I made the decision easily. I was going to fight Whitney's Normal with my own Normal Pokemon.

My hand gripped around the Pokeball I wanted and I threw it forcefully down towards the Clefairy's feet. "I choose Monty!"

As my Persian burst out onto the battlefield Whitney started squealing. "Oh my Arceus! He's adorable!"

Monty looked disdainfully in her direction, obviously not impressed with that remark.

"It kind of makes me sad to beat up such a cute Pokemon," Whitney said, almost sadly but with the hint of wickedness.

"Yeah. I feel the same way," I said, eyeing the cute Clefairy slowly swaying from foot to foot, a wide beaming grin upon its face.

"We'll see about that," Whitney said with a smirk. With that, the battle was on. "Clefairy, let's start this off with DoubleSlap!"

I reacted quickly. "Get above it, Monty! And use Bite!"

As the Clefairy closed in on Monty, getting ready to use DoubleSlap, Monty effortlessly leapt into the air on his strong, lithe limbs. The Clefairy stopped in confusion, looking around to see where Monty had gone. Seconds later, Monty came down on it like a ton of bricks, sinking his sharp teeth into the Clefairy's thick plump flesh. The Clefairy squeaked in pain but didn't seem to be too adversely affected by it. I knew that Clefairy had good strong defences, just like their next evolution, Clefable. I had to hit this thing hard if I wanted any chance to beat it.

"Clefairy, use Sing!"

I cursed. That was a good move. Too good! Sing made any Pokemon that heard it immediately fall asleep. If Monty fell asleep I would be out immediately! "Monty, don't let it! Use Faint Attack!"

Monty responded perfectly, and no sooner had he broken into a run towards Clefairy, he disappeared! The Clefairy again stopped in surprise, looking around in confusion. This was a perfect opportunity for Monty to nail it from behind! He came into direct contact, the Clefairy squealing as the attack hit.

But again, it didn't seem to be doing much damage! The Clefairy was still going strong, showing no signs of tiring yet. As the two Pokemon faced off, I tensed, waiting for seemingly obvious choice of Sing again for the next move, and trying to formulate a strategy for a counterattack. However, Whitney had a gleam in her eyes that I didn't like at all.

"Clefairy! Metronome!"

I stopped. "Metronome? What the hell is that?"

"Fairy! Fairy! Fairy!" Clefairy chanted, waving two of its tiny fingers back and forth in a strange, rhythmic manner. "Fairy! Fairy!"

I could only watch, wondering what the hell was going to happen. Even Monty looked confused, scrutinizing the tiny pink Pokemon with obvious disdain.

"Fairy!" it cried, pointing its fingers upward.

And no sooner had that happened, a bolt of thunder suddenly appeared from nowhere! It flew straight down and crashed straight into Monty, crackling and bristling with impressive electrical energy. "Whoa!" I gasped in shock and surprise as the thunder engulfed Monty, shocking him. "Monty? Are you okay!"

"Mrrrow!" Monty was quick to verify that he was all right. This was one of the rare occasions I was glad for Meloi's habit of shocking everything in sight. Monty and the other Pokemon were so used to receiving stray shocks from Meloi that they were practically immune to them now.

Against my better judgement I called out to Whitney. "What the hell was that move?"

"Metronome," she said with a smile and a sing-song voice. "Basically with that one little move my Clefairy has access to a-l-l the attacks known to Pokemon ever! But you have to be careful. It's totally random what move the Pokemon will use. You can get something as awesome as Hyper Beam… or as useless as Splash."

I was nervous now. With an arsenal like that at its disposal, that Clefairy had just been promoted from "cute and cuddly" to "deadly". I had to take the thing out now before it did end up unleashing a Hyper Beam on me.

"Metronome again, Clefairy!"

I swallowed. "Umm… Monty, use…!"

But I couldn't think of anything and poor Monty got soaked in the face by a Water Gun. "Dammit!" I cursed my hesitation. That Water Gun hadn't done much apart from soak Monty, annoying him, thankfully not doing any damage. But my luck couldn't hold out forever! I couldn't take the chance it would unleash something insanely powerful. "Try a Fury Swipes!"

"Metronome!"

"Is that all she knows?" I think to myself angrily as Monty delivered a series of lightning fast scratches to the Clefairy's body. "But then again… maybe that's all she needs!"

Monty's Fury Swipes did next to the Clefairy. In fact, it did nothing at all apart from to frustrate Monty further. I could already see his tail bristling in anger and he began to growl as Clefairy came away unscathed. Clefairy then shot another Metronome, but all it turned out to be was a cute little Growl. Monty blinked in return, not looking particularly intimidated or even impressed by the display.

"Gah, come on Monty! Use— Monty?"

But Monty had his own ideas. I could only watch as Monty tensed, taking a stance. Confused, I tried shouting across to him, especially as the Clefairy was already beginning another Metronome. But then, a strange ball of yellow energy suddenly started to form on top of Monty's head! My mouth hung open as Monty expelled the ball, which crashed straight into the Clefairy. At such close range and with such power, the Clefairy was out.

But how!

"What the hell just happened?" I said in awe.

"Power Gem!" I heard Elliot shouting from the stands somewhere. "Monty just learned Power Gem!"

Monty sat on his haunches and started licking his paws. He then pointedly turned in my direction, obviously looking for praise. I was still stunned from the sheer display of power he had just exhibited, but I still managed to croak out "Well done, Monty!"

Whitney looked sad as she recalled Clefairy. "Oh my poor Clefairy…" she murmured, cradling its Pokeball like it was a newborn baby. She looked up to me. "You meanie." She stated bluntly.

I almost fell over in my shock. Had I heard right? "Meanie?" Wasn't she supposed to be the Gym Leader? Be gracious in defeat and praise people when they beat her? She sounded like a little five year old…

"Still, I can't see you beating this one!" she cried with relish.

And with that remark, she threw another Pokeball into the arena.

As I gaped at my next opponent, I couldn't say anything apart from "Oh brilliant."

If I thought fighting against the hardened defence of a Clefairy was bad, I would need all the power, and luck, that I could get when it came to this one.

A Miltank.

I really hate Normal types!

Author's Note!

Hey guys! Sorry for my lack of updates, things have been crazy here, but I'm back!

So first off! I'm getting a nice collection of OCs for the battle tournament chapter that I'm anticipating to be after Sienna gains her second Gym Badge but before she has a run in with a face from Meloi's past... So far, every OC I have recieved I have taken which means we have:
Robyn Collier (belonging to me)
Zack Hennessy (also belonging to me)
Luca Hollingsworth (belonging to Aeroga)
Sam (belonging to PKMNTrainerSam)
Chaison Coffman (belonging to Chaison)
Hikaru Brown (belonging to Hikaru Pichu)
Melinda Hughes (belonging to KR Diva)
Alicia Nakamura (belonging to TwewyReaperGirl)
Natsuki Ikebana (belonging to RoxiePluto)
Celeste Archos (belonging to WarriorSwift)

So yeah, I can still take a couple more OCs if anyone else wants to submit :)

So yeah, thanks to my regular reviewers.

Zoeten, I'm happy you like Bailey so much and think that he and Jasmine would be a good couple :)

Hikaru-Pichu, I think she will forgive him eventually.

WarriorSwift, I like to torture my readers sometmes. The big culmination of the battle between daddy and daughter is a little while away.

Sniper Mudkip, Bailey's team will be revealed quite slowly. He'll catch another two Pokemon obviously as time goes on.

Something Dictionairy Related, something similar is currently on the cards for the future, I just gotta figure it out in my head.

Manser77, yeah I thought that phrase fit Sienna well.

ArchXDeath, I'm keeping at it! I can't let people down :)

Aeroga, wow, people really like Bailey! Haha! :) He and Scott are awesome to write for. Jasmine has become fun to write for now too since she's being a bit of a bitch lately.

TwewyReaperGirl, NOM NOM NOM COOKIES! Yay!

Brave Soul RMS: Aww, thank you so much! Your review really lifted my spirits and actually inspired me to get this chapter out when I did, so thank you muchly!

Apologies for this super long author's note... Hope you enjoy everyone :)