If there was one thing Delaney hated, it was the tense silence in her room at the Striaton City Pokemon Center. The only time that she was lucky enough to escape it was when Charlie whimpered from under her bed, but that wasn't really lucky at all- it was just a terse reminder to Delaney about what a complete jerk she was. She had tried to apologize both to Charlie and Perry, who was not pleased with her or her rude behavior either, but it did not a bit of good. Perry sat cross-armed in a chair, refusing to look in Delaney's direction and Charlie stayed in the corner between the bed and the wall. And to make matters worse, it was already four-thirty- she had about an hour and a half until her big battle and she wasn't even sure if her pokemon were willing to battle on her side.

Dandy. What could possibly make things better?

Delaney sighed. She had no earthly idea what to do to make things up to her pokemon, she was stuck in this place where she knew few people and it was likely that all of them were pissed at her (not that she was their biggest fans either, but still) and even after calling back again, she still couldn't get a hold of Dax. There was only one other person that could possibly make her feel better at the moment. Hopefully he wasn't as busy as her best friend…

After getting her Crosstransceiver off her bedside table, she pressed and held the 2 button. After one, two, three painfully slow rings, the cheerful face of Blake Caldwell filled the small screen. She half-expected him to announce that he was not available and wouldn't she please leave a message and he would get back to her, but fortunately, this was not the case. "Delaney!" he greeted her happily, and though she realized it was a bit ridiculous, Delaney's eyes filled with tears. She hadn't talked to her father since she had been in Unova, partially because things had been a bit crazy since her arrival and partially because she was still pretty pissed that he had made her leave her home. She hadn't realized how much she had missed him, with his little sweater over the shoulders, though soon, she was sure, he would be wearing it. Autumn in Sinnoh was cold, after all. She also hadn't realized how much she missed being called by her real name- she hadn't been referred to as Delaney since she had left Sinnoh either. "How are you, sweetheart? How is Lydia's house?"

"Well, I'm actually no longer at Lydia's house," she said with a small smile. "I started traveling again a couple days ago."

"Good for you!" he said, not in that way that some people say good for you that indicates that they don't care one bit but in a way that showed that he really believed this was a good thing for her. "I'm proud of you, Del. I know you'll have just as much fun as you did on your journey here."

Realistically speaking, most of Delaney's original journey hadn't exactly been fun and this one wasn't particularly fun either, so she hoped it went up from here. "How's it in Sinnoh?" she asked. Yes, her inner mantra had been to focus on Unova and her life here, but that didn't mean she didn't still miss it.

"It's fine," Blake said quickly, the words rolling off his tongue in a tight voice that indicated that something was wrong but he wasn't willing to divulge just what. "Tell me more about Unova. Have you made any friends?"

Delaney considered feeding him a crock of bullshit, considered pretending that she was all sunshine and smiles and that all was wonderful here in Unova… But truth be told, she was sick of pretending to be somebody she was not. "No." An awkward pause as Blake waited for her to continue. He didn't look very surprised at this news. Delaney had never been great at making friends anyways. "I'd like to say I don't care but… I kind of do. Traveling makes me think of Dax and it's kind of lonely out here by myself. I tried to call Dax but he didn't answer and he hasn't called me back. I'm pretty sure he's mad at me. And I'm pretty sure my pokemon hate me," she said, tears filling her eyes. "I'm supposed to battle one of the gym leaders in an hour and… fifteen minutes and I'm not even sure they'll battle with me. I made a girl cry when I beat her… And I upset Lydia. It kind of sucks here. Well, it really sucks. And it sucks even worse that I can't go home and it's not like home was that much better and I know I was alone there too but-"

"Delaney, calm down," Blake interrupted, though it was clear he had no idea what to say to comfort his typically not very emotional daughter. "It's going to get better. After all, you're Delaney Caldwell-"

Delaney nearly laughed as she interrupted him, wiping tears off of her cheeks with her hand "No, I'm Christa White. I would much rather be Delaney Caldwell right now, believe me."

"You're Delaney, no matter what you're telling people right now," he said firmly. "Think of all that you've been through already. Compared to that, Unova is nothing. Lydia will forgive you if she hasn't already. That girl will get better because she battled you… You'll inspire her! And you'll make friends. You didn't even become friends with Dax until nearly halfway through your journey. Everybody is just worried about standing on their own two feet as a trainer right now. Eventually when people get a handle on being on their own, they'll be more ready to branch out and meet people." He paused, taking an audible breath. "And I'm sorry you can't come home. If I thought coming home would help, I would get you on a boat right now, but I really think this will be good for you."

"I know," she murmured, wiping the tears from her face, a bit irritated with herself for getting so upset.

"And I seriously doubt your pokemon hate you," he added, adopting a more serious tone. "Your team in Sinnoh loved you, Delaney and your new pokemon will love you just as much, but you just have to get used to the fact that these pokemon are different. They don't know the strategies you taught the others, or your preferences, or your strengths and weaknesses as a trainer or as a person. You're starting over really in every way. It's a new beginning," he said, smiling a bit. "How often does anyone really get a fresh start? The chance to start from the very beginning- fix your mistakes, change what you want to change."

Okay, so Blake had begun to ramble, as he tended to do after a point… But he made a good point. How many times had she wished she could go back to easier times in the midst of the insanity that had become her life back in Sinnoh during the Galactic mess? Here it was- life was pretty basic now, with the exception of the whole secret identity thing. She had two pokemon and a whole adventure ahead of her. "Thanks, Dad," she said with a small smile on her face. She had definitely made the right choice in calling him.

"Of course, sweetheart," he said with a grin on his face. "Now go get your first badge."

"I'm not promising anything on that front," she said with a grimace on her face. Fact of the matter was, she was really not ready and she was probably going to lose, but winning and losing didn't matter right now- getting through to Perry and Charlie did. "I'll call you later and let you know how it went. I love you, Dad."

The smile on Blake's face could've lit all of the gyms in Sinnoh. "I love you, too, Delly. Now go do what you do best," he said and within a quick second, his face disappeared from her screen, which made her quite sad again. Despite her irritation with him, she truly missed him, and in the end, she couldn't blame him. He had only been doing what he had thought was right, even if she didn't necessarily agree with him. He was giving her a new beginning, and maybe that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. She just had to make the best of it.

The first thing that had to be done, though, was apologizing to Charlie and Perry. She set the Crosstransceiver back on her bed, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She counted to one, two, and three and opened her eyes. To her surprise, Perry was standing at her feet, looking alarmed. "What's wrong?" she asked, wondering if something had happened to one of them without her noticing. She would never forgive herself…

Instead of pointing out danger, though, the oshawott toddled towards her and wrapped his small arms around her leg. Delaney was confused and almost asked Perry what exactly was going on until she realized- he was worried about her. And after all, didn't worrying about somebody mean you cared?

Despite her attempts against them, tears filled Delaney's eyes again. Ugh, when did she turn into the kind of person who cried at the drop of the hat? Must be an Unova thing. Christa was definitely a lot softer than Delaney Caldwell had been.

Perry was staring up at her, still startled at her disarray. "I'm sorry, Perry," she said quietly. "And I'm so sorry for yelling, Charlie," she said, raising her voice in an attempt to address them both. Not a single rustle of movement could be heard- Charlie hadn't even remotely responded to her (not like she could blame him). "You guys deserve a lot better trainer than me, like one that actually wants to be traveling and doing this whole gym challenge thing. I probably shouldn't have left Nuvema, but it's too late for that now. You know what, though? These last couple days that we've been traveling have been the best couple days I've had in a long time." To her relief, Perry was actually listening closely to her, as if he understood and cared about how she felt. It had been a long time since she had been able to say that about anybody. "You see, my dad made me realize something today. I've been given a fresh start. I wanted one so badly, and when I got one, I kind of freaked out. I don't want to make excuses for the fact that I've been a jerk, and I have been- to you guys, to my parents, to Bianca and Cheren… Even though they're really annoying, I've been pretty rotten to them. But I've been rotten to you as well, and I'm sorry."

And then there it was- a rustle in the corner, and then a furry head poking out from under the bed, eyes wide. Delaney was so excited she almost began to cry- yes, again (seriously, this crying kick needed to end). "So we're supposed to battle the gym leader in forty minutes in front of a bunch of strangers. I can't promise you anything as far as this battle goes, other than I will support you guys as best as I can and cheer you on whether you win or lose. I've put kind of unfair expectations on you so far as far as battling goes, and I'm sorry for that. I haven't been pushing you like a good trainer should, because I'm afraid you'll get hurt." Like Marvel did. "And I guess I'm kind of afraid in general. I didn't want to travel again. I didn't want to go through what I went through in Sinnoh. There was so much pressure as far as Team Galactic went… And even though Team Galactic isn't here, I was afraid of that kind of pressure being placed on me..."

"So instead of pushing you, I guess I've just expected you to kind of do it yourselves. To be honest with you, I've been really afraid of pushing you because I've seen the bad things that can happen when that happens. My togekiss, Marvel... Well, a really bad person hurt him and now he's not here anymore." There was no way Delaney could feasibly explain Cyrus or Team Galactic to her two small pokemon in the span of time they had, nor did she want to. "I could continue rambling, and I'm beginning to sound way too much like my father, but now we've only got thirty-seven minutes and we have to walk to the gym… And now I'm kind of rambling out of nerves. Will you please do me the honor of battling by my side? Both of you?" And with that, Perry burst out into a grin and nodded his small head, while Charlie bounded out from under the bed and wagged his tail eagerly.

That was a yes. Oh, thank Arceus it was a yes.

Delaney arrived at precisely 5:58, two minutes before the strange man had told her to be there. The restaurant was small and cozy, despite the large number of people milling about looking for seats. The man hadn't been exaggerating- this was certainly a big dinner, and the men in stuffy suits made her a bit nervous. She likely wasn't going to live up to their expectations, but damn it, she was going to try. Oddly enough, the man who had instructed her to be there was nowhere to be seen.

6:02.

Perspiration began to build at Delaney's temples and her pulse began to quicken. What if this was some sort of joke? What if that man had no affiliation with the gym and was some crackpot looking to play a mean joke on a teenage girl? What if she was exactly where she wasn't supposed to be and the owners of this gym/restaurant were about to show up and yell at her for interrupting this obviously huge and important dinner? What if-

The purple shirt.

There he was, in the midst of a sea of expensive suits and cuff links. The man who had stopped her after her battle with Bianca was wearing the most obnoxious silk purple shirt she had ever seen. Seriously, what guy in his right mind wore shirts like that? Dax wouldn't have been caught dead in this mauve monstrosity, and he had the guts to wear orange, which was really saying something. Silk Shirt was heading right her way, a relieved smile on his face. "Christa! Christa White! Oh thank goodness you're here! There are even more people here than we expected. Cilan is waiting for you!"

"Cilan?" Delaney asked, a bit confused. Her mind had been completely wiped out of nerves. More people than expected. More people here to watch her fail. Great.

"Cilan is one of the three gym leaders. He'll be the one you'll battle. Please follow me, Miss White," he said in a formal, serious voice. As she followed him through the people chatting and trying to find a seat, she caught a couple of confused glances (as well as a few not so appropriate glances from the obvious office perverts). As they continued on, a new distraction came into view. And on a podium in front of the battlefield were three boys, maybe a year or two older than Delaney herself, each with a different shade of Crayola crayon hair.

Well, if she was going to lose, she was going to have fun doing it.

"Good evening, patrons!" boomed the red haired one with a microphone in his hand. "My name is Chili, and I'm joined by my brothers Cress and Cilan. Our father has owned this restaurant for over twenty years, and following his retirement last year, we have been taking care of the restaurant, as well as holding positions as the Striaton City gym leaders. When we have evenings such as this, we like to entertain our guests with battles from promising trainers." All of the sudden, Christa's throat began to feel like sandpaper. This was her turn.

A tall, thin young man with shaggy burgundy hair stood in the middle of the room. His kind smile only made Delaney feel that much more nervous. "Welcome! This is the Oreburgh Pokémon Gym. I'm Roark, the Gym Leader! And you are?"

"Delaney Caldwell," she said, feigning confidence so that Roark didn't know exactly how terrified she was. Her violet eyes were always unwavering, but inwardly, she was panicking.

"Nice to meet you, Delaney!" he said, flashing yet another smile at her. He was either oblivious to her absolute terror or very good at pretending he didn't notice. "I'm but one Trainer who decided to walk proudly with Rock-type Pokémon! But you knew that already, seeing as how you've defeated the others that train in this gym. As the leader of Oreburgh Gym, I need to see your potential as a trainer, and I'll need to see the toughness of the Pokémon that battle with you! Are you ready, Delaney?"

"As ready as I'll ever be, Roark," she retorted, pushing her platinum hair out of her face. "Come on out, Quackers!"

"Tonight we have a trainer that was described to us as absolutely electrifying and a force to be reckoned with. She will be fighting Cilan and his grass-type pokemon! Please come join Cilan on the battlefield, Miss Christa White, and good luck to both you and your pokemon!"

Never before had Christa walked onto a battlefield to applause and even though it made her more nervous, she had to admit she liked it. She was hoping that meant they were rooting for her to win.

Cilan was slightly shorter and skinnier than the other two that were standing on stage, and he had a cheerful disposition about him that made Christa want to just sit down and talk to him. "Good luck, Christa," he said with a cheerful smile. "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," she said with a grin. "Perry, you're up first!" she said, releasing the oshawott. With another toothy smile, Cilan released… a lillipup.

"Well that's not a grass-type," Delaney muttered to herself. But still, thank Arceus. A pokemon that she recognized and could at least properly battle, even though this one had a vicious glint in his eyes that she had never seen in the species. Maybe this would be like battling that Cream girl, or Bianca. They both had lillipups… And she had a lillipup! This was going to be easy!

"Samuel! Oh no, I'm so sorry!" Delaney cried, running to where the small shinx had been knocked flat by the geodude. "It looked small, and it was moving pretty slow. I thought you'd be able to take it!"

"Never underestimate your opponent, Delaney," Roark said with a raise of his eyebrow. "You forgot to factor in the type advantage that Geodude has over your shinx."

"I thought it might be too early in the game for your geodude to know any moves that made his advantage useful," she admitted sheepishly.

"You're right, but his throws and his tackles are still pretty powerful, even though he's a little guy. You may know your stuff, Delaney, but you might want to look beyond what you know. Facts are nothing when you can't put them in context."

This lillipup was nothing like Bianca's lillipup, or Cream's, or her own. This lillipup was the Cujo of the Unova region. It was bloodthirsty, it was vicious, and it was going to eat her soul… Okay, maybe not, but it wasn't at all sunshine and smiles like its trainer. It had absolute perfect focus and a desire to win, and that made Delaney want to win just so she could say she had beaten Cujo.

He was quick, and he was hard-hitting, and he was making Perry's head spin. The oshawott hadn't yet been in a battle where his opponent was so determined to win no matter what the cost. Delaney was willing to say that the lillipup wanted to win more than Cilan did, by a long shot. He was coming at Perry from all sides and the oshawott was floundering, panicking, nervous… Just like his trainer was. His attacks weren't hitting. He wasn't deflecting attacks as well as he usually did. This was not good.

Delaney hadn't yet considered the possibility of losing, but with Chimchar being the only pokemon she had left; it was becoming more and more likely. Quackers and Samuel were out for the count. It was up to Chimchar to somehow beat both Geodude and whatever Roark's final pokemon was. "Okay, Chimchar, we can do this! We just have to be creative!"

Creativity. Imagination. Innovation. Those three things had won Delaney her first battle against Roark, as well as the battle against Cream. Perry couldn't take too many more hits from Cilan's lillipup. It was time to try something new.

"Perry, next time lillipup comes close to you, climb on its back!" Delaney yelled. She could hear murmured questions from the crowd (she had almost forgot they were there, in all honesty), as well as a 'what the hell' from Chili at the podium (apparently his mic wasn't as far away as he thought). In addition to confusing all of the people in the room, she had puzzled Perry, though not too badly. Cujo heard her as well, and tried to put the brakes on and then hit reverse in an effort to stay away from the otter pokemon, but determination struck the oshawott who jumped onto the lillipup with fervor. Gasps replaced murmurs and a grin replaced Delaney's furrowed brow.

"Okay, Perry, I want you to use your water gun while you have Lillipup so close!" The oshawott gladly shot out a powerful stream of water (well, as powerful as one could expect from such a small otter), aimed directly at the lillipup's face with a vengeance. The lillipup spurted about and tried to bite Perry, but without even Delaney's direction, he shot another cold blast right into the puppy's face.

There was no recovering from that one. Cujo had fallen.

"Chimchar, I'm so proud of you!" Delaney squeaked as she embraced the small monkey excitedly, blonde hair flying everywhere. "That was amazing!"

"Don't get too confident yet, Delaney," Roark said with a grin. "My next pokemon is quite a doozy. Let's go, Cranidos!"

"You're different from most beginning trainers," Cilan said with a smile. "But do you think you can bring down my next pokemon? Come on out, Pansage!"

A small green, rather leafy monkey was released, and though he didn't look nearly as bloodthirsty as his puppy predecessor, this monkey was not messing around. Here was the grass-type that Silk Shirt had announced to the audience, meaning that Charlie would have to make an appearance soon. Hopefully Perry would be able to hold off the pansage for at least a little while…

"It has short arms, Chimchar! If you can just get out of its reach, you might be able to let him tire himself out! Climb up that rock wall! Climb as high as you can!" So it was unorthodox. Delaney had a slim chance of winning using traditional methods, so maybe if she got creative…

"Cranidos, don't let this monkey outsmart you!" Roark shouted, clearly shocked. "Headbutt the wall! Try to knock it down!"

"Just keep a tight grip on the rocks," Delaney called to her chimchar. "Try to use ember, if you can blow the flames without letting go. If you feel your grip loosening, just focus on staying up there where that cranidos can't get you!"

And Perry was down.

Delaney ran to the fallen otter's side with a pokeball ready. "You were so amazing out there," she told him as she scooped him up so he could have a well-deserved rest. "I am so proud of you and I couldn't have asked for you to do any better. Thank you for battling with me," she whispered to him as she felt her eyes cloud up a bit. In all honesty, if they lost, it wouldn't entirely matter- the battle had far exceeded her expectations already. However, Caldwells never gave up and even though technically it was Christa White battling at the moment, she was still a Caldwell through and through. She released Charlie with a grin and the puppy charged out with a glint of determination in his eye. She had never seen Charlie so serious before, but the look on his face said he was there to win. Delaney grinned at the small puppy pokemon. This was going to be interesting, that was for sure.

"Keep headbutting the wall, cranidos!" Roark yelled, visibly frustrated. "That chimchar has to come down sometime, and we'll be waiting for him when he does!"

"Climb higher!" countered the young blonde girl. "At this point, trying to blow flames at Cranidos while it headbutts doesn't matter. All that matters is that he can't get you! I know we can wear him out! We can do this!"

It was that look of frustration that was quickly appearing on Cilan's face, as Charlie somehow managed to dodge all of the vine whips and fury swipes of Pansage, missing each attack just barely. Charlie was faster than Delaney had given him credit for, and according to the look on his face, he was reveling in pissing off the monkey pokemon, who had sailed past frustration with ease and was now edging upon rage. He was losing his focus quickly, as his attacks were coming less close to Charlie with each strike (which, of course, only made him madder).

"Okay, Charlie, I want you to circle Pansage one more time and then tackle him!" Delaney called out.

"When he gets close, lick him! Try to paralyze him so he can no longer run!" Cilan countered. Delaney bit her lip in worry. If Charlie couldn't run, there was no way they could fight off the raging monkey.

The glint in Charlie's eye hadn't yet gone away. After one circle, the pansage looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to come close so that he could attempt to paralyze him. What he didn't expect was that Charlie was now more than aware of the situation and in a valiant attempt to surprise Pansage; he made another half circle around the leafy monkey and tackled him from behind with all his might. Even Delaney hadn't seen that coming, and now Charlie was on top of Pansage, who was lying on the ground face down. There was no way he could turn around now with Charlie sitting on his back.

"While you're close, bite him!" Delaney yelled. The lillipup was more than happy to, as he sank his teeth into Pansage's shoulder. Pansage squirmed beneath Charlie, and Cilan squirmed from where he stood.

"Try to use your vine whip!" Cilan called nervously.

"Let Pansage get up, Charlie, don't be rude," Delaney said with a mischievous grin not unlike the one on her lillipup's face. "But do make sure to dodge that vine whip."

"Cranidos, come on! It can't stay up there forever!" Roark pleaded with the rock pokemon, who was very visibly exhausted. He didn't have much left in him, which was quite unfortunate, as Chimchar was still spry and bright-eyed and more than ready to attack.

The platinum haired girl was absolutely delighted. "Okay, Chimchar, this is our chance! If you jump straight down, you'll land on his head!" With a mischievous grin, Chimchar jumped down in a move that could almost be described as shooting himself off the rock, and he landed on the cranidos with a vengeance. "Okay, Chimchar, now since you're at close range, use your ember! You've got this!"

And after the shot of flames, it was all over.

The first vine whip had hit. Cilan looked almost hopeful, but Pansage didn't look like he cared anymore. He had accepted this as a loss, especially when Charlie looked more indignant than wounded. If anything, it had only made him more desperate to win. "I think one more tackle should be good, Charlie!" Delaney shouted. The puppy locked eyes with his trainer, grinned and ran full force at Pansage, knocking him down. This time, Charlie didn't stay perched on top of Pansage. He didn't need to. Pansage wasn't getting back up.

"Well, this is embarrassing. I lost to a trainer without a single badge… But you're no ordinary trainer, are you, Delaney? Not many rookie trainers could come in here with a fire-type pokemon and win," Roark said with a tight-lipped smile as he handed Delaney a shiny piece of metal with brown etchings made to look like a cross between a boulder and a pokeball- the Coal Badge. Despite how she had been trying to control herself, when the badge touched her fingertips, a few tears ran down her face and she burst into a huge smile. "Congratulations. I think you'll find your next win a bit easier."

Delaney couldn't speak, afraid that she would really start to cry like an idiot if she opened her mouth. She had never been a crier, but somehow, the idea of winning this battle had brought her to tears.

This was real. They did it.

Normally, Delaney would care that she had just made herself sound like an asshole with the ridiculous screech of excitement that had escaped from her mouth before she could stop it, but at the moment, she couldn't say she cared. A blur of fur darted towards her, as she waited for him with open arms. She embraced Charlie tightly, a smile on her face that could rival a gengar. "I'm so so proud of you," she told him as he wriggled excitedly. "You were amazing out there. You really did it." Taking a deep breath, she grabbed Charlie's pokeball and called him back so that he could rest. Cilan was standing over Pansage in a daze.

Behind the two trainers, the audience of businessmen was cheering and talking amongst themselves about the battle. The other two brothers and Silk Shirt were beginning to serve their dinner. Cilan looked up from his pokemon and shot her a grin. He recalled the small, leafy monkey and met Delaney where she stood on the battlefield and greeted her with a handshake. "That was very impressive, Christa," he said. "I can acknowledge when I've been bested by a good trainer. You've definitely earned this." And with that, he reached into his pocket and grabbed a small piece of metal. "This is the Trio Badge. Congratulations, Christa White."

Delaney took the badge with shaking hands and then placed it in her old, empty badge case. She almost wished that the eight she had collected in Sinnoh were right there with it, but they had been thrown into the water in Pastoria in a fit of hysteria. But maybe they didn't fit into her new journey with her new badge anyways. "Thank you," was all she could say and with that, she began to walk back towards the entrance. Some of the businessmen congratulated her as she walked past them, and those office creepers got their last leer in. And in an almost dreamlike state, Delaney walked out of the doors, and began to head back to the Pokemon Center, skipping.

Yes, skipping.

An overjoyed brunette, a bit shorter than she'd like, with flashing blue eyes, made her way to the Pokemon Center, skipping along the streets of Striaton City with a big smile and tear tracks on her face. Onlookers probably thought she was crazy, but she could care less.

"Christa!" Pausing in her skipping, Delaney spun around, only to find a tall, lanky teenage boy with hair as straight as a pin and glasses perched on the end of his nose. Cheren. Delaney had to admit, she was a bit nervous- she hoped he wouldn't challenge her to a battle when she hadn't even had time to heal her pokemon yet. She felt a brief pang of guilt in her gut, remembering her realizations of her rude behavior towards Cheren and Bianca. Maybe this was the time to apologize (though she hoped that if she did, he wouldn't think they were friends, because she still didn't want that. She just wanted to apologize for being an ass).

"Hello, Cheren," she said with a polite smile. "Have you battled the gym yet? You're battling gyms, right?"

"No, my battle is tomorrow. They had some sort of dinner they were hosting tonight," he said, almost as if it were an afterthought. "Instead I've spent my evening consoling my crying friend. How could you?" he asked her accusingly. "I don't know how you do things where you're from, but you could have at least given her a chance. And then you had to rub it in afterwards!"

"I was trying to calm her down!" Delaney argued. "She was hysterical. I panicked! I'm not so good at the whole soothing crying people thing."

"She didn't see it like that," Cheren said curtly. "I'm frankly surprised you made it all the way here given the haphazard way you just took off. I thought you'd be stuck around Accumula."

"Well, I'm not," Delaney said, slightly insulted. "I'm going back to the Pokemon Center. I need to heal my pokemon, seeing as how they just won their first badge." And Cheren was ruining her celebration anyways.

"You beat the gym?" Cheren said, losing a bit of his composure. "You did?" The black-haired teen took a deep breath, trying to control his irritation. But by then, Delaney was already gone, and her giant smile was back on her face.

She skipped all the way back to her room.

Author's Note (06/16/14): Hello, wonderful TCatG readers, we are finally into the gym challenge! Thank you as always for reading and for sending me constructive criticism, which is always much appreciated.

In case you want more visualization of the characters of this story, you can check me out on Tumblr, where I'm posting my character designs and stuff. The link is on my profile page. So far just Christa/Delaney (both the Sinnoh and Unova incarnations of the character are up) are posted, since I don't want to spoil characters coming up for those of you who are reading the story for the first time, but yep, any extra stuff for this story will be up there.

Thanks as always to Noteleks, who is really the greatest beta. Also thank you to Shadow Serenity 57, who pointed out a spot or two with the last chapter where I made a couple of editing mistakes which have been fixed.

See ya next week!