To end her stay in Saffron City, Summer and her Pokémon held a party for Blaze, who rejoined the team after his first week of training. Later, she received a call from Professor Birch, who asked her if she could come help with a battling workshop in Viridian City. Summer attended the workshop as an assistant and was able to connect with a girl who wanted to become a Trainer. After saying goodbye to her new friend and the leaders of the workshop, Summer was about to go train when a familiar person stops by. Who is the person and what does he/she want?

Chapter 47: Reminiscence

In front of me was none other than the Kanto Champion I only met two weeks ago. "R-Red?" I stuttered. "Wh-What're you doing here?"

The Champion smiled a hello, but the Pikachu on his shoulder glared at Lightning.

"Brother?" she asked.

Br-Brother? You mean her brother's…?

"Sister...or should I say, Lightning…" he angrily growled. "What are you doing outside of Viridian Forest?! I told you to not leave home!"

Red then noticed a crowd of zealous fans gathering around us and motioned me to follow him. He took off on his Charizard while I sent out Errol and took off as well. As we followed him, leaving a trail of disappointed girls behind, I wondered why his Pikachu was so angry with mine. We arrived at a tall, flat peak covered with brown clay rock and descended at a large round facility with the PLA symbol over the doorway.

This must be the PLA headquarters in Kanto! I guess Red wants to talk to me.

Red led me inside, and I saw the employees preparing for the upcoming Indigo League. The teen tipped his cap to everyone, making the female workers blush. We arrived at his office, and when he opened the door, I saw figurines of his team and pictures of his Pokémon, family and friends. One picture that caught my eye was of a young Red, about 7 years old, with another boy around his age. The boy had spiky orange hair and a big sneer on his face.

"Sit down, Summer," the teen offered.

Slightly startled, I hastily sat on the wooden chair and knocked the photo down. "I'm sorry, Red!"

I propped the frame back up, and when I did, I suddenly felt a wave of sadness and regret wash over me. Red didn't look like he noticed my changed expression as he sat down.

"It's okay." After giving the photo a quick glance, he said, "Thanks for coming."

"Well, you never really gave me the reason why you wanted me here…"

He sheepishly grinned. "Well, I have two reasons. One...I want to prepare you before you battle him."

"Him? Who are you talking about?"

He looked at me intently. "Your rival, Weldon. I have a feeling you two will battle during the tournament. And I don't want you to experience the pain I felt when I defeated my rival."

I was curious. I've heard about that battle, but never got any details about it. "What happened?"

He looked at the photo once more. "We...stopped talking to each other. He hated me so much after his loss that he helped Giovanni exploit my strengths and weaknesses during my Champion battle. I could've been angry at him, but I felt it was my fault as well. And now, I'm hoping to repair our relationship as much as I can. Win or lose, I don't want you to go through the same pain I did."

I hesitantly replied, "I see…"

I don't understand… Does Weldon hate me or something? But he asked for my help earlier this week…

Red saw my conflicted face and smiled. "I might be overreacting, but I don't think it'll come to that." He then looked at our Pokémon, who had been glaring at each other since we sat down. "Second, I believe Pika wants to talk with his younger sister."

"Yes, I do…" Pika sternly responded.

Lightning jumped out of my arms and onto the red carpet. Pika joined her, and we turned around.

"I thought Father convinced you not to leave home!" Pika shouted. "But you're here, and you evolved."

"So what?!" Lightning retorted. "Father saw how serious I was about traveling, so he let me go. Besides, you know I still want to evolve further."

Pika flinched upon hearing his sister's words. "Still?! I told you! Our personalities would change if we evolved into Raichu! I don't want you to become like that jerk!"

"That was a long time ago! And, I met a Raichu who's not as bad as you think! I will evolve into Raichu, and you can't stop my choice!"

Pika angrily growled and wanted to lunge at Lightning, but his self-control was much stronger than his rage.

Red sighed. "Summer. How about we humor them for a bit? We have a training battlefield, so they can settle their differences there."

I was slightly confused by the discussion, but I nodded. We then left his office and walked to a door a few steps away. Red unlocked it and let us pass through first. It was a well-kept battlefield with defined white lines. The tall ceiling and black walls were designed to suit all kinds of Pokémon and moves. Red and I made our way to the north and south ends of the field as Pika and Lightning walked inside our respective sides.

"Hey Summer," Red suggested. "Why do we make things a little interesting?"

I was cautious about his words. "Interesting how?"

He smiled. "Why don't we let our Pokémon battle without our commands?"

"You mean like how you battle?"

The Champion laughed. "Somewhat. Sure, I don't say anything, but my Pokémon understand nonverbal commands. This way, our Pokémon can test their skills despite our obvious difference in experience. We can give them encouragement, but no actual battle commands. I call this format 'bond battling'."

"That makes sense. What do you think, Lightning?"

Her cheeks emitted strong sparks as she stood on all fours. "That's fine with me. I'll beat you this time, Pika!"

Her brother smirked, mimicking her position. "Get ready, then! I'll let you go first."

The female Pikachu didn't respond, but her determined face showed her answer.

Red and I made our way to a metal bench to the left of the field, and he shouted, "Begin!"

Lightning immediately dashed at Pika in a streak of white light. To our surprise, her opponent was easily able to dodge the Quick Attack by simply jumping out of the way. Instead of panicking, she stayed calm and used Quick Attack once more. This time, Pika waited for his opponent to approach closer. Once she did, his tail glowed silver. Lightning smirked, jumped over the Iron Tail, and skidded to a stop.

"Not bad...sis…" Pika praised with a slight grin.

Lightning however, refused to answer back and released a Thunderbolt.

"Fine. Have it your way." Pika released a Thunderbolt as well, and the two Electric attacks collided at the center.

As both fought for control, Pika's higher stamina was more obvious as Lightning was forced to stand on all fours to continue the attack. When she realized she couldn't overcome it, she stopped the attack and dodged the electric bolt.

"So she improved after all…" Red noted as they continued battling.

I looked at the person to my right. "What do you mean Red?"

The Champion crossed his arms. "Well, I remember when I first met her, she was just a Pichu back in Viridian Forest. She had trouble with her attacks, but when she landed her first Thundershock. She was so overjoyed and her brother was really proud."

"But how come Pika doesn't want Lightning to fully evolve?"

As the sound of Iron Tails clashed in the air, Red shook his head. "I'm afraid it was my fault. When we were traveling, we battled a Trainer with a powerful Raichu. He knocked Pika out badly, then both he and his Trainer mocked us for being weak. Pika took it the hardest, especially when he saw our team evolve on their own. I then asked Pika if he wanted to evolve, and I even bought a Thunderstone just in case.

But the thought of evolving into a Pokémon that hurt his pride made him refuse to evolve anymore. The next time we met, we were victorious; but when we visited Pika's clan again, he tried to persuade Lightning from evolving into a Raichu. I guess it divided the formerly close siblings. I was hoping this bond battle would help them settle their differences…but it seems Pika's being a little too rough."

I was horrified to see Lightning was panting hard from damage by successive Iron Tails and Quick Attacks.

Pika stood on his legs and crossed his arms. "Give up yet, Lightning?"

"N-No…" she panted.

"I know your mind wants to keep going, but your body?"

"Don't tell me what to do!" she yelled. "Just because you lost to a Raichu, doesn't mean you can force me to not evolve like you! I want to evolve and I don't need your warnings. I'm a lot stronger than the Pichu you saw before!"

Her brother was stunned, but stood firm. He then dashed forward into a Quick Attack, hoping to end this quickly. Lightning, however, smirked and charged up her right hand. Red was slightly surprised while I nodded knowingly. Before Pika had a chance to dodge, he ran into a powerful Thunder Punch hook. He crashed into the west wall and fell to the ground. As he slowly stood up, the wall repaired itself with light blue energy, similar to the shield at Saffron Stadium. He was about to praise his sister when she collapsed from exhaustion.

"Lightning!" I frantically shouted and ran over to her. Red nodded and accepted my decision to stop the match. As I picked her up, she weakly tried to stand.

"Don't move so much," I cautioned, and she relented. I walked back to the bench and gave her some Sitrus Berries from my backpack. As she was eating, Pika was worried that his attacks badly hurt her.

I smiled at the concerned Pikachu. "Don't worry, Pika. Lightning'll be just fine."

"That's a relief." He jumped onto his Trainer's lap and apologetically looked at his sister, who quickly felt the effects of the healing fruit. "Lightning… I'm sorry if I was too rough earlier."

She sighed and sat on my lap. "It's okay, brother. Guess I'm still not strong enough to beat you…"

His ears perked up. "But you were able to use a move I never learned before. That was quite a Thunder Punch."

Lightning carefully combed her ears. "Well, that was because Swirls and Blaze helped me learn it. We were able to use those special punches because we wanted to save Summer."

Pika looked away with a soft smile. "You truly care about your Trainer, don't you?"

Lightning sincerely looked at her brother. "Of course! Summer cares about me and the rest of my team. She encouraged me when I was still learning how to battle, and she helped me evolve during a Gym battle. She's even letting me become a Raichu when I'm ready."

Pika was still cautious. "Are you though?"

She hesitated then took a deep breath. "Almost. There's one thing left I need to do." She happily climbed on my shoulder and nuzzled my right cheek. "And that is to help Summer with the Indigo League. No matter what happens during the tournament, these will be my last times battling as a Pikachu. I hope you're okay with that, Pika."

He sighed but looked at Lightning's heartfelt expression. He laughed and replied, "I trust you, Lightning, and I accept your decision. Once you get more experience as a Raichu, I look forward to battling you again."

She happily hugged her brother and the two sealed the decision with a tailshake.

Red grinned. "Well, that's the last thing taken care of." He got up and offered his Pokémon his right arm. Pika jumped onto it and climbed on his shoulder.

He then tipped us with the brim of his cap and extended his right hand. "I can't wait to see your battles, Summer. And if you win...I definitely won't go easy on you if you decide to challenge the Elite Four."

I nervously smiled but I shook happily shook his hand. When I touched it, images of Red from when he won the tournament then the Championship flashed in my mind.

That's strange… Why am I seeing these pictures of him?

I quickly placed my hand back to side, and the Champion slightly tilted his head to the right. I sheepishly smiled, but he didn't ask about my response and led me back to the entrance. He nodded a goodbye and walked back to his office.

"All right," I pumped myself up. "We only have two weeks left, and I don't think there are any more things I have to do."

"So does that mean we can train now?" my Pikachu excitedly asked.

I stared at a humongous stadium in the distance. "Yeah… I can't believe we made it this far. But we'll do our best, and hopefully we'll win!"

As Pika fell asleep on the visitor chair, Red looked at his right hand, then at the picture that Summer accidentally knocked over. He smiled as he thought to himself, That girl's different somehow... Her expression when she touched the frame, then my hand... She somehow felt my emotions from that time… But either way, she reminds me of me when I started my journey. I do hope she does well.

He then looked at the Kanto Gym Leader proposal form sitting on his desk and began to fill out its contents. Hopefully, his candidate will come for the interview...and be willing to battle him again.

Pokémon: Blaze (Blaziken, male): Brave Nature, moves: Fire Punch, Double Kick, Flamethrower, Blaze Kick

Errol (Noctowl, male): Rash Nature, moves: Psychic, Confusion, Hypnosis, Peck

Swirls (Poliwhirl, female): Relaxed Nature, moves: Water Pulse, Hypnosis, Water Gun, Ice Punch

Lightning (Pikachu, female): Adamant Nature, moves: Thunderbolt, Quick Attack, Iron Tail, Thunder Punch

Flower (Ivysaur, female): Gentle Nature, moves: Sludge Bomb, Leech Seed, Razor Leaf, Sleep Powder

Rocky (Onix, male): Lonely Nature, moves: Rock Throw, Crunch, Dragonbreath, Iron Tail

Questions for the Chapter:

What did you think of Lightning's choice about evolving?

How will Summer do in the Indigo League?

Why did Summer experience another past event?