Part 2 isn't as plot or drama heavy as Part 1 or Part 3, which are the main game stories. Instead it serves to increase character development during the two year gap as well as putting the chess pieces in their places for when the drama unfolds in Part 3, because believe me, the payoff will be worth it. I will warn that there are time gaps between most of these chapters and most of the time, I'll have them in the beginning of the chapter (like in this one). These are probably the hardest chapters to edit because I want to handle the relevant time skips with grace and keep them relevant and entertaining.

Part 2: Colorless

Chapter 20

"This time this is my fight song, Take-back-my-life song, Prove-I'm-alright song, My power's turned on, Starting right now I'll be strong, I'll play my fight song, And I don't really care, If nobody else believes, Cause I've still got, A lot of fight left in me"- Fight Song by Rachel Platten

One Month Later

"I'm giving you the weekend off. This includes Friday," Juniper says.

I'm filing some papers for Juniper as she says this. "Huh? Why?" Juniper crosses her arms when I question her. Juniper's not the type to get angry so I ignore this action.

"Because you shouldn't be working like crazy all the time! Also, I keep noticing that you train your Pokémon almost always whenever you're free. You've got another nine months until your trainer license expires and since I assume you won't apply for renewal, I strongly suggest you go and finish your Gym challenge. It'll be slow, but I think you can make it to the Elite Four with that level of interest."

"Really?" I say, looking away from the files. "Are you sure you want me doing this? I'm the sole reason this place isn't a mess!" It's true that while I am a mess myself, Juniper is infinity times worse. The fact that I manage to keep her in line says something about her. Also, this means that if I get three whole days off, it'll mean that this office will be a mess and I'll come back with an even bigger workload.

"I can walk to Driftveil in three days' time from here! And I'm not flying anytime soon again." That time with Iris was such a disaster that I'm going to avoid flying for the time being.

"That's why I arranged a bus for you tomorrow at noon to Driftveil City." She opens a drawer near her computer and takes out the ticket.

"You did this without telling me?" I say as she hands it over to me.

"I'm telling you now, aren't I?" She has a point. "I think this is a well deserved break I'm giving you so when you come back, I'm expecting to see you with your fifth Gym badge, got it?"

"No pressure, right?" I joke, but the laugh I give out is a lot more nervous than I expected.

"Yeah! So go home and rest up, won't you?" I take note of the time on the wall and it's almost five in the afternoon. "I'll see you later."

This last month's been...unexciting, to say the least. I haven't seen White or Cheren since after the incident with N. The last time I spoke to White, she said she had caught half of the sages. That was two weeks ago, so I'm kind of feeling optimistic about seeing her again soon. Cheren, on the other hand, has been unresponsive to my calls and texts. I'm guessing Victory Road doesn't have good reception. I mean, I have other friends I talk to...Sort of, when I'm not at work, anyway.

Okay, I admit I'm not the best at keeping up with people.

"Hey honey! How was work?" Dad says as I walk inside our house. He's cooking while mom is doing the cleaning.

"It was great. A bit boring though. Juniper got me bus tickets to Driftveil City for the weekend."

"That's great!" says mom.

"I guess I better get packing and sorting out my team."

I spend the rest of the night eating, going over potential strategies against Clay, and going back to that day when I fought him. Last time I got too careless and I was naive about battling.

I won't lose this time! I promise!

When I get to Driftveil City in the late afternoon, my mind wanders to what Professor Juniper said to me earlier at the bus station in Accumula Town. "There's something I'd like for you to have. I think it can help you considerably. It's TM 27. It's Return, which works best when you have a high friendship with your Pokémon. It's a very strong and very powerful attack if one knows how to use it. Be sure you plan out your strategies, even though I have confidence you will win."

I hold the TM in my hands still when I get to the Pokémon Center. I've spent a lot of time during work reading about what I should do with training Pokémon and I realized their attacks weren't varied enough to beat Gym Leaders. I like to personally go for the offense instead of defense and Clay likes to do the same as well so I'd have to outsmart him. I make sure to use the TM on my first four Pokémon. I don't think it would have much of an effect with Sheik or Poe at this point since our bond is still developing.

I've also realized that during my journey, I never once used a TM or HM I was given, instead opting for my Pokémon to learn moves as they leveled up, which also interfered with that first clause. Clay won't know what's hitting him when I approach him in battle tomorrow.

The sun is starting to wane on this late summer day. Even though Nuvema Town still has summer in full force, Driftveil City's trees are starting to turn into different colors. It kind of excites me since I know that my birthday will be coming soon.

While walking out, I see Clay peering over at the city through the bridge. I walk up to him.

"Howdy there! I haven't seen yer pretty face in a while!" Clay says when he senses my presence and turns his head. "Comin' to properly challenge me?"

I nod. "Nothing about Team Plasma this time around!" Iris texted me back then on how Clay was the first one to lead in the Gym Leader attack on Team Plasma. "I've come to get my badge!"

"Good. I like yer confidence. Maybe I'll get a surprise from ya. By the way, I want ya to watch this demolition with me." He points to a large white container like building. "This building here's caused me nothin' but a ruckus! Yer friends defeated Team Plasma here all that time ago and just now, what do I see, there's 'nother Team Plasma member hiding out there! Yer friend White barged in with a loony guy with an accent!" Hmm. So White was here and I missed her. Darn. I should also note that Clay is talking about a man with an accent when he's got quite a thick one himself and I try not to laugh at this. "So now Cold Storage will be no more! In two years, we will see tha rise of the Pokémon World Tournament, where Gym Leaders and Champions will compete for glory! It will be my biggest financial success and'll bring tourists to not only Driftveil, but to Unova itself!" He's really confident about this.

A Pokémon World Tournament? That seems really cool. I wonder how I can join? It sounds like a lot of fun!

"Oh look! It's-a startin'!" There's a giant crane slowly inching forward to the Cold Storage building. I never went there, but I don't feel anything as the crane's wrecking ball teeters back then swings violently forth, colliding with the building and leaving a giant hole in the wall. As the ball is lifted back to its former position by Conkeldurrs, it swings again, creating even more damage. The smashing on the second time hits even harder with a blazing force and the entire top of the building is completely obliterated. The process keeps repeating over and over as the ball smashes until there's little left of the walls.

"So what happened to the Vanilish and others that lived there?" I ask Clay. I almost don't want to ask since I'm afraid to know the answer. Clay would know that disrupting an environment would be horribly wrong in many ways. Then again, the League would have overseen this whole thing in the first place. I don't know why I'm getting myself worked up about this.

"They got relocated to Twist Mountain, which is a more natural habitat that's better suited for them. That's my second project, by tha way, but that won't come inta play for another year o' so."

"I see." Clay's a man of ideas. I wonder how he can do that and be a committed leader at the same time? "So when's a good time to come and challenge you?" I ask him.

"I'd like to see ya bright and early tomorrow. I'm eager for that rematch myself."

"Sounds like a plan!"

I meet Clay's expectations when I show up at ten in the morning, which is basically when the Gyms opens.

"Nice ta see ya came and showed yer face."

I give Clay a confident smile.

"Go Krooky!" he calls forth Krokorok just as he did last time.

"Madge! You're up!" Clay's not surprised to see that her appearance has changed.

"You sure you want to use the same exact Pokémon as last time?"

"Yes." It's funny how he's doubting me once more. The funny thing is that Madge has evolved into a Stoutland since then as is probably ten levels above Clay since I last battled him, not only that, but—

"Use Torment!"

"Madge, use Surf!"

Madge calls upon the water she's stored in her fur and floods the Krokorok. It faints in one shot. Remember when I said that I read up on battle strategies and the importance of teaching moves to Pokémon? It's suffice to say that I was astounded when I found out that Stoutlands are capable of using Surf as I thought the HM would be useless to me due to not having any Water-types.

"Well, I'll be. I sure didn't see that coming!" Clay says with genuine shock. "How about I put an end to this now? Excadrill, yer up!"

"Madge, return!" I realize that what I meant to say was to come back to her Pokéball so that I could summon up Ganon, but what happens instead is that she slams full-force into the Excadrill's body. It doesn't one shot him, but it deals quite a blow that I wasn't expecting to see. Whoops. I'll be sure to get out of that habit.

"Use Slam!" Clay instructs. The attack hits Madge, but it doesn't do much.

"Madge, come back!" I then do what I originally intended and take out Ganon.

Clay doesn't hesitate to have his Pokémon slam into Ganon, but it doesn't damage him very much.

"Ganon use Brick Break!"

"Excadrill, go and use yer Rock Slide attack."

Uh-oh. Both attacks come at each other with a raging force. Ganon sends himself slamming into the Excadrill all the while Excadrill summons rocks at him. Neither take the attacks well and both go down.

Still, Ganon deserves a treat for taking down Clay's strongest Pokémon because all that's left is...

"Palpitoad!"

"Courage!" It's time to hit that double weakness. I'm not even going to hesitate this time around. "Energy Ball." My problem last time was that I used Seed Bomb, which didn't do much of anything. Energy Ball is a much more formidable attack, if I do say so myself. Reading has gotten me a long way since I started this job.

The Palpitoad barely manages to do anything as it faints and I win my fifth badge.

"Way to prove me wrong! I'm glad ya beat me! Now Pokémon up to Lv. 60 will obey ya. Also, I'll give ya this TM." He gives me a Bulldoze, which I honestly don't plan on using for the time being. He hands over the Quake Badge to me."

"I'll see ya when the PWT comes along. If ya need me for anything else, I'll be here in Driftveil City."

"Okay! That's great." I'm too excited to think as I've gotten my fifth badge. Maybe I can be a great trainer if I put enough thought and strategy to my battles. Yeah. Maybe there is more to me after all. I can do this. I know I can!

Something I find fascinating about Bianca is that all six members of her final team can use Return. I have a headcannon that Bianca never used her Litwick/Lampent/Chandelure and her Meinfoo/Meinshao during the games because she just caught them and was concerned about their battle safety, which would actually increase friendship since they're not fainting left and right and only after the post-game, she confidently uses her team with full-fledged friendships and has figured out a good amount of strategies (but she's still learning!).