A/N: Sorry guys for the few day wait. I'm traveling at the moment, but I have been writing! So here's chapter 4! If you enjoy this story so far hit me up with some constructive criticism or praise!

After getting McDonald's, Spark drove up to the Institute. We parked in the back in front of the garage and the ramp.

"We're here!" Spark exclaimed with a big grin. He was mostly talking to me since Blanche and Candela were too tense. Spark seemed to be ignoring the fact that a huge battle between them and a mysterious team called Team Rocket. Blanche was probably going through every idea she could muster up about what this group was and why they destroyed Pioneer Square, a place downtown where there were shops and restaurants where multiple people could be. Candela on the other hand...

We hopped out of the van. Candela grabbed my shoulder and gently pulled me to the side.

"Gabs, I want to talk to you," she said quietly.

"Hey guys! You coming in? Dinner is waiting!" Spark called out.

"We'll be there! Gabby, why were you afraid?" She asked me.

Well I could have gone full asshole on her and give her an angry answer which would be true to the both of us. But... I couldn't. She doesn't deserve it.

"They were strong! Plus you only brought three Pokemon with you and they had... I couldn't even count, everything was going too fast. You couldn't even let my Charmander fight so I-I felt like I couldn't do much!"

"Candela, you went head first into battle again," Blanche appeared from the side of the van. I covered my face in embarrassment.

"I can't believe you heard all of that," I mumbled into my hands.

"You shouldn't be embarrassed, Gabby. Candela this is the third time you did this. You should know better! Plus, from what I've heard and could assume is that you brought this girl into it! How could you? You can't expect her you do that!"

"But she's right, Blanche," I cut her from her scolding. She quickly whipped her head to look at me and gave me a baffled glare. "I-I mean. Where I was going... Candela told me to be brave and strong for the team..."

"You convinced her to be brave and strong?!" Blanche glared at Candela who awkwardly stood there. Blanche took a deep breathe and didn't look at me "Gabby go inside."

I shuffled to the other side of the van. The last thing I could hear from Blanche was a whisper "You don't deserve to be a leader."

I quickly opened the door to get inside and accidentally bumped into Spark.

"Oh crap! I didn't know you would be coming inside!" He shouted while still holding the bag of McDonalds food. A French fry dangled from his mouth.

"Were you listening to the conversation too?!" I exclaimed and covered my face again in embarrassment. "Oh, how embarrassing!"

"Blanche and Candela are always at it with each other," Spark smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "It's usually entertaining to watch, but this time it doesn't seem to be usual." He sighed.

"What do you mean?" I asked, but he jutted his finger onto my lips to shut me up. He waved his hand.

"Come to my lab, I'll explain."

We entered his lab. I would imagine him to be a slob, but he actually wasn't messy at all. A few coats laid on the floor. Several posters were plastered all around ranging from rock bands, EDM musicians, and several anime that I also enjoy. Examples were One-Punch Man and Naruto.

We pass by multiple glowing boxes. One had a poster above it with a kitten hanging from a tree branch with words spread across the sky that said "Hang in there!" I peered inside the box and it held a nest of eggs in it.

"Oh, these are my incubators. Not sure which ones these are. They were giving to us."

We sat at the table by the wall and pulled out our orders from the McDonalds bag.

"So what do you mean that it's not going as usual between those two?" I reminded Spark. He raised his eyebrows and snapped his fingers.

"Oh yeah! I forgot. Don't tell Candela this but, she has this HUGE crush on Blanche."

"What?!"

"Psh! Well isn't obvious? Candela always puts on a crazy ass feat to show off to Blanche and is always following her. But she is always distracting Blanche while she is studying so she gets slapped in the face often. She has been going after Blanche since freshman year... Right after I stopped liking Blanche. Heheh," he chuckled to himself.

Juicy gossip. Me likey.

"But Candela is going too far nowadays. This is her third time going head first into dangerous situations. Blanche even went to Willow asking him what to do about it. I hope we don't fall apart."

"Candela should go to Blanche about her feelings! Candela is the brave one right?!"

Spark raised his feet and rested them on the table and drank his soda from the straw. He looked at me.

"Eh."

"Eh?! What do you mean eh?! Are you Canadian?"

He stared at me blankly and stopped slurping his soda.

"You knew right off the bat..."

"I guess I used my, INSTINCT!" I pointed at him. He laughed so hard that soda came through his nose. He raised his hand to high five.

"Dude, GG. You're freaking awesome."

"Really? Thanks!" Oh my word he said that I was awesome! He's so cute!

"Candela always wanted to be strong. If it wasn't that one day when we were six we wouldn't be friends-"

Blanche walked in.

"There you are! I was wanting my salad," she strides toward the bag, but Spark took it before she could grab it and wagged his finger.

"How about a please?"

"SPARK. PLEASE. CAN I HAVE MY SALAD?" Blanche growled. Spark giggled and handed her own bag. Blanche hesitantly grabbed it and walked off.

"Hey! Where's Candela?" Spark called out right before she exited the door. Blanche paused and looked over her shoulder.

"... I don't know," she shuts the door behind her.

"Women," he grumbled to himself. "Well I should go find her and give her her hamburger. Wanna come?"

I got up and followed him down the hallway. We reached to Candela's lab and knocked on the door. No answer. Spark immediately opened the door. Candela was practicing her punches on her punching bag. She was breathing heavily and sweating on both sides of her face.

"Yo! We got your Big Mac!" Spark grinned. We walked right in. Her lab consisted of workout machines attached to computers. After knowing what her motorcycle looks like, she obsessed with the color red. But the red was just enough to accent the white like her iconic coat.

As we approached Candela, her arms were covered with burn marks. I didn't want to stare too much at them so I glanced up to see her face. But I realized that she wasn't sweating. Tears have already streamed down her face. Candela quickly wiped them with her arms and received her hamburger.

"Thanks Spark," Candela worked up a smile. Spark nudged her side.

"No prob, candle," he winked. She rolled her eyes.

BLAM!

We all turned around to see Blanche at the door.

"Guys you probably want to see this."

We arrived at the main laboratory. All the scientists there surrounded the large main screen watching.

"What's going on?" I asked Blanche. She didn't reply but continued inside.

"This is KTW News. Today at 1, a mysterious group came into Pioneer Square and began to cause havoc. Earlier was a small competition for the Pokemon 'gym' until they group started to steal the Pokemon from the competition."

The scientists began to mutter among themselves.

"They have used bombs and other Pokemon to create the disturbance. Here is some footage earlier this day."

The footage showed what it seems to be members from Team Valor fighting against Team Mystic for the gym. It wasn't anything compared to what happened with us. But suddenly a bomb went off by the mall center. People began to run. Their faces were stricken with horror. Team Rocket were stealing Pokemon left and and right with nets and tasers with intimidating looks until the footage cut off.

"This just in, we have received other footage from a battle one hour later."

The footage they played was the insane showdown between the team leaders and Team Rocket. Surprisingly enough they didn't show footage of Candela vs. Team Rocket. I thought that was not bad for someone with disadvantages.

"It seems like the three fighting are the team leaders of Valor, Mystic, and Instinct. Yeah they just started creating Pokemon trainer teams for their research..."

The scientists turned around and began to applaud Blanche, Spark, and Candela who was leaning on the entry way frame away from everyone in her workout uniform.

I checked my phone to see the time. It was about six.

"Crap I gotta get home," I said to myself. I ran over to Candela.

"Let me guess, it's time for you to go?" Candela asked. I nodded. "I guess this time we should take the van."

This time Candela was not breaking her time record of her motorcycle. Thank goodness.

"Gabby. I have to apologize to you," Candela broke the silence in the van. She has been awfully quiet for someone who seemed they got life together. I thought to myself thinking what to say.

"Candela. You really don't have to apologize," I stared out the window. "I need to be more brave and more confident. I look up to you. I want to be like you. You are so gorgeous and you don't care what lies ahead in life."

I looked at her. Her confident smile was gone. She was giving only a weak smile, but she couldn't keep it up for long.

"Thank you for thinking about me like that-"

"Hell, I want to say you were really good defending your Pokemon. Creating a wall of fire between the enemy? Confusing the enemy? That was amazing!"

"Thank you. Heh, for a matter of two days we just met I can't believe we are this close to each other," she muttered.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I don't show this side to most people. I want to be strong. Ever since Spark saved me and Blanche from a dog attack. I couldn't bear to think that I couldn't do anything. So I joined every martial arts school to be the best that I could be. Whenever someone tried to make fun of Spark, I would beat the crap outta them. I've read the book The Art of War by that one dude which I stole from Blanche's shelf once. She doesn't know to this day. I've learned how to pick myself and the others up. But I still feel like it's not enough."

"I think you are doing just fine," I stated. "If it weren't for you being yourself, even when you weren't interacting with me I wouldn't be on Team Valor with you. Please. I bet there are several people in the world that look up to you. You know what, I'm going to be a strong trainer like you! I'm going to train Charmander to be strong as your Ninetales or whatever it's called!"

Candela looked at me and gave me her iconic smile. It gave me relief that she was back to herself again.

"Heh! Are you sure? Charmander is a tiny lizard!"

We arrived at my house. I took a deep breath and began to smile.

"Hey when are we meeting again?" I asked Candela. She shrugged to herself.

"I dunno. We'll see. Text me when you're in Portland and see if the four of us could meet up."

I waved goodbye and watched her leave. I pulled out my pokeball and began to think. I'm going to be the best like I never was.