Recommended Music: The first opening to Saint Seiya Hades Chapter. I've also been listening to a lot of slow 80's japanese songs while writing this but I'm still new to this type of music so I don't remember any particular song names of singers but it's all good.

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 40: Invisible Walls.

"You know... I've been wondering if I should send them any presents... I mean my parents. I can't visit them but I need to do something. Nothing too expensive since that could make them feel like they need to buy me something of equal value and we don't want that... but... something... Yeah... Well, what do you think?"

Weepinbell didn't feel like he was capable of figuring out how Blue should deal with her problem but he also wasn't sure whether she was asking him the question or just talking to herself. He decided it would be best to ignore her and focus on finishing his meal. He needed to be in top shape for the Gym battle his trainer arranged to have that day, and dealing with hunger was part of that. The rest of her Pokemon were also eating with them, although Weepinbell was the only one who preferred to eat at a table, not taking into account the fact that most of them couldn't fit in a chair. He looked at the rest of the team, wondering about the recent addition, a Ponyta that joined them during a visit to the Safari Zone the previous day. He was a little worried about the fact that Zubat was the only one among them who still hasn't evolved and that he could get sad if the new member would overtake him.

"It would be nice if I could spend the Bonding Day together with someone I know. I doubt anyone else managed to defeat the guardian and since I haven't seen Red in this city that means he's either way ahead with collecting badges or that he's just taking a different route. Even that guy whom I owe money to would be fine..." the girl kept talking, allowing her head to be filled with more troubling thoughts which finally made her feel sad enough that she had to lay her head on the table. Not wanting to see her in such a state, Weepinbell decided that him licking her hair would be a good enough distraction. The feeling of his tongue on hair head was so startling and unpleasant that she immediately got up and forgot about her worries. She looked at him with mad eyes before grabbing him and starting to stretch his mouth.

"What was that supposed to be?!"

Seeing that she got over her sadness, Weepinbell couldn't help but smile which made it harder for the girl to hold onto him. The other Pokemon watched this scene with a mix of confusion and embarrassment as various people started looking at Blue's and Bell's fight.

. . .

"I knew I should have checked this properly before coming here. They gave me the address when I called them to arrange the battle but I don't see anything that looks like a Gym anywhere in sight." Blue said to herself while throwing her hands up into air in anger "What's worse there's barely anyone in this part of town. If only I could ask someone for... Hmm. There's someone."

The girl approached the person she saw. It was a man in a suit, sitting in a booth next to an enormous, bronze gate placed inside an equally impressive wall. While walking towards him, Blue tried to see what was behind this barrier but it was so tall that the only thing she could make out was the top of some undoubtedly tall building. It didn't exactly look like a temple so she got curious and decided that beside asking about the location of the Gym she should also inquire about what was behind the wall.

"Excuse me. Could you help me out?"

The man didn't respond for some time, silently observing the girl, making her concerned about whether there was something unpleasant about how she looked that day.

She was about to ask him about it but he finally spoke up "That depends. State your name and business."

"Uhh... B..." she hesitated to introduce herself since the tone of his voice and his word choice made it feel like he was someone she shouldn't even have the right to talk to "...I'm Blue. Business... Um... I used to help on my parents' farm... Does that count?"

"I'm not sure what the latter half of your answer was about but I see that a person called "Blue" does have an appointment with the master. You may proceed." the man stated before pushing a couple buttons in order to open the gate.

The girl was confused about what was going on but the man's unchanging face made her a little worried and she felt it would be easier if she just went with the flow and entered the premises.

"W-what?"

She didn't have time to imagine what the place inside the walls would look like but she didn't expect something that looked like another district of the city. She walked on a gravel path, with rows of leafless trees on each side, for less than half a minute before she reached the first buildings. She counted around 50 buildings, before she stopped counting, as she walked onward without knowing her destination. The thing that made this place different from the rest of Fuchsia City was that every piece of architecture was kept in an ancient eastern style. At least from the outside. There were various people here and there and as she got quick glances into shops when their doors were being opened, she noticed that the insides looked modern. Another thing that grabbed her attention was that it seemed like for every dozen of people she passed there was one that was dressed exactly like the man in the booth outside the walled area.

"At first I thought that I somehow travelled back in time but there's something else going on here. I don't want to ask any of these suit guys for the way but I wonder if the other people know how to reach the Gym." she pondered out loud.

"You!" someone yelled behind her, making her jump up a little as she felt goosebumps on her back.

"Y-yeah?" she asked with a timid voice while turning around to see who it was.

She let out a sigh of relief after realizing that it wasn't one of those suspicious men. It was a female who looked to be about her age. What was however worrisome was how she looked. Her fair face and spiky hair tied into a ponytail weren't anything weird but her clothes were an entirely different matter. Her legs and torso were covered by what looked like a single piece of black material, making Blue wonder how she was able to put it on. The girl wore a pink scarf and a sash in the same color as well as purple guards on her forearms and around her ankles. While all of this already made her stand out, the icing on the cake was the fact that in this cold weather she didn't wear any shoes, just socks, and that the top of her costume didn't have any sleeves and her arms were instead covered by fishnet that seemed to extend to her torso.

"Is there a convention going on or something?" Blue couldn't help but ask.

"Wh... I was about to say something! How dare you interrupt me? And what is that even supposed to mean?" the purple haired girl got visibly and audibly annoyed.

"Have you seen what you're wearing? It's so cold that every other person around here wears a jacket or a coat yet you..." she stopped and motioned towards the girl's clothes, hoping that it would become obvious what she was talking about.

"Cold? Don't make me laugh. I've spent days meditating under waterfalls whose water was so cold that it was a miracle that I wasn't showered by icicles."

"O.. kay? Look... Forget that I asked about that. I have to go."

"Wait." the mysterious girl said as Blue turned around only to find that the she somehow managed to get past her and was now blocking her way.

"Huh? But... What? How did you...?"

"This is a simple matter for someone trained in the ways of shinobi. I can't let you go. Maybe you would eventually reach your destination by yourself but I can't have you wasting my father's time by wandering around without a clue of where you're going."

"That would mean that... your father is the Gym leader, right?"

"I pity you. How can you expect to have any chance in your upcoming battle if you don't even know anything about your enemy? But yes, my father is the leader of the Fuchsia City Gym. His name is Koga. Common courtesy demands that I also introduce myself. My name is Janine."

"Ah... I'm Blue."

The ninja looked at her with a confused expression "I... I know. You... It's better that I don't say anything more lest you take it as an affront. Let me show you the way and once my father defeats you we won't have to worry about it since we won't see each other ever again."

"She acted like she didn't want to insult me yet she did exactly that." Blue thought to herself, trying to hide the fact that she was annoyed by that statement, however still deciding to follow the other girl.

. . .

It soon turned out that the building that Blue noticed from behind the wall was an enormous pagoda, although she didn't know enough about other cultures to know that and Janine had to give her a quick explanation. The inside looked more in line with the outside than what she saw of other buildings but what she didn't know was that it also used modern building techniques and materials that allowed it to be one of the tallest and widest pagodas in the known world. While Blue enjoyed the design of the building, she wasn't exactly thrilled about having to climb several sets of stairs before reaching the floor where Koga was waiting for her arrival. When Janine finally told her that they reached their destination, Blue had to focus not to fall to her knees. The shinobi opened the sliding doors leading to a spacious room before stepping to the side.

"From here you must proceed alone. I shouldn't be saying this but I already feel sorry for you so here's a tip; "Don't hit your head"."

"What?" Blue was clueless about what the other girl meant but a little afraid to proceed since it felt like something bad was waiting for her.

To her surprise, after taking her first steps into the room she found out that it was almost completely empty and the entire floor was covered with what looked like square. She noticed the person that must have been the Gym leader, sitting on his knees on the other side of the room. He was a middle-aged man with spiky, dark teal hair, a pointy nose and light wrinkles around his mouth. He was dressed in a similar fashion to his daughter but where her costumes had bits that were purple or pink his used the color red. His costume looked like it was made of two separate parts, the upper resembling a gi although with rather short sleeves.

"Is he sleeping? No. Probably meditating or something." Blue wondered while observing the man and the wall behind him which had a couple scrolls hanging from it although in a language that she didn't understand "And what did Janine mean? Is something going to fall and hit me in the head? This place is the weirdest Gym I've been to so far."

There was already a lot of things she was worried about so adding new ones didn't seem like such a good idea. She made the decision to focus and approach Koga. A second later she felt sudden pain and fell down on the floor. Never before did she walk into a wall but she imagined that this must have been what it felt like. She massaged her nose and forehead, which took the brunt, before slowly getting back on her feet and trying to figure out what was going. She reached forward and felt something. It wasn't like any type of glass she saw since she couldn't see traces of anything even after touching it with her fingertips but there wasn't denying that what she hit was some kind of invisible obstacle. She got to understand what Janine's warning meant and immediately started trying to figure out how to deal with this situation. She trusted her intuition that convinced her that it was a simple wall and she wouldn't accidentally cut herself on an invisible spike, or something like that, if she tried to find her way by keeping her hand on it. She kept on walking and found out that this wasn't the only wall. She had to turn a couple times and sometimes even backtrack after reaching a dead end. It wasn't clear how it was possible but it seemed like most of the room was a labyrinth. Blue wondered if it was supposed to discourage impatient people from trying to reach the Gym leader. Whether she was right or not, she didn't intend on backing away, especially not after having to climb all those stairs and hurting her face.

"Alright." she said after finally arriving directly in front of Koga and making sure that they weren't separated by waving a hand above him "Can we finally start our fight?"

"Disappointing."

"Wh... Huh?"

"You'll come to find that I'm unlike any other person you might have faced before. You called my people, to arrange our battle, a day ago. This gave me enough time to research you and your Pokemon. What I learned led me to believe that you might be an interesting opponent but you have already let me down before our battle even begun by dealing with the invisible maze in such an inefficient way."

After delivering his speech, the leader stood up and opened his eyes which made the girl feel uneasy. Her instinct was to look back, as if another way to deal with the labyrinth would come to her the moment she saw the rest of the room, but she stopped herself and made a determined expression that was meant to convince Koga that she wasn't rattled by what he said.

"But I did get through it. Are you going to refuse to battle me just because I didn't meet your expectations?"

"Don't worry. I'll allow you to show me your skills. Or rather... worry." Koga paused for a while and stared into her eyes "I'm only giving you one chance."

"What?"

"If you lose this test, I won't allow you to face me ever again. Thus, it won't matter how many other leaders you've beaten or are yet to fight since without getting the Soul badge you won't be able to participate in the Pokemon League. Of course there are other ways but... There's no point in even mentioning them to you."

"You... Can he do that?" Blue turned around hoping that Janine would still be outside the room but it seemed like she already left.

"I can." Koga answered the question "I'm a busy man and this world is going to get a lot busier soon so I don't want to waste my time by having to fight someone whom I once defeated. If you're not coming to fight me with your best then you've already disrespected me and if you are serious and still lose the fight then I don't expect that you'll ever get good enough to beat me in a rematch. There are some exceptions but since I've already been disappointed by you, you don't qualify as one."

The leader paused and thought about something before adding "The funny thing is that judging by your reaction you were worried about only having one chance. Did you expect to lose before our battle even begun or did you plan to see my abilities and prepare yourself to fare better next time? Well, it doesn't matter. As for the rules of the battle, we'll both be using three Pokemon. You can switch them out at any time but I can't switch a Pokemon until it defeats at least one of yours. If you leave this room at any point during the fight then you've lost. Is everything clear?"

"Uhh... Yeah." she responded although the rules confused her a little.

"It's clear that he plans to use the battlefield to his advantage. But having already made my way through the maze I remember parts of it. Unless his Pokemon gets too far away then we won't have a problem. That's only under the assumption that he's going to focus on defense and not on attacking." she thought as she touched each of her pokeball, trying to pick the best choice under these circumstances.

"Go, Dasher!" the girl summoned her Ponyta.

A faint smile appeared on Koga's face since. He wasn't sure if this Pokemon was an ace up her sleeve or if she just caught it in the time between her call and this moment but it was clear that her picking it from the start was done to throw him off. It worked for a short while but the leader quickly came up with a way to deal with this surprise.

"Forest! Go forth, Weezing!"

A purple, two-headed monster appeared in front of the leader. Although it looked somewhat sick, especially since it was constantly surrounded by little clouds of smoke its body was producing, Blue knew not to underestimate it. Not only did she meet it's lower form, Koffing, in the past, but she also was sure that Koga wouldn't use any weak Pokemon after everything he said. She was curious about why he said "forest" before releasing it but she didn't want to let that distract her. It was important to strike first so that their opponents wouldn't have a chance to take advantage of the battlefield.

"Flame Charge!"

"Thunderbolt!"

The Ponyta enveloped itself in fire but as soon as he started running at its foe, he had to slow down and jump to the side. Blue noticed that the attack was suspicious. It didn't seem like Weezing was aiming at her Pokemon but rather that it wanted to strike the floor right in front of him in order to make him swerve. It didn't take long to figure out why. It turned out that Dasher was right next to one of the invisible walls and he hit in at an angle that made him completely stop. Confused about what happened, he allowed his flames to go out which convinced Blue that Koga planned it that way so his Pokemon could immediately follow up with another attack. She was about to give an order to counter-attack but decided not to after seeing that Weezing wasn't advancing. More than that, it looked it was slowly floating backwards.

"It's obviously a trap but I don't know if it doesn't have a way of attacking even when hidden behind a wall. On the other hand, Dasher has to keep close to the enemy in order to defeat it." the girl thought while glancing at the leader's face, hoping to see some reaction that would clue her in on how he wanted to proceed.

"Run after it, Dasher!" Blue ordered while keeping her eyes fixed on Weezing in order to know the path it took "Turn left... now!"

"Good." stated Koga "Thunderbolt Surprise!"

This time Blue was prepared "Slightly to the right!"

The Ponyta bumped against the wall since there wasn't enough room between it and the place where Weezing's attack struck but at leas this time it was able to continue running. Unfortunately, Blue didn't take into account everything that the leader said. While Weezing's bigger head focused on using the electric attack, the other one took care of the surprise part. It spat out a purple, poisonous blob which landed a little closer to it than where it aimed Thunderbolt. As soon as Dasher avoided the attack, he ran into the trap and his great speed made it impossible to avoid slipping on the sludge and falling chin first onto the floor. Once again, Blue was prepared for the worst but Weezing didn't continue its attack and started slowly retreating.

"Is that any way to fight?!" the girl angrily asked the leader.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Your Pokemon had a chance to continue its attack! You could have won right there! Are you trying to make a fool out of me?!"

"Make a fool out of you, you say? You're handling that perfectly fine on your own. What I'm doing is a favor for you. Once you see how easily I can handle your Pokemon, you'll be free of any delusions that you could have ever hoped to rival me. Instead of rushing in with a follow-up attack like a rash beginner, I'd rather win this bout with my Pokemon taking no damage."

"That's just petty! I won't allow myself to be humiliated in such a way... I have to do this fo... Ughh."

"My first impression of her was right." the leader thought "She's distracted by something. I take time to meditate before each battle with a challenger in order to show them respect by fighting them while completely free of any thoughts beside victory, yet she... No. Forget it. There's no reason to cloud my mind thinking about her worries when she's already doing that."

"Dasher, can you get up?!"

The fire Pokemon struggled a little but after finally getting up, he made sure to raise his head and straighten his back in order to show that he wasn't bothered by what happened, even if that wasn't how he actually felt.

"We'll be able to avoid further tricks once you're fast enough to dodge them! Use Agility and then another Flame Charge!"

The horse started once again advancing towards the opponent, increasing his speed as he ran while also setting himself ablaze.

Koga knew that his Pokemon already made three turns after making his foe fall down so the leader wondered if besides the idea to increase Ponyta's speed, the girl had a plan in order to find a way through the maze.

"Use Fire Spin!"

"Fire Spin?" the leader repeated in his mind while unconsciously glancing at the girl for a short time before once again turning his eyes towards the battlefield.

It turned out that this was exactly the thing Blue needed in order to direct her Pokemon through the labyrinth. Because of the way the flames spiraled out of Dasher's mouth, the further they went the more they spread out to the point of grazing the walls. Even if there were no marks left on them, it was still possible to tell for a fraction of a second which places were hit and where the flames were allowed to freely expand. The latter was their goal. After spotting the right spots, Blue was able to give Dasher orders which allowed to him to reach Weezing even though the Poison Pokemon didn't stop for a second. Koga felt like praising the girl's ability to give the commands in exactly the right moments for her Pokemon to avoid hurting itself while making the turns at great speeds but another look at her face made him reconsider that. The determination he felt from her was certainly admirable but besides that her face also showed a mix of anger and sadness. It wasn't that she was able to calculate her Pokemon's movement to a millisecond. Her decisions were purely instinctive and each order was one that could actually end in her Pokemon crashing and losing the ability to continue the battle.

"That's a little sc... No. I have to keep focus." Koga caught himself on once again allowing his thoughts to drift even if only for a second, although he was more worried knowing what kind of emotion the girl was able to stir up in him.

"Take it Down!" Blue ordered once Dasher reached a point where she thought there were no obstacles in his way.

"Double Team!"

Although the Fire Pokemon was finally able to reach the opponent with his attack, it turned out that this one was a decoy. The Ponyta slowed downed before hitting another wall and started looking around in order to find out which Weezing was the real one. There was no way for the Poison Pokemon to create a copy if a wall was in the way so there wasn't too many targets but time played an important role. Since Weezing kept on avoiding the fight Blue's mind immediately locked itself into thinking that this time the poisonous monster must have done the same. Looking at her, Koga realized that she was focusing on trying to find the right one.

"There are also people like that. I can't always expect the same reaction when lying but... I wanted her to give her best. Meanwhile, she's losing herself. Otherwise she would be able to predict that this is the perfect moment for me to switch up my tactic."

"Do it now!" the leader shouted, after giving the girl enough time to try and figure out his plan.

Dasher couldn't tell what happened. Suddenly he was upside down, flying through the air. In his confusion he managed to catch a glimpse of a Weezing that instead of levitating around him or trying to escape, was rolling on the floor with speed that one wouldn't expect from a Pokemon like him. It was clearly the real one and also the one responsible for the horse's current predicament. What's worse, it didn't look like it was going to stop there. After rolling on the floor for some time, Weezing turned around and used Rollout once again, right as Dasher was about to hit his head. The opponent's attack was way worse than landing on the floor. The second Rollout struck at such an angle that the Ponyta was sent into one of the walls without a way to stop himself.

"Dasher!" Blue yelled and took a few steps before reminding herself that she didn't know how to reach her unconscious Pokemon without stumbling through the labyrinth.

"Give the pokeball to him." Koga said while nodding towards Weezing who, after showing off that he could move faster than expected, appeared in front of them in no time.

The girl did as advised and was quickly reunited with her Pokemon when Weezing gave her back the pokeball containing Dasher.

"To deal with that I'll have to..."

"You're speaking."

"Wha-?" Blue slowly turned her head towards Koga.

"You were about to say how you planned to beat my Weezing. Calm down."

"C... Oh. Sorry." even though she was angry, the girl didn't feel like there was any point in getting mad at the leader.

If she lost she wouldn't have anyone to blame but herself. Besides that, even thinking about the possibility of losing was dangerous. This situation was the exact opposite of all the times she fought against the guardian. Back then, she didn't want to allow herself to win thinking that it would be the best way to gather money that she would use to help out her parents but at this moment she couldn't afford to lose because it would mean losing her chance to take part in the Pokemon League and thus letting her parents down. She wanted to wonder what Red would do if he was in her place but since he didn't have any significant reason for wanting to win the League, she could imagine that he would face Koga like any other opponent and wouldn't lose himself in negative thoughts like she did.

"Positive. Stay positive. We can do it... We must do it!" she tried to change her way of thinking while giving a strong slap to both her cheeks.

"I've made up my mind! Go, Ken!" she shouted while throwing the ball which contained her Zubat.

"A Zubat?" the leader asked with a smile "Good. Come back, Weezing."

"What?!"

"Wind! Go forth, Golbat!"

Blue's Pokemon looked a little intimidated while facing his evolved form but he didn't want to let it show so he proudly approached the other Pokemon, flying right above it before stopping on the other side. Meanwhile, the trainer of the smaller Pokemon bit her lip which was a sign of her being annoyed with herself for forgetting the rule that allowed the leader to change his Pokemon after achieving a victory with the previous one.

"Are you ready?" Koga asked after noticing that her confidence seemed to take another hit.

"Yes. We can start." the girl responded after taking in and releasing a deep breath.

"Good." the leader said before turning towards his Pokemon "Go!"

Despite her words, Blue wasn't actually ready to react before learning what her opponent intended to do. Golbat needed to flap its wings but once to travel the distance between the entrance to the maze and the first turn. Observing its movement and using her knowledge from the previous battle, Blue was able to tell that there wasn't enough space for it to spread its wings. That meant that if it wanted to adjust its trajectory, it could only do so after reaching a turn. That could be the clue that would allow her to deal with it.

"Ken, use Acrobatics!" she commanded, knowing that the way her Pokemon moved while using this attack would allow him to go through each turn faster than his opponent and it was clear to her that Koga counted on his Pokemon's speed to win him this battle.

"Hmm? Wait. There's something wrong. But what exactly?" the girl's sharp senses caught that something unusual happened in front of her eyes but the way she was worried about the outcome of the battle prevented her from pinpointing the cause of her new concern "If I can't tell right away then I shouldn't dwell on it. Let's focus on what we can do. Poison Fang will be useless so let's go with this..."

"Use Air Cutter!"

The Zubat was close enough to Golbat to attack by sending spinning blades of air at his opponent.

"Protect!"

Golbat crossed its wings for a second which created a green energy shield that easily blocked the attack.

"And Taunt before flying away!"

The bigger bat looked at the smaller one with a weird glare in its eye which somehow made latter more fervent in his attempts to catch up.

"It's another trap. Once I knew how I wanted to deal with Weezing, he switched to another Pokemon. I have no idea what he's planning but they've already set the pace and are probably well on their way to eliminating Zubat. I can't allow that. This fight isn't for me. I won't be able to face my parents if..."

"Heat Wave!" Koga had no intention to go easy on Blue even though he was able to see that she wasn't observing the battle despite her eyes being directed that way.

Golbat flapped its wings, creating a stream of hot air which sent Zubat flying back into a wall while also dealing considerable damage.

"No! Ken, you have to recover and press on!" Blue ordered after taking notice of what was happening.

Although her Pokemon looked like he was ready to continue the battle, he wasn't advancing towards the opponent. Golbat didn't move from the place which it attacked from so there was no reason for why the Zubat would not be able to see it, except for one that Blue realized while trying to figure out why her partner wasn't moving.

"He can't see. I knew that. But he's not "really blind" since he can locate the opponent us... Unless... That's what was off. That's why he choose Golbat..."

"It seems you found out."

Blue looked at Koga with a shocked face. She wasn't completely sure if she was saying her thoughts out loud or if she was that easy to read. The important part was that she remembered that Ken was able to move around without constantly flying into stuff by using echolocation. It was clear that the same was the case for the leader's Pokemon. She didn't know enough about it to understand the situation exactly but Golbat knew how to move in such a way to slightly disrupt the other bat's ability to "see". She noticed that earlier but was too occupied with thoughts of her parents to understand what was happening. The Heat Wave used by Golbat must have been enough to completely shut off the Zubat's sonar at least for a while. That's why he couldn't do anything after recovering.

"Don't worry, Ken! I will be your e..."

Blue instinctively stopped herself as if she knew even before it happened that a sudden event would make what she was about to say a lie. The lights went out. Although the doors to the room were open, the outside also wasn't illuminated which meant that the girl couldn't see anything until her eyes would adjust to the darkness. If this happened earlier in the battle, she would probably assume that there was a problem with electricity but the timing was too perfect. What's more, she didn't have any rights to complain. Each leader had a different gimmick that gave them the advantage while battling in their Gym. No one ever said that they weren't allowed to have multiple ones or that they couldn't add new ones in the middle of the battle.

"Air Slash!" Koga's order was more sudden and scary because of the surrounding blackness.

Blue knew that there was no way to deal with this problem, not with her and Ken being unable to see the opponent. Her Pokemon was surely getting hurt by blades of air created by Golbat and the helplessness she felt at that moment was overwhelming. Even after what happened with Red and the guardian, she thought that this was the worst she ever felt and could only imagine how much worse it would get once her loss was sealed and she would have to break the news to her parents. After a while the lights turned back on and she could see her Pokemon lying unconscious at her feet, probably brought there by his opponent after the latter's victory.

"Come back, Ken." the girl returned the Zubat to his pokeball and looked at it in silence for a while before putting it away.

Koga observed how she hesitated to reach for another pokeball. She wasn't exactly how he hoped her to be but even under these dire conditions she was able to surprise him by figuring things that a lot of trainers wouldn't be able to. If he handled the situation differently, maybe he would be able to see her perform even better.

"I have my rules. If she gives up before the battle is over then despite what she showed so far she would prove that she wasn't worth my time. Come on, girl. Fight me. As far as you know, this is your last chance. Use it to show me your true abilities." despite wanting to say all these words, the leader kept quiet while waiting to see what Blue would decide.

Blue was lost in her thoughts "Mom, dad. This is over. I can't... But somehow... even more than that... the fact that I won't be able to face Red in the League is... Red... I... If I think I will lose... If I think this all is over... Doesn't that mean that I'm as free as he is? I allowed myself to be relaxed during the time I spent with him but even then every battle I took part in was one where I was completely focused on winning... Or rather, I felt like I couldn't afford to lose. But if I'm sure that there's no chance for me to win... In a way that makes me feel like..."

Blue's saddened face slowly lighted up. She reached towards her belt and hovered her hand above the pokeballs.

"You're too big and you'd have a similar problem to Dasher. That leaves you as the only option, Bell." she said while finally picking a pokeball.

She threw the ball and gave Koga a look that shocked him so much that he almost backed off. Even though he hoped for her to try continuing the fight, he couldn't expect this sudden change in attitude. It was clear that she wasn't doing this because she had hopes of defeating all three of his Pokemon, but the passion in her eyes made it seem like she was prepared to take on anyone.

"I'm going to change my Pokemon." the leader informed the challenger before doing so, partly because he wanted how she would react to it after her feelings seemingly did a 180.

"Go ahead. We're ready." she said while looking at Bell whom she already summoned from his ball.

"Return, Golbat!" Koga called his current Pokemon back before throwing the pokeball with another one "Fire! Go forth, Arbok!"

"Shall we start?" the girl asked with a cheerful voice which somehow made the man feel like maybe she was maybe making fun of him to get back at him for what he did so far but he quickly dismissed these thoughts.

"As I said... Go forth, Arbok!"

The snake slithered on the floor, quickly making its way through the labyrinth. Blue observed its movement in silence so long that Koga became a little worried that the girl maybe was behaving weirdly because she broke under the pressure. He waited for a while but she just kept on following his Pokemon's movements.

"Shall we go?" she asked Bell right as Koga was about to lose patience and question her about how she was feeling.

The Weepinbell responded in a cheerful manner and the two of them went into the maze. Koga was so surprised by her behavior from a couple seconds ago that he didn't immediately catch onto the fact that what she was doing right then was even weirder. Making any guesses about her state would be unsafe so he decided to continue taking her seriously and that meant that he had to assume that there was a purpose to her involving herself in the fight.

"When we began our battle, I was so concerned about losing that I didn't pay mind to the rules Koga explained. His first rule was one that allowed him to switch Pokemon and he used it two times already. He can't switch out Arbok so I don't have to worry about that but the second rule... Normally one wouldn't just leave in the middle of the battle even if they wanted to give up. The only possibility for that would be if the challenger went back through the maze and stepped outside through the entrance. The only way I can interpret that is that he says that to scare people so they don't even think about setting food inside the maze as long as the battle is going on. And that means..."

Blue finished her thoughts out loud "...that being inside somehow increases my chances of victory."

"It seems I was concerned for naught. Her mind is still in the battle." the leader said calmly before turning his attention towards his Pokemon who so far was moving through the labyrinth seemingly aimlessly, waiting for an order "Arbok, use Fire Fang!"

The poisonous Pokemon turned its attention towards the opponents and sped up in order to deliver the attack before they would have time to realize which direction it was coming from. It changed the path it was taking a couple times to make it harder on them, not realizing that the way it moved served as a clue for Blue who didn't stop observing it ever since the battle began.

For her counterattack, Blue decided to take a page from Koga's book "Bell, use Acid on the floor!"

The Grass Pokemon surrounded them with a circle of poison. While it was small enough for the girl to jump over if need be, the snake approaching them at great speed would have trouble avoiding it. When it finally reached them, it slid on it before it could cause any harm. The attack itself didn't hurt too much but a collision with one of the invisible walls was inevitable. After recovering, it glanced towards its trainer.

"Let's try again! This time be more careful!"

Arbok nodded and looked at the floor around it before deciding which path it should take.

"Are his Pokemon really this smart? Golbat has echolocation but the rest of them would have to remember the layout of the room." Blue muttered while kneeling down in order to be as low as the Poison Pokemon "But with the walls being completely invisible, even someone who knows this place is bound to get confused if they are thrown and have to find out which part of the maze they are in..."

While his trainer was busy with her thoughts, Bell was keeping an eye on Arbok who slowed down a little but still looked like it could attack at any moment.

"The logical way to figure out your position would be to look at the four walls of the room and judge the distance but instead Arbok looked down... Is this it?"

Blue noticed something on the floor. She looked at the corner of one of the mats and compared it to another one. She slowly moved her hand and after a while she smiled. She turned around and checked another place in order to confirm her suspicion but she found something even more interesting. After just a couple seconds of mindful exploring she was sure that she had enough knowledge to maneuver the labyrinth as well as Koga's Pokemon, although it would be hard to explain her findings to Bell during the battle so she decided to keep the newly gained knowledge and use it to instruct her Pokemon.

"So it's coming." Blue noted after being nudged by Bell who was patiently waiting for an order "Since Koga likes dressing like a ninja, he will surely appreciate this. Bell, let's give the opponent another target. Use Substitute."

"What is she... Wait! Arbok, use Dragon Tail!"

The command was sudden but right as the snake was getting ready to sink its flaming fangs into the Weepinbell, it spun around and used the tip of its tail, covered in purple energy, to hit its target. To Arbok's surprise, the Grass Pokemon disappeared but another one was waiting behind the copy, ready to launch a counterattack.

"Razor Leaf!" Blue yelled.

Being so close, Arbok had no chance to dodge the leaves and took the full brunt of the attack.

The girl didn't plan on giving it time to rest "And Vine Whip! Grab it and send it flying!"

The Poison Pokemon was a little heavy but Bell gave it his all and was able to throw it into a wall.

Blue glanced towards Koga to see if he was focused on the battle, like she hoped he would be, before biting her thumb.

"Another Razor Leaf!" the girl shouted to further divert attention from what she was about to do, even though she doubted that the leader would be able to tell what she was doing without getting closer.

"I've seen all of her Pokemon's moves and I know it's weakened because of using Substitute. But we've also showed everything that could be useful. Aqua Tail would be pointless and although Mega Drain could help Arbok regain strength, it would be too slow and not as effective as the other two attacks. After Arbok gets up and figures out which way to go we'll try a spinning move that... What is he doing?"

Koga's Pokemon got up after and after noticing that Blue and Bell moved to a different place, it began looking around itself in order to find the way to them. It looked like it was confused about something but the leader couldn't understand what was the problem.

"What are you waiting for?! Go after them!"

The Poison Pokemon started moving but he and his trainer were once again befuddled when they saw the challenger and her Pokemon move through the maze without touching the walls to find their way, as if they knew the layout of this place.

"She figured it out. All the more reason to speed things up. We won't let them use that to their advantage." Koga commented with a proud smirk before once more addressing Arbok "Chase them!"

The snake started following is opponents without realizing that the paths they took were very specific. As it quickly made its way by crawling on the floor, it noticed Bell's Acid left here and there which forced it to move in a specific way in order not to slide on it once again.

"It looks like as if they're trying to lead him somewhere..." Koga was trying to understand Blue's plan "...But there isn't really anything in the maze they could use to help them. Unless she placed something there... But I don't see anything besides those puddles of acid. She's been using them to lead Arbok around but as long as he has the... Of course. She's going back to the place where her Weepinbell used Substitute. It's a trap. But I didn't pay attention to what she was doing then so I don't know which one... If I tell Arbok to avoid that place it will become a stalemate. The only thing I can count on right now is luck."

"This is it, Bell. This is where we make our stand..." Blue said to her Pokemon after reaching the place she wanted "...or rather than stand..."

"Spring up, Arbok! Dragon Tail followed by Fire Fang!"

"...Jump!" Blue finished her sentence.

Both Pokemon leapt off the floor but Arbok was the only one to attack, swinging his tail above his head, making his whole body spin around which would allow him to try to hit the opponent with a follow-up attack if the first move missed. But Bell also being in the air was something unaccounted for and the snake wasn't able to hit his mark with either attack. The way it was placed, it's only way of avoiding a counterattack was to keep moving forward after landing but a glance at the mats in front told it that it was alright to go that way. That was exactly what Blue counted for. The Poison Pokemon was in for a rude awakening. There was a wall where there shouldn't be one. At the speed he was going with, the impact was enough to not only hurt him but also to leave him dazed long enough for Blue to execute the next part of her plan.

"Grab it with Vine Whip so it doesn't get away and fire off Razor Leaf!"

"Get up, Arbok! Those leaves aren't strong enough to defeat you! Use Fire Fang!"

The snake forced himself to bear the pain of being cut by my multiple blades flying at him. The Weepinbell's vine only helped ensure that the opponent wouldn't be able to get out of reach as he sank his fiery fangs into him. Although he had the type advantage, his opponent was so far able to avoid receiving any damage so Arbok decided not to let go no matter what in order to hurt Bell as much as he could even though one of the Grass Pokemon's leafy arms was still free to continue the attack. The result was that after a while both of them ended up passing out.

"So it's a draw. Even with nothing to lose I couldn't manage to get even one win but..." Blue said to herself while kneeling down to put Bell back in his pokeball "...I actually had fun."

She looked at the unconscious Arbok, not sure if she should try bringing him to Koga like his Pokemon did with her defeated ones, but she saw the leader making his way through the maze and waited for him to reach them. He remained quiet while placing his Pokemon in a pokeball but after that he turned to the girl with a slight smile on his face. She wasn't sure what it mean but felt like she should respond in the same way, but still felt a little awkward when doing it.

"I'm surprised... No. That's not it. Hmm... I'm proud? No, no. I'm..." Blue was surprised to see that the leader seemed a little embarrassed "...I'm satisfied. Yes. That's a good way to put it. I'll be looking forward to our next battle."

"Our next battle? I enjoyed it towards the end but since I can't get the badge anymore..."

"What?"

"What?"

"So you really still haven't understood it. You assumed that I wouldn't allow you to face me again just because you lost."

"No, no, no. You said that."

"I was talking about a "test". Not a battle."

"I... What I'm getting from this is that you'll allow me to fight you again. Is that it?"

"Yes. Wha..." Koga couldn't finish since Blue suddenly jumped in to give him a hug.

Her thoughts were so mixed up that she didn't know how to react and her body acted on its own. She quickly let go after realizing that she was making the leader uncomfortable.

"I still don't understand fully what this all was about."

"Hmm. I make sure to investigate each challenger to know if they are anyone of note and I scale the test I give them according to that. You've had to walk a lot of stairs, didn't you? 10 of the floors in this pagoda have battlefields. The first one is just like this one but it's actually a completely empty room. Each next one is more treacherous than the previous. This is the tenth battlefield. Since I had great expectations, I became worried when I saw that you didn't immediately figure out the maze or that you were so easily rattled when you thought this was your only chance. Even though you defeated only one of my Pokemon, you surprised me multiple times during our battle, especially towards the end. That's why I don't mind giving you another chance."

"I just kinda gave up on trying to win and decided to have some fun. By forgetting my worries I was able to focus on the battle and actually figure out how this place works. The fact that the mats have small marks in places where there are no walls, and also that some walls have holes near the floor in order to allow Arbok easier movement."

"I've been wondering about that. You tricked Arbok by placing fake marks on the floor but how did you..."

"Oh, right. I hope that you won't have to throw away the mats because of my blood."

"Blood?" Koga looked at the floor and then at Blue's thumb "You're a reckless one."

"Hmm. That means that Red probably wasn't here yet. I'm sure he would do something similar."

"Red? You mean "that" Red?" Koga looked at her with concern.

"Uuh. I don't know. But there probably aren't many people with that name so maybe it's the same one?"

"What is he to you?"

"He's... a friend. Probably the only friend I have besides my Pokemon."

"I'll have to verify if it's the same person since this is something that's knowledge to only select few..."

"Wait. What is going on?"

"If he turns out to be the same person, I'll have Janine arrange a room for you. Your friend may be in danger and in a way I could be seen as being somewhat responsible for it."

. . .

Later that day, in a completely different place, one of Team Rocket Admins, Angie was lying in wait. She couldn't afford to make any wrong moves. After her underlings gave her information about the location of the headquarters of Darkness Gang, just like she planned, she went on to survey the area in order to figure out the security measures before attacking the place with a larger group of people. After what she saw, she didn't see coming there with a group as an option anymore. It would either have to be a small team of maximum three people or the opposite, as many people as she could bring along.

"Is that really him?" she thought "I have only seen him in photos but... He doesn't even look human anymore. What happened? What did they do to him? He's supposed to be dead but somehow I see this supposedly dead man walking around."

. . .

In another part of the Kanto region, in the Team Rocket base situated in Celadon City, Red and Nets were spending their free time in the impressively big library, the latter explaining a boardgame to the former, when the female librarian suddenly approached them.

"Oh no! Were we too loud?! I'm terribly sorry!" Nets shouted while lowering his head.

"Well... No. You're being too loud right now but it's not about that. I received a message that Doctor Humane wanted to see you. He must have heard that you spend a lot of time here."

"Doctor Humane? Then it must be something important!" Nets raised his voice once again "Sorry, Red but we'll have to leave this for another time! I can't keep the Doctor waiting!"

"Actually, I think he wanted to see both of you." the librarian added.

Nets looked at Red with a confused expression. The other boy mimicked it even though he had inkling of what Blaine could want from him. He helped his friend put the boardgame pieces back in the box before the two of them left.


50 years have passed. At this point it's useless to try to promise anything. Usually if the chapter takes longer, that means that stuff is happening in my life but I won't bore you with that. Most people will read this some itme after this comes out so they don't need my excuses.

When it comes to story related stuff, it took long because it's like the second longest chapter and also because writing Blue is hard. She's the most developed out of the main characters so each time I write her I have to put in even more effort so that everything regarding her makes sense.

If peopel care about these characters at all, you should be able to see why Blue losing here makes sense even though she defeated the guardian not too long. I just hope that no one assumes that it's somewhat gender related.

This chapter finally introduces Koga after he's been mentioned multiple times in the past. If you don't remember what his role has been so far in the story, check out chapters 16, 23 and 24. I've been reading Marvel comic books from the 70's and they often give adnotations to let you know when a certain event mentioned by the characters took place. I may start doing something like that in these afterwords but with moderation. I never want to point something out if it was supposed to be something for you to figure out on your own. Like the name of this chapter. It seems pretty straightforward but since it doesn't have a pun, you should probably assume that it has another meaning besides the obvious one.

I didn't care for Koga in any type of media but when I was coming up with this story, he somehow managed to become my favorite Kanto Gym leader. Even if he wasn't going all out like in this chapter, I still would say that he's the best Pokemon trainer out of the leaders you've seen battle so far. is pretty strong but he's very single minded. For him it's just attack, attack, attack. Koga is more flexible. If he had to use a team of Pokemon that weren't his, like in the Battle Factory, he would be quicker than any other leader at figuring out how to use them. It's not necessarily that he's the smartest but rather a combination of being a ninja and a Gym leader for many years.

Janine will get a chance to shine too but that's something you'll have to wait for. because holy mother of cliffhangers. Even though like 98% of this chapter is focused on Blue, we have some other developments too. If everything goes how I planned, there will be no way for me to split the next three chapters in to shorter ones no matter how long it takes me to write them. There will be a lot of different things happening but I'm going with a theme. I don't have those chapters planned out but I more or less know what should happen.

Final thing. A quiz! Well, sorta. I just want to see if anyone has a clue where Zubat's name came from(Ponyta's is pretty obvious) and why does Koga say some specific things when summoning his Pokemon. That's all.

Red. Team: Nidorino, Gloom.

Stasis: Eevee, Charmeleon, Gyarados, Raichu, Pidgeotto.

Badges: 4

Green. Team: Jynx, Jigglypuff.

Stasis: Venusaur, Nidorina, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, Horsea.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Weepinbell(Bell), Blastoise(Tori), Zubat(Ken), Graveler(?), Ponyta(Dasher).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, Gengar.