Whitney's Team

Miltank

Whismur

The New Normal – 4-8 - INTERLUDE – Whitney

Whitney finally arrived from Pewter City after she practically sprinted from her home, only to despair as she witnessed just how long the queue was to reserve a match for the Gym Battle. She cursed inwardly; John had warned her about this and even offered her to ride on his Mantine so that she could arrive earlier, but she was stupid and didn't listen.

She was still pretty early, but even then, she had to wait in line like the rest of them.

Whitney resigned herself to stand in line for the next few minutes, barely moving forward as the time ticked by. This was not how she imagined her journey beginning. She had expected grand encounters and battles, not this…monotony of waiting in a line to wait your turn for the battle.

She resignedly let out a big breath as she inched forwards a little bit more. This line was going to drive her crazy! In a bid to stave off her boredom and impatience, she felt like she had to talk to someone. She remembered her brother telling her to make friends, and she supposed that being stuck waiting line was as good of a time as any.

Luckily, just standing one space behind her, was a black-haired girl that was of similar age to her. Deciding that she was going to at least strike up a conversation, Whitney made the first move.

"Hello, I'm Whitney. It's good to meet you." She said to the girl with a smile, only to be faced with the girl's very intense gaze. The girl's pink eyes looking like they were able to stare deep into her mind. But Whitney casually shrugged off the gaze and maintained her wide smile.

Eventually, the other girl caved. "…your thoughts are very straightforward." She said in reply, and that made Whitney very confused.

"Um…what do you mean?" Whitney asked.

"You. Your thoughts. They are so easy to read." The girl bluntly replied, before her a hint of confusion entered her eyes. "…Why do you want to be friends with me?"

OH! She got it now! This girl was one of those Psychics that she sometimes saw on the news! That's so cool!

"Yes. I am cool. Now why do you want to be my friend?" The girl asked again, making Whitney blush. Whoops!

"Oh, um. It's because-"

"Because you have nothing better to do and your brother told you to make friends." The girl interrupted, reading her thoughts once again. This time, Whitney frowned.

"Hey, it's not nice to read other people's thoughts like that. And at least let me finish my sentence!" She scolded.

The girl looked at her weirdly, "But why?"

"Because it's rude!" Whitney explained, "You have to be polite or else people won't like you."

"People don't like me because they are afraid of me. Whether I am rude or not will not change that." She remarked blankly, but there was a hint of bitterness in her voice.

This time, it was Whitney's turn to be confused. "Why are people afraid of you? You're not scary."

The girl looked at Whitney as if she was dumb, "They are scared because I can read their minds. Because I am a powerful Psychic. Even my parents don't really know how to deal with me, even if they try their best anyway."

"That's dumb. Just because you might be a powerful Psychic doesn't mean they have to be scared of you." Whitney said, conviction leaking from her tone. "My brother has very scary Pokémon too, but I know they won't hurt me. So, I'm not scared of them, and I'm not scared of you."

Sure, Whitney got scared when her brother suddenly sent out Tyrant to fight against her Miltank, but that was more out of surprise than anything. She knew it in her bones that John would never deliberately hurt her. He was too nice for that.

The girl's gaze turned intense for a moment, before it then softened as the girl nodded her head slightly, "…You are telling the truth. You are not scared of me. Even after knowing my powers…you are not scared?" The girl said that last part with just a bit of hope in her voice.

"Nope." Whitney replied simply, emphasizing the 'p', "Besides, even if you wanted to hurt me, my brother will protect me. So, I'm not scared. I just want to be your friend."

The girl continued staring at Whitney for a moment, but Whitney refused to look away. She would not be stopped from making a new friend! Eventually, the girl broke the stare-down and clasped her hands together, suddenly adopting a hint of red on her cheeks.

"…my name is Sabrina. And…I would like to…be your…friend too…?" The girl stuttered out embarrassedly, and Whitney had to restrain herself from squeeing from how cute that was.

Sabrina only turned even more red at that. Oops, Whitney forgot that she could read minds.

"I'd love to be your friend too, Sabrina." She excitedly clasped Sabrina's hands in her own, which she seemed surprised by, "Arceus, I can't believe we're actually friends! So, Sabrina, tell me all about yourself! Do you have a brother as well? I have a brother and he's helped me train up my Pokémon a lot too and I've been so excited to go on my journey and yet I was really sad about leaving my family behind and -"

Suddenly, Whitney couldn't move. An invisible force seemed to be pressing down on her and restraining her movements, cutting off her rambling. After a brief moment of panic, she relaxed when she realized that it was just Sabrina using her Psychic powers again. Arceus! That's some power!

After a moment of wiggling, Whitney managed to break free from Sabrina's Psychic hold.

"You talk too much-"

Whitney interrupted her new friend with a flick to the forward.

"Ow! Why did you hit me?" Sabrina scowled, clutching her forehead.

"You can't just use your Psychic powers like that!" Whitney lectured, "It's rude!"

"Why?" Sabrina asked with a tilt of her head.

"It just is!" Whitney said once again, but Sabrina still seemed to not understand, and continued giving Whitney a strange look.

"…Are you truly not afraid of my powers?" Sabrina asked again, "Most children would have run away after I silenced them like that."

"Well, I don't really see it as a big deal." Whitney admitted with a shrug, "It's just a bit rude to shut someone up like that. But I know you don't mean me any harm, so like I said, I'm not scared."

Sabrina looked shocked at that, which Whitney found a bit strange, but she ultimately ignored it and continued talking.

"Anyways, sorry for rambling. I have a bad habit of doing that. But, come on, tell me a little bit about yourself! What do you like doing?" Whitney asked.

"…I like getting stronger." Sabrina stated simply after a brief moment of staring blankly at Whitney, "I like training with my Pokémon and developing them further."

"Me too!" Whitney gushed excitedly, "I only really had my brother to train with in the past, so I'd love to train with someone else as well! It's going to be so cool!"

"Is your brother strong?" Sabrina asked. "You have mentioned him a lot."

"Yes! He is! He helped me train my Pokémon as well." Whitney said, "Hey, how about after we register for a match, we should find somewhere to train together. Show off each other's Pokémon?!" Whitney suggested.

"You will lose." Sabrina remarked blankly, but Whitney could see the corners of her lips rising just ever so slightly.

"We'll see about that. My brother has praised my Pokémon for being much stronger than what they should be as a beginner. I'm gonna prove your words wrong." She boasted.

"My father is the Saffron Gym Leader." Sabrina replied boastingly, "I am far stronger than you think you are."

"Nuh uh. I'm definitely stronger!" That was all Whitney said, before she had to turn around and actually move forwards in the line.

Huh, apparently, she was so distracted during her conversation that she didn't realize that it was almost her turn. Finally. She couldn't wait to register her battle for the Gym Badge and then prepare for her first proper fight as a trainer against Sabrina.

She wouldn't lose against her new friend!

"NEXT!" The overworked receptionist called out, and Whitney finally moved forwards and faced the receptionist, who looked extremely overworked already.

"I need your Trainer ID Card. And I assume that you would like to schedule your match for the next available slot?" The tired receptionist said without even looking up from her desk. Whitney didn't mind and just shuffled through her wallet to fetch her brand-new Trainer ID Card and hand it to the receptionist.

Her Trainer ID Card lacked any badges next to it for the moment, but Whitney vowed that would change in the future.

"…Whitney Smith. Alright." The receptionist mumbled to herself as she scrolled through to find the next available slot. They didn't seem to recognize her name, but Whitney was more than fine with that and supposed that 'Smith' was a common enough surname.

She didn't want any special favours just because she was the sister of an Elite Four member. She wanted to make it through her journey using her own abilities, and not rely on her brother's borrowed strength. Fortunately, she looked nothing like her brother with her pink hair, so it was near impossible to make that connection unless you saw them interacting together.

"Right, you're booked in for tomorrow afternoon." Huh, she guessed that wasn't too bad. She must have been earlier than she thought. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Uh…is the Gym normally so busy?" Whitney blurted out curiously, then winced as the receptionist sighed with an expression that screamed that she didn't want to actually want to answer any questions.

"Yes. It normally is this busy at the beginning of every circuit. I don't mean to be rude, but I have a lot more people to get through today, so unless you have any other urgent questions, could you please save them for later?" The receptionist said, visibly holding back her annoyance, and Whitney quickly moved on before she could annoy the receptionist any further.

She then turned to Sabrina and said, "I'll wait for you outside so that we can head to the training fields together." Sabrina simply nodded and Whitney made her way outside.

As she waited outside for Sabrina, the reality that she was going to be challenging for her first Gym Badge began to set in.

John had repeatedly told her to not worry, but if you ever got worried then the most productive thing to do was to do as much research and preparation for the upcoming battle. Whitney had already done plenty of research into Flint, with the help of her brother, even before the journey had started.

And although John said that she was far past Flint's first badge team, and to be honest she thought that Flint was fairly weak even for being the first Gym Leader, she was still unable to settle her nerves. Sure, she rationally knew that her Miltank was strong enough, but she was worried that she would fumble it during the match.

'No', she told herself as she took a deep breath. She had worked hard for years for prepare herself for her journey, and she wouldn't let her nerves trip her up. Her brother had come out of his journey with such success that he was able to provide for their parents and Whitney.

She wanted to prove herself to be able to do the same. She loved her brother, but he casted a long shadow over her. Yet, Whitney was determined to step out of that shadow, and defeating Flint would be the first steppingstone to do so.

"Your thoughts are admirable." Whitney was jolted out of her thoughts by the sounds of Sabrina's voice. She turned towards the direction of the voice and saw Sabrina walking towards her.

"Hey! Don't read my mind!" Whitney mock-scolded, but then it turned into a smile, "But thanks anyways. I hope I can make my brother proud."

Sabrina just nodded at that and the two of them began making their way to the outskirts of Pewter City where the designated training fields were located. As they walked, Whitney asked when Sabrina's match was, only to be pleased to hear that it was directly after hers.

As they walked, Whitney admitted to herself that she was fairly nervous about having her first battle against someone that wasn't her brother, but she was also super excited to finally fight her first battle. Regardless, she vowed to give it her all, she wouldn't let her Miltank down.

She would use this battle as a warmup to reassure herself that she was able to defeat Flint.

In an attempt to break away from those stressful thoughts, she struck up another conversation with Sabrina.

"So, how does your Psychic powers work? They seem so cool!" She gushed. "Are you able to always read my mind?"

Sabrina shook her head, "I am not powerful enough to read minds so casually. I have to focus. And I can only read surface thoughts. For now."

"But you were able to hold me down with your Psychic powers!" Whitney continued excitedly, "I want to be able to do that too!"

"You cannot unless you have the gift." Sabrina replied immediately, causing Whitney to pout. "Anyways, I am not powerful enough to restrain a stronger trainer. Yet as I get older, my Psychic powers will similarly gain in strength. You are weak, so I was able to."

Whitney's pout grew as Sabrina casually insulted her, but Sabrina seemed unaware of this as she kept walking forwards in silence.

Eventually, they made it to the training fields and stood opposite each other, both ready to battle.

"Are you ready?" Sabrina stated as she psychically levitated a Pokéball in the air, cutting through her thoughts.

"I am!" She said as she clenched her fists around Miltank's Premier Ball. "Let's do this on the count of three." Sabrina nodded.

"Three...Two…One…Release!"

Her Miltank emerged from her Premier Ball just as a Kadabra emerged out of Sabrina's. Not very surprising, considering everything Whitney had observed so far. But enough distractions, time to battle.

"Rollout and get close to it, Miltank!"

Miltank quickly started rolling around the field to get close to the Kadabra before she was suddenly blasted back slightly by a Psychic. Both Whitney and Sabrina looked surprised at that, though for different reasons.

Sabrina was surprised because her Kadabra's Psychic barely even caused Miltank to stumble. It was as if Miltank had simply shrugged off what was normally an instant knockout. That was very unusual; she had trained up her Kadabra significantly and was usually able to just overpower other Pokémon with raw Psychic strength alone, so Miltank's endurance was alarming.

On the other hand, Whitney was surprised because Sabrina hadn't actually said anything, and yet her Pokémon attacked as if it was following a command. Fortunately, she was quick to realize that Sabrina was likely telepathically communicating with her Pokémon. That's so cool! And unfair! She wanted to do that too.

But they both shook off their distractions and refocused on the fight. In their distraction, Miltank had almost closed the distance with Kadabra.

"Body Slam into it, Miltank!"

Her Miltank obeyed and transitioned out of her Rollout into a devastating Body Slam, but Kadabra suddenly teleported out of the way before Miltank could slam into it. Kadabra made use of this opportunity by firing another blast of Psychic energy at Miltank, and yet it was once again simply shrugged off.

The two of them frowned at that exchange. Whitney was annoyed at the teleporting, while Sabrina was frustrated that her Psychics were being shrugged off.

But Whitney quickly came up with a plan.

"Rollout again, Miltank! It can't keep dodging forever!"

Once again, Miltank began rolling around the battlefield and got close to the Kadabra, tanking another full powered Psychic that managed to push her back slightly, but not enough to interrupt the Rollout.

"Body Slam again, Miltank!"

And, just as Whitney predicted, Kadabra teleported away before Miltank could strike with her Body Slam, but Whitney had a different idea in mind.

"Earthquake, Miltank!" Using the momentum of her Body Slam, Miltank slammed into the ground belly first as a huge tremor shook the ground. Kadabra, who had just teleported, was caught unaware by the surprise Earthquake and was unable to dodge in time.

"Rock throw, Miltank!"

"Teleport again, Kadabra!"

The urgency of Sabrina's situation showed itself as she panicked and actually verbally gave out an order instead of relying on her telepathy. But, with the paper-thin defences of Kadabra, it was unable to regain its focus from the damage that it took from the Earthquake before a huge rock crashed into it, knocking it out.

Sabrina stared silently at her fallen Kadabra with a look of utter shock on her face.

Whitney was respectful enough to not adopt an expression of smug superiority, even though she really wanted to scream about her first victory. But she wouldn't rub her victory in on her friend.

"…An impressive showing." Sabrina finally said reluctantly as she returned her Kadabra to its Pokéball, "I can see why you were so confident. Your Miltank is far stronger than anything else I have seen at this point."

"Yeah! I've been training for a long time. Technically, my brother says my Miltank is probably too strong for the first few badges…but I just wanted to show her off anyways. I hope you don't mind." Whitney replied.

Sabrina shook her head, "I do not. I had once thought the same of my own Kadabra. As the daughter of a Gym Leader, I naturally had an advantage over other trainers our age. I once thought that this would have been enough to secure me an easy path through the Gyms, but I see now that I was mistaken. I do have a second Pokémon, but I do not believe that it would have stood a chance against your Miltank, so I forfeit. It is your victory. Your Miltank truly is formidable."

Whitney preened at the praise, "Thank you! The two of us have been working hard to get as strong as we are! But you're pretty strong too, Sabrina! Your Kadabra is no joke! You would have easily beaten my Whismur."

Sabrina gave a small bow, "Thank you. But I can see now that I have more training to do. I had thought that my Kadabra would have been sufficient to beat all foes, so I have neglected training up my Natu. You have shown me my arrogance and opened my eyes, and for that I thank you."

Whitney didn't really get all of that, but smiled anyways, "No worries! It's what friends are for, after all. Come on, let's get your Kadabra healed up at the Pokécenter and we can discuss training tips. I heard that it's a good way to learn!"

Sabrina tilted her head once again, "…You still want me to accompany you after we had finished our battle? I thought we would go our separate ways after this."

Whitney turned to Sabrina with an incredulous expression, "What are you talking about? We're friends now. Come on, don't say such things. Friends don't leave friends behind. So, let's get going to the Pokécenter."

To emphasize her point, Whitney wrapped an arm around Sabrina's shoulder and pulled her along to the Pokécenter. Sabrina resisted at first, but eventually relaxed and allowed herself to be pulled along.

In the corner of her eye, Whitney saw Sabrina adopt a small smile, perhaps the first time she had ever seen her smile this entire time, and she couldn't help but break out into a smile of her own.

They were going to be great friends! She just knew it!

A.N. This is the beginning of the Whitney mini-series, which will be scattered sporadically across many chapters, like snippets. This is the first one. Don't worry, the focus will still primarily be on John.

And for the first chapter, a wild Sabrina appears! Slightly shorter chapter, but…Friend get! And yes, Whitney isn't scared of Sabrina because, like she said, she's been living and training with John's far scarier Pokemon for a while now. So, Sabrina's Psychic powers aren't that scary to her in comparison.

This chapter is basically TLDR: Normal extrovert adopts Psychic introvert.

And yes, Sabrina is weaker than Whitney. Hopefully that isn't too surprising. That being said though, she is far stronger than most trainers at her level, but she hasn't been grinding like Whitney has.

This chapter has been BETAed by Allute! Big thanks! And to anyone who wants to support me, please check out my p atreon at CartecTNN where you can read 8 advanced chapters! Thanks to those who have supported me already!